BB: General New England Discussion

[LEC Fan]

What....40 games in a month and a half isn't normal?!? lol

[zoneit]

Re early games, don`t know the whole landscape but the RussMatt Central Florida schedule is up, see russmattbaseball.com. Games there start Feb.21 although Brandeis is the only New England team there early. Lots of New England teams show up there in March, some great matchups. 

[KSCfan]

I had heard that high school got to hang onto the old bats for one more year becuase some high schools play their seasons in the fall.  This means that they got to use the old bats for "this year"  The NHSF said that since the fall baseball schools used them this school year so shouldnt the spring ones.  Then they will make the switch.  All college baseball is played in the spring so it will impact everyone at the same time. 

40 games in a month and a half i feel helps the northern teams.  The World Series and Regionals are a lot of games in a short amount of time.  The teams that play this style all year seem to be not as fazed by this as much.  If your are a South school that plays one game every 3 days for 2 months it is kinda a shock to the sytem for the regionals and WS.  A northern team is used to this style of play.

Looking back at the WS over the last couple of years

2010 Illinois-Wesleyan over Cortland State
2009 St Thomas Minnesota over Wooster
2008 Trinity over John Hopkins
2007 Kean over Emory
2006 Marietta over Wheaton
2005 Wisc- Whitewater over Cortland State
2004 George Fox over Eastern CT
2003 Chapman over Christopher Newport
2002 Eastern CT over Marietta
2001 St Thomas Minnesota over Marietta
2000 Montclair State over St Thomas

When you break down state representation in the championship games in the last decade....

CT-3
Ill-1
Minn-2
MA-1
Wisc-1
NY-2
OH-2
NJ-4
Oregon-1
Maryland-1
Georgia-1
Virginia-1

Just interesting to see more Northern Schools playing in title games.  I believe this is a direct result of their 40 games in 40 nights schedule preparing them for post season play.  Why dont down south schools adopt similar schedule?

[zoneit]

KSC, I looked at a few of the schedules that some of the better southern teams play, like Shenandoah. The big thing that strikes me about the schedules is when they end. Many of those schools are done by around April 26, conference tournaments included.  If as you suggest they haven`t been successful in getting to the finals, the three week layoff from then until the NCAAs start could be a factor. It is consistent with your basic point.

[KSCfan]

Thats a great point Zoneit.  I mean what do you do for three weeks of just sitting around and not playing.  You can intersquad, or practice i guess but baseball is a game that you need to play everyday.  Playing everyday allows you to get into that comfort zone.  Three weeks off can throw you into a slump or funk really easily.

[LEC Fan]

Just stumbled upon some new information about the upcoming season, not sure if anybody else was aware...

"There will also be a change on the mound. In an attempt to speed up the game, the NCAA has also added a pitch clock. New rules require pitchers to start their delivery in no more than 20 seconds without runners on base. Umpires will be required to monitor and enforce the time limit. Additionally, in non-televised games, umpires will enforce a 90-second limit between innings."

This paragraph was taken from an article on KSC's baseball website.

[zoneit]

Bates College has a brief Texas swing next week, playing four games against Texas schools Austin, Texas-Dallas and University of Dallas. Challenging, especially since NESCAC schools couldn`t start coach-led practices until Feb. 15. One of the earliest New England schools out of the blocks. Castleton State is also down in Texas for a few games, they are coming off a terrific year and almost everyone is back.

Bates, won 25 games last year , most by far in the team`s history (had never reached 20 before), additional evidence that D3 baseball in New England is getting more and more competitive. Had wins against Tufts and Trinity among others. Very few teams left in N.E. where you can just throw your glove out on the field and expect to win.

[Ralph Turner]

The Texas swing will be good for Bates.

Of the 3, UT-Dallas is probably the strongest, then Austin College and finally University of Dallas.

Picking up 2 wins will be a good road trip.

Weather today in north Texas was beautiful!  High 60's with very little wind today.  Low 70's tomorrow.

Great Spring baseball weather.

[Hobbesy]

Well Ralph, Bates did just that and picked up two wins and three of their four losses were by two runs or less.  Not a bad trip for the Bobcats.

Here's a recap of what has happened so far in New England this year, including ECSU's 5-3 loss to Kean today.

http://ned3baseball.wordpress.com/

[zoneit]

Not the start Castleton would have liked, but they did play very tough competition.

Odd to see an Eastern lineup without Castillo, seems like first time in about 10 years. Also amazing that Kean has two complete games at this point, I`d keep an eye on those pitchers over the next month or so - seems very risky to be throwing that much this early.

[KSCfan]

Zoneit-

I said the same thing over on the LEC board about this.  Eastern pulled Schult after 3 innings and 2 runs.  Now i wonder if he was pulled on a pitch count or if the staff felt that it was the right time to make a pitching change.  Kean threw the kid the whole game, now i saw the box score and he walked like 2 and struck out 10 in 9 innings.  Strike outs are good but rack up the ole pitcher counter pretty fast.  That means he at least threw 38 pitches for those 10 k's and 2 bb's.  And that is if he threw the min which never happens.  More likely he was looking at 50-55 pitches on those alone.  10 k's is 3.3 innings.  I cant see a way this kid did not throw over 110 pitches for a complete game. I know it was close at 5-3 but i mean isnt what your bullpen is for? 

[zoneit]

Yeah, KSC, box score on Kean website says he faced 34 batters including 10ks so I`d guess he was well above 110. In February no less. Watch how they are handling the major leaguers in Florida over the next few weeks, and also see how the Kean starters are doing in a few weeks. Hopefully fine, but it is risky. Looks like Holowaty was splitting up the game among a few pitchers which is a smart thing to do at this point. You want your pitchers healthy in May, and a loss in February is a small price to pay.

[KSCfan]

Does the fact that Kean wanted a win over a nationally ranked team like eastern have something to do with it?   According to Mapquest Union NJ(kean) and Mansfield CT (Eastern) are about 163 miles apart.  That means that this would qualify as a region game for the both of them.  (using the info provided by someone that an a game counts for in-region if the schools are less than 200 miles apart i think it was osh-dude).

Was Kean looking at this game as a chance to get a "quality" win under the belt.  A win over a #24 national ranked Eastern and a get a quality in region win??  Maybe they felt that his was a win that might get them somewhere come may if they need it?  Maybe they felt that beating a good team like eastern might build confidence.  I dont know... Who knows maybe the kid has been building arm strength and what not, but seems risky none the less.

[zoneit]

Good points, all that stuff factors into it. People will have to judge whether they think it makes sense or not to go that route, there will be differences of opinion. Personally I think going beyond 80-85 pitches the first time out is asking for trouble. I recognize it takes discipline to live by that when your horse is cruising against a big time program. The pitcher will never want to come out but a coach has to think about the bigger picture, both for his team and the kid. 

[KSCfan]

My two cents on it-

If this game was may, or even mid april after the pitcher has had 4 to 5 outings under his belt than i dont see a problem with it.  It is just tough to see a kid throw that many pitches this early in the year.  You dont see Beckett, or Lester throwing at 120 in April very often.  Im sure that the staff knows what they are doing, but i personally would of taken a different approach.  Why not let the closer get a chance at it?  I know the player prob says that he is fine and has got the ninth but as the coach i think you go to the pen in the 9th.  It could be a chance for your closer to get some confidence under his belt. 

I looked at Kean's schedule and they dont start NJAC conference play until april when they open up with College of New Jersey.  I guess it comes down to what school of pitching you belong to....

1.  That the arm only has so many pitches in it or
2. The nolan ryan throw and throw and throw to build strength.

Love the fact that New England teams are out playing games in Febuary!!  Cant wait till teams get back from down south so i can spend my afternoons rushing out of work to go watch games!!