BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[mr_b]

Wheaton wins the play-in game, 12-4, over Carthage.  The Thunder were up 8-0 after three innings.  They will face North Central on Wednesday as the double-elimination tournament starts.

[Next Man Up]

The North Central Cardinals just won their sixth consecutive regular season CCIW championship outright. In doing so they, as you would think would be the case, secured the #1 seed in the conference tournament. Rather than conduct the tournament at a single site, North Central and Wheaton are co-hosting. Today, Wheaton, the #8 seed, beat #9 seeded Carthage for the right to meet #1 NCC 2 days from now. One of the normal perks of winning a conference championship is getting to host the conference tournament. As I've indicated, the tournament is being co-hosted this year by NCC and Wheaton. Due to NCC being the #1 seed, you would think the game would be played in Naperville. However, instead of Wednesday's game being played at the home of conference champ NCC, it's scheduled to be played at #8 seed Wheaton. I fail to see the logic in that arrangement. Certainly not the way it's done in most, if not all, other conference sports. The CCIW "brain" trust working in mysterious ways. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Gregory Sager]

There's nothing mysterious about it at all, Mark. This tournament configuration was set up a long time ago, long before NCC won the CCIW title and the #1 seed.

[mr_b]

I don't think Zimmerman Field has lights, so that limits the number of games North Central can host.

[Gregory Sager]

Yes, and that's precisely why the tourney is being shared with Pfund Stadium, which not only has lights but (unlike Zimmerman) an all-turf surface as well.

[Next Man Up]

In reading (or RE-reading if helpful) my post, you will find no complaint on my part regarding the tournament games being held at two locations. In fact, with the number of teams participating, coupled with the always unpredictable local weather, it seems prudent. My complaint, solely and simply, is with the conference champion being forced to forgo the usual perk of getting to play tournament games at home as a reward for winning the championship.
The softball tournament wasn't held at Elmhurst, and neither the men's basketball nor volleyball tournament games took place at the lower seeded team's venue.
All I'm saying is that as long as the #1 team is alive, they should be playing at home, weather permitting.
Once the seeds were determined, there was no reason why NCC couldn't be scheduled/switched to play in Naperville.
Why should the baseball tournament be conducted differently than any of the other tournament championships? 🤔
Consistency, gentlemen. Too much to ask?

[mr_b]

Once the seeds were determined, there was no reason why NCC couldn't be scheduled/switched to play in Naperville.

The only reason I can think of is that the tournament was set up well in advance, and the #1 seed was assigned to play at Lee Pfund Field.  The tournament managers must have decided to stick with that plan regardless of how the seedings actually worked out.

[Gregory Sager]

In reading (or RE-reading if helpful) my post, you will find no complaint on my part regarding the tournament games being held at two locations. In fact, with the number of teams participating, coupled with the always unpredictable local weather, it seems prudent. My complaint, solely and simply, is with the conference champion being forced to forgo the usual perk of getting to play tournament games at home as a reward for winning the championship.
The softball tournament wasn't held at Elmhurst, and neither the men's basketball nor volleyball tournament games took place at the lower seeded team's venue.

No, the softball tournament wasn't held at Elmhurst. It was held at Millikin and Illinois Wesleyan because: a) those two schools fit together as a tandem geographically; and b) it meant that the baseball and softball tournaments would be hosted by different campuses, so as to keep from overburdening any particular school's game staff, training staff, and sports information department. That's a very real concern in a year in which both sports are holding nine-team tourneys for the first time ever. The need to use tandem hosting sites because of the nine-team tourneys has forced the CCIW to set aside the usual practice of allowing the champion to host the entire tourney in these two sports.

What I am saying is that you misunderstand why the tournament is being co-hosted by NCC at Zimmerman. It isn't because the Cardinals won the CCIW title, because, as I said, the tournament format was set up long before that happened. NCC is co-hosting because Naperville and Carol Stream fit together as a co-hosting tandem. It could just as easily have been Schmidt Field in Kenosha and Frame Park in Waukesha that co-hosted this year's baseball tourney, or Butterfield Park in Elmhurst could've co-hosted alongside Zimmerman or Pfund (although it's hard to imagine anybody wanting that option, since Butterfield Park is usually in wretched shape). What's more, the format had the pairings pre-set as well; the play-in game was always going to be held at Pfund, with #1 playing the play-in game winner at Pfund two days later.

All I'm saying is that as long as the #1 team is alive, they should be playing at home, weather permitting.
Once the seeds were determined, there was no reason why NCC couldn't be scheduled/switched to play in Naperville.
Why should the baseball tournament be conducted differently than any of the other tournament championships? 🤔
Consistency, gentlemen. Too much to ask?

You have that exactly backwards, Mark. Consistency -- which, as you define it, means conducting the baseball tourney in the same manner in which the other CCIW tourneys are held -- means sticking with the predetermined format rather than changing it at the last minute after the seeds have been established. It happened to work out nicely for softball that the #1 seed (Millikin) and the #2 seed (Illinois Wesleyan) both got to play in their own ballparks. A similar coincidence didn't come to pass for North Central and Augustana. Them's the breaks.

I happened to be a part of a conversation with Ed Mathey and Luke Johnson after the conclusion of Saturday's doubleheader at Holmgren. They're both well aware of how bizarre it is for North Central to have to possibly (and now definitely) play Wheaton in the first round of the tourney proper on Wheaton's home field, with NCC as the "home team" -- but Ed's fine with it. It is what it is. Given all of the complex politics involved in CCIW baseball, it's practically a miracle that they managed to hash out this plan in the first place. Nobody's going to try to change it at the last minute and cause an uproar.

[Gregory Sager]

Once the seeds were determined, there was no reason why NCC couldn't be scheduled/switched to play in Naperville.

The only reason I can think of is that the tournament was set up well in advance, and the #1 seed was assigned to play at Lee Pfund Field.  The tournament managers must have decided to stick with that plan regardless of how the seedings actually worked out.

As usual, Mr. B states succinctly in one sentence what it took me four paragraphs to say.

[mr_b]

Once the seeds were determined, there was no reason why NCC couldn't be scheduled/switched to play in Naperville.

The only reason I can think of is that the tournament was set up well in advance, and the #1 seed was assigned to play at Lee Pfund Field.  The tournament managers must have decided to stick with that plan regardless of how the seedings actually worked out.

As usual, Mr. B states succinctly in one sentence what it took me four paragraphs to say.

That's why you do play-by-play and I never did the color commentary.

[WUPHF]

The football talk...

I so wish my team had played this season.

Looks like things are a go for the Fall.

[WUPHF]

Wait, this is baseball.

Football has been over for a while.

Pretend that I do not exist.

[mr_b]

CCIW first-round results, top four seeds all winners:

#1 North Central 8, #8 Wheaton 7
#2 Augustana 12, #7 Elmhurst 9
#3 Millikin 6, #6 Illinois Wesleyan 3
#4 Carroll 6, #5 North Park 2

Thursday's matchups:

Wheaton vs. North Park @ Naperville, first pitch at 11 AM
Elmhurst vs Illinois Wesleyan @ Naperville
North Central vs Carroll @ Carol Stream, first pitch at 11 AM
Augustana vs Millikin @ Carol Stream

[mr_b]

CCIW Tournament results, day 2:

North Park 5, Wheaton 5 (Wheaton eliminated)
Elmhurst 15, Illinois Wesleyan 3 (7 innings; IWU eliminated)
Carroll 11, North Central 6 (10 innings)
Millikin 5, Augustana 3

Friday's schedule can be found on the CCIW Tournament website.

[mr_b]

CCIW Tournament, Day 3:

Elimination games

North Central 9, Elmhurst 2
Augustana 2, North Park 1

The Cardinals and the Vikings square off in Naperville later this afternoon.