BB: E8: Empire 8

[airball55]

I believe though that they or any other Pool B team can also slide into Pool C.  This has been floated around on here.  Personally, I am not sure of what the tournament rules are.  It may come down to geography more than actually who should go, and that would be a shame.  Anyone have answers on this??  If there are only 2 B bids and Fisher can't get a C, then it is possible that certainly one of the best two teams in this region may not get it.  That would not be a good sign for NY. 

[John McGraw]

I believe though that they or any other Pool B team can also slide into Pool C.  This has been floated around on here.  Personally, I am not sure of what the tournament rules are.  It may come down to geography more than actually who should go, and that would be a shame.  Anyone have answers on this??  If there are only 2 B bids and Fisher can't get a C, then it is possible that certainly one of the best two teams in this region may not get it.  That would not be a good sign for NY. 

It's possible for them to get a Pool C bid though they'll have to hope that favorites win out across the country - i.e. nationally-ranked and highly-regional ranked teams winning their league tournaments. For example - Fisher has to be a big fan of Cortland and hope the Red Dragons get through the SUNYAC. If not, that's a Pool C spot pretty much off the board IMO.

Unfortunately for Fisher, it's a national tournament, not a regional one, so they're dealing with everyone all over and not just clubs in New York or even the northeast for that matter. As we've seen, the NCAA will not hesitate to send in non-region teams to New York to fill open slots - from either New England, the Mid-Atlantic or the Mideast

[OshDude]

Or the South. I have a hunch that Shenandoah may be going to NY this year.

[airball55]

That would be a very strange move to send Shenendoah this far north. I believe the NCAA is trying to save on mileage not expand on it.  I think in regards to Fisher, I am hoping they get the same treatment Ithaca has gotten over the past decade or so when their teams weren't all that special but to fill this regional, that "league" had a rep.  If Fisher gets close to 30 wins they should get the AQ, Ithaca had much leaner years than that 1995-2000, 02,03,05, 07 etc... when they didn't have great W-L records but still got in.  That was when the tourny was smaller too.  Just fighting for the region here.

[SUbaseballfan]

Winchester to Millington = 804 miles
Winchester to Cortland (New York Reg) = 332 miles
Winchester to Union NJ (Mid Atlantic) = 268 miles
Winchester to Marietta OH (Mideast) = 270 miles

[airball55]

Add a few more miles to the NY regional, it is in Auburn, not Cortland.  Regardless of that, looks like the southern boys want to come north to play.  Curious, when was the last time a team from that region got placed in NY?  We get our share of New England teams, but this would be different.

[basesjuiced4]

Just checked the box score from the Ithaca Fisher double header yesterday.  Ithaca appears to have gotten lucky in the first game as the Cardinals committed 3 errors and lost the first one.  The second game looked completely different though as the freshman phenom Justin DAmato continued his all american type year and picked up his 9th win.  Fisher at this point almost seems like a lock to get in and if they didn't it would be a crime because they are easily the second if not first best team in the region.  Their resume in E8 is real impressive as they took 3 out of 4 against everyone except for the sweep of RIT last weekend.  Hope the committee realizes how impressive some of their numbers/wins are and gives them a bid.  This could be an interesting regional this year as it appears Fisher and Cortland could duke it out to go to Wisconsin.

[WrongArm]

This could be an interesting regional this year as it appears Fisher and Cortland could duke it out to go to Wisconsin.

The NCAA Regional Rankings released on the 5th show Brockport at number 2 behind Cortland. Farmingdale State is next followed by St. John Fisher. Oneonta has fallen out of the top 6, but like the previous ranking, Brockport is still ahead of Fisher.

[airball55]

The regional rankings certainly will not finish this way.  I wonder, if it was Ithaca in Fisher's position, if they would be 4th??  Brockport certainly challenged themselves early, but, they did lose at home to Fisher and Fisher did not throw a weekend starter.  Farmingdale may have a nice club but that league is atrocious!!  They will probably win the regional now that I say this, but I still think Fisher will be fine barring a late season collapse.  They may have to play in the always popular ECAC tourney to add to their resume.

[John McGraw]

The regional rankings certainly will not finish this way.  I wonder, if it was Ithaca in Fisher's position, if they would be 4th??  Brockport certainly challenged themselves early, but, they did lose at home to Fisher and Fisher did not throw a weekend starter.  Farmingdale may have a nice club but that league is atrocious!!  They will probably win the regional now that I say this, but I still think Fisher will be fine barring a late season collapse.  They may have to play in the always popular ECAC tourney to add to their resume.

Farmingdale went to the World Series a few years ago.

[airball55]

Yes they did Mr. Mcgraw, they played that regional on their field if I am not mistaken.  Or a field extremely close to their home. 

[JohnnyU]

The regional rankings certainly will not finish this way.  I wonder, if it was Ithaca in Fisher's position, if they would be 4th??  Brockport certainly challenged themselves early, but, they did lose at home to Fisher and Fisher did not throw a weekend starter.  Farmingdale may have a nice club but that league is atrocious!!  They will probably win the regional now that I say this, but I still think Fisher will be fine barring a late season collapse.  They may have to play in the always popular ECAC tourney to add to their resume.

Farmingdale State (ranked 158 in SOS) has played a considerably more difficult schedule than St. John Fisher (ranked 316 out of 370 in SOS). Fisher has only played 7 in-region against teams with winning records: 4 against Ithaca, who has a 13-12 overall record, 2 against Widener, and one 6-inning game against Brockport. By comparison, some teams Fisher will be competing against in Pool B and C have 14 games against regionally ranked teams and 30 games against teams with winning in-region records

[WrongArm]

SOS is far from perfect. Since it doesn't know the difference between winning records in weak leagues and winning records in strong leagues, SOS should be tempered with some human common sense.

[airball55]

Well said Wrongarm.  I took a good look at Farmingdale.  It is true that comparing leagues is tough.  Their league has traditional powers Yashiva, Manhattanville, etc...  That league is awful.  They certainly challenged themselves though with some spring trip games though, having some success (4-7 against RIT (DH), Oneonta (loss) WNEC (loss), 1-3 against East Conn. and Southern Maine.  They had a nice win against Keene St. who is traditionally strong.  Still, they are 10-8 away from their league.  When SJFC plays Cortland and Penn. St. Behrend, their SOS will certainly go up, and, it may not hurt them if they lose.  Personally, I think you could argue for Oneonta over Farmingdale.  But an AQ is an AQ and they don't even come into the argument now.  Bottom line for Fisher, it is going to come down to Brockport.  They beat them heads up and will maybe see them again in the ECAC??  25-7 is 25-7 (3-1 against Ithaca, 7-0 against the Rochester schools who are all solid, RIT is a bit down but has a couple fo decent wins).  That usually has meant a bid in years past, but, that was Ithaca.  Also, we may have to throw RPI or Skidmore into the mix, both teams have good records (skidmore weaker SOS).  If Skidmore wins, RPI may be in line for an at large. 

[WrongArm]

The last few years Stevens played in the Skyline, their record in conference was 15-7, 13-5 and 13-5. Since joining the E8 they've never broken .500 in their conference record with 6-10, 5-7, 7-9 and 3-11. Obviously, teams change from year to year, but Skyline Stevens would certainly help your SOS. E8 Stevens, not so much.