BB: NCAC: North Coast Athletic Conference

[kcreds]

Coach Ingles is now the athletic director for OWU. New Head Coach Tom Durant was an assistant to Coach Ingles.  Jr. really likes Coach Durant, probably because Jr. is a catcher and Coach Durant was a catcher for Ohio State. It is hard for me to say what kind of team they will have because as some can attest to, I am not that up on all the teams this year. I do know that they have a tough schedule out of the blocks and that might be an indicator. I am basically going to lean on you all for the inside information on all the teams.

[seinfeld]

Drew Shamrock is using his last year of eligibility at the College of Charleston

http://www.cofcsports.com/content/?/sports/base/roster/base_bio_shamrock_drew

Ironically, that is the same school that Luke Ullman transferred to Wooster from.

[woosterbooster]

Well, I'll be doggoned.  I saw he wasn't on the Denison roster and just figured he'd graduated.  Weird that he's going to the same school that Ullman did.  Maybe he's the proverbial "player to be named later" that the NCAC owes to them for Ullman... 

At least one Wooster high school athlete went there, too.  Joy Taylor, the point guard on the Wooster girls basketball team that went to state a few years ago went down there to play.  I'd never even heard of the school until then.  Now it seems to be connected via sort of an underground railroad to Ohio.

[seinfeld]

Here is my take on the NCAC this season.

I think this year more than ever, Wooster is well ahead of anyone in the Eastern Division. Allegheny was fairly average last year, and they lost several key players. I also heard that they don't have much new talent coming in this year. Hiram has a few decent players, but not nearly enough depth to steal any more than one game in a four-game series. Kenyon may be the second-best team in the East. They took a game from Wooster last year, and have some decent talent coming back. I actually look for them to pass Allegheny into second place this year.

The West is pretty wide open, but I guess you have to give the slight edge to Denison, because of their recent dominance. Losing Shamrock does hurt, however. Ohio Wesleyan will be in the mix, if for no other reason they didn't really graduate anyone. But they didn't even finish in the top two last season. Witt and Wabash aren't too far behind, and with a little luck, could sneak into the playoffs.

[ScotsFan]

Seinfeld,

Your takes seem pretty reasonable to me.  I wasn't sure about how far Allegheny would drop off.  I know that their weekend series with Wooster last season was pretty competitive.  At least the first day.  The Gators should have won both games in the opening double header, only to see Wooster post late rallies in both games.  That probably took a bit of the wind out of 'Gheny's sails, as Wooster cruised through the double header the next day. 

I do tend to agree with you about Wooster being a pretty clear cut favorite at this point.  No one in the NCAC can match Wooster's pitching depth over a 4 game series.  That was pretty evident last season, and with Wooster's entire staff returning, I wouldn't look for things to change much.  That Allegheny series that I just touched on is a perfect examply of that.  'Gheny's top 2 starters were able to keep the Gators in the 1st 2 games, but Wooster's pitching depth really showed through in the last 2.  Most teams might have one or two pitchers that could matchup with Wooster's best, but few have the depth to go with Wooster over a four game tilt.

[BASH6-4-3]

Seinfeld & Scots Fan,

Thanks for the preseason assessment.  I agree that Wooster is the class of the NCAC - not just this year but every year really.  I always had the utmost respect for the Scots program even when I played 20 years ago and Wabash had nothing to do with the NCAC.  They were well coached, confident and talented year in and year out and a program I envied.  Thus I was surprised also by Kreds comment earlier on this board.

As for the west - Dennison has definitely come on of late.  My scouts in Indiana say it has a lot to do with the coach (a former Wooster player). OWU is always tough and Witt broke through last year to play in the conference tourney.  I was slightly surprised that you considered Wabash a player knocking on the door.  What did you base that comment on?  Since I did not see them play last year I can only go by boxscores, and I have not seen the Bash competitive in the win/loss column with the upper tier of the NCAC.  If you saw competitiveness on the field and not just in the standings I'd like to hear it.

[seinfeld]

Wabash split four games with Wittenberg, played Denison close a couple of times, and even beat Wartburg, which went to the NCAA Div. III World Series last year.

I'm not saying they are great, but it just takes a good weekend against a Witt or OWU and you could sneak into the NCAC Tournament,

[hut1]

How can you mention Wooster Baseball without mentioning the big man.  You can read about what Kurt accomplished his first two years at Wooster below.
This is from the website last year.




Kurt Kapferer
Junior
First Base/Pitcher
6'7" 260
Jefferson, Ohio
Jefferson Area
Left/Left

Named the Div. III preseason All-American at first base by Baseball America ... Is coming off a productive summer season, during which he hit .346 (18-for-54) with two doubles, two homers, and eight RBI in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (wooden bat) ... Looks to be "more dominant" in the clean-up spot, according to the coaching staff, following last year's all-region performance ... Possesses tremendous power ... Voted a team captain ... 2004: Selected to the coaches' All-Mideast Region Second Team and to the All-North Coast Athletic Conference First Team ... Led the league in home runs with 16 - four more than any other player - which tied him for the third-best total for a season in school history ... Also finished second in the NCAC in RBI (58), and was among the top-10 in five other categories ... Ranked 18th in NCAA Div. III in home runs (0.34 per game) and 45th in RBI (1.23 per game) ... Posted a .331 batting average, to go with 42 runs scored, a .693 slugging percentage, 26 walks, 10 hit by pitches, and a .452 on-base percentage ... Belted 12 of his homers during an 18-game stretch (April 11-May 6) ... NCAC Tournament MVP after reaching safely in 13 of 19 plate appearances, going 6-for-12 with four walks and three hit by pitches ... Homered in the eighth inning against Ohio Wesleyan during game one of the NCAC semifinals to give Wooster a 4-3 win, and added another blast in the first inning of the championship series to set the tone versus Denison ... 2003: Received honorable mention on the All-NCAC Team, despite not being a full-time starter until April 18 ... Ended the season on a tear, hitting .436 (17-for-39) and homering four times over the last 12 games to up his final numbers to .388, five home runs, and 22 RBI ... Also had five doubles and was issued 16 walks en route to a .539 on-base percentage ... Went 6-for-9 with a double, homer, and six RBI to help Wooster to a four-game sweep over rival Allegheny on April 26-27 ... Combined to go 5-for-7 with six runs scored, five RBI, and a home run in each game of a doubleheader against Hiram on April 23 ... Prior to Wooster: Selected as the Northeastern Conference Player of the Year in both baseball and basketball during his senior seasons at Jefferson Area High School ... Was twice recognized all-county for his efforts on the diamond and received honorable mention on the All-Ohio Team in basketball as a junior ... Helped the Falcons to conference championships in baseball twice (2000, 2002) ... Lettered three times in each sport ... Personal: Born March 28, 1984 ... Son of Robert and Denise Kapferer ... Is a computer science major.

[wally_wabash]

In '03 Wabash went 10-6 in NCAC play with splits vs. #12 (at the time) OWU and Witt.  Dropping 3 out of 4 to Denison killed Wabash's chances of getting to the semis that year.  The last two seasons have been a little disappointing for Wabash as they've been unable to keep the '03 pace.  Last year Wabash was swept by both Denison and OWU, but played close in most of those games.  It's not unreasonable to think that if Wabash can turn around some of those close games that they could sneak into the top two in the west.  This season the Witt and Denison games will be at home for Wabash.  Hopefully that will be the little extra push they need to get into the NCAC postseason for the first time. 

[WoosterFAN]

I do not think that I missed it.  Did we ever get an answer on what happened to Reilly Enos?  I am SWAGing that is his brother on the roster now.  What happened to Reilly?

[seinfeld]

Reilly is still at Wooster, but he has a bad shoulder, so I believe he just decided to sit out this year. I would say its 50/50 if he will pitch for Wooster again. Hopefully he will, as they could use his arm next year.

Watch out for Oliver. From what I hear, he is the real deal.

[woosterbooster]

I hope Reilly can make a comeback next season, as he impressed me from the word "Go".  When healthy, he throws pretty hard, but it was his hard breaking ball that was the real deal.  A sharp-breaking slider, or whatever it was, that dipped almost straight down.  I'd thought that he had the most upside on the whole staff.

[ScotsFan]

If Reilly is back that just makes this staff all that much better!  What a bonus to have him available if in fact that is the case.

[woosterbooster]

The baseball page has the 2006 returning player profiles up:

http://athletics.wooster.edu/base/profiles.php

[earlhamalum]

Does Drew Shamrock have to sit out this year because he transferred?  Second of all did he go there as a Pitcher???  I always thought he was a lot better as an outfielder and didn't impress me as a Pitcher at all... (he was a lefty) but not with anything over-powering.

Does EC have a chance at winning a conference game this year it has been since the 2003 season...  WOW.  Also can they change the East and the West... to the GOOD and the BAD

Think about it,
Wooster,ALL,Wittenberg,OWU,Denison  (Varsity)
Earlham,Oberlin,Kenyon,Hiram,*Wabash...(J.V.) not bad, but i'd put Denison above Wabash the last 4 or so Seasons

That would make those 4 games series more interesting.