BB: General NY Region Talk

[AlleyCat]

Thanks John.

Have they had any real good wins lately? Early wins are good but they might be better prepared early in the season in Arizona. I know they have been good in the past, but does that translate to this years team?

They have some games coming up that could help their cause if they win.

[John McGraw]

Here's the regional rankings from this past Thursday.

1. Cortland State
2. RPI
3. Ithaca
4. Fredonia
5. Old Westbury
6. Rochester

There were no new teams added though several spots changed hands. Cortland took over the top spot from RPI who dropped down to second in the region. Fredonia and Old Westbury also swapped spots with Fredonia inching up to fourth and Westbury falling to fifth.

This week will be interesting to see if Rochester jumps over Fredonia because of the Blue Devils' 0-fer performance in their conference tournament. If Rochester does not jump them or Old Westbury (also knocked off in their tournament), then I'd say we'll just be seeing four teams from NY in the regional playoffs unless RPI is upset.

Farmingdale State or St. Joseph's (L.I.) will more than likely debut in the rankings as well this coming Thursday depending on who wins their Skyline title round. Farmingdale needs just one win to advance and have a nice home-field advantage in the regionals.

[AlleyCat]

Cortland (30-12) SUNYAC and Farmingdale (25-13) Skyline are in. I think RPI will get a bid whether the win the LL or not. 31-9 and 29-8 in region will compare nationally with their out of conference schedule being tough. Ithaca (28-7) is almost assurred of a Pool B. Rochester also looks good at 30-11 and 25-11 in region.  Any others I'm overlooking.

[John McGraw]

Cortland (30-12) SUNYAC and Farmingdale (25-13) Skyline are in. I think RPI will get a bid whether the win the LL or not. 31-9 and 29-8 in region will compare nationally with their out of conference schedule being tough. Ithaca (28-7) is almost assurred of a Pool B. Rochester also looks good at 30-11 and 25-11 in region.  Any others I'm overlooking.

Rochester won't look that good nationally if they pick up two losses in the Liberty League tournament this weekend.

[Big Louie]

I have to agree with John on that one. Rochester needs to win the liberty league tourney to get in. If they lose two more this weekend they would have 13 region loses. The number of region losses for pool C teams should be around the 10 range at the very most. Rochester needs to win the liberty league.

[KSCfan]

Hey guys i wandered over here from the New England board with a couple of questions for people "in the know" about NY teams.  Obviously i know about Cortland because they are a national power.  If i was a team coming over from the NE region (there are always one or two that get shipped from NE to NY) who else should i pay attention too?  Also what are the chances of a top NE team like Eastern CT, Trinity (hartford CT) or a Southern Maine getting sent to NY region and taking that 1 seed from Cortland.  Thanks in advance for any info

[John McGraw]

Hey guys i wandered over here from the New England board with a couple of questions for people "in the know" about NY teams.  Obviously i know about Cortland because they are a national power.  If i was a team coming over from the NE region (there are always one or two that get shipped from NE to NY) who else should i pay attention too?  Also what are the chances of a top NE team like Eastern CT, Trinity (hartford CT) or a Southern Maine getting sent to NY region and taking that 1 seed from Cortland.  Thanks in advance for any info

Cortland right now I would say is the top dog. Ranked number one at the start of the year, the team had a great Florida trip but then stumbled back in the northeast. Much to the team's credit, it won when push came to shove and they swept through the conference tournament.

Ithaca is a likely Pool B selection. The Bombers aren't overly talented and don't have one really great player but a combination of pretty good players and solid frontline pitching. They can hit the ball and have found a knack for winning games out of nowhere and capitalizing on the miscues of others. They'll have trouble if anyone can find a way to get into their bullpen on day one or two.

RPI is the favorite from the Liberty League. The Engineers have had a solid year all around and have played a decent schedule (for them) that's included possible Pool C Montclair State and NJAC finalist William Paterson. They've been to regionals before and are coming off a regional final appearance last year. While they may not have all the power names of the past, this group has been there before and knows what it takes to win in the regionals.

Farmingdale State will be a darkhorse simply because of the fact that they're hosting the tournament. Any team is tough to beat on its' home field. The Rams nearly beat RPI on day one last year and then played Ithaca extremely tough on day two.

In the past, we've had a variety of New England teams shipped in - most recently we have seen Eastern Connecticut (twice), Trinity (Conn.) (twice), Endicott and Westfield State. I wouldn't be surprised to see Trinity again or some New England Pool C's depending on how conference tournaments play out. I don't think Southern Maine would be shipped to Long Island though at around 330 miles, it's a possibility. Overall, the New England squads (Westfield State excluded) have done very well against the upstaters and should provide another formidable opposition this year.

[KSCfan]

John- thanks for the info on NY, greatly appreciate it +1k

[AlleyCat]

I think everything Jhon said was great but, NY has had great success against NE teams this year especially the teams that should be in the NY Region from NY.

Cortland 2-0 - beat Salve and Rhode Island College
RPI 6-0 - Beat Wentworth, Salve, Castleton, WNEC, MCLA and Williams
Ithaca - 0-0
Rochester 2-0 - beat Brandeis twice
Farmingdale 3-1 - beat Clark twice, Sothern Maine and lost to Eastern Conn

Also remember that RPI knocked ECONN out in the NY regional semi last year.

Just some more info.

[John McGraw]

I think everything Jhon said was great but, NY has had great success against NE teams this year especially the teams that should be in the NY Region from NY.

Cortland 2-0 - beat Salve and Rhode Island College
RPI 6-0 - Beat Wentworth, Salve, Castleton, WNEC, MCLA and Williams
Ithaca - 0-0
Rochester 2-0 - beat Brandeis twice
Farmingdale 3-1 - beat Clark twice, Sothern Maine and lost to Eastern Conn

Also remember that RPI knocked ECONN out in the NY regional semi last year.

Just some more info.

Chances are, we'll be seeing someone along the lines of an very good talent level - not like most of the teams on that list. The only decent teams above are USM, ECSU, Western New England (Pool A qualifier) and possibly Williams.

Depending on the six or eight set-up, we could get one or two New England teams. And the same could be said for the Mid-Atlantic with possibly, Montclair State, TCNJ or William Paterson coming to Farmingdale. I'd throw Kean in that mix, but they're hosting in Lakewood, N.J., so they'll be shipped there.

[BoomerIL]

We received a schedule for our Florida trip coming up in March.  Two teams Rochester is scheduled to play are Neumann from Ashton, PA, and New Jersey City College from Jersey City.  Neumann's record the last two to three years has been a losing one, and Jersey City having a winning record plays against Kean, Montclair, to name a few.  Does anyone have any feedback regarding these two programs?

Thanks.

[John McGraw]

We received a schedule for our Florida trip coming up in March.  Two teams Rochester is scheduled to play are Neumann from Ashton, PA, and New Jersey City College from Jersey City.  Neumann's record the last two to three years has been a losing one, and Jersey City having a winning record plays against Kean, Montclair, to name a few.  Does anyone have any feedback regarding these two programs?

Thanks.

New Jersey City plays out of the extremely tough NJAC and it has struggled against some of the bigger powers like you mentioned in Kean, TCNJ, Montclair etc. The Gothic Knights have had some good individually talented players over the last few years but just haven't been able to translate that into lots of wins. Their SID, Ira Thor, is great at what he does and there's a lot of information available about the team and some of its' history at the school's athletics web site. Really, it's a game that Rochester should win though with a pitcher lower in the rotation on the mound, it could turn into the slugfest since NJCU teams have been known to swing the stick well.

Neumann is very good at men's ice hockey, baseball, well not so much. The team plays in the CSAC which is pretty much dominated by emerging regional powerhouse Keystone College. Neumann tangled with Keystone in the title game last year and was smoked 12-1 after losing to the Giants 21-7 a little earlier in the season. Neumann has a good number of players back but lost some key seniors and should be again a middling to upper level team in the CSAC which doesn't compare favorably to the Liberty League IMO.

Hope this helps.

[BoomerIL]

John.....

Thank you for the information.  I figured that New Jersey and Rochester would be a good match-up since New Jersey does play in that tough conference.  Neumann should be an easier match-up, but you know what they say....any team....!

Unfortunately for UR, playing in the UAA tournament does not allow them to play two or three games against better teams down in Florida prior to the UAA.  I mean why would the Russ Matt people mess up their game scheduling for a team that will only play a few games in their venue.

The challenge still remains for Rochester to win those few games that they should easily win during their regular season, or win the Liberty League outright in order to move on to regionals.  I think until they can improve on that, they may not get that "second consideration" for getting a bid if they don't win their conference tournament.  Their 30-13 record was their best in the schools history, and they have gotten better the last several years.  We'll see what happens in Florida.

[AlleyCat]

Whats the general thoughts on NY baseball this year?

SUNYAC
Cortland
Oneonta
Brockport
Fredonia
Oswego
New Paltz

LL
RPI
Rochester
Skidmore
Clarkson
St Lawrence

Skyline
Farmingdale
Old Westbury
St Joes LI

E8
St John Fisher
Ithaca
RIT
Stevens


Clarkson showed last year that the LL is a lot stronger than people thought. They pushed RPI to the limit and took down Cortland in the Regional. Cortland should be great this year and looks to get back to the Series. RPI returns almost everyone from a talented team from last year and has made it to the regional finals the last 2 years. Rochester looks to reload after losing some great pitching. U of R needs to show up in the LL tourney to move on. Farmingdale lost some key players but should be tough again and looks to repeat.  Ithaca has had a bye to the regionals for many years but it could get tougher for them now that there is only 4 Pool B bids(?). St John Fisher and RIT could give them a run for their money, but need to play better in the non-league portion of their schedules.

NY Regional Predictions
1. Cortland
2. RPI
3. Farmingdale
4. Oneonta
5. Skidmore or Rochester
6. St John Fisher
7. Ithaca
8. Brockport

Just my thoughts.....

[WrongArm]

Last year the E8 coaches narrowly picked RIT to finish ahead of Ithaca, based, I assume, on the loss of so many key players. Didn't happen. There just isn't enough strength in the 5-team league to pull Ithaca back to the pack. Stevens and Utica manage to give Ithaca a scare or two in a 4-game weekend, but until they can put a few losses on Ithaca, Fisher and RIT will need to do better than split with Ithaca. RIT and Fisher need to take care of business with the rest of their league schedule too. Last year Fisher split with Stevens and RIT split with Utica. Ithaca swept both.

Isn't RIT leaving the league after next this year? If the E8 has only 4 baseball teams, maybe it will be time to cut them loose to become associate members of other conferences, if they can find any takers. I guess this wouldn't matter for Ithaca since, as someone already mentioned on the board recently, Ithaca's bid is an NCAA rule :-)