BB: Top Teams in West Region

[Ralph Turner]

I agree with you Crash and that certainly is going to be the case with the ASC. As Ralph pointed out in an earlier post next year 30 of the 40 games that the ASC has will be among members of the conference.  That leaves 10 games. Of those 10, 5 or 6 will be mid-week fill games against teams that are a bus ride awaw, which leaves 4 or 5 to be covered by pre-conference play in February or early March.  This year UTT hosted Whitworth in a tournament that included Austin College. Whitworth was a pre-season ranked opponent but did not fare so well this year. So you schedule some games with teams in other parts of the region and hope that such scheduling works for both teams from an SOS perspective. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.

Around the Nation column has it at 33 ASC games.

Ricky, I did not know if Mississippi College would be competing in the ASC next season.

If they are allowed to stay one more year, then the ASC will be a 12-team conference.

I arrived at 30 by having the 11-team conference play the 10 opponents single round robin of a three-game series.

Remaining "West schools"  UMHB, CTX, HPU, HSU and SRSU
Remaining "East schools" UTD, UTT, LeTU, ETBU, UOz, LaCollege.

Thanks.

[OshDude]

There's a chance an ASC coach got the number wrong, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Thanks.

[Patriotfan87]

UTT clinches the ASC East with an 11 inning 8-7 victory over La. College in Pineville.

[TexasBB]

The last D3 poll before the regional rankings came out today. It will be interesting to see how much different the regional rankings will be.  As of now here are the top 6 based on where they rank in the Poll.  I believe these are the 6 teams we will see once the first regional rankings come out but not necessarily in this order. I think most of us would agree on Linfield as the top team in the West and probably would have Cal Luthern 2nd. The rest of the group are fairly even in my book.

Per D3 Poll
Linfield
Trinity
Cal Luthern
Texas Tyler
George Fox
Texas Luthern

Outside looking in - Pomona Pitzer

[NWBaseballFan10]

The last D3 poll before the regional rankings came out today. It will be interesting to see how much different the regional rankings will be.  As of now here are the top 6 based on where they rank in the Poll.  I believe these are the 6 teams we will see once the first regional rankings come out but not necessarily in this order. I think most of us would agree on Linfield as the top team in the West and probably would have Cal Luthern 2nd. The rest of the group are fairly even in my book.

Per D3 Poll
Linfield
Trinity
Cal Luthern
Texas Tyler
George Fox
Texas Luthern

Outside looking in - Pomona Pitzer

As you eluded to, I think Linfield and Cal Lu are the clear top 2 teams in the West at this point. I'd put UT-Tyler in the #3 slot at this point considering they took 2 of 3 against Centenary while Trinity is 1-4 against them (the most quality D3 team on both their schedules). The other 3 slots are completely up for grabs IMO. The conference tournaments are going to play a significant role in determining the Pool C bids (there's going to be lots of opportunities for surprises  ). George Fox, unfortunately, will have to play the waiting game as their conference season is over now and must hope that their resume is deserving of a Pool C bid (at this point I think it's weakened immensely following the egg they laid against Linfield over the weekend).

[Whatagame]

NW, I agree, unfortunately I really think George Fox hurt their chances this past weekend. 

They did lead game one, 1-0, heading into the bottom of the 8th, when Linfield exploded.  Game two was a blowout, then game three went 13 innings in a low-scoring affair.  So, those two games were quite even, however, the only thing that matters is the final score.  They ended-up with 7 losses in conference play, attesting to the fact that the NWC was a very tricky and tough league this season, as Linfield was the only squad that consistently was able to scratch away to sweep weekend series.

Fox has two games remaining, but they are against NAIA Corban, so they are throw-aways.

[Ralph Turner]

GFU's going 1-2 versus #1 Linfield would have been plausible.  Getting swept was too much.

[TexasBB]

If George Fox is not a likely C bid then neither is Pomona Pitzer. That opens the door for UT Tyler or Texas Luthern if they fair decent but don't win the ASC conference tournament. The first round of the tournament is this weekend with both teams hosting the #4 seed from the other divisions. I expect both to win. This year the top team in the East will host the double ellimination round. That would mean UTT would get home field advantage if they can beat Hardin Simmons this weekend in a best of 3. (they only lost one series all year and it was last week at Louisiana College after they had clinched the East title by winning in extra innings on Friday).  Texas Luthern has the best overall record in conference play but my sense is the West division is just not as good top to bottom as it had been in recent years. We shall see.

[NWBaseballFan10]

I agree Ralph. Fox has a lot nice wins on their resume, but they also have some key losses that may inevitably keep them at home for playoffs. 4-0 in Arizona at the start of the season (all against teams who have been middle-of-the-road or better in their conferences) will look favorable as well as a win against Cal Lu (would have been nice if they had at least won one of the two 1-run games they lost however). Getting swept by Linfield, at this point, may appear to be too much. They also lost 2 of 3 in their series against Whitman which doesn't look good either.

I think Fox is going to need a lot of help from other teams in their conference tournaments (i.e. Trinity losing and Cal Lutheran winning).

[playball]

I don't think getting swept by Linfield sunk them as much as the Whitman series loss will.  Whitman has been progressing these past few years however they still aren't good.  Being a Wildcat fan, it would be nice to see GFU get a chance at the regional to lose a couple more times!

[Ralph Turner]

IMHO, going 1-2 to Linfield would have been in their favor and would help with mitigating the Whitman losses.

[Teddy_Ballgame]

First regional rankings released: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3baseball/2013/04/25/first-ncaa-regional-rankings-for-2013/

Linfield number one, Cal Lu at the number two spot, followed by UTT, Trinity, GFU, and Texas Lutheran edges out PP for the 6th spot.

I think the argument between TLU and PP is a very interesting one. Both teams have struggled against the other ranked teams- TLU is 0-2 against Trinity, PP is 1-2 against CLU and 0-3 against Linfield. TLU has a better overall in region W-L (27-10 vs 23-10), but has flubbed a couple series against teams not in the mix- 1-2 vs UT Dallas, 2-2 vs Concordia Texas, and a solo loss to Ozarks.

I think the fact the only two series PP hasn't won against West region teams were against the two best teams (even if the Linfield series was ugly), but not getting sweeps against Whittier, Redlands, Oxy, ULV, or Chapman hurts. A 3-0 or two in there somewhere helps in a lot of ways, and not getting a sweep hints at their question marks on the bump.

TLU has the ASC tournament left to play, which can add up to a lot of games (up to 9, with each round consisting of a best of three series). PP has SCIAC games against Occidental, La Verne, and Whittier before the SCIAC tournament starts (they will be the #2 seed). Should come down to the wire, and both teams will certainly be paying attention and hoping Linfield and Trinity take care of business in their conference tournaments.

[Whatagame]

Should come down to the wire, and both teams will certainly be paying attention and hoping Linfield and Trinity take care of business in their conference tournaments.

Teddy, the NWC does not have a conference tournament, so Linfield is the automatic bid by virtue of winning the conference.

[OshDude]

Changes could occur next week based on records against regionally ranked teams. RAC's don't necessarily know the rankings of other regions, and records vs. RR teams were not listed along with the first set of rankings.

[Teddy_Ballgame]

First regional rankings released: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3baseball/2013/04/25/first-ncaa-regional-rankings-for-2013/
Should come down to the wire, and both teams will certainly be paying attention and hoping Linfield and Trinity take care of business in their conference tournaments.

Scratch that- looks like there isn't a post season tournament in the NWC. Linfield is ahead 4 spots in the loss column with 5 conference games left to play. They are pretty much a shoe in. The way I see it right now-
1. Linfield- Definitely in, NWC champion/Pool A
2. Cal Lu- Definitely in, SCIAC tournament still to be played/Pool A or Pool C?
3. UTT- ASC tournament still to be played, UTT or TLU or both will be Pool C candidates
4. Trinity- Should win SCAC tournament/Pool A
5. George Fox- Needs a Pool C
6. TLU- ASC tournament still to be played, UTT or TLU or both will be Pool C candidates

7. PP- 3 conference games, plus conference tournament

The ASC tournament, with it's opportunity to add 4 losses to a team's in-region record is a big question mark. If UTT doesn't get the auto bid, do they rack up enough losses to put themselves on the bubble? If TLU doesn't get the auto bid, do the losses that come with the tournament have enough of a negative impact on their record to bump them?

Also- is GFU pretty safe at this point? They only have games left against Corban (non D3?). And what about Trinity? If they do lose in their conference tournament, I assume they still get a Pool C?

The other thing I often forget to account for is that Pool C's are given out nationally... there's always the chance that the West gets 5 or 7 teams total, regardless of the fact that the rankings always include 6.