BB: LL: Liberty League

[LLbaseball]

Interesting day yesterday..... I didn't think UR would drop the first two of the series.  They definitely need to bounce back today.  Injuries are killing them right now. 

Vassar taking two from Skidmore?  Wow.  I guess the Brewers can play a little.  6 league games so far, all 1 run games, 3 in extra innings?  Crazy.  But great for the league.

St. Lawrence should sweep today.  And now for day 2......

[baseballislife]

I guess they (UR) will just have to keep lacin' 'em up and working through their issues.  Some bright spots again today, but they have had trouble getting the big hit when they need it.  Another 1 run loss, but tough to compete when you go in the hole 5-0 and have to play catch up all the time.  Not time to panic. 

Nice bounce back day for Vassar after dropping 4 of 5. 

I think we will see a lot of back and forth this year.  Clarkson is off to a good start in the league, but with 4 of the 5 wins by one run.

Goes for any team at any level, good teams win the close games ( Clarkson winning 4 of 5 one run games).

You are absolutely right, DefenseWins.  I was just trying to illustrate the competitiveness of the games.  Clarkson has earned their wins as much as Vassar and UR did not earn them.

[airball55]

Yes, one run wins are nice, especially on the road.  Clarkson certainly has to be happy o off to a 5-1 start away from their campus.  Vassar as everyone has been speaking about is certainly better and if they can get another one today jumps back into the conference race, but, they have played both of their series at home.  Who is injured for U of R?  Everyone goes through injuries, lets hope they get back whoever they are missing soon. 

[Ron Ron]

mentioned my concerns with Skidmore's lack of depth on the pitching staff.  Lot of walks, lot of unproven arms, lot of question marks behind Laracuente.  They better figure things out soon, or it could be a long season.  They certainly had to replace a lot more than I think some people realize.

[baseballislife]

Yes, one run wins are nice, especially on the road.  Clarkson certainly has to be happy o off to a 5-1 start away from their campus.  Vassar as everyone has been speaking about is certainly better and if they can get another one today jumps back into the conference race, but, they have played both of their series at home.  Who is injured for U of R?  Everyone goes through injuries, lets hope they get back whoever they are missing soon. 

UR has lost:
starting 2nd baseman Bezek, starting C Storme, freshman C Pollakov, P Povero all with season ending injuries.  P Sheffler is recovering from shoulder surgery and has not pitched yet.  A couple other pitchers dealing with issues that are limiting their innings. They lost Menke for three games with a mild knee injury, although he returned this weekend.  Couple those with the losses of Stein, Cannon, and Fuke along with a couple of cuts that were made and you have a lot of new faces on a smallish roster.

No excuses, though.  They have to play better.  They know it.  The bats came alive with 15 hits in the finale vs. Clarkson and they are @ St. Lawrence next weekend.  Every series will be critical for most of the LL teams this year.

[djm222ball]

Union and St. Lawrence split again today! St. Lawrence held on for a wild 12-10 win in game 2 today.....Union swinging the bats!!

[baseballislife]

Standings after two weekends:

Clarkson    6-2
RPI            3-1
Vassar       4-4
Union         2-2
SLU            3-5
UR             2-4
Skidmore   2-4

Next week:
RPI @ Vassar    UR @ SLU      Union @ Clarkson     Skidmore has the LL bye next week.

[Ron Ron]

The Skidmore coaching staff loves to switch lineups, batting orders, pitching rotations, and basically everything they can try to put their own fingerprints on (which usually wind up hurting players' confidences/rhythms), but I'm not quite sure why they would move the 1-2 starters (Laracuente/Brucato) to day two against Vassar.  Who knows if they had gone day 1 if anything would have changed, but I just think it's a weird ploy.

[DefenseWins]

The Skidmore coaching staff loves to switch lineups, batting orders, pitching rotations, and basically everything they can try to put their own fingerprints on (which usually wind up hurting players' confidences/rhythms), but I'm not quite sure why they would move the 1-2 starters (Laracuente/Brucato) to day two against Vassar.  Who knows if they had gone day 1 if anything would have changed, but I just think it's a weird ploy.

Maybe they pitched last Sunday against UR in their 2 game set? Did they play on last Sunday??? Maybe Skidmore is realizing that by matching up Brucato and Laracuente with every elses 3-4 (pending other teams actually throw their #3 and #4 in game 3 and 4) they have a good chance of at least getting 2 each weekend. Only time that hurts them is when what happened this weekend at Vassar happens. Wasn't expecting a 3 of 4 from Vassar I though Skidmore would salvage a split.

Clarkson who was my pre season pick is proving why, I just think they are the most well rounded team in the league. Watch out for RPI though they are playing very well this year.

Union & Vassar are in the playoffs if the league ended today!!!!! How often could we say that over the past several years!!!! But the season is still young and Union and Vassar will have to play the Clarkson's , RPI's , and UR's to keep their Cinderella hopes alive.

[baseballislife]

Yup....Clarkson was my pick to host the tourney, too.  I'm sticking with it.  Long way to go and weather cancellations could play a definite role this year.

[reddragon00]

Had a chance to watch the UR-Clarkson games yesterday.  Game 1 was close as Clarkson Pitcher was doing well.  They seem to have pretty good starting arms which could prove big.  Bullpen is a little shaky.  UR starter wasn't bad just made some bad pitches which cost them.  Game 2,UR woke up and swung it.  Saw Coach Reena (??) after and this guys still thinks his team has plenty more to show.  Said the injuries piled up fast but giving playing time to the young kids.  I could see that looking around the diamond as with infield is filed with 1st year playing time guys.  I asked if it was re-building year and he quickly shot back that it was not...not with potential of pitching staff.  Hold faith UR posters, Coaching staff thinks, when healthy, this team can play with anyone.  Clarkson looks good!  The Kinney kid wore our UR pitchers out over the weekend.  They need to sew up the defense, but they could be hosting the tourney.  Hopefully no snow during the tournament!!!  Liked what I saw from them!  As always...Go Red Dragons!

[baseballislife]

Thanks for the objective opinion, reddragon00.  Sort of confirms what I saw, but sometimes you can be too close to the situation.  Kinney and Coleman a good 1-2 punch, plus Kinney came in and shut down a bases loaded, 1 out threat in Clarkson's 8-7 win in game 2.  He pretty much prevented the series split.

I will say several of the younger guys had solid weekends and are getting more comfortable.

[airball55]

Good stuff on here today.  Rochester has the benefit of scheduling ahead of them with RPI the only real big dog left.  They should be able to make up ground against Vassar, Union and St. Lawrence.  Clarkson is still going to get better, they haven't really pitched that well yet, but, they have solid end of game guy now with Kinney and the line-up has nice depth.  I will take one for the team here and pick the weekend.

U of R @ SLU:  Tough one here, both teams could use a 3-1.  I will go with U of R with 3 here against my first thoughts
RPI vs. Vassar-  I am going with an RPI sweep here.  I just don't think Vassar can get them out.  If they are going to get one, better do it day one or hold the best arms back.  4-0 RPI
Union @ Clarkson- I want to take the Knights here for 4.  But, that last game seems to be a bit of an issue with that last starter.....  I will go with 3-1 and that hurts me some, I have to admit, kind of a Clarkson fan.  I root a bit for the upstate teams considering they usually can't get out until much later up there.


Skidmore has St. Joe's and I will go with a split there. 

[DefenseWins]

Good stuff on here today.  Rochester has the benefit of scheduling ahead of them with RPI the only real big dog left.  They should be able to make up ground against Vassar, Union and St. Lawrence.  Clarkson is still going to get better, they haven't really pitched that well yet, but, they have solid end of game guy now with Kinney and the line-up has nice depth.  I will take one for the team here and pick the weekend.

U of R @ SLU:  Tough one here, both teams could use a 3-1.  I will go with U of R with 3 here against my first thoughts
RPI vs. Vassar-  I am going with an RPI sweep here.  I just don't think Vassar can get them out.  If they are going to get one, better do it day one or hold the best arms back.  4-0 RPI
Union @ Clarkson- I want to take the Knights here for 4.  But, that last game seems to be a bit of an issue with that last starter.....  I will go with 3-1 and that hurts me some, I have to admit, kind of a Clarkson fan.  I root a bit for the upstate teams considering they usually can't get out until much later up there.


Skidmore has St. Joe's and I will go with a split there. 

I just don't think that Vassar & Union are the pushovers they used to be. Especially Vassar. That being said U R does need to take some 3 of 4's from these teams to be in the top of the league.

Ur @ STL--- I like UR to sweep( I think STL is down, UR will play with a sense or urgency and handle the Cardinals)
RPI @ Vassar---- I like RPI 3-4 ( Maybe a game two win for Vassar, Look for Ciesko to get pitcher of the week this week)
Union @ Clarkson--- Clarkson 3-4  ( Wouldn't be shocked with a 2-2, Union has two freshmen that can throw it that they used in both 7 inning games this past weekend)

Skidmore off

[airball55]

St. Lawrence are the Saints.  Careful, there are some Plattsburgh bashers on the Sunyac side and we don't want them creeping over here.  St. Lawrence isn't an easy series with Cook, Considine and Conde.  Careful when you play them