BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Ralph Turner]

Against Dallas Rdzox hit a ball down the right field line, and it was 430 out there and hit a in the park home run, the same happened to Gragnani.

430 down the line?  Were they playing in the Grand Canyon?

Miller Huggins Field...It has historical value in that it is (was?) the spring training home of the Yankees.  I can't find any dimensions on the field, but the only decent photo I can find of it does show it to be immense.
http://www.russmattbaseball.com/?page=venues&tournament=tb
Will Hodges hit a ball that traveled a reported 450' today, according to the write-up on the Carthage site.

It is immense.  The foul territories are massive.  How many triples does the average game see on that field?

[Ralph Turner]

#3 Carthage moved to 7-0 this season with a 16-7 and 12-2 sweep of UT-Dallas this afternoon. They are off to an impressive start, but like I mentioned in December, this is not a very challenging southern schedule for the Redmen. They will face much tougher pitching inside the CCIW with Augustana and Illinois Wesleyan's arms in the mix.

Augie played University of Dallas not UT-Dallas.

University of Dallas left the ASC-East after 2001.

UDallas would probably finish fourth or fifth in the ASC-East.

[REDMENFAN]

Here's the article in today's paper about Carthage moving on to 7-0. Augie states that this was old school Carthage baseball from the 1st inning to the last.  The only thing I was surprised about was that Krepline gave up 6 runs and 10 hits in just 5 innings of work. He was only on 3 days rest though. Sure is nice to have six days off between starts during the conference season!


http://kenoshanews.com/article_comments/view_comments.php?articleNum=2714560

[BigPoppa]

#3 Carthage moved to 7-0 this season with a 16-7 and 12-2 sweep of UT-Dallas this afternoon. They are off to an impressive start, but like I mentioned in December, this is not a very challenging southern schedule for the Redmen. They will face much tougher pitching inside the CCIW with Augustana and Illinois Wesleyan's arms in the mix.

Augie played University of Dallas not UT-Dallas.

University of Dallas left the ASC-East after 2001.

UDallas would probably finish fourth or fifth in the ASC-East.

Thanks, Ralph- did not mean to mix them up.

[REDMENFAN]

Redman1, when did you head down to Florida and when are you coming back? I saw you called me a few days ago, tried calling you back but no answer. Hope you're having a good time and not drinking too many cold ones!

[Gregory Sager]

I was pretty disappointed by NPU's home opener a couple of days ago. Concordia (IL) beat the Vikings, 11-5, and while the Cougars proved that their strong W-L record is legit -- they did have a good starting pitcher and some burly lads who can really swing the lumber -- it didn't exactly put me in good cheer to see the Park lose for the second time in a row to a NAthCon team. There were too many Vikings who got fooled by junk pitches, especially the ones thrown by the Concordia starter, and drove the ball straight into the ground; six groundball outs that never got past the pitcher is not a good sign. Zach Deutscher got rocked pretty hard by the Cougars, and that 1-2, 8.82 stat line of his after three starts is troubling. Of course, he's only a freshman, so you have to give him some leeway. Luke Johnson's pretty high on Deutscher's potential, according to the NPU season preview.

On the plus side, North Park did get a couple of deep homers out of Zach Laffey and Dan O'Donnell, the latter of whom splashed the first "channel ball" of the season. And it was good to see that NPU's Brady Josephson was named as the CCIW Hitter of the Week.

The Vikings host a doubleheader against Dominican (5-3) this afternoon, and I'm looking for NPU to get it right this time against a NAthCon opponent.

[RedMan1]

Redmenfan, I did call you, my phone has been not working too well down here. I flew down Friday night, and I'm flying back Saturday. Very nice weather, sunny and 80's pretty much everyday. Carthage won again today. Wind was blowing in, but we still hit some shots all over the field. Ruffie pitched a very nice game. Boe was playing second base today and looked pretty good.

Overall great start, and we have to keep it going. St. Norberts will be tough the next 2 days

[mr_b]

The Vikings host a doubleheader against Dominican (5-3) this afternoon, and I'm looking for NPU to get it right this time against a NAthCon opponent.

You got your wish, Greg.  The Vikings took a pair from the Stars, both short-game victories.  The first game was 11-1 and the second was 14-4.  In the first game, Mike Giovenco (3-1) outdueled Stars ace Mike Eifel; Giovenco gave up two hits and a run in the first, then only one hit thereafter, striking out 8.  Tyler Burback went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIS and Trevor Popp was 3-for-4 with a big 2-run single.  In the second game, the Vikings scored 10 runs in the bottom of the seventh to win it, with Zach Laffey's 3-run walk-off home run the big blow.  Burback was 3-for-4 in game two, 7-for-9 on the day.  Asfandyar Khan got the win in relief of Tom Neckopulos, striking out four of the the five batters he faced.

[REDMENFAN]

Here's the article from the paper about Carthage's win yesterday.  Augie says that they're eight games into the season, and they're holding tryouts during games at first, second and third base.  Pretty crazy that centerfielder Boe Baitinger started at 2nd base. 

http://ksn.kenoshanews.com/view_article.php?articleNum=2719176

[Gregory Sager]

The Vikings host a doubleheader against Dominican (5-3) this afternoon, and I'm looking for NPU to get it right this time against a NAthCon opponent.

You got your wish, Greg.  The Vikings took a pair from the Stars, both short-game victories.  The first game was 11-1 and the second was 14-4.  In the first game, Mike Giovenco (3-1) outdueled Stars ace Mike Eifel; Giovenco gave up two hits and a run in the first, then only one hit thereafter, striking out 8.  Tyler Burback went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIS and Trevor Popp was 3-for-4 with a big 2-run single.  In the second game, the Vikings scored 10 runs in the bottom of the seventh to win it, with Zach Laffey's 3-run walk-off home run the big blow.  Burback was 3-for-4 in game two, 7-for-9 on the day.  Asfandyar Khan got the win in relief of Tom Neckopulos, striking out four of the the five batters he faced.

That's great to see. I'm sorry that I had to miss the games because of work.

NPU (6-7) next swings into action on Monday against defending NAthCon champion Rockford (3-4) up in the Forest City.

[BigPoppa]

Not too surprising. In 1997, Augie started All-American outfielder, Shorty Flees, at shortstop because of the same problems.

[mwunder]

Carthage ends their southern swing with a 10-0 mark after taking a second game from St. Norbert's today by a score of 10-4.

[mwunder]

"NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Illinois Wesleyan's Mike Cunningham and Carthage's Trace Ruffie were named College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Baseball Players of the Week Tuesday after their performances during the previous week of competition.

Cunningham, a sophomore shortstop from River Forest, Ill., and Oak Park-River Forest High School, batted .550 (11-for-20) in five games with five RBI, two walks, a sacrifice and a double. Cunningham had four hits and two RBI and scored twice in a 21-16 loss at Millsaps. He had three hits in a win over Benedictine and two hits each against Mississippi College and Union University. He had a perfect fielding percentage with 19 assists and six put-outs and was one-for-one in stolen base attempts.

Ruffie, a sophomore pitcher from Mount Prospect, Ill., and Hersey High School, went 2-0 during the Red Men's 10-0 trip to the RussMat Tampa Bay Invitational. Ruffie gave up no earned runs, one walk and had 16 strikeouts in 15.0 innings pitched. Ruffie allowed two un-earned runs in seven innings in an 11-2 win over Mount St Joseph on March 16. He also blanked McDaniel College on six hits over eight innings on March 20."


As an aside here, I'm not sure what fielding percentage has to do with being the hitter of the week.

[mwunder]

No offense intended towards Mike Cunningham, he had a great week, but it seems to me that Jason Acevado's numbers were a little more impressive...

15 for 27 (.555) 6 runs, 17 RBIs, 1.222 Slg% AND he hit for the cycle in a game.  (Stats are from the 17th thru the 22nd as I'm not sure what days the CCIW voters take into account).  All this, and he had an 0-3 day mixed in there. 

[Gregory Sager]

North Park obliterated Maranatha Baptist, 15-0, this afternoon at Holmgren Athletic Complex. Junior hurler Brad DeJong pitched a two-hitter (with an inning each of relief from sophomores Sean Turnbull and Pat Richards). Freshman 3B Trevor Popp went 3-3 with 4 RBI; senior CF Frankie Green went 3-4; sophomore SS Nick Marino went 3-5; sophomore RF Tyler Burback went 2-3 with 3 RBI; and sophomore LF Dan O'Donnell went 2-4 with 3 RBI. Freshman Angel Carrasco came off the bench and hit his first career home run as well.

NPU (7-7) faces Benedictine (6-6) tomorrow out in Lisle. The Eagles are coming off of a pair of narrow losses to CCIW powers, having dropped a 9-6 decision to Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday on Wash U's field down in St. Louis, and an 11-9 contest to Augustana today at the BU athletic complex. Should be an interesting barometer for the Vikings tomorrow to see how they're coming along.