BB: WIAC: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[cubs]

In Game #1 today at Whitewater, Riley Tincher over matches the Yellow Jackets as Whitewater defeats Superior 3-0. Tincher alllows just five hits (two through the first eight innings) while striking out 11 on just two days rest.  Jeff Donovan with the start in Game #2 for the Warhawks.

In Game #1 at Platteville, Luke Westphal goes the distance in an 11-1 seven inning victory for the Titans.  Troy Mrkvicka will get his first start of the season in Game #2, as he was only used for 2/3 of an inning in the first three games of the series for Oshkosh.

[cubs]

In Game #2 today at Whitewater, Jeff Donovan goes seven strong innings as Whitewater defeats Superior 15-2. Any idea why this game went the full nine innings, when it was a 14-2 game after seven innings?  I would assume both coaches agreed to play nnine innings regardless of the score since it was the final game of the series.

In Game #2 at Platteville, Troy Mrkvicka goes seven strong inings as well in 8-3 victory for the Titans.

Stout won Game #1 at La Crosse today, 10-4, while La Crosse came back to win Game #2 14-2 in seven innings to take three out of four for the weekend.

WIAC Standings Through April 3rd
Whitewater 4-0
La Crosse 3-1
Oshkosh 3-1
Stevens Point 0-0
Platteville 1-3
Stout 1-3
Superior 0-4

The big match-up next weekend will be in Stevens Point, as Whitewater and Stevens Point meet up for a four game series.  It will be interesting to see how that series plays out.

Question for the Whitewater backers out there-Anybody happen to know the deal with pitcher Aaron Leitner?  I noticed he hasn't seen the field yet this year.  Safe to assume there is some type of injury issue?

[badgerwarhawk]

Tincher was on cruise control today though he had to work out of a jam in the ninth inning.  Between strikouts Superior had three singles to load the bases before a ground ball to third led to a fielder's choice force out at second that ended the game.  Andrew Eichstaedt (2x4) and Matt Beyer (2x2) had multiple hits while Jeff Donovan, Dan Putnam and David Cladis each had  RBI.

Donovan surrendered 5 hits and two run, both unearned, striking out nine with a single walk in his seven inning stint.  Tom Kerndt relieved him a game up a single hit in an inning and two thirds.  Rob Coe faced two hitters in his one third inning and recorded the final out.  Donovan went 3x5 with 3 RS and an RBI to lead the WARHAWKS offense.  Cladis was 2x2 (double) with 2 RS and an RBI.  Jared Fon scored twice and had an RBI.  Eichstaedt, Putnam and Coe each had a pair of RBI.  Andrew Bauer and Matt Beyer also had RBI.   The WARHAWKS had a total of 15 hits and left 10 runners on base in the game. 

[badgerwarhawk]

Any idea why this game went the full nine innings, when it was a 14-2 game after seven innings?  I would assume both coaches agreed to play nnine innings regardless of the score since it was the final game of the series.

An explanation:

The umpires said the game WAS NOT over. UW-Whitewater head coach John Vodenlich explained following the game.

"The question was asked to the umpires what exactly is the rule because it is their (umpires) job to make the call," Coach Vodenlich explained following the game. "They said they didn't know the rule and I said OK lets keep playing."

They didn't know the rule?    That just seems hard to imagine considering the rule hasn't changed in quite some time.  It did give both teams an opportunity to substitute and get some bench players into the game. 

[cubs]

Can only imagine if Rusty Fishhook, Suicide Squeeze, Pickle Shiner, etc was still around........

Point splits with 3-11 Ripon today, winning the opener 11-7, while dropping the nightcap 8-6.  It looks like Point went in with the mindset to get all of their top pitchers work today.  They ended up throwing six guys today, and outside of Koback, nobody threw more than 3.0 innings.  Offensively, Jordan Rennicke had a huge day, going 6x9, including 4x5 with 3 2B's and a HR in Game #1.  He drove in 8 of the Pointers 11 runs.

My guess is that Coach Bloom was using this as a tune-up for this weekend four game series against Whitewater, as this was the Pointers first game since they returned from Florida over a week ago.  While the loss is an upset, I can't say it is surprising.  The Pointers seem to drop a game or two like this each year (Lawrence last year) in the NC portion of the schedule and it doesn't seem to hurt them too often.

[badgerwarhawk]

He always has Findlandia.   

[ShineTime]

I'm back and with a new attitude.  I didn't handle the Ripon loss all that well but like Cubs stated it's almost expected Point will throw a few games early in the year.  I'm not as excited as past years because of the new bats and it's made me less interested.  For Point to only have 2 home runs so far is unreal.  Hopefully the weather cooperates this weekend for the big series.  I hope Point pulls out at least 3 but they will need to get better pitching performances than what they got out of their top guns against Ripon.  Of course I have to add in that I'm stoked about Koback being at Point and he's starting off strong hitting.  Couple of questions since I've been working 42 jobs and not been on here in some time.  What happened to Jack Archie for Point from last year?  He was pretty solid for a freshman last year and pitched a gem against Edgewood last year?  How about Leitner from Whitewater is he playing this weekend against Point?  Does anyone else besides me think Oshkosh is very underrated and should be in top 5?  Their pitching staff is top 5 in the nation this year.  They will not lose in the WIAC with Schreiber on the hill.

[Just Bill]

cubs,

He's just like Beetlejuice. Say his name three times and he appears.

[ShineTime]

I won't appear often and will try not to give anyone a heart attack with my comments.  I don't care enough this year to get ticked off.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't a tad disappointed so far with Point seeing they really haven't played that great of competition.  The only ranked team they've played is St. Olaf and lost.  St. Thomas appears to be really down this year.  I know the trend is for Point to play to their level of competition early on and than step it up end of April early May.  Let's hope 3 teams make regionals and 2 make the world series.  I believe I had picked Point to beat Whitewater in title game with Koback striking out 14 about 6 months ago.

[cubs]

I'm back and with a new attitude.  I didn't handle the Ripon loss all that well but like Cubs stated it's almost expected Point will throw a few games early in the year.  I'm not as excited as past years because of the new bats and it's made me less interested. For Point to only have 2 home runs so far is unreal.  Hopefully the weather cooperates this weekend for the big series.  I hope Point pulls out at least 3 but they will need to get better pitching performances than what they got out of their top guns against Ripon.  Of course I have to add in that I'm stoked about Koback being at Point and he's starting off strong hitting.  Couple of questions since I've been working 42 jobs and not been on here in some time.  What happened to Jack Archie for Point from last year?  He was pretty solid for a freshman last year and pitched a gem against Edgewood last year?  How about Leitner from Whitewater is he playing this weekend against Point?  Does anyone else besides me think Oshkosh is very underrated and should be in top 5?  Their pitching staff is top 5 in the nation this year.  They will not lose in the WIAC with Schreiber on the hill.

1.  The bats are making the game more like baseball, and less like beer league softball.  The emphasis has been put back on defense and fundamentals.  I for one like it.  This is the game I grew up watching and playing.  If I wanted to see 21-17 scores, I would go to the football games in the fall.

2.  I am fairly confident that you won't see Leitner pitch this weekend.

3.  Unfortuanately for Oshkosh, you also need to have some offense to go along with the pitching.  Outside of Fadness and Hiroskey, there isn't really a lot returning, and I am still hesitant on the JUCO guys for the simple fact that the pitching they face is only going to get better as the season goes along.  Will they keep up the .350 + averages?  We'll see...  I'd like to see how they do against the Tincher's, Delorit, and Williams' before I make up my mind.

[8404DOC]

NCAA DII Stats
I was just looking at some of the stats over the weekend to see were the WIAC teams land,
I included teams only if they were in the top 30.

Team     Rank     

Batting avg
LAX     3     362
WW    5     361
OSH   12    348
SP      13    347

ERA
OSH     3     2.19

Walks Allowed
OSH     1     1.36
LAX      6     2.25
WW     13   2.45
SP        22  2.65

Fielding %
WW     10     .971
SP        22    .967

Double Plays
OSH     4     1.36

If you don't see a team it means they didn't make the top 30, I'm a stats guy and love to crunch the numbers.

[Just Bill]

NCAA Mid-Season report on the affect of the new bat standards:

http://bit.ly/ef98C2

In Division III, compared to this point of the season in 2010:

Batting average down from .311 to .291
Runs scored down from 7.05 per game to 6.03 per game
Home runs down from 0.54 per game to 0.30 per game
ERA down from 6.23 per game to 5.11 per game

[ShineTime]

Which big 3 would you take?  Coe, Putnam, Donovan or Koback, Fritz, Jirschele?  What if you make it big 4 and throw in Tincher or Williams/Delorit?  Too bad there's not free agency in D3 baseball they could've been the Miami Heat.

[OshDude]

UWW's Eric Baldwin was on NBC's Poker After Dark this week. Good exposure for him.

He took second place and took home zero-point-none dollars in the winner-take-all, 50K buy-in format. If anyone cares, Baldy lost to Tom Dwan.

The Director's Cut from the tournament airs early Sunday morning. It should feature a lot of Baldwin.

Baldwin's PAD bio

[badgerwarhawk]

The WARHAWKS take game one in Point today 5-3.  Point scores three unearned runs in the first inning on three hits and three WARHAWK errors.  The WARHAWKS take the lead with four runs in the fifth and add an insurance run in the eighth.  Riley Tincher goes the distance allowing seven hits and striking out two improving to 4-1 on the season.  Scott Williams takes the loss for the Pointers. 

Dan Putnam leads the WARHAWKS twelve hit attack going 4x5 with an RBI.  Jeff Donovan, Dylan Friend and David Cladis all go 2x4.  Donovan has an RBI while Friend and Cladis each scored a run.  Rob Coe had a pair of RBI and Ryan Leavitt also added an RBI. 

Cody Koback was 3X4 to lead the Pointers. Surman and Thomas had RBI.