BB: NCAC: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

Niezer was actually part of a pretty extensive article I read a while ago on espn.com that examined the myth of the gyroball.  In said article, Niezer says he doesn't throw it.  I don't think anybody can throw it to be quite honest.  I think there might be some youtube clips of Niezer in high school that claim to capture the gyro...it looks like a good slider to me. 

Here's a link to the espn.com article if you're interested...it's a pretty long read. 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=gyroballsearch

[ScotsFan]

I think there might be some youtube clips of Niezer in high school that claim to capture

I did find video of Niezer on youtube.  It isn't very difinitive, but if you want to check it out, here is the link:

Niezer gyroball video

[Li'l Giant]

All the Gyroball videos look like those grainy Sasquatch and UFO videos.

Oh, and am I the only one who gets a craving for one of these every time they see the word "Gyroball"?

[ScotsFan]

Wooster is jumbling their schedule once again.  Wednesday's game at Musky has been ppd. and the Scots are now going to be at Kent St. to make up their game with the Golden Flashes. 

[smedindy]

Will Carroll taught Niezer the gyroball, but I think he just has some nasty breaking stuff. Maybe Hayden Sidd Finch threw the gyroball in Nepal?

[ScotsFan]

Wooster downed Kent State this afternoon 3-2!  Wooster built a 3-0 lead through 4 innings with Samson on the mound.  Samson surrendered single runs in the 4th and 7th innings before giving way to freshman Matt Barnes.  Barnes shut the door on the Flashes in the 7th and forced KSU into an inning ending DP in the 8th.  Then fellow frosh Mark Miller came on in the 9th to retire the side after allowing a leadoff single.

What a way to bounce back for Wooster after suffering their 1st loss of the season!!

Things don't get much easier for Wooster as they travel down to Heidelberg tomorrow afternoon.  All the Student Princes have done this season is put up a 21-8 record on the season (their 8th 20+ win season in a row) and they are also currently tied atop the very competitive OAC with OTT.  Should be another good game tomorrow down at the Berg.

[Spence]

Must be nice to be able to throw your ace in a midweek non-conference game.

Unfortunately Heidelberg doesn't have the same luxury, having played six games since Fri and playing Otterbein this weekend.

These are the kinds of things that aren't taken into consideration at the end of the year that should be. Not only does a weak conference give you a lot of easy wins, it allows you do things like throw your ace against a struggling D-I team's #8 or whatever.

[countyroad]

blah, blah blah...........

[ScotsFan]

Not only does a weak conference give you a lot of easy wins, it allows you do things like throw your ace against a struggling D-I team's #8 or whatever.

Just a little FYI, but I took a little excerpt from an article that was in the Wooster Daily Record just before Wooster was scheduled to play KSU the first time around. 

Kent State started its season 2-4 and was swept in its opening series at Wake Forest. In two of those three games, the Flashes had every reason to believe they'd win. The bad taste lingered until a three-game series at Florida in which the Flashes won twice.

With a deep pitching staff mentored by Orrville and Wayne County Sports Hall of Famer Mike Birkbeck, the Flashes boast a big-time roster.

"In terms of talent, Kent's probably the best Div. I team in Ohio right now," Pettorini said. "I don't care what Ohio State's record is or what conference they play in, Kent's talent is better. They have some tremendous arms. We're going to see somebody good."

So, Pettorini plans on starting ace Adam Samson at Kent State and will use freshman starter Matt Barnes at some point. Though he wouldn't say definitively what the plan is, Pettorini did say he'd like to let Samson stretch out and see what he could do. In an ideal world for Wooster, that would mean Samson going deep, giving the ball to Barnes, then handing a lead to freshman closer Mark Miller to finish things.

Conant was actually pretty prophetic in that last statement as that is exactly how the game ended up playing out! 8)

Kent may be struggling, but they are still a very talented Div. I baseball team.  And as far as the pitcher goes that Wooster faced, it was his 1st loss as a collegian.  He was 6-0 as a freshman last season and he was 1-0 on the year this season, so he must not be all that bad.

It just kills me how you continue to belittle Wooster every chance you get.  Beating KSU was a great accomplishment not only for Wooster, but for Div. III baseball as well.  How would it have looked if Wooster went up to Kent yesterday with their lofty record and got hammered by the Flashes?  What Wooster did yesterday is continue to prove that there is talent at the Div. III level.  And all you can do is cry about how nice it must be for Wooster to throw their ace midweek in a non conference game.  I guess you continue to prove that there is a reason why your Karma count is now nearing the century mark in the wrong direction!

One other thing yesterday's Wooster win might do is force Kent St. to reconsider playing the Scots as this is the 2nd time Wooster has beaten the Golden Flashes having beaten them in 2003 as well!

[countyroad]

Spence,

   So if Wooster can throw their Ace mid-week they can use him only sparingly on the weekend which forces them to throw somebody lower in the rotation on the weekend which evens things out a little. 
   Wooster just continues to win.  Sure they're supposed to win, but how many teams lose game's their not supposed to win? Many.
   Stop whining, what do you want Wooster to do??

[Spence]

Spence,

   So if Wooster can throw their Ace mid-week they can use him only sparingly on the weekend which forces them to throw somebody lower in the rotation on the weekend which evens things out a little. 
   Wooster just continues to win.  Sure they're supposed to win, but how many teams lose game's their not supposed to win? Many.
   Stop whining, what do you want Wooster to do??

They're playing Hiram on Sat/Sun, it doesn't really matter who they throw and if they wanted to they could bring back Samson on Sunday anyway. The D-I teams never throw anything good in games like this, so it really doesn't end up meaning a whole lot IMO. I knew the Wooster people would be bragging it up, so I brought up the obvious before there could be six posts about how Wooster's such hot stuff. I still don't think they've been opposed by an ace starting pitcher of a solid team all year.

I love how all the Wooster fans are crowing about this. They've beaten Ohio State and Kent State in a similar situation before, didn't help them in D-III. I don't really see it as being a great anything for D-III. When Marietta beat Ashland, a D-II national qualifier a couple years ago, was that a great win for Division III? It doesn't really do much nationally because most casual D-I fans aren't following Kent State. If someone went and beat an SEC or ACC or Pac 10 team it might be different.

I completely disagree with Pettorini's assessment of Kent State being the most talented team in Ohio. If they were, they'd be better than 15-20 and 6-6 in the MAC. I think the folks in Oxford would disagree with Pettorini, not to mention Columbus.

Doubt it's going to happen because of the schedule they've faced lately, but I'd laugh my butt off if Heidelberg beat Wooster right after Wooster won the Ohio State championship over Kent or so they think.

[ScotsFan]

Doubt it's going to happen because of the schedule they've faced lately, but I'd laugh my butt off if Heidelberg beat Wooster right after Wooster won the Ohio State championship over Kent or so they think.

Sorry to ruin all your fun, but Wooster beat the Berg 5-2.  But we all know that the only reason Wooster won is because of the Berg's brutal schedule of late?!

Unfortunately Heidelberg doesn't have the same luxury, having played six games since Fri and playing Otterbein this weekend.

These are the kinds of things that aren't taken into consideration at the end of the year that should be. Not only does a weak conference give you a lot of easy wins, it allows you do things like throw your ace against a struggling D-I team's #8 or whatever.

What annoys me most about you is that you seem to always be inferring that it's Wooster's fault for all of the scheduling that goes on.  Like scheduling is not a two way street or something.  As if Heidelberg had no say in when they were going to play Wooster?!

I don't even know why I'm wasting my time with you anyways!  You just grind and grind until I just have to respond to your uninsightful posts!  It sure is nice to have you gracing our presence continually annoying more and more posters as you go!!

[countyroad]

I knew the Wooster people would be bragging it up, so I brought up the obvious before there could be six posts about how Wooster's such hot stuff. I still don't think they've been opposed by an ace starting pitcher of a solid team all year.

I love how all the Wooster fans are crowing about this.

That's right, our team has lost 1 game all year so we're supposed to just shut up and not get excited about a good season.  Makes a whole lot of sense.  How would your beloved OAC teams done against Kent State?  Why are they not scheduling the DI teams?  You're absolutely ignorant.   
What should I expect from a weather man when weather men/women are wrong 50% of the time.
I know KSU and OSU are not going to throw their ace mid week against a DIII team but their still a team full of DI guys that are on a DI team for a reason.  Just as Wooster has a team full of DIII guys for a reason. 

[Spence]

Doubt it's going to happen because of the schedule they've faced lately, but I'd laugh my butt off if Heidelberg beat Wooster right after Wooster won the Ohio State championship over Kent or so they think.

Sorry to ruin all your fun, but Wooster beat the Berg 5-2.  But we all know that the only reason Wooster won is because of the Berg's brutal schedule of late?!

Unfortunately Heidelberg doesn't have the same luxury, having played six games since Fri and playing Otterbein this weekend.

These are the kinds of things that aren't taken into consideration at the end of the year that should be. Not only does a weak conference give you a lot of easy wins, it allows you do things like throw your ace against a struggling D-I team's #8 or whatever.

What annoys me most about you is that you seem to always be inferring that it's Wooster's fault for all of the scheduling that goes on.  Like scheduling is not a two way street or something.  As if Heidelberg had no say in when they were going to play Wooster?!

I don't even know why I'm wasting my time with you anyways!  You just grind and grind until I just have to respond to your uninsightful posts!  It sure is nice to have you gracing our presence continually annoying more and more posters as you go!!

Boy Wooster and their mighty offense sure did hammer around Heidelberg's #5 or so. Hamman after today still has an ERA over 7 and only gave up 4 hits in 7 IP. Wooster got 2 in the 8th against a guy with an ERA of 8.

Remember something I said about this not being a typical Wooster team offensively? But when you play Oberlin, Allegheny, Hiram and Kenyon to get to the postseason, you can get away with not scoring a lot because you don't need your aces to pitch to win conference games.

I don't necessarily have a problem with Wooster's schedule, I have a problem with the D-III baseball community's refusal to understand or even acknowledge its role in Wooster's record, both in the conference games and in their ability to engineer favorable matchups in the non-conference. I'm sure they'll probably do the same thing to Otterbein next week.

To me, to be recognized as #1, you should have to beat someone on even terms. If these rankings were done in the manner of a D-I basketball poll, Wooster would be well down in them because they haven't played anyone to be able to prove anything; like a Nevada or Winthrop. Oral Roberts didn't get ranked #1 because they won 50 games a couple years back in baseball. Yet for some reason in D-III we just don't even look at the competition a team beats to attain a given record.

But hey...Wooster was ranked #1 much of last season and showed why they were in the regional.

[countyroad]

Because Wooster is the only team to EVER underachieve once they got to the post-season.  Yep..that's it.