ecsualum,
without a doubt, eastern has the best history in new england, no one is denying that. to say that your comments were not directed towards the CCC?!?!?!? come on man, dont try and backtrack now, youre already pot committed. when i wrote my previous post, i was hoping that you would somewhat agree, and act maturely, and that would be the end of it, but unfortunately you did not. why dont you go and ask some of your eastern faithful what they did at WNE's field this spring, then report back and tell me how much of a class act you really think they are running. because from what ive heard, and IMHO, they did something at WNE that i have never heard of, let alone thought of. and it is sad that you cannot have respect of any other team until they have won a national championship. ive had respect for 2-25 teams in my years, just because they play the game right and they truly want to be at the field day in and day out. everyone knows that eastern is a great program, its time for eastern fans to start realizing that there are other great programs in the region.

ECSUalum-

ill be the first to admit that the CCC is not the strongest conference in the region, and eastern would have a great chance every year to win it. but at the same time, it is unfair of you to take away from WNE and what they are able to do year in and year out in that conference. also, wne has beaten eastern 5 years in a row. would be a great hypothetical conference matchup, ill give you that.

a few new england teams start tomorrow down in long island. love that farmingdale does this tournament every year now. it is nice to see the kids get out there for the first time before they go down on their spring break. speaking from a former player, it was always tough stepping on the field for the first time on spring break against a national powerhouse. does wnec look like the best team this weekend?? that would be my guess but i would love to hear other opinions.

higher seeds prevail. thoughts after first day?

while sitting back and thoroughly enjoying the board year in and year out, there have been a few things that I have come to realize. This board is KEENE heavy. I truly love how passionate you guys are about your team, and I am the same way, but like you all said, losing to sub .500 teams is always going to kill you, regardless of your other wins. I have the utmost respect for the Keene program. Coaching staff is great and always have great players, but at the end of the days are you guys ever going to focus on any other programs? There is not a doubt in my mind that year in and year out there is a very good chance that keene could win the regional, but they play in the most competitive conference in the region, and the odds are going to be stacked against them more often thatn not. At the end of the day, all I am saying is that I truly respect your opinions and devotion to your team, but there are other teams out there that you can be talking about.

tarheel,
i agree with you that players know the risk of playing baseball and certain acts such as sliding head first and what not, but the new bat changes are good. And while maybe there are other safety precautions that could be taken, but, they cant make all the changes in one year. This could be the beginning of a reform in order to start protecting our players safety. Instead of getting all heated of the fact that they are making new bats, you should be becoming hopeful that more changes like this will happen in the years to come.

Hobbesy-

Couldnt agree with you more about rolling right out of conference tourney play into the regionals. I am a firm believer that if your conference tourney ends on a Sunday, you better pray that it is the Sunday before regionals begins. It is always tough for a team to have a week or 2 in between, even if you do have games scheduled during that time. Not easy to go from a very competitive conference tourney, to a regular season game, back to a talent laced regional. UMB rode the momentum train all the way through from the LEC tourney to Appleton. Clearly hurt WNEC last year, even with a very exciting conference tournament win. Wheaton was firing on all cylinders in their conference tournament also, and had trouble finding that again in Mansfield.

Read your preview, well done.

so what are our thoughts on the pre-season predictions of some of the TCCC teams???

just sitting here watching the snow fall, and fall, and fall. chances these teams get their pre-spring trip games in? Farmingdale is hosting what seems to be a very promising early season tournament, but its not looking good so far. Coming from a player who got to play games before the spring trip, it is GREATLY beneficial to the team as a whole and the players as individuals to have a "tune-up" before their trips down south. It was always tough going from the gym, straight to the field. Lets hope these teams are able to play that wknd, even if it is while enduring very inclement weather.

any chance of some dark horses emerging again this year, such as UMB last year? As always, I expect Wheaton, ECSU, Keene, Trinity, WNEC, St. Joes, etc. all to have great seasons, but ive always been one for the underdog and would like to see a new team emerge in New England.

First time. Long time.

Wondering what early season matchups are intiguing you guys the most. I saw that WNEC is playing Keene down in Farmingdale first week of March, which is always a good match. Seems as though these teams are about as even as they come. They split last year, and it will be very interesting to see how each team competes that early in March in the cold. Any other regionally ranked teams going head to head that early in the season?