BB: NCAC: North Coast Athletic Conference

[countyroad]

After falling behind 6-1 to Allegheny this afternoon Wooster scored 10 in the 6th to take a 11-6 lead. Unfortunately they gave up 4 runs in the bottom of the inning. It's the bottom of the 7th now with the score 12-10 Wooster but 'gheny has runners at the corners with 1 out...

Wooster won 12-11 in Game 1 today. Whew

[countyroad]

Wooster is trying the same approach in game two. Down 5-0 in the 4th. 

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Ohio Wesleyan wins both games today. 8-4 and 23-3. So OWU, starts NCAC play 4-0. Congratulations to all the young men.

[countyroad]

Wooster came back again and won 7-6

Nice job.

[countyroad]

Wooster cracked this week's top 25 as they come in at #25.    They host Marietta tomorrow @ 4:00. Heidelberg (#6), Baldwin Wallace (#16) and Ohio Northern (#23) are the other ranked Ohio teams. All three schools are on Wooster's schedule which is nice to see. 

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Congratulations to Wooster. I was hoping the Bishops would get a vote but, alas, it was not meant to be. Maybe if we beat Berg on Weds, we can get some. Anyway it is good to be 11-4.  At Close on Sunday we were still 9-4.

Wabash Needs pitching. They may want to consider throwing 1 and 2 on Sundays, and hope to steal a few on Saturday. They threw 11 pitchers in the 4 game series:
4 Fr
2 So
1 Jr
2 Sr

I do not know if some of them were just getting garbage time in but it looks to me that Piercey is the best they have. They sure miss JT, Ross Hedricksen, and Luke Holm

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Seems like a good time for my annual "the 7-9, 7-9 weekend four game series are awful" post. 

The 7-9, 7-9 weekend four game series are really awful.  They need to be playing three 9s like adults.  That is all. 

Wally I agree the two are completely different games. The 7 inning games are a sprint, and the 9's are a marathon. I remember when it was 2, 7's each day.

[wally_wabash]

Wabash Needs pitching. They may want to consider throwing 1 and 2 on Sundays, and hope to steal a few on Saturday. They threw 11 pitchers in the 4 game series:
4 Fr
2 So
1 Jr
2 Sr

I do not know if some of them were just getting garbage time in but it looks to me that Piercey is the best they have. They sure miss JT, Ross Hedricksen, and Luke Holm

I mean, everybody needs pitching.  That's part of the folly of the four game series.  If you look at team ERAs, seven(!!) of our teams have ERAs over 5.00 and are ranked 220 or lower out of 375 ranked teams nationally.  That's not good.  I realize that the majority of the current stats are composed of the spring break trip games, but that's the same deal- many, many games squished in to a very small time window.  You just flat run out of dudes.  You get around that Sunday finale and you've got to fill 9 innings with who-knows-what...well, you get a 20-burger. 

And if you're already in a spot where you don't have enough arms to play four games in two days, who the heck are you throwing out there midweek?  You've pretty much got to write that thing off too.  It's a bad system. 

Am I whining because Wabash is having trouble getting through these tough back-to-backs without giving up a jillion runs?  A little, yeah.  Wabash obviously knows the league schedule and you know what depth of personnel you need to get through a weekend and have a reasonable shot on Sunday afternoon.  But honestly, these four game series turn into mush more often than not on Sundays.  I don't think that's great for anybody really. 

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Wally,
I agree I would like everyone to play, 3-9's. One Friday and two Saturday. That leaves Sunday's for make up, or OOC games.

But there are teams that can do it. Yes we have quite a few teams with high ERA, but coaches have shown in the past that they can recruit enough pitching. Week days are usually pitched by Johnny Wholestaff. Saturday starters get one or two, same with Sunday starters. Add in the long relief guys and your set. Now ifvyou have more than one week day game, that can be a problem.

Some of the schools, do all their OOC games during spring break, Kenyon and Oberlin. Then they have all their pitching for conference.  I am glad OWU does not do that.

I prefer the two 7-9's as opposed to the old two 7-7's.  A seven inning game is not baseball.

[Dr. Acula]

If you're going to play 4 game conference series you almost have to do it like the WIAC where they more or less scrap OOC once conference play starts.

Did the NCAC ever do the full round robin schedule in baseball?  I can't remember if they actually tried that recently or it was just talked about on here that they should try it.  I know geographically it's not the most realistic idea.   

[Bishopleftiesdad]

They tried it 5 seasons ago for 1 year. Afterwards most of the east wanted to go back to division play. It was while my son was being recruited. The vote came down to Allegheny, they decided to go back.
Allegheny lost too many conference games to Weather.

[Dr. Acula]

It may not be as bad now, but man back in the day it was a terrible split.  It was Wooster and a collection of door mats in the East while the West was a complete dog fight between pretty good teams.  I used to feel bad for the 3rd place West team because a lot of years they would have coasted to 2nd in the East and made the NCAC tourney.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Yeah, I think when they decided to go back to divisions, they would look for alternatives. Hence the cross over was born.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Softball plays round robin. But there is not much choice because of 9 teams, instead of 10.. They also just play each team twice in a dh.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Kenyon takes 3 of 4 from Hiram.
L 14-17
W 15-2
W 7-2
W 11-1