BB: General New England Discussion

[ECSUalum]

KSC has to sweep ESCU to host the tourney. They can split with USM but they need to sweep ESCU, and they have done that before. If Stromgren matches against Gilbair, it could be one you remember forever.

Remember forever.....wow.....lol....why?

No doubt it will be an exciting matchup.

But remember Kcer there is a LEC Tournament after.  Which is more important

[kscer]

KSC has to sweep ESCU to host the tourney. They can split with USM but they need to sweep ESCU, and they have done that before. If Stromgren matches against Gilbair, it could be one you remember forever.

Remember forever.....wow.....lol....why?

No doubt it will be an exciting matchup.

But remember Kcer there is a LEC Tournament after.  Which is more important

Hosting the tournament is the first step to winning it. I never realized how nice it is to play at home until this week. I still think KSC has the pitching and the defense and the character to sweep Eastern and win the tourney. Today was step two, sending USM home with two losses.

[ECSUalum]

KSC has to sweep ESCU to host the tourney. They can split with USM but they need to sweep ESCU, and they have done that before. If Stromgren matches against Gilbair, it could be one you remember forever.

Remember forever.....wow.....lol....why?

No doubt it will be an exciting matchup.

But remember Kcer there is a LEC Tournament after.  Which is more important

Hosting the tournament is the first step to winning it. I never realized how nice it is to play at home until this week. I still think KSC has the pitching and the defense and the character to sweep Eastern and win the tourney. Today was step two, sending USM home with two losses.

As long as the KSC BB field is not under water

[wordsmith]

KSC has to sweep ESCU to host the tourney. They can split with USM but they need to sweep ESCU, and they have done that before. If Stromgren matches against Gilbair, it could be one you remember forever.

Remember forever.....wow.....lol....why?

No doubt it will be an exciting matchup.

But remember Kcer there is a LEC Tournament after.  Which is more important

Hosting the tournament is the first step to winning it. I never realized how nice it is to play at home until this week. I still think KSC has the pitching and the defense and the character to sweep Eastern and win the tourney. Today was step two, sending USM home with two losses.

As long as the KSC BB field is not under water

Not to worry ESCAlum, remember you have Holywater as a Coach

[ECSUalum]

I guess I now know why you are called "Wordsmith"

Hilarious, I like  that - "Holywater " !!! particularly since I am Roman Catholic

Bravo Wordsmith!!!!!!!!

[kscer]

KSC has to sweep ESCU to host the tourney. They can split with USM but they need to sweep ESCU, and they have done that before. If Stromgren matches against Gilbair, it could be one you remember forever.

Remember forever.....wow.....lol....why?

No doubt it will be an exciting matchup.

But remember Kcer there is a LEC Tournament after.  Which is more important

Hosting the tournament is the first step to winning it. I never realized how nice it is to play at home until this week. I still think KSC has the pitching and the defense and the character to sweep Eastern and win the tourney. Today was step two, sending USM home with two losses.

As long as the KSC BB field is not under water

Not to worry ESCAlum, remember you have Holywater as a Coach

But Kharma is in Keene. The field will be dry and the wind blowing as it does  at Owl stadium,(an incredible misnomer, by the way) and the boys of winter/spring will remember the days in Maine, and how close they came. They believe in themselves and dont need divine intervention.

[wordsmith]

KSCer - who throws game 2 for the Owls? Maybe, Morin, or Chevalier. I was not impressed with what I saw from Maybe today. A patient line-up will have him out of the game by the third inning.

[kscer]

KSCer - who throws game 2 for the Owls? Maybe, Morin, or Chevalier. I was not impressed with what I saw from Maybe today. A patient line-up will have him out of the game by the third inning.

I really don't know how they will handle this. If it were me I would throw Morin. Chevalier is more effective for a few innings, and when he is out of the defense, it hurts. Or I may look for a group to pitch. But as Ecsu says winning the tournament is more important than regular season. If KSC loses the first game, they will protect pitching for the tournament (which I don't believe will happen).

[Paul Heering]

Wanted to throw out the question to everyone about what tournament format they think is best.  from looking through the conference websites i can see a few different formats.

4 Team Double Elimination--NESCAC, MASCAC, & NAC
6 Team Double Elimination--LEC
Single Elimination Play In then 4 Team Double Elimination--NEWMAC & GNAC

I have looked at the CCC tourney results and i can't follow it, i can't figure out what format it is, definitely 8 teams, and you can lose once and not be out but that is all i can figure out.

Of those listed i would prefer the 4 team double elimination, makes it harder to get into the tourney and gets rid of the possibility of a team running into one hot pitcher and being eliminated.

It isn't in any of the conferences in New England but I would prefer 4 teams, with best 2 of 3 semi finals and then best 2 of 3 finals.  For conferences with a late tourney (LEC & NESCAC) it would be tough but for the others it wouldn't be that bad.  Semi Finals Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then finals Friday, Saturday, Sunday.  If you want to save on travel you could have a double header in there.  i think it would be the best way to determine what the best team is.  but that is just my opinion.

[MSG77]

Wanted to throw out the question to everyone about what tournament format they think is best.  from looking through the conference websites i can see a few different formats.

4 Team Double Elimination--NESCAC, MASCAC, & NAC
6 Team Double Elimination--LEC
Single Elimination Play In then 4 Team Double Elimination--NEWMAC & GNAC

I have looked at the CCC tourney results and i can't follow it, i can't figure out what format it is, definitely 8 teams, and you can lose once and not be out but that is all i can figure out.

Of those listed i would prefer the 4 team double elimination, makes it harder to get into the tourney and gets rid of the possibility of a team running into one hot pitcher and being eliminated.

It isn't in any of the conferences in New England but I would prefer 4 teams, with best 2 of 3 semi finals and then best 2 of 3 finals.  For conferences with a late tourney (LEC & NESCAC) it would be tough but for the others it wouldn't be that bad.  Semi Finals Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then finals Friday, Saturday, Sunday.  If you want to save on travel you could have a double header in there.  i think it would be the best way to determine what the best team is.  but that is just my opinion.

No baseball tournament should ever have a single elimination component IMO.  Too much risk of a better team having a bad game against a good pitcher and then they are done.

4 team DE - a bit too exclusive I think.  Too easy for top seed.  Can win tourney in only 3 games.  If you go 2-0 with your 1 and 2 (all # refer to starters), you have to get beat twice by the other team throwing their 4 and 5 against your 3 and 4.  Seems like too much of an advantage.  I think the NESCAC should go to a 6 team.  Isn't it a 12 team league?  Trinity didn't make it last year and they might not make it this year and I think anyone who follows that league will tell you Trinity is a good side.  The NESCAC is interesting in that they play 3 conf games a weekend, so you need your 3 in conf games, but then the tourney is so short.

6 team DE - at least you have to go 3-0 before the "get beat twice in a row" point.  Usually will determine who the better team is since it is your 3 vs their 3.  And since it is a longer tourney, there is the possibilty of bringing back your 1 on short rest.  This seems to me like the best option.  Doesn't eliminate teams from playoff contention too early, gives all reasonably good teams a chance (Often times the #5 seed will pull some upsets).
Also, teams in NE will be playing in a 6 or 7 team regional and this gives them some experience playing in that type of tourney.

Back to back best 2of3 - Again, only lets in the 4 best teams.  Personally, I think 2of3 (9inn each) is the best way to determine which team is the better of the 2.  I know some state HS and legion tournaments do this and I like it.  But back to back within a week is too much.  You would have to do it over 2 weekends.  6 games in 7 days at the end of the regular season and before the regionals would be foolish.  Too many innings and you would burn out your staff before the regionals.  Also, you would want to go 1, 2, 3 in a best 2of3 (at least 95% of the time) and playing 6 in 7 days would not allow that (most likely).  The finals would likely have the first game as 4 v 4 or vs 1 on 3 days rest.  Not optimal by any means.

The whole point of determining a conf champ should be to make it a fair shot for all those with a reasonable chance and also to not harm the team that wins too much for regional play.  IMO a 6 team DE accomplishes that in the best fashion.

[MSG77]

Just looked at it again and with double headers you could have

Semifinals
Monday - Games 1 and 2 (or alternately Sat)
Tuesday- Game 3 (or alternately Sun)

Finals
Saturday - Games 1 and 2 (or alternately Thur)
Sunday - Game 3 (or alternately Fri)

That would let you have 1, 2, and 3 all on 4 days rest.  It would mean you would likely have to have a pretty deep bullpen though with 3 games in 2 days.  Also, not sure if you could get everyone to have Mon and Tuesday off around finals.  Also, if you finished the reg season on the preceding Sat, it is only 1 day rest til the playoffs so you might not be able to use your pitchers in the semis and it leaves only Sun (the day before the playoffs) as a rain makeup day.  I'm just not sure you can play 2 best of 3s in a week between the end of the reg season and the regionals.  Weather in NE will not allow an already condensed reg season to have 2 weeks for a conf playoff.

[JustAFan]

Tufts 3-2 loss yesterday to Eastern Connecticut on a suicide squeeze in the bottom of the ninth and Williams 9-7 win today over Western New England in a game in which Williams only showed up with 12 players suggests that reports of the NESCAC having a down year may be exagerated. I would not underestimate the NESCAC teams in the tournament this year--the top teams in the league this year are very competitive with their peers from the other conferences.

[wordsmith]

I know I have been banned from starting any new polls by the Moderator buthe didn't say I that I was banned from talking about other polls. I noticed this poll on the front page of the D3 web site and wanted to solicit others thoughts about the lack of New England pitchers names. Where do guys like Gilblair stack-up with this crowd?

Current Poll
Who is the best Pitcher in D-III this year?
Devin Drag, Chapman
Jimmy Dougher, Cortland
Robert Flanagan, Rhodes
Jason Glushon, Emory
Adam Samson, Wooster
Joe Augustine, Kean
Matt Aronson, Illinois Wesleyan
Joe DiPietro, Pacific Lutheran

[TheGNAC]

Wordsmith,

I'd say Gilblair belongs right up there with those guys. He's having yet another great season, and I think it's due more to a lack of exposure than anything else.

Here's how I'd rank those guys, though.

Devin Drag
Jason Glushon
Jimmy Dougher
Adam Samson
Robert Flanagan
Matt Aronson
Joe Augustine
Joe Dipietro

I'd put Gilblair right above Flanagan on that list.

---------------

Here's a much more interesting take, though. My list of the top 10 New England arms.

Shawn Gilblair, Eastern CT.
Chris McDonough, Wheaton
Eric Smolin, WNEC
Chandler Barnard, Trinity
Adam Telian, Tufts
Brad Mountain, Eastern Nazarene
Louie Bernadini, Wheaton
Nick Conway, UMass-Boston
Rick Stromgren, Keene State
Reid Jackson, Suffolk

[Bostonian]

Tim Kiely is the top pitcher in NE...lights out now that he is fully healthy.