BB: LEC: Little East Conference

[OshDude]

Stump,
Any team, including Pool A's, can wind up anywhere within 500 miles. I mean technically they could go to Oregon, but you know what I mean ... A's are not bound to regions any more than B's or C's.

Another can of worms: The New Jersey regional is within the 500-mile threshold of several NE teams.

[ecfaninri]

OSHdude...
Good point.... I am sure that there are teams who are in the top 25 who may not have won their conferences or may not ... will tell you they won't care what regional they play in as long as they are given a chance to continue their season. There will be a lot of teams waiting for word on May 10 for those at-large births. I remember last year Eastern Ct. lost in the LEC tourney and had to wait for the at-large invite and when they were shipped out to the NY Regional.... I'm sure most of the people at Eastern were thrilled with just the opportunity to continue the season. 

[KSCfan]

Ok im back and cooled down from latest verbal sparring with Jcon moving on.....

I see that Wheaton fell to UMD, D3 baseball has a link for the story in the green bar headlines under the front page article.  That could spell confidence for the Corsairs as they roll into the swamp against Keene.  A couple of things on the Keene/UMD series.  Last time they played it was in the opening weekend and Keene was still looking for thier "sat" starter.  Raymond has been pitching great in the last couple of weeks and i hope that he will continue to pitch well in game 1 on sat for the owls.  Hopefully the combo of him and some hot bats of late will equal an owl W in the first game.  The second game i have no idea who Keene will throw, maybe Vogt or Riley.  i dont know.  Regardless it is goign to be dog fight in the swamp on sat.  There is nothing like LEC tournament baseball, (except the NE regionals).  I feel like sometimes its harder to win the LEC tournament than it is the regional ( that be an overstatement but you get my point).  Some exciting games this weekend for sure, and expect even more next weekend at USM. 

Guys Wheaton might be out, with thier lateset lost to UMD that might be it for them. If they go over Curry (providing that Curry doesnt get the AQ) then Curry will have a huge gripe with the NCAA.  Often the NCAA seems to go right off that regional ranking for at larges.  I say that if Trinity wins the NESCAC and thier are no upsets in the LEC( by that i mean 1 or 2 seed wins) Wheaton and Curry get the at larges over WPI.  How ever i am thinking just maybe you might see an upset or two before it ends

Word an exit for the owls in the first round? Im cryin on the inside!!!! 

[Stump]

Thanks for the info Oshdude,  kind of adds another set of possibilities.

ecfaninri: couldn't agree more, if you have a chance to continue playing who cares where.

KSCfan: Glad you're back, I was starting to worry about your blood pressure(that was no verbal sparring, that was a battle)

[KSCfan]

Has any team ever been shipped to Jersey from NE?  You would think for an Eastern its just as far to Jersey as it is to NY.  Who runs the Jersey D3 regionals Tony Soprano??  But in all seriousness NJ might be closer for a team like Eastern, or what have you.  However there are certainly some heavy hitters in that region, but i guess at this point in the season the competition is good no matter where you go.

Stump yeah thankfully i have pretty good blood pressure!

[dgilblair]

The NCAA is not going to ship ECSU anywhere in my opinion.  Either they are playing in the NE regional or they are doing the field and selling hot dogs for the others that are there.  Now if someone other than the #1 or #2 wins the LEC tourney that could be interesting, but whoever it was would be shipped out to the NY region just like ECSU was in 2006 after winning it.  The NY regional is at Farmingdale Long Island this year so its a shorter trip for some I would think.  Lets just say UMB wins the tourney and USM and ECSU get pool C bids that would hurt one of the other NE teams chances a bit.   

[Stump]

The NCAA is not going to ship ECSU anywhere in my opinion.  Either they are playing in the NE regional or they are doing the field and selling hot dogs for the others that are there.  Now if someone other than the #1 or #2 wins the LEC tourney that could be interesting, but whoever it was would be shipped out to the NY region just like ECSU was in 2006 after winning it.  The NY regional is at Farmingdale Long Island this year so its a shorter trip for some I would think.  Lets just say UMB wins the tourney and USM and ECSU get pool C bids that would hurt one of the other NE teams chances a bit.  

What NE team would that hurt the most?

I think that might be the scenario that does keep Wheaton on the outside looking in this year. They may have played themselves out already but that would certainly hurt their chances even more.  Personally I have Curry picked ahead of the Wheaties as a wild card to NY but it's a close call so another LEC team looking for an at large would remove them from the mix completely.
Just my opinion. Let's hear some others.

[dgilblair]

You're probably right, but that might be the only scenario that keeps Wheaton out as high as they are rank in the NE poll. 

[Jcon8958]

Ok time for predictions for this weekends opening round. Im not going to guess how many games it is going to take I am just going to pick who I think is going to win.

ECSU beats WCSU- Eastern is hot lately and Western has been struugling just to much for the Colionals to overcome
UMD beats KSC- There has to be one upset but I just think that UMD will have alot of confidence after just beating Wheaton. And to clarify this... This is not because of the arguments that I always have with KSCER and KSCFAN just a gut feeling.
USM beats PSU- Dont think I have to explain much here.
UMB beats RIC- UMB has been a very solid team since they have come back from there FLA trip there offense is very strong and The pitching has come around alot as of late (excluding the first game versus ECSU) Ilike the kid Lebrun to shut down the RIC offense and The offense to hit RIC all over the park. Santezzy see you there tommorow if you go.

[santeezy06]

Jcon,

I'll be their although a little late due to opening day for my daughters softball teams. I got to watch my boys crush your team and move on in the tourney. I'm hoping for some good baseball.

Good luck to all teams today.

[Jcon8958]

Keep dreaming there will be a tourney going on next weekend but RIC will be at home hearing about it.

[LEC Fan]

KSC Punches their ticket to the next round with a sweep of the Corsairs. Offense looked good today as they put up 16 and 22!

Any news on the other games so far?

[hockeyfan77]

USM beat Plymouth 19-3, and 8-1 to improve to 34-5...


Next up for USM:

Thursday RIC/UMB @ 12:00

[hockeyfan77]

KSC Punches their ticket to the next round with a sweep of the Corsairs. Offense looked good today as they put up 16 and 22!Any news on the other games so far?

I know ECSU was beating up on WCSU and UMB beat RIC in game 1...I will be in the press box for the LEC tourney so if anybody want to say hi feel free...

[Jcon8958]

Ok everyone wave goodbye to RIC as they were SWEPT outta town today by UMB.... Literally wave 

Now UMB plays USM next thursday at 12.