BB: LEC: Little East Conference

[Jcon8958]

Hobbes the story about Macchi is he got into an argument with his basketball coach on the sidelines and then it escalted in the locker room were the coach actually challenged him to a fight...

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100113/NEWS/1130336/-1/rss17

Thats the website i got it from.

[Hobbesy]

Jcon8958-  Wow! That is all I can say.  Great find on the article.  That is a big news topic for UMass Dartmouth.  I am going to follow and see what comes of that.  Too bad it had to happen.  Good kid, good player.

[Old Man]

here is a video link about MACKI and BBall coach at UMD - http://www.abc6.com/sports/81358357.html
things are tough at UMD.

OM

[Owls Alum]

kscer,

You're right I forgot to mention Pelkey. By Davis and Raymond leading the staff I just meant by experience/innings pitched and age. Pelkey will be a major part of Keene's rotation, and will be crucial to their season this year!

[Hobbesy]

Mid 40's and sunny in Boston today.  Perfect day from some springtime baseball...errr...its only January 26th!  This wont last long.

[LEC Fan]

Gentlement, glad to see we are all surviving the winter months, spring is just around the corner (as it is a tease with this 60 degree weather today!).

I have put together some stats from last season of the top 4 (IMO) teams in the conference. Also, have some insight on this year so please feel free to chime in.

RED players are gone this year

Eastern CT             
Robert Perry........  .407     4HR      28RBI
Shawn Gilblair......  .402     9HR     68RBI
Melvin Castillo.....  .388      14HR    60RBI
Jim Schult............  .388      9HR      57RBI

Shawn Gilblair......  2.71   8-1    63.0IP 
Will Musson.........  2.87   9-1     75.1IP
Matt Fontaine.......  3.21   6-2    61.2IP

Eastern CT lost one of its greats in Gilblair but does have the ability to fill in where he left off. Castillo is always a canidate for player of the year and should have another monster season as he is one of the top players in the conference. Pitching should also be another strong point for an Eastern team that won 39 games last year. Musson and Fontaine are the clear top of the rotation guys.

Keene State
Cody Callahan.......  .455     9HR    52RBI
Jeff Perkins........     .453         2HR    49RBI
Bobby Doyon.........  .435     13HR  72RBI
Keith Patnode.......  .408      9HR   45RBI

Jeff Raymond........  3.80   4-2     47.1IP
Jeff Pelkey.........     4.54    6-1    41.2IP

Keene State returns the majority of one of its most potent offense lineups ever. They were tied for 1st in DIII last year with a team batting average of .370 and were first in doubles per game and slugging. They were also 3rd in scoring. Perkins was a true leadoff hitter and will be missed on the bases and in the field but the power numbers from 1-9 in the lineup should keep them at the top of the league. Of course as we all know pitching is the key and should improve this year as Raymond and Pelkey have a year under their belts. The free agent market (what I call transfers) has been kind to the Owls this year which should provide depth on the mound.

University of Southern Maine
Anthony D'Alfonso...  .438     9HR    76RBI
Chris Burleson......     .390     8HR    39RBI
Josh Mackey.........     .385     6HR    47RBI
Ryan Gaffney........     .361     6HR    44RBI
Mike Eaton..........      .355      6HR    48RBI
Ryan Pike...........       .352     11HR   67RBI

Tim Therrian........  3.86   9-1      72.1IP
Nick Hahn...........  4.58   6-1       57.0IP
Mike Eaton..........  1.24   5-0      29.0IP

The Huskies have the most ground to make up as they graduated a pretty nice group of seniors (averaged .395 8 HRS 56RBIS). In all they are losing 62% of their homeruns from last year and 50% of their run producers. Eaton and Mackey have a lot to step up to and with the tradition of USM should be up for the challenge. Therrian was a #1 last year not only on his team but in the conference. They have the staff to be there but we all know the Flaherty approach to pitching! This should be an interesting year for the Huskies!

UMass Boston (to make JConn happy!!! lol)
Ryan Walsh..........  .424     2HR    34RBI
Mark McCormack... .392     4HR    36RBI
Dan Noonan.......... .372    2HR    42RBI
Eric Salvador.......   .323     3HR   39RBI

Andrew LeBrun.......  5.40   4-4      58.1IP
Mike Andriano.......    7.71   2-4      44.1P

Ah the Beacons! They return some of the top players in the conferense with Walsh and McCormack but don't think they have the punch to get them over the top. Year in and year out they can't manage to get past the big 3 and perhaps the pitching is to blame. LeBrun has shown promise but their staff is lacking. Andriano has to prove he can compete and win against the top of the LEC for the Beacons to have a chance and so far that hasn't been the story. McCormack/Walsh remain one of the best combos of speed in the conference having nabbed 42 of 47 bases stolen. Look for them both have another productive year.

That is it for now as I should do SOME work today. Again, feel free to provide some insight into the respective teams with any new players, developments and such as it is appreciated.

[ECSUalum]

Just to follow up of LECFan's excellent write up above, here are 2009 final NCAA National rankings for key stats re above teams:

(stats From NCAA, games thru 5/24/2009)
(359 teams ranked)

                BA               ERA               SO/9 inn               BB/9 inn             HR/9 inn          FP

ECSU      12  (.354)      7  (3.24)        2  (9.8)                67  (3.48)           17  (1.3)         116   (0.952)     

KSC          1  (.370)      205 (6.29)    184 (6.2)               66 (3.47)           18 (1.24)        135   (0.950)

USM        46  (.339)       84 (4.96)      54  (7.6)             138  (3.97)          19 (1.22)         55   (0.958)           

UMD       185  (.307)     302 (8.05)    348 (4.2)             144  (4.01)         173 (0.53)       129  (0.951)

With LECFAN's info above, these stats puts the teams in a little more perspective re each other and vs all other D3 teams

One stat that stands out is the LEC, crushed the ball re Home Runs!!!

[LEC Fan]

Thanks ECSUAlum for the stats, it is easy to see why Eastern was so good last year with the complete package of offense, pitching, and fielding.

[ECSUalum]

Thanks ECSUAlum for the stats, it is easy to see why Eastern was so good last year with the complete package of offense, pitching, and fielding.

Thanks LECFAN, however, I have never been happy with a FP below 0.96, frankly below 0.97.
IMO National Championship teams need to be in the 0.96-0.97 range

[KSCfan]

Lecfan job well done i am most impressed.  Must of been a pretty boring day of work for you to come up all of that hard stat work.  Fielding percentage is a great stat ECalum.  Espically when it comes to the teams of the LEC.  Correct me if i am wrong fellas but there are not a lot of "power" arms in the conference this year.  By power arms i mean a Tip Fairchild, or Ryan Depietro here is my fastball try and hit it.  I look at Keene and Raymond is most def a contact pitcher as he changes arm angles and speeds to try and get hitters to get into outs.  I look at Eastern and Musson had 85 strikeouts in 75 innings, and Fontaine had 64ks in 61 innings.  Im not saying that these guys cant pump a fastball up there but the Eastern D needs to be able to make plays behind them for them to win.

[ECSUalum]

2009 stats - NCAA .com

Rank         Name,          Team                IP       SO       GC
1         Conor Fahey,       WPI              104.7    122     2009
8         Shawn Gilblair,     ECSU              63.0      99     2009
11       Jeremiah Bayer,  Trinity (CT)        95.3     94     2009
24        Will Musson,       ECSU               75.3     85     2010
58     A. Aizenstadt,      Babson So.         69.7     71     2011
89      Matt Fontaine,      ECSU Jr            61.7     64     2010

Above find the top Strike Out guys in the NE Region last year.  If we had speed gun data on these guys we could answer question re power pitchers as I know Ryan DiPietro threw low 90's, and I suspect Fairchild did as well.
I think S. Gilblair was up there in high 80's, but dont know if Musson or Fontaine are in this range. 

[SCOUT66]

As for this Conference on the books
Connecticut
Fontaine-Matthew -87-91 mph FB
Musston-William-88-91 mph FB
Wojick-Christopher-88-90 mph FB

Keene NH
Raymond-Jeffrey- 81-84 mph FB

U Boston
Adriano-Michael- 78-81 mph FB

-some unique arms and hitters to look at.

[hockeyfan77]

.  If we had speed gun data on these guys we could answer question re power pitchers as I know Ryan DiPietro threw low 90's, and I suspect Fairchild did as well.
I think S. Gilblair was up there in high 80's, but dont know if Musson or Fontaine are in this range. 

I know that Tip (while playing for USM) topped out a 92 MPH.....

[ECSUalum]

As for this Conference on the books
Connecticut
Fontaine-Matthew -87-91 mph FB
Musston-William-88-91 mph FB
Wojick-Christopher-88-90 mph FB

Keene NH
Raymond-Jeffrey- 81-84 mph FB

U Boston
Adriano-Michael- 78-81 mph FB

-some unique arms and hitters to look at.

Scout,

Many Thanks for providing this data, much appreciated

[wordsmith]

.  If we had speed gun data on these guys we could answer question re power pitchers as I know Ryan DiPietro threw low 90's, and I suspect Fairchild did as well.
I think S. Gilblair was up there in high 80's, but dont know if Musson or Fontaine are in this range. 

I know that Tip (while playing for USM) topped out a 92 MPH.....

Tip Fairchild - as a Freshmen hit 84-86; came back in the fall of his soph. year and was in the high 80's; junior year was at 90-91 consistently. Probably hit 92-93 on occasion. The rest is, as they say, history. (Who is they by the way?)

Amazing improvement in velocity.

Thanks to all the authors who put forth a great amount of effort to log these great stats.

Interesting note on just one stat. I remember Cody Callahan having a great start last year as a freshman. So I went back and looked at his numbers. In the 12 games he played during the Arizona trip he hit

5 HR 25 RBI

For the remaining 29 games back East he had 4 HR & 27 RBI. His average remained high, well over .400, but his HR/gm and RBI/gm dropped significantly.

I don't have the time to do a comparison of other players but I thought this interesting. In fact I have always thought it interesting, I guess I'd call it the Marino or Favre Factor. What do guys do against top teams, or the top pitchers. It would be fun to take the Top 3 teams EConn, USM & KSC and do a comparison of returning players and how they fared versus the other 2 teams. Heck, for arguement sake, and to appease JCon, we could even throw in the Drive-Bys.

Wonder how Doyon did vs USM & EConn & UMB, how did Castillo do against KSC & USM, etc. Then we could look at the top returning pitchers vs the top returning hitters. I realize it is a small sample size, but still......

Oh well got to get back to work. Lucnh is over. In a Neville Chamberlin state of mind. Signing off.

Word