BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

REDMENFAN · April 12, 2006, 07:50:25 PM

Irish, you're right, Livek was the winner. Carthage pounded out 20 hits, and most importantly, Chris Sadjak finally returned to the redmen lineup after being out all season. He set a Carthage single game record by getting plunked 3 times at the plate. Good win for Carthage, big series Friday and Saturday against IWU

Longtooth · April 12, 2006, 08:15:13 PM

who's up next?

augie_superfan · April 12, 2006, 08:31:25 PM

Well Augie lost 5-2 today vs. Wheaton. They had 3 unearned runs which really hurt. Looks like the Wheaton pitcher, Matt Price, had a great game. He threw a complete game 5 hitter and struck out 10 while walking only 1. These are the games Augie must win. They need to turn it around here real quick.

augie_superfan · April 12, 2006, 08:36:57 PM

North Park beat NCC 18-11 today.

IWU beat Millikin 21-2

Updated Standings:

Carthage 8-1
IWU 6-3
North Park 6-3
Wheaton 5-4
Augie 5-4
Millikin 3-6
Elmhurst 2-7
NCC 1-8

BigPoppa · April 12, 2006, 10:14:57 PM

IWU @ Carthage is going to be a huge series. If Carthage can take two of three, they can open a three game lead on IWU and NPU. We'll find out this weekend what North Park is made of as they face Augustana. It should be a great weekend for the CCIW... the top four teams are going head-to-head.

Mr. Ypsi · April 12, 2006, 10:26:23 PM

BP,

Agree with you totally. If Carthage wins 2 (or 3) of the 3, the race is virtually over. But if IWU wins 2 or 3 of the 3, we've got a whole new ball game.

Go IWU!! Even aside from being a Titan, just for the sake of keeping this interesting, win at least 2 of the 3 games this weekend!

Augie, Wheaton, and NP should all be rooting for you, too!

BigPoppa · April 12, 2006, 10:32:36 PM

Quote from: Mr. Ypsi on April 12, 2006, 10:26:23 PM

Augie, Wheaton, and NP should all be rooting for you, too!

Actually, I think that they should all be rooting for Carthage to run away from IWU this weekend. It would drop IWU down quite a bit and put Augie and Wheaton closer to them(if not ahead) in the the standings. Just my thoughts, but they seem valid to me.

augie_superfan · April 12, 2006, 11:11:55 PM

Well, with the conference tourney changes this year, it doesn't make anyone's situation quite as dire as it may have been in the past at this point. You wouldn't want to go into the conference tourney more than about 3 wins behind 1st place to have a chance to win the automatic bid. Now, you could easily be 6-8 games back and make the conference tourney and then just string a few wins together on the final weekend to get to the postseason.

Mr. Ypsi · April 12, 2006, 11:19:43 PM

BP,

Seems to me the difference is whether you are gunning for the regular-season title, or simply a place in the tourney.

Title: root for IWU to bring Carthage back to the pack.

Place in the tourney: root for Carthage; maybe you can beat out IWU for 4th.

For those with modest aspirations, option 2 seems reasonable. For the true competitors, I would think option 1 is the way to go.

Gregory Sager · April 13, 2006, 05:48:07 AM

What I liked about Wednesday's 18-11 slugfest win for NPU over North Central in Naperville was the fact that the Vikings pounded the Cardinals pitcher who had done such a good job of shutting them down last week, Justin Rezzuto. That shows me that the Vikings hitters are observing and adjusting, which is a great sign. NPU's #3 hitter, Brady Josephson, had a big day in particular, going 4-6 with a homer and six RBIs. The Park needs his bat to stay hot.

I was at the Cubs game on Wednesday, and my friend (who is also an NPU alumnus) and I got a huge kick out of the fact that Greg Maddux was making the Reds look stupid with pitches that would be considered slow even by CCIW standards. Mad Dog got Junior Griffey to swing for strike three at a pitch at eye level that the upper-deck message board indicated was 68 mph, and my friend and I almost fell out of our seats laughing.

mr_b · April 13, 2006, 08:40:33 AM

QuoteNPU's #3 hitter, Brady Josephson, had a big day in particular, going 4-6 with a homer and six RBIs.

Actually, Josephson drove in five -- four on a tremendous grand slam in the third to put the Vikes ahead for good. The box score on the NCC website also lists Kevin Polka as the winning pitcher, which is also incorrect: he started the game and pitched 2 2/3 innings, so he could not have qualified for the win. The win was awarded to Brett Cooper, his first, and deservedly so, after 5 1/3 innings of relief. He's been a real warrior for the Vikings over the years and has run into some bad luck in several close contests. Everyone on the team is happy that he was able to get a W.

BigPoppa · April 13, 2006, 09:12:52 AM

Quote from: Mr. Ypsi on April 12, 2006, 11:19:43 PM
BP,

Seems to me the difference is whether you are gunning for the regular-season title, or simply a place in the tourney.

Title: root for IWU to bring Carthage back to the pack.

Place in the tourney: root for Carthage; maybe you can beat out IWU for 4th.

For those with modest aspirations, option 2 seems reasonable. For the true competitors, I would think option 1 is the way to go.

Ypsi... you make a good point. There could be two different goals coming into play.

TitanRailer · April 13, 2006, 10:40:17 AM

IWU did beat Millikin 21-2 yesterday. Three separate innings they batted around in the order. Pounded 14 hits. It is the 7th straight game they had a double digit hit total. Unfortunately, that string will come to an end this weekend at Carthage.

I agree with Poppa, the rest of the league must root for Carthage. Winning the regular season title is only for pride. The conference tournament is what it is all about, as that is the automatic qualifier. Ypsi, you know from hoops season, the most important thing is to make the tournament!

REDMENFAN · April 13, 2006, 11:00:23 AM

I'm happy its a home series for Carthage, but I gotta admit that those drunk fans at IWU drinking on the roof of that house right down the 3rd base line and having a microphone and announcing things is absolutely hilarious.

BigPoppa · April 13, 2006, 11:34:48 AM

Quote from: REDMENFAN on April 13, 2006, 11:00:23 AM
I'm happy its a home series for Carthage, but I gotta admit that those drunk fans at IWU drinking on the roof of that house right down the 3rd base line and having a microphone and announcing things is absolutely hilarious.

There is nothing like D3 baseball for that reason alone. I loved playing on the raod in the CCIW simply because of the hilarious things that fans said to us. North Central fans always rode me for 6 hours, even if we were pounding them. I gotta respect that type of devotion to a team. IWU fans were not bad either, but I had more fun listening to Martell complain about how lucky Carthage always seemed to get when playing them. Sometimes, playing 3B while he coached third base for a DH was worse than listening to NCC's fans all day.

I still think that Carthage fans are toughest on the opponents. Nothing a like a little frat party in left field to get the opposing outfielders off their game.