BB: Top Teams in West Region

[CrashDavisD3]

CDD3 TOP 6 in the West on April 14, 2013

1 - Linfield 26-5
2 - Cal Lutheran 25-6-1
3 - Texas-Lutheran 28-8
4 - Texas-Tyler 28-8
5 - Trinity-Texas 29-7
6 - George Fox 24-9

Outside looking in
Pomona-Pitzer 22-10 

SCIAC, ASC, ASC have conference tournaments to determine Pool A conference bid.

[108 Stitches]

IMHO, Centenary always was just awaiting the invitation to join Trinity and Southwestern, their fellow members in the Associated  Colleges of the South.  (colleges.org)
I cannot think of any other schools that will move at this time.

The remaining 11 Presidents re-affirmed their commitment to the ASC last fall.

15/16 was always unwieldy.  The ASC could never get enough teams (18 or so) to split into two conferences.

I don't know where the remaining 11 would go.  D-1?  Who is D-1 material?

Who else wants to commit to D-2?  I think that several schools are looking to see how McMurry does in D-2.

The ASC should remain a strong conference, with maybe one or max two more moving to the SCAC. Ralph mentioned in the SCAC forum some time ago that LeTU would be a good fit. A balance of 8-10 teams in each conference would be a good balance for the area. Going to D1/2 is extremely unlikely IMO, too costly and too far to travel for games. You see teams like Centenary and BSC moving away from D1 for a reason.

The challenge for many of these teams are getting in enough non conference games during the week due to the distances. A blend of two conferences in the region will make it easier.

[Patriotfan87]

CDD3 TOP 6 in the West on April 14, 2013

1 - Linfield 26-5
2 - Cal Lutheran 25-6-1
3 - Texas-Lutheran 28-8
4 - Texas-Tyler 28-8
5 - Trinity-Texas 29-7
6 - George Fox 24-9

Outside looking in
Pomona-Pitzer 22-10 

SCIAC, ASC, ASC have conference tournaments to determine Pool A conference bid.

UTT is 29-8

[wildcat11]

but only 1-1 vs. the SCIAC.

Doodlesdad,

You can now update that to 5-1 vs the SCIAC.

[CrashDavisD3]

CDD3 TOP 6 in the West on April 14, 2013

1 - Linfield 26-5
2 - Cal Lutheran 25-6-1
3 - Texas-Lutheran 28-8
4 - Texas-Tyler 28-8 29-8 
5 - Trinity-Texas 29-7
6 - George Fox 24-9

Outside looking in
Pomona-Pitzer 22-10 

SCIAC, ASC, ASC  and SCAC have conference tournaments to determine Pool A conference bid. NWC is the only one that does not.

UTT is 29-8

[TexasBB]

Trinity plays TLU today at 3:00. This could be a test of TLU to see if they deserve to be ranked or not.

[CrashDavisD3]

Trinity plays TLU today at 3:00. This could be a test of TLU to see if they deserve to be ranked or not.

Amazing how a team with 28 wins is unranked.

[CrashDavisD3]

From D3Baseball Top 25 voting  4-16-2013

1 Linfield 26-5 
12 Texas-Tyler 29-8
13 Trinity (Texas) 29-7
16 Cal Lutheran 25-6-1
19 George Fox 24-9
26 Texas Lutheran 28-8
35 Pomona-Pitzer 22-10

[Jack Parkman]

Trinity plays TLU today at 3:00. This could be a test of TLU to see if they deserve to be ranked or not.

Amazing how a team with 28 wins is unranked.

Amazing how a team with a 307 SOS can be ranked in the top 10.  Trinity and TLU are good teams but you can't hide the fact that their schedules have been extremely weak.

[108 Stitches]

Trinity plays TLU today at 3:00. This could be a test of TLU to see if they deserve to be ranked or not.

They do and they are...

TU wins 3-2. Did not see the whole game just picked up the last couple of innings via video. Was told TU was up most of the game 3-1 and TLU loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th and TU held on to win with a 5-2-3 double play. Starter Alig for TU went 8-1/3 giving up one unearned run.

[CrashDavisD3]

Trinity plays TLU today at 3:00. This could be a test of TLU to see if they deserve to be ranked or not.

They do and they are...

TU wins 3-2. Did not see the whole game just picked up the last couple of innings via video. Was told TU was up most of the game 3-1 and TLU loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th and TU held on to win with a 5-2-3 double play. Starter Alig for TU went 8-1/3 giving up one unearned run.

Looks like very evenly matched teams....1 swing is the difference in the score...

Too much emphasis is placed on SOS in my opinion. There are many reasons why teams have weak SOS that are way beyond their control. The number 1 reason is the teams in their conference have weak SOS to start with.

Finances and time away from school also can make some trips against teams with good/great records not feasible.

SOS is just one component in determining ranking for the OFFICIAL RANKINGS but not the only one..

If I were making the rules....Winning percentage should be #1....In this order.....In Conference, In Region, In D3, then SOS IMO. 

[108 Stitches]

I agree with you Crash, in general TU's schedule is in the top 20 in terms of SOS, but this year the stars did not align for them. (I am also not sure if Centenary is calculated in the SOS) However I think it would be beneficial for the program to see if they could fit in the Arizona tournament, as well as attract some of the better teams from the Northeast during the spring break or early season. It was a mistake to schedule 4 games vs Rockford, but it is easy for us to second guess when we don't know the scheduling difficulties in trying to get the better teams in to SA.

That said I do believe that this will be a huge disadvantage for them going into the Regional as they will not have faced enough tough competition.

I do hope that Chapman helps their SOS next year and does not take it down. 

[OshDude]

Centenary counts toward TU's strength of schedule.

[TexasBB]

From a SOS perspective it will help to have TLU joining the conference as now it will have 3 top flight teams with TU, TLU and Centennary. Their gain and the ASC loss. The ASC is also going to loose Mississippi College which is going the D-2 route. The ASC west will be much weaker than it has been in the past as McMurry left this year. The East will still be pretty solid with UTT, UTD and Louisiana College. The top two in the west will likely be Concordia and Hardin Simmons.  The rest of the teams in the east and west have not been among the leaders the past several years. So the ASC teams will have to go outside the conference to keep a decent SOS.

[ThunderShoots]

TU has bounced back nicely since dropping 2 tough ones at home against Centenary before Easter, winning 6 in a row.  I know, they haven't really played anyone, but they seem to be playing better defense, and their pitching appears to be deeper than in recent years - Speer and Alig have been very impressive since taking on starting roles, the bullpen has been 4 or 5 deep, and Lucero continues to pile up W's as their staff leader (quite a career in San Antonio for the senior, 26-3 overall). 

As many who are smarter than I am have noted on these boards, it is pitching and defense that gets you through the post-season, so maybe this bodes well for the Tigers as the regular season wraps up this weekend.

Just watched the TU vs.TLU replay today - unfortunate dirty play (watch for yourself - it was blatant) to end the game, as TLU batter grounds into 5-2-3 DP and spikes first baseman and cleanup hitter Donnan - they had to help him off the field; hopefully he recovers in time for the conference tournament, as that would be a bad loss for the Tigers.