BB: E8: Empire 8

[Ralph Turner]

Marietta came back and won the regional in the Mideast.  Too bad we will never see what would have happened if Fisher stayed in NY where they would have had a heck of a chance to come out of.  Good season though for the Cards and the Bombers as the little empire 8 had two teams make the post season.

I thought that SJFC's going to Marietta was great.  It gave the E8 a good chance at two trips to Wisconsin.

I picked both Cortland State and Marietta to win their regionals, so I saw no difference in the 2 regions as obstacles on the road to Wisconsin.

[pudge27]

Marietta came back and won the regional in the Mideast.  Too bad we will never see what would have happened if Fisher stayed in NY where they would have had a heck of a chance to come out of.  Good season though for the Cards and the Bombers as the little empire 8 had two teams make the post season.

I thought that SJFC's going to Marietta was great.  It gave the E8 a good chance at two trips to Wisconsin.

I picked both Cortland State and Marietta to win their regionals, so I saw no difference in the 2 regions as obstacles on the road to Wisconsin.

I'm really happy that Fisher got in and represented themselves well.  I also think that it's also fair to say that after dropping 2 to Stevens late in the season, they should have been thrilled if they got shipped out west and had to play the Texas Rangers.  Staying in the NY region wouldn't have added any pitching depth, which is what all the teams in the Series have. 

The draw is the draw is the draw.  Few years back, CSt was riding a 38 game winning streak into the series and as a "thanks for coming", they get Trinity (of the 41 and 0 Trinity) in the first round, losing in the 9th if I remember correctly.  It is what it is and you've got to beat who's in front of you.

[rob]

Marietta came back and won the regional in the Mideast.  Too bad we will never see what would have happened if Fisher stayed in NY where they would have had a heck of a chance to come out of.  Good season though for the Cards and the Bombers as the little empire 8 had two teams make the post season.

I thought that SJFC's going to Marietta was great.  It gave the E8 a good chance at two trips to Wisconsin.

I picked both Cortland State and Marietta to win their regionals, so I saw no difference in the 2 regions as obstacles on the road to Wisconsin.

I'm really happy that Fisher got in and represented themselves well.  I also think that it's also fair to say that after dropping 2 to Stevens late in the season, they should have been thrilled if they got shipped out west and had to play the Texas Rangers.  Staying in the NY region wouldn't have added any pitching depth, which is what all the teams in the Series have. 

The draw is the draw is the draw.  Few years back, CSt was riding a 38 game winning streak into the series and as a "thanks for coming", they get Trinity (of the 41 and 0 Trinity) in the first round, losing in the 9th if I remember correctly.  It is what it is and you've got to beat who's in front of you.

Very well said!

[airball55]

Not many Skidmores and Castleton's in the the ole' mideast.  The NY region is commonly thought of as being the weakest, and we always hope that the NY teams come out of it, not like the Trinity's of a couple years back.  All I am saying is that Fisher did beat Cortland in the season and.... it is all speculative.  As for picking Cortland and Marietta, I think 29 out of 30 people would have picked that... I thought maybe Ithaca had an outside shot to do some damage.

[sjfcards]

Not many Skidmores and Castleton's in the the ole' mideast.  The NY region is commonly thought of as being the weakest, and we always hope that the NY teams come out of it, not like the Trinity's of a couple years back.  All I am saying is that Fisher did beat Cortland in the season and.... it is all speculative.  As for picking Cortland and Marietta, I think 29 out of 30 people would have picked that... I thought maybe Ithaca had an outside shot to do some damage.

Agreed about the strength of teams in the Mideast regional, and also think Fisher could have had more luck in a 6 team regional (Manchester would not have been there anyway), but also think that the decision to send them to Ohio was the correct one. Ithaca deserved the NY region bid for winning the league, and Cortland is Cortland. Farmingdale was the host, so there wasn't much else to do with Fisher. Could Skidmore or Castleton have been sent out west? I guess but I don't think it was wrong to send Fisher out there.

Fisher showed well and impressed a few people. They are still building the program, and that experience will make them better.

[Ralph Turner]

Not many Skidmores and Castleton's in the the ole' mideast.  The NY region is commonly thought of as being the weakest, and we always hope that the NY teams come out of it, not like the Trinity's of a couple years back.  All I am saying is that Fisher did beat Cortland in the season and.... it is all speculative.  As for picking Cortland and Marietta, I think 29 out of 30 people would have picked that... I thought maybe Ithaca had an outside shot to do some damage.

Agreed about the strength of teams in the Mideast regional, and also think Fisher could have had more luck in a 6 team regional (Manchester would not have been there anyway), but also think that the decision to send them to Ohio was the correct one. Ithaca deserved the NY region bid for winning the league, and Cortland is Cortland. Farmingdale was the host, so there wasn't much else to do with Fisher. Could Skidmore or Castleton have been sent out west? I guess but I don't think it was wrong to send Fisher out there.
Fisher showed well and impressed a few people. They are still building the program, and that experience will make them better.

I think that that travel arrangements dictated that they fill Central first. Any leftovers west of Memphis were divided between the Midwest and West Regionals.

Now that you have three regionals (including 2 of the 6-team regionals), your next travel areas include getting teams from Maine into the New England Regional and filling the South Regional which you can fill as a 6-team bracket.

When those are filled, then filling the rest of the sites with teams inside 500 miles and getting brackets that look like a 1 thru 8 seed or a 1 thru 6 seed were the next challenges.

Ithaca went in as a B. SJFC was left on the table until they came up for a Pool C bid.

I really like splitting conferences into different regionals, if you can.

[sjfcards]

Not many Skidmores and Castleton's in the the ole' mideast.  The NY region is commonly thought of as being the weakest, and we always hope that the NY teams come out of it, not like the Trinity's of a couple years back.  All I am saying is that Fisher did beat Cortland in the season and.... it is all speculative.  As for picking Cortland and Marietta, I think 29 out of 30 people would have picked that... I thought maybe Ithaca had an outside shot to do some damage.

Agreed about the strength of teams in the Mideast regional, and also think Fisher could have had more luck in a 6 team regional (Manchester would not have been there anyway), but also think that the decision to send them to Ohio was the correct one. Ithaca deserved the NY region bid for winning the league, and Cortland is Cortland. Farmingdale was the host, so there wasn't much else to do with Fisher. Could Skidmore or Castleton have been sent out west? I guess but I don't think it was wrong to send Fisher out there.
Fisher showed well and impressed a few people. They are still building the program, and that experience will make them better.

I think that that travel arrangements dictated that they fill Central first. Any leftovers west of Memphis were divided between the Midwest and West Regionals.

Now that you have three regionals (including 2 of the 6-team regionals), your next travel areas include getting teams from Maine into the New England Regional and filling the South Regional which you can fill as a 6-team bracket.

When those are filled, then filling the rest of the sites with teams inside 500 miles and getting brackets that look like a 1 thru 8 seed or a 1 thru 6 seed were the next challenges.

Ithaca went in as a B. SJFC was left on the table until they came up for a Pool C bid.

I really like splitting conferences into different regionals, if you can.

I could not agree with this more. The last thing I wanted to see was Fisher/Ithaca 7 in a regional.

[sjfcards]

Congrats to Steve Karnyski and Justin D'Amato, who were both selected as. All-Americans. Karnyski is first team, D'Amato is third team.

[airball55]

Good to see Marietta win the national title for no other reason then the ole Cards beat them in their regional.  NY did okay this year.

[John McGraw]

It appears that the Empire 8 will be growing in baseball in a few years. Elmira College has posted an opening for a head baseball coach on the NCAA jobs web site. According to the post, the program will play its first season in 2014-15.

This will bring the conference's number of baseball teams up to six. The Empire 8, at least in terms of baseball, will consist of Elmira, Houghton, Ithaca, St. John Fisher, Stevens and Utica.

I believe it's seven teams that are needed for an automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament. The league could add an affiliate member in an attempt to gain at AQ or possibly we could see the return of maybe Hartwick to the Div. III level? The only other two E8 schools without baseball are Alfred and Nazareth.

[Ralph Turner]

That is exciting.  I cannot think who might be a good candidate for affiliation with the E8 to give the 7th.  There are no independents up there.

[Ralph Turner]

Access to the AQ might change the dynamic for Hartwick in the conference to add baseball!

[sjfcards]

Any word on recruiting classes in the E8. Obviously I am most interested in what Fisher is bringing in. Last year they ran out of pitching in the NCAA, so I am hoping a few pitchers are mixed in.

[sjfcards]

Access to the AQ might change the dynamic for Hartwick in the conference to add baseball!

Hartwick used to have baseball. Not sure why they ended the program but they would be the top choice to be that last member to me.

[airball55]

Fisher will be just fine on the mound.  They certainly drew the short end of the stick with scheduling again, going to Stevens and Ithaca the same season (I believe they went to Ithaca twice in 2011, and split last year, now back again).  Not quite sure how that plays out, maybe weather, but advantage Ithaca on that.  D'amato is about as automatic as it gets, and, with the players they have been bringing in the past couple of years, I think one could be confident more arms are there.