Cool that Cal LU is doing so well.  Wish my guy hadn't hung up his cleats.  But them are the breaks, as they say. 

Looked to me at first like this years team had significantly less talent than last year's team.  But they've gone farther already. 

After winning 32 last year, but being left at home,  Cal Lu decided to take TWO trips -- one to Texas and one to Arizona -- just to increase their SOS in case they had to compete for a pool C bid.   The motto this year was 4 trips.  3 down, 1 to go.

Quote from: SoCalBaseballfan on May 09, 2016, 10:13:33 PM
It is all about costs. Great idea for intra conference tourney in Arizona...ASC, SCAC, NWC, SCIAC. Top teams should considered it or BAD SOS will keep you home if you dont get automatic bid

After last year, when they missed the regional despite winning 32 games,winning  the regular season champion ship, and reaching the tournament final, Cal Lu decided to take 2 trips this year to increase SOS just in case.  Big expense obviously but worth it. They probably would have gotten in even if they lost the tournament.

The rallying call this year was 4 trips!

Cal Lu wins 4-1 over Oxy.

How deep will Cal Lu go in the Regional?

Will Oxy get a pool C bid?

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 07, 2016, 08:57:41 PM
Cal Lu beats Redlands 6-3 to advance to the SCIAC Tournament Championship game.  I also believe this solidifies their spot in a regional, regardless of what happens tomorrow.  Oxy and Redlands in game 1 tomorrow to see who will play Cal Lu.

Quite a winning tradition they've got going there.  No wonder it's so hard for freshman players to break through there. 

Clearly  Cal Tech is at a tremendous disadvantage in the SCIAC.  Only the Claremont schools come close to being as hard to get in as Cal Tech.  Not only that but  Cal Tech students are all taking demanding stem majors -- making the challenge of finding strong student athletes even more daunting.  At many places stem majors tend to shy away from intercollegiate athletics.   And add on top of that  Cal Tech is the smallest school in the conference.   It's as if Harvey Mudd had to compete on its on in intercollegiate athletics.   Fortunately for Harvey Mudd it doesn't have to do that. 

Then look at it from the other end at a school like Cal Lu.  Cal Lu runs its program in what I suspect is a quite different way from Cal Tech.    It brings in 20-25 recruited Frosh a year, cuts a good number of them after fall tryouts, places most of the remainder of them on the JV squad for an extended tryout, and places only the very best of them on varsity.   They also heavily recruit JC transfers and also D1 and D2 drop-downs.  Nearly a quarter of this  year's varsity roster are transfer students with JC,  D2 and D1 experience.   Tough for a highly selective, small school with all stem majors to compete with that.  This approach seems to enable them to be in constant "reloading"  rather than "rebuilding"  mode from year to year.

Not saying all SCIAC schools are cut from the same cloth.  There is certainly a spectrum -- as in any conference.  The Claremont schools are closer to Cal Tech than to Cal Lu in many ways and they are way more competitive.  But they've got each other, and a broader range of students, taking a broader range of majors,  to help boost their chances of finding competitive student athletes. 

Quote from: SoCalSoxFan on May 02, 2016, 01:25:00 PM

Quote from: Jack Parkman on May 01, 2016, 10:25:08 AM
Another loss for Oxy and a SOS of 191 (with Caltech later today) is not a good trend for Oxy.  Being ranked #2 in the West still has them in a pretty good spot right now, but crazier things have happened.

Last year, #4 & #5 West Regional Ranking teams were left home.
This includes SCIAC regular winner CLU which lost to LaVerne in playoffs.

Given Oxy's recent slide; plus the fact that if they don't win SCIAC tourney it will mean they'll have 2 more losses.   With weak SOS, I expect the only way Oxy gets in is if they win SCIAC tournament.

Was that partly because a number of automatic bids went to unexpected teams?  That seems to be an important factor in the competition for scarce at large bids.

Quote from: NWBaseballFan10 on April 27, 2016, 09:05:14 PM

Quote from: Purple Heys on April 25, 2016, 08:06:43 PM

Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 25, 2016, 10:10:39 AM
I would agree with you. It will be interesting to see what the Regional rankings look like when they come out. As PLU showed, the most important thing is to get hot at the right time. I don't really like this whole round robin thing they do in the SCIAC as teams like CalTech should not be playing in it and are pretty much meaningless for a team like Oxy, actually it hurts them as their SOS drops and many times teams play down to their competition.

Presuming Oxy gets through the 4 game RR unscathed and they finish at least 2nd in the tourney, I have a hard time thinking they won't be in.  If Oxy does a 2 and a BBQ in the SCIAC tourney, it could be trouble for them.   A 2nd place Oxy tourney finish hurts Whitworth.

Otherwise I think this most hurts the second place SCIAC tourney team unless it's Oxy.

This afternoon provided a prime example of the RR games hindering a top team's Pool C chances. A loss for Oxy against CMS is just one more potential nail the selection committee can use against Oxy if they don't win the SCIAC tourney.

Oxy lost to PP today.   Unless they win the tourney, they are probably going nowhere.

Quote from: BigPoppa on April 28, 2016, 01:44:07 PM

Quote from: Bmo on April 28, 2016, 12:43:51 PM
According to this link, Win-Loss Percentage in the last 25% of the season is part of the primary selection criteria this year.  It is qualified with "if applicable", whatever that means.

http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2016DIIIMBAPreChampsManual_20150203.pdf

That means they CAN use it if they want then, but not required to... makes it much more subjective. This must be a new criteria as I don't think it was used before (I always defer to Ralph on these things).

I think it's a good thing.  Wouldn't want to overly reward teams for a hot or cold start.   I mean if a team gets hot down the stretch after a cold start or cold down the stretch after a hot start, but otherwise have similar records, strength of schedule,  wouldn't you prefer to have the hot hand in rather than the cold hand?

Quote from: Purple Heys on April 25, 2016, 08:00:15 PM


....

The RR fills in the full 28 Game schedule in SCIAC regular season since Cal Tech made it a 9 team league...previous was 4x7 for 28 games when it was an 8 team league.

.....

You mean since CHAPMAN made it a 9 team league.

Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 18, 2016, 04:40:18 PM

Quote from: Purple Heys on April 18, 2016, 03:08:46 PM
I am inclined to agree with Sir Ralph.  I think there are a lot of pretty good teams beating up on one another; with the next level down teams taking a bite or two along the way when they get their ace on the hill or get hot at the plate.

My thought is that the team that emerges is so battle worn just to survive the West Region, that they may get to Appleton with tired arms.

... or a core of 16-18 players who have had really tough games with lots of late inning tension such that they are ready for the challenge.

Purple,

from your observation, are the SCIAC contenders developing the #3, #4 and #5 starters and the #2 and #3 set-up men?

I think that was the difference in Trinity. They had developed a deep bullpen in the regular season that help with SCAC tourney, West Region and Nationals.  I think that is one of the strengths that we see in the WIAC, the NJAC, Cortland and New England teams... bullpen depth.

I think that's a function of all the snow outs and rain outs and the concentrated schedules that result.  They have to use more guys.   So more guys are ready come tournament time. 

Quote from: Jack Parkman on March 25, 2016, 11:47:02 AM
SCIAC predictions for the week

Chapman sweeps Caltech
Pomona drops 2 of 3 (already lost yesterday) to Pacific
Cal Lu sweeps Claremont
Redlands sweeps Occidental.  Oxy's tough road begins today.
La Verne wins 2 of 3 against Whittier.

Well,   Chapman did sweep Cal Tech and Cal Lu did sweep Claremont.   So you're batting .400.   Most surprised by Redlands not taking down Occidental.   Maybe Occidental is for real?

Pacific won 25-7.
Wow!

Quote from: Jack Parkman on March 25, 2016, 11:47:02 AM
SCIAC predictions for the week

Chapman sweeps Caltech
Pomona drops 2 of 3 (already lost yesterday) to Pacific
Cal Lu sweeps Claremont
Redlands sweeps Occidental.  Oxy's tough road begins today.
La Verne wins 2 of 3 against Whittier.

Cal Lu isn't exactly dominating these days.   Not sure why.  They thought of themselves coming into the season as major contender to win the Div III World Series.   Not even clear they will win the SCIAC.   They trips and teams they added to increase their SOS in case they don't win the SCIAC and had to rely on an at large bid  needed to yield more quality wins.

Quote from: SoCalSoxFan on March 01, 2016, 09:31:26 PM

Quote from: Sluggerdad on February 29, 2016, 01:03:11 PM

Quote from: Jack Parkman on February 29, 2016, 10:19:59 AM

Quote from: Sluggerdad on February 27, 2016, 09:06:10 PM
Cal LU took 2 out of 3 from Chapman.   Cal LU's number 2 lasted only 4 batters and got no outs.  Second time in three outings he has gotten rocked.  A change may be coming.  May be losing his spot in the rotation to a freshman.

I'm curious who your source is on the coaching staff regarding the Freshman that's going to take his spot in the rotation?  Seeing as only 1 freshman has thrown a pitch for CLU this year, I find that hard to believe he will be thrown into the rotation after giving up 15 hits in 9 innings.  Whatever the case, CLU needs to find a 3 guys that can put together solid starts in a 3 game series. 

Weekend turned out pretty much how I expected, with the exception of Redlands getting 2/3.  Pomona had every chance in the world to break open game 1 but they failed to do the little things and that cost them runs in multiple innings.  La Verne brought CMS back down to earth and was never in jeopardy of dropping a game in that series.  Whittier gets in the W column with a few wins over Lewis & Clark. Oxy wins all 3 against Caltech.  Big series this weekend between Redlands and La Verne.

Cal Lu gives varsity guys innings in their JV games.   Gives coaches a chance to look at many more guys.

the number 2 starter got hammered in a JV game last week, when the varsity was off,   then lasted 4 batters in his next start.  It's true that the frosh that came in to replace him with bases loaded had a rocky start, partly due to pitching out of the stretch,   but he calmed down and  went 5 shut down innings after that, before tiring.   He was also really strong in JV game the week before.  When he's on, he  pounds the zone and has a really tight breaking ball.

I don't think he's  experienced enough quite yet.  But they clearly are looking for him to step up.  they aren't afraid to put him in lots of situations.   The veteran starter has a few more chances to get right. He  pitched again in Sunday's JV game, but was also shaky.   They definitely see getting in straightened out as a big deal.

Mr. Parkman,   I'm sure Coach Slim wants to keep the end of his bullpen solid with Petersen and Kiyabu.   That said, If #2 doesn't bounce back to form of the end of last year, moving Evan Petersen (2.84 ERA w/ 11.37K/9) to starter might be a solution.   This would mean Slim would need to find a setup person to get between Starters and Kiyabu.   Nevins will need to cut down his BB; and it's possible the freshman might be the Bridge (would shorter outings help him?)  This week they face Caltech so I expect they'll be some pseudo-auditioning going on.   It's a good opportunity for Wehner, Bill and Nevins to showcase themselves.

Looks like you called it.   Wehner to the pen,  Petersen to start.