BB: UMAC: Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

[BigPoppa]

Thankfully, for them, all they need to do is win the relatatively weak UMAC to grab a Pool A bid.

[BaseballFan]

This is true, but still not a great way to start the year.

I think this is a better team than the results have shown, can't really play any worse than they have. Plus a couple of their losses were close. But they need to clean up their defense and need to step up their pitching which have both been the reason for their successes in the past

[paulisdeadman]

After a rough couple of games for the Vikings they finally broke out the bats. They had 20 some hits and some solid pitching. It was fun to see the guys excited about baseball again. Good luck the rest of the way...GO VIKINGS!!!

[therocket21]

CSS gets back on track with a sweep of Olaf today. Still not a sound defensive team, but I could see their defense improving a lot as the season goes on. CSS had better outings from their pitchers today as well as they gave up 1 run in the first game and 2 runs in the second game. The first game CSS threw a freshman I believe and he looked pretty good.

[BaseballFan]

CSS gets back on track with a sweep of Olaf today. Still not a sound defensive team, but I could see their defense improving a lot as the season goes on. CSS had better outings from their pitchers today as well as they gave up 1 run in the first game and 2 runs in the second game. The first game CSS threw a freshman I believe and he looked pretty good.

Nice to see them get a couple of Ws. CSS did start a Freshman. I think you are going to see CSS get a lot of pitchers double digit innings. They do not have a #1 and my suspicion is Andy Davis who might be their best retuning pitcher is nursing some are issues since he didn't start against Thomas nor Olaf. With the UMAC having an automatic bid CSS can afford losses therefore throw many different guys, something they never had when they are were fighting for a pool B bid.

[BrandonPorten]

Best weekend of the year is here, UMAC conference opener! Pretty excited to see what the teams have in-store for us this time around. I think I might have to head down to Mankato to see the top dogs duke it out. Any predictions on the series? Seems like CSS is a young squad with a lot of potential. Anyone got an update on what we can expect out of Bethany this weekend? Looks like they lost a lot of guys from last year and are a bit down. Looking forward to the weekend!

[therocket21]

Definately a huge weekend to open the UMAC. I look to see Seifkan going on Saturday for BLC and Jenson going on Saturday for CSS. Not sure who each team will start for the other game on Sat. or the game on Fri. I am predicting the CSS bats have a huge weekend coming alive and scoring more than 7 runs in each game. If I recall correctly I think last year CSS put out about 6 homers the last time they played BLC in Mankato.

[scrapper]

Don't think you will see 6 HR's this weekend.  Last years game when CSS hit 6HRs and BLC 2 there were about 40 mph winds blowing straight out. Miserable conditions,cold and windy. The last 4 HRs were hit in the last innings against BLC's seldom used pitchers when the game was already decided.  We'll see how these teams respond.  Neither teams record is very good.  I would imagine both teams are disappointed with their season so far.

[BigPoppa]

It is already clear that the UMAC will be a one-bid conference. Gotta win it to get in:)

[schmolph]

CSS sweeps Bethany Lutheran.

[therocket21]

Don't think you will see 6 HR's this weekend.  Last years game when CSS hit 6HRs and BLC 2 there were about 40 mph winds blowing straight out. Miserable conditions,cold and windy. The last 4 HRs were hit in the last innings against BLC's seldom used pitchers when the game was already decided.  We'll see how these teams respond.  Neither teams record is very good.  I would imagine both teams are disappointed with their season so far.

I wasn't saying I think that they would hit six home runs per game, I was implying that I think they are going to put up some good offensive numbers against BLC. Bethany's pitching staff last year was much better than their pitching staff this year. I think that CSS runs the table the rest of the UMAC regular season and wins the conference tournament easily again this year.

[scrapper]

Definitely agree that BLC is not as good as last year.  While their pitching is not as good, what has really been hurting them this year is their defense.  Lots of errors this year which has been putting their pitchers in a lot of 4 and 5 out innings.  Seem to have a hard time hitting against the better pitchers.  Also think that CSS is not nearly as good as last year at this point.  Seem to be weak at the bottom of their order.  Miss Lewis at the top of their rotation and Link in their lineup and not as strong defensively as last year.  Flagstad is a stud and Moody and Vogelesang are tough hitters and their 2,4 and 6 hitters are pretty good but there 7-9 hitters look weak from what I saw. 3rd baseman really struggled this weekend in the field. Don't know how they have played previously but this is what I saw this weekend.  Still early in the season,hopefully they will both improve.

[schmolph]

Agreed that CSS has not played as well defensively this year but these guys are head and shoulders better than anyone in the UMAC. This is another very good team that is just now starting to jell. You mentioned Flagstad, Moody and Vogelgestang and they are all great but Tom Juberian is a .338 career hitter and Jensen is no slouch. This team will again dominate UMAC competition and, save for BLC if Siefken is on, there really is no one else even close.

[biggio34]

UMAC Standings as of 4/15

St. Scholastica             12-0   20-8
Northwestern (Minn.)     10-1   16-9
Bethany Lutheran              6-3           15-13
Presentation              7-6           11-16
Northland                      5-5           10-16
Minnesota-Morris              4-8           4-18
Crown                      1-10   1-13
Martin Luther              0-12   0-20

This is pathetic.  Thoughts?

[BigPoppa]

The bottom half of the UMAC would lose to the better high school programs in the Metro area. The UMAC is terrible outside of CSS.