BB: Top Teams in West Region

[TexasBB]

Concordia was swept by UTT over the weekend and their record is now 23-10 with an 18-8  conference mark in the ASC. LeTournue and Mary Hardin-Baylor are tied for second both with 23-11 records and are both 17-10 in the confeerence.  The ASC is not very strong this year and I don't see anyone other than the conference champion advancing.

[CrashDavisD3]

Top Teams in the West

1. Linfield
2.-6. Does it matter since they will not beat Linfield in the regional.

West Regional
4 Pool A Bids

NWC - Linfield
ASC
SCIAC
SCAC
2 flyin's from another region

[Teddy_Ballgame]

First regional rankings were published today with Linfield obviously in the top spot, and featuring two SCIAC teams:
http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2014/04/regional-rankings-week-one

1. Linfield                26-2
2. Trinity                 30-7
3. Cal Lu                 27-8
4. Chapman            23-9
5. Concordia Tx       23-10
6. George Fox          22-10

I don't know much about the other conferences this year, but the rankings don't seem all that suprising. The biggest gripe you might be able to make is having the two SCIAC schools up there when the Texas teams and NWC just dominated the SCIAC at the beginning of the year.

[Whatagame]

Regarding the West Rankings, I think I just "believe" in Chapman a little more than Cal Lutheran, relative to the potential of making a run in the Regional.  Remember, Chapman started the season 0-4 in D3, but, they have gone 24-5 vs. D3 since then (includes the W vs. out-of-region Kean), and, putting yesterday's shaky Cal Tech game aside, are still owners currently of a 10 game win streak.  They just seem hotter, more consistent in comparison to Cal Lu.

[Teddy_Ballgame]

Doing some more searching/discussing and I think there's also a good argument for PLU over Fox once you look a little deeper than NWC standings...

Take out their non-DIII games and I think they're 21-11.
Most importantly they took 2/3 from Fox (not to mention swept Willamette who swept Fox).
They're 5-2 against the SCIAC (losses to CLU, PP and wins against WC, ULV, WC, CMSx2).
And I'm pretty sure they have the strongest SOS in the West (need to go double check on that).

Thoughts?

[bzzboyz]

I've never been able to understand the constant love affair the powers that be have with Condordia. They get swept by UTT. A clearly inferior team this season in a crucial conference series. They're 0-2 against TLU (one was a drumming) and lost 2 of 3 in conference to Mississippi College who is currently in 5th. They have 8 conference losses with 6 still left to play. Three against a really strong MHB team. They could easily end the season in second place in the conference. The list above only shows total losses, but I'd imagine none of those teams have that many conference losses. Guess I'm missing something.

[Jack Parkman]

I've never been able to understand the constant love affair the powers that be have with Condordia. They get swept by UTT. A clearly inferior team this season in a crucial conference series. They're 0-2 against TLU (one was a drumming) and lost 2 of 3 in conference to Mississippi College who is currently in 5th. They have 8 conference losses with 6 still left to play. Three against a really strong MHB team. They could easily end the season in second place in the conference. The list above only shows total losses, but I'd imagine none of those teams have that many conference losses. Guess I'm missing something.

I agree 100% and think Concordia and George Fox will drop from this list. I'm curious how Trinity does in the SCAC tourney and I'll be curious to see what happens in the SCIAC with Cal Lu and Chapman. If one of them doesn't win the conference tourney they have to play for the title at a minimum. I am going with 1 team being flown in from outside the West at this point but that could change soon.

[Teddy_Ballgame]

I've never been able to understand the constant love affair the powers that be have with Condordia. They get swept by UTT. A clearly inferior team this season in a crucial conference series. They're 0-2 against TLU (one was a drumming) and lost 2 of 3 in conference to Mississippi College who is currently in 5th. They have 8 conference losses with 6 still left to play. Three against a really strong MHB team. They could easily end the season in second place in the conference. The list above only shows total losses, but I'd imagine none of those teams have that many conference losses. Guess I'm missing something.

I agree 100% and think Concordia and George Fox will drop from this list. I'm curious how Trinity does in the SCAC tourney and I'll be curious to see what happens in the SCIAC with Cal Lu and Chapman. If one of them doesn't win the conference tourney they have to play for the title at a minimum. I am going with 1 team being flown in from outside the West at this point but that could change soon.

I agree about a team being flown in, but what two teams would you add to the rankings ahead of GF and CTX? PLU and MHB? Willamette? It's a down year for the West, and someone has to fill out the top 6.

[CrashDavisD3]

I've never been able to understand the constant love affair the powers that be have with Condordia. They get swept by UTT. A clearly inferior team this season in a crucial conference series. They're 0-2 against TLU (one was a drumming) and lost 2 of 3 in conference to Mississippi College who is currently in 5th. They have 8 conference losses with 6 still left to play. Three against a really strong MHB team. They could easily end the season in second place in the conference. The list above only shows total losses, but I'd imagine none of those teams have that many conference losses. Guess I'm missing something.

I agree 100% and think Concordia and George Fox will drop from this list. I'm curious how Trinity does in the SCAC tourney and I'll be curious to see what happens in the SCIAC with Cal Lu and Chapman. If one of them doesn't win the conference tourney they have to play for the title at a minimum. I am going with 1 team being flown in from outside the West at this point but that could change soon.

I agree about a team being flown in, but what two teams would you add to the rankings ahead of GF and CTX? PLU and MHB? Willamette? It's a down year for the West, and someone has to fill out the top 6.

Being ranked 5 or 6 does not get you into the regional but not being ranked guarantee's you will not be in the regional. A few more weeks to change things. Still see at least 1 team flying in. Upsets in conference tourney could change that

[Whatagame]

Doing some more searching/discussing and I think there's also a good argument for PLU over Fox once you look a little deeper than NWC standings...

Take out their non-DIII games and I think they're 21-11.
Most importantly they took 2/3 from Fox (not to mention swept Willamette who swept Fox).
They're 5-2 against the SCIAC (losses to CLU, PP and wins against WC, ULV, WC, CMSx2).
And I'm pretty sure they have the strongest SOS in the West (need to go double check on that).

Thoughts?

The issue with NWC teams was that although many teams have breezed through their non-conference schedule, nobody besides Linfield could really distinguish themselves once conference play began.  Willamette and PLU have 7 and 8 conferences losses, respectively, each with a series yet to play.  Meanwhile G. Fox, who has completed conference play, has 9 conference losses.

Another factor is that Linfield, PLU, G. Fox and Willamette each play 7 games this season versus local WA/OR NAIA/D2 teams, which are basically throw-away games relative to building a Pool C resume.  Linfield is so dominant, plus they won Pool A qualifier, so it did not harm them this year. This is primarily because it is virtually impossible to get teams from other conferences to travel to the Northwest. Other than playing non-conference games against in-conference teams (which nobody likes), in order to fill a 40 game schedule with D3 opponents, a NWC team requires a third airline trip (most NWC teams take 2 trips a year) Playing nearly 1/5th of your games against NAIA, even if you win those games, really hampers you versus the selection criteria.

This situation may become even more problematic if the annual February "Arizona Classic" goes the way of the Do-Do Bird next year, as rumored. (this year's group of teams was very small, only 4 NWC and 3 SCIAC) It is an issue that there are not more opportunities for multiple (10-12) D3 teams to congregate in the West Region (preferably in AZ, So Cal or TX) to play lots of games, akin to what occurs in Florida each spring. Maybe the programs need to get on the stick and really think about the big picture, and really try to get more events/opportunities like this organized.  To me, they make a lot more sense than a team flying 1,000 – 2,500 miles to play a weekend series against a single opponent.

This would benefit all West Region teams, but alas, I'm just a dreamer....

There are great, centralized facilities in the Northwest for something like this, but I guess I can sort of understand why teams don't want to travel to that area.

[108 Stitches]

This would benefit all West Region teams, but alas, I'm just a dreamer....

There are great, centralized facilities in the Northwest for something like this, but I guess I can sort of understand why teams don't want to travel to that area.

Yes, but everyone loves a dreamer.

We complain about the weather going in May, can you imagine what we would say going in Feb? 

I think a lot of NW teams will end up "making a pass" through SoCal or possibly Texas/Louisiana.  Trinity found a way to get in two series with home/away's with Hendrix and Millsaps, two normally strong programs, but these have 10 hour bus rides associated with them. They do a home/away with Chapman. A pass though Texas vs Trinity, TLU, and Concordia would be a good test for any Northwest team, they could even play a couple of weaker teams if they wanted to have a winning record for the trip. 

[Westside]

We all love to dream.

I think a pretty decent solution to the non-league games would be one extended trip (spring break?) where they can get a lot of games in. Obviously, softball is different, but Linfield's softball team took a week long trip to Texas and had 11 games scheduled during that time.

It would be great if a team were able to fly out on a Friday (or even Sat. morning), play a three game series, catch two or three midweek games, and then play another three game series before flying back. They could, conceivably, get 8 or 9 games in over 7/8 days. But this is all speculation. Just waiting for this regional to get going!

[Whatagame]

We all love to dream.

I think a pretty decent solution to the non-league games would be one extended trip (spring break?) where they can get a lot of games in. Obviously, softball is different, but Linfield's softball team took a week long trip to Texas and had 11 games scheduled during that time.

It would be great if a team were able to fly out on a Friday (or even Sat. morning), play a three game series, catch two or three midweek games, and then play another three game series before flying back. They could, conceivably, get 8 or 9 games in over 7/8 days. But this is all speculation. Just waiting for this regional to get going!

The issue with the Spring Break thing is that it seems the NWC conference schools are not synched on their spring breaks, and the breaks fall right in the middle of conference play, so unless your spring break falls during your conference bye-week, no spring break baseball trip.

I know it's all speculation, but I can see it (scheduling) becoming a bigger, and bigger problem. Three trips with flights won't "fly" with most programs, unless the administration is willing to spend upwards of $5K a year per player.

[Whatagame]

This would benefit all West Region teams, but alas, I'm just a dreamer....

There are great, centralized facilities in the Northwest for something like this, but I guess I can sort of understand why teams don't want to travel to that area.

Yes, but everyone loves a dreamer.

We complain about the weather going in May, can you imagine what we would say going in Feb? 

I think a lot of NW teams will end up "making a pass" through SoCal or possibly Texas/Louisiana.  Trinity found a way to get in two series with home/away's with Hendrix and Millsaps, two normally strong programs, but these have 10 hour bus rides associated with them. They do a home/away with Chapman. A pass though Texas vs Trinity, TLU, and Concordia would be a good test for any Northwest team, they could even play a couple of weaker teams if they wanted to have a winning record for the trip. 

Yes, some NWC teams did get out to Texas this year, and I'm betting more will next.  Plus, there's he SCIAC swings.  The issue I see is that with a 24 game conference schedule, to fill close to 40 D3 games, it pretty much requires that 3rd trip - which is an issue on a couple levels - unless these 6-7 game trips can be organized.  Personally, I'd love to see more teams get a shot at the top Texas teams.  Why fly 2,500 miles without a challenge!

Plus, the thing with Trinity and Hendrix/Milsaps/Chapman is that they are HOME/AWAYS....The HOME part of the deal seems to be the problem for the NWC.

[CrashDavisD3]

Chapman is 17-3 in it's last 20 games.