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.