We are getting to an exciting time of the season in college baseball. As the temperature finally is creeping up, the Div-III conference playoffs are getting close an playoff seeding is beginning to solidify and the Div-I and Div-II teams are deep into their conference schedules as well. This week we had coverage of St. John’s-Hofstra, Adelphi-AIC, Maritime-Farmingdale as well as Molloy-St. Thomas Aquinas.
Here’s the latest power rankings…
Division-I:
- St. John’s (Record: 26-10, Stock UP)
2. Fordham (Record: 23-14-1, Stock DOWN)
3. Hofstra (Record: 17-15, Stock UP)
4. Stony Brook (Record: 21-17, Stock DOWN)
Analysis: Huge weekend for Hofstra, as they were reeling after a rough stretch, they came away with a sweep of CAA-leading College of Charleston and they did so in dramatic fashion with a walk-off three-run shot by Rob Weissheier to get Teddy Cillis the victory. On Friday, John Rooney continued his other-worldly season with a CG shutout lowering his season ERA to 0.97. Another sweep by St. John’s and they are absolutely rolling. They started their week with a victory over Hofstra before sweeping Georgetown this weekend. The starters continued their trend of lights-out baseball, allowing just one ER over the three-game series. The are 9-0 in Big East play.
Division-II:
- LIU Post (Record: 24-14, Stock EVEN)
2. Adelphi (Record: 20-14-1, Stock UP)
3. Molloy (Record: 23-18, Stock DOWN)
4. Pace (Record: 15-14-1, Stock EVEN)
5. Queens (Record: 12-22, Stock EVEN)
6. NYIT (Record: 8-22-1, Stock EVEN
Analysis: LIU Post surprisingly split with Mercy, this is big news because they will now have to sweep Molloy next weekend if they want to jump them in the standings. As for Molloy, their unbelievable stretch to start conference play was eventually going to stop, but it did come at a bad time this weekend against St. Thomas Aquinas, and they were unable to stop the bleeding and salvage a win. I was there today and you can see STAC is just playing at another level right now. They are loaded everywhere. Molloy and LIU Post will be a fun series this weekend, as the teams are very balanced and it will be competitive with plenty of intensity. Adelphi bounced back from a loss in the first game of their series against AIC with back-to-back victories. They look really dangerous right now as their offense has come to life and they have five regulars hitting over .300 and their depth in the bullpen is really coming to the forefront as they are able to withstand mediocre outings with their bevy of quality arms.
Division-III:
- Farmingdale State (Record: 20-11, 12-4 conference)
2. USMMA (Record: 23-10, 10-6 conference)
3. Maritime (Record: 21-12, 9-7 conference)
4. Old Westbury (Record: 17-13, 9-5 conference)
5. St. Joseph’s (Record: 18-14, 11-5 conference)
Analysis: I think Farmingdale has really showed something the past two weeks. They split with Maritime yesterday and bounced back with a DH sweep of USMMA today. It’s really anyone’s game in the postseason, though, and home field actually means very little. How about this fact? A hosting team has not won the conference tournament since 2013. Also, credit to St. Joseph’s for bouncing back from last weekend and went 6-1 in a busy week.
