BB: Top Teams in West Region

[TexasBB]

Another big difference is that with an early start there is less bunching of games. In the ASC there is no need to develop more than 4 starters since the schedule generally is for one game on Weds against a non-confernce team followed by 3 weekend confernce games (one on friday and double header on Sat.).  This is in effect for most of March and April. In the north east they play more games during the week since they have to. Thus they have to develop more pitchers.  Thus by tournament time the ASC is forced into using pitchers that have not seen alot of mound time. That hurts them IMO. (Not only ASC but most southern and southwest conferences)

TexasBB

[CrashDavisD3]

Another big difference is that with an early start there is less bunching of games. In the ASC there is no need to develop more than 4 starters since the schedule generally is for one game on Weds against a non-confernce team followed by 3 weekend confernce games (one on friday and double header on Sat.).  This is in effect for most of March and April. In the north east they play more games during the week since they have to. Thus they have to develop more pitchers.  Thus by tournament time the ASC is forced into using pitchers that have not seen alot of mound time. That hurts them IMO. (Not only ASC but most southern and southwest conferences)

TexasBB

I believe a deep experienced pitching staff is the real difference why you see Teams from the West get close to the National Championship get close but seem to be a 1/2 pitchers away from winning the whole thing. Very true with Chapman who lost their #1 in 2009 and 2011.

[108 Stitches]

D1 has a unified start date and you have all of the Northern teams wanting to have a staggered start.  No matter what you do someone is going to be unhappy. There is also a lot of talk (by Northern teams) about moving the start date back even further, which impacts the draft and CWS, etc, etc. D3 baseball is actually very unique in college ball where Northern teams are actually more competitive at the CWS level than Southern teams which dominate D1 ball. So maybe the system is not so bad after all....depending on your perspective.

[CrashDavisD3]

D1 has a unified start date and you have all of the Northern teams wanting to have a staggered start.  No matter what you do someone is going to be unhappy. There is also a lot of talk (by Northern teams) about moving the start date back even further, which impacts the draft and CWS, etc, etc. D3 baseball is actually very unique in college ball where Northern teams are actually more competitive at the CWS level than Southern teams which dominate D1 ball. So maybe the system is not so bad after all....depending on your perspective.

Like anything in life you never will make everyone happy. Some complained about the bat changes but it has made it a better game since the change. Next year ALL D3 games will count in the primary criteria for Pool B/C bids and some will not be happy about that change. But it will also be a good thing in my opinion. So a uniform start date could also be a good thing. Does not seem to hurt DI baseball at all IMO. Too me it makes no sense that some teams in the West are finishing playing 2-4 weeks before the regional starts and this has hurt them in my opinion. Change is good thing.

IF the regional stated tomorrow these are my picks. Still lots of baseball yet but I wanted to warm up the crystal ball.

1) Linfield
2) Trinity-Texas
3) Cal Lutheran
4) Pomona-Pitzer
5) George Fox
6) Texas-Tyler
WINNER: Linfield 

On the bubble Texas-Lutheran 

[Ralph Turner]

D1 has a unified start date and you have all of the Northern teams wanting to have a staggered start.  No matter what you do someone is going to be unhappy. There is also a lot of talk (by Northern teams) about moving the start date back even further, which impacts the draft and CWS, etc, etc. D3 baseball is actually very unique in college ball where Northern teams are actually more competitive at the CWS level than Southern teams which dominate D1 ball. So maybe the system is not so bad after all....depending on your perspective.

I think that is because a lot of northern "low D-1/wannabe-never could D-1" talent stays home and realistically goes to college in D-3 and grows up, rather than chasing the dream during the 18-22 y/o time frame by going JUCO, etc., hoping to be picked up in the Draft or by a D-1.

Look at the power conferences in the northern latitudes.

LEC -- 8 public schools.
SUNYAC -- 7 public schools, but Cortland is the beast!
NJAC -  what a power they are!
Salisbury (State) MD to be joined by CNU in the Capital AC next year.
WIAC -- need I elaborate?

And that is only a partial list.

Even the MASCAC has had teams that make noise.

[TexasBB]

In the for what it is worth category, UTT beat the #2 ranked NAIA team, LSU-Shreveport, in Shreveport last night 5-4. Playing NAIA teams, even those nationally ranked, are not counted in evaluating the strength of schedule of a DIV III team. Perhaps this should change as a lot of D-III teams in Texas play NAIA schools simply due to the distance issues. Keep in mind NAIA schools offer scholarships and therefore, in theory, attract better and more baseball players. LSU-Shreveport has already played 30 games this season as they do not have the limitations on schedule or # of games that D-III schools have. So in order to beat such a team, a D-III team should receive some recognition.

Texas BB

[Ralph Turner]

In the for what it is worth category, UTT beat the #2 ranked NAIA team, LSU-Shreveport, in Shreveport last night 5-4. Playing NAIA teams, even those nationally ranked, are not counted in evaluating the strength of schedule of a DIV III team. Perhaps this should change as a lot of D-III teams in Texas play NAIA schools simply due to the distance issues. Keep in mind NAIA schools offer scholarships and therefore, in theory, attract better and more baseball players. LSU-Shreveport has already played 30 games this season as they do not have the limitations on schedule or # of games that D-III schools have. So in order to beat such a team, a D-III team should receive some recognition.

Texas BB

Playing NAIA teams is against the philosophy of D-III.  That has been determined by the presidents of the member institutions and repetitively affirmed over the last 40 years of D-III.

We just happen to be one of the areas where there are limited numbers of D-III opponents, and NAIA schools can fill the void.

[108 Stitches]

Keep in mind NAIA schools offer scholarships and therefore, in theory, attract better and more baseball players. LSU-Shreveport has already played 30 games this season as they do not have the limitations on schedule or # of games that D-III schools have. So in order to beat such a team, a D-III team should receive some recognition.
Texas BB

Texas, this is not necessarily 100% true, I think you will find that the top DIII programs consistently recruit borderline (and sometimes not borderline) D1 players who get as much academic money as they would/did get athletic money. There could be a whole separate thread on this but the top DIII programs could beat many of the lower level D1 programs in the country. These mid week games for the other programs may not be throwing their top arms also. So it is really apples to oranges.

[TexasBB]

Texas, this is not necessarily 100% true, I think you will find that the top DIII programs consistently recruit borderline (and sometimes not borderline) D1 players who get as much academic money as they would/did get athletic money. There could be a whole separate thread on this but the top DIII programs could beat many of the lower level D1 programs in the country. These mid week games for the other programs may not be throwing their top arms also. So it is really apples to oranges.
[/quote]

It was a midweek game for UTT as well and they did not throw their top arms. So from that perspective it is not an apples and oranges comparison.  Top level NAIA schools are better than low level D-I and probably on par with upper level D-II.  The games "count" from a total # of games played perspective but are not counted when evaluating strength of schedule.  So DIV III does not completely ignore these games since you can't go over the 40 game limit by playing a bunch of extra games against NAIA oppoenets. You just don't get any credit when you beat a top level NAIA team or detriment by loosing to a low level NAIA team.

[Piobark]

Some of the NWC schools also have the NAIA teams on their schedules due to a lack of opponents and/or a desire to contain travel costs. The games against Corban, Concordia (Portland) and Lewis and Clark State add diversity to the schedule as well as some quality opponents.

Not counting those games will probably result in the better of these schools adding more mid week "non-conference" games against each other which is less than desirable in my opinion.

The other option would be to move to a 4 games against conference opponents schedule which would make for some very long weekends and potentially more time away from class. Either you play double headers Saturday and Sunday or you play Friday, Saturday (2) and Sunday - which would mean missing class Thursday and Friday for the longer bus trips.

[CrashDavisD3]

SCIAC teams play NAIA and DII schools to fill out their schedule along with  DIII other region schools that travel to SoCal or Arizona. I do not believe you will ever see non DIII games count as part of the Primary Criteria for picking Pool B/C bids.

As everyone knows starting in 2014 ALL D3 games will count towards the Primary Criteria. How will this impact games with non DIII programs. Less, more or the same. I also believe that 70% of game must be In Region DIII games to be playoff eligible.

[TexasBB]

What all of this discussion shows, is that the Western Region teams have been forced to play a schedule that includes non D-III oppoenents due to distance and the lack of D-III schools. The east does not have that problem as the distances between D-III schools is relatively short and their are plenty of them.  So the question is what can be done to take into account the werstenr regions distance issues? Right now this issue is simply being brushed aside as there are no exceptions. Is that the right answer?

[Piobark]

Here's a suggestion - only count the last 30 DIII games played. If teams need to add NAIA schools to fill out their pre conference game schedule, then those games won't matter. The same is true for the Northern schools coming down to play the warm weather schools - the first ten games on their schedule wouldn't count either, lessening the impact of a potentially difficult road trip.

Thirty isn't a magic number - could be 35 - but the idea would be that teams could have a pre-season warmup that doesn't count - and then a games count period which would be conference games or nearly all conference games.

[ILVBB]

The west has to be considered the bastard stepchild of D3. The geography of the region (PNW, SoCal and Texas) is greater than 5 of the east coast regions combined. The geography creates necessity on several fronts; scheduling is one. The impact is felt on a number of fronts which always makes comparison to other teams and regions difficult.

There are teams (example: Sul Ross) that have very long bus trips to play games. Each of the areas in the west have there respective conferences to play; without mid-week non-confernece games it is either an NAIA, D2 or a protracted trip to play a game.

I really question whether those that make the rules understand the difficulty that exists because of geography.

[OshDude]

What all of this discussion shows, is that the Western Region teams have been forced to play a schedule that includes non D-III oppoenents due to distance and the lack of D-III schools. The east does not have that problem as the distances between D-III schools is relatively short and their are plenty of them.  So the question is what can be done to take into account the werstenr regions distance issues? Right now this issue is simply being brushed aside as there are no exceptions. Is that the right answer?

I contacted several coaches, including four from the West, for an upcoming column. The four West coaches – one each from the SCIAC and ASC, two from the NWC – were in favor of the rule change to varying degrees.