BB: General New England Discussion

Started by Paul Heering, February 14, 2007, 06:14:24 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

KSCfan

Babson is a good program, and a program that i do not know much about.  The beavers seem to be at the top of thier conference with Wheaton year in and year out.  They have one of the nicest fields in NE for sure, love that field.  I do think they will be competitive but i dont seem them in sunny beautiful willimantic for the regionals.  They certainly dont shy away from some good team in NE as they have Keene State, Southern Maine, Eastern, and Williams all on thier schedule.  However,  I would have to put Wheaton as the winner of that conference and unless Babson can rattle off some big non league wins i see another trip to the ECAC's for them. 

KSCfan

I see that some New England teams are winning games down in the South.  RIC has started the year off 3-0, with a win over Fitchburg as well.  It may be snowing up here in NE but the teams are south, or heading south this weekend.  Can not wait

KSCfan

Anyone want to throw out a ne poll.  Here is mine for what it is worth

1. Eastern CT- 10 game winning streak, with a healthy Gilblair puts them at the top of the NE poll in my opinion.

2. Southern Maine 7-1.  The huskies are showing pitching and fielding and beating up on teams.  A very good trip down south as well, has the huskies coming back to play Eastern this upcoming sat.

3. Wheaton- 12-1.  THe Lyons have been playing some great baseball.  They have quality wins over Hopkins, WNEC, and RIC.  Lyons looking good so far

4. Trinity- 8-2 on the year, the defending national champs with a strong showing so far.  Probably head of the NESCAC class at this point.

5. Amherst 7-3  Playing well, have Eastern on April 1, will find out how good they really are

6. RIC- They are 10-3 on the year. Strength of schedule is a little weak, but played Cortland and Wheaton tough, should of beaten Wheaton actually. But still playing some great ball as of right now.

7.  Keene State- I know the owls are 6-6 but the way they have been swinging the bats, if the young arms show up more consistantly the owls will win a lot of games.  Still a game that teams have circled on thier schedules

8. Insert name here, any ideas let me know thanks. NE shaping up to be a very good region again this year

NEDIII

KSCfan...I think you are a little more knowledgable with the majority of NE teams due to the fact that it seems like you have been to a good amount of games this spring. However, I would have to switch up your order of the top four teams in NE right now.

1. Wheaton - 12-1 record with the strongest spring trip schedule. Pitching staff led by All-American Gingras and seasoned Bernadini prob provides the best one two punch in NE. I don't see them slowing down anytime soon.

2.ECONN - riding a 12 game win streak. The EE can always swing it and Gilblair should be able to put them on his back the rest of the way. It will be interesting to see how this weekends games play out bs. USM.

3. USM - Solid line up that rivals anyone in NE. Capable of beating anyone.

4.Trinity - I think the Bantams might be a little overrated this year. Dropping two to Denison only backs this statement.

*Either way you look at it, I think that the NE region is by far the strongest in the country this year and it could make for a very interesting Regional.


OshDude

Quote from: NEDIII on March 23, 2009, 11:27:50 AM
KSCfan...I think you are a little more knowledgable with the majority of NE teams due to the fact that it seems like you have been to a good amount of games this spring. However, I would have to switch up your order of the top four teams in NE right now.

1. Wheaton - 12-1 record with the strongest spring trip schedule. Pitching staff led by All-American Gingras and seasoned Bernadini prob provides the best one two punch in NE. I don't see them slowing down anytime soon.

2.ECONN - riding a 12 game win streak. The EE can always swing it and Gilblair should be able to put them on his back the rest of the way. It will be interesting to see how this weekends games play out bs. USM.

3. USM - Solid line up that rivals anyone in NE. Capable of beating anyone.

4.Trinity - I think the Bantams might be a little overrated this year. Dropping two to Denison only backs this statement.

*Either way you look at it, I think that the NE region is by far the strongest in the country this year and it could make for a very interesting Regional.
Not sure about "by far," but I think NE may have a slight edge on the Mideast and Midwest in the early going.
ME: Etta, Heidelberg, Wooster, Thiel, Rose, Transy
MW: Scholastica, Oshkosh, St. Thomas, Stevens Point, Whitewater, Olaf

I'll take your teams ... so far ...

rbgosfan

To get an idea of strength in NE this year. Johns Hopkins played 5 NE teams in Phoenix (Wheaton, KSC, WNEC, Southern Maine,  East Conn) and got beat by every one of them!

KSCfan

Oshdude, you bring up some very good teams from the "mid" region, maybe just my east coast bias.  It is too bad that teams are coming back up north to play almost in region games, and we will not be able to see some of these match ups unless it is in Wisconsin.  I think the top of the NE will be a dog fight all year long and before its all over multiple teams will be polled at the top of NE. 

OshDude

I think you're right, biased or not. Hard to argue another region is better than NE right now. All of our top MW teams beat up on each other during the regular season, so it probably won't show in the year-end poll. But we have some contenders over here in the flyover states – Scholastica and a few other MIAC/WIAC teams.

That written, I really like Wheaton, ECSU, Trinity and USM this year. Coming from an outsider, I'll take Wheaton among that group for what it's worth.

TheGNAC

#638
Quote from: KSCfan on March 23, 2009, 10:43:29 AM
Anyone want to throw out a ne poll.  Here is mine for what it is worth

1. Eastern CT- 10 game winning streak, with a healthy Gilblair puts them at the top of the NE poll in my opinion.

2. Southern Maine 7-1.  The huskies are showing pitching and fielding and beating up on teams.  A very good trip down south as well, has the huskies coming back to play Eastern this upcoming sat.

3. Wheaton- 12-1.  THe Lyons have been playing some great baseball.  They have quality wins over Hopkins, WNEC, and RIC.  Lyons looking good so far

4. Trinity- 8-2 on the year, the defending national champs with a strong showing so far.  Probably head of the NESCAC class at this point.

5. Amherst 7-3  Playing well, have Eastern on April 1, will find out how good they really are

6. RIC- They are 10-3 on the year. Strength of schedule is a little weak, but played Cortland and Wheaton tough, should of beaten Wheaton actually. But still playing some great ball as of right now.

7.  Keene State- I know the owls are 6-6 but the way they have been swinging the bats, if the young arms show up more consistantly the owls will win a lot of games.  Still a game that teams have circled on thier schedules

8. Insert name here, any ideas let me know thanks. NE shaping up to be a very good region again this year

Here's my 1st top 8 of the year, with a number of teams with 10+ games under their belts.

TheGNAC's New England Top 8

1. Eastern Connecticut (10-0) - The boys from Willimantic, CT are off to quite the start. Led by my pre-season pick for D-3 Player of the Year in New England, Shawn Gilblair, EConn is absolutely rolling right now. Spotless 10-0 record, .354 team batting average with 16 home runs in 10 games, 20-28 in stolen base attempts, and a 1.88 team ERA. That's otherworldly. I will say I'm a bit skeptical of their schedule thus far, and it would seem that Trinity's 45-1 record from last year will be safe. Still, a quality win over Johns Hopkins, last year's runner-up in the World Series, sure looks good.

2. Wheaton (12-1) - The Lyons were my darkhorse candidate to represent New England in the World Series this year, but it appears they're not going to sneak up on anybody now. Off to a sparkling 12-1 start, Wheaton is sporting a .360 team batting average with 12 home runs through 13 games. Normally a pitching and defensive-powered squad, it appears the Lyons have the offensive firepower this season to hit with anybody. The pitching doesn't appear as sharp as it has been in the past, with a 4.21 team ERA, but with the best 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation in the region in Gingras/Bernardini, I think they'll be fine.

3. Trinity (8-2) - It's official; with 2 losses to Denison last week, the Bantams are not going to go undefeated. Still, I think this squad has what it takes to repeat. Although their website has just 2 games listed, the Bantams are currently 8-2, and they sport one of the more formidable 3-4-5's in division 3 baseball in Killeen-Graham-Wood. Jeremiah Bayer looks to be as sharp as ever (13 K's in 7 innings against Suffolk last week), and when factoring in a comparably weak schedule, it looks like Trinity might once again finish with less than 5 losses in the regular season.

4. Southern Maine (7-1) - I said it earlier in the year; this is the best offense in New England. Through 8 games, they've done nothing to prove me wrong. A .351 team batting average with 10 homers in just 8 games is impressive, but perhaps the most jaw dropping statistic from the Huskies is their stolen bases - 27-31 in just 8 games. That's ridiculous, and shows the athleticism this squad possesses. The running game in college is perhaps the most overlooked aspect of the game, yet inevitably the best teams in the country always steal bases. It still appears USM's weakness is on the mound, as the boys are sporting a less-than-stellar 5.78 ERA. Still, with that offense, the pitching doesn't need to be sharp until Willimantic in May.

5. Suffolk (7-3) - The Rams scheduled one of the tougher spring trip schedules in the region, and they fared pretty well, all things considered. Their first two contests against Eastern CT and USM were snowed out, but Suffolk managed a 7-3 mark in Florida, with quality wins over Ripon, Keystone, and 2007 and 2008's MASCAC Champs in Salem State and Westfield State, respectively. Their only losses came to squads who played in regional tournaments in 2008 (Keystone (split), Rowan, and Trinity). Perhaps more impressive thus far though is Suffolk's win total when compared to their team statistics; just a .295 team batting average and a 4.77 ERA. I expect those figures to improve dramatically in the weak GNAC conference, and I fully expect the Rams to be playing in the regionals in May.

6. Babson College (8-3) - The Beavers were a fixture in these polls in 2008, and had an impressive campaign overall, despite bowing out early in the NEWMAC conference tournament. Babson is once again off to a hot start in 2009, led by an offense firing on all cylinders (.355 team batting average), although I'm not sure they have the explosiveness that the teams in front of them have (just 2 home runs in 11 games).

7. Rhode Island College (10-3) - RIC has burst onto the scenes a bit this season, and it's impossible to argue with their sterling 10-3 record. Still, I'll hold off on putting them higher until they beat a quality opponent, as wins against clubs like Fitchburg State, Elms (2), and Newbury (2) aren't exactly impressive. Still, RIC has a nice .323 team batting average to go along with 28 stolen bases in just 13 games, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them making some serious noise in the ridiculously-talented LEC this year.

8. Keene State College (6-6) - The Owls are easily New England's biggest enigma 1/4 through the season. They have undoubtedly the best offense in New England, if not the country (.392 team batting average, 44 doubles, 13 triples, 7 homers), but their pitching is, for lack of a better word, abysmal. A team ERA of 7.09, and two starters with ERA's of 14.85 and 19.29, respectively. Keene can obviously hit with anybody, but unless they find some dominant arms and soon, I fear they're going to be finding themselves on the outside looking in at both this list and the regional tournament in May.

Just missed: Amherst, WNEC

d3ball123

I've been paying attention to these boards for a while, and decided to sign up so I can throw in my two cents.

The GNAC, I think your poll is dead on.  10-0 is 10-0, and that deserves the top spot at this point in the year (regionally and nationally).  Last year it took too long for Trinity to overtake the top spot, though there was nothing more they could have done throughout the year to prove their case.

KSCfan, I'm curious about why you think RIC "should of beaten" Wheaton.  From what I saw in the box score, RIC was up 5-4 after five innings with their ace on the mound against Wheaton's number 5 starter.  Wheaton's bullpen gave up a run in the 7th, but other than that they were solid.  RIC's bullpen gave up 5 runs in the 8th, and 5 runs in the 9th (all earned runs).  Wheaton was the better team that day.  Thoughts?

KSCfan

D3ball123- I can see your point on wheaton and ric.  I did not see the game but i read the box score and listened to our "ric guy" here on the website.  The impression that is that RIC was leading 6-4 going into the 8th.  I feel that anytime you have a 8-6 lead in the 8th you should of won the game.  I give credit to Wheaton for battling back and winning the game, and yes they where the better team that day.  Not to take anything away from Wheaton, if you are beating wheaton by 2 in the 8th you better have someone in the bullpen that can get the job done.  RIC blew a very good chance to beat one of the top teams in NE and put those strength of schedule questions to bed. That is where i was coming from with that one.  If RIC wants to establish itself in the top tier of NE then they need to win these games.

GNAC great write up on the NE poll, once again, a great job breaking down the teams.  I see that our top 4 are very similar and i think everyone can agree that these 4 are the top teams on NE right now.

TheGNAC

Following up on my rankings, it appears I've made quite the oversight. Curry is currently 12-2, and are hitting .394 as a club with 17 home runs. They haven't exactly played the most difficult schedule thus far, with their most impressive wins probably coming in a double-header sweep against Bowdoin. Still, 12-2 is 12-2, and their northern schedule should tell if they're pretenders or contenders, with games against Babson, WNEC, and Wheaton on the slate. Re-slotting my teams, I'd probably put Curry 5th, with the teams below them moving down one.

NEDIII

KSCfan & GNAC - I completely agree with most of your analysis of the top NE teams. I think the big reason that made me pick Wheaton as the best overall team right now is thier quality wins thus far. Coach Podbelski has never been one to "pad" his schedule and this has only helped them out further down the road. This years schedule includes wins over DII St. Cloud (22-6), John Hopkins, and TCNJ (twice). Wheaton has always played the top NE teams out of conference. Thier 2009 schedule includes DI Bryant (who is 13-7 in their first year of DI play including wins over Boston College and Virginia Tech.) USM and EConn. I think this has gone unnoticed for quite some time as they tend to do this year in and year out.

NEDIII

...not to mention, WNEC, Suffolk, Roger Williams, RIC and Curry.

d3ball123

I just saw on the Brandeis website that their game today with Wheaton has been postponed.  Are other games getting changed because of cold weather??  This seems a little excessive to me...