BB: NESCAC: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Rick Vaughn]

Allemand will be playing short this year, providing more competition to DiBenedetto in All-NESCAC honors.

Any predictions for Rookie of the Year?  Thurston loves to bring in 6'4 right handers that throw in the upper 80's.  I could see one of them winning.  Just not sure who.  Trinity is too deep to have a frosh win the honors this year.  McKillops, the football ROY, is on the Midd roster.  Could he make it a double? It could likely be a player from one of the weak teams getting a lot of time and putting up good numbers.

A few breakout players to look for:  Chad Brown and Ben Horwitz from Williams, Errich Enns from Midd, Alex Perry and Caleb Simms from Tufts, and Ryan Platzberger from Amherst. 

[Bostonian]

Ian Goldberg could be starting in CF for Tufts on Day 1. He has a tremendous pedigree coming from a top Connie Mack program in Illinois. He could end up the ROY.

If Kevin Collins gets a chance to show hmself at Trinity, he could have a very good shot, too.

[Nuke LaLoosh]

From what I've heard, Tufts will be using Goldberg out of left field this year. Katzman will be in center and Catalanotti will be in right.

Tufts line-up will be interesting this year. They lost a lot with McDavitt, Backstrom, Casey, and Decembrele all graduating. Kevin Casey is a tough out and a tough kid. It's his team for two years.

I think Tufts will be fine with pitching, only because Casey manages his pitchers so well. No one in Medford expected Jordan Goldberg and Tommy Hill to do what they did last year, and David Gibbs is the most talented out of all three. They have enough arms to compete.

[espinoza]

Telian really struggled at the end of last year, especially against Amherst. It will be interesting how he starts this year. They lost a lot, however, and McDavitt will be very difficult to replace.

I could see Williams struggling after having lost so much from last year, especially top-end performers like Fote and Kenney.

[Rick Vaughn]

Williams is certainly a good candidate to struggle this year.  But who in the West will beat them.  Amherst lost Kehoe and Donahue, and Wes and Hamilton do not have the pieces coming back to knock off the Ephs.  Assuming Midd wins the West, the second team in (Amherst or Williams) would likely be the fourth best team in the East. 

It seems this year more than most that a lot of teams, outside of Trinity and Midd, have a lot of holes to fill and the clubs whose underclassmen fill those roles the best will rise to the top.

[espinoza]

Amherst will be very unpredictable, but full of potential. In addtion to Donahue and Kehoe, they also don't have their closer from last year who is out for the season after shoulder surgery. But they have a strong group of freshmen pitchers and a solid offensive core.
I just think Williams will have trouble in the infield, and behind Benz they are pretty inexperienced on the mound. I would think Amherst and Williams would battle for second place, with Wesleyan fourth.

[Rick Vaughn]

Amherst returns Powers and Allar.  A solid middle of the lineup, but everything else is either unimpressive (Card and Schaller) or inexperienced.  Williams brings back DiCosmo, Allemand, and Pinto.  The rest of the group is, like Amherst, inexperienced.  But not as inexperienced as you think.  Chad Brown started for Williams in the NESCAC and NCAA tournaments and hit well, and Taylor Mikell took Kehoe deep last year. 

Behind Benz on the mound they return Horwitz, who beat WNEC, RPI, and WNEC (in NCAA's), in his last three starts of the season.  They also bring back Gustafson, who won the NESCAC championship game.  After that they are thin and will need underclassmen to step in.

[Nuke LaLoosh]

Gustafson got a ND in the NESCAC championship game pitching against a tired Tufts team. He did look solid though in the outing and should help them.

I'd say the west is wide open, I don't see how Middlebury is automatically the 1. Britton has the goods but I'm not sold on Wright. When they won it back in 06 it was because nobody could get them out. I think people need to take into account that they lost Noah Walker, a very good shortstop and even better hitter. He was just as valuable to Midd as McDavitt was to Tufts and Kenney to Williams.

The fact is with NESCAC baseball one really good or really bad weekend can change the fate of a season. I say Trinity easily looks the strongest, but looking the strongest and playing that way are two different things. Bowdoin and Tufts showed them that last year.

[cawcdad]

Pictures of yesterday's Wesleyan at Menlo game have been posted, click here

[Rick Vaughn]

The assumption that Midd is the top team in the West is just a preseason prediction and obviously not set in stone.  Midd is favored because of the returning players are more established than those from Williams or Amherst.  Lefeber, Broughton, Lanahan, Shimrock, and Enns were all important contributors to the club. They need this years SS to be able to catch and throw the ball and provide a little bit of offense.  Nobody expects him to be Walker, but the loss of last seasons NESCAC POY will be felt less than the loss of Kenney or McDavitt because a) Midd returns more and b) Williams and Tufts lost other big pieces besides those two.

It took three tries, but the NESCAC is in the win column for the first time this year.  Wes over Menlo College.

[Nuke LaLoosh]

Wild Thing,

Good points all around.

I'd say the two hardest positions to replace are catcher and short, and both Williams and Tufts will have to do so. Lefeber being back is big for Midd. I have no idea what he's like as a kid but I'm sure being the Senior leader he'll know how to handle a staff.

Replacing a catcher, especially ones like Decembrele and Kenny that caught the majority of Tufts and Williams' games, will be tough at first. I know Alex Perry will see the majority of time behind the dish for the Jumbos, but don't know what Williams has.

Brian Casey was also very valuable last year for Tufts, being able to come in to close games on the mound. I'm curious to see how TU fares offensively. They lost some boppers, but they also shed a crazy amount of K's. Having guys in the lineup that make more contact should help them score runs in different ways than years past.

Congrats to Port Chester U on their first win, I've noticed some of their west coast trips in the past they've come up empty.

[Rick Vaughn]

Ebby Calvin,

Agreed on replacing catching and SS for position players.  But, returning pitching reigns over all.

Williams problem is that they do not have anyone who can even replace Kenney defensively.  Obviously nobody expects anyone to replace Kenney's offense, but they are reportedly looking at moving good athletes from other positions behind the plate.  Not a good idea. 

That's the biggest piece to replace in the conference (I know recycled line), both literally and figuratively. 

Despite that loss, I still like Williams over Amherst because they return more quality pitching.

[BoSoxDemocrat]

Over in the East, Bowdoin preemptively solved their shortstop problem a year early by moving their existing shortstop, a senior, to 2nd to make way for freshman Adam Marquit, who is a stud in the field and will be batting ninth to start off the season. He certainly made his mark today picking up 2 hits and 4 RBIs in their second game against Pitt-Bradford.

[Rick Vaughn]

I really like the talented young players Bowdoin has, but they are likely a little too young to make and true noise this year.  Marquit sounds like a player.  We will find out today as the NESCAC faces it's first test of the year when Bowdoin takes on #3 Cortland St. 

One other note: Bowdoin has a really weird spring break schedule.  Who travels from Wednesday to Wednesday?   

[Nuke LaLoosh]

Tufts' spring trip begins tomorrow. Their southern trip is extremely unforgiving, with the Jumbos only playing one other northern school (SUNY-Purchase) and playing some extremely tough programs from VA and NC. Casey likes facing teams more towards the middle of their schedule that will make fewer mistakes than a team just starting out. Every year the Jumbos are very battle-tested when they return north.

Lynchburg, Averett, Methodist, Greensboro, NC Wesleyan, and Virginia Wesleyan are all NCAA-caliber teams year in year out, and even teams like Randolph-Macon and Guilford would do well in the NESCAC.

Bowdoin getting Driscoll back is huge for them, if he can stay healthy. He could be the true ace that their staff needs and missed last year. With him, Pace, and Turgeon they have a solid weekend rotation.