After an opening weekend that saw Sun Belt Conference baseball teams go a combined 21-10 (.677), several SBC teams will be in action this weekend hoping to continue their success. Three of those teams - UALR, FIU, and Louisiana-Lafayette - will try and remain unbeaten so far in the young 2010 season, while Louisiana-Monroe, New Orleans, and South Alabama look to get back into the winning ways.
This weekend should provide some more good results for the SBC. Louisiana-Monroe opens up the weekend slate against Creighton with an early afternoon first pitch in the Stephen F. Austin Classic. The Warhawks (1-2) are looking to rebound from two straight losses at No. 17 Ole Miss last weekend after taking the first game from the Rebels on Feb. 19. After Friday's game with Creighton, the Warhawks will face tournament host SFA which swept a three-game series against Grambling last weekend. ULM will close out the tournament with a match-up of in-state opponent Northwestern State. The Demons dropped two-of-three to Southern Miss last week.
WKU (2-1) will travel to Waco, Texas this weekend for the Baylor Bears Tournament. The Hilltoppers take on Texas A&M on Friday, then play Texas State on Saturday, and close out the tournament with host Baylor on Sunday. The Baylor tournament features four teams who all participated in the 2009 NCAA Baseball tournament. Baylor is 3-1 overall with wins against Duke and #22 Georgia, while Texas A&M is 3-0 after sweeping Seton Hall in the opening weekend. Texas State is also 3-0 with a sweep over Houston.
Florida Atlantic (2-1) will travel to Auburn, Ala. for the Inaugural Auburn Classic. The Owls, who took two-of-three from Cincinnati last weekend, will face Missouri, Boston College, and Auburn over the weekend. Missouri is 2-1 with wins over Gonzaga and Washington, while Boston College is 2-1 with wins over Tulane. BC handed Tulane its first loss in a home opener since 1990. Tourney host Auburn is also 2-1, winning two-straight games to take the series from Southeast Missouri State last weekend.
The final tournament scheduled for SBC teams this weekend is the 25th Annual South Alabama Classic. The Jaguars (2-2) will host four teams this weekend in Mobile, Ala. facing Eastern Michigan on Friday and North Florida on Saturday. The Jags will then play a double-dip on Sunday against Wichita State, and finally Eastern Michigan that afternoon.
Several other three-game series are scheduled for SBC teams this weekend beginning with FIU's match-up with Oral Roberts. FIU (3-0) swept Maryland last weekend giving the Panthers their first sweep over an ACC opponent. ORU will open its season at FIU after finishing 2009 33-14. ORU is The Summit League preseason favorite.
Troy will face #16 Arkansas this weekend in Fayetteville, the SBC's only game against a ranked opponent this weekend. Arkansas was a College World Series participant last year and is currently 2-1 thus far in 2010 winning two games out of three against Ball State. The Trojans (3-1) swept Hofstra with an onslaught offense before dropping a midweek game against Samford.
Middle Tennessee (1-1) and Louisiana-Lafayette (3-0) will both take on Mid-American Conference opponents this weekend as MT is scheduled for a three-game slate against Ohio, while ULL will take on Miami (Ohio). MT split two games with Memphis in the opening weekend while the Ragin' Cajuns swept Nicholls State in three games.
Arkansas State (2-1) and New Orleans (0-3) will take on Horizon League foes Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Youngstown State, repectively. Both Horizon teams will be making their 2010 debuts. UW-Milwaukee was picked to finished third in the the Horizon League by the league's coaches while Youngstown State was picked to finish fifth.
In the final match-up of the weekend, UALR will host SIU-Edwardsville. SIUE (0-2) is reclassifying to Division I and not playing a full Ohio Valley Conference schedule until 2012. UALR (3-0) will play four games against the Cougars this weekend - two doubleheaders back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday.