BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[BigPoppa]

Regarding talent from the Fox Cities, a lot of mid-major D1s have have worked their way into the Valley and the kids that used to land at UWO, Carthage, Stevens Point, etc... are being scooped up by the likes of Xavier, Bradley, Valpo, St Louis, etc...

Whitewater has maintained its ability to grab top kids and has been very successful as a result. St Norbert has also  done well in the Fox Valley getting some kids to stay home. Granted the academic standards are ridiculous, but I have always been baffled by Lawrence University's inability to build a solid program in Appleton.

[cubs]

Regarding talent from the Fox Cities, a lot of mid-major D1s have have worked their way into the Valley and the kids that used to land at UWO, Carthage, Stevens Point, etc... are being scooped up by the likes of Xavier, Bradley, Valpo, St Louis, etc...

Whitewater has maintained its ability to grab top kids and has been very successful as a result. St Norbert has also  done well in the Fox Valley getting some kids to stay home. Granted the academic standards are ridiculous, but I have always been baffled by Lawrence University's inability to build a solid program in Appleton.

Central Michigan and their St. Norbert laden staff is another one...

[npbaseball40]

Congratulations to NPU's Reinhardt and NCC's Shanner on being named the league's hitter and pitcher of the week, respectively.

https://cciw.org/news/2021/4/27/north-parks-reinhardt-north-centrals-shanner-named-cciw-baseball-players-of-the-week.aspx

Reinhardt royally screwed out of national honors, despite having one of the best offensive weeks by a shortstop all season while committing no errors.

[Gregory Sager]

Yep. He clearly had a better week than Colin Kelly of Union.

Perhaps the person(s) who select the d3baseball.com Team of the Week picked Kelly because his performance put him over the top on the Dutchmen career leaderboard and allowed him to break a couple of school career records this week. If so, that's pretty weak sauce (no pun intended), because it's not Team of the Career -- it's Team of the Week. And Reinhardt had a better week than Kelly, straight up.

[npbaseball40]

Yep. He clearly had a better week than Colin Kelly of Union.

Perhaps the person(s) who select the d3baseball.com Team of the Week picked Kelly because his performance put him over the top on the Dutchmen career leaderboard and allowed him to break a couple of school career records this week. If so, that's pretty weak sauce (no pun intended), because it's not Team of the Career -- it's Team of the Week. And Reinhardt had a better week than Kelly, straight up.

Maybe I should just start making up career marks to get him recognized. How about "most career home runs by a shortstop who is also the primary stat panel operator"? Or maybe "most career home runs by a shortstop with red hair"?

If this team of the week were a sauce, it'd be ranch dressing.

[Gregory Sager]

[mr_b]

Reinhardt also had better stats than several other POW honorees.

[mr_b]

North Park University shortstop Jake Reinhardt just wrapped up the most amazing four-game offensive production I have ever witnessed in my 20+ years of scorekeeping at the NCAA Division III level. In four games against conference rival Carthage College, Jake went 9-for-18 with 17 RBIs, 10 runs scored, and eight home runs. Most of the round-trippers were no-doubters, probably 370-400+ feet each to center or left field (only one was a relative "cheapie" to the short porch in right field at Holmgren).  What an offensive display.  I just don't understand why he wasn't intentionally walked every time after he hit two homers in the first game of the series.  With this outburst, he has tied the single-season record for home runs (14, set back in 1987 by Steve Zetterlund) and still has several games left to break it... if anyone will pitch to him!  Congratulations, Jake!

[Gregory Sager]

I'm absolutely stunned. As I said on the air today, "Right now, Jake Reinhardt looks like a major-leaguer playing Class A ball." I mean, eight homers in one weekend of baseball? That's nuts!

I've never seen anybody hit one out to dead center at Holmgren before. I guessed that it went about 435 feet; Tyler thinks it was closer to 450. Either way, Luke Johnson told me he watched that ball go out from where he was standing in the third-base coaching box, and he said that it bounced off of the cement in the Holmgren entryway and leaped over the cars parked there and the outer fence and went into the North Shore Channel. That made two channel balls that Jake hit today, as his other Game One homer cleared the stadium on the fly in right center and splashed down in the channel.

Am I correct, Mr. B, in stating that Jake joins Zach Deutscher as only the second Viking ever to hit three homers in one game?

I saw Steve Zetterlund play, and he was a prodigious hitter. I didn't think that his homer record would ever be equaled. And here Jake Reinhardt has tied it while only playing 75% as many games (33 to 44) thus far as Zetterlund played in '87. And to think that a couple of weeks ago all we could talk about was how many triples Reinhardt was hitting when he was leading all of D3 in that category. As my broadcast partner Scot Gladstone said, "I guess that Jake got tired of doing all that running, and switched to hitting homers."

I just don't understand why he wasn't intentionally walked every time after he hit two homers in the first game of the series.

On my way out of Holmgren once the doubleheader was over, I stopped to ask a couple of Carthage players, "Why in the world did Augie Schmidt make you guys keep pitching to Reinhardt?" They both burst into laughter, and one of them said, "Well, Augie told us that when he was in college he got intentionally walked all the time, and it made him so mad that he swore he would never intentionally walk an opposing batter when he became a coach."

With this outburst, he has tied the single-season record for home runs (14, set back in 1987 by Steve Zetterlund) and still has several games left to break it... if anyone will pitch to him!  Congratulations, Jake!

When I was in Charcoal Delights afterwards, NPU freshman OF/P Mason Carlisle was standing in line at the counter as some Carthage parents walked in. One of the Carthage dads saw Mason's North Park cap and equipment bag, walked up to him and said, "Hey, can you do me a favor? Can you get #3's autograph for me?"

Funny thing was, Jake later came into the restaurant with Jared Cantu and their dads, and the Carthage people didn't recognize him. I was glad about that, because Jake's so modest that he probably would've been embarrassed.

After Jake launched his third homer of the game (and fifth of the day, and eighth of the weekend) well over the fence in left center, I yelled on the air, "Take that, d3baseball.com!" I'm not proud of that. I meant it ... but I'm not proud of it.

[Gregory Sager]

Lost in all of the Reinhardt hoopla is the fact that Ranko Stevanovic tied the all-time North Park record for doubles in a season (16) today. So congrats to Ranko as well!

[mr_b]

Am I correct, Mr. B, in stating that Jake joins Zach Deutscher as only the second Viking ever to hit three homers in one game?

Yes, as far as I know, but there are no scorebooks available from the pre-Luke Johnson era, at least none that have been unearthed. As a baseball historian, that is very frustrating. Steve Zetterlund might have hit three in one game, and other Viking greats such as Randy Ross or Anthony D'Andrea could have, too.  I was told that Cory Clark (I think) had a potential third home run ruled foul during the crazy 31-18 win over the University of Chicago back in 1999.  But given our current available data, Reinhardt and Deutscher are the only two players with three round-trippers in a game.

[cubs]

North Park University shortstop Jake Reinhardt just wrapped up the most amazing four-game offensive production I have ever witnessed in my 20+ years of scorekeeping at the NCAA Division III level. In four games against conference rival Carthage College, Jake went 9-for-18 with 17 RBIs, 10 runs scored, and eight home runs. Most of the round-trippers were no-doubters, probably 370-400+ feet each to center or left field (only one was a relative "cheapie" to the short porch in right field at Holmgren).  What an offensive display.  I just don't understand why he wasn't intentionally walked every time after he hit two homers in the first game of the series.  With this outburst, he has tied the single-season record for home runs (14, set back in 1987 by Steve Zetterlund) and still has several games left to break it... if anyone will pitch to him!  Congratulations, Jake!

It reminds me of the "weekend" UWO's Tim Jorgenson had about 25 years ago when he hit 6 HR's in a DH against Eau Claire, including the "HR cycle" in the nightcap.  Those were the only two games UWO played that week as it was the WSUC Championship and the final games of the regular season before the Midwest Regional started the following week.

[npbaseball40]

Most of the round-trippers were no-doubters, probably 370-400+ feet each to center or left field (only one was a relative "cheapie" to the short porch in right field at Holmgren).

By my estimation, his furthest homers were 450, 430, and 415. The 450' homer was a ball that landed in the marsh in right-center field at Carthage on Saturday. The 430' homer was the one that bounced on the concrete walkway at Holmgren, and the 415 footer went to right-center and rolled into the River at Holmgren.

I've had the opportunity to watch Jake play since he was 16 - coaching him, Justin Woolbright, Jared Cantu, and newcomer Carson Blatchford - on the Rockford Big Dogs summer travel team with my father, Tom. Jake was a top tier shortstop then, but he's been on another level these past two weeks. I'd say that I can't wait to see where he finishes, but I don't want this special season to end.

[Pat Coleman]

Yep. He clearly had a better week than Colin Kelly of Union.

Perhaps the person(s) who select the d3baseball.com Team of the Week picked Kelly because his performance put him over the top on the Dutchmen career leaderboard and allowed him to break a couple of school career records this week. If so, that's pretty weak sauce (no pun intended), because it's not Team of the Career -- it's Team of the Week. And Reinhardt had a better week than Kelly, straight up.

I mean, the guy Jim picked did literally have a 2381 OPS for the week. It's not as if he didn't do anything, guys.

[Gregory Sager]

Colin Kelly last week: 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 runs scored
Jake Reinhardt last week: 4 HR, 11 RBI, 9 runs scored