"Big East, except for Notre Dame, is very weak in baseball on the national level"
As my son is a member of the Big East Baseball Program I resent that statement... Yes Notre Dame is the Big Dog of the Big East. no secret about that but there is EXCEPTIONAL ball players in the BE at each of the schools.. While we personally have had a not so great season, (injuries to our #1-#3 pitchers, lots of freshman having to step up, etc..) There has to be something right about BE baseball if the Top Teams in the country are willing to play our teams.. Just this season, we personally have played FSU, Nebraska, & Richmond to name a few of the traditional top national teams willing to schedule us.
Rutgers is currently tied with Notre Dame with overall records of 11-2 in the BE so there may be a battle for the title this season, 7 of the 11 BE teams boast a overall win % of over .500 Thru today the BE has a .556 winning % against all other D1 schools combined (132 wins agains 105 losses and 2 ties.
The BE is also a known recruiting area for MLB.... Ten former BIG EAST baseball players opened the 2004 Major League Baseball season last week, representing nine different major league squads. , 18 Players from 2003 were drafted in June 2003, Three BE Players were selected to Baseball America's Pre-season all american team, Four to the Louisville Slugger Pre-season all-american, The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has chosen its fifth annual 2004 preseason All-America team, with four top returnees from the BIG EAST headlining a group representing 20 different Division I conferences, 3 BE teams are on the USA Baseball Top 50 list.
BTW - Georgetown was BEATING ND by 4 yesterday, when a timely Grand Slam by a Notre Dame player put them ahead, as for us.. We took ND to extra innings in one game, and held them to no scores in another until late in the game. Villanova and St. John's list to them by one run. So apparently the BE can hang with ND, the teams just need to become more consistent.. Now I have nothing agains, ND, as a matter of fact, I am following them closely as our dear friend Jess Stewart has emerged as one of their top pitchers this season, I even told Jess I expect to not see him home until late June, after a trip to the CWS but look closely at who they have played, how many of their 35 games so far are against top 10 teams..
Been - Not all players can play for the top team in the country, not all teams can be the top 10 teams in the country but that does not mean that they are weak by any means. Maybe you should travel east and attend a few BE games before you make such a judgemental, arrogant remark. I am sure that Mr. Mom and a few of the other BE parents on this board would agree with me. It drives me crazy when people think that if a team isnt top 10 then they are a waste of time.
Link to the BE Baseball Site: http://www.bigeast.org/sports/baseball/