BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

Titans win, 11-7.  Got a bit dicey in the bottom of the ninth: Rave led off with a HR, then two guys got on, but IWU escaped without further damage.

[Mr. Ypsi]

In this final game, looks like the Titans will have to try to out-slug Carthage - 2 innings in and the Titans are already on their third pitcher!  But they only trail 4-2 heading to the third.

[BigPoppa]

This is the problem for BOTH teams... lack of a bullpen. It is why neither will be a serious threat if they somehow make it to the NCAA Regional.

[Mr. Ypsi]

This is the problem for BOTH teams... lack of a bullpen. It is why neither will be a serious threat if they somehow make it to the NCAA Regional.

Yeah, in seven innings the Titans have used six pitchers!  As I expected based on the ifrst two innings, it is indeed a slugfest - IWU 13, Carthage 9 after seven.

[Mr. Ypsi]

IWU 14, Carthage 10 - FINAL.  I didn't actually watch video of any of the game, but apparently rather sloppy - after an error free game yesterday, and IIRC only a Titan error in the first game today (box score not yet up), the Titans had one error and the RedMen had FOUR.

IWU has been getting by in conference play simply by out-muscling teams, not by good pitching or fielding.  That is NOT the usual Titan way and is too subject to cold hitting days (plus, I'm sure their are plenty of teams around D3 that we simply can't out-slug).

But since the Titans are now all alone in first place, I'd better not whine too much - it would be most unseemly!

[BigPoppa]

Carthage is a mess right now... able to beat anyone on any day, and then fall apart and implode the next (giving up a 9-run inning in one game, four errors the next).

"It's the same old story," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV.  "We pound people early and give it up late.  It's getting old, even though there were some bright spots with the starting pitching.  It huts to lose these games late.  We were in total control in both games, and then one bad thing leads to another.  We're just not tough enough to overcome that right now.  We'll figure it out, but we have to hurry up and do it.  For most of the day, I thought we were the better team."

[Chantastic]

It looks like there is a clear top 5 in the CCIW - Augustana, IWU, Wheaton, North Central, and Carthage. I have a very hard time seeing Elmhurst, Millikin, or North Park contending this year.

[BigPoppa]

It looks like there is a clear top 5 in the CCIW - Augustana, IWU, Wheaton, North Central, and Carthage. I have a very hard time seeing Elmhurst, Millikin, or North Park contending this year.

NPU's slide is a shock to me. Luke Johnson really turned that program around... must just be one of those years right now, because I doubt he forgot how to coach. Which of those five contenders gets left home for the CCIW tourney? Carthage has already face IWU and Wheaton (one game left this week) so they may have some advantage as they one have to face two of other four contenders (Not certain how the other schedules finish out in CCIW play).

[Mr. Ypsi]

In the poll, NCC barely stayed in the Top 25, falling to #23.  Augie picked up 5 points.

I, too, am surprised to see NPU starting 2-6.  I'm sure Greg will understand and forgive me for hoping they fall to 2-7 on Wednesday.   This weekend they face Millikin - IF they can get a sweep they would be right back in contention for making the tourney.

[Gregory Sager]

It looks like there is a clear top 5 in the CCIW - Augustana, IWU, Wheaton, North Central, and Carthage. I have a very hard time seeing Elmhurst, Millikin, or North Park contending this year.

NPU's slide is a shock to me. Luke Johnson really turned that program around... must just be one of those years right now, because I doubt he forgot how to coach.

In all honesty, this is the second straight bad year for the Vikings, not the first. Last season NPU went 18-22, and what's worse, the Vikes were only 7-14 in CCIW play, breaking a five-year streak of CCIW tourney appearances.

Injuries have hurt the Vikings -- #2 starter Alex Vannucci has been out all season thus far with a shoulder problem, and the team's mainstay slugger, Dan Sabin, has been a shadow of his former self at the plate due to a nagging hip injury. But it goes beyond that. The Vikings are terrible in the field -- both their .941 fielding average overall and their .927 fielding average in CCIW play are dead last in the league, and the Park is giving up an average of almost two and a half unearned runs per game  -- and the bullpen has been beyond atrocious. The hitting has come around in league play; the Vikings couldn't hit at all on any of their three southern road trips, but their bats have been lively against Carthage, Illinois Wesleyan, and North Central. They simply can't score their way out of the deep holes that their pitching and defense continue to put them in. And, actually, those holes are being dug when the Vikings have already established leads; in five of NPU's six CCIW losses to date the Park has coughed up a lead, and in the first four of those five Heimlich maneuvers the leads were four, seven, four, and two runs, respectively.

I honestly don't know if it's a matter of a team that underperforms no matter what buttons Luke and Jake push, or if the talent level of the team has simply declined from that successful stretch that the Park had earlier in the decade, or if it's both. All I know is that I don't like it one bit ... a sentiment that Mr. B shares, and I'm certain that nobody's bothered by the program's downward slide more than Luke and Jake.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Another NON-pitchers' duel in Chicago - after four innings, NPU has 5 runs on 7 hits, IWU has 7 runs on 5 hits (the difference is walks and errors).  All in all, I prefer to lead in runs rather than hits!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Final in Chicago: IWU 16, NPU 10.  IWU led through-out until the Vikings got 4 in the bottom of the 6th, to take a 9-8 lead.  The Titans promptly played the Genesis card ("In the big inning"), putting up 8 runs in the top of the 7th.

[Gregory Sager]

Make that seven CCIW losses, six blown leads.

[Mr. Ypsi]

After six in Napperville, NCC all over the Titans, 9-1.

[Mr. Ypsi]

NCC 9, IWU 1 is now the final.  Poor fielding was again the killer, as NCC scored six unearned runs in the fifth.  Each team had ten hits, but the Cards made 'em count; the Titans didn't.  End of story.