BB: NESCAC: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[slick]

why will they miss Dexter? He' still at Trinity isn't he? Bostonian, hows your bro's arm? I don't think Kiely will be ready for awhile, the TJ wasn't done until late spring and it takes a year.

Bostonian, I'm RT, Greg Talpey's dad. Greg and all his buddies have called me "slick" for years.

[Bostonian]

Dexter is from Colby....he's on leave.

Ben is done...unless he comes back as a grad. player....which is probably not happening. His arm did not fully heal.

Tough way to end a career....

[slick]

Thats too bad about Ben, it is a tough thing to see. I went thru it all last year watching Greg throw at 50%. Ben did well, he has some great memories to hold on to. Good Luck!

[Old Spartan]

Wow, lots of arm problems.  What have you guys learned from your son's and brother's experience?  Is there a way to minimize the liklihood of an arm injury?

[Bostonian]

Ben's injury was a freak one. He broke his humoural bone in his pitching arm throwing a pitch during fall ball. There is no way to minimize the likelihood of that.

I thought Kiely threw WAY too many innings for Pittsfield the summer after his sophomore year. Not sure what happened to Greg, so I'll let slick answer that one.

[slick]

Same thing, too many summer innings. Greg was the summer before, twilight and NECBL. Then half way thru a good junoir year the elbow and the shoulder started acting up. Tried to pitch thru it, more summer ball did it. Tried to come back senoir year and had a torn UCL , as did Trinitys other 2 weekend starters,and tried to hide it (not very successfully). Young competitive pitchers need to know the warning signs of pain, and TELL somebody. I'm convinced cold weather had a part of this, throwing most of the season in 45 or less (Colby series was in the 20's) is not good.

Bostonian, tough news on Kevin Burr. Another son of mine played for him at Dean. He was always a gentleman when we spoke.

[Old Spartan]

thanks for that, I will pass that along.  The boys are in great physical condition, they need to learn to take care of the arm.  I know the season is short so if they get hurt they miss it, but etter to save the career.  Playing in two leagues at the same time, if that is what you mean is tough for a pitcher.

I would have thought that the summer ball coaches would have enough pitchers to give the guys a proper break.

OS

[363dp]

Dale Plummer has accepted the head coaching position at Colby. This should improve the team with his knowlegde of pitching. With Bowdoin lossing so much from last year, Colby could win the CBB this year if their pitching improves.

[spring07]

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Bowdoin. They still have some very good players and I don't think Colby or Bates are quite there yet.

[363dp]

I didn't dismiss them, just think it will be much closer this year.

[Rick Vaughn]

Once again the NESCAC gets slighted on the national stage.  Returning POY doesn't even get a player to watch mention after being 2nd team All American and hitting .500 the year before.  Is that a Sports Info or coaches thing that team or individuals do not get any mention on any stage.  Collegiate Baseball, D3baseball.com, and ABCA only give Williams and Trin team to watch status in the New England preview. 

That's re-god damn-diculous.

[Old Spartan]

The truly accomplished do not care what others say about them, they are more concerned with their actions.  Let the established world underestimate the league so as to make their surprise all the greater in Appleton.  A nice showing in Florida/Arizona will also demonstrate the truth, though the weather cannot be changed and northern teams should be expected to have a slower start.

OS

[Bostonian]

I just took a look at Trinity's roster....where is Tim Bourdon? All league infielder last year but not on the roster?

Bowdoin adn Trinity both look very young...

[Old Spartan]

Young teams are the function of the ebbs and flows of school life.  Both teams probably needed to build up numbers due to graduations, injuries and etc.  It will be difficult to know how the frosh will perform until after the spring break trips.  Some freshmen I am personally familiar with in other leagues are doing quite well.  More to talk about soon, after they have a few games under their belts.

OS

[Jim Dixon]

Once again the NESCAC gets slighted on the national stage.  Returning POY doesn't even get a player to watch mention after being 2nd team All American and hitting .500 the year before.  Is that a Sports Info or coaches thing that team or individuals do not get any mention on any stage.  Collegiate Baseball, D3baseball.com, and ABCA only give Williams and Trin team to watch status in the New England preview. 

That's re-god damn-diculous.

Not to defend my opinions but with regard to the story on d3baseball.com, you will notice that the NESCAC was not the only conference without a "team to watch" mention.   

The process I went through was to look at conference winners (both tournament and regular season), playoff teams , and teams with a history of doing well.  I also weed through the early posts on the discussion board looking for any team with an early buzz. 

Once I have a list of about 10-15 teams, I look at the team's roster.  Who left, who has done well in the past.  If I have a schedule, I'll look at the matchups.  Some schools have tougher schedules, some are less so.  Trinity was one that comes to mind as being soft but for a young team could work to their advantage.

From this I start weeding out those teams that lost too much.  If I have information on a good recruiting class I consider that but for the most part I treat the freshmen class as complete unknowns. 

What you will notice in the teams to watch, they have better than average experience and better than average performance over the previous few years. 

I welcome all critiques and comments.