BB: E8: Empire 8

[CrashDavisD3]

A list of all 2010 Pool B teams are in this publication.

http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/champ_handbooks/baseball/2010/10_3_baseball.pdf

[airball55]

Fisher and Ithaca split.  Good split on the road for the Bombers.  Fishback gives a nice outing in game two to get a road win.  Should be a good DH tomorrow.  Fisher has caught up to Ithaca on the talent side, both teams played good ball.

[sjfcards]

Does anyone know when the IC/SJFC DH will be made up? I thought the rain might keep the games from being played today. I was happy to see Fisher was able to pull a win out yesterday against an always tough IC team.

It would be a big deal for the Fisher program if they were able to finally beat IC and win the league. I know RIT is still out there, but you get what I am saying.

[sjfcards]

Another good win for Fisher today, beating a good U of R team, for the second time this year, 10-2. Fisher is now 22-10, and has been impressive under their new coach. Hopefully he can recruit as well as he can coach.   

[John McGraw]

Another good win for Fisher today, beating a good U of R team, for the second time this year, 10-2. Fisher is now 22-10, and has been impressive under their new coach. Hopefully he can recruit as well as he can coach.   

He's worked at a few other schools before and has coached I believe six or seven drafted kids. I think he'll do alright at Fisher.

[AlleyCat]

St John Fisher now holds a possible Pool B berth for the Empire 8. Ithaca should be out of the discussion.

[John McGraw]

St John Fisher now holds a possible Pool B berth for the Empire 8. Ithaca should be out of the discussion.

11-4 in region still gets them in the discussion. Like it or not, that is how the system works. While St. John Fisher is certainly the favorite now, Ithaca still has a chance given its' regional record.

I'm sorry you hate Ithaca so much (and have consistently made snide comments about the school and baseball program over the last few years) but it's not over yet.

[WrongArm]

Ithaca's "backloaded" schedule doesn't help them much right now in any discussion. 8 of their 11 wins came from sets of 3 wins against Stevens and Utica and single wins over Cazenovia and New Paltz. (Sporting the "mysterious" SOS of 236, worst in the E8) To borrow John's phrase from an earlier post, I mean no disrespect to any of those teams, but that's not exactly a murderers row of opponents.

With upcoming games against Brockport, Cortland, Clarkson, St. John Fisher (2 games) and RIT(4 games) over a 10 day period, they'll have a chance to make a statement after their disappointing but brutal spring trip. I'm not counting them out yet either, but that's a lot to accomplish in not very much time.

[John McGraw]

Beating St. Lawrence yesterday was a good start. Hopefully the momentum will carry over to today's game with O-State at Freeman Field. I may stop by the Bank next week to check out the Clarkson game.

[sjfcards]

I am new to the d3 baseball talk but if IC wins the next two against fisher does that put them in a much better position for a pool b, since they would have won the league?

[RSSmith]

I am new to the d3 baseball talk but if IC wins the next two against fisher does that put them in a much better position for a pool b, since they would have won the league?

It puts them in a better position, not because they won the league, but because they have two more in-region wins.

[John McGraw]

Right. The winner of the league isn't guaranteed anything because the Empire 8 is not an automatic bid league. In the past, Ithaca made it to the NCAA tournament but as an at-large in the Pool B field and not because they were league champion.

That said, the Empire 8 champion has never missed the NCAA tournament.

[WrongArm]

I am new to the d3 baseball talk but if IC wins the next two against fisher does that put them in a much better position for a pool b, since they would have won the league?

If I'm reading the schedule correctly, two wins against Fisher won't assure Ithaca a league championship. They will still have 4 games against RIT --  and Fisher, weather permitting, will have finished their E8 schedule with 4 games at Utica. Still six E8 games for each to play.

[airball55]

Fisher drops a tight one at Cortland 7-6.  Appears that Fisher bullpens the game somewhat, gets beat on a ground rule double that hops over the fence and is called a homerun.  Pretty much par for the course for some of the men in blue who work college ball.  Good game though, Cortland may have won anyway, this was the go ahead run to take it to 7-6.  Fisher hosed a bit in region rankings, sweep Rochester and listed below them??  Interesting.

[sjfcards]

I was at the Fisher Cortland game on Thursday. It was a good game to watch. From where I was sitting I could not see if the "homerun" was actually over the fence, or if it bounced over. The Fisher players seemed to think it was a ground rule double, but I don't think anyone really knew for sure. The outfielders didn't react too much to the call, so I guess I will assume it was over the fence.

Fisher had some chances, but a few plays killed them. First, the home run talked about above came in an inning where Fisher got the first two outs pretty easily, before giving up a base hit and a home run. The home run Cortland hit that it looked like the Fisher left fielder had, and it may have come out of his glove when he hit the fence. It was not an easy play, or even one you would think a player could make, but if the ball stays in his glove that is a game changer for sure. Especially since Fisher was up one at the time. The biggest play in my mind was the error in the 7th. The lead off hitter for Cortland hits a high pop in the trianle between first second and the pitcher. For some reason, none of those three went after the ball, and the shortstop came all the way across the infield to try and make the catch, before booting it. I know if the shortstop calls the ball it is his, and you don't want your pitcher to be running off the mound, but that ball has to be caught. The end result was a runner on second with no outs. Turned out to be the 7th run for Cortland. That one hurt.

All in all I was impressed with Fisher. Hopefully they can play well this weekend and take at least 3 from Utica.