BB: SCIAC: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Purplebaseball]

One thing that I would like to bring up about the PP Whittier series in game 1 of the double header today Coach Rizzo started Jr. Matt Webster who gave up 7 runs in 2.1 innings and it was all down hill for Whittier after that.
In game 2 Coach Rizzo starts Freshman Justin Ushio a converted 3rd baseman who threw 5 innings with 5k's 7 hits and 2 runs on one mistake.  He hung breaking ball to Sam Fox for a 2 run HR in the 3rd inning.  Ushio kept the PP bats off balance most of the game hitting his spots and changing speeds effectively.  Freshmen Royce Komesu and Matthew Macey came on in relief to finish out the game allowing 4 runs over the next 4 innings as  PP won 6-2.  What does this mean about the PP bats?  I don't know but if I was Oxy-LV or CLU I might take note.  Your not going to over power the PP bats but you can pitch to them as the Freshmen showed.

[Jack Parkman]

UR- ULV: UR 2-1 but this one is tough. I respect how ULV did in the early season and think they're a team that can always come out and knock you around. But hearing the reviews of the Redlands staff, I gotta go with them. Also wouldn't be surprised with 2-1 ULV or 3-0 UR.

PP-WC: PP 3-0 but they absolutely cannot take that team lightly, especially if they win big in game one or two.

CLU- CIT: CLU 3-0

Oxy-CMS: Oxy 3-0 but I see a chance for a CMS win, based on how close a couple of the Oxy-CIT games were

Results:
UR 2-1 ULV
PP 3-1 WC
CLU 3-0 CIT
Oxy 3-0 CMS

For those keeping track at home, that's two weeks in a row of correct picks.

You trying to sneak an extra win in for Pomona ?

[Purple Heys]

One thing that I would like to bring up about the PP Whittier series in game 1 of the double header today Coach Rizzo started Jr. Matt Webster who gave up 7 runs in 2.1 innings and it was all down hill for Whittier after that.
In game 2 Coach Rizzo starts Freshman Justin Ushio a converted 3rd baseman who threw 5 innings with 5k's 7 hits and 2 runs on one mistake.  He hung breaking ball to Sam Fox for a 2 run HR in the 3rd inning.  Ushio kept the PP bats off balance most of the game hitting his spots and changing speeds effectively.  Freshmen Royce Komesu and Matthew Macey came on in relief to finish out the game allowing 4 runs over the next 4 innings as  PP won 6-2.  What does this mean about the PP bats?  I don't know but if I was Oxy-LV or CLU I might take note.  Your not going to over power the PP bats but you can pitch to them as the Freshmen showed.

Friend Purplebaseball, I think you are seeing through a bit of Purple Haze...yes Game 3 was closer, and yes, the 3 Frosh pitchers combined for a more respectable outcome.  But they gave up 17 hits in that game and it took several exceptional defensive plays to keep this one close.  If it showed anything it showed that P-P is better than Redlands - the P-P lineup is deeper than Redlands and absolutely killed the Poets pitching - regardless of age - when hitting with two strikes.

In game 3, the effort Whittier showed is the required effort for all 3 games of a series.  That level of effort beat Redlands and Bates, and the same level of effort, if they can sustain it, gives them a chance against ULV next week. The Poets can play defense but will they hit?

The bottom line fact is that Whittier needs to start hitting and scoring runs because it puts too much pressure on their pitching otherwise.  They've played a tough schedule to date, I am anxious to see if if they can pick themselves back up.

[Jack Parkman]

My observations regarding the SCIAC after week 3...

Oxy continues to roll but they haven't exactly played the toughest schedule.  Yes they are 10-2 but their opponents are a combined 6-38 which makes me wonder even more about them, especially after sneaking out a couple of one-run games this weekend against Claremont.  I just don't buy this team yet, but I definitely have stock in DeRaad.  He continues to crush the ball and hit another HR this weekend.

Whittier has played a pretty tough schedule so far which makes the results a little less surprising to me.  The major issue with them is that they are hitting .207 as a team overall (.218 in conference.)  Heck, Caltech is hitting .224 as a team.  Regardless of who they have played, hitting .207 isn't going to win many ballgames.

Redlands obviously has found a good one with Minjarez tossing a no-no on Friday against La Verne.  After winning game 2 of the series, Redlands lost game 3 after having the lead.  The one thing I wonder about is whether or not Minjarez can continue to throw a ton of innings as a Freshman and if they can find someone to win game 3 of a series, something they have yet to do.

Cal Lu knocked Caltech all over the place, as they should.  Starting Friday they have 10 games in 11 days which will be a huge test on their pitching.  Mixed in those games is a matchup with Linfield.

Chapman was off and I think it came at a pretty good time.  Their opponents have a combined 24-6 record and it's not like they have been getting blown out.  Starting with Caltech this weekend, I thin Chapman goes on a pretty serious run.

CMS and Caltech could be an awesome series with the Beavers getting their first win in SCIAC in a looooooooooong time.

Pomona has really turned around the pitching issues and they are on a pretty hot streak right now.  Bruml has been awesome in his last 2 starts and they hit the ball all over the place.

I don't have a read on La Verne but I am sure they are the same scrappy team they have always been.  They got no-hit the other day and only took 1 game from Redlands.  Still time left to put it together but I'm not sure they will.

Way too early predictions for the SCIAC Tournament*:
Cal Lu
Pomona
Chapman
Oxy

*Not seeded that way, just those are the 4.

[Purplebaseball]

Purple Heys....No fog...has nothing to do with Whittier...regardless of what team..I'm just stating what I witnesses.  When you have a Freshman pitcher who never pitched game in high school takes the bump and holds PP to 2 runs regardless of the defensive plays behind him. (also 3 errors) it makes me wonder what Scott Peters from Cal Lu or Joseph King from Oxy will be able to do vs. PP bats when crunch time comes in the SCIAC.  Felix Minjarez from Redlands did the same thing to PP in his 5-2 win over PP, mixed pitches threw breaking balls in fastball counts and had PP off balance. Most guys at this level can hit a 85mph fastball when they know it's coming.

[Purple Heys]

Purple Heys....No fog...has nothing to do with Whittier...regardless of what team..I'm just stating what I witnesses.  When you have a Freshman pitcher who never pitched game in high school takes the bump and holds PP to 2 runs regardless of the defensive plays behind him. (also 3 errors) it makes me wonder what Scott Peters from Cal Lu or Joseph King from Oxy will be able to do vs. PP bats when crunch time comes in the SCIAC.  Felix Minjarez from Redlands did the same thing to PP in his 5-2 win over PP, mixed pitches threw breaking balls in fastball counts and had PP off balance. Most guys at this level can hit a 85mph fastball when they know it's coming.

Point taken...I better understand where you are coming from.

[CrashDavisD3]

 SCIAC
Occidental 8-1 10-2
Pomona-Pitzer 8-1 11-3
Cal Lutheran 5-1 8-1
La Verne 7-2 8-5
Redlands 5-4 8-4
Chapman 2-4 4-5
Whittier 1-5 2-11
Caltech 0-9 0-12
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 0-9 0-15

Chapman should pick up 6 wins over the next 2 weeks with Caltech and CMS as opponents

[Purplebaseball]

Does anyone know why CMS win over Okanagan College on Feb 10th doesn't count as a W?  Is it because Okanagan is in the CCBC and it's considered an exhibition game?

[108 Stitches]

Does anyone know why CMS win over Okanagan College on Feb 10th doesn't count as a W?  Is it because Okanagan is in the CCBC and it's considered an exhibition game?

Does it matter?

[Jack Parkman]

Does anyone know why CMS win over Okanagan College on Feb 10th doesn't count as a W?  Is it because Okanagan is in the CCBC and it's considered an exhibition game?

No, it doesn't count.  You are allowed to play an exhibition game against a foreign opponent every year.  Many teams play the University of British Columbia each year.

[Purplebaseball]

Got it...thanks...

[Teddy_Ballgame]

UR- ULV: UR 2-1 but this one is tough. I respect how ULV did in the early season and think they're a team that can always come out and knock you around. But hearing the reviews of the Redlands staff, I gotta go with them. Also wouldn't be surprised with 2-1 ULV or 3-0 UR.

PP-WC: PP 3-0 but they absolutely cannot take that team lightly, especially if they win big in game one or two.

CLU- CIT: CLU 3-0

Oxy-CMS: Oxy 3-0 but I see a chance for a CMS win, based on how close a couple of the Oxy-CIT games were

Results:
UR 2-1 ULV
PP 3-1 WC
CLU 3-0 CIT
Oxy 3-0 CMS

For those keeping track at home, that's two weeks in a row of correct picks.

You trying to sneak an extra win in for Pomona ?

Fixed
But also, I gave Whittier the extra win! So you can't blame the homer-ism for that one.

Re: Purplebaseball's comments, I appreciate the observations about Pomona and don't doubt there's something to it. Good for that Freshman getting in there and scrapping and keeping the run count low. But as Purple Heys pointed out, PP got 17 hits in the game. That's a ton. Obviously they need to convert more of those into runs, but I think it's still a very impressive performance. And there's absolutely something to be said about a let down game after winning by double digits in 7 innings the first two games.

Definitely something to your point about success coming from keeping guys off balance though. I think that's where a lot of successful D3 pitchers get their best results. Not a ton of guys at this level can overpower hitters- it's the ones that can hit spots and throw off-speed pitches for strikes that do well.

[Purple Heys]

UR- ULV: UR 2-1 but this one is tough. I respect how ULV did in the early season and think they're a team that can always come out and knock you around. But hearing the reviews of the Redlands staff, I gotta go with them. Also wouldn't be surprised with 2-1 ULV or 3-0 UR.

PP-WC: PP 3-0 but they absolutely cannot take that team lightly, especially if they win big in game one or two.

CLU- CIT: CLU 3-0

Oxy-CMS: Oxy 3-0 but I see a chance for a CMS win, based on how close a couple of the Oxy-CIT games were

Results:
UR 2-1 ULV
PP 3-1 WC
CLU 3-0 CIT
Oxy 3-0 CMS

For those keeping track at home, that's two weeks in a row of correct picks.

You trying to sneak an extra win in for Pomona ?

Fixed
But also, I gave Whittier the extra win! So you can't blame the homer-ism for that one.

Re: Purplebaseball's comments, I appreciate the observations about Pomona and don't doubt there's something to it. Good for that Freshman getting in there and scrapping and keeping the run count low. But as Purple Heys pointed out, PP got 17 hits in the game. That's a ton. Obviously they need to convert more of those into runs, but I think it's still a very impressive performance. And there's absolutely something to be said about a let down game after winning by double digits in 7 innings the first two games.

Definitely something to your point about success coming from keeping guys off balance though. I think that's where a lot of successful D3 pitchers get their best results. Not a ton of guys at this level can overpower hitters- it's the ones that can hit spots and throw off-speed pitches for strikes that do well.

Fixed it for you TB...I think you transposed your Purples

[Purple Heys]

Whittier might have picked the wrong season to amp up the schedule...this was the season to put some St. Katherine's games into the mix.

No excuses though, time to pull back together and get after ULV.

[Purplebaseball]

Very true Purple Heys!  Tough schedule and bad baseball don't mix!  Will see what happens this weekend if Whittier can turn it around?