BB: IIAC: Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Sounds like St. Olaf took a page from the Wartburg playbook in the MIAC tourney.  St. Thomas had won the MIAC regular season title, had reached the title game of the tourney without a loss, had already beaten St. Olaf in the tourney, but the Oles clearly won the last two games to take the MIAC tourney title.

Another proud baseball program that got it done to make sure they get to play more baseball.

Unlike Luther, St. Thomas could take the losses and still get an NCAA at-large bid.  The Norse are going to be on the edge of getting in IMO.

[TheSportsFan]

It sounds like Luther has a 50-50 shot at getting in......I think that they will get in unless a team from another region gets in (mideast or south most likely).

Luther has a better shot than Illinois Wesleyan in my opinion.

[BigPoppa]

I'd be shocked if Luther got a bid.

[coocooforcoekohawk]

Kohawk softball is going to the World Series.

Great work ladies!

Two times in  four years.

[youcantseemestill]

IIAC, as expected, gets shut out of a Pool C bid.  Congrats to the Knights for taking it to the Norse twice Saturday night.  Show the region that the IIAC deserved to get two teams in!

Now, in regards to what I have been reading on this page and the Regional rankings page.  In my opinion, Coe was more deserving than any of the other IIAC schools of an at large bid than Luther, Loras or Wartburg (if they had not won the conference tourney).  The reason for this is strength of schedule within the region.  There was no other team in this conference that played a better schedule than the Kohawks and I think that fact is the primary reason behind their standing in the final regional rankings.  A 20-12 record within the region and an outstanding out of region schedule with Wash U, Webster, Aurora, U of Iowa, Western Illinois, Husson, and Rhode Island only boosted their scrength of schedule.  Now, in contrast, Wartburg and Luther both played pretty weak out of conference schedules and their rankings showed that.  But ultimately, the banter proved pointless with the upsets of St. Norbert and Whitewaters run.  Luther, Coe and Loras all had their shot to make it moot if they could have beated Wartburg in the tourney.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Luther 29-13 overall
Coe 25-19 overall

Luther 15-7 IIAC record, conference co-champs
Coe 14-8 IIAC record

Coe played a tough non-conference schedule, but they also only had a .500 record in non-conference games.  I am a big fan of playing some tough teams, and I wish Iowa and Luther could get back to playing again, but losing a lot of games against good teams should not merit a high regional ranking IMO.

The MIAC got two teams in like many other seasons.  Luther went 7-3 against that league with a 4-0 record against the two teams that tied for 3rd.  The Norse also went 14-6 against the non-conference, not .500.  Luther lost some close games against good teams in non-conference play last year, but the 2009 IIAC co-champs had a better case to make postseason play than the 2008 Norse.

2009 Coe-Luther scores:

Coe 8, Luther 4 (10 innings)
Luther 8, Coe 4
Luther 5, Coe 4
Luther 3, Coe 2

Every IIAC school knew that the conference tourney was by far the best way to make NCAA play in baseball.  Unlike softball where four IIAC schools made the field, Iowa Conference Baseball has not been seen as strong for some time now.  Wartburg got it done and obtained one of the big goals that all IIAC schools have going into the season.

Luther and Loras missed on this goal.  However, they both will look back on this season and feel very good about winning the conference title.  It was the first time Loras had won since 1952 and it was the 2nd for the Norse in the last three years. 

Coe will have to just feel good that they had a good team and the memories of getting to play Iowa.  They were right there with Loras, Luther, Wartburg, and BV this year.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Now that the season is over for everyone except the Knights, congrats to the Norse seniors for getting a part of a 2nd Iowa Conference title!  They did not win the Iowa Conference tourney and a couple of regional games this time like they did in 2007, but guys like Kohls, Waddle, Todd, and Neis can look back on their time in Luther and be pretty happy with their Norse careers.

Adam Kohls won 24 career games in Decorah.  Nate Todd won career 20 games.  Junior Cody Hyland was 7-0 this year and many Norse regulars return next year, but Kohls and Todd will be missed.

The Norse seniors in baseball not only captured two conference titles, but they also helped to reconnect the program to championship level baseball as the program had not won a title previously since 1985.

The school has now won 13 baseball titles since 1947 (when the Iowa Conference decided to reorganize how they recognize baseball champions) and 26 overall since the current Iowa Conference started in 1922.  Wartburg has won 19 titles since 1947 and none before that, while BV has won 14 titles since 1947 and 16 overall since 1922.

I know BV faded and Loras does not have many fans on here, but both programs also had very good seasons.  Ditto for Coe as although I have argued on a couple of points related to them on here, that program and Cornell helped the Norse win the title. 

Good luck to the Knights this week!  I am not expecting them to make the World Series, but I am expecting at least a win or two in regionals. 

[youcantseemestill]

Conference Coaches will meet this week to name the All-Conference teams.  Predictions?  
Here are mine:

Pitcher of the Year: Raisch - Coe
Offensive Player of the Year - Olberding - Loras, Richmond - Coe

C - Kloewer - BVU
1B - Johnson - Wartburg
2B - Furlong - Central
SS - McAllister - Coe
3B - Schisler - Coe
OF - Pietrzyk - BVU
OF - Grau - Wartburg
OF - Brown - Loras
OF - Velvick - Coe
DH - Knutson - Central
Utl - Martijn - Wartburg

P- Kohls - Luther
P- Watson - Wartburg
P- Todd - Luther
P- Laurie - Loras

** special note: much like the all-conference team, I will not put my players of the year on the list as they will not be on the all-conference team.  Toughest ones to leave off:
2B: Reynolds - Luther
OF: Nisenson - Coe
SS/OF: Rasmussen - Simpson
 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Pitcher of the year is going to be tough.  Does the voting take in to account the tourney games?  If so, Martijn really helped himself with winning twice showing a rubber arm.  Raisch might have had my vote for pitcher of the year before the tourney.

The Loras pitchers won lots of conference games, but the Duhawk Offense was the biggest reason for that.  I am not saying that Laurie should not be given all-conference recognition, but to me he is a little like Cody Hyland of Luther in that he had a great record but may have been a 2nd team pitcher.

Kohls, Todd, and Hyland of Luther were three of the top pitchers this year.  Kohls may be the only 1st team pitcher, but all three should be on the 1st or 2nd team.  Luther will probably have no 1st team position players this year even though they won the league, but Reynolds and Beckman would be among the candidates for 2nd team.

Olberding is my offensive player of the year since he not only had a great year but also led an unreal offense during much of the league season.  BV had a couple of candidates for a good part of the year.

I would give coach of the year to Loras head coach Carl Tebon since the Duhawks did something for the first time since 1952.  Loras also was only picked 5th by the coaches in the preseason while Wartburg, Luther, and Coe were picked 1, 2, and 3.

[wartburgalum]

Another interesting season in the IIAC.  Wartburg's season was saved with a run through the tourny (but still slightly disappointing as the streak of conference championships will end at 13).  I am interested to see if Wartburg can make any sort of run through regionals.  I don't think anybody would expect them to do anything spectacular but maybe it is 2005 all over again.  (Tho I am not making any predictions at this point).

[baseballfans4life]

Not sure how far Wartburg will go in the regionals...but it was sure fun to watch them come alive at the iiac tourny  ...If they play as well as they did in the iiac tourny anything is possible...They need their bats and pitching hot at the same time.  They have the talent as long as they can keep everyone healthy and play as a team.

[wartburgalum]

That is the best and worst thing about a short tourny like conference/regionals.  Any team can get hot at just the right time and make some noise.  Looking through Wartburg's stats for the season the only number that really jumps out at you is the team ERA at 3.83 which has them at 27th in the country.  Other than that their offensive numbers are middle of the road and their defense is average.  They will have to play their best ball of the year to have a chance.

[frank_ezelle]

An FYI:  Millsaps will webcast all of their games at the regionals and they will have a Coach's show this evening at 6 Central.  More information at:  http://www.gomajors.com/news/2009/5/12/BB_0512090021.aspx

[baseballfans4life]

Thanx for the info Frank

[Floyd in Iowa City]

IIAC Baseball All-Conference selections:

http://www.iowaconference.com/men/baseball/all_conference/2009.htm

Pitcher of the Year
Jerrold Martijn, Wartburg
(Orangestad, Aruba/Kirkwood C.C.)

Position Player of the Year
Nick Olberding, SS, Loras
(Dyersville, Iowa/Beckman)

Coach of the Year - Carl Tebon, Loras

First Team School  Year  Pos  Hometown/High School 
Adam Kohls % $ ^ Luther Sr. SP Hampton, Iowa/Hampton-Dumont
Nate Todd & Luther Sr. SP Fort Madison, Iowa/Fort Madison
Cody Raisch Coe Jr. SP Urbandale, Iowa/Urbandale
Austin Safranski Loras Fr. SP Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard North
Kyle Dupic # Buena Vista So. RP Emmetsburg, Iowa/Emmetsburg
Kevin Kloewer Buena Vista So. C Omaha, Neb./Millard South
Mike Johnson Wartburg Sr. 1B West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley
Pat Richmond Coe Jr. 1B Algonquin, Ill./Dundee-Crown
Mike Furlong Central Fr. 2B Davenport, Iowa/Assumption
Ben Kuebel Loras Jr. 3B Fulton, Ill./Fulton
Tyler McAllister % Coe Sr. SS Ursa, Ill./Mendon-Unity
Brandon Pietrzyk % Buena Vista Jr. OF Portland, Ore./Marshall
Adam Gross $ Loras Sr. OF Dubuque, Iowa/Hempstead
Caleb Rangel @ Central So. OF Rock Island, Ill./Alleman
Patrick Grau Wartburg So. OF Elkader, Iowa/Central
Cory Dawson # & Simpson Sr. DH Altoona, Iowa/Southeast Polk
Casey Korn @ $ Cornell Sr. UT High Ridge, Mo./Northwest

From a Luther perspective I can't complain at all about who the big awards went to.  I was happy to see Kohls and Todd made 1st team all league as they anchored the team for most of the season.  I was also happy to see Reynolds and Hyland make 2nd team as they had very good years as well.  There are other Norse players who could have made one of the teams, but no terrible gaffes as far as a Norse player not making it.