BB: IIAC: Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

BigPoppa · February 04, 2009, 03:59:48 PM

Quote from: youcantseemestill on February 03, 2009, 03:04:30 PM
Not really buying that Big Poppa. 7 of the 9 conference schools already have their rosters up and and 6 of those 7 have been up for two weeks or more. First day of official practice for most schools is Feb 1, so everyone should be well underway with their season.

Practicing and being under way with their season are two VERY different things. I know many schools have a second "cut" to determine which players make the travel roster for the southern trip and wait to post rosters until then.

youcantseemestill · February 05, 2009, 10:19:00 AM

You mean school's rosters that are posted on the sites aren't their entire roster?

youcantseemestill · February 05, 2009, 10:21:59 AM

I heard that there are three big losses for the Dutch baseball team this year. Senior Jake Jadlowski, Anthony Bazant, and Jr. Chris Ozga all have left the program and the school. These are big losses for an already young team.

wartburgalum · February 06, 2009, 01:07:50 PM

Transfer? Academics? Coach?

Any insight as to why the three of them have left?

theoneandonly · February 23, 2009, 11:59:46 AM

Quote from: Swing4theFences on February 04, 2009, 03:55:38 PM
Anyone know about these two brothers that transfer to Coe. Heard they could be legit

Sounds like you may be one of them haha!

youcantseemestill · February 23, 2009, 01:16:23 PM

Still no roster from Wartburg.......big surprise!

BigToughGuy · February 23, 2009, 05:12:27 PM

Dubuque will definitely be tough to beat this year. Blayke Conway and Andrew Denton should both challenge for Pitcher of the Year in the IIAC. They set up a very nice 1-2 punch.

UPandIN · February 24, 2009, 12:16:13 AM

If Dubuque is a contender in the Iowa Conference, they will be the biggest surprise team in the country. They finished last in 2008 and graduated ( oops! I mean lost ) every good player they had. Dubuque will surly be picked to finish last in the conference in 2009.
Spartan baseball over the past 7 seasons: only 2 conference tournament appearances, only 1 winning season ( 2005 19-18), 4 times the worst team in the league, 1 time the 2nd worst team in the league, best finish... 5th place (2003).
As for Dubuque's unknown freshman pitching class, welcome to college baseball. Just a note, in the past 8 years there has been 1 freshman pitcher to even make 1st team all conference. To think a unknown freshman would compete for IIAC pitcher of the year...................... All I can say is I appreciate your spirit. I think BigToughGuy, Momma Conway, and Momma Denton are the only 3 people in the country that think this could happen.

BigPoppa · February 24, 2009, 09:30:26 AM

Quote from: UPandIN on February 24, 2009, 12:16:13 AM
If Dubuque is a contender in the Iowa Conference, they will be the biggest surprise team in the country. They finished last in 2008 and graduated ( oops! I mean lost ) every good player they had. Dubuque will surly be picked to finish last in the conference in 2009.
Spartan baseball over the past 7 seasons: only 2 conference tournament appearances, only 1 winning season ( 2005 19-18), 4 times the worst team in the league, 1 time the 2nd worst team in the league, best finish... 5th place (2003).
As for Dubuque's unknown freshman pitching class, welcome to college baseball. Just a note, in the past 8 years there has been 1 freshman pitcher to even make 1st team all conference. To think a unknown freshman would compete for IIAC pitcher of the year...................... All I can say is I appreciate your spirit. I think BigToughGuy, Momma Conway, and Momma Denton are the only 3 people in the country that think this could happen.

Agreed! If Dubuque wins the conference, I will retire from my posting days. Dubuque does not have a history of producing top-notch pitchers and I do not see that changing this season.

youcantseemestill · February 24, 2009, 10:35:33 AM

I would pick UD to finish last in the IIAC this year. Their top returning starter threw a grand total of 14 innings last year. Even with the best possible class of pitchers they could get, they don't develop kids at UD and their best kids rarely can win games by themselves.......see Doonan last year.

Aside from the pitching worries, they are not returning much offensively either. They are only bringing back Duran and Manthe that saw really significant time last year. These kids are good, but not world beaters and haven't shown themselves to being able to carry an offensive load.

SEASON STARTS TODAY WITH THE KNIGHTS AND THE OLES IN THE METRODOME! HERE WE GO!

BigToughGuy · February 24, 2009, 02:52:29 PM

You guys are all correct......I've actually never seen or even heard of Conway or Denton. I did drive through Dubuque once......they have a good dog track.

wartburgalum · February 25, 2009, 02:59:51 PM

Wartburg loses a couple of close ones (6-4 & 5-4) in their season opener. Hopefully they will bounce back when they get down to AZ.

Floyd in Iowa City · March 10, 2009, 11:49:28 AM

The Norse are 2-0 after winning in the Dome against Carleton late Sunday night and into Monday morning. They will soon be heading South for the spring trip so they can take on more MIAC schools like Gustavus, Hamline, and Concordia.

http://sports.luther.edu/men/baseball/season%20-%202009/recaps/carleton.html

Nathan Todd threw the ball very well in game 2 and looked as though his arm is feeling pretty well. Hopefully he has the kind of season like he did in 2006 and 2007. If all the pitchers are healthy, this team is going to have some good mound depth again. I like Pichelman coming out of the bullpen to close games, but he might also be the #3 starter.

Freshman Chris Reynolds (starting QB for the Norse Football team) looked very good leading off and playing 2B.

Even though they lost Jeff Hiatt to graduation, the infield looked good with Schott at 1B, Reynolds at 2B, Beckman at SS and Neis at 3B. Neis might be the biggest question defensively, but he has the talent to play 3B.

Beckman had a very good night in the field and at the plate. Weber needs to be in the lineup as much as possible and looked very good at the plate.

The game 2 lineup looked like something that could be successful this year:

Reynolds 2B
Neis 3B
Waddle C
Schott 1B
Weber LF
Thompson RF
Topping DH
Beckman SS
Thomas CF

Beckman and Topping swung the bat like they could both move up a spot in the order, but I am not around the practices. I do think this team can have a deeper batting order with a little more pop. I don't know if they can do what they did on offense in 2007, but it can be much more than what they did at times last year.

Floyd in Iowa City · March 10, 2009, 12:03:39 PM

Has anyone watched Wartburg play this year? I did not know that they were playing Gustavus in the Dome on Sunday or I would have shown up early before the Luther games.

The Knights are now 6-6, but I don't know what to read into it since they did not play to past standards during the preseason last year (were they 6-9 at one point before the Luther series?) and still had a great conference season.

The team statistics looked solid to good overall, except perhaps some of the pitching numbers. The top two starters look good on paper again while the hitters look good.

Knowing that they will be the team to beat in the Iowa Conference, I wish that they would get back to old form and play well against non-IIAC schools as well. The potential IIAC champion should be better than 1-5 against the MIAC no matter how many of the MIAC teams are upper division teams from that league. It just makes the league look better.

wartburgalum · March 11, 2009, 03:03:48 PM

I couldnt agree more. I am not sure what to make of Wartburg's team just yet. I know that they are needing to fill some holes in their pitching rotation.

As far as their less that stellar win/loss record early in the season; Wartburg has taken an approach the last few years to try and develop and see as many arms on the mound as possible prior to conference season starting. As a grad and former player for the Knights I see both the benefit and downfall of this. Saves arms, develop new guys but also hurts come tourny time for an at-large bid and as you said, makes the IIAC tend to look weak.

I would guess that they will have resolved some of the pitching rotation issues come conference season time.