BB: Top Teams in West Region

[wildcat11]

But only the NWC does not have a tournament to decide the Pool A.

...and I hope that continues for a long time.  Go NWC!

[Jack Parkman]

Linfield's No. 1 nationally and in the West, but only 1-1 vs. the SCIAC. I'm looking forward to their trip to SoCal next weekend for three games with 19-7 Pomona-Pitzer on April 12-13 and a game with 15-9 La Verne on April 14. La Verne beat 'em, 6-0, in the season opener in Arizona.

Have the Regional rankings come out yet?  I am not sure if that is an official #1 in the West or if that is based just on the overall rankings.  Anyone know?

[OshDude]

Linfield's No. 1 nationally and in the West, but only 1-1 vs. the SCIAC. I'm looking forward to their trip to SoCal next weekend for three games with 19-7 Pomona-Pitzer on April 12-13 and a game with 15-9 La Verne on April 14. La Verne beat 'em, 6-0, in the season opener in Arizona.

Have the Regional rankings come out yet?  I am not sure if that is an official #1 in the West or if that is based just on the overall rankings.  Anyone know?

The first regional ranking teleconferences are scheduled for April 25.

[wildcat11]

If you've never been to Linfield's baseball field before now you can.  A Google Street car drove around and onto Linfield's baseball and football facilities this past summer.  It's actually a fun way to kill a few minutes.

Google Maps Street View of Linfield's Roy Helser Field

[CrashDavisD3]

Linfield has a beautiful campus and great baseball facility. Loved it in the 2009 in the sun during the regional. Hated in the rain, wind and cold playing baseball in 2010.

[CrashDavisD3]

With respect to the discussion of best team all season vs. best team based on conference tournament, I would add the following thought; teams can win their confernce with 3 good starters but not have enough arms to win a tournament.  UTT has been a good example of that. They have won or shared the ASC East title 6 times since 2005 but have only won the ASC tournament twice. They have had 3 good starters and a decent closer many times but lacked that #4 and #5. So if they lose a close game early in a double elimination tournament they have problems.  That is just one example and I am sure there are plenty of others. In the West region teams are only playing 4 times a week and may not develop a good #4 and #5 starter.  Some teams only have 2 top starters but have developed 3 or 4 other pitchers that they use regurlarly. Use in games regularly is the key as pitching in practice is not the same. A team can get buy during the regular season with 3 starters assuming a good offense and defense. However, that will not usually be enough in a tournament like the regional where you have to play a lot of games in a short period of time.

TexasBB

Of course, the other reason why UTT has fared so poorly might be that small sample sizes are really bad for determining who the better team is.  It's baseball. Good players can have off days, average players can have good days, over 9 innings teams can hit a lot of balls hard at people, balls can take bad hops, etc., all strongly influencing outcomes. (These tend to average out over 40 games).
 
I'm still arguing against pool A bids going to tournament winners instead of regular season champs.   I think regional selections should be a reward, not a strategic attempt on the part of the committee to try to put forward the teams that have the best chance of winning a national championship because they are "hot".  When looking at pool C criteria, you'll notice that nowhere is performance in the last k games mentioned, or seemingly allowed.  The committee is asked to evaluate cases in a temporal vacuum. Strange, considering that so many pool A bids are given away based essentially only on how a team has performed very recently.  At least conference tournaments are fun to watch.   
 
If you get through the regional, I agree that when you get to the CWS, west region teams are at a disadvantage to teams that regularly have 4th and 5th starters, assuming that you stick around long enough.   

But only the NWC does not have a tournament to decide the Pool A.

As for the national committee, the teams are judged on the entire season for a Pool C bid.

"Last number of games" has not been a D-III baseball criterion in my memory.

I believe Conference Tourney makes the team EARN their right to the regional. To me it is ROUND 1 of the playoffs, Regional being Round 2 to get to ROUND 3 in Appleton.

If you cant win your conference tourney do you deserve to move on? Not in my opinion. Not in DIII baseball.

[playball]

With respect to the discussion of best team all season vs. best team based on conference tournament, I would add the following thought; teams can win their confernce with 3 good starters but not have enough arms to win a tournament.  UTT has been a good example of that. They have won or shared the ASC East title 6 times since 2005 but have only won the ASC tournament twice. They have had 3 good starters and a decent closer many times but lacked that #4 and #5. So if they lose a close game early in a double elimination tournament they have problems.  That is just one example and I am sure there are plenty of others. In the West region teams are only playing 4 times a week and may not develop a good #4 and #5 starter.  Some teams only have 2 top starters but have developed 3 or 4 other pitchers that they use regurlarly. Use in games regularly is the key as pitching in practice is not the same. A team can get buy during the regular season with 3 starters assuming a good offense and defense. However, that will not usually be enough in a tournament like the regional where you have to play a lot of games in a short period of time.

TexasBB

Of course, the other reason why UTT has fared so poorly might be that small sample sizes are really bad for determining who the better team is.  It's baseball. Good players can have off days, average players can have good days, over 9 innings teams can hit a lot of balls hard at people, balls can take bad hops, etc., all strongly influencing outcomes. (These tend to average out over 40 games).
 
I'm still arguing against pool A bids going to tournament winners instead of regular season champs.   I think regional selections should be a reward, not a strategic attempt on the part of the committee to try to put forward the teams that have the best chance of winning a national championship because they are "hot".  When looking at pool C criteria, you'll notice that nowhere is performance in the last k games mentioned, or seemingly allowed.  The committee is asked to evaluate cases in a temporal vacuum. Strange, considering that so many pool A bids are given away based essentially only on how a team has performed very recently.  At least conference tournaments are fun to watch.   
 
If you get through the regional, I agree that when you get to the CWS, west region teams are at a disadvantage to teams that regularly have 4th and 5th starters, assuming that you stick around long enough.   

But only the NWC does not have a tournament to decide the Pool A.

As for the national committee, the teams are judged on the entire season for a Pool C bid.

"Last number of games" has not been a D-III baseball criterion in my memory.

I believe Conference Tourney makes the team EARN their right to the regional. To me it is ROUND 1 of the playoffs, Regional being Round 2 to get to ROUND 3 in Appleton.

If you cant win your conference tourney do you deserve to move on? Not in my opinion. Not in DIII baseball.

So the other 24 games would only be for seeding in the conference tournament?  That seems like a lot of games for something more trivial.  The best team week in and week out earns that automatic bid.  A team that limps into a conference tournament and somehow gets hot seems like a flawed system to me

[108 Stitches]

I agree with Crash. You get a seeding based on in season performance and then have to earn the right to represent your conference. If you have played a strong enough schedule and done well enough then the team will likely get a Pool C bid, but you have to develop and be prepared as a team at the end of the season to win. That is the whole point in picking the most competitive teams come the tournament. Plus it makes it much more fun and interesting for the players, coaches and fans. 

[Just_Some_Guy]

Series I'm Looking Forward To This Weekend:

UT Tyler vs. Centenary
Hardin Simmons vs. Chapman
Linfield vs. Pac Lutheran
George Fox vs. Puget Sound
Redlands vs. Oxy (I guess...)

Not a super compelling weekend as none of the top conference teams square off against each other; however, always playoff implications on the line as the top teams need to try and sweep their series in order to stay in contention for a Pool C bid provided (in the case of the of ASC/SCIAC) they don't win their conference tournament.

*UT Tyler & Centenary are both atop their conferences, but Centenary is not playoff eligible and a non-conference opponent for the Patriots.

JSG

[CrashDavisD3]

Once a top team in the West,  Chapman has now lost 7 in a row and 8 of last 9. A very young team in 2013. The once dominant team in the West is now 4 games under .500. In 2011 playing for the National Championship seems like a long time ago now.

They still have a chance to get into a top 4 spot for the SCIAC tournament but will have to win their remaining 10 SCIAC conference games.


This is the same team that has wins over Kean, Trinity, Cal Lutheran, Pomona Pitzer, Occidental and La Verne.  4 of these teams in the TOP 25  All with winning records.

[Whatagame]

Series I'm Looking Forward To This Weekend:

UT Tyler vs. Centenary
Hardin Simmons vs. Chapman
Linfield vs. Pac Lutheran
George Fox vs. Puget Sound
Redlands vs. Oxy (I guess...)

Not a super compelling weekend as none of the top conference teams square off against each other; however, always playoff implications on the line as the top teams need to try and sweep their series in order to stay in contention for a Pool C bid provided (in the case of the of ASC/SCIAC) they don't win their conference tournament.

*UT Tyler & Centenary are both atop their conferences, but Centenary is not playoff eligible and a non-conference opponent for the Patriots.

JSG

The two NWC series are very interesting, indeed.  It will be difficult for either Linfield or G. Fox to sweep - if someone does sweep - on the road, it will be a statement.  Pac Lu's offense has not produced this season, but Beatty and Lubking have the ability to shut anyone down for a game.  Puget Sound has been a scrapper all season in-conference.  They took a game from Linfield, and swept PLU last weekend.  Fox is hot, coming off a sweep of Whitworth, but was nearly swept the previous weekend, losing 2/3 to Whitman.

After a stretch of beautiful weather, the Northwest is looking rainy and cold again - back to normal, but they'll get the games in....

....Crash....Chapman is actually 5 games under .500, at 11-16.

[CrashDavisD3]

Series I'm Looking Forward To This Weekend:

UT Tyler vs. Centenary
Hardin Simmons vs. Chapman
Linfield vs. Pac Lutheran
George Fox vs. Puget Sound
Redlands vs. Oxy (I guess...)

Not a super compelling weekend as none of the top conference teams square off against each other; however, always playoff implications on the line as the top teams need to try and sweep their series in order to stay in contention for a Pool C bid provided (in the case of the of ASC/SCIAC) they don't win their conference tournament.

*UT Tyler & Centenary are both atop their conferences, but Centenary is not playoff eligible and a non-conference opponent for the Patriots.

JSG

The two NWC series are very interesting, indeed.  It will be difficult for either Linfield or G. Fox to sweep - if someone does sweep - on the road, it will be a statement.  Pac Lu's offense has not produced this season, but Beatty and Lubking have the ability to shut anyone down for a game.  Puget Sound has been a scrapper all season in-conference.  They took a game from Linfield, and swept PLU last weekend.  Fox is hot, coming off a sweep of Whitworth, but was nearly swept the previous weekend, losing 2/3 to Whitman.

After a stretch of beautiful weather, the Northwest is looking rainy and cold again - back to normal, but they'll get the games in....

....Crash....Chapman is actually 5 games under .500, at 11-16.

WOW...I am a day behind. Last year a .500 season this year could be a losing season....All started to happen when they joined the SCIAC....Maybe it is time to go INDEPENDENT again. I bet they miss being a Pool B bid....Things are not going well in the OC....

[Patriotfan87]

UTT takes game one from Centenary 7-4. Both teams put up 4 in the first but the Patriots contained the Gents for the next 8.

[TexasBB]

Did Chapman have a coaching change in the last 2 years?  I am not as familiar with them but often times in D III the ability of coaches to recurit makes all of the difference in the world.

TexasBB

[108 Stitches]

TexasBB,

Chapman is one of the most successful programs in the West the past 10 years. They lost one of the top pitchers to the draft last year(Jt), as well as two others to injuries. They are just in a transition year and are a very young team, which based on what I saw was quite talented and will be back in the win column next year. Their coach is well respected. Crash and some others may be disappointed but sometimes programs have transition years and they are going through one this year. They could be a scary 4 seed in the SCIAC tournament if they can get in.