April 20th D2 Baseball Top 25: Changes in Top 5, Two Big Jumps, and Three Teams Enter Rankings

Full rankings: diviibaseball.com/rankings

For some conferences, it's the final week of the regular season. Here's the latest of changes in the D2 Baseball Top 25.

Colorado Mesa (42-3) remains at No.1 after a home sweep of Regis. Jackson Eisenhauer threw 4 shutout innings for the Mavericks on Saturday to lower his ERA to an RMAC-best 2.31 over 46.2 innings. Colorado Mesa is one of two teams to reach 40+ wins this season and have won 41 straight games vs D2 opponents.

North Greenville (40-7) remains at No.2 after a 4-0 week with a midweek win at Lincoln Memorial and a three-game sweep over Chowan. CJ Dean had 2 hits in each game this week and is on a 7-game RBI streak. He leads the team in hitting at .425 and is 4th in the conference. Tampa (33-7) moves up one spot to No.3 after a road sweep of Rollins in the D2 Baseball Series of the Week. B.J. Bailey continues his impressive season, throwing a 9-inning complete game, allowing just one run. He is 2nd in the country in ERA at 1.38.

Catawba drops one spot to No.4 this week. The Indians swept Newberry on the weekend, but dropped a midweek game to Mount Olive. Brandon Crabtree hit a go-ahead 2-run home run in the 9th inning in Game 2 of the Newberry series. He leads the conference with a .432 batting average.

Pittsburg State (33-8) remains at No.5 after winning two road midweek games, one against Southwest Baptist and one against RV Missouri S&T. Dagen Brewer mashed his 20th home run on Wednesday (2nd in D2). He's a POTY candidate with his .458 average, 1.594 OPS, 18 doubles, 20 HR, and 86 RBI (he has an outside chance of breaking the all-time single season RBI record of 104.

Grand Valley State (33-7) took three of four against Saginaw Valley State, keeping them at No.7. Collin Bradley retook the national ERA lead with 7 innings of one-run ball over the weekend, dropping it to 1.27.

Francis Marion (37-9) went 3-1 on the week, winning a road series at Erskine with a midweek win over then-ranked Wingate, remaining at No.8. Charlie Bussey III broke the school's HR record with his 31st with the program. Bussey III is a POTY candidate, hitting .506 with a 1.527 OPS with 17 doubles, 17 home runs, 67 RBI, and 36 stolen bases.

UT Tyler (37-9) went 4-0 at home vs Oklahoma Christian to improve their win streak to nine. The Patriots are two wins away from winning the LSC Regular Season Title outright. Cole Ketnzer (.423 batting average) and Julio Garcia (2.85 ERA) performed well this past weekend and are the conference leaders in their respective categories.

Rogers State (36-7) took two of three at home against Washburn as well as a midweek win over Central Oklahoma. The Hillcats are in the driver's seat for the MIAA Regular Season title. Luis Fuentes is on an eight game hitting streak and leads the team with a .400 batting average.

Cal State Monterey Bay (32-10) jumps three spots to No.11 after a four-game sweep against Cal State San Bernardino in a series to watch pick. Seton Hill (33-8) jumps six spots after a 4-1 week, taking three of four against Cal U in a series to watch pick and a midweek win over Point Park.

Young Harris (33-13) jumps three spots to No.13 after a road series win against Belmont Abbey. West Alabama (32-11) drops three spots to No.14 after losing two of three to now-ranked Lee. Belmont Abbey (33-11) drops two spots to No.15 after a series loss to Young Harris, but a midweek win over ranked Lenoir-Rhyne. Speaking of Lenoir-Rhyne (32-10-1), they drop four spots to No.16 after the loss to Belmont Abbey in the midweek. The Bears did take two of three against Tusculum, however.

North Georgia (35-11) played one midweek game against Anderson and won it. The Nighthawks stay at No.17.

Central Missouri (30-11) went 2-2, dropping a series at Emporia State with a midweek over Northwest Missouri State, which drops them three spots to No.18. Wayne State (MI) (30-9) remains at No.19 with a sweep over Roosevelt and a midweek loss to Hillsdale.

Lee (31-14) enters at No.20. The Flames beat ranked Young Harris in a midweek series and beat West Alabama in two of three games.

Saint Mary's (TX) (35-11) remains at No.21 after the Rattlers took three of four games against UTPB.

Minnesota State (30-9) jumps three spots after going 5-1 on the week. The Mavericks swept Augustana in a 3-game series on Wednesday and Thursday and took two of three against Minnesota-Crookston on Saturday and Sunday.

West Chester (29-8) re-enters at No.23 after a 5-0 week, beating Goldey-Beacom and sweeping Shepherd to retake the lead in the PSAC East.

Northwest Nazarene (30-12) enters at No.24 after a series win over Saint Martin's. Two wins this weekend gives the Nighthawks the GNAC Regular Season Title.

Rollins (27-12) drops five spots to No.25 after a 1-3 week. The Tars beat Palm Beach Atlantic in a midweek contest before getting swept by Tampa on the road.

Conference Top 25 Breakdown:

Conference Carolinas (4), MIAA (3), SAC (2), Sunshine State (2), Lone Star (2), GLIAC (2), Gulf South (2), PSAC (2)

CCAA, GNAC, NSIC, PacWest, Peach Belt, RMAC - 1 each

Region Top 25 Breakdown:

Southeast (7), South (4), Central (4), South Central (3), West (3), Midwest (2), Atlantic (2)

ENTERED: Lee (20), West Chester (23), Northwest Nazarene (24)

DROPPED: West Florida (22), Wingate (23), MSU Denver (24)

RECEIVING VOTES (ALPHABETICAL): Angelo State (32-14), Augustana (28-12), Bentley (28-10), Eckerd (28-11), Emporia State (30-13), Flagler (30-14), Missouri S&T (27-13), Missouri Southern (29-13), Molloy (29-7) MSU Denver (32-10), Northwest Missouri State (27-12), Southern New Hampshire (30-9), USC Aiken (33-13), West Florida (32-13), Wingate (32-14)

Full Top 25: