BB: NCAC: North Coast Athletic Conference

[BASH6-4-3]

Wabash takes all 4 games this weekend from Robert Morris to move to 7-6 on the season.  Not bad considering their 0-3 start.  Went 3-3 on the Texas trip with some pretty good competition.

They have pitched well and played good defense thus far keeping them in all of their games.  Offensive production has been nothing spectacular.
I think we'll know a lot more more about this team after this week.  DePauw on Wed. then 4 games with OWU to open NCAC league play.  Despite off-season coaching changes - OWU & Denison still look to be the class of the NCAC-West as evidenced by the early season scores thus far.
OWU has posted wins against Wooster and Ohio Univ. & Denison has pitched very well to date.

[ScotsFan]

Wooster picked up 3 more wins over the weekend sweeping a DH vs. Fontbonne 9-4 & 17-3 and then unloading on Stevens 26-6. 

Trap picked up the W in the 1st game against Fontbonne to improve to 2-0.  He went 5.1 allowing 4 runs (3 earned) and struck out 7.  Matt DeGrand also improved to 2-0 in the nightcap going 5 allowing 3 runs (2 earned).

Tanner Hall notched his 1st win of the season yesterday going 6.  He had an impressive 8 strikeouts in the outing. 

Next up for the Scots is a DH today vs. nationally ranked UWSP.  OWU beat the Pointers over the weekend 11-7 in their Florida opener.  I would expect Adam Samson and Matt Barnes to be on the mound for the Scots today.

[countyroad]

Wooster defeated UWSP today 11-9 in 10 innings in game one.  No box score is posted as of now.

[ScotsFan]

Wooster defeated UWSP today 11-9 in 10 innings in game one.  No box score is posted as of now.

Can't wait to see how Spence puts his negative spin on this one.  I suppose UWSP was throwing some scrub off the JV team or something...

[woosterbooster]

Still no score up on either school's site for game two.  I'm wondering who pitched that first game for Wooster, if it was Samson or not.  Hopefully not, rather he was held back for game two, and had a better outing.

[wooscotsfan]

The UWSP website is now showing that Wooster won the second game as well by a score of 8-7.  Nice Sweep by the Scots!!

[OshDude]

The UWSP website is now showing that Wooster won the second game as well by a score of 8-7.  Nice Sweep by the Scots!!

I've written it many times already on the WIAC and Midwest boards, and I'll state it here. Stevens Point is not that great this year. I think Point will finish third (behind Whitewater and Oshkosh) in our league and eke into regionals. After that, who knows? The Pointers could end up in Grand Chute again, but their talent, especially the pitching, is down. Sure, like today Point can hit sometimes but will rarely shut a team down.

That said, sometimes a jersey can create problems for opponents. And I don't want to take away what Wooster did today. Point is still pretty (very, maybe) good in relative terms, but I have no doubt that Wooster has the better team. SP is barely Top 25 material – probably outside the poll if they were not "Stevens Point." WC is Top 10. I'm actually surprised the games were as close as they were, but that's why they play them.

[countyroad]

I havn't been impressed with what I've got from Wooster's box score this spring.

[ScotsFan]

Wooster has updated their scores page to include the box score. 

Samson did indeed pictch in the 1st game of the DH.  He pretty much got rocked going just 4 innings and allowing 8 runs (7 earned) and he walked 5.   I can't remember an outing as bad as that for Samson.

In game 2, Wooster rallied for 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th to win 8-7!  Nate Gemberling-Johnson got the start and didn't fare much better than Samson in the 1st game.  He also only went 4 innings and allowed all 7 Pointer runs (all earned).

So much for thinking that the picthing was going to be the ones carrying the team this season...  Wooster's offense seems to be coming around as they are now averaging 9.5 runs per game and their team batting average is up to .342.  Meanwhile the piching staff now has a team ERA of over 4.

Wooster has an important Mid-East Region contest this morning vs. W&J and then a much needed day off tomorrow before their back to back DH's vs. Allegheny Thursday and Friday for their NCAC lid lifters.

[ScotsFan]

I havn't been impressed with what I've got from Wooster's box score this spring.

I'd say that this has more to do with the guys down in FLA not reporting anything back to Wooster in a timely manner.  If they're not phoning in the results, there's not much else you can do other than wait. 

The reasoning behind my thinking is because Wooster's Hugh Howard has to be considered one of the best small college SID's out there.  He does a tremendous job, IMO, with keeping us fans updated on all things related to Wooster athletics.  Especially when you factor in his large support staff...

[countyroad]

I havn't been impressed with what I've got from Wooster's box score this spring.

I'd say that this has more to do with the guys down in FLA not reporting anything back to Wooster in a timely manner.  If they're not phoning in the results, there's not much else you can do other than wait. 

The reasoning behind my thinking is because Wooster's Hugh Howard has to be considered one of the best small college SID's out there.  He does a tremendous job, IMO, with keeping us fans updated on all things related to Wooster athletics.  Especially when you factor in his large support staff...

Oh no, I was referencing the stats within the box score.  Obviously I havn't watch any games, so I'm going by what I read in the box score.  Saying that, I havn't been impressed by the stats.

[ScotsFan]

Oh no, I was referencing the stats within the box score.  Obviously I havn't watch any games, so I'm going by what I read in the box score.  Saying that, I havn't been impressed by the stats.

Oops!  My bad.  I see what you're saying now.  I misinterpreted what you were saying.

I would have to say that I agree with you about Wooster's overall stats.  The starting pitching is going to have to improve.  And the bats have been scoring just enough to win for the most part, but I'm still not convinced in Wooster's offense when they face legit pitching like they'll face come post-season time.  But the stat that pops out at me as the most alarming is once again ERRORS!  Once again, this team seems to be making far too many errors for a team that is supposed to be #2 in the nation.  The Scots have made 22 errors in their 12 games thus far.  To their credit, in 6 of their games, the Scots have committed one or fewer errors including 3 clean sheets.  On the flip side, Wooster has had 2 games with 4 or more errors including yesterday's opener with SP where they committed 4 in just 7 innings.  I just don't get why Wooster can't produce more fundamentally sound fielding teams...

[woosterbooster]

Seems to me that OshDude has it right; Stevens Point can definitely hit, but their pitching and defense aren't as yet world class.

Still, I'm surprised at Samson's poor outing, even against a team that can swing the bats.  But, it's just one turn on the mound, and I'm sure he'll bounce back.  On the positive side, Mark Miller still hasn't allowed an earned run this year, and maybe the Scots have found another pitcher in freshman Tyler Fugate, whose numbers look good in three outings.

It's hard to derive much knowledge when the team is in Florida.  Who knows if Samson and Trap (I'm calling him this because for the life of me I can't remember how many zzzzz's and nnnnnnnn's are in his name) are completely healthy?  More information will be available, from the parents, when everybody arrives home.  Hopefully, by the Marietta game, it will be 72 and balmy outside.

[countyroad]

Errors are something that definitely jump out at me too.  Too many at shortstop.  I realize MJ is new to that position as of last season, but the ss has to be better.  I'm not saying he won't improve.   

Our offense is striking out (58) too much.

[wooscotsfan]

Final:  Wooster 9  Washington & Jefferson 4

Wooster had 15 hits, 0 errors and is now 12-1 on the season.
Wash & Jeff had 11 hits, 2 errors and their record drops to 4-2.

Wooster freshman Justin McDowell pitched 6 innings (3 runs allowed) to notch his 2nd win of the season.  Scots jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first 5 innings of the game.

Wooster leading hitters were Pat Christensen with a triple, double and 3 RBI's.  Jake Sankal was 3 for 5 with 1 RBI.  Bubba McDowell was 3 for 4 with 1 RBI.  Matt Groezinger had 2 hits including a home run.

Next up is the 4 game set with Allegheny.  GO SCOTS!