BB: NCAC: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Bishopleftiesdad]

OWU and Depauw split again today

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Big week next week.

Wabash @Depauw
Ohio Wesleyan @Denison
Wooster @Hiram
Oberlin @Allegheny
Kenyon @Wittenberg

These are the top four teams in the west. OWU needs to take three of four at least and needs Depauw to play well and beat Wabash three of four. Currently Depauw sits comfortably at the top of the west, their only losses in the NCAC are to OWU. OWU is one spot behind Wabash at third but cannot settle for a tie because Wabash owns the tie breaker. Denison is tied with OWU at one game behind Wabash but has not played Wabash yet.

Witt plays Kenyon this weekend. We may have a better idea how good each team is after this game. Kenyon has been beating the teams they should beat. Kenyon taking three out of four from Wooster really changes things in the East division.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

after a rainy Saturday, looks like all the teams got their games in on Sunday.
Saturdays Games
Oberlin @ Allegheny - Allegheny sweep.
Game 1 Oberlin 1 Allegheny 2 - Two outstanding pitching performances, as Alleheny's  Kyle Davis went toe-to-toe with Oberlin's Eric Knight. Both pitchers would throw two-hit gems; however, it was the play of the defenses that would ultimately decide the outcome as Allegheny took advantage of three Yeomen errors to take game one 2-1.
Game 2 Oberlin 9 Allegheny 13 - This game was over shadowed by a controversial call in the bottom of the second. On what looked like a easy 6-4-3 double play. It was ruled that the Oberlin second baseman did not have his foot on the bag. so only one out was made, allowing a runner to score and leaving a base runner on second in scoring position.  Oberlin's coach argued the call and was removed from the game.

Sundays Games
OWU @ Denison - Split
Game 1 OWU 1 Denison 5 - OWU could not string any hits together, Denison Pitcher Tyler Vaske tossed a complete-game five-hit shutout en route to his first victory of the season. Denison has a big inning in the fourth plating four runs.
Game 2 OWU 7 Denison 3 - OWU Senior first baseman Tim Knezovich (Columbus/Briggs) and senior shortstop Steve Gaydos (Strongsville) drove in 2 runs apiece and freshman lefthander Charles Cooper (Columbus/Upper Arlington) scattered 5 hits over 8.0 innings as Ohio Wesleyan rallied for the win.

Wabash @ Depauw - Split
Game 1 Wabash 0 DePauw 6 - Wabash hitters could not figure out DePauw pitcher Hobs Donavan. Depauw has a big innning against Andrew Swart in the sixth, after holding them in check for most of the game.
Game 2 Wabash 5 Depauw 10 - Depauw struck early against Wabash Pitcher JT Miller, scoring enough to win by plating 6 runs in the first 3 innings. Wabash battled back third. fourth and fith but could not score enough against DePauw pitcher Elliot Ross.

Wooster @ Hiram - Wooster Sweeps
Game 1 Wooster 7 Hiram 2 - Wooster scores in the First and the seventh against Hiram Pitcher Mike LaLonde. Hiram cannot figure out Woosters  Josh Stidman, who only allows five hits.
Game 2 Wooster 16 Hiram 0 - Not much to say here Wooster merely dominates.

Oberlin@Alleghenny - Allegheny Sweeps
Game 1 Oberlin 1 Allegheny 5 - The Gators took advantage of nine Oberlin errors on the day and coupled that by pelting the Yeomen with 17 hits en route to a 5-1 win in game one
Game 2 Oberlin 0 Allegheny 14 - What can you say about this it is what it is.

Standings
East
Allegheny 8-0
Kenyon    8-2
Wooster   3-3   
Oberlin     5-7   
Hiram       0-12

Looks like Allegheny almost has it tied up they still have a series with Kenyon. This Series will tell give us a good Gage how good Allegheny really is.
I think Kenyon will also make the tournament, I do not think Gheny will be able to sweep. A lot will depend on any make up games from this last weekend.
Wooster, what can you say if they do not make tournament it will be the first time in a long time. A definite rebuilding year.
Oberlin looked good early but couldn't keep it up.
Hiram as always is Hiram.

West
DePauw       12    2    0.857    27    5    0.844    Won 3    8-2
Ohio Wesleyan    4    6    0.400    16    13    0.552    Won 1    5-5
Wabash       4    6    0.400    13    19    0.406    Lost 6    1-9
Denison            4    6    0.400    10    20    0.339    Lost 1    5-4-1
Wittenberg           4    8    0.333    18    14    0.562    Lost 4    3-7

We knew it would be a dog fight, just didn't think DePauw would run away with it.
DePauw - Clearly is the cream of the NCAC. The only team able to get a Split was OWU. They have tied up a place in the tournament.

OWU -Tied with Denison and Wabash. Inconsitent fielding has really hurt this team. Too many errors have turned good pitching prefomances into losses. They can mash when facing the 3 or fourth pitcher but seem to struggle when facing the top two pitcher on most other staffs. The Sweep by Wabash at the beginning of the season could come back to bite them. If they win the two tonight against Denison I think they will be number 2

Wabash - Everyone knew they could hit. They also showed this year they could pitch some as well. JT miller had a sub 2 Era going into this weekend. Andrew Swart has a sub 4 Era. Getting swept by DePauw Smarts but shouldn't hurt because almost everyone else has been swept by them. Letting Witt get Witt take three could cost them.

Denison - Sweeping Witt really helps them But they are in the middle of a tough one with OWU and still have to face Wabash. After the games tonight with OWU I will have a better feeling on whether they have a shot.

Witt - Split with Wabash helps them, but I do not see them sweeping any of there future NCAC opponents so I think they are done.

I think it will be Depauw and OWU from the west and Allegheny and Kenyon from the east.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

OWU swept Denision today.
12-10 and 7-5.

[woosterbooster]

If Wooster doesn't make the tournament, it will be the first time; they've been in it every year since its inception.  Certainly, this isn't one of their better teams, they're very similar to last year.  But the race in the east isn't over.  Current standings:

Allegheny: 8-0
Kenyon: 8-2
Wooster: 5-3
Oberlin: 5-7
Hiram: 0-14 

Kenyon has two make-up games left with Hiram.  Let's give them two wins.  Wooster's remaining league games are with Oberlin and Allegheny.  If they can take three out of four from each, not at all an impossibility, things would look like this:

Kenyon 10-2
Allegheny: 9-3
Wooster: 11-5
Oberlin 6-10
Hiram 0-16

That leaves only this weekend's series between Allegheny and Kenyon.  Within this hypothetical, with Wooster holding the tiebreaker over Allegheny, any result in this series, except Allegheny winning three games, and the Scots would get the second spot in the east.

At any rate, unless Wooster totally flubs the Oberlin series, they'll know what they need to do against Allegheny, and will likely control their own destiny.

[old scot]

Congrats to Wooster pitcher Kyle Cinningham-Rhoads for spinning a perfect game on 4/15 versus Hiram. Only the second perfect game in Woo history. He was also named NCAC pitcher of the week.

I also wouldn't count out the Scots from making the NCAC tourney. Alleghenys 8-0 record has come from the bottom feeders of the conference. They still must play Kenyon and Woo. If the Scots can take care of business thet should get in.

[fantastic50]

Wooster takes two from the Yeomen today, 7-4 and 7-6, to stay in the race.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Kenyon takes two from Allegheny, looks like they are the reak deak in NCAC.

Fan akready mentioned Woosters win. They are certainly in it.

Wesleyan splits with Witt to stay in second place int the West.

Wabash keeps pace with a split with Denision, Although they still have 2 games to play against Depauw.

So everybody in the west is still in it.

[woosterbooster]

I kove it, Bishopkeftiesdad!  "Reak deak" is the best, but we can do it universakky and it's stikk fun!

Ok, enough of that.

Wooster didn't have an easy time of it yesterday, because both they and Oberlin have moved towards the middle of the pack.  The Scots cannot afford a letdown today (provided weather allows the games), but if they go ahead and take two more, they'll be in good position next weekend to climb past the Gators into the tournament.  That means DePauw, but at least they'd be in, and once there anything can happen.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Booster,
Yup if I could type I would be dangerous. guess I should proof read better. good luck to Wooster.
OWU just took the first game from Witt on a three run jack by jr. James Toland in the fifth. Kinda took the wind out of Witt, they could not mount a come back.Second game getting ready to start.

Go OWU.

[woosterbooster]

Wooster ends up taking all four from Oberlin while Allegheny salvages one very important win against Kenyon.  Kenyon is now 11-3, Wooster and Allegheny both 9-3.  Unless the Lords drop a make-up game to Hiram, they'll take the number one spot in the east, due to having the tiebreaker edge over both of the other schools.  If Wooster and Allegheny split next weekend, I don't know what happens.  Anybody?

[Bishopleftiesdad]

I know the first tie breaker is head to head. With a split that is out the window. Any SID's have an answer.

OWU took both today and with a Denison win, take second place in the west. Thanks big Red.

[woosterbooster]

I just got off the phone with someone at the NCAC, who gave me the following information:

1. The first tiebreaker, as we already knew, is head-to-head.  If Wooster and Allegheny split their four game series, they'll both be 11-5 and 2-2 vs each other, so this one gets bypassed.
2. Record against teams above them.  Both teams went 1-3 against Kenyon, so this one gets skipped.
3. Record against teams beneath them, in descending order.  Oberlin would be next, followed by Hiram.  Both Wooster and Allegheny swept these teams, so forget this one.
4. Coin flip!

So, in the very possible occurrence that Wooster and Allegheny split their four-game season-ending series this weekend, the Eastern Division's second spot in the NCAC tournament will be decided by a coin toss.  Yikes.

[EttaFan1]

Seems like they could have had a better tiebreaker than a coin flip...Record against Western Division teams (or win pct.), overall record, runs for vs. runs against, which coach has the most chest hair. 

Maybe they can do two out of three on the coin toss to make it look more respectable.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

I agree with ettafan, you think they would come up with a better fourth tie breaker. Maybe it will change next year. I heard they are changing how teams qualify for the tourney. Won't just be the top two from each division, it will be possible to have all four slots filled from one division. I do not know how they will accomplish that without round robin play.