BB: Top Teams in West Region

[108 Stitches]

I think that this year, the West is much weaker than past years, but it is early so we will see how teams develop.

Maybe in top end talent, but I will say that this is the best NWC I have seen from top to bottom in the 6+ years that I have followed it.

Really? Better than the Linfield/Whitworth teams from 4-6 years ago?

[Jim Dixon]

I think that this year, the West is much weaker than past years, but it is early so we will see how teams develop.

Maybe in top end talent, but I will say that this is the best NWC I have seen from top to bottom in the 6+ years that I have followed it.

Really? Better than the Linfield/Whitworth teams from 4-6 years ago?

The highs might not be as high, but the lows not nearly as low as before.

[Whatagame]

I think that this year, the West is much weaker than past years, but it is early so we will see how teams develop.

Maybe in top end talent, but I will say that this is the best NWC I have seen from top to bottom in the 6+ years that I have followed it.

Really? Better than the Linfield/Whitworth teams from 4-6 years ago?

The highs might not be as high, but the lows not nearly as low as before.

Certainly its early, but there looks to be much more parity in the conference as of now, versus the last 6+ seasons.  Just a couple examples, Lewis and Clark leads all conference schools in team batting average, for both overall games played, and for in-conference play, and this includes conference stats from last week's series vs. the best pitching staff, in conference, PLU.

Whitman sits currently 3rd in team ERA for games played overall, and is a very close second to PLU in team ERA for conference play - and is 1.6 ERA points better than Linfield.  They've actually allowed the fewest runs, in conference play (among teams that have played at least 5 conference games), including last Saturday's sweep of Whitworth (the Sunday game was snowed out), the pre-season coaches pick as conference champion, which included a 12K no-hitter (by a Frosh who is currently 3-0 with a sub 1.00 ERA. So yeah, it's currently wide open in the conference.

[SoCalBaseballfan]

March 4, 2017
ASC - Texas-Dallas 12-1
ASC - Texas-Tyler 10-2
NWC -Pacific Lutheran 7-2
SCAC -Centenary 11-3
SCIAC -Chapman10-3
NWC -Pacific Lutheran 7-2

[Jack Parkman]

Interesting stuff out West so far...

Texas-Tyler and UT Dallas are off to great starts but they don't play each other in a conference series this year.  Depending on how the rest of the year pans out I could see both of them making it to the Tyler regional.  Louisiana College is 9-3 on the young season but 4 of those wins are against Rust, who is possibly the worst D3 team in the country.

The SCIAC is a little up and down.  Chapman is 6-0 and La Verne and Oxy are both 7-2 with La Verne winning a series against Cal Lu.  CMS is 4-2 but 3 of those wins are against Caltech (in what was a very competitive series).  Cal Lu is 3-3 and has a series win over Oxy and just beat a highly ranked Kean squad.  The rest of the schools have just been beating up on each other but the race for the top 4 should be a good one.

The biggest question in the NWC is what in the world is going on with Whitworth?!?!  Starting out 0-5 is no way to make it into the NWC Tournament and they have to turn it around in a hurry or they will be playing for nothing but pride.  Willamette has series wins over Linfield and Pacific as well as a sweep of Whitworth.  I still see PLU as the favorite in the NWC but some nice surprises up there.

[108 Stitches]

I would also add that this year may be the year that Centenary or TLU break through the Trinity juggernaut in the SCAC.  It would not surprise me to see Trinity drop out of the top 20 for the first time in  ... I don't know how many years. They have a lot of young talent, but it is going to take time for them to develop, Scannell has a way of getting his teams ready for the post season, but I am not sure they have enough time to get their young guys developed to compete at the highest level. Centenary seem like they are fielding a competitive team again this year.

[Jim Dixon]

I would also add that this year may be the year that Centenary or TLU break through the Trinity juggernaut in the SCAC.  It would not surprise me to see Trinity drop out of the top 20 for the first time in  ... I don't know how many years. They have a lot of young talent, but it is going to take time for them to develop, Scannell has a way of getting his teams ready for the post season, but I am not sure they have enough time to get their young guys developed to compete at the highest level. Centenary seem like they are fielding a competitive team again this year.

I need more time to see this team play.  Four wins against Rust inflates their record as CalTech should be favored over Rust.

[Jack Parkman]

I would also add that this year may be the year that Centenary or TLU break through the Trinity juggernaut in the SCAC.  It would not surprise me to see Trinity drop out of the top 20 for the first time in  ... I don't know how many years. They have a lot of young talent, but it is going to take time for them to develop, Scannell has a way of getting his teams ready for the post season, but I am not sure they have enough time to get their young guys developed to compete at the highest level. Centenary seem like they are fielding a competitive team again this year.

I need more time to see this team play.  Four wins against Rust inflates their record as CalTech should be favored over Rust.

Jim-  I agree 100% and that's why I didn't mention them.  Great record so far but the 4 wins against Rust and 2 wins against a school from WI coming straight from the gym seem to inflate things a bit.

I think the SCAC as a whole is pretty down this year but that doesn't mean they won't have success when it comes to the Regionals.  In the past, it seemed like Trinity, TLU and Centenary were all on the map as a legit threat on the national stage.  I don't see that as of now but there is still 2 months left to play.  I feel like the West as a whole is anyones game and Appleton will likely see a new face this year.

[108 Stitches]

2017 D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25, week 2
Through games of Sunday March 5, 2017

#
School (1st votes)   Rec   Pts   Prev.
1   Emory (17)   12-1   615   1
2   Shenandoah (8)   10-0   568   6
3   Cortland   5-2   550   2
4   Birmingham-Southern   11-3   541   3
5   UW-Whitewater   0-0   449   7
6   Ramapo   0-0   429   8
7   UW-La Crosse   1-1   425   5
8   Texas-Tyler   12-2   381   13
9   St. John Fisher   2-1   369   10
10   LaGrange   15-2   353   16
11   Randolph-Macon   8-4   300   9
12   Wooster   0-0   290   12
13   Tufts   0-0   270   15
14   Keystone   0-2   267   4
15   Texas-Dallas   12-2   220   23
16   Kean   7-3   218   14
17   Oswego State   6-2   217   18
18   Marietta   2-0   203   21
19   Johns Hopkins   4-1   191   rv
20   TCNJ   0-0   174   17
21   La Roche   2-4   104   11
22   Pacific Lutheran   9-3   102   rv
23   Roanoke   11-2   91   rv
24   Baldwin Wallace   8-0   78   rv
25   Concordia-Chicago   3-2   74   22
Dropped out: No. 19 Trinity (Texas), No. 20  Washington (Mo.), No. 24 Otterbein, No. 25 North Central (Ill.).

Others receiving votes: Washington (Mo.) 59, North Central (Ill.) 56, Otterbein 53, Webster 49, Widener 43, Chapman 32, UMass.-Boston 31, Augustana (Ill.) 29, Centenary (La.) 28, Rowan 27, Washington & Jefferson 26, Trinity (Tex.) 26, St. Thomas (Minn.) 23, Salisbury 22, Saint John's (Minn.) 20, Centre 20, Southern Maine 20, Alvernia 16, Hampden-Sydney 12, Thomas More 9, Denison 8, Adrian 7, Elizabethtown 4, St. Scholastica 4, Cal Lutheran 3, Ohio Northern 3, Saint Joseph's (Me.) 3, Texas Lutheran 3, UW-Oshkosh 3, Endicott 2, Frostburg State 2, Illinois Wesleyan 1, MIT 1, Salve Regina 1.

Big day for the Trinity faithful, first time in over 6 years (maybe more) the team has not been ranked. 

[Jack Parkman]

2017 D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25, week 2
Through games of Sunday March 5, 2017

#
School (1st votes)   Rec   Pts   Prev.
1   Emory (17)   12-1   615   1
2   Shenandoah (8)   10-0   568   6
3   Cortland   5-2   550   2
4   Birmingham-Southern   11-3   541   3
5   UW-Whitewater   0-0   449   7
6   Ramapo   0-0   429   8
7   UW-La Crosse   1-1   425   5
8   Texas-Tyler   12-2   381   13
9   St. John Fisher   2-1   369   10
10   LaGrange   15-2   353   16
11   Randolph-Macon   8-4   300   9
12   Wooster   0-0   290   12
13   Tufts   0-0   270   15
14   Keystone   0-2   267   4
15   Texas-Dallas   12-2   220   23
16   Kean   7-3   218   14
17   Oswego State   6-2   217   18
18   Marietta   2-0   203   21
19   Johns Hopkins   4-1   191   rv
20   TCNJ   0-0   174   17
21   La Roche   2-4   104   11
22   Pacific Lutheran   9-3   102   rv
23   Roanoke   11-2   91   rv
24   Baldwin Wallace   8-0   78   rv
25   Concordia-Chicago   3-2   74   22
Dropped out: No. 19 Trinity (Texas), No. 20  Washington (Mo.), No. 24 Otterbein, No. 25 North Central (Ill.).

Others receiving votes: Washington (Mo.) 59, North Central (Ill.) 56, Otterbein 53, Webster 49, Widener 43, Chapman 32, UMass.-Boston 31, Augustana (Ill.) 29, Centenary (La.) 28, Rowan 27, Washington & Jefferson 26, Trinity (Tex.) 26, St. Thomas (Minn.) 23, Salisbury 22, Saint John's (Minn.) 20, Centre 20, Southern Maine 20, Alvernia 16, Hampden-Sydney 12, Thomas More 9, Denison 8, Adrian 7, Elizabethtown 4, St. Scholastica 4, Cal Lutheran 3, Ohio Northern 3, Saint Joseph's (Me.) 3, Texas Lutheran 3, UW-Oshkosh 3, Endicott 2, Frostburg State 2, Illinois Wesleyan 1, MIT 1, Salve Regina 1.

Big day for the Trinity faithful, first time in over 6 years (maybe more) the team has not been ranked.

This is all pretty interesting to see how the voters look at these teams week by week.  Out of curiosity I took a look and compared the Week 1 poll and Week 2 poll to see how it trends for the West teams.  I have no idea how everyone looks at these teams and have zero faith that I could come up with a national poll that is even remotely accurate.

UT Tyler:
Week 1 votes: 284
Week 2 votes: 381
Week 2 results: 4-0

UT Dallas:
Week 1 votes: 98
Week 2 votes: 220
Week 2 results: 3-1

PLU:
Week 1 votes: 57
Week 2 votes: 102
Week 2 results: 2-1

Chapman:
Week 1 votes: 16
Week 2 votes: 32
Week 2 results: 2-2

Centenary:
Week 1 votes: 10
Week 2 votes: 28
Week 2 results: 2-0

Trinity:
Week 1 votes: 150
Week 2 votes: 26
Week 2 results: 2-2

Cal Lu:
Week 1 votes: 20
Week 2 votes: 3
Week 2 results: 1-0

Trinity and Cal Lu were the big "losers" in the poll and I wonder if that simply has more to do with other schools around the country starting to play or if they are just seen in a different light than in the pre-season?

[TexasBB]

It is way too early to have any idea of what the true top 25 will be. Some teams that are ranked have not yet even played yet and several others only have a handful of games.  I would not get too excited until April 1, when most teams will have some games under their belts. 

[Jack Parkman]

It is way too early to have any idea of what the true top 25 will be. Some teams that are ranked have not yet even played yet and several others only have a handful of games.  I would not get too excited until April 1, when most teams will have some games under their belts.

Agreed 100%.  A lot of teams will play their way in or out of the poll.

[Jim Dixon]

It is way too early to have any idea of what the true top 25 will be. Some teams that are ranked have not yet even played yet and several others only have a handful of games.  I would not get too excited until April 1, when most teams will have some games under their belts.

My ballot actually changed very little on the top end for week 2.  This is very unusual for the early part of the season.

[SoCalBaseballfan]

ASC - Texas-Tyler 15-2
ASC - Texas-Dallas 13-2
SCAC - Centenary- LA 13-3
NWC - Pacific 9-3
SCIAC - Chapman 12-4
NWC -  Williamette 11-5

[SoCalBaseballfan]

ASC - Texas-Tyler 15-2
ASC - Texas-Dallas 13-2
SCAC - Centenary- LA 13-3
NWC - Pacific 9-3
SCIAC - Chapman 12-4
NWC -  Williamette 11-5

Lose 2 out of 3 to Whittier changes this