No Fooling Around This Weekend

The calendar may show April 1, but there's no fooling around in the important Conference contests taking place on Saturday. Here's a look at some of the biggest games.

Gettysburg at Haverford (Baseball)
This is a rematch of last season's first-round CC tournament game in which the Fords defeated the Bullets, 12-4, to advance to the semifinals where they were ousted by Johns Hopkins.  The two teams are among the top four in the Conference in team ERA, as the Fords (11-10, 2-0) are second at 3.55, while the Bullets (10-11, 2-0) are fourth at 4.26.

Salisbury at Gettysburg (Men's Lacrosse)
Ordinarily, we try to preview key Centennial games on the day.  But when the #1 and #2 teams in the country meet ... we'll make an exception.  The top-ranked Sea Gulls (10-0), three-time defending NCAA champions, come to Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium riding a 59-game winning streak.  The last Salisbury loss was on April 10, 2003, while the last road loss was May 12, 2002 - at Gettysburg (7-0), 7-5.  The key will be how the Bullet defense and goalkeeper Pat Vaughan, which allows 3.43 goals per contest, stands up to the high-powered Gull offense which averages 17.4 goals per game.

Swarthmore at Gettysburg (Women's Lacrosse)
The Bullets (8-0, 2-0) are riding a high following yesterday's 9-8 win at defending national champion TCNJ.  They will have to avoid a letdown when they face the improving Garnet (9-1, 1-1).

Ursinus at McDaniel (Softball)
It's the opening weekend of the Conference portion of the spring schedule and what better way to begin than the Bears (11-3) against the Green Terror (9-9).  These two perennial powers always provide interesting games and set the tone for the playoff chase.  It's an age-old question ... does strong pitching beat strong hitting?  Ursinus has a 2.04 team ERA, while McDaniel is hitting at a .338 clip.

Washington at Gettysburg (Men's Tennis)
It's time to find out how good the first-place Bullets (7-2, 2-0) are this season when they play host to perennial power Washington (7-3, 2-0).

Franklin & Marshall at Swarthmore (Women's Tennis)
It is one of the highlight matches of any season when the Diplomats (6-1, 2-0) and the Garnet (5-2, 2-0) meet on the courts.  The decisive match could come at No. 1 singles between F&M's Katie Gaskins and Swarthmore's Sonya Reynolds.

This Weekend on the 'Net
Baseball: Ursinus at Dickinson - WDCV-FM
Baseball: Gettysburg at Haverford - WHRCradio.com
Men's Lacrosse: Dickinson at McDaniel - Green Terror Live

NCAA Wrestling - Saturday Sessions

The Centennial Conference still has four wrestlers competing for medals at the 2006 NCAA Division III championships at the College of New Jersey. One - Muhlenberg junior 197-pounder Matt Loesch - reached the semifinals with two Friday victories and still has designs on a national title. The remaining trio - Kings Point 141 Danny Song, McDaniel 165 Tony Howard, and Ursinus 184 Mike Troutman - hopes to battle back through the consolation brackets for a shot at the bronze medal. All four have earned All-America recognition, due to their top-eight finish. We'll post results throughout the day ... or you can get real-time results from the official championship website.

NCAA Women's Basketball - 2nd Round

After a thrilling 57-50 victory over Wesleyan on Friday, Muhlenberg (26-2) takes on Mary Washington (28-1) in the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament tonight at 8 p.m. in Fredericksburg. The winner advances to the "Sweet 16" to meet the winner of the Bowdoin-Brandeis game. You can listen to the action courtesy of WMUH-FM beginning with the pre-game show at 7:45.

NCAA Women's Basketball - 1st Round

Centennial Conference champion Muhlenberg battles Wesleyan of the NESCAC this afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Division III women's basketball championship tournament. You can listen to the game courtesy of WMUH-FM or get real-time updates below.

NCAA Wrestling - Friday Sessions

It's the opening day of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championship at the College of New Jersey in Ewing Twp., NJ. The Centennial Conference has 11 representatives at the meet, including five that received seeds - Ursinus' Eddie Murray (#2) and Mike Troutman (#8), McDaniel's Tony Howard (#3), Muhlenberg's Matt Loesch (#3) and Kings Point's Danny Song (#5). Here are the Centennial matchups:

125: Steve Kingsland (Ursinus, 29-7) vs. #8 Tom Gagan (Elmhurst, 19-3)
133: #2 Eddie Murray (Ursinus, 26-0) vs. Zach McKray (Wartburg, 32-4)
141: #5 Danny Song (Kings Point, 16-2) vs. winner of Eugene Kobilansky (NYU, 28-5)-Kevin Koch (Concordia, 33-7) match
149: Brian Boland (Ursinus, 23-5) vs. Don Ooton (Brockport, 19-8)
157: Dale Mills (Muhlenberg, 25-4) vs. #4 Joe Pflug (Heidelberg, 23-3)
165: #3 Tony Howard (McDaniel, 24-1) vs. Tim Maxworthy (Heidelberg, 28-6)
174: David Kraus (Johns Hopkins, 25-6, pictured) vs. #8 Robert Gotreau (Augsburg, 40-7)
184: #8 Mike Troutman (Ursinus, 33-3) vs. #1 Duane Bastress (York, 36-0)-Ben Dictus (Lawrence, 23-4) match
197: #3 Matt Loesch (Muhlenberg, 16-2) vs. Jason Leckey (Springfield, 19-9)
285: Mike Pattanite (Gettysburg, 21-11) vs. #3 Mike Blair (Trinity, 30-0)

We will post match results from CC grapplers as they become available. You can also follow the meet's action at the championships website.