BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[BigPoppa]

Updated CCIW: Not much of a data sample to go off yet, but some surprises. Millikin continues to win... Wheaton struggled a bit out of the gate...

Illinois Wesleyan   0-0   3-0
Millikin                   0-0   6-0
North Central           0-0   2-0
Elmhurst                   0-0   3-1
Augustana                   0-0   6-2
Carthage                   0-0   2-2
Wheaton                   0-0   2-3
North Park              0-0   2-5
Carroll                   0-0   0-0

[Gregory Sager]

After that first-weekend walkathon in Mississippi, NPU's pitching staff has greatly settled down and improved in the control department. I was filled with trepidation coming into this season, considering what the Vikings lost on the mound from a team that didn't pitch well last year to begin with, but, while I'm still not 100% sold, I like what I've seen thus far from North Park's relatively untested staff. Freshman Michael Pritts looks like he's going to have a very strong career as a starter, while, if Matt Pizur can get his unexpected control difficulties harnessed, he could emerge as the #1 starter I figured he'd be. The most impressive performance thus far has come from the staff's most experienced arm, senior Josh Smith, who threw a gem against Transylvania two days ago -- eight IP, seven hits, no walks, seven Ks, and only one unearned run in an 11-1 NPU victory.

The Vikings did cough up a pair of 2-0 leads and lost both games by a 3-2 scores this weekend, and some of that has to do with bad fielding by the Vikings, who have started the year with an ugly .935 team fielding percentage. They have to do a better job of helping out their inexperienced arms by not saddling them with extra baserunners to worry about.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the Vikings can do in Florida next week.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I certainly hope the CCIW is not as unbalanced as the Top 25 Poll suggests it is.  The conference coaches' poll suggested a fairly tight race involving NCC, Wheaton, IWU, and Augie (with Carthage and Millikin as dark horses).  The national poll has NCC #4 in the country, and no one else receiving a single vote!

I suspect that NCC is not that good, nor that the rest of the conference is that bad.

We'll begin to find out once CCIW territory can actually permit the playing of baseball!

[Gregory Sager]

We'll begin to find out once CCIW territory can actually permit the playing of baseball!

As I indicated last week, we've already gotten in a game here, Chuck.

[Mr. Ypsi]

We'll begin to find out once CCIW territory can actually permit the playing of baseball!

As I indicated last week, we've already gotten in a game here, Chuck.

Yeah, but that was a freak occurrence.  Try annually scheduling a home game the first week of March and see how many actually get played!

[Gregory Sager]

It's actually not that hard to play games here at the end of February or beginning of March, Chuck. The key is to have some flexibility, because you never know when you'll get snow on the ground (as in the light dusting we've had here in Chicago since the day before yesterday) and when it will melt. As for the temperature, cold is cold. It's probably going to be cold at the end of March when home openers are traditionally played, anyway -- there's only an 11-degree variance between the average high at the start of the month in northern Illinois and the end of the month -- so that's not unknown territory for baseball players from this part of the country.

The baseball schedule is becoming more and more compressed for CCIW teams. The return of Carroll to the league packs more games into the latter part of the season, while the expansion of the CCIW tournament that will begin next year will remove the possibility of playing tail-end games following the final weekend of the regular season. I think that coaches are going to have to get more and more creative about scheduling, and that may include playing some home games here and there before teams take their annual snowbird trips.

[BigPoppa]

It's actually not that hard to play games here at the end of February or beginning of March, Chuck. The key is to have some flexibility, because you never know when you'll get snow on the ground (as in the light dusting we've had here in Chicago since the day before yesterday) and when it will melt. As for the temperature, cold is cold. It's probably going to be cold at the end of March when home openers are traditionally played, anyway -- there's only an 11-degree variance between the average high at the start of the month in northern Illinois and the end of the month -- so that's not unknown territory for baseball players from this part of the country.

The baseball schedule is becoming more and more compressed for CCIW teams. The return of Carroll to the league packs more games into the latter part of the season, while the expansion of the CCIW tournament that will begin next year will remove the possibility of playing tail-end games following the final weekend of the regular season. I think that coaches are going to have to get more and more creative about scheduling, and that may include playing some home games here and there before teams take their annual snowbird trips.

Or make a trip to Minneapolis to play at US Bank Stadium. Teams can quickly get 3-4 games in as the facility hosts college games 24/7 right now. UM-Duluth and Bemidji State played a DH until 4AM last week.

[BigPoppa]

The Redmen move to 5-2 with their 3rd and 4th straight win with a DH sweep yesterday. A single game with Cornell today followed by a single with Rockford tomorrow... 7-2 would be a great start cor Carthage and 6-3 would be "meh." 5-4 would be a disaster in my eyes.... let's get rolling Big Red.

[BigPoppa]

Redmen finish the trip with a 7-2 record... this weekend in St. Louis should give us a clear picture of whether or not they are gonna be a contender or not.

[BigPoppa]

Redmen sweep a three game series at Fontbonne. That is 9 straight wins for Carthage as they move to 10-2. Are they back? Time will tell. While their starters appear to get it done, a shaky bullpen to this point scares me a bit.

[Ralph Turner]

Redmen sweep a three game series at Fontbonne. That is 9 straight wins for Carthage as they move to 10-2. Are they back? Time will tell. While their starters appear to get it done, a shaky bullpen to this point scares me a bit.

I expect Carthage to sweep Fontbonne, 4 times out of 5.

[mwunder]

CCIW so far...

Carthage	0-0	10-2
Augustana	0-0	11-3
Illinois Wesleyan	0-0	8-3
Carroll	0-0	4-2
Millikin	0-0	8-4
Elmhurst	0-0	5-3
Wheaton	0-0	7-5
North Park	0-0	5-7
North Central	0-0	2-4

Totals :  60-33  .645 Winning Pct.  Carthage did play a D2 team in AZ.  Didn't look close enough at the other teams schedules to see if they played outside of D3.

Tough week for North Central.  I'm sure they'll bounce back.

[BigPoppa]

Redmen sweep a three game series at Fontbonne. That is 9 straight wins for Carthage as they move to 10-2. Are they back? Time will tell. While their starters appear to get it done, a shaky bullpen to this point scares me a bit.

I expect Carthage to sweep Fontbonne, 4 times out of 5.

As did I, but early in the season, you never know.

[mr_b]

Tough week for North Central.  I'm sure they'll bounce back.

The week just got tougher: Denison took it to the Cardinals today by the score of 20-4.  The Big Red built up a 17-0 lead before North Central scored 4 runs in the bottom of the eighth.

[BigPoppa]

http://www.d3baseball.com/top25/2018/2018Top25-week-4

North Central took a massive nosedive in this week's poll. IWU got a few vote, but not enough to break into the Top 25.

I thought Carthage would get a vote or two this week, but not even a sniff for the Redmen who are 10-2 (10-1 vs D3 teams).