NICL West

[PNation]

This conference always seems to have a thread so might as well start one, here's how I see the conference this year

1. East Marshall- Team that probably over achieved last year, last year they won a lot with pitching and defense, and not much to speak offensively I think they should be the favorite.

2. West Marshall- Obviously losing Riemenschneider is huge but I think they have two quality pitchers in Sinning and Nichols, and have some decent bats returning

3. South Tama- Probably have the best player in Smith, and two good pitchers in Doyle and Koch but after that there are many question marks, figure those out they could finish higher, if they don't they could fall.

4. BCL-UW- Return a lot from last year, and I think if Lutes pitches the way he is capable of and if they can get good pitching from Ubben and Sams they could be really dangerous. They're inconsistency over the last couple of the years puts them here for me.

5. AGWSR- This probably seems to high for a team that has struggled, but when I watched them last year they played hard, and return a ton of key pieces, I think you see improvement from them this year.

6. G-R- A really good junior class here, but they were really inconsistent last year, wouldn't surprise me if they figured it out, but they also had some terrible games last year.

7. Grundy Center- This is a tough team to figure out, they have talent returning but also lost some key pieces, they've struggled with numbers also the last few years, I could easily see them higher but right now this is where I have them.

8. South Hardin- This team was not good last year, they return quite a bit, but I think it will be a struggle for them to get out of the cellar.

I also think with the league going to 3 games against each other some teams will have to send some pitchers who normally wouldn't be used for conference games causing some upsets along the way.

 

[terrehawk]

The double headers will be interesting to see how that impacts final standings. Much more than in the past where you could juggle the schedule to win it with 2 guys. There will be some upsets.

With S Tama and WM playing a DH tonight and WM and EM playing Thursday it should provide a glimpse of how things could shake out.

S Tama has 2 good arms as mentioned and that will keep them in the hunt if they play any defense and get some help pitching wise to take some pressure off their top 2. Offensively, they will need some help outside of their top guy but they seem aggressive on the bases which is a great equalizer.

E Marshall doesnt really have 1 dominant guy like maybe in years past but several that throw strikes and Long is a good pitcher. All you need many nights is to just throw strikes. Not a strong offensive team but have become more aggressive on the bases which allows you to score with one hit rather than 2 some times.

W Marshall is young, again, and should play good D (in the infield). But you would be worried about that if you saw them yesterday. They have a tough #1 guy and then some decent depth that should throw strikes. They probably have the most pitching depth. A few dangerous hitters but after that they need to get creative to find ways to manufacture runs.

GR and BCLUW could trip up one of those 3 on any given night if they get the right matchup.

This post was edited on 5/27 8:56 AM by terrehawk

This post was edited on 5/27 8:58 AM by terrehawk

 

[terrehawk]

S Tama and W Marshall split and I heard EM won 2 from Grundy.

 

[pinkphantom]

EM also won 2 at Vinton-Shellsburg last night.

I would put our pitching depth over anybody in the conference. Maybe not overpowering, but good quality pitchers that will throw strikes. I have no double-header worries with regards to pitching. We have already played 4 games in 2 nights and used 8 different pitchers.

 

[mtdew_fever]

Did WM's Jared Riemenschneider play college ball this year?

I actually think that's a pretty good prediction. I think East Marshall and South Tama are definitely the class of the conference.

WM - started off 3-2. Any word why Ross Randall hasn't played yet. He's only a freshman, but showed some real talent as an 8th grader as a pitcher.

BCLUW - I still maintain Zoske is one of the best coaches in the conference. He'll get the most out of the talent on his team.

After those 4, it really drops off.

Originally posted by PNation:
This conference always seems to have a thread so might as well start one, here's how I see the conference this year

1. East Marshall- Team that probably over achieved last year, last year they won a lot with pitching and defense, and not much to speak offensively I think they should be the favorite.

2. West Marshall- Obviously losing Riemenschneider is huge but I think they have two quality pitchers in Sinning and Nichols, and have some decent bats returning

3. South Tama- Probably have the best player in Smith, and two good pitchers in Doyle and Koch but after that there are many question marks, figure those out they could finish higher, if they don't they could fall.

4. BCL-UW- Return a lot from last year, and I think if Lutes pitches the way he is capable of and if they can get good pitching from Ubben and Sams they could be really dangerous. They're inconsistency over the last couple of the years puts them here for me.

5. AGWSR- This probably seems to high for a team that has struggled, but when I watched them last year they played hard, and return a ton of key pieces, I think you see improvement from them this year.

6. G-R- A really good junior class here, but they were really inconsistent last year, wouldn't surprise me if they figured it out, but they also had some terrible games last year.

7. Grundy Center- This is a tough team to figure out, they have talent returning but also lost some key pieces, they've struggled with numbers also the last few years, I could easily see them higher but right now this is where I have them.

8. South Hardin- This team was not good last year, they return quite a bit, but I think it will be a struggle for them to get out of the cellar.

I also think with the league going to 3 games against each other some teams will have to send some pitchers who normally wouldn't be used for conference games causing some upsets along the way.

 

[terrehawk]

E Marshall goes to W Marshall tonight for a pretty big game this early in the season.

An EM win gives them a good head start on everyone.

WM has had 5 games already this week. (2 double headers M and T and a single game last night) With a game tonight and tomorrow, that's a tough start right out of the gate with 7 games in 5 days with no break.

Also, they've had to go without 2 starters the first 8 games due to boneheadedness. One would probably be their regular SS and probably one of their top 4 arms. The other is an outfielder that would likely have gotten some innings already on the mound.

WM has already used 12 different pitchers this week. Not sure who they will throw tonight. I would guess Van Metre.

As mentioned above, they are really young and have had some nice performances from a couple of 8th graders and a few freshmen.

Overall, WM needs to give up fewer walks and be more consistent defensively.

 

[terrehawk]

Mtdew fever. I don't think Jared went on to play.

Regarding Randall.....read my previous post.

 

[PNation]

East Marshall beat West Marshall 5-0 looks like one of the Benzings had a good pitching performance

South Tama beat South Hardin 15-2

don't know the scores of the other 2 games from last night

 

[pinkphantom]

EM beat AGWSR 13-1 and 20-1 tonight.

 

[gg2224]

What are the first impressions of the conference playing varsity double headers? It's new this year and teams are predominantely 2A, correct?

 

[Run&Blade]

The JV have double headers also. In a two day stretch BCLUW had three JV double headers and 2 Varsity double headers. That is 10 baseball games in the span of 48 hours.

I think trying to limit it to one double header a week would be better.

Some of those Varsity Double Headers could last until midnight if you get a 18-15 game or something like that.

 

[Ace0162]

JV had three doubleheaders in two days?

 

[Run&Blade]

Originally posted by Ace0162:
JV had three doubleheaders in two days?

Yes, one in the morning and another in the evening. It happens more than once this season and I assume other NICL schools have the same thing.

 

[pinkphantom]

Not us. We only have JV games scheduled in the evenings. Fresh/Soph games might happen during the day but that's it.

I'm still waiting to pass judgment on the double-headers. Initially I'm not a fan of them. First concern is what happens when one of the double-headers are rained out? How do you reschedule? Do you push it a night and blast the JV games? I'm not a fan of that at all. You can't add it to your other scheduled game with that school.

I would imagine a team that doesn't have deep pitching wouldn't like it at all. We don't have that problem and actually from the pitching perspective I would think this would help E-M.

Going into this week, these are the conference standings:

East Marshall - 6-0
Gladbrook-Reinbeck - 5-1
West Marshall - 3-3
South Tama - 3-3
Grundy Center- 3-3
AGWSR - 2-4
BCLUW - 1-5
South Hardin - 1-5

 

[PNation]

South Tama and East Marshall split EM won 1st game 3-1, STC the 2nd 2-1 pretty good ball overall

 

[pinkphantom]

I have no idea how STC is only 4-4 in conference.

WM took two from G-R tonight. 4-2 and 5-2 in 8.

AGWSR beat BCLUW 12-8 in 8. Not sure about second game. Still playing?

 

[pinkphantom]

BCLUW beat AGWSR 6-3 in the other game.

 

[pinkphantom]

South Hardin and Grundy Center split their DH last night. So below are the current standings:

East Marshall - 7-1
West Marshall - 5-3
Gladbrook-Reinbeck - 5-3
South Tama - 4-4
Grundy Center- 4-4
AGWSR - 3-5
BCLUW - 2-6
South Hardin - 2-6

 

[pinkphantom]

This thread has gotten very quiet.

Regarding the double-headers, a couple of thoughts. I'm now seeing some JV games get canceled because of varsity postponements on Monday nights. This is not good in my opinion. The point of JV is to get those guys more experience/get better. They can't do that with games getting canceled because there's nowhere else to put a varsity DH that was canceled the night before for whatever reason.

Also, it is very difficult to get a sweep on a Monday night against an opponent. I know speaking from East Marshall these are our results from Monday nights.

G-C - First game 12-0, second 4-3
AGWSR - First game 13-1, second 20-1
South Tama - First game 3-1, second lost 2-1
West Marshall - First game 4-0, second 8-7
BCLUW - First game 9-2, second 4-3

In all but AGWSR, our second game was a 1 point game, one of which was a loss.

These are the current standings as of last night. West Marshall was postponed in the 3rd inning of the first game with South Hardin last night and they are finishing those games tonight. East Marshall plays at G-R tonight. That game might already decide the conference for all practical purposes if East Marshall wins. If they don't, it gets all kinds of interesting.

East Marshall - 12-1
Gladbrook Reinbeck - 9-4
Grundy Center - 8-5 (It would be awesome if they would actually update their QuikStats since today was the second deadline)
South Tama - 7-6
West Marshall - 6-6
BCLUW - 3-9
AGWSR - 4-9
South Hardin - 1-10

Anyone know why Grundy Center never had a DH against BCLUW? It looks like they had 3 single games against BCLUW (2 played so far, one yet to come).

Also, a note from last night from what was heard. G-R pitcher pitched a complete game in the first game against STC last night (assumption being Kickbush) and that pitcher also started the second game. I would love to know what his pitch count was.

 

[PNation]

It wasn't Kickbush it was #10 I think the name is Murphy? He had a low pitch count in the 1st game I would guess the pitch count was somewhere around 80 if that, with Smith probably seeing 1/2 of those pitches. I think if the South Tama hitters would have been a little more patient in the 1st game they could have put a couple of crooked numbers up but a lot of weak pop flies swinging on the 1st pitch.

 

[pinkphantom]

We had another JV DH get canceled because of a Varsity DH rainout tonight and it got moved to tomorrow.

It's not good when the JV games keep getting canceled. This is how they progress and get better...by playing.

 

[pinkphantom]

For anybody that cares, this is what G-R does to their pitchers and even though it's "within rules" ... I would never think of doing this to a pitcher.

On Monday night, Marco Barron pitched 7 complete innings and I believe his pitch count was somewhere around 135 pitches. It could have been slightly higher than that.

G-R gave him one night off and he started the game again on Wednesday night. By stats it says he pitched 3 innings (IAHSAA innings pitched stats would be 4 innings), but he gave up 4 runs and those 4 runs were all scored in the 4th inning. So 135 pitches off, one day rest and figure a minimum of 60 pitches 2 nights later.

 

[PNation]

There coach has ruined so many good arms in his career, why would he stop now?

 

[calvin jones]

He was also awarded the win on Wednesday but he only pitched 3 innings and the reliever pitched 4. The reliever should have gotten the win cause he pitched more innings & he was the pitcher when the game became official.

 

[calvin jones]

Final West Standings
E. Marshall............18-3
G-R.......................15-6
W. Marshall............13-8
S. Tama.................13-8
Grundy Center........10-11
BCLUW..................8-13
AGWSR.................5-16
S. Hardin................2-19

 

[terrehawk]

Yep, I've watched good pitcher after good pitcher from Gladbrook - Reinbeck over the years get ruined. Its cost them quite a few wins too.

Off the top of my head I can name 4 kids that I witnessed over used and dealing with resulting injuries. There are more but those are just the ones whose whose names I remember.