Dickinson and mfnmyers with a nice win last night over Ursinus in the Centennial to break a tie of unbeaten teams atop the standings. That got me looking at other leagues to see where the biggest late-season games might be shaping up as far as conference races go:
American Southwest -- #6 Hardin-Simmons heads to #8 Texas Lutheran on Oct. 4 to likely decide the regular season champ.
CCIW — Martin Luther (kap_the_cub 15-6, 11-0) finishes the season against Illinois Wesleyan (unlikelyhero 17-3, 9-1) and Northland (raucous 12-9, 9-2) in an Oct. 4-5 double feature that ought to determine the winner.
Commonwealth — #4 Penn St. Altoona (frankgrimes1 19-1, 10-0) hosts Susquehanna (zeuspole 16-5, 10-1) tonight in a game that should determine if PSA splits the regular season crown or wins it outright. Round 1 saw PSA winning by 13 points on the road.
Heartland — #5 Defiance (carl3298 20-0, 10-0) and Mt. St. Joseph (iceman300 17-3, 9-1) get their crack at each other on Oct. 3.
Iowa — #10 Buena Vista (westcoast22 19-1, 9-1) heads to #17 Dubuque (rblank57 18-1, 9-0) tonight in an effort to pull level in the east division standings. Should Dubuque stumble, Upper Iowa (14-7, 9-2) and Cornell (jjmilleriu 15-5, 8-2) suddenly find themselves back in play.
Little East — The annual battle of directional Connecticut state schools takes place on Oct. 4. East Conn. St. (cjones4mvp 15-5, 8-2) hosts West Conn. St. (15-6, 10-1).
Michigan — #19 Calvin (prc56 15-5, 8-2) and #21 Kalamazoo (boobyknight 16-4, 8-2) meet Sept. 30 to determine who gets a leg up in the east division. An Oct. 4 Calvin game against Eureka (usjgt 16-5, 10-1) also looms large, particularly if Calvin can get past K-zoo.
NESCAC — Tufts (zmark513 21-0, 11-0) might be the least-known unbeaten team out there. They’ll have 48 hours to prove their mettle Oct. 2-3 with games at #25 Connecticut (rwright 17-2, 8-1) and Colby (guyo26 17-3, 10-0). Conn and Colby then meet Oct. 5 to wrap up the season.
Northwest — Whitworth (tim_buggie 17-4, 9-2), Chapman (redsoxrootr1 14-6, 8-2) and Eastern Oregon (ldhope 13-8, 8-3) are all within a game of each other in the west. Advantage Whitworth, which doesn’t have to play the other two again. Chapman and E. Oregon tangle Oct. 2. Meanwhile in the east division, the question is whether anyone will finish above .500.
Ohio — Ohio Northern (ekulka 14-7, 10-1) enjoys a game and a half advantage for now, but has three tricky games coming Oct. 1-3. More fun is the north division where John Carroll (whit6r 12-8, 8-2), Marietta (bradriddell 15-4, 7-2), Capital (buckeye101 13-8, 8-3) and Mount Union (cokeman 13-7, 7-3) all sit within one game of each other in the standings. Race-impacting games are pretty much a nightly given from here forward.
So. Cal — #11 CSU, Eastbay (tedlukacs 19-1, 10-0) and #22 Whittier (windixies 15-5, 9-1) close the season against each other on Oct. 5 in what could decide a split champion. Before things get there, however, #12 Colorado (bdpoor 19-2, 9-2) might have a thing or two to say with an Oct. 2 home game against Whittier and a game tonight at Eastbay.
University — #15 Trinity (TX) (bobmeyer 18-3, 10-1) has an Oct. 1 game against #23 Louisiana (discodave 14-6, 9-1) and an Oct. 3 game at #1 Millsaps (brianxavier 20-0, 10-0) that will factor heavily into the league standings. Millsaps must also dodge a Sept. 30 game against #16 Sewanee (madpad78 16-4, 8-2)
USA South — Christopher Newport (mroylanc 15-5, 8-2) has games Sept. 30 at #18 Greensboro (tilldog28 15-4, 8-1) and Oct. 3 vs. #7 Palm Beach Atlantic (osgonlz 19-1, 9-1) in games that will determine who wins the league. PBA has already defeated Greensboro in that cross-divisional meeting.