BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Mr. Ypsi]

The CCIW does have a team in the (softball) world series, as IWU sweeps UWW in a DH today (my understanding is that baseball goes to the super regional format next season).  Now if NCC can only get a CCIW team in the baseball world series!

This is the third straight year that IWU softball has won the super regional.  All three times, they lost the Friday game, then swept the Saturday DH.  I don't LIKE being on the brink of elimination, but with a streak like that I may get nervous if they ever win a Friday game!

[mr_b]

Dubuque eliminates North Central, 8-4.  The Cardinals finish the season 29-14.

[Gregory Sager]

North Central is the clear and heavy early favorite to repeat yet again as CCIW champs in 2019. The Cardinals will lose their ace, Russell Hoh, but the only other senior on the entire roster is Hoh's fellow righthander, bullpen arm Anthony Serafini. Given how dominant the Cards were this past season, the current gap between them and the rest of the league in terms of returnees is massive.

Carthage probably gets the nod as the early preseason pick for second, but that's a very distant second. The Red Men will have to account for the loss of ace Kevin Tibor, some well-used bullpen arms, and three solid bats in Joe Sisk, Nick Pierce, and Ryan Dalton, but there's a very strong core left among both pitchers and position players.

The bad news for Augustana is that it loses five starting position players to graduation, although Augie fans can be consoled by the fact that Ryan Kairis, Jack Hallmark, and Gunnar Haskins aren't among them. The good news for Augie fans is that the starting rotation of the Rock Islanders returns intact next season, including the league's top returning pitcher in Mike Powers. The Augie staff does lose CCIW saves leader and All-CCIW second-teamer Mitch Malone, however.

North Park, as I said earlier, loses one heavily-used arm who shuttled between starter and reliever (Josh Smith), and two strong bats who played the premium defensive positions (SS Seth Dvorak and C Cam Adams), as well as reliable OF Joe Koutnik. Dvorak and Adams are the biggest losses, but if the Vikings can find a way to adequately replace them NPU should be in good shape going into next season.

Elmhurst loses only four seniors, although they were each an important piece to the puzzle for a team that narrowly missed out on the CCIW tourney. Reagan McReynolds was the team's top offensive threat, James Wick was the primary catcher, Nick Drago was the team's ace, and Austin MacMillan was both a rotation starter and a regular position player when he wasn't pitching. Still, the Bluejays look like a solid bet to contend for a playoff spot in '19.

Illinois Wesleyan loses three position starters next season, one of which is the team's best hitter, Gino Cavalieri. The good news for the Titans is that there's still three very good offensive threats left in the lineup for next season in Nick Figus, Brandon Skopick, and John Bosco, and the pitching staff returns more or less intact (although it wasn't particularly solid this season). Like Elmhurst, IWU looks like a viable candidate to get back into the CCIW tourney next season.

Carroll will be hit hard by graduation. Jacob Langford, one of the league's top hitters, is gone, as is top power guy A.J. Johnson and ace Carter Howard. Around them are a whole lot of useful-pieces kinds of guys who will also depart. Given how far back the Pios finished this season even with such solid producers as Langford, Johnson, and Howard, I don't see them making a move in '19.

Millikin loses a lot of this season's lumber, including power bats Devin Crews and Jake Drada. The good news for the Big Blue is that the pitching staff returns entirely intact. Millikin might be a dark-horse contender for a playoff spot next season.

That leaves last-place Wheaton. The Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance loses two position players, Johnny Peltz and Seth Meyer, #2 starter Ty Hoeksema, and closer Nick Johnson. WC will return one of the league's best pitchers in Michael McCraith and a solid hitter in Ben Brittain, but that's a team that needs a strong infusion of incoming talent if it wants to make a mark in 2019.

[duckfan41]

North Central is the clear and heavy early favorite to repeat yet again as CCIW champs in 2019. The Cardinals will lose their ace, Russell Hoh, but the only other senior on the entire roster is Hoh's fellow righthander, bullpen arm Anthony Serafini. Given how dominant the Cards were this past season, the current gap between them and the rest of the league in terms of returnees is massive.

Carthage probably gets the nod as the early preseason pick for second, but that's a very distant second. The Red Men will have to account for the loss of ace Kevin Tibor, some well-used bullpen arms, and three solid bats in Joe Sisk, Nick Pierce, and Ryan Dalton, but there's a very strong core left among both pitchers and position players.

The bad news for Augustana is that it loses five starting position players to graduation, although Augie fans can be consoled by the fact that Ryan Kairis, Jack Hallmark, and Gunnar Haskins aren't among them. The good news for Augie fans is that the starting rotation of the Rock Islanders returns intact next season, including the league's top returning pitcher in Mike Powers. The Augie staff does lose CCIW saves leader and All-CCIW second-teamer Mitch Malone, however.

North Park, as I said earlier, loses one heavily-used arm who shuttled between starter and reliever (Josh Smith), and two strong bats who played the premium defensive positions (SS Seth Dvorak and C Cam Adams), as well as reliable OF Joe Koutnik. Dvorak and Adams are the biggest losses, but if the Vikings can find a way to adequately replace them NPU should be in good shape going into next season.

Elmhurst loses only four seniors, although they were each an important piece to the puzzle for a team that narrowly missed out on the CCIW tourney. Reagan McReynolds was the team's top offensive threat, James Wick was the primary catcher, Nick Drago was the team's ace, and Austin MacMillan was both a rotation starter and a regular position player when he wasn't pitching. Still, the Bluejays look like a solid bet to contend for a playoff spot in '19.

Illinois Wesleyan loses three position starters next season, one of which is the team's best hitter, Gino Cavalieri. The good news for the Titans is that there's still three very good offensive threats left in the lineup for next season in Nick Figus, Brandon Skopick, and John Bosco, and the pitching staff returns more or less intact (although it wasn't particularly solid this season). Like Elmhurst, IWU looks like a viable candidate to get back into the CCIW tourney next season.

Carroll will be hit hard by graduation. Jacob Langford, one of the league's top hitters, is gone, as is top power guy A.J. Johnson and ace Carter Howard. Around them are a whole lot of useful-pieces kinds of guys who will also depart. Given how far back the Pios finished this season even with such solid producers as Langford, Johnson, and Howard, I don't see them making a move in '19.

Millikin loses a lot of this season's lumber, including power bats Devin Crews and Jake Drada. The good news for the Big Blue is that the pitching staff returns entirely intact. Millikin might be a dark-horse contender for a playoff spot next season.

That leaves last-place Wheaton. The Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance loses two position players, Johnny Peltz and Seth Meyer, #2 starter Ty Hoeksema, and closer Nick Johnson. WC will return one of the league's best pitchers in Michael McCraith and a solid hitter in Ben Brittain, but that's a team that needs a strong infusion of incoming talent if it wants to make a mark in 2019.

Great summary on all the teams moving into next year, but if I may, I'd like to address your assessment of Wheaton. This season was an anomaly in that nearly 20 of the 35 players on the team dealt with a serious injury of some kind during this season, with nearly 5 guys suffering season ending injuries, three of those before the season even started. Two of those three being Christian Bolhuis (a weekend starter from the time he stepped on campus in 2015) and Brett Albaugh, who had more homers by himself last year than the entire Wheaton squad this year. They are now healthy and looking to come back with force next season. On top of this, Nick Mailman (who did have his struggles this season, along with everyone except for maybe Joel Pierce) returns to anchor a very experienced outfield. I feel that they have talent already that was hurt this year returning that can sure be complimented by incoming guys, but next season won't rest entirely on incoming guys. Just my two cents!

[Gregory Sager]

Keep in mind, though, that many of the other teams in the league had similar losses to injury that affected their lineups or their rotations in 2018. What may seem to you to have been a mitigating circumstance for Wheaton (and a bright spot for a bounceback season for WC in 2019) might not have been as much of a mitigating circumstance as you think it is.

[npbaseball40]

2018 All-Central Region Award Winners in the CCIW
(Link: http://www.d3baseball.com/awards/all-region/2018/index)

Player of the Year
3B Michael Mateja - North Central

Rookie of the Year
C Rob Marinec - North Central

First Team
3B Michael Mateja - North Central
OF Mike Wisz - North Central
DH Jon Walters - Millikin

Second Team
C Rob Marinec - North Central
SS Seth Dvorak - North Park
3B Gino Cavalieri - Ill. Wesleyan
OF Devin Crews - Millikin
OF Nick Figus - Ill. Wesleyan

Third Team
SP Russell Hoh - North Central
SP Kevin Tibor - Carthage

[npbaseball40]

2018 ABCA All-Central Region Award Winners in the CCIW
(Link: https://www.abca.org/ABCA/Awards/All-Region/NCAA_Div_III/2018.aspx)

First Team
C Rob Marinec - North Central
3B Michael Mateja - North Central
SS Jacob Langford - Carroll
OF Mike Wisz - North Central

Second Team
2B Jon Walters - Millikin
SS Seth Dvorak - North Park
3B Gino Cavalieri - Ill. Wesleyan
OF Devin Crews - Millikin
OF Nick Figus - Ill. Wesleyan
P Mike Powers - Augustana
P Kevin Tibor - Carthage

Third Team
1B Cullen Gilbertson - North Park
2B Trey Compton - Elmhurst
3B Reagan McReynolds - Elmhurst
OF Ryan Kairis - Augustana
P Mitch Malone - Augustana
P Chris Refka - Augustana

17 CCIW student-athletes were represented in ABCA All-Region selections.

[AndOne]

Congrats to North Central's Michael Mateja and Mike Wisz on being named to the 2018 D3BASEBALL.COM ALL-AMERICA TEAM. They were the only 2 CCIW representatives.

http://www.cciw.org/news/2018/5/23/north-centrals-mateja-wisz-named-to-2018-d3baseball-com-all-america-team.aspx?path=baseball

[Mr. Ypsi]

A brief softball interruption to congratulate the CCIW All-Americans.  Sam Berghoff, IWU shortstop, was named to the first team.  Amy Wiegand, IWU pitcher, and Emily Miller, NCC outfielder, were named to the second team.  Great job to all three young ladies (and they ARE young - Berghoff and Wiegand are both sophs, Miller is a frosh!)

[Gregory Sager]

Chuck, there is a softball page on this website, you know.

This isn't it.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Chuck, there is a softball page on this website, you know.

This isn't it.

Yes, I know, and have posted there.  But they don't have a CCIW thread.  Since this was to congratulate CCIW players in a different, but somewhat related, sport, this seemed the most appropriate location.  Sorry to have offended you.

[Gregory Sager]

Not offended. Just a little ... um, exasperated is probably too strong a word. Nettled, perhaps?

It's really a matter of the people who follow this room probably not caring even one little bit about softball, despite the similarities between the two sports.

[AndOne]

Not offended. Just a little ... um, exasperated is probably too strong a word. Nettled, perhaps?

It's really a matter of the people who follow this room probably not caring even one little bit about softball, despite the similarities between the two sports.

Or maybe caring, but just a little bit. Perhaps something like who won the conference. But, beyond that, preferring to look up any info, stats, articles, etc., that they may be interested in on an individual basis rather than being bombarded with every bit of information available on the subject. Especially when that subject is something outside the title of the room. 🤔

[mwunder]

Who won the D3 softball championship??  I've been coming here for the past 48 hours looking for the results.

[Ralph Turner]

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Softball/News/2018/May/21/Field-set-for-2018-NCAA-Division-III-Softball-Championship

There are some familiar names among the 8 finalists.

Sorry Mr Ypsi.


https://www.ncaa.com/news/softball/article/2018-05-29/division-iii-softball-virginia-wesleyan-wins-second-straight

VWC 3, IWU 1.