BB: WIAC: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[tomt4525]

As far as I know, Simmons is back...as well as Payton Nelson too.

[ShineTime]

Let's hope the pitching staff is solid and can keep the ball in the park seeing they have quite a few home games. I don't know if playing Whitewater early is good or bad but if it's cool out home runs should be harder to come by. I'm excited to see how the WIAC is this season and if this could be the year for the Pointers to get back to the World Series.

[tomt4525]

https://athletics.uwsp.edu/sports/baseball/roster

Point's updated roster is up...

https://uwoshkoshtitans.com/sports/bsb/2021-22/roster

Oshkosh too

[ShineTime]

You beat me to it I've been eagerly waiting each day to see Points roster and my God at least Pointer fans will have something to look forward to given this roster and who all returned.  I don't see how Point wasn't ranked in the top 25 preseason poll given how they finished last season although I'm not sure voters knew if some of the seniors were coming back.  I can't think of many lineups that will be better than having Simmons, Comer, Nelson, Henwood, Baumann, Finger, Luedtke, Canterbury, etc. the list goes on and on of great hitters and guys who can hit with power.  I felt the pitching staff did well last year but will have to be GREAT this year to win the conference tournament and more importantly win games they absolutely should win so they leave little doubt they belong in regionals.  I'm not sure how the rotation will be for conference games but if I recall last year it was Carpenter, Syvertson, Krommenaker, Pickering, and Ferry closed and finished as an all american.  Throw Marcus Jaworski who transferred from D2 school into the mix and if he's dialed in could give them some strong innings either as a starter or set up man. 

[Jim Dixon]

I agree that Point is back but you need more than one good season to prove it to all.  I expect this is the season that everyone knows whether last yearf was a fluke or a sign of things to come.  I expect the latter.

You beat me to it I've been eagerly waiting each day to see Points roster and my God at least Pointer fans will have something to look forward to given this roster and who all returned.  I don't see how Point wasn't ranked in the top 25 preseason poll given how they finished last season although I'm not sure voters knew if some of the seniors were coming back.

[cubs]

UWO played three games this weekend, and while they played a pair of Top 10 teams in the country (#5 Adrian and #7 Birmingham Southern, along with Dominican University) the pitching staff took some lumps as they gave up a total of 31 runs on 34 hits and 12 walks in just 25 innings of work.  The thought has typically been the pitchers have the advantage early in the season, but it would seem that wasn't the case in Alabama this weekend.

Could be a long season in the WIAC for UWO if the pitching staff hasn't taken a step forward from their 5.68 ERA in WIAC play last season.  (Only Platteville, Eau Claire, and Finlandia were worse last year...)

[ShineTime]

Is Harry Orth the ace of the staff or no? He had 9 k's in 4 innings but also 4 walks but that's impressive. If he can cut the walks in half and pitch like that in the WIAC at least the titans will have someone they can count on in a big game. They played tough competition so it's not too surprising the amount of runs they gave up however to your point typically pitching is on display early in the year and bats are silenced.

[tomt4525]

https://athletics.uwsp.edu/news/2022/3/4/uwsp-baseball-adds-depth-poised-to-contend-again-in-2022.aspx

Season preview for UWSP.

[ShineTime]

2 monster wins to open the season for Pointers scored close to 30 runs in 2 games however pitching really struggled which is concerning. It's safe to say baseballs will be leaving the yard possibly at a record pace given how loaded the offense seems to be!

[cubs]

2 monster wins to open the season for Pointers scored close to 30 runs in 2 games however pitching really struggled which is concerning. It's safe to say baseballs will be leaving the yard possibly at a record pace given how loaded the offense seems to be!

"Monster" wins? 

One opponent was Illinois Institute on Technology, who in case you forgot went 6-18 with an ERA over 5.00 as a member of the WIAC back in 2018.  The other was Carroll, who went 14-18 in the CCIW last year.  Neither opponent is the type that would qualify for Regionals in my opinion, so it's hard put a lot of stock in either opponent for me....

[ShineTime]

Pointers destroy Wheaton today with Simmons leading the way falling a triple short of the cycle. The pitching staff appears to be trying to allow opposing teams to hang around by walking hitters left and right which is a major concern especially when it's guys at the top of rotation pitching poorly. Thankfully there most likely won't be many games where they score less than 10 so hopefully they can figure it out pitching wise because the rest looks great. I don't recall a batting order being this stacked in a very long time.

[cubs]

The ShineTime "kiss of death" makes an early appearance this season...   The day after he proclaims that "there most likely won't be many games where they score less than 10 runs" the Pointers are shut out on just two singles in a 7-0 loss to Coe.

Fortunately for the Pointers, they bounced back and took the nightcap from Coe and also defeated St. Scholastica this morning to improve to 5-1 on the season.

[ShineTime]

Pointers end Florida trip with 2 monumental wins against Washington and Jefferson and John Hopkins. Offense for the most part has been rock solid but pitching will need to get better and fast with Whitewater right around the corner. Going to be tough to muster more than 3-4 runs vs their top 2 in rotation for sure. I'm going to keep expectations lower especially at Whitewater and say gaining a split would be huge and the absolute worst case scenario would be taking 1 of 4. If Pointers get swept winning conference is out the window and having 5 losses overall that early would likely mean they'd have to finish second in conference regular season and conference tournament unless they'd win it as well as having to sweep a lot of series in the WIAC which definitely won't be easy to do given the strength of conference overall.

[badgerwarhawk]

WARHAWKS vs Pointers pair of twin bills scheduled for this weekend has been postponed to Monday 3/28 and another date in April which I'm not sure of.  Weather related

[PauldingLightUP]

Point and La Crosse halted for the day due to darkness tied at 14 heading to the 10th.