BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

Gregory Sager · March 19, 2009, 02:55:57 PM

NPU shut out Benedictine yesterday, 6-0, behind another masterful pitching performance by reigning CCIW Pitcher of the Week Mike Giovenco. He scattered four hits and struck out 12 over eight innings as the Vikings improved their record to 8-3. North Park next hosts a doubleheader against Dominican on Saturday.

cciwlover74 · March 19, 2009, 09:41:10 PM

i hear NPU has two solid starters at the top of their rotation and they are a soph and fresh.?

BigPoppa · March 20, 2009, 01:39:53 PM

Quote from: cciwlover74 on March 19, 2009, 09:41:10 PM
i hear NPU has two solid starters at the top of their rotation and they are a soph and fresh.?

I am going to guess the freshmen is himself, Joel Bonnett. I give you some credit as you are 2-0 with a save, but you got a vulture win vs Monmouth by finishing the 8th and then your hitters scored 5 to take the lead in the 9th... I tip my cap for your save vs The College of New Jersey who is a solid program year after year... your other win was against a perenially terrible Wisconsin Lutheran team in a 19-4 win. While you appear to have the makings of solid CCIW pitcher, you will not face the hitters like Monmouth and WLU in the CCIW every week.

I may be wrong, but I have a feeling you just put a big target on your back once the CCIW starts next week.

If you are trying to be deceptive, you need to change your email address.

letsplay2 · March 20, 2009, 01:47:01 PM

Quote from: cciwlover74 on March 19, 2009, 09:41:10 PM
i hear NPU has two solid starters at the top of their rotation and they are a soph and fresh.?

Joel Bonnett... you should probably worry more about your performance on the mound rather than wondering if anyone has noticed yet. I hope I'm not alone on the board in saying that I'll wait until the CCIW season is well underway until I crown a freshman pitcher a solid top end starter. Either way, I would suggest leaving the posting to us until your 4 years are over.

As for Giovenvo... Im not too sold on him quite yet either. He is off to an outstanding start this season, but we'll see how he does once the conference season hits. Obviously he throws hard and can probably touch around 93-94 a couple times a game, but he is also very wild. Having faced him a couple times last year, he had trouble grooving fastballs when he would get behind in the count. When he started against us (Wheaton) last year, he was pulled after allowing 6 earned runs on 3 hits and 3 bb's before recording an out. I will say that he has a ton of potential and could very easily prove me wrong, but once he starts facing CCIW hitters I can't imagine his numbers staying where they are at. Again, I would have no problem with him proving me wrong because of the potential he has.

Gregory Sager · March 20, 2009, 02:06:50 PM

Quote from: BigPoppa on March 20, 2009, 01:39:53 PM
Quote from: cciwlover74 on March 19, 2009, 09:41:10 PM
i hear NPU has two solid starters at the top of their rotation and they are a soph and fresh.?

I am going to guess the freshmen is himself, Joel Bonnett.

If you are trying to be deceptive, you need to change your email address.

BUSTED!

Quote from: letsplay2 on March 20, 2009, 01:47:01 PM
As for Giovenvo... Im not too sold on him quite yet either. He is off to an outstanding start this season, but we'll see how he does once the conference season hits. Obviously he throws hard and can probably touch around 93-94 a couple times a game, but he is also very wild. Having faced him a couple times last year, he had trouble grooving fastballs when he would get behind in the count. When he started against us (Wheaton) last year, he was pulled after allowing 6 earned runs on 3 hits and 3 bb's before recording an out. I will say that he has a ton of potential and could very easily prove me wrong, but once he starts facing CCIW hitters I can't imagine his numbers staying where they are at. Again, I would have no problem with him proving me wrong because of the potential he has.

Hey, Giovenco is 4-0 with an 0.64 ERA this season. Of course his numbers aren't going to stay where they're at. Who can maintain that sort of pace? No starter's had an ERA that low in CCIW play in a decade and a half.

Players develop and get better, letsplay2. That's the nature of college sports. Giovenco was only a freshman last year, and it's reasonable to deduce that he was still learning how to pitch. It seems much more likely that he has improved his game than that he's still the same pitcher he was last season and his early numbers are thus a complete fluke.

RedmanFan35 · March 20, 2009, 03:28:06 PM

Top of the 8th UW Whitewater 4 Carthage 0
Carthage currently has more Errors(3) than Hits(2) this game. Let's hope this changes.

BigPoppa · March 20, 2009, 03:44:10 PM

Quote from: RedmanFan35 on March 20, 2009, 03:28:06 PM
Top of the 8th UW Whitewater 4 Carthage 0
Carthage currently has more Errors(3) than Hits(2) this game. Let's hope this changes.

Holding Whitewater to 4 runs is a good thing... not scoring any runs in not typical Carthage baseball.

Mr. Ypsi · March 20, 2009, 04:09:55 PM

Greg, while I'll assume you're right about the era's, just two years ago Aronson finished at 0.69, and was well below 0.64 right up 'til Augie got to him in the conference tourney. The entire team era was an absurd 1.38.

But your point (that it is highly unlikely an era of 0.64 will continue through conference play) is certainly a sound one. I suspect none of us will live long enough to see another pitching season like the Titans had in 2007.

RedmanFan35 · March 20, 2009, 04:11:06 PM

No it's not. I thnk hitting might be a huge question mark this year also. Ruffie picthed really well giving up 4 runs 3 earned in 7 innings. We changed Pitchers in the 8th gave up 5 runs and are currently down 9-0.

letsplay2 · March 20, 2009, 04:40:17 PM

Greg,
I completely agree with you there. I should have elaborated on what I meant by his numbers. I was referring more to his strikeouts and hits allowed. It goes without saying that his era is going to rise once conference season starts. I was just saying that I won't consider him a solid starter until he proves it in conference, not just in nonconference games. And like I said, he has a ton of potential, but even with his solid start, his walks are still somewhat high which makes me believe he is still struggling with his control.

BigPoppa · March 21, 2009, 01:08:21 AM

Carthage loses two games today to Whitewater 9-0 and to Otterbein 6-1. The Redmen fall to 4-4 on the season. I am not sure what to make of the Redmen this season... lots of ups and downs.

The CCIW race is going to be VERY interesting to watch this year...

RedmanFan35 · March 21, 2009, 07:17:47 PM

Interesting is definitely the word, Big Poppa !!! North Park looks like they want to get in the mix this year. Augustana at the very least is gonna hit the Ball and play good Defense, I have no idea what's going on with Wesleyan, but just based on recent History, it's hard to write them off. Carthage which is the team I know most about, and I don't want to get ahead of myself here, looks stacked on the mound. It's only the Spring trip but we're looking at strong starting Pitching going 6 deep with Ruffie, Perez, Jahne Llanas, Danly, Rohe, and Pucher. Maher could also be thrown into this mix. Once Augie and Cory figure out exactly what their rotation is going to be they'll be able to set up a Bullpen that will pretty tough to hit out of 3 of these guys. Foss will be back shortly and possibly even Krepline. I Love our Pitching !!! Defense is another story as it was last year. Though last year, we were able to Out Slug most teams. I don't see that happening this year. If they work within their limitations and take things, One base at a time, I think we'll be fine. Let Hughes, Sobol and from the early start Albers, hit the Long Ball. Everyone else, just get on base !!!

BigPoppa · March 22, 2009, 04:24:52 PM

Carthage rebounds from two terrible losses by defeating Otterbein Saturday and turning around and beating Whitewater on Sunday, 8-6. Great finish for the Redmen who return home from a brutally tough spring schedule with a 6-4 mark. Kudos for getting back on track and beating two quality teams that berat them only days earlier.

mtnest · March 22, 2009, 04:46:13 PM

has anyone heard how IWU did in St. Louis this weekend?

RedmanFan35 · March 22, 2009, 05:51:59 PM

Carthage really, Dug Deep, today. If they can win games like this giving up 6 unearned runs against a quality opponent, Imagine what they can do if they cut the errors down to 2 a game !!!Ha!!! All kidding aside, it seems like the Majority of the Errors are throwing. It's early in the year and those, mental errors, are usually the easiest to fix. With the , Spring Schedule, as tough as it was I was hoping for 7-3. 6-4 isn't that far off. These last 2 wins should give a little, confidence/momentum, leading into the start of the CCIW games.

Sorry MT, I checked the Wesleyan web-site and their giving up nothing on today's games.