BB: General NY Region Talk

[DucksBB]

Bombsquad, you say SJF has the best pitching you've seen and I don't disagree, but will they have enough to get by Brockport and Cortland and yet still have enough in the tank for the E8 tournament?  I would think they would need to go for the Brock and Cort wins over the E8 tournament.  But all are important.  As for Stevens, we've hurt ourselves losing game 2 to Ithaca (lost a 3 run lead in 9th) and yesterday's loss to Rutgers Camden.  The next 5 days will be interesting......

[Bombsquad]

Hard to say.  Brockport I believe is done after today so who knows how they will play.  In Cortland's case they are already in, nothing to gain or lose, it would be interesting to see what they do from a pitching standpoint.  Stevens wins the tourney, that gets them 30 wins, have to be considered.  After watching Ithaca and SJFC that last couple of years get passed by, the lack of bids always an issue, I don't know about any at large chances...including Oswego.  But, both Fisher and Stevens have stepped up their SOS and should get some recognition for that.

[John McGraw]

Hard to say.  Brockport I believe is done after today so who knows how they will play.  In Cortland's case they are already in, nothing to gain or lose, it would be interesting to see what they do from a pitching standpoint.  Stevens wins the tourney, that gets them 30 wins, have to be considered.  After watching Ithaca and SJFC that last couple of years get passed by, the lack of bids always an issue, I don't know about any at large chances...including Oswego.  But, both Fisher and Stevens have stepped up their SOS and should get some recognition for that.

Fisher already ahead of Brockport, 5-2, in the early going.

[Bombsquad]

Well, Fisher beats Brockport 18-4.  Moves them to 22-17.  So I am checking the E8 website for tournament information and they have the seeds listed.  How is Ithaca number 1?  I checked the league standings and unless I am reading it wrong, Stevens had the best record with only 4 losses and Fisher and Ithaca had 5 with a Fisher sweep of Ithaca.  Stevens draws Houghton who has a really good pitcher.  Strange but I am sure I am missing something.  Was Utica also predetermined for a site?  If Ithaca is number one, why wouldn't they host? 

[jdex]

Bombsquad, following from Fisher website. As far as site, assume was predetermined:

The seeding for the tournament is now set. It is based on conference record and, if tied head-to-head amongst tied teams, head-to-head result. Since Canton joined as an affiliate in January 2015, they were not able to play all teams, so the conference office used their result vs Utica to get a sense of where they may be seeded and then looked at common opponents of teams in that seeding range. NOTE: Some teams opted to play one another four times. The fourth game did not count towards evaluation as the conference schedule was three games and those who opted to play four would have an inequitable evaluation compared to their peers.

Seedings
1. Ithaca (11-4)
2. Stevens (11-4)
3. St. John Fisher (10-5)
4. Utica (7-8, 2-0 v Canton)
5. Houghton (4-11)
6. Elmira (2-13)
6. Canton (0-2)

[Bombsquad]

Interesting.. but that clears it up.  Thanks Jdex.

[sjfcards]

Hard to say.  Brockport I believe is done after today so who knows how they will play.  In Cortland's case they are already in, nothing to gain or lose, it would be interesting to see what they do from a pitching standpoint.  Stevens wins the tourney, that gets them 30 wins, have to be considered.  After watching Ithaca and SJFC that last couple of years get passed by, the lack of bids always an issue, I don't know about any at large chances...including Oswego.  But, both Fisher and Stevens have stepped up their SOS and should get some recognition for that.

Can someone help me out and give an honest assessment of Fisher's chances of making a regional? I don't follow baseball as closely as basketball or football and to be honest I wrote this team off early on. However, with this past week (wins over RIT, Brockport, and Cortland) I am assuming they will move up in the regional rankings, and I saw one post that said they may get in. It just seems crazy to me with the number of losses compared to previous years.

[Bombsquad]

I think why they are in the discussion is because of their overall schedule strength.  Kind of like the Baldwin Wallace situation last season.  The schedule they played certainly is among the best in the country and the region.  It gets confusing to me as well.  I coached a kid that played there and they are under the belief that they have a top 10-20 schedule strength, the D3 SOS is not the same...I have no idea what the formula is.  Obviously after last season and a few other 30 win seasons that didn't get that program in, they took the schedule up.  They also popped into the last region ranking with just an 18-16 record.  If they run the table it puts them at 26-17 and in the discussion one would think.  They are 17-3 in the last 20 games, another important stat.  Question is would New York get two at large teams with Oswego looking at a bid as well.  I would think not, but, who knows what the actual committee comes up with. 

[sjfcards]

I think why they are in the discussion is because of their overall schedule strength.  Kind of like the Baldwin Wallace situation last season.  The schedule they played certainly is among the best in the country and the region.  It gets confusing to me as well.  I coached a kid that played there and they are under the belief that they have a top 10-20 schedule strength, the D3 SOS is not the same...I have no idea what the formula is.  Obviously after last season and a few other 30 win seasons that didn't get that program in, they took the schedule up.  They also popped into the last region ranking with just an 18-16 record.  If they run the table it puts them at 26-17 and in the discussion one would think.  They are 17-3 in the last 20 games, another important stat.  Question is would New York get two at large teams with Oswego looking at a bid as well.  I would think not, but, who knows what the actual committee comes up with.

This is what confuses me about the process. In the past couple seasons there have been a few where I thought Fisher was a lock, and they were shut out (last year). I get there are a lot of variables like other SOS, opponents record, etc. but this team in a down year for the E8?

I am glad they have a shot, don't get me wrong. If nothing else it will make this weekends tournament much more interesting for me.

[Bombsquad]

I am certainly no expert on this situation!!  It is certainly possible that no Empire 8 team gets in.  I thought Stevens was pretty good for a bit but not sure....

[jdex]

Latest NCAA regional ranking:

New York   
1 SUNY Cortland 36-3-0 
2 Oswego St. 27-11-0 
3 Clarkson 23-7-0 
4 Stevens 27-12-0
5 St. John Fisher 20-17-0
6 Old Westbury 25-9-0 

The easy answer as to Empire 8 quandary over selection process .......they don't yet have an automatic invite to the champion. And other  slots to non-automatic picks are limited on a national scale

Empire 8 tourney: Fisher 6, Utica 1 with five-run eighth inning; Stevens 4, Houghton 2; Ithaca 19, Canton 9.  Fisher vs. Stevens Friday afternoon

Liberty League tourney: Clarkson 17, Rochester 1; RIT 10, RPI 8

[Bombsquad]

Nothing for nothing, with all of this at large talk, Clarkson has quietly had a great season.  They haven't played as many games as some of the other teams but 24-7 is 24-7.  And they just absolutely hammered Rochester today.  The Liberty is traditionally a one bid league but Clarkson would at worst end up 24-9 and most of that in the region.  Nice season for that team.  Stevens and Fisher tomorrow...if either team has designs on an at large they must win that one.

[John McGraw]

Already underway at just about 11:00 AM....

RPI 5 Rochester 1 - 5th, Liberty League Elimination Game
Utica 1 Ithaca 0 - 3rd, Empire 8 Round Robin (Murnane Field)
Canton 3 Houghton 0 - 4th, Empire 8 Round Robin (Utica College)

Later today...
Clarkson vs RIT - Liberty League Winners Bracket Final
Stevens vs St John Fisher - Empire 8 Round Robin
SUNY Poly opens the NEAC tournament at home versus Penn College*
*If SUNY Poly wins the NEAC, the Wildcats will likely be placed in the Auburn regional.

12:00 PM Edit
FINAL - RPI 11 Rochester 7 - Liberty League Elimination Game, UR eliminated
*RPI will play the loser of RIT/Clarkson today around 4:30 PM in Troy.
Utica 4 Ithaca 3 - Top 8, Empire 8 Round Robin
Canton 6 Houghton 0 - Top 9, Empire 8 Round Robin

1:15 PM Edit
FINAL - Ithaca 9 Utica 4 (10) - Empire 8 Round Robin
FINAL - Canton 6 Houghton 0 - Empire 8 Round Robin

In the Empire 8 tournament
*Ithaca (2-0) advances to Saturday's 10:00 AM championship game to meet the winner of St. John Fisher (1-0)/Stevens (1-0)
*Canton (1-1) advances to Saturday's 1:00 PM third-place game to meet the loser of St. John Fisher/Stevens
*Utica (0-2) and Houghton (0-2) play the fifth place game this afternoon.

The championship game is just that, one game. Both title game and third place game will be played at Utica College's baseball field.

[John McGraw]

Afternoon games underway.

RIT 4 Clarkson 1 - Top 8, Liberty League Winners' Bracket Final
Stevens 3 St. John Fisher 1, Top 3, Empire 8 Round Robin
Utica 3 Houghton 2, Top 3, Empire 8 Round Robin

FINAL - Penn College 3 SUNY Poly 2, NEAC 1st Round.
*SUNY Poly is the only NY region team in the NEAC tournament of the four.

One more game left for later. Either RIT or Clarkson will have to turn around quickly and meet RPI in the losers' bracket final in the Liberty tournament.

3:53 PM update

FINAL - RIT 9 Clarkson 5 - Liberty League
RIT advances to the Liberty League championship round against the winner of Clarkson vs. RPI elimination game. 'Tute vs. Tech begins around 4:30 PM.

Top 6 - Stevens 6 St. John Fisher 4, Empire 8 Round Robin*
*St. John Fisher is the home team.

Top 6 - Houghton 8 Utica 3, Empire 8 Round Robin

[John McGraw]

Today's title games..

Liberty League
R.I.T. vs. R.P.I. - 11:00 AM
*Engineers must win twice to earn the automatic bid

Empire 8
Championship Game - Ithaca vs. Stevens - 10:00 AM
Third Place Game - St John Fisher vs. SUNY Canton

Stevens beat St. John Fisher, 9-8, in 10 innings on Friday night to advance to the E8 title game. Stevens 4-0 this season against St. John Fisher. The Ithaca-Stevens winner does not earn an automatic bid.