BB: NCAC: North Coast Athletic Conference

[ADL70]

Woo pounding the Obies  Looks like a sweep  Beat Etta last week and a sweep of Wabash over the weekend. Ranked #2 .
Don't know if they are worthy but they keep winning.

Wooster is looking like they are the real deal.  Beat LaRoche and Case on consecutive days.  The regional rankings, which had Case #1,  were done prior to the Scots beating Case. My quick calculations show the Scots are now 8-0 against regionally ranked opponents.  They should move up to #1 in the region for sure.  If they have a good weekend, the top spot in the nation may be in the cards.

8-1 they lost one of two to North Central have DH with RR Denison tomorrow.  One or more of their wins over RR may not be RR after all is said and done.

[Pops33]

Thanks for the correction.  They did split with North Central in Florida.  Good catch.  Some teams will definitely drop out of the regional rankings as you indicated, especially since 13 teams are ranked in the Mideast Region.  Lots of the ranked opponents play each other over the last couple of weeks, there should be a lot of movement in the rankings.   Good luck to your Spartans on Sunday.

[Dr. Acula]

Boy, rough year for Hiram even by their standards.  I listened to a good chunk of their game at Mount yesterday (I know, I'm a lunatic) and the Terriers gave up 20 runs to a very pedestrian Mount offense that was without 2 of their better hitters.  It sounded like Hiram was playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores and they did a Johnny All Staff day, but 4-22 is a tough season for anyone.  I hope it pays off over the next couple of years with some degree of success for Jenter because they're taking their lumps now.

[Pops33]

With just 1 week left in the season, 8 of the 10 teams are in contention for a playoff spot.  Six of those teams are between 6 to 8 losses.  It looks like a real dogfight for the #3 and #4 spots in the conference tournament.  The NCAC definitely made the end of the regular season more interesting by switching to the round robin format.

[wally_wabash]

With just 1 week left in the season, 8 of the 10 teams are in contention for a playoff spot.  Six of those teams are between 6 to 8 losses.  It looks like a real dogfight for the #3 and #4 spots in the conference tournament.  The NCAC definitely made the end of the regular season more interesting by switching to the round robin format.

I think Wabash is in good shape to be in the top four.  One win at home against Denison should lock in #3, but if the Big Red get out of C'ville with a sweep, things could get weird given Wabash's two close losses at DePauw on Sunday.  But who could have seen that coming??

[Pops33]

That was an unfortunate premonition on your part Wally.  Wabash did play their DH against Hiram on the turf at Wooster's Art Murray Field instead of travelling to Hiram.  It saved them more than an hour each way but they still had a 5+ hour trip home. 

It will definitely be an exciting series in Crawfordsville this weekend.  With a split, they will probably be paired up with Denison again in the first round of the conference tourney.

[wally_wabash]

Pops, the thing I'm missing is why the Wabash/DPU DH got smushed in on Sunday in the first place.  The games were originally scheduled to be played on May 2.  I'm not sure why that date had to be changed.  I assume there is some kind of non-baseball reason why this happened...finals week at Wabash?  That must be it.  Unfortunate to have to take on that travel burden, but students first and what not.  Hopefully future league schedules account for this to begin with because it is really avoidable. 

[Ralph Turner]

Wabash/DPU...

There is no such thing as the Monon Resin Bag, is there?

How about an old tobacco spittoon from a train station on the Monon Railroad?  (Wouldn't that be politically incorrect?)

[wally_wabash]

I nominate the Monon Fungo. 

Also, congrats to Wooster for reaching #1. 

[wally_wabash]

Day 1 results from Chillicothe:
#1 Wooster 8, #4 Kenyon 1
#3 Wabash 4, #2 Denison 2

Wabash had lost six straight coming in to the tournament, so breaking that skid with an opening round win is nice.  Hopefully that loosens things up a bit as they'll surely need to play their best to stay in the winner's bracket today.  Also noteworthy is that last night's win sets a new club record for wins in a season at 26 for Wabash.  Hopefully there's a few more Ws in there before this season wraps up.  Wooster vs. Wabash at noon today, Denison vs. Kenyon at 4:00, and an elimination nightcap.  Busy day in Chillicothe. 

[wally_wabash]

LGs stay in the winner's bracket with a 7-3 win over Wooster.  Cody Cochran gave Wabash six really strong innings allowing just four hits to the potent Wooster offense.  Zach Moffett entered in the 7th in a 4-3 game and held off a Wooster rally at a critical point in the game where Wooster really had momentum and were stringing together some solid at bats.  Coach Martin really went all-in there to have his closer get the last nine outs, but in this format, there's really no other way to do it.  Really good ballgame here by Wabash. 

Wabash moves on to championship Saturday.  Wooster gets the winner of Denison/Kenyon later this evening. 

[wally_wabash]

We will not play two today in Chillicothe as Wabash eliminates Wooster by a score of 17-8.  Wabash got ahead early with 7 in the first two innings.  Critical moment in the Wooster 3rd with one in and the bases loaded, Jake Martin went straight to his closer Zach Moffett to put out the fire and squash what was shaping up to be a big inning for the Scots.  Down the stretch, Wooster used the long ball to get the score back to 13-8 through the top half of the 7th.  And just when you think Wooster is within striking distance, Wabash goes out in the 7th and plants a four spot up there, extends the lead to 17-8 and really ended the game right there. 

In both of these wins vs. Wooster, Wabash got out ahead early, and answered every single Scot rally.  Jake Martin's savvy in going to his closer yesterday in the 7th and today in the 3rd really paid off.  Credit to him for recognizing that the save situations in these games aren't happening in the 9th.  Really cool stuff.  Wabash goes to the NCAA tournament for the 2nd time.  Obviously, Wooster will be going also, so plenty more baseball to be played.  WAF.

[Pops33]

Congrats to Wabash.  They played really well throughout the tournament and beat Wooster in every facet of the game on Saturday.  Good luck in the NCAA tournament! 

[wally_wabash]

Wabash vs. Wooster: Part V on Thursday in Adrian.  Feels a little bit lazy.  Thomas More to Adrian, Wabash to Sauget (those are actually shorter trips for both schools) and you avoid the conference rematch.  That was easy to avoid. 

Also congrats to Denison for being selected.  Hopefully the Big Red can make some noise down in NC. 

[Jack Parkman]

Wabash vs. Wooster: Part V on Thursday in Adrian. 

Why in the world would the NCAA do this?  That makes zero sense and honestly sucks for both schools.