BB: IIAC: Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[upandin]

Conference play is finally here.  Hope the weather allows everyone to play this weekend, early rain/snow outs have played a role in determining the championship in the past.  If the early results are any indication, this is shaping up to be a great race for the 2011 title.  My predictions:   
Luther 2 of 3 from Cornell. 
Central 2 of 3 from Loras.
Coe 2 of 3 from Wartburg
Simpson 2 of 3 from UD.
BV is off
I think everyone other than BBplayer is surprised about the UD start.  Even if they played bad teams, in the past they would still be .500 or lower in those games.  Very respectable start.  Wartburg also a surprise at 7-8, looks like they have played some tuff competition. But most would expect them to win a good amount of those tuff games. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

I agree on Dubuque as the team I saw last year might have been below .500 against any sort of college non-conference schedule.  However while Dubuque was 5-6 in the preseason last year, they did win three games by the score of 20-2, 20-2 and 19-5.  Simpson will be a nice test for the Spartans.  When I think of Dubuque I don't think of a good program, but they aren't in the basement every year either.

2006 (or maybe 2007) was probably the last time that Wartburg looked like a nationally ranked type program in the preseason.  It just hasn't been there early for the Knights in the last few years.  That doesn't mean that they won't be a contender in the conference, but 7-8 is not that much different than the last few preseasons to me.

B.V. still looks like the clear team to chase as the conference starts tomorrow.

Luther is now 9-3 with an extra inning win and two extra inning losses.  Getting off to a good start in conference and winning close games is a must for this year's version of the Norse.  Pitching and defense are going to be big this weekend if the weather is only around 40 or so.

[Gregory Sager]

I agree on Dubuque as the team I saw last year might have been below .500 against any sort of college non-conference schedule.  However while Dubuque was 5-6 in the preseason last year, they did win three games by the score of 20-2, 20-2 and 19-5.

Non-conference, not preseason. Those games played against teams from outside the IIAC still counted towards Dubuque's record.

[Kohawk Krazy]

Kohawks, Dutch and Norse all get 3-game sweeps this weekend.  Not sure I saw Coe and Central getting all three, but more like two.  I won't complain with the three though.

[TheSportsFan]

Opening weekend is complete with some very interesting results.

A few things to note:

Simpson-Dubuque

Simpson and Dubuque have already lost one of their 24 games in the conference season.  With the possibility of Simpson competing for the conference title this lost game against Dubuque could be a lossed opportunity.

Dubuque has had a great start to the season (10-1 heading into this last weekend), but could only muster one hit combined in the 15 innings against Simpson?  Understandably, it was cold, and early in the season, and a tough opponent, but one hit asks if this Dubuque team can honestly compete for a chance to get in the tournament.  This team is definitely capable of playing spoiler, but word has been that this could be the year they get back to the Tourney.

Wartburg-Coe

This sweep was somewhat of a surprise, but it's important to understand that Coe is a good ballclub.  While I've had my doubts about Wartburg, I still see them as a longshot to miss the tournament, don't let one weekend skew your opinion of a generally good team and a good program.

Luther-Cornell

The Norse scrambled to get the sweep of Cornell.  It was probably expected that Luther would win all three against a perennial seller dweller, but didn't get them as easily as they maybe could have.  Maybe Cornell is capable of beating someone other than Dubuque this year???  (Then again, most likely not).

Loras-Central

In my opinion, the most interesting of the weekend series.  Central sweeps all three and puts them in a good spot early on while Loras (missed the tournament last year) puts themselves in a hole to begin what is supposed to be a team that will get them back to the tournament.  The schedule remains tough for Loras as they play Simpson next weekend with a double header with Coe to follow.  Obviously they will get to play some of the worse competition just like everyone else, but if they start out 1-7 or 2-6, it would be a struggle to get back into the mix.

Lastly, BBCOR's have been a point of discussion this offseason.  While the temperatures in the 20's and 30's didn't help, I couldn't help but notice the conference hit just .253 this weekend.  Then again, Dubuque's 1 for 46 (.022) performance might skew those numbers.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

It was cold for baseball, especially on Saturday.  I went to the Iowa-Western Illinois game on Saturday and the Luther-Cornell games on Sunday, and it was painful from an offensive standpoint to watch the Hawks and Leathernecks swing the bats on Saturday.  The wind was blowing in from RF, the newer bats did not sound good, and anyone with an above average fastball was working over a lot of hitters.

The Cornell ace threw on Saturday (which I did not see), but I thought one of the Cornell pitchers had a nice arm in the 1st game on Sunday.  Depth is still going to be an issue for Cornell, but some of the pitchers looked better to me than what I saw when the Norse and Rams played at the end of the season last year.

The weather was such a huge issue though.  The top three rotation starters have great numbers so far for the Norse, but how much of that is based on the competition and the weather?  Here are the numbers:

     Player                   ERA   W-L   APP GS  CG   IP     H   R    ER  BB  SO   B/Avg
23 Augie Lindmark...    1.71   2-1     4   3    2   21.0  19  11   4   4     18    .229

42 Danny Smith......    2.05   3-0      4   4   1    22.0  20   5    5   3    15     .241
21 Joel Martin......       2.00   3-0      4   3   1    18.0  17   5    4   3    12     .239   

The pitchers probably will not continue to have this kind of advantage next weekend if the temperature is up into the 50s.  More than the statistics, I was more impressed that Lindmark, Smith, and Martin combined to throw 23 innings against the Rams with Lindmark and Smith going the distance.

I am just happy that Luther is 12-3 overall and 3-0 in the IIAC.  They were picked 7th in the preseason poll and could have lost that 2-1 game, but I will take 3-0 in the league with hope that the bats will look better when it warms up.

Congrats to Coe as the sweep of Wartburg was probably the most surprising thing that I took from the weekend.  Wartburg's season is clearly not over , but the people at B.V. have to still be liking their chances this year.

Luther has Coe and B.V. the next two weekends.  A split of those 6 games might not be the worst thing of all time from a Norse perspective.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

It seems like the Iowa Conference website has been a little slower this season as far as getting stats and scores posted.  On the Coe website the stats are up to date and have Coe with 4 HRs this year.  The Norse have only 1 HR from Reynolds.  Are HRs down nationally and around the conference so far this year?

Coe his hitting over .370 as a team going into this weekend.  I know they put a hurt on Monmouth to help the overall numbers, but it looks like they are reloading at a nice level so far this season.

Did Cornell actually get accepted back into their old conference and is there any new information about a timeline to moving back?  I haven't seen anything since football season.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

http://www.tommiesports.com/bsbl/news/Announce_1-12.html


I did not know that St. Thomas had changed baseball coaches.  Guess I have not been following MIAC sports enough lately.  I went to the MIAC website to see how the lack of a Dome was hurting teams, and saw a link to this.

St. Olaf is 12-3, but everyone else is around .500 or has barely played any games.  St. Thomas is 4-8 so far.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Luther split with St. John's today, winning 1-0 and losing 5-3.  I watched a little on the computer and it looked like the Johnnies threw both of the top starting pitchers.

The Norse saved the top three starting pitchers for the conference weekend.  The offense is going to have to get going again, but a split with a MIAC upper division team in recent years is not that bad.  The Norse are now 13-4.

[Swing4theFences]

Picks last week were pretty good so here we go again with the matchups for this weekend....
BV getting a sweep against Dubuque- Dubuque didn't show us much last week when they took on a real team and I really don't see any more success against the defending champs. BV wins all 3 easily

Central takes 2 of 3 from Wartburg- I see Wartburg bouncing back after getting swept at Coe and they will find a way to win one at Central. Central is a good team though and will manage to win 2

Simpson takes 2 of 3 vs Loras- Games will be played at Simpson and I see them being able to win 2 of them. Loras needs to come back and get a W after losing all 3 to Central.

Coe takes 2 of 3 games at Luther- Coe is now leading the nation in team batting average and they will take that offense into Decorah and win 2 of 3. I don't believe that the pitching numbers that Luther's staff will hold up after this weekend. Coe's defense looks real skeptical which will be their downside this year and if Luther can take advantage of their mistakes they could even win the series.

Whats everyone else thinking?

[Floyd in Iowa City]

I think the Wartburg-Central series is huge.  The margin for error will probably be small for both teams if the goal is to compete with B.V. for the title.  Wartburg really needs a good weekend, while Central would show itself as a real contender if they won the series to move to 5-1 or 6-0 in the league.  My head says that Central wins this series, but my gut says that Wartburg finds a way to not be 1-5 when the weekend is over.

How good is Wartburg right now?  They are 0-7 against St. Olaf and Coe.

Simpson got a nice schedule start IMO to the season with with Dubuque and Loras, so they really need to take care of business now before they start playing Coe, B.V., Wartburg, and Central.

Coe has to be favored to win the Norse series.  Coe swept Wartburg and has a good record.  Luther has a good record, but I am not sure about the strength of the teams they beat.  St. John's rolled out a good pitcher and the Norse won that game with #4 starting, but they need to start scoring more.

[TheSportsFan]

I think that Wartburg will take 2 of 3 at home against Central.

I understand that Wartburg is not the same team as last year and that Central is pretty darn good, but Watson is still Watson and should find a way to win them one ballgame.  Also, it's hard to believe that Wartburg will drop as low as 1-5 in the IIAC.  Let's also not let that 0-3 deceive us into thinking they are not a good team.  They were in all 3 games against a very good (and potentially IIAC best) Kohawk squad.

You heard it here: I've fallen off of the BVU bandwagon and now lean towards Coe to win the IIAC this year ---curious if I am the only one to have switched over from the popular choice of BV.

[upandin]

Myguess on week two.
I see Wartburg taking 2 wins at home.  As always the wind will be blowing out to RF in Waverly and I would hope that last weekend should light a fire under the knights.  The game one pitching match up could be a good one if early season stats hold true.  (Watson vs. Pulliam)  Might be 10 K's for each team in that one. 

I see Loras taking 2 from Simpson at home, I just don't know what Simpson is after that UD double dip.  So Ill give the nod to the home team coming off getting swept.  If Loras doesn't show up this weekend it could be tuff for them to get back into the race. 

I see Coe taking 2 from Luther.  Again not sure what kind of team Luther is.  I thought they would finish 6th or 7th this year and a sweep of Cornell is almost a given for the top 7 teams in the league. Based on over all record this should be a good series.  I think both teams have something to prove.

BV will sweep Dubuque.  Enough said.

I'm looking forward to some better weather so I can actually go out and see a game or two

[BigPoppa]

In January, I loved BV to win it, but as the season approached I start to fall in love with Central.

[bbplayer]

Myguess on week two.
I see Wartburg taking 2 wins at home.  As always the wind will be blowing out to RF in Waverly and I would hope that last weekend should light a fire under the knights.  The game one pitching match up could be a good one if early season stats hold true.  (Watson vs. Pulliam)  Might be 10 K's for each team in that one. 

I see Loras taking 2 from Simpson at home, I just don't know what Simpson is after that UD double dip.  So Ill give the nod to the home team coming off getting swept.  If Loras doesn't show up this weekend it could be tuff for them to get back into the race. 

I see Coe taking 2 from Luther.  Again not sure what kind of team Luther is.  I thought they would finish 6th or 7th this year and a sweep of Cornell is almost a given for the top 7 teams in the league. Based on over all record this should be a good series.  I think both teams have something to prove.

BV will sweep Dubuque.  Enough said.

I'm looking forward to some better weather so I can actually go out and see a game or two

Guess enough NOT SAID! The mighty BV goes down to UD 11-10 !