Quote from: ILLhoops1 on May 17, 2011, 02:36:59 PM
I think it is fair to say that Pudge would throw out 100% of DIII runners. Remember, Pudge also throws 95+ to second.

This is extreme hyperbole.  Even major league catchers struggle to get into the 1.90 and below pop time range.  You steal on pitchers just as much, if not more, than catchers.  But even then, Pudge is not going to throw out everyone that runs on him in DIII.  There are a lot of kids out there that are running sub 4.6 forty meter times.  Those kids can run on anyone, at any level, if they are good base runners.

My guess is that IWU gets stolen bases attempted on them more is because their pitchers don't pay a ton of attention to the running game knowing that they have a good kid behind the plate to back them up.  

I wasn't trying to be inflamatory with my post, I just figured it was an oversight. 

Either way, the main point for me, that while not having a stable of flame-throwing arms, Coe has a good enough staff to have an .846 winning percentage against the kinds of teams they are going to face in this regional. 

Quote from: BigPoppa on May 16, 2011, 02:31:41 PM

Quote from: TheSportsFan on May 16, 2011, 02:25:27 PM
Coe can stick it with the best of them.  Nick Stein will be one of the top 3 players at this tournament, covers ground in CF with a plus arm, has great speed on the bases, and hits with great pop.  Coe will struggle because their pitching is very average.  Morris is by no means a shut down pitcher, Baranowski is a thumber, and Raisch struggles to throw strikes at times.

I love Coe, but don't think they will be able to get through a regional field due to a lack of arms.

Ironically, quite similar to my regional preview set to hit later today/tomorrow. I see Coe struggling, even if they win their first game. And BV is a SCARY team if they ever put it together. Carthage bullpen has been inconsistent and IWU has a stud arm, and a few others a bit above avg one. I think Ripon will be overmatched from the start and  Thomas More is scary-good at the plate.

BigPoppa:  First, a slight correction.  This is not Coe's first trip to the NCAA playoffs.  They went previously in 2006 as the AQ from the IIAC.  They went to the Regional and beat St. Thomas, before falling to the eventual D3 runner up Stevens Point. 

One thing I will say about Coe that most people probably don't know.  They have and OUTSTANDING record against teams that were ranked in region throughout the season.  They went 3-0 vs BV, 4-0 vs Simpson, 2-0 vs Bethany Luthern, 1-1 vs Wash U, 1-1 vs Aurora for an 11-2 record against ranked teams (which is one of the secondary criteria for Pool C discussions and probably a final nail in the discussion for the regions #1 seed).  Throw in going 5-0 against a very good Wartburg team this season and Coe is as prepared as anyone for being here.  They have three very good starters and one of the best closers in the country.  We'll see if that is enough.

Hey, any word on if the Sparty's are gonna get Brandon Wegher to come play football since he flunked out at Iowa?  Maybe that's a one time pipeline.   

Tied the conference record for strikeouts in one season.  That statement alone makes this one the most dominating seasons in the history of the conference.  If you have one of the most dominating seasons in the history of the conference, have a 7-0 record, and pitch for a team going to the conference tourney.......you win the award.  I don't care about certain stats, the thing that matters the most to me is wins and losses.  If a pitcher hasn't lost, and has more wins that anyone he is the best pitcher. 

And for the record, Lewis dominated a Luther team that just got done lighting up Cody Raisch for the previous 2 hours. 

Here is where I think the argument is made for Lewis that is undeniable.  If we were talking about deciding on these two kids for one all-conference spot, there is room for some debate for Hyland.  However, when talking about the pitcher of the year.  An individual award based on individual accomplishments and domination, Lewis's numbers trump Hyland. 

It is a lock IMO.  He has the single best season in Coe history this season.

7-0 does matter.  Don't say its team dependent when 4 of those 7 wins came in complete game shutouts.  Also, in both of Lewis's no-decisions, he left the game leading. 

Highlights of his season.......

Coe records for:
Season IP w/  85.2
Season W w/   10
Season K's w/  82

Coe Career records:
Appearances:  56
Wins:   23
Strikeouts:  240
IP - (2nd w/ 281.1) will break the record with next start
Saves: (3rd w/ 5)
ERA: (3rd)

Aside from Lewis, there has been no other dominant pitcher over the course of the whole year.  If there ever was a year for a unanimous decision, this is the one.  Hyland has been very good this year and very deserving of a 1st team selection.  But, pitcher of the year should be a one man race.

Quote from: Floyd in Iowa City on May 06, 2010, 02:24:25 PM

Quote from: youcantseemestill on April 15, 2010, 08:21:45 AM
To me, it seems like the race is for second place.  BVU is really good offensively.  After seeing them knock around Coe's pitching, and then hit the crap out of the ball in two of the three games against Wartburg, I have no doubts that they will finish this season by winning the conference by a 3 game margin at least.  The battle is for second and then bye in the tourney.  I think Wartburg, Simpson, Central and Coe all have shots.  I really feel like 7 or 8 losses will take second place.  Wartburg has taken 2 of 3 from Central, Coe has taken 2 of 3 from Central and Simpson.  The Knights have Simpson, Luther, Loras, and Coe.  The Kohawks have Wartburg, Luther, Cornell and Dubuque. 

The Beavers are really tough.   A couple of notes though:
1.  They are not built to make a deep run in the tourneys they get into with their lack of depth on the mound. 
2.  They are the best defensive team that I have seen so far this year without a doubt.  Their defense has the ability to make up for their average pitching.
3.  They are the best all-around offensive team that I have seen in the conference for the past decade.  They are built to win this year, and they are.
4.  Their home field, is a joke.  After seeing it for the first time this year, I came away with nothing good to say about it.  The turf is nice on the infield, but the mound is an absolute travesty to baseball.  Also, the lights are stupid.  They are way too low and way to weak.  Finally, the outfield played like concrete with holes in it. 

This still looks pretty accurate on B.V. a few weeks later!

Haha thanks!  It will be interesting this weekend for Coe and Luther.  Coe controls its own destiny for 3rd place.  If they sweep, its theirs. Also, Coe has an outside shot at the 2 seed still.  If Loras, who has a lot to play for, can take two from Watburg, and Coe sweeps, 2nd goes to the Kohawks.   Luther can move all the way to the 3rd spot as well.  Luther could also fall out of the tourney and watch Loras pass them.  Central, being done, should be rooting hard for Luther and Loras to win.  Loras needs to win two from Wartburg and Luther one from Coe to give the Dutch 2nd place.  Here is my prediction for the weekend........

- BVU sweeps Cornell - duh!  Cornell is maybe the worst team I have seen in this conference.  BVU finishes their impressive conference season, only to see their regional ranking slip due to losing 75 games in the SoS department. 
- Wartburg wins 2 of 3 from Loras to secure the two seed.  Loras, last year's co-champs miss the tourney.
- Simpson sweeps UD.  Dubuque has battled this year, but they are still not very good. 
- Coe takes 2 of 3 from Luther.  If this series was in Decorah, I'd probably switch my picks, but Coe has been tough at home this year and I don't think Hyland will throw game one after pitching Wednesday.  Without Hyland, Luther doesn't beat Coe which mean they lose the series.......right Floyd? 

Final Predicted standings:
Buena Vista - -  20-4
Wartburg    - -  16-8
Cental        - -  15-8
Coe            - -  15-9
Simpson     - -  14-9
Luther        - -  12-12
Loras         - -  10-14
Dubuque    - -  3-21
Cornell       - -  2-22

Quote from: JohnnyU on May 06, 2010, 12:03:49 PM
If you weight 75*SOS+.25*Win% the central region rankings will be...

1. Buena Vista   0.592
2. Webster   0.590
3. North Central (Ill.)   0.588
4. St. Norbert   0.581
5. Carthage   0.561
6. North Park   0.559

Notice even with weighting SOS 3 times as much as Win% Webster is STILL the 2nd ranked team in the central region. How they were 5 last week is beyond me.

Quote from: theoneandonly on May 06, 2010, 01:31:33 PM
johnny karma+1 for that. I AGREE. i think the sliac just has generally been so weak that those who are able to vote never give ANY sliac team a chance when it comes to rankings. just my opinion.

Here is how the regional rankings work so some of you can understand the rationale for some of the slots, aside from the "we're getting screwed" rhetoric.

The committee looks at in-region record and SoS as the two criteria (we all know this).  They initially rank the teams based solely on the numbers.  So, for example, the team with the best in-region winning percentage gets 1 point, second best winning % gets 2, 3rd best gets 3 and so on.......  Then, they take SoS rankings.  The best SoS gets 1 point, 2nd best gets 2 points and so on..........Then, the add those two ranking numbers together.  The lowest combined score is ranked #1, second lowest #2 and so on.  That is the baseline for the top 6.  Now, it becomes the committee's job to protect the integrity of the rankings by making sure that a .500 team with the #1 SoS does not get ranked ahead of a team with a 24-6 regional record.  That is why teams like Webster and Greenville and BVU (after this weekend) get dropped in the rankings.  If you want proof of this formula, watch what happens to BVU after they play a three game set with a Cornell team that is 3-27.  That will add a 9-84 record to their SoS ranking.  

Quote from: theoneandonly on April 28, 2010, 11:29:28 AM
You wouldnt have greenville in your top in the region? I find this hard to believe. Also what do you think about Neeces performance this season.. Will hands down be a 1st team all region, I definatly look for his name to be on the All American list.

Quote from: theoneandonly on May 04, 2010, 12:54:17 PM
I would like to personally state that BigToughGuy is not a great representative for the SLIAC boards. I appologize for his posts. He has always seemed to be quite a homer and doesnt face facts. sorry guys!

Quote from: theoneandonly on May 04, 2010, 03:53:38 PM

Quote from: BigToughGuy on May 04, 2010, 01:25:32 PM
I stated Webster's accomplishments in my previous post.  What facts am I not facing?

The fact that SOS is taken into account. thats my only reply..

For someone who is trying to get on the Webster fan for being silly about his team, you seem to be doing a lot of false posturing as well.  For all of the run you think that Greenville deserves nationally, you have failed to mention that they have the 24th worst SOS in all of division 3. (excluding teams that have played less than 20 games)   Their .435 SOS ranks only higher than the following schools:

.434 - Becker
.433 - Drew, John Jay
.428 - Presentation
.426 -  Lehman
.423 - Northland
.422 - SUNY-Maritime, Elms
.419 - Principia
.416 - Philadelphia Bible
.415 - Illinois College
.413 - Crown
.410 - Mitchell
.409 - Penn St.-Berks
.407 - Yeshiva
.404 - Fransiscan
.401 - Penn St.-Harrisburg
.399 - SUNY-Purchase
.395 - Rivier
.390 - Daniel Webster
.375 - CCNY
.365 - SUNYIT
.346 - Lancaster Bible

HAHA nice work posting your own piece..........

There are several teams in D3 that have the synthetic turf on their infield.  Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa has their entire infield covered, even the mound.  Their mound is a joke though.  You have to make it flat in order for the rubber to stay on it, so the pitchers end up basically throwing an elevated flat ground.  I think all baseball fields need to have the dirt on the mound.  Other than that......TURF IT ALL! 

Every team plays the exact same schedule in the Iowa Conference.  Every team plays each other member of the conference in a three game series.  Now, you could argue that there is advantage to playing the lower end teams early or maybe playing them later is better.  Bottom line is, you have to win those games that you are supposed to win.  Its that way in any sport.  The Yankees have to beat up on the Orioles every time they play them or the Red Sox or Rays might take advantage. 

Dubuque is bad......very bad.  Cornell is not much better, but I definitely think that Cornell is the better team based on seeing them both this year.  Dubuque cannot hit at all and their defense is awful.  I like some of their pitchers a little bit, but they have a long way to go to be competitive. 

To me, it seems like the race is for second place.  BVU is really good offensively.  After seeing them knock around Coe's pitching, and then hit the crap out of the ball in two of the three games against Wartburg, I have no doubts that they will finish this season by winning the conference by a 3 game margin at least.  The battle is for second and then bye in the tourney.  I think Wartburg, Simpson, Central and Coe all have shots.  I really feel like 7 or 8 losses will take second place.  Wartburg has taken 2 of 3 from Central, Coe has taken 2 of 3 from Central and Simpson.  The Knights have Simpson, Luther, Loras, and Coe.  The Kohawks have Wartburg, Luther, Cornell and Dubuque. 

The Beavers are really tough.   A couple of notes though:
1.  They are not built to make a deep run in the tourneys they get into with their lack of depth on the mound. 
2.  They are the best defensive team that I have seen so far this year without a doubt.  Their defense has the ability to make up for their average pitching.
3.  They are the best all-around offensive team that I have seen in the conference for the past decade.  They are built to win this year, and they are.
4.  Their home field, is a joke.  After seeing it for the first time this year, I came away with nothing good to say about it.  The turf is nice on the infield, but the mound is an absolute travesty to baseball.  Also, the lights are stupid.  They are way too low and way to weak.  Finally, the outfield played like concrete with holes in it. 

You probably need to include a win over Aurora in Team B's good wins.   

I would put B over A because a loss to Wisconsin Lutheran is completely unacceptable!

Looked like an exciting game in Cedar Rapids yesterday.  Coe beats Central 4-3.  Definitely a pitcher's duel though.  9 total hits and 6 of the 7 runs coming in the last 2 and a half innings.  Schisler hits a game winning homerun.  A complete no doubter from what I was told.  Cody Raisch pitched a lot better giving up one run in 7.1.  Corey Eisenman matched him though only giving up 2 earned runs in 7 innings. 

So for the big series of the weekend, it look like we won't see Wuebker from BV or C. Raisch from Coe.   Maybe an offensive series?

Interesting start so far to the season.  A little disappointed that the talk has slowed on here so much.  Lets try and pick it back up gentlemen!   

Okay, Luther is really struggling through two series.  They are 0-6 and its on their pitching.  7.51 ERA through 6 games in conference is just not going to get it done.  Add 15 errors on top of that and you have a recipe for disaster. 

Coe and Simpson played the best series of the year so far splitting two, one-run ballgames over the weekend and then Coe takes the series on Monday with a 5-2 decision.  Both teams are 4-2.  Coe's defense in the infield has to get better if they want to compete for a championship.  Offensively, Simpson is a 3 man line-up in Rasmussen, Johnson and Ethell.  The rest of the guys are all pretty much role players (but they serve their role pretty well).  For Coe, Schisler is swinging the bat really well right now and Lewis and Baranowski are dominating on the mound.  If Cody Raisch figures it out, this team's top three are going to be REALLY tough!

Wartburg is killing the ball right now.  13 home runs through 6 games is amazing!  9 of those 13 have come in two games.  The Knights have been really hot and cold on the mound as I never would have seen Cornell scoring as much as they did against Watson and company over the weekend.  Pat Grau is definitely the early season favorite for POY.  4 homers already coupled with his .470 batting average is a great start!

Some good match-ups over the next week.
mid-week series: (top 4 battle each other early on at the same time which might give us a little clearer view of where teams are right now)
Wartburg and BV   
Coe and Central
Loras and Luther
Cornell and Simpson

This weekends series:
Central @ Cornell
Coe @ BV - - This one is easily the big one of the weekend!
Loras and Simpson
Wartburg @ UD

Thoughts??