BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CCIWFAN6]

Congrats to both players. Those are video game like numbers there.

[perfectgame]

and general public, get your facts straight before opening your mouth. baseball has been my passion since i was in diapers, and will always be my passion. if you only knew the pain i have been in. dont talk unless you know what youre talking about

[Mr. Ypsi]

I am not sure if all of these questions have been answered yet. I was a pitcher for IWU the past 3 years, but had to stop due to a torn rotator cuff.

Injuries and losses:
Cunningham- wanted to focus on school, quit
Foster- torn cuff
McCreary (closer)- transfered to ASU for partying, quit
Aronson- Rotator cuff problems, hopes to be back mid conference
Kulavic- tommy john surgery (tiger balm was his best friend last year)
angel- grad
mcinerny- grad
rittenberry- grad

mcintosh moves to 3rd base from 1st, kirchoffer goes from pitcher only to play 1st. marzec goes from 3rd (really stepped up last year in place of a hurt ritt) to SS
ladd moves from left to center

as you can see there are many players gone. HOWEVER, these guys love baseball. they want to win, and there is still A LOT of talent on this team. Personally speaking, our pitching was so deep the past 3 years it was incredible. No offense to any other teams, but carthage was the only team that came even close to the depth of our pitchers. even the guys who never got many chances have great arms and a lot of talent. despite the injuries, they have some great hitters (goshorn and ladd inparticular), speed and good pitching. hopefully they just start completely ignoring their coach and play to win for eachother.

Thanks for the inside insights, Jesse.  (At least, based on your email account and injury report, I assume you are Jesse Foster.)  Anything further you want to explain about the bolded part?

and general public, get your facts straight before opening your mouth. baseball has been my passion since i was in diapers, and will always be my passion. if you only knew the pain i have been in. dont talk unless you know what youre talking about

Hey, now, if us 'ignorant' people didn't post, the board would die!

I readily admit I know nothing beyond box scores and what others post here, but I try not to go against any known facts!

[BigPoppa]

I am not sure if all of these questions have been answered yet. I was a pitcher for IWU the past 3 years, but had to stop due to a torn rotator cuff.

Injuries and losses:
Cunningham- wanted to focus on school, quit
Foster- torn cuff
McCreary (closer)- transfered to ASU for partying, quit
Aronson- Rotator cuff problems, hopes to be back mid conference
Kulavic- tommy john surgery (tiger balm was his best friend last year)
angel- grad
mcinerny- grad
rittenberry- grad

mcintosh moves to 3rd base from 1st, kirchoffer goes from pitcher only to play 1st. marzec goes from 3rd (really stepped up last year in place of a hurt ritt) to SS
ladd moves from left to center

as you can see there are many players gone. HOWEVER, these guys love baseball. they want to win, and there is still A LOT of talent on this team. Personally speaking, our pitching was so deep the past 3 years it was incredible. No offense to any other teams, but carthage was the only team that came even close to the depth of our pitchers. even the guys who never got many chances have great arms and a lot of talent. despite the injuries, they have some great hitters (goshorn and ladd inparticular), speed and good pitching. hopefully they just start completely ignoring their coach and play to win for eachother.

Thanks for the inside insights, Jesse.  (At least, based on your email account and injury report, I assume you are Jesse Foster.)  Anything further you want to explain about the bolded part?

and general public, get your facts straight before opening your mouth. baseball has been my passion since i was in diapers, and will always be my passion. if you only knew the pain i have been in. dont talk unless you know what youre talking about

Hey, now, if us 'ignorant' people didn't post, the board would die!

I readily admit I know nothing beyond box scores and what others post here, but I try not to go against any known facts!

Ypsi... you are a classic! Great call.

[BigG296]

I'm gona spare any comment that might start something up and just say that i think your insight on IWU baseball will be appreciated around here based on your experience.  As a neutral CCIW guy, I enjoy when passionate posters such as Mr. B and BigPoppa who love their schools so much offer good information about their teams.  Hopefully you can provide the same without stepping on too many toes.

With that said, that is too bad about Aronson, him and Kulavic are a big loss.  At least it looks like IWU's lineup is much improved from the past couple years.

[BigPoppa]

Ok... two days away from Carthage opening day and I have never felt worse about them. Right now I see them struggling a bit with the bats... which is shocking for a Carthage team. Their pitching will be fine, but I think they lost a lot of experience from last year and I worry that they guys filling those spots may not live up the Carthage standard of "put head down and bust your butt regardless of what is happening around you."

The next week will be very telling... I may not sleep much next week. I think a 8-3 or 7-4 trip would be a positive start to their season considering who they face (Wooster once and Whitewater three times).

I might be the biggest Carthage fan out there, but I am a realist and the the reality is staring them straight in the face next week.

[warrior35]

So it might be a little bit early for this to really mean anything, but I had some time so I thought I'd use it...

Quality of wins/losses:
Millikin 1-0
Wins: Opponents records- 0-1
Losses: N/A

Augustana 8-2
Wins: Opponents records- 19-34-1
Losses: Opponents records- 14-5

Illinois Wesleyan 3-1
Wins: Opponents records- 8-12-1
Losses: Opponenets records- 6-4

Wheaton 4-2
Wins: Opponents records- 7-13
Losses: Opponents records- 6-8

North Park 4-2
Wins: Opponents records- 9-27
Losses: Opponents records- 5-10
*One loss was to a D2 team that finishes in the bottom 2 every year in the NSIC

Elmhurst 2-2
Wins: Opponents records- 0-2
Losses: Opponents records- 5-1

North Central 1-3
Wins: Opponents records- 5-3
Losses: Opponents records- 5-3

So it's too early to tell... but it seems as if the competition hasn't been very good thus far.  The have been some seemingly quality wins and a couple losses to quality opponents, but generally no one seems to have played that tough of a schedule thus far.  Thoughts anyone?

[BigPoppa]

So it might be a little bit early for this to really mean anything, but I had some time so I thought I'd use it...

Quality of wins/losses:
Millikin 1-0
Wins: Opponents records- 0-1
Losses: N/A

Augustana 8-2
Wins: Opponents records- 19-34-1
Losses: Opponents records- 14-5

Illinois Wesleyan 3-1
Wins: Opponents records- 8-12-1
Losses: Opponenets records- 6-4

Wheaton 4-2
Wins: Opponents records- 7-13
Losses: Opponents records- 6-8

North Park 4-2
Wins: Opponents records- 9-27
Losses: Opponents records- 5-10
*One loss was to a D2 team that finishes in the bottom 2 every year in the NSIC

Elmhurst 2-2
Wins: Opponents records- 0-2
Losses: Opponents records- 5-1

North Central 1-3
Wins: Opponents records- 5-3
Losses: Opponents records- 5-3

So it's too early to tell... but it seems as if the competition hasn't been very good thus far.  The have been some seemingly quality wins and a couple losses to quality opponents, but generally no one seems to have played that tough of a schedule thus far.  Thoughts anyone?

Thanks for the work on this. It is much appreciated. It is often hard to get a gauge on teams early in the season as the opponents are often tough to figure out. I generally look at Team ERA and Fielding % to get a quick feel for a team.

Stats can often be inflated offensively at this point in the season, but HUGE numbers can let you know that they will still be solid offensively once they come back down to earth. Augustana has really been piling up the runs as has IWU.

[letsplay2]

Very nice stat line Warrior35... the quality of wins/loses are always interesting to note. 

Stats can often be inflated offensively at this point in the season

To add to this, Wheaton is already only 4 triples away from tying the team single season record of 15.  The dimensions of the field they are playing on may be contributing to those numbers... 365 down both lines and 420 to center.  Having said that, Wheaton's offense seems to have picked up where it left off last year.  obviously, like it has been reiterated a number of times, it is still very early and a lot of things can happen from now until conference play. 

BigPoppa, is there any truth to a rumor i heard about Perez being out for the year?  If so, that is huge for the Carthage pitching staff.  Getting Krepline back is a big lift, but losing Perez from the starting rotation on top of Husing is a terrible loss.  With Perez they have 3 outstanding starters in their rotation with Krepline and Ruffie.  Without him, there seems to be a significan (not huge) drop off of quality starters after Ruffie and Krepline.  Any chance they'll move Richardson into the back end of the rotation instead of coming out of the bullpen if Perez is out?

[BigPoppa]

I can confirm that Perez is out fo the season... leg injury in the fall that will not be healed i time for the season. Still, I think they will be solid on the hill. I guess we will find out this weekend as they hit it hard from the start... Wooster and Whitewater x3

[wartburgalum]

Sounds like Wartburg may have a chance this weekend against IWU.

[acvikings]

Augie beats Carroll College today 16-5 as reported on the Carroll website. Details to follow later. The Vikings are now 9-2 on the year. They play again tomorrow at 3 pm against Babson.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU lost to Malone today, 12-5. The Vikings will return to D3 competition tomorrow and Saturday against Dickinson and St. Mary's (MN), respectively, before returning from Arizona for Tuesday's home opener against Wisconsin Lutheran.

[BigPoppa]

Big Games in featuring the Central Region this weekend:

March 13
Illinois Wesleyan vs. Wartburg at Webster, 4 p.m.


March 14
Illinois Wesleyan at Webster, 10 a.m.
Wartburg at Webster
Beloit vs St. Joes (NY)
Concordia Chicago vs. Illinois Wesleyan


March 15
Augustana (Ill.) vs. Central in Fort Myers, Fla., 9 a.m., EDT
Wartburg vs Concordia-Chicago
Concordia Chicago vs. Webster

[Gregory Sager]

Mike Giovenco pitched a complete-game five-hit shutout, striking out 13 Red Devils batters, as NPU buried Dickinson on Friday, 13-0.