Quote from: sjfcards on May 04, 2012, 06:21:30 AMNot surprised that Ithaca jumped into the rankings, but a big jump to leap frog at least three teams. Good for the E8.

Maybe better for the E8, but not better for Fisher. Personally, I think that the remainder of the E8 season should be no more important than any other in region games for the selection committee. All those teams have already played each other three times and Fisher and Ithaca six times. But if Fisher stumbles against Stevens and Ithaca sweeps Utica, watch the PR machine on South Hill ramp up to a fever pitch proclaiming that Ithaca is, once again, the E8 baseball champion, citing obscure historical wining percentages and consecutive championships. The May, 1 ABCA poll placed Fisher at #26 behind only Cortland (#4) in New York, but the D3baseball.com/NCBWA poll actually has Ithaca ahead of Fisher by a few points just outside the top 25. I'd never count Ithaca out.

Quote from: sjfcards on April 29, 2012, 06:38:28 PM
If both teams end up with the same record, how does that work for a league title. Do they just share it since there is no AQ to play for.

From the E8 site:

Quote8.1 Conference Champion

8.1.1
The conference champion will be determined using a point system:
      Win = 2 points
      Tie = 1 point
      Loss = 0 points

8.1.2 If two teams are tied with the most points, the champion will be determined by head-to-head competition. If the two teams split their games, the teams will be designated co-champions.

8.1.3
Each team is required to play all league games unless weather prohibits playing with a minimum of 14 games needed to be played to determine a conference champion, based on winning percentage. In the event of a postponement, league games are to be made up on the first available date after the originally scheduled contest.

That tiebreaker document is from 2008 so the reference to 14 games may not be valid anymore. But it looks like same league record, same record head-to-head means co-champions.

Fisher and Ithaca left nothing to chance this weekend. On Sunday, Utica had a good shot to gum up the works for Fisher as they jumped out to a 2 run lead in the continuation game but lost in the bottom half of the inning on a walk-off grand slam.

The upcoming last conference games still matter for the league championship.

It's a pretty good day for E8 baseball all around. Ithaca also beats Oneonta 6-4, visiting Utica takes two against Clarkson and yesterday, Stevens beat Lehman and ran its record against the CUNYAC to a perfect 12-0.

If I had D'Amato and Beaumont, I'd treat them like voting on election day -- early and often. I'd hate to look up at the end of the season and realize the I could have used them in a few more games. That's a simple-minded strategy, but you need to use them. They are certainly the best 1-2 in the E8. Earlier in the year, Fisher used D'Amato to beat Cortland and paid the price that weekend when Ithaca swept them. Did the trade pay off? With a win against Cortland and the later revenge-sweep of the second Ithaca weekend, I'd say, so far, yes.

I'd also trade a some strength in the upcoming Utica weekend for a better chance to beat Brockport. A win there completes a nice set of bookends, while an unlikely loss at Utica is more likely to be viewed as a lucky day for Utica than a chink in Fisher's armor.

With no AQ for the E8, is it more important to win the league or build a more impressive "national' record? Against Cortland, Fisher voted for the record. After last year's tournament snub, I can't say I blame them. Time to double down against Brockport.

In the interest of an E8 baseball season that means something right to the end, I hope Fisher can close the gap with Ithaca this weekend -- at least 2 of 3. That would make the remaining games with Stevens and Utica a bit more interesting.

If it wasn't aparent in my earlier post, I'm all in favor of the E8 throwing in with the CUNYAC to secure an automatic qualifier. Ralph's idea makes too much sense to me; there must be some political or procedural reason it can't happen.

But don't dispair E8 fans. Houghton brings the league back to five teams next year with it's shiny, new, second-season baseball team.

Quote from: sjfcards on April 20, 2012, 06:11:35 AM
Wow, I think that is a great idea. It would make life a lot easier for the E8 teams as they could build in some CUNYAC teams into a schedule packed with league games. The only issue I see is that the E8 only has 4 teams so Utica would get in without really earning it, but the idea has a lot to like. Somebody call someone and make this happen.

Anything for an AQ!

Stevens has already played every baseball team in the CUNYAC this year. Those games account for 11 of their 18 wins. If they beat Lehman next week, they will have run the table and will stand at 12-0 against that conference. I wouldn't be too concerned that Utica might get a playoff position they didn't earn under Ralph's modest proposal. Those guys deserve medals for playing 12 games against Ithaca and Fisher. They'd be a good team in the CUNYAC. I'd be more concerned about finding a scoreboard with enough blank spaces if Ithaca were to play Yeshiva.

Quote from: John McGraw on April 17, 2012, 05:09:38 PM
Well yes, but I can't imagine a conference with four teams will be able to sneak two teams into the tournament.

Conference? What conference?
The E8, at least for baseball, is more like a bizzaro anti-conference. What benefit do any of the four remaining teams derive from playing under that admnistrative umbrella? Ithaca and Fisher, two excellent NY teams, get to beat each other up six times this year. Utica burns nearly a third of their schedule playing those same two teams. Is that in Utica's best interest, or would they be better off facing some teams without NCAA aspirations? Fisher was slammed for a low SOS last year. Do they benefit from having to play so many games against Utica?

No AQ. No second-chance tournament. Stupid schedule. I think Fisher and Ithaca suffer enough as members of the E8 without having one of them dismissed because they happen to find themselves in the same lousy circumstances.

I guess the E8 baseball teams should be grateful that they have a "conference" schedule to play at all.

Quote from: John McGraw on April 17, 2012, 12:45:32 PM
No, just two Pool B bids nationally. It's likely going to be Ithaca or Fisher and not both.

If Ithaca got a Pool B bid and Fisher didn't, isn't Fisher still eligible for a Pool C at-large bid just like every other team who didn't win their conference AQ?

Fisher had to win 2 of 3 at Stevens just to match Ithaca. If they're going to reel in the Bombers, they really needed all three. Ithaca already has their three wins against Utica in the bank, but Fisher still has to finish a nine-inning tie. That new one inning game is more like a coin toss, and they need that one too. Ithaca gets to play their next three aganst Stevens at home where fly balls to right field aren't Hoboken home runs. They play Utica at home too. Unless Ithaca stumbles badly, Fisher will never catch them.

It's always fun to watch the Ithaca sports information guys beat their chests, especially since, at least for baseball, they've had to tuck their tails the last couple of years. I'm lookibng forward to more stories of games where the Bombers "manhandle," "rout," and "batter" their opponents. With a good effort today, maybe Fisher can get them to put the thesaurus back on the shelf.

As defending E8 champs and on the strength of their top two pitchers, Fisher may be the team to beat. I know this was just a single, cold, wet weekend series in a much longer season... but if the best Fisher can do without their top two pitchers is play a 1 and friggin' 16 team even in two consecutive 9 inning games, maybe the ammo box is not so full.

I agree with sjfcards, though. With only 4 teams in the league, the six games with Stevens and with Utica may tip the scales at the end of the year. I saw that Stevens split with Ithaca yesterday. Ithaca's Healey gave up two home runs in relief in the matchbox-size, POS field in Hoboken. Isn't there a real baseball field near Stevens?

The Utica games at St. John Fisher yesterday were nearly a replay of last year when, in the first game last year, Fisher's starter (#1 or #2 guy) had a career day and UC never threatened. In the second game last year, if my memory can be trusted, against a #3/4/5 pitcher, UC put up some runs and held on to win.

Against a team like UC, with a thin and inconsistent pitching staff, I'd want to play them 6 times in a weekend... and make'em 9 innings too. By the 4th game they'd have put the a trainer on the mound if they weren't too cheap to send one with the team.

Does anyone know what the weekend format for the E8 games is supposed to be? I'd assumed that with three games to play there would be a 7 inning double header and a single 9 inning game. Yesterday at Fisher the double header was 7 and then 9 (tough for UC as Fisher didn't tie the second game until the bottom of the ninth).

Without an AQ for the E8, Fisher always had a rough road to make the tournament. And yesterday's game is only one in a body of work that began in February.

The last few years Stevens played in the Skyline, their record in conference was 15-7, 13-5 and 13-5. Since joining the E8 they've never broken .500 in their conference record with 6-10, 5-7, 7-9 and 3-11. Obviously, teams change from year to year, but Skyline Stevens would certainly help your SOS. E8 Stevens, not so much.

SOS is far from perfect. Since it doesn't know the difference between winning records in weak leagues and winning records in strong leagues, SOS should be tempered with some human common sense.