BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Ralph Turner]

Have always been a lurker on the baseball board, and with IWU's amazing run have been watching much closer lately.  This is pretty petty and unimportant, but has anyone ever noticed this Subject Title is incorrect?  We play in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, as opposed to the Collegiate Conference?  Ok, enough of my anal retentive musings.

+1! and thanks.  

Correction made.  Join us by posting on the baseball board in 2011!

[BlueJay Boy]

Congratulations Titans - what an amazing run!

[BoomerIL]

Congratulations to Coach Martel and the Illinois Wesleyan Titans!!!!   Son went to Lyons Township in La Grange and played against a few of the present day Titans in high school, and together with a few in travel ball.  Great job guys!!!!  Gotta love Illinois baseball!!!

[Titan Q]

What a special day for Illinois Wesleyan.  Congratulations to Dennis Martel and the Titans.  Thanks for making us proud, boys!

An amazing run.

[Mugsy]

Wow!  Gotta love collegiate sports were anything can happen.  Outstanding run by the IWU baseball team.  Congrats on a remarkable season.

[mr_b]

I wonder if there has ever been a more improbable champion in the history of D3 baseball.  If you trace the season, the Titans were 13-15 overall and 7-7 in the CCIW after dropping the first two against North Park in Bloomington.  They then put together enough wins in conference to gain a fourth seed in the CCIW tournament.  They battled through the tournament, edging North Park 9-7 in the loser's bracket and taking two from Carthage on Sunday.    They closed out the season with 11 wins in their last 12 games. Quite a story!

[Mr. Ypsi]

I wonder if there has ever been a more improbable champion in the history of D3 baseball.  If you trace the season, the Titans were 13-15 overall and 7-7 in the CCIW after dropping the first two against North Park in Bloomington.  They then put together enough wins in conference to gain a fourth seed in the CCIW tournament.  They battled through the tournament, edging North Park 9-7 in the loser's bracket and taking two from Carthage on Sunday.    They closed out the season with 11 wins in their last 12 games. Quite a story!

34 years ago Cal State Stanislaus won it all with a 33-20-2 record, but I suppose even that is better than 31-21!

It doesn't matter how you do most of the season as long as you are good enough to MAKE the conference tourney, then good enough to win it, the regional, and the CWS!

My gut hunch is that this very talented but horribly underperforming group of guys gave up on expectations about five weeks ago, and decided to just have fun and see what happened.  And, WOW!!, see what happened!

[CrashDavisD3]

I wonder if there has ever been a more improbable champion in the history of D3 baseball.  If you trace the season, the Titans were 13-15 overall and 7-7 in the CCIW after dropping the first two against North Park in Bloomington.  They then put together enough wins in conference to gain a fourth seed in the CCIW tournament.  They battled through the tournament, edging North Park 9-7 in the loser's bracket and taking two from Carthage on Sunday.    They closed out the season with 11 wins in their last 12 games. Quite a story!

34 years ago Cal State Stanislaus won it all with a 33-20-2 record, but I suppose even that is better than 31-21!

It doesn't matter how you do most of the season as long as you are good enough to MAKE the conference tourney, then good enough to win it, the regional, and the CWS!

My gut hunch is that this very talented but horribly underperforming group of guys gave up on expectations about five weeks ago, and decided to just have fun and see what happened.  And, WOW!!, see what happened!

EXACTLY...It now how you start the race but how you finish......

[Viking Blue]

Love hearing about stories like Wesleyan....just another reason why Division 3 athletics are so outstanding, and baseball is the best game there is.

I have a hard time seeing a similar story unfolding in many other sports.  The double-elimination format lends itself to a true team victory over time.

Congrats to the Titans and the CCIW as a whole.

[Titan Q]

I've heard that IWU had an outstanding year on the recruiting trail.  One player expected to make an immediate impact is Naperville Central's Bobby Czarnowski...

http://www.triblocal.com/Naperville/detail/182406.html

Here is a post made on the CCIW basketball board a few weeks back about Czarnowski...

Wesleyan "recruit"

CCIW followers and Wesleyan fans in particular may be interested in the story of a new "recruit."

Please note that some of the details of this story may well be a bit sketchy, but I'm quite sure I have the major points correct

It seems this young man, a very good 6'4" basketball player whose stats this past season included marks of 11.9 ppg and 3.6 rpg, is an even better baseball player who currently sports a .538 batting average while splitting his diamond time between 1B and RF. It seems he was initially contacted by the Wesleyan baseball coach last summer.
However, late last summer or early last fall, he was apparently offered a D1 baseball scholarship. As it was widely assumed he would accept this baseball offer, he was not actively further pursued, either for baseball, OR basketball. 

However, as time passed last fall and early in the winter, 2 things became evident. First, he wasn't that interested in the school that offered him for baseball, and, while he might be a better baseball player than basketball, he really preferred playing basketball in college. Accordingly, North Central became very interested and conducted a strong recruiting effort throughout the basketball season. The young man liked NCC, and recognized the opportunity he would have to earn meaningful playing time there next season due to NCC's graduating 9 seniors over the last 2 seasons, the 9 having played the overwhelming majority of minutes over that time. His parents also were fond of North Central as they felt it afforded their son the opportunity for both an outstanding academic experience, and a real opportunity to earn playing time on the basketball court. Accordingly, they looked forward to his enrollment at NCC. The only problem with this is that while the recruit indicated he felt he would rather play basketball, and recognized NCC afforded him a wonderful opportunity to do so sooner rather than later, he felt an overwhelming desire to "get out of town" and not attend college in the town where he has lived his entire life, or close to it. This is not unusual, and we have all seen kids voice this desire when making a college choice. In conjunction with this desire, and knowing of Wesleyan's prior contact for baseball, I believe his HS coach made a couple of calls resulting in his talking further with both the Wesleyan baseball coach and then also with basketball coach Ron Rose. While he realizes the chance to earn playing time, at least in basketball, would be greater at NCC, he will be attending Wesleyan where he will evidently play baseball for sure, and will also explore the possibility of playing basketball.

It seems that if he lived anywhere else besides Naperville he would be attending North Central. However, because he does live in Naperville, he'll instead fulfill his wish to attend school in a different locale.

Accordingly, Wesleyan will be getting an outstanding athlete in Bobby Czarnowski from Naperville Central. Again, it looks like he'll be playing baseball for sure, and quite possibly will also be a member of the Titan basketball team.
Going beyond his athletic prowess, Bobby is a great guy, and his parents, Bob & Pam, are 1st class         

He sounds like a great recruit for Dennis Martel and the Titans.

[Titan Q]

Here is a website that lists college commitments from some of the top prep players in Illinois.  Some CCIW-bound players included...

http://www.prepbaseballreport.com/Home/Commitments/tabid/326/Default.aspx

[CCIWFAN6]

Congrats to NPU Righthander Mike Giovenco.  Was drafted in the 14th round by the Kansas City Royals.  Best of luck in the future.

[Gregory Sager]

That's twelve rounds earlier than Giovenco was drafted last June, when the Twins picked him. I'm pretty sure that he's going to sign this time. Best of luck, Mike!

[droppinbombs47]

Nick Robinson, shortstop from North Central College in Illinois drafted by the Red Sox in the 39th Round

[Mugsy]

Wheaton junior Steve Dennison drafted by Marlins in 34th round.

http://athletics.wheaton.edu/news/2010/6/9/BB_Draft.aspx?path=baseball