BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[mr_b]

After a rocky start to the deciding game, the Cardinals rally for four runs in the bottom of the 9th for a 13-12 victory.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I can't quite figure the likelihood of Augie getting a Pool C.  They will probably be second to the table in the Central (if Webster, who failed to win the SLIAC tourney, stays ahead of them.  I think the Central will probably not be shutout, but not sure they were strong enough this year to get two C bids.

[mr_b]

I can't quite figure the likelihood of Augie getting a Pool C.  They will probably be second to the table in the Central (if Webster, who failed to win the SLIAC tourney, stays ahead of them.  I think the Central will probably not be shutout, but not sure they were strong enough this year to get two C bids.

I don't know, either, but 30 wins will be hard to overlook.  The Augie pitching staff got roughed up the last two weeks -- North Park hit all three of their top starters hard and took one of three, and North Central put up 12 and then 13 runs on the Quad City Vikings.  The team with the best starting staff -- Wheaton -- lost both games.  Wesleyan got slid performances out of their starters but were also eliminated. Strange times in the CCIW this year.

[Mr. Ypsi]

On the plus side for Augie, they went 2-2 against RR teams (unless Wheaton falls out of the rankings, in which case they went 1-2); Webster only went 0-1 against RR teams in their tourney.  Augie jumping Webster is certainly not out of the question.  I'm gonna predict that EITHER Augie or Webster makes it, but probably not both - and I'm now leaning towards Augie.  (Alas, there is no way of knowing whether the committee had #3 Webster WAY above #4 Augie, or if it was a close call.)

[AndOne]

A very crazy day of baseball in Naperville today. In the first game, Augie came all the way back from a 10-0 deficit to actually take a 11-10 lead before North Central pushed across 2 in the ninth inning to take a 12-11 win. In the nightcap, Augie got out to leads of 8-2 and 10-3, and still led 12-9 going into the ninth where NCC plated 4 to snatch an improbable 13-12 tournament championship victory.

North Central overcame 3 errors in the first game, and 4 more in the second. Should that degree of sloppiness continue, I sense the Cardinals won't be long for the national tournament stage.

Cardinal Nick Rogalski certainly had a productive day, picking up closing victories in BOTH of today's thrillers.

[Mr. Ypsi]

d3baseball.com has both Webster and Augie making it, with Webster first, then Augie (12th of 13 Pool Cs).  That's cutting it a bit close for my taste!

Anyone know when we can expect the actual brackets?

[mr_b]

Here are the teams that made the tournament

North Central is the 5th seed in the Central, along with 1. Birmingham-Southern, 2. Washington U., 3. Wartburg, 4. Webster, and 6. Greenville.  That's going to be a very tough regional with lots of good pitching.

Augie did not get a Pool C bid.

[AndOne]

So NCC will play Wash U in the first round.
As far as Augie not making the field despite projections it would probably do so, it looks like NCC was really Augie's chief nemesis this year, giving AC 5 of it's 14 losses on the year. Wouldn't think the odds of going 5-0 against AC were very good at all.

[Mr. Ypsi]

So NCC will play Wash U in the first round.
As far as Augie not making the field despite projections it would probably do so, it looks like NCC was really Augie's chief nemesis this year, giving AC 5 of it's 14 losses on the year. Wouldn't think the odds of going 5-0 against AC were very good at all.

Maybe that explains why they went 5-1, rather than 5-0!

[AndOne]

So, my theory is proven correct!!!     

(Of course NCC played Augie three times in the tournament-Duh)

[mr_b]

Here is the All-CCIW Team for 2017. Congratulations to all those honored!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Somewhat surprised and disappointed that Augie didn't get a bid to the tourney.

Good luck to NCC - you're obviously quite a long-shot with the 5th seed.  But once in a blue moon it CAN be done - IIRC IWU was the 6th seed in 2010.

[Gregory Sager]

Somewhat surprised and disappointed that Augie didn't get a bid to the tourney.

I'm not. We're talking about an Augie team that opened its season with four games against a Brandeis team that went 6-21 this season. Although Augustana did go 2-1 against the three teams it faced that reached the 30-win threshold (Otterbein, Wartburg, and Bethel), it only played two other teams in in non-con play that had winning records besides those three -- and neither of those two other teams exceeded 22 wins this season. The Doggies clearly didn't have a strength of schedule that warranted a Pool C slot in the estimation of the national committee.

I've said all along that this was not a good year for CCIW baseball -- and the fact that a rather soggy Augie outfit was the only team in the league to surpass the 25-win mark does much to prove that.

Good luck to NCC - you're obviously quite a long-shot with the 5th seed.  But once in a blue moon it CAN be done - IIRC IWU was the 6th seed in 2010.

Fifty-five days! A new record! Way to go, Chuck!

[Gregory Sager]

Here is the All-CCIW Team for 2017. Congratulations to all those honored!

I wouldn't read too much into this, but here's the number of All-CCIW players who are eligible to return next season:

Augustana	3
Carthage	1
Carroll	2
Elmhurst	0
Illinois Wesleyan	1
Millikin	2
North Central	3
North Park	3
Wheaton	3

[Mr. Ypsi]

Somewhat surprised and disappointed that Augie didn't get a bid to the tourney.

I'm not. We're talking about an Augie team that opened its season with four games against a Brandeis team that went 6-21 this season. Although Augustana did go 2-1 against the three teams it faced that reached the 30-win threshold (Otterbein, Wartburg, and Bethel), it only played two other teams in in non-con play that had winning records besides those three -- and neither of those two other teams exceeded 22 wins this season. The Doggies clearly didn't have a strength of schedule that warranted a Pool C slot in the estimation of the national committee.

I've said all along that this was not a good year for CCIW baseball -- and the fact that a rather soggy Augie outfit was the only team in the league to surpass the 25-win mark does much to prove that.

Good luck to NCC - you're obviously quite a long-shot with the 5th seed.  But once in a blue moon it CAN be done - IIRC IWU was the 6th seed in 2010.

Fifty-five days! A new record! Way to go, Chuck!

Yeah, I said somewhat surprised, definitely not shocked.

And my ONLY two references to IWU 2010 were attempts to bolster the spirits of competitors!   The first was when you and Big Poppa sounded like you might throw in the towel on the season (I guess you were both prescient, but I thought premature), and now to cheer on NCC.

My motives were pure.  NOT to bask in the glow of the Walnut-and-Bronze!