BB: General New England Discussion

[Jim Dixon]

Who is the transfer from UVM?  Can you tell us some more?

Trinity did not report any transfers in a preseason questionaire they submitted to d3baseball.com

[Bostonian]

Ralph,
Barnard left after his junior year but I've heard he has come back to Trinity.
Very odd story, and somewhat shocking that Trinity would admit him back. Don't think that would happen at too many NESCAC schools.

Jim,
When was the questionnaire submitted? Like I said, 2nd hand info, but pretty solid source. We'll see when they hit the field.

[DougiesGoinDeep]

The transfer that Trinity got was former UVM pitcher Jeremiah Bayer. He pitched for North Adams this summer in the NECBL. Barnard is back as well.

[Bostonian]

Trinity is loaded with pitching this year. Kiely, Rap, Barnard, Regan, McGrath, Anderson, and Bayer would probably all be rotation guys at every other NESCAC school.

[Jim Dixon]

Jim,
When was the questionnaire submitted? Like I said, 2nd hand info, but pretty solid source. We'll see when they hit the field.

Barnard is listed as a returning player, not a transfer.

Tim Bourdon (All-New England in 2006) will likely replace Ben Silvanic.   Trinity will be a force to contend with in 2008

[Bostonian]

Barnard left Trinity and transferred to Lubbock Christian, but he left LC and transferred back to Trinity. Not sure how he should be listed, but he's definitely back at TC. Bayer is the transfer student I was talking about.

Bourdon will have a tough time cracking into that lineup.

[KSCfan]

Good to see New England get some national attention with d3 top 25.  New England this year will be a tough place to play with Eastern CT, Trinity, Wheaton, Keene State, among some of the others.  I know its early but who is the best preseason new-england team.  My own personal thoughts go something like this

1. Eastern CT
2. Keene State
3. Trinity
4. Wheaton

Those are just based off what i know about the teams.  The LEC is the best conferance in New England bar far just look at last years regional where two LEC teams battled at the end.  Trinity has a murders row of pitching and Wheaton is well Wheaton.  Should be a great year in New England.

[DougiesGoinDeep]

Just looked at something pretty interesting...

KSC has 4 returning All-LEC players including 3/4 of their infield.
ECSU also has 4 including All-American Gilblair
USM only has 1
Wheaton has 3 All-NEWMAC players coming back
Trinity has 8, including every position player besides 3B and CF (LEC obviously a better league then the NESCAC, still interesting though)

Should be an exciting spring

[Paul Heering]

Here are some more numbers to back up what Dougie just posted...

Team (Percent of Hits From Underclassman Last Year--Percent of Innings Pitched From Underclassman Last Year)
Keene State (85%--66%)
Eastern Connecticut (69%--72%)
Wheaton (74%--88%)
Trinity (90%--64%)


*I am assuming all underclassman are coming back.  I am pretty sure I took LaVargna off the list for ECSU

[Bostonian]

I wouldn't say the LEC is that much better than the NESCAC. Yes, ECSU and Keene St. are probably 1 and 2 in the NE this year, but Williams, Trinity, and Middlebury are all very strong. Trinity didn't even make the league playoffs and they almost won the NY regional last year.

I'd also watch out for Babson this year. They were strong last year and return a lot of their top players.

[KSCfan]

 You are right Babson is always  a very good team that is capable of winning a lot of games.  Another team that has wild card implications is Southern Maine.  Traditionally Flaherty's warriors are very good but over the last two or three years have not enjoyed thier usual success.  they mash with the best of them but thier pitching has seemed to hurt them ever since fairchild went on to the minors with the Astros.  They have the tall lefty Henry, and the righty Burleson, who in my humble opinion is more of a CF than a staff ace.   I think thier question mark will be the pitching. 

As far as the NESCAC vs LEC debate they are both very good conferances but i will take Eastern CT, Southern Maine, and Keene over Trinity, Williams and Middlebury.  However the bottom of the NESCAC may be more competitive than say Western CT or Dartmouth who are both just terrible right now

[Bostonian]

Funny...I was going to say that the bottom of the NESCAC is awful.
Bates, Colby, and Hamilton are just as bad if not worse than the LEC bottom feeders.

I think the top of the LEC is obviously stronger, but the NESCAC does have alot of depth. Amherst, Bowdoin, Tufts, Middlebury, Trinity, and Williams have all been to the NCAAs in the last 5 years.

I'd like to see the NESCAC scrap the 2 divisions and have everybody play a doubleheader against eachother like they do in the LEC.

[KSCfan]

Boston im not that familiar with the NESCAC you play a DH with everyone in your division and one with the other division?  If they did play a DH with everyone that would make up 18 conferance games.  Minus the 40 you are allowed to have that leaves 22.  Now take the average 10 games out of everyones southern trip, and that leaves 12 out of conferance games for the NESCAC schools to play.  Maybe coaches are hestitant for that reason i dont know, i dont know that much about the NESCAC.  It would be nice to see a LEC /NESCAC challange where on one sunday or midweek day schools from both leagues play each other.  WOuld be some great matchups for that day!

[Bostonian]

At this point, the NESCAC teams only play 12 league games. They play the other teams in their division 3 times. Friday 9 inning, Saturday 7 and 9 DH. Plus, they play a crossover doubleheader and sometimes more games with teams in the other division.

There are 6 weekends during the season.

If the NESCAC went to a DH with every team format and gave each team a travel partner, playing 2 DHs a weekend would be doable. NESCAC teams never play 40 regular season games because the league only allows 23 games after March break. Most NESCAC teams play 33-36 games. Doing it my way makes sense, but it will never happen because of the Holier Than Thou attitude of NESCAC administrators when it comes to sports. They'd claim it was too much travel and time away from studies...

Bowdoin plays So. Maine every year. Amherst plays Keene St. Trinity plays Western and Eastern and Tufts plays Eastern and UMassDartmouth, so there are plenty of good interleague games. The Tufts-Eastern game from last year was one of the best games in Div. III NE.

[KSCfan]

thanks for the info Boston