As conference play continues halfway into April, there are a few potential bid stealers on the rise.
Midway through the season, we have released a Field of 64 projection.
Here are two teams that have been on the rise within their respective conferences and could find their way into the NCAA Tournament.
Georgia Southern
We’re only a few weeks into conference play, but Georgia Southern already has two key series wins against their top two opponents in Sun Belt Conference play.
Over the past two weekends, the Eagles traveled to Texas State, who is ranked No. 12 this week, winning two out of three and then hosted Georgia State at home sweeping them.
The season started off incredibly slowly for Georgia Southern, as they started the year 2-5 after being swept by Tennessee and lost two out of three against UCF, but they have won 22 of their last 28 games to put themselves back into the conversation.
Nothing looks better for Georgia Southern than their RPI, as they are ranked eighth in the country. Their 14th ranked strength of schedule has helped mighty, but they have dominated at home to propel them in the rankings.
While Texas State is the favorite in the Sun Belt, Georgia Southern is making their presence known.
Noah Searcy, Jason Swan, and Jarrett Brown have made their impact known with the bats, as they all have batting averages north of .318. As a team, Georgia Southern has hit .268 while only hitting 30 home runs.
The pitching has lacked consistency, but starter Ty Fisher has been great in conference play. Fisher has posted a 3.06 ERA in his five starts so far this season.
Georgia Southern still has opportunities to build their resume. They will travel to Florida State on Wednesday and will also play Georgia Tech before rounding out the season with five more weekend series.
Kennesaw State
It’s to nobody’s surprise the Atlantic Sun is one of the best mid-major conferences in baseball this year.
But, even with Liberty leading the way, Kennesaw State has been loud in conference play.
Before this weekend, Kennesaw State was 10-2 in conference play. That was before a three-game set with Liberty where they lost two out of three.
This shouldn’t cause panic for Kennesaw State fans, though. The Owls were very good in non-conference play, which included a win against Georgia Tech.
But, the time is now for Kennesaw State.
They are 22-12 overall with a 11-4 conference record; their RPI is 17th in the country.
This week, they have non-conference, mid-week opportunities against Georgia State and Auburn; the following week they will play two at Georgia Southern before beginning May with a game at Georgia.
In the ASun, teams play each other twice. So, even though Kennesaw State lost two of three against FGCU and Liberty, they have a second opportunity against their conference opponents. Their resume is there, they will just need to take advantage of their second chances against tough conference opponents.
Georgia Southern vs Kennesaw State
The best part about these two teams (and we swear this didn’t factor into our decision of who to pick), is that they will meet twice at Georgia Southern on April 26 and 27 on ESPN+.
It goes without saying that this matchup will be huge for both teams.
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