BB: IIAC: Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Back when Minnesota Gopher Baseball used to be more of a regional power around the last time they hosted regionals, I thought they used to rotate MIAC schools at one point as the one non-Division I opponent on the schedule.  There is always a strong MIAC following around the Twin Cities, and I remember being at a St. Thomas-Minnesota game that was pretty tight.

Back when the scheduling rules were different, Coach Banks and Iowa used to schedule multiple Iowa Conference schools.  In fact, one of his last games in the late 1990s was the infamous game in Decorah that helped send him into retirement.

Does it really matter that much for Division I RPI whether Iowa is playing Coe or Central?

Maybe the Gophers should rotate MIAC schools again!  St. Thomas beat the Gophers 8-3 yesterday and never trailed.  They also beat the Gophers 6-3 in 2009 and lost in 12 innings last season, 5-4.

The Tommies were just 8-13 on the season going into the game yesterday and had just been swept by Hamline in a doubleheader on Tuesday.  They are 4-4 in the MIAC.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

All-time records against Minnesota:

Iowa Conference schools
Luther 10-36-2 (before WWII the series was 8-11-2)
Upper Iowa 3-3 (this series was played between 1900-1906, the Peacock-Norse series was also tough back then)
Wartburg 0-4
Cornell 0-1

MIAC schools
Augsburg 1-43-1
Bethel 0-4
Carleton 7-35-2
Concordia 0-4
Gustavus 0-15
Macalester 1-16-1
St. John's 2-12
St. Mary's 0-2
St. Olaf 2-35
St. Thomas 12-63

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Central 12, Simpson 3
BVU 2, Wartburg 1
Cornell 5, Dubuque 2
Loras 10, Coe 4 (Bottom of the 8th)

if Loras can hold on......here are the updated standings........YES, somehow the top tier has gotten even tighter.

Simpson.8-3
Coe........8-4
BVU........6-3
Luther....5-4
Wartburg..6-6
Central.....4-5
Loras........5-7
Dubuque...4-7
Cornell......1-8

Notes:  Watson went 9 innings of 4 hit and 7 K without getting the win for Wartburg.

Dubuque has to be questioning whether or not they can find a way to the tournament.  They fall to 4-7, and have no more games against Cornell.  It's just hard for me to imagine Dubuque sticking with the middle grouping of teams.

Loras has now won 5 conference games in a row, including two from Coe and 3 from Cornell to get to 5-7.  Just like that, the Duhawks are back in contention (assuming they don't blow the six run lead with an innning left to play).

Congrats to the Duhawks as the pitching is really getting it done right now and the hitting has been coming on.  It should be a fun series in Decorah this weekend!

B.V. has themselves back in good position by winning the series against both Wartburg and Luther.

Central stopped the bleeding against the Storm.

Congrats as well to Cornell as that conference win must have seemed pretty big after how the season had been going for them.  Hopefully they can take down some other teams down the stretch.

[doolittledog]

Dubuque wins at Central 4-3 in what I believe is the 1st of a double header today...with tomorrow the two schools will play 1 game which is the make up from yesterdays postponed game.  But I'm never sure of much.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats to the Spartans!

The Norse beat Loras, 2-0 in the 1st game of the series.  Augie Lindmark did it again as he had a complete game shutout to move to 4-0 in IIAC 9-inning games.  He gave up 2 hits and fanned 8.  What a year he has had to this point!

[doolittledog]

I will echo what others have said on here.  A lot of competitive balance from top to bottom this year.  Is it the bats???  Even Cornell with 1 conference win is hanging in games and keeping it close.  Dubuque loses to Cornell midweek and then goes to Pella and beats a Central team that just took it to league leader Simpson 12-3 earlier in the week.  Luther seems to be playing well.  It should be interesting to see how things play out the rest of the season. 

[Floyd in Iowa City]

You do have to wonder about the bats as it seems like there are some pitchers having very good years.  Even the Hawkeyes, who are now only 12-19, seem to be built that the winning formula rests almost completely with the starting pitchers.

Luther is not hitting that well right now.  The Lindmark games have kept the team above water.  Loras also seems like the pitching is what drives that team.

This weekend and the first conference weekend were pretty cold as well.

Wartburg has not won the league title all by themselves in consecutive years since 2004 and 2005.  Is the fact that the league isn't being dominated by one team the way it was for more than 10 years when Wartburg was riding high part of this as well?

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Congrats to Coe for winning against the Beavers today, 6-2.  The games tomorrow are huge for both teams as Coe has a chance to put some real distance between 2nd and 3rd place.  B.V. also plays Simpson next week.

B.V. can turn this around quickly, but they better start soon.  It will get really hard making up ground after these next five games.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Luther swept Loras as they won the doubleheader, 4-1 and 12-7.  The 2nd game today got interesting as the Norse were up 8-0 going into the 5th and then found themselves up only 8-7 going into the bottom of the 6th.  It was an interesting 1st choice to go to the bullpen, but a win is a win.

The Norse are now 18-8 overall and 8-4 in the Iowa Conference.  It is only the halfway mark for Luther, but 8-4 is a pretty good mark for this group going into the Dubuque series on Friday.

Loras is now 12-16 and 5-10 in the league.  Loras has been up and down this year, but this was a good sweep as the Duhawks had won 5 IIAC games in a row.

[Floyd in Iowa City]

Coe swept B.V. this weekend as they won both ends of the doubleheader today, 6-0 and 8-0.

Coe is now 19-8 and 11-4 in the IIAC while B.V. is now 6-6 in the league and 15-11 overall.  B.V. also plays Simpson this week.

The best team in the league might be the group from Cedar Rapids, but they have nine league games left.

[TheSportsFan]

Updated IIAC standings:

Simpson......11-3
Coe.............11-4
Luther...........8-4
Buena Vista...6-6
Central..........6-6
Wartburg.......6-6
Dubuque........5-9
Loras.............5-10
Cornell...........1-11

FINALLY a little bit of separation at the top with Simpson and Coe looking in good shape.  In addition Coe will be home against Central and split series with Cornell before having a week off to prepare for Simpson to close the season.  I like Coe to win this conference, at least at this point.  Probably with an 18-6 record.

Biggest surprise of the weekend:  Coe sweeps Buena Vista and holds them to just 2 runs on the weekend.  People knew Coe was good, but questioned whether or not their pitching could do the job.....I think that question has been answered.

In terms of the conference tournament (6 teams making it), it looks like Simpson and Coe are in good shape, but what a close race at the bottom with 5 teams at 5 or 6 wins, and 3 teams sitting at 6-6.

Don't count Loras out just yet, they still have 9 games to play, including series against Dubuque, BVU, and Wartburg, 3 teams that they are chasing.  Dubuque also still needs to play Wartburg.

Note:  Teams that have yet to play Cornell (sad we have to do this)....Wartburg, Coe, Central, Buena Vista.

With that in mind, Cornell, Loras and Dubuque are all in big trouble.  The three teams at 6-6 (Wart, BV and CENT) still play Cornell and will have a good chance for 2 or 3 easy victories.

[doolittledog]

With that in mind, Cornell, Loras and Dubuque are all in big trouble.  The three teams at 6-6 (Wart, BV and CENT) still play Cornell and will have a good chance for 2 or 3 easy victories.

That's just it, looking at Cornell, Loras and UD scores.  All their games are close.  Dubuque at 5-9 is a couple of bad breaks from being 1-11 like Cornell...Dubuque is also a couple of good breaks away from being 9-5.  Same thing with Cornell.  15-3 losses last year have turned into 4-3 losses this year.  I agree it will be hard for the bottom 3 to dig out of the hole they have dug for themselves...but, BV-Central-Wart can't count on "easy" victories out of those games. 

[upandin]

Most years, in the IIAC, it takes a .500 record to get in the tournament.  That is 12 wins.  Looks like that is playing out once again.  This means: 
Cornell would have to go 11-1 vs. Wartburg – Coe – Central – BV 
Dubuque would have to go 7-2 vs. Luther – Loras – Wartburg
Loras would have to go 7 -2 vs. Dubuque – BV – Wartburg

Games, this year, have been much closer (score) across the board.  It seems the new bats have definitely changed the game.  All in all, things are playing out the same as always.   Midway through the IIAC schedule and 3 teams have played themselves out of contention, 3 teams are within striking distance of a title, and 3 teams are knocking on the door to make a late run. Should be a fun 3 weeks.

[Swing4theFences]

When do the regional rankings come out? I saw that last year's rankings came out around this time and was unsure if there was a set date for the release

[BigPoppa]

When do the regional rankings come out? I saw that last year's rankings came out around this time and was unsure if there was a set date for the release

April 28th...