BB: IIAC: Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[youcantseemestill]

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.

BV is off to a GREAT start!  This weekend will be a big test for them because for whatever reason, Coe seems to always be tough on the Beavers.  What is the story on this Kloewer kid?  I have never heard of him.  I do know that Kloewer is a very big baseball name in western Iowa (pronounced Clay-ver there).  Any relation?  Kloewer, Pietrzyk, and Blum are putting up all-american calibur numbers through the first half. 

[Maverick4004]

Two big series coming up this weekend with Simpson @ Luther and BV @ Coe. Wonder if anyone can stop the Beavers....

[SLP-O-8]

Kloewer is from Millard South outside of Omaha.  He started 28 games last year for the beavers behind the plate but the improvement so far this year is outstanding.  You have the pronunciation right so there is a great possibility there is a relation especially him being from Omaha.  BV picked of the win in game 1 11-9 in the 10th inning.   From the looks of things it was an uncharacteristic game for the beavers even with the 11 runs. 

BV only had one extra base hit which was a double.  They only attempted one steal which they got caught.  They are normally an extremely aggressive team.  They probably scouted the Coe catcher pretty well but I don't know. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats to the Norse for bouncing back and sweeping Simpson this weekend.  Luther is now 14-7 overall and 6-3 in the Iowa Conference.  Schott (1B) hit a big HR to win the game in the 11th on Friday, and Kohls, Todd, and Hyland all did enough as starting pitchers in the games.  Topping (DH) and Beckman (SS) both had good weekends for the Norse as did Neis (3B) and Reynolds (2B).  It was a perfect day to see some baseball in Decorah!

Simpson is now 7-7 in the league, but they could still make some noise before this is all done.

Congrats to Wartburg for getting the sweep of Cornell.  They are now 8-4 in the league.  I wish Luther could still play those two games that were cancelled against the Rams.  It would have also been great if the Knights would not have gotten right against Luther, but unlike the Cornell series the Norse could have done something about Wartburg. 

Congrats as well for B.V. as they won another series to move to 8-2 in league play.

Besides a Norse sweep of Simpson, the other part of the weekend that caught my attention was that Dubuque swept the doubleheader today over Central to win the series.  Dubuque was 0-7 going into the games today.

[wartburgalum]

Shaping up to be a weird year in the IIAC.  Anxious to see if Wartburg can get through this coming week to set up a very meaningful series with BV in Storm Lake. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

The Norse moved to 7-3 against the MIAC as they swept St. Mary's in Decorah today.  What is crazy to me is that they don't play St. Olaf anymore, but they have played Gustavus, Concordia, Hamline, Carleton, and St. Mary's.

Luther is now 16-7 on the year going into the Central game tomorrow down in Pella.  With the way B.V. is playing, every game is huge for the rest of the hopeful contenders.

[SLP-O-8]

BV lost a tough one to Loras again and lost their first season series to the duhawks 2-1.  BV had 3 errors that resulted in 3 unearned runs.  4 relief pitchers were needed in the 7th as Loras hit 2 home runs off these relievers.  BV had a chance with 2 runners on and one out in the 9th.  Hoffman lined a ball deep to left field which everyone in the ball park thought was fair except the home plate ump.  Both runs were easily going to score to tie it up.  The ump took his sweet time making the call as the runner at second was almost crossing the plate when he made the call.  It surely looked fair but thats how the game goes.  For Loras being the worst team batting average in the league they surely hit well posting 11 hits.  BV didnt play their best baseball and it cost them.

The next weekend and a half will pretty much decided the conference.  3 at Central this weekend followed by 2 at home with luther and 3 with wartburg.  BV needs to play their best baseball the rest of the way out if they want to take home the conference title.  It is an extremely tough stretch and lets hope they are up to the big task.

OF/P Pietrzyk is having an amazing year.  He has recorded a hit in 21 straight games i believe.  He is hitting .485 with 40 RBIS, 40 Runs, 8 doubles, 4 triples and 5 HRs.  He is a perfect 20-20 on stole bases as well.  To add to that he is 4-0 on the mound with 5.4 ERA and 19 ks.  He is having a fantastic year. 

Best of luck to everyone the rest of the season.

[wartburgalum]

Wartburg gains control of the IIAC.  A crucial week coming up with Coe and BV.  This is exactly how the conference season should go.  Coe has always played Wartburg tough and with how BV has been playing it will be crucial for Wartburg to win both of those series. 

[wartburgalum]

Any insight as to who Wartburg will be seeing on the mound this weekend against BV?

[Kohawk Krazy]

Any insight as to who Wartburg will be seeing on the mound this weekend against BV?

They should probably worry about who they are facing from Coe tomorrow first.

[wartburgalum]

I don't think that they will be looking past Coe (and neither am I, look at one of my previous post).  I was just curious as to who BV would be throwing against Wartburg.  But then again, a response like this from a Kohawk shouldnt surprise anybody, I mean you guys are like the red-headed step child of the IIAC that is always trying to fight for some respect.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats to both Wartburg and Loras for having a good week last week.

Winning 9 in a row if great for anybody, but 9 conference wins in a row for Wartburg is very impressive given how they were playing in the preseason and how they started 2-4 in the league.

Loras had lost 3 in a row before winning against B.V. and taking 2 of 3 against Luther.

This is a big week for Iowa Conference baseball.  Coe, Wartburg, B.V., and Luther all are playing each other during the week and this weekend.  If some teams want to stay in the race with Wartburg they are going to have to do something about it this week.

Hopefully a couple pitchers for the Norse feel pretty healthy this week and a hitter or two in the Luther lineup can really get hot.

[Kohawk Krazy]

I don't think that they will be looking past Coe (and neither am I, look at one of my previous post).  I was just curious as to who BV would be throwing against Wartburg.  But then again, a response like this from a Kohawk shouldnt surprise anybody, I mean you guys are like the red-headed step child of the IIAC that is always trying to fight for some respect.

Looks like we got that respect today by handing Martijn his first loss of the season in a 7-2 game that wasn't even as close as the score indicates. 

Coe got down 4-0 in the second game and came back for a 12-11 win.  Pretty sure that means they won the season series against the Knights.

[youcantseemestill]

I don't think that they will be looking past Coe (and neither am I, look at one of my previous post).  I was just curious as to who BV would be throwing against Wartburg.  But then again, a response like this from a Kohawk shouldnt surprise anybody, I mean you guys are like the red-headed step child of the IIAC that is always trying to fight for some respect.

......and a response like this shouldn't surprise anyone either.  Nothing like a Wartburg alumnus to bring some extra class to a discussion thread that has been entirely positive up to this point.

That was very interesting double header at Daniel's Park yesterday afternoon.  Coe completely dominated the Knights in game one.  Nicholson was really on his game.  Martijn pitched pretty well too........he really has a great change-up!  He gave up the homer to Velvick which gave the Kohawks a 1-0 in the 4th and he seemed extremely rattled after that and the wheels came off a little bit.  Not sure why, but he didn't play in the second game at all.  Seems a little weird for the reigning MVP to be out of the line-up in their biggest game of the year to this point.

The second gave was very exciting!  Wartburg came out with some real intensity and punched Coe right in the mouth.  Their dugout was VERY vocal in the second game including some disparaging comments such as "YOU"RE STILL COE!" and things of that nature.  The Kohawks did a good job of not settling with the split and punched right back with the 3-run homer.  Back and forth they went trading blows and Coe's pitcher, Lewis settled down before Kuennen could and Coe pushed ahead.  Really, Coe could have ran off with the second game, but a terrible defensive inning by the Kohawks gave Watrburg 4 unearned runs in the 5th to tie the game.  Once the Knights took the lead in the top of the 7th, the past Coe teams would have folded, but a clean single followed by a pinch hit double that deflected off of Grau's glove in right center field put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.  For the first time that I remember, the Wartburg Knights made critical mistakes that cost them the game.  A wild pitch/passed ball allowed the tying run to score and then a 0-1 pitch was left over the plate which Coe's right fielder lined into left center for the win.  Both teams made mistakes that led to runs.  Pitching on the day - aside from Nicholson - was average at best for both teams, but the weather conditions (wind blowing from right to left field at 15-30 mph all games long) were a real factor with balls dropping that usually would get caught for both teams and well struck balls to left turning from long doubles into long home runs.  Coe's fans were a little pretty voacl at the end in response to the earlier comments from the KNights.....could have been worse, but the game administration seemed to have real good control on the environment.

Great games and Coe has brought Wartburg back to the pack and there is now a logjam at the top.    This is going to be as exciting of a finish as I can remember in the Iowa Conference!

[wartburgalum]

I don't think that they will be looking past Coe (and neither am I, look at one of my previous post).  I was just curious as to who BV would be throwing against Wartburg.  But then again, a response like this from a Kohawk shouldnt surprise anybody, I mean you guys are like the red-headed step child of the IIAC that is always trying to fight for some respect.

......and a response like this shouldn't surprise anyone either.  Nothing like a Wartburg alumnus to bring some extra class to a discussion thread that has been entirely positive up to this point.

That was very interesting double header at Daniel's Park yesterday afternoon.  Coe completely dominated the Knights in game one.  Nicholson was really on his game.  Martijn pitched pretty well too........he really has a great change-up!  He gave up the homer to Velvick which gave the Kohawks a 1-0 in the 4th and he seemed extremely rattled after that and the wheels came off a little bit.  Not sure why, but he didn't play in the second game at all.  Seems a little weird for the reigning MVP to be out of the line-up in their biggest game of the year to this point.

The second gave was very exciting!  Wartburg came out with some real intensity and punched Coe right in the mouth.  Their dugout was VERY vocal in the second game including some disparaging comments such as "YOU"RE STILL COE!" and things of that nature.  The Kohawks did a good job of not settling with the split and punched right back with the 3-run homer.  Back and forth they went trading blows and Coe's pitcher, Lewis settled down before Kuennen could and Coe pushed ahead.  Really, Coe could have ran off with the second game, but a terrible defensive inning by the Kohawks gave Watrburg 4 unearned runs in the 5th to tie the game.  Once the Knights took the lead in the top of the 7th, the past Coe teams would have folded, but a clean single followed by a pinch hit double that deflected off of Grau's glove in right center field put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.  For the first time that I remember, the Wartburg Knights made critical mistakes that cost them the game.  A wild pitch/passed ball allowed the tying run to score and then a 0-1 pitch was left over the plate which Coe's right fielder lined into left center for the win.  Both teams made mistakes that led to runs.  Pitching on the day - aside from Nicholson - was average at best for both teams, but the weather conditions (wind blowing from right to left field at 15-30 mph all games long) were a real factor with balls dropping that usually would get caught for both teams and well struck balls to left turning from long doubles into long home runs.  Coe's fans were a little pretty voacl at the end in response to the earlier comments from the KNights.....could have been worse, but the game administration seemed to have real good control on the environment.

Great games and Coe has brought Wartburg back to the pack and there is now a logjam at the top.    This is going to be as exciting of a finish as I can remember in the Iowa Conference!

I guess I didnt realize that a little good humored ribbing was off limits.  I understand that everyone who is not a Wartburg alum will try to come at us that are for whatever petty reason they can find.  One of those cases of hating on those that have been and continue to sit atop the IIAC in almost every athletic event.

That said, great analysis of the game.  I wish I could have made the trip over to CR.  Wartburg has its work cut out for them now, but this is not a new position for them to be in, although I wish they could have went into the weekend series with BV with a little more momentum.  I guess we will just have to wait and see how all of this plays out.

Regarding your comments about Martijn, I do not know him personally but I have seen him play a few times and spoke with those close to the program about him.  He is in need of some maturing and mental toughness so to hear that he imploded on the mound does not come as a surprise.