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I know most people are watching the big name D1 openers. I happened to watch a few innings of the Caltech vs CMS game on the web. I was positively surprised by Caltech's performance. From all the discussions on this forum, it seemed like Caltech should be extremely weak and some members said "they should be a club baseball team". However, the game was very competitive. Some good pitching, good hits, and players are good sized. The turf field is beautiful, and the broadcasting quality is better than some of the D1 broadcasting networks.

This is the first game I ever watched these two teams play. Was it always like this, or is the Caltech team improved under new coach?

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My understanding from looking at Cal Tech is that coaches have no pull with admissions...student athletes must get in on their own. School with 9% acceptance rate and average ACT 34-35. Baseball, up until this year, not competitive and 2/3 to 1/3 male to female ratio. Not surprised they have a roster of just 22. Starting salaries after graduation are off the charts though so I tip my hat to those 22!

@Louise you are correct about the admissions piece. Coach Mark can guide players through the admissions process, but not "support" them, or "slot" them, like you hear at other places.  A few years ago the athletic department brought in some young coaches in multiple sports to put some life into the athletic department, Coach Mark being one of them.  They also just put some $ into the ballfield for improvements.  

I had the chance to take a tour around campus with Coach Mark and one of his players. What a special place.  The kids their are truly out to change the world.  Very prestigious.

Watching today's game right now.  The guy doing the play-by-play is doing a nice job. Assuming he's a CalTech student, very impressive.

Edit to say: really funny to hear the chatter coming out of the CalTech dugout. Those kids may be future millionaires and captains of industry, but they sound just like the loudmouthed mulletheads who play in my son's  league.

Last edited by JCG

Since it rains everyday and most games cancelled in my neighborhood, I enjoyed watching the various online college baseball broadcasts. Very interesting to see the NWC and NESCAC colleges coming to play the SCIAC. I guess it's Spring break this week? Bard and Williams and Wesleyan are playing in SoCal. Bard is about the same level as Caltech. Williams vs Redland are very close. Weslyan and Bard got beaten up by CMS pretty badly. The CMS batters must be happy -- two consecutive 19 run games; stats are highly inflated.

Their chances of getting one are probably under 50% at this point, but still, it could happen. It depends on a LHP who has 3 of their 5 wins and held CMS hitless through 4  and lost by just one run.  When he gets his start against Whittier that's Caltech's best shot this year.  Their league schedule at this point also includes Cal Lu, Pomona-Pitzer,  Chapman, and Redlands.  The first two are struggling a bit so far but still it's hard to see Caltech getting a win against any of these.

I see a lot of teams (including our own HS and travel teams) play their #1 pitcher in the first game of a series, #2 pitcher in the second, #3 pitcher in the third, and so forth. Is it a rule? Can a team be more strategic and play their best pitcher against the worst pitcher of another team? That may be Caltech's best chance to get a win in the league.

You're not the first to have that idea.  I'd want to hear from coaches, but I suspect most would not go for it because it means you're kind of conceding one or even two games to win a third.  A coach's mentality is to try to win all three, even if he knows he doesn't have the arms to do it.

Well you want to get your number one ion as many games as possible. Does making him second or third in a rotation allow for that? If you pitch him Sunday, when will you feel comfortable pitching him again. Many schools have games during the week as well, So as a practice I think you want your number 1 as early as possible in the rotation. 

But I am not a coach and do not pretend to be. 

Had a great visit watching the Beavers defeat Bard 2 out of 3, and then coming close in Game 2 and respectable in Game 3 against the Redlands Bulldogs. 

Unfortunately the highlight of Game 1 was visiting the site and museum of the first McDonald's restaurant in San Bernardino (disputed by the corporation) prior to the 16 to 1 Friday mercy game.

Our pitcher pitched one whale of a 2nd game (as did the Redlands pitcher) in the 2 to 1 loss; however, the offense did not match his performance. 

Both officials called very good games on Saturday; however, a sac bunt that was clearly foul was called fair late in the Saturday morning game, which advanced the eventual winning run to 3rd for Redlands surely did not help (orange/brown turf clearly visible to most between the right side of the ball and the left side of the 3rd base foul line).  As if these guys did not have enough obstacles to overcome.  Who knows, that same Redlands batter could have gone yard the next pitch, but for a team trying to break that 30 year conference streak, those types of calls are difficult for those emotionally invested to watch.  Credit to Redlands and their pitcher for pitching an outstanding game too. 

Also, the Redlands parents and fans were a class act by going out of their way to give kudos and encouragement to the Caltech players after the game convinced that the Beavers will get a conference win this year.  The comments were appreciated, and I hope that they are right, because the conference season is already half way over, and these boys long for more than character building performances.

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