this is a good point. but my question is this: isnt augies coach on the board who picks the at large bids?

2 years back, i waited up all night to see what team we would play in regionals. it was 1 o clock when it came out, and the #6 team in our region was Rhodes, which was, IMHO, very deserved. They were a great team with that big lefty (forgot his name) and some great bats. I went to sleep that night thinking they got a deserving at large entry. I woke up the next morning, and what do ya know, Augustana is the #6 team in the regional, setting it up for an extremely boring 3 cciw team regional. how does this happen? imagine the heartbreak for the rhodes players waking up in the morning to see you actually didnt make the playoffs. rough

I am sure this year will shake down as any other. Carthage or IWU wins the automatic bid, with most probably carthage winning the regular season crown. 2 at large bids with augie and iwu/carthage, then the auto bid from iwu/carthage.

If IWU can get Aronson back at full health anytime, they could make some serious noise with Froelich throwing the way he is. Two big time lefties in the playoffs with some deep relief could be interesting.

Augie always seems to make it, somehow?? In the past couple of years im not sure they deserved the at large, but they proved that they should have been there last year.

Carthage this year seems like their hitting is down a little, but there pitching as always is pretty good. I was watching game 3 at out beautiful field and carthages pitcher was hitting 89. Husing like numbers. Im sure Ruffie gets it up there pretty good too.

This year more than last the #1 seed is important in the CCIW tournament. With a week 4 seed the #1 seed can relax a little and lt augie and whoever battle it out. Last year was a different story with the shocking wheaton team. They, IMO, were just as good as Augie, if not better because of their strong pitching.

aronson hopes to throw a few against carthage. he was supposed to throw an inning against milikin, im not sure if he did or not.

joe is throwing game 2 today, with kirch going game 1. im not sure theyll get either in considering its 32 degrees and raining.

recruiting.

carthage gets good talent because there arent many dI baseball schools in wisconsin. augie would be a great coach to play for and he is highly respected

iwu gets good talent because they have a great educational reputation and martel sells that very well

with that said, iwu hasnt done anything in regionals in a long time. winning a conference doesnt amount to anything if you cant win in the post-season (imho). carthage made it to the world series 2 years back and augustana had an amazing run last year in regionals.

aronson is still hoping to be back for conference. while i am not positive, i would assume his aim start date would be for augie/carthage. i didnt check the schedule but we generally played them later on in conference so that should give him some extra time for rest.

well, maybe not 6. 5 though

I agree with you big poppa. I dont think any team will run away with it this year. I think it will be a 5 team if not a 6 team race. should be VERY fun to follow

serious inner turmoil? bibpoppa if you dont mind me asking, what is the serious inner turmoil? The team gets along amazingly. They are all very good friends and all really love the game of baseball. I think not liking a coach or agree with a coaching style does not merit 'serious inner turmoil'. If it does, then Wesleyan has had serious inner turmoil for the past four years (i can only speak of when i was playing) and they seem to have done pretty well winning two conference championships in a row and goign 20-1 in conference 2 years ago.

and general public, get your facts straight before opening your mouth. baseball has been my passion since i was in diapers, and will always be my passion. if you only knew the pain i have been in. dont talk unless you know what youre talking about

Aronson is not transferring anywhere next year. He will be at Wesleyan again

well that was no fun. kudos acvikings, kudos

are we even certain these are IWU players?  could it be others, writing just to get a reaction out of you?

ouch. that stings.

anyway, lets all just settle down. what is everyones predictions for this weeks play?

Carthage @ IWU (IWU wins series)
Wheaton @ Elmhurst (Wheaton wins series)
Augustana @ Millikin (Augie wins series)
North Park @ NCC (NPU wins series)

yes, next time think a LITTLE before you type bball. regardless, good job out there and it should be an interesting final few weeks in cciw play.

Final from Chicago:

Iwu vs NPU

2-1
5-1

Two more strong pitching performances today from IWU pitching dropping their conference era (1 earned). NPU played well and got a strong pitching performance from Di Cristina (7 ip 1 er) but couldnt come up with the victory. Should be a good game tomorrow