BB: WIAC: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[badgerwarhawk]

And Oshkosh takes two from Point.

Assuming Oshkosh wins all four against IIT, that makes the Whitewater/Lacrosse series much more interesting. AQ or not, no team is saying that winning the conference doesn't matter to them.

I doubt it will happen, but if UWO wins out and UWW splits with UWL, who wins the tie-breaker?

Since there isn't a conference tournament or Pool A bid, the tiebreaker really has little value this year....

In years past, UWO would win tiebreaker by virtue of going 3-1 against La Crosse while Whitewater would have gone 2-2.

Thanks, I was wondering this last night and planned on looking into it today.  But you've saved me the time.  Plus k for you.

[cubs]

No, I wouldn't say the same for Tomasiewicz.  Oshkosh was struggling before he took over and he's improved the program.  UWSP was going to Regionals every year, had just played in the College World Series along with winning Conference Tournaments before Jirschele took over the program.  He hasn't improved it, he hasn't maintained it.  He's made it worse. 

And yes, this years' games count.  You figured it out yourself, .562 winning percentage in conference.  That's horrible from where the program was, barely over .500.

You obviously have don't care for Jirschele....  We get it!!!  I'm not sure if you think one of your buddies got a "raw" deal or what the deal is, and to be honest I don't care. 

Anyway, you said practically the same thing last year and before yesterday, you had made a grand total of ONE post in regards to Stevens Point's 2017-18 baseball season (how ironic it was after they blew a lead?  )  You probably hated it when they got off to a good start and were 18-5 and ranked #25 this year!!!  Now as they struggle at the end of the season you make sure to return and put Jirschele and the Pointers on blast.  That tells me all I need to know, so consider this my last comment on the topic.

I actually think Stevens Point had the pitching (which if I remember correctly was a big concern for you at the end of last year) to compete at the Regional level.  Mulzer turned out being exactly what the Pointers were probably hoping for when he transferred.  With that said however the trio of Erickson/Mulzer/B. Miller couldn't make up for the anemic offense of the Pointers.

Lastly, whether Point/La Crosse/Whitewater/etc.. wins or loses, it really doesn't bother me....  I continue to follow the league just like I have for the last 25 years, but to be honest, I have zero rooting interest in regards to who wins the league (as has been the case for some time now.)  I will continue to follow the WIAC teams at Regionals and hope they continue the long tradition of success at the National level. 

[tomt4525]

No, I wouldn't say the same for Tomasiewicz.  Oshkosh was struggling before he took over and he's improved the program.  UWSP was going to Regionals every year, had just played in the College World Series along with winning Conference Tournaments before Jirschele took over the program.  He hasn't improved it, he hasn't maintained it.  He's made it worse. 

And yes, this years' games count.  You figured it out yourself, .562 winning percentage in conference.  That's horrible from where the program was, barely over .500.

You obviously have don't care for Jirschele....  We get it!!!  I'm not sure if you think one of your buddies got a "raw" deal or what the deal is, and to be honest I don't care. 

Anyway, you said practically the same thing last year and before yesterday, you had made a grand total of ONE post in regards to Stevens Point's 2017-18 baseball season (how ironic it was after they blew a lead?  )  You probably hated it when they got off to a good start and were 18-5 and ranked #25 this year!!!  Now as they struggle at the end of the season you make sure to return and put Jirschele and the Pointers on blast.  That tells me all I need to know, so consider this my last comment on the topic.

I actually think Stevens Point had the pitching (which if I remember correctly was a big concern for you at the end of last year) to compete at the Regional level.  Mulzer turned out being exactly what the Pointers were probably hoping for when he transferred.  With that said however the trio of Erickson/Mulzer/B. Miller couldn't make up for the anemic offense of the Pointers.

Lastly, whether Point/La Crosse/Whitewater/etc.. wins or loses, it really doesn't bother me....  I continue to follow the league just like I have for the last 25 years, but to be honest, I have zero rooting interest in regards to who wins the league (as has been the case for some time now.)  I will continue to follow the WIAC teams at Regionals and hope they continue the long tradition of success at the National level.

Could you explain to me why it matters how many posts I make on the WIAC baseball page??  It's irrelevant.

I follow UWSP baseball, I made it to their games at US Bank against St Olaf.  I follow their games online while I'm at work and at home.  I have nothing against Jirschele personally, he has done nothing to me nor to anyone I know.  What I have against Jirschele is he isn't winning enough games, plain and simple.  He is getting out recruited by more than half the conference which is alarming for the future of the program as well.

I certainly didn't hate that they were 18-5, in the regional rankings and ranked in the top 25.  I'll say I was still skeptical whether they could keep that up but I was happy to see it.  My skepticism turned out to be true.

I'll agree they had the pitching to compete at a regional.  Mulzer certainly impressed this year compared to last year and Erickson/Miller can compete against any D3 duo.  With those 3, they still aren't going anywhere in the postseason and next year none of them return.  The program is going downhill, pretty hard to argue that.

[cubs]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the WIAC had a pitcher throw nine no-hit innings yesterday afternoon.

Stout's Brad Rindfleisch faced one batter over the minimum as he threw nine innings of no-hit relief in Stout's 3-2 17-inning loss to La Crosse.  Rindfleisch entered the game in the Top of the 6th inning and held La Crosse to just one walk while striking out three over the next nine innings.  Luckily for La Crosse, Caleb Willems nearly matched Rindfleisch as threw nine shutout innings in relief to earn the victory after the Eagles scored a run in the Top of the 17th inning.

[badgerwarhawk]

Out of conference:

Illinois Tech (9-7):  Beloit (W 4-3), Mass. College of Liberal Arts (L 4-5, W 7-5),  Olivet (L 1-6), Cazenovia (W 5-2). Fitchburg State (W 4-0, W 1-0), Keene State (L 6-14),  Milwaukee School of Engineering (W 7-0, L 1-5), Wisconsin Lutheran (w 11-7, W 9-3), Carthage (L 3-13, L 0-15), Chicago (L 13-18), Arora (W 5-3)

La Crosse: (9-5):  St Thomas (W 2-0), Southern Maine (W 12-11), Spalding (L 2-4), College of New Jersey (L 2-3), SUNY Brockport (W 9-7), RIT (W 5-0), lllinois Wesleyan (W 18-5), Benedictine (L 4-5), Webster (W 4-2), Concordia - Chicago (L 3-8, L 8-14), St Scholastica (W 6-4, W 14-11), St Thomas (W 6-2)

Oshkosh (13-2): Wabash (L 4-5), Transylvania (W 9-1, L 10-14), St Thomas (W 4-3, W 6-3), Ripon (W 7-1), St Scholastica (W 4-2), Lawrence (W 15-1), Washington & Jefferson (W 11-1), Grinnell (W 8-0,), Benedictine (W 13-3), Thomas (W 20-0), Wis Lutheran (W 11-2), Milwaukee School of Engineering (W 12-2, W 10-7)

Platteville (6-10): Aurora (L 1-3), Olivet (L 6-7), Spalding (L 1-11), Anderson (L 5-9), Spalding (L 2-12), DePauw (W 15-13), Fonbonne (L 3-13, L 3-5), Rose Hulman (L 3-20), Chicago (L 6-7), Rose Hulman (W 8-6), Belhaven (L 5-10, W 10-8, W 15-12), Millsaps (W 8-7), Edgewood (W 6-4)

Stevens Point (8-4): St Olaf (W 3-1, W 9-6), Western New England (L 1-2), Washington & Jefferson (L 4-5, W 6-0), Keuka (W 20-0), St Thomas (L 1-6, W 5-2), Colby (W 4-2), Colby (W 10-5), Concordia (L 2-3, W 9-3)

Stout (3-10): Augsburg (L 0-3, L 5-8), Hamline (L 2-9, W 6-2), Edgewood (W 15-9), St Michael's (L 2-3, L 2-4), North Park (L 7-16), Lakeland (W 9-5), Augustana (L 3-5), SUNY-Plattsburg (L 7-10), Bethel (L 5-7, L 3-12)

WARHAWKS (11-2): Babson (W 5-3), Hope (W 11-1), Washington & Jefferson (W 8-1), Lawrence (W 9-4), Grinnell (W 16-4), St Olaf (L 3-6), St Thomas (L 0-3), Ripon (W 15-3, W 11-5), St Scholastica (W 13-1), St Norbert (W 22-8), Concordia-Wi (W 7-0)

Through 4/08
Overall: 59-40 .595


O'Sullivan and Muir, a pair of freshman, combined to strike out 11 as the WARHAWKS defeated Concordia-Wi 7-0.  O'Sullivan picked up his third win allowing 3 hits in the first five innings with 5 strikeouts and Muir struck out 6 in 3 hitless innings in relief.  Gruetzmacher finished the final inning.  Offensively Doud led the way with 3 hits and 3 RBI.  Wary had a pair of hits and RBI.  Schrader and Aldridge, who scored 3 times, each drove in a run. 


It looks like it all comes down to this weekend.  I don't see Oshkosh losing to Illinois Tech so the WARHAWKS will most likely need to take at least 3 games in La Crosse to gain the outright claim to the conference championship. 

[Jim Dixon]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the WIAC had a pitcher throw nine no-hit innings yesterday afternoon.

Stout's Brad Rindfleisch faced one batter over the minimum as he threw nine innings of no-hit relief in Stout's 3-2 17-inning loss to La Crosse.  Rindfleisch entered the game in the Top of the 6th inning and held La Crosse to just one walk while striking out three over the next nine innings.  Luckily for La Crosse, Caleb Willems nearly matched Rindfleisch as threw nine shutout innings in relief to earn the victory after the Eagles scored a run in the Top of the 17th inning.

Then they play a 5 inning game.  12 innings difference from game one to game two

[cubs]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the WIAC had a pitcher throw nine no-hit innings yesterday afternoon.

Stout's Brad Rindfleisch faced one batter over the minimum as he threw nine innings of no-hit relief in Stout's 3-2 17-inning loss to La Crosse.  Rindfleisch entered the game in the Top of the 6th inning and held La Crosse to just one walk while striking out three over the next nine innings.  Luckily for La Crosse, Caleb Willems nearly matched Rindfleisch as threw nine shutout innings in relief to earn the victory after the Eagles scored a run in the Top of the 17th inning.

Then they play a 5 inning game.  12 innings difference from game one to game two

I know there was rain in that part of the state yesterday, so guessing the weather played a part in the shortened game...

UW-LACROSSE BASEBALL
‏

@UWLAXBaseball
20h20 hours ago
More
Big win in game 1 in the 17th inning.

Fought some tough weather conditions to take game 2.

Heck of a day of baseball by our guys! Total team wins!

#eagles

[BigSpotScott]

Out of conference:

Illinois Tech (9-7):  Beloit (W 4-3), Mass. College of Liberal Arts (L 4-5, W 7-5),  Olivet (L 1-6), Cazenovia (W 5-2). Fitchburg State (W 4-0, W 1-0), Keene State (L 6-14),  Milwaukee School of Engineering (W 7-0, L 1-5), Wisconsin Lutheran (w 11-7, W 9-3), Carthage (L 3-13, L 0-15), Chicago (L 13-18), Arora (W 5-3)

La Crosse: (9-5):  St Thomas (W 2-0), Southern Maine (W 12-11), Spalding (L 2-4), College of New Jersey (L 2-3), SUNY Brockport (W 9-7), RIT (W 5-0), lllinois Wesleyan (W 18-5), Benedictine (L 4-5), Webster (W 4-2), Concordia - Chicago (L 3-8, L 8-14), St Scholastica (W 6-4, W 14-11), St Thomas (W 6-2)

Oshkosh (13-2): Wabash (L 4-5), Transylvania (W 9-1, L 10-14), St Thomas (W 4-3, W 6-3), Ripon (W 7-1), St Scholastica (W 4-2), Lawrence (W 15-1), Washington & Jefferson (W 11-1), Grinnell (W 8-0,), Benedictine (W 13-3), Thomas (W 20-0), Wis Lutheran (W 11-2), Milwaukee School of Engineering (W 12-2, W 10-7)

Platteville (6-10): Aurora (L 1-3), Olivet (L 6-7), Spalding (L 1-11), Anderson (L 5-9), Spalding (L 2-12), DePauw (W 15-13), Fonbonne (L 3-13, L 3-5), Rose Hulman (L 3-20), Chicago (L 6-7), Rose Hulman (W 8-6), Belhaven (L 5-10, W 10-8, W 15-12), Millsaps (W 8-7), Edgewood (W 6-4)

Stevens Point (8-4): St Olaf (W 3-1, W 9-6), Western New England (L 1-2), Washington & Jefferson (L 4-5, W 6-0), Keuka (W 20-0), St Thomas (L 1-6, W 5-2), Colby (W 4-2), Colby (W 10-5), Concordia (L 2-3, W 9-3)

Stout (3-10): Augsburg (L 0-3, L 5-8), Hamline (L 2-9, W 6-2), Edgewood (W 15-9), St Michael's (L 2-3, L 2-4), North Park (L 7-16), Lakeland (W 9-5), Augustana (L 3-5), SUNY-Plattsburg (L 7-10), Bethel (L 5-7, L 3-12)

WARHAWKS (11-2): Babson (W 5-3), Hope (W 11-1), Washington & Jefferson (W 8-1), Lawrence (W 9-4), Grinnell (W 16-4), St Olaf (L 3-6), St Thomas (L 0-3), Ripon (W 15-3, W 11-5), St Scholastica (W 13-1), St Norbert (W 22-8), Concordia-Wi (W 7-0)

Through 4/08
Overall: 59-40 .595


O'Sullivan and Muir, a pair of freshman, combined to strike out 11 as the WARHAWKS defeated Concordia-Wi 7-0.  O'Sullivan picked up his third win allowing 3 hits in the first five innings with 5 strikeouts and Muir struck out 6 in 3 hitless innings in relief.  Gruetzmacher finished the final inning.  Offensively Doud led the way with 3 hits and 3 RBI.  Wary had a pair of hits and RBI.  Schrader and Aldridge, who scored 3 times, each drove in a run. 


It looks like it all comes down to this weekend.  I don't see Oshkosh losing to Illinois Tech so the WARHAWKS will most likely need to take at least 3 games in La Crosse to gain the outright claim to the conference championship.

Is anyone else surprised by IIT's performance this year? I figured they win 2 conference games max. I know they are leaving the conference, but for a team that wasn't even NCAA last year, they seem to be going decent - especially pitching which is where I'd expect a new WIAC team to struggle. Interested in thoughts.

[Ralph Turner]

They are going to a good baseball team going to a good conference. They should be competitive. I also imagine baseball to be a sport for "engineers". Baseball has a mechanically beautiful nature about it.  There have been industrial engineers and management scientists who have commented that the ability to read a baseball scorebook  or a boxscore gave American industry a jumpstart against Europe in the early 20th century. 

(Remember when Rice and Stanford faced off in Omaha?)

[BigPoppa]

They are going to a good baseball team going to a good conference. They should be competitive. I also imagine baseball to be a sport for "engineers". Baseball has a mechanically beautiful nature about it.  There have been industrial engineers and management scientists who have commented that the ability to read a baseball scorebook  or a boxscore gave American industry a jumpstart against Europe in the early 20th century. 

(Remember when Rice and Stanford faced off in Omaha?)

They will be a contender in the NAAC right away. Maybe not a title contender, but in the mix.

[bleedpurple]

Is anyone else surprised by IIT's performance this year? I figured they win 2 conference games max. I know they are leaving the conference, but for a team that wasn't even NCAA last year, they seem to be going decent - especially pitching which is where I'd expect a new WIAC team to struggle. Interested in thoughts.

Platteville and Stout have been the WIAC bottom two since Superior left.  They usually win between 4 and 6 games each.  This year they were worse than usual going a combined 3-29 in the WIAC (if you remove their results against IT).

IT was 4-4 against Platteville and Stout.  They are 1-11 vs UW-W, LaCrosse, and Stevens Point, with four games remaining against UW-0. So far, I think the only real surprise was their win against LaCrosse.

[Ralph Turner]

Is anyone else surprised by IIT's performance this year? I figured they win 2 conference games max. I know they are leaving the conference, but for a team that wasn't even NCAA last year, they seem to be going decent - especially pitching which is where I'd expect a new WIAC team to struggle. Interested in thoughts.

Platteville and Stout have been the WIAC bottom two since Superior left.  They usually win between 4 and 6 games each.  This year they were worse than usual going a combined 3-29 in the WIAC (if you remove their results against IT).

IT was 4-4 against Platteville and Stout.  They are 1-11 vs UW-W, LaCrosse, and Stevens Point, with four games remaining against UW-0. So far, I think the only real surprise was their win against LaCrosse.

Respectfully, UW W,LC & SP would dominate 30 of the 40 conferences in D-3.

[bleedpurple]

Is anyone else surprised by IIT's performance this year? I figured they win 2 conference games max. I know they are leaving the conference, but for a team that wasn't even NCAA last year, they seem to be going decent - especially pitching which is where I'd expect a new WIAC team to struggle. Interested in thoughts.

Platteville and Stout have been the WIAC bottom two since Superior left.  They usually win between 4 and 6 games each.  This year they were worse than usual going a combined 3-29 in the WIAC (if you remove their results against IT).

IT was 4-4 against Platteville and Stout.  They are 1-11 vs UW-W, LaCrosse, and Stevens Point, with four games remaining against UW-0. So far, I think the only real surprise was their win against LaCrosse.

Respectfully, UW W,LC & SP would dominate 30 of the 40 conferences in D-3.

Agreed. I guess that's why I don't think the results are particularly surprising. I wasn't trying to dis IT. From what I had heard about the IT program, splitting with the 2018 versions of Platteville and Stout and struggling against the rest is pretty much what I would have expected. 

[BigSpotScott]

Is anyone else surprised by IIT's performance this year? I figured they win 2 conference games max. I know they are leaving the conference, but for a team that wasn't even NCAA last year, they seem to be going decent - especially pitching which is where I'd expect a new WIAC team to struggle. Interested in thoughts.

Good point on where their wins are coming from. I'm still impressed by their pitching though.
Platteville and Stout have been the WIAC bottom two since Superior left.  They usually win between 4 and 6 games each.  This year they were worse than usual going a combined 3-29 in the WIAC (if you remove their results against IT).

IT was 4-4 against Platteville and Stout.  They are 1-11 vs UW-W, LaCrosse, and Stevens Point, with four games remaining against UW-0. So far, I think the only real surprise was their win against LaCrosse.

Respectfully, UW W,LC & SP would dominate 30 of the 40 conferences in D-3.

Agreed. I guess that's why I don't think the results are particularly surprising. I wasn't trying to dis IT. From what I had heard about the IT program, splitting with the 2018 versions of Platteville and Stout and struggling against the rest is pretty much what I would have expected.

[bleedpurple]

Is anyone else surprised by IIT's performance this year? I figured they win 2 conference games max. I know they are leaving the conference, but for a team that wasn't even NCAA last year, they seem to be going decent - especially pitching which is where I'd expect a new WIAC team to struggle. Interested in thoughts.

Platteville and Stout have been the WIAC bottom two since Superior left.  They usually win between 4 and 6 games each.  This year they were worse than usual going a combined 3-29 in the WIAC (if you remove their results against IT).

IT was 4-4 against Platteville and Stout.  They are 1-11 vs UW-W, LaCrosse, and Stevens Point, with four games remaining against UW-0. So far, I think the only real surprise was their win against LaCrosse.

UPDATE: IIT's win over Oshkosh today in a game the Titans absolutely had to have qualifies as a huge surprise and certainly adds to their body of work as they close out their WIAC season.

With UW-0 and UW-W both splitting their respective double headers today, the Warhawks need one win tomorrow to secure the outright WIAC Championship.