2016 West Regional - Spokane, WA

[Ralph Turner]

It's crazy to think that yesterday was the most "lopsided" opening day in the West Regional since 2012.

2013 - Linfield 2, TLU 0. Trinity 1, CLU 0. Texas-Tyler 4, Pomona-Pitzer 3 (11 innings). Net difference of 4 runs.
2014 - Linfield 1, LeTorneau 0. CLU 2, Illinois-Wesleyan 1. UW-Stevens Point 3, Trinity 2. Net difference of 3 runs.
2015 - LaVerne 2, Texas-Tyler 0. Trinity 5, Linfield 1. Millsaps 7, Whitworth 6. Net difference of 7 runs.

Hoping for more good ones today.

Only 8 runs total difference!
Thanks Westside for reminding the rest of D3 who may read today's regional that the West Region is the MOST BALANCED region in the country.

[NWBaseballFan10]

2/3 right on the 1st day isn't too shabby for me. At this rate I'll be a 1st ballot Hall of Famer for the D3 Messaage Boards. 

Day 2 Predictions:

CLU over PLU - I wanted to stick with the NW on this one, but the Lutes' pitching depth is a concern here. CLU swung it well yesterday, but were unable to capitalize with runners on and I'm guessing that today will be a different story.

Trinity over CWRU - Crossing my fingers that the team shipped in is the first team eliminated this weekend.

TT over Whitworth - I'm going to try a little reverse psychology on this one. I give TT the nod simply because they are facing a freshman lefty and as a team they are hitting .333 against LHP this season...but technically I'm rooting for WU in this one

[BigPoppa]

I have been thinking of WHY the west is balanced every year... my thoughts.... there are no weak conferences in the west so in general the Pool A teams are pretty darn good (We all know that there are some regions with very weak conferences that send a rep to the dance every season). Traditionally the west doesn't get those "weaker conference" reps in the west region because of high costs to fly them in. Instead, they get 4-5 quality west reps from good conferences as well as an occasional above average midwest/central rep tossed in.

[108 Stitches]

+1 BigPoppa spot on.

The teams that I saw flown in to the West the past 4 years were all solid. Some not great, but solid competitors. The Wisconsin teams could flat out play. The Point team from a couple of years ago was the most physically impressive team I have ever seen in D3 baseball. I watched Coach Scannel's (all of them actually) interview from yesterday and he was very complementary to the NWC, saying he thought it might be the best conference top to bottom in the country. The SCAC was pretty impressive this year with 3 top 25 teams at one point. The SCIAC always has strong teams as they have a huge advantage in their recruiting base in SoCal. The ASC is a large conference with a lot of very very good teams. We're going to get some more great games today.

[SoCalSoxFan]

2/3 right on the 1st day isn't too shabby for me. At this rate I'll be a 1st ballot Hall of Famer for the D3 Messaage Boards. 

Day 2 Predictions:

CLU over PLU - I wanted to stick with the NW on this one, but the Lutes' pitching depth is a concern here. CLU swung it well yesterday, but were unable to capitalize with runners on and I'm guessing that today will be a different story.

Trinity over CWRU - Crossing my fingers that the team shipped in is the first team eliminated this weekend.

TT over Whitworth - I'm going to try a little reverse psychology on this one. I give TT the nod simply because they are facing a freshman lefty and as a team they are hitting .333 against LHP this season...but technically I'm rooting for WU in this one

NW, good call re: CLU offense.
After 1/2 an inning CLU was able to capitalize with runners on and scored an early 3 runs. 

Earlier this year they beat PLU 14-6; I'll be very pleased if they win again!

[Just_Some_Guy]

The ball does travel fairly well in Spokane. I have posted this before, but here are the dimensions. Right field is super short, but it juts out quickly.

Lefties like Drew Hedman (Pomona), David White (CTX), and Jason Mooneyham (Chapman) are somewhere salivating that they could've played 4 years at this park.

[Bmo]

Actually, if you spent 4 years playing at Avista, then you might want to think about hanging it up.  That would mean that you've spent 4 years at the Ranger's short season A ball affiliate..   I think they have an age limit in the Northwest League as well.

[Ralph Turner]

Game 4:  PLU 8, CLU 6 (Net difference of 2 runs)

[Purple Heys]

Game 4:  PLU 8, CLU 6 (Net difference of 2 runs)

CLU lost after taking a 6-1 lead in the top of the 5th...

[NWBaseballFan10]

Bittersweet conclusions in the past 4 seasons for Cal Lutheran after losing a 5-run lead this afternoon to PLU.

Keep in mind they have now won 4 straight "regular season" SCIAC titles...

2016: 0-2 (run differential = 3)
2015: No appearance (dropped 2 games to LV in SCIAC tourney)
2014: 2-2 (both losses to UWSP who was a very talented ball club that year)
2013: 1-2 (lost both games by 1 run)

They might be taking over the "Can't get over the hump" role that Trinity left vacant after finally punching a ticket to Appleton last season.

[108 Stitches]

So much for close games in the West. Trinity just beat CWRU 10-0.

Teddy Turner went 8 for Trinity giving up only 4 hits with 10K's. On top of the offense he was picked up by some great defensive plays and Trinity really dominated in all aspects of this game. 

So much for SoS.

[Ralph Turner]

So much for close games in the West. Trinity just beat CRWU 10-0.

Teddy Turner went 8 for Trinity giving up only 4 hits with 10K's. On top of the offense he was picked up by some great defensive plays and Trinity really dominated in all aspects of this game. 

So much for SoS.

We still have had close games among the West Region teams.       (I say this as UTT comes up next.)

[Ron Boerger]

Whitworth and UT-Tyler scoreless after three.

[Ralph Turner]

Whitworth and UT-Tyler scoreless after three.

And now scoreless after four.   

Back to West Region Tourney play...

[108 Stitches]

It was 2-2 through 7 and then Whitworth picked up 2 in top of 8.  Really good pitching performance from both starters. Again more Western Regional baseball.