Quote from: Gregory Sager on May 16, 2006, 05:16:27 AM

Quote from: diehardfan on May 15, 2006, 08:35:54 PM

I'd be shocked if any of the new players that Luke Johnson brought in this past year cited the baseball field as one of the reasons why they chose to attend NPU.

As I've said before in a post, being a former CCIW lefty, a solid NPU squad would have made the Holmgren Field a nice place to hit for four years.

Quote from: mr_b on May 16, 2006, 08:18:59 PM
The CCIW All-Conference teams have been announced:

Congratulations to North Park Head Coach Luke Johnson for being named "Coach of the Year."  He is very deserving of the accolades, not only for the improvement of this year's Viking squad, but also for his tireless work in preparing the players in every facet of the game.

Carthage's Scott Evosevich and Augustana's Andrew Setter were named co-pitchers of the year -- both outstanding choices -- and Elmhurst's Anthony Contaldo was player of the year.

Again congrats to all.  Great to see Contaldo bring some attention to the Jays this year, along with EC alum Johnson. 
Setter, who I believe is from Rockford, helps to prove that some pretty decent players come from the NIC-9, which I believe is an under-recruited conference.

Quote from: 79jaybird on May 12, 2006, 01:37:44 PM
Does anybody know why Clark Jones is stepping down at Elmhurst?  I played for Clark Jones and would like to find out why he's leaving.   

Rumor on the street is that he was asked to resign in lieu of being canned.  That's why he is leaving, as far as I have heard.  As to the reasons for that, well, the terms of use for this board prevent going too far here.  Does pulling the seniors on senior day sound right to anyone?

Sorry to all of the Carthage, IWU, and AU fans, but it sure would be neat to see NPU pull an upset in the Tournament.  Everybody loves an underdog. 

Quote from: TitanRailer on May 02, 2006, 04:28:27 PM
I must agree with Poppa, every time there is a post from an Elmhurst fan or about Elmhurst, it usally (1) is funny, and (2) mentions personal feelings towards the coach. 

First of all, I hope I don't get lumped together with all the other Bluejay Backers on the board.  Secondly, I really hope that Bluejay Fan isn't Jones coming back to heap more shame upon the Jays.  Finally, as an Elmhurst fan, I must disagree with the Bluejay Fan.  I doubt they will crawl into the Tourney next year because that would require 1) a new coach AND 2) a significant influx of new talent.  Even if a new cheese is brought in, its tough to bring in the recruits needed to compete in the CCIW while going through a coaching change. 

Alternatively, other teams seem to look for some reason to explain the loss.  "Their pitcher threw a gem, the wind hurt us, bad call, we've been in a slump, the hits just weren't falling, etc." 

Boredom and bourbon put me in a little nostalgic mood.  I was giving some thought to the differences I've seen between the bad, good, and great teams I've seen.  I think that the one thing the great teams I've seen have in common is that they look for an excuse to win.  The atmosphere of the team is that they are waiting for something to happen to pull them ahead, whether it is an error, hit, bad call, walk, or whatever.  They also look for an reason not to let other teams take advantage of these moments.

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 01, 2006, 09:19:15 PM
Looks like a very disappointing year for Elmhurst. I know they expected better than this.

Hopefully all of you can forgive the bulk of us Bluejay fans for the somewhat naive optimism, or personal economic bias, of a few in earlier posts.  There are better days ahead (seven other spots in the standings)

Quote from: Bluejay Blue on April 30, 2006, 09:42:47 AM
Hard times at Elmhurst this year. Next year promises to be different.

The Jays fall to NCC 8-6 in the battle for the bottom spot.  With IWU next weekend it looks like a 5-16 finish.  Let the applications start rolling in.

Quote from: cokeaholic on April 25, 2006, 03:41:47 PM
The left field fence at npu is much different than last year, but right field remains the same.  Last year left field was way out there and im pretty sure there werent any homers hit out to left over the fence.  This year is a different story where the retractable fence was brought in to a much closer distance, and there have been a few go out to left.  Unfortunatly right field is short to where almost routine fly balls have carried into the first row for a homerun.

Last season Matt Jackson of Elmhurst hit the upper right hand side of the building.  The wind was blowing, but an impressive shot nonetheless.

The Bluejays beat Aurora 8-6 last week.  The good Lord only knows how...

That aside, I think that NPU, with Johnson (and I heard Brad Groth) coaching, can definately make a little noise in the conference in the next couple years.  The dimensions of that park give them to huge draw to bring in good hitters, especially lefties.  The only problem would be to get somebody to decide they want to pitch there.

Quote from: mwunder on April 20, 2006, 10:23:33 AM
Name the only team in the UAA that is undefeated in 3 games versus CCIW competition this season.

University of Chicago-- though they have Carthage coming up and Elmhurst, who has beaten Chicago soundly in their last three meetings.

Quote from: BigPoppa on April 17, 2006, 04:52:15 PM
Cooler... which coaches left the program?

Everyone but Jones...
Earl Hansen, assistant pitching coach
Mike Palmer, Pitching and strength coach
Denny Niezgoda, Infielders
Joe Niezgoda, OF and hitting
All great coaches, Joe especially.

Quote from: Captain Morgan on April 17, 2006, 01:24:04 AM

Quote from: Baseball Fan on March 27, 2006, 01:51:08 AM
\ I know with coach Jones in the driver seat, he will take his ball club deep into the post season this year.

My how things have changed in only a few weeks.

I doubt that a 2-10 CCIW record is putting Elmhurst in a position to even make the post-season, let alone make a deep run into it.
Has anyone heard about rumblings at Elmhurst?

Elmhurst likely wont even sneak out of the cellar this season-- with injuries and the loss of many good assistant coaches, they probably wont do any better.  In '04 they had the most talented team in the CCIW go 0-2 barbeque in the tournament. 
We probably wont hear anything from inside the team, as the team has now probably gotten told not to spend any time on discussion boards. (See "The Dirty Dozen Incident")

Quote from: Captain Morgan on April 14, 2006, 10:37:58 PM

Quote from: augie_superfan on April 14, 2006, 10:06:13 PM
Millikin won 13-9 and 6-0 over Elmhurst

And let the coaching interviews begin at Elmhurst.

It's about time...