BB: General New England Discussion

[WNECalum222]

WNEC beats Keene 14-1 yesterday, like usual WNEC is hitting their stride late in the season. With their remaining schedule I could honestly see them winning out. If their pitching is good enough this year I could see them taking another regional title. Go Bears.

[Hobbesy]

A look at some interesting topics around the region

http://ned3baseball.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/around-the-region-418/

[kscer]

I see that today Castleton State beat Colby Sawyer twice in NEAC play. Castleton was 17-1 coming into the game and Colby Sawyer was 10-12. What has me irked about these games is Castleton used the same pitcher for both games, two complete seven inning games. 14 innings. The games could not mean that much to Castleton that you risk a young arm to throw how many pitches 160,180. How many coaches out their would do something like this. Of course that conference's schedule might force coaches to do things with pitching they might not otherwise do.

[OshDude]

I see that today Castleton State beat Colby Sawyer twice in NEAC play. Castleton was 17-1 coming into the game and Colby Sawyer was 10-12. What has me irked about these games is Castleton used the same pitcher for both games, two complete seven inning games. 14 innings. The games could not mean that much to Castleton that you risk a young arm to throw how many pitches 160,180. How many coaches out their would do something like this. Of course that conference's schedule might force coaches to do things with pitching they might not otherwise do.

Wow. It was their 17th game in 15 days with four more over the next two days, but I'm with you. That's a tough situation all around.

[Jim Dixon]

I see that today Castleton State beat Colby Sawyer twice in NEAC play. Castleton was 17-1 coming into the game and Colby Sawyer was 10-12. What has me irked about these games is Castleton used the same pitcher for both games, two complete seven inning games. 14 innings. The games could not mean that much to Castleton that you risk a young arm to throw how many pitches 160,180. How many coaches out their would do something like this. Of course that conference's schedule might force coaches to do things with pitching they might not otherwise do.

Nine hits and two walks in 14 innings.  Does not sound like 160 pitches.  Maybe 130.

[OshDude]

I see that today Castleton State beat Colby Sawyer twice in NEAC play. Castleton was 17-1 coming into the game and Colby Sawyer was 10-12. What has me irked about these games is Castleton used the same pitcher for both games, two complete seven inning games. 14 innings. The games could not mean that much to Castleton that you risk a young arm to throw how many pitches 160,180. How many coaches out their would do something like this. Of course that conference's schedule might force coaches to do things with pitching they might not otherwise do.

Nine hits and two walks in 14 innings.  Does not sound like 160 pitches.  Maybe 130.

Who knows, but this tool puts the estimate at 155. Can't vouch for the tool's veracity.

[KSCfan]

rumor has it at 163..... dangerous for anyone

[LEC Fan]

The kid supposedly has a rubber arm and didnt have a problem bouncing back... I believe Castelton needed to win both (as well as have some help elsewhere) to host the conference tournament or something like that...either way tough to imagine throwing 14 innings over 4+ hours of baseball, plus the rest in between games etc.

[KSCfan]

LEC Fan-  Thats a great point you brought up, not only did this kid throw 163, he threw 8 pitches to warm up before the first, (16 for the two games, then 5 before the rest of the innings 5x12 equals 60)  So that is another 76 on top of the 163 for a real total of 239, plus whatever he threw in the pen to warm up before the games.  Rubber arm or not... that is dangerous

[wordsmith]

This pitch count topic got me to thinking.....I coached for many years and threw BP on many a night. So, I did a quick count. We had a a bucket of 50-55 balls that I threw to every kid on the roster. The roster had 12, sometimes 15 kids. I'd do this night after night especially during All-Star season. So 50 x 12 = OMG! No wonder my right arm is an inch longer than my left one. 

[Old Man]

Nice to see KSU (#25 - ABCA) getting some NATIONAL LOVE - Playiing well.  Can they host the LEC at the "Very Dry Swamp" - Go OWLS and all other teams in LEC (BCITC)- Best Conference In the Country - 26-9 overall - with 5 of 9 losses against top 25 teams, In nation -Willing to play anyone, anywhere, anytime - Bring it on.

OM

[WNECalum222]

Nice to see KSU (#25 - ABCA) getting some NATIONAL LOVE - Playiing well.  Can they host the LEC at the "Very Dry Swamp" - Go OWLS and all other teams in LEC (BCITC)- Best Conference In the Country - 26-9 overall - with 5 of 9 losses against top 25 teams, In nation -Willing to play anyone, anywhere, anytime - Bring it on.

OM

WNEC just keeps plugging along, beating ECSU 9-6 yesterday in a game that wasn't as close as the score would indicate. 4-1 against the LEC this year, two of the games being blowouts. One of which was a 14-1 beat down of the "best" team in the LEC...Some how they don't get the respect in the polls eastern and keene get but they will be a threat in the regional yet again this year.

[LEC Fan]

WNECalum222 I hear ya about the national recognition...the running joke was that if Eastern (or USM at the time) started out 0-4 they would still be ranked because of their name. Don't get me wrong both of those programs are top notch (winning wise) but unless you are 30-2 or some ridiculous record like that it takes a little time to get the eyes looking beyond ECSU and USM (for the LEC anyways).

WNEC has put together a very solid season and apart from the CCCCCCCCC schedule they play shared 18 opponents with KSC. Of the 9 losses that both teams currently have this is how they fared with common opponents...

Both lost to Farmingdale St. at the beginning of the season.
Both lost to St. Joe's in Florida
WNEC lost to Amherst, Keene beat Amherst
WNEC swept by Wheaton, Keene lost first game and second coming up this weekend

Of course WNEC beat up on Keene when they played down in Springfield earlier this month but for the most part they seem to be pretty evenly matched teams (WNEC .348 avg vs. KSC .341 avg). Both have become very competitive programs in New England and are continuing to show it this year. Beating Eastern this week should provide the much needed "word of mouth" to get the Golden Bears into the national spotlight!

Keene has 3 big home games this weekend against USM (conference doubleheader) and Wheaton (nationally ranked). 29-9 with a firm grip on the #1 spot in the conference and beating a nationally ranked Wheaton team would be a nice way to end April!

[WNECalum222]

They really shouldn't need to beat Eastern (for the 5th straight year) to get the national recognition. Did they not win the NE regional last year? All I'm saying is they have nearly identical records to Keene and Eastern this year after winning the regional last year and have beat both, yet are ranked nationally below both.... 

[owlsnest]

They really shouldn't need to beat Eastern (for the 5th straight year) to get the national recognition. Did they not win the NE regional last year? All I'm saying is they have nearly identical records to Keene and Eastern this year after winning the regional last year and have beat both, yet are ranked nationally below both.... 

WNECalum222--Couldnt agree more with some of things you said...Most of the coaches voting in national polls and such really havent looked at a lot of head-to-head play in comparison of schools. Granted the Bears blowout of KSC earlier this month was a big win, it obviously wasn't the Owls showing up to play at all that day (I was at that ballgame, it was pitiful). WNE lost to USM from the LEC early in the season; KSC has them this weekend. I do however agree that WNE should be getting a little bit more attention but doesn't the lack of national recognition help spark a little fire at a motivating standpoint?

Anyways, lets see how things pan out...still more regular season baseball to be played. PLAY BALL!