ESTERO — The local Beef O’ Brady’s will host a suspenseful evening this Selection Sunday.

The men’s basketball team of Florida Gulf Coast University (26-5 entering Tuesday night’s regular-season finale against Central State), is 21-3 in the South Region but is on shaky ground with a No. 7 regional ranking.

The Eagles fell from fifth to sixth despite being in the midst of a 14-game winning streak. They fell from sixth to seventh last week after losing at Butler, 79-65, then-Division I’s 13th-ranked team, and routing Marygrove.

FGCU’s independent status certainly doesn’t score the Eagles many points from those who vote, most of whom have conference ties, and therefore, apparent conference bias.

The new regional rankings come out today, and coach Dave Balza and company will be watching closely. Eight teams from each region comprise Division II NCAA Tournament fields. Three South Region conferences have tournaments, meaning upsets could brush FGCU further back in the rankings and perhaps out of the tourney.

No such worry for FGCU’s undefeated women, who finish the regular season at home against Flagler on Saturday night. FGCU has staked a strong claim at No. 1 in the South for weeks and will almost certainly host the March 9, 10 and 12 regional tourney.

FGCU officials, coaches and players invite you to join them at Beef O’ Brady’s for the official announcements Sunday night. The men’s bracket will be released at 10:00, the women’s at 10:30.

Women’s coach Karl Smesko won’t be nearly as nervous as Balza since his team is a lock.

“That’s definitely a bonus,” Smesko said. “It’s good to know our name is going to be called. The suspense for us is who we are going to be matched up against.”

In fact, Smesko is looking forward to this weekend.

“Yeah, I am,” he said. “I’m excited about Senior Night and I’m excited about looking forward to the conference tournaments for the other schools in our region, see how that plays out and what the bracket may look like. You get into March, and as everybody knows, it’s an exciting time to be a basketball player, coach or fan.”

He expects most of his players to be on hand at Beef O’ Brady’s.

“They want to check out first-hand where we’re at, and the first team we’re matched up against,” Smesko said. “It’s just an exciting feeling, you know, when it’s on TV and someone is announcing who you’re going to be playing in a tournament setting.”

The announcements will actually be released on a Webcast at NCAAsports.com, for those who cannot make it to the FGCU watch party.

Senior night

Due to the likelihood FGCU’s women will host the South Regional, Saturday night’s game against Flagler probably will not be the last for seniors Kate Schrader, Alex Nelson and Jen Conely in Alico Arena.

But this is a good time to discuss their contributions to Smesko’s program. All three transferred to FGCU as juniors and the Eagles have an almost surreal record since their arrivals.

“They’ve obviously had a huge impact on our program, we’re 57-2 since this group came in,” Smesko said. “They’ve been a big part of our success.”

Schrader is a 5-11 forward from Fort Collins, Colo., who transferred from Yavapai Community College. For the second consecutive season, she leads the team in scoring (17.8 ppg) and rebounding (5.8 rpg). She was a second team All-American last year.

“Kate Schrader, in my opinion, she’s a first-team All-American and definitely a candidate for Player of the Year in the nation,” Smesko said. “She’s just been exceptional. She was great last year, and she’s been even better this year.”

A 5-8 guard from Edinburgh, Scotland, Nelson transferred from Cincinnati State. She averages 8.8 points (third on the team) and 3.6 rebounds.

“Alex Nelson is a player we always put on the other team’s best offensive player,” Smesko said. “We give her the toughest defensive assignments, and she has a lot of responsibilities in terms of being able to handle the basketball and delivering the ball to our scorers. And at the same time, we need her to score ourselves. She’s made great contributions.”

Conely is a 5-10 guard from Warren, Minn. She transferred from Lake Region State College and averages 6.1 points and 3.1 rebounds off the bench.

“Jen Conely has always been somebody for us that could really shoot the basketball and has provided us with a scoring option off the bench the last two years,” Smesko said.

Smesko will miss the trio for more than their scoring or rebounding averages.

“They are competitive, and they have a desire to win and that makes coaching a lot easier when everybody is in it to compete.

“It’s going to be difficult because they’ve meant so much to the program. It’s something that happens on a yearly basis, the players you grow close to leave. Unfortunately, that’s just part of the coaching business. You get good players, get a team you really like, you wish you could lock some of them up with long-term contracts. But college athletics, they just have the scholarship for their eligibility, so there will be some fresh faces in here.

“Hopefully, those new faces will be as competitive as this group that’s leaving.”

Baseball

After winning two of three vs. No. 5 Florida Southern in a home (one game) and away (doubleheader) series the weekend before last, FGCU moved from No. 18 to 16 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll.

FGCU followed that up by winning two of three at Florida Tech on Saturday and Sunday.

“That was a good series for us. Pretty happy with it,” said FGCU coach Dave Tollett, whose team is 11-4, and all games have been South Region ones.

“They still aren’t there yet. I think we still have room for improvement and are going to get better.” Inconsistency at the plate is Tollett’s main focus after his team won a pair of 10-7 games in Melbourne sandwiched between a 2-1 loss.

“Game 1, we have 18 hits,” Tollett said. “In Game 2, we get beat 2-1 and we have five. In Game 3, we have 17. We’re just not consistent, you know? We just have to do a better job.

“I don’t think we pitched that well. We had 12 walks and four hit by pitches and that’s 16 extra base runners. We can’t give them free ones.”

Tollett feels his team is in good standing, regionally speaking.

“That’s pretty good,” said Tollett of 11-4. “With wins over Florida Southern, that puts us over them. But Tampa is on cruise control without a loss in the region so far.

“We’re right there. But it’s a long year.”

Softball

A week after finishing second with a 4-1 record in the Barry University Invitational, unranked FGCU clubbed its competition in the 2007 Triton Spring Invitational in Clearwater last weekend.

Deiros has scheduled several tournaments this season because he wanted his team to have some short-term goals. Thus far, the Eagles are reaching them.

Friday, FGCU knocked off No. 8 LeMoyne, 4-1, Florida Tech, 2-1, and Nova Southeastern, 11-1.

On Saturday, the Eagles beat Eckerd, 7-1, then defeated the Spartans of Tampa, 5-1, to win their first-ever off-campus tournament.

“Our first two games were a little bit shakey,” said FGCU coach David Deiros. “We weren’t hitting on all cylinders.

“But the last three I think were as dominating a set of victories as anybody could possibly ask for.

“I think we were the better team on the field the entire weekend.”

Before Friday, FGCU had never played three games in one day.

“It’s unusual, and it’s grueling,” Deiros said. “We went in it with the idea that it’s not only going to be tough on our position players, but it’s really going to be tough on our pitching staff.

“We had to play 21 innings. We got eight from (Rachael) Edinger, got another eight from Dana Frantz and Sarah (Backe) was able to bridge the gap and carry the rest. That was big for us that we were able to spread it out and not tax one kid.”

Edinger is now 7-0 with a 0.50 ERA. Frantz, who won two games on Friday, is 8-2 with a 1.35 ERA. Backe is 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA. Deiros said Backe has struggled a bit but seems to be shaking out of it. The Eagles will need her, as starting with today’s home doubleheader against Mercyhurt, they will play 25 games in 20 days.

The first South Region rankings do not come out until the end of March but Deiros feels good about the 13-2 regional start.”I think right now in our region, that’s pretty good,” he said. “That puts us in the top echelon.”

Classic tickets on sale

Tickets for FGCU’s first-ever Division I baseball experiences are on sale.

The Eagles will play round-robin host to Notre Dame, Harvard, Dayton and New York Tech on Wednesday, March 14, through Sunday, March 18, in the Beef O’ Brady’s St. Patrick’s Week Classic.

Tickets are $8 per session for reserved seating. General admission tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the Alico Arena ticket office.For more information, call (239) 590-7145.

Club wrestling

FGCU finished seventh — three spots behind the University of Florida — in last weekend’s Southeast Region Championships at the University of Georgia.

Four Eagles placed high enough to qualify for the national meet: Brian Cordova (sixth at 149 pounds), John Salo (fourth, 174), Tariq Humes (fifth, 184) and Nathan Behrent (fifth, 197).