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D-III season starting to heat up
4 Comments · Posted by D3baseball.com in Clearing the bases
The 2012 D-III season is going into its fourth weekend with about 70 teams already getting some action in the early part of the season. More teams will have their openers as northern teams start making trips south. The hottest competition could be in Arizona as there are a number of teams piling up some early in-region wins playing in the Arizona sun.
It will be a tough weekend in Arizona for the Tornados. They play 5-1 Cal Lutheran on Friday and two days later it is 6-1 La Verne. Needless to say these games will be important in April when folks start looking at the regional rankings. Linfield is also in Arizona and their toughest contest will be the Kingsmen from Cal Lutheran.
Looking easy of Arizona and you see undefeated Dallas and Austin playing a three game set. With the longest current winning streak in 2012, the Crusaders could find themselves 9-0 heading into a key contest with Texas-Dallas.
Moving out to the east coast, there is good baseball where the best contest might be CNU and Cortland State. With both favored to capture regional titles, this could be a match-up we could see in Appleton on the final weekend of play. Another weekend game, CNU and Bridgewater (Va.), will match the favored team in both the USA South and ODAC.
Not to be overlooked is 5-0 Methodist. Three games against Frostburg State, Birmingham-Southern, and Lynchburg will go a long way to announcing the resurgence of the Monarchs. Methodist head coach Tom Austin is looking for his 1000th career win and it could be achieved in early March.
Speaking of 1000th wins, it was Salisbury that got their program’s 1000th win this week. The Sea Gulls are now 1000-638-17 over 49 seasons. Salisbury will see Gallaudet before a game against Cortland this weekend.
Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Taylor Burrow had quite a week with the season’s first no-hitter. UMHB is 3-0 against D-III competition with their only losses coming against NAIA Texas Wesleyan. They will have a better gauge on how good a team they have when they meet Trinity (Texas) later next week.
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Author comment by monahanks · February 29, 2012 at 10:40 am
I’m curious how Marietta (no games played yet) can be ranked #1 when a 12-1 team (for example) is ranked #9. No offense to Marietta, but…
Admin comment by Pat Coleman · February 29, 2012 at 10:43 am
It’s kind of the nature of baseball that certain parts of the country get a head start on the rest. The defending champ probably deserves some benefit of the doubt until they lose, right?
Author comment by D3baseball.com · February 29, 2012 at 10:45 am
Marietta is the defending national champion and have the pitcher of the year and most of the rest of the team back.
Trinity (Texas) is having a great year and this is reflected in their rise in the first regular season poll.
Author comment by appletonforever · March 9, 2012 at 8:34 am
It’s to early to care about standings, besides we have a playoff system unlike D1 football