Two NCAC teams in the Mideast regional championship. Wooster and Wabash.
I am torn. I think Woosterbwould go farther in the next round, however I have trouble rooting for the Scots, being a Bishop fan. I also like the head coach at Wabash, Jake Martin. So I guess I will be rooting for the Little Giants.
I just hope I did not jinx them.
mid-atlantic final game...misericordia vs. babson...mis has to win two in a row...going to be tough.
phillyinNJ posted:mid-atlantic final game...misericordia vs. babson...mis has to win two in a row...going to be tough.
Quality work by the boys from Misericordia, as best as I could tell there was one weak team in that bracket and Mis didn't play them. So many games decided late, one swing or one play can change a season.
Follow up from earlier in the thread - Swarthmore wins NY going undefeated and earns trip to the WS. Well done.
Great news for Swarthmore. Quite a feat.
BishopLeftiesDad posted:Great news for Swarthmore. Quite a feat.
"The region’s top three seeds have a combined 74 NCAA tournament appearances, 27 trips to the Division III World Series and three national championships."
Swarthmore had one previous Regional appearance. Pretty cool.
Yes it is. They used to struggle quite a bit.
My son tells he felt that Swarthmore was the best team they faced this year, that includes 2 teams still fighting for WS berth today, and 5 or 6 more that were playing in the regionals this past weekend...Including 2 who were ranked top 10 this season.
Opinions are what they are but it seems clear to me that Swarthmore was flying to far under the radar.
Concordia-Chicago beat UW-Oshkosh and now there are zero Wisconsin teams at the last D3 World Series in Wisconsin! That's too bad, but it is also OK, of course. Congrats to the winners, and congrats to those who finished up their season on a successful run but didn't quite make it.
old_school posted:My son tells he felt that Swarthmore was the best team they faced this year, that includes 2 teams still fighting for WS berth today, and 5 or 6 more that were playing in the regionals this past weekend...Including 2 who were ranked top 10 this season.
Opinions are what they are but it seems clear to me that Swarthmore was flying to far under the radar.
It looks like the majority of their starters come from baseball hotbeds (CA, TX, FL, NC).
old_school posted:My son tells he felt that Swarthmore was the best team they faced this year, that includes 2 teams still fighting for WS berth today, and 5 or 6 more that were playing in the regionals this past weekend...Including 2 who were ranked top 10 this season.
Opinions are what they are but it seems clear to me that Swarthmore was flying to far under the radar.
Oh, I am sure they are. As has been pointed out before. A team has to be good for a long time before getting the benefit of the doubt.
Historically they are a bottom to a middle feeder in the Centennial Conference. A few more seasons like this and they wont fly under the radar so much.
BishopLeftiesDad posted:old_school posted:My son tells he felt that Swarthmore was the best team they faced this year, that includes 2 teams still fighting for WS berth today, and 5 or 6 more that were playing in the regionals this past weekend...Including 2 who were ranked top 10 this season.
Opinions are what they are but it seems clear to me that Swarthmore was flying to far under the radar.
Oh, I am sure they are. As has been pointed out before. A team has to be good for a long time before getting the benefit of the doubt.
Historically they are a bottom to a middle feeder in the Centennial Conference. A few more seasons like this and they wont fly under the radar so much.
Funny thing is they beat us in walk off. Some of our parents were stunned, me being freshman parent who doesn't know a damn thing was dumb enough to say "I thought they were pretty damn tough" one of the SR dads just smiled at me and said I would learn.
We were both right, he was correct in I would learn a lot this spring and I was correct in that they were pretty damn good!
The ride is over for the Willamette Bearcats. Started the season 9-11. Finished third in NWC conference but was hot at the end and won the tournament bid. Shows up as a 6 seed in the West region. Made it all the way to the 10th inning of the Championship game, but fell short of CWS losing to #6 Texas Lutheran. One of final 16 teams standing on Sunday afternoon. Best team in the history of Willamette. Even though we have some great Seniors that we are proud of and will graduate, we return every pitcher but 1 reliever and have some great young talent. Watch out for some hungry Bearcats next year as well
Swarthmore can be difficult to recruit to. Many D3 schools recruit students from all over the country. They are more National than a regional school. The Administration's at these schools, many times want the Diversity of the athletes to match the Diversity of the general population of the schools. This can require large coaching staffs and large recruiting budgets to see enough players who have the academic chops and are the proper level of athlete to play well at the D3 level. Then you have to convince the student to come to your schools over another that may have similar Academics, however has not performed as well on the baseball field.
If you look at Swarthmore's coaching staff it was 3 coaches a few years ago. There is just not enough time in the recruiting year to see the players you need to that can get into your school. This year they are up to 6. Midkiff has done a good job there considering the challenges. I have not taken the time to look. However I wonder how there other sports are doing. If the other sports are performing well, it may also indicate that the Administration has seen the benefit of having a vibrant and competitive Athletic department. They may have spent more time building athletics.
My 2017 was recruited by Swarthmore. Frankly, they dropped out when they got his grades, which were good enough to get him into similar schools but not that one. I think it's hard to understate how difficult it is for coaches at a school like Swarthmore to have successful recruiting seasons year after year when its players are held to very lofty academic standards, especially as compared to other schools in conference, and they have to face fierce competition in recruiting top talent not just from other D3's but Ivy's as well.
JCG, you are spot on.
Wooster moves on in the Mid East region. Looks like I did Jinx Wabash. Good Luck to Wooster.
South #1 Randolph-Macon
New England #2 Oswego
New York #5 Swarthmore
West #4 Texas Lutheran
Midwest #1 Concordia-Chicago
Mideast #1 Wooster
Central #3 Texas-Tyler
Mid-Atlantic #5 Misericordia
5 teams swept their Regional tournaments in four games.
MidAtlanticDad posted:old_school posted:My son tells he felt that Swarthmore was the best team they faced this year, that includes 2 teams still fighting for WS berth today, and 5 or 6 more that were playing in the regionals this past weekend...Including 2 who were ranked top 10 this season.
Opinions are what they are but it seems clear to me that Swarthmore was flying to far under the radar.
It looks like the majority of their starters come from baseball hotbeds (CA, TX, FL, NC).
Right you are! If you want to get good those are the states to recruit in.
My 2018 was recruited to, and offered, at Swarthmore. He ultimately chose another school. Swat wasn't on our radar, at all, so when they contacted him he had to do some research. If he had any connection in the area he might've gone- great school- but he had a couple of other D3's that were also attractive, and more known to him. Quite a feat for such a rigorous school like that to compete. I know that in my neck of the woods, Carleton, which has similar tough academic standards, has a hard time being competitive.
They are re-doing the field and the buildings around it. The dorms look right over the field. Nice.
Lets keep this going, D3 World Series starts in a couple days. Anybody got a dog in the fight:
https://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/baseball/d3
