BB: NCAC: North Coast Athletic Conference

[ScotsFan]

Some more scheduling updates to pass along:

Wooster's DH with Wabash tomorrow has been moved up to 11 am and Sunday's game with Marietta has been ppd, I'm sure much to the delight of a certain poster in here.  

From the weather forecast on weather.com, it looks like they might be able to squeeze in both games if the rain holds off long enough.  They're predicting rain moving in around 3 pm.  The Tribe moved their start time to their game up as well on Saturday.  It was originally scheduled to be a night game, but due to the forecast, it is now a 1:05 start.  At least they are actually finally getting to play at home though!  8) (knocking on wood  )

This spirng has just been whacky!   I'm beginning to wonder if we will ever truly see spring?!

[Spence]

Saturday looks like they might be dodging raindrops, Sunday would be crazy. Have my doubts that Marietta even plays at Northern Saturday, which would have made Sunday impossible. Rain coming in late is one thing, snow or mixed precip is another.

The primary model used in North America (the North American Model, imagine that!) is keeping most of the precip Saturday south of I-70 with precip coming in from the south Sunday for northeast Ohio. Marietta could probably play at Northern Sunday if they can travel Saturday.

I'm going to be driving to Alabama tomorrow and that's not going to be a picnic either. I'm probably going to have to cut my stay at the Lewis Grizzard Museum in Moreland, GA short! Horror!

Hope everyone plays it safe up there this weekend...foolish decisions in situations like this can get people hurt.

[WooMix]

Impressive what the Scots are doing!  Hopefully the winning streak continues through the season and the play-offs.

[Li'l Giant]

Way to go LGs!!!!

Wabash beats Wooster 3-2. Box score here

Wooster's recap here

[woosterbooster]

Congrats to Wabash and Joey Niezer.  He was dominant from the outset, keeping the Scot hitters off balance all day long.  He has a somewhat unusual release, almost coming a bit from the side like Walter Johnson, which gave his fastball a little rise or hop to it.  Combine that with generally very good control and a nice breaking ball and he had a very impressive outing, as good as I've seen against Wooster in about ten years.

Wooster had to try to manufacture runs when they had opportunities and did a good job of moving up their baserunners.  But they only hit two balls decently all day; Shaun Swearingen's RBI single to right in the seventh and a hard slicing shot, also to right, by Sankal in the 6th.  That one was hauled in by the Wabash rightfielder with a nice diving grab.

I kept thinking that eventually the Wooster hitters, whose first six swings produced end-of-the-bat ground balls, would get to Niezer.  But that never happened as he finished nearly as strong as he began.

The Little Giants looked like a better ballclub than their record shows.  Some throwing errors cost them in the first two games, and they had trouble stopping the Scots from stealing bases, but overall their defense looked decent.  Offensively they need to improve but I wouldn't be surprised if they contend in their division next season.

[BASH6-4-3]

I too have to throw out my congratulations to the Wabash players and Coach Stevens for a signature win for this young team.  I hope Wooster Booster is correct with his prediction for Wabash next season.

[Li'l Giant]

Thanks for the first hand report, WooBoo.

One thing jumped out at me, though:

He has a somewhat unusual release, almost coming a bit from the side like Walter Johnson

Tell me this comparison comes from watching old film and not from a personal viewing. That would make you about 106 years old! 

[woosterbooster]

Old film.  But Johnson did pitch until 1927 and one of the guys that I watch Wooster games with is in his late eighties and actually saw "The Big Train" pitch against the Indians when he was a little kid. 

[countyroad]

Wooster Booster-

  Would that guy have the initials C. Mc.?  Just curious. 

[woosterbooster]

Yep, that would be him.  Surprisingly missing for yesterday's game.  Hmm, do I know you?  Throw some initials at me.

[smedindy]

Congrats to Wabash! I think the program is in the right direction!

[wally_wabash]

Huzzah to Wabash!  That's a great result and a great building block for the team. 

Now if we can figure out how to beat the other black and gold clad team on our schedule....

[countyroad]

Wooster Booster-

  They would be S.M.A. I played basketball for C. Mc. a 7-8 years ago.  I stood along the fence down the 3rd baseline a few times last spring when I could make it. 

[Spence]

Doesn't Niezer throw a gyroball? That would explain the funky delivery.

[woosterbooster]

The Daily Record article mentioned the gyroball, in that it said that he didn't throw any in the game.  He must have at least experimented with it in the past or they wouldn't have even brought it up.  His delivery wasn't that strange; maybe somewhere just above sidearm, but he got a lot of movement on the ball.  He sure looked to be a better pitcher than someone who came into the game with an ERA as high as he had, though.  He looked like their best to me.