13 Apr

family matters

Welcome to the meat of the conference season in college baseball. The magnitude of each game grows larger, especially for the smaller schools, whose seasons are winding down. … NCAA Division III Mississippi College (14-19, 5-7 American Southwest Conference) faces a key series at home this weekend against East Texas Baptist. The Choctaws, who’ve dropped five straight games, are currently fifth in the ASC East; the top four make the postseason. … D-III Millsaps (22-10, 7-1 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) is sitting pretty at the moment but certainly wants to keep its momentum in a home series against rival Rhodes. … NAIA Belhaven (31-15, 14-10 Southern States Athletic Conference) goes on the road to Shorter. The defending league champion Blazers, beaten in a league series by in-state rival William Carey last weekend, are seeking consistency. … Carey, meanwhile, is 25-20 and 12-11 SSAC and also headed to Georgia for a league series against Emmanuel. … D-II Delta State (24-10, 9-6 Gulf South Conference) welcomes league newcomer New Orleans to Ferriss Field in Cleveland. The Statesmen surely are eyeing a sweep. … In the Division I SWAC, first-place Jackson State (21-10, 13-2) faces a road test at Alabama State, while in-state rivals Alcorn State (7-27, 6-6) and Mississippi Valley (7-26, 6-9) face off in a pivotal series in Itta Bena. … Ole Miss got a jump — sort of — on the weekend with a Thursday night game at Georgia. The nationally ranked Rebels (23-11, 6-7 SEC) were tripped up by the Dawgs as closer Brett Huber absorbed his second loss of the year and saw his ERA rise to 5.25. Ouch. … Mississippi State (21-12, 5-7) faces the unenviable task of taking on defending national champ South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. USC is just 5-7 in the SEC and very hungry. … And Southern Miss (19-13, 3-3 Conference-USA) gets nationally ranked Central Florida in Hattiesburg. There is no overstating how big that series is for the young Golden Eagles.
P.S. A nod to Blue Mountain, which is 19-20 and 7-8 in the TranSouth Conference in just its second season of baseball. Keep an eye on this NAIA program.

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