D3baseball.com Daily Dose

With the 2010 season underway, I start a new series of Clearing the Bases. With just a few games in the books I want to address the two polls.

There are two polls that come out during the season one is what can be called the coaches and media polls. The coaches poll is run by the ABCA and Collegiate Baseball. Along with a preseason poll, the poll ranks the top 30 teams. The first poll of the season is released in late March and five more polls are issued every other week with a final poll at the end of the season. A panel of coaches votes on the pollThere The media poll is run by the NCBWA and D3baseball.com. Starting in the last week of February, through the Championship round, the Top 25 is issued weekly with a one week hiatus over D-III regional Playoff weekend. The Top 25 is voted on by a panel of 25 SIDs and media members from across the country.

The preseason polls for each come out at different times. The ABCA/CB poll comes out just before the new year and the Top 25 comes out in mid January. I cannot tell you about the how the preseason coaches poll is created but I know about the Top 25. It is as the statement about the poll above. We have a representative sample of SIDs and D3baseball contributors from every region. We target three ballots from SIDs and the media from each region. I do monitor the poll as the ballots arrive and once the number of ballots reaches about half of the 25, the poll changes little after each additional ballot.

Both polls do as well as a predictor of the future. Last season, both polls had St. Thomas in the bottom half of their respective poll. If you look at the number of teams that remained in the poll at the end of the year, the numbers are comparable, no matter which final poll you use for comparison.

The one thing to remember in the end is that none of these polls are used to determine who plays for the Championship. The path to that top ranking lies entirely on what happens on the field.

Four teams but one dream. Wooster already has earned their spot in the Championship game and three others will need two wins to face Wooster on Tuesday. With a stiff wind blowing in, all balls should stay in the park today.

Carthage and St. Thomas are up first. The pitching staffs are getting thin so load up those bats. Carthage showed us that they are capable of giving up the big lead and preserving. Will St. Thomas bounce back after last nights loss. We will know in just a few hours.

Wooster will be playing loose as they are assured at least one shot at the championship. Tim Pettorini will be resting Swearingen and keeping McDowell and Miller on the bench. For Chapman there is a sense of urgency. Win today or get ready to unpack those golf clubs for the Panthers.

Our predictions for today are for St. Thomas to bounce back and get a date with Chapman on Tuesday.can i take viagra! Cialis Viagra On Line viagra how it works,
herbal viagra forums? Viagra Inventor snorting viagra health?
viagra patent levitra Viagra And Orgasm viagra anxiety
taking viagra woman Viagra For Younger Men cheap gerneric viagra
generic viagra levitra and cialis pills Marketing Viagra To Baby Boomers can i take viagra!
viagra how it works, Foods With Viagra Like Benefits herbal viagra forums?
snorting viagra health? Viagra 9.99 viagra patent levitra
viagra anxiety Steroids Viagra taking viagra woman
cheap gerneric viagra Cheapest Viagra Us Licensed Pharmacies generic viagra levitra and cialis pills
can i take viagra! Viagra Blue viagra how it works,
herbal viagra forums? Levitra Blood Urine snorting viagra health?
viagra patent levitra Cialis Ed Danger viagra anxiety
taking viagra woman Viagra Top Ten cheap gerneric viagra
generic viagra levitra and cialis pills Levitra Tabs can i take viagra!
viagra how it works, Buy Viagra On The Internet herbal viagra forums?
snorting viagra health? Viagra High Blood Pressure viagra patent levitra
viagra anxiety Cialis And Niacin taking viagra woman
cheap gerneric viagra Online Drug Stores Viagra generic viagra levitra and cialis pills
can i take viagra! Cheep Viagra viagra how it works,
herbal viagra forums? Cialis How Soon Before snorting viagra health?
viagra patent levitra Viagra Cialis Legitimate Dealers viagra anxiety
taking viagra woman Cialis Pro cheap gerneric viagra
generic viagra levitra and cialis pills Cialis 5mg Tablets can i take viagra!

The sun is out, a little wind blowing out the left. It is a great day – lets play four.

Wooster and Carthage are up first. With the delay in the regionals, the Carthage team have been catching up all week. School is out with all their finals except this one in the past. The Red Men had a good practice and according to Head Coach Augie Schimdt, ‘The guys will be ready to go”. Wooster looked sharp and relaxed in their practice and the our first game could be the instant classic the championship is know for.

Who could ask for a better matchup in game two with the previous national champions going head to head. Kean is focused and Trinity’s head coach, Bill Decker is “willing to give it another good try”.

Four our third game do we bet the “Farm” or will the Hornets sting. We will end up with regional favorite St. Thomas with Chapman.

It will be key to get the first win. Few teams make it all the way back. Ithaca did it in 1980 but that was in a four team regional. In Grand Chute, three teams made the finals after a third loss, Montclair State (2000), Cortland State (2005) and Emory (2007), but lost in the championship game.

Get out and see the games or follow the action from the links available on D3baseball.com.chester county hospital High School Directory high school football rankings
countrywide home mortgage Manufactured Homes For Sale one lyrics
download psp porn Biker News augustana lyrics
Alarming news lowes home improvment 815. Amateur Home Porn new car loan
home instead Online Pawn Shop home instead
bowling for soup lyrics Bloody Shooting Games Online home bar plans
download utorrent Private Boarding Schools download files
red red wine lyrics Citrus County home theater magazine
high school girls naked Days Of The New funny online videos
web ouija online Yahtzee Online at last lyrics

A cooler day than yesterday but there is promise of sunshine and at least for today wind as the front that kept the area warm has swept through.

Jeff Sackmann has put together a simulation for the D-III Championship at http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/small-college-world-series-odds/

A fair ranking, although I would not make the list exactly the same, The biggest surprise is who ends up on top. Will this be the year that a Championship rookie takes home the Walnut and Bronze? This has happened in the past with Ramapo and George Fox, winners in their only appearance to date.

Tradition says. There are a long line of teams making their first trio going home 0-2. This is the past and we had Adrian doing quite well and Wheaton making a run, ending up just short.

There are records to be broken this year and the first in 2009 will be career appearances. Once they take the field, the Matt Pearson, Patrick Ohail, Tristan Phillips, and Wayde Kitchens will join past teammate, Kyle Redding, with their fourth appearance in the championship. This will bring the number of players with four appearances to 23.

Hope to see as many as I can. Don’t a stranger and introduce yourself to me at the ball park. I’ll be the one in my traditional hawai’ian shirt and yellow ball cap.

I am off to see a little practice and reacquaint myself with Fox Cities Stadium.

An eventful season to date.

My crystal ball did not see a 5-4 Chapman team but then again they are still in the think of things. With so few Pool B teams doing well, they just have to hit their stride and the Panthers are on the prowl again.

I have been waiting for the Salisbury-Cortland match-up for a while. The first head-to-head match up against top 10 teams. Last year they lost a combined 9 games and are my favorites coming out of the South and New York regions. This game will either be a rematch in the Championship round or just another good game on the schedule.

Speaking of good games – get out to Southern California. Cal Lutheran with their spectacular 5-0 start takes on La Verne. There should be some questions answered when the weekend draws to a close. If your not into a Leopard-Kingmen series, check out the Oxy-Redlands series. Oxy Tigers are 8-1 and the series with the Bulldogs will be key to keeping their momentum going.

The ASC gets some conference action this weekend and most of the south is still playing their non-conference schedule. You are seeing some schools stray out of the northern regions to get a few games in also. The action in the Metrodome is quiet and will not see D-III baseball until middle of next week.

Outside my window is yet more snow falling so baseball season is still a distant memory but if your in the southern part of our nation – grab a game and enjoy one for me.

For the first time in a number of years, the handbook with all the playoff information is available before the start of the season. Two things should be highlighted: (1) the number of bids in the three pools and (2) the change in the championship bracket.

The 54 bids awarded will be awarded in the following manner:
Pool A bids: 35
Pool B bids: 5
Pool C bids: 14

The Championship bracket is changed this year, reverting to the format used between 1993 and 2004. The winner of the winners bracket game will not get a bye on the fourth day of the competition. More details on how this change came about will appear shortly as an article on d3baseball.com.

Read the hand book for more information. It is available in pdf form at:
http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/champ_handbooks/baseball/2009/3_baseball_handbook.pdf

Our guest blogger is Jeff Taylor and he has this to say:

Much has been made on message boards about the new rules for Division I baseball schools that went into effect, primarily the roster limits and the elimination of the one-time transfer rule, where in previous years, players could transfer to a D-I school and play immediately. The rationale for these rule changes, in short, were to address the relatively low graduation rate (APR) in D-I baseball that was affected by all the team jumping in past years.

What remains to be seen is how these changes will trickle down and affect D-III baseball, in particular, what will happen at the D-I schools in the fall. With the new roster limits, will coaches still bring in large recruiting classes, in part to insure that, after the draft and other issues, that the team will be able to have the max (35) roster? That would mean, for example, if a coach brings in 40 players (with returners and recruits) in the fall, that after the rosters are set, 5 of those young men will be looking for places to play after the fall.

The logical trickle down affect would be on the D-II, D-III, and NAIA schools, where the players could transfer without having to sit.

Ultimately, we could see an increased influx of D-I players transferring mid-year to D-III schools. Does that mean that perhaps D-III schools will start cultivating relationships with the D-I coaches, meaning that D-I actually becomes a bit of a feeder program to D-III? That would certainly be a karma-like switch from past years where you would see a D-III player maybe perform well in a summer league and be “encouraged” (some coaches would call it “raiding”) to transfer to a D-I school.

Speaking purely from the baseball perspective, there could be an increase in the overall quality of players at D-III schools, and perhaps over the next 2-3 years, increase the numbers of players drafted from the D-III ranks. Ethically this could also create a bit of a dilemma for some D-III coaches and schools. Will they see schools in their conferences bulking up rosters at mid-year resulting in a “keep up with the Joneses?” What about the players who performed well in the fall and come back in January and suddenly find themselves down on the depth chart behind a D-I
transfer? Either way, it is going to be interesting to see the effects of D-I legislation on D-III programs.

In this final edition we look at the Mideast, Central and Midwest conference tournaments. Don’t forget that all playoff information as we get it will be in Playoff Central. The regional sites are as follows:

The Mideast Regional will be hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology at Art Nehf Field, Terre Haute, Indiana.

The Central Regional will be hosted by Augustana College at Brunner Field at Duane R. Stadium in Rock Island, Illinois.

The Midwest Regional will be hosted by UW-Oshkosh at E.J. Schneider Field, Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Number one seeded Mount St. Joseph will host the HCAC tournament that starts this Thursday as the Mount gets Transylvania for the first game. Transylvania came out of the blocks quickly and faded towards the end of the season. but still has the best overall winning percentage of the tournament field. Game two will feature Rose-Hulman and Franklin. The incentive for Rose-Hulman is that if they can advance, their regional will be a home series as they host the Mideast regional on their own field. All four teams had nearly the same record with just 1.5 game separating Transylvania for Mount St Joseph. Anyone can win and to advance but you have to do just that – win the tournament as Pool C hopes are slim for all.

There is no tournament for the MIAA so the regular season winner advances to the playoffs. Adrian has a single game advantage over Calvin with the end of the season just few days away. Adrian could clinch a playoff spot today, otherwise the playoff spot will be decided on Thursday, the last day of the regular season. The Pool C hopes for both Adrian and Calvin are as good as the teams in the HCAC so the automatic bid is important for either team so they can continue their fine seasons.

The NCAC will get two teams in the playoffs. Wooster, losers to Ohio Wesleyan last weekend will slip in with a Pool C bid and Denison will host Ohio Wesleyan as the two teams battle it out for conference playoff spot. Ohio Wesleyan split the series meeting between the two teams but Denison had the better record of these two west division teams.

Marietta was the favorite going into the 2008 OAC season. The Pioneers stumbled early and but are playing as well as anyone now. The story for this season is Heidelberg. Heidelberg will host the 2008 OAC Baseball Tournament Thursday-Saturday May 8-10 at Peaceful Valley in Tiffin, Ohio. Heidelberg finished the season at the top of the standings with a 15-3 mark to become the regular-season champions. Heidelberg gets Mount Union, whom they swept this season, in the opening round while Marietta will play Otterbein. Heidelberg should be relaxed as they are a possible Pool C candidate if they lose the tournament, although they still need a good showing to impress the committee. For all others winning is all that remains of their seasons.

The 2008 PAC Baseball Tournament will be at Thomas More College where on Thursday #4 Grove City will play #1 Thomas More and #3 Thiel gets #2 Westminster in the late game. This is the first year for the PAC to have an automatic bid and all four teams need to know this is their only way into the playoffs.

Illinois Wesleyan, the 12th ranked team in the D3baseball.com poll, earned the right to host the CCIW tournament for the second straight season after taking two of three from seventh-ranked Carthage in the final series of the year to win the regular season championship. Home field advantage did not help the Titans a year ago as they were eliminated at home in the conference and regional tournaments. The Titans will get surprise Wheaton in the opener. After beginning the season with 29 straight wins, Carthage closed with three losses in its final four conference games and is 3-4 in the last seven games. Augustana, ranked 14th, is vying for a Pool C slot and the right to play at home in the NCAA Tournament and meets Carthage in the opener. Wheaton has had a surprising season, winning 12 conference games to place fourth. The Thunder are making their first ever tournament in appearance and took a game in the regular season from both Augustana and Illinois Wesleyan. Winning the tournament is the only chance for Wheaton. Otherwise Augustana, Carthage, and Illinois Wersleyan all are sitting pretty for a Pol A and two Pool C bids.

The six-team IIAC conference tournament will be played on a neutral field at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium, the home of the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Wartburg ran away with the regular season IIAC crown. The Knights won 17 games en route to their 12th straight title. Wartburg overcame a 6-9 start to finish 23-12. Simpson improved in their second season under Ben Blake to finish second by a game over Coe. Wartburg and Simpson receive a first round bye. Wartburg gets the winner of Luther and Loras while Simpson faces the Coe-Central victor. With no teams in the regional rankings and neighboring conference CCIW doing well, a tournament win is what is needed to play past next weekend.

The NATHC is going to wait one more season for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but there is more than one team vying for a potential Pool B bid at the tournament this weekend played at Rockford’s home field, Road Ranger Stadium. Benedictine and Rockford shared the regular season crown, but Concordia (Ill.) also won 20 games in addition to the top two seeds. Benedictine is the top seed by virtue of their sweep over Rockford. The Eagles will face Concordia (Ill.), who just weeks ago was in the Top 25. Benedictine swept a pair of 9-8 decisions from Concordia earlier this year. Rockford faced Marian, who won the tie-break with Aurora for the final slot in the tournament. With so many Pool B teams on the bubble, tournament wins will be key to advancing.

It was a new year but the same story in the SLIAC as Webster captured its second straight title. The Gorloks finished 21-3 in conference and are looking for their fourth straight NCAA berth. They made some noise last season with an upset of Illinois Wesleyan in regional play. Webster opens with fourth seeded Greenville while Westminster (Mo.) takes on Maryville in the other semifinal. The path to the playoffs clearly sits with a tournemant win.

In the MIAC, No. 1 seed St. Thomas (29-7) appears to be in good shape for at least a Pool C bid, barring a two-and-done effort in the tourney to be held May 9-11. Even in that worst-case scenario, the Tommies, could limp in. No. 2 St. Olaf (25-10), which still has one regular-season game to play on Wedneday, has some work to do. Although not in the current regional rankings, the Oles are 19-6 in-region heading into today’s game and could move into the last published rankings in Stevens Point’s place. St. Olaf and St. Thomas both received NCAA bids the past two seasons, but the Oles may need to at least make the MIAC finals to continue that streak, although they may need to win. Longshots Hamline (23-16) and Gustavus (20-16) round out the 2008 MIAC field.

The MWC tournament will feature St. Norbert (24-9) and Ripon (25-8) from the North Division and Monmouth (9-22) and surprise host Knox (11-22) from the South for the MWC Pool A bid on May 9-10 in Galesburg, Ill. As the records indicate, Ripon and St. Norbert are the overwhelming favorites. Ripon has won the past four MWC tourneys and eight of the last 10. Ripon has also made eight NCAA appearances in the past nine seasons. St. Norbert won the 2003 MWC tourney and the last two regular-season titles, but the Green Knights have never made an NCAA appearance. A tournament winn will be needed to make the NCAA tournament since neither Ripon nor St. Norbert were in the latest regional rankings.

In the non-Pool A UMAC, all eyes are on St. Scholastica (29-4), which is in the Pool B hunt after winning the conference regular-season title for the 12th straight year. St. Scholastica, ranked No. 5 in the Midwest Region is looking for its 12th consecutive UMAC Tournament crown when it hosts on May 8-10 in Duluth, Minn. A three-game sweep at the UMAC tournament could be St. Scholastica’s ticket to the NCAA tournament. Anything less than a St. Scholastica three-game sweep of the UMAC tournament would be shocking considering CSS is the winningest D-III team in the 2000s with a 289-66 (.814) record. The Saints have also faired well against regionally ranked teams this season, registering wins over Oshkosh, St. Thomas, Juniata, Alvernia and Elizabethtown.

Like every year since 2000, the WIAC tournament has the usual suspects fighting for the Pool A bid: No.1 seed UW-Whitewater (33-6), No. 2 UWQ-Oshkosh (28-7) and No. 3 UW-Stevens Point (25-14). UW-La Crosse (19-18) is the fourth invitee to the annual heavyweight slugfest to be held May 9-10 in Wisconsin Rapids. The Big 3 are all in the region’s current top four, but the WIAC has not received three NCAA bids in the same season since 1998. History suggests that one of the perennial Big 3 may stay home this year, especially given Steven Point’s late-season struggles. If Whitewater or Oshkosh fail to make the finals, their postseason hopes could be in jeopardy despite high regional rankings. Stevens Point may fall from the regional rankings after losing four of its last six games and perhaps needs to make the finals for Pool C consideration. La Crosse must win it all.

In the next two weeks my staff and I will be previewing the playoff implications that the tournament season will bring. This week we look at the West and South regions.

The West Regional will be coming to Abilene, TX and McMurry University’s Walt Driggers Field after a five-year stint at W. O. Hart Park in Orange CA. Chapman has enjoyed the friendly confines of its home field, but is not a stranger to Driggers Field. The South Regional moves around and is in a new location this year. Hosted by USA South Athletic Conference/ODAC the rtegiuonal will be played at American Legion Memorial Post 325 Stadium-Dan Daniel Park in Danville, Virginia.

Chapman has done well in the West Regionals over these last five years, having put back-to-back-to-back regional titles in its trophy box joining the 2003 National Championship Walnut and Bronze. The Panthers look to be a lock as a Pool B teams and probably the #1 seed. Key wins this season include taking two of three from McMurry, Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer and two wins over Kean to go 28-3. Coach Tom Tereschuk has seven games remaining including West Region games versus Cal State East Bay, Menlo and University of Dallas.

The SCIAC does not have a post-season tourney so the Pool A (Automatic Qualifier) bid is on the line going into the last two weekends. Pomona-Pitzer (26-5 overall/ 13-2 conference) has 3-game series with Cal Lutheran and La Verne and control their destiny. Redlands is currently in second place at 13-4 and 25-11 overall, but with two losses to Pomona-Pitzer. Redlands won the series with La Verne in early March and finish with the three game series with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The La Verne Leopards are still in contention for the SCIAC crown, but need help from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. La Verne is 10-4 on the season, plus a suspended game with Cal Lutheran from March. The Leopards need to sweep both Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona-Pitzer series.

The Northwest Conference also does not have a post-season tourney. Conference leaders Linfield (23-4 in conference) and George Fox (20-5 in conference) meet in Linfield for a 4-game series next weekend for the Pool A bid. The “national media story line” is watching former New York Yankee and Head Coach Scott Brosius to see if he can return Linfield to the throne room.

The American Southwest Conference is a gigantic mess. This 15-team conference determines it Pool a bid by a post-season tourney. Next weekend, the #1 and #2 seeds in the East (Texas-Tyler and Mississippi College) and the West (McMurry and Concordia-Texas in Austin) host the #3 and #4 teams in best 2-of-3 crossover play. Those winners will play at McMurry, the #1 West Seed, in a double elimination format. Texas-Tyler won the East with a 15-3 record, but the West saw a four-way tie among McMurry, Concordia-Texas, Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor at 14-7.

The SCAC held their 8-team crossover tourney in Millington, TN this weekend. Only SCAC-East #1 DePauw survived from the East, taking 2 of 3 from SCAC-West #4 Austin. SCAC-West #1 Trinity and #2 Southwestern swept Oglethorpe and Centre, while #3 Millsaps beat Rhodes (East #2) 2 of 3. The SCAC tourney will be double elimination at Centre in Danville, KY next weekend.

The CAC will not get an automatic bid but Salisbury (36-2) is all but confirmed with a pool B bid with the CAC regular season and tournament title. Mary Washington (24-12) and Wesley (24-11) will have an outside shot at a bid. Mary Washington has the better conference record and a win against Salisbury than Wesley and if a second CAC team is in the playoffs, they should be it.

The USA South has completed their season and Christopher Newport in as the Captains won both the regular season and the tournament, Second place in both the regular season and the tournament is N.C. Wesleyan (27-13-1). They will be looking for a pool C bid. Greensboro and Methodist, with 25 win seasons could find themselves at home come playoff season.

The GSAC has not sent a team to the playoffs before and this seems to be the year if Piedmont (29-9) can make a statement and win their conference tournament. Starting Friday, the match-ups are: #4 Maryville vs. #1 Piedmont and #3 LaGrange vs. #2 Huntingdon.

In the ODAC, Lynchburg clinched the regular season title this week and with the tournament in Lynchburg, the Hornets should have the edge for the ODAC’s automatic bid. Starting Thursday, the schedule of this double elimination tournament will be: GAME 1: #1 Lynchburg vs. #6 Hampden-Sydney; GAME 2: #2 Virginia Wesleyan vs. #5 Washington and Lee ; GAME 3: #3 Randolph-Macon vs. #4 Bridgewater. To advance to the playoffs, a win is needed this weekend. Lynchburg might have a record good enough to get them in without with a Pol C bid, but for all the others is is win or stay home.

Will Emory (25-10-1) get a pool B bid? They have put themselves into position but remain on the bubble. They are probably the 6th best team in nation playing in a conference without an automatic bid. I expect to see the Eagle in the playoffs to see if they can better their second place finish last year.

The season is starting to come to a close as there is just a month until the playoffs. Yes it Tournament time and for the next four weeks, nearly all conferences will be determining who they will send to the playoff with their automatic bid.

By this weekend, we will have two playoff teams identified one from the SCAC and the other from the USA South as they have their tournament this weekend. The CAC have started their tournament but the CAC does not have an automatic bid. Salisbury has all but punched their ticket and a tournament win for either Mary Washington or Wesley will be useful in getting a second CAC team into the playoffs.

The USA South tournament kicks off on Thursday with four games in the double elimination tournament. Christopher Newport is the number one seed and will play in the late game against the winner of Methodist and Shenadoah game. The USA South has good teams from top to bottom so if your near Burlington, N.C. you should try to see some of the games this weekend.

On Friday, the SCAC tournament kicks off with Rhodes playing Millsaps. Depauw, seeded first in from the east, plays Austin. The top seed from the west, Trinity (Texas) will play Oglethorpe.