BB: LEC: Little East Conference

BigPoppa · February 04, 2011, 11:02:09 AM

Quote from: Wally on February 04, 2011, 10:54:44 AM
Hobbesy, seems some Keene kids just THINK they want to get out of Town only to find out that KSC is where they want to be? Sometimes I think it's best that they leave to experience what is on the outside> As for Stanclift, believe he was a starter on every team he has been on. A workhorse kinda guy. Not sure why he was a closer at St. Joe's? Especially as a Freshman, shows Coach Sanborn had a lot of confidence in the young man. Did you know that Alec Ingram(Keene High) also transfered to KSC after 1 semester at Methodist?

Always interesting...

KSCfan · February 04, 2011, 12:28:50 PM

THere have been many keene kids that have left to play at other schools only to return.

Bobby Doyon, Keith Patnode, Josh Watkins and now Ingam, and Stanclift. SOme keene kids just stayed right in keene all along (stromgren and grainger).

Joe Ganley and Brett Barrett decided to go to Southern Maine instead of going to Keene State.

Peter Bergeron left keene from high school, only to come back, only to leave again for USM.

Players often time want to leave their home town and go out on their own. I think that is why you see a lot of home town kids leave. Then sometimes when it doesnt work out at another school they will come back closer to home. Im sure things like this happen at every school. How many players live in CT go try D1 or D2 and dont play that much, or dont like the school , only to transfer to Eastern where its a very good program, closer to home, and they can play.

Remember their is no place like home....espically if you have seen the end of the bench for most of your time away, or you realize that you hate the school you are at.

BigPoppa · February 04, 2011, 12:38:17 PM

Quote from: Wally on February 04, 2011, 10:54:44 AM
As for Stanclift, believe he was a starter on every team he has been on. A workhorse kinda guy. Not sure why he was a closer at St. Joe's? Especially as a Freshman, shows Coach Sanborn had a lot of confidence in the young man.

How are you related to Stanclift?

Wally · February 04, 2011, 12:54:38 PM

Coached him in Babe Ruth. And have seen him pitch for Keene High and Keene Blue Jays.

Hobbesy · February 04, 2011, 12:59:22 PM

KSCfan-

There must be something in that swampy water!!!

But its a credit to the Owl coaching staff that they have built a program where local guys want to play and can play for a championship.

I know in Utica, NY, Utica College has a terrible baseball team and had just three local kids on last year's roster. They are trying to build it up starting with the head coach Andy Weimer (former pro player) but there is no way to convince a kid that is good enough to play at a Cortland or Ithaca to waste his four years bringing a program up to speed, its just not fair. If Utica had a good history and a consistent baseball team they could possibly attract more local kids to stay around. I know I would have considered it at least.

This is not the case at Keene. These local kids know in the back of their minds that if they want to play and play for a conference, regional and one day a national championship, they can stay home and go to a great school. There is a reason Keene has won so many of those overall athletic department awards. Local kids have an incentive to go there and you're right, once they experience life at another school and realize its not what they want, the Owls are waiting with open arms.

mainebaseball11 · February 04, 2011, 01:07:19 PM

Quote from: Old Man on January 28, 2011, 09:51:28 PM
Could be a great year in LEC- UMB has to be the team to beat... USm # 30 after .500 year??? that is coach flaherty and years of being good. will they be good - most likely - Ed hates to throw clipboards for 2 years in a row.

OM

I think USM will be good. A few local transfers including Chris Bernard who transferred to play for Flaherty after playing at UMO last year. I believe they may have one of the top shortstops in the nation with Pisani, along with Mackey and Eaton. They return nearly their whole team with all the top players that were out last year with injuries. Their florida trip should prove a lot, opening up vs cortland and playing stevens point as well. Probably the toughest of the schedules for little east teams. Regardless, should be a great year in the little east.

BigPoppa · February 04, 2011, 01:08:27 PM

Quote from: Wally on February 04, 2011, 12:54:38 PM
Coached him in Babe Ruth. And have seen him pitch for Keene High and Keene Blue Jays.

Ok.

So your email address is just a coincidence then?

Wally · February 04, 2011, 01:11:16 PM

Ha ha...might have me there?

LEC Fan · February 04, 2011, 02:05:34 PM

Should be interesting to see what impact those Keene kids will have on the team this year. The Owls usually have 2-3 hometown kids on the roster every year that contribute in one way or another.

Hobbesy, sounds like Utica needs a couple of good recruiting years under their belt to start building their program.

Speaking of programs, interesting to look at USM and ECSU and the amount of D1 talent/players they have had over the years. I know both schools have larger D1 universities in state and that has given them great pieces to the puzzle.

KSCfan · February 04, 2011, 02:07:54 PM

Wally welcome to the board. With the transfer of stanclift coming in I hope that we have another featherhead on the board. We need all the ones we can get, espically with all those evil empire lovers on the board, and the members of Beaconville. ( you will just love bobby and jconn)

Stanclift will love pitching for the owls as they put up runs in bunches, and have top to bottom one of the best line-ups in NE. He should come into the program and make an immediate impact.

Hobbesy · February 04, 2011, 02:19:28 PM

LEC Fan-

My one grip about Utica is that its going to be hard to convince a solid local kid to take a chance. For example--say a kid like Bobby Doyon is from Utica and decides to attend Utica College. Clearly Doyon could play for any DIII team in the country but wants to stay at home. Unfortunately, that means he is going to possibly play 1,2,3 or 4 years on a team that will be in a building stage. That means he will be possibly wasting his talent on a team that will have no reward for him. May sound selfish but its also a tough thing for the coaches at UC to do. If I was a coach, I don't think I would do that to a local kid. They need their out of town kids that are there for academics to bring them along and then they can hopefully start getting better local talent.

kscer · February 05, 2011, 10:19:49 AM

Quote from: Hobbesy on February 04, 2011, 02:19:28 PM
LEC Fan-

My one grip about Utica is that its going to be hard to convince a solid local kid to take a chance. For example--say a kid like Bobby Doyon is from Utica and decides to attend Utica College. Clearly Doyon could play for any DIII team in the country but wants to stay at home. Unfortunately, that means he is going to possibly play 1,2,3 or 4 years on a team that will be in a building stage. That means he will be possibly wasting his talent on a team that will have no reward for him. May sound selfish but its also a tough thing for the coaches at UC to do. If I was a coach, I don't think I would do that to a local kid. They need their out of town kids that are there for academics to bring them along and then they can hopefully start getting better local talent.

It's interesting. When Stromgren and Grainger decided to stay at Keene, KSC was not doing well. They were just beginning to recruit aggressively through Testo's legion contacts. Freshman year they were 14-23-1, but turned it around the next year to 23-16 and an ECAC berth when the Nashua crew showed up,(Jones, Rousseau and Ford) and then the magnet was energized. My point is that if a team commits to recruit, you can turn it around in a kid's college career, and go from the dregs to regional runner-up with a reasonable shot at Appleton.

hockeyfan77 · February 06, 2011, 01:33:41 AM

Quote from: mainebaseball11 on February 04, 2011, 01:07:19 PM
Quote from: Old Man on January 28, 2011, 09:51:28 PM
Could be a great year in LEC- UMB has to be the team to beat... USm # 30 after .500 year??? that is coach flaherty and years of being good. will they be good - most likely - Ed hates to throw clipboards for 2 years in a row.

OM

I think USM will be good. A few local transfers including Chris Bernard who transferred to play for Flaherty after playing at UMO last year. I believe they may have one of the top shortstops in the nation with Pisani, along with Mackey and Eaton. They return nearly their whole team with all the top players that were out last year with injuries. Their florida trip should prove a lot, opening up vs cortland and playing stevens point as well. Probably the toughest of the schedules for little east teams. Regardless, should be a great year in the little east.

The also play a (DH) with Trinity down South...

wordsmith · February 06, 2011, 12:47:35 PM

I'd like to weigh in on Keene kids leaving and coming back. (I know of this first hand as my son was a left and came back to KSC kid.) Please note these are only my opinions from where I sit....

Many a Keene kid left Keene for a wide variety of reasons. Keene is not a real big town (22k) and when ya'll grow up here and are a townie you want to stretch your legs a bit and head out of town to experience life, women, baseball, beer, whatever, elsewhere.

During the late 90's the KSC baseball program was still developing. The school had just switched from D-II to D-III, Coach Howe was a part-time coach until somewhere in the mid-to-late 90's when the college FINALLY decided to make the position full time.

Entering the 2000's the Keene coaching staff kind of had a mentality that they weren't going to get many Keene kids underdstanding that most wanted to go elsewhere. That attitude changed about '03 or '04 (IMHO). A combination of things changed that but the KSC coaching staff now puts a full-court press on Keene and Keene area kids.

The accepting attitude they have developed with kids that reject KSC only to return is impressive and an important part of why kids return.

I'd also mention John Trubiano and Josh Coughlin as kids that started the left & came back wave circa 2001.

All-in-all KSC has a great school, their teaching program, their safety studies program and their athletic training programs are all nationally recognized; their coaching staff is as cutting-edge as you can get; and having known all the coaches for many years these are quality human beings...I am proud to be able to say my son played for these men and I am proud to be a loyal Owls fan. Expectations continue to grow and the sky is the limit at KSC.

Word

kscer · February 06, 2011, 07:45:32 PM

Good points Word about Trubiano and Coughlin. I remember the Sentinel running a headline story about Trubiano coming home.I cant say enough about Testo using his legion and HS coaching connections to expand the legion program, and then using that as the base for recruiting. Young, Watkins, Venice, Tenney, . Grainger, Stromgren, Bell, and Bergeron, off the top of my head were Post 4 legion players. Add to this the coachinmg changes after the 03 season and you have a progam on the rise. I echo your sentiments about the quality of the coaches. No one I would rather have my child spend these critical years with.