BB: NWC: Northwest Conference

[Bearcat Press]

Ugh....

Bearcat Press...back from the dead.  Good to see you're still kicking around, congrats on the series win.

Haha, thanks.  Definitely still kicking around, just with a lot less time to post nowadays.  Willamette football and basketball have been pretty rough the last few years, so a series win over Linfield (for the first time since 2003!) was definitely a nice way to start the NWC baseball season.  Hoping for a competitive conference race this year!

[wildcat11]

Ugh....

Bearcat Press...back from the dead.  Good to see you're still kicking around, congrats on the series win.

Haha, thanks.  Definitely still kicking around, just with a lot less time to post nowadays.  Willamette football and basketball have been pretty rough the last few years, so a series win over Linfield (for the first time since 2003!) was definitely a nice way to start the NWC baseball season.  Hoping for a competitive conference race this year!

Yeah, the talent level has eroded at Willamette in FB and BSK over the past few years. Curious to see what impact a new AD will bring to Salem.

[wildcat11]

Good sweep for the 'Cats (they needed it).  But what in the blue blazes happened to George Fox this year? Talk about falling off a cliff.  Not a good way to break in their new turf field either.

Bearcats continue to play good ball with another series win over Pacific. Blues over Rats in the first two games before game 3 was postponed. And the Lutes were able to ease their way into NWC play this year with UPS and L&C.

Big series at Linfield next week between the 'Cats and Lutes!

[Jack Parkman]

Good sweep for the 'Cats (they needed it).  But what in the blue blazes happened to George Fox this year? Talk about falling off a cliff.  Not a good way to break in their new turf field either.

Bearcats continue to play good ball with another series win over Pacific. Blues over Rats in the first two games before game 3 was postponed. And the Lutes were able to ease their way into NWC play this year with UPS and L&C.

Big series at Linfield next week between the 'Cats and Lutes!

Including a no-hitter by Eric Ma who is a freshman carrying a 3-0 record and .86 ERA.  Pretty amazing to see him do that to a great hitting team in Whitworth.

[Bearcat Press]

Another series win for Willamette against a team picked ahead of them in the preseason poll, and under tough circumstances too -- John Lewis Field was unplayable, so the Bearcats had to play their first "home" series of the year at two separate locations over 25 miles away from campus (Santiam Christian High School and Linfield).

Big, big test coming up this weekend at Whitworth.  Willamette played the Bucs in a nonconference game at Wilsonville High School earlier this month and got pounded 15-4.

[wildcat11]

'Cat drop the series to the Lutes. 

Willamette continues to roll. Whitworth is 0-5 in conference play?

Lots of baseball still to play but PLU/Willamette are the early leaders in the clubhouse.

[Bearcat Press]

I checked the live stats on the second game of the Willamette/Whitworth doubleheader on Saturday, saw the Pirates leading 8-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth, and figured that a split was a good result against the preseason favorite.  What a crazy game!

I'm not sure if the weather is going to cooperate, but if it does, it'll be really interesting to see how this very young Bearcats team plays as favorites at home against a sneaky-good Whitman squad that has the NWC's second-best team ERA.

[Whatagame]

Bearcat, I think next weekend's series is super important for Whitman.  They can't be dismissed right now as a non-contender for a seat at the NWC tournament, but a poor weekend at Salem will be a problem.  It looks like Whitman has a solid set of weekend starting pitchers.  The team may lack some of the offensive firepower and pitching velocity of the '14 team, but more overall depth, which combined with a NWC that seems down in terms of talent (no Haddeland, Scheibe, Lubking, Wilson, Pfeffer etc.-type guys or juggernaut teams) I think kind of throws it wide open. 

[Jim Dixon]

The biggest surprise this season for me is Whitworth starting 0-5 in conference. 

[Bearcat Press]

I'm not sure how they're doing it, but these Bearcats just keep winning.  One walk-off would have been special, but back-to-back walk offs to win a key NWC series was unreal.  Whitman's pitching staff is no joke, and if the Blues' offense can just put together 3-4 runs per game, that might be enough to get them into the NWC tournament.

Willamette heads down to SCIAC country this week for four games against CMS, CLU, and Oxy. I think the biggest NWC series of the weekend will be PLU making the trip over the mountains to Whitworth.  George Fox has struggled, but I still think it was a big deal for the Pirates to get a road sweep last weekend.  If they can take 2 or 3 from the Lutes, they're right back in the race.

[wildcat11]

I'm not sure how they're doing it, but these Bearcats just keep winning.  One walk-off would have been special, but back-to-back walk offs to win a key NWC series was unreal.  Whitman's pitching staff is no joke, and if the Blues' offense can just put together 3-4 runs per game, that might be enough to get them into the NWC tournament.

Willamette heads down to SCIAC country this week for four games against CMS, CLU, and Oxy. I think the biggest NWC series of the weekend will be PLU making the trip over the mountains to Whitworth.  George Fox has struggled, but I still think it was a big deal for the Pirates to get a road sweep last weekend.  If they can take 2 or 3 from the Lutes, they're right back in the race.

Some teams, some years, just find a way to win baseball games and it looks like this Willamette team is one of those. 

I don't know if Linfield and UPS will ever find a way to finish their series but the 'Cats need to get that sweep this weekend of L&C to stay right in the middle of it.  Feels like the NWC standings could take wild swings over the 2nd half of NWC play.

[Jack Parkman]

I'm not sure how they're doing it, but these Bearcats just keep winning.  One walk-off would have been special, but back-to-back walk offs to win a key NWC series was unreal.  Whitman's pitching staff is no joke, and if the Blues' offense can just put together 3-4 runs per game, that might be enough to get them into the NWC tournament.

Willamette heads down to SCIAC country this week for four games against CMS, CLU, and Oxy. I think the biggest NWC series of the weekend will be PLU making the trip over the mountains to Whitworth.  George Fox has struggled, but I still think it was a big deal for the Pirates to get a road sweep last weekend.  If they can take 2 or 3 from the Lutes, they're right back in the race.

Couple of tough losses for Willamette down in CA last weekend.  Could have very easily been a 4-0 weekend.

What is going on with Whitworth?  Did they over-perform last year or are they under-performing this year?  Correct me if I am wrong but it's pretty much the same squad?  The hole they have dud themselves is deep and getting deeper.

[D O.C.]

DO.C. gets a home game against Chapman nearby the house today.
On my way.
Will try not to be obnoxious from the stands.

[Bearcat Press]

I thought Willamette's pitching was exposed by George Fox last weekend, so of course they responded with a really impressive three-game sweep of #17 PLU -- including winning game three on a walk-off balk in the 10th inning.  This was the first series that Willamette has played at John Lewis Field all season.

It's become pretty clear this year that anybody in the NWC can lose to anybody else on any given day, which makes the title race between Willamette (13-5), PLU (15-6), and Linfield (12-5) even more exciting.  The Bearcats have UPS (away) and L&C (home), PLU has George Fox (home), and Linfield has Whitworth (home) and Whitman (away).  And Willamette owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over both PLU and Linfield.

[D O.C.]

BCP....will NEVER be able to see the Lewis name on anything without jumping to 1968 rubber match basketball game at LINFIELD's homer gym.

We may have educated you on these pages before, but let me explain again.
Lewis was the engine behind a move to have LINFIELD forfeit the 1967 football season, take away 2 wrestlers first place league finish, all teams become ineligible for post season NAIA activity.

SUPPOSEDLY, there was a fellow who was going to go to Willamette but jumped to LINFIELD where he played JV football. Lewis accused LINFIELD of meddling with student aid.

When he walked into the LINFIELD gym towards finding a seat, hundreds of students began chanting, "Lewis! Lewis! Why'd you screw us!?"over and over.
He never sat. He turned heel and left.