BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Illinois Wesleyan beat Wheaton in ten innings, 4-3.

Millikin now plays Augustana at Pfund, while Illinois Wesleyan plays North Central at Zimmerman.

[USee]

Bottom of the 10th bases loaded and the IWU batter leaned into a curveball that would have been a strike to take a hit batter and score the winner. Controversial at best.

[mwunder]

Millikin beats North Park, 10-3. There's never been any doubt that the Big Blue can hit, but I'm very disappointed in the performance of NPU's pitching.

Big Blue opens up a 4-0 lead to start game #3 of the tourney.  There's still only 1 out so they still add to the lead.

[Gregory Sager]

Well, now I don't feel so bad. Millikin skunked Augie, 14-1, in seven innings. The Big Blue piled up 19 hits against one of the better pitching staffs in the league.

Millikin is in its first CCIW tournament in 29 years, and the Big Blue are clearly making up for lost time.

[Mr. Ypsi]

For the first 2.5 innings, IWU/NCC was the opposite of a pitchers' duel (7-6 NCC in the middle of the third).  Suddenly, it became for real a pitchers' duel: in the middle of the 7th it is still 7-6!

[Mr. Ypsi]

For the first 2.5 innings, IWU/NCC was the opposite of a pitchers' duel (7-6 NCC in the middle of the third).  Suddenly, it became for real a pitchers' duel: in the middle of the 7th it is still 7-6!

I've got to remember to NOT make comments during games, as I immediately jinxed my Titans!  In the bottom of the 7th, NCC got 5 runs on four hits, two errors, and two wild pitches.   NCC wins it 14-6.

BTW, does anyone know the rationale for not counting wild pitches (and passed balls) as errors?  I understand that it can add clarity to a box score to list them separately, but they ARE errors, and can be just as costly as any other kind.

[mr_b]

BTW, does anyone know the rationale for not counting wild pitches (and passed balls) as errors?  I understand that it can add clarity to a box score to list them separately, but they ARE errors, and can be just as costly as any other kind.

In "Baseball Scorekeeping: A Practical Guide to the Rules" (McFarland  Publishing, 2003), author Andres Wirkmaa offers this explanation in conjunction with Rule 10.14 (f): "Although it is never expressly stated in the rulebook, errors are limited to certain fielding misplays. Insofar as the pitcher and the catcher are not in a true sense fielders when they are directly engaged in dealing with a batter in the batter's box, the misplays that arise in that limited context are excluded from being considered (fielding) errors.  Those misplays are nonetheless recorded and tallied, just as errors.  They are simply not categorized or counted as errors. Rather, they are considered separate and distinct from ordinary (fielding) errors.  The rulebook justifies its special treatment of pitchers and catchers when it comes to charging errors by declaring that the pitcher and catcher handle the ball much more than other fielders" (pp. 164-5).  This avoids pitchers and catchers being charged with several errors per game.  Pitchers and catchers are involved in every pitch of the game and warrant special categories for misplays on delivered pitches rather misplays than thrown or batted balls.  Wirkmaa terms WP's and PB's "quasi-errors."

[Mr. Ypsi]

BTW, does anyone know the rationale for not counting wild pitches (and passed balls) as errors?  I understand that it can add clarity to a box score to list them separately, but they ARE errors, and can be just as costly as any other kind.

In "Baseball Scorekeeping: A Practical Guide to the Rules" (McFarland  Publishing, 2003), author Andres Wirkmaa offers this explanation in conjunction with Rule 10.14 (f): "Although it is never expressly stated in the rulebook, errors are limited to certain fielding misplays. Insofar as the pitcher and the catcher are not in a true sense fielders when they are directly engaged in dealing with a batter in the batter's box, the misplays that arise in that limited context are excluded from being considered (fielding) errors.  Those misplays are nonetheless recorded and tallied, just as errors.  They are simply not categorized or counted as errors. Rather, they are considered separate and distinct from ordinary (fielding) errors.  The rulebook justifies its special treatment of pitchers and catchers when it comes to charging errors by declaring that the pitcher and catcher handle the ball much more than other fielders" (pp. 164-5).  This avoids pitchers and catchers being charged with several errors per game.  Pitchers and catchers are involved in every pitch of the game and warrant special categories for misplays on delivered pitches rather misplays than thrown or batted balls.  Wirkmaa terms WP's and PB's "quasi-errors."

Thanks!  Only sort of satisfying, but rules of games are ultimately arbitrary, and rarely fully satisfying logically!

But I do kind of like the term "quasi-errors".  That is a distinction for pitchers' WP, but why are pitchers' wild throws on bunts not distinguished from pitchers' wild throws on pick-off attempts?

And why am I trying to make logical sense out of the arbitrary rules of a game?

[mr_b]

BTW, does anyone know the rationale for not counting wild pitches (and passed balls) as errors?  I understand that it can add clarity to a box score to list them separately, but they ARE errors, and can be just as costly as any other kind.

In "Baseball Scorekeeping: A Practical Guide to the Rules" (McFarland  Publishing, 2003), author Andres Wirkmaa offers this explanation in conjunction with Rule 10.14 (f): "Although it is never expressly stated in the rulebook, errors are limited to certain fielding misplays. Insofar as the pitcher and the catcher are not in a true sense fielders when they are directly engaged in dealing with a batter in the batter's box, the misplays that arise in that limited context are excluded from being considered (fielding) errors.  Those misplays are nonetheless recorded and tallied, just as errors.  They are simply not categorized or counted as errors. Rather, they are considered separate and distinct from ordinary (fielding) errors.  The rulebook justifies its special treatment of pitchers and catchers when it comes to charging errors by declaring that the pitcher and catcher handle the ball much more than other fielders" (pp. 164-5).  This avoids pitchers and catchers being charged with several errors per game.  Pitchers and catchers are involved in every pitch of the game and warrant special categories for misplays on delivered pitches rather misplays than thrown or batted balls.  Wirkmaa terms WP's and PB's "quasi-errors."

But I do kind of like the term "quasi-errors".  That is a distinction for pitchers' WP, but why are pitchers' wild throws on bunts not distinguished from pitchers' wild throws on pick-off attempts?

Because on pick-off throws and bunts, the player is acting more like a fielder than a pitcher.  The attention has been shifted from the batter to a (potential) base runner.

[mr_b]

North Park eliminates Wheaton, 9-0, behind Ethan Sund's five-hit shutout.  Sund fanned ten, including two in the ninth inning.  NPU will face Augustana in an elimination game at 4 PM at Lee Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream.  According to the CCIW tournament schedule, if North Park wins again, they will play a third game at 7 PM against Illinois Wesleyan.  Am I misreading the schedule or is there a typo?

In a class move and with the game pretty much out of hand, Wheaton coach Matt Husted called on senior hurlers Luke Kram and Caleb Selk to end their careers by facing a couple of batters in the 9th.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park ends Wheaton's season with a 9-0 win over the Sonic Atmospheric Disturbance. The Vikings offense did a great job of nickel-and-diming the six Wheaton pitchers they faced with an assortment of walks, singles, and doubles, while on the mound sophomore Ethan Sund was tremendous. Sund went the distance for the complete-game shutout win, scattering five hits and three walks while striking out ten Wheaton batters.

If Sund doesn't throw another pitch this season, he'll end the year with a 1.66 ERA, the seventh-best in program history and the lowest ERA by a qualifying Vikings pitcher since Brian Baldea finished with a 1.59 ERA in 1975. I wish we could clone Sund.

[Gregory Sager]

According to the CCIW tournament schedule, if North Park wins again, they will play a third game at 7 PM against Illinois Wesleyan.  Am I misreading the schedule or is there a typo?

Nope, you've got it right. That's the hand North Park has been dealt. If the Vikings want to survive until Saturday, they're gonna have to marathon their way through three wins today.

[mr_b]

According to the CCIW tournament schedule, if North Park wins again, they will play a third game at 7 PM against Illinois Wesleyan.  Am I misreading the schedule or is there a typo?

Nope, you've got it right. That's the hand North Park has been dealt. If the Vikings want to survive until Saturday, they're gonna have to marathon their way through three wins today.

I seem to recall a prohibition against playing three games in a single day in the CCIW.  Maybe it was specifically against triple-headers. 

[AndOne]

According to the CCIW tournament schedule, if North Park wins again, they will play a third game at 7 PM against Illinois Wesleyan.  Am I misreading the schedule or is there a typo?

Nope, you've got it right. That's the hand North Park has been dealt. If the Vikings want to survive until Saturday, they're gonna have to marathon their way through three wins today.

I seem to recall a prohibition against playing three games in a single day in the CCIW.  Maybe it was specifically against triple-headers.

Perhaps a rule applicable to the regular season, but inconsequential to tournament action?

[Gregory Sager]

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday Millikin looked like the 1927 Yankees against North Park and Augustana. Today the Big Blue only managed three singles and a couple of walks against Charlie Klemm, as North Central topped MU, 4-0.