Around New England – March 21

Well Spring is finally here, apparently. With more this week in New England it’s hard to imagine baseball season is underway. But, another week has been put in the books as teams are starting to return home from spring trips. There is also a bit of a shakeup in the national and regional rankings.

National Rankings

Off to a 7-2 start, St. Joseph’s is the highest ranked team in this week’s D3Baseball.com national poll. The Monks were slated ninth this week, one spot ahead of preseason favorite Wheaton. The Lyons have stumbled of late, posting a 5-4 record on the season. Western New England is the only other New England team ranked in the top 25, coming in at No. 12.

Eastern Connecticut (28), Trinity (22), Southern Maine (13) and Tufts (1) are all receiving votes.

NED3Baseball Regional Rankings

1. St. Joseph’s (7-2): The Monks have lost two games but still remain atop New England in week two of our rankings.

2. Western New England (5-2): The Golden Bears jump all the way up to No. 2 thanks to a strong spring trip. A victory over Cortland State helps as well.

3. Eastern Connecticut (8-1): The Warriors are making the most of their favorable early-season schedule and are off to a 8-1 start behind Tom Darby and Evan Chamberlain.

4. Wheaton (5-4): Despite the four losses they are still one of the best teams in the region.

5. Suffolk (7-1): The Rams are off to a great start as their offense continues to run on all cylinders.

6. Southern Maine (3-1): The Huskies have only managed to play four games but have nine games coming up in Florida.

7. Wentworth (8-2): The Leopards are off to one of their best starts in recent memory behind Co-National Hitter of the Week Jake Mailman.

8. Endicott (4-0): The Gulls opened a very difficult spring trip with four-straight victories.

Around New England

For the second-straight week the big story has to be the start that Suffolk is having. If anyone is going to challenge the Monks in the GNAC, it is going to be the Rams. Suffolk is hitting .358 as a team and has posted a 4.04 ERA.

Even with all the preseason turmoil, Eastern Connecticut has managed to come out of the gates hot behind stellar starting pitching. The Warriors have posted a 2.08 team ERA over the first nine games. Even more impressive, the pitching staff has struck out 90 batters and issued just 29 walks. Senior Tom Darby is showing he’s one of the best in the region with a 3-0 record and 1.06 ERA. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is 23:3.

The surprise story of the 2012 Little East tournament, Plymouth State has opened with a 7-2 record. The Panthers are hitting .337 as a team and are led by junior Jeff Runnals (.393, 2 2B, 3 3B, 12 RBI).

After a tough year in 2012, MIT looks to be primed for another solid season this spring. The Engineers opened their season with three league games, sweeping Clark last weekend. MIT’s pitching staff is one of the best in New England and showed it, allowing just four runs in the three-game sweep. The Engineers will now head to Florida for six games, opening play with a three-game conference series against Springfield.