BB: General New England Discussion

[ECSUalum]

This illustrates ECSU pitching depth:


Player                 era  w-l app-gs  cg  sho  sv  ip  h  r  er  bb  so  2b  3b  hr  ab  b/avg   

Jim Schult           0.75  1-0  2-2     0  0/0  0  12.0  10  3  1  4  7  1  0  0  43  .233   
James Kukucka   1.08  1-0  5-2    0  0/1  0  16.2  11  7  2  5  7  4  0  0  61  .180   
Mike Tingley       1.23  1-0  3-1     0  0/0  0  7.1  5  1  1  2  12  1  0  0  25  .200   
Wes Dutton       1.42  0-0  7-0     0  0/1  0  12.2  6  5  2  4  8  1  0  1  42  .143   
Chris Wojick       1.74  1-0  7-0    0  0/1  2  10.1  7  4  2  7  12  0  0  0  37  .189   
Matt Fontaine    2.16  2-0  6-2    0  0/0  1  16.2  12  7  4  7  15  2  0  0  61  .197   
Will Musson       2.53  3-0  5-3    0  0/1  0  21.1  13  7  6  9  21  3  0  2  72  .181   
Andrew Morr.     3.00  1-0  2-0    0  0/0  0  3.0  5  2  1  2  1  1  0  0  15  .333  0   
Shawn Gilblair   4.85  2-1  3-3    0  0/1  0  13.0  16  9  7  3  24  2  0  3  56  .286   

[TheGNAC]

Suffolk beat Wheaton 4-2 today down in Norton. Ranked 2nd nationally in today's D3Baseball.com poll, the Lyons lose just their 2nd game of the season and 1st in almost a month, falling to 17-2. Suffolk wins for the 11th time in 12 contests, improving to 12-3 on the year.

[RSSmith]

Suffolk beat Wheaton 4-2 today down in Norton. Ranked 2nd nationally in today's D3Baseball.com poll, the Lyons lose just their 2nd game of the season and 1st in almost a month, falling to 17-2. Suffolk wins for the 11th time in 12 contests, improving to 12-3 on the year.

And Bowdoin 7-USM 4, and Bridgewater State 10-RIC 4

Upsetville in New England today, eh?

[KSCfan]

Suffolk beating wheaton is a surprise but i think that they will win some games before the end of the year.  The rams are 12-3 on the year, and that is not too bad.  Wheaton's win streak wasnt going to go on forever.  Bridgewater over RIC i dont find that amazing because RIC has been questionable all year long. With a loss to UMass Boston and now Bridgewater it seems that RIC is coing down to earth a little bit after a hot start. 

[Jcon8958]

I have said from Day one the RIC was an oveerrated teams and its starting to show up a little bit more every game......

[ECSUalum]

Maybe some of you know this web site,  maps.live.com, it provides very clear close up birds eye views of any address you type in and in addition you can rotate the view in 4 directions.

Check out ECSU's Baseball stadium on this.

Under "Location", type in  Eastern Connecticut State University, and then click and drag the view north of Route 6

Here the URL for Eastern's Baseball Stadium:

http://maps.live.com/#JndoZXJlMT1FYXN0ZXJuK0Nvbm5lY3RpY3V0K1N0YXRlK3VuaXZlcnNpdHkrJmJiPTQwLjc0NDkwNzkxMzgyNDQlN2UtNzQuMDIzMjQ0NjY5NDc5NyU3ZTQwLjc0MzA5MDYxNDI4ODUlN2UtNzQuMDI3MjI4NzIwMDI1

[santeezy06]

JCon,

Did someone from RIC do something to you when you were younger. RIC still isn't overrated we have been pitching younger pitchers to get them started up, the thing with young pitchers you should know is they miss spots. Like UMB does on a consistent basis. WE played you guys you pulled off a win now move on, we had 5 errors in that game, 2 of which were by a beat up shortstop that shouldn't had probably played in the game. No excuses but you saw him go down, his ankle is still injured. I don't see what your beef is with the team cause I believe in pitching we are ranked #3 in batting #4 fielding # 2 in the LEC. So overrated were not, but apparently hated by you. You can't win them all and in your teams case they might not win 10 games this year. I had said it before we will contend with teams, we are not a dominate threat.

[Jcon8958]

I just dont like how a team plays a in my option very padded Scheduele I never said they werre a bad team but i feel if they played better teams there record would not be as good as it is thats all I am saying.

[KSCfan]

Its monday and here is a new NE top 8 in my opinion

1. USM- Beat up on Wheaton hard yesterday and seem to be rolling right along.  With a Wheaton victory and an Eastern CT loss im picking the huskies as tops of NE right now
2. Trinity- Sweep of Tufts has the Bantams in my number 2 spot. Defending national champions continue to play good ball, espically in the NESCAC
3. Wheaton- Got waxed by USM sees them drop to 3 this week.  Still not that concerned about them.  Im sure they will be just fine
4. Eastern- Surprise loss to UMD was exciting, but quickly got back on track with a beating of Plymouth stat the next day
5. Curry College 16-3 on the year- did not play on the weekend.  Must of been a bye week
6. Suffolk- 3-1 on the weekend, Split with J&W and a sweep of Emerson has them at 15-4.  Rams are a very strong team this year.   Look for them to be at Eastern this year for the regional
7. Williams- on a ten game win streak.  Ephs are looking to stay hot
8.  Keene State- won three games over the weekend, bats looking to stay hot.

Dropped out- RIC, WPI  WPI is 15-9 i think that Keene beats them head to head, RIC is in the midst of looking the worse they have looked all year

[TheGNAC]

TheGNAC's Weekly New England Rankings - 3rd week in, and we have a new number one.

1. Southern Maine (14-3) - The Huskies made perhaps the week's biggest statement yesterday, beating #2 Wheaton 14-3 in Norton, MA. This game pitted Wheaton's All-American Adam Gingras against USM's ace-apparent Tim Therrien, with Gingras taking the brunt of it. The Huskies have shown once again they can put a hurting on any pitcher, regardless of pedigree, as they have now knocked around two All-American studs in ECSU's Shawn Gilblair and Gingras. If Therrien can continue his emergence as one of the top pitchers in New England, the Huskies are going to very difficult to beat in both the LEC and the regionals.

2. Eastern Connecticut (18-2) - The Warriors have spent much of the young season receiving a lot of hype, all of it deserved. Still, they haven't been immune to the occasional hiccup this season, either, as this past week proved. The Warriors, for lack of a better term, layed an egg this past weekend, dropping a game to lowly UMass-Dartmouth 4-3 on Saturday. ECSU rebounded nicely on Sunday however, sweeping a two game set with with Plymouth State by a combined score of 33-1. As usual, the offense continues to roll along, as ECSU is hitting a collective .354 with 28 homers, tops in New England. The pitching has also been nothing short of stellar, with a cumulative team ERA of 3.17. Shawn Gilblair continues to shine on both sides, hitting .394 with 25 RBI to go along with a 3-1 record, 3.15 ERA and an eye-popping 36 K's in just 20 innings.

3. Wheaton (20-3) - The first and only team in the region with 20 wins, Wheaton still had by it's standards a fairly awful week, dropping games to Suffolk and Southern Maine, both times at home. Worse, it apears the Lyons two aces, Gingras and Bernardini, are human, too. Gingras took the aforementioned loss against USM, while Bernardini took a no decision against Coast Guard, allowing 8 hits and 5 earned runs in just 4 innings on Saturday. Still, the Wheaton offense has few peers, both in this region and nationally, as they sport a .358 team batting average with 21 homers. No team is immune to occasional bumps in the road, and I fully expect Wheaton to continue rolling right along this week, on their way to yet another NEWMAC title.

4. Trinity (15-3) - The defending national champions haven't seen things come as easily in '09 as they did in '08, but they are still doing pretty well, regardless. Sitting at 15-3 and 6-0 in the NESCAC, it appears the Bantams remain one of the top teams both in the region and in the country. All-Americans Kent Graham and Sean Killeen continue to power the Trinity attack, with both players hitting well over .400 with 4 home runs each. Fellow All-American Jeremiah Bayer hasn't missed a beat on the mound, as the dominating RHP is 5-0 with a 1.78 ERA. With the rest of the NESCAC comparatively weak, it appears the Bantams are on their way to yet another regional tournament.

5. Suffolk (15-4) - The Rams had an interesting week. On Tuesday they knocked off #2 Wheaton 4-2, then knocked off conference rival Johnson and Wales 8-1 in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday. They followed the strong effort in game one with an absolute stinker in game two, spotting JWU 5 runs in the 1st inning before succumbing 5-3. They righted the ship on Sunday, sweeping Emerson by a combined score of 23-4. As it stands today, 3 of Suffolk's 4 losses have come against clubs who played in regional tournaments in 2007, and they appear to have one of the stronger pitching staffs in the region, as their 3.34 team ERA can attest to. The Rams have six games on the slate this week, all at home, and it is quite possible that they'll go 6-0 in the span. If so, it's safe to say the top four in New England are going to be feeling the pressure, from both Suffolk and...

6. Curry (17-3) - I think it's safe to say that the top 5 clubs and Curry have emerged as the bonafide powers in New England this year. In my opinion, the dropoff between Curry and Southern Maine is a lot closer than the dropoff between Curry and Worcester State, for example. Curry continues to roll right along, sitting a 17-3 with a .385 team batting average. Offensively, they are led by Rick Vail, who has an eye-popping .530 batting average to go along with 6 home runs. It's safe to say he's the front runner for New England Player of the Year right now. 3 others (Tim Sweeney, Jesse Bruinsma, and Ralph Renzulli) are hitting over .400, so offensively, they can hang with anyone. As the old adage goes however, pitching wins championships, and I fear Curry might come up on the short end in that department, as their 5.04 team ERA shows. Still, they're the cream of the crop in the CCC, and should emerge from that conference and contend in Willimantic in May.

7. Williams (10-5) - It's been an interesting season thus far for the Ephs, as they have needed 9 straight wins to get to where they are now at 10-5. Still, any team that can string together 9 straight victories deserves props, and it appears Williams is the best of the rest outside of the Big Six. Although their victories have been less than impressive, 10-5 is 10-5, and the Ephs pose the best threat to Trinity's NESCAC hopes.

8. St. Joe's (ME) (14-7) - The Monks, on the strength of a 5-0 week in which they outscored their opponents 101-8, are making their first appearance in my top 8. Although their schedules is always less than impressive, it is impossible to deny St. Joe's their due right now. Sitting at 14-7 and 7-1 in the GNAC, the Monks look poised to once again make a run at a regional tournament bid. Led by sophomore sensation Ian Lee (.500 average, 24 RBI), the club is hitting a collective .366, although that number is no doubt inflated thanks in part to the shellacking they put on Rivier, Lasell, and Husson this past week. Still, they can hit with anybody. On the mound, it appears Pat Moran has decided to make me look like a genius, albeit a year late. The transfer from UMaine, who I picked as my Pitcher of the Year in the GNAC in 2008, is in his second season in Standish, and has been nothing short of dominant on the mound, sporting a sparkling 4-0 record to go along with his 2.45 ERA and 39 K's in just 36 IP. SJC did drop a game to JWU earlier in the year (as did Suffolk), but it's becoming clearer by the day that Suffolk and St. Joe's are the two horses in that conference. Expect whichever club that doesn't win the automatic bid to receive strong consideration for an at-large.

Just missed: WPI, RIC, Worcester State

[dchevy5]

GNAC

I enjoy reading your rankings and they are pretty much right on.  Just wondering, though, about your just misses- RIC???  Did you mean KSC.  RIC lost double-header to KSC and then were shellacked by Western Ct the next day, while KSC put a hurt on Brandeis.  KSC does have a ways to go, and needs to run off several consecutive wins to regain the respect they had in the pre-season.  A big test next weekend when they visit USM for DH on Saturday.

[TheGNAC]

DChevy,

good call. I do try and check up on all the clubs, but it's difficult to keep track of all the teams, who they've beaten, etc. Regarding KSC vs. RIC, that's an oversight on my part, and I actually should have termed the "Just missed" as "Dropped out," since both RIC and WPI were ranked last week, and not this week.

As for Keene, I think they've suffered in rankings like these due mostly to their early season struggles. You're absolutely right though, the Owls have certainly seemed to turn a corner as of late, and as I've contended all along, they have arguably the best offense in the country (I'd put KSC, USM, and ECSU as 1, 1A, and 1B in that regard). I fully expect them to be contending in the LEC tourney, and it wouldn't surprise me if they're close to 30 wins by that time. If they continue to perform, there's no doubt they'll be knocking on the door of my rankings, perhaps even next week.

Thanks for the comments, it's all appreciated.

[TheGNAC]

Also, for all the KSC fans, this should brighten your day (I hate this weather) a bit.

New England Divisions III College Baseball Coaches Polls
(Conducted by New England College Baseball Coaches, First Place Votes
in parentheses, followed by record and total points)

Division III
1. Eastern Connecticut 18-2 35 pts.
1. Wheaton 20-3 35 pts.
3. Southern Maine 14-3 30 pts.
4. Trinity 15-3 29 pts.
5. Suffolk 15-4 19 pts.
6. Curry 17-3 14 pts.
7. Rhode Island College 15-8 4 pts.
8. Keene State 11-8 3 pts.
8. Wentworth 17-6-1 3 pts.
8. Western New England 15-9 3 pts.
Also Receiving Votes: Williams (2), St. Joseph's, Me. (1).

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

Appears I've overlooked Wentworth and WNEC, as well. Ah well, to each his own, I suppose.

[dgilblair]

Also, for all the KSC fans, this should brighten your day (I hate this weather) a bit.

New England Divisions III College Baseball Coaches Polls
(Conducted by New England College Baseball Coaches, First Place Votes
in parentheses, followed by record and total points)

Division III
1. Eastern Connecticut 18-2 35 pts.
1. Wheaton 20-3 35 pts.
3. Southern Maine 14-3 30 pts.
4. Trinity 15-3 29 pts.
5. Suffolk 15-4 19 pts.
6. Curry 17-3 14 pts.
7. Rhode Island College 15-8 4 pts.
8. Keene State 11-8 3 pts.
8. Wentworth 17-6-1 3 pts.
8. Western New England 15-9 3 pts.
Also Receiving Votes: Williams (2), St. Joseph's, Me. (1).

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

Appears I've overlooked Wentworth and WNEC, as well. Ah well, to each his own, I suppose.

I think you do a great job with your picks and you are right each to his own.  Imagine the work involved with ranking the entire country.....then you have people that bitch about it, each to his own.  I think Maine should be #1 for the same reasons.

[DougiesGoinDeep]

GNAC,

As always, great analysis.

I said this at the beginning of the season, but the regional at ESCU this year will be absolutely loaded. So much so, that it looks like a team like Southern Maine who if they do not win the LEC, could run the table in the New York regional as an at large and we could easily see 2 New England teams in Wisconsin this year. It may actually be a blessing to be shipped to New York this year and take your chances there, as whoever comes out of the New England regional will definitely have to earn it. It will certainly be an exciting next month, good luck to everyone.