If you look at every team that made it to the nac tour. you can probably find a handful of games that could have been turned into wins with a few more good bounces or timely hits or dare i say umpires bad calls(no they never make bad calls)
In all the talk and blogs it seems con/chi was the team that should have gotten consideration for the ncaa's.but remeber they entered the nac tour. as a 4 seed. and did lose 2 of 3 to Rockford.
How bout some props for Rockford They have finished first or tied for first in the last 2 regular conference games and have won the nac tour.both years.
They won 56 games over the last 2 years, two con. titles and no ncaa bids due to the loss of the AQ.
It a shame that the 6 seniors who have made great contributions over the last 2 seasons never had the chance in the ncaa.s
Here to looking forward to next season when there really be something at stake in the nac tour. in 09

Rockfor beats Concordia-chi
10-8
Rockford takes a 8-1 lead and holds off concordia's comeback
Concordia lines out into double play with tying runs on in bottom of 9th
Concordia awaits winner of ben- Marian game tonight
Rockford awaits whoever emerges

Quote from: goldengear on May 05, 2008, 01:49:08 PM
copy of my post on the national board about Pool B contenders

Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 05, 2008, 11:16:29 AM

Quote from: BRONKO7 on May 05, 2008, 10:34:46 AM
Not a good weekend for some of the Pool B's good for others:

Good:
Conc (ILL)--Beat MSOE once
St. Scholastica sweeps DH vs Bethany Luth.

Bad:
Rockford--Loses 2 against Benedictine & 1 to U of Chicago
                Beats up on Carthage          Really hurts Carthage in Pool C
Ithaca--Loss @ Oneonta                 Probably can afford the losses
             Loss vs PS-Behrend
             Win vs York (Pa)

Ugly:
St. Johns Fischer--Loses 4 in a row to RIT (ouch)
Juniata--Split with U of Scranton     also ugly
              Loss vs Catholic

Salisbury, Chapman, Piedmont: No Worries they're in...
Emory is playing the waiting game.

Great assessment!  +1 

Before you classify Conc-Il as having a "good" week, you will need to take into account while they did beat MSOE , they also lost to them, and MSOE is not a good team to say the least.

My guess is that there will be one contender for Pool B/C to come out of the Nathcon, that would be whomever wins the post season tourney, Rockford and Benendictine are co regular season champions, If either of them or Conc-Chi wins out in the tourney that will be their contender, Rockford and Conc-Chi would be the strongest contender if they win but they would basically eliminate themselves if they do not. I don't see Marian going even if they win, if Benedictine wins they will have a shot but perhaps less so than Rock or Conc-Chi.

Whether that contender makes the cut or not is open to debate, I would tend to think that they will make it, due to 1.) the winner will be pretty much equal with other contenders in the applicable criteria, 2.) the down year of Washington Univ in St. Louis leaves an extra spot in the Central Region (yes I know they can move teams from region to region but there does seem to be a slight reluctance to do so and that may favor a Nathcon team) 3.) I think the ncaa will find it hard to let a 12 school member conference get shut out two years in a row, especially as it would be a close call, last year champions was right there but did not make it, to have another champion with solid enough credentials get shut out would probably cause a problem on some level, there has already been some uproar about another sport.

That all being said, Nathcon does alot of things that don't quite make sense, they could have organized their conference in such a way as to not have to wait 2 years for the AQ from what I've been told (it is basically the merger of a couple conferences, which I believe had AQs). Also the typical weekend sees teams playing a minimum of 36 conference innings, 9 inning double headers saturday and sunday, then throw in some inevitable rainouts and you end up playing 54, 72, or 90 conference innings a week then try to beat some of the non conference regional opponents on your off day. What do you need a 20 man pitching staff to do that? In comparison the CCIW plays 2-9's and 1-7 a week, much easy on the staffs and their teams ability to win non conference games. Then you move on to the upcoming tourney, they squeeze a 4 team double elimination into two days, Friday you have 1-4 and 2-3, then wg1-wg2, then lg1-lg2, then Saturday they make the 2 remaining teams play at 9 am, after playing 2 games the previous day and then the winner of that needs to beat the 2-0 team twice thereby winning 3 straight 9 inning games on a Saturday, who comes up with this stuff a bean counter?

I'll post this also on the Natcon board as most of it seems to be conference issues.

From what i understeand the merging of the old NIIC and Lake michigan conferences lost the AQ because of the name change of the conference which meant they had to have a new set of bylaws. It does not seem fair that the kids that have been Juniors and Seniors have had to go into the last 2 seasons with a smaller chance of making the tour.(ie no AQ)and it really put alot of pressure to try and win all their (conf and non conf.) games. it does appear that the schools from the NAC are not on the same equal playing field when it comes to non conf regional games.But after this year that will change.
As far as the9 inning conf. games it sure does take a toll on all the pitching staffs and because of this and all the rain makeup rescheduling results in some unforseen upsets with the top tier and bottom tier teams.
If you look at all the teams that either made the conf. tour. or near the top they all  had at least 1or maybe more losses to some of the bottom four teams that really effected the standings and their possible ranking in the region.
The sceduling of reg conf. games and makeup of the tour is a little unusual but most of the players i have come in contact with just want to play as much as possible so they probably don't take into account the format or total innings they need to play.
Good luck to the four schools playing this weekend in Rockford. If you can make time Riverhawks Stadium is great place to watch a game.

conference website

www.northernathleticsconf.com/sports/baseball

my spelling mistake on previous post
all thumbs today

Quote from: WLCALUM83 on May 05, 2008, 06:30:39 AM
NAthCon Post-Season Tournament Teams Are:

Benedictine, Rockford, Marian and Concordia-Chicago. (Apparently Aurora lost out on tiebreakers.)

Opening matchups:  Ben/Rockford and CUC/Marian.

Seeds for nac tourn.
1 Benedictine
2 Rockford
3 Marian
4 Con.-Chi

per conference website
www.northernathletisconf.com/sports/baseball/

Wisconsin Lutheran.. 020 000 400 000 02 -  8  9  1
Rockford College.... 400 002 000 000 00 -  6 14  4
--------------------------------------------------

E - Pollesch; Magnuson; Cartmill; Mohr 2. DP - WLCBB 3; RC 1. LOB - WLCBB
12; RC 12. 2B - Glasel, C.; Pollesch 2. 3B - Russell. HR - Ferrell. HBP -
Barkhurst 2. SH - Glasel, S.; Wiest. SF - Russell. SB - Pollesch; Clay;
Brockman 2. CS - Barkhurst.

Wisconsin Lutheran     IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
Lemke...............        12.0 14  6  5  6  6 46 54  206
Hutsen..............            2.0  0  0  0  0  1  6  6   26


Does a coach have the best interest of his players when he lets a pitcher go 12 innings and throw 206 pitches on a night when the temps were in the low 40's?

final tonight
IWU 15
Rockford 1

Rockford took another hit tonight
final
Ill.Wes 15 Rockford 1
they have lost 3 of last 5
not the direction you want to be going if you want to stake a claim on a post season bid

Who will the 4 teams for the conference tournament be
Standings as of 4/23

Rockford         15-1(19-10)
Edgewood      7-3  (18-9)
Benedictine    10-4 (17-13)
Aurora            11-5 (19-12)
Con-Wi.          11-5 (18-10)
Marian             9-3 (13-13)
Con-Chi           10-6(23-8)

Does anyone have a chance at a NCAA bid or will the conference be shut out again this year?

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 13, 2007, 07:28:38 PM
Central Region:

Pool A's- Carthage, Luther, Webster
Pool B- Washington University, (Rockford? )
Pool C- Illinois Wesleyan, (Wartburg?, Augustana?, another region's team?)

One has to think that Luther will be #1, Wash U #2?, and Carthage and IWU #s 3 and 4 or #s 4 and 3 (don't want Ypsi to jump on me).

Webster will be a #5/6 seed and that leaves one or two spots open for Rockford(doubtful), Augie(third in CCIW season, second in CCIW tourney) and Wartburg IIAC season #1 and tourney #2)... or does one of them get in, but shipped somewhere else (possibly to the West Region)? This is a very interesting region.

Although i respect your opinion and knowlesge when it comes to CCIW teams it would be nice to acknowledge that there are some other conferences that also play pretty well.
For you to suggest Rockford is doubtful but Augie and Wartburg you list their credentials seems like you don't seem to show much respect for them or the teams from the NATHcon.
As some one who has seen all of these 3 teams play in person I believe Rockford is just as worthy or maybe even more so . I watched Wartburg in Arizona  as they split with Aurora( the team that you said would walk thru the Nathcon but actually finished 8TH).
I witnessed Rockford play throughout the season (including a 9-4 win over Augustana)
It's not for me to say if Rockford is more deserving than the other 2m  as my view is slanted towards them, but if you really believe the 3rd place team in the CCIW is beter than a team that won both their reg.season and conference tour., i would say put down the CCIW kool aid.
I hope the people selecting the NCAA teams don't dismiss Rockford as easily as you seem to.

In the Nathcon tour. today
Concordia/Chi. sends home Edgewood 7-2 with a 5 run 9th to break the 2-2-tie highlighted by a grand slam(Brandon Isaac)Leyhane goes the distance for the win

Rockford earns the first Nathcon tour. title with a 10-6 win over Concordia/ Chi.Krull get the win goin 7IP. Rockford breaks the game wide open with a 10 run first inning that Concordia never recovers from.
Rockford finishes up 29-12 and awaits word of a possible Pool C bid

Just wondering if Rockford is goin to .get a central ranking or consideration for a NCAA bid .Seem like alot of schools get mentioned for a bid but never Rockford, Why?
Inregion record 28-8
overall 29-12
won Nathcon reg. season
won Nathcon tour.
split with #21 Pomona -Pitzer
Beat Augustana who always gets mentioned as a candidate
2-2 against regionally rankeds teams

I know they have not been up there year in and year out like some programs but lets judge teams on what they do this year as roster and coaching changes can cause a team to drop a little or improve quickly from year to year.

For those unable to attend the tournament, the NAC will provide on-line links for real-time audio coverage and statistics.  For the live internet audio feed, visit http://www.edgewoodcollegeeagles.com/nacbaseball/audio.asp.  For live, up-to-the-minute statistics, visit http://www.edgewoodcollegeeagles.com/nacbaseball/stats.asp.

For those unable to attend the tournament, the NAC will provide on-line links for real-time audio coverage and statistics.  For the live internet audio feed, visit http://www.edgewoodcollegeeagles.com/nacbaseball/audio.asp.  For live, up-to-the-minute statistics, visit http://www.edgewoodcollegeeagles.com/nacbaseball/stats.asp.

Scores from the Nathcon tour.
Rockford 7 Marian 0(gomez goes the distance for the win ,13 k's)
Concordia 3 Edgewood 2(Hantel goes8.2 for the win)
Rockford 7 Concordia 5( Findlay 8ip for the win)
Edgewood 11 Marian 2 ( Marlowe goes the distance for the win, Marian Eliminated)

Schedule for Sat
Edgewood vs Concordia
Rockford vs Edgewood/Concordia winner
Rockford vs. Edgewood/ Concordia winner (if necessary)