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