BB: LL: Liberty League

[Ron Ron]

Where in my post did I maline the accomplishments of Rochester this weekend?  Where did I attack any Rochester players? Where did I put RPI on a pedestal?  All I did was compliment Rochester on a good weekend and congratulate them, while trying to answer your complaints on why RPI gets more attention than Rochester.  It would be great if you could stop taking everything as a slight for a team you do not play for.

And I said they had the flu as a joke, but clearly you can't understand what the words "Just kidding" mean because you become furious at the moment you see anything negative about Rochester written.

Once again, congrats to Rochester on a great weekend.  You took 4 from RPI who is always competitive, but might be having a slight down year (results against Clarkson, WPI, and Castleton St. adding to this claim, not just because they lost to Rochester, so don't think I am taking anything away from UR).  However, there is still a long way to go and if you look at past seasons, excuse me if I'm not ready to hand UR the Liberty League Tournament Championship and an auto bid to Nationals.

[RochesterBaseball10]

A lot of work to do before Rochester is in the Regional tournament. Sweeping RPI in a four-game set on the road is definitely a step in the right direction.

Vassar takes one from Clarkson this afternoon... any word on what happened there?

[BoomerIL]

Where in my post did I maline the accomplishments of Rochester this weekend?  Where did I attack any Rochester players? Where did I put RPI on a pedestal?  All I did was compliment Rochester on a good weekend and congratulate them, while trying to answer your complaints on why RPI gets more attention than Rochester.  It would be great if you could stop taking everything as a slight for a team you do not play for.

And I said they had the flu as a joke, but clearly you can't understand what the words "Just kidding" mean because you become furious at the moment you see anything negative about Rochester written.

Once again, congrats to Rochester on a great weekend.  You took 4 from RPI who is always competitive, but might be having a slight down year (results against Clarkson, WPI, and Castleton St. adding to this claim, not just because they lost to Rochester, so don't think I am taking anything away from UR).  However, there is still a long way to go and if you look at past seasons, excuse me if I'm not ready to hand UR the Liberty League Tournament Championship and an auto bid to Nationals.

Thanks Ron Ron.....

I've been a little edgy lately.  I sometimes lose my sense of humor, because like you say, if you haven't proven yourself, you have nothing to say.  I try to be positive about the progress of the program, but all I hear about is "they have to prove themselves."  Very true, but it's nice to have a conversation about a teams players, talent, whatever, without defending the past failures of a team.  I try to be positive and look forward at what direction the team is going, not where they have bee.  Anyway, thanks again for your comments.

[AlleyCat]

I went to the games yeaterday and Rochester is legit. They can hit, field and although their pitching is by no means dominant, they keep batters off balance. I've seen RPI in the past and right now it looks like they coudln't hit water if they fell out of a boat in the middle of the ocean. Rochester really impressed me with their approach at the plate. RPI hitters look lost at the plate with no idea of what they're doing.  If RPI doesn't start hitting soon they wont even make the LL playoffs. 

Just my thoughts....

[John McGraw]

I went to the games yeaterday and Rochester is legit. They can hit, field and although their pitching is by no means dominant, they keep batters off balance. I've seen RPI in the past and right now it looks like they coudln't hit water if they fell out of a boat in the middle of the ocean. Rochester really impressed me with their approach at the plate. RPI hitters look lost at the plate with no idea of what they're doing.  If RPI doesn't start hitting soon they wont even make the LL playoffs.  

Just my thoughts....

RPI will be alright. Prior to this past weekend's games, they had played just one game in April, against Old Westbury. Given the constraints of the season, that is a lot of time to have off in between games. The Engineers might just have a little bit of rust on them. They still have doubleheaders with Union, Vassar and St. Lawrence - all very much winnable in terms of at least three out of four IMO. RPI started off in league play with two of its' toughest challengers, Rochester and Clarkson (don't play Skidmore until May) so while the record is shocking for them, I'm sure in the long run they will iron it out and at least get into the playoffs. Keep in mind, this is an RPI team that kicked the hell out of a very good Keystone team in Florida.

Take nothing away from Rochester's accomplishments this weekend but we still have a long way to go in the season, for everyone.

[airball55]

Well said John.  I had the chance to see Vassar this weekend.  They are much improved.  I come away surprised that they didn't get at least one from St. Lawrence.  If they can add a couple of arms they will not be the automatic 3 of 4 team the rest of the league is used to.  How is this for some controversy... I will take a shot at some region rankings based on play up until not.

1.  Cortland
2.  Rochester
3.  St. John Fisher
4.  Skidmore
5.  Plattsburgh
6.  New Paltz
Then, throw all these teams in...  Ithaca, RPI, Brockport, Oneonta, etc...  I don't know a lot about the other conferences like Keuka, SUNY IT but I can't consider any of those programs on the basis of strength of schedule alone.  Thoughts??

[RochesterBaseball10]

Rochester 18-4 ;Cortland 21-6

Both teams played Emory
-Rochester wins 9-6
-Cortland loses 7-18

Both teams played Brockport
-Rochester loses 2-6
-Cortland wins twice: 11-6 and 13-4

Too bad their March 24th game got rained out. Without that game it is tough to decide who is 1 in the region but with Cortlands history I can see where people would rank them first

Fisher beat Rochester but they are 15-8 overall so I also agree with Rochester being ranked ahead of them. The two play again at Fisher on the 28th which will be a huge game for regional points. Looks like Fisher also gets Cortland on the 29th! That's a huge stretch of games for the Cardinals.

My only greivance would be putting Fisher over Skidmore at 16-5. Skidmore is coming off a big win against New Paltz. I cant speak to any of Fishers loses down in PA, but dropping one to Brockport and two to RIT is enough for me to put them below a hot Skidmore team. I think the only thing keeping Fisher in talks of the 3 and even the 4 slot is that Rochester win.

Huge games for Skidmore and Rochester when the get together on the 24th and 25th for a 4-game set.


The New York region is heating up! Great time of year for some great baseball!

[URFlorida]

Good morning gents ... new to dashboard, please be patient and gentle with me ... while I get the hang of this, thank you. 

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State defeats visiting St. Lawrence 11-6 this afternoon.

Plattsburgh 11 runs 18 hits 3 errors

SLU 6 runs 5 hits 0 errors

The Cardinals jumped out to a 4-1 lead after 1 and added 1 in the 5th and 3 more in the 7th to make it 8-1. SLU scored 2 in the 8th but Plattsburgh put 3 on the board in the bottom half of the inning. Saints with 1 hit, 2 Plattsburgh errors and 3 walks scored 3 in the top of the 9th to make the final 11-6.

Plattsburgh improves to 21-4 and St. Lawrence drops to 11-10.

[Ron Ron]

Via Skidmore athletics website:

"Through April 11, baseball junior Trevor Brucato (Stamford, Conn.) was the national leader in hits allowed per nine innings with 3.6 and ranks fourth in the country with a 0.9 ERA. Teammates Derek Stork (Penn Yan, N.Y.) and Spencer Marcus (Scarsdale, N.Y.) also rank high statistically. Stork ranks 10th in hits allowed per nine with 5.4 and Marcus' six victories rank 14th among Division III pitchers."

Skidmore pitching vs. Rochester hitting enticing anyone else?

[baseballislife]

Ron Ron,

You can put me on the list of those looking forward to that matchup. UR put up 19 more runs yesterday and ran their record to 20-4.

UR has a couple freshman pitchers that people should be taking notice of as well.....Nate Kowal is 5-0 with a 1.38 ERA and Corey King has closed with great effectiveness, allowing 0 earned runs and only three hits in 10 innings of work.

Should be a great series.

[URFlorida]

On the Skidmore / Rochester match up ... pitching and defense wins "big games" ... with that said, I would give the "offensive" edge to Rochester.  It will be an interesting match up indeed.

[airball55]

I still think that no one does more with less then Coach Plourde at Skidmore.  They do have a slight edge right off of the bat being at home on that "field."  All grass, tricky hops, short porch in left.... just a weird place for college baseball.  Player for player obviously the edge goes to Rochester.  Skidmore hasn't played the level of teams that Rochester has, their best weekend was the 3 out of 4 against Clarkson and that is a good weekend for them.  Liberty league still up for grabs in the 3,4,and 5 spots.  With that said, they still have to go to St. Lawrence this weekend and that won't be easy.

Predictions:

Rochester 4-0 against Vassar, Vassar will keep one if not two close.
RPI 3-1 against Union, Union usually gets em once.
Skidmore and St. Lawrence split 2-2.

Thoughts??

[BaseB13]

Pretty sure the porch is just as short in right at Skidmore and its not particularly short or deep... average for a college field I'd say.  Rochester's left field power alley is the shortest by far.  It's just very deep down the line.  Is Clarkson's field still cut outs like Skidmore's?  I actually think it's not a bad idea to have the grass infield given the weather conditions in upstate NY.  Unless of course you can get a brand new playing surface like SLU did a few years ago.

[BoomerIL]

Looks like weather is going to be a big factor in New York this weekend.  Could put pressure on some teams.  JMHO