BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Yeah, as I've been saying, CCIW pitching is brutal this season. The league ERA is 5.57; it was 5.17 season. An ERA hike of almost half a run for an entire league is absolutely massive.

Adding Carroll to the league hasn't helped matters, as the Pioneers have chalked up a 7.60 ERA and a horrid 2.05 WHIP, and opposing batters are feasting on them to the tune of a ridiculous .347/.424/.764 slash line. But the CCIW's pitching woes can't all be blamed upon the return of the league's prodigal son from the Midwest Conference. Carroll's only one team out of nine. The eight incumbent members of the CCIW really haven't done their part to hold up the league in the pitching department, either; Wheaton's pitching has improved significantly from last season, and Carthage has put up marginally better overall pitching numbers while Augie's have remained roughly the same. But everybody else has taken a pretty big tumble.

[Gregory Sager]

I take it that by "tenth member" you're referring to baseball only, BP. In that respect, yeah, the CCIW has plenty of associate members who only participate in one or two sports:

Concordia (WI)	wrestling
Dubuque	men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse
Lakeland	wrestling
Milwaukee Engineering	wrestling
Rose-Hulman	men's swimming, women's swimming
Washington (MO)	football (beginning in 2018)

... so it's possible that the league could opt to do that for baseball as well.

Each of the CCIW's six associate members has a baseball program, and each is already playing in that school's full-membership league: NACC for Concordia (WI), Milwaukee Engineering, and Lakeland; IIAC for Dubuque; HCAC for Rose-Hulman; and UAA for Washington (MO). The interesting thing is that the UAA only has seven members that have baseball programs -- Carnegie Mellon doesn't field a team in this sport -- and two of the seven choose not to play in the UAA for baseball. The league, for reasons unknown, allows them to do that. As Jim mentioned, Chicago is one of the two; the Maroons play an independent schedule. The other UAA stray, Rochester, plays in the Liberty League. One can hardly blame those two programs, as the UAA's tournament-based league schedule makes the league an odd duck in the D3 baseball world.

If the CCIW were to add an associate member for baseball, Chicago would be a natural fit. Nobody likes the headaches involved in scheduling as an independent, and the CCIW is a solid (albeit unspectacular) baseball league. From the CCIW's point of view, the Maroons are a competitive program based well within the league's geographical footprint, and you can never underestimate the cachet involved in getting an academic institution as high-powered as the University of Chicago into your circuit, even if it's just for one sport. But the CCIW, if it were to seek a tenth baseball program, might decide instead to give Wash U first right of refusal out of courtesy, since the Bears are already a nascent associate member of our league for football, and the UAA does not have an automatic bid to the D3 baseball tournament.

If, however, what you meant in asking if the CCIW will add a tenth member is whether or not the CCIW will add a tenth full member, the league's presidents have said that they're not actively seeking that. The league's needs seem to be amply met for the most part by having associate members in various sports in order to get the CCIW up to the seven-team minimum required for autobids to D3 tournaments, and if the nine-team sports in the CCIW want to follow the lead of football by adding a tenth for scheduling purposes, the CCIW could go the associate-member route in those sports as well.

And wouldn't you know it? One week to the day after I post this, the CCIW announced that it is adding Chicago as an associate member for women's lacrosse.

[BigPoppa]

Which increases the chances that Chicago joins as an Asscociate Member for baseball. Though it would make the conference schedule much tighter. Maybe move back to North South Divisions with three games vs in-division opponents and two vs out of division opponents? Would be 22 CCIW games at that point.

[Gregory Sager]

Given the short weather window in spring and the fact that it requires a minimum of two days to complete a baseball series (rather than one, as is the case in softball), a return to the old two-division setup would seem to be the logical way to go for the CCIW. And, as you said, having Chicago in the fold as an associate member in a different sport increases the chance that the Maroons could be added for baseball as well.

How would you divide the league, though? If you put the two city teams and the three suburban teams in the same division, with the five outlying teams in the other, IWU and Millikin would howl about having to make those long journeys to Carroll and Carthage, and vice-versa, while the games played in the geographically-compact division would be easy road trips. So I suspect that the divisions would look like this:

North Division	South Division
Carroll	Augustana
Carthage	Illinois Wesleyan
Chicago	Millikin
Elmhurst	North Central
North Park	Wheaton

Your suggestion, that the league have each team play three games against each intradivisional opponent and two against each interdivisional opponent for a total of 22 games, is sound. It would require only 13 game days per team -- 14 if you wanted to balance home and away evenly by having one interdivisional series be split into a home-and-away set on two separate days rather than a doubleheader -- rather than the current 16, and of course there'd be no byes to create an additional league-wide scheduling burden. The playoffs would likely feature the top two teams from each division, cross-matched #1N vs. #2S, #1S vs. #2N in the first round.

[BigPoppa]

Given the short weather window in spring and the fact that it requires a minimum of two days to complete a baseball series (rather than one, as is the case in softball), a return to the old two-division setup would seem to be the logical way to go for the CCIW. And, as you said, having Chicago in the fold as an associate member in a different sport increases the chance that the Maroons could be added for baseball as well.

How would you divide the league, though? If you put the two city teams and the three suburban teams in the same division, with the five outlying teams in the other, IWU and Millikin would howl about having to make those long journeys to Carroll and Carthage, and vice-versa, while the games played in the geographically-compact division would be easy road trips. So I suspect that the divisions would look like this:

North Division	South Division
Carroll	Augustana
Carthage	Illinois Wesleyan
Chicago	Millikin
Elmhurst	North Central
North Park	Wheaton

Your suggestion, that the league have each team play three games against each intradivisional opponent and two against each interdivisional opponent for a total of 22 games, is sound. It would require only 13 game days per team -- 14 if you wanted to balance home and away evenly by having one interdivisional series be split into a home-and-away set on two separate days rather than a doubleheader -- rather than the current 16, and of course there'd be no byes to create an additional league-wide scheduling burden. The playoffs would likely feature the top two teams from each division, cross-matched #1N vs. #2S, #1S vs. #2N in the first round.

Seems like a win-win for all involved including less class time missed. (and more flexibility for rain dates).

[Mr. Ypsi]

YIKES!!  IWU is down 9-0 after 5 to lowly Millikin!  Sean Coonan and Nick Huskisson have both crapped out on the mound for the Titans tonite.

Matt Banaitis, a leading candidate for CCIW Pitcher-of-the-Year (5-0, 1.91 ERA), has been virtually the only exception for the Titans to Greg and BP's claim that CCIW pitching stinks this year.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Well, the only good thing about game one is the Titans didn't get mercied.  Final was 9-0, Millikin.

In game two, Matt Banaitis may have blown his possible post-season honors: he lasted 1.2 innings, yielding 9 hits and 8 runs (all earned).  C'mon guys, this is freakin' Millikin you're playing!

[Gregory Sager]

Banaitis isn't going to win CCIW Pitcher of the Year, Chuck. Zach Morganstern of Augie is going to win it.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Banaitis isn't going to win CCIW Pitcher of the Year, Chuck. Zach Morganstern of Augie is going to win it.

I don't understand this post unless some nefarious backroom deal is in.  Morganstern is 3-1 with a 3.73 ERA (conference games).  Even after his one horrendous game, Banaitis is still 5-1, with a 3.96 ERA.  Even two of Morganstern's teammates (Mike Powers and Brad Dubow) seem to have better stats than him.  Based just on conference stats, Morganstern would not even be in my top five.

[mr_b]

Banaitis isn't going to win CCIW Pitcher of the Year, Chuck. Zach Morganstern of Augie is going to win it.

I don't understand this post unless some nefarious backroom deal is in.  Morganstern is 3-1 with a 3.73 ERA (conference games).  Even after his one horrendous game, Banaitis is still 5-1, with a 3.96 ERA.  Even two of Morganstern's teammates (Mike Powers and Brad Dubow) seem to have better stats than him.  Based just on conference stats, Morganstern would not even be in my top five.

Maybe this summary of conference-only stats will help:

Player	ERA	W-L	IP	K
McCraith, Michael, WHEATON	0.62	4-0	29.0	29
Tovell, Nathan, ELMHURST	2.01	2-0	22.1	11
Sulik, Tim, CARTHAGE	2.41	3-2	37.1	28
Powers, Mike, AUGIE	2.83	4-1	35.0	25
Dubow, Brad, AUGIE	3.13	3-0	23.0	27
Ferraro, Kyle, WHEATON	3.27	0-1	22.0	20
Tibor, Kevin, CARTHAGE	3.34	4-1	35.0	23
Paolicchi, Max, MILLIKIN	3.46	1-3	39.0	13
Kessinger, Brent, NPU	3.60	3-2	40.0	17
Bayer, Daniel, WHEATON	3.62	2-2	27.1	17
Polezoes, Austin, NCC	3.64	2-0	29.2	25
Morgenstern, Zach, AUGIE	3.73	3-1	41.0	45
DeRue, Chris, CARTHAGE	3.90	1-2	30.0	24
Banaitis, Matt, IWU	4.20	5-1	30.0	21

[mr_b]

Today's contest between North Park and Elmhurst has already been postponed.  The game is scheduled for tomorrow at 3 PM, followed by a game versus Carroll at 6 PM.

[Gregory Sager]

Banaitis isn't going to win CCIW Pitcher of the Year, Chuck. Zach Morganstern of Augie is going to win it.

I don't understand this post unless some nefarious backroom deal is in.  Morganstern is 3-1 with a 3.73 ERA (conference games).  Even after his one horrendous game, Banaitis is still 5-1, with a 3.96 ERA.  Even two of Morganstern's teammates (Mike Powers and Brad Dubow) seem to have better stats than him.  Based just on conference stats, Morganstern would not even be in my top five.

My bad. I meant Mike Powers, not Morganstern. Although, looking at the stats again, I think that McCraith from Wheaton now has the inside track.

But Banaitis is not going to win it.

[BigPoppa]

Carthage dug themselves a huge hole losing a pair to Augustana on Friday. They NEED a win there tomorrow or face another season without the CCIW tourney (can't believe I just wrote that).

[Mr. Ypsi]

Banaitis isn't going to win CCIW Pitcher of the Year, Chuck. Zach Morganstern of Augie is going to win it.

I don't understand this post unless some nefarious backroom deal is in.  Morganstern is 3-1 with a 3.73 ERA (conference games).  Even after his one horrendous game, Banaitis is still 5-1, with a 3.96 ERA.  Even two of Morganstern's teammates (Mike Powers and Brad Dubow) seem to have better stats than him.  Based just on conference stats, Morganstern would not even be in my top five.

My bad. I meant Mike Powers, not Morganstern. Although, looking at the stats again, I think that McCraith from Wheaton now has the inside track.

But Banaitis is not going to win it.

YIKES!!  IWU is down 9-0 after 5 to lowly Millikin!  Sean Coonan and Nick Huskisson have both crapped out on the mound for the Titans tonite.

Matt Banaitis, a leading candidate for CCIW Pitcher-of-the-Year (5-0, 1.91 ERA), has been virtually the only exception for the Titans to Greg and BP's claim that CCIW pitching stinks this year.

Well, the only good thing about game one is the Titans didn't get mercied.  Final was 9-0, Millikin.

In game two, Matt Banaitis may have blown his possible post-season honors: he lasted 1.2 innings, yielding 9 hits and 8 runs (all earned).  C'mon guys, this is freakin' Millikin you're playing!

Please note that I never predicted Banaitis would win the honor, only that he was a leading candidate - which with his pre-meltdown stats he sure better have been a leading candidate!

I'm never gonna understand baseball.   IWU is now 9-1 in conference road games and 4-6 in conference home games - and contrary to an earlier post I made it is NOT primarily a matter of WHO they played WHERE: 4 of their 6 home losses are to bottom-third NPU and Millikin!  They've somehow developed an allergy to Horenberger Field!

[Mr. Ypsi]

NCC has a busy week - better hope for no rain-outs!  DH today, single games T and W, DH on F, DH on Sat!   That's 8 games in 6 days - they may need to try to sneak in Naperville LL pitchers by the weekend.

Anyone know if this 'Final Week from Hell' was always on the schedule, or are there some make-up games?