BB: NCAC: North Coast Athletic Conference

[woosterbooster]

It was cancelled due to the fear of inclement weather (one of the players told me that after I walked down to the field yesterday) which really failed to materialize except for high winds.  I don't know this, but I'm suspecting it was Marietta that cancelled, especially since Wooster was out there practicing.  Maybe they had strong rain down there.

Now Joe Vardon reveals in the Daily Record that even if the Marietta game is off the schedule for good, which it almost certainly will be since there's virtually no room to stick it in, that Wooster has one too many games scheduled during the regular season.  Apparently you're only allowed 40.  Wooster has played 30 and has eleven left on its slate.  It seems like they'll have to cancel one.  I'm hoping they choose the road game at Ohio Northern.

[ScotsFan]

Playing that ONU game really doesn't make much sense anyways.  Why would you want to play a road game the day before the NCAC championship series, assuming the Scots weren't upset in the semis?  That game seems like the logical one to cancel.

[wally_wabash]

...Wooster has one too many games scheduled during the regular season.  Apparently you're only allowed 40.  Wooster has played 30 and has eleven left on its slate. 

I guess this begs the question...why schedule more games than you can play?  Is this like overselling seats on an airplane?  Does ONU get a free upgrade when they play Wooster next season? 

[imderekpoe]

...Wooster has one too many games scheduled during the regular season.  Apparently you're only allowed 40.  Wooster has played 30 and has eleven left on its slate. 

I guess this begs the question...why schedule more games than you can play?  Is this like overselling seats on an airplane?  Does ONU get a free upgrade when they play Wooster next season? 

This being Ohio, I think that its usually a pretty safe bet that you'd have a rainout or two over the course of the season, and the mid-week rainouts are rarely made up.  I would bet that the schedule was made with a particular game (such as ONU) that could be cancelled in the event that there weren't any rainouts.

[wally_wabash]

Can other teams do this?  Schedule as many games as they want and then pick and choose which games they actually play?  Is this is a common practice?

I guess it seems to me to make more sense to leave some room in the schedule to make up those mid-week rainouts (for instance instead of scheduling ONU, use that day as an open day to be used as a makeup date if necessary). 

[ScotsFan]

WB, in regards to the cancellation of the Marietta game, I don't think the weather had anything to do with it.  It seems that the NCAC is partially to blame for the cancellation and here is an explaination from yesterday's paper:

The threat of inclement weather caused the two teams to originally reschedule the game for today, but an NCAC rule regarding the number of game dates between a Monday and Friday in any given week forced the game to be wiped off the schedule.

The league rule states that no team shall play on more than two dates between Monday and Friday. Wooster played and defeated Otterbein 13-9 on Tuesday and has the first of two NCAC doubleheaders against Hiram set for Friday.

Noticing the scheduling error and fearing any possible league sanctions, Scots athletic director Keith Beckett urged coach Tim Pettorini to cancel the game.

The article went on to say that an NCAC spokesperson said there were no penalties for scheduling violations, but Beckett didn't want to set a bad precedence of, "sneaking around the rules."  So basically, we can blame Coach Petorinni for the scheduling goof and now, the probability of these two rivals hooking up will have to wait for the post-season or next season...

[hut1]

Not much mention on here that I can see...But last week Wooster Senior Kurt Kapferer broke the school career record for HRs with his 43rd...congrats big Kurt

[woosterbooster]

Wooster swept four games against Hiram, although they had to come from behind three times in game three.

The story of the series, though, was the play of the two third-base line balldudes.  Friday's games saw Wooster point guard Kyle Witucky tasked with the job, Kyle obviously being punished for some unknown discretion against the athletic department.  Why else would a player of his stature be subjected to nearly six hours of watching Hiram baseball?   

Witucky, however, took to it with the same ready-to-play attitude that he brought to the basketball court, wearing his mitt for the whole doubleheader, hoping to get to snag a few ground balls.  Amazingly, nothing was hit his way except a high popup that was almost right to him.  He showed admirable restraint in not stepping forward to make the catch, allowing the Hiram third baseman to display some fine hustle himself in a failed effort at a sliding grab.

Handling the job on Saturday was Wooster basketball student assistant (and excellent JV player) Jeff Clapacs.  Clapacs, luckier than Witucky, fielded a handful of chances, some difficult, without error.  He looked so smooth, I was actually hoping that Coach Pettorini would unveil an extra uniform from some hidden nook in the dugout, have him suit up, and send him into the game.

I still think catcher Brandon Boesiger should be moved to the top of the lineup.  I mean, the guy's hitting .408, his on base percentage is a ridiculous .587 and he's one of the best baserunners on the team.

Boesiger, C
Swearingen, CF
Steiner, 1B
Kapferer, DH
Quimby, SS
Romick, RF
Enos, 3B
Barone, 2B
Karpen, LF   

[wally_wabash]

In the West, Wabash got carved up like Easter ham over in Delaware.  OWU pounded Wabash all weekend long to sweep the LGs and claim the NCAC West title and a berth in the conference tournament.  The second spot is up for grabs.  The standings for 2-4 in the conference look as such:

Denison 6-5
Wabash 6-6
Witt 6-6

Denison is at Wabash this weekend for four games while Witt is at Earlham.  Let's assume Witt sweeps Earlham (Earlham has lost all 11 of their NCAC games by a grand total of 146-34....yeeouch).  Witt's going to end up 10-6.  That means that Denison or Wabash will have to sweep the weekend series to have a chance.  Denison is definitely in if they sweep Wabash (10-5 beats 10-6...one of Denison's games vs. Earlham was rained out and won't be made up).  A Wabash sweep puts Wabash and Witt tied at 10-6 and since the two split their regular season series, your guess is as good as mine as to who gets to move on to the conference semis. 

If Wabash could have won j ust one game in Delaware...oh well.  It's looking right now like the most likely scenario is going to be Wabash and Denison knocking each other out and Witt will slide into the semis where they'll take their Scot-administered beating. 

[earlhamalum]

Wally- I can't wait until the day i can take my head from between my legs as an EC Baseball grad./Fan.  It is amazing how bad they are, with the field that they have.  Out Scored  146-34... THAT is AMAZING.  Hmmmm wonder why Earlham has been sooo bad over the last 6 years... Can anyone take a guess?

[Li'l Giant]

I don't know, EA. I don't know what's up with Wabash either. This has been a pretty good year, by our standards, but I wish we could be more competitive in the league.

Do any Wallies out there have any ideas as to why? Personally, I think it's the field. Unless Mud Hollow has been revamped since I graduated in 1999 the place is kind of a pit. There isn't any seating along the lines unless you count the Lambda Chi couch. With how nice the rest of our facilities are it's a bit surprising what our baseball field is like.

I can't say I know much about what other D3 schools have other than Depauw's (nice), Trinity's (pretty nice) and Southwestern's (really nice).

Anyone else? Am I wrong? Is there something else?

[woosterbooster]

I'm sorry to hear that Wabash dropped the whole series.  I knew that they had lost the first two...  I'll be rooting for either a Wabash or Denison sweep then.  Anything is better than having Wittenberg come to Wooster for a weekend.  Bad enough that we have to go down there if we make it to the conference finals whether they're in it or not.

Meanwhile, Wooster's schedule has again been retooled.  The Tuesday game against Denison that had been cancelled is back on again at 4 PM. Heidelberg is still set for Wednesday at 4 PM.  But, the two doubleheaders against OWU, home on Saturday and there on Sunday, have now been reduced to single games.  Go figure.

[earlhamalum]

Lil' Giant-  I'd say Wabash has a typical D-3 Baseball Field.  (i assume it is the same one from 3 years ago)  Earlham plays on the nicest field and stadium in the NCAC East hands down.  Also I can't think of one field that in my four years of baseball that was nicer the EC's home field.  I'd say it was even better than D1 Butler home field.  McBride was the home of the Richmond Rooster's (a Frontier league.)  Earlham, and Richmond High School.  Now that the Rooster's left, it is just the home of the EC and RHS.  As a Colts fan, Bob and Tom had a song called LORD help our colts... I will now sing Lord help our Quakers... hopefully we can get a win either tomorrow Vs Denison or this weekend Vs Wittenberg.

[BASH6-4-3]

EA -
Thanks for sounding in.  I'm curious as to how the Quakes were in your era because as documented they are not competitive now and they were not competitive when I played ('86-89).  My only memory of Richmond (other than padding my stats) was showing up on campus about 2 hours before gametime (around 11 am) and having about 20 hippies sleeeping in the outfield - sleeping bags, tents, funny looking cigarettes.  Hard to build a winning baseball tradition around that.

LG, Wally--
I'm sorry to be negative but this is the forum I choose.  I was skeptical going into the season that we could not compete with the upper tier teams in the conference and the butt kicking we received by a very good OWU bore that out.  Fact is this team is going to put up record offensive numbers but have struggled to score runs against quality No. 1 pitchers (Witt, Heidelberg, OWU, DePauw) and we can't slow down the bats of good teams.
As for Wabash's mediocracy it's really about administrative committment.  The embarrassment of a field is just a symptom of the bigger problem of lack of importance baseball plays compared to other sports - namely football.  The goal for baseball has been be ok, don't embarass the school.  Basically the goal is to be .500.  When that is surpassed (roughly every 5-10 years ) it is because of very good talent on the field.
The solution will have to be multidimensional.  Better recruiting - especially in Indiana.  The Flynn regime has seen DePauw, Rose Hulman, Franklin and Manchester all pass us in baseball success. Usually better players equal better teams.   Secondly, better tradition & support is needed from alums, administration especially the AD to upgrade facilities but also Admissions and student support.  Lastly, player commitment for upper tier success needs to happen.  Certainly this has come a long way from the mid-80's when Wabash Baseball was slightly more than a glorified club sport but it's still light years away from the type of commitment extended by the Wabash football players.  In short there is a price for excellence.  My hope is that the coaching change at season's end will spark these needed changes.  I'm not  bashing on Tom Flynn here either, I think Wabash is different from Wooster (his training ground) in regards to baseball.  You have to build something before you try to plug in the Wooster formula and Flynn just didn't quite build a foundation (nor receive the support) that competes with the Woosters and OWU's.

[wally_wabash]

No need to apologize, 6-4-3...we should be doing better.  I'm not so upset about lower scoring games vs. a team's #1 starter.  Those kids are #1 starters for a reason.  But we do need to get better.  The whole program needs to do better and you've done a good job of identifying the key areas of concern.  It's a little sad to me that Wabash revamped, replaced, or rebuilt nearly all of their athletic facilities during the most recent capital campaign, but the baseball field got bubkus.  Wabash badly needs a baseball-only facility.  Wabash badly needs to fix the revolving door at the head coach's office. 

Honstly, I think Wabash baseball has gotten better recently.  When we moved into the NCAC, we moved into a very strong baseball conference.  We're slowly closing the gap, but I think it's high time that the major obstacles we've identified here get addressed if we're going to get much closer to the top.