BB: General New England Discussion

[dgilblair]

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.

I think Maine could stay in New England win or lose the LEC, they are going to have 30+ wins.  Keene and ECSU went to the Cape in 07.  What a regional that is going to be, if all goes as planned, ECSU, USM, Wheaton, Trinity, ST. Joe, Suffolk ? ? ? tough tough stuff.  I do agree with you that any one of them may want to get shipped out to NY this year to avoid that murderers row of teams but if they go to NY they without a doubt will still have to earn it. 

[ECSUalum]

GNAC,
+1K for another great analysis.
Dougies, Can't Agree with you more

[Rick Vaughn]

Wouldn't Trin out of anyone have the best chance of being shipped out of NE?  The NCAA is always looking to save $$ and since USM is 8 hours away from NY and EConn is the host team, it would seem likely that Trinity would be the team to go to the NY regional.

NE is a juggernaut this year.  Keep the title in the region.

[dgilblair]

Wouldn't Trin out of anyone have the best chance of being shipped out of NE?  The NCAA is always looking to save $$ and since USM is 8 hours away from NY and EConn is the host team, it would seem likely that Trinity would be the team to go to the NY regional.

NE is a juggernaut this year.  Keep the title in the region.

I don't know.....but if Trinity wins it's conference and tourney, I don't think they send them, and even if ESCU loses to Maine in the LEC tourney it would be hard to send the host out I think.  ESCU won the LEC tourney in 06 and shipped out although they didn't have a great record.  It could be interesting with some of the decisions the NCAA may have to make at the end of the year.  I know it's half a season away but if things go as planned and the teams are who we think they are it could be interesting come May.

[Rick Vaughn]

Williams with a big win over Fordham today...Love to see the DIII's over the DI's!! 

Does a win over a DI give Williams any extra help when it comes down to a possible at large bid?

[John McGraw]

Williams with a big win over Fordham today...Love to see the DIII's over the DI's!! 

Does a win over a DI give Williams any extra help when it comes down to a possible at large bid?

Nope though obviously it won't hurt them.

[TheGNAC]

Checking in on the New England scene once again.

Bridgewater State sweeps Westfield State in a MASCAC doubleheader. Not good for Westfield at all. Westfield falls to 14-9, with a less than stellar 2-4 mark in league play. Bridgewater improves to 13-11, and an impressive 5-1 record in league play.

In GNAC action, Suffolk takes two from lowly Norwich, 7-1 and 20-3. The Rams improve to 19-4 on the season, while Norwich falls to an embarrassing 0-18-1. Suffolk moves into a first place tie with St. Joe's of Maine in the GNAC, with both clubs sitting at 7-1.

It seems upsets are becoming quite regular in New England this season, and we had another today, as Western Connecticut upends #1 Eastern Connecticut 5-3. Eastern falls to 19-5 (3-3 LEC), while WConn improves to 10-11 (3-1 LEC). Not a good loss for Eastern, I'll have more on that in a bit.

Trinity continues to roll, beating Bates 14-2 today. The Bantams improve to 16-3 on the year, and a perfect 7-0 mark in NESCAC play.

Curry continues to impress as well, beating Babson 10-3 today to improve to 21-3. Babson falls to 13-12 with the loss.

Wheaton likewise continues their torrid pace, knocking around WNEC ace Jason Pizzoferrato and emerging with the 7-4 victory. Wheaton improves to 22-3, while WNEC falls to 16-10.

Keene continues on the up and up, winning their 6th straight game today, knocking off Plymouth State 17-0. The Owls improve to 13-8 on the year.

Southern Maine knocked off UMass-Boston 13-12 today in LEC action, as the Huskies improve to 18-3 with the win. With the loss, the Beacons fall to 8-15.

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

Interesting turn of events with Western Connecticut knocking off Eastern today. The loss is the Warriors 5th of the year, which is more losses than Wheaton, Trinity, Southern Maine, Curry, and Suffolk have. That's not to say I think all of those teams are better than Eastern's. I don't think that's the case. Nevertheless, it's interesting to note, and makes one wonder if EConn is really deserving of the #1 ranking in New England, nevermind the nation.

With tomorrow's outcomes undecided, I think I'd have to rank those teams as follows;

1. Southern Maine (18-3)
2. Wheaton (22-3)
3. Trinity (16-3)
4. Curry (21-3)
5. Eastern Connecticut (19-5)
6. Suffolk (19-4)
-------------------

As I've also stated a number of times on this board, I think those 6 teams are far and away the top six clubs in New England this year.

[KSCfan]

Gnac once again some great analysis on NE.  I could not agree with you more about the top 6 in NE right now.  I was trying to fill out a 7 and 8 after your six.  There was no real clear cut favorites for those spots.  It seems that everytime a potential 7 or 8 top team in NE is about to emerge they will lose and muddle the picture up again.  I dont know if i would have Curry ahead of Eastern though.  Maybe its my LEC bais but regardless of the records i still think that Eastern is a more talented team, and would win head to head against curry.  Curry is very good, however i still think that Eastern is a better team.

[ECSUalum]

I think ECSU now has to earn any new respect they get after being beaten by UMD and WestConn.  We will see, but the offense needs to step it up a notch or two.  TCCC looks to have some very competitive teams this year, with WNEC and Curry looking strong.

Hopefully Coach H gets the Warriors back on track soon, or it could look ugly for "TEE" by the time the LEC Tourney/NE Regional rolls around.

Southern Maine, Trinity and Wheaton and WNEC look to be ready to punch thier tickets to post season play at this time.

I hope ECSU gets fired up soon

[ecfaninri]

Eastern's sweep of RIC yesterday helps stop the downward spiral. It will be interesting to see how they respond at Bridgewater State tomorrow and against UMD on Friday.

Curry shuts out Wheaton today 5-0 to give them another quality win.

Don't forget WPI in the NEWMAC - Fahey with another great pitching line

WPI                    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP   ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Conor Fahey.........  8.0  2  0  0  2 10 23 27   -  1.64
Kyle Boucher........  1.0  1  0  0  1  0  3  4   - 11.17

Coast Guard            IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP   ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Pete Schofield......  3.0  5  9  7  5  1 15 21   -  4.86
Ben Barrett.........  5.0  5  4  2  1  1 20 23   - 10.67
Joe Petry...........  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  3  3   -  3.18

Win - Fahey (4-1).  Loss - Schofield (3-3).  Save - None.

[ECSUalum]

I think ECSU now has to earn any new respect they get after being beaten by UMD and WestConn.  We will see, but the offense needs to step it up a notch or two.  TCCC looks to have some very competitive teams this year, with WNEC and Curry looking strong.

Hopefully Coach H gets the Warriors back on track soon, or it could look ugly for "TEE" by the time the LEC Tourney/NE Regional rolls around.

Southern Maine, Trinity and Wheaton and WNEC look to be ready to punch thier tickets to post season play at this time.

I hope ECSU gets fired up soon

ECSU needs to provide some run producction for the 3rd (Fontaine) and 4th (Kuch) in the rotation.  Park needs to recover from his slump, and we need to improve our defense, as .945 ish FP will not cut it in the NCAA Regionals/Nationals

[dgilblair]

I think ECSU now has to earn any new respect they get after being beaten by UMD and WestConn.  We will see, but the offense needs to step it up a notch or two.  TCCC looks to have some very competitive teams this year, with WNEC and Curry looking strong.

Hopefully Coach H gets the Warriors back on track soon, or it could look ugly for "TEE" by the time the LEC Tourney/NE Regional rolls around.

Southern Maine, Trinity and Wheaton and WNEC look to be ready to punch thier tickets to post season play at this time.

I hope ECSU gets fired up soon

ECSU needs to provide some run producction for the 3rd (Fontaine) and 4th (Kuch) in the rotation.  Park needs to recover from his slump, and we need to improve our defense, as .945 ish FP will not cut it in the NCAA Regionals/Nationals

Matt has been on the short end of runs and he has pitch more than well enough to be 4-0 in my opinion.  One defensive play against UMD and one key hit against Wconn and he would be 4-0.  The 4th needs to pitch past the fourth more often.  Losing to Montclair as bad as it was and losing to WNEC as bad as it was is not that hard to take because they are in my opinion quality teams.  Now, not to disparage UMD or WCONN I just dont think we should lose to them this year with this team, so to me those are two bad loses this year.  Now like I said Matt pitched well in both those games and deserved better outcomes based on his game and if ECSu were 23-3 everyone would still feel pretty warm and fuzzy....yes?  SO lets put the two behind us and get going again.  This week is good with a couple days off and then we hit a good stretch of games that will tell us what TEE is this year.

[TheGNAC]

I'm a few days late, but here are my weekly rankings. Bit of a shake-up this week.

1. Southern Maine (22-3) - The Huskies continue to roll, as they went 8-0 since my last ranking, where they were also 1st. I still contend they have the most powerful offense in the region (although Curry is making a strong case for themselves, more on that later), and they just continue to win ballgames. The 5.37 team ERA is a bit scary, but when you can hit like they can, it's pretty much a non-factor.

2. Trinity (18-3) - Lost amid all the strong showings and high rankings for New England teams thus far has been Trinity's steady play. While teams like Wheaton and Eastern Connecticut falter a bit, the Bantams just continue to win. They've only played 3 games since the last ranking, but they're sitting at 9-0 in the NESCAC, and should win that conference handily.

3. Curry (24-3) - It's official: the Colonels are for real. 7-0 since the last rankings, the Colonels are tied for 1st in the region in wins with 24, and posted a convincing 5-0 victory over Wheaton yesterday to prove their status as a contender. Statistically, they have the nation's #1 offense, as they're hitting an astounding .387 as a club with 28 home runs. The pitching has also been solid, and shutting out a high-powered Wheaton offense as they did yesterday is certainly something to hang their hat on. Expect the Colonels to make a legitimate run at the CWS this year.

4. Wheaton (24-4) - The Lyons went 4-1 on the week, but that one loss came to Curry, which is why the two teams are ranked where they are. Still, make no mistake about it; Wheaton is a club to be reckoned with. They hit like crazy, have dominated the NEWMAC (9-0), and haven't even pitched to their capabilities yet. If Louie Bernardini can take his game to the levels it was at in 2007, look out.

5. Suffolk (22-5) - The Rams were rolling as of the last ranking, winners of 8 straight games before yesterday, when they suffered a setback to an underrated UMass-Boston club 13-8. They rebounded nicely today however, beating WNEC 6-3 to move their record to 22-5. Tied for 1st in the conference at 9-1 with St. Joe's, Suffolk has a number of impressive victories on their resume, including wins over #3 Wheaton and #19 Keystone. Statistically, they can pitch with anyone in the country (3.05 team ERA), and have swung it well, too (.326 BA). Expect this weekend's double header with St. Joe's to be a barnburner, as Suffolk takes the #1 seed with a split or better, but falls to #3 and a play-in game if they're swept.

6. Eastern CT (21-6) - I'm sure this is not a popular pick among many here, but I think it's justified. Simply put, the Warriors are playing bad baseball. They're 3-4 since the last ranking, with less-than-stellar losses to Western CT and Bridgewater State. Their statistical splits are impressive (.331, 3.38 ERA), but until they right the ship, I don't see how they can be placed ahead of the 5 listed above.

7. St. Joe's (ME) (21-9) - The Monks went 7-2 since the last ranking, and look to be a legitimate contender along with Suffolk in the GNAC. Their offense is deadly (.355 BA), and they also have one of the best pitchers in the region in Pat Moran, a true ace and All-American candidate (5-0, 2.40 ERA, 45 IP, 53 K, 3 BB). As stated earlier, this Sunday's affair up in Standish with Suffolk should be quite the double header, as St. Joe's needs a split or better to avoid the #3 seed.

8. WPI (19-9) - The 8 seed was a toss-up, but with a 4-0 run, it goes to the smart gentlemen from Worcester. WPI has a quality record in a tough conference, and they've also posted convincing wins over St. Joe's, Worcester State, and Trinity. Conor Fahey is another All-American candidate (4-1, 1.64 ERA, 55 IP, 69 K), and they can definitely make some noise in the NEWMAC tournament.

Just missed: Worcester State, Wentworth, WNEC

[NEDIII]

First off, let me start by saying that you're analysis' of New England are great. You provide everyone with a lot of information on a variety of teams and conferences. However, I have to disagree with you on one thing and that is the review of Curry. I respect the team and what they have done this year, they're offensive numbers are nothing short of outstanding. But to say that they are a legit contender for the CWS is dillusional (sorry).  The CCC is probably the weakest conference in NE, and to the best of my knowledge, in the nation as well. While they have posted 24 wins (a feat in itself), 10 of those wins have come across competition such as New England College, Nichols, Anna Maria and Gordon. I can't fault them for playing the teams they have to but it should be taken into consideration. Another point, Curry has made how many trips to Harwich in the past 6 years? (2 maybe, off the top of my head). Teams like Wheaton, EConn, USM, Trinity are thier year after year and have the experience and depth to play the toughest competition day after day. Curry will make the Regionals in 09' and it wouldn't suprise me if they went two and screw down at EConn.

[NEDIII]

Also, some information I left out. Curry made it's first (ever)appearence to a Regional in 2007. Another interesting fact is that Curry pitched its ace against Wheaton College while WC pitched its 4/5 guy in the rotation (shutting the # 1 ranked offense down through 8 inn). Another indication of a weak schedule...anyway, I just found that to be interesting...