BB: Regionals (West) 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011

[Ralph Turner]

Welcome Jcon8958

What can we say about Linfield?

1) They are deep in pitching.
2) They do not make mistakes.
3) They are coached by former New York Yankee, Scott Brosius.

[cat_fan_08]

About Linfield:

They play in the strongest region top to bottom and coach Bro will have them well prepared for next weekend. They do have a lot of guys returning from the 08 team that was in Wisconsin and will be drawing from that experience.

This is not a team to be taken lightly.

[D O.C.]

Mr. Chris Brooks....hail and baseball do not agree.  I agree.
Please bring those Choctaws out in September like HSU and MHB have done for a 'best team didn't win' football game.   

[Ralph Turner]

Mr. Chris Brooks....hail and baseball do not agree.  I agree.
Please bring those Choctaws out in September like HSU and MHB have done for a 'best team didn't win' football game.   

Fortunately, Mississippi College can get nearby D-III Football games that promote Mississippi College and D-III.  They open with Millsaps, and Huntingdon always needs games.

[Jcon8958]

I see but I have to disagree with you cat_fan_08 the new england region up and down is the best region in the country no doubt.

[golden_dome]

Mr. Chris Brooks....hail and baseball do not agree.  I agree.
Please bring those Choctaws out in September like HSU and MHB have done for a 'best team didn't win' football game.   

Didn't say the best team didn't win, I disagreed that there was one team head and shoulders better. It was a very competitive regional top to bottom, and Linfield deserved to win it.

But my comments on the weather and hotel arrangements shouldn't overshadow how well it was run under the circumstances. Great baseball fans and the atmosphere for the championship game was tremendous. Wish we could have kept it closer, it would have been fun.

[CAT BAT 22]

I see but I have to disagree with you cat_fan_08 the new england region up and down is the best region in the country no doubt.

No doubt! As is evidenced by.... well, your post! 

[CAT BAT 22]

A couple thoughts on this year's West Regional for people not there, particularly fans in the South wondering how we stack up.

I don't agree Linfield was clearly the best team, I thought they were the best of several close teams, but they clearly played the best baseball. They split with Pomona and MC had them down in the 7th inning of the first game. Want to know why Linfield wins? In MC's two losses to them, the Choctaws had six errors and ten walks, Linfield had one error and zero walks. They do not beat themselves, just a solid team top to bottom.

I thought earlier this year MC was a potential World Series team, then lost two very good starting pitchers to injury. For MC fans it will be hard not to think"what if" when they think about this season. Those arms would have come in handy today when Linfield had their ace going.

I have to at least partially agree with the poster about Linfield hosting regionals. The Linfield people did a great job and this isn't a knock on them, and this area of the country is stunning. But the weather was absolutely miserable all week (actually had a hail delay) with rain everyday and just about every game. MC's hotel was a good 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour one way drive, and I think a couple other schools had similar arrangements. If this is normal weather, it should be elsewhere. JMO

I agree Linfield can do well in the World Series and I wish them well. They are so fundamental and disciplined, I'm just not sure they have enough pitching to win it. Larson is very good, but I don't know after that. It would be nice for the West representative to go deep, and Linfield will definitely give themselves a chance to win.

To your point... they are disciplined, do not beat themselves... are fundamentally sound.. and that is exactly why they DO have enough pitching to win it.  Our ace held you guys to 4 runs over two games... the second of which was on two days rest... the other two games were shutout performances by starters who are aces on most teams in the country.  The one starter who got touched up a little bit in the tournament (Garrett Dorn) had an uncharacteristically bad  outing... watch for him to bounce back next week.  The 'Cats pitching, along with outstanding coaching is the cornerstone of this years squad.  Well, that and their patience at the plate... good grief they are selective.  I like their chances to take it.  JMO

[golden_dome]

A couple thoughts on this year's West Regional for people not there, particularly fans in the South wondering how we stack up.

I don't agree Linfield was clearly the best team, I thought they were the best of several close teams, but they clearly played the best baseball. They split with Pomona and MC had them down in the 7th inning of the first game. Want to know why Linfield wins? In MC's two losses to them, the Choctaws had six errors and ten walks, Linfield had one error and zero walks. They do not beat themselves, just a solid team top to bottom.

I thought earlier this year MC was a potential World Series team, then lost two very good starting pitchers to injury. For MC fans it will be hard not to think"what if" when they think about this season. Those arms would have come in handy today when Linfield had their ace going.

I have to at least partially agree with the poster about Linfield hosting regionals. The Linfield people did a great job and this isn't a knock on them, and this area of the country is stunning. But the weather was absolutely miserable all week (actually had a hail delay) with rain everyday and just about every game. MC's hotel was a good 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour one way drive, and I think a couple other schools had similar arrangements. If this is normal weather, it should be elsewhere. JMO

I agree Linfield can do well in the World Series and I wish them well. They are so fundamental and disciplined, I'm just not sure they have enough pitching to win it. Larson is very good, but I don't know after that. It would be nice for the West representative to go deep, and Linfield will definitely give themselves a chance to win.

To your point... they are disciplined, do not beat themselves... are fundamentally sound.. and that is exactly why they DO have enough pitching to win it.  Our ace held you guys to 4 runs over two games... the second of which was on two days rest... the other two games were shutout performances by starters who are aces on most teams in the country.  The one starter who got touched up a little bit in the tournament (Garrett Dorn) had an uncharacteristically bad  outing... watch for him to bounce back next week.  The 'Cats pitching, along with outstanding coaching is the cornerstone of this years squad.  Well, that and their patience at the plate... good grief they are selective.  I like their chances to take it.  JMO

It's not a knock on the pitching staff, it was very good. But we're speaking national championship, I'm not sure it's that level. Larson is very good, I didn't see Vaughn. I hope they win the thing.

[wildcat11]

I'd chime in more on this topic but I really don't jack about baseball but I thought that our pitching on Friday was incredibly gutsy....Shutting out two teams that can really swing it was impressive to say the least.  I have no idea how they stack up "nationally"...I'll leave that debate up to the folks that know.

[CAT BAT 22]

going on the assumption that we all agreed.... the West bracket was the best out of the bunch... top to bottom.  IF that is true... Linfield has enough pitching, assuming we continue to play that kind of shut down defense.  I didn't get to see larson when they came to So Cal... I did see Dorn shut down Chapman.  I play with ex Chapman guys down here in "Sunday league"... they were saying they can't remember Chapman ever getting shut out.  May have to look that up.  

Chris.. maybe you're right ... in an 8 team format, theoretically there could be more games than Linfield had to endure in the 6 team regionals.  Back to my original point though... here's to hoping the disciplined defense can shorten some of these games.  Go 'CATS

[golden_dome]

going on the assumption that we all agreed.... the West bracket was the best out of the bunch... top to bottom.  IF that is true... Linfield has enough pitching, assuming we continue to play that kind of shut down defense.  I didn't get to see larson when they came to So Cal... I did see Dorn shut down Chapman.  I play with ex Chapman guys down here in "Sunday league"... they were saying they can't remember Chapman ever getting shut out.  May have to look that up. 

Chris.. maybe you're right ... in an 8 team format, theoretically there could be more games than Linfield had to endure in the 6 team regionals.  Back to my original point though... here's to hoping the disciplined defense can shorten some of these games.  Go 'CATS

This is the thing. We probably overdo our expectations of other regions. For instance, I really had Linfield-Chapman built up to be the Yankees (fitting with Brosius there) just based on history and the numbers, then find out we (MS College) stacked up well. I thought we were a top program, but it was nice to confirm it against teams that have been there.

Similarly, I probably have too high expectations from other regions. No team is going to roll out 8 great arms. This is the only negative I saw about Linfield, at least this weekend. I thought they would have more power. They hit those three late jacks against us but it was already borderline blowout and they were free swinging. Other than that, there wasn't a lot of power.

I'm not 100% sure the pitching-defense is enough in combination with the offense. But again, we're talking World Series title so I'm being nitpicky. I hope they can get it done. They have a pretty good draw IMO. They play one of the weaker teams on paper and don't face Hopkins the first two days.

[Ralph Turner]

going on the assumption that we all agreed.... the West bracket was the best out of the bunch... top to bottom.  IF that is true... Linfield has enough pitching, assuming we continue to play that kind of shut down defense.  I didn't get to see larson when they came to So Cal... I did see Dorn shut down Chapman.  I play with ex Chapman guys down here in "Sunday league"... they were saying they can't remember Chapman ever getting shut out.  May have to look that up.  

Chris.. maybe you're right ... in an 8 team format, theoretically there could be more games than Linfield had to endure in the 6 team regionals.  Back to my original point though... here's to hoping the disciplined defense can shorten some of these games.  Go 'CATS

This is the thing. We probably overdo our expectations of other regions. For instance, I really had Linfield-Chapman built up to be the Yankees (fitting with Brosius there) just based on history and the numbers, then find out we (MS College) stacked up well. I thought we were a top program, but it was nice to confirm it against teams that have been there.

Similarly, I probably have too high expectations from other regions. No team is going to roll out 8 great arms. This is the only negative I saw about Linfield, at least this weekend. I thought they would have more power. They hit those three late jacks against us but it was already borderline blowout and they were free swinging. Other than that, there wasn't a lot of power.

I'm not 100% sure the pitching-defense is enough in combination with the offense. But again, we're talking World Series title so I'm being nitpicky. I hope they can get it done. They have a pretty good draw IMO. They play one of the weaker teams on paper and don't face Hopkins the first two days.

But UMB plays in one of the the toughest conferences (WIAC, LEC. OAC, NJAC) in the country.  They know what the tough games are, and they came out of one of the toughest regions, too.

[TexasBB]

Well thats why you have to play them. In DIII teams are not going to have the same pitching depth as the D-1 teams. From my perspective the biggest difference between D-I and D-III is the pitching depth. The team with the best defense and pitching depth will win. This is a trueism whether it is D-III or in the professional ranks. My team UTT had the weakest starting pitching but perhaps the best bullpen and closer. Not enough, you need good solid starters. Linfield appears to have that. I am not concerned with a lack of homerun power. They seem to be able to score plenty of runs. I think they have an excellent chance as long as their starters can pitch like they did in the regional. Some will have to come back on short rest if they are going to win it. How they perform with back to back weekends on short rest will be telling.

[D O.C.]

"Can't tell the players without a program."
Perhaps the people who were at the regionals knew this fun fact because it might have been in the program sold there but when LINFIELD'S solid coaching is spoken of, you have to take into account that one of the assistant coaches is the former head coach for 24 years (Brosius' coach) and athletic director, Scott Carnahan.