D3boards.com

Venue:
Roy Helser Field. McMinnville, Oregon.
(https://www.d3boards.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.linfield.edu%2Fsports%2Fdata_assets%2Fvenues_photos%2Fhelserfield.08.1.jpg&hash=4748d93ebc489a0a6d01c6eee61f1ca0aa7d49d6)

Teams:
1. Linfield
2. Cal Lutheran
3. Trinity
4. UW-Stevens Point
5. Illinois Wesleyan
6. LeTourneau

Interesting Stats (Top Ten National Rankings):
Linfield: 2.16 ERA (2nd), .976% Fielding (2nd), 9 Shutouts (3rd), 6.7 Hits Allowed Per Game (1st), 1.01 WHIP (1st), 183 Walks (7th)
Trinity: 2.35 ERA (5th), 47 Double Plays Turned (1st), 29 Home Runs (7th), 35 Sac Flies (2nd)
Cal Lutheran: .343 Batting Average (9th), 105 Doubles (2nd), .972% Fielding (5th), 49 Sac Bunts (6th), 505 Hits (2nd), .425 OBP (8th), 368 Runs (5th)




Weather: 8-)
Tuesday: 83 F. Sunny.
Wednesday: 88 F. Sunny.
Thursday: 86 F. Sunny.
Friday: 78 F. Sunny.
Saturday: 70 F. Showers.
Sunday: 66 F. Showers.

That would be great weather if it stays like that.

Thanks for starting this up.

If CTX wins then I think the seedings look like this. If not do the teams compare? CTX/GF/PLU/Chapman. CLU and Trinity could flip flop depending on where the committee puts them. In the end it may not matter too much as they will likely not have CLU play Chapman, and Linfield play a NW at large team. Which would mean a Linfield vs ASC or Chapman, CLU or Trinity vs NW@Large, and CLU or Trinity vs ASC. My prediction is a Linfield vs Chapman, Trinity vs NW@large, CLU vs ASC. I am really curious how the committee compares GF and PLU.

1. Linfield.
2. CLU
3. Trinity
4. ASC Winner
5. Chapman
6. NW @Large

http://www.linfield.edu/sports/2014mcminnvilleregional.html

Once things get finalized you can use this website to track the games and get additional information for the Regional. Linfield's games have had live stats, audio, and a video feed for almost the whole season so hopefully it does not change now.

In regards to seeding, I'd imagine that the committee will make sure two teams from the same conference do not match up in the first game. Last year they flopped Pomona-Pitzer with Trinity to ensure that P-P did not play Cal Lu in the opener.

Thanks for the link. I had not seen the NCAA regional rankings and based on them, assuming CTX wins the ASC, which is not guaranteed by any stretch of the imagination, but thinking about it as I type this, even if they don't they are not likely to win an at large bid over PLU so they will likely be:

Linfield vs Chapman
CLU vs PLU
Trinity vs ASC Winner

Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on May 07, 2014, 08:38:33 AM
That would be great weather if it stays like that.

Yeah, one week a lot can change in the Pacific NW but if the weather does hold then you're in for a real treat.

Not that it's a big deal but I wonder how many of these teams pitchers have thrown off a field turf mound before?

I am trying to think which team you would rather face bewtween PLU and George Fox (assuming one of them gets an at-large bid. PLU is dead last in the NWC in hitting (.246 BA), but their pitching staff is deep and talented. Lubking (2.12 ERA, 111 K) is as good as anyone in the nation, and he could easily hand a team a loss in game one.

George Fox, on the other hand, leads the NWC in hitting. They are 2nd in pitching and fielding. They've got a murderers row (Dixon, Clifford, Rapacz x2) in the middle of the order and they have two legit aces on their pitching staff. The only problem is their staff drops off pretty quick behind these two.

So... I guess, if I were Linfield, Trinity, or Cal Lu, I would prefer to see PLU an out-of-region team!

Regarding the mound, most of the teams have played at McMinnville before, not sure about the individual pitchers, but never heard of it even mentioned before. I would guess the speed of the turf infield takes more time to adjust to than the mound.

Regarding who you play, all regional teams have stud number one pitchers, so it really does not matter too much who you face, other than not wanting to meet Linfield in the first game. :o Solid pitching and defense wins regionals. (plus timely hitting and some lucky bounces) Coaches are more worried about getting their teams ready than who they will be playing.

Hope the weather holds, love the place when it is nice, and hate it when it is not. Bring on global warming for a week.

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 07, 2014, 09:34:39 AM

I am really curious how the committee compares GF and PLU.

1. Linfield.
2. CLU
3. Trinity
4. ASC Winner
5. Chapman
6. NW @Large

I agree with this statement. PLU won the season series against Fox (2-1), but PLU was 0-4 against Linfield while Fox went 2-3...That split Fox had last weekend may have been just enough to sneak them ahead of PLU. Beyond this, the team's have pretty similar resumes (PLU is 22-11 and Fox is 23-11 against D3 opponents).

I also think that if someone other than CTX wins the ASC bid than whoever comes out of that conference will end up being the 6 seed in the Regional. Hopefully, things do not go haywire across the country in the other conference tournaments, otherwise it is still a good possibility that a team is shipped in...I hope not though :-\

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 07, 2014, 02:00:56 PM
Regarding the mound, most of the teams have played at McMinnville before, not sure about the individual pitchers, but never heard of it even mentioned before. I would guess the speed of the turf infield takes more time to adjust to than the mound.

I think he was talking about Linfield's new, all-Turf mound. When the regional was here last, it was still a dirt mound. I am guessing most Texas and California teams haven't thrown off one since... ya know... it doesn't rain 300 days a year there.

My son's HS had a turf bullpen, that was OK for about a year until the cleats tore it up. Never heard a peep about it being any different.

I have no idea how they will compare PLU vs GF, but at least at this point the NCAA has PLU ranked higher. I am pretty sure one of them will get in given the SoS in the conference and location. Again I don't think ranking will mean much, unless you are the 6th seed as they will split up same conference teams.

I am hoping the at least 5 of those 65 non rainy days are from May 14-18th  ;D

Gosh, I've got to get out more. I was in Mac during two weeks in April and saw 7 games at Helser Field. I'd have sworn the mound was still dirt while the rest of the infield was field turf. May have to go back up there for the regional to see for sure. Just shows ya the sacrifices I'm willing to make for the Wildcats. ;D

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 07, 2014, 06:18:43 PM
My son's HS had a turf bullpen, that was OK for about a year until the cleats tore it up. Never heard a peep about it being any different.

I have no idea how they will compare PLU vs GF, but at least at this point the NCAA has PLU ranked higher. I am pretty sure one of them will get in given the SoS in the conference and location. Again I don't think ranking will mean much, unless you are the 6th seed as they will split up same conference teams.

I am hoping the at least 5 of those 65 non rainy days are from May 14-18th  ;D

A huge advantage for Linfield.

Prior to the 2013 season, the dirt pitching mound was also replaced with artificial turf to match the infield surface.

http://www.linfield.edu/sports/sports-venues/roy-helser-field.html

Why is it an advantage?  The turf mounds seem to play very neutral. Colorado's post on the SCIAC forum about the "elevated" Hart Park mound seems to speak of more of an advantage to me.  Turf mounds in the NWC are smart, I've seen weekends with 4 inches of rain when the the games were played, no rain-outs, because of the turf.

Deal with it!

Quote from: Whatagame on May 07, 2014, 09:08:56 PM
Why is it an advantage?  The turf mounds seem to play very neutral. Colorado's post on the SCIAC forum about the "elevated" Hart Park mound seems to speak of more of an advantage to me.  Turf mounds in the NWC are smart, I've seen weekends with 4 inches of rain when the the games were played, no rain-outs, because of the turf.

Deal with it!

Yes 5 teams dirt mounds 1 team turf mound. Your right the players will deal with it. Baseball should use dirt mounds period all at the same height and angle. My opinion. 

Yes baseball can be played in pouring rain with low temps wind blowing rain sideways and freezing temps in Oregon. I know. I watched a game in that wonderful baseball weather in 2010. I expect Linfield to go back to Appleton. They are the best team regardless of weather conditions or turf or no turf field. Regionals should be rotated from NW to SoCal to Texas IMO.

I saw this twice in Oregon.

http://ufofest.com/

Just out of curiosity: what does a 6 team double elimination Bracket look like? Never paid attention before and when I googled it, it didn't seem to fit my vague recall from Chapman's past experience.

Here was last year.

http://athletics.concordia.edu/sports/2013/5/8/BB_0508130508.aspx

It is a huge advantage because it is their home field in the home town. D'Oh. Many of the teams play on natural grass and have to get used to the speed of turf fields.

Weather looks like it is going to be great. Looking forward to the wineries between games.  :P

Chapman won with sunny days on the turf at Linfield in 2009 and lost in rain/turf in 2010. It does play very different than grass. It plays fast with true hops. Bunting is definitely different.

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 07, 2014, 09:31:22 PM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 07, 2014, 09:08:56 PM
Why is it an advantage?  The turf mounds seem to play very neutral. Colorado's post on the SCIAC forum about the "elevated" Hart Park mound seems to speak of more of an advantage to me.  Turf mounds in the NWC are smart, I've seen weekends with 4 inches of rain when the the games were played, no rain-outs, because of the turf.

Deal with it!

Yes 5 teams dirt mounds 1 team turf mound. Your right the players will deal with it. Baseball should use dirt mounds period all at the same height and angle. My opinion. 

Yes baseball can be played in pouring rain with low temps wind blowing rain sideways and freezing temps in Oregon. I know. I watched a game in that wonderful baseball weather in 2010. I expect Linfield to go back to Appleton. They are the best team regardless of weather conditions or turf or no turf field. Regionals should be rotated from NW to SoCal to Texas IMO.

I think the only place in CA the regional could be played is Chapman but the NCAA seems to have stayed away in the past few years.  Anyone have any idea why?  Is it because it's a city park and not on campus?

The turf will be a lot less of a factor when it it is dry, I think. It's the wet turf that makes it really difficult when you aren't used to it.

At least true bullpen and field mound are turf, so it won't be a drastic change.

Any of you guys planning to be at the regional?

Crash is bitching about the one time he was rained on in 2010...must be time for the regionals!

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 07, 2014, 11:08:40 PM

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 07, 2014, 09:31:22 PM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 07, 2014, 09:08:56 PM
Why is it an advantage?  The turf mounds seem to play very neutral. Colorado's post on the SCIAC forum about the "elevated" Hart Park mound seems to speak of more of an advantage to me.  Turf mounds in the NWC are smart, I've seen weekends with 4 inches of rain when the the games were played, no rain-outs, because of the turf.

Deal with it!

Yes 5 teams dirt mounds 1 team turf mound. Your right the players will deal with it. Baseball should use dirt mounds period all at the same height and angle. My opinion. 

Yes baseball can be played in pouring rain with low temps wind blowing rain sideways and freezing temps in Oregon. I know. I watched a game in that wonderful baseball weather in 2010. I expect Linfield to go back to Appleton. They are the best team regardless of weather conditions or turf or no turf field. Regionals should be rotated from NW to SoCal to Texas IMO.

I think the only place in CA the regional could be played is Chapman but the NCAA seems to have stayed away in the past few years.  Anyone have any idea why?  Is it because it's a city park and not on campus?

Chapman can't host a regional because there is no snack bar at Hart Park.  Weak!

Quote from: Whatagame on May 07, 2014, 11:27:00 PM

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 07, 2014, 11:08:40 PM

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 07, 2014, 09:31:22 PM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 07, 2014, 09:08:56 PM
Why is it an advantage?  The turf mounds seem to play very neutral. Colorado's post on the SCIAC forum about the "elevated" Hart Park mound seems to speak of more of an advantage to me.  Turf mounds in the NWC are smart, I've seen weekends with 4 inches of rain when the the games were played, no rain-outs, because of the turf.

Deal with it!

Yes 5 teams dirt mounds 1 team turf mound. Your right the players will deal with it. Baseball should use dirt mounds period all at the same height and angle. My opinion. 

Yes baseball can be played in pouring rain with low temps wind blowing rain sideways and freezing temps in Oregon. I know. I watched a game in that wonderful baseball weather in 2010. I expect Linfield to go back to Appleton. They are the best team regardless of weather conditions or turf or no turf field. Regionals should be rotated from NW to SoCal to Texas IMO.

I think the only place in CA the regional could be played is Chapman but the NCAA seems to have stayed away in the past few years.  Anyone have any idea why?  Is it because it's a city park and not on campus?

Chapman can't host a regional because there is no snack bar at Hart Park.  Weak!

I honestly don't know if you are being serious or not but if that is true it is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 07, 2014, 10:12:52 PM
Chapman won with sunny days on the turf at Linfield in 2009 and lost in rain/turf in 2010. It does play very different than grass. It plays fast with true hops. Bunting is definitely different.

Quote from: wildcat11 on May 07, 2014, 11:20:40 PM
Crash is bitching about the one time he was rained on in 2010...must be time for the regionals!

In fairness, I think Crash is selectively forgetting the beginning of the 2009 tournament- or maybe the whole week seemed like sunshine watching Chapman win another regional. But there was definitely rain both years, and forced the 2009 tournament to start a day late. One of those things where, yeah you play the game. You play it in whatever weather you can. But you can't claim that a team that is used to playing in the rain doesn't have an advantage over a So Cal or Texas team who almost never does. It really affects a baseball game, and the team used to rain can make adjustments more quickly. But so it goes. And in whatever weather, if Linfield wins it this year I don't think anybody with half a brain will try to make excuses. They're the real deal.

As for the turf, I think that's a bigger deal for guys that have never played on it- at least in the first game. 2009-2010 regionals were my only college experiences on a turf field, and taking ground balls at third was very different (wet or dry). But it's something you get used to, and being able to practice on the field before the regional starts is definitely helpful. I'm not sure about the fields in the SCAC, but obviously Concordia has turf so they or any other ASC team will have some experience with it. CLU and Chapman, so far as I can tell, haven't had the chance to play on turf yet this year. Could be a small adjustment period for them.

Trinity played at Concordia this year during the regular season, and last year in the Regionals they played outstanding defense on the Concordia turf  field.  The middle infield and OF is the same as last year so I don't think this will be an issue. Beating Linfield on their home field IS the issue and the only thing that prevented that last year were a couple of key timely hits. All of the games last year were close, and this year I would expect the same thing. It is a matter of getting hot in all aspects of your game and executing. Advantage Linfield - but there would be nothing sweeter than beating them on their home field.

Westside4, I will be there, already have my hotel booked in McMinnville and airline tickets! (booked the hotel in January so I did not have to stay an hour away ;))

Quote from: wildcat11 on May 07, 2014, 11:20:40 PM
Crash is bitching about the one time he was rained on in 2010...must be time for the regionals!

:)

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 08, 2014, 12:58:55 AM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 07, 2014, 11:27:00 PM

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 07, 2014, 11:08:40 PM

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 07, 2014, 09:31:22 PM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 07, 2014, 09:08:56 PM
Why is it an advantage?  The turf mounds seem to play very neutral. Colorado's post on the SCIAC forum about the "elevated" Hart Park mound seems to speak of more of an advantage to me.  Turf mounds in the NWC are smart, I've seen weekends with 4 inches of rain when the the games were played, no rain-outs, because of the turf.

Deal with it!

Yes 5 teams dirt mounds 1 team turf mound. Your right the players will deal with it. Baseball should use dirt mounds period all at the same height and angle. My opinion. 

Yes baseball can be played in pouring rain with low temps wind blowing rain sideways and freezing temps in Oregon. I know. I watched a game in that wonderful baseball weather in 2010. I expect Linfield to go back to Appleton. They are the best team regardless of weather conditions or turf or no turf field. Regionals should be rotated from NW to SoCal to Texas IMO.

I think the only place in CA the regional could be played is Chapman but the NCAA seems to have stayed away in the past few years.  Anyone have any idea why?  Is it because it's a city park and not on campus?

Chapman can't host a regional because there is no snack bar at Hart Park.  Weak!

I honestly don't know if you are being serious or not but if that is true it is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.

Well, I'm just poking good-natured fun, but, it is true - no snack bar.  There's a couple of water fountains.  Nice restrooms though - no porta-pottys.

Quote from: Westside4 on May 07, 2014, 11:09:56 PM
The turf will be a lot less of a factor when it it is dry, I think. It's the wet turf that makes it really difficult when you aren't used to it.

At least true bullpen and field mound are turf, so it won't be a drastic change.

Any of you guys planning to be at the regional?

Yes, I'll be there

Quote from: Whatagame on May 07, 2014, 11:27:00 PM
[
Chapman can't host a regional because there is no snack bar at Hart Park.  Weak!

But there are always fiesta's and party's going on in the Park.  Somebody is always cooking carne asada...
I've been tempted to ask to buy some because it smells so good.

Plus, the ice cream/snack guys who push their carts selling to all the kids and parents at the Park... that should count!

Quote from: SoCalSoxFan on May 08, 2014, 11:16:23 AM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 07, 2014, 11:27:00 PM
[
Chapman can't host a regional because there is no snack bar at Hart Park.  Weak!

But there are always fiesta's and party's going on in the Park.  Somebody is always cooking carne asada...
I've been tempted to ask to buy some because it smells so good.

Plus, the ice cream/snack guys who push their carts selling to all the kids and parents at the Park... that should count!

Hart Park has its limited charms of which the ice cream guy may be the highlight. But if Chapman ever hosted again, then I would suggest: Get a permit, round up a half dozen gourmet food trucks and put them up in the grass area behind the stands. Other than avoiding a few foul balls, the city gets some income, the trucks do well and the fans get fed a pretty broad menu of odd delights. And to make it even more festive/profitable, I'd invite every little league and pony league in the area, have a clinic, autograph sessions, HR Derby's, get Mickey, Donald and Goofy to throw out the first pitch and let the kiddies run out with the fielders to start the game.

Quote from: Colorado on May 08, 2014, 01:28:09 PM

Quote from: SoCalSoxFan on May 08, 2014, 11:16:23 AM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 07, 2014, 11:27:00 PM
[
Chapman can't host a regional because there is no snack bar at Hart Park.  Weak!

But there are always fiesta's and party's going on in the Park.  Somebody is always cooking carne asada...
I've been tempted to ask to buy some because it smells so good.

Plus, the ice cream/snack guys who push their carts selling to all the kids and parents at the Park... that should count!

Hart Park has its limited charms of which the ice cream guy may be the highlight. But if Chapman ever hosted again, then I would suggest: Get a permit, round up a half dozen gourmet food trucks and put them up in the grass area behind the stands. Other than avoiding a few foul balls, the city gets some income, the trucks do well and the fans get fed a pretty broad menu of odd delights. And to make it even more festive/profitable, I'd invite every little league and pony league in the area, have a clinic, autograph sessions, HR Derby's, get Mickey, Donald and Goofy to throw out the first pitch and let the kiddies run out with the fielders to start the game.

Now you're talkin'!!  I like it, I like it.  Next year!

Quote from: Colorado on May 08, 2014, 01:28:09 PM

Quote from: SoCalSoxFan on May 08, 2014, 11:16:23 AM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 07, 2014, 11:27:00 PM
[
Chapman can't host a regional because there is no snack bar at Hart Park.  Weak!

But there are always fiesta's and party's going on in the Park.  Somebody is always cooking carne asada...
I've been tempted to ask to buy some because it smells so good.

Plus, the ice cream/snack guys who push their carts selling to all the kids and parents at the Park... that should count!

Hart Park has its limited charms of which the ice cream guy may be the highlight. But if Chapman ever hosted again, then I would suggest: Get a permit, round up a half dozen gourmet food trucks and put them up in the grass area behind the stands. Other than avoiding a few foul balls, the city gets some income, the trucks do well and the fans get fed a pretty broad menu of odd delights. And to make it even more festive/profitable, I'd invite every little league and pony league in the area, have a clinic, autograph sessions, HR Derby's, get Mickey, Donald and Goofy to throw out the first pitch and let the kiddies run out with the fielders to start the game.

Seriously, that would be great if that could happen, especially the clinic to give some exposure to d3 in So Cal.

Because Money factors into the regional bids, I am going with this as the final West Region


Linfield
Cal Lu * flight
Trinity *Flight
Pac Lu *Bus
ASC Winner * Flight
Chapman *Flight

I could see Chapman out and someone flown in, but I can't see Pac Lu not getting a bid since they are a bus team

What sense does that make? You still have to fly a team in.

Chapman has a higher regional ranking than PLU, the fact that PLU is local likely gets them in over someone else because of this. 

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 08, 2014, 04:24:44 PM
What sense does that make? You still have to fly a team in.

Chapman has a higher regional ranking than PLU, the fact that PLU is local likely gets them in over someone else because of this.

Because Chapman is a flight and PLU is a bus, PLU is in, in my opinion.  If the committee chooses to keep the west an All West Region, then Chapman is in also.  If, however, there are more deserving Pool C teams out there, then someone gets shipped in to the West and Chapman stays home

Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on May 08, 2014, 04:33:46 PM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 08, 2014, 04:24:44 PM
What sense does that make? You still have to fly a team in.

Chapman has a higher regional ranking than PLU, the fact that PLU is local likely gets them in over someone else because of this.

Because Chapman is a flight and PLU is a bus, PLU is in, in my opinion.  If the committee chooses to keep the west an All West Region, then Chapman is in also.  If, however, there are more deserving Pool C teams out there, then someone gets shipped in to the West and Chapman stays home

I think the Regional Rankings ill tll the story and if George Fox and PLU are both in the top 6 I could see Chapman getting bumped out.  If not, I see it as this:

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. PLU
5. ASC Winner
6. Capman

OR

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. PLU
5. George Fox
6. ASC Winner

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 08, 2014, 04:46:43 PM

Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on May 08, 2014, 04:33:46 PM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 08, 2014, 04:24:44 PM
What sense does that make? You still have to fly a team in.

Chapman has a higher regional ranking than PLU, the fact that PLU is local likely gets them in over someone else because of this.

Because Chapman is a flight and PLU is a bus, PLU is in, in my opinion.  If the committee chooses to keep the west an All West Region, then Chapman is in also.  If, however, there are more deserving Pool C teams out there, then someone gets shipped in to the West and Chapman stays home

I think the Regional Rankings ill tll the story and if George Fox and PLU are both in the top 6 I could see Chapman getting bumped out.  If not, I see it as this:

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. PLU
5. ASC Winner
6. Capman

OR

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. PLU
5. George Fox
6. ASC Winner

agreed.  I just hope the committee sets it up so that the first round games are all new matchups. 

Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on May 08, 2014, 04:53:54 PM

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 08, 2014, 04:46:43 PM

Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on May 08, 2014, 04:33:46 PM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 08, 2014, 04:24:44 PM
What sense does that make? You still have to fly a team in.

Chapman has a higher regional ranking than PLU, the fact that PLU is local likely gets them in over someone else because of this.

Because Chapman is a flight and PLU is a bus, PLU is in, in my opinion.  If the committee chooses to keep the west an All West Region, then Chapman is in also.  If, however, there are more deserving Pool C teams out there, then someone gets shipped in to the West and Chapman stays home

I think the Regional Rankings ill tll the story and if George Fox and PLU are both in the top 6 I could see Chapman getting bumped out.  If not, I see it as this:

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. PLU
5. ASC Winner
6. Capman

OR

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. PLU
5. George Fox
6. ASC Winner

agreed.  I just hope the committee sets it up so that the first round games are all new matchups.

I believe it is a rule that o conference opponents will face each other in the 1st round.

Jack makes sense, I can see GF in and Chapman out based on cost. We will know once they get regional rankings done.

And PLU's bubble just shattered.

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. George Fox
5. Concordia
6. Chapman

Unless Concordia loses the ASC tournament I think this is exactly how it ends, unless Concordia wins more games and they get the 4 seed and GF is the 5.

Chapman is a CTX fan right now. If CTX loses then Chapman could be forced down and out. CTX is up 1-0 right now on UMHB top 3. They had a runner thrown out at home also so they are hitting the UHMB pitcher.

Suddenly, I have become a big fan of the Tornados. They are up 2-1 at the end of 6.  I think Jack's analysis is dead on. For Chapman to stay ranked in the West and hopefully lock in their selection chances, Concordia needs to win the ASC.

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 08, 2014, 06:28:13 PM
And PLU's bubble just shattered.

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. George Fox
5. Concordia
6. Chapman

Unless Concordia loses the ASC tournament I think this is exactly how it ends, unless Concordia wins more games and they get the 4 seed and GF is the 5.

jack-

PAC Lu was 4th in last weeks regional ranking and GF wasn't ranked. Why do you think GF jumps back in when plu took 2 of 3 from GF in conference play.

Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on May 08, 2014, 10:11:24 PM

PAC Lu was 4th in last weeks regional ranking and GF wasn't ranked. Why do you think GF jumps back in when plu took 2 of 3 from GF in conference play.

IMO, the quality of wins is the difference. PLU went 0-4 against Linfield and lost a single game to Cal Lu. Fox went 2-3 against Linfield and with the respect that Linfield has been receiving all season, those 2 wins are going to carry a lot of weight. Aside from this, their resumes are pretty similar (It's unfortunate for PLU since they took the season series against Fox).

Quote from: NWBaseballFan10 on May 08, 2014, 10:21:54 PM

Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on May 08, 2014, 10:11:24 PM

PAC Lu was 4th in last weeks regional ranking and GF wasn't ranked. Why do you think GF jumps back in when plu took 2 of 3 from GF in conference play.

IMO, the quality of wins is the difference. PLU went 0-4 against Linfield and lost a single game to Cal Lu. Fox went 2-3 against Linfield and with the respect that Linfield has been receiving all season, those 2 wins are going to carry a lot of weight. Aside from this, their resumes are pretty similar (It's unfortunate for PLU since they took the season series against Fox).

i guess I would count head to head more than common opponents. Should be an interesting Sunday night.

Never mind. I didn't realize the new regional rankings
Came out and that was what Jack was referring to.

GF wins over Linfield will be the difference that gets them into the regional.

If McMinnville stays dry it is a great baseball venue. I enjoyed the weather in 2009 and hated it  in 2010. Linfield does a great job as a host and back in 2009 the Linfield students were backing Chapman every game. McMinnville is a great town for the regionals. I also enjoyed the beauty of Oregon in my 2 trips. Wineries, the rivers, water falls, covered bridges, small ferries across the river the beauty of the Oregon, Portland, McMinnville area.

The only place that could host in SoCal is Cal Lu but it does not have lights. CTX and when it was in DIII McMurray are als o quality venues for regionals

Chapman home field needs major work. New stands, backstops, etc...but the it is in a city park that is unwilling to let Chapman spend the money to bring this field up to the quality of Linfield, Cal Lu, CTX level venue.

I can not see any movement in the Regional rankings in the West since all games are finished. I don't see Pac Lu getting in and staying home again in disappointment.

An upset in the ASC could get Chapman staying home IMO.

If Concordia TX doesn't win the ASC but still goes why is it Chapman that would get kicked instead of say Fox? chapman has better numbers don't they?

Quote from: Strike1 on May 08, 2014, 11:56:24 PM
If Concordia TX doesn't win the ASC but still goes why is it Chapman that would get kicked instead of say Fox? chapman has better numbers don't they?

Not in the regional rankings, which are the numbers that count right now as both teams are done (GFU is 4th, Chapman is 6th). But another loss on the CTX resume could well drop them below Chapman.

Also- I "get" that Fox going 2-3 against Linfield is more impressive than PLU going 0-4. But like Tigerfan said, how does head to head not mean more???

Hmmm... which of these two teams is better?
-Well they have pretty much the same record... very similar, very good SOS... what else can I look at?
-PLU did finish ahead of Fox in the NWC... but only by one game, let's keep looking.
-Well they both played this one good team a few times, that's something!
-Oh but wait they played an entire schedule's worth of common opponents.. so I guess it doesn't make a ton of sense to compare that way, because they've both beaten teams the other has lost to...
...
...
-IF ONLY THERE WAS SOME WAY THEY COULD PLAY IT OUT ON THE FIELD TO DETERMINE WHO WAS BETTER!! UGH!
-Oh they did? WELL WHO WON?
-Oh PLU took the series? THEN WHY ARE WE EVEN HAVING THIS DISCUSSION?!

I would agree! Beating Linfield on a miserable day without scoring a single earned run sure carries a lot of weight! And to jump from not in to number 4? gotta be the 10 min drive to Linfield! lutes won straight up, very strange!

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 08, 2014, 11:49:01 PM
GF wins over Linfield will be the difference that gets them into the regional.

If McMinnville stays dry it is a great baseball venue. I enjoyed the weather in 2009 and hated it  in 2010. Linfield does a great job as a host and back in 2009 the Linfield students were backing Chapman every game. McMinnville is a great town for the regionals. I also enjoyed the beauty of Oregon in my 2 trips. Wineries, the rivers, water falls, covered bridges, small ferries across the river the beauty of the Oregon, Portland, McMinnville area.

The only place that could host in SoCal is Cal Lu but it does not have lights. CTX and when it was in DIII McMurray are als o quality venues for regionals

Chapman home field needs major work. New stands, backstops, etc...but the it is in a city park that is unwilling to let Chapman spend the money to bring this field up to the quality of Linfield, Cal Lu, CTX level venue.

I can not see any movement in the Regional rankings in the West since all games are finished. I don't see Pac Lu getting in and staying home again in disappointment.

An upset in the ASC could get Chapman staying home IMO.

although last year I think TLU jumped in after the games were played and snagged the 6th seed over a fly in team.

I think it was Pomona last year that popped in and got a spot.

Quote from: Strike1 on May 09, 2014, 10:19:10 AM
I think it was Pomona last year that popped in and got a spot.

right +1

FWIW, P-P was the #4 seed and TLU picked up the #6 seed and there was some discussion that this was because they were local and did not need to be flown in to Austin. (I  believe some of the GF fans thought they were ranked higher)  Since we don't really know the details regarding the selection process we don't really know who was chosen and why the thought process is that if the selection is close the team that does not need to be flown in will get the nod.  Which if true, in theory, GF and PLU have a slight advantage this year.

I'd be very unhappy if I was a PLU fan right now.

I would agree!  Linfields last game with Fox is heavy and again the best defensive team in the country gave up 10 unearned runs! At least according to the stats. Says it was a rain delay with change of venue ect.  Should be Lutes or maybe even another team from the ASC?

Quote from: Strike1 on May 09, 2014, 11:45:28 AM
I would agree!  Linfields last game with Fox is heavy and again the best defensive team in the country gave up 10 unearned runs! At least according to the stats. Says it was a rain delay with change of venue ect.  Should be Lutes or maybe even another team from the ASC?

Yea that game was bad. I think Linfield commited 4 or 5 errors in the first inning. Fox scored 9(?) runs on 3 or 4 hits hah.

At this point, the last two spots should/will go to: Chapman, George Fox, PLU, Concordia (if they don't win their tournament), or fly in a team.

Best bet it that it will stay is, barring an upset in the ASC.

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. George Fox
5. Concordia
6. Chapman

Quote from: Strike1 on May 09, 2014, 11:45:28 AM
  Should be Lutes or maybe even another team from the ASC?

I could be way off on all of this but I believe GF has a better winning percentage against regionaly ranked opponents.  Remember, once ranked, always ranked.

PLU- 2 wins 6 losses  .250%
Champan- 2 wins 6 losses .250%
George Fox- 3 wins 5 losses .375%

I honestly see PLU as their own worst enemy.  Their season ended earlier than everyone else and they played a lot of non d3 games (I know, it's tough up there).  Although maybe not the best situation, George Fox playing Linfield at the very end of the year was crucial for them.  It shows how much of a boost that 1 game gave them.

I hate to say it but I really don't think the NWC should get 3 teams in but we all know what happens with the NCAA and the $$$.  It's possible that the west could end up like this: *I'm saying it's possible, not that I think it will end up like this.

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. George Fox
5. PLU
6. ASC Champ

That eliminates a flight but I really don't know if this would happen.  The only way the ASC could get a 2nd team in is if someone beats Concordia in the title game.  Otherwise, it's a 1 bid league.

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 09, 2014, 12:15:37 PM

Quote from: Strike1 on May 09, 2014, 11:45:28 AM
  Should be Lutes or maybe even another team from the ASC?

I could be way off on all of this but I believe GF has a better winning percentage against regionaly ranked opponents.  Remember, once ranked, always ranked.

PLU- 2 wins 6 losses  .250%
Champan- 2 wins 6 losses .250%
George Fox- 3 wins 5 losses .375%

I honestly see PLU as their own worst enemy.  Their season ended earlier than everyone else and they played a lot of non d3 games (I know, it's tough up there).  Although maybe not the best situation, George Fox playing Linfield at the very end of the year was crucial for them.  It shows how much of a boost that 1 game gave them.

I hate to say it but I really don't think the NWC should get 3 teams in but we all know what happens with the NCAA and the $$$.  It's possible that the west could end up like this: *I'm saying it's possible, not that I think it will end up like this.

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. George Fox
5. PLU
6. ASC Champ

That eliminates a flight but I really don't know if this would happen.  The only way the ASC could get a 2nd team in is if someone beats Concordia in the title game.  Otherwise, it's a 1 bid league.

I really cannot see 3 NWC teams in the regional, however, as a preemptive maneuver, Chapman could say "Hey, we'll take a bus to McMinnville," it's only an 18 hour or so drive.............just joking, but hey....

Quote from: Whatagame on May 09, 2014, 12:22:11 PM

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 09, 2014, 12:15:37 PM

Quote from: Strike1 on May 09, 2014, 11:45:28 AM
  Should be Lutes or maybe even another team from the ASC?

I could be way off on all of this but I believe GF has a better winning percentage against regionaly ranked opponents.  Remember, once ranked, always ranked.

PLU- 2 wins 6 losses  .250%
Champan- 2 wins 6 losses .250%
George Fox- 3 wins 5 losses .375%

I honestly see PLU as their own worst enemy.  Their season ended earlier than everyone else and they played a lot of non d3 games (I know, it's tough up there).  Although maybe not the best situation, George Fox playing Linfield at the very end of the year was crucial for them.  It shows how much of a boost that 1 game gave them.

I hate to say it but I really don't think the NWC should get 3 teams in but we all know what happens with the NCAA and the $$$.  It's possible that the west could end up like this: *I'm saying it's possible, not that I think it will end up like this.

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. George Fox
5. PLU
6. ASC Champ

That eliminates a flight but I really don't know if this would happen.  The only way the ASC could get a 2nd team in is if someone beats Concordia in the title game.  Otherwise, it's a 1 bid league.

I really cannot see 3 NWC teams in the regional, however, as a preemptive maneuver, Chapman could say "Hey, we'll take a bus to McMinnville," it's only an 18 hour or so drive.............just joking, but hey....

I agree 100% that 3 NWC teams wouldn't be right but we have seen the decisions the NCAA has made in the past.  If anyone is getting screwed in this region it would be Chapman, which really would be an asolute shame.

Quote from: Teddy_Ballgame on May 09, 2014, 12:34:24 AM

Quote from: Strike1 on May 08, 2014, 11:56:24 PM
If Concordia TX doesn't win the ASC but still goes why is it Chapman that would get kicked instead of say Fox? chapman has better numbers don't they?

Not in the regional rankings, which are the numbers that count right now as both teams are done (GFU is 4th, Chapman is 6th). But another loss on the CTX resume could well drop them below Chapman.

Also- I "get" that Fox going 2-3 against Linfield is more impressive than PLU going 0-4. But like Tigerfan said, how does head to head not mean more???

Hmmm... which of these two teams is better?
-Well they have pretty much the same record... very similar, very good SOS... what else can I look at?
-PLU did finish ahead of Fox in the NWC... but only by one game, let's keep looking.
-Well they both played this one good team a few times, that's something!
-Oh but wait they played an entire schedule's worth of common opponents.. so I guess it doesn't make a ton of sense to compare that way, because they've both beaten teams the other has lost to...
...
...
-IF ONLY THERE WAS SOME WAY THEY COULD PLAY IT OUT ON THE FIELD TO DETERMINE WHO WAS BETTER!! UGH!
-Oh they did? WELL WHO WON?
-Oh PLU took the series? THEN WHY ARE WE EVEN HAVING THIS DISCUSSION?!

I agree that head to head should trump everything else. Pac Lu has been in this position before where they may get left out again. The only way to end this discussion for them is win your conference Pool A bid otherwise expect to stay home. You leave it in the hands the magic DIII baseball formulas for Pool B/C and committee's to determine who is in and who is out. Every year it seems like someone will always not get in that appears to deserves getting in.

A way to help eliminate some of this would be the last seed would be a 1 game play in game. BUT I know it will cost too much of NCAA's precious money that dribbles down to the DIII level. You could add 1 play in game for each region.

So, do you guys think the regional will be more offensive than last year? There were barely 5 runs scored per game over 11 games.

I think the ball carries a bit when it is warm in McMinnville.

Quote from: Westside4 on May 09, 2014, 02:31:15 PM
So, do you guys think the regional will be more offensive than last year? There were barely 5 runs scored per game over 11 games.

I think the ball carries a bit when it is warm in McMinnville.

I'm not sure if it will be in the 1st round games as I think each team has a legit "ace".  Haddeland from Linfield, Osaki from Chapman, Cox from CTX, Peterson from Cal Lu, Speer from Trinity, Zarosinski from GF and maybe Lubking from PLU.  After that I have absolutely no clue at all.  Some darn good hitters in the region as well.

Championship baseball is all about pitching and defense. Plus if a pitcher is not getting it done he will be pulled quick since so much is at stake. From what I remember Linfield has a pretty big yard. I would expect a lot of close 1 run games.

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 09, 2014, 03:05:35 PM

Quote from: Westside4 on May 09, 2014, 02:31:15 PM
So, do you guys think the regional will be more offensive than last year? There were barely 5 runs scored per game over 11 games.

I think the ball carries a bit when it is warm in McMinnville.

I'm not sure if it will be in the 1st round games as I think each team has a legit "ace".  Haddeland from Linfield, Osaki from Chapman, Cox from CTX, Peterson from Cal Lu, Speer from Trinity, Zarosinski from GF and maybe Lubking from PLU.  After that I have absolutely no clue at all.  Some darn good hitters in the region as well.

Assuming the rankings and teams stay the same, I would not be surprised if runs are at a premium like they were last year in Texas. There should be a lot high quality arms on display next week in McMinnville. Aside from Cal Lu (who still has some good starters and Roth), I would say each team's main strength is pitching. Below is a brief look at some of those arms we can expect to see.

In terms of Linfield's field, the turf infield slows most of the groundballs that would likely get to the outfield if they were hit on harder dirt surfaces. The length of the fences play more favorably to hitters however.

Pitching outlook:

1) Linfield (team era 2.16)

• Haddeland - reigning National Pitcher of the Year who continues to put up video game like numbers
  Thomassen - 2014 NWC Pitcher of the Year and his career record stands at 23-2
  Brandon - 4-year starter whose career record is 24-4
  Manley - Top reliever (22.2 IP, 1.19 ERA)
  Huckins - All-league closer from last season (season #'s are 1-0, 2.84 era, 6.2 IP)

2) Trinity (team era 2.35)

• Speer - 17-1 over past 2 seasons with an era in the mid-1.00 range
  Gray - mid to upper 80's lefty (3-0, 2.11 era, 42 IP)
  Walker - similar to Gray (maybe slightly lower velo) (4-2, 2.54 era, 56 IP)
  Bogese - hard throwing right hander who can hit low 90's but has control issues (5-1, 3.77 era, 45 IP)
  Turner, Flores, Griffith - Have not seen personally, but I'm assuming they are quality right handers with some good velo

3. Cal Lu (team era 3.49)

Peterson - Hard lefty with good swing-and-miss stuff (8-2, 3.95 era, 7.79 k/9)
Hebda - mid 80's righty (6-1, 3.88 era, 65 IP)
Peters - Tall deceptive lefty (6-3, 3.25 era, 80 IP)
Roth - High 80's closer and sometimes long reliever (4-2, 11 saves, 1.57 era)
[/list]

4. George Fox (team era 2.48)

• Gartner - Game 1 starter last two years, command righty who locates well to both sides of the plate (10-2, 2.56 era, 95 IP)
  Zarosinski - Upper 80's to low 90's guy with a good hook (7-3, 1.99 era, 86 K's)
  Harris - Lefty reliever who locates well (32 IP, 1.38 era)
  Buckles - mid 80's righty with decent off speed (6-1, 2.50 era)

5. Concordia (team era 2.24)

• Weinschenk - If my memory serves me right, mid-to-upper 80's righty with good off speed
  Cox - transfer from Texas, assuming plus stuff and velo
  Pope, Harmon, Donahue - No idea
  

6. Chapman (team era 3.14)

• Osaki, Mcgee, and Watson - all hard throwing RH's with plus breaking balls
  Smith and Riddle - I'm assuming they are pretty similar

LeTourneau just sent CTX to the ASC losers bracket, 8-2.

If Letourneau can win they league tourney I would say they along with Concordia get in. chapman deserves to be in there as we'll.

CTX is not reg. ranked. They win or stay home. Actually they are but do they drop below chapman?

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 09, 2014, 11:42:02 PM
CTX is not reg. ranked. They win or stay home. Actually they are but do they drop below chapman?

WEST   

1.   Linfield   30-3   33-7
2.   Cal Lutheran   34-8   34-8
3.   Trinity (Texas)   33-8   33-8
4.   George Fox   23-11   28-12
5.   Concordia (Texas)   27-12   27-12
6.   Chapman   28-12   30-13

Man, I would think it would be tough for CTX to get in ahead of Chapman simply because they have (or would have) lost 2 more games.  I see the ASC as a 1-bid league no matter what.

CTX will play UTD tomorrow; the Comets got a two hit complete game shutout over Sul Ross (7-0) to qualify for tomorrow's elimination game.    They split their two games earlier this season.

I don't think 29- or 30-14 gets CTX in if they don't win the ASC.

Maybe CTX and Chapman get in and no fox? Who knows.

Quote from: Strike1 on May 10, 2014, 01:22:40 AM
Maybe CTX and Chapman get in and no fox? Who knows.

Chapman and CTX are ranked behind Fox already. If CTX needs an at-large bid, that means they lose two games this weekend. Chapman and Fox have no games left. How would an idle team jump another idle team? Let alone an idle team and a team that loses two games in a weekend... On top of that, Fox is 15 minutes from the regional site. There is no incentive at all to randomly drop them out.

Not that we haven't seen crazy stuff before, but it sure looks like the only team with a legitimate shot at a Pool C from the West is George Fox.

More likely than not that a team from another regional will fly to Oregon, probably from the Central or Midwest I would think.

You're right, that wouldn't make much sense would it? Curious how things would line up if they were playing in tx or ca.

Quote from: Spence on May 10, 2014, 02:42:43 AM
Not that we haven't seen crazy stuff before, but it sure looks like the only team with a legitimate shot at a Pool C from the West is George Fox.

More likely than not that a team from another regional will fly to Oregon, probably from the Central or Midwest I would think.

Why don't you think Chapman has a legitimate shot? As it stands, Chapman is regionally ranked and can only climb. Obviously being regionally ranked doesn't guarantee a Pool C since the bids are national- have top teams in other regions been dropping down to Pool C?

GF is pretty much in given their ranking and location, Chapman, depends on how mid-west teams stack up. Coe and St John's were flown in two years ago, really not sure how some other mid-west teams compare, but Chapman was pretty strong the last 25% of their schedule so I am thinking they will make it.

I just checked the likely candidates in the mid west will likely win their tournaments so Chapman stands a pretty good chance of getting in.....and facing Linfield out of the gate.  ;)

CTX defeats UT-D 5-2 and has to take two from LeTourneau to get to McMinville.    The Tornadoes got a complete game from Kiel Harmon, so the question will be who gets the start today and tomorrow.   Guess they could bring back Scott Weinschenk who pitched 8.2 on Wednesday.

Weinschenk is indeed the CTX starter and leads 3-0 after five.   The Tornadoes turned a triple play to get out of an early jam.

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 10, 2014, 02:12:48 PM
I just checked the likely candidates in the mid west will likely win their tournaments so Chapman stands a pretty good chance of getting in.....and facing Linfield out of the gate.  ;)

Not if CTX loses! Then I think LeTourneau would be the 6 seed right? And if Chapman makes it, I could see them jump up to 4 like PP did last year in order to avoid a SCIAC v. SCIAC matchup in the first game.. in which case a loss to Trinity in game 1 would mean (probably) facing Linfield in a must win to stay alive. Oof.

Looks like CTX will stay alive another day ... up 7-1 in the seventh which means UTexas transfer Cameron Cox (he of the 1.40 ERA in 13 appearances) will get the ball.

EDIT:   Cox entered in the eighth of this game, which seems odd given that he entered AFTER CTX got the 7-1 lead.   I guess a couple innings today won't keep him from pitching tomorrow, but why not let one of your relievers take over?

Looked at the CTX roster - a lot of Juco (~14) and D1/D2/D3/NAIA transfers (~7).   Guess that is what happens when you have a former big-leaguer like Tommy Boggs as your coach, you get kids that want to play.

Quote from: Teddy_Ballgame on May 10, 2014, 01:00:55 PM

Quote from: Spence on May 10, 2014, 02:42:43 AM
Not that we haven't seen crazy stuff before, but it sure looks like the only team with a legitimate shot at a Pool C from the West is George Fox.

More likely than not that a team from another regional will fly to Oregon, probably from the Central or Midwest I would think.

Why don't you think Chapman has a legitimate shot? As it stands, Chapman is regionally ranked and can only climb. Obviously being regionally ranked doesn't guarantee a Pool C since the bids are national- have top teams in other regions been dropping down to Pool C?

Because they're at best the 2nd highest ranked Pool C team in the region, and there are no other games to realistically change that. They could go ahead of CTX, but highly unlikely they pass GFU with neither team playing games.

Quote from: Spence on May 10, 2014, 10:14:47 PM

Quote from: Teddy_Ballgame on May 10, 2014, 01:00:55 PM

Quote from: Spence on May 10, 2014, 02:42:43 AM
Not that we haven't seen crazy stuff before, but it sure looks like the only team with a legitimate shot at a Pool C from the West is George Fox.

More likely than not that a team from another regional will fly to Oregon, probably from the Central or Midwest I would think.

Why don't you think Chapman has a legitimate shot? As it stands, Chapman is regionally ranked and can only climb. Obviously being regionally ranked doesn't guarantee a Pool C since the bids are national- have top teams in other regions been dropping down to Pool C?

Because they're at best the 2nd highest ranked Pool C team in the region, and there are no other games to realistically change that. They could go ahead of CTX, but highly unlikely they pass GFU with neither team playing games.

I agree that there's no way they pass Fox, I just meant they could jump to 5 if CTX doesn't win the ASC. My question is why you think the West will only get one Pool C/ why they'll have to fly someone in. Is the national Pool C field that good this year?

Don't know what formula is used but selecting teams simply because of their address would be very disappointing!

Quote from: Strike1 on May 11, 2014, 12:49:49 AM
Don't know what formula is used but selecting teams simply because of their address would be very disappointing!

If they were to select teams because of their address, PLU would be coming to the regional. I don't think you need to worry about that.

I mean, two years ago Linfield was the host, finished in the top 6 regional rankings and they got skipped over in favor of out-of-region teams.

Quote from: Teddy_Ballgame on May 11, 2014, 12:19:59 AM

Quote from: Spence on May 10, 2014, 10:14:47 PM

Quote from: Teddy_Ballgame on May 10, 2014, 01:00:55 PM

Quote from: Spence on May 10, 2014, 02:42:43 AM
Not that we haven't seen crazy stuff before, but it sure looks like the only team with a legitimate shot at a Pool C from the West is George Fox.

More likely than not that a team from another regional will fly to Oregon, probably from the Central or Midwest I would think.

Why don't you think Chapman has a legitimate shot? As it stands, Chapman is regionally ranked and can only climb. Obviously being regionally ranked doesn't guarantee a Pool C since the bids are national- have top teams in other regions been dropping down to Pool C?

Because they're at best the 2nd highest ranked Pool C team in the region, and there are no other games to realistically change that. They could go ahead of CTX, but highly unlikely they pass GFU with neither team playing games.

I agree that there's no way they pass Fox, I just meant they could jump to 5 if CTX doesn't win the ASC. My question is why you think the West will only get one Pool C/ why they'll have to fly someone in. Is the national Pool C field that good this year?

I don't think they have that much to stand on, really. 2-6 against regionally ranked, 1-4 against Cal Lu, 0-2 against Trinity; the only regionally ranked teams they've played more than once. SOS of 202. Even by West standards that's not very good (GFU is 91).

Who knows what will happen but I wouldn't put them in if I was on the committee. Not even sure they would be in my "first four out".

Quote from: Spence on May 11, 2014, 01:39:30 AM

Quote from: Teddy_Ballgame on May 11, 2014, 12:19:59 AM

Quote from: Spence on May 10, 2014, 10:14:47 PM

Quote from: Teddy_Ballgame on May 10, 2014, 01:00:55 PM

Quote from: Spence on May 10, 2014, 02:42:43 AM
Not that we haven't seen crazy stuff before, but it sure looks like the only team with a legitimate shot at a Pool C from the West is George Fox.

More likely than not that a team from another regional will fly to Oregon, probably from the Central or Midwest I would think.

Why don't you think Chapman has a legitimate shot? As it stands, Chapman is regionally ranked and can only climb. Obviously being regionally ranked doesn't guarantee a Pool C since the bids are national- have top teams in other regions been dropping down to Pool C?

Because they're at best the 2nd highest ranked Pool C team in the region, and there are no other games to realistically change that. They could go ahead of CTX, but highly unlikely they pass GFU with neither team playing games.

I agree that there's no way they pass Fox, I just meant they could jump to 5 if CTX doesn't win the ASC. My question is why you think the West will only get one Pool C/ why they'll have to fly someone in. Is the national Pool C field that good this year?

I don't think they have that much to stand on, really. 2-6 against regionally ranked, 1-4 against Cal Lu, 0-2 against Trinity; the only regionally ranked teams they've played more than once. SOS of 202. Even by West standards that's not very good (GFU is 91).

Who knows what will happen but I wouldn't put them in if I was on the committee. Not even sure they would be in my "first four out".

Fair points, all. Certainly would have helped if they had at least gotten one win against CLU in the tournament. I honestly don't know enough about the other teams they'd be competing against for a Pool C to make a legitimate comparison, so I won't speculate.

As for criteria that is NOT factored in any way shape or form, I'd love to see them get in. They started a little slow, found themselves, and rolled at the end (besides CLU games). First year with Laverty after the whole Coach T debacle. Great tradition of performing well in the regionals and on the national scene. As always, they have more pitching depth than most/all of SCIAC so are better poised for postseason play. Would be nice to see Osaki and McGee get back to the regionals.

The committee is always full of surprises so who knows. But good luck to the Panthers.

CTX starts a guy with no starts on the season and a 9.00 ERA and he gets chased in the third.  LeTourneau up 3-0 after 3 and I still have to wonder why they used Cox in what was essentially garbage time yesterday. LeT has 13 game starter Copeland (7-2, 3.22) on the mound and he has held the Tornadoes to 2 hits through three complete.

Cox pitching now.

Quote from: Spence on May 11, 2014, 02:56:10 PM
Cox pitching now.

Inherited two runners with two outs, gives up a single and a double, and with a throwing error thrown in for good measure LeT now up 5-0.  CTX has two on with one out now.

The way they're chucking the ball around and not hitting, it doesn't seem as if it'll matter.

no kidding, Spence, two more errors in the top of the fifth make it 6-0 LeT.  Four errors in five innings on your home field?

Maybe the west gets no pool C teams, like in 2012.

LeTourneau makes the playoffs for the first time ever! Congrats to them, that's gotta be exciting. See you in Oregon.

Linfield
Cal Lutheran
Trinity
LeTourneau
???
???

This will be a fun regional.

Congrats to LeTu, nice job this season, first time in school history!!!!

GF should be in and the last spot will be interesting. CTX vs Chapman, vs Flyin ?

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 11, 2014, 04:29:35 PM
Congrats to LeTu, nice job this season, first time in school history!!!!

GF should be in and the last spot will be interesting. CTX vs Chapman, vs Flyin ?

I am going with this:

4. George Fox
5. LeTu
6. Fly in a Pool A from an upset conference

When do the brackets come out?

Quote from: Strike1 on May 11, 2014, 06:40:15 PM
When do the brackets come out?

Read this....NCAA never says what time it will be released. After 12:00 AM Monday...
http://d3baseball.com/playoffs/2014/playoff-central

My predictions.

1. Linfield
2. Trinity
3. Cal Lu
4. Le Tourneau
5. George Fox
6. Chapman or Concordia-Texas or Fly in

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 11, 2014, 08:29:49 PM
My predictions.

1. Linfield
2. Trinity
3. Cal Lu
4. Le Tourneau
5. George Fox
6. Chapman or Concordia-Texas or Fly in

Not sure why Trinity would jump Cal Lu or how LeTu would go from unranked to 4th.  I agree that the last spot is up for grabs.  Really interested to see what the NCAA does.  I'll give it a shot.

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. George Fox
5. LeTu
6. Illinois Wesleyan, John Carroll or St. Norbert

Of course, I could be way off and Chapman could hold onto the 6 seed or CTX could still go as the 6

Has there ever been a 4 team regional?

How many teams are scheduled for the South Regional now?

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 11, 2014, 08:44:21 PM
Has there ever been a 4 team regional?

How many teams are scheduled for the South Regional now?

Way back in the day I think all regionals were 4-team (maybe 2 6-teamers mixed in) but there was a pretty large expansion to add about 20* more teams. 

*Just throwing a # out, I honestly have no clue how many were added.

Could they send LeTu and Trinity to the South to save $$?

Going through the NCAA Stats of teams we know are in the regional at this point. Figured I would list the stats the West Region teams land in the top 10.

Interesting Stats (Top Ten National Rankings):
Linfield: 2.16 ERA (2nd), .976% Fielding (2nd), 9 Shutouts (3rd), 6.7 Hits Allowed Per Game (1st), 1.01 WHIP (1st), 183 Walks (7th)
Cal Lutheran: .343 Batting Average (9th), 105 Doubles (2nd), .972% Fielding (5th), 49 Sac Bunts (6th), 505 Hits (2nd), .425 OBP (8th), 368 Runs (5th)
Trinity: 2.35 ERA (5th), 47 Double Plays Turned (1st), 29 Home Runs (7th), 35 Sac Flies (2nd)

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 11, 2014, 08:56:47 PM
Could they send LeTu and Trinity to the South to save $$?

I don't think that would save $$$ as it would still require flights for both to GA.  The only way to fill out the 6 teams in the West would be to have 3 NWC teams and 2 SCIAC teams but it would still cause them to fly someone into the West.  I would be in absolute shock if Trinity went anywhere but Oregon.  I don't know how the rest of the country works in terms of distances but I would figure all flights will be designated for the West with maybe 1 other coming from another region.

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 11, 2014, 08:44:01 PM

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 11, 2014, 08:29:49 PM
My predictions.

1. Linfield
2. Trinity
3. Cal Lu
4. Le Tourneau
5. George Fox
6. Chapman or Concordia-Texas or Fly in

Not sure why Trinity would jump Cal Lu or how LeTu would go from unranked to 4th.  I agree that the last spot is up for grabs.  Really interested to see what the NCAA does.  I'll give it a shot.

1. Linfield
2. Cal Lu
3. Trinity
4. George Fox
5. LeTu
6. Illinois Wesleyan, John Carroll or St. Norbert

Of course, I could be way off and Chapman could hold onto the 6 seed or CTX could still go as the 6

I'm sorry, but if somebody named St. Norbert or John, Carol, Ted and Alice gets shipped-in to get dominated by Linfield and whoever they play in game 2 over placing Chapman or CTX in the West, that will be a travesty.

Quote from: Whatagame on May 11, 2014, 09:12:42 PM
I'm sorry, but if somebody named St. Norbert or John, Carol, Ted and Alice gets shipped-in to get dominated by Linfield and whoever they play in game 2 over placing Chapman or CTX in the West, that will be a travesty.

That is hilarious whatagame.  ;D    ...however Pool C bids are National, why would that be a travesty?

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 11, 2014, 08:50:44 PM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 11, 2014, 08:44:21 PM
Has there ever been a 4 team regional?

How many teams are scheduled for the South Regional now?

Way back in the day I think all regionals were 4-team (maybe 2 6-teamers mixed in) but there was a pretty large expansion to add about 20* more teams. 

*Just throwing a # out, I honestly have no clue how many were added.

Way back in the day, the West was a 2 team regional, with no teams being shipped in or out. That was when the west was basically the SCIAC + Chapman + a couple of sundries.

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 11, 2014, 09:18:36 PM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 11, 2014, 09:12:42 PM
I'm sorry, but if somebody named St. Norbert or John, Carol, Ted and Alice gets shipped-in to get dominated by Linfield and whoever they play in game 2 over placing Chapman or CTX in the West, that will be a travesty.

That is hilarious whatagame.  ;D    ...however Pool C bids are National, why would that be a travesty?

Probably because the West Region makes up almost half of the country, and they only have one regional. So it seems crazy to think that there aren't six teams good enough to make the regional. Or at least something like that.

While it makes up "1/2 of the country" (in area) check this out to give you an idea on how few schools are actually here. Gives you a good perspective.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=106466522675975704523.00045acb606a0577b3b44&dg=feature

I feel like that would prove the point more than diminish it. There are so many teams in the east, that a lot of the teams are just embarrassing and it gets watered down. In theory, since there are less teams in the West, there would be a lot higher quality of teams. But obviously this is all just speculation.

I believe the regions are proportional, and I'll never, ever believe that the West Region is not strong enough to fill out it's 6 team regional.  SOS is a non-starter, because West region teams have more parity, and only play each other, and cannibalize to an extent.  It worked out well for the teams they shipped in to the 2012 west regional.....  I mean Wesleyan won the vaunted NESCAC this year, and Bates did damage in the NESCAC tournament...

http://www.d3baseball.com/playoffs/2014/2014-playoff-projections

D3baseball.com has published their regional predictions. According to them, Chapman is out of the running. CTX is up against a few teams from other regions. Definitely going to be interesting to see who they go with. Either way, should be a strong and exciting field to watch in Mcminnville.

Official rankings are out and we were all way off. No fox, plu, chapman or tic Concordia!

Wow... Shocked.

I guess this is good for the West teams, because there is no way these teams are as good as George Fox.

Quote from: Westside4 on May 12, 2014, 01:25:23 AM
Wow... this is embarrassing. Shocked.

On one hand it's great to see the NCAA willing to spend money to fly teams but how in the world do they not take a team that was #4 in the last regional rankings and is 10 minutes away from a regional site?

Man, I feel bad for the GF team and Chapman too.  I can understand Chapman not making it but it's tough as I thought they could do well.  I guess I am shocked as well.

Here it is:

Hosted by Linfield, McMinnville, Ore.
1. Linfield
2. Cal Lutheran
3. Trinity (Texas)
4. UW-Stevens Point
5. Illinois Wesleyan
6. LeTourneau

Will be interesting "Regional" looks like it is truly based on performance no matter where the team is coming from. Three teams that have never played in McMinnville. Wow.

Ordering the teams from best to worst in team categories looks like this:

Team Batting: Cal Lutheran, UW-Stevens Point, Trinity, LeTourneau, Linfield, Illinois Wesleyan
Team Pitching: Linfield, Trinity, LeTourneau, Cal Lutheran, UW-Stevens Point, Illinois Wesleyan
Team Fielding: Linfield, Cal Lutheran, UW-Stevens Point, Trinity, LeTourneau, Illinois Wesleyan

Game one: Linfield vs. LeTourneau
Chris Haddeland (10-1, 1.08 ERA) vs. Curt Copeland (7-2, 3.22 ERA)

Game two: Cal Lutheran vs. Illinois Wesleyan
Jake Peterson (8-2, 3.95 ERA) vs. Jeff Johnson (6-2, 3.52 ERA)

Game three: Trinity vs UW-Stevens Point
Zack Speer (8-1, 1.79 ERA) vs. ??? I tried to look at their schedule and have no idea who their game one starter should be.

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 12, 2014, 01:27:33 AM

Quote from: Westside4 on May 12, 2014, 01:25:23 AM
Wow... this is embarrassing. Shocked.

On one hand it's great to see the NCAA willing to spend money to fly teams but how in the world do they not take a team that was #4 in the last regional rankings and is 10 minutes away from a regional site?

Man, I feel bad for the GF team and Chapman too.  I can understand Chapman not making it but it's tough as I thought they could do well.  I guess I am shocked as well.

Can't say that I am happy about it but if this is the new approach from now on, I'm fine with it. What they should do is that if they are not going to honor regional boundaries as much as they did in the past, then they should eliminate the regional rankings and publish a national ranking during the last 3 weeks so that teams have a better idea of who's in and who's not relative to the entire country. It would give us a better idea of who we were competing against for playoff spots. Regional rankings gave one too many teams the false impression that they were in (ie. George Fox at #4) or had a shot however slim (Chapman at #6). Congrats to all of the selected teams, and hope the West teams outlast the rest of the nation.

Quote from: Westside4 on May 12, 2014, 02:17:00 AM
Game three: Trinity vs UW-Stevens Point
Zack Speer (8-1, 1.79 ERA) vs. ??? I tried to look at their schedule and have no idea who their game one starter should be.

Luke Watson (7-1, 2.03 ERA).   The rest of their starters are surprisingly middling.

Looking at their bats they have three guys that look like they can swing it, particularly Brandon Kranz. They might struggle a little later in the tournament pitching wise, but TU is not worried about "later".

LeTourneau gets the pleasure of meeting Linfield for their first regional experience.  :o

Will be a fun regional with some new faces.

I love that everyone is already crowing Linfield as the regional champ. Everybody playing in Oregon this week is a quality team. Only the best teams are left.

I like Stevens Point's chances in this regional.

BigPoppa, they are clearly beatable and Trinity probably has a more balanced team this year that beat them in the first championship game and lost in the second by 2 runs. Any team there can get hot and a break and win it, look at what Whitworth did there two years ago. 

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 12, 2014, 09:39:51 AM
I love that everyone is already crowing Linfield as the regional champ. Everybody playing in Oregon this week is a quality team. Only the best teams are left.

Not sure if this was sarcasm or not, but I agree. It is nice to see everyone giving them the respect they earned. But anyone can win, for sure. Excited to get down there and watch some ball.

It is clear that the new view is that if you expect an at large bid; if you are in the west you had better have a budget for travel east. The west region's inability due to geographic isolation to generate higher SOS numbers made it impossible for a team to garner an at large selection. D3 has its roots in the east; this years selections highlight the problems that geography presents. Not that any team is more or less deserving; but it shows how a conference with a good SOS benefits in a system that creates advantage to those where geography is not a factor.

ILVBB is spot on. I am thinking that Trinity will not have any trouble next year getting the ASC teams filling in their Tuesday night games.  ;D They did the right thing this year going to Hendrix and Millsaps, plus their regular home/away with Chapman. Chapman actually has a better chance by going independent again.

Enough with why teams did or didn't get in. Bottom line is we see this every year where deserving teams get left out because they didnt win their conference. Win your conference.

Now lets start hearing some predictions! I need to redeem myself for my crap ASC day 2 predictions.

dp I have to go look at the brackets and teams, but game one* predictions.

Linfield
CLU
Trinity

* home boy

Actually as we saw last year CLU came in with the top offense in the country and lost game 1, 1-0. Pitching and defense will dominate this region IMO. More later.

Weather looks good (summer like) through Friday; then liquid sunshine ;D

Don't count out Letourneau just because they dont look like other teams in this regional on paper. This team has alot of seniors and play with good heart.

That aside, I still expect them to go 0-2. I dont think the ASC was very good this year.

My predictions will come later today or tomorrow.

Quote from: dp643 on May 12, 2014, 10:13:46 AM
Don't count out Letourneau just because they dont look like other teams in this regional on paper. This team has alot of seniors and play with good heart.

That aside, I still expect them to go 0-2. I dont think the ASC was very good this year.

My predictions will come later today or tomorrow.

LeTu is a very good home team but barely .500 on the road; this will be the first time they've played two time zones away since at least 2008 (if not ever).   They've got some talent (and I'd think they'd start Cody Whitley, 7-2, 1.85 over Copeland in the first game) but this is asking a lot from a first-time playoff participant.    Playing Linfield at Linfield ain't like a trip to Alpine or Clinton.

Good point on road record, but they did just beat Concordia twice in the conference tournament at their place. CTX isnt Linfield, but a quality team nonetheless.

Anyone can beat anyone. Here's to them knocking Linfield to the looser bracket out of the gate!!!!!  8-)

I think the Trinity/UWSP game is as tough of a first round draw as it gets for Trinity.  UWSP might not have the insane numbers but thats a tough draw.  I think it comes down to which Trinity team shows up.  Lets be honest, they didn't exactly waltz right through their conference tournament.  On the otherhand, I could be way off...

Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 12, 2014, 05:49:15 AM

Quote from: Westside4 on May 12, 2014, 02:17:00 AM
Game three: Trinity vs UW-Stevens Point
Zack Speer (8-1, 1.79 ERA) vs. ??? I tried to look at their schedule and have no idea who their game one starter should be.

Luke Watson (7-1, 2.03 ERA).   The rest of their starters are surprisingly middling.

When you have the SOS they do, probably everyone has thrown against someone good. My first guess would be Feyereisen, but that's all it would be; a guess.

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 12, 2014, 09:57:22 AM
ILVBB is spot on. I am thinking that Trinity will not have any trouble next year getting the ASC teams filling in their Tuesday night games.  ;D They did the right thing this year going to Hendrix and Millsaps, plus their regular home/away with Chapman. Chapman actually has a better chance by going independent again.

Yes, scheduling Milsaps, Hendrix and Chapman was nice, but despite all that, Trinity's SOS was still 197.  Chapman was 203.  The highest ranked West team this year was George Fox at 92nd.  It seems like the West Region teams can play any combination of games amongst themselves and it will not solve the SOS issue regarding at-large bids.  It looks like teams need to somehow get out of region for games, way out of region.  The OAC placed 4 teams in 3 different regionals this year.  The NESCAC placed 3 teams into 3 different regionals.  1/8th of the total field is from those two conferences.

I'd love to see teams be able to get out to Florida, or the mid-west or East Coast, but the realities of that are very difficult.

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 12, 2014, 11:15:11 AM
I think the Trinity/UWSP game is as tough of a first round draw as it gets for Trinity.  UWSP might not have the insane numbers but thats a tough draw.  I think it comes down to which Trinity team shows up.  Lets be honest, they didn't exactly waltz right through their conference tournament.  On the otherhand, I could be way off...

Know anything about UWSP.  They have good offensive numbers...and with the way their schedule sets up, it is hard to find a patter on their arms.  Their best arm (stats wise) didnt start their tournament game 1, but neither did Trinity's. 

Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 12, 2014, 10:37:46 AM

Quote from: dp643 on May 12, 2014, 10:13:46 AM
Don't count out Letourneau just because they dont look like other teams in this regional on paper. This team has alot of seniors and play with good heart.

That aside, I still expect them to go 0-2. I dont think the ASC was very good this year.

My predictions will come later today or tomorrow.

LeTu is a very good home team but barely .500 on the road; this will be the first time they've played two time zones away since at least 2008 (if not ever).   They've got some talent (and I'd think they'd start Cody Whitley, 7-2, 1.85 over Copeland in the first game) but this is asking a lot from a first-time playoff participant.    Playing Linfield at Linfield ain't like a trip to Alpine or Clinton.

But you might get there just as quickly!   :)

Teams that did not get in have nothing to complain about. They did not win it on the field.

Predictions for Day 1 Winners
Linfield
Cal Lu
UW-SP

I have watched enough D3 games to know that there is not that much difference between good teams no matter where they are. For one conference to get 4 teams and another conference to get 3 shows that the system is flawed when a region that covers half of the country gets only 4 teams.

Much was made about regional rankings. The reality is they are meaningless when selections are made on a national basis.

It is nice that west teams are getting out and traveling to other west areas for play. But it does nothing to increase SOS. Each of the four western conferences play 75% +/- games in their respective conferences. Because each conference is isolated; there is little or no chance to enhance SOS without a making an effort to play teams which by their nature have stronger SOS.

For years Chapman as an independent could "manage" their SOS. If you don't play weak teams you can "enhance" your SOS.

If you are in a conference where half or more teams have sub .500 W/L records you are starting with a weak SOS. Then if you are need to either travel 6-8 hours for a mid-weak game, just to get a game in, you have little or no chance at generating a strong SOS.

In the past it seamed as that the committee gave "credit" to the west for their weak SOS. This year when you get 4 teams from one conference and 3 from another; that "credit" is gone. The system is broken; if selection is on a national basis with the impact of a national SOS playing such an important roll, let's skip the charade of "regional rankings", publish a real national ranking based upon selection criteria.

Quote from: Whatagame on May 12, 2014, 11:18:43 AM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 12, 2014, 09:57:22 AM
ILVBB is spot on. I am thinking that Trinity will not have any trouble next year getting the ASC teams filling in their Tuesday night games.  ;D They did the right thing this year going to Hendrix and Millsaps, plus their regular home/away with Chapman. Chapman actually has a better chance by going independent again.

Yes, scheduling Milsaps, Hendrix and Chapman was nice, but despite all that, Trinity's SOS was still 197.  Chapman was 203.  The highest ranked West team this year was George Fox at 92nd.  It seems like the West Region teams can play any combination of games amongst themselves and it will not solve the SOS issue regarding at-large bids.  It looks like teams need to somehow get out of region for games, way out of region.  The OAC placed 4 teams in 3 different regionals this year.  The NESCAC placed 3 teams into 3 different regionals.  1/8th of the total field is from those two conferences.

I'd love to see teams be able to get out to Florida, or the mid-west or East Coast, but the realities of that are very difficult.

It is difficult, but all of the northern schools do it. They find a way to put their teams into contention despite the disadvantage of the weather.

It is much easier (and cheaper) to manage your SOS with a 2-hour bus ride versus a $30,000 trip to play a couple of games.

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 12, 2014, 11:38:12 AM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 12, 2014, 11:18:43 AM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 12, 2014, 09:57:22 AM
ILVBB is spot on. I am thinking that Trinity will not have any trouble next year getting the ASC teams filling in their Tuesday night games.  ;D They did the right thing this year going to Hendrix and Millsaps, plus their regular home/away with Chapman. Chapman actually has a better chance by going independent again.

Yes, scheduling Milsaps, Hendrix and Chapman was nice, but despite all that, Trinity's SOS was still 197.  Chapman was 203.  The highest ranked West team this year was George Fox at 92nd.  It seems like the West Region teams can play any combination of games amongst themselves and it will not solve the SOS issue regarding at-large bids.  It looks like teams need to somehow get out of region for games, way out of region.  The OAC placed 4 teams in 3 different regionals this year.  The NESCAC placed 3 teams into 3 different regionals.  1/8th of the total field is from those two conferences.

I'd love to see teams be able to get out to Florida, or the mid-west or East Coast, but the realities of that are very difficult.

It is difficult, but all of the northern schools do it. They find a way to put their teams into contention despite the disadvantage of the weather.

I guess this will be the last time I'll whine about this for the current season, but the NWC in particular also deals with weather (rain, and yes, ice and snow for the Eastern schools) in addition to extreme distance and isolation.  Any out-of-conference away game requires a flight.  I recall Spence stating earlier this season on another thread that he does not recall Marietta ever taking a single flight.  That's a great position to be in, not complaining, its just reality.

Looking forward to the regional and hope to catch as much action as I can. 

The lesson that has been taught, once again, is that the only sure fire way to make the post-season is to win your conference. 

Yes win Pool A conference bid. No Crying in Baseball. All teams had chances to not lose games they should have won and did not and did not win games against the better teams

Example.

Chapman lost 3 to Trinity and 4 to Cal Lu. This is one of the reason they did not get a Pool C bid.
George Fox lost 3 to Williamette, 2 to Pac Lu and 3 to Linfield and finished 3rd in the NWC conference

Both had their shots on the field.

Quote from: Spence on May 12, 2014, 11:17:04 AM

Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 12, 2014, 05:49:15 AM

Quote from: Westside4 on May 12, 2014, 02:17:00 AM
Game three: Trinity vs UW-Stevens Point
Zack Speer (8-1, 1.79 ERA) vs. ??? I tried to look at their schedule and have no idea who their game one starter should be.

Luke Watson (7-1, 2.03 ERA).   The rest of their starters are surprisingly middling.

When you have the SOS they do, probably everyone has thrown against someone good. My first guess would be Feyereisen, but that's all it would be; a guess.

I noticed Baseball America listed Feyereisen as the top prospect in D3 and the pre-season Pitcher of The Year, but his numbers look rather pedestrian compared to those accolades. One thing is for sure, they have a lot of depth (8 pitchers with more than 19 IP) and it looks like they are willing to give the ball to a handful of pitchers in a big game.

According to the UWSP preview (http://athletics.uwsp.edu/news/2014/5/12/BSB_0512143040.aspx) Feyereisen and Cam Seidl were WIAC pitchers-of-the-year in prior seasons. 

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 12, 2014, 12:39:14 PM
Yes win Pool A conference bid. No Crying in Baseball. All teams had chances to not lose games they should have won and did not and did not win games against the better teams

Example.

Chapman lost 3 to Trinity and 4 to Cal Lu. This is one of the reason they did not get a Pool C bid.
George Fox lost 3 to Williamette, 2 to Pac Lu and 3 to Linfield and finished 3rd in the NWC conference

Both had their shots on the field.

I'm sorry, I'm getting really tired of hearing this argument. Nobody is discussing whether the Pool A teams deserved to make the tournament. They did. However there are two mechanisms for selection. One works, one (arguably) didn't.

The fact that the autobid exists- necessarily exclusive to one team per conference- has no bearing on deciding whether the correct at large team was chosen. When you play in a conference without a tournament that includes the best team in the country, I think you're allowed to be upset at the system when you don't get in. Winning it on the field is a meaningless statement in this context- all Pool C teams lost a number of games, and all had some bad losses. That's baseball. Assess each team's entire body of work and determine who is the best choice. It's not easy- clearly. Particularly when there's little regional overlap for most teams and especially out west. But a process with no consistency or transparency that produces jarring results is 100% open to scrutiny.

I think we can all agree that the d3baseball.com folks know a heck of a lot about d3 baseball. They've gone through this drill every year. And they had Fox in pretty easily. The NCAA produced something much different than D3. That doesn't reflect poorly on d3baseball.com, that reflects poorly on the NCAA for being unable to produce any predictability in their selection process. It's a joke.

In terms of what's weighted- the heavy reliance on OWP/OOWP is generally ok (who you're beating absolutely matters), but it doesn't make much sense when comparing teams from different regions and one of those regions experiences heavy isolation. The northeast can typically bus out a few hours and get high quality non-conference, non-region games pretty easily at low cost (these are D3 athletic budgets after all). Should west teams do more to get quality non-conference games? Sure, but when the NCAA shuns consistency it's hard to know what it means to put together a good schedule.
*I personally think that each region should get to fill out a full regional with their own teams, but I understand why that's not as feasible across the board in D3.

<Rant over>

I'm gonna be boring and go with the higher seeds in first games- Linfield, CLU, Trinity. I think CLU has the most vulnerability because Petersen hasn't quite been as lights out as last year, but their offense is too good. Big question for CLU going through the tournament is how much they can get out of their starters, and how early and often they go to Roth. Don't want to pile too many innings on him early if you can avoid it.

Based on the information gleaned on these boards, I think Linfield and Trinity (not surprisingly) have the best setup for a tournament like this. Lots of depth on the mound and good defensively. Granted, a team like UWSP might have underwhelming pitching numbers on the whole because of the way their schedule is set up with clustered games, but it does mean they'll have plenty of guys with a good amount of innings. And they certainly have a program that knows how to win- kind of the Chapman team from the late 2000's. They were always scary even when they limped into the regionals, because they'd been there. They'd be my dark horse team, just on a hunch.

I agree that not having an NWC tourney may have hurt some teams, but each conference determines how it wishes to hand out the bid. The NWC knowingly puts its baseball teams at a disadvantage in terms of a national comparison when they don't give a second (or third) team a chance to get hot and make some noise prior to the bids being handed out on Selection Sunday.

I am certain the fristration needs to be directed not at the committee, but at the NWC and the NCAA oversight group that created the framework for the selection of teams.

Quote from: Whatagame on May 12, 2014, 12:03:25 PM

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 12, 2014, 11:38:12 AM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 12, 2014, 11:18:43 AM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 12, 2014, 09:57:22 AM
ILVBB is spot on. I am thinking that Trinity will not have any trouble next year getting the ASC teams filling in their Tuesday night games.  ;D They did the right thing this year going to Hendrix and Millsaps, plus their regular home/away with Chapman. Chapman actually has a better chance by going independent again.

Yes, scheduling Milsaps, Hendrix and Chapman was nice, but despite all that, Trinity's SOS was still 197.  Chapman was 203.  The highest ranked West team this year was George Fox at 92nd.  It seems like the West Region teams can play any combination of games amongst themselves and it will not solve the SOS issue regarding at-large bids.  It looks like teams need to somehow get out of region for games, way out of region.  The OAC placed 4 teams in 3 different regionals this year.  The NESCAC placed 3 teams into 3 different regionals.  1/8th of the total field is from those two conferences.

I'd love to see teams be able to get out to Florida, or the mid-west or East Coast, but the realities of that are very difficult.

It is difficult, but all of the northern schools do it. They find a way to put their teams into contention despite the disadvantage of the weather.

I guess this will be the last time I'll whine about this for the current season, but the NWC in particular also deals with weather (rain, and yes, ice and snow for the Eastern schools) in addition to extreme distance and isolation.  Any out-of-conference away game requires a flight.  I recall Spence stating earlier this season on another thread that he does not recall Marietta ever taking a single flight.  That's a great position to be in, not complaining, its just reality.

Well, Marietta also took a bus to west Texas. So it's not as if they haven't traveled. They just don't fly. They bus to Appleton as well.

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 12, 2014, 02:00:54 PM
I agree that not having an NWC tourney may have hurt some teams, but each conference determines how it wishes to hand out the bid. The NWC knowingly puts its baseball teams at a disadvantage in terms of a national comparison when they don't give a second (or third) team a chance to get hot and make some noise prior to the bids being handed out on Selection Sunday.

I am certain the fristration needs to be directed not at the committee, but at the NWC and the NCAA oversight group that created the framework for the selection of teams.

Good points, particularly re: direction of frustration. NWC not helping itself. But even if they have a conference Tourny, Linfield probably wins and we are in the same place.

Spence - if it didn't happen this year it is in the "past tense." Rule changes which eliminate the ability to play early season games which don't count against your regional record and "a game is a game" will likely eliminate trips which are anything other than both competitive and cost effective.

You shouldn't make blanket statements which don't recognize that the methodology has change and that prior actions may not occur under the current operating parameters.

Finishing 3rd in your conference with less than 30 wins....I dont think there is too much to complain about.

I remember in 2008 the ASC had 5 30+ win teams, including UT Tyler at something like 36-9 and only 1 team got in (McMurry).

Quote from: dp643 on May 12, 2014, 02:37:28 PM
Finishing 3rd in your conference with less than 30 wins....I dont think there is too much to complain about.

There is a complaint when there is one conference theat gets 4 teams in the regionals and 3 of those teams have less than 30 wins. Another conference gets 3 teams in and 2 of those teams have less than 30 wins.

But everyone will just point to the strength of schedule. I guess I just don't understand how it can work at the D3 level. None of these leagues play common opponents or each other. It is like the strength of schedule is high just because of the name on the jersey.

It is disappointing that a team like Fox comes out of a league that doesn't get any love. The NWC has sent a team to the World Series 3 of the last 4 years, but they reamin a one bid league even when they have multiple teams that are deserving.

Quote from: Westside4 on May 12, 2014, 02:53:24 PM

Quote from: dp643 on May 12, 2014, 02:37:28 PM
Finishing 3rd in your conference with less than 30 wins....I dont think there is too much to complain about.

There is a complaint when there is one conference theat gets 4 teams in the regionals and 3 of those teams have less than 30 wins. Another conference gets 3 teams in and 2 of those teams have less than 30 wins.

But everyone will just point to the strength of schedule. I guess I just don't understand how it can work at the D3 level. None of these leagues play common opponents or each other. It is like the strength of schedule is high just because of the name on the jersey.

It is disappointing that a team like Fox comes out of a league that doesn't get any love. The NWC has sent a team to the World Series 3 of the last 4 years, but they reamin a one bid league even when they have multiple teams that are deserving.

The 2008 year I was referencing, George Fox got in with a 28-12 Pool C bid that was played in Texas and left 4 30+ win ASC teams out, including the 36-9 UT Tyler team. GFU went 2 and bbq that year.

My guess is if GFU had won 30+, and not getting swept by the 4th place team is a good start, they would have gotten in.

If NWC has a tourney and someone other than Linfield were to have won can we assume there would then have been two teams making it? How can they leave a top 10 team out!

2nd time in recent years that West only gets 4 teams into the regional tournament. Why is this now a trend in my opinion. If the 2 fly in teams go 2 and Q then what???

Regional Site
http://www.linfield.edu/sports/2014mcminnvilleregional.html

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 12, 2014, 04:52:33 PM
Regional Site
http://www.linfield.edu/sports/2014mcminnvilleregional.html

Crash,

Thanks for the Link with update.

I'll try and stay detached enough to send posts/updates.

Quote from: ILVBB on May 12, 2014, 02:32:56 PM
Spence - if it didn't happen this year it is in the "past tense." Rule changes which eliminate the ability to play early season games which don't count against your regional record and "a game is a game" will likely eliminate trips which are anything other than both competitive and cost effective.

You shouldn't make blanket statements which don't recognize that the methodology has change and that prior actions may not occur under the current operating parameters.

I don't understand what you're even referencing here.

I'm well aware of the rule changes. I think they were a good idea that's resulted in a truer reflection of schedule strength.

I like the rule changes counting all D3 games. I think additional changes are needed for SOS and the regional ranking system.

In general I like the trend, but agree some tweaking is needed. I would prefer a nationally ranked/seeded system. It would be chaotic for fan travel but oh well.

I will bet there will be some discussions within the ASC and SCIAC on how many league games they will have next year. If not then there should be no complaining about only one team getting in. I would be surprised if CalTech is not asked to leave. (this is a complete waste of games for any serious team/league) If not then too bad for the SCIAC.

I love what Trinity did this year in searching out the best competition they could find, with Millsaps/Hendrix/Chapman home/away series. I would like to see them add in BSC or some other team high quality team. Not sure they can swing it but a mid to late season series with a strong northern program would be great. An early season Fl trip would not make much sense for them IMO.

Like I posted earlier high quality programs will be having teams line up and wanting to play them.

Really looking forward to seeing some of the other programs in McMinnville.

SoCalSox fan looking forward to seeing you again in McMinnville, hopefully in game 2!

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 12, 2014, 07:42:09 PM
In general I like the trend, but agree some tweaking is needed. I would prefer a nationally ranked/seeded system. It would be chaotic for fan travel but oh well.

I will bet there will be some discussions within the ASC and SCIAC on how many league games they will have next year. If not then there should be no complaining about only one team getting in. I would be surprised if CalTech is not asked to leave. (this is a complete waste of games for any serious team/league) If not then too bad for the SCIAC.

I love what Trinity did this year in searching out the best competition they could find, with Millsaps/Hendrix/Chapman home/away series. I would like to see them add in BSC or some other team high quality team. Not sure they can swing it but a mid to late season series with a strong northern program would be great. An early season Fl trip would not make much sense for them IMO.

Like I posted earlier high quality programs will be having teams line up and wanting to play them.

Really looking forward to seeing some of the other programs in McMinnville.

SoCalSox fan looking forward to seeing you again in McMinnville, hopefully in game 2!

None of this makes any difference, getting rid of Caltech would make no difference.  The only thing that will make a difference is for West Region teams to choose to travel to faraway lands to cherry pick a fair number of games versus strong teams from Mid East, New England, South, etc.

West Region has mediocre SOS because essentially all 38 West teams play each other out of geographic necessity, thus the OWP and OOWP figures for each team get driven towards .500  You could take the top 38 teams from this season (all 8 Appleton teams, and 30 other strongest regional teams) and put them in a mythological "region" next season, make them essentially only play amongst each other, and those 38 strongest teams would have SOS rankings tending toward .500, by virtue of the plain old math.

Then, we could expect to see zero Pool C bids out of that group, because they all played a cruddy schedule.

Despite Trinity's efforts, they still had a very mediocre SOS this season, ranking around 200th place, correct?

Random interjection, if anyone going to the regional wants to meet up and talk some baseball during the week, I am always down. Just shoot me a message on here. I'll be at all the games. I promise I am pretty normal and cool  8-)

 Chapman played Trinity-Texas, Texas Lutheran, Kean, and Cal Lutheran and their SOS still sucked. Losses to below .500 team don't help but neither does winning 30 games

Crash; it is not just losses, it is just playing sub-.500 teams. More than half of the SCIAC had a sub .500 record. This mathematically discounts the SOS for the top teams. This is true in the ASC and SCAC which is made worse by the fact that most of each conferences non-conference games are ASC/SCAC gamed which compounds the problem.

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 12, 2014, 07:42:09 PM

Really looking forward to seeing some of the other programs in McMinnville.

SoCalSox fan looking forward to seeing you again in McMinnville, hopefully in game 2!

Congrats on getting to Regionals again, hope we face each other game 2 also!
Safe travels.

What are we talking about here in the west? 3 possible fringe teams in Chapman, GFU, and CTX? The system may or may not be flawed, but all 3 of these teams you can just as easily make a case against as you can for.

....and the same discussion will be happening for D1 ball in a few weeks.

Some of my favorite places from my 2 trips to McMinnville, OR

Love the dog who goes everywhere in this place
http://www.panthercreekcellars.com/

A place for some good food and cool beverages.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/golden-valley-brewery-and-pub-mcminnville

A great place to pick up food after a late night game....Took a lot of players here every night to this place. A real hole in the wall and cheap
http://www.yelp.com/biz/muchas-gracias-mcminnville

A real monkey in the cage. Is he still there?
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/alfs-ice-cream-and-burgers-mcminnville?select=5ST1QFvIZMEuwyHbZYKUzA#6eMK0--Xfpu3AwHQ-VY7sw

To piggyback off of Crash, the brewer from Golden Valley left and started his own place that is really cool and worth checking out (I think that is what happened). Probably the place I would reccomend most to get a drink, eat some food or watch a game.

http://www.grainstation.com/

Quote from: dp643 on May 12, 2014, 09:46:27 PM
What are we talking about here in the west? 3 possible fringe teams in Chapman, GFU, and CTX? The system may or may not be flawed, but all 3 of these teams you can just as easily make a case against as you can for.

That's true. I think it's more the issue that, in the eyes of the NCAA, the OAC and the entire West region deserve the same amount of regional bids. That's outrageous. The South and the Mideast each got 3 pool C's and a pool B, while the West didn't get any. And, incredibly, there were two other regions with 0 at-large bids. Was it a down year for the West? Probably. But I just can't see how you justify this outcome.

Anyway, I've got all my b*tching and moaning out. Looking forward to the weekend- I think we can all agree that the teams that are in the regional are quality programs and we should expect some good baseball. I'll be rooting for the SCIAC! (don't make me get more specific- old grudges die hard  ;))

Quote from: Strike1 on May 12, 2014, 03:28:21 PM
If NWC has a tourney and someone other than Linfield were to have won can we assume there would then have been two teams making it? How can they leave a top 10 team out!

Top Ten according to whom? The opinion of the NCAA Committee is the only one that maters.

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 13, 2014, 08:10:57 AM

Quote from: Strike1 on May 12, 2014, 03:28:21 PM
If NWC has a tourney and someone other than Linfield were to have won can we assume there would then have been two teams making it? How can they leave a top 10 team out!

Top Ten according to whom? The opinion of the NCAA Committee is the only one that maters.

I think he was calling Linfield a top 10 team, since they would have gone Pool C.

Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on May 13, 2014, 09:12:22 AM

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 13, 2014, 08:10:57 AM

Quote from: Strike1 on May 12, 2014, 03:28:21 PM
If NWC has a tourney and someone other than Linfield were to have won can we assume there would then have been two teams making it? How can they leave a top 10 team out!

Top Ten according to whom? The opinion of the NCAA Committee is the only one that maters.

I think he was calling Linfield a top 10 team, since they would have gone Pool C.

Makes sense... If the NWC had a tourney and Linfield did not win it, Linfield would still have earned a Pool C bid and the NWC would have had two bids.

When looking at conferences with multiple bids, I think they are all those with conference tourneys. The few I know that do not have a conference tourney were all single bid conferences.

I am going to start off the first round of games picking Trinity, Cal Lutheran, and Linfield. Looking on paper it appears Trinity is the only pick to worry about on paper, but even that is a stretch.

I will take Linfield, Cal Lu and UW-SP in Day 1 games.

Great baseball weather in Oregon today. Reminds of 2009. I miss watching baseball games with great weather in Oregon.

http://www.weather.com/weather/today/McMinnville+OR+USOR0213:1:US

I will take Linfield, Cal Lu and UW-SP in Day 1 games.

Great baseball weather in Oregon today. Reminds of 2009. I miss watching baseball games with great weather in Oregon.

Linfield has a beautiful campus and baseball stadium

http://www.weather.com/weather/today/McMinnville+OR+USOR0213:1:U

Long time reader, two time poster... I am back in the mix to support the Graple any way I can. It's great to be able to watch the alma mater play in meaningful games, before the 2009 tourney in Oregon, it had been 18 years since I had seen a meaningful game, and not much seeing because I caught the final out in that game – May 4th, 1991 – back in a time when the "Kingsmen Surprise" was in play, the Slim-mobile was the preferred mode of transportation, and Van Wars on the 118 to the 210 to the 10 were a road trip must – but I digress, now just a short 5 years later to watch some meaningful baseball is good for me... making the 3 ½ hour trip tomorrow from Puyallup to make the game (hopefully a win), driving back after and to do it all over again Thursday and hopefully Friday – gonna log some serious miles – hopefully we are still playing Saturday – will make it all worthwhile... and lucky me, I won't get accosted by Chapman fans for walking my kids to the bathroom...

On to the task at hand – my prediction - Linfield, Cal-Lu, Trinity.... I am really hoping to see that Cal-Lu/Trinity rematch... Last year, watched it from work (while not supposed to) and it was a classic... things I noticed from last year was the depth of pitching the Trinity had, used like 12 different pitchers in the tourney??? And I don't think they went to their ace from game one the rest of the tourney... Cal-Lu had the hitting depth but the pitching was in questions – this year, it is the opposite... ain't nothing better than college baseball!!!

I will be sporting the Graple jersey, hat (now old school), and spitting seeds (hopefully reliving some of the past with DC) – and watch out, if we make it to Friday evening, my daughters will be sporting the "authentic, game worn" graple jerseys – yep, they will be taken out of school eeeaaarrrlllyyy to make the trip...

One last point of note – CLU Coaching Legacies –
---1989 CLU Assistant Coach – Lindsay Meggs – University of Washington Head Coach – ranked as high as 5th in the nation now and 2 time D-2 World Series Winner at Chico State. Founder of the moniker "LuDawgs"
---1989 CLU Assistant Coach – Dave Taylor – Chico State University Head Coach – Currently Ranked #6 in Division 2; two time D-2 World Series winner (with Meggs) –
---1990-93 CLU Assistant Coach – Marty Slimak – well, we all know about Slim...
---1988-93 CLU Head Coach – Rich Hill – the ring leader – current Head Coach at University of San Diego – Numerous WCC titles...
Just imagine – UW, Chico State, and CLU national titles this year – ESPN should do a 30 on 30 special about that!!!

See y'all tomorrow!!!

LuDawg6

+1 What a great post!

See you tomorrow!!! (hopefully in the TU/CLU match up on Thursday)

Quote from: ludawg6 on May 13, 2014, 11:32:18 AM
Long time reader, two time poster... I am back in the mix to support the Graple any way I can. It's great to be able to watch the alma mater play in meaningful games, before the 2009 tourney in Oregon, it had been 18 years since I had seen a meaningful game, and not much seeing because I caught the final out in that game – May 4th, 1991 – back in a time when the "Kingsmen Surprise" was in play, the Slim-mobile was the preferred mode of transportation, and Van Wars on the 118 to the 210 to the 10 were a road trip must – but I digress, now just a short 5 years later to watch some meaningful baseball is good for me... making the 3 ½ hour trip tomorrow from Puyallup to make the game (hopefully a win), driving back after and to do it all over again Thursday and hopefully Friday – gonna log some serious miles – hopefully we are still playing Saturday – will make it all worthwhile... and lucky me, I won't get accosted by Chapman fans for walking my kids to the bathroom...

On to the task at hand – my prediction - Linfield, Cal-Lu, Trinity.... I am really hoping to see that Cal-Lu/Trinity rematch... Last year, watched it from work (while not supposed to) and it was a classic... things I noticed from last year was the depth of pitching the Trinity had, used like 12 different pitchers in the tourney??? And I don't think they went to their ace from game one the rest of the tourney... Cal-Lu had the hitting depth but the pitching was in questions – this year, it is the opposite... ain't nothing better than college baseball!!!

I will be sporting the Graple jersey, hat (now old school), and spitting seeds (hopefully reliving some of the past with DC) – and watch out, if we make it to Friday evening, my daughters will be sporting the "authentic, game worn" graple jerseys – yep, they will be taken out of school eeeaaarrrlllyyy to make the trip...

One last point of note – CLU Coaching Legacies –
---1989 CLU Assistant Coach – Lindsay Meggs – University of Washington Head Coach – ranked as high as 5th in the nation now and 2 time D-2 World Series Winner at Chico State. Founder of the moniker "LuDawgs"
---1989 CLU Assistant Coach – Dave Taylor – Chico State University Head Coach – Currently Ranked #6 in Division 2; two time D-2 World Series winner (with Meggs) –
---1990-93 CLU Assistant Coach – Marty Slimak – well, we all know about Slim...
---1988-93 CLU Head Coach – Rich Hill – the ring leader – current Head Coach at University of San Diego – Numerous WCC titles...
Just imagine – UW, Chico State, and CLU national titles this year – ESPN should do a 30 on 30 special about that!!!

See y'all tomorrow!!!

LuDawg6

Seriously one of the best posts ever and so many things on there to give me flashbacks.  Graples, love it but nothing beats the Slim-Mobile.

Agreed. His love of the game and Cal Lu are self evident (although not sure about the comment re Chapman fans who's congeniality toward rival teams remains a monument to civility). My picks for tomorrow are Linfield, Cal Lu  and Trinity. Anything can happen but I'm not convinced that a team with 18 losses can succeed in this particular regional. 

I am going against my brain here and changing a pick. I am picking LeTourneau, Trinity, and CLU.

Read my post from page 34 on the 2009 McMinnville Regional right after the Chapman/CLU game... or ask me in person, it was classic but fences were mended the next day so all was good...

Thanks also for the props on the comment... I make no excuses for the fact that I bleed the graple and gold (not Violet, BTW) and have for so many years... many things happened the late 80's/early 90's that shaped the program into what it is today, proud to say that I played a part in that and will continue my support for many years, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Rich as well as Meggs, Taylor, Bernie Kyman, etc... and special mention to Slim for my last two years... that being said, wipe the tears away and cut the cord... to quote a nike commercial from 1991 "now its time to play"... (man I miss talking in vague generalities and using ambiguous quotes from yesteryear...)

Just hope Slim remembers my shirt and hat - don't know how I feel about the "new" CLU logo - I am, of course, old school...

This regional is going to be a very interesting one. It features some very interesting matchups in these opening games. I expect it to be a very entertaining and hope it to feature as many close games as there were last year.

Linfield vs LeTourneau: A first time participant vs the defending national champion on their home turf seems to be as big of a mismatch as you could get. Linfield has continued to do what they do and that's winning games. LeTourneau comes out of a seemingly down ASC this year but it is playoff time so anything can happen.

Cal Lu vs Illinois Wesleyan: Cal Lu comes in as the champion of the SCIAC with the powerhouse offense that they have been known for over the past couple of years. The question will be if the offense decides to show up in comparison to the performance they had last year. Illinois Wesleyan just a few years ago had their magical run to win the National Championship so they know what to do to move on.

Trinity vs UW-Stevens Point: This game I believe will be the best of the first round. Stevens Point made the World Series and finish in a respectable 4th place there. I doubt that being unexpectedly shipped out to the West will influence how they play. They are a team that has been here many times and will be a tough out the whole way. Trinity heads to their 5th straight regional looking to finally get over the hump and win a regional after losing the last game back to back years. They will have a chip on their shoulder wanting to show that they can finally get to a World Series.

This will be very competitive but I see someone from the group of Linfield, Trinity, or Stevens Point being the one moving on the Appleton.

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 12, 2014, 11:38:12 AM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 12, 2014, 11:18:43 AM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 12, 2014, 09:57:22 AM
ILVBB is spot on. I am thinking that Trinity will not have any trouble next year getting the ASC teams filling in their Tuesday night games.  ;D They did the right thing this year going to Hendrix and Millsaps, plus their regular home/away with Chapman. Chapman actually has a better chance by going independent again.

Yes, scheduling Milsaps, Hendrix and Chapman was nice, but despite all that, Trinity's SOS was still 197.  Chapman was 203.  The highest ranked West team this year was George Fox at 92nd.  It seems like the West Region teams can play any combination of games amongst themselves and it will not solve the SOS issue regarding at-large bids.  It looks like teams need to somehow get out of region for games, way out of region.  The OAC placed 4 teams in 3 different regionals this year.  The NESCAC placed 3 teams into 3 different regionals.  1/8th of the total field is from those two conferences.

I'd love to see teams be able to get out to Florida, or the mid-west or East Coast, but the realities of that are very difficult.

It is difficult, but all of the northern schools do it. They find a way to put their teams into contention despite the disadvantage of the weather.

Big Poppa, I respect you as much as any poster on this board but this post bothers me. D3 baseball is all about regional competition and bringing the best of the eight regions together for a World Series. A balance between the focus on athletics and academics is why D3 exists. Just because the northern schools see traveling south to Florida as the best way to build their schedule, doesn't mean the West schools should be forced to burden their student-athletes unnecessarily or be punished otherwise because of low "SOS" numbers.
The better weather and ability to play games earlier should be seen as an advantage to promoting true "student-athletes" and minimizing the burden on the players an universities instead of being used as an excuse on why a West team was left out.  The West doesn't have the benefit of having weak neighboring conferences to beat up on to build their own conference SOS numbers although it sure was nice when Trinity got to thump a mediocre Desales team 4 times one year and then watch them rack up wins in a weak conference. Sure there will be years when a region is down and doesn't deserve all 6 but only 4 West schools getting in on all pool A bids twice in the recent past begs the question if the D3 brain trust is really practicing what the preach.
Anyone saying a West team "needs to" travel to Florida to have a better chance at making the West regional is missing the entire point of D3 athletics and should go focus on BCS football.  Hoping for some good, competitive games this week.

Looking forward to watching Speer v Seidl matchup

Quote from: Texas Leaguer on May 13, 2014, 11:43:22 PM

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 12, 2014, 11:38:12 AM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 12, 2014, 11:18:43 AM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 12, 2014, 09:57:22 AM
ILVBB is spot on. I am thinking that Trinity will not have any trouble next year getting the ASC teams filling in their Tuesday night games.  ;D They did the right thing this year going to Hendrix and Millsaps, plus their regular home/away with Chapman. Chapman actually has a better chance by going independent again.

Yes, scheduling Milsaps, Hendrix and Chapman was nice, but despite all that, Trinity's SOS was still 197.  Chapman was 203.  The highest ranked West team this year was George Fox at 92nd.  It seems like the West Region teams can play any combination of games amongst themselves and it will not solve the SOS issue regarding at-large bids.  It looks like teams need to somehow get out of region for games, way out of region.  The OAC placed 4 teams in 3 different regionals this year.  The NESCAC placed 3 teams into 3 different regionals.  1/8th of the total field is from those two conferences.

I'd love to see teams be able to get out to Florida, or the mid-west or East Coast, but the realities of that are very difficult.

It is difficult, but all of the northern schools do it. They find a way to put their teams into contention despite the disadvantage of the weather.

Big Poppa, I respect you as much as any poster on this board but this post bothers me. D3 baseball is all about regional competition and bringing the best of the eight regions together for a World Series. A balance between the focus on athletics and academics is why D3 exists. Just because the northern schools see traveling south to Florida as the best way to build their schedule, doesn't mean the West schools should be forced to burden their student-athletes unnecessarily or be punished otherwise because of low "SOS" numbers.
The better weather and ability to play games earlier should be seen as an advantage to promoting true "student-athletes" and minimizing the burden on the players an universities instead of being used as an excuse on why a West team was left out.  The West doesn't have the benefit of having weak neighboring conferences to beat up on to build their own conference SOS numbers although it sure was nice when Trinity got to thump a mediocre Desales team 4 times one year and then watch them rack up wins in a weak conference. Sure there will be years when a region is down and doesn't deserve all 6 but only 4 West schools getting in on all pool A bids twice in the recent past begs the question if the D3 brain trust is really practicing what the preach.
Anyone saying a West team "needs to" travel to Florida to have a better chance at making the West regional is missing the entire point of D3 athletics and should go focus on BCS football.  Hoping for some good, competitive games this week.

So let me get this straight. You want the advantage of the weather, but then you want a pass when other schools do more to try to play a strong schedule than you.

LOL to borrow a phrase, "go play intramurals." The northern schools don't go south to build a schedule; they go south to be able to complete one and the schools concerned about their schedule seek out strong opponents to play during their trip. Some still don't manage to get their 40 games in. They dodge rain all spring as well. Several Midwestern schools traveled to Oklahoma for a *weekend*, not a week. Case Western traveled to play in southern West Virginia (nearly 6 hour drive for Case in good weather) and nearly got snowed in. One year Marietta went to Salisbury (450 miles or so) for 3 games played in near-gale force winds. Montclair has come to Ohio.

Heck, there's only one D3 school within 2 hours driving time of Marietta, so any road trip is a 4 hour+ round trip, sometimes on a weekday. So anywhere but Muskingum and they have 12 hours or more in playing a DH.

And if you go back to the "West schools are promoting true student-athletes" line then we're going to have a problem because out the other side of your mouth you're saying that northern schools that do all this are hurting their players' academics, and that's just not so. A look at academic honors lists will tell you that. Time management is the key.

Necessity is the mother of invention. You get a spring break, too, right? Use it like the northern schools do, or just complain when things don't go your way. Your choice. It's not like there's some secret to how to build a stronger SOS; play better teams more often and worse teams less often. How you do it, well that's up to you. And if you don't do it, that is also up to you.

I was sympathetic to what some were saying about the way scheduling is considered by the committee, but posts like yours make me less so. When criteria is applied to you the same as it is everyone else, that's not "being punished" and if you were to take a West team and play a tougher schedule, that wouldn't be punishment either. Heck, players would probably be happy to not be playing the same bunch of oil cans all the time.

You're not forced to do anything. Western schools are perfectly free to keep doing what they've been doing and their fans can complain as much as they want when the result is the same.

Quote from: Spence on May 14, 2014, 04:26:19 AM

Quote from: Texas Leaguer on May 13, 2014, 11:43:22 PM

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 12, 2014, 11:38:12 AM

Quote from: Whatagame on May 12, 2014, 11:18:43 AM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 12, 2014, 09:57:22 AM
ILVBB is spot on. I am thinking that Trinity will not have any trouble next year getting the ASC teams filling in their Tuesday night games.  ;D They did the right thing this year going to Hendrix and Millsaps, plus their regular home/away with Chapman. Chapman actually has a better chance by going independent again.

Yes, scheduling Milsaps, Hendrix and Chapman was nice, but despite all that, Trinity's SOS was still 197.  Chapman was 203.  The highest ranked West team this year was George Fox at 92nd.  It seems like the West Region teams can play any combination of games amongst themselves and it will not solve the SOS issue regarding at-large bids.  It looks like teams need to somehow get out of region for games, way out of region.  The OAC placed 4 teams in 3 different regionals this year.  The NESCAC placed 3 teams into 3 different regionals.  1/8th of the total field is from those two conferences.

I'd love to see teams be able to get out to Florida, or the mid-west or East Coast, but the realities of that are very difficult.

It is difficult, but all of the northern schools do it. They find a way to put their teams into contention despite the disadvantage of the weather.

Big Poppa, I respect you as much as any poster on this board but this post bothers me. D3 baseball is all about regional competition and bringing the best of the eight regions together for a World Series. A balance between the focus on athletics and academics is why D3 exists. Just because the northern schools see traveling south to Florida as the best way to build their schedule, doesn't mean the West schools should be forced to burden their student-athletes unnecessarily or be punished otherwise because of low "SOS" numbers.
The better weather and ability to play games earlier should be seen as an advantage to promoting true "student-athletes" and minimizing the burden on the players an universities instead of being used as an excuse on why a West team was left out.  The West doesn't have the benefit of having weak neighboring conferences to beat up on to build their own conference SOS numbers although it sure was nice when Trinity got to thump a mediocre Desales team 4 times one year and then watch them rack up wins in a weak conference. Sure there will be years when a region is down and doesn't deserve all 6 but only 4 West schools getting in on all pool A bids twice in the recent past begs the question if the D3 brain trust is really practicing what the preach.
Anyone saying a West team "needs to" travel to Florida to have a better chance at making the West regional is missing the entire point of D3 athletics and should go focus on BCS football.  Hoping for some good, competitive games this week.

So let me get this straight. You want the advantage of the weather, but then you want a pass when other schools do more to try to play a strong schedule than you.

LOL to borrow a phrase, "go play intramurals." The northern schools don't go south to build a schedule; they go south to be able to complete one and the schools concerned about their schedule seek out strong opponents to play during their trip. Some still don't manage to get their 40 games in. They dodge rain all spring as well. Several Midwestern schools traveled to Oklahoma for a *weekend*, not a week. Case Western traveled to play in southern West Virginia (nearly 6 hour drive for Case in good weather) and nearly got snowed in. One year Marietta went to Salisbury (450 miles or so) for 3 games played in near-gale force winds. Montclair has come to Ohio.

Heck, there's only one D3 school within 2 hours driving time of Marietta, so any road trip is a 4 hour+ round trip, sometimes on a weekday. So anywhere but Muskingum and they have 12 hours or more in playing a DH.

And if you go back to the "West schools are promoting true student-athletes" line then we're going to have a problem because out the other side of your mouth you're saying that northern schools that do all this are hurting their players' academics, and that's just not so. A look at academic honors lists will tell you that. Time management is the key.

Necessity is the mother of invention. You get a spring break, too, right? Use it like the northern schools do, or just complain when things don't go your way. Your choice. It's not like there's some secret to how to build a stronger SOS; play better teams more often and worse teams less often. How you do it, well that's up to you. And if you don't do it, that is also up to you.

I was sympathetic to what some were saying about the way scheduling is considered by the committee, but posts like yours make me less so. When criteria is applied to you the same as it is everyone else, that's not "being punished" and if you were to take a West team and play a tougher schedule, that wouldn't be punishment either. Heck, players would probably be happy to not be playing the same bunch of oil cans all the time.

You're not forced to do anything. Western schools are perfectly free to keep doing what they've been doing and their fans can complain as much as they want when the result is the same.

Spence more often than not the scheduling is out of the team's hands and is in the control of the school. In the case of Marietta, the school probably knows that to play games they have to travel and thus will spend the money for them to do so. The school is in a spot where they do not have a choice which benefits the team as they can pick schools to play. A Texas team has other schools around so the administration would prefer to have the team play other schools near them to save the money, regardless of the quality of the opponent. This also applies to spring break where a lot of schools are willing to come down to the warm weather to play teams. This saves these West schools money. From a financial standpoint this benefits the school as they do not have to pay to travel. However, this as a result hurts the teams (unless they convince better teams to come play them). I see this weak SOS for the West as a possible wake up call for the athletic departments of schools who believe they can compete at a high level to maybe budget out an extra trip in order to get some higher quality opponents on the schedule. With the schools in cold weather it is a necessity to have to travel and get games in. With many of the issues that surround D3 sports it comes back to the money. The more the SOS becomes an issue for the West schools, the more I would like to think that the athletic departments have to make a change in order for the teams to be in the best possible situation to succeed.

In Marietta, the college has very little to do with it. The baseball program supports itself. By that I don't mean it doesn't have a school budget, but it isn't what the program gets from "big MC" that makes Etta Express baseball what it is.

Believe me, Marietta College administrators like to save money as well. Schaly Stadium is aptly named not only because of the success Don Schaly had there, but because older parts of the stadium he literally built -- laid the block for the dugouts, for example. Obviously he didn't build the 3-story media building, but the program (with a lot of help from Kent Tekulve, whose name is on the building) did. Another fundraising effort seeded by Terry Mulholland resulted in the outstanding lighting system. The College didn't do any of that. I'm hearing word of a couple of new projects and I'm sure the College isn't funding those either.

I'm not saying that it's easy to do what Marietta has done. Heck, if it was that easy, everyone would do it. I'm just saying that your idea of "the school" and its involvement is pretty far wrong.

If so many schools are willing to go to Texas (like Marietta used to) then why is there a problem? Just play the better teams that do that...oh that is the problem, there aren't enough of them because everyone is going to Florida.

You could be right about the "wake up call". But I doubt it's going to loosen many purse strings. It's not as if many schools are going to get a lot of added value from being in the regional in terms of brand awareness or something. A lot of spring trips are internally funded.

Part of the expense factor for the ASC schools is that they make 5-6 overnight road trips in conference alone.

(General information question.  Do OAC schools spend the night in the opponent's city for weekend series?)

Many of the trips are 4-6 hours one way, or may even 8-10 hours if Ozarks,  Louisiana College, (formerly) Mississippi College, (and now) Belhaven or Sul Ross. That eats up the travel budgets for conference in all sports!

Has anyone noticed that we could copy and paste this discussion every year at this time. Just insert different team names as needed. ::)

^^^^ Ralph, to answer your question.....from a Marietta perspective.  I'm not sure how Coach Brewer does it now, but when Coach Schaly ran things, we would only spend the night (the night before), on certain OAC road trips.  At the most it was 2 per year.  We also would randomly play weekend 4 or 6 game series with a few different schools at a single site, and spend the night for those (at Frostburg, Piedmont, or some other location).

And the OAC only plays a single double header for league games, so it's easy to drive to the site in the morning, and return home that evening after the games.

As fun as this chat is, it's game say.

Forecast is calling for 91 and sunny. Just drove by the field and it looks absolutely gorgeous. The warm weather schools should feel right at home!

Here is to a great day of baseball.

Quote from: Westside4 on May 14, 2014, 11:58:00 AM
As fun as this chat is, it's game say.

Forecast is calling for 91 and sunny. Just drove by the field and it looks absolutely gorgeous. The warm weather schools should feel right at home!

Here is to a great day of baseball.

Amen!  Wish I could be there today but I'll be stuck in the office.  Go 'Cats!

It figures that the regional that appears most clear from weather issues (at least most of it) is in Oregon.

Predictions:

Linfield over Letourneau - I would not be surprised if this game is closer than what many expect. Last year, a lot of people felt that Texas Lutheran did not measure up with the teams in the Regoinal and lost two close games to Cal Lu and Linfield. I think Letourneau is going to make things interesting, but this first game will go to the defending champs and the reigning National Pitcher of the Year.

Cal Lu over Illinois Wesleyan - It worries me a little that IWU best pitcher, Jeff Johnson, is sporting a 3.52 ERA (although he has a good k/9 and opponent avg.) and he is about to face perhaps the best lineup in the West (at least on paper that is). I'm assuming Cal Lu goes with Peterson who has big game experience from last year when he faced Trinity in the Regional opener. This game may boast the most offense we will see today in the West.

Trinity over UWSP - Best game of the day not only here in the West, but perhaps in all of the regions. I'm guessing Speer gets the nod for TU and UWSP goes with Watson (sounds like they have two other former pitcher of the years who they could throw out there as well). If Trinity wants to show that they are a national contender then this is the game they could prove it. Loser could very likely see Linfield tomorrow so I'd suggest taking care of business today.


It is a beautiful day for baseball here in Oregon! Let the fun begin!

Quote from: Spence on May 14, 2014, 10:52:56 AM
In Marietta, the college has very little to do with it. The baseball program supports itself. By that I don't mean it doesn't have a school budget, but it isn't what the program gets from "big MC" that makes Etta Express baseball what it is.

Believe me, Marietta College administrators like to save money as well. Schaly Stadium is aptly named not only because of the success Don Schaly had there, but because older parts of the stadium he literally built -- laid the block for the dugouts, for example. Obviously he didn't build the 3-story media building, but the program (with a lot of help from Kent Tekulve, whose name is on the building) did. Another fundraising effort seeded by Terry Mulholland resulted in the outstanding lighting system. The College didn't do any of that. I'm hearing word of a couple of new projects and I'm sure the College isn't funding those either.

I'm not saying that it's easy to do what Marietta has done. Heck, if it was that easy, everyone would do it. I'm just saying that your idea of "the school" and its involvement is pretty far wrong.

If so many schools are willing to go to Texas (like Marietta used to) then why is there a problem? Just play the better teams that do that...oh that is the problem, there aren't enough of them because everyone is going to Florida.

You could be right about the "wake up call". But I doubt it's going to loosen many purse strings. It's not as if many schools are going to get a lot of added value from being in the regional in terms of brand awareness or something. A lot of spring trips are internally funded.

Fair points, and in response to your previous post I would just add that (for the sake of annual redundancy) SCIAC teams seem to only be able to budget one "trip" per year. NWC teams seem to take one or two- I think Linfield has something like the Marietta budget you're describing, and will sometimes help pay to get teams to come up to them. The one trip is quite significant as for every SCIAC and NWC team, the closest non-conference opponent is at least about 1000 miles away. So as tough as 6 hour bus trips can be, a non-conference bus trip is actually impossible. EVERY non-conference, D3 game for a NWC/SCIAC school involves someone getting on a plane. 

It used to be that So Cal at least was able to get a lot of high quality teams to come out for Spring Break. But that doesn't seem to be happening as much anymore (from what I understand, it's more efficient for those east coast squads to get non-conference games closer to home against teams who have also been snowed in all winter). I suppose there are more efficient ways to take the one trip (Florida, as you're advocating), but no matter how you slice it, it's really tough to get very many non-conference and especially non west region games.

I'll repeat my picks which got lost at the bottom of a previous post:
Linfield
CLU
Trinity

What can I say, I'm boring :) Still, I'm anticipating a fun day of baseball and glad to hear the weather is so great!

Here we go boys. 18 minutes till the first pitch. Sticking with LeTourneau, CLU, Trinity today.

Hey it is number one against number one.

Already, we have seen DePauw knock off highly rated Webster, and Castleton State is up 2-1 against Cortland State.

Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 14, 2014, 03:11:56 PM
Hey it is number one against number one.

Already, we have seen DePauw knock off highly rated Webster, and Castleton State is up 2-1 against Cortland State.

Actually Cortland leads that one, 2-1. Haverford leaves Moravian, 2-1. I bet Rowan was never happier to be a 2 seed than when they saw who the 8 was.

this may be the quickest game ive ever watched.

LeTU had some really good pitching and defense but Linfield's pitching and defense was just a little bit better.

Doesn't matter if it's by 1 or 10....just win and move on.

Well after that first game it's dejavu of last year. Haddeland was just too tough. LeTourneau showed that they are deserving to be here which was great to see.

Quote from: CAK72B on May 14, 2014, 06:03:51 PM
Well after that first game it's dejavu of last year. Haddeland was just too tough. LeTourneau showed that they are deserving to be here which was great to see.

Whoever gets Linfield in the next couple of games thanks LeTu for their sacrifice ... tho as good as the rest of Linfield's staff is, it's not a huge difference. 

Linfield continued their struggle against the soft lefty. Fortunately Lindell's bomb was enough. Haddeland did Haddeland things. They probably hit one ball hard all game. I think he is at 25 innings the last 2 regionals without a run given up?? Give credit to LeT tho, they played great. Linfield will need to score more if they want to win it all.

Quote from: Westside4 on May 14, 2014, 06:18:51 PM
Linfield continued their struggle against the soft lefty. Fortunately Lindell's bomb was enough. Haddeland did Haddeland things. They probably hit one ball hard all game. I think he is at 25 innings the last 2 regionals without a run given up?? Give credit to LeT tho, they played great. Linfield will need to score more if they want to win it all.

Maybe they are taking the blueprint from last year which was grind out game and get the timely hits during the regional and then cruise through the World Series with ease.

Cal Lu finally scores with the help of an error by the IWU 2b.  Tied at 1 after 7.  Great pitching by both teams.

I noticed that 3 #1's and a #2 lost today. Never know what can happen.

Great pitching duel in the Cal Lu/IWU game!  Somehow I enjoy those much more when my teams win - otherwise it is a dud by the hitters! ;D)

Jeff Johnson (IWU) had a no hitter for 4.2 innings, but faltered late, yielding 6 hits and 2 runs in 7.1 innings.  Jake Petersen (CLU) yielded only 4 hits and 1 run in 8 innings, and scored what turned out to be the winning run in a 2-1 game. 

Tough loss for IWU and Johnson. An error by the 2nd baseman allowed the tying run to score in the 7th, which sparked the rally for the Kingsmen. Quite a few great defensive plays in this game though. The 1-run close games continue to highlight the West region.

Quote from: NWBaseballFan10 on May 14, 2014, 09:19:05 PM
Tough loss for IWU and Johnson. An error by the 2nd baseman allowed the tying run to score in the 7th, which sparked the rally for the Kingsmen. Quite a few great defensive plays in this game though. The 1-run close games continue to highlight the West region.

How about that really questionable squeeze play call by Cal Lu with the #4 hitter at bat and no outs.....

Quote from: Whatagame on May 14, 2014, 09:32:21 PM

Quote from: NWBaseballFan10 on May 14, 2014, 09:19:05 PM
Tough loss for IWU and Johnson. An error by the 2nd baseman allowed the tying run to score in the 7th, which sparked the rally for the Kingsmen. Quite a few great defensive plays in this game though. The 1-run close games continue to highlight the West region.

How about that really questionable squeeze play call by Cal Lu with the #4 hitter at bat and no outs.....

Terrible, no other way to put it.

Quote from: Whatagame on May 14, 2014, 09:32:21 PM

Quote from: NWBaseballFan10 on May 14, 2014, 09:19:05 PM
Tough loss for IWU and Johnson. An error by the 2nd baseman allowed the tying run to score in the 7th, which sparked the rally for the Kingsmen. Quite a few great defensive plays in this game though. The 1-run close games continue to highlight the West region.

There

Quote from: Whatagame on May 14, 2014, 09:32:21 PM

Quote from: NWBaseballFan10 on May 14, 2014, 09:19:05 PM
Tough loss for IWU and Johnson. An error by the 2nd baseman allowed the tying run to score in the 7th, which sparked the rally for the Kingsmen. Quite a few great defensive plays in this game though. The 1-run close games continue to highlight the West region.

How about that really questionable squeeze play call by Cal Lu with the #4 hitter at bat and no outs.....

How about that really questionable squeeze play call by Cal Lu with the #4 hitter at bat and no outs.....

There is a time to squeeze but not in this situation. Also it is tough to bunt at Linfield. Turf is really fast on warm dry days. I did see a bases loaded bunt in 2009 but it was push bunt the went past the pitcher towards 2nd baseman that would not have been possible on grass. Turf made that bunt possible. Normal types bunts move to fast which make sac bunts and squeeze bunts tough.

Ball travels well on warm days and ball will travel with home runs possible which won the game for Linfield.

Quote from: Westside4 on May 14, 2014, 06:18:51 PM
Linfield continued their struggle against the soft lefty. Fortunately Lindell's bomb was enough. Haddeland did Haddeland things. They probably hit one ball hard all game. I think he is at 25 innings the last 2 regionals without a run given up?? Give credit to LeT tho, they played great. Linfield will need to score more if they want to win it all.

LeTU represented the conference well. IMHO, the result reflects how balanced the ASC is. There is plenty of talent in the league, and everyone has a little of it. So, the champion has a resume' that has splotches on the schedule that are hard to figure for the outsider.

The guys doing the broadcast are doing a great job but for the love of god, would someone please get that kid a throat lozenge and a glass of water!

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 14, 2014, 11:09:04 PM
The guys doing the broadcast are doing a great job but for the love of god, would someone please get that kid a throat lozenge and a glass of water!

Haha, or at 'east turn of off the mike when he's gotta cough.

Wow, high scoring game in the UWSP/TU game.  Absolutely great day of baseball all around.

Tomorrow's Schedule:

12pm- LeTu vs IWU
3:30pm- Linfield vs Trinity
7pm- Cal Lu vs UWSP

Should be another great day of baseball.

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 15, 2014, 12:17:11 AM
Wow, high scoring game in the UWSP/TU game.  Absolutely great day of baseball all around.

Tomorrow's Schedule:

12pm- LeTu vs IWU
3:30pm- Linfield vs Trinity
7pm- Cal Lu vs UWSP

Should be another great day of baseball.

Perfect 3-0 for day 1 predictions
Day 2 predictions
Trinity goes home
IWU goes home
UWSP Wins

Another West Regional...three one-run games.

For the three teams that lost today, does anyone know that last time in a West Regional that the winner was a team that lost their first game?

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 15, 2014, 12:22:22 AM

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 15, 2014, 12:17:11 AM
Wow, high scoring game in the UWSP/TU game.  Absolutely great day of baseball all around.

Tomorrow's Schedule:

12pm- LeTu vs IWU
3:30pm- Linfield vs Trinity
7pm- Cal Lu vs UWSP

Should be another great day of baseball.

Perfect 3-0 for day 1 predictions
Day 2 predictions
Trinity goes home
IWU goes home
UWSP Wins

Exactly what I had for my Day 2 projection (I do the whole regional at one to come up with my finalist picks). Hopefully our streaks both continue! haha.

Rich Hill ingrained this into our heads way back when - Good pitching, solid defense, and timely hitting – make those happen and you will win, slip up on one and you have a good chance of a loss... no better way to describe this game this afternoon... After 7 total hours of drive time with a 2:18 instant classic sandwiched inbetween... well worth the time spent... now, my graple induced observations...
Cal-Lu travels well – way to go – nice to see a good assortment of graple in the stands...even though most won't know that graple is actually a color... always nice to tear up with an old friend, and no, promises will not be broken...

Was nice to have the LiveStream Video feed – fellow LuDawg(20) was able to see me on the broadcast (sorry IWU fans, he told me to sit over there) as well as my kids – technology, simply amazing– back in our day Dad was calling Mom from the Brick cell phone as I was at the plate at SCC (now Vanguard University) – I seem to recall a certain coach's wife sitting behind him making bunny ears as I got up to the plate – boy the things we remember...

Good Pitching – CLU – Petersen came as advertised. He can bring it, however IWU hit him hard. I was a little concerned there for a bit. He did come out throwing all strikes, until I gooched it and said "does all this guy do is throw strikes---- DOSE"... IWU – no disrespect here but the pitcher appeared hitable, not dominant, but he was crafty, and kept our boys on their front foot – the dreaded "at-em" balls for many innings. And give that kid credit – he battled...

Solid Defense – on both sides, and the one slip up resulted in an unearned run, while maybe not the deciding factor, it allowed some air to CLU windpipe while they were getting their neck stepped on. Numerous highlight plays in the field from both teams was also a welcome sight. Much more fun to watch good defense as opposed to a boat race...

Timely hitting – IWU manufactured theirs – double, bunt, sac fly – I love fundamentals... CLU kept chipping away and got the break (error)... but the epitome of a timely hit came right after the missed squeeze (more on that in a minute) –and, I think, it was the very next pitch that he lined the double – timely hit indeed... and as us old school LuDawgs used to say – he's got some figs...

Squeeze – positive/negative – if he gets the bunt down and scores the run, nobody bats an eye, but for that 27 seconds between the tag out and the double, Slim was public enemy #1... however... Might I add a second look – the result of the botched squeeze was Petersen making it to second, with one out and your #4 hitter at the plate... so, just like a single and sacrifice... I guess... all worked out in the end for the Graple (again, no Violet runs thru my veins!!!)

#6 for CLU – way to represent the number young man, a bit of an adventure on that pop fly but you stayed with it and made the play... Wear that number with pride!!!

Rihanna reference – maybe, since I am from a less kinder, less gentler, woebegone era, and I am just looking for something to rag on –  I seem to recall a game 24 years ago, in the same area code that required umbrellas but for a different reason – and the CLU fans were upset about that (except my parents, I grew up in the shi---stuff)... thus – be thankful Graple Faithful – a cooling trend is forecast for Fri/Sat...

Looks like no rematch as of yet as UWSP won, making it a purple hued sweep today (hey even the KINGS won – I LOVE L.A.... WE LOVE IT!!! – I know, a stretch)...

Personally, for me today was a win-win... however no dice for me on the trip tomorrow – I guess that puts the nail in the coffin of my long-haul trucking career aspirations... my hope will be to take my kids out of school "eeeaaarrrlllyyy" Friday afternoon and hit the 7pm game Friday evening... and hopefully some Saturday action!!!

Cal-Lu, Cal-Lu!!!

Ludawg6

Trinity wasted good pitching with poor execution on offensive and a couple of errors. UWSP is a solid team but got lucky today, their starter was very hitable but TU failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities early. JP Feyereisen looks solid,  liked his stuff. Baseball is a cruel game, TU controlled it for the most part but came up short.

Linfield looks very beatable, should be some good games tomorrow.

Linfield looks beatable BUT...they find a way to win and rarely make mistakes. I watched them play over a 5 year period in Oregon, SoCal and Wisconsin. They just play very sound fundamental baseball and coached very well.

They do the little things well.

Wow 3 1 run games. Day 2 will be another good one.

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 14, 2014, 09:45:17 PM
[There is a time to squeeze but not in this situation. Also it is tough to bunt at Linfield. Turf is really fast on warm dry days. I did see a bases loaded bunt in 2009 but it was push bunt the went past the pitcher towards 2nd baseman that would not have been possible on grass. Turf made that bunt possible. Normal types bunts move to fast which make sac bunts and squeeze bunts tough.

Ball travels well on warm days and ball will travel with home runs possible which won the game for Linfield.

Definitely an unorthordox call squeezing bunt from #4 hitter. 

As an aside:  I thought the turf played very slow today.  Groundballs had a hard time getting out of the infield, not all of it due to great plays.  UW had one bunt that died outside just on the "Grass" allowing Catcher to make the play.  During SCIAC grass games, that bunt would've kept rolling and the pitcher would typically need to field it.
It also seemed to "Run" slower with several runners looking like they were running in mud. 

I'm looking forward to another great day of Oregon baseball.   The weather was fantastic and should be until Saturday.

As most of you have said, Defense will make the difference.  Pitchers need to throw ground ball, Limit the walks; Defense needs to eliminate all errors, make the difficult play... and with this turf you'll have a chance to win.

I'm not as good as some of you Varsity members in picking,
12pm- LeTu  vs IWU
3:30pm- Linfield vs Trinity
7pm- Cal Lu  vs UWSP

Lastly:  LuDawg6, thank you very much for your efforts yesterday.  The story of the effort you made to come watch your team will become CLU folklore!  Also, impressive that you still fit in your jersey... 

Quote from: Westside4 on May 14, 2014, 06:18:51 PM
Linfield continued their struggle against the soft lefty. Fortunately Lindell's bomb was enough. Haddeland did Haddeland things. They probably hit one ball hard all game. I think he is at 25 innings the last 2 regionals without a run given up?? Give credit to LeT tho, they played great. Linfield will need to score more if they want to win it all.

I think the soft toss lefty, who could spin it and locate it with a funky delivery like the LeTu pitcher could, would have naturally been a tough match-up, as Linfield had not played in a week and a half and guys would understandably be amped-up for the game, getting on the front foot etc.

Great first day of baseball. I don't think any of the results were surprising, and all six teams came ready to play. There seemed to be a lack of the big hit in every game. Base-runners were getting on, but a lot of them were left stranded. Surprised there was only one bomb yesterday, as the wind was blowing out most of the day... Anyway, based on just yesterday, UW-Stevens Point, Trinity, and Linfield all looked like teams that could make World Series runs. This regional is still wide open.

I think all three games today are toss ups, but if I were to pick the winners... Illinois Wesleyan over LeTourneau, Linfield over Trinity, UW-Stevens Point over Cal Lu. In reality, anyone can beat anyone in this regional, and that is what makes it so great.

Should be some more great pitching match-ups today too. Going just off the team stats/previous weeks I would predict:

Curt Copeland (8-2, 3.28 ERA) vs. John Munyon (3-1, 3.10 ERA)
Aarom Thomassen (9-1, 1.92 ERA) vs. Ryan Gray (3-0, 2.11 ERA)
Luke Watson (7-1, 2.03 ERA) vs. Scott Peters (6-3, 3.25 ERA)

Here's to another great day of baseball.

UW-SP squared up only two balls vs Trinity yesterday and one went for a double. If CLU can score a few runs they will win. UWSP are one of the biggest teams I have ever seen in DIII ball, more like a football team; however not very athletic. Feyereisen had great stuff as I mentioned before. Trinity did the same thing in the SCAC tournament first game, then tightened it up and can beat Linfield today if they do this. All should be good games. As a side note how they get a home plate umpire with that inconsistent zone in a Regional is beyond me ? He did not decide the game, but wow is all I can say.

Heart or head – which do I go with... well... a little reverse psychology on myself and we will see where this takes us... predictions... (Nice move heart, listen to reason)
LeTu over IWU;   LC over TU;    CLU over UWSP...

The LC/TU game should be a prize fight – and could give a 5-team format going into Friday (shut up heart, you have been banned from this conversation)...

SoxFan – a couple points of note...
1) That jersey is my "Tommy Boy" version from the 2002 alumni game, my daughters wear my gamers from yesteryear... but thanks for the compliment...
2) Folklore – the "box and one"; "your mother hates you"; "you're not doing your job"; "Mas Tardy"; and, of course, "Shock the World" that started it all... let's just hope that my next roadie comes with an overnight stay and my daughters seeing just exactly what a true celebration feels like... (Heart - you are overstepping your boundaries!!!)

One game at a time, but hopefully that game is at 7pm tomorrow night (LuDawg6 rips his own heart out and feeds it to the geese in the field across the street)

On a side note, while the video broadcast from McMinnville is great with the multiple camera angles, etc. the video quality itself is pretty grainy (like virtually every program's video that I've seen)  However, I checked in on a game from the UW Whitewater Regional - and WOW!  Their video quality and camera angles are just outstanding, like an HDTV signal.  It is a higher definition  picture even over what I remember from the Appleton cameras.

What in the world was that? 2 visits in an inning allowed because he also argued a call?

Can anyone in attendance explain what in the world is going on with the pitching situation in this game? Did the pitcher get ejected?

LeTourneau wins 3-2. Congrats to both teams hard fought.

Another 1-run game!   LeTU 3, IWU 2.  Fourth of the series!

This Regional always has the best balance.  The conferences are strong and deep.
The At-larges that they fly in are not patsies.
No conference in the Region is below average.

WOW. The fourth straight one-run game in the West Region...

A 2 RBI squeeze play was the difference. Copeland pitched a hell of a game. What a gritty performance.

Congrats LeTourneau on your first postseason victory!

Can anyone provide any insight to what happened in the bottom of the 8th with the arguments and the pitching change after the ball was thrown into center field?

I know it's early but I would like to see Linfield to start stringing together some hits.  Been really cold offense through 11 innings....

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 15, 2014, 12:22:22 AM

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 15, 2014, 12:17:11 AM
Wow, high scoring game in the UWSP/TU game.  Absolutely great day of baseball all around.

Tomorrow's Schedule:

12pm- LeTu vs IWU
3:30pm- Linfield vs Trinity
7pm- Cal Lu vs UWSP

Should be another great day of baseball.

Perfect 3-0 for day 1 predictions
Day 2 predictions
Trinity goes home
IWU goes home
UWSP Wins

So far 2-0 today for my crystal ball...1 more to go

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 15, 2014, 09:00:46 PM

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 15, 2014, 12:22:22 AM

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 15, 2014, 12:17:11 AM
Wow, high scoring game in the UWSP/TU game.  Absolutely great day of baseball all around.

Tomorrow's Schedule:

12pm- LeTu vs IWU
3:30pm- Linfield vs Trinity
7pm- Cal Lu vs UWSP

Should be another great day of baseball.

Perfect 3-0 for day 1 predictions
Day 2 predictions
Trinity goes home
IWU goes home
UWSP Wins

So far 2-0 today for my crystal ball...1 more to go

Yes, you are indeed Carmac the Magnificent!

Linfield wins 4-1 over Trinity... That's a blowout by the West region standards. :P Linfield's pitching and defense looked great again as the only run scored was unearned. Their bats did enough, and look to be getting hotter as they hit a lot of balls hard today. All the damage was done by the middle of the order.

Good season, Trinity.

I've been away since the end of the 1st game, so chiming in very late.  I was licking my chops at not facing an AA pitcher (like yesterday) when IWU got as many hits (4) and twice as many runs (2) in the very first inning, but Copeland really settled in after that.  John Munyon was outdueling him through seven, but ran out of gas in the 8th (he was the closer for much of the season; pretty sure this was his longest stint all season).  A heart-breaking way to end the season. :(

Quote from: Westside4 on May 15, 2014, 09:54:27 PM
Linfield wins 4-1 over Trinity... That's a blowout by the West region standards. :P Linfield's pitching and defense looked great again as the only run scored was unearned. Their bats did enough, and look to be getting hotter as they hit a lot of balls hard today. All the damage was done by the middle of the order.

Good season, Trinity.

Well, a blowout to a degree. Linfield's Cody Walker got his 4th save of the season.   ;)

Thanks for posting, My Ypsi!

UWSP 5, Cal Lutheran 2.  Save to the Pointers' Feyereisen (2).

Day 3  Predictions
Who goes home
Cal Lu and LeTourneau

Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 16, 2014, 12:38:35 AM
UWSP 5, Cal Lutheran 2.  Save to the Pointers' Feyereisen (2).

Cal Lu left numerous men in base and wasn't able to overcome a confounding call at the plate and lost 5-2.  Numerous neutral obseversers said they thought the runner was out, but the only one that's counts was the Plate ump who called the runner safe.   Big difference  in 9th when CLU has lead runner being down only only 1 run vs 3.


Congrats to UWSP for winning!!

Congrats to Trinity on a great season even though it did not end the way the would have liked it. You just can not walk 3 in an inning and expect to win in championship games. They were putting men in scoring position and were not coming through when they had to, where is Dom Robusto when you need him?

Key game today at 12:00 Linfield vs UW-SP.

So Point hits what should have been a HR in the Bottom of the 8th inning to tie the game 3-3.  However on an appeal, batter is said to have missed first base so the run is taken off the board.

Head to the 9th inning, Linfield leads 3-2....

Quote from: cubs on May 16, 2014, 05:13:54 PM
So Point hits what should have been a HR in the Bottom of the 8th inning to tie the game 3-3.  However on an appeal, batter is said to have missed first base so the run is taken off the board.

Head to the 9th inning, Linfield leads 3-2....

Fundamental baseball. Who was following the runner around the bases for Linfield?  (Who does Coach Brosius assign that responsibility?  Thanks.)

Yes, and props to the 1st base umpire for keeping his eye on the bag.  They don't call it "touch 'em all" for nothing.

Apparently the HR was down the foul poll and the batter was so wrapped up on if it was fair/foul that he over rounded the bag. 

Heads up play by Linfield for paying attention.  Little details make the difference.

30+ years of baseball... I've never seen a HR where the batter was called out for missing a bag during his home run trot.  Cats get lucky

Quote from: CAT BAT 22 on May 16, 2014, 05:28:36 PM
30+ years of baseball... I've never seen a HR where the batter was called out for missing a bag during his home run trot.  Cats get lucky

I've seen it twice, but both times it was home plate....

Quote from: CAT BAT 22 on May 16, 2014, 05:28:36 PM
Cats get lucky

I'll take it.   ;D

Quote from: wildcat11 on May 16, 2014, 05:29:35 PM

Quote from: CAT BAT 22 on May 16, 2014, 05:28:36 PM
Cats get lucky

I'll take it.   ;D

No doubt.  What a brutal way to lose though.  Almost a partial repayment on the 'miracle in the mud' grudge I still harbor. 

If I didn't know the score, I would've guessed Linfield won 9-3 or so. They looked better in every phase of the game except for hitting with RISP. Ten guys left on base. Gotta convert to win it all.

Quote from: Westside4 on May 16, 2014, 05:41:16 PM
If I didn't know the score, I would've guessed Linfield won 9-3 or so. They looked better in every phase of the game except for hitting with RISP. Ten guys left on base. Gotta convert to win it all.

Agreed 100%...Linfield has so many chances to put distance between themselves and UWSP and the longer they didn't the more it was setting up as an upset......

Have to do better tomorrow.

Quote from: cubs on May 16, 2014, 05:13:54 PM
So Point hits what should have been a HR in the Bottom of the 8th inning to tie the game 3-3.  However on an appeal, batter is said to have missed first base so the run is taken off the board.

See MLB Rule 7.10.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/runner_7.jsp

OxyBob

EDIT: Go to 1:39 -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUxIPfltkcw

Quote from: CAT BAT 22 on May 16, 2014, 05:28:36 PM
30+ years of baseball... I've never seen a HR where the batter was called out for missing a bag during his home run trot.  Cats get lucky

I've seen it happen one time at our home field.  The opponents' lead-off batter hit one into the bleachers -- his first round-tripper of the year -- and he was so elated that he missed the first base bag by several feet -- obvious to everyone in our first-base dugout.  Our coach appealed and the batter was called out.  The next batter hit a clean single up the middle for what would be their only hit of the game.

Incidentally, I believe the play should be scored an unassisted putout to the closest fielder, so in this case 3-U.

Quote from: OxyBob on May 16, 2014, 06:03:23 PM

Quote from: cubs on May 16, 2014, 05:13:54 PM
So Point hits what should have been a HR in the Bottom of the 8th inning to tie the game 3-3.  However on an appeal, batter is said to have missed first base so the run is taken off the board.

See MLB Rule 7.10.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/runner_7.jsp

OxyBob

EDIT: Go to 1:39 -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUxIPfltkcw

Not sure why you are "replying" to me....  I didn't question the call.  I just stated what happened moments after the play.

CLU wins and moves on to UW-SP game later this evening.

QuoteNot sure why you are "replying" to me

You don't read enough boards because you're just a cub.
When you are a bear you will have figured it out.

Mishap In the Mud equal to Mystery Base

Hitter was celebrating his game tying homer before getting to first base and seemed to get distracted by his first base coach to get in that last second high five which caused him to break stride and miss the base. Tough break for sure! Umpire was clearly standing right there about five feet away staring at the whole thing.

Quote from: OxyBob on May 16, 2014, 06:03:23 PM

Quote from: cubs on May 16, 2014, 05:13:54 PM
So Point hits what should have been a HR in the Bottom of the 8th inning to tie the game 3-3.  However on an appeal, batter is said to have missed first base so the run is taken off the board.

See MLB Rule 7.10.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/runner_7.jsp

OxyBob

EDIT: Go to 1:39 -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUxIPfltkcw

Thanks OxyBob

Quote7.10
Any runner shall be called out, on appeal, when --
(a) After a fly ball is caught, he fails to retouch his original base before he or his original base is tagged;
Rule 7.10(a) Comment: “Retouch,” in this rule, means to tag up and start from a contact with the base after the ball is caught. A runner is not permitted to take a flying start from a position in back of his base.
(b) With the ball in play, while advancing or returning to a base, he fails to touch each base in order before he, or a missed base, is tagged.
APPROVED RULING: (1) No runner may return to touch a missed base after a following runner has scored. (2) When the ball is dead, no runner may return to touch a missed base or one he has left after he has advanced to and touched a base beyond the missed base.
Rule 7.10(b) Comment: PLAY. (a) Batter hits ball out of park or ground rule double and misses first base (ball is dead)—he may return to first base to correct his mistake before he touches second but if he touches second he may not return to first and if defensive team appeals he is declared out at first.

---

Who caught the missed touch for Linfield and made the appeal?  Thanks

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 16, 2014, 08:47:48 PM
CLU wins and moves on to UW-SP game later this evening.

Another 1-run game!

Man, I can't tell if I should be embarrassed or entertained by the Stevens Point fans, hah. The pack of women sit there and berate every single call made. It usually makes no sense, what they say, and it is pretty much only negativity towards the ump. Thank you for keeping me entertained.

Ralph...the local mac paper said Bro saw it.

Bro, a relief pitcher and the first base umpire.

The video feed is winning this game.  Buffering......buffering.....buffering.....

Quote from: Strike1 on May 16, 2014, 11:53:03 PM
Bro, a relief pitcher and the first base umpire.

Just reporting what the News-Register's (McMinnville paper) twitter feed provided:

https://twitter.com/NewsRegSports/status/467421751777832960 (https://twitter.com/NewsRegSports/status/467421751777832960)

Linfield coach Scott Brosius said he saw UWSP's Kyle McHugh step over first base and called to Zach Manley for an appeal.


Jack....I'm getting the Buffering too.

Me three. And the live stats is being goofy.

Quote from: Spence on May 17, 2014, 12:56:28 AM
Me three. And the live stats is being goofy.

Linfield sports tweeted out that choose the play-by-play option to help smooth out the live stats....they're working on the issues.

Are these Linfield JVs or something doing the game? Doing a pretty good job.

They are just students. The play by play kid is solid. Doesn't sound like a sophomore by any means.

I just figured they were ballplayers because they seem to know the game better than a lot of student staff.

The UWSP and CLU game is one of the best I have seen in a while, a complete dog fight. Congrats to UWSP who will take on Linfield tomorrow.

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 17, 2014, 01:54:35 AM
The UWSP and CLU game is one of the best I have seen in a while, a complete dog fight. Congrats to UWSP who will take on Linfield tomorrow.

Man, what a heartbreaking way to end your season/career.  Hats off to both teams as that was an absolutely fantastic game.  Congrats to UWSP and good luck tomorrow.

Heck of a ballgame!  Go 'Cats!

SP wins in spite of a number of odd moves.

I guess I shouldn't have hyped the crew too much here...struggling with the wrap up. Probably just tired haha.

the car was gassed up and ready but to no avail... heartbreaking loss but that is the way the game goes at times... the boys represented the graple well, and Hats off to UWSP - at least the Kings beat the Ducks... next up, Alumni Game 2015 - the 25th anniversary that "Shocked the World"... great season Slim, look forward to seeing you in late Jan 2015, you have my word there will be a solid turnout from the 1990 guys!!!

Cal-Lu, Cal-Lu

LuDawg6

Best Regional in the country.

I count 6 one-run games, a 12-inning thriller and 2 three-run games involving a save for the reliever.
Not a blowout in the bunch!

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 17, 2014, 01:57:39 AM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 17, 2014, 01:54:35 AM
The UWSP and CLU game is one of the best I have seen in a while, a complete dog fight. Congrats to UWSP who will take on Linfield tomorrow.

Man, what a heartbreaking way to end your season/career.  Hats off to both teams as that was an absolutely fantastic game.  Congrats to UWSP and good luck tomorrow.

JP, yes, very heartbreaking.  CLU players gave 100% and more to win for their Seniors.  CLU held a graduation ceremony after the game for the 5 seniors.  It was very poingant for us to participate in.  We can go over the could'ves and should'ves for eternity.  In the end, Wisc-SP did enough to win this highly competitive game.   

Talk with you all next year when season is starting up!!

Quote from: wildcat11 on May 15, 2014, 07:00:08 PM
I know it's early but I would like to see Linfield to start stringing together some hits.  Been really cold offense through 11 innings....

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 16, 2014, 01:51:32 AM
Day 3  Predictions
Who goes home
Cal Lu and LeTourneau

The streak continues
I am perfect 9-0. Should have entered the Buffet March Madness.

Today
UWSP Wins 1 then Linfield wins one and goes to Appleton

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 17, 2014, 09:16:06 AM

Quote from: wildcat11 on May 15, 2014, 07:00:08 PM
I know it's early but I would like to see Linfield to start stringing together some hits.  Been really cold offense through 11 innings....

Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 16, 2014, 01:51:32 AM
Day 3  Predictions
Who goes home
Cal Lu and LeTourneau

The streak continues
I am perfect 9-0. Should have entered the Buffet March Madness.

At the very least, buy a couple lottery tickets!

It is hard to go against Carmac, but Linfield wins game 1 and moves on.

I actually had UWSP winning the winner's bracket and Linfield winning twice for the championship (which if they had pitched Feyereisen, SP might have won).

So obviously I'm expecting Linfield to win today.

I love the way UWSP grinds, and they are huge (in size) but are not a very athletic team and struggle against good pitching. Linfield is not playing the way they played last year and as I mentioned earlier - are very beatable.  Feyereisen clearly has the best stuff on the UWSP team, he is a step above everyone else (and I have been to two games). Linfield should have the pitching to take care of business today, but Crash is right, I could see them dropping a game in game 1.

Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 17, 2014, 12:22:39 PM
I love the way UWSP grinds, and they are huge (in size) but are not a very athletic team and struggle against good pitching. Linfield is not playing the way they played last year and as I mentioned earlier - are very beatable.  Feyereisen clearly has the best stuff on the UWSP team, he is a step above everyone else (and I have been to two games). Linfield should have the pitching to take care of business today, but Crash is right, I could see them dropping a game in game 1.

I am not sure where you are getting that. Last year in the regional, they won; 2-0, 8-3, 4-3, (lost) 3-2, and won 3-1. They committed 8 errors in those games. They have won this year; 1-0, 4-1, 3-2 and only committed 3 errors (2 by outfielders). If anything, Linfield is playing better in this regional as their pitching and defense are improved.

Today's games will be interesting. UWSP will try to piece it together like last night when they threw the kitchen sink at Cal Lu. Linfield has a lot of depth avaliable. I am hoping to see one of their less used pitchers, that might have the best stuff on staff and pitched amazing last week, in game one. And you know if they drop the first one, Haddeland will be there for game two coming off, almost, full rest.

This regional has been absolutely crazy, just like last year. Every game is intense.

Westside. Just an observation, I don't think they are hitting as well as last year and while they beat Trinity 4-1, Trinity beat themselves by walking 3 in one inning and giving up 3 runs on two hits.

Thomassen was good, but Trinity was squaring up a lot of balls against him, but they just were just not finding grass or getting through the infield. First inning Hershburg crushes a ball that is fair until the last minute hooks foul, the LF catches a ball at the warning track (barely) those two plays alone would change the game by 4-5 runs. Take away the HR missed bag at first and UWSP wins that game.

I am not saying they will not win this regional, but they don't seem to be playing at the same level as last year. JMO.

Wouldn't the HR only have tied it?

Through three games, Linfield is slugging at .453 and has a team ERA of .667.  I didn't look at fielding %, but those two stats are pretty solid to say the least.

Yea, these regional has been extremely light on hitting. Linfield is leading with a .274 team avg, and UWSP is 2nd with a .254 team avg.

Shoule be a fun one. Max Frederick vs. Justin Davis. Let's see who can come up big.

All of the games have been great, the game last night was one of the best college games I have seen. Really a lot of fun.

I hate to admit it, but I am going to the Alien parade here in McMinnville.  :o Will have the game going on my phone....

http://ufofest.com/

Wow! Poor USWP. 2 runs on a passed ball and an errant throw and then hit the next batter.

2-0 LINFIELD 5th

They got 'em back.  2-2. And then LINFIELD cashes in a play at first base that turns into a run, up 3-2 top of eigth.
Haddeland in.

Congratulations Linfield!

West Regional was the best one this year, again!

Very well balanced.

Six 1-run games.
One 2-run game
One 12-inning game
Two 3-run games.

NO blowouts, just like last year!

Do the Regional's select a Tournament team or only Most Outstanding Player?

They select an 11-player team:

Chris Bertram, OF, LeTourneau
Christian Muscarello, SS, Trinity
Jake Peterson, P/OF, Cal Luheran
Spencer DuBois, C, Cal Lutheran
JP Feyereisen, P, UW-Stevens Point
Casey Barnes, OF, UW-Stevens Point
Riley Spetz, SS, UW-Stevens Point
Chris Haddeland, P, Linfield
Aaron Thomassen, P, Linfield
Jake Wylie, C, Linfield
Nick Fisher, OF, Linfield (Most Outstanding Player)

Quote from: Westside4 on May 19, 2014, 12:54:16 PM
They select an 11-player team:

Chris Bertram, OF, LeTourneau
Christian Muscarello, SS, Trinity
Jake Peterson, P/OF, Cal Luheran
Spencer DuBois, C, Cal Lutheran
JP Feyereisen, P, UW-Stevens Point
Casey Barnes, OF, UW-Stevens Point
Riley Spetz, SS, UW-Stevens Point
Chris Haddeland, P, Linfield
Aaron Thomassen, P, Linfield
Jake Wylie, C, Linfield
Nick Fisher, OF, Linfield (Most Outstanding Player)

Thanks, I appreciated it.  Do you have a link to the posting?

I didn't see it officially announced on the Regional Website, but I was at the game when they announced it. Anyway, LeTourneau looks to be the only team that listed everyone: http://www.letuathletics.com/news/2014/5/18/BB_0518144807.aspx

Quote from: Westside4 on May 19, 2014, 02:00:54 PM
I didn't see it officially announced on the Regional Website, but I was at the game when they announced it. Anyway, LeTourneau looks to be the only team that listed everyone: http://www.letuathletics.com/news/2014/5/18/BB_0518144807.aspx

Thanks Westside.

Linfield did a great job hosting the tournament.  Only thing missing was a Section where visitors could sample wines from all the local vineyards!!   That would've been great!

I thought Linfields Carroll might be on that list and possibly the MVP!

Quote from: Strike1 on May 20, 2014, 07:03:39 PM
I thought Linfields Carroll might be on that list and possibly the MVP!

Yea it was pretty surprising, but I don't think you will see him complaining. Comparing his stats two the other two Linfield guys:

Fisher: .294, 2 2B, 2 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI
Wylie: .357 1 2B, 0 HR, 0 R, 0 RBI
Carroll: .357, 2 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI

Five Panthers named to D3Baseball.com All-Region team
http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/releases/20140520fy9yz5#.U3t77Uy9S5k.facebook

Strange year.   Trinity first team out in West Regional, Linfield first team out at Nationals.   

Think the cats were polishing that new trophy a little to soon! Never seen such a blah performance by the whole team.

I can think of about 368 other teams that would love to have their record over the past two years, especially coming off a year where they hosted and did not participate in the Regional held at their field.

Congratulations on a great run, while I am sure they are disappointed right now they will look back on their college baseball experience with pride. Job well done Linfield.

C'mon purplecat, do you really think Linfield came into the CWS over confident, blah and thinking they had it in the bag?  Anyone who's watched a lot of college baseball (or football, or any other sport) knows the effort is always there.  Its baseball, sometimes success and big-time losses are decided by a razor's edge.  Sometimes, despite all your preparations, effort and attitude a team just plays a clunker or two, which gets exacerbated by elite competition.  Great season and two-year run by Linfield, and I suspect they'll be right in the thick of it next season as well.

My thoughts were I've never seen such a fundamentally sound pitching and fielding team look so bad in those two games, along with the amount of base runners left on base(game 2). Love the Cats, and they have been a top notch program for more than just the past two years. Just feel they did not play up to there potential in Appleton.

Sometimes it just happens that a good team doesn't play well for two games at the wrong time. The real shocker was the best pitcher in the country two years running getting hit hard. Guess he was due for that considering he's not really a strikeout artist.

But if there's one team in the west and one coach that's proven he can build a nationally competitive program, it's Linfield and Brosius. I don't believe for a second that they were thinking they had it in the bag or polishing the trophy.

There have been a lot of great teams that didn't repeat. To actually do it, Marietta had to battle through the loser's bracket in regionals and in the series. There's a reason it hasn't happened very often -- it takes an absolutely special team, and then a little more.

Quote from: purplecat on May 24, 2014, 08:29:27 PM
Think the cats were polishing that new trophy a little to soon! Never seen such a blah performance by the whole team.

Spence is completely right. Baseball is a funny game sometimes. I expect the Cats to make another run next year, although it will certainly be difficult to replace their 2-5 hitters in the lineup and a starter and a couple key relievers on the mound. Already looking forward to seeing how it unfolds next year!

I'm curious if you are calling the team's postseason performance blah then I wonder how you would describe the Cats on the gridiron the past few years? Hopefully they can get over that quarterfinal hump that has been surrounding them. It would be nice to see both teams bring home the trophy next year.

For those who did not make it to the UFO festival in McMinnville - these guys were one of the highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxUvxz57oAs

Quote from: 108 Stitches on June 01, 2014, 05:54:17 PM
For those who did not make it to the UFO festival in McMinnville - these guys were one of the highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxUvxz57oAs

I saw these in person in 2009 & 2010. Parade was early and before the regional games. A real strange bunch of people. Area 51 crowd.