BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

mwunder · March 20, 2025, 01:49:02 PM

Quote from: cubs on March 10, 2025, 11:39:22 AM
Quote from: BigPoppa on February 22, 2025, 12:56:20 PMCarthage opens their 2025 campaign at noon today vs Centre College in Kentucky, Augie Schmidt's 38th and final season. As usual, I'll be following every pitch as often as I can.

Last ride with The Chief. Let's Go, Boys!
Not sure if you saw this BP, but I definitely thought of you when your former teammate passed this onto me! (Yes, I know it's outdated, but for old guys like me I just saw it for the first time last week! )

https://www.instagram.com/dodgersnation/reel/C-3jJ-DyE2n/?hl=en

This might be the most awesome thing I've seen

Gregory Sager · March 30, 2025, 11:28:35 AM

The CCIW's collective ERA right now is 6.35. That's not an indication of the strength of opposing non-conference hitters, either, because after one weekend of CCIW play the league's collective ERA through nine games is 6.29.

The league's overall ERA is up around eight-tenths of a run over last season, and the CCIW-only ERA is up about a run and a half.

Either the recruitment of position players has improved, or it's getting harder and harder to find good pitching for this league.

mwunder · April 01, 2025, 04:56:11 PM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on March 30, 2025, 11:28:35 AMThe CCIW's collective ERA right now is 6.35. That's not an indication of the strength of opposing non-conference hitters, either, because after one weekend of CCIW play the league's collective ERA through nine games is 6.29.

The league's overall ERA is up around eight-tenths of a run over last season, and the CCIW-only ERA is up about a run and a half.

Either the recruitment of position players has improved, or it's getting harder and harder to find good pitching for this league.

Torpedo bats.

mwunder · April 14, 2025, 01:13:18 PM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on March 30, 2025, 11:28:35 AMThe CCIW's collective ERA right now is 6.35. That's not an indication of the strength of opposing non-conference hitters, either, because after one weekend of CCIW play the league's collective ERA through nine games is 6.29.

The league's overall ERA is up around eight-tenths of a run over last season, and the CCIW-only ERA is up about a run and a half.

Either the recruitment of position players has improved, or it's getting harder and harder to find good pitching for this league.

CCIW is 118-129 so far this season with only 3 teams over .500. What gives?? Lowest Team ERA is 4.97 and the highest is 7.97. Is pitching that bad nowadays?

mwunder · April 15, 2025, 03:00:31 PM

In my first installment of "Where are they now", I give you an update of Harrison Boushele, formerly of Augustana, who has transferred to D1 Houston to play out the remainder of his eligibility for the Cougars.

19 Boushele, Harrison 4.91 ERA 3.00 WHIP 0-0 6 appearances 3.2 IP 4H 4R 2ER 7BB 2K 15AB .267 Avg

BigPoppa · May 03, 2025, 10:15:17 AM

CCIW 1-seed comes down to a DH today. Carthage and IWU are tied at 14-4 in league play. IWU beat Carthage yesterday so Carthage needs to win both today to earn the top seed as a split would give IWU the nod by way of the 2-1 series win. DH at IWU today.

Top six seeds gets into the CCIW tourney with a huge logjam for the 4-5-6 seeds as all teams are still alive except Elmhurst. A fun two days of scoreboard watching ahead.

(My biased hope is that Carthage gets to host the tourney in Augie Schmidt's final season as the skipper of the Big Red Machine. CCIW is looking to likely be a one-bid league this season for NCAA Regionals)

mr_b · May 04, 2025, 10:13:14 AM

Quite a finish for the CCIW regular season: Illinois Wesleyan sweeps Carthage to take the regular-season title; Millikin sweeps Wheaton; North Central sweeps North Park to take second and bump Carthage to third (based on a tie breaker: NCC had a better record than Carthage against champs IWU); and Elmhurst wins the final game of the regular season, a 9-8 thriller over Augustana in 12 innings. With the game tied at 7-7 going into the bottom of the ninth, Augie's leadoff batter hit a triple but was left stranded there. Each team scored a run in the 10th, and in the 11th Augie once again left the winning run stranded on 3rd. Elmhurst scored the eventual winning run in the top of the 12th on a double, a wild pitch, and a passed ball. The Augie loss created a three-way tie with Augie, Wheaton, and North Park holding identical 8-12 conference records. Wheaton had the tie breaker over North Park (by winning 2 of 3 games), and North Park held the tie breaker over Augie due to their record against the eventual champs, IWU -- North Park went 2-0 against the Titans, while Augie was 1-1.

The single-elimination play-in games on Wednesday will feature #3 Carthage vs. #6 North Park and #4 Millikin vs. #5 Wheaton. The winners of those contests move into the double-elimination round with #1 IWU and #2 North Central. Here is a link to the tournament website.

markerickson · May 11, 2025, 12:02:20 PM

The semifinals and finals saw a total of 47 runs scored in 54 innings. Congratulations, #2 North Central.

mr_b · May 17, 2025, 11:02:08 AM

North Central goes 0-2 in the Case Western Regional, giving up double-digit runs in each game. The Cardinals dropped Friday's game to the host Spartans, 19-9, and then Saturday's elimination game against Centre, 13-5.

Gregory Sager · February 09, 2026, 04:04:41 PM

CCIW preseason poll is out:

1. North Central (6)	62
2. Illinois Wesleyan (2)	57
3. Millikin (1)	49
4. Augustana	39
5. North Park	34
6. Carthage	33
7. Wheaton	22
T8. Carroll	14
T8. Elmhurst	14

BigPoppa · February 15, 2026, 05:43:00 PM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on February 09, 2026, 04:04:41 PMCCIW preseason poll is out:

1. North Central (6) 62
2. Illinois Wesleyan (2) 57
3. Millikin (1) 49
4. Augustana 39
5. North Park 34
6. Carthage 33
7. Wheaton 22
T8. Carroll 14
T8. Elmhurst 14

Always looking forward to watching CCIW scores roll in.

BigPoppa · March 07, 2026, 10:39:55 PM

I do not hide my passion for Carthage Baseball...

BLOW IT UP!
BURN IT DOWN!

They aren't even competitive at this point. Sometimes the easy answer is not the right answer. Beyond disappointed right now.

Gregory Sager · Last Edit: **Today** at 02:57:44 PM by Gregory Sager

I haven't looked closely yet at the quality of opponents that various CCIW teams have played, but statistically it appears that Millikin and Augustana have really jumped out in front of the pack, correlating with their W-L records. Millikin is absolutely killing it on the mound, whereas seven of the nine teams seem to be constantly throwing batting practice to opposing hitters (Augie's 4.03 team ERA looks sparkling by comparison to those seven trailers ... and howzabout that Illinois Wesleyan team ERA of 13.02, with the Titans having already gone eleven games deep into the season?). Preseason favorite North Central is no exception, as the Cardinals pitching staff has been knocked around badly in all five of NCC's games to date, four of which have been losses.

North Park has really not looked good at all in any phase of the game until this past weekend, as the Vikings won all three in the Gorlok Invitational down in Sauget, beating #24 UW-La Crosse, Buena Vista, and host Webster. All three of those teams were in the tourney last season. It is obviously too early to write off the Vikings for 2026, although the bats below the top three in the NPU order really need to pick it up a bit.