All 14 teams compete in baseball. Basketball, cross-country, soccer and women's tennis are the other sports the whole conference plays.
This year, as in the past when 12 teams were in the conference, six teams will make the playoffs to be held on Fordham's Houlihan Park at Jack Coffey Field in the Bronx, N.Y. beginning on Thursday, May 24, 2006.
Duquesne is in 11th place, 3.0 games behind the Rams and Saint Louis; both are tied for sixth place.
The Dukes three remaining series are at no. 10 Saint Joseph's (May 5-7), versus #2 Charlotte in Pittsburgh (May 12-14) and at no. 5 George Washington (May 18-20).
Four A-10 teams are not on the 36-game league schedule, The good news, this includes no. 1 Rhode Island. However, the nos. 12-14 teams (La Salle, Tenple and Xavier) are also excluded from the itinerary.
Duquesne has four batters hitting over .300:
- Sophomore Pat Kimutis (.327, 5 HR, 20 RBI)
- Sophomroe Derek Mechling (.321, 4 HR, 25 RBI, 11-11 SB)
- Freshman Mike Carroll (.314, 5 HR, 17 RBI)
- Sophomore Eric Morrison (.306, 2 HR, 20 RBI, 13-16 SB).
A fourth soph, Aaron Janusey, leads the Red and Blue with 7 home runs and 38 RBI (.283). He had two home runs and five RBI against FU.
Mechling's 17 doubles led the A-10 prior to this weekend.
DU's combined BA is .278, seventh in the A-10. The Dukes are last (14) in the league with a 7.50 ERA and a .938 fielding average.
Of the 355 runs Duquesne has allowed this season, 19.1 percent have been unearned (90 errors). But their opponents are even less accurate; 24.5% of the Dukes' scoring has been unearned.
Junior starter Jeff Naughton is 3-0 and sophomore reliever Joe Kaye has a 2-0 mark. Sophomore Nick Jones and senior Adam Haun each have two saves; Jones has a team-best 4.81 ERA.
This weekend, Duquesne scored 28 runs on 29 hits and didn't give up an unearned run. Morrison, DU's center fielder, has a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage (108 chances, 5 assists).
The young Dukes have dug a hole for themselves but, with nine games remaining, still have a chance to make the tournament. Of the 10 batters with the most starts, one is a senior, two are juniors and the rest are freshmen (2) and sophomores (5).
Duquesne began A-10 play in 1983. They didn't make the playoffs until 2003 but have been in the last three in a row.
Atlantic 10 Baseball Standings
Top 6 teams make A-10 Championship Tournament
Conference Overall
W L T Pct. W L T Pct. Wkend
Rhode Island 12 4 0 .750 27 9 0 .750 3-0
Charlotte 13 5 0 .722 29 14 1 .670 1-2
St. Bonaventure 12 5 0 .706 19 15 0 .559 3-0
Dayton 12 6 0 .667 24 17 0 .585 0-3
George Washington 9 7 0 .563 18 25 0 .417 3-0
Fordham 10 8 0 .556 18 26 0 .409 0-3
Saint Louis 10 8 0 .556 22 21 0 .512 2-1
Richmond 9 9 0 .500 18 26 0 .409 2-1
Massachusetts 8 10 0 .444 10 22 0 .313 1-2
Saint Joseph's 8 10 0 .444 16 30 0 .348 1-2
Duquesne 7 11 0 .389 12 29 0 .293 3-0
La Salle 6 11 0 .353 14 28 0 .333 0-3
Temple 3 13 0 .188 9 32 0 .220 1-2
Xavier 3 15 0 .167 13 34 0 .277 0-3
Duquesne vs. Atlantic 10 teams
1. Rhode Island ---
2. Charlotte May 12-14
3. St. Bonaventure 1-2
4. Dayton 0-3
5. George Washington May 18-20
6. Fordham 3-0
7. Saint Louis 1-2
8. Richmond 1-2
9. Massachusetts 1-2
10. Saint Joseph's May 5-7
11. Duquesne
12. La Salle ---
13. Temple ---
14. Xavier ---