Brendan Dougherty and the Coastal Carolina coaching staff have leadoff man Rico Noel and the rest of the Chanticleers pointed in the right direction.

I mean, when was the last time you saw teams like LeMoyne, Southeastern Louisiana and Western Kentucky listed in the Team of the Week feature? Never, right? Well here we are now people. All three are included in this week’s honorees.

From Downeast Maine to the Florida Keys and stretching to Puget Sound and the Hawaiian Islands, here is the East to West roster for some of the teams that deserve a shout across the rooftops for the past seven days in college baseball.

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EAST:

- LeMoyne (2-1)
W6-2 at No. 26 Southern Miss
L10-3 at No. 26 Southern Miss
W12-11 at No. 26 Southern Miss

I don’t think anyone this side of Nostrodamus saw this one coming. The Dolphins withstood a furious rally by the Eagles in Sunday’s getaway game, holding off a pair of additional run-scoring threats in the last three innings. LeMoyne is certainly a team worth keeping an eye on, last year the Dolphins went 14-6 from mid-April to the end of the regular season and returned nearly everyone from that ‘09 team. Next up for the Big Green?… the team you see below.

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Honorable Mention:
- Louisville (4-0)
W7-2 vs. Morehead State
W2-0 vs. Michigan
W17-6 vs. Michigan State
W5-4 vs. Minnesota

Impressive pitching performance from starter Thomas Royse (6.0inns, 9Ks, 2Hs) and reliever Neil Holland (3.0inns, 3Ks, 0Hs) against the Wolverines. Gutty win vs. the Gophers too, with the jog-off home run from Phil Wunderlich, proving that even though Chris Dominguez is no longer in the order, it’s still a potent offense with some power still around.

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SOUTH:

- (Tie) East Carolina and Coastal Carolina

ECU (3-1):
W11-2 vs. Old Dominion
L6-2 vs. No. 18 South Carolina
W4-3 vs. No. 18 South Carolina
W4-2 vs. No. 18 South Carolina

CCU (5-0):
W2-0 at Wake Forest
W11-7 vs. James Madison
W7-3 vs. No. 4 UC Irvine
W13-6 vs. No. 4 UC Irvine
W6-3 vs. North Carolina State

I’ve spent a good bit of bandwith writing about the wicked-good weekend that these two teams have had, so I won’t beat a dead horse here. They’re good. They’ve proven it and now we’ll see how the rest of the season treats them. Not that they need more testing, but some good matchups lie ahead for both in the next few weeks. ECU will make a west coast trek to play Cal State Northridge and Pepperdine and CCU will have teams like Ball State, Michigan and Illinois come calling soon.

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Honorable Mention:
- Western Kentucky (3-0)
W5-1 vs. No. 28 Texas A&M
W4-3 vs. Texas State
W6-2 at Baylor

Let’s hope this team doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. Despite the huge shadow cast by the Carolina teams above and teams like Southeastern Louisiana and LeMoyne stealing a lot of the mid-major thunder out there in college baseball land, a huge story is developing here with the Hilltoppers. They went to to QTI Classic in Waco and ran every other team out of town, including the two Big 12 monsters.

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MIDWEST:

- Southeastern Louisiana (4-0)
W15-1 vs. Mississippi Valley State
W4-1 at Mississippi State
W8-5 at Mississippi State
W6-5 at Mississippi State

Yes, before you guys start your screaming, I lump the Southland Conference into the Midwest section. But if I had a Team of the Week for the nation, it’d be SLU as well. What a great run this was, winning all three in one of the toughest environments in the country. And how about that Sunday win, where Trey Martin got the go-ahead run in the 8th inning by stealing home. That’s gutsy, man. And with the wins, SLU is ranked (No. 29 in Collegiate Baseball) for the first time in school history.

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Honorable Mention:
- Texas (4-0)
W7-2 vs. Dallas Baptist.
W6-0 vs. No. 17 Stanford
W6-3 vs. No. 17 Stanford
W8-2 vs. No. 17 Stanford

It took all of just 27 innings for Texas to right the ship and get their stature back near the top of the college baseball pecking order back where it belongs. And of course, leave it to the pitching to do that. Looks like Taylor Jungmann is going to be quite studly again, going 7.0 innings, giving up just four hits and with 10Ks to get the win on Friday night, 6-0. Yes, this is Texas… again.

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WEST:

- TCU (2-1)
W5-2 at No. 11 Cal State Fullerton
L6-4 at No. 11 Cal State Fullerton
W8-1 at No. 11 Cal State Fullerton

The Frogs do it again, winning a series at Goodwin Field for the second straight season. Wow. That is a rarity… like Kohoutek’s Comet rare. Steven Maxwell (Friday) and Kyle Winkler (Sunday) were superb in the two wins. The only bummer was seeing super-frosh Matt Purke getting rocked in an early exit. But just imagine how awesome this team will be when he gets brought up to speed?

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Honorable Mention:
- Oregon State (3-1)
W5-0 at Hawaii
W17-1 vs. Tennessee
L9-2 vs. Tennessee
W1-0 vs. Tennessee

The Beavers appear to be a very versatile – and deep – team. They bracketed the week with a pair of great pitching performances by James Nygren and Matt Boyd, who combined on a five-hitter vs. the Warriors, and then got a complete game three-hitter from Greg Peavey in the getaway game vs. the Vols. This looks like a team that should challenge Arizona State and UCLA for the Pac 10.

Oklahoma SS Caleb Bushyhead played a big hand in OU's solid weekend.

But I do know this, I noticed it was a good weekend for a lot of teams out there in college baseball-land that wear some shade of red. Stanford, Oklahoma, New Mexico, St. John’s, Texas State, etc. They left their opponents red faced-mad after what they did on the diamond this weekend.

Going from right to left geographically, here are the best of the best from this first weekend of action.

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EAST:

- Virginia (2-1)
W6-2, L6-1, W14-11 at East Carolina

It wasn’t a Rembrant-type work of art or anything, especially with the Sunday slugfest where the Wahoos allowed ECU seven runs in the 8th inning. But considering this was the first outdoor work of the year for the Cavs – and doing it in one of the toughest environments in our sport – you have to believe coach O’Connor will be happy to get away with a series win.

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Honorable Mention:
- St. John’s (3-0)
W9-3, W5-2 (12inns), W31-6 at New Orleans.

It’s pretty rare when a snowbelt team can go down south and beat a good sunbelt team in three straight games. But the Johnnies obliterated a rebuilding Privateer squad. Paul Karmas had three home runs and 10 freakin’ RBI in Sunday’s pasting.

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SOUTH:

- Kentucky (3-0)
W15-6 vs. Virginia Tech
W6-0 vs. West Virginia
W3-2 at Coastal Carolina

Cats storm the Caravelle Tournament field and get some good pitching in the meantime – yes, even without that much-ballyhooed James Paxton guy that I’m sure you’ve heard about. UK was able to beat the home-standing No. 17 Chanticleers despite getting more walks (5) than base hits (4).

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Honorable Mention:
- Florida Atlantic (2-1)
L5-3, W3-0, W9-0 vs. Cincinnati

Okay, stay with me for just a second here. This was an impressive comeback from Friday’s loss. From there, the Owl arms give up just eight hits and issued only two walks in the remaining 18 innings. That’s strong, man.

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MIDWEST:

- Oklahoma (4-0)
W7-4, W17-5, W9-5, W5-2 at San Diego State

As noted in my Sunday piece, this was a pretty impressive weekend for a team that is breaking in so many new faces – or faces that were buried on the bench last season. Forgot to mention that ace reliever Ryan Duke (who didn’t pitch on Sunday), picked up two saves on the weekend as he edges toward surpassing his total of 16 last year.

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Honorable Mention:
- Texas State (3-0)
W6-0, W6-3, W9-7 at Houston.

The Bobcats lost a lot of star power from last year’s team, including most of the pitching, so I’m not sure if anybody saw this coming. Especially when you consider the other end of the spectrum where Houston returned just about everyone to the squad. Nice statement ‘Cats.

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WEST:

- New Mexico (2-1)
L6-2, W6-5, W3-1 at No. 1 Texas

I hate to beat a dead cow here, but this was really impressive. The fact that UNM came from 5-2 down on Saturday to tie, then win the game in the 9th… damn. That’s somethin’ else. That was also the school’s first win over a No. 1 ranked team in history. Not surprisingly Max Willett, who was 7-for-11 at the plate, was named the MWC player of the week.

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Honorable Mention:
- Stanford (3-0)
W6-4, W14-5, W7-6 vs. Rice

Sure, usually a sweep of the No. 5 team in the country will merit Team of the Week honors, but UNM won twice at No. 1 Texas. Tell you what, if Stanford matches the same feat this week, we’ll give ‘em the bigger honor next week.

Don't let the intense look fool you, Coach Dave Serrano is happy with the way his team has been playing lately.

Here’s a quick look as to why those four were chosen.

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WEST
* Cal State Fullerton (4-1)
W5-2, W8-4 vs. Arizona
W8-4, 7-3, L7-4 at Cal Poly

I keep wondering how the Titans have been so successful this season despite all the young arms they keep trotting out to the mound. But a series win at Cal Poly is pretty impressive. You DO recall that Rice dropped a series there, even with a healthy pair of Ryan Berry and Michael Ojala arms there, right? Only an inspired performance by the Mustangs’ Mason Radeke helped CP avoid the sweep. This series helped put some cement on the Titan bid for a national seed.

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Honorable Mention.
* Cal State Bakersfield (2-2)
L15-2 at UCLA
L9-6, W10-8, W8-7 at Nebraska

What the hell, it was a pretty weak weak out in the West, let’s give the HM slot to the Road Runners. They have only won 11 games in this inaugural season of baseball for the school, but two of those wins came this weekend as they got a big road series W at Nebraska.

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EAST
* Louisville.
W21-5, W12-7 vs. Ohio State
W10-8, W5-4, L19-15 at St. John’s

After dominating OSU and taking down the Red Storm in two straight, we can let that last track meet loss on Sunday go. You guys earned the accolade here. The offense has heated up significantly since that series loss at Notre Dame three weeks ago, paced by Big East Player of the Week Adam Duval, who hit four homers and was 14-for-24 in the five games. A huge series vs. South Florida follows this coming weekend.

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Honorable Mention:
* Army and Lafayette.

Army (3-1)
W4-2 vs. New York Tech
L5-3, W5-1, W11-0 vs. Holy Cross

Lafayette (2-2)
L10-3 vs. Rider
L6-4, W20-9, W10-2 vs. Bucknell

The Black Knights and the Leos came out of the first weekend of action in the Patriot League playoffs with 2-to-1 come-from-behind series wins over Holy Cross and Butler respectively. They will now face off at West Point this coming weekend in another best-of-three series. The winner, as you know, will go to the NCAA tournament.

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SOUTH
* Alabama (3-0)
W2-1, W8-6, W6-5 vs. Arkansas.

This was one rewarding weekend for the sneaky Tide. I mean who could’ve forseen three straight wins over the Hogs and then finding their cleats only a half-game out of first place in the SEC West after the weekend was done? Nice work. Maybe I should’ve included these guys on the Coelacanth List last week. Since falling in three straight games at Florida in late March, the Tide, once left for dead, has now gone 19-5 and rocketed back up into contention in the West.

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Honorable Mention
* Elon (3-1)
L16-5 at North Carolina
W13-11, W27-6, W7-2 at Western Carolina

Looks like the Phoenix just got a little angry after their pounding against the Tarheels and took out all their frustrations on the poor Catamounts, as their total of 47 runs will attest. With the wins, Elon further clinches their impending Southern Conference title (the Phoenix now lead everybody else by five full games) and boosts their post-season resume into at-large land.

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MIDWEST
* Texas (3-1)
W7-3 vs. Texas Southern
W11-9 (10inns), L3-0, W5-4 at/vs. Texas A&M

With the series win over the rival Aggies the Longhorns are assured of a Big 12 regular season title, sitting in the clubhouse with a 17-9 mark and, with a Top Five RPI, looking pretty dead-nuts on for a National Seeding when the field of 64 is announced in two weeks. Longhorn fans may grumble and grouse about the offense that hits just .287 overall. But this is a vintage Augie-ball team, pitching at a 2.66 ERA pace and committing just 36 errors all year, while turning 46 double plays. Clutch City, man.

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Honorable Mention
* Texas State (4-0)
W4-1 at Rice
W11-9, W10-2, W7-6 vs. Nicholls State

Sure we coulda gone with Missouri State or Minnesota here, but consider this like one of those season achievement awards, not just because they took Nicholls State down in three games. TSU deserves some recognition for having a hell of a season so far, now sitting at 37-12 and making appearances in a number of rankings. Strong work Bobcats.

For example, when was the last time we made mention of Oregon State in a positive manner? When was the last time Coastal Carolina crossed your mind… in a good way? And who remembers the last time Dartmouth won a conference title of any sort? If you do, give yourself 10 bonus points, because that’s pretty impressive.

Check out this home run robbing catch made by Oregon State outfielder John Wallace vs. Arizona State.

Here’s this week’s Teams of the Week

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WEST
- Oregon State (3-1)
W8-2 vs. Oregon
L4-2, W4-3, W10-5 vs. No. 2 Arizona State

OSU! Welcome back to the land of the living. No, make that the land of the thriving. The official RPI doesn’t come out ’til Tuesday, but already Boyd Nation is giving you guys a bump up to No. 41 after your hyper-successful week. (Last week’s official RPI had the Beavers at No. 49). And how about this for moxie, OSU came from behind in both wins against ASU. Saturday’s win was a bottom-of-the-9th kind of thing with Koa Kahalehoe coming through with an RBI single with two out. Sunday saw OSU score seven runs in the 7th and 8th innings combined. Nice.

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Honorable Mention:
* Louisiana Tech (5-0)
W10-5 at Sacramento State
W5-1, W8-5, W8-4, W8-7 at Hawaii

One question… How the HELL did I miss Hawaii when I was writing up my Ouch List for Sunday night? Damn. Anyway, huge kudos to Tech, who is now on a 13-2 run since Tax Day and just a half-game out of 1st place in the WAC.

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MIDWEST
- The Kansas Schools.
* Kansas (4-1)
W11-5, W9-1 vs. Chicago State
W5-4, W9-5, L10-9 (10inns) at No. 11 Oklahoma

* Kansas State (4-0)
W10-2, W22-1 vs. North Dakota
W3-2, W5-3 at No. 26 Oklahoma State

Man, this is getting outta hand here. How much longer are we going to be shocked at the Big 12 Northerners pulling off road wins against their much-hyped brethren from the Big 12 South? First it was Texas and Texas A&M at home falling victim, now it’s the Sooner Staters losing series to these Oz-landers at home, no less. Wow.

Give KU some huge props for playing cool as a cucumber, winning two games by a single run each. That’s clutch. Keep in mind that the Jayhawks didn’t return a single weekend mound starter coming into this season. Not one.

And yes, K-State’s big two-game sweep in Stillwater is impressive and puts them in second place in the Big 12. But I find it wierd that the human polls aren’t taking more notice. (Besides Baseball America’s No. 10 ranking, that is).

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Honorable Mention:
* Texas (4-0)
W12-2 vs. Texas State
W12-4, W19-11, W3-1 vs./at No. 24 Baylor

Hmmm. Maybe we should be more impressed with UT’s win over the Southland Conference favorites of TSU than beating a languishing Baylor team in three straight. Either way, the Longhorns are on an uptick… and curiously, just in time for the post-season. Maybe it’ll work out better for them this time around.

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SOUTH
- Florida (3-0)
W 10-9, W7-6, W10-8 at No. 7 Georgia

I already slapped my head so many times this weekend over this, it looks like I’ve got a sunburn on it. Great, great series win in Athens where the Gators were able to overcome some pitching probs to bludgeon the vanted Dawgs arms corps and pull out an unlikely sweep. With the three-gamer in their hip pockets, the UofF is now tied in SEC play with Ole Miss and LSU at 16-8 and lead the Bulldogs by two full games in the East standings. If they hold off the Dawgs, that could come in real handy for NCAA placement.

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Honorable Mention:
* LSU (3-1)
W13-2 vs. Tulane
L11-4, W5-0, W4-3.

Pitch, pitch, pitch. That’s all those Tigers do… and that’s a very good thing too. Unlike most Bayou Bengal teams, this one seems to be hitting its stride on the mound. And like commenter KC noted, frosh righty Matty Ott is a big reason they’re able to pull out late wins, with his 55-3 K-to-BB ratio. Strong work Tigahs.

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EAST
- Dartmouth (2-1)
W8-6, L14-12, W10-0 vs. Cornell.

The Big Green earns their first conference title of any sort since 1986’s Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League title. We discussed their situation enough in Sunday’s Summations, but I will add this: It is almost unfair that the Ivy League requires teams to finish their seasons when the actual spring semester ends. Because of that, the Big Green will have to sit on the shelf for four weeks until the Big Dance starts.

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Honorable Mention:
* Coastal Carolina (4-1)
L7-1 at College of Charleston
W18-5 vs. Wake Forest
W13-7, W4-1, W7-1 vs. Liberty.

Talk about a team that went into a funk, these guys were the poster child for that. The biggest thing here was that the three wins over Liberty vaulted the once-limping Chants back into first place in the Big South, a half-game ahead of the Flames. Only 7th place VMI and 8th place Charleston Southern remain.

Bryan Holaday (16), who was named Mountain West Player of the Week, and Chris Ellington helped TCU win a pair of one-run games at San Diego State this weekend.

As the ball-busting Captain Hadley in Shawshank Redemption said to the roofers that had earned their beers, “Drink ‘em while they’re cold ladies.”

The road doesn’t get much easier from here.

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WEST
* TCU (4-1)
W6-2, W10-7 vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
L4-3, W8-7, W6-5 at San Diego State.

What? You guys couldn’t beat Stephen Strasburg? Geez, embarrassing. (kidding)

No really, being at the game on Friday night, I can honestly say that the Frogs came really, really close to pulling off the feat, thanks mostly to Bryan Holaday’s three-run bomb. Despite that close-but-no-cigar scenario, the Frogs edged out a pair of one-run wins on Montezuma Mesa after all and win-percentage-wise, took over first place in the Mountain West at 8-4. Eric Marshall picked up saves in both wins and Tyler Lockwood improved to 4-1 with the Sunday W.

Coach Schlossnagle and the Horned Frogs get congratulated on a great week.

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Honorable Mention:

- UC Riverside (4-0)
W 17-6 vs. UCLA
W9-0, W5-4, W2-0 at Cal State Northridge

Not an Earthshattering week for anyone out West – sort of like the season in general – but let’s give the Highlanders some pub here for an unbeaten week and for having the two Pauls, Bargas and Applebee, combining for 17.2 innings of work on Friday and Sunday, giving up no runs and 10 hits between them. UCR is now 24-13 and 5-7 in the Big West.

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EAST.
* Clemson (4-1)
W5-3 vs. Coastal Carolina
W12-2 at South Carolina
L5-4, W8-5, W6-3 at Georgia Tech

Okay Tigers, I am now almost completely over the fact that the one time I saw you this year you got routed at the Boston (College) Massacre. THIS was an impressive week with wins over three regional-quality teams and you have no exonerated yourselves quite well. Of course, on the flipside, I wonder if this series win is merely exposing Georgia Tech (the nation’s supposed No. 1 RPI team) more than it is propping you up?… Naaaaaah!

Clemson's Jeff Schaus went 8-for-13 vs. Georgia Tech, including the game-winning three-run homer on Saturday.

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Honorable Mention:

- Dayton (5-0)
W13-6 vs. Shawnee State
W12-7 vs. Urbana
W5-3, W16-9, W11-9 at Fordham.

In one fell swoop, the Flyers knocked the Rams from contention in the Atlantic 10 and also pulled themselves to within a game and a half of league-leading Rhode Island with their sweep in the Bronx. Additionally, Friday’s game was career win No. 500 for head coach Tony Vittorio.

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SOUTH
* Mississippi (4-1)
W6-1 vs. Arkansas Little Rock
W8-4 at Southern Miss
L6-3, W10-8, W6-1 vs. Georgia

Good bounce-back week for the Rebs who continue to look stronger and stronger as the season goes on. Again, moving Bittle to the Sunday starter spot was big time as he put the clamps on the potent UGa offense and secured the series win. Also, the three-game crowd total reached 26,929 fans, a new school record at Swayze Field. The Rebs are now just a game behind West-leading LSU and have bottom-feeders Auburn and Mississippi State remaining on the schedule (along with a road series at Arkansas).

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Honorable Mentions:

- Florida (5-0)
W12-3 at Florida Gulf Coast
W5-4 vs. South Florida
W9-4, W8-3, W9-5 vs. South Carolina

If Ole Miss is the hot team that’s gaining ground in the West, it’s Florida that’s pulling the trick in the East. Nice sweep of the Gamecocks, and all by pretty comfy margins too. Gators now nipping at Dawgs heels, one game behind UGa going into their series this weekend.

- East Carolina (4-1)
W10-9 vs. Elon
W4-0 vs. North Carolina
W7-6, L2-1, W13-5 at Southern Miss

I didn’t want to get the angry comments and Emails from the Pirate faithful for leaving them off this list today, so I’m adding a second HM. And they deserve the props too, especially for that win over No. 1 UNC, the only win by an ECU team over a No. 1 team in any sport.

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MIDWEST.
* Kansas State (2-0-1)
W4-2, W5-4 (12inns), T6-6 (10inns) at Texas.

Talk about tough as nails. This team is starting to take on their coach’s tough demeanor. I mean, who goes into Disch-Falk and escapes unbeaten in three games? Ask Oklahoma how easy that is. Only bummer is, K-State was one strike away from getting away with a sweep, but a bottom of the 9th, two-out Cameron Rupp RBI double tied the game on Sunday. With the two wins and one tie, the Purple Cats now pull within a single game of Big 12-leading Texas A&M. A tough roadie at Okie State looms, so don’t think you can rest now Cats.

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Honorable Mentions:

- Oklahoma (4-0)
W8-1 VS. Wichita State
W4-2, W12-4, W11-8 at Baylor

The way these two played this weekend, let’s just cancel the Big 12 tournament/rag-armfest and have these two square off. Bryant Hernandez (.353 with two HRs) and Chris Anderson (3 appearances, 7.1inns, no runs allowed vs. Wichita and Baylor) were named Big 12 Player and Pitcher of the Week.

- South Dakota State (7-1)
L12-5, W10-8, W9-4, W7-5 vs./at North Dakota
W19-11, W16-13, W14-7, W16-7 at Western Illinois

C’mon, they won seven games last week. 7 freakin’ games! That deserves a little love the Jackrabbits way there people. Agree? Besides, six of those win came on the road. Damn! That’s sweet.

After a Friday night fright, Vols coach Todd Raleigh pushed all the right buttons in a series win at LSU.

For instance, when do you ever expect to see the SEC’s last place team as one of the national teams of note? That’s just the kind of season it’s been here people.

So here are this past week’s teams you need to know about. All aboard, the mystery train full of mystery teams is now leaving the station.

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SOUTH
* Tennessee (4-1)
W16-4 vs. Belmont
W 16-4 vs. Middle Tennessee State
L18-3, W7-5, W9-4 at LSU
I’m sorry, I had to start this list with these guys. In fact, they could be the national team of the week, because not just anyone (other than Illinois) goes into the new cathedral that is Alex Box Stadium and wins a series. Wow. After getting lambasted on Friday, The Big Orange cranked out 23 hits and 16 runs in their two wins, led by Cody Hawn’s 5-for-10 charge including a home run and four RBI. And to think, this is the last place team in the SEC doing this.

- Honorable Mention:
* High Point (3-2)
W11-9 at North Carolina
L22-13 vs. Virginia Tech
L18-3, W12-8, W7-2 vs. Coastal Carolina
Hafta admit, I don’t usually give out the mentions to teams that get beaten twice nor teams that give up 40 runs in those two losses. But it’s hard to deny a team that just got through beating the Nos. 4 and 14 teams in the country. Plus, High Point’s outstanding stadium and facilities were very impressive – for a small money school.

Eric Marion welcomes Pablo Rosario home in the rout of Coastal Carolina. Oh, and dig the throwback togs they wore on Sunday too.

- Honorable Mention II:
* Alabama (5-1)
W10-6 at UAB
W10-1 vs. Mississippi Valley State
L14-13 at Samford
W10-4, W7-6, W7-3 at Vanderbilt
I have been as skeptical of the Tide as those old balcony guys in The Muppet Show. They had gone 1-5 in SEC road games at Ole Miss and Florida (not to mention the series loss to Southeast Missouri), but it was a different story this weekend as the Tide became road warriors.

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MIDWEST
* Texas (5-0)
W5-2, W8-1 vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
W6-2, W7-3, W8-5 vs. Oklahoma
Yep, looks like the Longhorns are back and ready to tell everyone to “shove it” when it comes to people criticizing their offensive prowess, or lack thereof lately. OU came in as one of the most highly-offensive teams in the country, but as you know, it’s all about the arms race when it comes to the Horns. And they struck out 33 Sooners, walked only seven and committed just one error all weekend. Typical.

- Honorable Mention:
* Missouri State (5-0)
W4-3, W14-2 at Arkansas State
W8-2, W12-8, W2-0 vs. Wichita State
The Missouri Valley Conference has just been waiting for someone to take the bull by the horns and take over the title chase. Now, with the sweep of the Shockers, MoState takes over the top rung with a 9-2 mark, percentage points ahead of Indiana State (10-3).

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EAST
* North Carolina (4-1)
L11-9 vs. High Point
W20-4 vs. Winthrop
W3-0, W5-4, W4-1 vs. Miami
Carolina is now 31-10 overall, but there have been times when the sky blue has been a little shaky. But on Friday night Alex White was anything but shaky. His complete game one-hitter was the stuff of legend. The series win over the Canes proves they are ready to get back on track and start stalking the title chase in Omaha once again.

- Honorable Mention:
* The Great Ancient Eights
Brown (6-1)
Cornell (4-1)
Dartmouth (5-1)
Princeton (6-1)
Go ahead, do the math. With these four having great 3-1 weekends in Ivy play, that means that Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Penn really had crappy weekends. That’s where the haves and have nots sit in the Ivy League.

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WEST
* Pacific (3-1)
W7-5 at San Jose State
W5-4, W14-10, L4-3 (10inns)
Much like Tony Gwynn at San Diego State, Pacific coach Ed Sprague has found that going from the big leagues to college head coach is no easy transition. Well guess what? Now, Ed, you are officially ready for your close up. The Tigers are way off the radar in RPI-land (No. 72), but they made the whole state of California shake like the Andreas Fault with this shocking result at Goodwin Field. Even the loss was an extra inning game. At 7-5 in Big West play, will this team continue this tear they are on?

Honorable Mention:
* UC Irvine (4-1)
W6-4 vs. LMU
L7-4 at San Diego
W16-1, W9-6, W12-9 at UC Riverside
When did UCI become an SEC school? They eschewed the dink-and-dunk-and-pitch-em-to-death format and bashed their way to a series sweep at UCR. Even though the Highlanders may be on a cold streak, I still found this result stunningly shocking… wait, is that too repetitive of a description?

Mike Martin discovered that Sean Gilmartin was locked in against North Carolina on Friday, giving up just three hits in 6.2 innings of work.

But I definitely wanted to make sure these teams get a fair amount of gloss for their great weeks on the diamond. So let’s snap to it. Going from East to West across your U.S. atlas, here’s how things shake out for the best of the best for each region of the country.

And if you think that I wrongly didn’t include your team… no worries, just complain louder.

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EAST
Florida State (3-1)
W14-6 at North Florida
W3-2, L12-7, W9-8 vs. North Carolina

There have been a few hiccups, sure. I mean, B.C. came into Tally-town and took two games. But this was a big time series win at home against a suddenly up-and-down Tarheel team. Just goes to show that despite their youth on the mound, Mike Martin’s charges are going to be a handful in June after all.

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- Honorable Mention:
Northeastern (3-1)
W16-5 vs. Harvard
L12-2, W7-5, W7-4 at Dallas Baptist

You don’t think this series win at DBU is impressive? Consider that the Patriots had just finished off wins over Oral Roberts and Baylor prior to welcoming in the Huskies. This was strong work for a team from soggy New England against a team that had a 59 RPI going in.

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SOUTH
Georgia (4-1)
L7-4, W13-2 vs. Winthrop
W7-4, W7-4, W5-4 at Kentucky

Everybody knows that going on the road in the SEC is a death-march. So seeing that the Dogs didn’t freak out and kept a cool head about things, they won all three close games in a tough environment. Even if the Kentucky Bluegrassers aren’t quite what they’re cracked up to be.

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- Honorable Mention:
Rice (4-1)
W7-3 vs. Sam Houston State
W10-9 vs. Lamar
W15-11, L4-1, W5-4 at East Carolina

And keep in mind this is a significantly weakened Owl team (Are those rampant flu rumors true?). Although starter Mike Ojala finally made an appearance on the mound after a few weeks on the shelf.

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MIDWEST
Kansas (5-0)
W5-4, W9-3 at Iowa
W8-1, W13-6, W4-3 vs. Oklahoma State

Memo to opposing teams, see if you can arrange to play KU at your home stadium. Don’t travel to Lawrence – it’s a graveyard for ranked teams. Texas fell in three games in mid-March, Baylor took a loss on the chin and now the formerly No. 17 Cowpokes get the Boot Hill treatment. And keep in mind, the first two games weren’t even close either. Man… Rock chalk!

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- Honorable Mention:
Illinois (3-1)
W11-9 vs. Bradley
L4-2, W10-8, W11-5 at Michigan

Big weekend win for the Illini, especially after falling to Michigan ace Chris Fetter on Friday night. Keep an eye on Illinois in the Big 10 standings and the RPI in the coming weeks.

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WEST
Loyola Marymount (3-1)
W8-3 at Cal State Fullerton
W12-3, W9-4, L9-6 vs. San Francisco

This may be one of those “Season Achievement” awards here, but it’s high time we devote some space to the team that sits in closest proximity to this stitch-heads home. The Lions have now gone 14-3 since an 8-12 start. But this coming week will be no bed of roses, with road trips to UC Irvine, UC Riverside and Pepperdine on the docket. Though you have to wonder, is there anything better for new coach Jason Gill to help make his legend immediate? This should be fun.

LMU's Ryan Wheeler (right) has been a main cog in LMU's turnaround.

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- Honorable Mention:
New Mexico (3-0)
W5-4 (10inns), W7-6 (10inns), W4-3 (10inns) at Utah

Not an Earth-shattering week for the Lobos, but have you ever seen a week like this? Give it up to the Cherry and Silver for showing they could, 1- win on the road in the MWC, and 2- do it with pitching, and not their outlandishly crazy offense. This was a character test that they passed with aplomb.

One thing that IS for sure? It’s just that nothing in our beloved sport is for sure. There was a lot of upheaval in college baseball this weekend as most of the teams in the top 10 took it on the chin. Things are going to keep on changing week-in and week-out. That’s just what you get with the type of national balance like what we’ve seen the last few years.

So let’s get to the best of the best from the past week in college baseball. We’re going to go back to moving right to left across your atlas…

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EAST
George Mason (5-0)
W5-3 vs. Mount St. Mary’s
W6-1 vs. Georgetown
W4-2, W6-3, W10-8 vs. UNC-Wilmington

The 24-5 Patriots keep UNCW in a tailspin and also keep themselves surging forward and into the rankings for the first time in school history. They also own the nation’s longest home win streak at 20 games. UNC-W has lost seven straight and fall two full games behind GMU in the CAA at 5-4.

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- Honorable Mention
North Carolina (4-1)
W9-4 vs. Davidson
W7-6 vs. Old Dominion
W4-2, L10-6 (11inns), W13-10 at Georgia Tech

UNC wins its second straight weekend series over a top 10 ranked team. Not bad. Surprisingly, the Heels are doing it without a great deal of hitting (just .307 so far), but the 3.61 ERA and .973 fielding are a huge boon.

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SOUTH
Arkansas (3-1)
W2-0 at Missouri State
W6-4, L9-1, W7-4 at South Carolina

Through four SEC weekends, these guys are high on the Hogs. The SEC love-fest has begun over them as they sit at 10-2 in conference play and at the top of the SEC West. Not only that, but Dave Van Horn has now officially led the program to its first No. 1 ranking (Collegiate Baseball) in school history. Yes, that is something the legendary Norm DeBriyn never accomplished.

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- Honorable Mention
Louisiana-Lafayette (4-0)
W11-5 vs. Northwestern State
W5-2, W10-5, W14-7 vs. Middle Tennessee State.

The Cajuns own wins over Nebraska, Southern Miss and LSU. But this past weekend was actually their most impressive performance so far. The Raiders were considered as possibly the best mid-major team in the country, but UL-L took them down in three straight.

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MIDWEST
Texas (3-1)
W5-4 vs. Oral Roberts
W7-2, L7-1, W8-5 at Oklahoma State

The Longhorns have been a bit on the Jekyl & Hyde side, no? One thing is still for certain, the Horns can still hurl it, and it was proven once again at heavy-hitting Okle State this weekend. Austin Wood picked up two wins on the week, vs. ORU and the getaway game at OSU. But UT better start to level out as a roadie at Nebraska and a home series vs. rival OU await. That means the bats need to actually produce… moreso.

Austin Wood didn't need to look skyward for help, he won two games for the Horns this week.

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- Honorable Mention
Oklahoma (3-1)
W16-6 vs. Nebraska
W2-1, W7-4, L5-4 at Missouri

OU just keeps humming along and is surprisingly rocketing up into the Top 10 and leading the Big 12 at 6-3. They have far-and-away leading the Big 12 with 57 home runs and a .341 team average. But watch out for the 5.19 ERA… that’s a “hmmmm.”

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WEST
UC Irvine (3-1)
W19- 8 at Loyola Marymount
W2-1, W6-1, L5-4 (11inns) at Cal State Fullerton

AS I wrote on Saturday, I didn’t see this one coming. And that’s no slam against the Anteaters, it’s just that I saw them get worked pretty good by Texas A&M and they also struggled against Tulane and Nevada at home. But winning a series at Fullerton? And nearly sweeping them? Gah! THAT’S pretty impressive.

Unlike when I saw them play at the Houston Classic, the Anteaters took the field and played with confidence at Fullerton

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- Honorable Mention
Arizona State (4-1)
L7-5, W3-1 vs. Cal State Fullerton
W3-1, W12-1, W6-2 at Washington
Coach Murphy has his boys hitting their stride here in early April, breaking even vs. then-No.1 Fullerton and holding the wicked bats of Washington to just four runs. The one-two punch of Mike Leake and Josh Spence should carry the Devs a long way.

Why is Dartmouth coach Bob Whalen smiling? Because his team played great last week and their reward is hosting their first home game coming up this week.

Looks like it’ll happen here though as Dartmouth put together a great week from all across the continent and gets the East nod on our list here.

Here’s how it all shook out this week.

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EAST:
- Dartmouth (5-1)
W7-4 at San Jose State
L14-9 at Cal Poly
W9-6, W14-8 (8inns) at Penn
W6-5, W7-0 at Columbia

The Big Green were the only team in the country that could’ve dipped their cleats in the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean in the same week. They handed the Spartans just their 5th loss of the season on Monday and won a wild affair at Penn in extra innings to open Ivy League play. The Greenies scored five runs in the last inning to send the game into extra innings, thanks mainly to a three-run bomb by Jim Wren. Dartmouth then scored six runs in the next inning to destroy the Quaker hopes. Kyle Hendricks threw a complete-game 5-hitter in the 7-0 blanking of the Lions.

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Honorable Mention:
- Clemson (4-1)
W8-7, W5-3 vs. Elon
L13-1, W7-6, W5-3 at Boston College

After getting beaten in every way, shape and form on Friday, Jack Leggett’s Tigers took two from BC on Saturday to wrest the ACC Atlantic lead away from the Eagles. CU is now 18-7 overall and 7-5 in the conference.

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SOUTH:
- Florida (4-1)
L3-0, W5-3 at North Florida
W11-4, W9-8, W 10-7 vs. No. 27 Alabama

Since getting swept at Arkansas, the Gators have been filled with piss and vinegar and steamrolling victims. This is their second consecutive SEC sweep in a row for the UofF and this time it was the offense that went off the hook. The Alligators hit .382 against the Tide and also scored a pair of come-from-behind wins on Friday and Saturday. In the opener, Florida scored nine runs in the 7th and 8th innings to pull away and then on Saturday it got downright ridiculous with seven runs in the bottom of the 9th to pull out a shocking win.

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Honorable Mention:
- South Carolina (4-1)
W14-2 at No. 30 College of Charleston
W2-1 vs. Georgia Southern
L5-4, W20-19, W4-2 at Kentucky

I hope I don’t sound over-dramatic here, but Coach Ray Tanner might’ve lost his team this weekend if they didn’t come out focused and ready. A tough series loss vs. LSU last week sent the Cocks into a tailspin and we all know how tough a road win is in SEC play. But winning two of three in chilly Lexington is a nice buckle-down job here boys.

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MIDWEST:
- Dayton (4-1)
W18-8 vs. Toledo
L16-5 vs. Miami Univ.
W6-2, W4-2, W14-10 vs. Charlotte

Could the Kings of the A-10 be through? Is this the end? Well the first two weeks of conference play have shown that Charlotte has a soft underbelly (at 1-5 now) and the Flyers are ready to join Rhode Island and Xavier as serious contenders (yes, I hear you Temple and Fordham too). In Sunday’s finale, the Flyers overcame an 8-1 deficit, thanks in large part to a grand slam from Jacob Spaeth and the 4.1 innings of lockdown work Cameron Hobson did, striking out 10 of his 13 outs and not allowing an earned run. DU is now on a 10-2 run and 15-10 overall as they head to Rhody this coming weekend. THAT should be fun.

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Honorable Mention:
- Oklahoma State (4-0)
W8-2, W15-1 vs. UNLV
W6-2, W13-1 vs. Missouri
Known for their bludgeoning offense, the Pokes were well-armed this week, holding the Rebs and Tigers to just six runs, while striking out 40 and walking nine. OSU is now 19-7 and 3-2 on the year.

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WEST:
- San Diego (5-0)
W10-2 vs. Brown
W12-3 vs. Long Beach State
W8-6, W4-0 W9-3 vs. Pepperdine

As I mentioned in the Sunday Summations, this team may just be pulling the Lazarus act for the second year in a row. They started 7-7 in ‘08, before going on to win 44 games and becoming a No. 2 seed in the post-season. This weekend, the newly energized Toreros disposed of their league rival in three straight and now have won 10 of their last 11. A.J. Griffin picked up the Friday save and the Sunday win to pace the hilltoppers for USD and James Meador smashed a pair of dingers on Friday and went 12-for-17 for the week. The Toreros can’t rest easy as three straight road trips is up next at Santa Clara, Gonzaga and St. Mary’s.

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Honorable Mention:
- San Diego State (4-1)
W8-7, W11-4 vs. Southern Utah
W11-5, L8-5, W2-1 at No. 25 TCU

Slowly but surely, this team is learning to play every day whether Stephen Strasburg is on the mound or not. Especially when it comes to the Sunday get-a-way game where the Aztecs scored two runs in the 9th to pull out the unlikely series win. SDSU is now 18-9 and 5-3 in the MWC.

It makes you wonder what we’re in for the rest of the season. What’s next, Team A scoring 29 runs in seven innings on Team B, who is 18-3?

Notice how Aaron Baker is smiling huge in this picture? You would be too if you just scored 431 runs on a really good Kansas State team.

On an absolutely unrelated note, Oklahoma leads our teams of the week honors for this week.

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MIDWEST:
- Oklahoma (3-1)
W8-7 at No. 22 TCU
L9-1, W12-11, W29-4 at Kansas State

It looks to me like the Sooners are tired of being a bubble team and getting controversial at-large bids. And you knew it was going to be a good week when the Sooners rallied with four runs in the 9th inning to take down the Frogs. J.T. Wise was the MAN all week, getting the game-tying two-run single at TCU, then tying a school record with five hits in the Sunday’s getaway rout in Manhattan. The Sooners are never out of any game, having won 14 of their 20 wins in come-from-behind variety.

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Honorable Mention:
- UT-Arlington (4-1)
W6-2, W12-5 vs. Minnesota
W5-0, W4-2, W16-0 vs. Northwestern State

After near-misses at Texas (a 10-inning 4-3 loss) and Illinois (a 3-2 loss), the Movin’ Mavs left nothing to chance here, beating a very good Minnesota team twice and then taking down one of the SLC favorites in three straight over the weekend. UTA is now 12-9 overall.

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WEST:
- New Mexico (6-0)
W10-6, W9-6 at No. 6 Texas A&M
W11-6, W16-12, W10-6, W13-4 vs. Northwestern

People, lemme tell ya’ something. Los Lobos can play. They improve to 22-3 with the six stout wins last week, including the two-gamer at Texas A&M. It’s nice to see UNM getting some love in the national polls (though some still have them either not ranked or below A&M, but whatev.). This marks the best start to a season for the Cherry and Silver since 1973. Keep in mind New Mexico hasn’t played in the NCAA tournament since 1962. And I loved coach Ray Birmingham’s quote after the A&M wins, “We went into that game thinking, ‘Let’s see where we’re at.’ As the game went on, I was thinking, ‘Heck, we’re better than them.’” Beauty.

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Honorable Mention:
- Loyola Marymount (4-1)
L12-6 at Long Beach State
W8-7, W7-6, W7-3, W11-7 vs. Fresno State

So far, the Lions are 12-12 and have played the 8th toughest schedule in the country, which is pretty typical of them. But this weekend may have been a turning point, sweeping the defending national champions and looking sharp doing it.

LMU did a lot of celebrating in their sweep of the champs.

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SOUTH:
- Middle Tennessee (4-1)
L9-4, W11-3 vs. Southern Illinois
W7-2, W5-4, W14-6 vs. Florida Atlantic

This was a showdown of expected Mid-Major monsters, but the Raiders sent the Owls home with snake-eyes – if you follow what I’m saying here. Much of the cause goes to dual-threat Bryce Bentz, who threw a complete-game, nine-hitter on Friday night and then turned around and hit the jog-off home run to win Saturday’s game in the 9th inning. There were heroes all around for the Blue Boys as a pair of seniors put their names in the record books. Nathan Hines hit a grand salami to key the offense on Friday and then Rawley Bishop became the school’s RBI leader with a two-run single on Sunday. MTSU now hits the road for a nine-game stretch.

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Honorable Mention:
- Mississippi Valley State (4-0)
W5-2 vs. Tugaloo
W3-2, W3-1, W4-2 vs. Jackson State.

Yeah, I know, it doesn’t look great when a team named Tugaloo is on your ledger. But against the SWAC East favorites, the Delta Devils held a team that came in averaging 10.5 runs per game in its last eight games to just five runs. Also, MV is now 6-0 in SWAC play.

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EAST:
- Duke (5-1)
W12-4, W5-2 vs. UM-ES
L8-5, W5-4, W10-9 at North Carolina

It’s hard to conceive that this really happened, but Duke apparently has had it with all the attention and love UNC is getting in recent years. This was the Devils’ first series win over the baby blues since 2001. Andrew Wolcott was named ACC pitcher of the year, improving to 4-0 with six solid innings on Saturday. His ERA is now down to 1.27. Alex Hassan gets some props too, picking up saves in both weekend wins. This will be interesting to see what happens the rest of the way out for DU, who improved to 14-7 on the season. Despite some curious losses (LaSalle, High Point, Liberty), right now, you have to like what you see.

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Honorable Mention:
- Miami (4-1)
W8-0 vs. St. Thomas
W11-1 vs. UMBC
L9-4, W4-3, W7-5 at Virginia

Miami has been a roller-coaster so far, great one week, questionable the next. Now they’ve gone out and handed UVa its first two losses of the season, keyed by getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the 9th inning of game two. Now Ohio State and Georgia Tech are on the horizon.