Wash U 24-8 (W: Rochester, Webster (3), Coe (2) L: Illinois Wesleyan (2))

I don't care what region you're in, 21-17 should not get you 4th in regional rankings. Especially when there are two teams unranked (Beloit and WashU) at 25-7 and 25-10 respectively, one of which already beat that team twice!

If Chicago wins out they would be 23-11. Even with their good SOS I don't know if that's enough to jump in to the top six (especially given their 8-1 loss to WU, another team on the bubble).

Luther could be the new #2. They are ranked 19th in the most recent ABCA poll.

1. Carthage
2. Luther
3. IWU
4. Wash U
5. Loras
6. Webster/Chicago

I think if Beloit loses to Ripon today they get no pool C and probably drop out of the central region rankings altogether. Even if they made it to the finals of the MWC I dont see them getting a pool C. Too many other strong teams that lost in conference tourneys already.

Anyone know when the next rankings come out? Is it wednesday?

My central region rankings:

1. Carthage (clear cut #1. 28-5. Have won 11 straight and 24 of 25. Even if they lose the CCIW tourney they should get a pool C bid and be a #1 or #2 seed in the regional tournament)

2. IWU (They've lost 4 of their last 6 to get to 23-13. That said, they're the only team here to beat Carthage. Still, their record is very marginal for getting a pool C bid if they cant win the CCIW tourney. Ie: they'd better at least reach the finals)

3. Wash U (Won 10 of 11 to get to 25-10. 2 statement wins [and 3 overall] over Webster should lock up a pool B bid.)

4. Webster (27-13. Quality wins against Keystone and IWU early in the season. 24-0 against the SLIAC. Hard to drop them any lower even with their struggles against quality competition. Doubtful for a pool C bid if for some reason they manage to lose to a SLIAC team in their tourney.)

5. Luther (27-11. The ILIAC has great parity this year. Luther, Loras, Wartburg, Coe and Buena Vista have all had good seasons but Luther has the best record and sits with Loras atop the league standings. Whoever wins the ILIAC tourney will be the only ILIAC team to go.)

6. Beloit (24-7 and hoping for a Ripon loss to give them a MWC berth. It's hard to say that they're better than St. Norbert (21-11)- theyre 2-2 against them and have played much worse competition- but there's no pool C bid in this conference anyway)

As it stands, I see the regional being: CCIW winner, ILIAC winner, SLIAC winner, MWC winner, Wash U, and the last spot being for Carthage if they lose or another region's pool C team if they win.

Good games between Wash U and Webster today. Outside of a mistake slider by Savage (that was hit for a 3 run hr) and a few Webster errors the games were pretty close. That said, Wash U's defense was superior today as they made no errors and they hit well enough to win. This makes the SLIAC tourney all the more important for Webster, and Wash U probably has a pool B bid (and maybe a #3 or 4 in the next regional rankings) locked up.

Wash U's now won their last 5 games against Greenville, Maryville and Webster by a total of 36-5.

Wesleyan now has 2 losses to Benedictine and 3 to Wheaton (who just lost to U Chicago). How likely is it for the CCIW to only get 1 bid? Same question for ILIAC.

If Carthage, Buena Vista, Webster, and Beloit win their conference tourneys then who gets the last 2 bids?
I feel like if this situation occurs one team gets shipped in from another region and its a battle between Wesleyan, Wash U and ILIAC #2 for the last spot.

Thoughts?

Don't understand Webster in the 3 spot. All regional wins in the SLIAC + one good one from Wesleyan. Wartburg, Coe, Wash U must be shaking their heads. All other spots seem pretty dead on (though I don't see Augustana there in the next ranking after the Benedictine loss and potential games vs. IWU)

Fuiten's first home run was over 500 ft. Farthest ball I've ever seen hit. That said, Webster's going to need big hitting in the regional if they're going to do anything. Their defense gave up 5 errors and their pitchers were having trouble locating off speed pitches all day. In the SLIAC, that lineup is good enough to 10-run any team. We'll see against better teams come May.