BB: WIAC: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[pickleshiner]

Honest misstake on my post about St. Thomas and Washington & Jefferson.  I got a text today at my wife's graduation party and didn't get the chance at the time to double check.  He has told me St. Thomas choked and W&J also didn't win their tournament.  Either way Whitewater really looks good and it doesn't hurt having Donovan as your #4 pitcher.  One concern would be the way Point hit Tincher yesterday but he's been pretty impressive this year so I'm sure it was just 1 bad game.  I'm not giving up on Point as long as they get a pool C but Williams will have to pitch like he did round 1 against St. Thomas last year for Point to have a chance.  I love how Delorit is pitching so if they get in I think they could beat anyone first round including Whitewater and St. Thomas.

[BoBo]

Jeff Donovan is absolutely clutch.

Nice that he was able to out duel Williams for the win! 

Congrats to the Warhawks on a gutsy performance all around. Hooper, in game one, started out fighting for his very existence - but did a complete 180 and pitched a solid 7.1 innings.  Two error free games by the guys in the field also was clutch on the day.

[voice]

Congratulations to U-Dub-Dub on securing the outright 2010 WIAC baseball championship. Winning both the regular season (outright) and the postseason tournament crown hasn't happened in the WIAC since the 2004 Warhawks did it in 2004. That team went on to finish 3rd in the Division III "World Series."    The 2005 Warhawks won the 2005 national title without winning the conference tournament.

This shameless plug.... you can follow the Warhawks on thier 2010 NCAA playoff run by clicking onto http://voiceseyeonbaseball.blogspot.com/

[cubs]

Jeff Donovan is absolutely clutch.  In the most important game of the year he takes the mound going 8.1 innings holding Point to seven hits and a pair of runs.  You can say all you want about Fritz and his numbers, and they were outstanding, he's a hell of a player, but Donovan's effort today is the thing POYs are made of.   

Just to throw some numbers out there....

Fritz was 8x17 in this weeks WIAC Tournament, with 5 runs scored, but just one RBI.

Donovan on the other hand was 3x15 with three runs scored and two RBI's.

Now I will say Donovan was the definition of "CLUTCH" on the mound yesterday, but at the plate he was rather quiet the entire weekend.  I think Fritz proved he was the best hitter/position player in the WIAC this season, and this weekend just confirmed it. 

I'm sure he would trade it for the WIAC Championship and Pool A bid in a heartbeat though....

[voice]

If you go by season statistics for the WIAC Position Player of the Year I think Rob Coe, Jeff Donovan and Eric Fritz should all be highly considered for the postseason honor.  

Rob Coe  second in the WIAC in hitting to Fritz (both over .400).  Coe is flat out the best cather in the WIAC. The catcher is the tougher position and that is why I give Coe the nod (close nod) over Eric Fritz.  Coe helped lead his team to both the regular season & postseason title.

Eric Fritz Outstanding shortstop and led the WIAC in hitting .408 (Coe .403)  

Jeff Donovan  I had a major league scout tell me just prior to yesterday's WIAC championship game that Jeff Donovan is the pitcher he would want on the mound for UWW.  After being one of the top pichers in the state in high school Donovan had been used very little once he got to Whitewater.  He accepted the challenge and his record speaks for itself.  Yes I know that pitching is not what we are talking about here. So lets talk about Jeff as a position player.  Is there a better 1st baseman in the WIAC?  As a power hitter, Jeff led the WIAC  in both home runs (12) and RBI (60). He also hit for a .354 average. That doesn't make to shabby of an argument for Jeff to win the award.

Any of the three would be very worthy recipients of the award.

[cubs]

If you go by season statistics for the WIAC Position Player of the Year I think Rob Coe, Jeff Donovan and Eric Fritz should all be highly considered for the postseason honor.  

Rob Coe  second in the WIAC in hitting to Fritz (both over .400).  Coe is flat out the best cather in the WIAC. The catcher is the tougher position and that is why I give Coe the nod (close nod) over Eric Fritz.  Coe helped lead his team to both the regular season & postseason title.

Eric Fritz Outstanding shortstop and led the WIAC in hitting .408 (Coe .403)  

Jeff Donovan  I had a major league scout tell me just prior to yesterday's WIAC championship game that Jeff Donovan is the pitcher he would want on the mound for UWW.  After being one of the top pichers in the state in high school Donovan had been used very little once he got to Whitewater.  He accepted the challenge and his record speaks for itself.  Yes I know that pitching is not what we are talking about here. So lets talk about Jeff as a position player.  Is there a better 1st baseman in the WIAC?  As a power hitter, Jeff led the WIAC  in both home runs (12) and RBI (60). He also hit for a .354 average. That doesn't make to shabby of an argument for Jeff to win the award.

Any of the three would be very worthy recipients of the award.

I already made the argument between Donovan and Fritz earlier in the week, and as I stated then and I will repeat now, the WIAC All Conference team is selected based off of WIAC only statistics.

With that said, Fritz was the only WIAC player to hit over .400, at .427.  Coe shows up in the Top 5 of exactly ZERO offensive categories (out of nine.)  Compare that with Fritz (nine) and Donovan (four) and I think Coe would finish third among these three candidates.

[badgerwarhawk]

Earlier this season we had the discussion about the better team.  The team that wins the war or the one that wins the final battle.  If my memory serves me among those who voiced an opinion  I was the only person who felt the team that wins the war is the better team.  Everyone else took the position that the team that can put it all together and win that final battle is the team that proved it is was best.   It's true that Donovan didn't have his usual numbers at the plate but the body of his work on the season is very respectable.  He was a critical part of the team that won the war and won it handily by five games.  And when it came to the final battle it was Donovan who put the ball in his hands and essentially shut down a Stevens Point offense that had blown it's opponents out of the water 24 hours earlier.  It was Donovan who won the final battle and that's the stuff that POY's are made of. 

I know I won't convince you cubs and that's fine.  Everyone has an opinion. 

[pickleshiner]

It's amazing the year Donovan had for not playing last year.  It's a tough call between Donovan and Fritz and me being a Pointer fan I'll say Fritz but I can't disagree with your argument.  In the end all that matters is whose team advances farther and I'm guessing Donovan already has that unless the committee gives Point an opportunity.  It would also be a little odd for the player of the year not to be from the conference champion.  Fritz's numbers done lie though and it should be a heck of a battle again next year between Fritz and Donovan for POY.

[BoBo]

If it's called Position Player of the Year, it would be hard not to select Fritz, based on his offensive production. Overall numbers are superior, but not by much. If it's called MVP of the Conference, it would be hard not to select Donovan. When you consider all the numbers, offensively and pitching, he's hands down the conference MVP, IMO. I was thinking the only way to compare the two is if Fritz pitched, too - and when I check, he did pitch - 2 + innings with a 20.25 ERA  . As I said in an recent post, Tincher is probably the Pitcher of the Year, but Donovan isn't that far behind him either.

Fritz's numbers done lie though and it should be a heck of a battle again next year between Fritz and Donovan for POY.

That might be a miracle waiting to happen as Donovan's eligibility will be exhausted following this season.

[pickleshiner]

I could have swore I just read an article this week that stated his football career was over but he had 1 more year of baseball.  I'll take your word for it since you generally know Whitewater sports.

[BoBo]

I could have swore I just read an article this week that stated his football career was over but he had 1 more year of baseball.  I'll take your word for it since you generally know Whitewater sports.

Being academically ineligible last spring means he lost the season - never to regain. badgerwarhawk, correct me if I'm wrong, but his college playing career is over once the Warhawks last out is recorded this season, right?

[voice]

I could have swore I just read an article this week that stated his football career was over but he had 1 more year of baseball.  I'll take your word for it since you generally know Whitewater sports.

Being academically ineligible last spring means he lost the season - never to regain. badgerwarhawk, correct me if I'm wrong, but his college playing career is over once the Warhawks last out is recorded this season, right?

Donovan IS a junior eligibilty wise for baseball purposes.

BTW - I'm not BadgerWarhawk but I have played him on television

[BoBo]

I could have swore I just read an article this week that stated his football career was over but he had 1 more year of baseball.  I'll take your word for it since you generally know Whitewater sports.

Being academically ineligible last spring means he lost the season - never to regain. badgerwarhawk, correct me if I'm wrong, but his college playing career is over once the Warhawks last out is recorded this season, right?

Donovan IS a junior eligibilty wise for baseball purposes.

BTW - I'm not BadgerWarhawk but I have played him on television

so voice, are you saying a student doesn't lose the year (season) if they don't play because they were academically ineligible? Something about that doesn't seem right?

[Just Bill]

I could have swore I just read an article this week that stated his football career was over but he had 1 more year of baseball.  I'll take your word for it since you generally know Whitewater sports.

Being academically ineligible last spring means he lost the season - never to regain. badgerwarhawk, correct me if I'm wrong, but his college playing career is over once the Warhawks last out is recorded this season, right?

Donovan IS a junior eligibilty wise for baseball purposes.

BTW - I'm not BadgerWarhawk but I have played him on television

so voice, are you saying a student doesn't lose the year (season) if they don't play because they were academically ineligible? Something about that doesn't seem right?

They still have 10 semesters of college to complete four seasons of eligibility, just like everyone else.

[badgerwarhawk]

I could have swore I just read an article this week that stated his football career was over but he had 1 more year of baseball.  I'll take your word for it since you generally know Whitewater sports.

Being academically ineligible last spring means he lost the season - never to regain. badgerwarhawk, correct me if I'm wrong, but his college playing career is over once the Warhawks last out is recorded this season, right?

Donovan IS a junior eligibilty wise for baseball purposes.

BTW - I'm not BadgerWarhawk but I have played him on television

A performance worthy of an Oscar, Voice.   Having slept at a Holiday Inn Express recently I can confirm that Voice is correct and Jeff Donovan is a junior eligibilitywise for baseball.  

Just to clarify, a student-athlete uses his/her athletic eligibility when they practice and/or play after the first day of competition. The student-athlete has four years of athletic eligibility. In Division III, the student-athlete must complete this four years of eligibility in 10 full-time terms of attendance.

In Jeff's situation, he never used a year of athletic eligibility. Quite simply, he couldn't because he was ineligible. Jeff regained his athletic eligibility and so he has another season in the sport of baseball. In football, on the other hand, he has used all four years of eligibility.

While you can queston the process one should never forget that the ultimate goal is for the student-athletes to graduate.