BB: General New England Discussion

[wordsmith]

New ABCA poll; (tired to keep it as neat as possible... )
May 4,2010


Rank School                                      Record   Points    Last Rank
1. (5) Johns Hopkins (Md.)                  37-3      237            2
2. (3) Wis.-Whitewater                       31-4      235            1
3. Wooster (Ohio)                               34-7      217            5
4. St. Thomas (Minn.)                           25-6     212            3
5. Chapman (Calif.)                              28-8      210           4
6. Birmingham-Southern (Ala.)             34-5      191            6
7. Shenandoah (Va.)                            34-8      190            7
8. Mississippi College                            34-7     181            9
9. Heidelberg (Ohio)                             30-6      179          12
10. Cortland (N.Y.) State                      30-7-1    162         13
11. Trinity (Texas)                                 32-7      156          15
12. St. Scholastica (Minn.)                     32-5      153          10
13. Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.)                     28-9       151          14
14. Linfield (Ore.)                                 30-10      139          19
15. Tufts (Mass.)                                   27-5       109          25
16. Eastern Connecticut State              26-9       108          20
17. Salisbury (Md.)                                26-9        91           17
18. Texas-Tyler                                     32-10       89          22
19. Marietta (Ohio)                               25-9         84           11
20. North Central (Ill.)                          28-5         72           30
21. Redlands (Calif.)                              28-9        67            8
22. Kean (N.J.)                                     28-10        58           28
23. Western New England (Mass.)        33-9         55           26
24. Pacific Lutheran (Wash.)                30-10         49           16
25. Washington & Jefferson (Pa.)           27-7        45          29
26. Plattsburgh (N.Y.) State                   30-8        41           23
27. Rowan (N.J.)                                 23-12-1      34              rv
28. Rochester (N.Y.)                               28-9         30           18
29. Webster (Mo.)                                  30-8        25              rv
30. Wheaton (Mass.)                              29-8         24             rv

Also receiving votes (alphabetically): Adrian (Mich.), Alvernia (Pa.), Augustana (Ill.), Buena Vista (Iowa), Cal
Lutheran, Concordia-Chicago (Ill.), George Fox (Ore.), Keystone (Pa.), Mary Washington (Va.), Methodist (N.C.),
St. John Fisher (N.Y.), St. Joseph's (Maine), Texas Lutheran, Trinity (Conn.), Westfield (Mass.) State, Wis.-
Stevens Point, York (Pa.).

My reaction to this ranking?

Go to :30 seconds in on this video and ye shall see.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twp5vOKEivA&feature=related

Word

[Hobbesy]

Good win for Wheaton today over Western New England.  These two teams could meet in Mansfield in a couple weeks.

Other than that, baseball in New England is beginning to come to a close.  Its been a good season but it always seems to go by to quick.

[GBearsAlum15]

I was not really surprised that Wheaton took it to WNEC yesterday 11-4. WNEC just went through a grueling TCCC tournament in which they used all of their arms, more than they would have liked to. Wheaton is a very good ballclub and these two teams could very well see each other in the regionals. Wheaton still has games remaining against ECSU and Suffolk (2). I think if they win 2 out of 3 of those games, they can very easily be the #1 seed in the NE regional. One would think that Tufts would be the obvious choice for the #1 seed, but not so fast. Like someone has posted earlier, I don't know how Tufts has the #1 strength of schedule. The only quality non-conference opponent was ECSU, and ECSU walloped them 19-5. Overall, this year the NESCAC has been stronger than the NEWMAC, but Wheaton has played way more quality non-conference opponents.

Right now here are my top 3 seeds....

1. Wheaton 30-8
2. Tufts 28-5
3. Western New England 33-10

Teams like ECSU and Westfield St can play their way into the #3 seed

[RSSmith]

I was not really surprised that Wheaton took it to WNEC yesterday 11-4. WNEC just went through a grueling TCCC tournament in which they used all of their arms, more than they would have liked to. Wheaton is a very good ballclub and these two teams could very well see each other in the regionals. Wheaton still has games remaining against ECSU and Suffolk (2). I think if they win 2 out of 3 of those games, they can very easily be the #1 seed in the NE regional. One would think that Tufts would be the obvious choice for the #1 seed, but not so fast. Like someone has posted earlier, I don't know how Tufts has the #1 strength of schedule. The only quality non-conference opponent was ECSU, and ECSU walloped them 19-5. Overall, this year the NESCAC has been stronger than the NEWMAC, but Wheaton has played way more quality non-conference opponents.

Right now here are my top 3 seeds....

1. Wheaton 30-8
2. Tufts 28-5
3. Western New England 33-10

Teams like ECSU and Westfield St can play their way into the #3 seed

I think there may have been a mistake in computing Tufts' earlier SOS.  The last two rankings have them under .550 rather than over .600, and the most recent ranking has them at .544, 41st.  Keene State on the other hand is at .588, 2nd in D3.

[Rick Vaughn]

With All-Conference Teams coming out and the long hours at work boring me, I feel obliged to put together an All-New England Team.  A couple thoughts - I agree with Hobbsey from his blog - there are a ton of qualified closers this year, but I will stick with one.  The OF class is also loaded this year, but I found it a little harder to find MIF's that really stood out.  With out further ado...

C - Barrett - Suffolk - Did not stay behind the plate all season, but numbers are more than worthy
1B - Griglun - WNEC - Very clutch hitter
2B - Walsh - UMB - Zielinski from Castleton was close behind
3B - Haugh - Wheaton - The NEWMAC POY
SS - Leresche - Tufts - Sparkplug at the top of NE #1 ranked team
OF - Wood - Trinity - 12 bombs is near the top in NE
OF - Keneborous - St. Joes (ME) - 60 RBI is the top I have seen around to go with 13 2B's
OF - Mathews - Williams - Hitting over .500
OF - Doyon - Keene St - Massive speed and power numbers
DH - Talis - UMD - Surprise year with big pop
P - Carr - Wheaton - Should have been NEWMAC Pitcher of Year
P - Moore - Curry - Workhorse for the Colonels
P - Murray - St. Joes (ME) - Just 2 BB's in 50 IP
RP - DeGoti - Tufts - 9 saves and just 1 ER for the Jumbos.
UT - Levesque - RIC - Could be the LEC POY

I'm sure I missed some... It's funny not having any Eastern Conn players on there!

[wordsmith]

Rick,

Great job on the All-New Eng. Team; no real disagreements from me. I agree stange not to see any players from EConn, or USM for that matter.

So who is your pick for New England POY?

Word

[YA, Boy]

Wheaton over Econn today 7-3...

Big wins vs WNEC and EConn have the lyons rolling despite setback vs. Keene

Should be interesting who comes out of the LEC next week, really cant wait for both this weekends games and next week should be very exciting.

NE Regional looking LOADED right now it will be interesting to see how tuft plays in the NESCAC tourny and follow up in the region...which they should get at large if lose

Ya, Boy

[ecfaninri]

Rick Vaughn....
Yes it is a little surprising not seeing and Eastern players on the list, but I guess you look at some of the the names on the list and Eastern has performed well against them and as of late the hitting hasn't been clicking.    Personally, I think a team ranked in the top 15 or so all year - HAS to have someone on the list....Castillo, Schult, Parke, Dewing offensively and Musson, Fontaine, Wojick, or Schult on the mound to mention a few. Oh well, I guess they just need to get back and win this weekend.

[Hobbesy]

Rick,

You are absolutely right about loaded in the outfield.  That seems to happen every year.  I feel its the hardest position to be named all new england.

As for no Eastern players on the first team, you can make a case for Castillo at third base over Haugh.  I believe POY stats for NEWMAC were based on conference-only.  Other than that its a tough draw.  I agree with Walsh at second but Leresche might be a reach.  Good player but there might be a better stat guy at short in New England.

Also, Sweeney from Curry might get some votes in the outfield.  As for the pitchers, good choices and I think UTIL will come down to Levesque and Moran from St. Joseph's.

And for the closers, you might see to relief pitchers named to the first team in place of one of the starters. 

[Hobbesy]

Most Recent NCAA Regional Rankings Released on May 6th

New England Region    In-Region Record    Overall Record
1. Tufts                                   19-3                              27-5
2. Wheaton (Massachusetts)    27-7                      29-8
3. Westfield State                    28-7                      28-7
4. Western New England    26-8                      28-8
5. Eastern Connecticut State    22-9                      27-10
6. Keene State                    18-11-1                      23-13-1
7. Bowdoin                             20-9                      23-11
8. Curry                                    25-12                      26-13
9. WPI                                    21-10                      21-10
10. Trinity (Connecticut)            17-10                      18-11

If the season ended today and Tufts, Westfield and Eastern all won their conference it appears Keene would get first crack at an at-large.

Westfield and Worcester won MASCAC openers and Wheaton beat Eastern.

http://ned3baseball.wordpress.com/

[Rick Vaughn]

Funny to see Trinity still showing up...I agree with the rest, especially Westfield moving all the way to #3.  They have really played well and deserve that spot.  They should be in if they can make it to the MASCAC finals.

As for the All-NE, I agree the Leresche was a stretch...I couldn't find too many SS with very impressive numbers.

My Player of the Year - Keneborous - St. Joes (ME) - Just monster numbers with RBI and XBH.
Pitcher of the Year - Carr - Wheaton - Funny seeing that he did not even this award in the NEWMAC.  Leads region in wins.
Rookie of the Year - Zielinski - Castleton - Sparkplug for the Spartans.
Coach of the Year - Arra - Westfield St. - Great year for the Owls - thought they might win the MASCAC, but they have a number of impressive out of conference wins (WNEC, Williams, Amherst, Castleton, Suffolk, WPI, and Endicott - all 20 win teams)

[ECSUalum]

2010 NCAA Division III
New England Regional Baseball Tournament
May 18-23, 2010
Participant Manual
Hosted by Eastern Connecticut State University and
The Little East Conference

http://www.littleeast.com/documents/2010/4/29/2010ncaanewenglandregionalpacket.pdf?id=1043

Useful info for Teams, Parents, Fans, others

[Hobbesy]

Tufts and Williams win on day one and Keene clinches share of LEC regular season title. 

http://ned3baseball.wordpress.com/

[wordsmith]

The 3 teams I would not want to meet in right now:

St. Joe's
Keene State
Williams

[Old Man]

KSU 15 wins and 4 losses in last 19 games.  WHO IS HOTTER?  OM