BB: NWC: Northwest Conference

[108 Stitches]

A bit early to be making predictions, but I have to hand it to Whitworth they are a young and talented team that will continue to get better. IMO I think their pitching is suspect beyond a couple of arms. I am not sure about the other NW teams but Whitworth is going to be in it for the next couple of years. They have a good core and excellent coaching.

That said, Trinity is going to be a very very good team next year, they only lose one pitcher and one position player and their DH, and everyone else is back one year older and stronger, plus they have probably their strongest recruiting class ever coming in. I saw that Concordia looses a bunch of St's but not sure if they are impact players or not, so not sure about them.

[Whatagame]

Great story in Baseball America posted yesterday.  Looking forward to seeing this guy on the bump this upcoming season, although, based on his stuff, maybe not so much matched-up against my kid...

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/on-campus/2012/2614034.html

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Great Article. Glad to see a kid come back. On a side note, I am always peeved when I hear Redshirt when refering to a D3 Player. I could be wrong but I always believed there was no Red Shirting in D3. Yes you can have a medical waiver, but technically it is not a red shirt. Again I could be wrong.

I do not mean to detract from what the player has done, this is more a criticism if the Author. 

[Whatagame]

Hmmm, good question.  I do know that one of the better players from the NWC, Rowan from Willamette, sat out I believe his Soph year due to injury - so yes, it was a medical situation.  He graduated last last May from Willamette with one year of athletic eligibility left and is now attending University of San Francisco (D1) as a grad student, and playing his final year of baseball there.  Whether the situation is technically called a "redshirt" or not, I couldn't say.

I could not imagine many instances where a D3 player would just "red shirt" and graduate in five years, given the tuition at most private D3 institutions.  Likewise, most "medical waivers" probably end-up playing three years, and graduating in four.

[Piobark]

So very glad to see this news - and best of luck to Max.

There is actually no such thing as a red shirt in any NCAA level rule book - it is simply an expression that the public uses.

The rules are different at D1. At this level, once you attend college full time, your clock starts and you have 5 years to play 4 seasons. Thus you will see players who sit out one year - either for medical, athletic or academic reasons - have what is referred to as a red shirt year. It also brings up the idea of gray shirting where a a player does not start college on a full time basis out of high school - going part time so as to have a year in the weight room to get bigger and stronger before starting the clock.

At D2 and D3, the rule is that you have ten full time semesters to play four seasons. So if you go part time or not at all as in the case of the player, then your semester doesn't count.

The reason I am aware of these various rules is that my son did both - went part time for a year out of high school while recovering from a knee injury and then, unfortunately, sat out last year while recovering from Tommy John surgery. So he is now four years post high school having played only two years and attended college only six full time semesters.

From an eligibility point of view (and he and I have had multiple calls with the NCAA and the NAIA to clarify this), it gets really complicated:

At NAIA, D2 or D3, my son could go to school for two more years, 4 full time semesters and play two more seasons as long as he didn't graduate or fulfill all of the requirements for graduation.

My son could also go D1 and play one year - but only if he graduated and attended as a grad student - otherwise he would have to sit out a year. he could play the second year at D1 if he petitioned the NCAA and was awarded a sixth year on the clock.

Which actually brings me back to the original article and one final point - petitions are routinely granted when there is good medical reason for an exception - and certainly, even if Max had used up all ten semesters, testicular cancer would result in another semester being awarded.

Hope this helps clear things up - happy to answer questions.

Piobark

P.S. Just FYI, my son decided to transfer to an NAIA school and play another year there.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

+ 1 piobark. Thanks for clarifying. I appreciate the info.

[CrashDavisD3]

So very glad to see this news - and best of luck to Max.

There is actually no such thing as a red shirt in any NCAA level rule book - it is simply an expression that the public uses.

The rules are different at D1. At this level, once you attend college full time, your clock starts and you have 5 years to play 4 seasons. Thus you will see players who sit out one year - either for medical, athletic or academic reasons - have what is referred to as a red shirt year. It also brings up the idea of gray shirting where a a player does not start college on a full time basis out of high school - going part time so as to have a year in the weight room to get bigger and stronger before starting the clock.

At D2 and D3, the rule is that you have ten full time semesters to play four seasons. So if you go part time or not at all as in the case of the player, then your semester doesn't count.

The reason I am aware of these various rules is that my son did both - went part time for a year out of high school while recovering from a knee injury and then, unfortunately, sat out last year while recovering from Tommy John surgery. So he is now four years post high school having played only two years and attended college only six full time semesters.

From an eligibility point of view (and he and I have had multiple calls with the NCAA and the NAIA to clarify this), it gets really complicated:

At NAIA, D2 or D3, my son could go to school for two more years, 4 full time semesters and play two more seasons as long as he didn't graduate or fulfill all of the requirements for graduation.

My son could also go D1 and play one year - but only if he graduated and attended as a grad student - otherwise he would have to sit out a year. he could play the second year at D1 if he petitioned the NCAA and was awarded a sixth year on the clock.

Which actually brings me back to the original article and one final point - petitions are routinely granted when there is good medical reason for an exception - and certainly, even if Max had used up all ten semesters, testicular cancer would result in another semester being awarded.

Hope this helps clear things up - happy to answer questions.

Piobark

P.S. Just FYI, my son decided to transfer to an NAIA school and play another year there.

Thanks for this information. NCAA really makes things more complicated than they have to. They should really have a consistent uniform rules for D1, D2, D3. Make it real easy. You get to play 4 years. You have 5 years to do this. 1st full time semester starts the clock. Eliminate all exceptions. Many times you need a lawyer and more to understand what the NCAA writes. I remember reading the D3 rules on Medical Hardship many times when my son was playing and he was deciding if he should apply for a hardship or not. Anyway he did not and played 4 years over 4 years.

[wildcat11]

2013 NWC Coaches Poll

http://www.nwcsports.com/sports/bsb/2012-13/releases/bsbprepoll

1. Whitworth - 6 1st place votes
2. PLU - 3 1st place votes
3. Linfeild
4. Fox
5. Pacific
6. UPS
7. Willamette
8. L&C
9. Whitman

...Should be a great race.

[Whatagame]

...should be a great race indeed.  NWC teams start play this week.  I can't argue with the coaches poll, although Pacific might be feeling snubbed.  They return Dittrick on the bump, but take a hit losing Fahey to graduation.

I think the race between Whitworth, Linfield, GF and PLU will be very, very close.  I predicted on another thread that this season, two NWC teams will make the West Regional - Whitworth and Linfield, but I won't make a conference champion prediction.  I think PLU will/could be right there, they look to be very tough on the mound, but lost a lot of offense to graduation, and a very slick fielding shortstop.  But, I predict Linfield over PLU, as I just don't see Linfield having back-to-back sub-par (for their standards) seasons.  Raking/prepping fields for other squads while hosting the '12 West regional probably did not sit well.  However, maybe it could be Linfield/PLU making the regional.....or Whitworth/PLU.....I'm getting confused.

A factor in this season's race might be how some of the lower half teams have progressed, and can they shake-up the race by rising-up and taking a game here and there from a top-tier team?

[CrashDavisD3]

...should be a great race indeed.  NWC teams start play this week.  I can't argue with the coaches poll, although Pacific might be feeling snubbed.  They return Dittrick on the bump, but take a hit losing Fahey to graduation.

I think the race between Whitworth, Linfield, GF and PLU will be very, very close.  I predicted on another thread that this season, two NWC teams will make the West Regional - Whitworth and Linfield, but I won't make a conference champion prediction.  I think PLU will/could be right there, they look to be very tough on the mound, but lost a lot of offense to graduation, and a very slick fielding shortstop.  But, I predict Linfield over PLU, as I just don't see Linfield having back-to-back sub-par (for their standards) seasons.  Raking/prepping fields for other squads while hosting the '12 West regional probably did not sit well.  However, maybe it could be Linfield/PLU making the regional.....or Whitworth/PLU.....I'm getting confused.

A factor in this season's race might be how some of the lower half teams have progressed, and can they shake-up the race by rising-up and taking a game here and there from a top-tier team?

I agree on your assessment on who will make the West Regional.

2 teams from NWC
2 teams from SCIAC
1 team from ASC
1 team from SCAC

[wildcat11]

I think Linfield will have a large group of live arms but I want to see what they can do with the bats this year.  The NWC is loaded and should be another great race.

[wildcat11]

La Verne shelled Linfield today 6-0. Ugh.

[wildcat11]

Mixed bag for the conference this past weekend.

Fox with a great start at 4-0. Almost 13 runs per game...wow.

PLU and Linfield both with solid starts.  Pacific and Whitworth have to be disappointed in their opening weekend...won't help their at-large bids.

[(509)Rat]

I never get too excited about early season Whitworth results. The first play of the CLU game was the first time they had played outside. As of a day or two ago there was still snow covering the outfield. Now they get the bottom half of the NWC and a weekend in Texas where they get some ASC and SCAC games. It's an opportunity to gain some confidence and then go into Texas and get some quality d-III wins.

[Whatagame]

Yes, regarding Whitworth, I posted a similar thought to the General West Region Discussion forum regarding the slow start and tough eastern Washington weather this year.  Whitworth had a slow start last year, including a huge blowout loss to Pomona-Pitzer to start the year.  Absolutely no reason to believe they won't be right at the top of the standings come end of conference play.

How about G Fox sitting 5 - 0?  They outscored Cal Lu 9 to 1 over the final 4 or so innings of yesterday's game to log a comeback victory.  They are really scoring a ton of runs.