Between COVID and the cold, action on college diamonds has been throttled so far this season. With its earlier start date, a handful of NAIA teams have been able to string together a couple weeks of action, but single-digit game totals is still the norm around the country so far. As a result there isn’t much of a shakeup in the first small school rankings update. There have only been a few minor adjustments to the NAIA positioning and their NCAA counterparts remain unchanged.   

NAIA

Top-rated Tennessee Wesleyan has performed as predicted out of the gate with a perfect 6-0 record. The Bulldogs outscored Marian and IU Southeast by a combined 80-14 margin and have been dominating both at the plate and on the mound. 

Offensively, shortstop Gary Mattis, designated hitter Zach Houguisson, and first baseman Alex Flock each have already hit six home runs; that’s not a combined total either, they’ve amazingly each accomplished that task. Even more mind-blowingly incredible is that Mattis performed the feat in only 12 at-bats. The trio is batting a combined .596 with 29 runs, 91 total bases and only three strikeouts in 52 at-bats. The offense isn’t limited to just those three players either. The team is batting a collective .403 and has achieved a double-digit run total in each of their six contests.

The TWU pitchers have been nearly as dominant. Only once in their six games has an opponent mustered to plate more than a single run. In 45 innings on the mound the Bulldog staff has struck out 55 batters and only allowed 26 hits to hold opposition to a .164 batting average.  

Tennessee Wesleyan was supposed to host another quality team off to a hot start in Cumberlands this week, but the game was called due to weather. Nevertheless, the Bulldogs’ winning ways and dominance will be tested. Their next eight games are all against teams currently in the Perfect Game Top 25 as they are scheduled to face Indiana Tech, Georgia Gwinnett and Reinhardt.

Rank	Prev	School	State	Record	Last Week
1	1	Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs	TN	6-0	3-0
2	2	USAO Drovers	OK	0-0	0-0
3	3	Southeastern Fire	FL	10-0	3-0
9	4	Cumberlands Patriots	KY	4-0	1-0
4	5	St. Thomas Bobcats	FL	4-4	3-1
7	6	Faulkner Eagles	AL	5-0	3-0
6	7	LSU Shreveport Pilots	LA	2-2	0-0
8	8	Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies	GA	4-2	3-0
15	9	Bryan Lions	TN	6-2	2-0
10	10	Indiana Southeast Grenadiers	IN	3-3	0-3
11	11	Campbellsville Tigers	KY	0-0	0-0
12	12	Oklahoma City Stars	OK	2-2	0-0
13	13	Benedicine Mesa Redhawks	AZ	7-4	2-3
15	14	Vanguard Lions	CA	7-1	3-1
5	15	Freed-Hardeman Lions	TN	2-5	0-3
16	16	Central Methodist Eagles	MO	4-0	0-0
17	17	Keiser Seahawks	FL	12-2	1-2
NR	18	Lewis-Clark State Warriors	ID	7-1	3-0
19	19	Indiana Tech Warriors	IN	0-0	0-0
20	20	Georgetown Tigers	KY	0-0	0-0
21	21	Wayland Baptist Pioneers	TX	6-2	0-0
22	22	Reinhardt Eagles	GA	4-3	3-0
23	23	Central Baptist Mustangs	AK	2-2	0-0
24	24	Concordia Cardinals	MI	0-0	0-0
25	25	Lyon Scots	AR	0-0	0-0

Dropped Out: Arizona Christian

NCAA D-II

At the NCAA D-II level, only half the teams have been able to take to the diamond so far this spring. There haven’t been any big surprises and consequently there are no changes to the rankings. 

The biggest series to-date was played on the opening weekend when top-ranked Angelo State visited 17th-ranked Texas Tyler. The Rams had two lopsided wins over the Patriots, but were also edged 2-1 by UT Tyler when ASU left 14 runners on base in a defeat. Preseason Player of the Year favorite Josh Elvir has continued his string of impressive hitting as he had at least one hit in each of the contests, which also included a home run. 

Rank	Prev	School	State	Record	Last Week
1	1	Angelo State Rams	TX	2-1	0-0
2	2	Central Missouri Mules	MO	3-1	0-0
3	3	Colorado Mesa Mavericks	CO	0-0	0-0
4	4	Tampa Spartans	FL	0-0	0-0
5	5	North Greenville Crusaders	SC	1-0	1-0
6	6	Mount Olive Trojans	NC	1-0	1-0
7	7	Catawba Indians	NC	1-0	1-0
8	8	Augustana Vikings	SD	0-0	0-0
9	9	Columbus St. Cougars	GA	0-0	0-0
10	10	Minnesota State Mavericks	MN	0-0	0-0
11	11	Georgia College Bobcats	GA	0-0	0-0
12	12	West Texas A&M Buffs	TX	5-1	2-0
13	13	North Georgia Nighthawks	GA	5-1	3-0
14	14	Southern Arkansas Muleriders	AR	2-1	2-1
15	15	Delta State Statesmen	MS	1-2	0-0
16	16	Azusa Pacific Cougars	CA	0-0	0-0
17	17	Texas Tyler Patriots	TX	4-2	3-0
18	18	Ashland Eagles	OH	0-0	0-0
19	19	Nova Southeastern Sharks	FL	0-0	0-0
20	20	East Stroudsburg Warriors	PA	0-0	0-0
21	21	Newberry Wolves	SC	0-1	0-1
22	22	UNC Pembroke Braves	NC	2-0	2-0
23	23	Wingate Bulldogs	NC	0-0	0-0
24	24	Millersville Marauders	PA	0-0	0-0
25	25	Davenport Panters	MI	0-0	0-0

NCAA D-III

No teams in the D-III Top 25 have played yet this season. 

Rank	Prev	School	State	Record	Last Week
1	1	Webster Gorloks	MO	0-0	0-0
2	2	Southern Maine Huskies	ME	0-0	0-0
3	3	Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets	VA	0-0	0-0
4	4	UW-Whitewater Warhawks	WI	0-0	0-0
5	5	Cal Lutheran Kingsmen	CA	0-0	0-0
6	6	North Central Cardinals	IL	0-0	0-0
7	7	Concordia Tornados	TX	0-0	0-0
8	8	Cortland State Red Dragons	NY	0-0	0-0
9	9	Trinity Tigers	TX	0-0	0-0
10	10	Adrian Bulldogs	MI	0-0	0-0
11	11	Texas Lutheran Bulldogs	TX	0-0	0-0
12	11	Chapman Panthers	CA	0-0	0-0
13	13	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	MD	0-0	0-0
14	14	Shenandoah Hornets	VA	0-0	0-0
15	15	Salisbury Seagulls	MD	0-0	0-0
16	16	Washington Bears	MO	0-0	0-0
17	17	Kean Cougars	NJ	0-0	0-0
18	18	UMass-Boston Beacons	MA	0-0	0-0
19	19	Rowan Profs	NJ	0-0	0-0
20	20	Spalding Eagles	KY	0-0	0-0
21	21	Babson Beavers	MA	0-0	0-0
22	22	Heidelberg Student Princes	OH	0-0	0-0
23	21	Concordia University Chicago Cougars	IL	0-0	0-0
24	24	Tufts Jumbos	MA	0-0	0-0
25	25	Christopher Newport Captains	VA	0-0	0-0