It sure doesn't feel like it, but baseball and softball are here.
Georgia College gets things rolling Saturday on both diamonds.
The softball team opened the season against Lincoln Memorial while hosting the Bobcat Blast.
Georgia College began with LMU at 11 a.m., with Georgia Southwestern following with a doubleheader against Queens U. at 3:30 p.m. The Bobcats battle Queen in a 2:30 p.m. twinbill on Sunday, with GSW and LMU starting the day at 10 a.m.
The baseball team's first pitch is Saturday at 1 p.m. - it'll be almost a whole 50 degrees - against Mars Hill in a doubleheader.
Other area college first pitches:
Middle Georgia State softball: vs. Shelton State, Saturday
Middle Georgia State baseball: at Southern Union (Ala.), Thursday; vs. Southern Union, next Saturday.
Mercer softball: vs. IUPUI, Feb. 8, in the Mercer Invitational.
Mercer baseball: vs. Ohio State, Feb. 15, at Snowbird Baseball Classic in Sarasota, Fla., vs. Bethune-Cookman, Feb. 22.
Wesleyan softball: vs. Elmira College, Feb. 17.
A-Sun RPI holds steady
Belmont's move to the Ohio Valley Conference wasn't expected to be of an immense impact, but for whatever reason, the OVC's men's basketball RPI has jumped a good bit and the A-Sun's has dropped.
Entering Saturday, here are a few comparisons:
Warren Nolan: OVC 16th, A-Sun 26th
Warren Nolan's 15-30:
Non-Conf
RPI W - L Pct Best Team
MAAC 0.4861 15 50 - 61 0.4505 Niagara
Ohio Valley 0.4840 16 55 - 74 0.4264 Belmont
Mid-American 0.4809 17 62 - 79 0.4397 Akron
Summit Lg 0.4779 18 36 - 62 0.3673 North Dakota State
Big West 0.4734 19 36 - 61 0.3711 Long Beach State
Northeast 0.4716 20 55 - 85 0.3929 Bryant
Patriot Lg 0.4708 21 57 - 62 0.4790 Bucknell
Ivy League 0.4690 22 41 - 71 0.3661 Harvard
America East 0.4641 23 48 - 63 0.4324 Stony Brook
Southland 0.4638 24 24 - 62 0.2791 Stephen F. Austin
Colonial Athl 0.4623 25 48 - 83 0.3664 Northeastern
Atlantic Sun 0.4569 26 32 - 76 0.2963 Florida Gulf Coast
Southern 0.4380 27 35 - 87 0.2869 Davidson
MEAC 0.4296 28 38 - 123 0.2360 Norfolk State
Big Sky 0.4280 29 15 - 62 0.1948 Montana
Big South 0.4239 30 28 - 94 0.2295 Charleston Southern
Last year, A-Sun finished 19th, OVC 21st.
RealtimeRPI: OVC, 16th, A-Sun 26th
RealtimeRPI's 15-30:
Rank Conference RPI Avg. SOS Rank Teams
15 Metro Atlantic Athletic 0.4854 0.4839 18 10
16 Ohio Valley 0.4838 0.4863 17 12
17 Mid-American 0.4807 0.4880 16 12
18 Summit 0.4781 0.4782 20 9
19 Big West 0.4722 0.4809 19 10
20 Patriot League 0.4717 0.4579 26 8
21 Northeast 0.4713 0.4734 23 12
22 Ivy League 0.4694 0.4889 14 8
23 Southland 0.4633 0.4768 21 10
24 America East 0.4632 0.4602 25 9
25 Colonial Athletic 0.4622 0.4768 22 11
26 Atlantic Sun 0.4559 0.4651 24 10
27 Southern 0.4375 0.4546 27 12
28 Mid-Eastern 0.4304 0.4532 28 13
29 Big Sky 0.4277 0.4435 29 11
30 Big South 0.4234 0.4413 30 12
Last year, the A-Sun finished 20th and OVC 21st.
The NCAA doesn't publicly rank the conference's, but here are the A-Sun and OVC's individual RPIs entering Saturday (only updated on Mondays);
A-Sun
Rank Prev Rank Name W-L Road Neut Home Non-Div I
117 115 FGCU 14-8 3-7 0- 0 9-1 2-0
165 161 Mercer 13-9 5-6 0- 3 6-0 2-0
212 233 USC Upstate 11-10 4-7 1- 1 4-2 2-0
221 222 Stetson 9-11 4-7 0- 0 4-4 1-0
233 223 Lipscomb 8-12 3-8 0- 0 4-4 1-0
235 244 Jacksonville 11-11 3-9 1- 1 5-1 2-0
249 220 North Florida 8-14 2-11 2- 0 3-3 1-0
259 246 East Tenn. St. 6-15 3-8 0- 2 2-5 1-0
299 306 Northern Ky. 6-11 3-6 0- 3 3-2 0-0
342 337 Kennesaw St. 2-19 1-10 0- 2 1-7 0-0
OVC
14 23 Belmont 17-4 6-3 2- 1 7-0 2-0
76 71 Eastern Ky. 16-5 5-4 0- 0 10-1 1-0
96 95 Murray St. 15-5 7-2 2- 1 4-2 2-0
99 101 Tennessee St. 12-10 3-9 1- 1 6-0 2-0
143 163 Jacksonville St. 14-7 5-4 2- 0 5-3 2-0
162 172 Morehead St. 11-11 3-8 0- 0 6-3 2-0
243 226 Southeast Mo. St. 11-12 4-7 0- 2 5-3 2-0
269 264 Tennessee Tech 8-12 3-8 0- 0 3-4 2-0
275 262 SIU Edwardsville 7-11 1-8 0- 0 4-3 2-0
295 298 Eastern Ill. 6-16 1-9 2- 0 3-6 0-1
309 314 UT Martin 5-16 1-11 0- 0 2-5 2-0
340 340 Austin Peay 5-17 0-9 1- 3 2-5 2-0
OVC has five in the top 150 to one for A-Sun. A-Sun has four in the bottom 100, OVC has five.
Mercer's losses to Northern Kentucky and Kennesaw State certainly don't help the A-Sun, although the conference schedule's RPI is pretty much set, especially since there have been so few upsets by the A-Sun to help its RPI as the season grows.
The A-Sun has won only 29.6 percent of its non-conference games, and is - according to Warren Nolan's site - 1-25 against the top 50.
The OVC has 42.6 percent mark in non-conference games and is 2-29 against the top 50.
And last season, the A-Sun had three 20-win teams in the regular season and five at .500 or better overall. This season, as of Saturday, FGCU and Mercer have the only shots. FGC needs five with eight games left and Mercer needs six with eight left. Mercer closes the season at FGCU and Stetson, so odds are against the Bears. FGCU has Stetson and Mercer back-to-back, and beat Upstate by only a point.
FGCU and Mercer are the only locks for winning seasons, with Upstate a decent bet. Jacksonville needs a run, and Stetson has to rebound from its two-game losing streak, including a 31-point pounding at FGCU.
The odds of the A-Sun getting a second team into any of the postseason tournaments is much more of a stretch this season, barring a major winning streak or two.
