NACC Standings as of the morning of 4/12

MSOE 13-10 (8-2)
Aurora 14-11 (9-3)
Marian 12-11 (7-3)
Wisconsin Lutheran 12-11 (7-3)
Concordia Chicago 16-11 (7-5)
Edgewood 12-12 (7-5)
Illinois Tech 9-15 (5-5)
Concordia Wisconsin 13-12 (5-7)
Benedictine 13-13 (5-7)
Dominican 11-14 (4-8)
Lakeland 10-17 (4-8)
Rockford 13-11 (3-7)
St. Norbert 6-16 (1-9)

Roughly at the halfway point here in league play here is what I see so far.

Surprises: (WLC) WLC despite being picked 12th out of 13 has played above expectations so far. Though their schedule cranks up in the back half but sweeps over CUW, and Lakeland along with splits over Aurora, Edgewood and Rockford have sparked a bit of confidence for the Warriors.

Surprises but not in a good way: (The top two teams in the preseason poll.) Was expecting a bit more from Aurora so far but they have been rather pedestrian for the most part despite being at the top of the league and dropping league games against teams they shouldn't be losing to hasn't helped them get any more momentum behind them. Benedictine's stumbles to start league play opened up my eyes but they had to run the gauntlet against most of the contenders right away. The schedule in the second half should help them get back up the standings but it might be too late for them to claim an outright league crown unless chaos happens.

My predictions on who makes the conference tournament:

Locks: Aurora, Marian, MSOE, CUC, Benedictine

On the Bubble: WLC, Illinois Tech, CUW, Dominican, Edgewood

Outside looking in: Lakeland, St. Norbert, Rockford

4/12 Scores

MOSE 11-14 Dominican Dominican 6-4
Concordia Chicago 4-14 Marian 2-7
Concordia Wisconsin 10-5 Aurora 0-4: Whoa
Benedictine 11-15 St. Norbert 9-9
Rockford 11-8 Lakeland 2-5
Wisconsin Lutheran 3-10 Illinois Tech 6-4
Wheaton 11-14 Edgewood 6-15

NACC Standings after 4/12

MSOE 15-10 (10-2)
Wisconsin Lutheran 13-12 (8-4)
Concordia Chicago 18-11 (9-5)
Aurora 14-13 (9-5)
Edgewood 13-13 (7-5)
Marian 12-13 (7-5)
Concordia Wisconsin 15-12 (7-7)
Benedictine 15-13 (7-7)
Illinois Tech 10-16 (6-6)
Rockford 15-11 (5-7)
Dominican 11-16 (4-10)
Lakeland 10-19 (4-10)
St. Norbert 6-18 (1-11)

Another day of league play, another round of chaos.

This week's schedule

4/15

St. Norbert at Lakeland (DH)
Rockford at Concordia Chicago (DH)
Benedictine at Wisconsin Lutheran (DH)
Aurora at Illinois Tech (DH)
Concordia Wisconsin at Marian (DH)
MSOE at Edgewood (DH)

4/16

MSOE at Beloit (NC)
Carroll at Marian (NC)

4/17

Loras at Dominican (NC)

4/19

Concordia Wisconsin at North Central (IL) (NC DH)
St. Norbert at Illinois Tech (DH)
Edgewood at Benedictine (DH)
Marian at Aurora (DH)
MSOE at Rockford (DH)
Wisconsin Lutheran at Dominican (DH)
Lakeland at Concordia Chicago (DH)

Today's Matchups

St. Norbert at Lakeland (DH): Battle of two teams most likely making up the bottom of the league this year. Was thinking this was Lakeland's for the taking but they have been struggling lately losing seven straight. St. Norbert also has a seven game skid but has shown to be a bit more competitive in their losses. Won't be shocked if SNC sweeps this.

Rockford at Concordia Chicago (DH): CUC is red hot at the moment. Regents got a much needed sweep over Lakeland Saturday to keep within shouting distance of the midpack. However this might be a bit too much for the Regents here against a CUC team showing flashes of their old form from years past.

Benedictine at Wisconsin Lutheran (DH): Eagles are mashing the ball very well as of late and look primed to continue their hot play as of late. WLC might be over their heads here but stranger things have happened during league play so far.

Aurora at Illinois Tech (DH): Spartans find themselves out of the league lead after getting swept at CUW Saturday. Tech got a split at WLC Saturday but still hasn't separated themselves from the logjam in the middle of the league. I want to say AU is favored but they haven't played up to their expectations at times.

Concordia Wisconsin at Marian (DH): CUW got a shocking sweep over then league leader Aurora Saturday in Mequon while Marian got swept by CUC. Still this will be a close DH and I could see it going either way.

MSOE at Edgewood (DH): Alright MSOE can you hold onto the NACC lead? Raiders are hot winning eight straight heading into this one. Eagles need a split here because Benedictine awaits after this one and can't afford to have a cold streak as league play winds down.

Great analysis.  I am reading it largely the same. 

I throw it out there that...
St. Norbert sweeps Lakeland.
CUC grabs both.
BenU also grabs both.
AU and IIT split.
CUW and Marian split.
MSOE and Edgewood split.

St. Norbert 11-2 Lakeland 9-0
Rockford 17-9 Concordia Chicago 8-7: What....
Aurora 18-10 Illinois Tech 3-0:
Benedictine 21-7 Wisconsin Lutheran 5-2
Edgewood 17-10 MSOE 20-0
Marian 10-7 Concordia Wisconsin 4-9

NACC Standings

MSOE 16-11 (11-3)
Aurora 16-13 (11-5)
Edgewood 14-14 (8-6)
Marian 13-14 (8-6)
Wisconsin Lutheran 13-14 (8-6)
Concordia Chicago 18-13 (9-7)
Benedictine 17-13 (9-7)
Rockford 17-11 (7-7)
Concordia Wisconsin 16-13 (8-8)
Illinois Tech 10-18 (6-8)
Dominican 11-16 (4-10)
Lakeland 10-21 (4-12)
St. Norbert 8-18 (3-11)

This league refuses to settle in some sort of tiers. We have 8 teams within two games of each other with 8-10 league games for all teams left on their schedules.

I was at the Thunderdome yesterday.  Stunning day.  All credit to RKFD, they came with a hitting plan and they executed.  9 XBH in game one (4 HR) and the homer in the 11th inning of the second game was the longest HR I have seen in my three years watching games at CUC.  Went through the tops of the trees on the other side of Division St.  Would not surprise me if it hit the houses on a fly.  K. Bergstrom (Jr. Harlem HS), who hit that bomb, is a real problem.  He hit his 10th and 11th HR yesterday. 

Good on Rockford yesterday.

Gonna do a quick rundown on what schedule each team has going forward. It might be 11 or 12 league wins might be the deciding factor on who gets into the conference tournament.

MSOE: at Rockford, at CUW, vs Aurora, vs WLC, vs Lakeland
Aurora: vs Marian, at Dominican, at MSOE, vs Edgewood
Edgewood: at Benedictine, vs Lakeland, vs Dominican, at Aurora, at St. Norbert
Marian: at Aurora, at Rockford, vs Benedictine, at Lakeland, vs WLC
WLC: at Dominican, vs St. Norbert, vs CUC, at MSOE, at Marian
CUC: vs Lakeland, at Illinois Tech, at WLC, at CUW
Benedictine: vs Edgewood, at Marian, vs Illinois Tech, vs Rockford
Rockford: vs MSOE, vs Marian, at St. Norbert, vs Dominican, at Benedictine
CUW: vs MSOE, vs Illinois Tech, at St. Norbert, at CUC
Illinois Tech: vs. St. Norbert, vs CUC, at CUW, at Benedictine, at Dominican
Dominican: vs WLC, vs Aurora, at Edgewood, at Rockford, vs Illinois Tech
Lakeland: at CUC, at Edgewood, vs Marian, at MSOE
St. Norbert: at Illinois Tech, at WLC, vs Rockford, vs CUW, vs Edgewood

Dominican still has an outside shot at a conference tournament bid but they have an steep uphill climb. Lakeland and St. Norbert will be playing spoiler from here on out but the former might be gravitating back to where they were predicted to finish. AU vs MSOE might decided the conference while Benedictine rise up the standings will be something to watch. WLC has two big series starting this weekend to rack up as many wins as possible to feel somewhat confident in their chances though like every team in that logjam, there are plenty of chances to pull off surprising results.

4/16 Scores

Beloit 13 MSOE 12
Marian 10 Carroll 3

Dominican up 4-0 on Loras in the 4th....looks like it might run into weather issues as well looking at the radar.

Dominican held on to beat Loras 10-8 Thursday.

Today's Matchups

St. Norbert at Illinois Tech (DH): Scarlet Hawks badly need a sweep here after getting ran off the diamond by Aurora Tuesday to drop five of six games. St. Norbert does not strike me as a team that is a basement dweller with how competitive they have been in most of their losses so it wouldn't shock me that they could earn a split here.

Marian at Aurora (DH): Which Aurora team shows up here? Will it be the one that has the ability to dominate or will it be the one that can't get out of it's own way at times. Marian has dropped four of six heading into this matchup but they aren't a team that isn't gonna go quietly here. This is an interesting matchup regardless.

MSOE at Rockford (DH): Offense was on full display Tuesday for the Raiders yet they only walked away with a split thus allowing Aurora to climb back to a game behind. Rockford executed wonderfully against a hot CUC team to sweep the Cougars. Can they do it again here?

Lakeland at Concordia Chicago: Muskies are skidding badly losing nine straight and 10 of 11 overall. Now they travel to face a ticked off Cougars team that got swept Tuesday by Rockford. The beatings might continue here.

Wisconsin Lutheran at Dominican (DH): Warriors already equaled the amount of conference wins they had the last two years combined before the BenU matchup. Then the Eagles came in and handed WLC their first sweep loss of league play to this point. Now they travel down to River Forest for a big series against Dominican. If they want to keep with the leaders, they need to get at least a split here. The Stars are struggling losing 10 of 12 but might be looking to play spoiler the rest of the way.

Edgewood at Benedictine: WI Eagles got a much needed split against MSOE Tuesday and now face the hottest team in the league in Benedictine who is hitting lights out. Gotta feel that Benedictine continues their march up the standings here.

Concordia Wisconsin at North Central (IL) (NC DH)