BB: WIAC: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BigPoppa]

I Completely agree... Most DI schools do not recruit anywhere in Wisconsin north of Milwaukee and D3 schools have produced a few big-leaguers north of Milwaukee (Zimmerman, Washburn, Terry Jorgensen, Taschner, Jimmy Gantner, Gary Varsho, etc). All of those big-leaguers came out of the WIAC.

[Shhhhhh]

A little birdie told me Ruebens is out for the year and needs Tommy John.....

[Dagger]

while we're on the topic of UWO pitchers...which if this is true it doesn't surprise me with the way lechnir abuses his pitchers...how do UWO followers feel about tommy keeping guys in the games as long as he does?  Doesn't it seem a little crazy to allow demin to throw 170 pitches in one game (against piont) and throw kannenberg well into the hundreds on short rest?  It just seems like that would really take a toll on guys arms, which would explain rubens falling apart(physically) at the end of last year, and this year!  I mean I'm just looking for you thoughts on the situation, not trying to question lechnir's decisions...it just seems a little much to me to allow guys to throw that much...I would be pissed if I was a pitcher in that system.  That's disrespectful to the pitcher to do that to him don't you think?  I would hate to have seen what rubens could have accomplished in a more defined role!  Just fishing for some discussion, kind of dead in here today!

[biggio34]

Lechnir is a legend for good reason, but in the past few years he has changed. How can scouts look at these pitchers and think that they are going to get a healthy product. And yes I know there are numerous pros that have made it under his guidance, but if i'm a scout and I come and watch a kid throw 170 pitches, I surely can't think he's going to last. Got a chance to see Kannenberg on Saturday get lit up and he looked tired, breaking ball flat, fastball with little velocity and hanging around the middle of the plate. Was floored when he started on Sunday and threw a COMPLETE GAME after throwing 4 innings on Sunday. That is madness!! He had to have thrown 200+ pitches in two days. Lechnir is well known for his intesity and want to win but the way his arms keep going down and the personal insults to the kids will head to a boiling point sometime and only two things can happen, he is going to flip out and get in a scrap with a kid or he will have a heart attack in the dugout!
Also I see Vodelich heading in that direction the way he's used Dott this season, it's crazy. You have to think these kids have to be hanging.

[cubs]

I'm not going to reply specifically to any post, but I will just say this....  It's easy to question things when you are on the outside and see nothing outside of the actual games that are played.  The amount of work that the UWO pitchers do in the off-season and during the season compared to some other programs is ridiculous.

What I really get a kick out of is the post that ignited this discussion is someone'e first post and it seems they only registered to make that one post.  Wonder what the intent was there?  Someone have an ax to grind or something? 

[Dagger]

first of all I think uwsp and uww work just as hard, and everyone probably thinks that they outwork the other, but in reality they all end up doing the same amount of work!  I thought UWW was the hardest working team in the nation when I was there, only to go to UWSP and find that it's the same way there, if not harder!  So I find it hard to believe that UWO works harder than the other two programs...I'm sure they work their nuts off, but so does everyone else.  Plus no amount of work will prepare an arm for 170 pitches in one game or 200 over the course of two days, that's just plain stupid to put that work load on a young pitchers arm. 

[OshDude]

Bystander had it right all along – the Platteville and Superior losses put Oshkosh in a very tough spot.

Hmmm, dude, IMO you're over-dramatizing Oshkosh as the hard luck loser this year. 

LOL. How do you get that out of what I wrote? Whatever, if that's how you read it, that's fine.

[biggio34]

I'm not going to reply specifically to any post, but I will just say this....  It's easy to question things when you are on the outside and see nothing outside of the actual games that are played.  The amount of work that the UWO pitchers do in the off-season and during the season compared to some other programs is ridiculous.

I find it hard to believe that anyone can condition an arm to throw 200 pitches in a weekend. That's not even the worst of it. If there was a game TODAY, I would not be shocked to see Kannenberg run back out there for another 60 or so. The arm needs time to recover, otherwise it will be destroyed. Don't get me wrong there are people that have "rubber arm" and recover very quickly or rarely get soreness. I thought Ruebens fit that description perfectly, but him not being able to pitch in the regional last year and "allegedly" being on the shelf this year leads me to believe it is from overuse.
Again, I will not say that Lechnir is a bad coach, I have more respect for him than you can imagine. BUT kids health is too important to ignore. 

[ballfan55]

[quote author=cubs link=topic=4163.msg1064360#msg1064360

I was watching Iowa and Michigan St. on the Big Ten network last week.  In that series alone, there were three kids starting just from the Fox Valley area.  Iowa's starting pitcher was from Kaukauna, their starting SS was from Green Bay Notre Dame, and Michigan State's starting 2B was from Oshkosh West, who just so happened to go 5x6 with.  Now in the past those are the kids that likely went to either Stevens Point or Oshkosh.  Instead they are going D1, which in my opinion doesn't likely happen 10 years ago.
[/quote]

Schreiber, Zeise, and Roberts are great examples of players who left due to the exposure they received with the Midwest Blazers.  There are a good number of players who are being seen and recruited.  Koback may be the exception this year as a player who could have easily gone elsewhere but chose to stay and play D3.

With the rare exception of a Jake Hermsen getting a full ride to Northern Illinois, few of these players are getting everything to be paid for...and the reality is that many may find that d3 and staying in state may be more affordable for them.

[Dagger]

you're always going to have guys leave to go play in other conferences.  That's true no matter where you live.  I just don't think that that fact is contributing to the poor numbers we saw in the WIAC this year!  guys have been leaving to go play at D1 schools for years, it's nothing new.  The youth of this years teams IMO was the reason for the decline in offensive output.

[cubs]

you're always going to have guys leave to go play in other conferences.  That's true no matter where you live.  I just don't think that that fact is contributing to the poor numbers we saw in the WIAC this year!  guys have been leaving to go play at D1 schools for years, it's nothing new.  The youth of this years teams IMO was the reason for the decline in offensive output.

An occasional guy here or there leaving for other conferences?  Sure....  But not five guys in about a 50 or 60 mile radius, going to play D1 college baseball.  Ten years ago those guys were few and far between.  You can't tell me that the talent is that much better now than it was then.

[Dagger]

No, I agree that more players are leaving to play in other leagues...I know of some guys up north that have gone to some more southern D1 conferences to play.  Those larger schools are certainly starting to realize the amount of talent that is found in the state of wisconsin and are expanding their recruiting zones, but I don't think that they take enough players from the WIAC that it makes a difference in the talent level conference wide.  Missing out on 4-5 guys is not a huge deal, and like I mentioned before...most of the real studs of WIAC seasons past were all shunned by the big boys, and often times the highly recruited players go on to be busts in the next level.  So I mean I agree with you that they are starting to maybe take a few more players from our area than they have in the past, but I don't believe it negatively affects the conference talent level.


is there any truth to the random rubens post?

[BoBo]

From the CUW website, UWW drops 2 to CUW today 4-3 and 6-5. No game details.

[d3baseballnut]

From the CUW website, UWW drops 2 to CUW today 4-3 and 6-5. No game details.

wow....that hurts

[BigPoppa]

UWW has to win it to move on this weekend.