BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[WLCALUM83]

Wheaton ties Concordia IL 6-6.  Game was called due to darkness. 
http://www.wheaton.edu/Athletics/baseball/index.html

I know it's early yet, but I hope that result isn't too costly down the road if either squad ends up on the bubble as far as getting into the D3 tournament later on. From what little I've heard, Concordia-IL has a good chance of making its' conference playoffs this season.

Just my .04.

[knarocky22]

That result will have no bearing on if Concordia makes their conference tournament.  Only conference games matter.  As far as an at-large bid, Augustana finished 31-10 last year and didn't get in, so if Concordia plans on making it as an at-large, there is very little room for error the rest of the season.

[BigPoppa]

I thought Augustana should have been in last year at 31-10. Especially with as weak of a Central Region as it was last year.

[yank52]

Augustana DH rained out as of 4pm Saturday
Wheaton & Illinois Wesleyan in the 4th with no score.
Nothing yet on North Central or Millikin.

[mr_b]

Augustana DH rained out as of 4pm Saturday
Wheaton & Illinois Wesleyan in the 4th with no score.
Nothing yet on North Central or Millikin.

North Park and Millikin split on Saturday: Millikin wins the first 4-3 on a run in the 7th after the Vikings scored 3 in the 6th to tie.  The Vikings bounce back 4-2 in the nightcap.

[Spence]

IWU swept Wheaton in two low scoring games. IWU doesn't have a great record but Aronson and Inzinga have great numbers. Not sure why neither of them threw against Rhodes or Millsaps, but Wheaton has been hitting everyone they played...had only been limited to less than 6 runs once (against Bethel) and swept Pitt-Bradford.

Bottom line, I think IWU will still be a factor in the conference race.

[BigPoppa]

Carthage sweeps North Central on Saturday in the CCIW opener for both schools:

In the opening game, North Central jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning off Carthage pitcher Jacob Husing.  Zack Ernst doubled in the first two runs.  Carthage cut the lead to 3-1 in the third on an RBI-single by Chris Sadjak.  The Red Men went up, 5-3, with a four-run fourth inning.  Boe Baitinger tripled with one out and scored on a wild pitch.  Tyler Yapp doubled in a run, Mike Hughes singled in another, and Tyler Creekmore drove in a run on a fielder's choice.  The Cardinals made it a 5-4 game in the fifth, but the Red Men added an insurance run in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Steve Coughlin.  Husing (3-1) allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits and a walk, while striking out eight batters.  The loss went Matt Krok (2-1).  Carthage's Tyler Yapp went three-for-four with an RBI, and Anthony Gragnani went two-for-five.  In the nightcap, Red Men hurler Jeff Livek (3-1) stopped the Cardinals on one run on four hits and a walk, while striking out a career-high 12 batters.  Carthage broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning when Mike Hughes scored on a wild pitch.  The Red Men made it 4-1 in the seventh on an RBI-singles by Boe Baitinger and Chris Shannon.  Carthage scored again in the eighth on an RBI-single by David Wuis, and the Red Men tacked on a final run in the ninth on an RBI-single by Tyler Yapp.  Seth Romano went three-for-four, Baitinger two-for-five with an RBI, and Yapp went two-for-four.  Matt Blaine (1-2) took the loss for the Cardinals. 

CCIW STANDINGS:
Carthage 2-0
Ill Welseyan 2-0
Augustana 0-0 ppd
Elmhurts 0-0 ppd
North Park 1-1
Millikin 1-1
Wheaton 0-2
North Central 0-2

This is certainly a step in the right direction for Carthage, but they have a long way to go before they get comfortable in the CCIW.

[RedMan1]

Nice win by Carthage today. It is always nice winning 19-2. Carthage hit the ball pretty well today. Wind was blowing out pretty much all day and Krepline threw a very nice game. Nice sweep by the Redmen this weekend!!

[augie28]

Augie drops game 1 to Elmhurst 6-5;   up 8-1 in the 5th inning of game 2

Bjerga for Elmhurst kept the Augie hitters off balance just enough in game 1.   Eric Knott picked up the loss for Augustana going the distance...he was impressive in the last 3 innings giving the Vikings a chance to come back, but just not enough offense on a very windy day.

In game two, the Augie offense jumped back on track putting up 8 in the first two innings.  Freshman Matt Erickson got the start on the mound. 


A tough start to a stretch of 5 games in 3 days for Augie.  I think their offense will still hold true and be a tough matchup for the CCIW, but not a very impressive conference start against an average Elmhurst team.

[yank52]

NPU 4 Millikin 2 in the rubber match, NPU takes 2 out of 3

Great to see Elmhurst get a victory in Conference, this could be a great sign that the top tier is cracking and maybe by years end there will be a great conference tourney.

[augie28]

Augustana wins game 2 12-2.

Freshman Matt Erickson went 5 innings giving up 5 hits.  Jake Meisenbach went 3-4 with a Grand Slam and Myles Kurnick went 3-4 with 3 RBI.

A much stronger offensive showing in game 2, but it will still take a few wins to get over a dissapointing game 1. 

Game 3 of the series will be played tomorrow afternoon and then Augie goes to NCC on Tuesday for 2.  I would expect to see Augie's top pitcher Brandon Engle throw tomorrow and then a committee of Freshmen on Tuesday. 

[BigPoppa]

Nice win by Carthage today. It is always nice winning 19-2. Carthage hit the ball pretty well today. Wind was blowing out pretty much all day and Krepline threw a very nice game. Nice sweep by the Redmen this weekend!!

Carthage's Bo Baetinger tied a single game record with 6 hits. Included in his performance was a homerun to leadoff the first and a triple.

[yank52]

Predictions for this 7 day period



Monday, April 2 
Augustana @ Elmhurst, 6 p.m.                Augustana
Wheaton @ Ill. Wesleyan, 3 p.m.           Illinois Wesleyan
Tuesday, April 3 
Augustana @ North Central (2), 1 p.m.  Augustana (2)
Elmhurst @ Carthage (2), 1 p.m.            Carthage   (2)
Millikin @ Ill. Wesleyan (2), 3 p.m.          Illinois Wesleyan (2)
Wheaton @ North Park (2), 3 p.m.         North Park (2)
Thursday, April 5 
Wheaton @ Carthage, 3 p.m.                 Carthage
Friday, April 6   
Augustana @ North Park (2), 2 p.m.       Split Augustana (1) North Park (1)
Ill. Wesleyan @ North Central, 3 p.m.     North Central
Millikin @ Elmhurst (2), 1 p.m.                 Elmhurst (2)
Saturday, April 7 
Carthage @ Wheaton (2), 1 p.m.            Split Carthage (1) Wheaton (1)
North Central @ Ill. Wesleyan (2), Noon Split N. Cent (1) Ill. Wesleyan (1)
Augustana @ North Park, Noon               Augustana
Millikin @ Elmhurst, Noon                         Elmhurst
Monday, April 9 
Carthage @ Marian (2), 1 p.m.                 Carthage (2)
Elmhurst @ Kalamazoo, 3 p.m.                 Kalamazoo
Concordia (Ill.) @ Augustana, 3 p.m.        Augustana

[augie28]

Make up game tonight:  Augustana @ Elmhurst - 6:00
Should be an easy victory for Augie with their #1 facing either a struggling or first time starter for Elmhurst, but there is a reason they play the game.

Yank, I agree with your predictions for the most part, however I believe IWU will take 2 of 3 from NCC and Augie will sweep North Park, but may have trouble with Concordia depending on how the picthing plays out over the weekend.

[augie28]

Augustana 10, Elmhurst 1

Augie moves to 2-1 in conference with the win.  Brandon Engle (4-0) pitched 7 innings for the win.  Don Hansen (3-5)  Mark Ramos (3-5) and John Wagle (4-5, 2 2B) led the offense.

The vikings are now 15-2 overall and are at NCC for a doubleheader tomorrow.


Tomorrow's games should feature a lot of innings from freshman pitchers who have helped Augie so far.  On top of that, Freshman Mike Odenthal and Tyler Anderson at 1B and Eric Izzo at 3B have done their share at the plate. The most surprising newcomer for Augie, though, is sophomore DH Myles Kurnick (.350) who only saw 10 ABs a year ago.....It seems to be these surprise players more than the big names that change everyone's early season predictions so how are other teams newcomers doing this year?  Any big names that we will all know about by the end of the season?