BB: LEC: Little East Conference

[7express]

ECSU definatly looks like the favorite now.

[ECSUalum]

Well,

We had a taste of some of ECSU's young pitchers tonight, who will be coming of age in the next couple years.  Thank God Shult  Dewing and Co. came alive with the bats tonight as we needed them against Keene's offense!!

Best of Luck to DiPrato, Doyon and Vogt, all great players, who hopefully has a chance in the MLB draft this summer.

Always hard to see KSC and or USM go as you know they play their hearts out, especially for the Seniors.

PS, That Matt Fontaine sound like he could be a very good sports announcer .  Great job Matt!!  Cabral always a pleasure to listen to.

[hockeyfan77]

#1 Eastern Connecticut Holds Off #5 Southern Maine 6-5: USM finish the season  22-19...


Good luck the the LEC teams(hopefully get 2) in the regional and beyond...

[wordsmith]

But WConn usually doesn't have to worry about a LEC Tourney conflict and Finals.....

Just kidding....I do miss Carl "Down by the" Rivers though......


Matt Foley's picks today are

RIC over KSC (RIC is this year's UMB)
EConn over USM ...sure miss Dwight Wildmon, Tyler Delorme, Joey Serfass, Ryan Adams days.....

EConn over KSC....


Word

Morning People, Believe Me It's a New Dawn.

Slick's picks are in, but before we get to them allow me to ask a couple of questions.

Hasn't EConn already punched their ticket to the dance?
Does KSC get an at-large if RIC wins the LEC?
Does KSC get an at-large if EConn wins the LEC?
If not KSC then who gets the at-larges?


On to Grace Slick's picks....

RIC over Econn for LEC Championship.

Word

[mainefan]

Final      USM    3      KSC     9

What do you mean that Flaherty had no #2? Of the pitchers with significant inning, what pitcher had the lowest ERA going into the playoffs?
Ives, Stanton, Douglas, Yates, Perry. Holmes?

[7express]

I'll take East Conn over RIC at 12 and East Conn over RIC at 3.  East Conn got second life, and they won't blow it this time.
As for the bid's, I think its a 1 bid league regardless of who wins.  Getting swept by Eastern last weekend really hurt Keene's chances, and losing twice yesterday made it worse.  I don't think Eastern's done enough out of conference to warrant a selection, and losing twice to RIC in the tournament on their home field will really handicap them.

[hockeyfan77]

Final      USM    3      KSC     9

What do you mean that Flaherty had no #2? Of the pitchers with significant inning, what pitcher had the lowest ERA going into the playoffs?
Ives, Stanton, Douglas, Yates, Perry. Holmes?

Other than Ives has any of them stepped up this year? NO....I might have tried Yates/Perry... I am pretty sure he wanted Douglass to face ECSU and not KSC because this was his line against KSC this year:  


Nick Douglass L,3-2     4.2     6     9     9     5     8    (he didn't face ECSU)


The Pitching let USM down this year: I know they have injuries but other than Ives, I don't think anybody has been consistent...

[hockeyfan77]

Final    ECSU       5       RIC     7

[7express]

Gotta be a nervous next 24 hours for Eastern and their fans.  Their bid could go either way, though in my estimation they'll be one of the first few out.  I think in either case, RIC's championship means we can eliminate the Owls from discussion as Eastern would have to be selected before Keene is.

[GBearsAlum15]

7express,

To be honest with you, I think that Eastern is still in good shape to get an at-large bid. A 32-11 record and making it to the championship round of the LEC tourney should be enough. It looks like New England is weaker this year than it has been in the past, so having Eastern in the field would definitely strengthen the NE regional. It is nice seeing some new faces in the regionals, but teams like RIC, Bridgewater State, and Mitchell are not considered among the stronger teams in NE. If you look past Tufts, WNEC, Wheaton, and St. Joe's, what other auto-qualifiers can be considered high-quality teams? Teams like Eastern, Endicott, and Amherst should get serious looks for an at-large bid.

[gap to gap]

Don't forget MIT.  Easy to do cause the NEWMAC ended what feels like a month ago but just off the bat 4 wins against Wheaton is a pretty good place to start.  The problem with Eastern is they lost to WNEC, Tufts, and Amherst.  Not sure who else they lost to but not sure what they have for quality wins? I know the wheaton game got cancelled but what is the signature win on the resume if they are 0-3 against the top 4 in the last ranking?  Just saying I don't think it is a lock by any means.

[wordsmith]

But WConn usually doesn't have to worry about a LEC Tourney conflict and Finals.....

Just kidding....I do miss Carl "Down by the" Rivers though......


Matt Foley's picks today are

RIC over KSC (RIC is this year's UMB)
EConn over USM ...sure miss Dwight Wildmon, Tyler Delorme, Joey Serfass, Ryan Adams days.....

EConn over KSC....


Word

Morning People, Believe Me It's a New Dawn.

Slick's picks are in, but before we get to them allow me to ask a couple of questions.

Hasn't EConn already punched their ticket to the dance?
Does KSC get an at-large if RIC wins the LEC?
Does KSC get an at-large if EConn wins the LEC?
If not KSC then who gets the at-larges?


On to Grace Slick's picks....

RIC over Econn for LEC Championship.

Word

What a run for the RIC kids. Good Luck guys.

[mainefan]

Final      USM    3      KSC     9

What do you mean that Flaherty had no #2? Of the pitchers with significant inning, what pitcher had the lowest ERA going into the playoffs?
Ives, Stanton, Douglas, Yates, Perry. Holmes?

Other than Ives has any of them stepped up this year? NO....I might have tried Yates/Perry... I am pretty sure he wanted Douglass to face ECSU and not KSC because this was his line against KSC this year:  


Nick Douglass L,3-2     4.2     6     9     9     5     8    (he didn't face ECSU)


The Pitching let USM down this year: I know they have injuries but other than Ives, I don't think anybody has been consistent...

The answer to the question was Yates. His era was lower than all of them including Ives (who pitched a great game against UMB). You're right in that the pitching was not consistent but the greatest inconsistence was the defense. Their grand total for the year was 76 errors. With the schedule that Flaherty puts together you can't give great teams 4 or 5 outs an inning and think that you can win. Also keep in mind that beyond the errors there were a good many plays that should have been made but weren't put down as errors. Against Amherst Yates left the game after the 4th inning with Amherst having scored 4 runs (all unearned). The final score as 13-5 in favor of Amherst, but the stats show that Amherst only had 3 earned runs. For USM to advance farther they will have to improve a defense that is giving teams to many chances to score.

[ECSUalum]

Congratulations to the RIC Anchormen for a great LEC Conference Tournament win.
In my view Justin Corso should have been the MVP in this tournament, he has a tremendous arm that killed a number of ECSU potential rallies and hit over .400 in the tournament to boot!!!

Eastern's 5 errors were a key to the loss today, otherwise it was great RIC pitching, timely hits, excellent D, and aggressive baserunning by the Anchormen.  If they continue to play like this they will cause problems for many teams in the Regional.

Good Luck to RIC!!!

[wildthngvaughn]

KSCfan,
    Well it happened.  Granted Bowdoin probably wasn't going to comeback and take two from Tufts, but this is exactly why you don't play the Conference Tournament on the last available weekend.

AMHERST, Mass. – Rain won out on the final day of the NESCAC Baseball Championship, forcing the cancellation of the title game between Bowdoin and Tufts after it had been delayed by nearly three and a half hours. Per conference rules, Tufts has been awarded the conference championship and will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

This is the second consecutive NESCAC title for the Jumbos, and the third overall crown for the program. Tufts' first title, in 2002, was awarded when the tournament could not be completed due to inclement weather.

Tufts earned the 2011 crown based on its game four victory over Bowdoin on Saturday at Amherst. The Jumbos scored twice in the top of the 12th inning to break a 2-2 tie and went on to win, 4-2.