BB: NESCAC: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[JustAFan]

Correct, as usual, Bostonian--my bad.  The West is still undecided and will hinge on Sunday's Amherst-Williams game.

[Rick Vaughn]

Williams with a big win over RPI today in Troy, NY.  That is their second win of the season over a top 15 team in the country.  Does the win put them into position to pick up an at-large if they can win the West?  I think if they can make it to the NESCAC championship game, or knock off Trin in the tourney it would push them in. 

Williams now has to balance their pitching for Saturday vs MIT and preserving a possible at-large spot, and having all arms available for the winner-take-all (except for the Little 3, which Amherst already locked up) Sunday vs Amherst.  They need big outings from their Saturday starters to keep everyone as fresh as possible for Sunday's game.

[Bostonian]

Williams beats Amherst to win the NESCAC West.

Tufts vs. Williams and Trinity vs. Amherst.

[Rick Vaughn]

After giving up an absolute lazer to Allar in the first, Benz settled in and dominated from there on out.  The Williams lineup looked very good, but what has hurt them in the past and could get them next weekend is their lack of power.  They have to string together 3 or 4 hits to score, and outside of Pinto, Allemand, and Mathews, they are a singles hitting team.  It should be a very good NESCAC tourney.  Amherst always gives Trinity trouble, and Tufts and Williams already played two very close games this year.

[Nuke LaLoosh]

Adding to that, Williams will be facing Telian, who is tough to run on.

Feel as though the pressure is off Tufts this weekend. They are really the only team playing with nothing to lose. They're a young team that did just enough to get to playoffs, while Amherst and Williams are both fighting for at-larges and Trinity is the host team. Oh, and they're undefeated, too.

I think the Jumbos will play well this weekend.

We'll see if Trinity or Tufts can end the West dominance in this tournament over the past four years.

[Old Spartan]

Does anyone know the league policy on rain delays for the this weekends games?  Personally, I am rooting for the sun.

[Nuke LaLoosh]

Spartan,

Not too sure about what the policy is, but there have been a couple instances where rain has affected the NESCAC tourney.

The most recent was '06 at Bowdoin, where it was just a monsoon basically all day Friday, pushing the games back a day. Tufts would have had to win 3 games on Sunday to win the tournament, but Midd won the first Championship game so it didn't matter.

Back in '02 Tufts won the title because the last game between them and Trinity could not be completed due to rain. They won on a tiebreaker rule.

I think the league also has the option of turning the tournament into a 4-team single elimination if both Friday and Saturday are rained out.

To answer your question, I believe if the entire tournament is rained out the league champ is determined by either head-head results of the East and West winners (which in this case is 0-0) and then NESCAC Divisional records, which would give Trinity the championship.

Let's hope this is not the case...

[Old Spartan]

At the moment the forecast is for rain on Friday with Saturday and Sunday likely to be fine.  I would thik they could fit it all in, and the school year will be done at some places so a delay of a day shouldnt hurt.

[Bostonian]

There will be no delay untill Monday. The tourney must be completed on Sunday for NCAA selection committee purposes.

The teams will play on Saturday morning. The winners will play each other and the losers will play each other in the afternoon. The remaining games will happen on Sunday.

Some things to consider.
1. Whoever loses on Saturday will need to win 3 games on Sunday to win it. Whoever wins twice on Saturday will need to win 1 game on Sunday.
2. Whoever moves on to the NCAAs will have a major disadvantage in that their #1 will be throwing on 3 days rest.

[Wydown Blvd.]

Link to Article on ESPN.com with blurb about Trinity Baseball:
http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3381811&name=ncaa_baseball

Link to AP Article on ESPN.com about Trinity Baseball:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3380256

[speedy]

Trinity makes the national media - pretty good article in USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/baseball/2008-05-08-trinity_N.htm

[Nuke LaLoosh]

Update: Trinity 5-0 after 4
              Tufts 1-0 after 6

[Nuke LaLoosh]

It's over in Middletown. Tufts wins 1-0 behind a complete game shutout from Adam Telian.

Classic pitchers duel between Telian and Williams' Matt Gustafson, who pitched into the ninth as well. Tufts scored their only run on a bases loaded walk in the second after a error extended the inning.

Trinity is all over Amherst, up 7-0 in the 5th.

Doesn't look good for the Ephs NCAA hopes now.

[Rick Vaughn]

Bad losses for Williams.  I thought coming in that someone might have a chance to beat Trinity, but this team is so much better than everyone else in the NESCAC it's scary.  The box score says that Regan followed Bayer today, so it will likely be Barnard tomorrow.  Even if they some how lost the first championship game to a depleted Amherst or Tufts they still have Regan, Rappaport, and McGrath left in the tank.  They can lose a game early in regionals and have enough pitching in the tank to still come back and win.   

Amherst could still grab an at-large, but Williams had a better shot at the bid if they made the championship game.

[Bostonian]

Question for any Trinity folk here...
Is Bayer a sophomore or a junior? He's listed as a soph. on the online roster, but he pitched for 2 seasons at UVM before transferring to Trinity.