BB: Top Teams in West Region

[Purple Heys]

McMurry beat Trinity 3-1 today. TU #1 James Nittoli (W-L 5-2; 9 GS and ERA 2.25) went 4.0 IP, gave up 2 runs in the first in the 1st and got the loss. Trinity went "pitching by committee" for the rest of the game.

Making his 3rd start of the year was McMurry Senior Tyler Jenkins (2-3) went got the complete game win.

Seems Trinity has been off their feed the last couple of weeks.   If you can't get more than one run in your final home game of the year off a guy with one win on the season, and who prior to last night had an ERA over 7 and hadn't lasted more than 5 1/3 innings in a start, well, that's not good. 

Dude...that's college baseball.   

A perfect game, played by imperfect people in imperfect conditions, coached by imperfect people, and officiated by imperfect people.

One example is random chance.
Several examples - losses to sub-.500 teams in the last two weeks - could indicate more than that.

Fixed it... 

[Teddy_Ballgame]

Wouldn't be surprised to see NWC get shut out of the regional rankings today. As Jim mentioned, a lot of parity doesn't help. But what's more significant is that they didn't fare well in non-conference. Here are the non-con records of the top 4 NWC teams:

1. Pac Lu 5-10
2. Linfield 6-8
3. Willamette 12-6 (not bad)
4. George Fox 10-7 (Autobid)

What does that leave us?

Trinity will pretty clearly be the #1, and Redlands and Chapman should both be up there. Concordia should get a spot too.

I think La Verne, UT-Tyler, and Centenary are the next most deserving (leaving UT-Dallas, Pomona, Whittier, and the four NWC teams in the next tier), and that leaves out the NWC.

(this assuming 6 teams ranked, which is what I recall... Someone please correct me if I'm wrong)

[Jack Parkman]

Wouldn't be surprised to see NWC get shut out of the regional rankings today. As Jim mentioned, a lot of parity doesn't help. But what's more significant is that they didn't fare well in non-conference. Here are the non-con records of the top 4 NWC teams:

1. Pac Lu 5-10
2. Linfield 6-8
3. Willamette 12-6 (not bad)
4. George Fox 10-7 (Autobid)

What does that leave us?

Trinity will pretty clearly be the #1, and Redlands and Chapman should both be up there. Concordia should get a spot too.

I think La Verne, UT-Tyler, and Centenary are the next most deserving (leaving UT-Dallas, Pomona, Whittier, and the four NWC teams in the next tier), and that leaves out the NWC.

(this assuming 6 teams ranked, which is what I recall... Someone please correct me if I'm wrong)

I do not expect to see Centenary in at all.  Their schedule leaves plenty to be desired (159).  I also agree that the NWC will not show up in the RR's and only Willamette will be in Spokane.  I think the SCIAC will be well represented as there are some pretty darn good teams this year.  I believe the ASC is a 1-bid league and the SCAC could get 2 in, but only if Trinity fails to win the conference tournament.  The other thing to think about is there are a total of 5 more losses that will go to either Trinity or Centenary (3 game series this weekend and 2 in the SCAC tourney). 

[Teddy_Ballgame]

I do not expect to see Centenary in at all.  Their schedule leaves plenty to be desired (159).  I also agree that the NWC will not show up in the RR's and only Willamette will be in Spokane.  I think the SCIAC will be well represented as there are some pretty darn good teams this year.  I believe the ASC is a 1-bid league and the SCAC could get 2 in, but only if Trinity fails to win the conference tournament.  The other thing to think about is there are a total of 5 more losses that will go to either Trinity or Centenary (3 game series this weekend and 2 in the SCAC tourney). 

1   Trinity (Texas)           28-4     31-4
2   Redlands                   28-9     28-9
3   Chapman                   27-10  17-10
4   Concordia (Texas)   25-12  25-12
5   Texas Lutheran           28-9     18-9
6   La Verne                   25-12   25-12
7   Texas-Tyler           23-13   23-13
8   Cal Lutheran           21-16   21-16

Good call on Centenary. Looks like we were right about the NWC, even with 8 teams ranked! Cal Lu is not the fourth SCIAC team I would have included (7th place in the SCIAC, under .500 in conference play), but they are the defending champs and have a good non-con showing. Still, there's no way they'll make it without a sweep of CMS and some help to get them into the SCIAC tournament.

Besides Cal Lu, these rankings make sense to me.

Also I'm a dummy and totally missed Tex Lu in my previous post.

[TexasBB]

Texas Lutheran and La Verne were both swept by Tyler.

[Jack Parkman]

Below are the current SOS for those teams you mentioned.  I'm really not sure I see how Tyler is ranked below either of them.

La Verne-63
TLU- 161
UT-Tyler- 46

[Ralph Turner]

Below are the current SOS for those teams you mentioned.  I'm really not sure I see how Tyler is ranked below either of them.

La Verne-63
TLU- 161
UT-Tyler- 46

UTT went 7-2 versus regionally ranked opponents

[Teddy_Ballgame]

Chapman, La Verne and Redlands all swept solid opponents this weekend and should maintain their spots in the rankings (though I agree it was odd to see Tyler behind ULV based on SOS and the head to head sweep). CLU dropped 2 of 3 to CMS, and did not make the SCIAC tournament. I think it's safe to say the defending national champs are donezo.

The SCIAC is in a great position to get at least one Pool C bid, depending on how things shake out this weekend. Redlands is the most obvious contender, but Chapman should be in a good position as well, especially if they can grab a win or two this weekend. ULV's road may be tougher, but making the championship game could be enough.

Meanwhile, Pomona backed into the tournament despite getting swept this weekend, after getting a lot of help from the other three tournament teams. They're happy to still be playing baseball, but if their bats get hot and they get some solid outings, they absolutely could make a run.

Friday games:
1. La Verne vs. 4. Pomona-Pitzer (at La Verne)
2. Redlands vs. 3. Chapman (at Redlands)

Double elimination tournament, with La Verne hosting all of the Saturday and Sunday games.

[108 Stitches]

Trinity dropped a big turd in Shreveport over the weekend. All teams go through a funk during the season, but going into a conference tournament is not the time to do it. I saw part of a couple of games on video and they did not look like the number 1 team in the country. Pitching looked subpar and offensive uninspired. I am sure Scannell is in their grill this week, polls don't mean a thing at this point but they better getting some inspiration in San Antonio this week.

[Jim Dixon]

Trinity dropped a big turd in Shreveport over the weekend. All teams go through a funk during the season, but going into a conference tournament is not the time to do it. I saw part of a couple of games on video and they did not look like the number 1 team in the country. Pitching looked subpar and offensive uninspired. I am sure Scannell is in their grill this week, polls don't mean a thing at this point but they better getting some inspiration in San Antonio this week.

Three losses in four games for Trinity.  The usual reason to finish first is to host, but the SCAC tournament is at a neutral site.

[Ralph Turner]

Trinity dropped a big turd in Shreveport over the weekend. All teams go through a funk during the season, but going into a conference tournament is not the time to do it. I saw part of a couple of games on video and they did not look like the number 1 team in the country. Pitching looked subpar and offensive uninspired. I am sure Scannell is in their grill this week, polls don't mean a thing at this point but they better getting some inspiration in San Antonio this week.

Three losses in four games for Trinity.  The usual reason to finish first is to host, but the SCAC tournament is at a neutral site.

I have wondered when the Depot in Cleburne, a minor league field, would submit a bid for a Regional. Cleburne is only 30 minutes south of DFW airport.  Either the SCAC or the ASC could host.

[108 Stitches]

Three losses in four games for Trinity.  The usual reason to finish first is to host, but the SCAC tournament is at a neutral site.

I have wondered when the Depot in Cleburne, a minor league field, would submit a bid for a Regional. Cleburne is only 30 minutes south of DFW airport.  Either the SCAC or the ASC could host.
[/quote]

The other reason is seeding and this year TLU/Centenary/Trinity are significantly better than the 4 seed.  First game will be very important.

[Jim Dixon]

Three losses in four games for Trinity.  The usual reason to finish first is to host, but the SCAC tournament is at a neutral site.

I have wondered when the Depot in Cleburne, a minor league field, would submit a bid for a Regional. Cleburne is only 30 minutes south of DFW airport.  Either the SCAC or the ASC could host.

The other reason is seeding and this year TLU/Centenary/Trinity are significantly better than the 4 seed.  First game will be very important.
[/quote]

Yes it does make it it a bit harder but just a little bit.  Assuming that Southwestern goes 0-2, the winner of the tournament will have to play one team one and the other team twice no matter the seeding.

[Jack Parkman]

Wow.....

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d3

[Purple Heys]

Wow.....

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d3

Yeah, s/b:

1. Whittier
2. Redlands
3....