BB: IIAC: Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Floyd in Iowa City]

BV sweeps a 3 game Friday/Saturday series at UD this weekend.  There were some dramatic moments but overall the Beavers came through in fine fashion. 

They are now 10-1 on the year and 3-0 in conference play.  They head down to Chandler, Arizona for the spring break where they will play some good games.  I will be excited to see how they fare down there in the warmer temps and against different teams. 

I hope things continue to go well for this squad and that they can make some noise in the IIAC this season. 

Go Beavers!

Congrats again on the start!  Getting those conference series sweeps is huge.

Coe plays Iowa tomorrow (weather permitting as usual in the spring).  Luther used to play the Hawks all the time over the years, but the games weren't very close from the mid-1980s and on.  For people like me it was huge to get a chance at playing Iowa.

I would have loved to have seen those games before WWII when Luther used to beat Iowa and Iowa State quite often.  I know they beat Northwestern 10 years in a row just before the War.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Luther is down in Arizona right now and are 5-3 on the season after splitting with Gustavus, 11-5 and 15-16.  The Norse were down 13-0 in the 2nd game before rallying to fall short 15-16.  They swept Hamline the day before that, 6-1 and 13-1.

The Norse bats have gotten off to a very good start overall.  They have not been hitting at the #9 slot in the order and Waddle has been off to a slow start for his standards, but the numbers are great so far for almost everyone else.  Schott (1B) has 4 HRs already and five other regulars are hitting over .435.  I really think the additions to the regular lineup of Topping, Weber, and Reynolds are going to make this a deeper batting order with more pop.

The Norse pitchers have been all right so far as a group, but they will be pretty good if healthy.  Nate Todd looks to be back to being a healthy #2 starter again.  Cody Hyland could be a very good #3 if he continues to pound the strike zone.

http://sports.luther.edu/stats/men/baseball/2009/teamstat.htm

[SLP-O-8]

BV is now 15-2 with their last game in Arizona later this morning.   They have put up 74 runs in 6 games in AZ so far.  They lost a 7-6 game to current #1 Eastern Connecticut State after tying the game up in the top of the 9th.   They have been playing pretty good baseball this year and swept dubuque as said before.  They have swept 5 teams so far which is much better than last year with 0.  Freshman Ryan Wuebker has pitched the most innings so far and done a great job.  They have already stole 49 bases in 57 attempts.  The rest of the season should be exciting for the beavers.  Coach Eddie also recorded his 150th win in AZ so congrats to him. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

In all honesty I was thinking that Wartburg, Luther, Simpson, and Coe would be the teams that might make the most noise early in the year, but I never really put too much into any preseason talk.  This is why they play the games.

B.V. has only played 3 conference games and the league season is long, but I see no reason why they can't be a serious contender.  Wartburg is still the team to beat, but I would assume the interest in baseball in Storm Lake will be up a little this spring.

It is good for the IIAC to see a team actually get off to a red hot start!

[Floyd in Iowa City]

This past weekend was tough for me as a fan of Iowa Conference Baseball.  Most of the games for Saturday were postponed on Friday before the Friday games were done, yet the Hawks played Michigan and got the game in on Saturday.  I know the Iowa situation as far as resources can be different than many smaller college programs, but the Hawks moved the time of the game up on Saturday and also moved the time of the game on Sunday back so they could get both games in.  Did the IIAC teams try to be this flexible?  Does the conference allow them to?

Luther played at Cornell on Friday in one nine-inning game.  I would love the IIAC and the rules to be flexible enough that Luther and Cornell could play a doubleheader on Friday in case a snowstorm hit on Saturday.  I would also love to see the teams make games up later in the year (if they can) because this rule about having to make up a game the next day is just too rigid (if the rule does still exist).

I know Wartburg got hammered by Simpson yesterday, but at least the Knights and the Storm actually played the games.

Decorah and Mt. Vernon are not that far apart, yet the Norse and Rams only play one game of the three that were scheduled and cancelled the other two?

It is hard to take the conference championship in baseball quite as seriously as the other sports like football and basketball when the conference and the teams do not always do everything they can to play all the conference games.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Luther moved to 3-0 in Iowa Conference games and 11-4 overall as they swept Central, 6-3 and 3-1 in Decorah.  Adam Kohls got the win in game 1 to move to 3-1 on the season while Cody Hyland got the win in game 2 to move to 3-0 on the season.  Nate Todd got the save in game 1 and will take his 3-1 record into a probable start on Friday.

7 regulars are hitting over .385 heading into the tough series this weekend with Wartburg.  Mark Weber has been among the most consistent as he tied Ben Schott in the team lead today with his 19th RBI.  Seven guys have driven in 12 or more runs.

Much of the offensive production has taken place even though C Jake Waddle is hitting .269 with 9 RBIs after a tough doubleheader today.  He should be fine as long as he is healthy, as he has hit .421 and .395 the previous two years.

[BigPoppa]

Is any team more disappointing than Wartburg this season? I am shocked at their level of play. I really expected more from them in 2009.

[wartburgalum]

Big Poppa-

I could not agree more.  It is a huge disappointment thus far.  As a former player I had the chance to talk to a few people close to the program and they did not have real high hopes for this season (they lost 3 or 4 of their top recruits at semester), but they are just not getting it done. 

I have not counted them out at this point, but with how the IIAC runs their conference you can never count on being able to get all of your games in (therefore you better not fall too far behind in the standings). 

Lets hope not only for my personal health but also for the IIAC that Wartburg gets things going.  Lets face it, Wartburg is the only IIAC team with any national clout at this time and we all want the IIAC to start getting some national run.

[BigPoppa]

Big Poppa-

I could not agree more.  It is a huge disappointment thus far.  As a former player I had the chance to talk to a few people close to the program and they did not have real high hopes for this season (they lost 3 or 4 of their top recruits at semester), but they are just not getting it done. 

Any idea why the recruits left at semester? That makes me think that there might be a program issue if kids are leaving in the middle of a school year.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Wartburgalum,

I do hope for your personal health and for everyone else that may be fighting for it right now!

As far as the IIAC, I want to see a team or multiple teams play like a legit regional qualifier.  In my mind that doesn't mean getting hot at the end of the season but rather fairly consistent ball all season.  Wartburg and Luther both had that two years ago as both teams had both the pitching and the lineups to make noise in NCAA play.  Wartburg has had many other good teams in recent memory, but most of them clearly played consistent ball throughout the season.

B.V. still has a lot to prove, but they have gotten off to the type of start that the IIAC hasn't had as much of during this or last season.  If they have the pitching to go along with the offense to win the conference regular season, I have no problems with them being the team to represent the IIAC.


 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats to Wartburg for pulling themselves off the mat (for now) after starting 2-4 in the conference.  5-4 gives them a chance to get back into it as they still play the Beavers.

Very disappointing weekend for Luther!  I can think of some tougher words than that, but they had a chance to really make a move this weekend and just did nothing.  This weekend was last year all over again where the team wasn't good enough or tough enough to get it done against Wartburg.  Let's see if it snowballs into an up and down season like last year as well.

The Norse are now 3-3 and 11-7 overall.  Good teams bury struggling teams when they get the chance, not lose a couple close ones and get buried.  Where is the team from two years ago that got after everyone?

Where has this been from the Knights all year to this point?

[SLP-O-8]

Bv pulled out another sweep of cornell with 14-10 and 4-1 wins.  They jumped out to 10-1 and let the rams crawl back into the game in game 1.  Game 2 the Rams starter pitched really well until the bottom of the 6 when Bv scored all 4 runs in the win.  BV just keeps finding ways to win their games.  They get all 3 games vs wartburg and home and 2 of 3 from luther at home.  They also get Simpson for 3 at home but have to travel to coe for 3.  They are able to control their own destiny the rest of the season and have been crushing the ball all year besides game 2 of cornell.  Catcher Kevin Kloewer has been off to a great start hitting 8 HRs so far.  BV tends to play smart baseball and steal lots of baseball so they should be in almost every game.  They have one relief pitcher and one that starts pretty often in RF that our seniors.  Everybody but those 2 will be back next year and they will be very tough the rest of the year and next year.  I think that beavers baseball is on the ride and coach Eddie is a great coach.

[Kohawk Krazy]

After a rough start on Friday, Coe did a nice job in the Saturday doubleheader, sweeping the Duhawks.  Was quite an interesting day with a Loras fan jawing with a Coe pitcher and Loras' coach getting ejected in the second game.

Either way, it was a much needed series win for the Kohawks!

[wartburgalum]

It looks like it is going to get interesting.  Wartburg finally remembers who they are (12 time defending IIAC champs), Luther remembers who they are (Wartburgs whipping boy, haha had to get that little jab in) and the boys at the top of the IIAC right now are playing really good baseball.  I look forward to seeing how this one plays out.  Lets all hope that this is all able to be decided on the field and not by the weather.

[youcantseemestill]

Big Poppa-

I could not agree more.  It is a huge disappointment thus far.  As a former player I had the chance to talk to a few people close to the program and they did not have real high hopes for this season (they lost 3 or 4 of their top recruits at semester), but they are just not getting it done. 

Any idea why the recruits left at semester? That makes me think that there might be a program issue if kids are leaving in the middle of a school year.

Well I know that Wartburg only kept 3 freshman on its roster and cut everyone else.  The feeling is that it was driven by budget, but there is also a strong reassurance that their numbers will be back up for next year.  Still, Coach Holst recruited a lot of kids for this season, and then only kept 3.....that might be a pretty good indicator of some hard feelings amongst the team.