BB: General New England Discussion

[Hobbesy]

KSCfan-

Maybe it is our LEC backgrounds but I can't imagine playing the conference tournament so early and then playing games after it.  You're right, what if you lose and then play afterwards...total let down!

I remember in '09 when they tried out a different postseason format in the LEC and all 8 teams made it with a best-of-three first round to determine the final four teams.  We played a game during the week in between those two weekends and even that felt strange.

But you don't have to go very far back to find a team who used the conference tournament momentum to run through the regional and then into the world series.  That team was Illinois Wesleyan.  Who knows what would have happened if they had to wait a few weeks to play again.  Instead, they rode that momentum to a clean sweep in the regionals and then took home the walnut and bronze!

I think that played a role in WNEC's poor showing in last year's regional.  They entered as one of the favorites but never seemed to get on track.  They certainly needed the rest with the run they had to make in TCCC tournament but they were never able to regain that in Mansfield two weeks later.

I know that in 2006, we were running solely on momentum.  4 wins in 24 hours in the conference tournament and then we headed right out to regionals only to play 7 games in 5 days.

[HBPme]

Hobbesy-

Couldnt agree with you more about rolling right out of conference tourney play into the regionals. I am a firm believer that if your conference tourney ends on a Sunday, you better pray that it is the Sunday before regionals begins. It is always tough for a team to have a week or 2 in between, even if you do have games scheduled during that time. Not easy to go from a very competitive conference tourney, to a regular season game, back to a talent laced regional. UMB rode the momentum train all the way through from the LEC tourney to Appleton. Clearly hurt WNEC last year, even with a very exciting conference tournament win. Wheaton was firing on all cylinders in their conference tournament also, and had trouble finding that again in Mansfield.

Read your preview, well done.

[Tarheel0550]

Jumping in a little late on this ,but with the NECC getting an AQ it could hurt a New York region team that should get a bid. The NECC is a bad conference with some really good players.I have watched them for two years and you could probably make two really good teams if you took the best players from each team and put them together but other than that it will be a one and done for the NECC and a day off for whoever they draw in the first round

[KSCfan]

Tarheel you are right.  The NECC is brutally bad.  The power houses are Mitchell and Becker?  Maybe Lesley?  Unless one of these teams has an unknown stud pitcher on it i dont see anytime that the NECC champ wont go two and out.  I dont think that this will hurt NY regional as it traditionally has 6-7 teams and not the full 8 that other regions have.  I still think that you will get an at large team from NE over there, it just might fill up to 8 teams now.  So New England could have the 8 AQ's

TCCC
LEC
NESCAC
NECC
NAC
MASCAC
NEWMAC
GNAC

And new york could have their AQ

Empire 8
Liberty League
Cunyac
Sunyac
Skyline

Plus an at large from NY and an at large from NE, and maybe another at large from either.  Who and what depends a lot on travel costs, and the records.

[Hobbesy]

No AQ for the Empire 8...those teams are pool B and Ithaca almost always gets selected.

But there have been years when they also bring up a mid-atlantic team or a team from Ohio.

I know in 08 we were there (New England) Montclair was there (Mid-Atlantic) and Ohio Wesleyan (Mideast) was there so the New York, besides being one of the weakest regions and almost always set up for Cortland to win it, has some room to work with

[Tarheel0550]

Dont think you have to worry about Lesley this year .I think  this is only their second year  year of actual ball, I think they have been a club team up to now.D WEB has a pretty good pitcher in Kory Kiro but I also have seen him give up hits to the better hitters in league.The NECC has turned out to be a feel good league with Del Malloy at the helm.They have time and time again done things to make sure that they can control the outcome  of events and control who gets what and what team gets what.

[KSCfan]

Hobbesy- thanks for the correction on the Empire 8, i was just thinking Ithaca is usually in the tournament every year.  Yeah New York regional is usually pretty weak and they seem to have the most random mix of any of the regions.  It should be interesting to see how the regionals are impacted by the new AQ in NE. 

Hobbsey, i know that some teams are leaving TCCC to form a new conference either next year of the year after.  Will this give NE a 9th conference and how would that effect the regional.  Would someone most def get shifted out to NY no matter what? 

[Tarheel0550]

I think I can jump in on this one KSCFAN,if they form a new conference I believe they will have to wait two years to be eligible for post season play.I know when the NECC formed that was the situation ,they also need a least 7 teams to qualify

[fotoguy]

anyone hit with the "new" bats yet? i heard you might as well approach the batters box with a toothpick. 

[Tarheel0550]

Advantage def goes back to pitching and defense,no cheap homeruns now,they play more like wood and have a smaller sweetspot for sure

[KSCfan]

why not just switch to wood.  Players play with wood all summer long in most leagues, combine that with "scouts" (i know its d3 but still) being able to judge better if d3 players can be successful at the next level, it seems like a win win.  I have heard that the bats are def a lot more like hitting with wood.  Couple of questions to think about

Could be we see pitchers bust hard in more?  Before hitters could get jammed and still hit the ball out of the park.  Now, we might see more pitchers coming in hard to set up the offspeed.  Keeping the ball down is obviously vital, but we could see an increase in pitchers coming inside.

Did the bat companies go to far?  Im all for safety, but did the bat companies go to far the other way in trying to protect pitchers.  Remember the days of -5  2 3/4 " barrell?  How did pitchers every survive.  What was the reason for the change to the current BBCore bats that we are starting to use.

[Tarheel0550]

  KSCfan From what I am told it is more about saftey than anything else.But I can see why they dont want to switch to wood,atleast for D3 programs and that is cost. Average price of a good wood bat is upwards of 70 to 120 bucks,if each player is given atleast 3 bats plus spares the cost could put some programs in a bad spot.I have personally seen 5 or 6 bats get broken just in a practice,and that was summer ball,where most of the kids buy their own bats.I think you are getting the better of both worlds with the new bats ie:saftey and durability.That being said I agree with you and think they should just switch to wood.

[Wally]

From parents of pitchers, cost is not the concern. If cost were the concern, then why are pitchers going to the emergency room with cracks to the skull on such an alarming rate? With kid's spending $500 plus on bats THAT don't break? I mean REALLY can we just get back to REAL baseball? 3-2 instead of 20-17? I was at Fenway Park the night Bryce Florie got hit in the face, and will never forget it. You could hear a person cough. When was the last time you could say that? I mean what else do we need to do? Thoughts? Or am I out of line?

[CrashDavisD3]

 KSCfan From what I am told it is more about saftey than anything else.But I can see why they dont want to switch to wood,atleast for D3 programs and that is cost. Average price of a good wood bat is upwards of 70 to 120 bucks,if each player is given atleast 3 bats plus spares the cost could put some programs in a bad spot.I have personally seen 5 or 6 bats get broken just in a practice,and that was summer ball,where most of the kids buy their own bats.I think you are getting the better of both worlds with the new bats ie:saftey and durability.That being said I agree with you and think they should just switch to wood.

Wood composite bats with a 6 month warranty
http://www.baumbat.com/productInfo.html

Thousands of Baum bats have been placed in service in professional baseball, collegiate summer leagues, colleges and high schools. Baum®Bat is a wood bat, except it is far more durable. Thousands of hits were attained on some bats while maintaining the inside-jam pitch effectiveness due to bat sting and wood-like ball exit velocity

[KSCfan]

Crash great article on the Baum bats.  I have heard of them but never used them.  I know that Wilson makes a composite two piece wood.  It has like a rubber handle and a wood barrel.  During the summer one year, our team gave us 2 wood bats, and bought the team 2 of those composite Wilsons.  When your two bats were dead (mine sooner than later as I cant hit the inside pitch without snapping a bat) we all used those Wilsons that I really liked.  If you got jammed or didnt hit the ball off the sweet spot it went no where, but if you sqaured up a ball it went.  Just another alternative. 

Im pretty sure that a lot of bat companies have composites as well.  I have seen like a blue metallic looking one from mizuno that comes with a warranty if you break it, as well as the bamboo ones have a 90 day warranty on them.

Wally i understand your concerns, and safety should always be put first.  Its scary how fast the ball can come off the bat.  Byrce was gross, i remember watching that game on tv, and you knew it was bad when they chose to use the far away camera instead of zooming right in on him.  Sadly injuries happen in sports.

I remember one time at Castleton that was just as gross as Byrce Florie.  A bullpen pitcher for Keene came into the game who threw hard, prob 88-90 on average.  It was the 7th inning, and he came into pitch.  we get the first out of the inning and then the next batter comes up.  Well our pitcher throws a 88 mph, and it gets away from him high and tight.  THe kid never moved. I dont know he just froze, or if he couldnt move fast enough but the ball drilled the kid right in the face.  The kid took it dead square in the face, now you know it was bad cause the ball just dropped to the ground.  Without getting to graphic their was a lot of blood, a lot of blood and the kid left in ambulance.