BB: MWC: Midwest Conference

[Ralph Turner]

Welcome to the Baseball Message Board for the Midwest Conference  (MWC).

Midwest Conference Baseball Home Page

North Division

Beloit College Buccaneers

Carroll College Pioneers

Lawrence University Vikings

Ripon College Red Hawks

St Norbert College Crusaders 


South Division

Grinnell College Pioneers

Illinois College Blueboys
 
Knox College Prairie Fire

Monmouth College Fighting Scots 

[BigPoppa]

Who is going to win it this year? Are there any pre-season favorites?

Can anybody run with Ripon this year?
Is SNC going to get back to the form they were when they went to the NCAAs?

[cubs]

Can anybody run with Ripon this year?

Ripon has quality depth on the mound, with LHP Bill Nolan (1st Team All MWC,) and  RHP's Nick Collins (2nd Team All MWC) and Andy Kempen all seeing significant time last season.  However, the potential loss of 1st Team All Conference Catcher John Dunlavy (broken ankle) could be a blow to any type of deep postseason run.

[BigPoppa]

Check out this interesting list on the Carthage web page:

Do any of the teams listed surprise you?

http://www.carthage.edu/athletics/index.cfm?page=325

[cubs]

Do any of the teams listed surprise you?

Guess I'm not sure what you mean when you say "surprise"??

[BigPoppa]

I mean are there any programs that are winning year in and year out that we rarely hear about?

[pastprime]

When did John Dunlavy break his ankle?  How severe is it? 

[cubs]

When did John Dunlavy break his ankle?  How severe is it? 

He broke it about two weeks ago.  He is currently in a walking boot.  He is probably going to miss the Spring Trip and who knows how much longer.  He may end up taking a "medical hardship" if it takes too long to get back to full strength.

[BigPoppa]

Does anyone have previews of the MWC  teams... who is favored to win it this season?

I would love an insider's look at these teams...

[Maverick]

Quite a bit of chatter in here over the last couple weeks...

Here's a preview for Monmouth - http://www.monm.edu/sportsinfo/releases/2006/baseball.preview.02-28-06.htm

And the Scots have gotten off to a bit of a rough start with a 1-3 record through their first couple days of the spring trip to Arizona.  Still got 8 more games down there to play and improve on that mark. 

[BigPoppa]

Beloit is off to 1-4 start and Monmouth is at 1-6... not a good start for a team that was the preseason #28.

[Maverick]

No worries yet, BP.  It's just the season-opening spring trip where basically everyone who makes the trip will get worked into games (and some of those players won't be playing regularly in games after the spring trip when they really start to mean something).  As for Monmouth, they usually go about .500 on their spring trip and it hasn't bothered them in recent years of MWC action; so personally I'm not going to put much stock in how they do on the spring trip.   Anyhow they did manage to bounce back somewhat after that 1-6 start (which did include a split with Wartburg, ranked #3 in the country) to win 3 of their next 4 and move to 4-7 heading into Friday's final game of the trip.

[REDMENFAN]

At 4-7, I would be a little concerned, even if it is just the spring trip you hope you can at least come out with a 500 record. I don't know much about monmouth, but if they normally struggle on their spring trip and then do well in conference, the level of competion in the MWC I would guess isn't that great. Not taking anything away from Monmouth or the MWC, that's just what I'm assuming based on what I have read.

[BigPoppa]

At 4-7, I would be a little concerned, even if it is just the spring trip you hope you can at least come out with a 500 record. I don't know much about monmouth, but if they normally struggle on their spring trip and then do well in conference, the level of competion in the MWC I would guess isn't that great. Not taking anything away from Monmouth or the MWC, that's just what I'm assuming based on what I have read.

Let it be dually noted that I agree...

[Maverick]

Leave it to a CCIW fan (Redmen meaning Carthage I assume?) to come to the MWC board and talk.   Just kidding.

The level of competition in the MWC isn't bad; it's just that in baseball, the MWC splits the teams into North and South divisions (Monmouth being in the South) and teams from opposite divisions don't meet until the conference tournament at the end of the regular season--so Monmouth doesn't get a chance to play the best competition in the MWC (typically Ripon and St. Norbert in the North division) until that conference tournament.  So, no, the level of competition in the South isn't the best and Monmouth has dominated there recently.  Numbers-wise, they've won the South division each of the past 5 seasons with Illinois C. and Knox each taking 2 turns at second place and Grinnell taking second once also; meaning no real other dominant team in the South besides MC.  They have done a good job in scheduling good competition for non-conference games after the spring trip with teams like Illinois Wesleyan, Augustana, Wartburg, and WIU (not a Div. I power by any means, but still Div. I) and have had decent results against those other teams.  Also, back in 2002 despite that sub-par competition , Monmouth fell just short of advancing to the D-III College World Series after losing a couple close ones in the regional to those darn Redmen!

Anyhow, Monmouth did win their final spring trip game to head home from Arizona at 5-7 and now get into the main part of the schedule.  I'm sticking with what I said before--I'm not worried after the sub-.500 spring trip, I still believe that the Scots will be fine in MWC action, and that they'll put up another good fight in the conference tournament at the end of the season.