BB: MIAC: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BaseballFan]

A less than stellar performance from the Tommies. Hard to listen to, but St. Scholastica was obvioulsy the more prepared team. The big question still is, if Edwards is good to relieve why is he not good to start. And worst yet, when the game is still within reach he's the second out of the bullpen. It's early and we'll get a much better read on the Florida trip.

I was also shocked to see that Edwards did not start the game.  And why not Gapinski, why not Licht.  Based on the innings from last year, those are the guys I would have expected to see pitch.  Interesting stuff.

I use to see Denning do this early in the season to test his young pitchers to see what they are made of, does not seem to work but maybe it has payoffs later in the season.

[MIACLUV]

Ok Tommies, this is getting ridiculous. How can you take the reigns over, bring in a ton of good recruits and start 0-5 following the loss today to William & Jefferson. There is too much talent in this program to be performing at this level. And yes I get it, it's early and the schedule has been tough. But guess what? Here comes Whitewater. This is not the team to beat in the MIAC, early performances say Olaf and the Johnnies are coming hard and ready to knock you off the top. Could the MIAC be a one bid NCAA team? At this point yes. OLAF

[biggio34]

Ok Tommies, this is getting ridiculous. How can you take the reigns over, bring in a ton of good recruits and start 0-5 following the loss today to William & Jefferson. There is too much talent in this program to be performing at this level. And yes I get it, it's early and the schedule has been tough. But guess what? Here comes Whitewater. This is not the team to beat in the MIAC, early performances say Olaf and the Johnnies are coming hard and ready to knock you off the top. Could the MIAC be a one bid NCAA team? At this point yes. OLAF

Although I'm not quite ready to crown Olaf the MIAC champ, I will say I'm surprised by this start by the Tommies.  They are losing the close games that this program has made a tradition out of winning.  I have a feeling things will turn around for them though and that its going to be a good battle for the conference title once those games begin.

[cubs]

In a big Midwest Region match-up today, Point sweeps St. Thomas 4-2 and 9-0.  I don't have any oter details, so who knows what the pitching match-ups looked like.

[MIACLUV]

Here's what we know about the MIAC:
1. Olaf - and at this point not sure their is anyone close
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?

This conference is very average this year. As apparent by the opening weekend shows.
Carl / StU (split, honestly could have been a sweep for Carl)
Conc / Ham (sweep for Conc.)
Augs / Mac (Mac sweep)
St.J / Bethel (Split, but Bethel knocking Zimmermann out badly)

This is a 1 bid conference this year unless somebody pulls it together for the conference tournament to knock off Olaf. Should be an interesting season to see how these teams approach games, because there are 6 teams that could contend for the final 3 playoff spots. 

[MIACLUV]

Splittsville in the MIAC 4/6

UST / St. Johns - Split (Edwards brilliant in game 1, shades of 2010)

Carlton / St. Marys - Split

Mac / Hamline (Mac wins a close one in the first game, wins gm 2 in extras, could be these types of games that get them in the MIAC tourney this year)

Augsburg / Bethel - Split  (both teams swing it well, can pitching keep scores close though?)

St. Olaf / GAC - Olaf Sweeps ( Gusties actually out hit Oles in Gm1, Voss gave up some hits, but left a lot of runners on and Hughes shut the door. Gm 2 not as close, Schmeising/Agneberg/Olson combined to shut out GAC.)

Olaf looking to run away and hide with this conference, but with all the splits it could make the emphasis of conference wins a must. So look for some of these teams to drop some non-conference gmanes trying to save pitching for MIAC matchups.

[biggio34]

Olaf looking to run away and hide with this conference, but with all the splits it could make the emphasis of conference wins a must. So look for some of these teams to drop some non-conference gmanes trying to save pitching for MIAC matchups.

When have conference wins not been a must?  I don't think there are many teams around that don't throw there best pitchers in the conference games... unless we are talking about teams in the UMAC

[MIACLUV]

A lot of splits again over the weekend and a big sweep for the Tommies.

Olaf / St. Johns - Olaf's pitching is terrific again, Kramer holds Oles to 1 run Jonnies win in extras.

Ham / Carl - Split
St. Mary / GAC - Split
Conc. / Augs - Split

UST / Beth - Gapinski goes complete in game 1. Game 2, UST wasted no time giving pitchers the yank when things got a little rough, using 3 guys including Edwards to close. Good to see the piching coming around, offense still a concern versus a very average couple of starters.

[MIACLUV]

Looks like Bethel took some nice BP off Crown in the Monday sweep, and the shocker of the day was Hamline pulling the sweep on Conc Moor. Their reward, a 5th conference game in 4 days against the Tommies.

[MIACLUV]

I throw my hands up, Tommies down 4-2 to Hamline going into the 7th!

[OshDude]

I throw my hands up, Tommies down 4-2 to Hamline going into the 7th!

And Mac sweeps St. Olaf. Buckle up!

[MNbaseball]

well so much for Olaf running away with the conference like early predictions indicated.  St. Thomas falls to 3-5 against Hamline in the last four years, which is a pretty impressive stat considering all of St. Thomas' success over that period.

[MIACLUV]

An impressive performance by the Tommies yesterday. 8-3 victory over the Gophers, which by all accounts wasn't that close. The pitching was terrific, the defense was very good, and the hitters finally came through with runners in scoring position. Finally looked like the Tommies of old. It will be interesting to see if this could be a building block in getting things turned around to make a deep run and win the MIAC tourney and get back to the NCAA's. Was on the Gophers blog during the game and the best part was the fact that the blogger was a huge apologist for the Gophers saying these mid week games were chances to get all their guys work. Well from what I can go back and see the lineup the Gophers ran out is pretty much the same on they've run out all season. So for the Tommmie staff to hold a Big Ten team to 3 runs is even more impressive. The pitching the gophers threw was not their tops by any means, but all would be very quality D3 guys. Never the less Tommies are 2-1 vs Gophers in the last 3 seasons with the 1 loss being in extra innings. 

[biggio34]

An impressive performance by the Tommies yesterday. 8-3 victory over the Gophers, which by all accounts wasn't that close. The pitching was terrific, the defense was very good, and the hitters finally came through with runners in scoring position. Finally looked like the Tommies of old. It will be interesting to see if this could be a building block in getting things turned around to make a deep run and win the MIAC tourney and get back to the NCAA's. Was on the Gophers blog during the game and the best part was the fact that the blogger was a huge apologist for the Gophers saying these mid week games were chances to get all their guys work. Well from what I can go back and see the lineup the Gophers ran out is pretty much the same on they've run out all season. So for the Tommmie staff to hold a Big Ten team to 3 runs is even more impressive. The pitching the gophers threw was not their tops by any means, but all would be very quality D3 guys. Never the less Tommies are 2-1 vs Gophers in the last 3 seasons with the 1 loss being in extra innings. 

Too bad this win means nothing.  Hopefully this does spark the Tommies a bit though.  The season is not a loss yet and count me as one who still thinks they can turn it around. 

I'd also classify this as an embarrassing loss for the Gophers.  They did not play well and were dominated throughout.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats Tommies on that win yesterday and on playing the Gophers so tough the last few years!