BB: LEC: Little East Conference

[ecfaninri]

I too like looking at the early season matchups. A lot of it is dictated on the schools spring break setup in most cases. For instance in 2008 ECSU went to California instead of Phoenix and last year the school's spring break was a week later and they caught teams like JH at the end of their(JH) trip and then caught a little bit of a break facing Williams in a doubleheader where the Williams just got off the plane and it was there first day outdoors in Phoenix.  I love the Phoenix trip because you see some very good college baseball and the Cactus League is just moments away. I look forward to seeing JH , MIT, and Williams at Snedigar.

[ECSUalum]

Thanks Old Man for digging up those scores! 

JH is an interesting school as they still play D-I LAX, ( a sport which they are one of the best in the country), and D-III in all other sports.  As well, certainly one of the top academic schools in the country.

[Hobbesy]

New England preview not released yet.  Could they be saving the best for last?

[ecfaninri]

 Last year New England was last in the previews. I am not sure what the rationale is but I like your thought process Hobbesey.

Hockeyfan77 - Melvin Castillo's first season was in 2007. This will be his final season for the Warriors.  If anyone fits the bill or namesake for "warrior" it will be Mel. He gets a bad rap because he started his baseball career late. Eastern is truly fortunate to have a player like Mel who is enthusiastic and ready to play every day. I have been fortunate to spend time talking with him over the past four years and I know that he truly is truly deserving of all the accolades he receives and honors he achieves. Good call D-3, he is deserving the pre-season nomination as All-American as a ball player, but more importantly in my opinion as team player and human being.

ECSUalum..... I agree you on  comparisons of pre-season and final rankings.  It really doesn't matter where you start the year, it is where you finish the year. Case in point - just look at the D-3 rankings from 2008 and 2009. Where were Trinity and St. Thomas in those polls in the pre-season? And how did that work out for both of them.  But if you look at both seasons, you can really see a clear picture of the teams who generally rank in the top 25 and "also receiving" listing are perennials.

[Hobbesy]

Playing with Melvin was a great experience.  Not only is he very talented but he has such a passion for the game. 

Also, he could close out his career as the best offensive player in Eastern baseball history with an average year this year.

Records that he could break...

Career Game Played- 145- needs 55 to tie Eugene Julien

At-Bats- 563- needs 198 to tie Julien

Hits- 206- needs 66 to tie Nick Tempesta- this is by far the hardest record to break!!!

Runs- 175- needs 38 to tie Jared Holowaty

RBI- 174- needs 21 to tie Dwight Wildman (Gilblair finished 1 shy of Wildman)

Doubles- 43- needs 21 to tie Tempesta (this is a long shot)

Triples- 15- needs 4 to tie John Gersz

Home Runs- 39- Broke the record against Trinity in the Regional Final last year

Total Bases- 396- needs 51 to tie Wildman

And just thought I would throw this one in there...I hope I dont jinx him

Errors- 53- needs 18 to tie Tempesta


This could be a historic year at ECSU.

[LEC Fan]

Hobbesy I had the pleasure to play against both you and Melvin as well as a year against Wildman and that kid was an animal...I still remember a game at Eastern when Wildman hit a ball 600ft to left that the umpire ruled foul (probably because it was so high above the foul pole he couldnt tell) then next pitch hit one even further....fair!

Should be fun to watch Mel chase those records!

Interesting stat about the hits in a career at Eastern. I think Jeff Perkins set the record at KSC for a career with 207 (could be off a couple), would have never thought those records were that close...good stuff Hobbesy!

[ECSUalum]

Last year New England was last in the previews. I am not sure what the rationale is but I like your thought process Hobbesey.

Hockeyfan77 - Melvin Castillo's first season was in 2007. This will be his final season for the Warriors.  If anyone fits the bill or namesake for "warrior" it will be Mel. He gets a bad rap because he started his baseball career late. Eastern is truly fortunate to have a player like Mel who is enthusiastic and ready to play every day. I have been fortunate to spend time talking with him over the past four years and I know that he truly is truly deserving of all the accolades he receives and honors he achieves. Good call D-3, he is deserving the pre-season nomination as All-American as a ball player, but more importantly in my opinion as team player and human being.

ECSUalum..... I agree you on  comparisons of pre-season and final rankings.  It really doesn't matter where you start the year, it is where you finish the year. Case in point - just look at the D-3 rankings from 2008 and 2009. Where were Trinity and St. Thomas in those polls in the pre-season? And how did that work out for both of them.  But if you look at both seasons, you can really see a clear picture of the teams who generally rank in the top 25 and "also receiving" listing are perennials.

B.

Does anyone know the process by which a coach, SID, sports writer picks a preseason poll?  Does he/she look at the top 30 rosters to see which position players have graduated?  Is there a web site other than this excellent one, which lists top high school/transfer players that have committed to a D3 program in general or, specifically, the top D3 baseball programs. Otherwise, one is required to go to the school web site, which may or may not list signees for the up coming season ?  Certainly a tedious process!

Is a 50% or so hit rate on preseason teams making it to the final poll the best that can be done?  I really do not know.

Obviously injuries are unpredictable, and you have to suppose a top player will repeat his performance from one year to the next.

We all pretty much know who the top 30 or so teams are from a historical perspective.

I suppose it is nice to see a preseason poll, but until teams get at least 10-15 games under thier belt, they really do not predict much.

Thank God for Dixon/Turner et al's pre season write-ups, as I think these guys do attempt to take a rigorous look at above criteria, and come up with solid predictions on who the top teams will be before a ball is pitched or a bat swung.

just some thoughts for responses

[Hobbesy]

Wildman was a beast!  I had the pleasure of watching him play his senior year in Wisconsin at the World Series.  He had a monstrous year, I believe Player of the Year.  Against Whitewater, trailing in the ninth inning, Wildman comes up and absolutely crushes a 2-0 changeup to dead center for a walk off dinger.  I ran as fast as I could to get that ball and finally found it in the high reeds behind the center field wall.

He was an amazing player and so are all the other players that Mel could possibly pass.  The hits record is something that I think alot of people would never thought would be broken.  You have to start all four years and you have to have a consistent four years.  He has had three so far.  

But I can also see him making that home run record unreachable for future Warriors players.  

[ecfaninri]

Hobbesy....
You are right about Mel... you have to start right away and I think back to 2007 on that trip out in California/Phoenix where the coaches were just trying to find a place to put him to get his bat in the lineup. He actually started as an outfielder.

[ecfaninri]

ECSUalum....

When I retire I would love to do something like research things you can be wrong about and not worry too much about because it is just one person's opinion. Your right about graduation, departures, new signings, transfers from JC, D1 & D2 teams. In some cases injuries provide more of a problem because then you have to possibly worry about medical red-shirts.

Did you see the West forecast? A definite Eastern CT exposure with another Holywaty in D-3 out in Whitman. Too bad Whitman isn't on break the same time the TEE is in Phoenix. Eastern's pitching coach last year - Mark Michaud has actually joined Whitman. On their team page talks about the Eastern pitching staff. Nice stuff.

[OshDude]

Last year New England was last in the previews. I am not sure what the rationale is but I like your thought process Hobbesey.

Hockeyfan77 - Melvin Castillo's first season was in 2007. This will be his final season for the Warriors.  If anyone fits the bill or namesake for "warrior" it will be Mel. He gets a bad rap because he started his baseball career late. Eastern is truly fortunate to have a player like Mel who is enthusiastic and ready to play every day. I have been fortunate to spend time talking with him over the past four years and I know that he truly is truly deserving of all the accolades he receives and honors he achieves. Good call D-3, he is deserving the pre-season nomination as All-American as a ball player, but more importantly in my opinion as team player and human being.

ECSUalum..... I agree you on  comparisons of pre-season and final rankings.  It really doesn't matter where you start the year, it is where you finish the year. Case in point - just look at the D-3 rankings from 2008 and 2009. Where were Trinity and St. Thomas in those polls in the pre-season? And how did that work out for both of them.  But if you look at both seasons, you can really see a clear picture of the teams who generally rank in the top 25 and "also receiving" listing are perennials.

B.

Does anyone know the process by which a coach, SID, sports writer picks a preseason poll?  Does he/she look at the top 30 rosters to see which position players have graduated?  Is there a web site other than this excellent one, which lists top high school/transfer players that have committed to a D3 program in general or, specifically, the top D3 baseball programs. Otherwise, one is required to go to the school web site, which may or may not list signees for the up coming season ?  Certainly a tedious process!

Is a 50% or so hit rate on preseason teams making it to the final poll the best that can be done?  I really do not know.

Obviously injuries are unpredictable, and you have to suppose a top player will repeat his performance from one year to the next.

We all pretty much know who the top 30 or so teams are from a historical perspective.

I suppose it is nice to see a preseason poll, but until teams get at least 10-15 games under thier belt, they really do not predict much.

Thank God for Dixon/Turner et al's pre season write-ups, as I think these guys do attempt to take a rigorous look at above criteria, and come up with solid predictions on who the top teams will be before a ball is pitched or a bat swung.

just some thoughts for responses

Jim Dixon does a great job soliciting info early in the preview/poll process. The gaps are filled with the tedious process you mention (plus a little insider stuff and a lot of regional familiarity). The MW preview took about 14 hours from first keystroke to final draft. I know the guy who does the MW stuff fairly well. The top 25 poll took about three hours with who knows how many drafts.

I think there are probably 25 different opinions among the voters on how to create a preseason top 25 ballot (reward for last year?, tradition?, losses/returnees?, how high to slot that sleeper team?, etc.). There almost has to be that huge variance of opinion, you know? How else to explain so many teams getting preseason votes? The same goes for early season polls (how long do you hang with a sleeper/disappointing traditional power?, etc.).

I'm with you. Give it a few weeks before putting too much stock in the rankings. Doesn't matter the sport or the level of competition. Every site's NFL power rankings are as fluid as any, and that's with info readily available, which isn't always the case in D3 sports.

[ECSUalum]

Osh.

Many thanks as always for your keen insights on this D3 message board.  Much appreciated.

Always look forward to your D3/MLB updates!!!

[hockeyfan77]

Hockeyfan77 - Melvin Castillo's first season was in 2007. This will be his final season for the Warriors.  If anyone fits the bill or namesake for "warrior" it will be Mel. He gets a bad rap because he started his baseball career late. Eastern is truly fortunate to have a player like Mel who is enthusiastic and ready to play every day. I have been fortunate to spend time talking with him over the past four years and I know that he truly is truly deserving of all the accolades he receives and honors he achieves. Good call D-3, he is deserving the pre-season nomination as All-American as a ball player, but more importantly in my opinion as team player and human being.

Just to be clear I wasn't saying anything bad about Castillo: just seems like he has been crushing USM pitching for a long time...

[wordsmith]

One other record ya'll missed that Castillo set.

Game & Career -9- Most times a batter hit the same catcher in and about the head and torso with an Aluminum bat. circa- KSC vs EConn 2008 (I think)

Word 

[ecfaninri]

Word

Wow - 9 hits "catchman" - I guess it is all in the eye of the beholder. There is no use in revisting 2008 again and how A.C. loves to inch up in the catcher's box. No worry, Mel spent the summer working with a personal scientist in Hartford on s hew and improved "stick-em" for the 2010 season. This substance was also approved by the NCAA gurus and meets the required specifications for controlled substances.