BB: MIAC: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Gustie13]

Thanks! I could have spent a little more time on teams 6-10 but I figure I'd better not bore people 

I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.

[Gustie13]

FYI for everyone, Zach Goldberg, former UST catcher, signed with the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association. Their tryouts were just held down in Ft Worth and Goldberg was signed after performing.

[sumander]

Thought someone might be interested, the Fargo Fool-Em had an article today on CORDS young guns pitching staff! Sounds like Bucky is prettty excited about them.

[Gustie13]

Coach Burgau will certainly need them to pitch well: Concordia lost 3 of its top 4 starting pitchers (including staff ace Blake Trenbeath - 7-2 3.02era 6cg).
So far only the only Fr P with an era under 10.00 is Adam Johnson at 3.77 in 14 1/3inn...

[Gustie13]

So far the SMU @ SJU, GAC @ UST, and BU @ CU DHs have been postponed (SMU-SJU & GAC-UST to 4/1, BU-CU to 4/2).
I'd be very surprised if all the other conference openers aren't postponed as well. Soggy up here.

[Gustie13]

Amend my previous statement: Aug @ Hamline is being played in the Metrodome. Augsburg won game 1 6-5. Winning pitcher:  Jason Kickhaffer, Losing pitcher: Josh Roiger. HU was up 3-1 in the 4th when I left.

[Gustie13]

Week 1 Update:
Olaf sweeps Mac (Mathison beats Kimble 3-0, Johnson beats Murrey 8-1. Mathison throws 3-hitter. StO's Schmiessing 1-6 on the day)
SJU sweeps SMU (5-3, 7-4)
GAC and UST split (UST 3 - GAC 2 in 10 inn game 1, GAC 6 - UST 3 in game 2. Hoffer-Bosch matchup in game 1 was pretty good: Bosch went 6 allowing 1er, Hoffer went 8 allowing 1er. Tony Konicek 6-9 in the dh. David Wold picks up game 2 win)
HAM and AUG split (Aug 6 - Ham 5 in game 1, Ham 4 - Aug 3 in game 2. Roiger didn't pitch very well in game 1 loss for HU, Augsburg so. pitcher Jason Kickhaffer picked the win. Kyle Foster got cg victory in game 2 for HU)
*BU @ Con delayed yet another day*

[sumander]

Gustie13, Looking at the weather up this way, My guess is BU and CON is going to be postponed for more than a day! Snow is piling up and it looks like it is going to keep snowing for a while!

[BigPoppa]

Gustie13, Looking at the weather up this way, My guess is BU and CON is going to be postponed for more than a day! Snow is piling up and it looks like it is going to keep snowing for a while!

Gotta love the midwest weather in the spring.

[Spence]

The conference should just rent out the dome until mid-April

[BigPoppa]

Does any team have field turf for their baseball filed that would allow them to play after rain?

[Gustie13]

Does any team have field turf for their baseball filed that would allow them to play after rain?

Both Macalaster and UST have turf infields and grass outfields, making playing right after rain tough.
Concordia and St Mary's have the 2 worst fields for weather delays (Concordia because its so much further north and St Mary's because of the poor field. Twice in the past 5 years SMU has had to move home DHs to the opponents field because theirs was unplayable).

Word on the street is GAC ace Andrew Hoffer (2-0 1.42era, 19 inn, .129 avg against) may be done for the season with elbow problems experienced towards the end of the UST game.

[Gustie13]

MIAC Week 2 Preview -

Standings:
St. Olaf         2-0
Saint John's     2-0
St. Thomas    1-1
Gustavus     1-1
Hamline      1-1
Augsburg    1-1
Bethel               0-0
Carleton     0-0
Concordia    0-0
Macalester    0-2
Saint Mary's    0-2

Games 4/4
MAC @ HU - With MAC pitching its 2 best pitchers against StO 4/2, HU should expect a sweep here. HU's offense sputtered against AUG and Coach Verdugo had to get creative to get runs across (1: #8 batter bunting a runner into scoring position for the #9 hitter, 2: squezzing a runner in from 3rd with 1 out and #3 hitter Andrew Bennett on deck), so they'll look to get more on track against MAC.
AUG @ UST - Actually home games for Augsburg but Parade Stadium was deemed unplayable. AUG surprised HU with a split last week but UST still has one of its better pitchers (Dan Leslie) available to throw after pitching Bosch, Bullis, and Olsen against GAC. Expect a UST sweep.
SMU @ CAR - I don't expect either of these teams to win more than 5 MIAC games, but if either of them wants to contend for the playoffs it better get a sweep here. My guess is Carlton.

Games 4/5
BU @ StO - This will be BU's first conference action and StO threw Mathison and Johnson against MAC, so it'll be BU's 1 and 2 pitchers against StO's 3 and 4. If BU's pitchers can keep the StO offense off track (a big IF) then a split isn't out of the question and it would help BU's playoff chances immensly.
SJU @ Con - I doubt even THIS game up in Concordia will get played considering the weather, but if it is I'd expect to see a split. CON isn't very good (especially with Chris Klabo not hitting well because of a bum shoulder) but its very tough to win 2 in Concordia.

Games 4/7
Con @ UST - This will be the 3rd of 4 consecutive home MIAC DHs for UST (because of Parade's field conditions) and it'll be Bosch's and Olsen's turn in the rotation. Denning may try submariner Will Montgomery against Con to save Bosch or Olsen for UST's matchup with BU on 4/10 but considering his outing against GAC (3inn, 5er, 7h) that might not work. UST sweep.
CAR @ SJU - SJU's 1 and 2 will be up against CAR's 3 and 4 so I'd expect an SJU sweep. If Carlton has any postseason aspirations it needs a split.
HU @ GAC - DH of the week, both teams will have their 1 and 2s throwing (HU: Roiger, Foster. GAC: Hoffer, Wold). Neither Roiger (0-1 19.1 era) nor Foster (1-2 8.12 era) has great career stats against GAC, but Foster threw a gem last year and Roiger is a different pitcher now. Wold got a cg win last year vs Hamline and Hoffer got some relief duty, but the outcome of this DH may depend largely on whether Hoffer is healthy enough to pitch. GAC will be playing its first game on its new field so it will be interesting to see how things go. GAC sweep.
SMU @ StO - Home games for SMU moved to StO because SMU's field deemed unplayable. I wouldn't expect much of a fight for StO here, sweep.
MAC @ BU - If MAC has any hopes of making the playoffs they need to get back on track against BU because they'll most likely be 0-4 heading into this DH. MAC will have its 1 and 2 up against BUs 3 and 4 so its not out of the question either. BU needs a sweep here, but I think they'll split.

Player of year race -
1: Tony Konicek GAC: Started out the conf season going 4-4 against UST ace Riley Bosch and ended up 6-9 in the DH. Conf Stats to date: .667avg, 6h, 3-2b, 2r, 1rbi
2: Kirby Carr BU: BU will need Kirby's bat against StO this week. No conf games yet.
3: Andrew Schmiessing StO: Has to be dissapointed with performance against MAC. Conf Stats to date: .167avg, 1h, 1r, 1rbi. Hopefully will feast on BU and SMU pitching this week.
On the radar: Andrew Bennett HU, Luke Gagnon StO, Pat OLaughlin HU, Carson Jones StO.

Pitcher of the year race -
1: Todd Mathison: Can't argue with a cg 3 hitter, even if it was against MAC. Conf Stats to date: 1-0 0.00 era 7inn 8k .125 avg against
2: Andrew Hoffer: His place in this race is completely dependent on the health of his elbow. Threw great against UST. Conf Stats to date: 0-0 1.12 era 8inn 3k .160 avg against
3: Riley Bosch: Kept a good GAC lineup from driving in runners Monday. Conf Stats to date: 0-0 1.50 era 6inn 3k .304 avg against
On the radar: Josh Roiger HU, Kyle Foster HU, Paul Johnson StO, TJ Nelson SJU.

[sumander]

Gustie13, Once again kudos for the post. Story from the Fool-Em today on CORD'S baseball schedule . 

[Gustie13]

This weather is throwing a huge wrench in the conference season! All the games Wednesday were postponed and I know of a few tomorrow that have already been postponed. Most teams are going to have 6 games next week!