BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[warrior35]

I was looking over NPU's stats this morning trying to find out what, in addition to their pitching, has led to their 19-3 start. The answer was easy... the have 41 HBPs and 55 stolen bases in 22 games. That is 96 extra bases that they did not have to swing to get.

CCIW free bases:

NPU- 96
Augustana- 52
Wheaton- 46
IWU- 42
Elmhurst- 41
North Central- 35
Carthage- 35
Millikin- 27

*Just sayin'... draw your own conclusions. NPU has more than doubled most of the CCIW conference. I know they have played a few more games, but they are still averaging aroun 4 free bases per game... in some way that HAS to lead to a few extra runs hear and there.

I'd be interested in a full "freebie" list that includes walks, wild pitches, pass balls, and errors.  I'm sure North Park will still be the leader by far, but I've always considered free bases to be more than just HBP and stolen bases.

Btw, Coach Johnson has always been very aggressive on the base path.  Early on in his career,  I don't know that his athletes fully understood the method to his madness.  They certainly do now.

[BigPoppa]

Augustana knocks off Carthage 2-1 in game one today. Carthage falls to 1-5 in CCIW play and 6-10 overall. Augie Schmidt must be beside himself... Unreal!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Augustana knocks off Carthage 2-1 in game one today. Carthage falls to 1-5 in CCIW play and 6-10 overall. Augie Schmidt must be beside himself... Unreal!

Is this starting to shape up as the worst season of the Augie Schmidt era?  When was his worst, and how bad was it?

[BigPoppa]

He went 4-28 in his first season in 88 and 20-20 the next season.

[Gregory Sager]

NPU 7
Wheaton 1

Steve Kuligowski (7-1, 1.20) scattered ten hits over eight innings to pick up the win, with Alex Silverthorne finishing up in the ninth for the Park. Wheaton only reached third base twice. Evan Rahn took the loss for the visitors, as the Vikings notched a dozen hits off of him and WC relievers Phillip Tuttle and Barrett Ahrberg. I figured that all of the big sticks in Wheaton's lineup might result in some homers today, but the only player who went yard was Tony Sanchez for the Vikes, who stuck one in the softball dugout out beyond the leftfield fence, just shy of Foster Avenue.

The two teams wind up their series tomorrow with a doubleheader out in Carol Stream.

I was looking over NPU's stats this morning trying to find out what, in addition to their pitching, has led to their 19-3 start. The answer was easy... the have 41 HBPs and 55 stolen bases in 22 games. That is 96 extra bases that they did not have to swing to get.

CCIW free bases:

NPU- 96
Augustana- 52
Wheaton- 46
IWU- 42
Elmhurst- 41
North Central- 35
Carthage- 35
Millikin- 27

*Just sayin'... draw your own conclusions. NPU has more than doubled most of the CCIW conference. I know they have played a few more games, but they are still averaging aroun 4 free bases per game... in some way that HAS to lead to a few extra runs hear and there.

I'd be interested in a full "freebie" list that includes walks, wild pitches, pass balls, and errors.  I'm sure North Park will still be the leader by far, but I've always considered free bases to be more than just HBP and stolen bases.

Btw, Coach Johnson has always been very aggressive on the base path.  Early on in his career,  I don't know that his athletes fully understood the method to his madness.  They certainly do now.

Wheaton made two key errors in today's game, both of which came when NPU had runners in motion -- one on a double steal that resulted in a run, the other on a bunt that resulted in two runs. Putting pressure on the Wheaton defense with aggressive baserunning was certainly a big part of the equation in NPU's win today.

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin blew a five-run lead, but still managed to beat Elmhurst, 10-9, on a Theo Facer homer in the bottom of the ninth. So much for my prediction that the Big Blue would go 0-21. In fact, MU is leading Elmhurst in the nightcap of their Good Friday doubleheader even as I type, 5-3 in the seventh.

Carthage is in danger of spiraling even further downward. The Red Men are losing in the eighth in the nightcap to Augustana, 9-3.

NCC @ IWU is scoreless in the second inning.

[BigPoppa]

Augie sweeps Carthage... Redmen drop to 1-6 in CCIW play:( I cannot say that I saw this coming. They can't score runs and can't catch the ball. 6-7 errors today...

[D3Vike11]

North Central leads Illinois Wesleyan 2-0 in the bottom of the 5th. Looking at the schedules, the end of the year series of North Park versus North Central could be for the conference title. The way North Park is playing, there's no doubt in my mind that the conference tourney will be hosted in Chicago.

[D3Vike11]

Illinois Wesleyan comes back in the 5th with 4 runs and beats NCC 4-3. Updated standings:

North Park      6-0
Ill. Wesleyan   5-1
NCC               4-2
Elmhurst         4-3
Augie             3-4
Millikin           2-5
Wheaton         1-5
Carthage         1-6

[warrior35]

10 hits... 10 hits and Wheaton only gets 1 run... that hurts. Aren't going to win too many games that way.  Not to take anything away from Kuligowski, I know he's a great pitcher.  It's just one of those stats that makes me scratch my head... not sure what's happened to Wheaton's bats.

[BigPoppa]

No offense... There is a reason that Wheaton is Wheaton.

[izzy stradlin]

No offense... There is a reason that Wheaton is Wheaton.

What is the reason?   I am curious. 

[NCF]

North Cental's loss to IWU yesterday dropped them to 13-5, 4-2 in CCiW play. the Cards play two today in Naperville against the Titans.

[D3Vike11]

Saturday Scores:

NCC 3 IWU 0 Top 7
Elmhurst 5 Millikin 4 Top 7
Carthage 4 Augustana 4 4th Inning
North Park 3 Wheaton 0 Bot 2

[NCF]

North Central defeats IWU in game 1,8-1.