Baseball is looming! How does MAC look?

[BKDevil]

Now that basketball season is over and the weather will begin to turn, its almost time to think about baseball season!

While the MAC has not had alot of success at the state tournament in recent years, they still put a pretty decent amount of talent on the field in Eastern Iowa on a yearly basis.
Last year saw North Scott capture the MAC title with a 12-4 conference record. Assumption and PV tied for second with 12-6 conference records.
NS was upended in the tournament by Davenport Central and Central ultimately lost to Davenport North. North went on to beat Bettendorf at home to advance to the state tournament. The Wildcats went out quickly and quietly at the state level but their young players gained valuable experience they will hope to use this year.
Assumption meanwhile won a couple of games in the 3A tourney before bowing out in regional final to Maquoketa.

At first glance, North Scott, Bettendorf and Assumption seem to bring back the most talent from a year ago.

North Scott should have plenty of arms in Fleetwood, Odgen, Huber and Arp and a player of year candidate in Brandon Engler at third base. Can they repeat?

Bettendorf will have 8 or 9 returning postion players and should have a solid one-two on the mound in Ulrich and Hill. Beals, Klabunde and Albert should lead potentially potent offense.

Assumption also returns plenty both on the mound and in the field. Knouse, Quested and Duax should be formidable on the mound and Duax, Adrian, Wescom and Gervase should lead balanced offense.

Other teams to consider
North- State qualifyer last year brings back all everything Zach Fries to anchor both the pitching staff and the offense. TeBrake, Roehm and Samuelson will provide additional offense.

Muscatine- Can Burkamper bring a title to Muscatine? The Nebraska signee is the best arm the MAC has and if he is not overworked will keep Musckies in games late in the season. Herman will lead offense.

Central- Pitching will be light with Waterman and Hoeksema returning but this young team should be able to score some runs.

The other teams; Clinton, Burlington, PV and West have some players and could be a threat but we will have to see,
Any insight?

This post was edited on 4/10 3:22 PM by BKDevil

 

[BKDevil]

I thought I would do team reviews when possible. In alphabetical order of course.

Davenport Assumption
Last years record 26-13 overall; 12-6 MAC record (tied for second)
Lost to Maquoketa in 3A Regional Final

Knights season ended horribly in Maquoketa last year as they commmtitted 6 errors to allow Maquoketa to pull away.
Infield will again be a cause of concern for Knights. They do have some experience, but can that experience step up and provide solid defense up the middle? Seniors Gould and Wallace and Juniors Baker and Belk will battle for spots on the infield.

Outfield is solid and will be the anchor of defense and offense for Knights. Knights return all three starters in the outfield in 2nd Team All Stater Elliott Duax in right, Drew Wescom in center and Jake Gervase in left.
Catcher Jr Zach Adrian had a solid year last year as a backstop and his offense will be counted on.

Pitching seems to be deep and solid enough but they will need SR Michael Knouse back healthy at the start after he had arm issues last year. Duax, Quested, Hirst, Miller, Jagers and Doyle join Knouse as arguably one of the better staffs in the MAC.

Coach Argo has a knack for bringing teams together, with a little luck and good health, this team could be dangerous come tourney time.

 

[BKDevil]

Bettendorf
last year's record 19-17 overall; 9-9 MAC record (tied for 5th)
Lost to Dav North in Regional Final

Dogs were up and down last year with a young team. This year the cupboard is full of quality players and retruning starters all over the field as Dogs started only one senior last year.
Infield appeears to be set with Clearman at 3B, Beals at SS, Malsam at 2B and Klabunde at 1B. Catching duties will be handled by Jr Matt Albert who carried the offense last year with a .358 average, clubbed 7 home runs and drove in 30 runs.
Can this offense take advantage of the short field they play on and use power to hold teams close?

Outfield remains a bit of a question. Lintz, Hill, Mullenburg, Broyles, Wernentin and Cox will battle for spots. Whoever hits should play. Ulrich was decent DH last year as a fallback if OF struggles at plate.

Pitching will be led by last year's surprise SR Matt Ulrich, who went 9-3 on the mound last year while postig a 2.27 ERA. SR Hill will also be counted on for many innings this year and must keep his walks down to be more effective with his breaking ball. Can they find a few more arms?

Longtime coach JFitzgerald should win and stop the rumbling within. Dog supporters are used to winning and baseball has not in a long time. This could be the year.

This post was edited on 3/28 3:44 PM by BKDevil

This post was edited on 4/8 1:51 PM by BKDevil

 

[BKDevil]

Burlington
Last Year's Record 12-23 overall; 3-15 MAC record (last place)
Lost to Linn Mar in first round

Greyhounds have solid OF in McChensey and Patterson in left and center with rf up for grabs.
The infield returns two starters in SS Gates and 3B Atkens but they must find two others who can add offense to a lineup that struggled to score runs last year (only scored 170 runs in 35 games; average of 4.9 per game, and batted .286 as a team).
If you can't hit, you better pitch well or you will get beat up.
The Hounds do have a solid #1 in Chanel Cordero and also bring back George, ODear and Martin to throw innings.
But unless these guys can hit, it may be another long year for Burlilngton Baseball.

 

[BKDevil]

Clinton
Last Year's Record 20-13 Overall; 9-9 MAC record (tied for 5th)
Lost to Dub Senior in 1st round

This team brings back alot of talent and could be dangerous if they can put it all together.
First of all, they can hit. Kings bring back 5 regulars with .315 averages or better (Collender, Driscoll, Noland and the Caldwells).
Both ACaldwell and Driscoll are legitimate OF with a good stick and they bring back 3/4ths of their infield (Collender at 2b, Nolan at SS and DCaldwell at 3b).
Their pitching was young and SR Drsicoll will lead them but if they have worked all year, Pennock and Simpson can only get better.
Not sure they have the pitching depth to go entire year, but these guys will play some very decent ball this year and should not be taken lightly.

 

[BKDevil]

Davenport Central
Last Year's Record 14-22 overall; 5-13 MAC record (9th place)
Beat MAC champ NS in first round only to lose to North in second.

Not alot went right for the Blue Devils a year ago. They really struggled to find consistency from game to game and seemed to have very little leadership.
They bring back several starters from a year ago who could possibly move Devils to top half of MAC if things go well.

Offensively, Central brings back two or three of their best hitters in Betsworth, Waterman and Light plus SO Broders who shined in limited playing time last year. Problem is Light was best with .326 average and the team batted only .299 for the year.
Infield has Hoeksema, Styvaert, Bettsworth and Burke and OF will have Pethoud and Broders competing for spots.

On the hill Waterman leads pretty good unit that also includes Light, Hoeksema and Bettsworth.

While the talent does not overwhelm you, they will hit playing at Brady. They will have to lay down more bunts and play a little bit more situational to compete night in and night out. Seems the short fences at Brady causes coaching staff to abandon small ball and wait for the blast. That works for 6th place.

 

[BKDevil]

Davenport North
Last Year's Record 18-21 Overall; 6-12 Mac record (8th place)
Beat PV, Central and Bettendorf to advance to State Tourney. Lost to eventual champ Amkeny in first round

Wildcats rode the arm and bat of Zach Fries in the postseason last year and represented the MAC at the 2012 state tournament. While the results were not what waas wanted the experience these guys earned was very improtant.


North returns several key memebers of last year's team including all everything Zach Fries. This guy has excelled in big games as evidence by last year and the last two bowling seasons. This year at state he bowled a perfect game in the opening round to claim the championship as an individual and lead his team to state title as well. I expect a big year on the diamond as well.
He does have Tebrake, Heim, Ringsdorf, Samuelson and Roehm retunring to help him offensively.
On the hill Fries will be #1 and Tebrake is solid two hole man. Roehm, Samuelson and Ringsdorf also showed promise last year. Barring injuries this team could be fun to watch.
Not sure they can win 3 or 4 MAC games a week to stay near top of standings but with Fries on hill at end of season anything is possible.

 

[BKDevil]

Davenport West
Last Year's record 18-20 Overall; 11-7 MAC record (4th place)
Lost to Bettendorf 4-3 in first round

Falcons were hit hard by graduation with nearly all their offense and all their pitching leaving for college.
Only SR Hoth, JR Thiessen and JR Dorton logged much varsity time last year and Hoth and Thiessen are both catchers.
Alot of gaps to fill!
On the hill Dorton proved to be capable but Wells and Dittmer had better grow up fast or Falcons will struggle mightily this year.

 

[bobcat_baseball]

Thanks for this BK, really enjoy the write up.

I'm looking forwar to another entertaining season. I always enjoy watching summer baseball, my son is involved with a travel ball team which has a coach from an Illinois high school. I couldn't imagine wanting to play in the cold like they have to so often, and on top of that they are struggling to get any games in. Obviously positives on both side. Either way the MAC should be pretty solid this season. I feel North Scott, Muscatine, assumption and Bettendorf should all be fighting for a title this season. As you mentioned North may be a wild card, hard to say. Can they build off a strong substrate last season?

 

[BKDevil]

North Scott
Last Year's record 31-9 overall record; 14-4 MAC record (champs)
Lost to Central in first round.

Lancers were sailing through the season but were unable to hold off Central in disappointing opening round game.

NS seems on paper to have enough talent to repeat but we will see.
Although they will need to fill many spots due to graduation, they do return 3b Engler, C Mosely, SS Breneman and RF Fleetwood.
Their pitching is loaded with Fleetwood and Trey Ogden leading with Hall, Engler, Arp and Huber right behind.

I like the nucleus with Engler and Co. and their pitching depth. They will compete for league title again.

 

[BKDevil]

Muscatine (Yes M comes before N---oversight)
Last Year's record 26-12 overall; 9-9 MAC record (tied for 5th)
Beat CR Jeff and CR Prairie before losing to 2-1 to Linn Mar in 8 innings.

This team will go as far as Derek Burkamper and a potent offense will take them. He is a solid ace of any staff and is a work horse who logged 17 innings in the three post season games and was one out away from state berth. He pitched 83 2/3 innings with a 1.17 ERA. Although his 8-5 record isn't spectacular, its deceiving.
To go with Burkamper the Muskies will also throw.....? Not sure the kid can pitch every game but Muskies will sure to have someone out there besides Burkamper. Depth is an obvious issue here.
The Muskie offense however will be good!
JR Trent Herman, JR Moss, JR Calvert and JR Jones can get after it in the box and I expect them to eclipse their league leading 289 runs and .329 team batting average.
This team will be fun to watch and you can bet, no team will want anything to do with them in a tournament setting with DB on the hill and them swinging the bats like they do.
Expect Muskies to saty near top and if they can find anothe arm or two, watch out!

 

[BKDevil]

Pleasant Valley
Last Year's record 27-14 overall; 12-6 MAC record (tie for 2nd)
Lost to North in frist round

Graduation hurt Spartans offensively but they have solid one two three punch on hill with JR Neuhaus SR Fink and SO Suhr.
Neuhaus showed his mettle last two years and is very good and Suhr will be bigger and better this year as well.

Problem is they graduated all but 111 hits from a year ago. Their leading returning hitter is JR Obrien who had 21 hits, 12 RBIs and batted .256 last year. A few options are SRs Brown, Fink, Ennis, Blaske and Redmond.

If they cannot replace the studs they lost, it may mean second tier this year for PV.
This post was edited on 3/28 3:45 PM by BKDevil

 

[BKDevil]

Spring league started last weekend and it was great to see some baseball being played on local diamonds.

Heard a rumor that Derek Burkamper from Muscatine will NOT be playing for the Muscatine High School team.
I was told that he will be playing AAU ball instead of high school ball.

Really hurts Muskies chances if this is true.

 

[BKDevil]

maybe Iowa is smarter then the other states who play spring baseball

I see all this rain and wonder how high schools in Illinois feel about getting minimal games in each spring.
When they are3 playing they are playing in 40 degree temps.

 

[BKDevil]

baseball is here!
I may drive out to Bettendorf and watch the Dogs throw it around a bit

 

[BKDevil]

I have been looking at the quick stats rosters of teams and was happy to see Derek Burkamper's name on the Muscatine roster.
The rumor that he was not doing high school ball must have been just that; a rumor.
Sorry, I repeated it.
This is good for our league!

 

[BKDevil]

Baseball is here!

MAC action tonight:
Assumption @ Moline, IL
Clinton @ Northeast
Dav West hosts City High
Muscatine @ Solon
NS hosts Dyersville Beckman
PV travels to Dub Senior.

Go MAC!

 

[BKDevil]

I managed to see Assumption the other night play against Moline, IL and the Knights showed some promise.
They kicked the ball around in game one and let one get away in a 5-4 set back to the Illinois team who is 23-10 on the year.
In game two the Knights won on a five inning one hitter by junior Andrew Quested. Quested threw very well and I can see him winning many games this year. The Knights also banged out 17 hits in the 12 innings played led by Elliot Duax's three hits. Duax also threw a guy out at home trying to tag from deep right.

I saw Muscatine's Derek Burkamper dominated Solon while striking out 12 in his season debut. Muskies split and Trent Herman had a 7 RBI night.

Dav West took 2 out of 3 games from City High and IC West.
PV opened with a sweep of Dub Senior as Brock neuhaus struck out 10.
Dav Central then pounded PV in non conference game with Tyler Broders having a big offensive night.
Clinton beat Hempstead and Burlington split with Ft Madison.

Good start for MAC.
Off to Bett to watch dogs tonight.
This post was edited on 5/23 12:50 PM by BKDevil

 

[BKDevil]

Opening day for MAC baseball action. MAC teams have started 33-14 so far and have looked good doing it.
Whats on tap for today?

Dav West @ Bettendorf- Dogs have been hammering the ball with consistency so far this year and have looked good with their only loss coming to PV in a non-conference battle. Hill and Ulrich each beat a solid Linn Mar team on the mound.
Falcons are young and are off to e 2-2 record with wins over IC High and IC West. Tyler Wells has been solid on the mound but West will need more to beat a good Bett team.
I expect the Dogs to sweep fairly easily.

Burlington @ Dav Central- Hounds have scored 40 runs in four games against Ft Madison and Keokuk. This is a big improvement after they struggled to score runs all of last year. Not sure where Chanel Cordero is but they need his arm. Central has also being pounding out the runs at a pretty good clip. Justin Waterman has been very good on mound as he has two wins already.
I think Central wins a pair.

PV @ Clinton- Expect good games in both of these matchups. Clinton has opened 5-1 against some decent competition and playing at home could give them an edge.
PV's Brock Neuhaus has been nearly unhittable to date, 4 hits in 14 innings, and has two good wins to show for it. Defense will paly big part as these are two evenly matched teams.
Split.

Assumption @ North- Knights have shown early on that they will be contenders. Quested and Knouse pitching have been very good and the offense is clicking as they opened 5-1.
North has been injury riddled so far with Samuelson, Fries and others sittiing out games already. Tough week for North as they get Bett on Thursday.
Knights sweep

North Scott @ Muscatine- Talk about un-hittable... Muscatine's Derek Burkmaper has only given up 4 hits and one run in 17 innings while striking out 37. Muskies better use him while they have him as I suspect he will be drafted fairly high and will be gone by mid June. But dont forget about Musky offense. They are good.
North Scott has not reported any information so I am not certain where they are right now but they are good. With their pitching, Arp, Fleetwood, Huber and Odgen among others, the Lancers will win many games. This will be a great double header.
I like Muscatine whenever DB is on hill but I would think Lancers could steal game two.

 

[Opie34]

Cordero for Burlington has an injury to forearm and has not pitched at all this season.

 

[BKDevil]

Thats too bad!
My best wishes for a speedy recovery!

 

[BKDevil]

Week Two of MAC play (if the rain gods allow it to happen)

North Scott at Assumption
NS seems to be figuring it out after early struggles. They sit at 2-2 with wins and losses against Musc and PV. Their bats woke up against PV's ace Brock Neuhaus and they pounded out 15 hits and 12 runs. Lancers' pitching has to be more consistent. Split here are they would have three big guns out of the way with only 3 MAC losses.
Assumption sits at 8-2 (1-0) after some rain washed away their last few games. Pitching and good defense have kept Knights in games and they have pulled a couple out.
Two good teams probably means a split,

Clinton at Bettendorf-
Bulldogs have been really good. Ulrich and Hill are one of the best tandems in the MAC on the hill. But, who approves their schedule? They have played nine games and all have been at home and their next four are too. How do they not start strong playing every game in the friendly confines? 13 straight homes games to begin season (yes they had one rainout)?
After getting swept by PV last week Clinton needs to win some games. Their 5-1 start got them into the #8 spot in the 4A rankings but they then got swept at home by PV.
I think Dogs are really comfortable at home and I expect them to sweep.

Central at North
North is getting it going. They are getting healthy and playing good ball. TeBrake and Fries are also tough tandem. Central has really not been tested to date. Yes, the Devils beat PV in a nonconference game but they havent played anyone as good as North yet. Waterman on hill should keep Central in game and Weiman and Broders continue to hit but I like North to win two here.

Muscatine at West-
If Muscatine sends Burkamper to hill against West, he may strike out 21. The recently drafted right hander will dominate the young Falcons as 7 of the Falcon regulars are hitting .240 or less. Expect an early exit if he pitches at all (unless he wants gaudy stats). West's Dorton has shown good stuff but Muskies are too good at plate.
Muscatine sweep

Burlington at PV
7-5 Hounds have shown they are improved at the plate as their young stud Durbala and McChesney are raking it but they really havent seen the pitching the should expect to see tonight. Neuhaus is very good for PV and so has Suhr at the plate and on the hill.
PV sweep.

Congrats to Derek Burkamper on his being chosen in recent MLB draft! Quite an accomplishment! He has decided to pass on the offer and begin his college career at Nebraska next year.
Go MAC teams!

 

[BKDevil]

Results from June 10:

NS at Assumption.
Knights won two, 6-4 & 2-1. AHS only had 11 hits and scored 8 runs but pitching and timely hitting allowed them to sweep. Lancers showed some pop in firstgame as they hit 3 homers off Elliot Duax (2 by Kreiter and 1 by Arp), but Duax got tough outs when he needed them and his offense bailed him out with five straight hits in 4 run 6th inning.
AHS's Quested and NS's Huber each pitched wonderfully in game two. Knights use a hit by pitch, bloop hit, passed ball and another bloop hit to score to in fourth. Quested was very good and kept Lancers off balance all night.

Clinton @ Bettendorf
Teams split.
If you like offense, you should have been at Bettendorf last night. These are two of the best hitting teams in MAC and they did not disappoint. 33runs 39 hits and 5 homers later the teams both went home with a win. Clinton's Collender hit 6th HR

Central at North
Teams Split
Central's Szalo went 6.1 innings on the hill and 2-3 at the plate and got the win 3-2.
North's Zach Fries dominated the Devils throwing a one hitter to win 7-0.

Muscatine at West
Muskies sweep.
Burkamper didn't get 21 strikeouts, he got 11. But he only pitched 5 innings in a 14-0 rout in which the Musky hitters pounded out 13 hits. West only managed 3 hits in game two against West's Eric Torres and lost 3-2.

Burlington @ PV
PV sweep.
Spartans scored 2 runs in 7th to pull out a 6-4 win for PV ace Neuhaus. Neuhaus allowed one earned run and struck out 8 over 7 innings. PV's Suhr continues to hammer the ball as he pounded out 6 hits in the two games.

Thursdays games
PV 5-1 at West 1-5
Burlington 1-5 at NS 2-4
Bett 3-1 @ Central 3-1
Assumption 3-1 at Clinton 1-3
Muscatine 3-1 at North 2-2


This post was edited on 6/12 8:09 AM by BKDevil

 

[IAHawkeyeBaseball]

Do you think that Burkamper is being overused this early in the season? I was looking at Quikstats and he is already at 30 innings pitched, going deep into games with a comfortable lead. Is he being efficient and keeping his pitching count down? I was looking at some other top pitchers in Iowa (mostly Ankeny's three) and they are around 15 innings. Is that because of Muscatine's lack of depth? I am looking forward to see how he does against Bettendorf and Clinton, since you said they are the best offensive teams in the MAC.

 

[bobcat_baseball]

According to online articles, Burkamper has thrown less than 60 pitches in two of his 5 inning complete games. The point your making is valid, If he keeps his pitch count down, innings are irrelevant.

 

[BKDevil]

DB is strong and has the arm strength and stamina to go deep in games.
I do worry that he gets too much work but his innings are usually un-stressed innings and it can be compared to just playing catch in some cases. Not meant to disrespect teams he has faced but when your used to seeing guys throwing low 80s and then DB comes in and pops the glove at 90....its a huge difference.

Durant P Justin Schafer has thrown 38 innings to date and sits at 7-0 with two 7 inning no hitters (he also has 6 HR). He has struck out 83 of the 120 batters he has faced compared to Burkamper who has struck out 59 of the 102 batters he has faced.
I wouldlike to see Schafer throw against a good lineup but Durant does not play any really good teams until possibly districts/regionals.
Schafer and Burkamper may be best lefty righty pitchers in state.

 

[cyard31]

I saw Schafer from Durant a few weeks ago. Had speed, good control, and off speed. He kept opposing batters off balance all night. I think he threw a one hitter. Unfortunately for Durant - I don't think they have much else in their pitching arsonal.

 

[BKDevil]

Nice, we missed the storm in Eastern Iowa.
Lets play some baseball!

Tonight
PV at West.
I expect PV to have an easy sweep to go 7-1 in conference. Plain and simple....West cannot hit! Granted Neuhaus may not come back on two days rest after throwing 7 innings Monday but Spartans still have Suhr and Fink. That should be enough.

Burlington at NS
Even though Burlington has dramatically improved their offense this year with Durbala and improved McChesney, I still think NS get two much needed wins tonight. I cannot explain the Lancers 2-7 record. They get well tonight.

Bett at Central
Bett's first games away from home this year and they go into a more hitter friendly park than their own little bandbox. Both Hill and Ulrich pitched Monday but each went only four innings so they may come back on short rest. Central has Waterman available after he only lasted 2 innings Monday at North. I expect some runs to be put up.
I think Central will steal one with Waterman on hill. Mediacom game. Split

Assumption at Clinton
Clinton has been reeling lately losing 3 of 5. I see they have thrown Pennock on two days rest before but I would think their coaches are smarter than to keep sending a freshman out on two days rest. Knights have Knouse available and he has been very good. I like the Knights to win two.

Muscatine at North
North used both TeBrake and Fries for 7 innings Monday but I would be surprised if we didnt see them tonight, at least for awhile. The Musky offense is very good and Wildcats are not deep on the hill.
I think Musky sweeps with Burkamper in game one and their offense in game two.

IF things go as I expect the race will have (although things rarely go as I expect):
PV 7-1
Assumption 5-1 (next week they play PV-Mon; and Musc on Thursday)
Muscatine 5-1
NS 4-4
Bett 4-2
Central 4-2
Clinton 3-3
North 2-4
Burlington 1-7
West 1-7

Good Luck All!

This post was edited on 6/14 11:17 AM by BKDevil

 

[BKDevil]

The standings for MAC baseball:

7-1 PV (Mon @ Assumption; Thursday OFF)
5-1 Assumption (Mon PV; Thursday Muscatine)
5-1 Muscatine (Mon @ Burlington; Thursday @ Assumption)
4-2 Bett (Mon NS; Thursday North)
4-2 Central (Mon @ West; Thursday Clinton)
4-4 NS (Mon @ Bett; Thursday OFF)
3-5 Clinton (Mon @ North; Thursday OFF)
2-4 North (Mon North; Thursday @ Bett)
1-7 Burlington (Mon Muscatine; Thursday OFF)
1-7 West (Mon Central; Thursday OFF)

Next week the top teams begin to play each other and perhaps a favorite will emerge.
Assumption, PV, Muscatine and Bett COULD all put some distance between themselves and the field with some good wins next week.
AHS has toughest week of any team having to see Neuhaus and Burkamper in the same week. Can they get at least splits in each series?
Bett also has a tough go with a rejuvenated NS team and the North team that eliminated them last year on their own field.

Good league! Whats the magic number for losses for this years champ? Four losses? Five? As deep as this league is with quality pitchers all over the region that could happen. Next week will tell alot.

 

[BKDevil]

My two cents on tonights matchups.

PV @ Assumption
Anytime PV sends P Brock Neuhaus out to the mound they are expected to win. I would probably lean that way as well but would not be surprised to see Knights win two tonight. Neuhaus was roughed up a bit against Burlington last week and the Spartans offense struggled in a weekend tourney last weekend. PV had to throw Senior Fink at DM Hoover to avoid three straight losses in Des Moines leaving Neuhaus and Suhr as probable starters versus Knights.
Assumption lost a 3-1 game at SE Polk on Saturday that ended an 8 game winning streak. Assumption most likely will counter with Duax and Quested on the hill. Quested is every bit as good as Neuhaus as these two will be marquee pitchers a year from know as both are juniors.
I will take Knights to win two.

Muscatine @ Burlington
Muscatine will win two games and set up big Thursday rain make up with Assumption. Musky bats are just too much for overmatched Grayhounds.

North Scott @ Bett
Should be alot of offense in this match up despite the quality pitchers both may use. Bett should throw Hill and Ulrich and NS should throw Odgen and Huber, I suspect. NS can unload the bullpen as they are off on Thursday while Bett has North on Thursday. But, these are two good hitting teams. Beals and Albert lead Dogs and Engler and Krieter lead Lancers.
I expect a battle in both games and eventually I see a split.

Clinton @ North
North bats have quieted a bit but they remain a competitive team. With TeBrake and Fries they remain a dangerous team. Clinton has not had many balls bounce their way lately but did have a nice weekend going 3-0.
I like Clinton with Pennock but North with Fries.
Split

Central @ West
West has really struggled at the plate and on paper have no chance in ANY of the their remaining MAC games....but thats why you play the games. Dorton has been lone bright spot for Falcons and I would expect to see his best tonight. Central will counter with Waterman and Szalo. Can Falcons get one?
No...I like Blue Devils to sweep.

Go MAC!

 

[BKDevil]

Beautiful night for baseball in Eastern Iowa as all games except one, the second game of Muscatine at Burlington beat the weather. Muskies will travel back to Burlington to try and salvage a split with Hounds.

PV @ Assumption.
Went to this one. Knights had trouble with command and their pitchers walked 8 batters in game one. But, Zach Adrian clubbed a 0-2 pitch out of the yard off Neuhaus to plate three in the bottom of 6th to secure game one for the Knights.
Game two was an instant classic. both AHS's Quested and PV's Suhr pitched well enough to win in this see-saw battle. Knights put up a 4 spot in the sixth in game two as well but Spartans rallied to score two in the top of the 7th to tie it and eventually won it in the 8th on Blaske's 3-2 double to left.
Well played split by both teams. Pv has positioned itself good in MAC as they sit 8-2 with North, Central, Musc and Bett left to play. Nothing is guarenteed as anyone of these can be losses but they have to be happy at 8-2 right now.
Knights fell to 6-2 with another test coming as they host Muscatine Thursday.

Musc @ Burlington
Burlington surprised the Muskies in game one winning 5-3 as Hounds overcame a 3-2 deficit. Lightning halted game two with Muscatine up 4-1 in the third inning and will be continued June 27.

NS at Bett
Lancers pounded Dogs 12-1 in game one with 13 hits as Arp had 5 RBIs and NS plated seven runs in the 7th.
In game two Bett's Hill threw well limiting the Lancers to 4 hits as Dogs salvaged split with 3-2 win.

Clinton @ North
River Kings had 15 hits in game one and scored three runs in the 8th inning to beat Wildcats 10-7. Driscoll and Nolan had three hits apiece for Kings. Wildcats got game two by holding off Kings 9-8.

Central @ West
Kudos to Falcons for proving me wrong and taking two from inner city rival Central. "....thats why you play the games". Very glad to see the young West team get much needed wins 8-2 & 6-5. These games and Burlington beating Muscatine just prove that each night is it's own and if you do not play up to potential another MAC team will get ya!
This league title remains up for grabs and anyone of 5-6 teams can still string together some wins and make things interesting.

This post was edited on 6/18 9:14 AM by BKDevil

This post was edited on 6/18 9:16 AM by BKDevil

 

[BKDevil]

My picks for ALL MAC after half the season

1B- Arp NS
2B- Collender Clinton
3B- Engler NS
SS- Beals Bett
OF- McChesney Burlington
OF- Wernentin Bett
OF- Duax Assumption
C- Herman Muscatine
P- Burkamper Muscatine
DH- Kreiter NS
Utility- Suhr PV

Obviously alot of season left and I have not seen a couple of teams (Burlington and West) but these guys have stood out to me. Catcher is the most difficult to choose as Herman, Albert and Adrian are all studs; 2B too with the young guy, Durbala, from Burlington.

 

[BKDevil]

My take on tonights games

Muscatine at Assumption
Knights beat the second best pitcher in MAC, PV's Neuhaus, on Monday. Can they get the best? Muscatine should send out Burkmaper in game one and Assumption will counter with Knouse. Should be a good one as both teams need wins to keep pace with PV in the MAC race. I am sure a split would be good for both and I think that will probably happen. Game two starters Doyle for Assumption? and Muscatine's Torres? are both solid but not dominating. If Muskies get game one, sweep is possible. Knights have to split here to keep pace but if they can do what others haven't done and hit DB Knouse should be able to go inning for inning with him.
Split

North @ Bettendorf
Both these teams are reeling a bit lately but have talent to cause issues later. Bett may throw Klabunde and Broyles after Hill and Ulrich went Monday. North should be able to hit these two. Not sure what North has remaining as they did not report stats from Monday. Dogs desperately need a sweep to stay in MAC race while North is trying to move up in standings.
We should see some scoring as Dogs go back home where they are 10-3 and very comfortable. Dogs are 3-3 on road.
I like North to get one so I see a split.

Clinton @ Central
Central has alot of pitching left as they obviously did not use their top pitchers in a very bad series against West. Falcons took two from Devils to really hurt Central's chances in MAC race. They have Hoeksema, Waterman and Betsworth available and you can bet they will use them to avoid more losses. Clinton may be the best 2-6 team in the state. Since they cracked state's top ten, Clinton has not improved. Pennock, their ace, has been roughed up his last two outings and I would not expect him to throw tonight again on short rest.
I like Devils with their pitching but I think Clinton steals one. They are too good to keep losing.
Split
This post was edited on 6/20 11:49 AM by BKDevil

 

[BKDevil]

Assumption handed Muscatine's Derek Burkamper his first loss of the year last night. Knights didn't exactly pound the ball but used walks, errors and one timely hit to squeek one out against one of the best around.
Then Knights were shut down by Eric Torres and lost game two 4-1.
You would think if Knights can beat Neuhaus and Burkamper they could pull off a sweep or two. Nope, they split twice after getting big wins in game one of the two series. They better learn to not let down after emotional wins if they expect to do well in 3A tourney.

North and Bettendorf played long into the night as the first game went 10 innings. Dogs eventually won game one 4-3 and North managed to score three runs in 7th to salvage the split.

Central is going backwards in a hurry. They had a bad week losing two to West Monday and then got swept by Clinton last night. Their schedule is brutal down the stretch with Assumption, PV, NS and Muscatine remaining. They sit 4-6 in MAC and 9-7 overall.
Clinton managed to get much needed wins in a big way winning 11-2 & 13-4 over Blue Devils.

 

[IAHawkeyeBaseball]

Sounds like to MAC has come good competition this season. I was looking at the schedules for the top teams and ask this question to you, since you seems to have the most information on the MAC. Do you think the MAC should splitting into two divisions for baseball.

North Division - Clinton, Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley, North Scott, Davenport North
Sound Division - Davenport West, Davenport Central, Assumption, Muscatine, Burlington

Each team would then have to play each team within their division 4 times (home and away) instead of twice. Than you can have your crossover doubleheaders. You will have a division winner and conference winner. This should give each team 16 guaranteed 4A games, plus you will have to focus more on pitching depth and strategy.

 

[BKDevil]

Not a bad idea but not playing the other teams is not an option. Your proposal would need to include other matchups with the teams from the other divisions...West would have to still play North and the others from the North Division. Baseball is not a revenue sport but the inner city games are closest thing to money makers.
So the MAC schedules would go from playing MAC teams 18 times (2 games times 9 teams) to playing MAC teams 21 times (4 games times four teams in your division plus 1 game versus other five teams from opposite division). It would go to 26 games if they played double headers with non-conference teams.
Plus, to crown an overall MAC champ, each division's winners would have to play another game or games so each school would have to leave a schedule spot open in case they win their divsion and have to play in championship game.
Since Iowa only allows 40 games to be played then worst case scenario would have each MAC team only playing 12 games against non conference foes.
I know MAC coaches like playing out of their conference to see how they stack up against other teams in the state and losing those opportunities would hurt, not help.

 

[o2bahawk]

I am not sure I see the advantages to the two division suggestion. You state that each team is guaranteed 16 MAC conference games but they have 18 games currently. Yes crossover games would possibly give you more games against MAC Conference teams in the end but how wouldyou determine the Conference Champ? Is Division champ decided by only Division games or would you count the cross over games too? I'm guessing the two Division champs would play each other for the Conference Championship, but think schedules are too tight at the end of the year to add that one additional game and you might have to get approval for two teams to play more than the maximum number of games. I like the current setup because you play every team in the conference and then you have the ability to play other teams from Eastern (and even Central) Iowa in an effort to get your team ready for the postseason.

 

[screwloose]

You could conceivably keep the 18 game schedule and go to two divisions. And you wouldn't have to necessarily go to a geographic split, although it probably would make a little more sense for Burlington and Clinton.

Split the teams up five and five. You have four opponents within your own division. You play each of them three times. Two you play a doubleheader at home and once on the road and the other two you play the opposite. This would be twelve games total. You have one team from the other side you play twice, once home and once away. The other fours teams you play once; two at home, two on the road. This would result in six non-division games, totaling 18 all together. If the divisions are set-up right, you could make it so the Davenport schools have the crossovers and a minimum of two games against two of the other three. Overall, those teams would still be getting six "city games". Heck, you could put all the city schools together and they could play nines against the others in this format.

Just an outsider looking in. Realignment talk gets my creativity going.

 

[BKDevil]

Well, rained washed away the full slate last night as games were moved to Thursday and Friday July 11 (Bett @ Muscatine).

Thursday Matchups:

13-9 (4-6) North at PV 17-7 (8-2)
PV controls its own destiny in MAC race. Win out and they win MAC. Easier said then done. Neuhaus should be well rested as Spartans have not played since June 19. He has been hit around a bit in two of last three outings and suffered his first loss to Assumption his last time out. Can he rebound and shut down North bats.
North is not an offensive juggernaut but they manage to win games as evidence by not being sewpt in MAC action to date. Can they keep it going with Fries on hill?
Split with Fries pitching well and getting win.

17-5 (7-3) Assumption at Central 9-8 (4-6)
Blue Devils are sinking quickly and are entering a very tough stretch of games (AHS, PV, NS & Musc await). Central is 2-7 in last 9 games and have struggled on mound and at the bat. Throwing strikes has been an issue as Devil pitchers have walked 91 guys which is tops in MAC.
Assumption has shown that they are not going away. It aint always pretty but they have found a way. Most of the time it has been solid pitching and patient approach at the plate. With Knouse, Quested and Duax available Blue Devils better bring their A game or losing streak could grow.
Knights Sweep.

7-10 (3-7) West at 7-11 (5-5) North Scott
West is coming off best week stretch for them as Falcons won 4 games last week (Durant, Camanche and the sweep of Centrral). Trouble is those teams do not have the talent NS does.
North Scott has reached .500 mark in MAC and remian in title consideration. A sweep here and I would like their chances sitting at 7-5 with North, Central and Clinton remaining.
NS Sweep

10-9 (2-7) Burlington at Clinton 15-7 (4-6)
Hounds showed how dangerous they can be as they knocked off Muscatine in game one last week. Hound offense can flat out hit this year as evident by their league leading .339 team batting average. Problem is they have no pitching to speak of.
Clinton is still a very good and dangerous team.
I think Clinton gets the sweep at home.

14-7 (6-4) Bett @ Muscatine 15-7 (5-3)
Dogs have certainly underachieved so far this year. As a team they have struggled at the plate hitting only .279 as a team. Hill and Ulrich have been good but a little inconsistent. Muscatine has to shore up its defense if it wants to go anywhere in postseason. Burkamper will get them there if Muskies are #1 seed in their district as he would be able to go first and second rounds but he cant go to Des Moines along. Torres did show he is a capable #2 but the defense is a let down.

This post was edited on 6/27 9:10 AM by BKDevil

 

[BKDevil]

Only two more weeks of MAC baseball and the Champion is far from being named.
Five teams have very reasonable chances to win this thing (PV, Musc, Assumption, Bett and Clinton).
Even the 5-7 teams could make a push with some sweeps tonight and next Monday.

PV sits atop right now at 9-3 with Muscatine right behind at 7-3 (rainout with Bett). I think PV caught a break too as their matchup with Muscatine is set for Monday July 8th. Muscatine has a tough rain makeup date with Bett on Friday July 5th. Do they pitch Burkamper on Friday against Bett or save him for PV on Monday? Can't throw him both days if he goes long on Friday can they?
Full MAC standings
PV 9-3 (@Central today; at Musc next Mon and host Bett 7/11)
Muscatine 7-3 (@ Clinton today; host Bett July 5th; host PV July 8th and finish @ Central July 11)
Assumption 8-4 (@West today; host Bett next Monday and finish hosting Burlington July 11)
Bett 6-4 (hosts Burlington tonight; @Muscatine July 5, @ Assumption July 8th and @ PV July 11)
Clinton 6-6 (hosts Muscatine today; @West July8th and @ NS July 11)
Central 5-7 (host PV tonight; @ NS July 8th and finishes at muscatine July 11)
North 5-7 (host NS tonight; @ Burlington july 8th and finishes hosting West July 11)
West 5-7 (host Assumption tonight; host Clinton July 8th and finishes @ North July 11)
North Scott 5-7 (@ North tonight; host Central July 8th and finishes hosting Clinton July 11)
Burlington 2-10 (@ Bett tonight; host North july 8th and finishes at Assumption July 11)

Should be a fun finish!