BB: Top Teams in West Region

[BigPoppa]

Must be getting close to April because here come Spence and all his anger towards TU.  Best advice, learning from my past mistakes, completely ignore Specen/foreheavendial4499

The thing with Spence is his numbers are generally very accurate and telling. You may not like the delivery, but you'd be a fool to ignore the message.

[Texas Leaguer]

Must be getting close to April because here come Spence and all his anger towards TU.  Best advice, learning from my past mistakes, completely ignore Specen/foreheavendial4499

The thing with Spence is his numbers are generally very accurate and telling. You may not like the delivery, but you'd be a fool to ignore the message.

This thing with Spence is his delivery is worse than Nuke LaLoosh.  I keep waiting for an Annie Savoy to join the boards because it's become apparent to me that our Crash Davis unfortunately doesn't have the cure.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Must be getting close to April because here come Spence and all his anger towards TU.  Best advice, learning from my past mistakes, completely ignore Specen/foreheavendial4499

The thing with Spence is his numbers are generally very accurate and telling. You may not like the delivery, but you'd be a fool to ignore the message.

I have to agree with Big Poppa. Spence knows his stuff. Also any team's fans who talk about how good they are and they beat this team and that team, I believe are setting themselves up for this type of questioning. Yes Trinity has a very good team. No doubt about it. The fact is they have not gotten past regionals. Would they have if D3 had a different format? Maybe. But D3 has the format they do for a reason.

[BigPoppa]

Must be getting close to April because here come Spence and all his anger towards TU.  Best advice, learning from my past mistakes, completely ignore Specen/foreheavendial4499

The thing with Spence is his numbers are generally very accurate and telling. You may not like the delivery, but you'd be a fool to ignore the message.

This thing with Spence is his delivery is worse than Nuke LaLoosh.  I keep waiting for an Annie Savoy to join the boards because it's become apparent to me that our Crash Davis unfortunately doesn't have the cure.

Still, Nuke LaLaoosh, was a big leaguer by the end of the film. Regardless of his delivery:)

[Spence]

Must be getting close to April because here come Spence and all his anger towards TU.  Best advice, learning from my past mistakes, completely ignore Specen/foreheavendial4499

The thing with Spence is his numbers are generally very accurate and telling. You may not like the delivery, but you'd be a fool to ignore the message.

This thing with Spence is his delivery is worse than Nuke LaLoosh.  I keep waiting for an Annie Savoy to join the boards because it's become apparent to me that our Crash Davis unfortunately doesn't have the cure.

Still, Nuke LaLaoosh, was a big leaguer by the end of the film. Regardless of his delivery:)

I just want to help the ball club.

I think my delivery is much improved, though. Worked out some mechanical issues, and I learned to breathe through my eyelids.

[Spence]

Why all the butthurt towards Trinity?

Please. We go through this every year.

We hear how awesome Trinity is and what amazing pitchers they have and every year they don't get it done once they have to play good teams.

And they didn't get it done tonight going against guys that have hardly pitched all year. Meanwhile, the best staff ever offers up a guy that throws 70 pitches in 2 2/3 innings with 1 hit allowed. I'm not even sure I would have thought that possible.

Pretty bold statement considering the lost to the eventual national champion 3-1 in the regional final (after beating the eventual national champion) just last season.

That staff had 3 guys at the top of the rotation that could throw strikes, and I don't think coincidentally, had their best ever performance.

I was actually closer to drinking the kool-aid than ever until the last 5 games or so. The way I look at it right now is if that if this was a northern team with a comparable schedule and record (say 14-2), what would I think of them? And I would say I'm still giving Trinity credit for what they did last year because I still have them ranked -- which I don't for say, Johns Hopkins, which is 12-2 against a comparable schedule and has a comparable postseason history only they've made Appleton at least a few times.

When you have so few legitimate data points, each one matters more than if you had a bunch of them...by definition. IMO the Texas schools are the hardest to make sense of because of the lack of data. But you can't use one set of criteria for them and one for everyone else.

[BamColt]

Have you seen Trinity play? We are not crowning them champions, but yes they have a better staff that probably 95% of D3 teams.

Hey everyone, I am new to the boards. I have recently played in the SCAC, but have moved on from my playing days. I am not affiliated with Trinity in any manner either. They earned our respect though on the field. I have lurked on this board for several years, but decided to join today.

Spence - I think just about every coach in America at the D3 level would trade their pitching staff for Trinity's staff. Not saying they are always going to produce at a high level every single outing, but they give their team a shot to win the game dang near every single game.


Concordia's staff is up there if not better, stats so far are pretty convincing. Cameron Cox is probably one of the best P in D3 this year, threw fairly well at Texas last season.

[dp643]

Point made, and valid.

[108 Stitches]

Here is my take on Trinity. Last year their pitching and defense carried them through the Regional as far as they went, which was one game short of Appleton, loosing to Linfield. (which we all know) Their hitting went away in the Regional, partially because  of their easy schedule (IMO) and not facing lots of tough pitching during the season.

This year they have a very deep pitching staff as I have been saying. What they don't have is a classic ace that is going to go out and get you a win every time he takes the mound. They do however have a bunch of guys who will keep you in nearly every game with both LH and RH options. Their potential ace is Bogeese, who has professional baseball stuff, but struggles with control. If he throws strikes he is very very difficult, if not you get last night.  (He completely shut down UTT last year in the Regional BTW)

What has not been mentioned here is that they do field an offensive team that has 8 of the 9 hitters who are above 0.300, which makes if a very tough team to pitch to. They can come back at any point in time in a game so they are never really out of it. Their defense has been good and should be solid come Regionals.  They are playing a tough schedule and really went out and found the best competition they could given their location so mentally they will be ready.

They have to sort out their pitching the next 7 weeks however, in which they will need to find three solid starters for the Regionals, and they have to get their two closer types serious work so they are sharp then also. IMO, the one thing they do too much of is keep running the same pitcher out there, even if he is fatigued, with a pen like theirs why do it?  If it was me (yeah right) if I had a lead I would start running my two closers out, one for the 8th and the other for the 9th in every game between now and Regionals, it would be automatic, every game. They have 3-4 mid-long relievers and I would give a couple a spot start here and there, and if a starter does not throw strikes he is gone and the mid relievers would be in.  This sets a tone for the pitching staff, it gives your back end guys the experience they will need, and spreads out the work so the staff is fresh come May.

This team is very balanced and is probably the best overall from the last three years, but without a single player who carries the team. (except maybe Hirschberg)

My 2 cents.

[tigerfan_2001]

Must be getting close to April because here come Spence and all his anger towards TU.  Best advice, learning from my past mistakes, completely ignore Specen/foreheavendial4499

The thing with Spence is his numbers are generally very accurate and telling. You may not like the delivery, but you'd be a fool to ignore the message.

This thing with Spence is his delivery is worse than Nuke LaLoosh.  I keep waiting for an Annie Savoy to join the boards because it's become apparent to me that our Crash Davis unfortunately doesn't have the cure.

Still, Nuke LaLaoosh, was a big leaguer by the end of the film. Regardless of his delivery:)

awesome analogy and great example

[Whatagame]

Good report on Trinity.  As of right now, Linfield might appear a little more vulnerable in comparison to last season.  Their pitching has really not skipped a beat, and actually might be a bit stronger thus far this season given better overall numbers from some of the key relievers.

Offensively though, the team is down from last year, particularly in the power categories.  Wilson is graduated (.401/.456/.567 slash line last season with 4 HR and 31 SB), and right now, only one guy from the meat of the order (Truex) is close to/exceeding last year's production.  Granted, Wylie has been limited to only about 30 ABs, and when/if he's back to normal, that could certainly ignite the rest of the lineup.

Even still, they have only one D3 loss......

[CrashDavisD3]

Did I get banned.....My responses are disappearing now

[SoCalSoxFan]

Still, Nuke LaLaoosh, was a big leaguer by the end of the film. Regardless of his delivery:)

I just want to help the ball club.

I think my delivery is much improved, though. Worked out some mechanical issues, and I learned to breathe through my eyelids.

Well done Spence... will you be changing your Avatar to Nuke or just your user name?

[Ralph Turner]

Not in person. Online I have, of course.

Maybe I'll see them someday but I don't spend much time in Texas and they don't spend much time in Wisconsin.

Better than 95% would be something like 17th best or higher. Nah, don't think so right now. If you'd said 90 I might be ok with that. I don't think a ton of the top tier teams in D-III would want a pitching staff that has issues getting the ball over the plate.

I am glad that  you put the top 95% in perspective.

Almost 360 D-3 teams times 5% = 18.  I like the depth of the West Region so TU is in my top 5%.  I think that they need to play tougher competition, and that can occur with games against ASC schools (which I think, top to bottom) is better balances and tougher. 

I want to see how Schreiner and TLU do this year.  Centenary seems to be a bit down, the farther they get from D-1.

[SCAC_BaseballFan]

The SCAC appears to definitely be divided into tiers this year, with Trinity and TLU top tier, Centenary and Dallas middle, and Southwestern, Schreiner, and Austin College all visibly lagging behind. It does hurt Trinity in the aspect that the conference doesn't test them much (although it appears they took Dallas lightly). The ASC does have better talent, as I believe the SCAC bottom tier teams would get beat up pretty bad there also.