D3baseball.com Daily Dose

With both polls out for the first time, there is some debate about the differences. As the top teams keep winning, the differences will become smaller over time. If the D3baseball.com poll is a predictor - then these could be the regional champions (highest ranking regional team): Trinity (Conn), Cortland State, New Jersey, Salisbury, Wooster, Carthage, UW-Oshkosh, and Chapman. From the ABCA/CB poll you get Keene State, Cortland State, Kean, Piedmont, Wooster, Carthage, UW-Oshkosh, and Chapman. Probably neither is entirely correct but either way the championship round would be exciting with either line up. The best news is that there is a lot of baseball yet to play and like most sports, the national champions is decided by a teams play, not their standing in either poll.

There are a lot of key match-ups this weekend. Two stand out as the winner this weekend will have the inside track for their conference regular season championship. On the west coast, Pomona-Pitzer and Redlands have been at top of the SCIAC for nearly the entire season. This weekend, Pomona-Pitzer and Redlands square off in a series that potentially could give either the SCIAC championship. In a key Little East match-up, Eastern Connecticut and Keene State play a doubleheader on Saturday on the opposite coast. This is the time for the Owls need to make a statement that they will be the top dog in the LEC. It is also time for Eastern Connecticut to shed a mediocre start to the regular season and start on their road back into the the national polls. This is the conference opener for both teams.

With the D-III baseball season half over and we have just two undefeated teams (with at least 5 games played) left in Carthage and Trinity (Conn). Carthage has won 30 of their last 32 games with their only losses at the championship round. Trinity (Conn) is the other undefeated team having survived a scare on Tuesday. The longest winning streak of the season applies to neither. Salisbury started the season with a 5-4 loss to Virginia Wesleyan in ten innings and have won 18 games in a row. A little luck in that first game and they could also be undefeated.

The NCAA will release stats for D-III players on 1 April. With the start of April it is time to start thinking about the end of the season All-American teams. Who would you like to nominate for a D3baseball.com All American? I will be accepting nomination through the end of April before the balloting cycle starts. Just post who you think should be considered and why.

This week I want to talk about the Top 25 poll. The poll exists for several reasons. I believe that it is expected and probably more importantly, I felt the ABCA poll started too late in the season and needed to come out more than once twice a week. In cooperation with the NCWBA, voters were identified and with our preseason poll in January, the D3baseball.com.NCBWA Poll was born.

The start date was set to be the last weekend in February to capture most of a month of games in the South and West regions. By the last weekend in February, eight teams in the preseason poll had seen action. The number of teams playing have increased until this week (Week 4) where just a few teams have yet to see action due to a late spring break or a canceled game or two. I expect every team to have played a game by the end of next week.

The weekly voting starts after the games on Sunday and a short list of about 80 teams (85 are low interest payday loanno fax payday advance loan1 hour payday loan,payday loan in 1 hour,1 hour loan paydaypayday cash loanapplication loan online paydayquick payday loanpayday loan ukguaranteed no fax payday loanaccount loan payday savings,no teletrack payday loan with savings account,account loan payday people savingsadvance cash loan online paydayloan payday store,payday loan store in chicago,alabama loan payday storehassle free payday loan,free loan payday,free payday advance loanno fax payday loanadvance fax loan no paydayadvance cash loan loan paydayquick low interest payday loan,fax loan payday quick,loan payday quickfast easy payday loancash loan payday tilconsolidate payday loan debt,consolidate debt loan paydaybad credit loan payday,account bad credit loan payday savings,bad credit loan loan no payday personalpayday payday loan cash advance loan,advance cash cash loan loan payday quick,advance cash loan paydaycash til payday loanno faxing instant payday loanquick cash payday loanonline payday loan serviceeasy payday loansavings account payday loanapproval guaranteed loan paydayno checking account required payday loan,no checking account payday loan,account checking loan no paydaypayday loan best rate,best loan payday,best payday loan siteez payday loansonic payday loaninternet payday loan law,internet payday loan,internet loan paydayemergency payday loanfax loan missouri no paydayloan milwaukee payday storecalculator loan paydaypayday loan on linepayday loan canadacalgary payday loan,calgary loan paydaycanada payday loan online,loan online payday,fast online payday loanloan payday uk,payday loan uk,payday loan in the ukcash advance payday loan softwareall payday loan in canada only,canada loan payday,canada loan manitoba payday winnipegonline no fax payday loanaccount bank loan no paydaypayday loan on line,line loan payday30 day loan payday,30 day payday loanloan until paydaycash central loan payday on the current list) is sent to each voter. Essentially the weekly summary has the records of each team, the record for the week and games played against other teams on this list. Teams on the list always include those teams who have received votes and teams with good records. Occasionally a team not on the summary list will receive votes but that is rare. I hope it is that I have identified all the possible candidates.

Each voter has their own system in identifying how to rank teams. My ballot from last week is below:

1. Chapman (15-2)
2. Wooster (9-1)
3. Texas-Tyler (19-3)
4. New Jersey (9-2)
5. Cortland (5-2)
6. Salisbury (11-1)
7. Wisc-Oshkosh (3-0)
8. Carthage (3-0)
9. RPI (7-1)
10. Johns Hopkins (4-2)
11. Kean (9-3)
12. Augustana (9-2)
13. Otterbein (0-0)
14. Piedmont (16-3)
15. Trinity (Conn) (3-0)
16. Linfield (14-3)
17. Pomona-Pitzer (15-3)
18. Transylvania (9-1)
19. Ripon (8-1)
20. Redlands (14-6)
21. Christopher Newport (14-4)
22. Widener (12-2)
23. The University of the Ozarks (18-3)
24. Wesley (15-3)
25. Concordia (Ill) (9-1)

Twenty-one of my votes come from teams with a winning percentage of at least .750. Those four teams with records less than .750 include: Otterbein who is the lone team on my ballot without a game played; Cortland, Johns Hopkins, and Redlands all lost games and the more games they lost, the farther they dropped but started in the top half of the poll in Week 3. The eight teams I dropped from Week 3 were dropped also because they lost games but dropped off the top 25. Each of these teams were ranked no higher than 17th on my previous ballot. The only difference was St. Thomas. They won all their games last week but got squeezed out due to teams who I wanted to rank higher. The 25 teams I ranked are a combined 268-54 (.832)

When I actually started looking at teams to rank and I wanted to rank about 50 teams in my top 25. I was not alone in finding it difficult to reduce the list to just 25 teams. From that point I started looking for reasons not to consider a team. This gave me a shorter list but left me trying to decide which team has had the better season. I used my previous ballot as a guide since I used the same process the week before. As I moved teams up and down, I eventually came up with my list of the best 25. In just a few cases, you have games played against common teams to help guide who is ranked higher but these are not as common as one would like. I am kidding you to say that position Linfield and Pomona-Pitzer are in cannot be switched but I am comfortable in the knowledge is that this the place in the poll where I think they should appear. If I had a 26th vote, my vote would be for either St. Thomas (6-2) or Calvin (8-1).

Seven teams I ranked did not make the top 25. This is not unusual since more than half of the teams that received votes did not end in the top 25. The one thing I notice as the votes roll in, the top 25 becomes more and more stable. When the last vote is cast, there are just a few changes, if at all in the order of the top 25. The last thing to remember is that a poll is an opinion (with knowledge) and as such is an attempt to answer the question: Who is the best team? The ultimate decision on who is the best team for the season is decided where it should be - on the field.

Another week gone and by the time I come back, Everyone should have a game under their belts. I was able to listen to a few games this week, thanks to those radio stations that stream their audio on the internet. I was listening to what has to be the comeback of the year so far as Texas-Tyler came back from a 8 run deficit in the 6th to win. This is just an example of the never quit attitude of some teams. You certainly could see it in Salisbury when Montclair State has a 7-2 lead and lost the game in the 13th. NC Wesleyan scored three runs in the last of their inning on Sunday but fell one run short in a 6-5 Greensboro win.

What is happening with the homerun this season. Seth Kivett already has the 7, the same number the Methodist team hit all season. Drew Hedman, Pomona-Pitzer has hit 13, Tom Williams, Concordia and Kyle Stalker, Willamette have 11. Andrew Blomberg, Claremont-Mudd-Scripts is only second in their conference with 10. In the ASC, Derek David hit his ninth yesterday for second place. There seems to be an explosion of homeruns this year. The league lead last year was Brett Thomas with 14 and that will certainly be surpassed this season as Hedman only needs one more to tie Thomas.

Enjoy the games..and as Ernie Banks said - “It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame… Let’s play two!”.

TWINE Notes #2 March 11th 2008

Looking back at Week #2–March 3rd to March 9th

Games of the Week

Eastern Connecticut vs Kean–Kean picks up the victory behind a strong pitching performance from Joe Bartlinski (7IP, 5H, 2ER, 13K, 2BB). Eastern had 5 errors which cost them, it should be noted that this was there first game and they have made only 3 errors in the next two games. This was a good win for Kean (after being swept by Manhattanville) but no need to worry for Eastern.

Wheaton vs Cortland State–Josh Simmons started his transition to a starter (21 appearances in 2007—all in relief) with a loss against Cortland State. A game where the two teams combined for 8 errors. Last week I mentioned that Wheaton, Cortland, and TCNJ would all be playing each other twice. Once through the rotation TCNJ is 2-0 and 5-0 overall. Cortland is 1-1 while Wheaton is 0-2

Toughest Week
WPI—St. Joe’s Maine (W 3-0 & L 10-7), Muskingum (W 5-4, L 14-7), Northland (W 9-1, W 12-6), Lewis (L 9-3), Misericordia (L 13-12), Thomas More (W 10-4), & Albion (L 4-3, W 9-6). The Engineers return to Worcester with a respectable 6-5 record. Staff ace Conor Fahey lead the staff with a 2-0 record (wins over St. Joe’s Maine and Thomas More). Fahey pitched 16 inning with a 1.69 ERA.

Looking Forward to Week 2–March 10th to March 16th

Games of the week

Many more games to choose from as many more teams are in action this week.

GNAC—Sunday March 16th, Suffolk vs Montclair State—If a GNAC team can score a victory against a top NJAC team they should be very happy.

LEC—Saturday March 15th, Keene State vs TCNJ (DH)—TCNJ is rolling (5-0) and will be taking on a Keene State squad fresh of the airplane from New Hampshire. Although the Owls would love a sweep, a split here has to be a good sign going forward.

MASCAC—Saturday March 15th, MCLA vs Rowan—MCLA seems like a team ready to break out in the MASCAC. They will be tested by a Rowan squad that already has a win against Cortland State and a double header sweep of MCLA’s conference rival Worcester State.

NAC—Wednesday March 12th, Elms vs Curry (DH)—A good test early for Elms. Curry returns a solid core that won the TCCC last year.

NESCAC—Friday March 14th, Tufts vs Lynchburg—Tufts breaks the mold of the teams going to Arizona or Florida and heads to Virginia to match up against Lynchburg. This will be a good test for the Jumbos as this will be their first game and it will be Lynchburg’s 19th.

NEWMAC—Saturday March 15th, Babson vs Amherst—Many felt that Babson had an argument to get an at large bid last year. That bid may have gone to Trinity, a victory against another NESCAC team may help the Beavers if they are in a similar situation in 2008.

TCCC—Sunday March 16th, WNEC vs Wheaton—These two teams split a pair of one run decisions last May in Norton, MA. This year they meet a few months earlier and 2,699 miles away (Yes, I did take the time to see how far apart Phoenix and Norton are, it is 2,699)

Toughest Week
Wheaton (including their entire Arizona Trip)—The choice for toughest week this week was not difficult. Wheaton is playing 10 games in Arizona and 8 of those games will be played against teams that participated in the NCAA tournament last year. Also their opponents averaged 31 wins last year. The schedule breaks down as below…

Saturday—TCNJ L 12-4
Sunday—Cortland State L 8-4
Monday—Monmouth W 13-6
Tuesday—Cortland State L 9-5 and Webster W 7-6
Thursday—TCNJ
Friday—Hope
Saturday—Montclair State
Sunday—John’s Hopkins & WNEC

The Lyons are off to a 2-3 start but it should be noted that they started 1-4 in 2007 and received the #1 seed the New England Regional.

Sorry for the delay in getting this up. I checked out two games between Brockport State and Kean on Sunday on a cold and windy early March day in New Jersey and my fingers just thawed out enough to type.

The season is finally settling in. For a month I have been watching the southern and western team play seeing a few teams from other regions start their season. Every region now is coming to life. There has been a slew of games in the Metrodome in Minneapolis giving the Midwest and Central teams an alternative to waiting for spring break. Last week two-thirds of the teams were in action and more this week. There are a few teams that will hold out until mid March but this week is the first real action across the board this season.

With many of the conferences in play, there are POTW for many. This must mean that the NCBWA Player and Pitcher of the Week will be announced starting next week if the past is any guide.

A glance at the latest D2baseball.com/NCBWA poll shows only one team that has started to play and not have a loss. This is No. 5 Johns Hopkins who started their season yesterday with a 13-2 win. Last week was one to forget for many of the top teams. No. 16 Marietta dropped 2 to No. 22 Piedmont, giving Piedmont enough support to make the top 25. No. 11 Kean stumbled against Manhattanville who needed late inning runs to secure their their wins against the defending national champions. No. 1 Chapman was able to keep their top spot and No. 18 Redlands was able to move up after Chapman defeated Redlands twice in three games. Adrian certainly got noticed and appear in the list of having received votes based on their victories against No. 9 Emory and Piedmont. Looking through this weeks top 25, the only team that played last week and did not lose was No. 8 Texas-Tyler.

The games to watch this week are with No. 12 Wheaton (Mass). They take on No. 13 New Jersey on the 8th and then have two games against No. 3 Cortland State on the 9th and 11th. Nobody has a tougher week. In the middle of the country the key match-up is No. 24 Luther vs No. 10 Wisc-Oshkosh. The UAA tournament gets going on Monday and continues through the following Saturday (March 11-15).

I hope everyone can get out and see a baseball game. Still snow on the ground here but spring is in the air.

New England teams are slowly but surely getting out onto the diamond this week. With the beginning of the season we present to you This Week In New England Notes (or TWINE Notes in the fashion This Week In Baseball’s TWIB Notes). Every Monday we will look at the week coming up in New England and the week that was.

What you can expect each week…

Looking forward to the upcoming week we will identify
· Region wide game of the week
· The team with the toughest week
· Playoff projections if the playoffs started today (starting in April)
· Conference games of the week

Looking back at the past week we will discuss
· The outcome of the games of the week
· How the team with the toughest schedule faired
· Who’s hot
· Who’s not
· Batting line of the week
· Pitching line of the week

Looking Forward to Week #1
March 3rd to March 9th
Games of the Week
No conference games of the week this week due to the slow schedule of games but there still are a few games of national interest.

Eastern Connecticut vs Kean @ Rutgers, Monday 2 pm, Live stats available through Kean’s website
A matchup of top ten teams that both made it to Wisconsin last May. Although they did not meet in the tournament last year Kean did pick up a 5-3 win in Mansfield in March. This game was close throughout and was one of two losses for All American Pitcher/DH Shawn Gilblair. Guessing at the starting pitchers in this game gives us a matchup of Joe Esposito for the visitors (4-3, 3.35 in 12 starts in 2007) and Andrew Cupido (4-2, 3.83 in 5 starts in 2007) or Thomas Paglione (3-0, 5.51 in 6 starts in 2007 and 0-0, 3.00 in 1 start in 2008) for the homestanding Cougars. If playing against a top ten team isn’t enough to get a team fired up Kean is also coming into this game with something to prove after being swept by Manhattanville on Sunday.

Wheaton vs Cortland State, Sunday 3 pm, in Arizona
Cortland State will be playing their first game of their Arizona trip (this will be Wheaton’s second) but Cortland State already has three games under their belt from a trip to Virginia in late February. These two teams did not play last year as Wheaton played their spring break games in the cactus league (AZ) while Cortland State played in the grapefruit league (FL). In 2006 in Port Charlotte, Florida Cortland slugged their way to a 10-5 win. Another interesting schedule note here is that Cortland State (D3baseball.com #2 national ranking, highest ranking team in New York Region), Wheaton (#14, second in New England), & TCNJ (#15, third in Mid-Atlantic) will be playing a mini tournament of sorts this spring. The schedule is set up so these each team will play the other two teams twice. Fans of the team coming away from these four games with the best record should be excited of what the rest of the season may hold.

Toughest Week
WPI (including yesterday’s games)—St. Joe’s Maine x2 (W 3-0 & L 10-7), Muskingum x2, Northland x2, Lewis, Misericordia, Thomas More, & Albion x2

Note: Most teams have yet to start playing a full schedule. Only Anna Maria, WPI, Clark, & St. Joe’s Maine are playing full schedules this week.

This is the first installment of this blog and does not include all the features. More will be added as more teams are playing. Looking forward to the actual games starting so we have more than just our opinions and projections (note: opinions and projections are still encouraged after the season is in full swing).