BB: IIAC: Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Luther showed that game 1 of each IIAC series still means a ton to how they will do as they beat Wartburg today to win the series, 14-4.  Cody Hyland got the win to move to 7-3 and a 2.87 ERA on the season.  Ben Schott drove in 6 RBIs today and now has 49 on the season (to with 10 HRs, 15 2Bs, and a .472 batting average).

The Norse are now 23-14 on the year and 11-10 in the Iowa Conference going into the last series of the year against Coe.

In IIAC series opening games for the Norse:

Simpson (L) - lost the series 0-3
B.V. (L) - lost the series 0-3
Loras (W) - won the series 3-0
Central (L) - lost the series 0-3
Dubuque (W) - won the series 3-0
Wartburg (W) - won the series 2-1
Cornell (W) - won the series 3-0
Coe ??

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats to B.V. on winning the Iowa Conference for the first time since 1981.  They lost to Central today, 5-4, but won at least a share of the league title since Luther beat Wartburg.

B.V. plays Cornell this weekend, so chances are good that they will not share the title with anyone.

The Beavers have now won 15 IIAC titles and are right at the top of the list with Wartburg and Luther for titles won all-time.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

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. 

This still looks pretty accurate on B.V. a few weeks later!

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Since UD doesn't win all that often I thought I would put a link up.

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=280986

The Spartans get their 2nd conference win of the season over cross town rival Loras 7-3

Dubuque split with Loras last night to win the season series with the rival Duhawks.  Congrats to the Spartans for moving out of last place and the series win.

The Spartans fared better than Cornell did last night in losing 19-6 to Coe.  The Rams also lost last week in in a doubleheader against the rivals from Cedar Rapids, 7-0 and 7-0.

[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. 

This still looks pretty accurate on B.V. a few weeks later!

Haha thanks!  It will be interesting this weekend for Coe and Luther.  Coe controls its own destiny for 3rd place.  If they sweep, its theirs. Also, Coe has an outside shot at the 2 seed still.  If Loras, who has a lot to play for, can take two from Watburg, and Coe sweeps, 2nd goes to the Kohawks.   Luther can move all the way to the 3rd spot as well.  Luther could also fall out of the tourney and watch Loras pass them.  Central, being done, should be rooting hard for Luther and Loras to win.  Loras needs to win two from Wartburg and Luther one from Coe to give the Dutch 2nd place.  Here is my prediction for the weekend........

- BVU sweeps Cornell - duh!  Cornell is maybe the worst team I have seen in this conference.  BVU finishes their impressive conference season, only to see their regional ranking slip due to losing 75 games in the SoS department. 
- Wartburg wins 2 of 3 from Loras to secure the two seed.  Loras, last year's co-champs miss the tourney.
- Simpson sweeps UD.  Dubuque has battled this year, but they are still not very good. 
- Coe takes 2 of 3 from Luther.  If this series was in Decorah, I'd probably switch my picks, but Coe has been tough at home this year and I don't think Hyland will throw game one after pitching Wednesday.  Without Hyland, Luther doesn't beat Coe which mean they lose the series.......right Floyd? 

Final Predicted standings:
Buena Vista - -  20-4
Wartburg    - -  16-8
Cental        - -  15-8
Coe            - -  15-9
Simpson     - -  14-9
Luther        - -  12-12
Loras         - -  10-14
Dubuque    - -  3-21
Cornell       - -  2-22

[Floyd in Iowa City]

How about another one of those Friday rains so that the 9-inning game is moved to Sunday?

Luther has done well in those situations as Hyland then leads off for the Norse and wins game 1.

If you are the Norse do you go with Riddle in game 1 on Friday even though most of his success has been against weaker teams in 7-inning games?  Or do you hope to outscore Coe on Friday with staff by committee and have Riddle go after Hyland for a strong doubleheader on Saturday?

Coe has more pitching (2 good starters) and should win the series, but I guess it will come down to who wins game 1.   Both teams have good offensive numbers, but at least three Norse pitchers need to perform this weekend.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Besides the game 1 thing in league play for Luther, the other issue is how often can Hyland take the mound?

Luther has won 4 IIAC series (three by 3-0), but Hyland both started and won two midweek games against both Wartburg and Loras.  Hyland only started once and won in weekend sweeps against Cornell and Dubuque, but Coe is a little better than the 8th and 9th place teams in the league.

I remember a pitcher from Billy Penn throwing two great complete game performances in the IIAC tourney back in 1995 over two days, but that sort of thing doesn't happen often.  Did Wartburg have a pitcher do that last year in the conference tourney?

[OshDude]

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. 

This still looks pretty accurate on B.V. a few weeks later!

Haha thanks!  It will be interesting this weekend for Coe and Luther.  Coe controls its own destiny for 3rd place.  If they sweep, its theirs. Also, Coe has an outside shot at the 2 seed still.  If Loras, who has a lot to play for, can take two from Watburg, and Coe sweeps, 2nd goes to the Kohawks.   Luther can move all the way to the 3rd spot as well.  Luther could also fall out of the tourney and watch Loras pass them.  Central, being done, should be rooting hard for Luther and Loras to win.  Loras needs to win two from Wartburg and Luther one from Coe to give the Dutch 2nd place.  Here is my prediction for the weekend........

- BVU sweeps Cornell - duh!  Cornell is maybe the worst team I have seen in this conference.  BVU finishes their impressive conference season, only to see their regional ranking slip due to losing 75 games in the SoS department. 
- Wartburg wins 2 of 3 from Loras to secure the two seed.  Loras, last year's co-champs miss the tourney.
- Simpson sweeps UD.  Dubuque has battled this year, but they are still not very good. 
- Coe takes 2 of 3 from Luther.  If this series was in Decorah, I'd probably switch my picks, but Coe has been tough at home this year and I don't think Hyland will throw game one after pitching Wednesday.  Without Hyland, Luther doesn't beat Coe which mean they lose the series.......right Floyd? 

Final Predicted standings:
Buena Vista - -  20-4
Wartburg    - -  16-8
Cental        - -  15-8
Coe            - -  15-9
Simpson     - -  14-9
Luther        - -  12-12
Loras         - -  10-14
Dubuque    - -  3-21
Cornell       - -  2-22

You could play Cornell 10 times and its in-region record would only count once when computing OWP and OOWP. Each opponent's record (sans results against the team for which you're computing) is averaged once, not each opponent times the number of games played.

[doolittledog]

Dubuque split with Loras last night to win the season series with the rival Duhawks.  Congrats to the Spartans for moving out of last place and the series win.

The Spartans fared better than Cornell did last night in losing 19-6 to Coe.  The Rams also lost last week in in a doubleheader against the rivals from Cedar Rapids, 7-0 and 7-0.

Here's a story from the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald.

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=281853

Dubuque has had games this year where they were starting 8 freshmen.  youcan'tseemestill mentioned earlier that Dubuque is bad, but has battled.  I think that speaks well for the future for UD.  It would have been easy for the UD kids to give up on this season but they continue to try hard.  Hopefully...at least for me...Dubuque will be a good team in a couple of years.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Besides the game 1 thing in league play for Luther, the other issue is how often can Hyland take the mound?

Luther has won 4 IIAC series (three by 3-0), but Hyland both started and won two midweek games against both Wartburg and Loras.  Hyland only started once and won in weekend sweeps against Cornell and Dubuque, but Coe is a little better than the 8th and 9th place teams in the league.

I remember a pitcher from Billy Penn throwing two great complete game performances in the IIAC tourney back in 1995 over two days, but that sort of thing doesn't happen often.  Did Wartburg have a pitcher do that last year in the conference tourney?

Coe won 19-8 today so based on this season that doesn't bode well for tomorrow.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

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. 

This still looks pretty accurate on B.V. a few weeks later!

- Coe takes 2 of 3 from Luther.  If this series was in Decorah, I'd probably switch my picks, but Coe has been tough at home this year and I don't think Hyland will throw game one after pitching Wednesday.  Without Hyland, Luther doesn't beat Coe which mean they lose the series.......right Floyd? 

Right.

Did Hyland even throw today?  I thought I saw Augie Lindmark got the complete game win in game 1 and Riddle took the loss in game 2.  Hopefully Hyland is healthy and they are gassing him up for the conference tourney.

What a season for Lewis from Coe!  I have thought that Hyland has been throwing like a 1st team all-conference pitcher for most of the season, but Lewis will clearly be one of the all-league pitchers.

Schott and Weber have had the best offensive years for the Norse with Reynolds and Riddle being a notch below, but Hyland is by far the only pitcher on the team worthy of all-legue votes.

[Kohawk Krazy]

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. 

This still looks pretty accurate on B.V. a few weeks later!

- Coe takes 2 of 3 from Luther.  If this series was in Decorah, I'd probably switch my picks, but Coe has been tough at home this year and I don't think Hyland will throw game one after pitching Wednesday.  Without Hyland, Luther doesn't beat Coe which mean they lose the series.......right Floyd? 

Right.

Did Hyland even throw today?  I thought I saw Augie Lindmark got the complete game win in game 1 and Riddle took the loss in game 2.  Hopefully Hyland is healthy and they are gassing him up for the conference tourney.

What a season for Lewis from Coe!  I have thought that Hyland has been throwing like a 1st team all-conference pitcher for most of the season, but Lewis will clearly be one of the all-league pitchers.

Schott and Weber have had the best offensive years for the Norse with Reynolds and Riddle being a notch below, but Hyland is by far the only pitcher on the team worthy of all-legue votes.

Schott and Weber were a combined 0 for 6 against Lewis today.  Schott struck out three times, while Weber struck out once.  Lewis just made them look silly up there. 

Lewis led the league in wins, strikeouts (24 more than anyone else!  Wow!), and innings pitched.  He was in top five for ERA and Opposing BAA.  If he isn't Pitcher of the Year, it's a crying shame.

[TheSportsFan]

I'm not so sure that Lewis is a lock to win Pitcher of the Year......keep in mind that only conference stats should be considered for Conference Pitcher of the year.

It looks to me to be a two-man race......Alec Lewis of Coe and Cody Hyland of Luther.

Lewis sits at a perfect 7-0 record while Hyland is 6-3.....but that is a very team dependent stat.....here is a numbers comparison

ERA
-----
Hyland........2.95
Lewis..........3.47

WHIP
--------
Hyland.......1.03
Lewis.........1.11

Opponent Batting Average
-----------------------------------
Hyland........(.236)
Lewis..........(.248)

Those three important numbers all favor Hyland, while Lewis controls Record and Strikeouts (Lewis 66, Hyland 39)

Note: Hyland's three losses were scores of 5-2, 3-1, 5-1......Hyland also won some low scoring games 4-1, 3-2, 3-1, 4-0

Just thought I would open up the conversation as this is clearly not a one-man race for Pitcher of the Year

[youcantseemestill]

It is a lock IMO.  He has the single best season in Coe history this season.

7-0 does matter.  Don't say its team dependent when 4 of those 7 wins came in complete game shutouts.  Also, in both of Lewis's no-decisions, he left the game leading. 

Highlights of his season.......

Coe records for:
Season IP w/  85.2
Season W w/   10
Season K's w/  82

Coe Career records:
Appearances:  56
Wins:   23
Strikeouts:  240
IP - (2nd w/ 281.1) will break the record with next start
Saves: (3rd w/ 5)
ERA: (3rd)

Aside from Lewis, there has been no other dominant pitcher over the course of the whole year.  If there ever was a year for a unanimous decision, this is the one.  Hyland has been very good this year and very deserving of a 1st team selection.  But, pitcher of the year should be a one man race.

[TheSportsFan]

Those numbers are clearly impressive.........but once again.......this is a conference award, not an overall award.......you can only consider Conference numbers.

Also, Remember that Lewis struggled mightily in two seperate outings:

Against Buena vista.........5.2 IP, 13 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 2 K (Left with an 11-10 lead, team lost 17-12, had plenty of run support)

Against Wartburg...........7.2 IP, 12 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 6 K (Left in 7-7 Tie, but his run scored to put them down 8-7, had Coe not came back with 2 in the ninth Lewis would have gotten the loss)

Those are two rough starts......Hyland's worst two starts:

Vs. Simpson- 5 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

Vs. Central - 6 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 7 K

That Central start is not bad at all, and that is his 2nd worst.

Once again, no one would argue with Lewis winning this, but I don't see an argument against Hyland either.  Luther's struggles with other pitchers could play a factor too as Hyland started 9 games for the Norse to sneak them into the tourney (he didn't pitch in final weekend as they already qualified).......Coe on the other hand has a dominant 1-2 punch (despite Raisch's struggles at times)......Hyland is clearly more valuable to his team.