New York Region 2018

[sjfcards]

First rankings are out...

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d3/regional-rankings

NEW YORK   
1   St. John Fisher   
2   SUNY Cortland   
3   Oswego State   
4   Stevens Institute of Technology   
5   Union (New York)   
6   Ithaca   
7   New York University   
8   St. Joseph's (Long Island)   
9   Farmingdale State   

Based on SOS, no surprise that St. John Fisher is ahead of Cortland. Red Dragons didn't help themselves either by dropping back-to-back games to New Paltz and Hamilton. Cortland SOS will get a bump this weekend with games against Oswego.

I'm a little surprised Ithaca is over NYU however again, SOS and OWP & OOWP likely playing a big role.

I was surprised to see Fisher over Cortland, as Cortland had the 20 game win streak and does (and should) typically get the benefit of the doubt. SOS must really be helping Fisher. A couple of big weekends left for the E8. Cortland wrapped up the SUNYAC regular season title today. Should be a fun couple of weeks.

[airball55]

Check out Hero Sports Sjfcards.  They do a nice job of ranking teams there by all available analysis.  It's a solid poll.  Fisher was 18th in the country in that one..Cortland was 10 (they can pitch) and Oswego was down the list which currently makes sense...but they were still there. 

[Jim Dixon]

Check out Hero Sports Sjfcards.  They do a nice job of ranking teams there by all available analysis.  It's a solid poll.  Fisher was 18th in the country in that one..Cortland was 10 (they can pitch) and Oswego was down the list which currently makes sense...but they were still there.

The SOS is what the NCAA uses:

http://www.d3baseball.com/seasons/2018/schedule?tmpl=sos-template

[airball55]

Aware of that jim. I just thought this was a cool site that did good work. Nice to see attention like this put into d3 ball.

[OldBallsHenry]

What methodology does Hero Sports use?

[John McGraw]

After yesterday's games, this is how I see it stacking up.

1. Cortland
2. St John Fisher
3. Oswego
4. Stevens
5. Ithaca
6. Union
7. Farmingdale
8. NYU
9. St Joseph's (LI)

St John Fisher can help itself with games upcoming against RIT, Stevens and Keystone (DH) before the Empire 8 tournament. I have said it before but I really like Brandon Potter's aggressive scheduling. One takeaway I have for the Cardinals from yesterday is that Scott Eisenmenger did not play. He was hit by a pitch in the series finale against Houghton in his first at bat and was out the rest of the game. Fisher still scored 12 runs without him but they'll need him healthy going forward. Huge loss if he is out for any length of time.

Oswego, like St John Fisher, has a very good SOS and OWP. The Lakers resume is solid with early season wins over now regionally ranked Va. Wesleyan, Southern Maine and Wartburg.  And you can add in yesterday's victory against a regionally ranked SJFC. A strong showing in the SUNYAC tournament should round out Oswego's resume nicely.

Cortland helped itself immensely with two wins at Oswego this last week. Red Dragons now host the conference tournament at home where they are 16-0 this spring; conversely 8-5 in true road games and 6-3 at a neutral site. As the committee however showed, SOS and OWP are extremely important and the numbers still are a little sluggish. In terms of wins against non NY regionally ranked teams, Cortland won twice at Salisbury to start the year and also has a win over Rutgers-Camden.  Cortland will get a boost if it gets another game or two against Oswego. However, if the Red Dragons fail to win the conference tournament, they could be in trouble depending on how St. John Fisher and/or Stevens does.

Stevens keeps chugging along and the Ducks outlasted Scranton last night under the lights. The Ducks travel to Fisher on Friday for a rain out make up and added a conference tournament tune-up with NYU for Monday. Stevens 8-1 in its last nine. Overall resume for Stevens is OK with the SOS a solid 114. The Ducks have non-NY region wins over Hopkins and Misericordia. Stevens sets up nicely and more games against St John Fisher will only help build SOS. They'll also have a tough match-up in their tournament opener next week against Houghton's ace.

[airball55]

This seems about right.  Conference tournaments are interesting this year.  Still not quite sure what to think of Union. 

[John McGraw]

New rankings out yesterday. No surprises.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d3/regional-rankings

1   SUNY Cortland      
2   St. John Fisher      
3   Oswego State      
4   Stevens Institute of Technology
5   Ithaca      
6   Union (New York)      
7   Farmingdale State      
8   St. Joseph's (Long Island)   
9   New York University      

Cortland vs Oswego (SUNYAC tournament) and St John Fisher vs Stevens (rain make up) today weather permitting. Potentially another Cortland vs Oswego game later this weekend if both advance to the championship round of the SUNYAC tournament.

Farmingdale and St. Joseph's (LI) both are in the Skyline tournament today.

The Liberty League concludes its regular season schedule this weekend with rivalry match-ups. Each series will have a playoff impact in terms of the conference tournament -- RPI vs Union, Rochester vs RIT, Bard vs Vassar, St Lawrence vs Clarkson

[John McGraw]

New York Region - Pool A Auto Bids

Empire 8 - TBD (Stevens, St John Fisher, Ithaca, Houghton)
Liberty League - (Rochester, Union, Vassar, RIT, RPI)
Skyline - St. Joseph's (Long Island)
SUNYAC - Oswego State

Possible Pool C At-Large Bids

SUNY Cortland
Stevens/St John Fisher/Ithaca

[airball55]

Cortland should be safe but that god awful SOS...ouch.  I really believe that hurt them in regards to the tournament because Oswego is a whole different world from Elmira, Wells, Canton etc...

Ithaca has no shot for a Pool C.  Record isn't good enough and the wins they picked up this week were against teams that hurt their profile.

I think Fisher still has a shot, they did beat a very good Keystone team (split) and although Stevens swept them, the SOS again comes into play.  26-14 for Fisher is on the edge.  They need to make the championship game in my opinion but of course it comes down form holding elsewhere. 

[John McGraw]

Cortland's SOS is up to 132. OWP is a little worse, 156, but not horrid. The SOS number made a big jump in the last two weeks with five games against Oswego. The Red Dragons can further bolster their SOS by adding a game or two this week if they want to and it is logistically possible though it's late and also finals time in the Northeast at a lot of schools. However, as I said on Twitter, Cortland likely has done enough to get into the NCAA tournament as an at-large. Their biggest issues will be pitching depth as we saw in SUNYACs and hitting the ace or frontline starters of other teams.

Both Oswego and Fisher are in the top 40 in SOS though Fisher nearly had a disastrous week. A 12-run eighth against Keystone in the night cap of Saturday's twin bill provided a good win over a regionally ranked team and a top 100 SOS school.

Ithaca's SOS is rough but being ranked 5th in the region still merits an outside shot albeit a long one. Playing at least St. John Fisher next weekend and possibly Stevens will help. IMO Ithaca has to get to the championship round of Empire 8 tournament though to realistically be in the conversation.

Fisher likely is in the NCAA tournament regardless and Stevens, depending on what happens this weekend, may have a solid case.

[airball55]

This...I cannot argue with LOL.  What are your thoughts on Union?

[John McGraw]

This...I cannot argue with LOL.  What are your thoughts on Union?

Not great after this past week but I still think they're a regionally ranked team. Hurt themselves by dropping games against both Trinity and Middlebury, neither of which made the NESCAC tournament field. Then, Union got swept by RPI on Saturday. Bounced back to grab second in the Liberty with a sweep on Sunday but I'm not sold on them. The record is really good overall though. I like Union's chances in the conference tournament though the conference is really tight so who knows what will happen in Rochester.

Union's SOS is 288, well below what ideally one should have. Compared to Ithaca, Union is about 100 spots lower. Looking at both Ithaca and Union, Ithaca has marquee wins over Redlands, Oswego, St. John Fisher and Stevens as well as a win over regionally ranked St. Josephs' (Long Island). Union has a win over UW Stevens Point. Both have some bad losses as well.

[John McGraw]

Last published regional rankings were released today by the NCAA. St. Joseph's (LI) and Oswego State have already clinched NCAA tournament automatic bids.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d3

   New York      
1.   SUNY Cortland   
2.   Oswego State   
3.   Stevens Institute of Technology   
4.   St. John Fisher   
5.   Ithaca   
6.   Union (New York)
7.   St. Joseph's (Long Island)   
8.   Farmingdale State   
9.   Merchant Marine   

[Bombers798891]

Huge win for the Bombers yesterday, battering the Cardinals 17-11. Ithaca staged a stunning rally, scoring 8 runs in the 7th inning, all with two outs.