BB: Top Teams in West Region

[Patriotfan87]

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

They also beat the #5 NAIA team (Rogers State) 3-1 on opening day.

[CrashDavisD3]

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

They also beat the #5 NAIA team (Rogers State) 3-1 on opening day.

While it is a good win for the program...REMEMBER most NAIA teams and DII teams will be having a lot of non starters playing as well as not facing any of their top pitchers. Most top D2 and NAIA programs playing with their starters and top pitchers will win most of the time.

[Richard Hamstocks]

REMEMBER most NAIA teams and DII teams will be having a lot of non starters playing as well as not facing any of their top pitchers. Most top D2 and NAIA programs playing with their starters and top pitchers will win most of the time.

No need to conjecture when we can just check.
Looking at their box score, here is the number of starts each player in the line-up has had thus far this season for LSU-S (out of 30), in the order of their lineup: 17 (catcher), 30, 30, 23, 16, 19, 26, 29, 2 (DH). 
So it seems only their 9 hole DH isn't a normal starter (one of their pinch hitters seems to be their usual DH).
On the mound, both teams went with a pitch by committee approach.  LSU-S seems to have started one of their regular starters (their regular midweek guy I'm guessing), as he's leading the team in GS (7).  The other 5 guys who saw action all pitch fairly regularly (there are 3 guys on their roster with 7.1 IP or fewer, none of them got in). 
Who would win on a Friday?  Unclear.  But it seems to bode well in terms of depth of arms to be able to hold a top NAIA school starting 8 of their regular position players to 4 runs.   
Good win.

[Just_Some_Guy]

REMEMBER most NAIA teams and DII teams will be having a lot of non starters playing as well as not facing any of their top pitchers. Most top D2 and NAIA programs playing with their starters and top pitchers will win most of the time.

No need to conjecture when we can just check.
Looking at their box score, here is the number of starts each player in the line-up has had thus far this season for LSU-S (out of 30), in the order of their lineup: 17 (catcher), 30, 30, 23, 16, 19, 26, 29, 2 (DH). 
So it seems only their 9 hole DH isn't a normal starter (one of their pinch hitters seems to be their usual DH).
On the mound, both teams went with a pitch by committee approach.  LSU-S seems to have started one of their regular starters (their regular midweek guy I'm guessing), as he's leading the team in GS (7).  The other 5 guys who saw action all pitch fairly regularly (there are 3 guys on their roster with 7.1 IP or fewer, none of them got in). 
Who would win on a Friday?  Unclear.  But it seems to bode well in terms of depth of arms to be able to hold a top NAIA school starting 8 of their regular position players to 4 runs.   
Good win.

Good research/analysis/breakdown.

[Richard Hamstocks]

It should also be noted that they are number 2 in the pre-season poll.  The first in-season poll doesn't come out until the 25th of this month.  This seems to be strongly a function of their team last year when they were ranked number 1 most of the year and ended up 3rd in the final poll.  This year, they are 3rd in their conference (conference record as well as overall).  They're still a good team though, perhaps not great.

Waiting until teams have played a bunch of games before trying to rank them...seems to make some sense.  Though seeing as at least one person waited until Oxy was swept by Cal Lu before ranking them confirms that data is only helpful if you look at it.

[CrashDavisD3]

Polls in February to mid March for DIII really have a pre-season flavor to them until most teams have 10 games under their belts.

April weekly polls will the ones the really start meaning something.

Polls should look at

Did they beat the teams they should?

Are they beating the good to great teams?

Who are they playing and beating (Occidental is a great example)

[LongBallGone]

Perhaps, one of you seasoned veterans of D3 Baseball could fill me in on this, but I'm just curious what are the chances, if any, that a West-region team could get shipped to another Regional this year if there are more than 6 qualified teams? I know last year they decided to ship Coe and St. Johns to the West and ultimately only 4 West-region schools made Regionals. Last year, beyond the conference champions, there weren't very many West teams that looked qualified based on their resumes so those moves seemed justifiable. However, this year it seems like the opposite is true. Right now there are about 8-9 teams that have shown they deserve to be in the discussion. If that holds true by the end of the season, do those 2-3 teams left out of the Top 6 have a chance elsewhere?

Interesting predicament. Any insight from you guys who are more experienced with D3 baseball would be appreciated.

[OshDude]

Perhaps, one of you seasoned veterans of D3 Baseball could fill me in on this, but I'm just curious what are the chances, if any, that a West-region team could get shipped to another Regional this year if there are more than 6 qualified teams? I know last year they decided to ship Coe and St. Johns to the West and ultimately only 4 West-region schools made Regionals. Last year, beyond the conference champions, there weren't very many West teams that looked qualified based on their resumes so those moves seemed justifiable. However, this year it seems like the opposite is true. Right now there are about 8-9 teams that have shown they deserve to be in the discussion. If that holds true by the end of the season, do those 2-3 teams left out of the Top 6 have a chance elsewhere?

Interesting predicament. Any insight from you guys who are more experienced with D3 baseball would be appreciated.

The field is selected for it's bracketed. If there are more than six West Region teams in the field, they could be shipped to another regional. If there are eight West teams, there's also a decent chance that Concordia would host eight teams.

[ILVBB]

LongBall

It is statistically unlikely; generally with the winner from the NWC, SCAIC, ASC and now the SCAC making up the core four, you would need more than 2 teams to earn a Pool C bid for there to be a need to ship a team out. It has happened, but by the numbers it is unlikely to occur.

[CrashDavisD3]

Teams have been shipped out of the West region to play in the NCAA Regional playoffs. It has happen in prior years for the West. A few years back Linfield was sent to another region. Both Chapman and Linfield made it to Appleton, WI in the NCAA DIII Championship round. Both from the West Region.

I really doubt the West Region will host 8 teams. The past few years it has been a 6 team regional. Also last year only ?  teams from the West Region made it to the regional playoffs and were in the West Regional. ?? teams from outside the West Region were shipped to the West Regional to play. In 2013 there are 38 teams in the West Region. 37 are elgibile to play in the Regional playoffs.

I think the number of teams in the West Regional is based upon the number of teams in the Region and the ACCESS RATIO.

In 2013 I also do not think it is likely more than 6 teams from the West will make the regional playoffs

Someone more informed than me will have to explain the ACCESS RATIO.

[108 Stitches]

L1 Compute to Data Access Ratio
Metric Description
This metric measures the computational density of an application, or how many computations it is performing on average for each piece of data loaded. Use this metric to judge suitability of an application for running on the Intel MIC architecture. Applications that perform well on the Intel MIC architecture should be vectorized, and ideally be able to perform multiple operations on the same pieces of data (or same cachelines). The L1 ratio calculates an average of the number of vectorized operations that occur for each L1 cache access.

Possible Issues
Most codes that run well on the Intel MIC architecture should be able to achieve a ratio of computation to L1 access that is greater than or equal to their Vectorization Intensity. This is similar to a 1:1 ratio - one data access for one computation - except that by vectorizing each computation should be operating on multiple elements at once. An application that cannot achieve a ratio above this threshold may not be computationally dense enough to fully utilize the Intel MIC architecture.

[Ralph Turner]

Teams have been shipped out of the West region to play in the NCAA Regional playoffs. It has happen in prior years for the West. A few years back Linfield was sent to another region. Both Chapman and Linfield made it to Appleton, WI in the NCAA DIII Championship round. Both from the West Region.

I really doubt the West Region will host 8 teams. The past few years it has been a 6 team regional. Also last year only ?  teams from the West Region made it to the regional playoffs and were in the West Regional. ?? teams from outside the West Region were shipped to the West Regional to play. In 2013 there are 38 teams in the West Region. 37 are elgibile to play in the Regional playoffs.

I think the number of teams in the West Regional is based upon the number of teams in the Region and the ACCESS RATIO.In 2013 I also do not think it is likely more than 6 teams from the West will make the regional playoffs

Someone more informed than me will have to explain the ACCESS RATIO.

Respectfully no.

The number of teams in the Regional is probably a function of local need (500-mile radius, etc.)

The ACCESS Ratio is what determines the number of bids for a sport.

It is the number of programs that offer the sport divided by 6.5 to give the number of bids to provide in that Championship.

[Patriotfan87]

UT Tyler downs ETBU 15-2. Hoping the rain holds off tomorrow long enough to finish the series.

[108 Stitches]

Just checked scores and Linfield is officially back sweeping Witworth today. They will be a force to be reckoned with in the West. 

Trinity swept Rockford, however IMO they could have fielded their JV team and beaten them, this is not the caliber teams TU needs to be facing. Frankly this series means very little other than they did what they should have done, and were able to get some work in with some other pitchers (who looked good). Friday night was deplorable with 7 errors and giving up 6 runs..... I see that D3 baseball had something about making a statement for the top spot. This is my team, but give me a break..... playing a team like this is a waste of the schedule. I realize that filling a schedule is difficult, in the West but please bring in some quality opponents. You would think that some of the high quality teams from the east would relish the opportunity to come to Texas and fill in their schedule with some quality opponents, but Rockford? Sorry I am not impressed.

[wildcat11]

Just checked scores and Linfield is officially back sweeping Witworth today. They will be a force to be reckoned with in the West. 

Great day for the 'Cats!