2014 West Regional - McMinnville, OR

[Teddy_Ballgame]

Not that we haven't seen crazy stuff before, but it sure looks like the only team with a legitimate shot at a Pool C from the West is George Fox.

More likely than not that a team from another regional will fly to Oregon, probably from the Central or Midwest I would think.

Why don't you think Chapman has a legitimate shot? As it stands, Chapman is regionally ranked and can only climb. Obviously being regionally ranked doesn't guarantee a Pool C since the bids are national- have top teams in other regions been dropping down to Pool C?

[108 Stitches]

GF is pretty much in given their ranking and location, Chapman, depends on how mid-west teams stack up. Coe and St John's were flown in two years ago, really not sure how some other mid-west teams compare, but Chapman was pretty strong the last 25% of their schedule so I am thinking they will make it.

[108 Stitches]

I just checked the likely candidates in the mid west will likely win their tournaments so Chapman stands a pretty good chance of getting in.....and facing Linfield out of the gate. 

[Ron Boerger]

CTX defeats UT-D 5-2 and has to take two from LeTourneau to get to McMinville.    The Tornadoes got a complete game from Kiel Harmon, so the question will be who gets the start today and tomorrow.   Guess they could bring back Scott Weinschenk who pitched 8.2 on Wednesday.

[Ron Boerger]

Weinschenk is indeed the CTX starter and leads 3-0 after five.   The Tornadoes turned a triple play to get out of an early jam.

[Teddy_Ballgame]

I just checked the likely candidates in the mid west will likely win their tournaments so Chapman stands a pretty good chance of getting in.....and facing Linfield out of the gate. 

Not if CTX loses! Then I think LeTourneau would be the 6 seed right? And if Chapman makes it, I could see them jump up to 4 like PP did last year in order to avoid a SCIAC v. SCIAC matchup in the first game.. in which case a loss to Trinity in game 1 would mean (probably) facing Linfield in a must win to stay alive. Oof.

[Ron Boerger]

Looks like CTX will stay alive another day ... up 7-1 in the seventh which means UTexas transfer Cameron Cox (he of the 1.40 ERA in 13 appearances) will get the ball.

EDIT:   Cox entered in the eighth of this game, which seems odd given that he entered AFTER CTX got the 7-1 lead.   I guess a couple innings today won't keep him from pitching tomorrow, but why not let one of your relievers take over?

Looked at the CTX roster - a lot of Juco (~14) and D1/D2/D3/NAIA transfers (~7).   Guess that is what happens when you have a former big-leaguer like Tommy Boggs as your coach, you get kids that want to play.

[Spence]

Not that we haven't seen crazy stuff before, but it sure looks like the only team with a legitimate shot at a Pool C from the West is George Fox.

More likely than not that a team from another regional will fly to Oregon, probably from the Central or Midwest I would think.

Why don't you think Chapman has a legitimate shot? As it stands, Chapman is regionally ranked and can only climb. Obviously being regionally ranked doesn't guarantee a Pool C since the bids are national- have top teams in other regions been dropping down to Pool C?

Because they're at best the 2nd highest ranked Pool C team in the region, and there are no other games to realistically change that. They could go ahead of CTX, but highly unlikely they pass GFU with neither team playing games.

[Teddy_Ballgame]

Not that we haven't seen crazy stuff before, but it sure looks like the only team with a legitimate shot at a Pool C from the West is George Fox.

More likely than not that a team from another regional will fly to Oregon, probably from the Central or Midwest I would think.

Why don't you think Chapman has a legitimate shot? As it stands, Chapman is regionally ranked and can only climb. Obviously being regionally ranked doesn't guarantee a Pool C since the bids are national- have top teams in other regions been dropping down to Pool C?

Because they're at best the 2nd highest ranked Pool C team in the region, and there are no other games to realistically change that. They could go ahead of CTX, but highly unlikely they pass GFU with neither team playing games.

I agree that there's no way they pass Fox, I just meant they could jump to 5 if CTX doesn't win the ASC. My question is why you think the West will only get one Pool C/ why they'll have to fly someone in. Is the national Pool C field that good this year?

[Strike1]

Don't know what formula is used but selecting teams simply because of their address would be very disappointing!

[Westside]

Don't know what formula is used but selecting teams simply because of their address would be very disappointing!

If they were to select teams because of their address, PLU would be coming to the regional. I don't think you need to worry about that.

I mean, two years ago Linfield was the host, finished in the top 6 regional rankings and they got skipped over in favor of out-of-region teams.

[Spence]

Not that we haven't seen crazy stuff before, but it sure looks like the only team with a legitimate shot at a Pool C from the West is George Fox.

More likely than not that a team from another regional will fly to Oregon, probably from the Central or Midwest I would think.

Why don't you think Chapman has a legitimate shot? As it stands, Chapman is regionally ranked and can only climb. Obviously being regionally ranked doesn't guarantee a Pool C since the bids are national- have top teams in other regions been dropping down to Pool C?

Because they're at best the 2nd highest ranked Pool C team in the region, and there are no other games to realistically change that. They could go ahead of CTX, but highly unlikely they pass GFU with neither team playing games.

I agree that there's no way they pass Fox, I just meant they could jump to 5 if CTX doesn't win the ASC. My question is why you think the West will only get one Pool C/ why they'll have to fly someone in. Is the national Pool C field that good this year?

I don't think they have that much to stand on, really. 2-6 against regionally ranked, 1-4 against Cal Lu, 0-2 against Trinity; the only regionally ranked teams they've played more than once. SOS of 202. Even by West standards that's not very good (GFU is 91).

Who knows what will happen but I wouldn't put them in if I was on the committee. Not even sure they would be in my "first four out".

[Teddy_Ballgame]

Not that we haven't seen crazy stuff before, but it sure looks like the only team with a legitimate shot at a Pool C from the West is George Fox.

More likely than not that a team from another regional will fly to Oregon, probably from the Central or Midwest I would think.

Why don't you think Chapman has a legitimate shot? As it stands, Chapman is regionally ranked and can only climb. Obviously being regionally ranked doesn't guarantee a Pool C since the bids are national- have top teams in other regions been dropping down to Pool C?

Because they're at best the 2nd highest ranked Pool C team in the region, and there are no other games to realistically change that. They could go ahead of CTX, but highly unlikely they pass GFU with neither team playing games.

I agree that there's no way they pass Fox, I just meant they could jump to 5 if CTX doesn't win the ASC. My question is why you think the West will only get one Pool C/ why they'll have to fly someone in. Is the national Pool C field that good this year?

I don't think they have that much to stand on, really. 2-6 against regionally ranked, 1-4 against Cal Lu, 0-2 against Trinity; the only regionally ranked teams they've played more than once. SOS of 202. Even by West standards that's not very good (GFU is 91).

Who knows what will happen but I wouldn't put them in if I was on the committee. Not even sure they would be in my "first four out".

Fair points, all. Certainly would have helped if they had at least gotten one win against CLU in the tournament. I honestly don't know enough about the other teams they'd be competing against for a Pool C to make a legitimate comparison, so I won't speculate.

As for criteria that is NOT factored in any way shape or form, I'd love to see them get in. They started a little slow, found themselves, and rolled at the end (besides CLU games). First year with Laverty after the whole Coach T debacle. Great tradition of performing well in the regionals and on the national scene. As always, they have more pitching depth than most/all of SCIAC so are better poised for postseason play. Would be nice to see Osaki and McGee get back to the regionals.

The committee is always full of surprises so who knows. But good luck to the Panthers.

[Ron Boerger]

CTX starts a guy with no starts on the season and a 9.00 ERA and he gets chased in the third.  LeTourneau up 3-0 after 3 and I still have to wonder why they used Cox in what was essentially garbage time yesterday. LeT has 13 game starter Copeland (7-2, 3.22) on the mound and he has held the Tornadoes to 2 hits through three complete.

[Spence]

Cox pitching now.