BB: SUNYAC

[Dave Bradley]

Starvin Marvin, I agree totally that a lot of people throw around MPH numbers have no idea what they are really looking at, I am not one of them, I know what a 90 mph pitcher looks like, and like you said there are not many in the SUNYAC but one of them is Dave Filak, I know for a fact that he has been clocked as high as 93 mph.  There was a guy with a radar gun at the Oneonta game Sunday and he had Juedes at 84, now I seen Juedes last season pitch with a gun on him and that day he was topping out at 86, maybe what you guys said about mid season form and I'll add the warmer weather factor is the difference with him, because I seen him in the summer at Twi light league and he beat teams with some Siena guys, Albany St. guys, ex pros and he was throwing heat, maybe not 90 but it was close.  In my opinion Bob sounds pretty knowledgable to me, so if he says he seen Rob throw at 88 I believe him. But all the pitchers that you mentioned I have seen and I agree with you totally.

[John McGraw]

Starvin Marvin, I agree totally that a lot of people throw around MPH numbers have no idea what they are really looking at, I am not one of them, I know what a 90 mph pitcher looks like, and like you said there are not many in the SUNYAC but one of them is Dave Filak, I know for a fact that he has been clocked as high as 93 mph.  There was a guy with a radar gun at the Oneonta game Sunday and he had Juedes at 84, now I seen Juedes last season pitch with a gun on him and that day he was topping out at 86, maybe what you guys said about mid season form and I'll add the warmer weather factor is the difference with him, because I seen him in the summer at Twi light league and he beat teams with some Siena guys, Albany St. guys, ex pros and he was throwing heat, maybe not 90 but it was close.  In my opinion Bob sounds pretty knowledgable to me, so if he says he seen Rob throw at 88 I believe him. But all the pitchers that you mentioned I have seen and I agree with you totally.

No offense, but St. Rose, Siena and Albany guys aren't exactly the cream of the crop.

[Bob Maxwell]

Dave,

Filak does throw hard... I saw him hit 91 on a gun several times last year at SUNYAC's.  I  also heard that he came to Oneonta as a catcher, and was converted to a pitcher because of the velocity he had...  Dave, do you know if that is correct?

Also, thanks for the inforamtion on Juedes... it is interesting to know.  As I said, he is very good at 84 or 86... if he does infact find anohter few mph and has his good stuff he will be very hard for anyone to beat.

He has one of those things going against Brockport... he has pitched against them 4 times in the last two years and has beaten them 3 of the 4 times.  All four of the games were good ones for most of the game, and the time he lost he was beaten 4-3 in a very good game.  When a good pitcher loses a game it is often like that... where the opponent holds the offense off.  I hope Brockport gets another shot at him this year...

One thing about velocity... and that is if you don't locate it well, it can oftern times end up over the fence against a good hitter.  But it does increase your margin of error against many hitters by overmatching them.  Also no harm in giving up a home run, as a lot of good pitchers have done it.  What is more important is what you do the batter after the home run...

[Dave Bradley]

Bob, I do know the Filak story, he was a catcher in High School at Burnt Hills, he never pitched in High School, on his summer American Legion team one day he was goofing off and threw some pitches, the coach noticed how hard he threw and asked him to try and pitch, after he worked with him some he was impressed, the coach called Ferchen and told him to take a look at him as a pitcher and the rest is history. The point about the guys in Twi light league is that Siena and Albany St are D1 players and St Rose guys are D2, there are some Binghamton guys too and a bunch from assorted Sunyac teams as well, in my opinion Twi-light league is the best summer league in the Capital District, Is it the Cape Cod league? No but it's pretty good. They have had several ex major leaguers play in that league, some before they made it to the bigs and some after they got out.

[scuba16]

throw as hard as you want, if you dont have complimentary pitches you'll get hit by the better teams.
at the d-3 level, I'll take a guy like george jweid before he got injured over all the guys mentioned. my reasoning is the kid could spot his fastball, he pitched inside, it had a ton of movement and he could throw his breaking pitch for strikes.
in addition, a kid that throws 84-86 that can throw his change out of the same arm slot and not tip off the pitch by slowing his motion is a guy that good teams have problems with! spot your pitches and mix and you've got a guy i'll take anyday!

[John McGraw]

throw as hard as you want, if you dont have complimentary pitches you'll get hit by the better teams.
at the d-3 level, I'll take a guy like george jweid before he got injured over all the guys mentioned. my reasoning is the kid could spot his fastball, he pitched inside, it had a ton of movement and he could throw his breaking pitch for strikes.
in addition, a kid that throws 84-86 that can throw his change out of the same arm slot and not tip off the pitch by slowing his motion is a guy that good teams have problems with! spot your pitches and mix and you've got a guy i'll take anyday!

Jweid has decent numbers this year in limited action. I liked what I saw from him in one inning of work against a good-hitting Rochester team.

[baseball13]

A couple notes/opinions.  Filak is easily winning SUNYAC pitcher of the year.  He throws complete games, strikes hitters out at a higher rate, and if he continues to get some run support, may not lose in the SUNYACs all year.  As for Brockport, they are extremely disappointing so far.  I know Bob keeps hoping for a turnaround but I don't think the hitting or the pitching is there this year.  New Paltz is perhaps even worse.  They can't hit at all, so I think I'm taking them at the bottom of the conference this year.  Thought it was interesting that with the dropout of SUNYIT, Plattsburgh no longer has a "traveling partner."  Means they will be facing #1 and #2 to start doubleheaders every single weekend, with their #3 and #4 coming out of the bullpen.  Good luck with that!  Cortland might be given a run for their money this year.  I just dont think that they can dominate like in years past.  A reason for that is Fredonia's hitting.  Just take a glance at it.  Oswego doesn't look like they will be in the mix for too long.  If they catch a break, their hitting can do damage to slide into the playoffs...

1) Cortland...I think Brown's crew will pull it together again
2) Fredonia...If not, Fredonia would have a huge advantage with teams traveling to their place
3) Oneonta...If Filak gets help, they could move into number 2
4) Plattsburgh...with Oswego close very very close behind

[John McGraw]

A couple notes/opinions.  Filak is easily winning SUNYAC pitcher of the year.  He throws complete games, strikes hitters out at a higher rate, and if he continues to get some run support, may not lose in the SUNYACs all year.  As for Brockport, they are extremely disappointing so far.  I know Bob keeps hoping for a turnaround but I don't think the hitting or the pitching is there this year.  New Paltz is perhaps even worse.  They can't hit at all, so I think I'm taking them at the bottom of the conference this year.  Thought it was interesting that with the dropout of SUNYIT, Plattsburgh no longer has a "traveling partner."  Means they will be facing #1 and #2 to start doubleheaders every single weekend, with their #3 and #4 coming out of the bullpen.  Good luck with that!  Cortland might be given a run for their money this year.  I just dont think that they can dominate like in years past.  A reason for that is Fredonia's hitting.  Just take a glance at it.  Oswego doesn't look like they will be in the mix for too long.  If they catch a break, their hitting can do damage to slide into the playoffs...

1) Cortland...I think Brown's crew will pull it together again
2) Fredonia...If not, Fredonia would have a huge advantage with teams traveling to their place
3) Oneonta...If Filak gets help, they could move into number 2
4) Plattsburgh...with Oswego close very very close behind

I think Fredonia will be getting a wake-up call on Sunday against cortland. I'm not saying that they're not good - they do have wins over Penn State-Behrend and Oneonta, but judging by recent history, they'll more than likely be a third or fourth seed.

I'm with Bob though. I don't think Brockport is as bad as its' record indicates. Even though they dropped a pair to Oneonta, they swept New Paltz. Once their pitching stablizes, they'll be a decent team.

[tripleplay9]

I completely agree with the predicted finish. There is such a dropoff after the top 3... CState 1, Fred and Oneonta battle for 2 and 3. After that I like Oswego to slide in based on their experience and way they closed last season especially. Plattsburgh seems to have racked up a load of soft wins, they look good on paper but don't really expect them to fit into conference playoffs.

Should the two teams play on Sunday, you will see two very close games. Fredonia is much improved on defense and their pitching top to bottom rivals anyone in the conference. To top it off their offensive numbers are outstanding. This is easily the best Blue Devils team in recent memory, rendering past history useless. I may go as far as to say that if Cortland overlooks this game by the way they set their rotation, they could drop one. Fredonia played them to 2 losses of a combined 8 runs last year I believe. This year's much better team should be able to hang with them. With that being said, Fredonia has 2 easier games on Monday against Oswego and may be setting up to play them with their 1 and 2. Either way do not sleep on this team. They don't get much talk here but I think they can surprise some teams.

Brockport did have a big win against UR this week, any chance they can be relevant come May?

[Big Louie]

Fredonia was shutout by a New Paltz team and also dropped a 6-3 game to Hilbert. That doesnt look like a team that is going to challenge Cortland IMO. Until someone shows they can knock Plattsburgh or Brockport out when it matters you cant count either of them out.

I have to agree with John that Fredonia will be in for a wakeup call against Cortland no matter how Cortland sets their rotation. Fredonia has been competitive the last few years but until they make a sunyac tournament how much should we really talk about them. They can hit all they want but when it comes down to it they need to pitch. Carlson is pretty good but hes just one guy. I like Fredonia to be battling it out for the 4th spot.

[Dave Bradley]

Should be interesting to see what Ferchen does with his rotation, I imagine Filak and Juedes will pitch Monday's DH with Plattsburgh, but on the 18th and 19th Oneonta plays Cortland and Oswego, who does he throw at Cortland? both Filak and Juedes or does he split them up, will he risk his Num 3 and 4 at Oswego? Fredonia did win a game at Oneonta, but it was over there number 4 pitcher, Filak shut them out, Ferchen saved Juedes for Brockport and then they went with there Number 3 Carter in game 2. In my opinion Fredonia is improved but I think Oneonta will take 2nd.

[Bob Maxwell]

Wow, go out of town for two days and there is a lot going on.  Too bad about yesterday's weather... did anyone play?  Drove from Boston to Buffalo and it rained almost all the way.

Scuba, dead on about pitching... that is partly why I said it was silly to talk about velocity and referenced balls landing over the fence.  Just throw hard and don't locate it and good hitters will hit you hard.  There are a lot of things that go into what makes a good pitcher.  And there have been a lot of them who have gone through the SUNYAC in the last 5 years... and there are still some very good ones playing.  My thought on who the best pitcher is in the SUNYAC, is the one who you are facing at that moment... as none of the other matter at the moment.

Seems to be a surge of support and talk about Fredonia... that is awesome. As they are one of the lost and forgotten brothers in the last few years.  They are off to a good start record wise, but the quality of some of the wins is not that good.  BUT, they are winning and it is great to see them in the mix.  They may make some noise in the conference again this year and make the tournament, I just hope its not at Brockport's espense.

Most interesting point made is the one about how the schedule impacts Plattsburgh.  With how the pitching will match up against them.  When you look at it, it is possiblt that they could in fact get everybody's #1 and #2.  The weekends where they play two SUNYAC sets, the team they play on the second day didn't play the first day...  VERY Interesting.

A fan will always pull for their team... and knowing the Brockport kids from the past few years, I know they are better then their record.  Its a short season, but if their pitching comes around they will be in the mix.  Good win for them vs Rochester last week, hope they keep it going.

Will be a little cool today, but sun is out and no rain!  Any audio for any of the games?

[John McGraw]

Will be a little cool today, but sun is out and no rain!  Any audio for any of the games?

I'm not sure, I don't think so. From my understanding, Cortland is usually the only school in the conference that has baseball broadcasts. But, a few places have LiveStats.

I'll be in Ithaca today with a live blog of Ithaca-Stevens if you're interested.

[Bob Maxwell]

Thanks John... we are going to go and watch some of Ball State at Buffalo today.  But if we get home before it ends we may hop on the blog and see what is happening.  Guess I will just have to call the parents to get updates of Brockport at Oswego and read the others as they finish.

I know that Brockport did broadcast some home games on their campus radio last year, but we were at the games so didn't get to listen.  It would be nice if as we discussed last week, if some of the schools got some games on - possibly with the communications students doing some of the work.  What does the open teamline cost for a school to have?  Even then you need someone to do the work to get it on...  One day it will happen.

[Bob Maxwell]

2-2 in third inning... Brockport at Oswego.