BB: LEC: Little East Conference

[ecfaninri]

Ecsualum.....
That's a good pitching line with Musson, Dutton and Tingley for the Warriors. Having TIngley back in the fold will work wonders for the staff down the road. EConn 4-0 going into the Zona trip. It will be interesting to see how they handle 87 games in 6 days. It looks like they just held Gilblair out to rest up for that long trip. It was also good to see Castillo hit the ball hard. Another game - 13 hits, 8 walks, 4 SB's.... keeping the line moving. But more inmportantly a second error free game.
See you under the big tree at Snedigar on Friday vs. Johns Hopkins.

[ECSUalum]

ecfaniri,

Good to here Shawn is OK, Whew!!

The big tree?  sounds like a plan .  Will buy you and D Gilblair a beer, hope they serve them at the field! Have to really give you guys huge credit and respect for raising two fine young men (pitchers), on the ECSU team.

Arriving in P tomarrow evening.

Yeah, great to see Mel wacking the ball today and Musson and Tingley doing well.

Be nice to have some warm weather for the team to play in.

Watched the Millsaps-Trinity TX game, and listened to the Keene- Brockport St games today.  This Callahan kid, Freshman, at Keene looks to be a fantastic hitter!!!

[ECSUalum]

ecfaninri,

"See you under the big tree at Snedigar on Friday vs. Johns Hopkins"

Has the JH game location been changed?  Schedule says South Mountain CC,
Thanks

Mike (ECSUalum)

[dgilblair]

The only good thing I can say about the weather is that it didn't rain, but it sure was cold.  The team looks mighty good boys.  We are averaging 10 runs a game and I don't think the bats are near where they will be in a couple weeks.  We have bats setting on the bench that would be starting for most any team.......except maybe KSC because what I hear they have the best in the land....thats what Word is telling me anyway.  The pitching was good top to bottom and I have to believe that is going to get better too.  I think the team and coach are pretty much were they want to be right now.  With the exception of a hamstring strain with Gilblair and Cosineau. I'd like to say nothing serious but hamstrings are never good.  Mel had a little limp by the end of the game, maybe a quad, but I'm not sure.  Like I said nothing seems bad at this point and it should be right back to work for them.  All in all they looked real good and played well.  This team has some characters on it and if the role players stay on their game they could be really good.  The guys that don't start and play every game are so important in the long haul.  That I think is one of the hardest things to do as a coach, is getting the most out of your bench.   Word could be right about Keene's 1-7 those are some gaudy numbers by freshmen but they will come to earth soon I hope.  ECSU has a pretty good 1-9 or 10 or 11 or 12 so I can't wait for LEC games to start. The game today had a LEC feel to it, there had to be 6 guns behind the backstop electricity in the air, real nice feel.  The kid for Old Westbury (Whitenack) was the attraction, tall kid 6-4 threw low 90's consistantly but his other pitches were a bit off.  Musson (was hitting 88-89) out pitched him today for sure and it was a great day for Mel who just crushed the ball today, just missed a grand slam.

By the way we play Magnus at our place again Tuesday before Zona .  Thats it for now, hope the ball keeps rolling in the right direction. 

[363dp]

As I sit here in Columbus, wondering what Woody from "the" Ohio State wood think of a statement like, " I will put the Keene 1-7 up against any 1-7 in New England".  I think he would take that challenge.

I have to say let's go 1-9, cause that's what it really is, and I will take that bet and your going to regret. I will take a non, yes non, LEC team. Check out them Lyons, they are putting up LEC #'s. New England could have a few teams in the top eight before the trek to Appleton begins.

[KSCfan]

KSC off to a 2-2 start. Scoring runs does not seem to be a problem for them at all.  However pitching seems to be up and down, i think that is a reflection of the young owl pitching staff.  I have a feeling that coach Testo will get the pitchers on more consistant level and when they do, the owls should run off a bunch of wins in a row.  Keene and Hopkins today should be a good one.

[Jcon8958]

The pitching staffs struggles seem to be getting worse for UMB. They a re hitting the crap out iof the ball but as I have said so many times before pitching wins you ballgames. The young pitching has to start showing some kind of improvement. But if the pitching staff does improve this team could become dangferous again cause they have been hitting the crap outta the ball the first few days down there.

[wordsmith]

As I sit here in Columbus, wondering what Woody from "the" Ohio State wood think of a statement like, " I will put the Keene 1-7 up against any 1-7 in New England".  I think he would take that challenge.

I have to say let's go 1-9, cause that's what it really is, and I will take that bet and your going to regret. I will take a non, yes non, LEC team. Check out them Lyons, they are putting up LEC #'s. New England could have a few teams in the top eight before the trek to Appleton begins.

363dp,

Hello 363dp, Goodbye Columbus.... Ali Quickdraw McGraw, Richard Benjamin ...60's movie, nevermind....

Ahh my home town, Columbus, a southern town trapped in a northern state, home of The Ohio State University, home to Word. Port Columbus International Airport, was just there in August.

As I have said here before, KSC is, IMO, one year away from a trip to the Appleton. The pitchers are strong, but young and will have their ups and downs. The line-up 1-9 is not as strong as Wheaton or ESCU, but 1-7, even 1-8 is every bit as strong or better. KSC as well has players on the bench who would start for many other teams.

1- Jeff Perkins -Senior(I agree with the DChevy-most underrated player in the LEC) Last yr- .391- 26 RBI 13 SB 50R
2- Jamie Chevalier -Senior - Great stick could hit anywahere in the line-up    .355 -2 -34
3- Keith Patnode - Junior D-I transfer 2nd best left handed hitter to come out of Keene in 35 years
4-Anthony Cipolla - Soph - Short compact tough out with decent power         .318 - 30 RBI
5-Bobby Doyon - Soph - 2008- ECAC POY; LEC Rookie of the Year               .408 - 6- 55
6- Cody Callhan - Freshman - Bam Bam I'll call him for now .647 11-17 2 HRs, 5 Dbls, 14 RBI in first 4 games
7- Beau Derek - Senior - A perfect 10 Last year .296 13 hrs 50 RBI
8 -Jon Barber - Soph - Excellent hitter- Solid stick if ankle heals last Yr - .439- 1- 13

Off the bench KSC has Larry Longo (a truly great baseball name don't you think Longo goes longo!); and Tyler DiPrato who I believe must somehow be kept in the line-up as a part timer last year he hit .383 with 30 RBI.

Pretty good line-up mates..... Interesting mix with the Freshmen pitching, will the bats give the young arms time to mature? Will the defense hold-up, especially at the corners in the outfield, and 3rd base?

Word

[KSCfan]

Hopkins leading Keene 4-0 in the bottom of the second

[KSCfan]

Keene rallies with three in the bottom of the 2 behind Bo Darrak 2 run triple.  4-3 in the 3rd.  Once again Keene offense not hard to come by, pitching still a little up and down.

[wordsmith]

Anyone have a final for the KSC game today. I lost track in the 5th inning. Dang thing called work.


Thanks in advance.

Word

[LEC Fan]

Word...heard from Zona

Keene 10
JHU 9

Sonberg got the win after giving up 8 runs...pitched into the 7th!

[wordsmith]

LECFan,

Thanks.

[dchevy5]

Nice win (any win is nice) today for the Owls.  Continued to hit well, pitchers held them to one less run than they scored, and defense bad.  Callahan had a quiet day but others picked it up.  Hopkins is very big, reminds me of USM, and can hit.  Will be very tough when it is all said and done- as usual.

Keene's pitching is a concern on one hand, but they have some very good arms that have been making their first ever college appearances, and will only get better.  I see a lot of high scoring games, but by tournament time,  I think the staff will have come a very long way.  The LEC will be a war this year.

Word- spoke to your boy this morning.  Very nice young man.  I remember him as a very hard-nosed player who gave his all.  I especially remember his outstanding defense in center field.  Some amazing diving catches.

WNEC is having a very bad week so far in more ways than one.  Bad enough they start 0-3, but yesterday they had no umpires and had to wait over 2 hours to start their game.  Today, they had a 10:00 game on Snediger 1 (KSC-Hopkins on Snediger 2 at 9:30), but the sprinklers were on all night (stuck?) and the field was flooded and unplayable.  They then got pushed back to 7 PM tonight as no other fields were available.

KSC has been very fortunate.  In four years, no problems at all such as WNEC has had this week.

[KSCfan]

good win for the owls yesterday over hopkins for a couple of reasons.
1.  The offense scored 10 runs off a team like hopkins who lets not forget are a quality and team with a quality staff
2.  THe pitching was up and down but gutted out the win.  Ben Somberg was not at his best yesterday but he was good enough to gut out into the 7th and hold the Hopkins offense down enough for the owl bats to get the win.  With a young staff like the owls have, they might have to tough out some wins like this all year long.  By Somberg toughing it out, he saves a lot of the bullpen for the owls, so they can rest.

Stories of the little east in KSCFAN's opinion so far
1. A healthy Shawn Gilblair puts Eastern as a very very good team.  There is no secret that the warriors can hit, with Shawn healthy it is going to give Eastern that dominate number 1 that they missed last year due to injury.  They open up down south and i think that you will see some wins rattle off by them
2.  The keene bats are red hot right now.  Rookies, seniors, first year guys doesnt matter everyone is ripping the ball right now.  Will they stay hot, i hope so, and i dont think runs will be hard to come by for the owls.  Pitching like every other team is going to be the key to the owls staying perched atop the LEC
3. Ric is 7-1, doesnt matter who they played 7-1 is 7-1.  They MCLA and the Wheaties this week. SHould find out more about them this week. Espically after wheaton, they played cortland state well should be a good game
4.  Umass Boston is still winless.  I know JConn might disagree, i just dont see a lot there for the beacons.  Other than McCormak and Noonan, not a lot there for offense.  Tie that in with a pitching staff that is getting hit around team era of 11.60 i dont see a lot of wins for the beacons this year.
5. Southern maine still yet to play.  THey are 1-1 but i think that it is far to early to offer any kind of analysis on them yet.
6. Western 2-1 open south schedule on friday
7. Plymouth 1-5 just barely better than the worst team in the league right now Umess Boston.  THese two teams should be battling it out for last place in the LEC this year
8. Umass Dartmouth terrible, just as bad as Boston.  Not a good year so far for the Umass teams
8.