As the second of two snowstorms falls outside my window I can only think of the warm, sun soaked days that were treating the southern portions of the country this past weekend.  Division II baseball kicked off last week and the past weekend saw some very interesting matchups and outcomes.

After being shut out in their opener 5-0 by Florida Tech, Valdosta State tried to avoid a start similar to the one they had in 2009.  Unfortunately for them, the Blazers could only muster a spilt with Sunshine Conference foe St. Leo’s.  The Blazer’s have a mid-week game at home against Georgia Southwestern before hosting in state rival Augusta State this weekend.  Something tells me they are going to put their 1-2 start behind them.

As for the Panthers of Florida Tech it was a terrific and suprising start, at least in my opinion.  After riding the one-hit pitching of Jonathan Cornelius in their opening, and shortened game against Valdosta State, they swept visiting Belmont Abbey in convincing fashion to complete the week 4-0.  The opener was a slugfest; and just as they seemed to pull away the Crusaders answered.  Ultimately the bats of Ryan McChesney (2-4, 5 rbi), JD Davidson (3-5, 3 rbi) and an 8-run eighth proved to be enough as the Panthers outlasted the Crusader 21-9.  Game two saw Tech pitcher Dylan Wolchik scatter three hits over five and a third in an 8-3 victory.  In the final game Jonathan Cornelius was on his game again, pitching seven strong innings striking out 8 for his second victory of the week.  Third baseman Chris Vazquez hit three home runs for the Crusaders in the series.

The Mocs of Florida Southern are in mid-season form as they scored 47 runs this week in four games.  On opening day they took down Warner, then they exploded again during the weekend against St. Thomas winning 13-7; 15-13; 3-2.  In game one Colin Kish was seeing beach balls as he went 4 for 5 with two long balls and a double.  Kish drove in 5.

Conference rival Tampa also cruised into the new season nicely with a sweep of Top 30 Georgia College and State 8-6; 9-4; 15-13.  Brad Roberts was white hot, hitting .643 for the series with two doubles and three rbi.  The Spartans will be tested again this weekend when they host national power Southern Arkansas in what will be our series of the week.

Speaking of the Muleriders, they got off to a nice start taking two of three from Missouri Southern 13-1; 8-0; 4-8.  Something tells me that they might be a bit disappointed by not taking all three.  In Saturday’s opener Matt Speake left the crowd speechless, surrendering one hit over seven innings to earn his first win of the year.  Kris Marshall was equally as good, giving up only an infield single to shut the door.  Offensively Jake Astor and Logan Williams led the Muleriders.

In other Gulf Coast action Delta State dropped their opener to reigning National Champion Lynn 6-4; then followed that up with a 6-6 stalemate on Friday that was called due to darkness.  The Statesmen wrapped up their weekend trip by taking two from Nova Southeastern 4-3; 11-4.  Josh Gordon led the Delta State offense this past week hitting .467 with two bombs and five rbi.

After starting 3-0 with a swept of Motevallo, West Florida welcomed the Tars of Rollins College to Pensecola in an early season matchup of Florida heavies.  In the end it was Rollins who would take the rubber match; and it was the complete game, two-hit gem thrown by Rollins’ Tim Griffin that was the reason.  The series win was a big one for Rollins and is the type of victory against a regional caliber program that they will look to build off of.  They’ll be tested immediately this Wednesday when they travel to Tampa to take on the undefeated Spartans.

The Ouachita Baptist Tigers rode the strong pitching of Will Gowdy to a season opening win, but that was the only they would take up in San Angelo.  The Rams would take the final three games; and put an exclamation point on the series with a 15-5 thumping of Ouachita.  In that game Chris Adamson and and Zak Leonhardt combined for eight hits and eight rbi.

In other Lone Star showdowns Abilene Christian expectedly swept Harding, Southeastern Oklahama took all three from Southwest Baptist and Tarleton State took three of four from Colorado Christian.  This coming weekend all teams open conference play.  The biggest matchup looks to be in San Angelo, where the Rams will host Cameron.

I know California didn’t fall into the Pacific (yet), so for all you fans of the Cali Collegiate lets take a look at what transpired way out west.  UC-San Diego dropped a mid week game to Point Loma Nazarene 8-6, but redeemed themselves by sweeping a quality Western Oregon team 5-4; 6-1; 19-5.  In the final game of the series Vance Albitz and Evan Kehoe had three hits apiece and Brandon Gregorich was a perfect 3 for 3 with a homer and 5 rbi.

Sonoma State opened with a win over San Francisco State 3-1, and then took three of four from Cal State Monterrey Bay 8-7, 16-5, 14-6, 1-2.   Ryan Stevens hit .500 for the week with a pair of doubles and Austin Hogans hit .400 with a double and two home runs.

The Warriors of Cal State Stanislaus dropped their opener to Fresno Pacific 11-7, then beat up on the Academy of Art in a three game series by scoring a total of 51 runs.  Vince Hungerford and David Contreras led the onslaught by each hitting .500 for the week.  The Warriors will find out real fast if they are able to contend with the big boys as they travel cross country to tangle with the Mocs of South Florida this weekend; followed by a return trip to California where Cal State LA will be waiting.

Incarnate Word out of the Heartland Conference is currently the hottest team in Division II baseball.  Although the season is young the only thing you can do is go out and beat the teams on your schedule….and that’s just what they did.  After sweeping Lincoln 5-3, 13-2, 5-2, the Cardinals continued their winning ways by taking all four games from Newman.  Memo Cienfuegas (love that name) hasn’t given up an earned run this season and picked up two wins last week.  Fellow hurler Kirk Jewasko also picked up two wins last week, while giving up a run.  The bats have been hot too, with Daniel Quals,  Matt Roohan and Matt Flores all hitting above .400.  Things may change a bit this week when they are challenged by some more formidable foes in Texas A&M Kingsville and Angelo State.

St. Edwards had a rough start but managed to rebound later in the week.  They actually played the same two teams as Incarnate Word, but with slightly different results.  After dropping their first to games of the season by one run to Newman, the Hilltoppers have managed to put together a five game win streak.  They’ll look to continue their winning ways against St. Mary’s and Texas A&M Kingsville this week.

I’ll finish up this week by finishing back in the southeast. The Fying Fleet of Erskine are just on the outside of our Top 30 rankings and are looking to make some noise to get in.  After two expected wins against stat padders Southern Wesleyan and Atlanta Christian,  the Fleet managed to split a home-and-home with Francis Marion.  Mashers Bryan Fogle and John Boldin were up to their old ways last week, with each blasting a pair of homers.  I can’t leave out Mo Seay; although he only had four hits last week three of them traveled over the fence.

The Trojans of Mount Olive got two very good pitching performances Sean Lydon and Chris Hudson.  The bats were alive in Game One’s 13-1 victory, with Jesse Lancaster and Bobby Leeper rapping out three hits apiece.  In game two Michael Knox hit a grand slam and Daniel Coffey added a two-run shot.

The upset of the week had to be the Railsplitters of Linconl Memorial taking two of three from National power USC-Aiken.  In game one of the series Lincoln Memorial took advantage of ten free passes from the Pacer pitchers en route to a 10-3 win.  The Pacer bats were stymied by Stephen Starbird who gave up five hits over seven strong innings.  After Lincoln took game two 4-3 it was on to Sunday and the final game.  Something makes me think that the USC-Aiken players had a little talk after getting double-dipped Saturday.  They responded with Pacer-like 14-5 win, led by Bill Rice who went 3 for 4 with a triple and a three run bomb to right field.  Next on the schedule for Aiken….Lynn, and a trip to sunny Florida.

Armstrong Atlantic is up to their usual fast start, notching three wins last week against a team I thought was a cigarette brand, Salem international.  The Pirates might get a little more of a test this weekend when Southern Indiana makes the trip to Savannah.  The only problem is, last time I watched the Weather Channel they were getting pounded with snow in Indiana, so they may not have been outside for practice in some time.

Well, that’s all for this weeks round up.  If I missed your team I apologize….I con only do so much.  If anyone would like to email me info regarding the past weeks action or suggesttions please do so….it would make my job a bit easier  jeremy.mohr@pingbaseball.com.   On Thursday I will be previewing my series of the week, which will be Southern Arkansas at Tampa.  I will also be discussing a few more matchups that will be worth mentioning.