BB: NESCAC: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Bostonian]

Looks like it'll be Trintiy and Tufts in the East and Amherst and Williams in the West..

[Rick Vaughn]

The banjo hitting continues for Williams.  Nobody hit in the clutch for the second weekend in a row, and they get swept for the second weekend in a row.  Benz and Horwitz must be getting frustrated.  The one seed in the west this year is so important this year because that means you get to avoid Kiely in game one of the playoffs.  The Ephs need to sweep WesTech and Hamilton, and win the third game of the Herst series in order to do so.

[frank uible]

An Amherst loss to Midd would take a little pressure off Williams - but Williams would still need to take game 3 vs. Amherst unless, of course, Amherst should lose a second game to Midd.

[Rick Vaughn]

Trinity displayed it's dominance in a big way this weekend.  Kiely was dominate on Friday and the offense took off and crushed on Saturday.  They did show a chink in their armor as Kiely walked his first batter of the year.

Big sweep by Williams over an improving Hamilton program.  Because AmHerst was unable to sweep Hamilton, the Ephs still have a shot to earn the one seed in the west.  Midd taking a game from Amherst also gives back a game to Williams. 

What happened to Midd this year?  They returned a lot of talent, but they miss Noah Walker a lot more than expected.  They played some ugly baseball this weekend against Amherst.  Bad pitching and worse defense.

[Bostonian]

Britton has been weak this year, too. I thought he was absolutely fantastic 2 years ago.

Kiely was not dominant on Friday. He definitely did not have his A stuff. His breaking ball was not consistently sharp. But his C stuff is better than anyone in the NESCAC and he made big pitches when he needed to. I wonder if he'll get drafted. He doesn't throw that hard, he's not that big, and he has had arm troubles, which will all work against him. Still, I'm assuming at least the Red Sox will draft him and maybe even the Dibenedetto kid, as they are usually very accomodating to management children.

Trinity is the best NESCAC team I've ever seen. Killen, Graham, Wood is a deadly 3-4-5. They don't strikeout. They play solid defense. And they aren't even starting their 2nd best pitcher yet. I would guess that Decker will use Bayer before Barnard in the regionals. He will definitely dominate the NESCAC in the next 2 years.

I won't be surprised if Williams loses 2 of 3 to Wesleyan...but only because nothing surprises me in the West....and if Williams finishes 2nd to Amherst, the Benz-Kiely matchup will be a fantastic one.

[ECSUalum]

Yes, but what is a banjo hitter?

Old Spartan,

Check your e-mail for directions to ECSU baseball park.

Hope they help as facility is noth of the main campus

[Rick Vaughn]

Not really a midyear All Conference team, but here is how I see it as of right now.

Player of the Year: Ragonese
Pitcher of the Year: Kiely
Rookie of the Year: Keenan

C: Killeen-Trin
1B: Graham-Trin
2B: Piacentini-Trin
SS: Dominguez-Wes
3B: Lanahan-Midd
OF: Wood-Trin
OF: Pinto-Williams
OF: Ragonese-Tufts
P: Kiely-Trin
P: Regan-Trin
P: Keenan-Amherst
P: Bayer-Trin

Hon Mention: DiCosmo-Williams, Shimrock-Midd, Sullivan-Trin, Barnard-Trin, Berte-Bowdoin, Douds-Wes, Allar-Herst, Benz-Williams, O'Donnell-Tufts, Foster-Ham

That really sucked.  I was trying to find others to fill the 7 slots that Trinity filled, but their numbers did not match up. 

[gordonmann]

Who knows how much longer the Bants' run lasts, but they are getting noticed by other outlets, like the New York Times.

NOTE: You may need your own log-in to access this story.

[frank uible]

The NYT must be short of writing subjects. At this time Trinity is about 10-14   games against tough opposition (as opposed to its games vs. not-so- tough opposition) short of an undefeated season.

[Bostonian]

I predict Trinity won't lose untill the regionals. I think emory may have done that a few years ago.

[met_fan]

When do the first regional ranking come out?

[Nuke LaLoosh]

Good article about Trinity, but I agree, this was a bit premature for this article to appear. The Bants still have to go through ECSU tonight, as well as Amherst and Brandeis before the NESCACS, where again they could have some trouble. Going 27-0 thus far is very impressive, but the best team they've played so far is a young pitching depleted Tufts team.

Most impressive Bant this weekend was Wood, taking Telian deep opposite field (for those who haven't been to Huskins that is a poke to left center) and then going yard for the game winner on Saturday. After this weekend I'm kind of curious as to how this kid is even on a DIII roster.

I see them losing a game to Amherst and then again in the NESCACs, especially if they have to face Benz. I Still believe he's got the best stuff in the league.

Will be interesting to see if the Jumbos can recover and sweep Colby. If they do make the playoffs then their three Seniors (Telian, Protano, and Ragonese) will be the only players in the league to play in four NESCAC playoffs.

[dubbc]

Can someone explain to me why trinity doesn't play more in region games?  Playing only 28 games up to this point seems like a low number.  Does it have to do with the way their conference is set up?  If someone could fill me in i'd appreciate it, just seems like they only have one week day game then weekend games while the other teams in the region are playing upwards to 6 games per week. Thanks

[Rick Vaughn]

It's a combination of things.  First, NESCAC professors get all fussy when students miss classes for games.  Hence, fewer midweek games.  Also, the timing of a teams spring break also impacts how many games they can play.  In NE, teams rarely play a game before they head south for spring break, therefore a team with an earlier break may play 3 or 4 more games than a team that has their spring trip a week later, because they can usually get in some games that first week back.  Also, 28 is not that low of a number. Eastern Conn has played just four more games.

[dubbc]

thanks for the explanation mr vaughn, makes better sense now