BB: UMAC: Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

[scrapper]

Granted the bottom half is terrible and CSS is the best but Northwestern and Bethany are pretty decent teams.  Northwestern split with Oshkosh from the GREAT WIAC conference earlier this year and is a very competitive team this year. Bethany is 3-4 with the MIAC conference teams this year and their losses are to some very tough teams this year[St Johns-2,Coe-2,CSS-3,Macalester,Buena Vista].  Bethany lost to Macalester in 12 innings with their top 3 pitchers unavailable after being used against Coe in a 3-game series over the weekend while  Macalester used all of their top pitchers.  Really believe that CSS would be in 2nd place in the MIAC and Bethany would be above .500 and in the upper half of the conference.  It is not these teams fault that the rest of their conference is that bad.  They can only play the schedule given to them.  They are trying to really increase the strength of their out of conference schedule by playing as many of the tougher teams as they can.  Bethany has played 4 MIAC teams and plat St Thomas next week and also played Coe and Buena Vista, two of the best programs in the ILAC conference.  Css plays St Thomas,Whitewater,Washington U,Buena Vista,Keyston and La-Crosse.   By the way, CSS won both games of a double-header against La-Crosse this year.  La-Crosse is the current leader of the WIAC conference.

[BigPoppa]

I don't doubt that CSS would be in in second place in the MIAC or that Bethany might be in the top half. My point was not about the quality of the top half of the UMAC, but how bad the bottom is. The fact that CSS can throw middle of the road pitchers in UMAC play (and have no fear of losing) in order to save big guns for mid-week games vs WIAC and MIAC team proves this.

[scrapper]

Big Poppa, I agree with you.  My problem was with your statement "The UMAC is terrible outside of CSS".

[cubs]

Granted the bottom half is terrible and CSS is the best but Northwestern and Bethany are pretty decent teams.  Northwestern split with Oshkosh from the GREAT WIAC conference earlier this year and is a very competitive team this year. Bethany is 3-4 with the MIAC conference teams this year and their losses are to some very tough teams this year[St Johns-2,Coe-2,CSS-3,Macalester,Buena Vista].  Bethany lost to Macalester in 12 innings with their top 3 pitchers unavailable after being used against Coe in a 3-game series over the weekend while  Macalester used all of their top pitchers.  Really believe that CSS would be in 2nd place in the MIAC and Bethany would be above .500 and in the upper half of the conference.  It is not these teams fault that the rest of their conference is that bad.  They can only play the schedule given to them.  They are trying to really increase the strength of their out of conference schedule by playing as many of the tougher teams as they can.  Bethany has played 4 MIAC teams and plat St Thomas next week and also played Coe and Buena Vista, two of the best programs in the ILAC conference.  Css plays St Thomas,Whitewater,Washington U,Buena Vista,Keyston and La-Crosse.   By the way, CSS won both games of a double-header against La-Crosse this year.  La-Crosse is the current leader of the WIAC conference.

An Oshkosh team that currently has a losing record with just nine wins on the season....  To use that as a noteworthy win is a reach at best, especially considering that one of Oshkosh's nine wins is against that same Northwestern team.

[BigPoppa]

Big Poppa, I agree with you.  My problem was with your statement "The UMAC is terrible outside of CSS".

Even though there is a written record of my statement, I say I was "misquoted." You do have a valid argument with Bethany in the mix... I guess they just frustrate me as they were in the mix the past few seasons and have faltered a bit this year compared to previous years.

[BigPoppa]

Granted the bottom half is terrible and CSS is the best but Northwestern and Bethany are pretty decent teams.  Northwestern split with Oshkosh from the GREAT WIAC conference earlier this year and is a very competitive team this year. Bethany is 3-4 with the MIAC conference teams this year and their losses are to some very tough teams this year[St Johns-2,Coe-2,CSS-3,Macalester,Buena Vista].  Bethany lost to Macalester in 12 innings with their top 3 pitchers unavailable after being used against Coe in a 3-game series over the weekend while  Macalester used all of their top pitchers.  Really believe that CSS would be in 2nd place in the MIAC and Bethany would be above .500 and in the upper half of the conference.  It is not these teams fault that the rest of their conference is that bad.  They can only play the schedule given to them.  They are trying to really increase the strength of their out of conference schedule by playing as many of the tougher teams as they can.  Bethany has played 4 MIAC teams and plat St Thomas next week and also played Coe and Buena Vista, two of the best programs in the ILAC conference.  Css plays St Thomas,Whitewater,Washington U,Buena Vista,Keyston and La-Crosse.   By the way, CSS won both games of a double-header against La-Crosse this year.  La-Crosse is the current leader of the WIAC conference.

An Oshkosh team that currently has a losing record with just nine wins on the season....  To use that as a noteworthy win is a reach at best, especially considering that one of Oshkosh's nine wins is against that same Northwestern team.

By the way, has Lechnir worn out his welcome at Oshkosh? They have been a non-factor in recent years.

[scrapper]

You are right,Bethany has been very frustrating this year.  They are pretty young and struggled defensively earlier this year.  Could have won 2 of the games against CSS if they had made the plays in the field,but CSS also didn"t play very well defensively either.  Lost 13-10 with 4 errors and 6 unearned runs and lost 6-2 with 4 errors and all the runs unearned.  But that is part of baseball and is the difference between winning and losing.  Bethany has won their last 9 games by big scores but like you pointed out they are against the bottom teams of the UMAC so it is hard to gauge where they are at at this point.  Bethany"s biggest problem is CSS has their number.  They can"t seem to find a way to beat them.  They have lost to them in every way possible.  They have lost big,close,in the last inning,etc.  CSS seems to find a way to beat them every time.  BLC can't seam to get that last out that they need to beat CSS.

[biggio34]

By the way, has Lechnir worn out his welcome at Oshkosh? They have been a non-factor in recent years.

I think its difficult to wear out your welcome when you are a legend.  I can't imagine recruiting against Whitewater is easy for any one of the UW schools at this point.  I'm wondering if Lechnir's style has more of a negative impact on the seemingly softer players of today than it used to.  Do kids still want to play for him?     

[BaseballFan]

I don't doubt that CSS would be in in second place in the MIAC or that Bethany might be in the top half. My point was not about the quality of the top half of the UMAC, but how bad the bottom is. The fact that CSS can throw middle of the road pitchers in UMAC play (and have no fear of losing) in order to save big guns for mid-week games vs WIAC and MIAC team proves this.

I might as well jump into the mix--CSS throwing off against their UMAC teams is a strategic move (smart!) especially when they were a pool B team because every non conference game against the region powers was so important. Just remember their weak conference hurts them for regional seeding too---I don't know off the top of my head but since they rejoined D3 in 2005 I am guessing they have not been higher than a 3 seed.

[MIACLUV]

Big Weekend for the UMAC seeding, and by that I mean #2, #3 and down

#2 Northwestern (11-1) @ #3 Bethany Lutheran (9-3)
Don't be fooled by the 11-1 of NWC, they have mopped up on the bottom of the conference to this point and have Bethany, Northland College & CSS yet to go. Be interesting to see what Bethany keeps for the Tommies on Monday! Never been to Bethany, anyone care to share what the field is like? Decent surface? Dimensions?

[scrapper]

A real nice ballpark.  Probably about 320-330 in left with a high screen fence.  Probably about 315-320 in right with a high screen also.  Very nice field in excellent shape.  Probably one of the best fields around.

[schmolph]

Agree with scrapper..bethany has a beautiful facility.

[scrapper]

Whats wrong with Vogelesang from CSS.  I see he hasn't played in a couple of weeks.

[therocket21]

Pretty sure he is out for the year because of a torn ACL. I am not positive though, just going off what I heard.

[biggio34]

The UMAC tourney begins tomorrow. 

Game 1: BLC vs NWC @ 10am
Game 2: CSS VS NC @ 1pm

Here is the preview and necessary links:  http://www.csssaints.com/news/2012/5/8/BB_0508125434.aspx

Looks like its going to be a nice day weather wise.