BB: SLIAC: St Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Ralph Turner]

Welcome to the Message Board for the St Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference  (SLIAC).

[BigPoppa]

What is the outlook for this conference? Anybody have any pre-season report on the teams?

Who is expected to be the cream of the crop?

Which team has the best chance to make a run at the Central Region title?

[SaintsBall]

Webster looks to be strong again this year, they are reloaded and should have another big year...I know i am a maryville fan, but dont be surprised to see them win some conference games this year... they have a nice freshman class

[BigPoppa]

How are the SLIAC team starting out? Any teams off to surprising starts, either good or bad?

[SaintsBall]

these next few weeks should be interesting... Maryville lost 2 of 3 to webster in a excellent low scoring series, Greenville took 2 from Blackburn, Westminster took 2 from fontbonne. So far, Blackburn,Greenville and Webster are all tied at 7-2 in conference play and Maryville holds up the fourth spot in the standings at 7-5. Westminster plays Maryville this week in a HUGE series for both teams. This battle for the last spot in the SLIAC playoffs should be interesting. MacMurray is currently 5-7 in conference play and westminster is 3-6.

[Longtooth]

Is the UMAC going to rejoin the SLIAC?

[SaintsBall]

Today marks the last day of the conference season. Westminster needs to beat Blackburn twice today to make the SLIAC tourney, knocking Maryville out of the contention. Currently, if Blackburn wins both games today, Maryville will keep their 4th place spot, and make the tourney. Blackburn can also take the conference regular season title with two wins today. The 4 teams that will be in the conference tourney are: 1. Greenville (15-5) Blackburn (14-5), Webster (13-7) and, Maryville (11-10) or Westminster (9-10).

[y_jack_lok]

I'll be the first to accept Pat's invitation to post on the baseball site. The 2007 conference tournament starts Thursday with regular season champ Webster playing Maryville, who got in by virtue of two wins against Lincoln Christian today. #2 seed Blackburn is the only team in the tournament to beat Webster. Westminster and Fontbonne each took a game from Webster, but neither made the tournament.

[furbug]

Webster University just beat Illinois Wesleyan 11-7 in the first round of the NCAA Regionals at IWU. They play the winner of the Wash. Univ. vs. Carthage game (now in progress) at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow. 

[y_jack_lok]

I get to sneak in ahead of furbug and post that Carthage beat Wash U 5-4, so Webster plays Carthage tomorrow. Webster lost twice to Wash U this season, and they have to play a team that just beat Wash U. Still, I think this is a good thing. There have been too many times in recent years that when Wash U is in an NCAA tournament, regardless of sport, and regardless of whether it is men or women, that the SLIAC representative has to play Wash U in the first round. It happened in men's basketball this past year, and in softball just a few weeks ago. Both times the SLIAC team lost. Thankfully the NCAA didn't seed Webster and Wash U so they would have to play each other in the first round today. Now they get to avoid each other for a second game. However, if Wash U and Webster both win tomorrow, they will face each other the next game. The rest of the scenarios are too complicated to predict who will play whom.

[Mr. Ypsi]

IWU jumped on Malat (I assume he's your #1) pretty good - 7 hits and 5 runs in 3.1 innings.  But the Gorlok bullpen did great - Driskill and Mueller combined for just 4 hits and 2 runs (just 1 earned) in the remaining 5.2.  How is the rest of the Webster staff? 

The Titans gambled and threw their #2 at the Gorloks today, but it wasn't as condescending as it may sound: Foster finished number 2 in the CCIW in ERA!  Congratulations.

Carthage used their #1 against WashU (Husing pitched a complete game for the win), but they won't drop much either - their top 3 all finished in the top 7 of the CCIW in ERA.  (But none of them, even Husing, had a conference season to match Foster, and you already nailed him.)  I'll be rooting for the CCIW, but good luck to you - as a fifth seed, you've already exceeded the NCAA's expectations so may as well go for broke!

[furbug]

Actually Wes Hilliard has been the most consistent for the Gorloks this year. He is 8-1 with a 4.06 ERA compared to Malat's 4-2 with a 5.19 ERA. Malat had tough luck early in the year against non-conference teams, but has done well lately. Eric Mckinley is 5-0 with a 3.19 ERA. I do not know who will go tomorrow. There are several other pitchers who can rise to the occasion as you saw Mueller (3-0, 0.31 ERA) and Driskill (4-3, 4.75 ERA) do today.

[y_jack_lok]

Which is better for IWU, to have lost to Webster using their #2 starter and having their #1 starter to get them out of the losers bracket, or to have won their first game with their #1 pitcher (too late for that now) and have their #2 pitcher going up against Carthage? Since IWU beat Carthage 3 times this season, how much should they be worried about losing today?

[Mr. Ypsi]

IWU only split 2-2 with Augie (and have lost the last 2), and is currently down 3-2 in the third (Aronson only gave up 3 earned runs ALL SEASON), so I would judge that they are plenty worried!  Though, having gone 20-1 in the conference, including a number of comeback wins, they are hopefully simultaneously confident but not complacent.

[y_jack_lok]

Interesting. Keep us posted.