BB: LL: Liberty League

BBFan62 · January 26, 2011, 06:11:15 PM

oops make that Clarkson & Skidmore.never claimed to be a typist!

baseballislife · January 26, 2011, 07:46:40 PM

I believe UR will be just fine. Still have several key position players returning and I think overall the pitching will be improved. Obviously losing Kowal hurts, but if the freshman and transfers pan out like I believe they will, they will be in the mix. UR hosting Clarkson, Skidmore, and RPI in the regular season this year tips the scales in their favor.

I think Skidmore lost more than you think. RPI lost quite a few key players as well. I believe that Clarkson will be strong will be strong. For what it is worth, here is mine:

1. UR
2. Clarkson
3. RPI
4. Skidmore
5. Vassar
6. St. Lawrence
7. Union

baseballislife · January 26, 2011, 07:48:21 PM

please excuse the repeated typos....

BBFan62 · January 26, 2011, 09:31:02 PM

Quote from: baseballislife on January 26, 2011, 07:46:40 PM
I believe UR will be just fine. Still have several key position players returning and I think overall the pitching will be improved. Obviously losing Kowal hurts, but if the freshman and transfers pan out like I believe they will, they will be in the mix. UR hosting Clarkson, Skidmore, and RPI in the regular season this year tips the scales in their favor.

I think Skidmore lost more than you think. RPI lost quite a few key players as well. I believe that Clarkson will be strong will be strong. For what it is worth, here is mine:

1. UR
2. Clarkson
3. RPI
4. Skidmore
5. Vassar
6. St. Lawrence
7. Union

From your fingers to God's ear...........

Yes, I think Clarkson will be very tough, as they have most of their talent returning. It should be a tough battle between UR and Clarkson. This year they meet early! RPI will be out for revenge because for the first time since around the days of Abe Lincoln, they missed the payoffs.
St. Lawrence should surprise a few people, as well as Vassar.
IF the freshman pitchers step up then UR will surprise a few people. They have the potential to have the strongest staff.

airball55 · January 26, 2011, 11:06:29 PM

Good ole U of R posts. I think, especially with past history that RPI would have to be considered a top 2 team for any pre-season. Clarkson and Skidmore will be fine. U of R, also has to be considered simply because they are a solid regular season team, the four game series seams to help them. The rest, well, we will see.

John McGraw · January 27, 2011, 11:56:55 AM

Quote from: airball55 on January 26, 2011, 11:06:29 PM
Good ole U of R posts. I think, especially with past history that RPI would have to be considered a top 2 team for any pre-season. Clarkson and Skidmore will be fine. U of R, also has to be considered simply because they are a solid regular season team, the four game series seams to help them. The rest, well, we will see.

Round up the usual suspects here. No shock of which teams are going to be in the top four. St. Lawrence is as always the dark horse and looks to be even more interesting with a brand new head coach in Pete Hoy.

BBFan62 · January 27, 2011, 12:19:58 PM

What better to do when Mother Nature is in one of her fickle moods and dousing us with more unwanted flakes (white kind, not posting kind!) than to speculate and stimulate typing-vation in lieu of picking up the phone for conversation.

The D3 boards will preview this region soon but I'll go ahead and look at last years 4 playoff teams, Skidmore, Clarkson, Rochester, and St. Lawrence.

Skidmore - lost 8 seniors. Key losses: Marcus, Stork, Ferri.

Need to replace; AB - 609 5 HR 74 RBI
P - 14-5, 164.1 IP

Clarkson - 4 SR lost
Key losses - MacGovney, Curry, Torbitt, Peplowski
Replace AB 425 6 HR 69 RBI

St. Lawrence\4 players
Replace - AB 293 4 HR 58 RBI
P - 1-7, 92.2 IP
Key losses Harris, Duff

Rochester
lost 13
4 seniors graduated, others cut/quit/left campus

Replace - 407 AB 5 HR 81 RBI

P - 14-7, 172.2 IP

Key losses: Cannon, Stein, Fuke , Kowal

So, the unknown factor, more for some than others, is the usual - Freshman or transfers. How will they do, etc. We'll begin to know in 37 days, which is UR's opening day in Florida.
Let's hope Ma nature is kind to us in late March, as UR has home weekends early this year!

reddragon00 · January 29, 2011, 09:37:59 PM

Glad to see everyone on the boards again! Always love the LL talk. Interesting to see the pre-season conference talk going but I also find it interesting to see where some of these teams are put. UR will have a tough time replacing 13 players from last year as well as Skidmore losing there whole infield. I also Read that Clarkson has a kid rated as the #2 D III prospect in the country by Baseball America. My Sleeper is Vassar. I hope they brought in some pitching because if they did they could make a push to make the postseason! Can't wait for the games to begin.

BBFan62 · January 31, 2011, 08:47:26 PM

Well, assuming our guys can open the door to trudge through the snow, practice begins at 6 am tomorrow!

I agree Vassar could be a sleeper, the way they attack the ball.

Ron Ron · February 10, 2011, 06:15:02 PM

Looking at some rosters, looks like Skidmore should have brought in some more pitchers, especially to help replace Marcus, Stork, and a few pitchers that left the program. Looks like 7 or 8 pitchers on the roster, seems low to play 4 games a weekend, plus one more during the week. Didn't need much depth last year with the 4 starters, but I think it will be hard for the starters to duplicate what they did last year. Could spell trouble.

baseballislife · February 20, 2011, 11:51:22 AM

Okay, so I saw grass this week, really - no joke. I thought it might be interesting to see when the LL teams open and see who they are playing in the games before the league schedule gets going. Strength of schedule down south can lead to some false indicators depending on who they play. I found it interesting that RPI plays no double headers before the league season gets going. They would also appear to have the most challenging pre-league docket. Records are their 2010 final records Here goes, in order of strength of schedule down south:

RPI (24-16) opens 3/5 vs. Western New England (34-12)
St. Joe's of Long Island (18-21)
Ripon (24-17)
Keystone (30-9)
Anderson (26-14)
Stevens IT (21-19)
UMass Dartmouth (20-19)
Wheaton (34-10)
Cortland (40-10)
William Paterson (16-21)
OPPONENTS 2010 WINNING % .634

Rochester (29-12) opens 3/6 vs. Husson (2) (23-21)
Wenthworth IT (2) (29-15)
Case Western (2) (24-18)
Brandeis (11-24)
Emory (2) (19-20)
Washington (17-15)
OPPONENTS 2010 WINNING % .538

Clarkson (19-18) opens 3/10 vs. Pitt - Greensburg (2) (17-21)
Mt. Union (2) (15-20)
Keene St. (27-17)
Cortland (40-10)
Albright (2) (9-27)
Salem St. (18-18)
Oswego St. (20-16)
OPPONENTS 2010 WINNING % .487

St. Lawrence (19-20) opens 3/12 vs. Westminster (14-27)
Bethel (2) (24-26)
Kenyon (11-17)
Knox (8-24)
Otterbein (19-20)
Nichols (11-24)
North Park (28-15)
OPPONENTS 2010 WINNING % .437

Union (12-30) opens 3/20 vs. Hamilton (10-23)
Hope (28-12)
D'Youville (2) (5-29)
Allegheny (25-15)
Trinity College (19-11)
OPPONENTS 2010 WINNING % .436

Skidmore (30-15) opens 3/6 vs, Stevens IT (2) (21-19)
Bethel (2) (24-26)
Nichols (11-24)
Kenyon (11-17)
Millikin (2) (11-29)
Minn. - Morris (2) (10-24)
OPPONENTS 2010 WINNING % .404

Vassar (10-27) opens 3/12 vs. Beloit (21-12)
Sewanee (7-28)
Fitchburg St. (15-19)
Gallaudet (4-34)
Brockport St. (23-18)
Franklin & Marshall (15-19)
Mount St. Mary (20-31)
OPPONENTS 2010 WINNING % .395

13 days till first Liberty League team plays.

BBFan62 · February 21, 2011, 08:06:15 PM

BB life...nice job! I hope UR is ready for the challenge. I'd rather have a tough SOS than fool ourselves with a winning record against a weak field.

Doggone..can the calender move any slower?

I can't wait for the games to begin..we have Skidmore and Clarkson early........hopefully the weather will cooperate!

baseballislife · February 22, 2011, 12:40:30 PM

I agree BBfan62, I would rather see a team face tough games down south with the end goal being getting ready for league games. Cortland has long employed that strategy and has the success to prove it works. Of course, it can backfire if you lose toomany games down there. Ithaca started 0-7 last year and was never able to fully recover from that.

I think UR will benefit from playing for a third straight UAA championship against some improving teams. Emory, 19-20 last year, is off to a 5-1 start and has won there region several times in the past. Case is also off to a 3-1 start following a season where they set a school record in wins. Certainly not going to be a cakewalk for UR, especially since they now have a target on their back having won the tournament the last two years.

Oh well, if you want to be the best, you have to play the best - and win. These 40 game seasons don't allow any time to duck people. Teams that don't challenge themselves usually wind up watching the play-offs from the sidelines.

djm222ball · March 06, 2011, 09:25:40 PM

I think Vassar, St. Lawrence and Union will all be improved this year. Vassar and Union need to improve pitching (high team era's in 10). Overall, I think the league has more parity

BBFan62 · March 06, 2011, 10:32:15 PM

I agree; I think Vassar, Union, and St. Lawrence will be tough. St. Lawrence made the playoffs and has the horses to do it again. Vassar and Union could score runs; if they get some pitching they could have a say in the playoffs.

Rochester opened the season by taking two from Husson University (Maine), 20-5 and 4-3.

BB: LL: Liberty League

Ron Ron