Here goes! NAIA has already started, I think - some D3s start this weekend. Good luck everyone!
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Yes, the Western D3s start this weekend. Western Jucos and D2s are already playing.
D3 is underway.
2/1
University of Dallas 9
Sul Ross State 11
2/4
Maryville (Tenn.) 1
Berry 2
Iowa starts Feb. 14 in Florida. Weekend of Feb. 21 in California. Then to Minnesota Feb. 28 to play in the dome. First home games sometime in March and I have my thermal sleeping bag ready to roll!!
Iowamom23 posted:Iowa starts Feb. 14 in Florida. Weekend of Feb. 21 in California. Then to Minnesota Feb. 28 to play in the dome. First home games sometime in March and I have my thermal sleeping bag ready to roll!!
About ten years ago I went to watch Georgie Tech play a doubleheader at Boston College in March. It was sunny and 28. Fortunately there wasn’t any wind. I don’t know why I stayed for most of two games.
That week someone asked me if the Georgia people were cold. Playing baseball in 28 degrees everyone is cold. It wasn’t bad moving around rather than sitting in a seat.
One benefit of Boston College’s old, mediocre baseball facility was a three level parking garage overlooked the baseball field. In bad weather your car could be a heated luxury box if you get there early enough to park facing the field.
I remember a high school game in PA my son played in that was so overcast, windy and cold parents were running poles between innings.
Son starts on February 14th at home then in Texas next weekend. He is fully recovered from broke ankle in November. Throws bullpen today with batter in and then in scrimmage this weekend. Will get to start hitting again next week. Has been a learning process but a good one. it is amazing to see how the coaches, staff, trainers, and doctors have worked with him to get well on their timeframe, not his.
RJM posted:Iowamom23 posted:Iowa starts Feb. 14 in Florida. Weekend of Feb. 21 in California. Then to Minnesota Feb. 28 to play in the dome. First home games sometime in March and I have my thermal sleeping bag ready to roll!!
I remember a high school game in PA my son played in that was so overcast, windy and cold parents were running poles between innings.
My son's USSSA team had a mom that made us do that. One game son started doing a kind of weird dance on third--he said after the game that the coaches gave the kids hand warmers to put in their back pockets while in the field. His was burning his butt. :-)
The Georgia College Bobcats are off to a great 4-0 start, including a win over the defending national champs Tampa U. Very good weather for the first week, but gonna be chilly this weekend.
Iowamom23 posted:Iowa starts Feb. 14 in Florida. Weekend of Feb. 21 in California. Then to Minnesota Feb. 28 to play in the dome. First home games sometime in March and I have my thermal sleeping bag ready to roll!!
Last year we were supposed to play them in dome but Final 4 messed that up and they came to Dallas. Our family is in Nebraska and MN so would have been fun. Heard it’s pretty crazy
Son played in his first college game, and did well. Very exciting for him, and for us to watch it happen. It's too far for us to attend most games, but at least we've figured out how to connect the live video feed to our t.v. so we can see the games pretty well. And, we had a great phone call with him after the game.
For those starting soon. May I advise getting a Coleman Catalytic Heater. We sould take a blanket put it between our seats, drape the Blanket over bothe of us.
Make sure to keep the blanket off the heater. Just brushing against it can cause it to Melt.
When our son Graduated we passed it down to one of the new freshmans parents. Kept us reasonable warm Works really well in a stadium Drape the blanket over the seat in front of you kept the lower body really warm.
They have newer version, here is what we used.
Today is first game of season for son. They're in Florida where it's 92, we're in Iowa, where it's 9. Poor planning on our part, particularly in light of the fact that son is slated to have his first weekend start Sunday.
A couple of funnies to kick off the season for our family.
Son texted me last week — "according to a news story I read, it sounds like I will be starting first Sunday game." Coaches hadn't mentioned it yet.
His sister then texted him, asking when he would pitch — Sunday, he said.
What time? she asked.
His replay — "When the game starts."
In Boca Raton, FL its 83, with a real feel of 88. This is not typical weather for us this time of year.
Rain in the forecast for this evening.
I'm bumping this since there are discussions about the 2020 season going on...
Good luck to everyone this weekend! D1 is full-on, the rest are slowly coming to life.
Son had first weekend start last Sunday. Walked three, hit one, gave up one run, three strike outs. Went three innings, but used 67 pitches to do it. Sadly, he was the best we had for the day. Ended up losing 8-10 and son will have second start Sunday. At least that's the plan
But things aren't going to plan so far — flight from Cedar Rapids to San Diego Thursday cancelled. Finally left at 1 p.m. CT today, hit California at 5 p.m. CT, fist pitch at 8 p.m.
Minneapolis next weekend — North Carolina, NC State, Duke. In a dome.
son threw two innings in Phoenix not back 1 unearned, 3 ks no walks .... then started one last wed went 5 inn 7 k's no walks, no runs, 2 hits..
Heading to Minneapolis to see my son's best friend from HS play a division 3 doubleheader in the U.S. Bank Stadium. Games start at 10 p.m. and midnight. Then my son comes up tomorrow night for games Friday, Saturday and Sunday facing North Carolina, NC State and Duke. Busy weekend of baseball!
I'll be in Tampa Friday-Monday. Will try to catch Tampa U and Eckerd games. Maybe even Tampa Jesuit HS on Saturday. Anyone know of any college tournaments in the area this weekend?
Son finally got back on the mound after surgery for broke ankle. 2 innings, 2 hits, 2 K's, 1 HBP no runs. Not his best but got the nerves out of the way.
Midatlantic,
USF plays Nwestern fri-Sun
So I'm 3 weeks in to my first season without baseball in 17 years. It's driving me crazy. Sat home Sunday staring at the computer keeping up with son's old team and one of his former teammates who is a grad transfer at another school. Gonna get to some games once the weather warms up here in Ohio. Also hoping to get down to see son's friend throw later this Spring. It's a strange feeling sitting here on Tuesday and not having to be making travel plans for the weekend 
Buckeye 2015 posted:So I'm 3 weeks in to my first season without baseball in 17 years. It's driving me crazy. Sat home Sunday staring at the computer keeping up with son's old team and one of his former teammates who is a grad transfer at another school. Gonna get to some games once the weather warms up here in Ohio. Also hoping to get down to see son's friend throw later this Spring. It's a strange feeling sitting here on Tuesday and not having to be making travel plans for the weekend
You get use to it. My son last played in 2015. That first spring without him playing baseball in 15 years was rough. I kept up with his former college team for a while to ease the pain. Now I can't even do that as the college dropped the baseball program (added golf in its place 
).
I still get pangs when I drive by some of the ball fields he use to play at in HS.
Had a great weekend in Minneapolis. Fell hard to North Carolina State Friday before picking up a Cinderella win over North Carolina — tied in the bottom of the 10th, two outs, two strikes and catcher hit a GIANT home run to win it. Sunday beat Duke. Son went five innings, gave up two home runs, four runs total, but we ended up with the win. Nice to know we can play with the big boys, at least early in the season.
We'll see how today's home opener against an NAIA squad goes. We should win, but sometimes that's the kiss of death right there.
Since I picked up a cold in Minneapolis, I'll be watching from my couch.
Iowamom23 posted:Had a great weekend in Minneapolis. Fell hard to North Carolina State Friday before picking up a Cinderella win over North Carolina — tied in the bottom of the 10th, two outs, two strikes and catcher hit a GIANT home run to win it. Sunday beat Duke. Son went five innings, gave up two home runs, four runs total, but we ended up with the win. Nice to know we can play with the big boys, at least early in the season.
We'll see how today's home opener against an NAIA squad goes. We should win, but sometimes that's the kiss of death right there.
Since I picked up a cold in Minneapolis, I'll be watching from my couch.
Nice wins and best wishes to your son and team.
One of my favorite, former players recently signed his NLI to play there next year.
Son pitched last night. 2 innings 3 K's, 6 up 6 down. I know UT has not played anybody big except Texas Tech but the whole team is hitting it hard and pitching good. 24 Hr's in 13 games. 13-0. 13 different guys have hit HRs. Team ERA is 1.46 right now. But reality kicks in next weekend at USC.
I enjoy following college baseball, now that I know some players - both my son's friends, and hsbbw people. I still don't understand D1 midweek vs weekend strategies, other than that they are non-conference games. Today I looked at the scores, and saw: College of Charleston 11, Clemson 2; NCState 24, Coastal Carolina 7; Indiana 17, Purdue 2 (non-conference). I get that in baseball anything can (and does) happen, but what do these scores mean, if anything?
My son played for the Gators in the SEC , so non-conference weekday games were against FLA schools looking to chop off their legs.
Schools have a premium on weekend conference series due to access for conference championships, which lead to NCAA 64 bids
Weeksays have freshman pitchers getting their bones, so more hits/more runs
Thats all I have
Everyone is saving their top pitching for weekend conference games. If that helps.
Son got his first freshman starts during midweek games. Then relief in a weekend game. then relief in conference tourney. Then coaches said "you've done it all. Nothing to be afraid of now." Yea, right. As a sophomore he's a weekend starter, but, as the announcer said "it's early."
Feels to me like good programs don't want kids to fail, but if at first you don't succeed, if's tough to earn a second chance.
BaseballBUDDY posted:My son played for the Gators in the SEC , so non-conference weekday games were against FLA schools looking to chop off their legs.
Schools have a premium on weekend conference series due to access for conference championships, which lead to NCAA 64 bids
Weeksays have freshman pitchers getting their bones, so more hits/more runs
Thats all I have
Your son played for Sully?
Sure, I understand all that about pitching and weekend conference games, and playing the other pitchers in the weekday games. Looks like most teams are playing 6-7 pitchers in those games, also that they are playing their regular lineups. But then, some are losing those games by a lot. Maybe they would lose anyway? I thought the point was to win games (and yes, I get that winning conference games matters more), sounds more that teams use these games as some kind of scrimmage.
Many mid week games are about pitching and to which team the game is more important. My son was at Mercer and two years ago they went down to UF to play the Gators. Gators were #1 in the nation and Mercer was / is a very solid mid major. Obviously to win that game would be more important to Mercer. If any of Florida's front line pitchers threw that day, it was not to the extent that they would not be available for any of the weekend games. Mercer got the lead in the middle of the game and brought in their best reliever. He was usually an inning or two guy who was in nearly half the team's games. Well that day he was lights out, as usual, and the Gators had no chance against him. He pitched the last 5 innings or so and Mercer won the game. The reliever probably wasn't available Friday and maybe not Saturday, but beating the Gators that day was important enough to risk that.
pretty much the same situation yesterday with St. Peters/Rutgers, but more extreme.
anotherparent posted:Sure, I understand all that about pitching and weekend conference games, and playing the other pitchers in the weekday games. Looks like most teams are playing 6-7 pitchers in those games, also that they are playing their regular lineups. But then, some are losing those games by a lot. Maybe they would lose anyway? I thought the point was to win games (and yes, I get that winning conference games matters more), sounds more that teams use these games as some kind of scrimmage.
Speculation: RPI plays a role in the weekday games. I'm pretty sure that RPI is still used in college baseball for seeding and selection. At least two characteristics of RPI impact how some of these games play out. First, RPI doesn't look at game scores (just W/L), so even good teams don't care as much about losing big. Also, RPI uses "opponent's opponent" in the calculation, so some mid or lower conferences may ask all of their members to schedule weekday games against much better teams. That way the top teams in the conference do a little better with RPI from their conference games.
MidAtlanticDad posted:anotherparent posted:Sure, I understand all that about pitching and weekend conference games, and playing the other pitchers in the weekday games. Looks like most teams are playing 6-7 pitchers in those games, also that they are playing their regular lineups. But then, some are losing those games by a lot. Maybe they would lose anyway? I thought the point was to win games (and yes, I get that winning conference games matters more), sounds more that teams use these games as some kind of scrimmage.
Speculation: RPI plays a role in the weekday games. I'm pretty sure that RPI is still used in college baseball for seeding and selection. At least two characteristics of RPI impact how some of these games play out. First, RPI doesn't look at game scores (just W/L), so even good teams don't care as much about losing big. Also, RPI uses "opponent's opponent" in the calculation, so some mid or lower conferences may ask all of their members to schedule weekday games against much better teams. That way the top teams in the conference do a little better with RPI from their conference games.
I am glad that someone gets it. Thank you.
Yes, teams facing higher competition will do anything to win those mid week games. And it's not by any means looked upon as a scrimmage game.
It also has to do with bragging rights! 
MidAtlanticDad posted:Speculation: RPI plays a role in the weekday games. I'm pretty sure that RPI is still used in college baseball for seeding and selection. At least two characteristics of RPI impact how some of these games play out. First, RPI doesn't look at game scores (just W/L), so even good teams don't care as much about losing big. Also, RPI uses "opponent's opponent" in the calculation, so some mid or lower conferences may ask all of their members to schedule weekday games against much better teams. That way the top teams in the conference do a little better with RPI from their conference games.
Perfect, thanks, now it makes more sense.
MidAtlanticDad posted:anotherparent posted:Sure, I understand all that about pitching and weekend conference games, and playing the other pitchers in the weekday games. Looks like most teams are playing 6-7 pitchers in those games, also that they are playing their regular lineups. But then, some are losing those games by a lot. Maybe they would lose anyway? I thought the point was to win games (and yes, I get that winning conference games matters more), sounds more that teams use these games as some kind of scrimmage.
Speculation: RPI plays a role in the weekday games. I'm pretty sure that RPI is still used in college baseball for seeding and selection. At least two characteristics of RPI impact how some of these games play out. First, RPI doesn't look at game scores (just W/L), so even good teams don't care as much about losing big. Also, RPI uses "opponent's opponent" in the calculation, so some mid or lower conferences may ask all of their members to schedule weekday games against much better teams. That way the top teams in the conference do a little better with RPI from their conference games.
Wouldn't the calculus be different for a lower conference team? For example, when a Patriot or Ivy team goes against an ACC team, they're not going to win many of those games, and they're also not going to get an at-large bid. So if they have a freshman pitcher they want to get some innings in so he can develop, there's much downside to putting him out there in a midweek game, even if they think he doesn't give them their best chance of winning.
Coaches don't play to lose, they play to WIN!
Sometimes, especially early, it's tough to figure out but teams that play tough mid week competition often have to move guys around like chess pieces.
JCG posted:MidAtlanticDad posted:anotherparent posted:Sure, I understand all that about pitching and weekend conference games, and playing the other pitchers in the weekday games. Looks like most teams are playing 6-7 pitchers in those games, also that they are playing their regular lineups. But then, some are losing those games by a lot. Maybe they would lose anyway? I thought the point was to win games (and yes, I get that winning conference games matters more), sounds more that teams use these games as some kind of scrimmage.
Speculation: RPI plays a role in the weekday games. I'm pretty sure that RPI is still used in college baseball for seeding and selection. At least two characteristics of RPI impact how some of these games play out. First, RPI doesn't look at game scores (just W/L), so even good teams don't care as much about losing big. Also, RPI uses "opponent's opponent" in the calculation, so some mid or lower conferences may ask all of their members to schedule weekday games against much better teams. That way the top teams in the conference do a little better with RPI from their conference games.
Wouldn't the calculus be different for a lower conference team? For example, when a Patriot or Ivy team goes against an ACC team, they're not going to win many of those games, and they're also not going to get an at-large bid. So if they have a freshman pitcher they want to get some innings in so he can develop, there's much downside to putting him out there in a midweek game, even if they think he doesn't give them their best chance of winning.
Patriot and Ivy aren't great examples since most aren't close enough to P5 schools to play weekday games, but I agree, a lower conference will never get an at-large bid, so RPI probably doesn't mean much to them. An early season weekend series (e.g. Army at Duke) is probably yet another calculus. I'm guessing part of that is just for the fun of playing against a big-time program.
When I toured the athletic facilities at Lehigh with my older son, I got the impression that if Jesus returned to the Earth in Bethlehem, PA, that would not be nearly as big a deal as the basketball program's victory over Duke several years back.