Saturday, April 25, 2009

UNC Pembroke baseball routs USC Aiken 17-3

The University of South Carolina-Aiken baseball team saw its 16-game winning streak snapped with a 17-3 rout by UNC Pembroke Friday night. Click here to see how UNCP's win impacts the Peach Belt Conference regular season title race.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Big baseball weekend...and more...

The next to last weekend in April has multiple games with conference tournament implications. Speaking of which, there's a very important conference softball tournament being played in South Carolina. So, without further ado, here goes. All series listed are played Saturday and Sunday unless otherwise indicated.

Baseball

Ouachita Baptist at Southern Arkansas: The top-ranked (Collegiate Baseball D-II) Muleriders play host to the No. 25 Tigers in an unlikely match-up of top teams in the Gulf South Conference West Division. Having already clinched a berth in the GSC tournament, SAU (38-7, 14-1) is riding a season-high 17-game winning streak, and hopes to continue that amazing run against OBU (33-14, 8-7).

West Alabama at North Alabama: The No. 10 (and current GSC East leader) Tigers (31-10, 10-1) have already clinched a berth in the GSC tournament, and will look to build on its eight-game winning streak against a Lions team (30-17, 4-5) that's in a must-win situation in this critical series. It's one that UNA must have to stay in postseason contention.

Columbus State at Armstrong Atlantic State: The three-game tilt between the Cougars (24-17, 10-10) and the Pirates (29-16, 7-11) is just one of many critical series in the always tough Peach Belt Conference. Remember, only the top eight teams (out of 10) advance to the two-day, single-elimination tournament next month.

GC&SU at UNC Pembroke: The No. 8 Bobcats (29-11, 14-7) will look to hang on to first place in the PBC against the red-hot Braves (33-13, 10-10), who have won 11 straight games.

Lander at USC Aiken: The Pacers (30-14, 13-8) hope to keep pace with the Bobcats with a series win against the eighth-place Bearcats (25-17, 8-11).

Honorable mention: Augusta State at Francis Marion, Delta State at Arkansas Tech, Valdosta State at Montevallo.

Softball

Peach Belt Conference Tournament (at Florence, S.C.): Regular season champion and second-ranked (NFCA D-II) North Georgia enters this tourney as the obvious favorite. The Saints (40-3, 17-1 PBC) advanced to Saturday's winner's bracket with an easy 9-0 win over Georgia Southwestern, while No. 2 seed and defending tournament champion Georgia College & State University fell into the loser's bracket after being upset by host Francis Marion 2-1 on Friday.

Peach Belt Conference Softball Tournament Website

Valdosta State at West Alabama: The No. 7 Lady Blazers (43-6, 17-2) can move one step closer towards clinching the GSC East crown with a sweep over the Tigers (39-10, 11-8).

West Florida at West Georgia: The Wolves (29-20, 11-8) play host to the Argonauts (37-13, 12-9) in another critical GSC East twinbill.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Baseball on Easter Weekend

Easter is just around the corner...Here are the big baseball series being played in D-II South Nation this weekend...

NOTE: All series will be played Friday and Saturday, weather permitting.

Gulf South Conference

West Florida at Alabama-Huntsville: With No. 11 (Collegiate Baseball) West Alabama already having clinched a GSC tournament berth, not to mention playing Talladega (Ala.) in a non-conference series, the battle between the Argonauts (26-17 overall) and Chargers (21-9) takes center stage in the East Division this weekend. Both teams are in a virtual tie for second place, with UWF sitting at 6-6 in conference play, while UAH is 4-4.

North Alabama at Valdosta State: This series is critical too, as the Blazers play host to the Lions in a battle to stay in conference tournament contention. No. 28 UNA comes into this series at 3-3, while VSU takes a 4-5 league mark into this trio of games.

Henderson State at Harding: The Bisons (24-19) are riding a five-game winning streak into their series against the Reddies (28-12), who at 4-8 in the GSC West Division, find themselves in a must-win situation to keep themselves in the GSC tournament discussion.

Arkansas Tech at Ouachita Baptist: The Tigers (28-14) find themselves in the same boat as the Reddies, as they take a 5-7 GSC West record into their series against the 19-23 Wonder Boys. ATU, though, does have a winning record in conference play at 7-5.

Peach Belt Conference

Georgia College & State University at Columbus State: The No. 8 Bobcats (26-10, 12-6) hit the road to face the Cougars in one of many crucial series in the PBC this Easter weekend. GC&SU took two out of three games from Francis Marion last weekend, while CSU (21-15, 9-8) hopes to bounce back after losing two of three at Lander.

Augusta State at USC Aiken: If you thought the rivalry between the men's basketball teams was intense, the battle between the baseball squads will just as fierce. Both USCA (26-14, 10-8) and ASU (20-21, 8-7) are separated by mere percentage points in the battle for second place in the PBC. But depending upon what happens in this series, as well as the aforementioned between GC&SU and CSU, either team could be alone at the top by the end of the day on Saturday.

Honorable mention: UNC Pembroke at Lander, Georgia Southwestern at Francis Marion, Armstrong Atlantic State at North Georgia.

Saturday, April 04, 2009

No such thing as an unimportant series

Now that basketball season is finally over, the focus can now fully shift to spring sports such as baseball. With just a handful of slots available for conference tournaments, there's no such things as a three-game series that can't be considered important. At least that's the case in terms of a team's hopes of advancing to that own aforementioned conference tournaments, and beyond. With that in mind, let's take a brief look at some select series to be played this weekend, weather permitting, that is.

Gulf South Conference

West Alabama at West Florida: The No. 11 (Collegiate Baseball) Tigers (23-9 overall) hope to stay unbeaten in GSC play against the Argonauts in a battle of the East Division's top two teams. UWF (25-15) holds second place in the division at 5-4 in conference play.

Alabama-Huntsville at Montevallo: After getting off to a fast start, the Chargers (18-8 overall) have struggled to 1-4 record in GSC East Division action, as they face a Falcons squad that's 3-6 in league games so far.

West Georgia at Valdosta State: The Blazers host the Wolves in this critical battle of Georgia rivals. VSU (25-13) is 2-4 in the GSC East, while UWG (10-20) comes in at 1-2.

Delta State at Henderson State: The No. 24 Statesmen (8-1 in GSC) hope to keep at least a share of first place in the West Division against the Reddies, who have struggled to 3-6 mark in league games despite an overall record of 25-10.

Arkansas Tech at Southern Arkansas: The fifth-ranked Muleriders (8-1) also will look to keep pace with the Statesmen against a Wonder Boys squad that sits just one game back of both teams at 7-2. That's despite the fact that ATU is only one game below .500 overall at 19-20.

Peach Belt Conference

With 10 teams vying for only eight spots in a two-day, single-elimination conference tournament, every series against a PBC opponent is critical in terms of who will stick around come May, and who won't. Let's quickly cut to the chase.

Francis Marion at GC&SU: The No. 8 Bobcats have already won one game in this three-game set, crushing the No. 23 Patriots 11-5 on Friday. The same two teams square off in a doubleheader later today. GC&SU currently is in its first place in the PBC with an 11-5 league record.

USC Aiken at Armstrong Atlantic State: After a sluggish start to the season, the Pirates have come on strong in recent weeks, fighting their way to a 6-6 mark in PBC action. They'll face a Pacers team that trails them by mere percentage points at 7-8.

Columbus State at Lander: The Cougars (18-13 overall) enter this weekend's critical series against the Bearcats in second place at 8-6. Speaking of the Bearcats, they're among the multiple teams jockeying for seeding position for the PBC tourney with a conference record of 6-7.

North Georgia at Augusta State: How's this series for being in the odd category? The Saints come into this series with an overall record of 19-18 (10-8 in the PBC). On the flip side, the Jaguars come in at 18-19 overall (6-6).

UNC Pembroke at Georgia Southwestern: The Hurricanes (14-22, 6-9) play host to the Braves (23-13, 4-10) in a critical PBC teams. With both squads sitting at the bottom of the league standings, neither team can afford a slip up if they hope to stay in contention for berths in the conference tournament.