St. Thomas continued to solidify their hold on the top spot with 21 first place votes. Wooster stayed put in second with the remaining four first place votes.

Further down the remaining eight teams in the top ten of the NCBWA/D3baseball.com Top 25, were reshuffled. Eastern Connecticut and Kean traded spots with the Warriors at No. 3 and the Cougars one spot behind. Heidelberg moved into the top 5 with victories over No. 10 Carthage and No. 16 Rose Hulman.

Trinity (Conn.), one of three teams yet to see any action in the Top 25 is sixth followed by Salisbury, Chapman, PRI, and Carthage.

Adrian dropped the furthest this week, seven places, with a 1-2 record to start the season. Mississippi College moved up four to register the largest gain among those teams in the previous poll.

Augustana and Birmingham Southern join the Top 25 this week. making room for them are Linfield and St. Olaf who were dropped from the poll.

Considering that Zach Thiel spearheaded the effort to save baseball at UW-La Crosse, one might expect that he is a past member of the team's roster, or even an alumni of the university. However, the Lakeshore Technical College graduate says that's not the case. "I'm just a huge sports fan and follow everything from bowling to football to baseball,"

However, Zach's cousins, Garrett and Gavin Scray, both do play baseball for the UW-La Crosse Eagles. On June 12th, 2009 Zach received an e-mail from Garret and Gavin's mother explaining that the university planned to terminate the program unless $50,000 could be raised in under three months. Zach was shocked.

"I couldn't believe such a longstanding tradition and baseball program would just be taken out of the community," he says. "I was determined not to let this program dissolve like ones at many other colleges."

Zach offered to help and the team gladly accepted, he created a fundraising website, www.saveuwlbaseball.com. "Within a few hours of the site launch we were already getting hits, and the hits increased by the hour," Zach says.

He also began emailing, calling, and meeting potential donors, alumni, baseball players and fans, and people the community. He reached out to newspapers in Wisconsin and surrounding states, local TV stations, and even national networks, which began to pick up the story. "Interview requests came in and articles went out, all relaying the message that the UW-La Crosse baseball program needed monetary help," says Zach.

The summer of 2009 was "absolutely crazy," Zach says. "I would spend easily three to four hours a night, every night of the week, working on spreading the word and trying to drum up support."

By the end of July, the campaign had raised $40,000. Then, on Zach's birthday in August, he received the best present he could have asked for when UW-La Crosse announced that it would be able to structure the money raised in order to save the baseball program for the 2010 season.

Zach's efforts earned him not only the thanks of players and fans of UW-La Crosse baseball, but also the Distinguished Service Award from the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association. Yet Zach is quick to defer credit to others who played a part.

"Without the interest of so many media outlets and individuals showing a willingness to save the program, we wouldn't be getting ready for a 2010 season," he says. While the 2010 season is saved, more work is needed to keep the program viable. Zach has worked with the team to create a new campaign to ensure the Eagles will take the field for at least the next five years, which will require raising $175,000. It will again be a daunting challenge, but Zach explains he is willing to commit to the effort because of how important the impact will be.

"To me, baseball is more than just a sport. It promotes teamwork, discipline, builds dedication, and develops character, and all of these qualities are very important in a young person's life," he says. "We need to do everything we can to ensure baseball is in the alive and well for the UW-La Crosse and entire Wisconsin community."

Please visit www.saveuwlbaseball.com for more information about keeping baseball at UW-La Crosse!

A proven winner with Carthage in his blood, Augie Schmidt IV began his 23rd season as head baseball coach in 2010 one win short of 700 for his career. On Saturday, the Red Men got Coach Schmidt (701-275-5) to the 700 win mark with a 10-6 win over Ohio Wesleyan.

In the game, starting pitcher Scott Danly picked up the win, with relief help from Nic Jensen. Offensively Will Hodges went two-for-four with a solo home run, Matt Soderlund went three-for-five with three RBI, Joey Aiello two-for-four, and Tyler Eickmeyer went two-for-five.

In 22 seasons, Schmidt has transformed the Red Men from CCIW basement-dwellers to national contenders. Under his tenure, Carthage has claimed eight outright CCIW divisional titles, one divisional-title tie, nine conference crowns, 16 NCAA regional berths, including nine-straight from 1992-2000, six regional titles, third-place finishes in both the 1993 and 1994 NCAA Division III Baseball Championships and fourth place in both 1995 and 1997.

Doug Eisenman worked out of a bases-loaded ninth-inning jam and Central silenced Westminster 6-1 to complete a four-game sweep of weekend games Sunday. Earlier Sunday the Dutch hammered Grinnell, 18-6, in seven innings.

Eisenman threw four shutout innings to pick up his first save in relief of Ryan Goetzinger, who recorded his first collegiate win in his Central debut. Goetzinger struck out six batters in five innings, scattering five hits while walking one.

"Ryan pitched out of a tough jam early and showed what he's made of," coach Adam Stevens said. "For a freshman, he showed a lot of toughness out there."

After Central yielded a run in the first, Ben Tressel launched his first collegiate home run, a shot to right field, to lead off the third inning. Tressel scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning, singling, stealing second and scoring on a two-out hit by Anthony Miller. Jarred Lackey had two hits and an RBI in the game and center fielder Ryan Allison had a two-run double in the sixth.

In other action: Freshman Wes Perkins capped a career day for Millsaps with a walk-off three-run home run for his third long ball of the game while driving home seven runs as the Majors rolled to a 21-11 victory in eight innings over Austin College Sunday afternoon at Twenty Field.

WPI kicked off the 2010 season with a doubleheader sweep of Salve Regina in the Russmatt Baseball Central Florida Invitational on Sunday. The Engineers rode two solid pitching performances and great defense to a 3-1 win in the opener and a 4-0 win in game two to start the year 2-0.

After being blown out in a pair of games on Saturday, Pacific toughened up both offensively and defensively to prevent a Linfield sweep on Sunday, beating the Wildcats 5-3 in NWC action at Chuck Bafaro Stadium.

Joseph Willoughby went 4-for-5 and delivered the game-winning blow in the bottom of the tenth, scoring Wilmer Chavez, as John Jay closed out their 2010 Florida trip with a 5-4 10 inning win over Bluffton at the Snowbird Classic. Chris Camacho pitched 10 solid innings for the Bloodhounds picking up his first collegiate win.

Jason Simone and Steve Nickel combined for seven hits and 10 runs batted in as Cortland State routed host Farmingdale State, 16-5, in a non-league matchup. With the victory, 11th-year head coach Joe Brown became Cortland's all-time win leader. He has a career record of 367-107-1, eclipsing the 366 victories by Robert "Sparky" Wallace from 1958-83.

Emory climbed over the .500 mark for the first time this season with a 5-3 win over Case Western at Chappell Park. Offensively, it was a well-rounded effort for the Eagles, with seven different players picking up hits.

Bridgewater State split a doubleheader with Gettysburg at the RussMatt Dodgertown Invitational in Vero Beach, Florida. The Bears (2-2) won the seven-inning opener 4-3 before Gettysburg (1-3) captured the nightcap 3-2.

Washington (Md) opened its spring break trip to the RussMatt Central Florida Baseball Invitational with a dramatic 3-2 win over Moravian. Washington, down a run in the thirteenth inning, rallied for two runs and the win.

Carthage, ranked ninth in the Top 25, upended Medaille, 16-2, on Sunday, March 7 at Charlotte High School in Punta Gorda, Fla. Joey Aiello went four-for-five with three RBI and Tim Hansen Jr. went two-for-two with a home run and two doubles to lead the Carthage offense.

Scott Robinson hit his first home run of the season and Rensselaer went on to defeat Husson, 8-5. Ryan Washburn picked up the win, throwing 3.0 innings of scoreless relief.

Four different pitchers combined to pitch the first Blue Jay no-hitter since 2003 in the second game of the doubleheader against Rutgers-Newark as they won 15-0. The no-hitter came just one day shy of the eight-year anniversary of the last Blue Jay no-hitter. Jeremy Brown pitched a no-hitter against Lakeland on March 8, 2003. With a game one win by a score of 13-4, Johns Hopkins opens their season with a 2-0 record.

In the nightcap, the four pitchers combined to allow no runs, no hits, 11 strikeouts and only four walks. Senior Greg Harbeck recorded the win by pitching six innings and recording six strikeouts.

Sophomore Alex Eliopoulos entered the game next and pitched one inning. Sophomore Lucas Henneman and senior Andrew Pevsner each struck out two batters in their respective innings of work.

Not to be overshadowed by the pitchers, multiple hitters had great first days at the plate. Brian Youchak led the way with four hits, two home runs, five RBIs, and five runs scored. James Teta and Kahn recorded four hits each. Stephen Bejsiuk went 3-for-3 on the day with two runs scored.

The Blue Jays started the game as they had the previous game. In the bottom of the first Youchak hit his second two-run home run of the day to put the Blue Jays on top, 2-0. Johns Hopkins would add to the lead with Dave Kahn's solo home run in the second.

While the pitchers were cooling down the Raider's bats, the Blue Jays continued to pile up runs. The Blue Jays scored three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, then added four run in the seventh and two in the eighth.

Edgewood got a pair of complete games victories from Matt Krueger and Scott Winters and swept Concordia-Moorhead in the Eagles' season opening doubleheader at the HHH Metrodome. Edgewood won the first game 5-4 and then claimed the second game 12-4 in the early hours of Sunday morning.

In the opener, Edgewood (2-0) got on the board with two runs on no hits in the second inning and then tacked on another run in the third inning when Walker's RBI groundout scored Tim Barry. Walker also drove in Barry in the fifth inning with a single through the left side to give Edgewood a 4-0 lead.

Krueger held Concordia-Moorhead (2-2) scoreless through the first five innings, allowing just four hits and striking out five. The Cobbers finally got on the board in the sixth with a pair of unearned runs on a single by Adam Johnson to make the score 4-2.

In the top of the seventh, the Eagles tacked on what turned out to be an important insurance run. The run became crucial when the Cobbers mounted a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh, scoring two runs to get within one at 5-4 and placing the tying run at second base. Krueger fanned Tony Emmerich to end the game.

The second game began much like the first. Barry gave the Eagles the lead in the first with an RBI single that scored Walker, which was followed by a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 Eagles lead. In the third inning Walker led off with a double and eventually scored on Jimy Landwehr's RBI single.

Eagles' starter Winters cruised through the first four innings giving up just two hits and striking out three, but ran into trouble in the fifth. The Cobbers' Alex Jungels homered to left field and Jake Krause tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI single.

The Eagles exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the game away. Barry hit his eighth career home run in the midst of the offensive barrage. Concordia-Moorhead tacked on one in the seventh for the final 12-4 margin.

For the night Barry went 4-for-6 with a home run and four runs scored. The Cobblers catchers had two hits apiece in the losing effort (Erik Stoa in game one and Josh Hintz in game two).

Shortstop Marc Magliaro singled in the game winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Rowan (3-2) a 3-2 victory over Franklin & Marshall (0-2) at a game was played at Campbell's Field.

With the score at two, Profs' catcher Sean Bowen ripped a two out double to center field. He was replaced by pinch runner Mike Scott. The next batter, Magliaro, singled past the shortstop, scoring Scott from second.

Rowan went ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Citro was hit by a pitch and stole second. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Weaver singled past second base, plating Citro. The Diplomats tied the score (1-1) with one run in the top of the third. Anderson drove in Will with a single down the left field line.

In the top of the sixth inning, Triantos led off with a double to right field. He moved to third on a wild pitch. Anderson's sacrifice fly to left field brought Triantos home. In the bottom half, Weaver was hit by a pitch. He went to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on an error. Johanson grounded out to the shortstop, driving in Weaver.

Kyle Norman pitched three scoreless inning for the win. Michael Cox started the game and went six innings, allowing two earned runs. Diplomats' Matt Valente tossed the final 1.2 innings for the loss.

Scott Weaver led the Profs with two hits in three at bats, one RBI and one run scored. For Franklin & Marshall, Jason Anderson went two for three with two RBIs. Shortstop Matt Will and first baseman J.T. Triantos each produced two hits and scored once.

In other action: In a battle of nationally ranked foes Heidelberg prevailed, topping Carthage, 3-1. Heidelberg and Carthage combined for just seven hits. Picking up the win on the mound for the Heidelberg was Sylvester Nino. Nino went 7.0 innings, allowing just three hits and striking out five. Andy Lowe threw the final two innings to pick up his first save on the year.

Beloit finished up their spring trip with a come-from-behind 9-8 win over Aurora. Jordan DeGeorge survived the tough first inning for his second win of the trip, going seven innings and striking out three.

Mitch DeLorenzo banged out four hits and drove in four runs to support starting pitcher Jonathan Merritt, as Clark opened its 2010 campaign with an 18-13 win over Colby-Sawyer on Saturday morning. The Cougars, however, dropped game two of the twinbill, 5-3 to the Chargers, who got three hits from Ryan Bernstein in the nightcap.

The Methodist Monarchs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning before building a 7-1 lead, holding on for a 8-5. Tripp Lancaster went 4-for-5 while Trey Such finished 3-for-5 with two RBI.

Solid pitching made things easy for Linfield as the Wildcats swept a pair of NWC contests from Pacific at Chuck Bafaro Stadium. Ryan Larson threw a complete game three-hit shutout in the opener en route to a 9-0 victory. In the nightcap, Garrett Dorn limited Pacific to five hits over six innings while
the Linfield offense put together 11 runs in the first two innings on their way to a 12-3 rout.

Andrew Dewing drove in seven runs with two hits and four Eastern Connecticut State pitchers struck out 15 batters on a combined six-hitter as the Warriors routed Albertus Magnus, 19-4, in their 2010 season-opener at Baseball Heaven.

Ryan Damman earned a win in his season debut to lead Ohio Northern to a 4-3 victory over Penn State Berks Saturday morning on Griffith Field at the Ripken Experience. Brett Katana finished the game to earn his second save with a scoreless top of the ninth. Katana also led the way offensively with a 2-for-4 performance and two RBIs.

Ben Ives hurled 7.2 innings to pick up his first win as the Southern Maine Huskies opened their 2010 season with a 7-3 victory over the Old Westbury Panthers at Baseball Heaven in Yaphank, N.Y. Ives allowed nine hits and walked only one while fanning four to get the win.

Maryville continued their hot play with a victory on Saturday versus Mount Union. The Scots scored six runs in the sixth inning and cruised to a 10-4 victory to ear their sixth win in as many games.

Rhodes and Marietta split a doubleheader with the opener going to Marietta 3-0, and the nighcap ruled by the Lynx. Rhodes took game two by a score of 4-3 in 10 innings. Mark Williams dominated game one, throwing a complete game, two-hit shutout. IN the back end of the twinbill it was Chris Conkell sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th that gave Rhodes the win

Plattsburgh State wrapped up its first road trip of the spring with another split-doubleheader sweep of Wilkes, 3-2, and Penn State-Abington, 8-4, at the Polo Grounds. The Cardinals leave The Ripken Experience in South Carolina with a 4-1 record.

Salisbury completed its season sweep of Gallaudet with a pair of wins in Saturday's CAC doubleheader. The Sea Gulls (8-1) won the games 17-0 and 9-0, respectively, as the doubleheader marked the last regular season conference meetings between Salisbury and Gallaudet (0-6); the Bison will be moving to the North Eastern Athletic Conference next season. Brian Green led Salisbury in game on with four hits in as many at-bats and seven RBI.

Marvin Rosario pitched three scoreless innings of relief as Old Westbury knocked off 18th-ranked Cortland State, 4-2, Friday afternoon at Baseball Heaven.

Old Westbury (1-3) fell behind 2-0 in the first inning when starter Dan Fordyce served up a two-run homer to Anderson Gardner, putting the Red Dragons ahead 2-0 at the end of one. Old Westbury responded in the second with a two-out single by Melvin Simmons that drove home Emmanuel Mateo for the lone run of the inning. Melvin Simmons then trotted across the plate in the fourth off a two-out single by Giovanni Jimenez that tied the game at 2-2.

Old Westbury took the lead for good in the sixth inning as Giovanni Jimenez drew a bases loaded walk off Red Dragon reliever Mike Weingarten to send Steve Henriquez across the plate for the go ahead run. Old Westbury tacked on their fourth and final run of the game in the seventh inning to take a 4-2 lead. Edwin Pena delivered an RBI single to score Fernando Lopez from second.

Jorge Hiraldo was called onto close out the game for Marvin Rosario with one out in the ninth inning. Hiraldo gave up a two-run home run to Steve Nickel with one out in the ninth to knot the game briefly at 4-4. Hiraldo recovered by striking out the very next batter. The game was then called due to darkness and the game officially reverted back to the 4-2 Old Westbury lead at the end of eight innings since the Panthers offense did not step to the plate in the ninth.

Melvin Simmons finished the game 2-for-3 with two walks and one RBI, while Edwin Mejia went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Giovanni Jimenez drove in 2 RBI and went 1-for-4.

Andersen Gardner belted a two-run blast and went 2-for-4 with one stolen base. Jason Simone added a multi-hit game, banging out a pair of singles and finished 2-for-4. Khyle Dimino recorded two walks and went 1-for-2 while Alex Coffey struck out twice in three at-bats.

Dan Fordyce got the nod to start and went five innings with six strikeouts and allowed three walks and two earned runs. Marvin Rosario worked three innings of one hit baseball, compiling four strikeouts to earn his first victory of the season.

Adam Brown suffered his first loss of the season after allowing three runs on six hits and three walks in 5.1 innings of work.

In other action: Mississippi College swept a doubleheader on the road from Schreiner on Friday afternoon at Mountaineer Stadium. The Choctaws outscored the Mountaineers by a total of 28-4 over the two games. Chase Herrin, Bo Bell and Andy Smith each collected three hits on the day with Bell recording three doubles and two RBI. In all, five different Choctaws collected multiple hit games, while seven different players had multiple RBI.

Surrendering a seven-run run third inning led to a fourth consecutive loss for Cal Lutheran they fell 14-10 against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at home on Friday. Leadoff hitter Matt Martin provided a spark at the top of the Kingsmen lineup with a 4-for-5 day including a solo homer to right field.

The Lebanon Valley baseball team wrapped up its spring break trip with a 9-1 win over Martin Luther College Friday afternoon. Sophomore Aaron Mills led the team on the weeklong trip, going 13-for-24 at the plate. Against Martin Luther, sophomore Jacob Rhody went 3-for-4 for the Dutchmen.

Kevin Wing lifted St. John Fisher past Neumann 5-4 with a walk-off hit. Phil Pettinella led-off the inning with a base hit to leftfield and advanced to second on a Leo Fusilli sacrifice bunt, setting up Wang's game winning hit. Fisher leaves historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach, FL with a 5-3 record.

Senior Dave Zavistoski lined a single in the bottom of the ninth to give Kean their first win of the young season as Kean defeated Franklin & Marshall, 9-8, Friday afternoon at Jim Hynes Stadium.

The cardiac Bearcats came from two runs down in the bottom of the tenth to win 12-11 over the Milwaukee School of Engineering on a 2-run single by freshman Zach Bush. Vince Yandura worked the final 5 innings for the victory, scattering five hits and giving up four earned runs. Brad Burhardt, in addition to his six hits, added two runs scored and three runs batted in.

Salisbury took a few innings to get going at Gallaudet Friday afternoon, but once it did the runs kept coming. Neither team scored in the first two innings before Salisbury blew things open for a 17-0 win. Andrew Miller led the way for the Sea Gulls as he finished with three hits, three runs scored and drove in one run in three plate appearances.

Sul Ross unloaded on defending ASC champion Texas.-Tyler in a 15-2 non conference victory at Kokernot Field. Sul Ross let loose with 17 hits and held the opposition to seven as starting catcher Eric Martinez polled a three for four showing at the plate while Brian Mata added a home run to the arsenal. Mata also notched five RBIs while Brennyn Smith batted in four runs.

Rose-Hulman completed its spring trip with a 5-1 record after pounding Johnson & Wales 20-4 on Friday morning. Chris Stemple blasted a grand slam with three hits total and five RBIs to lead the 19-hit attack. Tim Tepe added three hits, including a double, with four runs scored.

Widener scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a tie and held on in the ninth for a 14-12 victory over Johnson & Wales to close its trip in Orlando, FL. In the eighth inning, Bill Hollingsworth broke the tie with a bases loaded walk and Max McCarthy lined an RBI single for an 11-9 lead.

Emory sophomore Kevin O'Connor drove in five runs, including a bases-loaded triple, and Mark Mazur added three RBIs, leading the Eagles to a 18-10 win over Denison. Paul Schwendel made his first start of the season, allowing just one earned run on two hits and striking out seven batters.

Chapman's late-inning rally fell short, as Cal State San Marcos pulled out a 9-6 victory on Friday afternoon at Hart Park. The Panthers' offense could not cash in on multiple scoring opportunities, leaving the bases loaded twice while stranding 12 runners.