BB: NACC: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

[WLCALUM83]

Some things to throw out there:

NAthCon in-conference stats: 
    All four tourney teams are tops in batting average and pitching--but
         they rank 5-8 as far as fielding.

Potential psychological issues:

    Marian's mind-set  (should the Sabers get swept by UW-Whitewater)
    Ditto for Concordia-Chicago should Carthage prevail.
    Edgewood on the NCAA bubble.
    Rockford has home field and if their pitching holds up and hitting keeps coming through. . .  (Regents have already exceeded a lot of expectations).

Sabers and Regents played 2 slugfests earlier.
CUC and Edgewood somewhat lower scoring but offenses weren't necessarily totally stymied.


   

[soxfan14]

Was there for Marian and Rockford DH earlier when they split
It Was a great day to be a hitter as wind was blowing out a gale and the dimensions of that field up there would not do a high school team justice. 
Just a recap of those games
Gomez gave up 11 earned in 6.2( only 19earned in 70.2 this season)
Other game
Rockford Gave up 7 unearned off of 4 errors

I would not expect to see a slugfest like those games unless the wind is blowing out pretty strong
I don't believe Rockford has exceeded alot of expectations. Whose expectations as they were picked 9th in the preseason poll.They have not been strong year in and year out Like Aurora, Edgewood, Benedictine or some of the other con.teams but this a program that has been improving a little at a time thru the last few years. Maybe they just went out and played the game the right way this year(pitching,timely hitting and defense) and people are just starting to take notice,

As far as the tour. you could picked any one of these and it wouldn't be an upset if they won .They are all strong in enough areas that whoever put its together for 2 days will walk away with the title.
Good luck to all 4

[WLCALUM83]

Was there for Marian and Rockford DH earlier when they split
It Was a great day to be a hitter as wind was blowing out a gale and the dimensions of that field up there would not do a high school team justice. 
Just a recap of those games
Gomez gave up 11 earned in 6.2( only 19earned in 70.2 this season)
Other game
Rockford Gave up 7 unearned off of 4 errors

I would not expect to see a slugfest like those games unless the wind is blowing out pretty strong
I don't believe Rockford has exceeded alot of expectations. Whose expectations as they were picked 9th in the preseason poll.They have not been strong year in and year out Like Aurora, Edgewood, Benedictine or some of the other con.teams but this a program that has been improving a little at a time thru the last few years. Maybe they just went out and played the game the right way this year(pitching,timely hitting and defense) and people are just starting to take notice,

As far as the tour. you could picked any one of these and it wouldn't be an upset if they won .They are all strong in enough areas that whoever put its together for 2 days will walk away with the title.
Good luck to all 4

1-- No wonder those Regent/Saber scores were so high.
2-- You're right, this tournament's too close to call-that's just why this poster's not making any projections on it.

 

[soxfan14]

Anyone want to forecast the out come of the Nathcon tournament this weekend

[baseman201]

How can Edgewood be on the NCAA tourney bubble when Rockford has a better record and CUC is just about the same record wise?

I know this has probably been answered before but does the winner of the NAC get an automatic berth?

Since I am a CUC alumni, I say CUC takes it all.

[goldengear]

No the winner does not get an automatic bid. I think you will see Edgewood fall out of the rankings, they had a couple bad splits in the last week, whether they are replaced by Conc. Chi, Rockford, or Carthage or someone else is yet to be determined.

Keep in mind the NAC teams are eligible for Pool B bids and there seems to be some opening there for one of them that can finish strong.

[clmbaseball]

CU-C and Rockford just dont have the quality wins that Edgewood does.  Over teams like Whitewater, Wash U and Ripon.  I wish one of these teams could get into the postseason, I really think either of the three could reall surprise some people on the national level.  The conference really appears to be on the rise in the near future (especially if Aurora can get their act together).

[baseman201]

Yeah I agree, the NAC is rising (baseball wise). 

There are 3 teams with 25+ wins (Rockford, CUC and Edgewood), which I consider to be pretty good.

So will the NAC get an automatic bid next year then?

[soxfan14]

CU-C and Rockford just dont have the quality wins that Edgewood does.  Over teams like Whitewater, Wash U and Ripon.  I wish one of these teams could get into the postseason, I really think either of the three could reall surprise some people on the national level.  The conference really appears to be on the rise in the near future (especially if Aurora can get their act together).

I would debate that Rockford does not have the qualitywins that Edgewood does.
Lets compare a little
Edgewood  Win vs. Wash U.(10-9),Split with Rockford (4-8.6-2),Split with Whitewater(2-4,2-0),Split with Ripon(0-11.19-16), Loss to UW-Platteville(7-11) 2nd place in Nathcon reg season

Rockford  Split with Edgewood(8-4,2-6), Split with Pomona-Pitzer(10-9,6-7)Pomona already qualified for NCAA ,Loss Ill. Wesleyan(1-2 in 12),win vs. Augustana (9-4), Win vs. UW- Platteville(12-9) 1st place in Nathcon reg.season

In spite of all this talk at least the better team will be decided on the field this weekend between all the 4 qualifiers in the Nathcon. Its goin to be a shame if a conference with this much quality in it  does not get a chance to compete in the NCAA when other conferences get 2 or maybe 3 spots. The reason they lost the AQ was because of the merger of Lake Michigan and NIIC which resulted in the loss of the AQ till 2009. Its wrong that the winning team will probably not get the opportunity to see how they compete with the best the NCAA has to offer.

[goldengear]

I actually think that if either Concordia or Rockford can sweep through the tourney they will get the last Pool B spot, Edgewood I would say maybe, Conc. and Rockford  both have higher QOWI than York (Pa) that was listed in the bracketology section on the blog section, and if they do sweep they will be way higher on the QOWI, Edgwood's QOWI is lower than those but who knows how it will play out. Also I don't think it will hurt that the guy from MSOE is on the national commitee, to say the least, especially as the NAth welcomed him in when he needed a place to land.

[soxfan14]

New central rankings out
Central
1. Illinois Wesleyan (30-9)
2. Wartburg (26-11)
3. Washington (30-9)
4. Augustana (30-10)
5. Luther (26-9)
6. Carthage (28-11)
7. Edgewood (25-11)
8. Webster (27-12)

[goldengear]

Those are NOT the new rankings, that is the ABCA Poll, not the same thing.

[soxfan14]

Those are NOT the new rankings, that is the ABCA Poll, not the same thing.

sorry my mistake

[baseman201]

Damn, if only CUC would have held on against IL Wesleyan.......

[knarocky22]

Carthage beat CUC 12-2.