BB: NWC: Northwest Conference

Started by Tezbaseball, December 30, 2005, 06:53:46 PM

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Westside

Conference play gets underway today in the NWC. A few general questons:

Will Whitman's bats stay hot in the conference? They take on Puget Sound, a team that looks to rebound from their rough non-conference schedule.

I think George Fox is the best team in the West right now. Will they take care of business against an upstart Lewis & Clark team that has won three straight?

Will Linfield's offense get back on track? Or will they rely on their pitching to dominate as they play Pacific, another balanced team that has a lot to prove this weekend.

Last, we have PLU and Willamette. Both of these teams have relied on their pitching this season. Will PLU's offense show up and prove that they are a top NWC team? Or will Willamette ride their young arms to a big series victory?

(Whitworth is rained out vs Whittier this weekend)
NWC Baseball

wildcat11

Linfield up 17-3 vs Pac in the 8th of game 1.

wildcat11

8-0 Linfield over Pac in the top of 8 of game 2.

wildcat11

Today's Linfield/Pac final game has been washed out...says it's rescheduled for tomorrow.

NWBaseballFan10

Traditional powers flexed their muscles in this weekend's conference openers. It appears that tomorrow will be the day they try to get the remaining games played (not sure about Willamette/PLU however).

Fox continued with their current trend of strong starting pitching and red-hot bats. Both starters for GFU went CG's (Gartner was terrific for the 4th straight start and Buckles produced his 2nd straight solid outing as well). Dixon, Rapacz, Clifford, and Israel continue to pace the offense which had 24 hits in Saturday's DH.

Linfield's bats were out in full force up and down the lineup on Saturday as they put up 29 runs in 2 games. Lawson and Fisher were stand outs (among many) for the Wildcats (Fisher especially with about a 420ft. shot off the centerfield batter's eye). Both starters (Haddeland and Brandon) gave the Cats strong starts and the bullpen was nearly perfect aside from one innning in the first game.

Story of the weekend has to be PLU and SP Chris Bishop who produced the Lutes 1st ever 9 inning no-hitter. Kudos to him on another terrific outing (Watched him throw in Arizona a little and the quality of his pitches have improved greatly from last season - Fastball was mid to upper 80's with a good slider to righties and curve to lefties). Lubking was able to battle through some control problems in his start (6 walks) and still finished with a good stat line for the day. The offense broke through in the 2nd game by putting up 10 runs which included Nilson HR (2nd of the day).

UPS was able to take 2 of the 3 against Whitman after getting the series winner this afternoon. UPS was able to keep the Missionary bats quiet in their two wins thanks to a good start from Wagar and a good staff effort today.

Whitworth - No games  :( ...A cancelled trip to So Cal  :o  And here they give us a hard time about the weather up here... ::)


Westside

That is a huge upset for L&C over George Fox. I am not sure which part I am more suprised by; Zarosinski getting hit around (after dominating every start) or the Fox offense only scoring three runs. That was the type of loss that could come back and hurt them a month or so down the road.

I think the first weekend showed that PLU, Linfield, and George Fox will battle all season for the top spot. PLU's pitching has been off the charts, and if their offense shows up like their game two win, they will be tough to beat.

Linfield just continues to roll... They put up 37 runs in 3 games and that was withouth their best hitter in the lineup (Wylie). All three of their starters can be dominant. Haddeland is Haddeland. Brandon looks to have gained some velocity (upper 80's into the 7th) to go with his sterling command. And it looked like Thomassen has started throwing a curve which is just another pitch hitters need to worry about.

I am not sure if Fox has the same depth on the mound as Linfield or PLU, but their offense will keep them in every game they play. I mean, they have double digit hits in every single game this season. And they lead the NWC in: Batting average, Slugging, OBP, Walks, Home Runs, and Triples. Josh Rapacz is hitting .518, Derek Dixon is hitting .474, Danny Clifford is at .382, and they have combined for 8 homers. I really don't think their is a better 3, 4, 5 combo in the country...

Overall, I think the talent in the NWC is extremely up. Puget Sound and Lewis & Clark have already proved that anyone can win on any day. It seemed like just a few years ago that you could always mark a few teams as W's on the schedule.
NWC Baseball

NWBaseballFan10

The Fox loss to L&C is certainly the biggest upset so far in this young season, but it is funny in some ways how history has a way of repeating itself. Last year Fox came from behind 8-3 in the 9th to beat the Pios, but this season the Bruins had the door closed on them (the year before the Pios beat Fox as well). Trupin did an excellent job of minimizing damage all game against the Bruin bats (aside from 1 inning where the CF decided to launch a throw over 2 cutoff guys into the dugout).

As you said Westside, the overall strength of the NWC has gone up a lot over the last few years and it is becoming common to see one of those "bottom" teams clip one of the front-runners at some point. Happened with both Fox and Linfield (lost to Willamette) last year. That's how this game goes sometimes though. A wrong hop here or an off day there can quickly give an underdog some momentum which can be dangerous.

108 Stitches

Any team can lose, no matter how good they are, or who they are playing, it's baseball.

I just looked at GF's schedule and their season (assuming they keep playing the way they have) really boils down to the end. They have 3 vs PLU, and then 5 vs Linfield.

wildcat11

Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 07, 2014, 09:55:10 AM
Any team can lose, no matter how good they are, or who they are playing, it's baseball.

So true and Willamette going up 4-1 on Linfield in the top of the 8th is just a further example.

Westside

#850
George Fox drops game 1 to Willamette, 8-2. Gartner got knocked around for the first time all year.

Linfield shuts out Whitman, 5-0. Haddeland goes complete game, 1-hitter.

PLU wins 3-1 over Whitworth. Lubking goes complete game, 13 Ks.
NWC Baseball

Westside

Fox drops another one to Willamette, 11-9. Fox hits 3 bombs, but Willamette pounded out 20 hits. Not sure what happened to their pitching today...

PLU gets shut out by an average Whitworth team, 4-0.

Game of the day. Linfield beats Whitman 13-11 in 11 innings. They were losing 10-1 before storming back.

What a wild day.
NWC Baseball

Jack Parkman

#852
Quote from: Westside4 on March 15, 2014, 09:13:44 PM
Fox drops another one to Willamette, 11-9. Fox hits 3 bombs, but Willamette pounded out 20 hits. Not sure what happened to their pitching today...

PLU gets shut out by an average Whitworth team, 4-0.

Game of the day. Linfield beats Whitman 13-11 in 11 innings. They were losing 10-1 before storming back.

What a wild day.

I think conference play is a toss-up at times.  These teams become so familiar with each other it makes games closer.  Is Linfield better than Whitman?  Top to bottom, yes, but on any given day a team can beat the other.  The SCIAC is the same way and so are the Texas conferences.  George Fox didn't do themselves any favors by dropping 2 this weekend (currently leading 1-0 in game 3).  With Linfield and PLU still scheduled for them they can either get knocked out of the race or knock someone else out.  That should be a battle at the top of the NWC.

Westside

#853
Yea definitely. Looks like the pitchers showed up on Sunday.

PLU beats Whitworth 1-0. Their only run came on an error in the 9th.

Linfield beats Whitman 2-0. Thommassen dominated from start to finish.

Willamette sweeps George Fox after winning 3-2 in extras. Wow.
NWC Baseball

wildcat11