BB: WIAC: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Just Bill]

Whitewater has made significant upgrades to its facilities and after confirmation with Whitewater officials, the University is currently working on installing fiber optics to the Eric Baldwin Clubhouse so that there will be internet access for sports information and media during the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional in May. Whitewater appreciates everyone's patience as they work in a difficult economic environment in the State System.

Don't I know it.  Thanks for checking up BW.

[cubs]

Now that Point finally has their stats up, it's interesting to see how some of their guys did on the trip to Florida.

Fritz-Looks like he is seeing the ball well, hitting over .400 thus far.  Surprisingly, he also leads Point in slugging % out of the lead off spot.  Appears he is struggling defensively however, as he alone has half of Point's total errors thus far (7) thru 11 games.

Richter-Looks like he is going to pick up right where he left off following up his POY selection last season.  I would suspect his power nmbers will get better as the season progresses as well.

Surman-Seems to be in an early season funk.  (Actually reminds me of the numbers Whitewater's Kevin Zalnis put up early last year.)  Makes a guy wonder which Surman is going to show up?  The freshman who hit .385 and was a 1st Team All Conference selection, or the Sophomre that hit .265.

I am a bit surprised to see how successful Point's opponents have been swiping bases this season.  Thru 11 games, Points opponents have 9 stolen bases in 10 attempts.  For the sake of comparison, Point gunned down roughly 30% of would-be base stealers last season.

[Brewers20]

Now that Point finally has their stats up, it's interesting to see how some of their guys did on the trip to Florida.

Fritz-Looks like he is seeing the ball well, hitting over .400 thus far.  Surprisingly, he also leads Point in slugging % out of the lead off spot.  Appears he is struggling defensively however, as he alone has half of Point's total errors thus far (7) thru 11 games.

Richter-Looks like he is going to pick up right where he left off following up his POY selection last season.  I would suspect his power nmbers will get better as the season progresses as well.

Surman-Seems to be in an early season funk.  (Actually reminds me of the numbers Whitewater's Kevin Zalnis put up early last year.)  Makes a guy wonder which Surman is going to show up?  The freshman who hit .385 and was a 1st Team All Conference selection, or the Sophomre that hit .265.

I am a bit surprised to see how successful Point's opponents have been swiping bases this season.  Thru 11 games, Points opponents have 9 stolen bases in 10 attempts.  For the sake of comparison, Point gunned down roughly 30% of would-be base stealers last season.

Fritz is definitely stepping up this year at the plate.  Last year was a little disappointing after the year he had as a freshman, but I guess they don't call it a sophomore slump for nothing.  Unfortunately his defense is a little rough, but he plays his a** off every game and gives it everything he has so hopefully it will turn around for him. 
Richter had a decent trip and start to the season, hopefully he can limit the strikeouts a little more, but he's a power hitter they tend to have a few more Ks. 
Archambeau is still there!!! LoL just funny cuz it seems like he's been there forever, i played with him 2 years and i feel like i've been gone a long time.  Looks like he's off to a decent start, definitely playing below his potential though.  I'm sure he will be a force in the middle of the lineup again this year.
Surman is a pretty big surprise to me as well, last year he went through a little bit of a slump, so i thought this year he would come out and hit pretty well.  Unfortunately thats not the case.
Looking at the stats, a lot of guys got significant playing time in florida and for the most part played pretty good.  Point will have a lot of depth on the mound and in the field, which is nice, but it also puts added pressure on the players because if you have a bad day, you could be benched and watching from the dugout the next game.  Hopefully the veterans step up and big years for the Pointers.

[Dagger]

I'm not making excuses for fritz's, or my own, defensive struggles, however I will say this...Point is by far the worst at scoring baseball games, when it comes to giving hits/errors to themselves.  Honestly in any given year, you can subtract 5 errors, and add about 15 points to batting averages.  It's actually comical sometimes, how things get scored.  That's my 1.5 cents on that topic!

After looking over the stats, the most surprising number to me, was the lack of numbers in the HR department, especially with the hitters they have this year in surman, arch, and richter, and fritz can poke some out also!  As a whole they are a little behind where you would like to see them offensively.  With a team average just barely over .300.  That is a number that is traditionally much higher, and is likely a result of a number of different factors.  other than that, they seem to be playing well for the most part, and come the end of the year they should be in perfect position to make another charge, with the experience of another season under their belts, and the strength of their pitching staff (barring an injury). 

I see trinity 9-1 has suffered their only loss of the young season at the hands of the pointers....

[Brewers20]

I'm not making excuses for fritz's, or my own, defensive struggles, however I will say this...Point is by far the worst at scoring baseball games, when it comes to giving hits/errors to themselves.  Honestly in any given year, you can subtract 5 errors, and add about 15 points to batting averages.  It's actually comical sometimes, how things get scored.  That's my 1.5 cents on that topic!

LOL, i guess the pointers want everyone to underestimate them. 

[badgerwarhawk]

The WARHAWKS pounded out 35 hits in sweeping a pair from Marion 19-7 and 13-3 (8 innings).  The WARHAWKS got out to a 7-0 lead after four innings in the first game.  Riley Tincher picked up his fifth win of the season going 6 innings.  He was relieved by Kyle Lee and Ben Versnik who threw three shutout innings striking out six batters.  Both Daniel Putnam (4x5, 5RBI) and Ben Kuhlmann (5x6, 4RBI) had a double and triple.  Mike Kenseth went 3x4 and Kevin Barth had a grand slam home run. 

Aaron Leitner (3-1) got the start and win in the second game going 5 innings giving up 5 hits and 3 runs.  He was relieved by Jason Hooper who had 5 Ks in 2.2 innings and Andrew Bauer got the final out.  The score was tied 3-3 after 4 innings before the WARHAWKS plated 5 runs in the fifth to take the lead for good.  The game ended with back to back to back home runs from Kenseth, Matt Beyer and Putnam.  Kenseth was a perfect 4x4 at the plate with a pair of RBIs.  Beyer (4RBI) and Putnam (2RBI) both went 3X5.  Jeff Donovan had a pair of hits and RBIs in three at bats.

History was made on Prucha Field in the Jim Miller Stadium when the lights were turned on toward the end of game two.  It was way, way cool.  They were really bright even though it wasn't really that dark out. 

[Dagger]

whitewater is putting up ridiculous numbers right now.  I don't care who they're playing, that's something to fear! 

[pickleshiner]

Not only is Whitewater scary right now I'm nervous about Point's series at home against Platteville next weekend.  Platteville looks like they can rake this year.

[pickleshiner]

Is Point going to shine it up tomorrow in Ripon?  I'm keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't rain.

[Dagger]

platteville has never really been a poor hitting team, however they more than make up for that success with their sub par pitching.  They are certainly a team capable of beating anyone in the conference, as really any team is this year...on that note, any insight into the stout club this year?

[badgerwarhawk]

I forgot to mention that Putnam hit for the cycle and had a walk in the first game yesterday.

Speaking of Platteville how about Aaron Hobson who had a walk off three run home run to beat Loras 15-14 in the 11th inning of the first game and then hit a two run walk off single with two outs in the second game giving the Pioneer another one run win 11-10.  Talk about clutch.

[Brewers20]

whitewater is putting up ridiculous numbers right now.  I don't care who they're playing, that's something to fear! 

Ridiculous numbers for sure.  But their opponents overall record is 55-65.  I remember the feeling after beating the crap out of Superior or Stout by 20+ runs and it was nothing like beating a quality opponent.  It was a loss if you didn't 10 run rule the team pretty much.  WW hitters are traditionally very good, so we'll see if they keep up this insane offensive juggernaut throughout the WIAC season.  But I would rather be playing quality competition and winning or losing games by 1 or 2 runs, than beating a bunch of weak teams by 8-12 runs.  But I guess every team has their own philosophy, some teams like to get that confidence level up before facing the big dogs.

[voice]

whitewater is putting up ridiculous numbers right now.  I don't care who they're playing, that's something to fear!  

Ridiculous numbers for sure.  But their opponents overall record is 55-65.  I remember the feeling after beating the crap out of Superior or Stout by 20+ runs and it was nothing like beating a quality opponent.  It was a loss if you didn't 10 run rule the team pretty much.  WW hitters are traditionally very good, so we'll see if they keep up this insane offensive juggernaut throughout the WIAC season.  But I would rather be playing quality competition and winning or losing games by 1 or 2 runs, than beating a bunch of weak teams by 8-12 runs.  But I guess every team has their own philosophy, some teams like to get that confidence level up before facing the big dogs.

Platteville is also putting big numbers  this season.  Case in point is this afternoon's first game of a doubleheader at Carroll in Wauskesha
UWP wins the opener 32-8.  That is a lot of runs no matter what the caliber of competiton is!

[voice]

whitewater is putting up ridiculous numbers right now.  I don't care who they're playing, that's something to fear! 

Ridiculous numbers for sure.  But their opponents overall record is 55-65.  I remember the feeling after beating the crap out of Superior or Stout by 20+ runs and it was nothing like beating a quality opponent.  It was a loss if you didn't 10 run rule the team pretty much.  WW hitters are traditionally very good, so we'll see if they keep up this insane offensive juggernaut throughout the WIAC season.  But I would rather be playing quality competition and winning or losing games by 1 or 2 runs, than beating a bunch of weak teams by 8-12 runs.  But I guess every team has their own philosophy, some teams like to get that confidence level up before facing the big dogs.

With the exception of Points split vs Trinity College last month in Florida, the Pointers and Warhawks schedules are very similar. At least in my eyes.

[Brewers20]

whitewater is putting up ridiculous numbers right now.  I don't care who they're playing, that's something to fear! 

Ridiculous numbers for sure.  But their opponents overall record is 55-65.  I remember the feeling after beating the crap out of Superior or Stout by 20+ runs and it was nothing like beating a quality opponent.  It was a loss if you didn't 10 run rule the team pretty much.  WW hitters are traditionally very good, so we'll see if they keep up this insane offensive juggernaut throughout the WIAC season.  But I would rather be playing quality competition and winning or losing games by 1 or 2 runs, than beating a bunch of weak teams by 8-12 runs.  But I guess every team has their own philosophy, some teams like to get that confidence level up before facing the big dogs.

With the exception of Points split vs Trinity College last month in Florida, the Pointers and Warhawks schedules are very similar. At least in my eyes.

Yes they are, Pointers are definitely starting off slower than expected.   In general no one in the WIAC has played a tough schedule. 
*Point was suppose to play Otterbein but since the W&J games got postponed the first day on their trip, they had to bump Otterbein off the schedule, that would've been a good matchup as well.
I'm not taking anything away from the Warhawks, they're doing what they're suppose to and then some against the weaker teams.  But it's always a different story in WIAC play...