BB: MWC: Midwest Conference

[Maverick]

BP - Darn Carthage people...you kept the Scots from winning that regional back in 2002!

In the South, I'm guessing it'll be Monmouth and IC that advance to the MWC Tourney just like it has been the last couple seasons; Monmouth should take first and IC should finish second, just slightly ahead of Grinnell.  I think Grinnell probably has a little better pitching than Knox so that should give them the edge for third in the South, and with a little luck they could possibly push IC for the second South playoff spot...but they'll have to do better than just split doubleheaders with Knox (like they did Saturday).  So just gonna have to wait and see how their meetings play out...should be a good race for that second playoff spot.

Up in the North, I'd have to stick with Ripon as the favorite (not only have they been traditionally good, they're having a very good season so far cruising along at 15-3) and St. Norbert as the second place team--St. Norbert could challenge Ripon for the top spot but if I had to bet, I'd bet on Ripon bringing home the North championship.  Just gotta go with the way it's been recently, and those 2 have easily been the 2 best teams in the North with none of the other 3 schools posing a serious threat to either of them since the 2001 season (when Carroll beat St. Norbert in a playoff to advance to the MWC Tourney).

I haven't really paid much attention to the CCIW so far this season.  How are things starting to shake out there?

[BigPoppa]

Hey, Mav... the cciw is close to as expected so far. The one exception is North Park @ 5-3 in the CCIW... they were 1-39 last season. It looks like Carthage is in the driver's seat, but has a huge 3 game series this weekend with IWU. Only two games between second and sixth place will make for an exciting run to the playoffs. A lot of it will get sorted out this weekend as the contenders will separate from the pretenders.

How does the MWC conference work... do North/South only play in the post season?


CURRENT CCIW STANDINGS:

Carthage    7-1     
Augustana  5-3   
IWU           5-3     
North Park  5-3   
Wheaton    4-4     
Millikin        3-5     
Elmhurst     2-6     
NCC           1-7

[Maverick]

BP - Looks like a nice race for the CCIW this year.  How do the CCIW playoffs work?  All 8 teams qualify, just 6, maybe just 4??

The MWC goes like this: 5 North teams and they all play each other 4 times for a total of 16 regular season conference games; 4 South teams that play each other 4 times for a total of 12 conference games; then the top 2 from each division go to the conference tourney for a 2-day double elimination event (unless there is bad weather, in which case it is changed to 1-day single elimination--which has happened recently).  So to finally answer your question, there have been times when North and South teams have met on spring break trips, but outside of that they do not play each other until the post season.

[BigPoppa]

CCIW works this way... everybody plays 3 times (21 games)... top four go to conference tourney... winner of conference tourney goes to NCAAs.

I would like it better if the MWC teams played each other. What's the point of being in a conference if the bottom teams from north and south never play each other since they never make the tourney?!

[Ralph Turner]

The MWC goes like this: 5 North teams and they all play each other 4 times for a total of 16 regular season conference games; 4 South teams that play each other 4 times for a total of 12 conference games; then the top 2 from each division go to the conference tourney for a 2-day double elimination event (unless there is bad weather, in which case it is changed to 1-day single elimination--which has happened recently).  So to finally answer your question, there have been times when North and South teams have met on spring break trips, but outside of that they do not play each other until the post season.

Good morning, Maverick!

Is that Midwest Conference's schedule because the President's do want any missed class time and also due to the MWC's academic philosophy of playing 10% fewer games in a season in all sports?

[Maverick]

Hi Ralph,  I don't know for sure what their reasons are for having the baseball schedule the way it is.  Your guess on the Presidents' concerns, academic philosophy, missed class time, etc. is probably somewhere close to being right. 

They could go to a schedule for baseball the way they do in basketball (play North vs. North and South vs. South mainly on weekdays, and have "cross-over" games of North vs. South on the weekends) but just choose not to do it that way.  The MWC could do like the CCIW does and play everyone 3 times (instead of the current 4 games vs. only divisional teams)...but like we've both said, they just choose not to do it that way.

I suppose some of the positives from playing divisions is that they can alternate the tourney site each season--2005 was held at the North champ, 2006 will be held at the South champ, 2007 will be up North, etc.  And it also gives the conference tourney 2 teams from each division everytime rather than the possibility of having an unbalanced tournament (like in the 2004-05 basketball season when the North had 3 of the 4 teams at the conference tourney)...it probably wouldn't happen very often but there's always a chance.

[Maverick]

Monmouth split a doubleheader at Illinois College this weekend to make the Scots' season record 15-12, 5-1 MWC.  Won the first game 5-4 (in 8 innings) behind the strong combined pitching of Dan Dunn and Scott Coles, and Jeremy Kafka had the game-winning single in the top of the 8th.  Lost a rain-shortened second game 11-9 (in 8 innings, it appears that the game was called after completing the 8th inning) as the MC pitching wasn't near as solid as it has been recently and the offense which had been struggling a bit finally broke open to score 9 runs through the first 4 innings but then didn't manage anymore hits the rest of the game.  Some inconsistency there...

[Maverick]

As for the South division race, Monmouth still has the inside track at 5-1 and, as expected, the other 3 teams (Grinnell 3-3, Knox 2-4, Illinois C., 2-4) are all very close and fighting each other for that second spot.  Some very big games in the coming weeks as IC still has 4 games with Grinnell and 2 more with Knox on the road.  And can't forget the games this weekend and next between rivals Monmouth and Knox.  First things first though, should be interesting to see what happens this weekend--if Monmouth and Grinnell can both sweep doubleheaders on the road, that would put them both in great position for the top 2 spots in the South and really hurt the others; or if Knox and IC pull out wins, that wouldn't clear the picture up at all and would just continue a tight race between the teams.

[REDMENFAN]

Any results from over the weekend?

[BigPoppa]

I see that St. Norbert's and Ripon are both 8-0 in the MWC. Is St. Norbert's that good(they are only 14-10 overall)?

Do they have much of a chance to knock out Ripon this year?

[Maverick]

Monmouth split a doubleheader this weekend at Knox (disappointing that it wasn't a sweep) to bring the Scots' season record to 16-14, 6-2 MWC.  Lost the first game 5-4 despite Dan Dunn going the distance for MC and striking out 10 along the way.  Won the second game 11-3 with Matt Engelhardt and Nate McCaherty combining to hold Knox down all game long, and the offense got contributions from all around after some lineup changes between games (looking at the box score, it would appear that the poor performance in game 1 earned some regular starters a spot on the bench for much of game 2).

Elsewhere in the South...Grinnell and IC split a pair at Jacksonville, thus not clearing up the division race any since Monmouth and Knox split also; meaning nobody gained or lost ground this weekend--Monmouth at 6-2, Grinnell at 4-4, IC & Knox both at 3-5.  Matchups for the coming weekend are the same as this past weekend but game sites are switched, Monmouth-Knox is at MC and Grinnell-IC is at GC; and again if either MC or GC can get a sweep this time, they would really help themselves and hurt the others.

Up in the North...St. Norbert took all 4 from Beloit, Carroll and Lawrence split their games 2 apiece, and Ripon didn't play any MWC games.  Barring anything completely strange happening, Ripon and St. Norbert will be the 2 qualifiers from the North again this year.  This coming weekend's 4 games between RC and SNC will be very important in determining seeding in the MWC Tourney and should tell alot about each team since both have just been beating on Beloit, Carroll, and Lawrence so far.

[REDMENFAN]

Thanks BP and Maverick. If I had to guess, St. Norberts probably isn't going to knock off Ripon this year. That's just an opinion from somone who knows nothing about either team, but Ripon seems to always pull it off in the MWC

[Maverick]

Monmouth split another doubleheader with Knox yesterday (was moved to Saturday, then to Sunday, and finally to Tuesday due to rainy weather--and like last weekend, disappointing that it wasn't a sweep).  Won the first game 10-2 as Dan Dunn went the distance with another strong performance and Matt Gordon led the offensive attack going 4-for-4 with 4 RBI.  Lost the second game 3-1, offense went cold again, despite having another good effort on the mound from Matt Engelhardt.

Elsewhere in the South...the IC @ Grinnell doubleheader was rained out and moved to Sun., May 7th.  This sets up a long, and important, final weekend for both teams since both play doubleheaders on Saturday also (Sat. - MC @ GC, IC @ KC; Sun. - IC @ GC).  Monmouth almost has the South locked up at this point (just have to win 1 out of 2 at Grinnell on Sat. and that would give them the South title, I think...).  The second spot out of the South is still very much up for grabs between the other 3 teams.

Up in the North...Ripon took all 4 games from St. Norbert over the weekend and Lawrence took 3 out of 4 against Beloit.  This means Ripon has basically already won the North title.  St. Norbert has 4 against Lawrence this weekend, the only team that could still mathematically catch them for the second spot out of the North; but LU would have to win at least 3 out of those 4 games just to tie SNC in the conference standings--which in all honesty is very unlikely to happen.

[cubs]

St. Norbert has 4 against Lawrence this weekend, the only team that could still mathematically catch them for the second spot out of the North; but LU would have to win at least 3 out of those 4 games just to tie SNC in the conference standings--which in all honesty is very unlikely to happen.

Actually, Lawrence has to sweep all 4 games to make the MWC Tournament.

[BigPoppa]

NCAA Regional Rankings are out: Ripon grabs the #1 spot in the Midwest:

1. Ripon                   14-2 23-5
2. St. Scholastica      8-2 31-3
3. St. Olaf                 16-3 22-6
4. UW-Whitewater    19-7 24-10
5. St. Thomas (MN)   15-5 23-7
6. UW-Oshkosh         17-7 23-11

Here is the rest of the poll:
http://ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/polls/diviii

Thoughts??