BB: NCAC: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

So close!  There's a lot to be proud of with teh 2009 Wabash team.  They reached uncharted territory and hopefully the foundation has been laid for further advancement in the years to come.  Congrats to these Little Giants and good luck to the Scots as they move forward!

[old scot]

It will be an all NCAC East final for the conference championship as Wooster takes 2 of 3 from Wabash and Kenyon 2 of 3 from OWU.
The Scots get a chance to extract a little revenge on Kenyon. The Lords took 3 of 4 during conference play.

[old scot]

Does anyone have news on Trapuzzano? He doesn't seem to be pitching deep into the games his last few outtings. Are his arm problems flairing up or is he just getting hit hard?

[wooscotsfan]

Trap is apparently struggling with some arm problems.  On today's radio broadcast of the win over Wabash, the Wooster radio announcers were discussing how Trap struggled and made a valiant effort to get through the 3 innings that he pitched.

The radio announcers were predicting that he would not be available for the championship series against Kenyon that will be played this Thursday and Friday.  If that is true, Wooster's rotation is essentially down to Justin McDowell, Mark Miller and Matt DeGrand.  When Miller and McDowell don't start a game, they could also be brought back in relief as occurred in the Wabash series.  Let's hope that their collective arms are strong enough to lead Wooster to victory in the championship series.

GO SCOTS!

[ScotsFan]

It will be an all NCAC East final for the conference championship as Wooster takes 2 of 3 from Wabash and Kenyon 2 of 3 from OWU.
The Scots get a chance to extract a little revenge on Kenyon. The Lords took 3 of 4 during conference play.

That NCAC West dominance was short-lived wasn't it...   

Hats off to Wabash for giving the Scots all they could handle in games 1 and 3.  They should be able to build off of this moving forward.

And congrats to the Lords from Kenyon on making it to the NCAC Tournament finals!  Kenyon certainly shouldn't be short on confidence heading into their series with Wooster next weekend.  After taking 3 of 4 from Wooster to nearly knock the Scots off of their perch atop the NCAC East, they now go down to Delaware and knock off the Bishops!  I still can't figure out how Kenyon managed to lose 3 of 4 to Allegheny.  And to add to that, Kenyon wasn't exactly playing solid baseball heading into this series with OWU.  They split a 2 game series with the EC and got blown out in a 2 game series with Witt to the tune of 29-11!!!

I think it looks like it will be a matter of which Kenyon team shows up next weekend.  Wooster will definitely be out for some measure of revenge after their poor showing in losing 3 of 4 to the Lords down in Gambier! 

[ScotsFan]

Well, now I am thoroughly confused.  Wooster was ranked below Heide in the first set of NCAA Regional Rankings with both teams having identical records.  Now, in the 2nd round of Regional Rankings Heide actually has a better regional record than Wooster, but Wooster is now ranked #1 in the Mideast??? 

I don't know about anyone else, but this makes absolutely NO sense to me.  I mean, I figured the reasoning behind Heide getting the nod in last week's rankings was because they had a better SOS.  Is the ranking committee trying to tell us that Wooster's SOS suddenly got that much stronger in the span of one week to take their lesser regional record and jump Heide in the rankings???  I just don't get it... 


Here's a link to the rankings:

NCAA Regional Rankings

[mideastfan2]

it's obvious that the commitee who does the regional rankings used head to head play when they ranked them this week.

You can tell, b/c Otterbein is also listed above Marietta, and they were 2-0 vs the Pioneers.

In my opinion, Otterbein doens't have a resume worthy of that high ranking, as their only win against a top 25 team was vs Carthage (out of region) back in the first week of the season.  While MArietta played the top teams in the region and beat Heidlberg TWICE (OAC champs), Franklin (HCAC champs), and Washington & Jefferson (PAC champs)...all from the mid-east region.  Plus they took Wooster to extra innings, and beat a top-10 team in UT-Tyler.

Wooster is assured a Pool C bid, if they happen to fall this weekend, as are Hedidelberg.  I just hope the committee gets it right on Sunday night and lets a 2nd OAC team into the dance....and if Marietta can't pull out an upset win this weekend, I hope that team is the Pioneers.

[ScotsFan]

it's obvious that the commitee who does the regional rankings used head to head play when they ranked them this week.

And that's why these rankings are so damn frustrating.  Because judging by the inagural rankings, it looked as though head to head was secondary behind SOS.  It's almost as if the commitee flips a coin each week to determine what criteria carries more weight??? 

All in all, I really don't see how the commitee could put Ott in over Marietta.  If the commitee somehow feels that Ott is worthy of a C bid, than the OAC should be a 3 bid conference this year IMHO...

[old scot]

Wooster plates 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th to take a 6-4 lead over Kenyon in the opening game of the NCAC championship series.

[old scot]

Wooster takes the opener 7-5.

[mideastfan2]

Wooster takes the opener 7-5.

congrats!!  Wooster needs to hold serve tomorrow and keep those Pool C bids alive for the rest of the teams in the mideast region

[ScotsFan]

Looks like both starters ran out of gas yesterday and the coaches were a little too late to recognize it.  Justin McDowell was cruising through 4 allowing only one hit.  But the 6th is when his tank emptied as Kenyon touched him up for 3 runs in the inning.  But Pettorini stayed with McDowell into the 7th where he allowed on more run before Matt DeGrand came in to finish off the final out of the 7th.  Miller came on in the 8th and allowed his 2nd home run of his carreer to lead off that frame and then proceeded to load the bases with 2 outs before getting out of the jam.  He then came on and worked a 1-2-3 ninth to preserve the save. 

And Boucher for Kenyon was also cruising until he ran into trouble in the 7th loading the bases with no outs.  I'm surprised that Burdette didn't go to his pen sooner in that inning as it was obvious Boucher was struggling by the fact that he walked in 2 of the Scots' 5 runs that inning (4 of which were charged to Boucher).

I'm assuming that Matt DeGrand will get the start in today's opener as he only worked 1/3 of an inning last night.  Is Trap officially unavailable this weekend and if so, are they shutting him down for the year?  Hopefully he will be available in the NCAA's or else lack of depth on the mound could really hurt the Scots down the road...

[old scot]

ScotsFan,
      You have your facts wrong. A single and 2 walks loaded the bases for Woo before Boucher was pulled. 3 singles scored the 5 runs.
With Trapuzzano out, the Scots will really have to stretch their pitching staff in the post season. Mcdowell, Degrand, and Miller are holding down the rolls of starter, relief, and closer. Who does what and when is up to coach P. They are carrying the work load.

Pitching was to be a strength this season. Barnes has been out since the first game he pitched, Trap is now on the shelf, and none of the younger guys seem to be able to step up. I'd have to say pitching is quite thin now.

[d3baseballnut]

ScotsFan,
      You have your facts wrong. A single and 2 walks loaded the bases for Woo before Boucher was pulled. 3 singles scored the 5 runs.
With Trapuzzano out, the Scots will really have to stretch their pitching staff in the post season. Mcdowell, Degrand, and Miller are holding down the rolls of starter, relief, and closer. Who does what and when is up to coach P. They are carrying the work load.

Pitching was to be a strength this season. Barnes has been out since the first game he pitched, Trap is now on the shelf, and none of the younger guys seem to be able to step up. I'd have to say pitching is quite thin now.

THanks guys. Now i know not to pick Wooster in regionals ....lol....

[old scot]

Kenyon site is carrying live stats and has posted the starting line ups for game #2.
Trapuzzano is slated to start for Wooster. First pitch to be thrown at 1:00 pm.