BB: NESCAC: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Old Spartan]

I am new to the D3 world and am not familiar with the talent levels of the various programs.  I do question the wisdom of Northern teams opening their seasons against opponents that have 15+ games under their belts.  Granted it is always better to play superior competition in general, but in many cases I would think D3 coaches havent seen all of their players in action, escpecially if there are a lot of freshman on the roster.  It is a good thing I imagine to play a schedule that allows you to see your new kids play so as to see how they might fit into the program.

If you had a lot of players returning (healthy players as opposed to guys recovering from surgery) it would make more sns to dial up the competition and improve the index.  Otherwise it might be smart to get your players ready for conference play rather than walking into a buzz saw.  Time will tell.

OS

[Bostonian]

It never makes sense to schedule the bulk of your early games against the tier 4 (uner .333 winning %) teams. It hurts your ability to get a pool c bid and offers little in terms of testing your team. You look at the best Northern programs in the country and they are eithewr playing top notch teams on their spring trip or they are playing teams in Calfornia or NC/Virginia so thatthey can best prepare their team for the year ahead.

[candyman]

Middlebury update -
Took two from Colby yesterday to start their season winning 12-2 and 12-4. I believe both their aces through, britton and the lefty.
If their pitching holds up, they should be a contender again this year to repeat as nescac champs. lost a lot of talent from last year offensively, but did not lose a single contributor on the mound. we'll see if they continue to score runs at this clip.

[wordsmith]

Trust Fund Babies fall to Manufactured Housing residents 7-5

Just kidding, just kidding.

So. Maine could reach #1 in the next poll if they are not careful.

[candyman]

if midd can somehow revenge their loss against souther maine in the ncaa regionals last year, it would be a huge upset. the williams midd series at the end of the week is going to be enormous, primarily for nescac playoff implications, but for also further on down the line in regional rankings

[Bostonian]

Tufts defeated Virginia Wesleyan today to finsih 7-4 on their trip. Considering their inexperienced pitching staff, this trip has to be considered a big success for the Jumbos. Telian looks like a potential pitcher of the year and the freshmen add some key depth. If Rice, Lopez, and Protano find their form, the Jumbos could definitely contend foe the championship this year. In the East, it looks like Trinity and Tufts will battle it out, and Bowdoin could suprise. The West looks more competetive....should be another great year.

[candyman]

Midd beats Southern Maine 14-7 in a rematch from last years NCAA regional. S. Maine scored 3 in the last inning, otherwise a relative blowout. Big win for middlebury and will factor in down the road if they are a player in the nescac playoffs and in terms of regional rankings. however, they lost 2 to gustavus adolphus yesterday. we'll see what happens this weekend against williams.

[Bostonian]

Looks like pitchers that don't have their best stuff are going to get ripped again this year by the Mid....those guys just feast on bad pitches. My favorites are Lefebre and Lanahan....they foul off every tough pitch and rip it when they get something good to hit...

[Bostonian]

I guess Midd still has very little pitching depth...they lost yesterday 29-5 to MIT. I think they have enough depth to win the NESCAC tourney but they'll never win the regional if they don't find some pitching behind Britton and Wright.

[Bostonian]

Interesting first day in the NESCAC.
Tufts beat bates 4-2...26 combined strkeouts...both team had a lot of very bad at bats...
Trinity beat Bowdoin 15-8....seems like without Driscoll, Bowdoin is going to have some trouble keeping teams from scoring on them.
Williams beat Middlebury 8-7...for some reason, Britton did not pitch. Mid made 6 errors, outhit Williams 16 to 8, but managed to lose.
Amherst beat Wesleyan 6-3.

What is so interesting is that Bowdoin's ace (Driscoll), Tufts' ace and closer (Simon and Narva), Amherst's #2 (Edgar), and Wesleyan's ace (Sternberg) are all not pitching.

[Bostonian]

Looks lke Edgar is pitching...he and Donahue blanked Wesleyan on sunday...

Two big series last weekend...Bowdoin swept Trinity on sat. and took a big series from them. I thought Trinity would be the team to beat this year. Kiely and barnard did not pitch this weekend, so I'm not sure if injuries are hitting them, too.
Williams took 2 of 3 from Middlebury. That means that the Mid will have to take the Amherst series to have a decent shot at the NESCAC playoffs.

Tufts bats finally found their groove on Saturday, and Amerst showed why their starting pitching has to be considered the best in the league...or maybe Wesleyan just can't hit...

[Old Spartan]

Barnard pitched on friday.

[Bostonian]

Thanks, spartan..the stats page on Trin.'s website says that Meehan pitched that game...

[Old Spartan]

I have noticed that the stats are not always accurate from the games I have seen.  I assume the home team is responsible, because the same errors appear on both school's websites.

[Bostonian]

I think the home team submits the stats for both teams, but updates are usually made when errors are found...and they are found very often.