BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[CardinalAlum]

Not much chatter in here on baseball...Cardinals are on a roll having won 11 straight and stay undefeated in CCIW play.  The Cards moved up one spot to #8 in the D3Baseball.com top 25.

[Gregory Sager]

Well, North Park had an interesting day yesterday. It's not every day that you erase a six-run deficit late in the game and then win it in extra innings on a walk-off squeeze play.

As a corollary to that late comeback by the Vikings, it's for certain that no lead is safe for Carthage with that pitching staff of theirs. To be fair, though, the Firebirds aren't the only team in the league that can't seem to get it done on the mound. This compressed schedule is killing CCIW pitching; over half of the teams in the league have team ERAs over 7.00, and Illinois Wesleyan's isn't much better than that, either. Poor Elmhurst, which blew leads of 5-0 and 9-5 yesterday in a 15-12 loss to Dominican, has a team ERA over 10.00. Opposing batters are hittting .349 against Bluejays pitching.

Of the three games played yesterday involving CCIW teams (Elmhurst @ Dominican, Carthage @ North Park, and IIT @ Wheaton), the six teams averaged 13 runs apiece. The last nine games played involving CCIW teams have seen at least one of the two teams reach double figures in runs. It used to be a rarity to see a team score 20 runs in a game; it's happened seven times already this season in a game involving a CCIW team, and Wheaton came close yesterday by putting up 19 against the Scarlet Hawks.

I used to be the commissioner of a church softball league. That was a circuit filled with pitcher's duels compared to what the CCIW has become.

[CardinalAlum]

With today's 3-2 victory over Elmhurst, NCC wins their 7th straight CCIW Title and have earned home field advantage for the CCIW tournament!  Go Cards!

[mr_b]

Wild final weekend in the CCIW.  Carthage sweeps North Central, and North Park takes two from Illinois Wesleyan at Bloomington.  The first game at Horenberger Field goes extras and the Vikings prevail on a solo homer by Ranko Stevanovic.  In the nightcap, pinch hitter Richie Silva drills a two-run double to put the Vikings up by a run, and Ranko throws out a Titan runner trying to steal second to end the game.  Really nice relief pitching performances by the Vikings' Frank Kalemba (winner in game one) and Brett Brueske (winner in game two).  I thought both games were well played by both sides, with clutch hitting, good defense, and solid pitching.

North Park, Wesleyan, and Carthage all have seven wins. Carthage has finished CCIW play, and the Vikings and Titans each have one game remaining. If North Park beats Wheaton on Monday *or* if Wesleyan loses to North Central tomorrow, the Vikings will end up with the sixth and final slot in the tournament. North Park holds the tiebreaker over both Carthage and Wesleyan. 

[Gregory Sager]

Wild final weekend in the CCIW.  Carthage sweeps North Central, and North Park takes two from Illinois Wesleyan at Bloomington.  The first game at Horenberger Field goes extras and the Vikings prevail on a solo homer by Ranko Stevanovic.  In the nightcap, pinch hitter Richie Silva drills a two-run double to put the Vikings up by a run, and Ranko throws out a Titan runner trying to steal second to end the game.

Great to see Ranko play the hero in both wins, since the Illinois Wesleyan P.A. announcer kept pronouncing his name as though it rhymed with "Frank-oh."

That must've left Stevanovic pretty rankled.

Really nice relief pitching performances by the Vikings' Frank Kalemba (winner in game one) and Brett Brueske (winner in game two).  I thought both games were well played by both sides, with clutch hitting, good defense, and solid pitching.

North Park, Wesleyan, and Carthage all have seven wins. Carthage has finished CCIW play, and the Vikings and Titans each have one game remaining. If North Park beats Wheaton on Monday *or* if Wesleyan loses to North Central tomorrow, the Vikings will end up with the sixth and final slot in the tournament. North Park holds the tiebreaker over both Carthage and Wesleyan.

The Titans @ Cardinals game is actually Monday at noon. The Vikings will be at Wheaton at 3 pm Monday.

The good news is that the Vikings control their own destiny. The better news is that IWU has to play #11 North Central, and you know that Ed Mathey is going to play it straight rather than rest his Cardinals starters and give the Titans an advantage. But the bad news is that Wheaton will do the same -- and WC skipper Matt Husted distributed his staff's innings in today's doubleheader split with Augustana in such a way as to have everyone available for Monday, including his ace Brendan Dyer, while NPU's ace Ethan Sund threw 89 pitches today in the first game against Illinois Wesleyan and thus won't be available on Monday.

[mr_b]

The Titans @ Cardinals game is actually Monday at noon. The Vikings will be at Wheaton at 3 pm Monday.

Thanks for that correction.  I thought I had seen the game scheduled for May 8th, but it is indeed the 9th.

[mr_b]

Great to see Ranko play the hero in both wins, since the Illinois Wesleyan P.A. announcer kept pronouncing his name as though it rhymed with "Frank-oh."

That must've left Stevanovic pretty rankled.

He's used to the mispronunciations. I remember at one away game, he was introduced as "Rico," and he just flashed a big smile. 

[mr_b]

The good news is that the Vikings control their own destiny. The better news is that IWU has to play #11 North Central, and you know that Ed Mathey is going to play it straight rather than rest his Cardinals starters and give the Titans an advantage. But the bad news is that Wheaton will do the same -- and WC skipper Matt Husted distributed his staff's innings in today's doubleheader split with Augustana in such a way as to have everyone available for Monday, including his ace Brendan Dyer, while NPU's ace Ethan Sund threw 89 pitches today in the first game against Illinois Wesleyan and thus won't be available on Monday.

North Central defeats IWU, 8-4, thereby eliminating the Titans from the CCIW tournament.  North Park (7-10) grabs the 6th seed by virtue of holding the tiebreaker over both IWU and Carthage (both finished at 7-11).  I am shocked that the Titans failed to qualify, given their potent offense and solid pitching. But they finished their CCIW schedule 1-9 after such a strong start.

The pitching matchups for NPU and Wheaton will be posted shortly, but I would be very surprised to see the Thunder start Dyer on the hill. My guess is that Matt Husted is holding his ace for the first game of the tournament, which starts on Wednesday.

[mr_b]

The pitching matchups for NPU and Wheaton will be posted shortly, but I would be very surprised to see the Thunder start Dyer on the hill. My guess is that Matt Husted is holding his ace for the first game of the tournament, which starts on Wednesday.

The starting pitchers are Peters for NPU and Kloth for Wheaton.

[mr_b]

CCIW Tournament starts today.

[Gregory Sager]

North Park wins the tourney opener, downing North Central, 7-1, behind six strong shutout innings from Vikings starter Logan Peters. All seven of NPU's runs were unearned, as the Cardinals defenders were throwing the ball all over the lot today. Peters helped his own cause by knocking a homer over the right-field wall off of NCC starter Luke Lamm.

Carroll vs. Millikin is next.

[mr_b]

OK, I did not have that on my CCIW Tournament bingo card: North Park takes game one from North Central, 7-1.  Logan Peters outduels Luke Lamm as the Vikings score seven unearned runs on four Cardinal errors.  Peters throws six scoreless innings of two-hit ball and helps his cause with a three-run homer in North Park's six-run fifth inning.  North Central scores its only run on a wild pitch in the eighth.  Peters gets the win and Frank Kalemba picks up the save.  Tomorrow the Vikings will play the loser of the Augie-Wheaton game.

[mr_b]

Game two was a tight affair, with Millikin eking out a 3-2 win.  The Big Blue played small ball in the bottom of the eighth to break a 2-2 deadlock: Liam McGill singled, stole second, moved to third on a sac bunt, and scored on a Tanner Coleman sac fly.  Millikin next plays the winner of game 3, Augie vs Wheaton, with a projected start time of 6 PM (i.e., Thursday's third contest).  Carroll squares off against host North Central at noon in the first elimination game of the tournament.

[mr_b]

Game three is about to start and features a marquee pitching matching, Dyer (6-0) of Wheaton vs Boushele (5-2) of Augustana.

[mr_b]

Day One, Game Three: Augustana 7, Wheaton 6.  Not quite the pitchers' duel I was anticipating; neither starter figured in the decision.  Each team committed four errors, leading to a total of eight unearned runs. 

Day Two
Game One: elimination contest between Carroll and North Central.  First pitch is scheduled for noon
Game Two: North Park vs. Wheaton
Game Three: Augustana vs. Millikin