BB: NESCAC: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[wordsmith]

By the way I wanted to go on record as saying Best Wishes to Bill Thurston in retirement.

I sat through countless seminars and clinics that Coach conducted over the past 20+ years and they were all excellent. Thorough, knowledgable and always willing to share his knowledge. And he and I share the same opinion of Dan Duquette.

I only wish he would have had more success in getting college ball back to wood bats. Lord knows he tried. So a tip of the hat to a class guy and a true gentleman (even though he is a graduate of Michigan). Good Luck

Word 8)

[ECSUalum]

Thanks Old Spartan

[RSSmith]

By the way I wanted to go on record as saying Best Wishes to Bill Thurston in retirement.

I sat through countless seminars and clinics that Coach conducted over the past 20+ years and they were all excellent. Thorough, knowledgable and always willing to share his knowledge. And he and I share the same opinion of Dan Duquette.

I only wish he would have had more success in getting college ball back to wood bats. Lord knows he tried. So a tip of the hat to a class guy and a true gentleman (even though he is a graduate of Michigan). Good Luck

Word 8)

For all the old Dalton, Mass. guys out there, I assume that your shared opinon of Duquette held nothing but the highest of esteem.

[Rick Vaughn]

I've heard recent info favoring Hamm as the man for the job at Amherst.  With their history of great pitching and Trinity's recent success, it shows that a place like Amherst could become a force on the national level, not just the regional level. 

Huge weekend in the west with the winner of the Williams-Wes series locking up a birth in the NESCAC and possibly home field.  Benz will be the key for Williams.  He returned to form last weekend against Hamilton and if he can throw that way again it will set the tone for the series. 

[Old Spartan]

The W v W series is Saturday/Sunday as opposed to the standard.  Any thoughts as to why?

[Rick Vaughn]

No idea as to why the series is Saturday/Sunday.  Possibly a big on campus event at Williams on Friday?

Things have sorted out this weekend.  Tufts sweep of Colby earned them the #2 seed in the East via their series win earlier this year over Bowdoin.  In an East/West game Amherst split with Trin.  Great win for the Lord Jeffs after Bayer no-hit them in game one, Amherst pitching shutout the Bantams in game two.  Even more impressive is holding the Killeen, Graham, Wood combo hitless.  Williams swept Wes pretty comfortably on the road yesterday.  Williams needs to win today to still have a realistic chance to host. 

[dIIIball]

Congrats to Williams Seniors Howitz, Benz, Stone, Mikell, and B. Allison for having now matched Tufts seniors from last year and again this year for reaching the NESCAC playoffs each of their four years in the always-competitive NESCAC West.

[NESCAC FAN]

Last year's senior class at Williams did not make the NESCAC tourney eveyr year. They missed in their freshman year when Amherst and Wesleyan made it.

[Rick Vaughn]

I was wrong about Williams needing to win today.  All they need is to beat Amherst on May 3rd to host NESCAC's. 

Also, dIII didn't say that last years Williams senior class accomplished the feat.  He said the senior classes from Tufts the last two years have done so...not even Trin's past two senior classes (Kiely's group and Kileen's group) can say that.

[JustAFan]

Although Williams has clinched a tournament berth from the NESCAC West the other West representative is still up in the air, as is the tournament host. Here's how I think it lays out:

If Amherst beats Hamilton next Saturday (at Hamilton) then Amherst clinches a tournament berth.

If Amherst also beats Williams next Sunday then the Lord Jeffs will host the tournament by virtue of winning the season series vs. Williams.

If Amherst beats Hamilton but loses to Williams then Williams will host the tournament as the West's #1 seed and Amherst will be the #2 seed.

But if Amherst loses to both Hamilton and Williams next weekend and Wesleyan beats Middlebury next Saturday (at Middlebury), Wesleyan goes to the tournament as the West's #2 seed rather than Amherst since Wesleyan holds the tie-breaker vs. Amherst as a result of winning their season series.

Amherst will have some interesting pitching decisions to make for next weekend. Do they throw their #1 on Saturday or save him for Sunday?  They're likely to face Max Foster, Hamilton's #1, on Saturday in a game in which Hamilton will be loose and carefree with nothing to lose in its senior's final home game.  Do they pull out all of the stops to try to win that game to clinch a tournament spot and treat Sunday's game, and the opportunity to host the tournament, as gravy? Or do they save their top arms for Sunday's Little Three contest? I assume they'll do whatever it takes to get a win on Saturday and then take their chances on Sunday, especially since they've got a deep pitching staff.

[Rick Vaughn]

Thanks for the great breakdown Fan!  If I could give you +K, I would.  Really helps clarify for me.

As for who to throw - Platzbecker and Healy have both been very good this year, so they will split those games.  Since both games are very important, I would look at what gives you the better matchup.  Healy dominated both Hamilton and Williams this year, while Platzbecker threw much better against Williams (albeit out of relief).  I would go with Healy against Hamilton, 10 K's in the first outing, and Platzbecker against Williams to combat the left handed hitting middle of the lineup (Mathews, Mikell, Stone). 

Just one man's opinion - after 40+ years Thurston knows who to throw when and I am sure he knows what he is doing. Either way facing Benz and Foster is no easy task.

[NESCAC FAN]

Amherst can lose to Hamilton and beat Williams to get the 1 seed. They would both be 8-4 in that scenario.

Tough spot for the Jeffs..Hamilton, with Foster, is a legitimate team. Then, after battling him, you have to face Benz the next day?!?!? That's a tough weekend...

[darkhorse]

Great stuff boys! 

Any thoughts on post season accolades?  Your thoughts on POY and ROY? 

Things are very tight between Heller and Mayberry in terms of #s for ROY, any input? 

Also what are everybody's all NESCAC 1st and 2nd teams at this point?

Always a pleasure reading all of your post!

[Rick Vaughn]

I'm going to wait for all the games to get sorted out this weekend before I put out my opinions on all-NESCAC.

One thing heading into this weekend - Williams has a pretty busy week heading into the Amherst game Sunday.  Tuesday at Skidmore, Wednesday vs RPI, and two Saturday against MIT.  They better have a deep staff or they might get spanked around going into Sunday.  I would have all the dogs ready for Sunday (Burgdorf, Horowitz, Marino) to follow Benz, so it will be interest to see how Barrale works his staff this week.

[frank uible]

Williams has 15 pitchers on its roster.