BB: SCIAC: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Purple Heys]

Occidental is the kind of team that you look at them in warm-ups and you feel like, "yeah I think we can handle these guys," then after you lose to them you wonder how the heck that just happened?  WC led all 3 games early, then just watched as Oxy methodically overtook each lead and put us away.

No way did I see Oxy taking 2 of 3 from UR.  Maybe they are living charmed lives for now, but you have to credit them at some point.

[Jack Parkman]

Occidental is the kind of team that you look at them in warm-ups and you feel like, "yeah I think we can handle these guys," then after you lose to them you wonder how the heck that just happened?  WC led all 3 games early, then just watched as Oxy methodically overtook each lead and put us away.

No way did I see Oxy taking 2 of 3 from UR.  Maybe they are living charmed lives for now, but you have to credit them at some point.

I will give them the credit they deserve right now.  Oxy is like Whitworth in the NWC...not the greatest players in the world but they have a system in place and every guy has bought into it.  They play their butts off and play the way they know how to play.  They aren't going to out-slug anyone but they will use their speed and aggressive play to scratch out runs.  I haven't seen them play much but they have some pretty impressive numbers on the mound.  Looks like they use 5 guys for a majority of their innings and those guys have been getting it done.

[108 Stitches]

Eating a little Crow there Jack? I kinda am with you, looking at their numbers I did not expect that, but again from a purely numbers point of view. But as we all know baseball is what goes on between the lines and numbers trail...

Maybe a bit like La Vern's Regional team last year? They weren't the most talented team there but man did they compete!

[Ralph Turner]

Maybe a bit like La Verne's Regional team last year? They weren't the most talented team there but man did they compete!

To wit, LaVerne went 2-2 in the Regional.  (An 18-10 conference record!) I maintain that the West is consistently the strongest and most balanced region in the country.

[108 Stitches]

Of few years ago the players from Trinity had heard that from a number of the Linfield players that the hardest part of the CWS was getting to Appleton as the teams overall were tougher in the West Regional. I had the same impression last year. Don't get me wrong, everyone in Appleton deserved to be there, but in general the West teams were tougher opponents.

[Pops33]

To wit, LaVerne went 2-2 in the Regional.  (An 18-10 conference record!) I maintain that the West is consistently the strongest and most balanced region in the country.

The West Region definitely has some strong teams in it.  There are some great programs that maintain success every year as well as programs that are more cyclical, but still have good reputations.  However, I will offer another example.  Oberlin College  from the NCAC (Mid East region) made regionals last year by winning the conference tournament.  They were 6-13 in conference prior to the tournament.  In their first game at regionals they led national champion Cortland St 4-3 before Cortland scored 3 in the bottom of the 8th to win 6-4.  Oberlin ended up going 3-2 in regionals and eliminated 3 teams along the way.  Using the same logic, the other teams in Oberlin's conference must be super teams if Oberlin only went 6-13 in that conference but then went 3-2 in regionals.

Obviously, I am  only using one team as an example.  The case with Oberlin is that they had a lot of seniors and they got hot at the right time.  My point is that it is difficult to support an argument or make a point using only one team or one year as an example.  There are too many variables and too many regions that do not have play each other to determine who is best.  Do you go with which region has the most national titles?  Which region has the most teams that make the World Series?  Just too difficult to figure out.

It is great fodder for discussion though!  That is what makes sports great!

[Teddy_Ballgame]

To wit, LaVerne went 2-2 in the Regional.  (An 18-10 conference record!) I maintain that the West is consistently the strongest and most balanced region in the country.

The West Region definitely has some strong teams in it.  There are some great programs that maintain success every year as well as programs that are more cyclical, but still have good reputations.  However, I will offer another example.  Oberlin College  from the NCAC (Mid East region) made regionals last year by winning the conference tournament.  They were 6-13 in conference prior to the tournament.  In their first game at regionals they led national champion Cortland St 4-3 innings before Cortland scored 3 in the bottom of the 8th to win 6-4.  Oberlin ended up going 3-2 in regionals and eliminated 3 teams along the way.  Using the same logic, the other teams in Oberlin's conference must be super teams if Oberlin only went 6-13 in that conference but then went 3-2 in regionals.

Obviously, I am  only using one team as an example.  The case with Oberlin is that they had a lot of seniors and they got hot at the right time.  My point is that it is difficult to support an argument or make a point using only one team or one year as an example.  There are too many variables and too many regions that do not have play each other to determine who is best.  Do you go with which region has the most national titles?  Which region has the most teams that make the World Series?  Just too difficult to figure out.

It is great fodder for discussion though!  That is what makes sports great!

To add on that, I was a part of a very strong PP team in 2010 that got bounced from the regionals after winning our first two games- including one against eventual champ Linfield. They looked phenomenal when they eventually beat us though, and I thought they'd dominate the World Series. Low and behold, Illinois Wesleyan- a team who finished the regular season with a losing record- completed their cinderella run, knocking off Linfield on the way, to win it all. You never know what can happen in the postseason!

[Whatagame]

True, anything can happen in the post season, but I also believe the examples above also point to how their really isn't that great a gap between the top teams in D3 and the next 150 or so teams below......

[108 Stitches]

True, anything can happen in the post season, but I also believe the examples above also point to how their really isn't that great a gap between the top teams in D3 and the next 150 or so teams below......

Actually my experience is the exact opposite. IMO there is a much LARGER gap between say the top 25-35 teams at D3 than you find at the D1 level. Most top 25 D3 teams would decimate teams ranked below 50. The only reason it does not get uglier in those games are that they are either 1) Run rulled or 2) Coaches start to put in freshmen.  In post season play it is all about getting hot at the right time and because of the brackets some luck involved. To Ralph's point the gap in the West tends to be less than other places.

[Whatagame]

108, we can agree to disagree on that point, I know we both had 4 years of watching games firsthand.  I've just seen too many conference games where sub-500 teams beat a top 25 or so team, and even hang tough for a three game set.  When you start talking about top 10 teams nationally, yes I agree, the gap does then become more pronounced.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

True, anything can happen in the post season, but I also believe the examples above also point to how their really isn't that great a gap between the top teams in D3 and the next 150 or so teams below......

Actually my experience is the exact opposite. IMO there is a much LARGER gap between say the top 25-35 teams at D3 than you find at the D1 level. Most top 25 D3 teams would decimate teams ranked below 50. The only reason it does not get uglier in those games are that they are either 1) Run rulled or 2) Coaches start to put in freshmen.  In post season play it is all about getting hot at the right time and because of the brackets some luck involved. To Ralph's point the gap in the West tends to be less than other places.

Also, I do not believe Run rule is a NCAA rule. It is possibly a conference rule. So I do not think we can apply that across the division. I have seen some pretty lopsided games go agains and for OWU and never saw a run rule.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

108, we can agree to disagree on that point, I know we both had 4 years of watching games firsthand.  I've just seen too many conference games where sub-500 teams beat a top 25 or so team, and even hang tough for a three game set.  When you start talking about top 10 teams nationally, yes I agree, the gap does then become more pronounced.

I will add to that. Conference teams are much more familiar with each other. It makes it more likely that a lower team in any conference will take unexpected games from a conference leader. Except in some extreme cases.

[Mr. Ypsi]

To wit, LaVerne went 2-2 in the Regional.  (An 18-10 conference record!) I maintain that the West is consistently the strongest and most balanced region in the country.

The West Region definitely has some strong teams in it.  There are some great programs that maintain success every year as well as programs that are more cyclical, but still have good reputations.  However, I will offer another example.  Oberlin College  from the NCAC (Mid East region) made regionals last year by winning the conference tournament.  They were 6-13 in conference prior to the tournament.  In their first game at regionals they led national champion Cortland St 4-3 innings before Cortland scored 3 in the bottom of the 8th to win 6-4.  Oberlin ended up going 3-2 in regionals and eliminated 3 teams along the way.  Using the same logic, the other teams in Oberlin's conference must be super teams if Oberlin only went 6-13 in that conference but then went 3-2 in regionals.

Obviously, I am  only using one team as an example.  The case with Oberlin is that they had a lot of seniors and they got hot at the right time.  My point is that it is difficult to support an argument or make a point using only one team or one year as an example.  There are too many variables and too many regions that do not have play each other to determine who is best.  Do you go with which region has the most national titles?  Which region has the most teams that make the World Series?  Just too difficult to figure out.

It is great fodder for discussion though!  That is what makes sports great!

To add on that, I was a part of a very strong PP team in 2010 that got bounced from the regionals after winning our first two games- including one against eventual champ Linfield. They looked phenomenal when they eventually beat us though, and I thought they'd dominate the World Series. Low and behold, Illinois Wesleyan- a team who finished the regular season with a losing record- completed their cinderella run, knocking off Linfield on the way, to win it all. You never know what can happen in the postseason!

As a Titan who followed that season closely, this is nearly correct, but not quite.  They started their run with a week left in the regular season, finishing just barely over .500, then rolled thru the conference tourney, the regional, and the world series with only two losses total!  In the final game (after Cortland had eliminated Linfield), IWU had 3 in the third to go up 4-2, then 4 in the fourth, then blew the game to smithereens with 9 in the fifth.  Both coaches showed good sportsmanship and soon emptied the benches and bullpens - everyone deserves a chance to play in a tournament game which is clearly over.  (BTW, that game also proved there is no run rule in the postseason, as it went full length despite the Titans being up by 15.)

[Purple Heys]

Dear Cal Lu Video Director,

With Bases loaded with 2 out in the bottom of the 8th, the correct camera angle during the play is always behind home plate.

In fact, during the play at hand the correct camera angle is always behind the plate.

Note for future use:  the side camera angles are for between pitches.

Thank you.

[Jack Parkman]

Dear Cal Lu Video Director,

With Bases loaded with 2 out in the bottom of the 8th, the correct camera angle during the play is always behind home plate.

In fact, during the play at hand the correct camera angle is always behind the plate.

Note for future use:  the side camera angles are for between pitches.

Thank you.

It makes watching these game damn near impossible.  Barely see any of the balls being hit.