BB: LEC: Little East Conference

[kscer]

Plymouth State talk on the LEC board!  First time this has ever happened!  Maybe the world will actually blow up in 2012 like those people talk about.

Im on the Plymouth bandwagon.  Grab the champagne, screw the keene vs umb talk, you heard it here first.  2012 LEC BASEBALL CHAMPIONS THE PANTHERS OF PLYMOUTH STATE.  Im jumping off the KSC ship faster than that italian cruise captain.  Im all about the panthers these days.  Plymouth is 4-0... lets break it down

They are crushing the ball look at these top hitters                         

                            AVG  GP-GS    AB   R   H  2B  3B  HR  RBI  TB  SLG%
5 Tucker Regan.....  .417   4-4     12   2   5   1   1   0     4    8  .667   
27 David Tammaro....400   3-3     10   2   4   1   0   0     2    5  .500 
8 Luke Merrill.....      .357   4-4     14   6   5   1   0   1    3    9  .643   

The Starting pitching is lights out, Nick Conway could never put these numbers, Tip Fairchild who?  Joey Serfass would be a 5 starter, mid week all the way

                              ERA   W-L   APP  GS  CG SHO/CBO   SV   IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO 
30 Ryan Wakefield...  2.08   1-0     1      1   0   0/0           0   4.1   2   1   1   3    5   
19 Bobby Chatfield..  2.25   1-0     1      1   0   0/0           0   4.0   2   2   1   4   5 
17 Rew Wilson.......   2.25   1-0     1      1   0   0/0           0   4.0   2   1   1   1   5   
    Jonathan Bishop..  5.40   0-0     1      1   0   0/0           0   5.0   4   3   3   3   7   

The Bullpen is lights out as well

12 Joe Hudson.......    0.00   1-0     2      0   0   0/0          1   3.2   1   0   0   0   6   
8 Luke Merrill.....       0.00   0-0     1      0   0   0/0          1   1.0   0   0   0   0   1   

Wait? Whats that?  My good drinking buddy and friend Jconn is here with me, we are taking a nice cruise around the Boston Harbor sharing a nice green tea, and some crackers talking about LEC baseball.  He just pointed out that the Panthers have played......

Suny Maritime 5-3..... Plymouth is dominating teams with over .500 records...yes.  Down with the owls and long live the Panthers.  There is a new powerhouse of baseball in Plymouth.  Jconn forget the fact that Keene is better than UMB... The LEC now has the big three of Eastern, USM, and PLYMOUTH.  Who is the other powerhouse they have played?

CCNY..........record 0-12.
Oh.... shoot.  I was ready to bust the cork on the first bottle of champagne.  I guess ill put the bottle back in the box for now.  Any team that is 12 games in and winless well thats a tough year. 

Well maybe Plymouth is not the worldbeater just yet.  Coach Howe if its not to late i would like to recant my leaving Keene for Plymouth statement.  Jconn i was wrong, Keene is in fact better than UMB.  My apologizes.

In all seriousness guys, good for PSU being 4-0, two wins come from a 0-12 team, but hey you got to beat the bad teams too.  They head down south next week and we will get a much better look at what and who they are.  Southern trips show depth of a roster as its a lot of games in short period of time, and forces teams to go deep into thier starters, and deep into the bullpen.  MIght PSU be able to sneak up and beat some LEC teams this year.... it might happen.  They knocked off Eastern at Eastern not to long ago.  I hope that they do well, anytime LEC teams do well the leagues does well.

Look KSCFan,, they are developing the habit of winning, and if they expect to win, well, maybe they will. Look at what it did for UMB, just believing they could do it, and the winning fairy sprinkled some win dut on them and they ended up (briefly) in Appleton. Go PSU

[Jcon8958]

(Briefly) BUT STILL THERE. Just so bitter kscer so bitter. 

[wordsmith]

Noticed the 3 baseman for Keene made 6 errors in 2 games; and that was on 11 total chances. Not sure I've ever seen that before.

Mord

[BobbyBeacon]

"God watches over drunks and third basemen."  - Leo Durocher

[wordsmith]

"God watches over drunks and third basemen."  - Leo Durocher

Good one! 

[LEC Fan]

Should be a good matchup today with KSC and Wheaton...

Pelkey on the mound for KSC
Corr on the mound for Wheaton

[wordsmith]

Owls score 1 in the 6th inning lead Wheaton 2-1.

Pelkey out for KSC - onto the bullpen 

Bullpen gets out of a jam in the top of the 7th. Still 2-1 Owls

Wheaton ties it up in the top of the 8th. Now 2-2 bottom of the eighth

Wheaton scores in the top of the 9th and leads 3-2 entering the bottom of the 9th.

Owls put runners on 1st & 2nd with 1 out but Wheaton reliever K's both of KSC's final 2 hitters. The radio guys were incredulous as to the balls/strikes calls in the last 2 innings for both teams.

Wheaton defeats Keene State 3-2

Word

[KSCfan]

Tough one for the owls today

Got a good start out of pelk it seemed and just couldnt get enough offense.

No rest for the wicked, come back tommorow against endicott.  Traditionally a stronger team in NE.

[BobbyBeacon]

I do not want to start (or add to) a "war of words" as I did find humor in KSCfan's post.  I think KSCer has the right idea, however, in that in order to change or turn a program around, the first thing that needs to change is the attitude.  You need to expect to win every game and believe you can win every game if you are going to develop a winning program.  But, thank Goodness the Winning Fairy sprinkled some of her magic dust (a lot of it, too  ) on the Beacons because I don't think they could've done it without her!

That being said, I think the problem that most have with Howe's Hooters Homers is that you not only view and hold your program in higher regard than it should be (which you have every right to think so), but you turn your nose up at other programs and diminish current/recent success by toting your "glory days" of a few successful seasons....regular seasons.  Have you ever heard the phrase, "Don't forget where you came from?"  It was not all that long ago that your program was in the same boat as UMB or PSU, producing sub .500 records while Eastern and Southern dominated.  You have recently had your share of success (in the regular season) and strung a few winning seasons together, but that does not mean you are elite (you still HAVE NOT been to Appleton).

Coach Howe, again, has done a tremendous job with the program and does have 400 career wins under his belt, but I'm sure if you ask him he will be the first to tell you that there were "plenty of losses" during his 25-year tenure.  And, again, not to take anything away from Coach Howe, but 427 wins over 25 years is an average of 17 wins per year (gotta love that UMess Edu-mah-cation!).  The last few seasons have resulted in 20 and even 30-win seasons, so can you imagine the records before that? (UMess Edu-mah-cation apparently not that good!)

Believe me, I understand the pride and joy in knowing that your team or program or Alma mater is a dominant one, let alone a Championship one.  In case you forgot, I experienced the brief euphoria in 2010 watching the Beacons storm through the LEC tournament and then again through the Regionals in reaching the College World Series.  Although I seemed to upset a few of you and many of you deemed Jcon and myself crazy (for lack of choice words) for even predicting or "dreaming" of such a run, in no way did either of us compare our program to the level of ECSU or USM.  We did, however, take great pride in beating such programs en route to the CWS.  In fact, what probably upset most of you was our excitement and gloating and you probably felt like we were "turning our noses up at you" and, all those who were mad, definitely did not forget to remind us "where we came from."

It would obviously be nice, and an honor, to be compared to such a program (and not just in terms of wins and losses, we'll start with a field...still!), but such accolades are earned and not given.  Again, albeit a "brief" trip to Appleton, it was still a hard-earned trip to the CWS and it's something you cannot take away from our program no matter how much you depreciate or belittle it.  And, again, not to take anything away from Coach Howe, but it took Coach Eygabroat FIVE years to get to Wisconsin and without a field, facility or dorms (probably the most basic needs for a program aside from bats and balls).  So, if averaging 17 wins per year without a trip to the Big Dance gets you on the Mt. Rushmore of LEC coaches then chisel Eygabroat's melon right up next to the "Big Three."  (139 wins divided by 7 seasons at the helm = 19.85 wins per year + 1 LEC Title + 1 Regional Title + 1 "brief trip" to Wisconsin -1 home field/facility -1 dorms -1 for being a commuter school = granite profile <---- UMess Edu-mah-cation, again! 

So, congrats to the early successes of Plymouth State.  It takes a special group of guys (coaches and players alike) not just to have a magical season, but to help change the mindset and culture of a program.  Hopefully some day soon you, too, will be able to mention yourselves in the same breath as Howe's Hooters.  Not too soon though, as the Beacons are hoping to get there first and need a couple more World Series runs (and a field!) so that we can join such an elite class.

PS I hope I have yet to offend anyone as it's still early in the season and I am trying to act like we've been there before because, well, we have!    However, KSCfan, I'm astonished that, despite your cherished friendship with JCon, you risked your relationship with beloved Coach Howe to jump (albeit briefly) to the Panthers Posse but refused to join the Beacon Bandwagon in 2010!  If you're going to jump the sinking ship, wouldn't you want to join a program/team that has the experience of having been to the World Series before? 

[BobbyBeacon]

And, back to the here and now.  The Beacons came out the gates swinging and started the season 3-0 for the first time since....well, ever!  The bats took a day off yesterday, which is bound to happen, but it is their defense that is still scuffling and the main concern.  It has been said that good pitching beats good hitting and so on those days when the bats struggle it's the gloves that always need to be there in order to keep it close and avoid games like yesterday.  But the Beacons are still young and, with a lot of new pieces to the puzzle, Eygabroat will continue to shuffle the lineup in an attempt to find a consistent offense before returning to Beaconville, Massachusetts.  With two solid performances by Heefner and Cole to open the season, the pitching staff also seems on track to be able to shoulder some of the burden.

Back at it tomorrow with a double-dip versus Ripon College (oh no, Cheeseheads!!  ) and then Washington College.  Time to get back on track!

[wordsmith]

Keene State downs Endicott 8-5

Bates  2-5   
Morrill  3-5 
Burgio 3-5 
Chase 3-5 3 RBI 

Crutcher W,2-1  5.2  7  4  4  2  1  0  0  1  0  24  27  11  4 

O'Brien       S,1  3.1  2  1  1  0  1  0  0  0  0  11  12  3  6

[KSCfan]

Bobby-

I was not trying to snub my nose at Plymouth at all.  I was trying to be funny, and i meant no disrespect towards the Plymouth program.  If you look at the bottom of hte post i clearly say in all seriousness, good for plymouth.  I go on to say we will have to wait and see what happens in the next couple of weeks.  I dont think that I have ever snubbed my nose at any program as you put it.  I have always gave coach E great respect.  If you look back at my posts, i have said that the man has done a lot a with a little ( by little i mean no home field, dorms, etc.)  I know what its like to compete in the LEC, and I have always suppourted LEC teams no matter what.  I even suppourted UMB in the World Series.(look at previous posts)  Yeah we all have our favorites in the LEC, but what makes this board as good as it is, is that when it comes down to it, we all suppourt LEC baseball.  Its like a family, you can make fun of each other all the time, but we will root for each other when it gets down to it.

Now on to what matters.........

Keene beat Endicott 8-5 yesterday, and it doesnt get any easier today as they play NE powerhouse Saint Joes of Maine.  Keene has played tough schedule so far, and it doesnt get any easier with St Joes today.  Good job of scheduling by Coach Howe as they played some other teams first to work out some kinks, and then play Wheaton, Endicott, and St Joes.  Would be big win today for the owls. 

Oh and Bobby..... i will never jump off the KSC bandwagon no matter what.

[kscer]

Bobby-

I was not trying to snub my nose at Plymouth at all.  I was trying to be funny, and i meant no disrespect towards the Plymouth program.  If you look at the bottom of hte post i clearly say in all seriousness, good for plymouth.  I go on to say we will have to wait and see what happens in the next couple of weeks.  I dont think that I have ever snubbed my nose at any program as you put it.  I have always gave coach E great respect.  If you look back at my posts, i have said that the man has done a lot a with a little ( by little i mean no home field, dorms, etc.)  I know what its like to compete in the LEC, and I have always suppourted LEC teams no matter what.  I even suppourted UMB in the World Series.(look at previous posts)  Yeah we all have our favorites in the LEC, but what makes this board as good as it is, is that when it comes down to it, we all suppourt LEC baseball.  Its like a family, you can make fun of each other all the time, but we will root for each other when it gets down to it.

Now on to what matters.........

Keene beat Endicott 8-5 yesterday, and it doesnt get any easier today as they play NE powerhouse Saint Joes of Maine.  Keene has played tough schedule so far, and it doesnt get any easier with St Joes today.  Good job of scheduling by Coach Howe as they played some other teams first to work out some kinks, and then play Wheaton, Endicott, and St Joes.  Would be big win today for the owls. 

Oh and Bobby..... i will never jump off the KSC bandwagon no matter what.

Yeah...and we're all HOMERShttp://www.d3boards.com/Smileys/default/grin.gif

[Beaconville]

Beacon bats back on track today with a 10-0 pounding of Roger Williams, although the 6 errors by RWU did not help their cause.  Great game by Heefner who is now 2-0 with 7 innings of scoreless ball.

UMB now 5-2 looking to end the Fla. trip with a win tomorrow against a good St. Norbert team.

[KSCfan]

Keene down 6-2 in the 6th against St Joes of Maine.  Lots of missed opportunities for the Owls so far.