BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

augie_superfan · May 14, 2006, 06:45:08 PM

Augiefan...have you followed them this year at all? They have the 10th best batting average in the nation and a 3.36 team ERA which falls somewhere around 35th in the nation. Please, do a little bit of looking first before you say that this team doesn't have good enough pitching to deserve a bid. Here are a look at their top two pitchers...let me know if these are still non-deserving numbers:

Andrew Setter

9-1; 1.54 ERA; 7 CG; 73 K to 19 BB in 81.2 IP

Kevin Kuntz

7-2; 1.39 ERA; 4 CG; only 40 hits in 58.1 IP (.189 batting average against)

Those are some deserving numbers...here are the other 3 main pitchers...still some pretty decent stuff:

Engle
4-4; 3.05 ERA; 53 IP

Gwost
4-2; 4.44 ERA; 50.2 IP

Schref
4-1; 4.71 ERA; 42 IP

I really don't see your reasoning as to why the pitching has made Augie not deserve a bid. Please, explain yourself because you have me very curious.

REDMENFAN · May 14, 2006, 06:50:15 PM

Superfan, thanks for clarifying, i didn't know their number 2 had lost another game, but he actually has the lowest era. I think if you go 31-10, have beaten the number 8 team in the country, and have the 10th best hitting team statistically, how could you not get at large bid?? (unless IWU would have won today, I would have to think Augie would have been out of luck)

Mr. Ypsi · May 14, 2006, 06:50:34 PM

I realize this is awfully late to raise an objection, but could posters please refer to Coach Schmidt when talking about Carthage?! With constant references to Augie, I'm going to start wondering about the collegiate loyalties of augiefan and augie_superfan, among others!

(signed) a confused fan of the team that came close today, but whose season is no doubt over.

emeritusprof · May 14, 2006, 10:59:02 PM

Mr. Ypsi -- Having gone to school with his dad, and later a colleague, I always knew the guy as Little Augie.

Knowing the son as I do, I'm quite sure I could still call him Little Augie without offending him.

Gregory Sager · May 15, 2006, 01:19:51 AM

Congrats to Carthage upon winning the CCIW title.

As I pretty much expected, NPU didn't fare well in the conference tournament. But just making the conference tournament itself was a major victory for a Vikings program that had totally hit the skids over the past few seasons. April posted this weekend about how much Wheaton had improved. Well, try this on for size -- here's North Park's season results over the last six seasons:

2001: 4-17, 5-35-1 (7th CCIW)
2002: 8-13, 11-29 (6th CCIW)
2003: 2-19, 3-34 (8th CCIW)
2004: 0-21, 2-35-1 (8th CCIW)
2005: 1-20, 1-39 (8th CCIW)
2006: 8-13, 14-27 (4th CCIW)

That's a pretty dramatic turnaround for the Park in Luke Johnson's first year at the helm -- and he didn't even have the benefit of a full recruiting period with which to begin reconstructing what had once been a very good CCIW baseball program during the Bosko Djurickovic era.

NPU still has a ways to go, obviously. This year the Vikings proved that they could beat everyone else in the pack, but they posted a dismal 0-10 record against the CCIW's Big Three, with only a couple of those losses being close. Johnson's next task is to build up the roster to get the Vikings to the point where they can give Carthage, Augustana, and Illinois Wesleyan a run for their money.

I'm really impressed with Johnson and with the job he's done. NPU made a great hire when they brought him aboard last summer. I look forward to seeing what he can do with the Vikings in 2007.

mwunder · May 15, 2006, 08:50:27 AM

Hosted by Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
1. Carthage (33-7)
2. Millsaps (34-11)
3. Washington-U. in St. Louis (34-5)
4. Aurora (29-11)
5. Webster (26-16)
6. Mount St. Joseph (28-15)

Too bad it wasn't closer to home..

REDMENFAN · May 15, 2006, 10:03:21 AM

Well, St. Louis is a lot better than being shipped to Mississippi! Anyone know any info about the other teams other than their records? We are all fairly familiar with aurora, but I don't know much at all about any of the other schools.

AUpitch104k · May 15, 2006, 10:59:59 AM

Well with the way Chapple and Salter pitched in the conference tourney they should be fired up for some good games in the regional. Both need to have bounce back appearances. They are lucky to have received the at large, now hopefully they can do something with that. I would love to see another AU Carthage Championship game. Go Spartans.

BigPoppa · May 15, 2006, 12:29:54 PM

Quote from: REDMENFAN on May 15, 2006, 10:03:21 AM
Well, St. Louis is a lot better than being shipped to Mississippi! Anyone know any info about the other teams other than their records? We are all fairly familiar with aurora, but I don't know much at all about any of the other schools.

Millsaps shortstop, Drew Wetzel, was the pre-season National Player of the Year. Millsaps is a solid squad with some great players.

REDMENFAN · May 15, 2006, 12:40:24 PM

In regionals, obviously pitching depth becomes a huge factor. Also equally important is how fast your top 2 pitchers can recover. If they threw Wednesday, do you have a guy with a rubber band arm that can throw Saturday? If you do, that can be huge. Carthage's top 4 are very good, and Roufus has proved this year he is very solid out of the bullpen as well. Krepline has had a solid year (I believe he's 4-1). After that, Carthage has some guys that I know can throw the ball well, they just have barely gotten much of a chance to this year besides the Florida trip. The 7-10 guys don't throw quite as hard as say an Olson, Livek, or Husing, but they throw strikes and if called upon this weekend I think can get the job done

augie_superfan · May 15, 2006, 12:48:23 PM

Well too bad Augustana did not make it. They certaintly had a very good season but came up just short in the end. Good luck to Carthage in the regionals.

bataviapete · May 15, 2006, 01:06:57 PM

Does anyone know if Wash U has lights? Looking at their website and by the game times I would say no. I was under the impression that Carthage lost out hosting because of no lights.

Wetzel was drafted by the Rockies in the 10th round. Interesting that Baseball America shows him as signing for $58K.

BigPoppa · May 15, 2006, 01:21:15 PM

Wash U does NOT Have lights... I think they were chosen to ost because of a central location. Millsaps would have a easier time getting there and the other teams centrally located to St. Louis. Where is Mt. St. Joseph's from?

bataviapete · May 15, 2006, 01:39:51 PM

Mt St Joe's is in Cincinnati and won the Heartland Conference. Don't know much about them, just got that info from their website. From looking at their stats, they look kind of average, no stud pitcher. No common opponents from any CCIW schools.

When's Carthage getting lights? I heard they have plans ot put them up.

TitanRailer · May 15, 2006, 02:13:59 PM

Quote from: REDMENFAN on May 15, 2006, 10:03:21 AM
Well, St. Louis is a lot better than being shipped to Mississippi! Anyone know any info about the other teams other than their records? We are all fairly familiar with aurora, but I don't know much at all about any of the other schools.

IWU beat Millsaps twice on their spring trip. IWU beat one of Millsaps top 2 pitchers, Kindler. He finished the year at 9-2. Don't really know alot about them.

I also know that 2 of Wash U's 5 losses were to Elmhurst.

This regional should come down to Aurora and Carthage.