BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[BigPoppa]

Does anyone know when the first regional rankings come out?  Interested to see how the top CCIW teams stack up against the rest of the region!!

Scheduled for 4/23.

Here are some in-region records (through 4/16). Corrections appreciated. I have not done OWPs yet.
Augustana 17-5
Beloit 13-2
Buena Vista 16-4
Carthage 15-2
Illinois Wesleyan 16-7
Luther 15-7
St. Norbert 11-6
Washington 17-8 (I think ... depends whether the UAA has an intraconference in-region waiver)
Webster 18-6

With some big games yet to be played before the rankings and having only eyeballed OWPs and signature wins/losses, here's my top six so far. Any other guesses?
1. Carthage
2. Illinois Wesleyan
3. Augustana
4. Webster
5. Beloit
6. Buena Vista 

OshDude- I think you are right on with the rankings. BV is going to take a hit as they have not played much competition to this point, but I could see them landing at #3 or 4 as well.

[VideoDawg]

Just checking in from the sliac site. BigPoppa is always braggin on you guys. Looks like there are some squabbles but overall you seem to care more about the stats and players. Way to go! I guess I should start watching and commenting on CCIW games.

[perfectgame]

I am sure this year will shake down as any other. Carthage or IWU wins the automatic bid, with most probably carthage winning the regular season crown. 2 at large bids with augie and iwu/carthage, then the auto bid from iwu/carthage.

If IWU can get Aronson back at full health anytime, they could make some serious noise with Froelich throwing the way he is. Two big time lefties in the playoffs with some deep relief could be interesting.

Augie always seems to make it, somehow?? In the past couple of years im not sure they deserved the at large, but they proved that they should have been there last year.

Carthage this year seems like their hitting is down a little, but there pitching as always is pretty good. I was watching game 3 at out beautiful field and carthages pitcher was hitting 89. Husing like numbers. Im sure Ruffie gets it up there pretty good too.

This year more than last the #1 seed is important in the CCIW tournament. With a week 4 seed the #1 seed can relax a little and lt augie and whoever battle it out. Last year was a different story with the shocking wheaton team. They, IMO, were just as good as Augie, if not better because of their strong pitching.

[BigPoppa]

I am sure this year will shake down as any other. Carthage or IWU wins the automatic bid, with most probably carthage winning the regular season crown. 2 at large bids with augie and iwu/carthage, then the auto bid from iwu/carthage.

I don't see the CCIW gettng three bids unless Augustana wins the CCIW tourney or gets very deep. They have 4 CCIW losses and have not played either Carthage or IWU yet. Carthage can put a nail in Augustana's coffin this weekend by taking two of three.

[perfectgame]

this is a good point. but my question is this: isnt augies coach on the board who picks the at large bids?

2 years back, i waited up all night to see what team we would play in regionals. it was 1 o clock when it came out, and the #6 team in our region was Rhodes, which was, IMHO, very deserved. They were a great team with that big lefty (forgot his name) and some great bats. I went to sleep that night thinking they got a deserving at large entry. I woke up the next morning, and what do ya know, Augustana is the #6 team in the regional, setting it up for an extremely boring 3 cciw team regional. how does this happen? imagine the heartbreak for the rhodes players waking up in the morning to see you actually didnt make the playoffs. rough

[BigPoppa]

It is actually quite a collaboration of coaches from all over that have the final say, but I do beleive Augustana's coach is a part of that committee.

[OshDude]

Does anyone know when the first regional rankings come out?  Interested to see how the top CCIW teams stack up against the rest of the region!!

Scheduled for 4/23.

Here are some in-region records (through 4/16). Corrections appreciated. I have not done OWPs yet.
Augustana 17-5
Beloit 13-2
Buena Vista 16-4
Carthage 15-2
Illinois Wesleyan 16-7
Luther 15-7
St. Norbert 11-6
Washington 17-8 (I think ... depends whether the UAA has an intraconference in-region waiver)
Webster 18-6

With some big games yet to be played before the rankings and having only eyeballed OWPs and signature wins/losses, here's my top six so far. Any other guesses?
1. Carthage
2. Illinois Wesleyan
3. Augustana
4. Webster
5. Beloit
6. Buena Vista 

OshDude- I think you are right on with the rankings. BV is going to take a hit as they have not played much competition to this point, but I could see them landing at #3 or 4 as well.

I just didn't see any great wins for BV. When BV has played decent IIAC teams, they have dropped some games. Almost every team on the BV schedule is about .500 in-region. BV has yet to play Luther, Wartburg and Simpson. Similar to Augustana's situation imo.

Beloit has that nice win over Rockford. The Bucs could have used a 3-1 series against Ripon, but despite its overall record, RC's in-region record (8-5, including the loss to LU and two to UWSP) isn't bad.

Webster has played a very good schedule. WU only has one great win, but it's against IL Wesleyan and that's one more great win than BV. And the OWP should make up for WU's +2 in-region losses. Then again those losses to Coe could hurt WU more than I think they will.

You could make a case for any order after Carthage (as long as IL Wesleyan is top-3) and I wouldn't put up too much of an argument. We'll see how important OWP is next week.

[BigPoppa]

Depending on this weekend, I see the Central Rankings as this way right now:
1. Carthage
2. IWU
3. Beloit
4. Buena Vista
5. Augustana
6. Webster

[Mr. Ypsi]

A Saturday of sweeps in the CCIW:

NCC over Millikin: 8-6, 11-3
Wheaton over Elmhurst: 14-4, 19-9
Carthage over Augie: 6-4, 7-5
IWU over NPU: 8-0, 6-3

The results drop Augie to 4th, one-half game behind Wheaton, with NCC only two games back of them.  I suspect Augie is still an overwhelming favorite to make the conference tourney, but they'd better right the ship quickly.  If they lose tomorrow (er, later today ), they could be in trouble, and Carthage would have almost locked up home field.

[BigPoppa]

Augie still has a three game series with IWU next weeknd that could prove detrimental to their post-season chances.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Augie still has a three game series with IWU next weeknd that could prove detrimental to their post-season chances.

That's in two weeks.  Next weekend Augie hopes to get well against NPU, while IWU has a big series against third place Wheaton.  (And NCC has a contender-or-pretender series against Carthage.)

As far as already determined head-to-head tie-breaks for making the tourney, Wheaton has the advantage over both Augie and NCC, while Augie has it over NCC.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Following 'Sweep Saturday', we had 'Swamped Sunday':  Carthage @ Augie and IWU @ NPU both rained out; NCC v. Millikin suspended at 12-12.  Nothing posted yet (that I found) about make-up (or completion) dates.

[Mr. Ypsi]

CCIW.org has now added a tie for both NCC and Millikin, so apparently there are no plans to re-schedule a completion of that game.

[mr_b]

CCIW.org has now added a tie for both NCC and Millikin, so apparently there are no plans to re-schedule a completion of that game.

Check out the news article on the North Central website regarding the completion of the suspended game.

[Mr. Ypsi]

CCIW.org has now added a tie for both NCC and Millikin, so apparently there are no plans to re-schedule a completion of that game.

Check out the news article on the North Central website regarding the completion of the suspended game.

Thanks for the tip.