BB: NWC: Northwest Conference

[Jim Dixon]

It looks like pitching is a strength in the NWC.  Facing tough pitchers now, will help whomever makes the short trip to McMinnville in May for the regional.

[Whatagame]

Yes Jim, so far the pitching has been very tough in the conference.  There are no real big arms that I have seen thus far, nobody like a Max Beatty who was a true 90+ guy at PLU.  Those type of guys are obviously a real anomaly in D3. Just lots of guys with good D3 stuff, who can carve you up.  Haddeland is of course the "master surgeon" right now.  He is just pinpoint.  The Frosh pitcher Mahlum at PLU is a new face that is very impressive, tall kid who really gets a downhill angle.  I never saw Lucero pitch, the LHP from Trinity, but I'm imagining that Lubking from PLU has pretty similar southpaw stuff. He had 102 Ks last season, and he's well on his way to surpassing that figure this season.

[Westside]

It looks like Linfield grabbed a little breathing room this weekend. They are now two games up on 2nd place PLU (assuming their suspended game ends in a loss).

I feel for PLU's pitching staff sometimes... They dropped game one to Puget Sound 2-0... in 15 innings. Lubking is a buzzsaw. He finished with 13 K's in 8.1 innings. The freshman Mahlum got knocked around in game two, and Puget Sound is leading 13-6 in a game that was suspended after eight innings.

Linfield's offense is sputtering a bit of late (only scored more than 5 runs once in last 8 games), but their pitching has kept them on top of the conference. Jake Wylie returned for one game this weekend, but you could tell he wasn't 100%.

All of a sudden, Willamette is a team no one wants to face. They have won five straight (including sweeping George Fox) with a great mixture of hitting and pitching. Their games Saturday were won with the bat (22-8) and on the mound (4-1).

After a hot start, Whitman is on the verge of being swept in straight weekends by PLU, Linfield, and George Fox. That's too bad, as I was hoping they would be more competitive.

I still think it is going to come down to the games between Linfield, PLU, and George Fox, but it might be time to start considering Willamette. They already played those three teams, and they should be the favorite in all their series going forward. I could see them finishing the conference 17-7 or so.

[wildcat11]

It takes 12 innings but Linfield sweeps Whitworth with a 3-2 win today.

Ramsay adds, "It would be crazy not to be able to look at what we have and what we've been able to do and see how young we are and that we definitely have a solid foundation of young guys that were consistent contributors all year. We learned that we can win on a national level. We belong there, that Whitworth baseball is going to continue to go to Appleton year in and year out"

With the loss, Whitworth moves to 3-7 in NWC play this season.

[Whatagame]

Yes, with the sweep, Linfield further solidifies their lead in the conference.  PLU has a makeup game still against Willamette, a win in that puts them 2 games behind.  G. Fox set further behind dropping today's game to Whitman, 2 - 1.  Willamette is lurking....

Sweeps are very tough to earn in the NWC.

[Jack Parkman]

It takes 12 innings but Linfield sweeps Whitworth with a 3-2 win today.

Ramsay adds, "It would be crazy not to be able to look at what we have and what we've been able to do and see how young we are and that we definitely have a solid foundation of young guys that were consistent contributors all year. We learned that we can win on a national level. We belong there, that Whitworth baseball is going to continue to go to Appleton year in and year out"

With the loss, Whitworth moves to 3-7 in NWC play this season.

Seriously, what in the world happened to Whitworth?  Two years ago they were in Appleton and now they can't seem to put anything together.  Was the trip to the W.S. a case of a team getting scorching hot at the end of the year or have things just fallen apart?

[Westside]

It takes 12 innings but Linfield sweeps Whitworth with a 3-2 win today.

Ramsay adds, "It would be crazy not to be able to look at what we have and what we've been able to do and see how young we are and that we definitely have a solid foundation of young guys that were consistent contributors all year. We learned that we can win on a national level. We belong there, that Whitworth baseball is going to continue to go to Appleton year in and year out"

With the loss, Whitworth moves to 3-7 in NWC play this season.

Seriously, what in the world happened to Whitworth?  Two years ago they were in Appleton and now they can't seem to put anything together.  Was the trip to the W.S. a case of a team getting scorching hot at the end of the year or have things just fallen apart?

That is a great question... If you look at their W.S. team, they were a bunch of really young players. Their 3 starting pitchers were freshman. A majority of those same players are still on the team today. Based off of that, you would think they should be legit right now. I mean... It doesn't help that their best player (Pfeffer) has missed almost the entire season. And their Ace, Scheibe, is just now coming back from an injury (by the way, he was absolutely filthy in his one inning against Linfield last weekend).

I think two years ago was a mixture of Whitworth getting hot at the right time, and the rest of the league being semi-down that year. The league seemed really balanced that season (5 teams went 15-9 or better).

Really though, it is surprising that Whitworth has struggled this badly. I guess I would attribute it to the rest of the league getting better while Whitworth has stayed the same.

[Jack Parkman]

It takes 12 innings but Linfield sweeps Whitworth with a 3-2 win today.

Ramsay adds, "It would be crazy not to be able to look at what we have and what we've been able to do and see how young we are and that we definitely have a solid foundation of young guys that were consistent contributors all year. We learned that we can win on a national level. We belong there, that Whitworth baseball is going to continue to go to Appleton year in and year out"

With the loss, Whitworth moves to 3-7 in NWC play this season.

Seriously, what in the world happened to Whitworth?  Two years ago they were in Appleton and now they can't seem to put anything together.  Was the trip to the W.S. a case of a team getting scorching hot at the end of the year or have things just fallen apart?

That is a great question... If you look at their W.S. team, they were a bunch of really young players. Their 3 starting pitchers were freshman. A majority of those same players are still on the team today. Based off of that, you would think they should be legit right now. I mean... It doesn't help that their best player (Pfeffer) has missed almost the entire season. And their Ace, Scheibe, is just now coming back from an injury (by the way, he was absolutely filthy in his one inning against Linfield last weekend).

I think two years ago was a mixture of Whitworth getting hot at the right time, and the rest of the league being semi-down that year. The league seemed really balanced that season (5 teams went 15-9 or better).

Really though, it is surprising that Whitworth has struggled this badly. I guess I would attribute it to the rest of the league getting better while Whitworth has stayed the same.

Oh man, I didn't even realize they didn't have their ace or their top hitter.  It's tough to have success when that happens but it seems the program as a whole has really taken a few steps back.

[wildcat11]

It takes 12 innings but Linfield sweeps Whitworth with a 3-2 win today.

Ramsay adds, "It would be crazy not to be able to look at what we have and what we've been able to do and see how young we are and that we definitely have a solid foundation of young guys that were consistent contributors all year. We learned that we can win on a national level. We belong there, that Whitworth baseball is going to continue to go to Appleton year in and year out"

With the loss, Whitworth moves to 3-7 in NWC play this season.

Seriously, what in the world happened to Whitworth?  Two years ago they were in Appleton and now they can't seem to put anything together.  Was the trip to the W.S. a case of a team getting scorching hot at the end of the year or have things just fallen apart?

That is a great question... If you look at their W.S. team, they were a bunch of really young players. Their 3 starting pitchers were freshman. A majority of those same players are still on the team today. Based off of that, you would think they should be legit right now. I mean... It doesn't help that their best player (Pfeffer) has missed almost the entire season. And their Ace, Scheibe, is just now coming back from an injury (by the way, he was absolutely filthy in his one inning against Linfield last weekend).

I think two years ago was a mixture of Whitworth getting hot at the right time, and the rest of the league being semi-down that year. The league seemed really balanced that season (5 teams went 15-9 or better).

Really though, it is surprising that Whitworth has struggled this badly. I guess I would attribute it to the rest of the league getting better while Whitworth has stayed the same.

Oh man, I didn't even realize they didn't have their ace or their top hitter.  It's tough to have success when that happens but it seems the program as a whole has really taken a few steps back.

I'm just looking forward to dragging that Ramsay's quote out year after year. 

[108 Stitches]

I would just change my screen name. 

[Whatagame]

It takes 12 innings but Linfield sweeps Whitworth with a 3-2 win today.

Ramsay adds, "It would be crazy not to be able to look at what we have and what we've been able to do and see how young we are and that we definitely have a solid foundation of young guys that were consistent contributors all year. We learned that we can win on a national level. We belong there, that Whitworth baseball is going to continue to go to Appleton year in and year out"

With the loss, Whitworth moves to 3-7 in NWC play this season.

Seriously, what in the world happened to Whitworth?  Two years ago they were in Appleton and now they can't seem to put anything together.  Was the trip to the W.S. a case of a team getting scorching hot at the end of the year or have things just fallen apart?

Even without Scheibe, their team ERA at this point in the 2014 season sits at 4.48 - in 2012, their Appleton year, their team ERA at season's end was 4.52.........so, no big difference in team pitching stats.

The big difference - in 2012 Whitworth's opponents pitched to an ERA of 6.07 - this year, their opponents are pitching to 2.98....

2012 team BA/OBP/SLG = 306/387/406 
2014 team BA/OBP/SLG = 240/333/311

So they really miss Pfeffer, plus, they had Sr. JR Jarrell on the 2012 team, who supplied a power bat.

[NWBaseballFan10]

I think two years ago was a mixture of Whitworth getting hot at the right time, and the rest of the league being semi-down that year. The league seemed really balanced that season (5 teams went 15-9 or better).

I think Westside hits it on the nose here pretty well. The 2012 Whitworth squad certainly earned their trip to the Regional and then the WS, but I think Ramsay's quote was a bit premature. This team got hot in the right season when the rest of the NWC teams were beating up on one another (seemed to be a down year for the traditional powers in the conference as well). Scheibe broke out as the team's ace in their series against Linfield (may have been the series that started their fire), but he has never had much help from the rest of the staff. Last year's squad sported a 5.17 ERA and this year's 4.54 isn't something to rave about either. If you want to contend for a conference title and put yourself in a position to make a run for the WS then these numbers need to be way better. Occasionally, you will slip through the cracks and catch your breaks like in the 2012 season, but it will take more than that to consistently reach Appleton.

[Westside]

I decided to throw together a NWC mid-season All-League Team. There have been some great players this year, and it is a surprisingly, evenly spread out team. Check it out.

http://collegeballnw.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/nwc-mid-season-all-league-team/

[108 Stitches]

I would concur with NWBaseball fan. If you look at the SoS for all of the NW teams they are very high due to the quality of the competition in the conference. Given that the Regionals are in the NW I can see two teams getting bids. They just got hot at the right time two years ago.

[Whatagame]

I decided to throw together a NWC mid-season All-League Team. There have been some great players this year, and it is a surprisingly, evenly spread out team. Check it out.

http://collegeballnw.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/nwc-mid-season-all-league-team/

Great list Westside!  Really nice to see players from 7 out of the 9 conference teams deservedly represented.  Some guys having great years who are not on your list because someone else is just a little better so far include Blankenship and Gartner from Fox, Truex from Linfield.