BB: SUNYAC

[wetsu215]

Without knowing for sure if Coach Brown brought in a stud to partner with Tone and figuring that Jweid is probably not the same, I still don't see where anyone matches up on paper.  Hey, any given Sunday, I believe in that but to try to get involved in the conversation...

Ratliff out-dueled Shannon at B'Port last year, 7 IP 1 run and threw 4 innings, 1 ER when the two teams met again later in the year and in that game C-State put up ten in 3 innings when Gentzke got the start. Also completely shut down Keystone's lineup.

Don't forget Rowlands picked up wins against Ithaca, Fisher and out-matched Kelley in the Plattsburgh game when Blanco picked up the win.  You're right Butch, Blanco had a huge start against RPI but he was pretty nasty from the way his numbers look.  He's got to fit in somewhere for '09.  Assman can still beat any four seed, especially if its say...Oswego. 

Regular season championship is locked up but as far as the SUNYAC's - Oneonta is the only team with the pitching to match but they can't swing it.  The most important thing and what the last couple posters forgot is that Cortland out hit any team in that conference by a large margin and you can't really think that's going anywhere.

Potrikus is comparable to Filak if you ask me and how does Mahay fit in now that Serio, Baker and Mattes are out of the bullpen.

[StarvinMarvin]

Trio, when you included Chyr as a dominant pitcher you really showed your hand.  He was hardly dominant, need to rethink that statement.  It's wishful thinking to believe what you're saying and I applaud you for that but let's face it, nobody's beating Cortland.  You can speculate all you want as to who they have but you and I know that once the season starts, you're gonna have dudes pumpin cheese at the knees all day my friend.  Believe me, there has been more done with far fewer talented staffs in the past at Cortland than this one and that's a fact. 

[bball 14]

coach brown has a knack for plugging the right guy in in the right situation. look for mahey to play a big part out of the pen.   I know cortland picked up some very decent freshman arms too.   just find it difficult to find a team to match up.  They are deep at every position.    go red dragons....

[HotSoupTrio]

Starvin,

Dominant may not have been the appropriatte word to decribe Chyr, but solid and efffective are two that would work. For four years at Cortland, he was one of your boy JB's top guys out of the bullpen for probably 3 of them.

Quick look at his overall stats there

ERA 2.78
Record 9-2
App 56
IP 124.2

Pretty solid numbers for a four year career. I would have thought that someone with such and an extensive knowledge of the Red Dragons would have appreciatted and valued the contribution thats someone like him could provide.

My point in my prior post was not so much to call out names of pitchers that have had stupendous careers for the Red Dragons, but to show you that in the past Cortland has had a solid rotation that could be counted on to go no worse than 12-2 in SUNYAC play. IMO i do not feel that on paper Cortland has a team that can be counted on to steamroll through the SUNYAC's. Sure count Tone to get a win every weekend, put beyond that they may have to work to get their weekend W's.

It is going to be interesting to see how the new SUNYAC format helps or hurts many of the teams.

[wetsu215]

What's the difference in the staff from last year again?  I'm confused this is a team that was 14-0 in SUNYAC play.

In order by IP - Tone, Ratliff, Blanco, Hooper, Mahay, Assman, Rowlands, Potrikus, Serio and Baker.

Of that group Hooper and Serio combined for 4 starts.  That means from last year's top ten they return 6 from the lowest BAA category and 35 wins.  Big losses but Baker got hit last year, Serio and Hooper were great but this doesn't compare to '07 when they lost Zgorzelski, Dougher and essentially, Jweid for this past season.

[D3NewYorkBaseball]

Im currently a high school baseball coach from the Binghamton area. HAve sent a few guys (13) to play throughout the SUNYAC. Have had guys walk on at some of the better schools in the conference as well as get recruited to play at some of the lesser schools of the conference. Have followed the conference pretty closely over the last 8-10 years. Wouldn't call myself a SUNYAC wiz, but hope I can provide something to the board.

Seems to be alot of talk on the boards about Cortland, does anyone have any insight to teams such as Brockport or Plattsburgh. They have been mainstays in the conference tournament the past couple years but it seems like they have been neglected on the boards.

It seems to me that schools such as Brockport and Oneonta who always come up a game or two short in the end need to increase their recruting efforts. It is an understatement to say that Cortland has the best talent, but that is only because they have established a program in which high school kids want to be involved in. Coach Brown has always been very active in the recruiting process. Having been to several showcases over the past decade, rarely did i see any coach go out of his way to recruit then i did Coach brown. The efforts by other coaches need to be extended.

Coach Brown seems to be the type who maximizes the talent around him. I have had players play for him and they have all said the same thing, he has a desire to win like knowone else. Having viewed his practices first hand, the guy really knows how to game plan.

My question to the board is what separates him from the other coaches, and their program from everyone elses. I know that the facilities that Cortland have are nice and may even be the best in the conference, but why are they able to bring in the best talent year after year while basically all the other schools in the conference have the same constraints and abilities?

Looking forward to this season....Thanks

[BoomerIL]

D3NewYorkBaseball......

Welcome Coach!!!!

Our son is a junior at Univ. of Rochester, and has started his first two years.  When we traveled out east between his junior and senior years of high school, he also participated in a showcase in Binghamton.  Was contacted by UR, and we eventually visited the campus.  Did he want to play at Cortland?  Didn't know anything about Cortland, or Ithaca, or Brockport, and especially UR either.  He knew he wanted to get the opportunity right away to play.  The other factor, and main one at that, was to get an education that offered the academic curriculum he wanted to pursue.  Those three schools mentioned didn't really offer that in depth course of study, Biomedical Engineering.

O.K., enough about that!  I would really suspect that if any kid wanted to play in college, right away, or almost right away, that they would look at the schools within their geographic area that offered them the education they wanted, plus get to play for a high quality program.  Unfortunately, most players choose the baseball teams record of acheivement over academic acheivement.  I know this is not totally true, but pretty close, and especially if these kids are not true D1 candidates or otherwise.  There are many D3 players that I'm sure are very capable of playing D1 ball, but maybe they just felt the opportunities were greater at the D3 level, plus don't forget the education.

I guess to give a simple answer, reputation has a lot to do with how successful a coach is with recruiting.  UR had some good success last season, the best in awhile, and the abundance of recruits along with some transfers, has really bolstered the team for this coming season.  Time will only tell.

Your point of spending time recruiting talent, and then molding that talent into a winning team, certainly speaks volumes about the continuing success at Cortland and Coach Brown.  And from what I hear coming from some of the coaches in the area, he is a really good guy!!

[bball 14]

we all know the success  of the Cortland program.  As far as the education part of the process is concerned, the one thing that attracted us as parents was the committment from the cortland athletic dept. as a whole, to monitor their student athletes grades and study habits offering help when needed.  Coach Brown does a great job relaying that info to the athlete and parents.  Even the team itself helps motivate each other when it comes to their studies and keeping their grades up.  I have nothing but good things to say about the cortland baseball experience for my son, and coach browns program on and off the field.   its no wonder they can attract quality players year after year.... just my 2 cents 

[BoomerIL]

bball 14.....

Same scenario at UR.  Besides baseball, I'm sure Coach Brown has also helped his players like Coach Reina has in areas other than academics.  The network that these coaches have is tremendous, and the opportunities these players have, if they need help and ask, is also tremendous.  I really feel that a student athlete has a much better chance of success later on in the work place than most of the non-athlete students if they are fortunate enough to have coaches like Brown and Reina who stay involved with their players.

[StarvinMarvin]

Let's make no mistake about it, Coach Brown is a solid coach but he inherited an elite program.  Steve Owens at LeMoyne is the one who laid the foundation and Brown is reaping the benefits from his hard work for the most part.  Yes, it still takes quite an effort to keep a program successful but it's not like the head coach is the only one who has anything to do with it, there's more than meets the eye to any program's success.  I've always felt that a head coach gets all the credit but has to live with all the blame too, not an easy task.  Again, the coach may be the face of the program but his/her success has a great deal to do with who or what they surround themselves with.  I guess my point is that Brown's success isn't so much that he's this great coach but rather he walked into a no lose situation in many ways.  Very few coaches in DIII or DI let alone inherit what he did.  A tremendous reputation, facilities, alumni support, solid staff etc.      

[Bob Maxwell]

Starvin,

Well said... inheriting is a big thing.  But so is maintaining what you've inherited.  I think we all agree coach Brown is a good baseball person, and wants to take care of the players once they are in the program.  There are good baseball people who take care of their players at every SUNYAC school.  Sometimes the educational strengths of a school make it hard to achieve championships, and even harder to sustain success once it is achieved... but each school has its strenghts and weaknesses.

I think that despite the same team winning most years, the conference is very competitive... at least at the top.  The top 3-4 teams do very well against other strong programs in their non-donference schedule.  I see the same team winning the conference year after year as one of the large stumbling blocks that the SUNYAC teams face to get recognition in the polls.  In many cases, a team wins the conference year after year becasue their opposition is very weak.  In this case, I think that Brockport, Oneonta, Plattsburgh in particular are strong probrams... its just that Cortland is a VERY strong program that players flock too.  The one year that Cortland didn't win the SUNYAC, Brockport went on to win the regional and go to the World Series.  That shows that while yes, Cortland dominates... the otehr SUNYAC teams are very competative and capable... in my opinion it would be healthy for the conference as a whole to have someone else win it now and then.  And believe me, they all try to do just that...  I've said it before, and I will say it again.  If someone other then Brockport could beat Cortland in the tournament they we would have different teams representing the confernce now and then.  It has not happened in at least the last 5 years...  Either way, I would love to see two SUNYAC teame reach the regional and play in the finals.  And no matter who it is, I will root for them if they reach the World Series.  Rob and I went last year to root for Cortland in Appleton... wish they would have won it for all of us!

As for recruiting of the coaches... the coaches in those programs do as much as coach Brown does.  Its just that they can't say come play for us and we will be in the NCAA tournament and have a shot at the World Series. 

 

[BaseB13]

I have no doubt that Coach Brown at Cortland does a tremendous job given the great success Cortland has achieved.  I also don't doubt that many other coaches could have inherited a program and messed it up completely.  Coach Brown has not.  So kudos to him for doing a great job.  And to many of the coaches at the top of the SUNYAC.  I think what the coach at Plattsburgh has done is great as well.  A brand new program only 5-7 years ago and it's a very competitive program.  Brockport became very competitive over the past ten years as well.  However, I do feel it is significantly easier to recruit to these schools.  In Plattsburgh's first year they had a million dollar field.  The facilities at Cortland are unbelieveable as well.  Not surprising that students would be attracted to such schools that place a very very large emphasis on athletics.  Not to mention many of the main majors at these schools are very athlete driven (Physical Education and Athletic Training).  The ability to get students admitted to these schools is also significantly easier than many schools and the affordability (in-state tuition) factor allows many more students to attend than other institutions.  Because of this it doesnt surprise me that the rosters on many of the top SUNYAC teams are very large.  So while I think these coaches do a tremendous job, I do think there are some advantages to being in their positions.  I suppose that is why I am most impressed by a school like Trinity College that is also based in the Northeast and has extremely rigorous academic standards, winning the national championship.  Another team from this past years World Series, John Hopkins also impresses me immensely as well because of their ability to consistently field a very competitive team despite the smaller pool of athletes to choose from. 

[baseball13]

Brown is a great recruiter no doubt about it.  But the school is also in an ideal location for NY baseball.  Think about the other SUNY schools.  New Paltz, very little talent comes out of that area.  Brockport and Fredonia, I wouldn't say baseball is prime in the Rochester area.  Plattsburgh is in the north country, not very inviting up there.  Oswego, same deal with the weather.  Oneonta I guess isn't too bad, but it just seems like Cortland being in the middle attracts all.  Again I'm not taking anything away from Brown but the location is ideal for him to recruit out of many areas.

[lordcharles]

son was invited up there by Coach Brown for an official visit.  It was a fall clinic and he enjoyed it a lot.
Son is an 09 LHP.  For whatever reasons, no further contact was made so perhaps someone else filled the bill better.  Son has other options so it is what it is.  Maybe he will square off against Cortland from the mound of an opponent in the future!   Some of his options make that a reasonable happening. In any event, Coach Brown seems to be a great teacher and not only held the attention of the players, but many of the parents too!   The hands on approach that he used at the clinic was wonderful and I think he has to get credit for being a great teacher as well as a great coach.  Even though it doesnt appear that son will be going there, the day I spent watching Coach Brown made me a fan of his and the Cortland baseball program.

[tripleplay9]

Brown is a great recruiter no doubt about it.  But the school is also in an ideal location for NY baseball.  Think about the other SUNY schools.  New Paltz, very little talent comes out of that area.  Brockport and Fredonia, I wouldn't say baseball is prime in the Rochester area.  Plattsburgh is in the north country, not very inviting up there.  Oswego, same deal with the weather.  Oneonta I guess isn't too bad, but it just seems like Cortland being in the middle attracts all.  Again I'm not taking anything away from Brown but the location is ideal for him to recruit out of many areas.

Baseball is very much a big deal in the Rochester area, look at how many current and recent Cortland players are from there. Also they are some of the better Cstate players as well.