Our first regular season poll is out and we are working on making schedules available. Congrats to Mary Hardin-Baylor, Redlands and NC Wesleyan for appearing in the Top 25 for the first time. Come to think about it it is everyone’s first time for the regular season poll.
Pacific University in Oregon played their second tripleheader in four seasons, just the second school to have played two in their schools history. The Boxers played Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday as the two teams were forced to play after rain scrubbed a single nine-inning game that was scheduled the day before. Pacific won the first
game 5-2, but then dropped the second and third games to the Sagehens by
finals of 7-4 and 7-5. All three games were seven innings. Pacific’s other tripleheader took place on Apr. 4, 2005, when Pacific played three against Puget Sound.
Our games to watch this week has two games on the radar. The first is at No. 3 Kean where No. 9 Eastern Connecticut comes in to play the Cougars. The second, for a different reason is the game that never got played last year. Bluffton takes on Eastern Mennonite on the one year anniversary of the Bluffton bus acident.
A couple of other good early season games are played every day. Stevens plays No 3 Kean today. For a couple of up and coming teams, York and St. John Fisher square off on Thursday. Friday and Saturday No 1. Chapman takes on No. 19 Redlands. Linfield travels to No. 18 Pacific Lutheran this weekend for two key NWC games. No. 23 NC Wesleyan also has a key conference match-ups with Christopher Newport this weekend. Ozarks, off to their best start ever, will host No. 22 Mary Hardin-Baylor for a three game series starting Friday.
As I started to write this blog D3baseball.com was only 500 hits from hitting the million mark. With that total cut in half as I end my weekly report, I want to thank all those who come to read and participate in our online discussions. D3baseball.com would not exist if the fans did not support all the web sites in the D3sports.com family.
An exciting time where in the D3baseball.com’s home office. Just fresh into our second year, tonight the last regional preview gets posted, and the new weekly poll gets its start next week. Like everyone else who has snow piling up outside, listening to a game or two on the internet was a good way to spend a holiday weekend (thanks to Washington and Lincoln).
It appears that everyone in the South and West regions are playing and getting in their games. A few Mid-Atlantic and New York region teams are venturing into warmer climes to get a game or two in on the weekends. By the end of Sunday, 29 the teams who received votes in our preseason poll will have ventured on to the diamond to face a D-III foe. Eight of those teams were ranked in the Top 25.
I have neglected to give my picks for the championship round until now. I am expecting Eastern Connecticut, Cortland State, Johns Hopkins, Rhodes (yeah even with their slow start), Wooster, Illinois Wesleyan, St. Thomas and Chapman. Ever since there were automatic bids, the championship round included one team made their first appearance. Rhodes is my pick for this team in 2008. If you look at the collective wisdom of the top-25 voters, you will see a different list: Eastern Connecticut, Cortland State, Kean, Emory, Wooster, Carthage, Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Chapman. We will only know in May who is right. Who are you favoring for the final tournament of the year?
Already nearly two weeks in to the season. There are game every weekend and on most days in the southern conferences. The ODAC, USA South and SCAC all have started with the non conference schedule with the SCIAC and ASC joining in. There are a few teams like Millsaps and Texas-Tyler who are undefeated and Hendrix, who has played the most games this season has started in a big hole 0-7.
Huntingdon turns in the first no-hitter of the season and it is hard to believe that Seth Kivett of Methodist has already hit five homeruns, especially on a team that hit only 7 last year and have already matched that to date.
D3baseball.com is one today. I have to thank everyone for checking in. This has been D3sports most successful launch yet and I hope more sports sites to come. I know this site will just get better. A season behind me has me already in mid season form as the D3baseball.com staff gets new content every day. Game reports will appear in between our regional previews that with today’s New York Preview gets us half way. One more on Friday and then finishing up the following week. This will be just in time for the weekly poll by the NCBWA and D3baseball.com to start for the first time.
I hope everyone a great 2008. I am looking forward to the Championships in May and I hope to see everyone there
The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) has named Norman and Terry Govoni Field, the home of Babson baseball, the top college division baseball field in America. The award, also sponsored by Turface Products, the country’s premier producer of field maintenance products, will be presented to Coach Matt Noone at the annual ABCA national convention, to be held in Philadelphia in January 2008. Joining Coach Noone in accepting the award will be the team most responsible for the supreme condition of the field, led by head groundskeeper Jimmy Lexander, co-worker Doug Pottle, and foreman Nick Butera.
INDIANAPOLIS (Jan. 2, 2008) - The NCAA coordinator of new media communications Josh Centor has featured Plattsburgh State Athletics in the latest edition of Campus Connection The Double-A Zone (website is http://doubleazone.com/).
On today’s edition of Campus Connection, Plattsburgh State head baseball coach Kris Doorey shares an emotional story about one of his players, Brian Mehan. Brian is currently fighting a battle against cancer and is undergoing treatment in the Plattsburgh area. During our podcast, Coach Doorey discusses the impact Brian’s situation has had on him and on his players. He says it’s important to “put things in check” and offers advice for other coaches and student-athletes facing difficult life situations.
Click here to hear Centor’s interview with Coach Doorey.
As the article is published on D3baseball.com, I am putting the complete text here from Eric’s dispatch.
By Eric Smolin
I would like to thank all of the D-III Baseball supporters. The kind words and encouragement throughout the past 6 months have been extraordinary and have continued to motivate me as the upcoming season is approaching quickly. D-III ballplayers are going to start making waves throughout baseball; I hope you’re all there to continue with that support.
My baseball career went through several major obstacles. I was part of a Northeast-10 Championship team at U-Mass Lowell, as the starting left fielder and a dominant closer as a freshman. Unfortunately, I developed a stress fracture by the end of that season and my head coach was dismissed for unforeseen purposes and the assistants left soon after. The fall of my sophomore year, I was to be coached to by someone who I already had a very tumultuous relationship with. After the last day of fall practice, still not fully recovered from the stress fracture, the coach dropped the news that our baseball relationship was not on the same page and he cut me from the team I had already established myself at.
I decided that transferring would be my best option. Knowing that my arm might never recover to its full strength, it was time to find somewhere that provided me with a great academic framework, as well as a constantly competitive baseball team. Matt LaBranche, the Head Coach at Western New England College (WNEC), was absolutely the most pivotal figure in my decision to transfer. WNEC not only provided the Sport Management major in the School of Business, but it also had that “up and coming” team with new great facilities.
In the three seasons at WNEC, the team established new marks of wins in a season, captured two league titles, and participated in two NCAA Regionals. Several personal achievements I received included: League Tournament MVP, two time All-Conference Team honors, New England Region Pitcher of the Year, and 2nd Team All-American honors.
Fortunately enough, these team and personal honors attracted some scouts attention. The draft came and passed without my name being called. I can still remember the look on my parents faces when they thought my playing career was over. They contributed so much time and money to help me pursue every kids dream.
Six days later, I answer my phone to a number I’ve never seen before. What I heard on the other line I thought had to be some sick practical joke. Gene Schall, the Philadelphia Phillies Northeast Region Scout was that voice on the other line. Everything he said I just responded with “Yes” and “Absolutely”. He notified me that someone will be showing up to my house the next morning with a contract to play with the Phillies organization. He also told me that I should pack because my flight was hours after I signed the contract.
I found myself alone on a plane for the first time twenty-four hours after that phone call. I was going to Clearwater, Florida to play baseball for three months with newly drafted players and also newly signed free agents.
I got to my room at the Buena Vista Hotel, my new one star home for the next few months, and met my roommate. Travis d’Arnaud, the 37th Overall pick, and highly regarded high school catcher from Lakewood, California. I felt right at home with Travis. Having grown up in California, we shared similar interests and often had way too much fun doing nothing.
We arrived at the ballpark the next day and had to run through the standard physical and other medical work. We also had a meeting with the coaches about what was expected of us. We were informed that we had to wear collared shirts and khaki shorts or pants everyday to the complex. I soon realized that I needed to buy a few shirts, and a bicycle since the walk from the hotel was a little over a mile in the sweltering heat.
The next day, we met all of the players and coaches. This process is always interesting since everyone is trying to size themselves up. Travis and I immediately became friendly with Justin DeFratus, another California grown pitcher. Justin was known in the locker room for something called “The Face” which was somewhat monkey-like and might have been the ugliest face I’ve ever seen. I had the pleasure of seeing it everyday since his locker was next to mine.
We were all very similar, and loved the fact that we could delay the real world by at least a few years. We would go down to the pool, buy as many toys as possible and have a day of fun. Little kids knew we were ballplayers and were always trying to play catch with us. So we bought the toys to keep the kids occupied while their parents laughed and enjoyed that we were taking time to talk and play with them.
Over the next few weeks, more of the draftees were finally finishing up their contract negotiations. The group of guys got increasingly more ridiculous, as we were more comfortable with each other. The English speaking players began talking to the Spanish speaking players and helping them with their English. Obviously, we taught them how to hit on girls once we were secluded from the coaching staff.
Heiter Correa and Jesus Sanchez were the Spanish players I got closest to. Correa was Brazilian, trilingual and a horse of a 17 year-old. He was already consistently throwing low-90’s. Sanchez, a 19 year-old Venezuelan catcher, was part of the Bobby Abreu trade to the New York Yankees from the Phillies. Correa helped us teach the Spanish players common phrases and sayings to help them along in the upcoming seasons.
Travis, Justin and I were the few that stayed at the Buena Vista. We felt no need to find an apartment, plus the maid cleaning our beds and bathroom was an added plus. A few more players came in a couple weeks after we got there. Jacob Diekman and Jiwan “King” James were the two that meshed into the group.
Diekman, a southpaw from Nebraska, was the joker of our group. He was also the most successful being promoted to the Short-Season Williamsport Crosscutters to finish the season. Jiwan was a pitcher-outfielder out of nearby Williston, Florida. He declined a scholarship to Florida to play football to join the Phillies.
Surprisingly enough, I found myself with four highly drafted guys, no older than 20, that got significant signing bonuses. My signing bonus was minimal and I was so pumped when I received that check that could allow me to buy food for the months I was at school finishing my degree. I couldn’t imagine receiving a check that allowed me to buy a new $50,000 car. The monthly pay for everyone is much to be desired, and often is the biggest misnomer people have when it comes to professional baseball. Not until you make the 40 man roster do you actually see an income that you could live on.
Playing baseball for a living is tougher than people think. The game mentally grinds your mind. The first two months of the season, my arm was sore and I felt like I didn’t belong there. The final month, my arm revitalized itself and I began throwing lights out. My velocity reached a consistent 93, whereas it has been at 88 the previous two months.
The experience from all of this will last me a lifetime. I will go into Spring Training in March and try to reestablish myself and prove that we D-III guys belong. The success of Jordan Zimmerman, Jimmy Dougher and others has shown that the very best of D-III can compare with those of DI and DII.
I recently participated in an e-mail interview with Chris Preston, who writes for ESPN.com, about our sites and the state of small-college sports information on the Web. His piece was recently published and I wanted to point it out as a good discussion of where the sites have been and where they are heading.
Though the column inexplicably starts with the younger site — D2Football.com, the various D3sports.com sites are discussed in some detail.
Just one note: I didn’t promise weekly columns in other sports, just suggested that they could be possible. Anyone interested, let me know.
Today was a really fun day. We woke up and toured around Florence. We saw and visited a couple of monuments. The one we visited that I like the most was the Dome. We went all the way to te top which was tiring because there was so many stairs we had to walk up. But once we got all the way up to the top it was worth it. The view was unbelieveable because we can see all of Florence. After our morning tour we ate lunch at a restaurant in Florence, and after a little more touring in Florence we got on the bus to Parma. We settled into our rooms for a little while then we had dinner as a team.
Today we left Rome and went straight to Florence. When we got to Florence we met the two gentlemen who were responsible for our trip here. We then got warmed up on the baseball field and had another children’s clinic and the clinic was great. After the clinic we took batting practice, then we started our game against the Florence Lions. It was a great game and we won once again to improve to 3-0 on the trip. I had a good game. I went 4-for-4 with four doubles, four runs batted in, and two runs scored. After the game we checked into the hotel then met for a team dinner. While at dinner we met Dr. Susan Larkin, who is the athletic director at John Jay College. She really impressed me with how much she knows about Italy. Overall it was a great day because I got to meet some great people and I had a chance to practice my Italian, since the bus ride from Rome to Florence was a few hours.
Today we had the morning off which was needed after playing our first game the night before, and all the walking we have been doing. At 12 p.m. we left the hotel to visit the Neuttono War Cemetery, which was a place where American soldiers burried their fallen brothers during World War II.
The cemetery was very touching, as I walked around I could not believe what so many young Americans sacrificed for this country. These men are real heroes to me. The complex was immaculate as these 7,235 fallen soldiers bodies deserve.
After the visit to the cemetery we did a clinic for some children. The clinic was great, but my only regret was I didn’t have more to give them. The game was interesting to say the least. We were losing 4-0 in the 6th inning and we got to see and we got to see some Italian baseball customs. They were a little bush league but in the end we pulled the victory out 7-4. We got a great pitching performance by William Marte. After the game the people of the town had us stay for dinner. The food tasted great, especially after the win.
