Boysofsummer21 head the nail on the head. Losing Taylor was a huge blow, and now with Emerson injured as well, you lose 2 of your top 3 arms. I'm not sure what the extent of Emerson's injury is and/or how long he will be out, but that leaves CNU with a slew of unproved arms. Like Boysofsummer21 said, everyone has gotten used to seeing top notch arms on the hill for the Captains, guys that would compete for the Conference Pitcher of the Year every year (Moreland, Brinkman, Chrismon, etc.). Even more important is the loss of their bullpen. For the past few years, a CNU starter only needed to go 6 IP and then the ball would be handed to Lindsey, Verdillo, and Fleischman. With Emerson being forced to a starter role when Taylor went down, they lost the guy you feel comfortable handing the ball too in a 1 Run game in the 9th.

I have confidence in Coach Harvell and his staff that they will be fine. I still expect them to compete for the CAC crown, although Salisbury is a very, very good squad.

Stafford - I'll do my best to give my perspective on the DI, DII, and DIII differences.

In my humble opinion, the top D3 schools in the country could compete, and beat on occasion, with some of the lower level D1 schools. When I played at CNU, we had the then D3 National Pitcher of the Year Kenny Moreland, and with him on the mound I strongly believe we could have competed with some of the D1's in VA (Longwood, W&M, Liberty, etc.). I see a good mix across all of the divisions with the summer league team I help run (Strasburg Express - Valley Baseball League) and to me the major difference in the divisions is pitching. We sign a slew of D3 pitchers every year (4 signed this year) and do so without hesitation, but we are always hesitant to sign D3 hitters given the adjustment to pitching they will have to make. If it takes them 3-4 weeks to adjust, they've just burned half of our season. We had Connor Madden (CNU) a few years back, and he was the only D3 hitter we've had come in and be successful offensively from Day 1.

On a one game basis, some of the top D3 teams could without a doubt knock off some of the lower level D1's; however, if forced to play multiple times (such as a regular schedule) against those lower level D1 teams it would be much tougher as D3 hitters are not used to facing that pitching over and over again. Most D1's, even some of the lower level teams, have pitching staffs full of arms that would be weekend starters, weekday starters, or key relievers at the D3 level. My assumption would be the pitching you saw was due to it being a Sunday so the teams already used their top 2 starters and more than likely their top guys out of the bullpen. It's early in the year, and given the games are not conference games, not many teams will throw their top relievers 2-3 times over the weekend as the would later in the season.

One other key point to note: A lot of this has to do with their geographic location. For example, if a player is from VA, there are very few quality D2 programs around. If they do not want to go D1 and sit for a few years or redshirt, they then ultimately go D3 to CNU, Bridgewater, VWC, Randolph Macon, etc. thus ultimately making the D3 schools in the area better. That is exactly the opposite in some states, such as SC where there are numerous D1 and D2 programs for players to attend (USC, Furman, Presbyterian, CofC, USC Upstate, North Greenville, Winthrop, etc.)

Sorry for the length, but wanted to do my best to thoroughly answer.

I agree with Rolln2 in that CNU is not in a re-building year by any means. They return practically their entire offense, and even had a transfer in from Division 1 George Mason (who hit .271 w/ 3 HR, 18 RBI, and 10 2B's in 180 AB's for GMU last year) and a transfer who attended the Univ. of Maryland out of high school (and got 80+ AB's as a FR). Combine that with the returners of Weaver, Steel, Grissom, etc. and they should have a very potent offense.

Pitching wise, only time will tell. The loss of Chrisman clearly hurts, and SO LHP Brandon Taylor is out for the year with a labrum injury. They also lost their recording setting closer, as well as two top relievers in Lindsay and Verdillo. Bryan Bierlein anchors the staff and is a very good pitcher, and the return reliever Adam Emerson (who threw the ball amazing for us this past summer in the VBL). Austin Kilbourne (the transfer who originally want to UofM) is also a high quality arm with a lot of room to develop. Outside of that, the majority of the staff is unproven and will need to step it up. Guys such as Vaughn, Mays, and Boze will need to play/fill big roles.

If CNU's offense can put up high run totals to allow their pitching to gain experience and 'catch up', CNU could be poised to make a run at the CAC and the South Region. It's always tough to judge a team based on these early season games due to the weather, etc. Metal bats in 30-40 degree temperatures is never fun.

Rolln2 - I would say the best way to put it is that he stepped down. I do not believe he has retired from the coaching world, and he still has his scouting gig as well.

Narch - I 100% agree on your comments about Herget vs Chrismon/Perry. He had very good numbers in terms of W-L and ERA; however, when you dig deeper his K Rate and BAA were both very subpar. He without a doubt has an uphill climb. Perry and Chrismon are both big bodies guys that will get much more of an opportunity to compete and move up the ranks, especially given where they were drafted. As cliché as it sounds, the higher a guy is drafted the greater a shot they will be given to succeed because the ballclub has more money invested in them. Essentially, Herget has zero money invested in him, so as bad as it sounds, if he doesn't work out the club isn't out of an investment.

It's tough for me to answer this question without giving up too much information/sources, but Coach Frazor is no longer with CNU and Coach Cole is now the pitching coach.

To add to that, Kevin Herget (Kean) is off to a great start to his career as well. For the State College Spikes (St. Louis Class A Short Season), Kevin is 5-0 in 9 appearances (4 starts). In 33 IP, he has given up 43 hits, walked only 3, and struck out 17. It's nice to see some d3 kids having some success in their early professional careers.

Austin did sign with the Astros, and in my mind this is a no brainer. Playing at a D3 school, the 26th Rd is a fairly high selection. Even with a monster year next year, Chrismon wouldn't move up into the "money rounds" where he would receive a significant signing bonus (typically rounds 1-5). Some players may receive a decent bonus after round 5, but it usually significantly drops off after that round. Even if Austin were to get selected in the 15th round next year, his signing bonus would not be much different than what he would receive this year. In fact, it may actually be lower, as Austin has leverage this year, using his last year in college as negotiating power. If he stayed until next year, he would have no choice but to take whatever was offered to him. This is why players drafted in the same round may often receive much different bonuses. A high school player in the 8th Rd may receive a couple hundred thousand, whereas a college senior drafted in the same round may receive $100K or lower.

There is also the chance he goes back, has a dud year, potentially has arm troubles, radar guns don't get as high, and he doesn't get drafted. A prime example of this was Chris Pecora from NCWC. Chris was a great player, drafted after his JR, chose to come back for his SR, and did not get re-drafted. (although Chris was an OF, not a P, and also did not have the luxury of being drafted out of high school)

Given the little room for improvement round wise, and basically no room for improvement financially, I see this as no brainer. I hated to see him as sign, as he was playing for us this summer, but I am very happy for Austin and his family.

Agreed. All three all very good players and have great season this past year.

Who was then?

Alexander (NCWC) was 1st Team All-Conference, Dean (Maryville) was 2nd Team All-Conference, and Steele was Honorable Mention. Quite frankly, I would take both Steele and Dean over Alexander in my personal opinion. Steele was 2nd among the 3 of them in average, RBI's, and fielding percentage, while being 1st in On-Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage, HR's, 3B's, and tied for 1st in 2B's. Steele and Dean also tied for the least amount of strikeouts out of the 3.

Truth be told, all three had good years, but I'd prefer a SS who can drive the ball into the gaps and has a little bit of pop. Alexander had the lowest average of the 3, with the least amount of XBH's and RBI's.

I think you can easily make an argument for Steele being the best SS in the USAS. I'm not saying he is hands down, but he definetly should be considered in the conversation and can have a strong argument for him (especially when you examine his career numbers).

Well, the field is set. Best of luck to Methodist and R-MC in the South Regional!

It's all going to depend on how many teams each regional gets, as well as who gets shipped out to a different regional tournament. My two cents is that Bridgewater and CNU both get in, while SU does not. My 'prediction' is based partially on all of those fancy numbers we toss around, as well as what I'd like to call common sense/baseball sense.

Part of the reason SU has a higher Reg'l Winning % than CNU is that they played 6 less in-region games than CNU did. Now, who knows what would have happened in those 6 games, as they may have won all 6, but it's worth mentioning. Also, what may be considered the top teams on SU's schedule this year were teams they lost to (0-3 vs Bridgewater, 1-1 vs R-MC, 1-1 vs H-SC). Against those same teams, CNU went 2-2-1. As we previously mentioned, CNU won the USAS Reg. Season Title, which generally speaking carries no weight other than in the common/baseball sense of perspective.

In all honesty, you can make a valid case for CNU/SU/BC (I assume BC is in for sure though) to get in or not to get in, and a lot of our debates are based on slight bias (I'll be the first to admit I obviously favor CNU). The main reason I'd like to see CNU get a shot in Regionals is because I truly think they have the staff to win it. The Captains offense was inconsistent for the majority of the year, but when that offense does hit, paired with the pitching staff of CNU, I honestly think they are one of the Top 5-10 teams in the country.

Yes, rolln, you are correct. CNU is out of weeks, so they could not schedule another game if they'd like to.

Yes, it is nice to see people just disagree, without it getting 'ugly.'

I believe part of what helped BC have a higher SOS is their conference. The USAS was relatively down this year, with only 3 teams having a winning % over .500. CNU, Averett (24-16), and Methodist (24-20). Whereas the ODAC had 7 teams with a winning % over .500 (BC, R-MC, SU, W&L, Guilford, Lynchburg, H-SC). I'm just making a general statement with that, not trying to continue the debate or prove any point. It generally seems like the ODAC was much stronger than the USAS this year.

CNU can potentially get into regionals without making a trip to AL to play Huntingdon. Also, Huntingdon would never in there right mind meet CNU at a neutral field. What do they have to gain by doing so? Nothing. Piedmont does have a very nice field though.

It's not like Bridgewater has a schedule loaded with tough out of conference opposition either (see Messiah, Juniata, Ferrum, etc.). BC's SOS comes in an 143, while CNU's comes in at 182.

BC's rankings in the new regional rankings, as well as national rankings, do not include their 10th and 11th loss of the season (double dipped by R-MC in ODAC Title Game).

I'm by no means trying to 'hate' on BC. They had a wonderful season. Heck, I live 20 minutes from their field. I simply wanted to point out that writing off CNU as an at large bid, and stating they are 'not deserving', is false.