BB: MIAA: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

bulldogalum · May 05, 2006, 11:58:55 AM

I never thought I'd see the day I'd root for Olivet, much less two days in a row. Oh well, here's hoping Adrian wins one on sunday to make these Hope/Olivet games academic.

formerd3db · May 05, 2006, 02:23:34 PM

Quote from: bulldogalum on May 05, 2006, 11:58:55 AM
I never thought I'd see the day I'd root for Olivet, much less two days in a row. Oh well, here's hoping Adrian wins one on sunday to make these Hope/Olivet games academic.

That's okay, bulldogalum, my friend. I'll forgive you this time!

It should be a good weekend of competition. I HOPE the weather cooperates so that all the games can be completed. Nothing like a great late spring weekend for baseball and lacrosse, like we've had the last two weekends for the various league games in both sports.

bulldogalum · May 05, 2006, 08:38:31 PM

Well it looks like "my" (groans) Comets pulled one out today. Here's hoping that the Bulldogs represent the MIAA well, and get a few postseason wins.

albinomascot19 · May 06, 2006, 03:51:10 AM

Now even if Adrian loses two games, and Hope were to win two, Adrian is the only team headed to the NCAA Tourney. This is all based upon Adrian beat Hope in the season series 3 games to 1.

Congrats to the Bulldogs on a banner year!

northb · May 07, 2006, 02:00:29 PM

Congratulations to the Bulldogs--represent the MIAA well

albinomascot19 · May 07, 2006, 05:28:08 PM

Albion beat Adrian today by the scores of 5-0, 2-1. After the two wins by the Britons, it puts Adrian and Hope into a tie. This year we have two co-champions. Only one team goes to the NCAA Tourney. If the first tie-breaker goes head to head, Adrian is in. If they look at overall winning percentage, Hope is in. However I believe the Bulldogs are locked in.

formerd3db · May 11, 2006, 05:45:46 PM

I would like to know why (actually I know why, however, am interested in your opinions) a player who finishes the season with a batting avg. of .387 which is about third in the league, has like 36 RBI's (in some 46 hits) does not make 1st team ALL-MIAA but only honorable mention?

Certainly honorable mention is very worthy selection for anyone, however, the logic of the other defies me. This player, it would appear on the surface, deserved the higher honor.

We've had this discussion on the football boards but it appears this occurs in baseball as well.

bulldogalum · May 11, 2006, 10:52:18 PM

It sure does, unfortunately. Also, take a look at Feliccia's stats at Albion. His Win-Loss wasn't great, but his ERA was pretty darn solid. Awfully good stats for a mere honorable mention. Unfortunately, the most deserving players don't always get the honors, though I will say I was thrilled to see Nokovich get Most Valuable Pitcher. He was certainly the best in the league this year, and a great guy to boot.

albinomascot19 · May 12, 2006, 08:23:23 AM

Nokovich ended up being the alltime MIAA strikeout leader. Hes pretty darn good. Any word who Adrian will play in the playoffs?

bulldogalum · May 12, 2006, 02:24:55 PM

The first round pairings aren't announced until Sunday, so we'll find out then.

albinomascot19 · May 15, 2006, 08:03:11 AM

The regional tournament was announced. Adrian College will travel to Rose-Hulman to take on Manchester.

link to the regional tournament:
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/sports/baseball/06regional/

bulldogalum · May 15, 2006, 03:28:19 PM

Right you are. A 9:30am start in Terre Haute could be kind of rough, but I suppose it's rough for both teams.

bulldogalum · May 19, 2006, 03:18:13 PM

Adrian drops the first game to Manchester, 10-5, then defeats Elizabethtown 3-2. They're in the final four of the region, facing off against Otterbein momentarily.

formerd3db · May 20, 2006, 10:21:18 PM

bulldogalum:

Sorry to see your alma mater bow out of the NCAA Regional. Although they were overall the best team in the MIAA, they just seemed to run out of gas towards the end of the season, just didn't seem to have the guns to prevail. They gave a valient effort without a doubt, though in the tourney, and it is disappointing to not see them be able to advance further this year in their second consectutive try in representing our MIAA, let alone themselves.

Yet, they can be proud of still a great season and my congrats to them for the same. Even though I would have obviously liked to see my own alma mater make it to the regional instead of Adrian, I still think Adrian had the best chance of going further in the tourney than Hope or the other MIAA top contenders. It just seems that the MIAA teams including Adrian started to run out of gas, or better said, peaked at the wrong time i.e. too earlier in the latter third of their seasons.

BTW, did you see where Ted Mahan, former Mich State baseball coach was recently named h.c. at Olivet College? Allows him to be able to stay in the same home and not move. It will be interesting to see how they fare next spring.

bulldogalum · May 21, 2006, 05:39:48 PM

formerd3db:

Thanks for the kind words about Adrian's season. They went down the right way: against a good team in extra innings. Ironically, I think at the end of the season, Albion was the best team in the league, and would have had a good shot at winning the regional. They were finally getting some run support, and had very strong starting pitching. I didn't get a chance to see Hope, so I can't make any specific comments other than to say they obviously had a very good year.

Olivet has had some dangerous baseball teams in recent years, it will indeed be interesting to see what an experienced D1 coach can do with them.

As a sidenote, I was in Adrian last week, and the stadium is coming along nicely. The home bleachers appear to be completely installed and they were working on the visiting bleachers. It's exciting to see the progress being made.