Quote from: mwunder on May 08, 2024, 10:11:28 AM

Quote from: mr_b on May 07, 2024, 08:00:30 PMStudent-Athlete of the Year

Since February 26th, the CCIW has been handing out weekly awards to Student-Athletes in baseball. They have broken them down into hitters and pitchers. Now, for the award that encompasses the whole body of work, they give it to someone who appears in two offensive categories (9th in BA and 10th in SLG%), but who is also a pretty darn good pitcher?

CCIW only stats. Number of appearances in the Top 10 of a listed category.
Gibson, MU - 12
DiVito, NPU - 10
Roach, NCC - 9
Wu, Wheaton - 7
Bland, NCC - 7
Oberli, NCC - 6
Fujii, NCC - 5
Numerous others - 3-5
Bartlett, NPU - 2

I don't get the thought process here at all from the CCIW.

This post is not meant to be a dig at Mr. Bartlett. Obviously, he had a good season for NPU. I'm questioning the award, not the awardee.

There's obviously more at work here in the minds of the coaches than just the number of leaderboards on which particular players appear. I suspect that the most important at-bat of the CCIW season -- Bartlett's walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth back on April 14 at Holmgren that completed a come-from-behind victory for North Park over Millikin in the rubber game of their three-game series -- played into it, but mostly it's likely an indication of the high value that CCIW coaches assign to the sort of two-way players such as Bartlett and Carlos Martinez of North Park, Jacob Cyrus of Illinois Wesleyan, and Luke Lehnen of North Central that can excel in more than one phase of the sport. While they may not be the most dominant at either pitching or hitting, their ability to do both very well gives a coach enormous flexibility in how he wields his roster.

At least, that's my guess. As always, I have to add the disclaimer that I'm not the world's most adept mind-reader.

Quote from: cubs on May 08, 2024, 10:17:46 AMSo am I assuming correctly that the CIW Student Athlete of the Year is similar to other conference's Offensive Player of the Year?  Or are they not even remotely close?

Also, anyone seen/head from Big Poppa recently?  Miss his contributions to the baseball board....

Me, too. And, while Carthage is not really experiencing the sort of full-blown resurgence he's been hoping for, the Firebirds are, nevertheless, out of the cellar and back into the tournament.

In fact, they may very well be the most dangerous #6 seed the tournament's seen in awhile. Any team that has Schaum and Scanlon as its 1-2 starter combo has to be considered a threat in the tournament format.

After two days and five games, the CCIW Tournament is down to three teams: top seeds North Park and Millikin are both 1-0, and Augustana is the lone survivor of the consolation bracket.  Illinois Wesleyan and North Central each lost their single play-in game on Wednesday, and Augie eliminated Carthage on Friday evening. On Saturday, North Park and Millikin square off at 2 PM and the loser will face Augie later in the afternoon.  The championship game will take place on Sunday.

Quote from: cubs on May 08, 2024, 10:17:46 AMSo am I assuming correctly that the CIW Student Athlete of the Year is similar to other conference's Offensive Player of the Year?  Or are they not even remotely close?

Also, anyone seen/head from Big Poppa recently?  Miss his contributions to the baseball board....

Ha!. I'm still around. More of a lurker letely. Life gets busy. Carthage is headed in the right direction, but can't seem to close the door in many games.

Truthfully, I NEED to get back on here more often... it's good for my soul.

Millikin closed out the CCIW tournament to defeat Augustana, 9-8, and capture the automatic bid.  The Big Blue were up early, 8-1, on the strength of two home runs by Tommy Shaw, but the Vikings rallied with seven runs in the fifth to tie the game with two home runs of their own.  After Millikin regained a slim 9-8 advantage in the secenth, Caleb Buehrle came in for two innings to close the door and pick up his second save, with the win going to reliever Drew Sutton.

Congrats to North Park on a great season. The Saturday collapse against Millikin and Augustana shouldn't take away from the fact that NPU won its first CCIW title in a dozen years and garnered its first 30-win season in the same length of time.

The Vikings have been treading water in the middle of the pack for quite awhile, which was reflected in the CCIW braintrust's pick for NPU to finish fifth this season. The 2024 season instead turned out to be a big leap forward. Looking at what the Vikings have coming back next season, North Park has a really nice shot at consolidating its newfound prominence if Luke can pick up a couple of good infielders to replace the ones he's losing.

North Park Vikings associate coach, Jake Upwood, has accepted the head coaching job at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. Best wishes in the new position!

https://athletics.northpark.edu/news/2024/8/19/baseball-jake-upwood-accepts-head-coaching-position-with-pacific-university.aspx

I echo that thought. Jake was a terrific pitching coach and all-around asset to the program. I think that he will do very well running his own program. Best of luck to him as he moves to the NWC ... and fingers crossed that Luke Johnson can find a new right-hand man who is as capable as Jake proved to be.

Congratulations to North Park alum Randy Ross ('84) on his induction into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.  He is most deserving of this honor in light of the outstanding statistics he put up in his four-year career, with three Rawlings /ABCA First Team selections.

Augie Schmidt announces his retirement at the end of the season, his 38th at Carthage.

https://athletics.carthage.edu/news/2024/10/1/augie-schmidt-to-retire-as-carthage-baseball-head-coach-following-2025-season.aspx

Not many guys from the "old guard" left!

Congrats to Augie on his retirement!

Boy, does this make me feel old. Augie Schmidt and I are the same age.

He's certainly been a larger-than-life personality in terms of CCIW baseball, and it won't be the same without him in the circuit.

It may feel a bit like a changing of the guard with Martel and Schmidt retiring, given both their success and their length of service, but it's still a league filled with veteran skippers. Here's the amount of tenure that each CCIW head baseball coach will have had in his job come season's end in 2025:

Augustana: Greg Wallace, 28
Carroll: Stein Rear, 12
Carthage: John Lequia, 0
Elmhurst: Joe Heller, 2
Illinois Wesleyan: Michael Kellar, 1
Millikin: Brandon Townsend, 12
North Central: Ed Mathey, 20 (11 since returning to the league after his stint at NIU)
North Park: Luke Johnson, 20
Wheaton: Matt Husted, 13

Former major league pitcher and broadcaster Dave Otto will be joining the North Central coaching staff this season.

The two preseason polls are out, and, to nobody's surprise, there isn't much love for the CCIW in either one of them. The ABCA preseason poll has zero CCIW teams in the Top 30, and only one CCIW team -- North Park -- in the Others Receiving Votes category. And, as for the D3baseball.com Top 25 preseason poll, there are likewise no CCIW teams ranked in the Top 25, and only two CCIW teams -- North Central and Augustana -- in the Others Receiving Votes category.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on January 29, 2025, 03:24:46 PMThe two preseason polls are out, and, to nobody's surprise, there isn't much love for the CCIW in either one of them. The ABCA preseason poll has zero CCIW teams in the Top 30, and only one CCIW team -- North Park -- in the Others Receiving Votes category. And, as for the D3baseball.com Top 25 preseason poll, there are likewise no CCIW teams ranked in the Top 25, and only two CCIW teams -- North Central and Augustana -- in the Others Receiving Votes category.

Notably absent from both lists is Millikin.  The Big Blue have been a formidable CCIW squad over the past few years.