This week we dive into the DII baseball Power 10 rankings as the first regional rankings are set to drop, as well as get ready for spring conference tournaments.
JUMP TO BASEBALL POWER 10 | JUMP TO WOMEN'S LACROSSE | WHAT WAYNE'S WATCHING
The DII baseball Power 10 before the first regional rankings
The first DII baseball regional rankings drop this week, so things are starting to shape up for the 2024 DII baseball championship. Although this first regional ranking is alphabetical, my numbers are starting to come together as to what the bracket may look like.
If I were to project the No. 1 seeds in each region, it would look like this:
Locks (as of April 21): Central Missouri (Central), Tampa (South).
The likely No. 1s:
⚾️ North Greenville (Southeast): There is no chance there is a lock at any seed in the Southeast with five teams all in my top 15, but the Crusaders have big in-region wins.
⚾️ Millersville (Atlantic): The Marauders' split with East Stroudsburg means this will be a race to the finish. Right now, Millersville has the edge in metrics and my top RPI in its region.
⚾️ Point Loma (West): With Westmont — aka the thorn in the Sea Lions’ side — ineligible due to NAIA transition and a big early season sweep over Cal State Monterey Bay, I don’t see anyone catching Point Loma.
The your-guess-is-as good-as-mine:
⚾️ Lubbock Christian (South Central): This may be the toughest region to figure out. Colorado Mesa is running away with the RMAC, but its metrics are clumped up right there with the LSC Big Three. The Chaps split the series this weekend over West Texas A&M and had already split with Angelo State — the team that West Texas A&M plays this weekend — but overall have struggled against teams with a winning record. Right now, between Colorado Mesa, WTAMU, Angelo State and LCU, the Chaps have the tougher SOS and higher RPI, giving them the slightest of edges in my book. That Buffs/Rams series will shed more light on the LSC, but if any of those three teams slip up and Colorado Mesa wins out, the Mavericks will be No. 1. Basically, there is entirely too much at stake to crown anyone the clear-cut No. 1 at the present moment.
⚾️ Southern New Hampshire (East): It’s pretty open in the East, but the Penmen have been to Cary three years in a row. They pretty much own the region at this point.
⚾️ Ashland (Midwest): A split with Northwood muddies the waters here. Plus, Maryville (Mo) in the GLVC and Wayne State (MI) and Saginaw Valley State (which have split their season series) in the GLIAC have too much left to crown a sure-fire No. 1 right now.
The sixth 2024 DII baseball Power 10 of the 2024 season
(Games and stats through Sunday, April 21)
No. 1 Tampa, Central Missouri | Previous: 1 (tied). The Spartans are rolling, having scored at least 10 runs in each of their past five games and winning their last eight in a row. This offense doesn’t have a weakness as they can all hit, run and score from top to bottom of the lineup. Throw in the top ERA in DII baseball, and there’s seemingly no stopping them.
The Mules also continue to win and do so with one of the best offenses we’ve seen in the past several seasons. Not only do they lead DII in seemingly every offensive category — their metrics are all among the best overall, not just the Central Region. The Mules are 39-3 since the Houston Winter Invitational and have a huge showdown slated with Missouri Southern next week.
No. 3 North Greenville | Previous: 3. The Crusaders lost a midweek-er in extra innings and responded by pummeling Chowan 46-6 in a three-game sweep over the weekend. They’ve played all the Conference Carolina heavyweights and won every series minus UNC Pembroke. That gives the Crusaders a big upper hand.
No. 4 Point Loma | Previous: 7. See what I wrote above. The Sea Lions have won six in a row. Remember, this team lost some huge pieces from last year’s squad — it feels like they are just getting comfortable.
No. 5 Saint Leo | Previous: 5. The early May showdown with Tampa will not only tell us a lot about the Lions but could shift the power in the SSC if the Lions pull off an improbable sweep. That said, the Lions just keep winning and look very tough.
No. 6 Missouri Southern | Previous: 6. These Lions swept through the weekend (again), have a legitimate ace in Cole Gayman, and two of the better hitters in the region in Henry Kusiak and Will Doherty. Should make for a fun weekend against Central Missouri.
No. 7 Ashland | Previous: The next 10. I have been higher than most on Ashland all season. One way to look at the Eagles is that they haven’t played the strongest schedule, which has held them back in the rankings a bit. The other way to look at it is they have a 76.4% winning percentage against teams with a winning record and are currently dominating their schedule, having won 11 of their last 12. I choose the latter.
No. 8 Millersville | Previous: 4. As I said above, the Marauders have a slight edge in the Atlantic, but back-to-back split weekend series is definitely worth noting. At the end of the day, I think Millersville’s pitching is what helps make a deep run.
No. 9 Mount Olive | Previous: The next 10. The revolving door of Southeast Region teams continues as the Mountain Lions return to the Power 10. The Trojans return after a series win over Belmont Abbey. Young Harris and Mount Olive are so close in the rankings to me, so it comes down to the fact that Mount Olive holds the season advantage over the Mountain Lions.
No. 10 Lubbock Christian | Previous: The next 10. I pretty much explained what you need to know in the No. 1-seed discussion. One additional tidbit, if the Chaps hold on and are the No. 1 seed in the South Central, Carson Ogilvie may very well be your player of the year.
The next 10ish (in alphabetical order): It is really close in the next tier of teams. Young Harris and West Texas A&M narrowly missed a spot in the Power 10. Since my metrics showed a tie between a few of the teams, this week there are 12 teams listed:
⚾️ Angelo State, Arkansas Tech, Augustana (SD), Barton, Catawba, Colorado Mesa, East Stroudsburg, Lee, Maryville (Mo), Westmont, West Texas A&M, Young Harris
Teams I’m watching closely: Cal State Monterey Bay, Central Oklahoma, Charleston (WV), Seton Hill, Southern Arkansas
🥍 Watch out for these offenses in the DII women’s lacrosse championship
You want to know how to win the DII women’s lacrosse championship? Score a ton of goals. The winner of the last five championship matches has scored double digits, and last year, Pace scored 71 goals in four games to win it all.
Now that we’ve seen some regional rankings, which high-powered offenses can win on pure firepower alone?
Maryville (MO). Heading into conference championships, the Saints have the highest-scoring offense in DII, averaging just over 20 goals per game. They are 16-0 and have won their last six games, including a big one over No. 12 UIndy, by a total score of 118-45, so they have the defense as well. Sydney Tiemann leads the charge, among DII’s top goal scorers with 92 — having scored at least six goals in each of her past three games — and is top 3 in total points as well with 119. But Jessie Hines (50 goals) and Helen Bae (48 goals) make a tricky trio of big-time scorers for opposing defenses to stop.
Florida Southern. Have you ever seen Jackie Stoller play? Stoller has been as steady as it comes for a top-5 scoring offense in DII, having scored a goal in every game she’s played in her two-year career. She has scored at least two goals in every game this season. The Mocs score just about 18 goals per game, so Stoller is by no means a one-woman show. Madison Tare scores 3.23 goals per game on an impressive 59.8% shot percentage, so defenses can’t rely on simply taking Stoller out of the game.
Flagler. The Saints are winners of five in a row, wrapping up their second-straight Gulf South Conference regular-season crown. Most impressively, Flagler is averaging 20.8 goals over that five-game run. Carley Tepel in particular has been red hot, scoring at least seven goals in three of her last four games. The team has six players who scored at least 26 goals thus far in 2024. They are also the No. 3 seed in the East, so the Saints look to be DII women’s lacrosse championship-bound once again.
👀 What Wayne's Watching 👀
Baseball
⚾️ Missouri Southern at Central Missouri, April 26-28
⚾️ West Texas A&M at Angelo State, April 26-28
⚾️ Wingate at Catawba, April 26-27
⚾️ Goldey-Beacom at Wilmington (DE), April 27
⚾️ Lee at West Florida, April 26-27
🏆 Welcome to conference spring tournament season! 🥎 🎾 🥍 ⛳️ 🏃🏽
🥎 DII softball
CACC | April 27, May 2-4
Conference Carolinas | April 25-28
NE10 | April 30, May 2-4
Peach Belt | April 26-May 4
SAC | April 26-28, May 3-4
SIAC | April 29-May 1
🥍 Men’s lacrosse conference semifinals and finals
Conference Carolinas | April 26, 28
SAC | April 24, 28
SSC | April 24, 27
🥍 Women’s lacrosse conference semifinals and finals
Conference Carolinas | April 25, 27
GLVC | April 26-28
GSC | April 26, 28
SAC | April 24, 28
SSC | April 25, 28
🏃🏽♂️ Men’s and women’s outdoor track and field championships
Conference Carolinas | April 26-27
MEC | April 28-30
PacWest | April 26-27
Peach Belt | April 29-30
RMAC | April 26-28
SIAC | April 25-27
🎾 Men’s and women’s tennis
CACC (men’s only) | April 27, 30-May 1
CIAA (women’s) | April 26-27
Conference Carolinas | April 26-28
ECC (men’s only) | April 26-27
GAC (women’s only) | April 25-27
GLIAC | April 26-28
G-MAC | April 25-27
GSC | April 27-29
LSC | April 25-27
NSIC (women’s) | April 26-28
Peach Belt | April 26-28
SSC | April 26-28
⛳️ Men’s and women’s golf
CCAA | April 22-24
GAC | April 21-23
GLVC | (men’s) April 21-23 (women’s) April 26-28
G-MAC | (men’s) April 22-24 (women’s) April 25-27
GNAC | April 22-23
GSC | April 22-24
LSC | (men’s) April 25-27
MIAA | (women’s) April 22-24
NSIC | (women’s) April 26-28
PSAC | (women’s) April 26-28
RMAC|April 21-23
SAC | (men’s) April 21-23
SIAC | (men’s) April 22-24
SSC | (men’s) April 20-23
Stars of the week:
Conference golf championships got an early start, and we already have some title winners. North Greenville won the Conference Carolinas women’s golf championship; DBU won the Lone Star Conference women’s golf championship; Minnesota State had the top-three finishers to take the NSIC men's golf title; Missouri Southern won the MIAA men’s golf championship; and Hawaii Hilo men and Biola women took home the PacWest golf championships.
Hat tip to East Stroudsburg's Brent Francisco. Francisco has been one of the more dominant pitchers in DII for the past two seasons and became the Warriors' all-time strikeout king this past weekend.
How about former Millersville Marauder Ashley Moyer-Gleich? She made history as the second woman to officiate an NBA playoff game. Did you know four female NBA referees have roots in DII? I sat down with three of them during Moyer-Gleich's "rookie" season in 2018 — it was one of the more memorable interviews I've had the honor of conducting. You can read it here.
On the Radar
⚾️ 🥎 First DII baseball and softball regional rankings of 2024, April 24.
🏈 2024 NFL draft, April 25-27.
🏆 The 2024 DII Championships Festival (Spring), May 19-25: This includes men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, and softball. Visit the DII Festival hub.
🥍 DII men’s lacrosse championship, May 26.
🏟 DII baseball championship, June 1-8.
⚾️ 2024 MLB draft, July 14.
Did I miss someone or something? It sure is possible. Don’t forget to drop me a line at Wayne.Cavadi@WBD.com and get your stars of the week in by every Monday.
