BB: IIAC: Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Looks like the B.V. bats are still going pretty good as they beat Coe tonight, 17-12.  Lots of fun knowing that you are part of a lineup like the one in Storm Lake that has a pretty good chance of hitting double digits in runs every time you play a league 9-inning game!

The Coe pitching should fare better in the doubleheader format.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

It also looks like Simpson beat Loras, 20-15!   Maybe all the hitters look ahead to the Friday 9-inning games!  The Storm are now 6-2 going into tomorrow.

[doolittledog]

Am I in the minority that thinks 20-15 games are an abomination?  I like offense, but there has to be a point where pitching and defense comes into play.  How much difference would getting rid of aluminum bats make in bringing down scores? 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

20-15 games are usually a little high for most fans, but the bigger issue to me is how well the game was played and whether lots of walks and errors led to the high score (or crazy wind conditions).

I don't mind a high scoring game when both teams are really hitting the ball at a high level and are earning the runs.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

B.V. swept the series today from Coe to move to 7-0 in the league.  Coe dropped to 5-5 with the losses.

The Beavers get Wartburg (7-2 in the league as I type) this week for another huge doubleheader.  B.V. won the opener against the Knights already this past week and needs to just split the doubleheader to win the series.

Congrats B.V.

[wartburgalum]

To Floyd:

Sorry it took so long to get back to you.  I am not sure what type of surface they practice on now.  I do know however the new center is a huge upgrade over the old one.  The amount of space is probably the biggest difference as well as being able to have more than one team in there practicing at the same time (not a huge deal, but it sure beats practicing from 9pm-midnight).

I wish I knew what was going on with Wartburg's recruiting/reloading situation.  When I was there (2003-2006) it seemed as if there was never a drop off in talent level. Now it seems to be fluctuating a bit.  Could be that everyone is just catching up to the Knights.  But it does seem to me that Wartburg would benefit from expanding their recruiting area a bit, maybe shoot for some CIML guys versus sticking to the Northeast/Eastern part of the state (I may be a bit biased as I am from Central Iowa).  Just some thoughts tho.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Thanks!

One of my high school teammates played baseball at Simpson and used to say the opposite in that he thought the Storm recruited the CIML well but needed to get outside of Central Iowa.

Another big day of doubleheaders with B.V.-Wartburg, Coe-Central, etc.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Luther worked its way from last to 6th in the standings in a week as they swept the 3-game set from Loras today with a pair of 3-2 wins.  The Norse are now 14-10 and 3-6 in the IIAC going into the Central series this weekend.  Cody Hyland moved to 3-2 with a 3.09 ERA with the complete game win in game 1 today.  Can the Norse pitching staff throw this well against someone in the league not named Loras?

In bigger news, B.V. won the Wartburg series but the Knights kept their hopes alive as the teams split today, 11-2 for B.V. and 3-2 in 10 innings for the Knights.  B.V. is now 8-1 in the league while Wartburg and Simpson are 9-3 and 8-3.

B.V. and Simpson go at it this weekend.  The Beavers after this weekend will have played Luther, Coe, Wartburg, and Simpson.  It doesn't mean they role over everyone the rest of the way, but they will have played the toughest schedule so far.

[wartburgalum]

Floyd, sounds like a case of "the grass is always greener."  I would just like to see Wartburg expand their recruiting to some of the bigger schools around the state.  Wartburg has always lived off of small school talent (nothing wrong with that) but while I was there, the majority of the starters/all-conference guys came from 4A/3A schools (Davenport, Mason City, Burlington, Des Moines, etc.).

B.V. is looking like the have a pretty good stranglehold on the conference at this point, especially if they make it through this weekend.  The Knights are going to have to get a few sweeps and hope that Simpson and most likely Loras can help them out.  Gotta love this time of year with seeing how the conference season is shaping up.

[youcantseemestill]

To me, it seems like the race is for second place.  BVU is really good offensively.  After seeing them knock around Coe's pitching, and then hit the crap out of the ball in two of the three games against Wartburg, I have no doubts that they will finish this season by winning the conference by a 3 game margin at least.  The battle is for second and then bye in the tourney.  I think Wartburg, Simpson, Central and Coe all have shots.  I really feel like 7 or 8 losses will take second place.  Wartburg has taken 2 of 3 from Central, Coe has taken 2 of 3 from Central and Simpson.  The Knights have Simpson, Luther, Loras, and Coe.  The Kohawks have Wartburg, Luther, Cornell and Dubuque. 

The Beavers are really tough.   A couple of notes though:
1.  They are not built to make a deep run in the tourneys they get into with their lack of depth on the mound. 
2.  They are the best defensive team that I have seen so far this year without a doubt.  Their defense has the ability to make up for their average pitching.
3.  They are the best all-around offensive team that I have seen in the conference for the past decade.  They are built to win this year, and they are.
4.  Their home field, is a joke.  After seeing it for the first time this year, I came away with nothing good to say about it.  The turf is nice on the infield, but the mound is an absolute travesty to baseball.  Also, the lights are stupid.  They are way too low and way to weak.  Finally, the outfield played like concrete with holes in it. 

[upandin]

How bad are UD and Cornell?  They are playing a huge roll in shaping this conference race due to their poor play.  Not only are they affecting the standings but the individuals and teams who have faced them are racking up statistics.  Why are they sooooo bad, does anyone know?   This whole race might just come down to if someone slips up and looses to one of these two teams.    Central and Wartburg are already 6-0 in those games.  Simpson is 3-0.  If you look at the conference standings that is #2(wartburg), #3(simpson), and #4(central). Coe, Luther, and Loras have to hold serve to stay in it.

[doolittledog]

Sigh, UD is still bringing up the rear in baseball and softball.  UD has improved in football, mens and womens soccer, mens and womens basketball.  Hopefully baseball and softball are next on their lists for making improvements. 

[BigToughGuy]

How bad are UD and Cornell?  They are playing a huge roll in shaping this conference race due to their poor play.  Not only are they affecting the standings but the individuals and teams who have faced them are racking up statistics.  Why are they sooooo bad, does anyone know?   This whole race might just come down to if someone slips up and looses to one of these two teams.    Central and Wartburg are already 6-0 in those games.  Simpson is 3-0.  If you look at the conference standings that is #2(wartburg), #3(simpson), and #4(central). Coe, Luther, and Loras have to hold serve to stay in it.

upandin......you're a fart licker!  That's like saying one American league team is at a disadvantage because they play the Kansas City Royals in August instead of April.  It doesn't matter.....everybody plays everybody you f'ing idiot!

[Floyd in Iowa City]

I am appreciative of the fact that Central had a live feed on the computer of the Norse loss down in Pella today, but that was an ugly game IMO.  The Norse lost 14-12 in a game in which from a small (and non-detailed) video feed it appeared as if I was watching bad defense, really bad pitching, and some good hitting on a windy day.

Luther was up 9-6 until they gave up 8 runs in the 7th inning.  Central walked 10 times

It is hard to watch when an offense scores a couple runs and the pitching just blows it without even challenging the Dutch hitters. 

I know there are a bunch of teams who seem to struggle to pitch in the 9-inning games, but I was not really prepared for the huge falloff from last year to this year.

The good news for the Norse is that Hyland goes tomorrow, but Luther has not won a series when they have lost the first game.

1B Ben Schott is now hitting .451 on the year with 10 doubles, 5 HRs, and 27 RBIs on the year.  The Norse have to recruit much better this offseason as they have some big seniors to replace even though the team is only 14-11 and 3-7.

Congrats to the Dutch for moving to 9-4 and putting themselves in a position to win another series.

[upandin]

How bad are UD and Cornell?  They are playing a huge roll in shaping this conference race due to their poor play.  Not only are they affecting the standings but the individuals and teams who have faced them are racking up statistics.  Why are they sooooo bad, does anyone know?   This whole race might just come down to if someone slips up and looses to one of these two teams.    Central and Wartburg are already 6-0 in those games.  Simpson is 3-0.  If you look at the conference standings that is #2(wartburg), #3(simpson), and #4(central). Coe, Luther, and Loras have to hold serve to stay in it.

upandin......you're a fart licker!  That's like saying one American league team is at a disadvantage because they play the Kansas City Royals in August instead of April.  It doesn't matter.....everybody plays everybody you f'ing idiot!

Tough Guy..... what can I say your girl has a little gas every once in awhile. But she goes crazy for that ship.   Being that you are a STL guy you should know that MLB does not have a balanced schedule.  The Cardinals don't play the same schedule as the Cubs. So that analogy is crap.  Also coming from the SLIAC area you should be familiar with how much bad teams effect conference play.  But then again when 8 of the 9 teams suck how can one tell.   You tell Loras and Coe that playing Cornell and UD doesn't help.  They both won by run rule Friday.  Loras had 13 runs on 16 hits, while Coe had 24 runs on 23 hits.  My point exactly!!!   I just might be a "f'ing idiot", but looks as though you don't know what the "f" your talking about.