BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

mr_b · April 23, 2011, 06:54:58 PM

North Park took two from Augustana today. In game one, North Park rallied from two runs down in the bottom of the ninth as Angel Carrasco hit a two-run homer to tie the game and Mike Domenick hit a game-winning single to score Eric Sousanes from second for a 6-5 victory.

In game two, Jeremy Juhl hit a leadoff home run, but that was all the offense Augie could muster against Pete Sparacino. Andy Athans had two 2-run singles to give the Chicago Vikings a 6-1 win.

Viking Blue · April 23, 2011, 10:34:59 PM

That's the kind of big win North Park needed. What a huge comeback in game 1! Wondering though....why did IWU-Carthage play the tripleheader, but NP-Augie did not. It would seem to make the same sense.

cubs · April 24, 2011, 12:15:40 AM

Anybody happen to know what the CCIW standings look like after today's games?

mr_b · April 24, 2011, 07:48:24 AM

Quote from: cubs on April 24, 2011, 12:15:40 AM
Anybody happen to know what the CCIW standings look like after today's games?

Here is a link to the CCIW website, which has the updated standings.

Titan Q · April 24, 2011, 08:10:27 AM

Amazing fact - the 3 IWU/Carthage games yesterday were played in 4 hours, 15 minutes.

Gregory Sager · April 24, 2011, 11:31:10 AM

Quote from: Viking Blue on April 23, 2011, 10:34:59 PM
That's the kind of big win North Park needed. What a huge comeback in game 1! Wondering though....why did IWU-Carthage play the tripleheader, but NP-Augie did not. It would seem to make the same sense.

Luke didn't want to play three. The concluding game of the Augie @ NPU series will be played on Monday afternoon at Holmgren Athletic Center. Tentative time for the first pitch is 3 pm.

This should work out well for both schools. North Park has no weekday games this coming week, and Augie's lone weekday game is a contest against Knox on Tuesday. Knox doesn't appear to be very good at all, so it probably shouldn't cause Augie's pitching staff too much stress to play the extra game at NPU on Monday.

Gregory Sager · April 24, 2011, 11:34:45 AM

North Central and Wheaton split yesterday. NCC won the opener, 6-5, and Wheaton took the nightcap, 9-8.

That loss could come back to haunt the Cardinals.

Mr. Ypsi · April 24, 2011, 01:17:47 PM

Updating the H-to-H tie-breaks for the 5 contenders:

IWU over Augie, NPU, and Carthage
Carthage over NCC, but under IWU and Augie
Augie over Carthage, but under IWU and NPU
NCC over NPU, but under Carthage
NPU over Augie, but under IWU and NCC

mr_b · April 26, 2011, 08:42:00 AM

Congratulations to the North Park Viking baseball team for breaking into the NCBWA Top 25 . I don't know if it's a first for North Park (the baseball team had several excellent seasons in the 80s and early 90s), but it marks another achievement by Coach Luke Johnson & Associate Coach Steve Hardman in moving a team that went 1-39 in 2005 to one with national ranking. Of course, there's still work to do over the next few weeks, but I wanted to recognize the achievement.

Viking Blue · April 26, 2011, 09:47:10 AM

Absolutely, DR. B! It is certainly a very proud moment for all former NP players, and it's certainly nice to have some national attention for recruiting purposes. However....there' still work to be done!

79jaybird · April 26, 2011, 01:10:04 PM

Luke is getting the NPU players to play with the same mindset and confidence that he played with as a player. He is a great teammate and friend of mine. He has been active in his recruiting and getting players to want to play for both him/NPU. Keep it up Luke!

Gregory Sager · April 26, 2011, 02:46:57 PM

Quote from: mr_b on April 26, 2011, 08:42:00 AM
Congratulations to the North Park Viking baseball team for breaking into the NCBWA Top 25 . I don't know if it's a first for North Park (the baseball team had several excellent seasons in the 80s and early 90s), but it marks another achievement by Coach Luke Johnson & Associate Coach Steve Hardman in moving a team that went 1-39 in 2005 to one with national ranking. Of course, there's still work to do over the next few weeks, but I wanted to recognize the achievement.

Absolutely. It's a big milestone for the NPU baseball program, which appears to be returning to the perennial CCIW contender status it enjoyed back in the 1980s and early '90s, when Bosko Djurickovic led North Park to four CCIW titles, and it's a tribute to the hard work put in by Luke Johnson and his coaching staff as well as the Vikings themselves.

Incidentally, there are four CCIW teams that are currently receiving votes in the d3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25. Carthage is ranked 22nd, North Park is ranked 25th, and Illinois Wesleyan and Augustana are among the other teams receiving votes. The only other league that has four teams that are receiving votes in the current poll is the NJAC.

The third game between North Park and Augustana, which was originally going to be rescheduled for Monday, continues to be up in the air in terms of when it will be played. Given where NPU and Augie are in the CCIW standings, it's obviously an important game that needs to be squeezed in somewhere. Also, NPU has added an extra game, at Concordia (WI) tomorrow, to make up for the rainout against Birmingham Southern at the beginning of the season.

Mr. Ypsi · April 26, 2011, 04:15:38 PM

Not merely 'receiving votes' - IWU would be #26 and Augie #28 if the poll were enlarged beyond 25.

Gregory Sager · April 26, 2011, 07:32:58 PM

Correction: Tomorrow night's newly-added CUW @ NPU contest will be under the lights at Holmgren AC at 7:30 pm.

Viking Blue · April 28, 2011, 06:41:53 AM

North Park beat Concordia of Wisconsin last night at home, 4-0. Travis Boyer struck out 12 in seven innings and Brad Medina hit HR #5 for the Vikings.

Good call on Boyer earlier in the week, Greg.