BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[mr_b]

Football score from Chicago: North Park 14, Carthage 11.  The Red Men were up 2-0 after one inning (on a Vince Schwartz homer to the shallow porch in right) and 5-0 after two frames, but the Vikings bounced back with two in the second, five in the fourth, and six in the seventh, with key hits from Ranko Stevanovic (a 2 RBI single), Jake Reinhardt (a three-run homer plus another RBI single and a great play at short).  Five Carthage pitchers walked six batters and hit five more.  Schwartz made it interesting with a no-doubter grand slam to left in the ninth (to give him 8 RBIs on the day), but Justin Woolbright came in and retired the next three batters -- two on strikeouts -- to record his third save.  Carthage continues to swing the hot bat with 12 hits, while North Park had ten hits.  Viking hurlers walked only two and fanned 11 in the victory.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park kicked off the CCIW slate with a 14-11 victory over Carthage on an unusually temperate Wednesday afternoon at Holmgren. The Vikings fought their way back from an early 5-0 deficit to take a 7-5 lead; Carthage tied it up with a pair of unearned runs in the seventh before the Vikings exploded for a six-spot in the bottom half of the frame. They added another run on Anthony DiNardo's first career homer to take a full touchdown lead at 14-7 in the eighth before Red Men 1B Vince Schwartz cranked his second homer of the game over the left-field fence (it was hit so hard that it hit the softball retaining fence along Foster Avenue on the roll), this one with the bases loaded, in the top of the ninth to make it interesting. The granny gave Schwartz 8 RBI for the day. But Justin Woolbright came in and shut the door with three straight outs, two of them punchouts, to earn the save and preserve the win.

Neither pitching staff covered itself in glory, although Woolbright and Josh Ward, who handcuffed the Red Men for three innings in the middle of the game, were both solid. The difference is that the Carthage pitchers issued seven walks and hit four Vikings batters, and NPU took advantage of a lot of those extra baserunners. The Vikings also got a great game out of Jake Reinhardt, who hit a three-run homer and finished the day 2-4 with a pair of runs and 4 RBI and made a terrific play at shortstop.

Carthage can certainly hit, but, boy, Augie Schmidt's squad looks like it's really hurting for pitching.

This was a nice way to get the CCIW slate underway. NPU next entertains Augustana in a doubleheader on Saturday.

[Gregory Sager]

In other CCIW openers, Millikin almost came all the way beck from an 11-4 deficit in the Quad Cities, but fell just short, as Augustana walked away with an 11-10 victory. North Central disposed of Carroll in seven innings in Naperville, 11-1, as Luke Lamm twirled a four-hitter and gave up only an unearned run, walking one and striking out four. And Wheaton grabbed an early 6-0 lead and hung on to beat Illinois Wesleyan, 8-5, at Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream.

[Mr. Ypsi]

It's shaping up to be a long season in B'town, but perhaps an entertaining one.  The Thunder jumped out to a 6-0 lead after 3; IWU got one in the 5th and 1 more in the 6th, then Wheaton scored two in the 7th to restore a 6-run advantage.  But the Titans refused to fold (unlike me, who went and did other things after the 7th! ) and scored one in the eighth and two more in the ninth.  They couldn't get the win, but they certainly didn't quit.  They even eventually outhit Wheaton 14-13. 

They jump from the frying pan into the fire, as the weekend opponent is NCC (10-3, 1-0).  The first two games will be a DH in B'town, then a single game in Naperville.

I'm not at all sure they have the talent of past seasons, but they seem to have the fighting spirit.   And that alone can be worth several games (especially if Nick Brune is as good as I think he is, Quinn Gudaitis is as good as I hope he is, and Matt Blaney keeps doing a great job as a closer - and a couple of other pitchers step up).

[Mr. Ypsi]

I just studied the schedule.  Unless someone crawls out of the woodwork, the Titans are likely doomed to a very bad start in conference play.  I'm assuming that Brune and Gudaitis will start on Saturday against NCC.  We play a DH in Rock Island against 11-4-1, 1-0 Augie on Tuesday.  Dennis Martell does NOT have any history of risking young arms, so I'm assuming that will mean 3 straight games against the presumed top of the conference (NCC on Sunday, Augie on Tuesday) of pitching by committee (and the Titans have shown little evidence of having a 'committee').

Desperately seeking a silver lining, I suppose that means if they survive, they have strengthened the depth of the pitching staff for the post-season.

[BigPoppa]

The Redmen need to find some arms quickly.... I doubt their offense can carry them to the top of the CCIW. I am really hoping Odahl can get back on track and get the team rolling.

[Gregory Sager]

I learned yesterday that Odahl is dealing with injury issues.

[duckfan41]

I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing from Wheaton so far. Champlin has stepped up in a big way on the mound as support for McCraith who is shoving again, and Bolhuis who is still trying to find his stuff coming off of Tommy John surgery. Perhaps the biggest emergence has been Evan Ogden who has taken over the every day duties in right field. He was the CCIW hitter of the week last week, and didn't slow down against IWU last night. Consistent at bats have paid huge dividends for him!

Excited to see how this team continues to improve as long as they can stay healthy and continue their stellar defense that they have played so far behind their arms.

The first game of the series with Millikin tomorrow has been moved to Monday because of inclement weather in Decatur (I feel like that's always the case down there), and I haven't heard word on Saturday's double header also slated to be at Millikin.

[BigPoppa]

I learned yesterday that Odahl is dealing with injury issues.

That makes sense.

[duckfan41]

Per the Wheaton College Baseball twitter page, tomorrow's double header with Millikin has been moved to Lee Pfund Stadium for a 1 o'clock first pitch for Game 1.

[Gregory Sager]

Per the Wheaton College Baseball twitter page, tomorrow's double header with Millikin has been moved to Lee Pfund Stadium for a 1 o'clock first pitch for Game 1.

It's gonna be frigid in Carol Stream. We're expecting a high of 43 here on the North Side tomorrow -- and that comes with cloudy conditions and 17 mph winds out of the north, too -- so the doubleheader at Holmgren between NPU and Augie will be downright unpleasant to sit through. And we're only three miles from the lake here, so those'll be moderate conditions compared to what Wheaton and Millikin will experience out there in frozen suburbia.

[Mr. Ypsi]

NCC and IWU split a DH today, held in Naperville rather than B'town due to weather concerns down south.  The Titans won the opener, 5-2, behind yet another outstanding performance by Nick Brune.  He held the Cards scoreless for 7 innings, before running into some trouble in the 8th.  In the nightcap, Quinn Gudaitis definitely did not live up to my hopes (6 runs in 3.2 innings), and the Titans were steamrolled 16-9.

If the weather cooperates, game three of the series will be in B'town tomorrow.

[Gregory Sager]

The wonderful thing about a doubleheader is that it's an immediate opportunity for redemption. After doing absolutely nothing right in any phase of the game and getting skunked in eight innings by Augie, 14-1, NPU rebounded and edged the Doggies in the nightcap, 4-3. And the beautiful thing about it is that Augie's rout of a victory is identical in the win column to the narrow victory won by the Park in Game Two.

All four CCIW doubleheaders were splits today, so, since idle Carroll lost its league opener on Wednesday, there are no undefeated teams left after only two days of play. For 24 hours at least, North Park, Augustana, North Central, and Wheaton have first-place bragging rights at 2-1 apiece.

[markerickson]

Five HBP?  I cannot recall a game when I was a LL parent/coach years ago to the present...LL to MLB

[Gregory Sager]

Five HBP?  I cannot recall a game when I was a LL parent/coach years ago to the present...LL to MLB

That's nothing. North Central committed seven -- count 'em, seven -- errors in yesterday's nightcap against Illinois Wesleyan and still managed to win ... by seven runs.