BB: Top Teams in West Region

[BigPoppa]

Concordia is every bit as advertised at 33-9 and disagree with the West being somewhat weak. Depth on the mound is why they have successfully captured back to back conference titles. They now need to take care of business in Oregon and make a run in this regional. I though McMurry did a hell of a job coming in having a sub 500 record and knocking off two quality teams in UT Tyler and Miss College.

I did not say that the west did not have great teams this year, I stated that the region as a whole is in a down year compared to years' past. Struggling to fill a 6 team regional with in-region teams is proof.

[dp643]

Concordia is every bit as advertised at 33-9 and disagree with the West being somewhat weak. Depth on the mound is why they have successfully captured back to back conference titles. They now need to take care of business in Oregon and make a run in this regional. I though McMurry did a hell of a job coming in having a sub 500 record and knocking off two quality teams in UT Tyler and Miss College.

I did not say that the west did not have great teams this year, I stated that the region as a whole is in a down year compared to years' past. Struggling to fill a 6 team regional with in-region teams is proof.

Not only is the Region down, but it appears the ASC was down as well. 2 of the last 3 teams left standing in the tournament finished the year with below .500 records.

[Ralph Turner]

Concordia is every bit as advertised at 33-9 and disagree with the West being somewhat weak. Depth on the mound is why they have successfully captured back to back conference titles. They now need to take care of business in Oregon and make a run in this regional. I though McMurry did a hell of a job coming in having a sub 500 record and knocking off two quality teams in UT Tyler and Miss College.

I did not say that the west did not have great teams this year, I stated that the region as a whole is in a down year compared to years' past. Struggling to fill a 6 team regional with in-region teams is proof.

Not only is the Region down, but it appears the ASC was down as well. 2 of the last 3 teams left standing in the tournament finished the year with below .500 records.

Let's see how CTX does in the tourney.  If they have a strong showing in the West Region and beyond (and don't go two and BBQ), then what we may have seen is parity in a tough league.

[dp643]

I dont think Concordia sweeping the west region shows we had a tough league at all. Concordia was the class of the ASC this year, and we saw many firsts this year. I have never seen Tyler with this weak of a pitching staff. I have never seen Hardin Simmons finish at .500. I have never seen 2 of the final 4 teams have sub .500 records, including the conference runner up. I have never seen 4 of the 8 teams in the conference tournament at or below .500. Could there be Parity? Sure, there has always been in the league. I just think this year it wasn't good parity.

[CrashDavisD3]

SCIAC also in my opinion had a down year. Cal Lu, Redlands and the new entry Chapman all had poor years compared to prior years.

Is it changing of the guard, parity or just a single down season.

The future will provide these answers.

But games I saw with SCIAC teams were displays of poor defense, poor base running, and lack of timely hitting and fundamentals.

And this was for several teams in the SCIAC.

[dp643]

SCIAC also in my opinion had a down year. Cal Lu, Redlands and the new entry Chapman all had poor years compared to prior years.

Is it changing of the guard, parity or just a single down season.

The future will provide these answers.

But games I saw with SCIAC teams were displays of poor defense, poor base running, and lack of timely hitting and fundamentals.

And this was for several teams in the SCIAC.

This is what I have been noticing as well. Good post.

[TexasBB]

With the West being down this year (NW also appears to have similar issues), it will make the regional tournament very interesting. A team like CTX, which does have very good pitching depth, may be able to win it. In the past the ASC has benn primarily a conference that relied on 2 top starters and a good closer. However, once you got beyond those, the staffs have had weakness. That was all that is needed to win a divisions or a 4 team tournament. But winning in a 6 team tournament you need a deeper staff. CTX appears to have such a staff this year, so I like their chances.

TexasBB

[Ralph Turner]

Small ball really seemed to be the order of the day in the ASC tourney.

Lots of well-constructed innings in which a BB, a SAC bunt and a timely single produced another run.

[CrashDavisD3]

In 2012 I noticed the teams that play good defense, pitch well and play small ball win.

[108 Stitches]

I agree Ralph....or maybe a "not so well constructed inning " where a bunt or hit-n-run creates an error and a un earned run scores. The team that wins in the regional will have to pitch and play defense to move on. There may be a blowout game, but more than likely there will be a bunch of 1 run games that are decided by getting the ball in play and making the other team make a mistake.

[Ralph Turner]

I agree Ralph....or maybe a "not so well constructed inning " where a bunt or hit-n-run creates an error and a un earned run scores. The team that wins in the regional will have to pitch and play defense to move on. There may be a blowout game, but more than likely there will be a bunch of 1 run games that are decided by getting the ball in play and making the other team make a mistake.

I think that all of us saw too many of those.  That is very painful to remember.

For me the exciting thing about the new BBCOR bats is the high schoolers are getting to see their deficiencies in their formative stages of the game.  It used to be about "jackin' one out of the yard".

Now it is about the beautiful game. It becomes pitching, speed and defense.  I think that it makes every player work harder on every aspect of the game. They just cannot mentally wipe off the minor things like failing to back up a base or a fielder, or missing the cut-off man. They cannot think to themselves, "Oh well, I will just knock one out of the park in the next inning."

Do you other posters think that players' expectations at an "at-bat" now have changed from hitting a long one to making good contact with the ball? To going the other way with the outside pitch and getting the single?

Have the umpires opened/enlarged the strike zone a bit because of the BBCOR?

I will also share this on the National BBCOR board.

[(509)Rat]

In 2012 I noticed the teams that play good defense, pitch well and play small ball win.

From what I was able to follow in the NWC this was the case in our conference. We'll see how deep Whitworth's pitching is soon, but I believe they had the highest fielding % and led the conference in hits and rbi without hitting a ton of HR's (outside of Pfeffer who led the conference). They aren't going to "wow" you, but getting guys on base and playing error free baseball worked well for the Pirates this year.

[Whatagame]

Whitworth was 3rd in NWC in HR, but yes, Pfeffer hit 11 of their 22 dingers.  They led the NWC in BA, RBI and had the lowest number of batters strike out by a large margin.  Their team ERA was middle of the conference.  Team defense was .966, right among conference leaders.

I think they'll be a tough match-up, and hope they do well.

[TexasBB]

I took a look at the ASC stats. CTX led the league with a 2.61 team ERA and was second in Fielding Percentage at .967. They had a team batting average of .292. UTT lead the league in BA with .335 and fielding percentage at .971 but had a team ERA of 4.23. The ERA is what really stood out for CTX.  They are not likely going to get blown out and if a game goes into the late or extra innings,  that is where they shine. 

TexasBB

[108 Stitches]

I saw them very early in the season, but that was my impression of them, solid pitching, pretty good defense and so so offense. Their pitching should keep them in most games and the rest is up to the baseball gods.

Once all of the West teams get named I will pull up the NCAA data on them and do a comparison for fun.