Around the Nation: Part II

I was reminded today that I have a Midwest Region baseball blog. Sorry for not mentioning it sooner, but I am writing the Around the Nation column at D3baseball.com again this season.

I cannot do the column and maintain this blog at a level of quality and thoroughness that I’m comfortable with. Check out my Around the Nation column each Wednesday at D3baseball.com instead.

Perhaps someday I’ll be able to write a column, hold a regular job and maintain a blog at a high standard. However, that day is not today. Thank you for finding this little blog. I hope I find time in the future to revive it.

-Ricky Nelson

Around the Nation

I’m writing the Around the Nation column this season for D3baseball.com. It started Feb. 8 and will run each Wednesday during the regular season. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

-Ricky Nelson

Slow going here again this season

I’ll be the national columnist at D3baseball.com for the 2012 season, so my posts here will again be limited and maybe nonexistent because my time will surely be devoted to the column. Check out the front page of D3baseball.com for what I’d be writing on this blog during the season. The column should debut in late February or early March.

-Ricky Nelson

Dormant

As you have noticed, this blog has not been updated. I won’t be able to do this season what I’ve done in the past because I’ve been doing my D-III baseball work elsewhere. This blog took up vast amounts of time, and that time has tended to be spent more at D3baseball.com this season. I’ve done several things for that site in past years, but this season the tasks are much more time consuming.

I’ll definitely be back to do my volleyball blog in the fall. It’s much easier to do a site like that since there is not much competition. Because D3baseball.com exists, and is improving each year, most of my baseball posts are redundant anyway.

Hope you understand.
-Ricky Nelson

Ricky Nelson’s 2011 Preseason Top 25

I’m back. Here’s my initial take on the 2011 season. No, there are not any Central Region teams in my top 25, including the defending national champs. The D3baseball.com top 25 comes out later this month.

Tell me where I went wrong. I know Keystone lost a lot in the draft, but man, did it reload with another class of great transfers. There are a few teams I wish I could have made room for, but it is what it is.

(My rank, ABCA rank)
1(1). Heidelberg
2(3). UW-Stevens Point
3(25). Keystone
4(6). Shenandoah
5(22). Wheaton (Mass.)
6(9). Birmingham-Southern
7(12). Linfield
8(11). Tufts
9(8). UW-Whitewater
10(4). Kean
11(13). St. Thomas
12(14). Chapman
13(16). Marietta
14(RV). Plattsburgh State
15(17). Pomona-Pitzer
16(28). Wooster
17(2). Cortland State
18(NR). Endicott
19(10). Mass-Boston
20(7). Johns Hopkins
21(NR). Methodist
22(RV). St. Joseph’s (Maine)
23(NR). Franklin
24(NR). Frostburg State
25(30). Rowan
In ABCA top 25 and not mine: No. 5 Illinois Wesleyan, No. 15 Mississippi College, No. 18 St. Scholastica, No. 19 Trinity (TX), No. 20 Texas-Tyler, No. 21 Salisbury, No. 23 St. John Fisher, No. 24 Buena Vista

-Ricky Nelson

Midwest Region All-Americans

The following Midwest Region players were awarded All-America status by D3baseball.com and the ABCA.

D3baseball.com All-Americans
1ST TEAM
SP Matt Schuld, St. Thomas, National Pitcher of the Year
2ND TEAM
Util Jeff Donovan, UW-Whitewater
SP Jeff Adams, St. Scholastica
3RD TEAM
SP Matt Nelson, St. Thomas
HONORABLE MENTION
3B Kyle Standridge, Rockford

ABCA All-Americans
1ST TEAM
SP Matt Schuld, St. Thomas
2ND TEAM
3B Kyle Standridge, Rockford
SP Riley Tincher, UW-Whitewater
3RD TEAM
SS Eric Fritz, UW-Stevens Point

-Ricky Nelson

Ricky Nelson’s Final 2010 Poll

Rank, (My Last Rank), Team, (Record), D3baseball Final Rank, ABCA Final Rank
1 (NR) Illinois Wesleyan (31-21) 1, 1
2 (10) Linfield (37-13) 3, 3
3 (11) Cortland (40-10-1) 2, 2
4 (2) Heidelberg (42-8) 4, 5
5 (4) Johns Hopkins (44-7) 5, 4
6 (NR) UW-Stevens Point (34-18) 6, 7
7 (7) Shenandoah (38-10) 7, 6
8 (1) UW-Whitewater (42-7) 8, 8
9 (9) Tufts (34-7) 18, 10
10 (13) Kean (39-12) 9, 14
11 (5) St. Thomas (35-9) 10, 11
12 (12) Birmingham-Southern (34-5) 11, 17
13 (18) Mississippi College (39-11) 15, 15
14 (8) Chapman (31-11) 14, 12
15 (3) Wooster (34-9) 16, 13
16 (6) Wheaton (Mass.) (34-10) 21, 23
17 (17) Marietta (36-13) 13, 16
18 (NR) UMass Boston (32-17) 12, 9
19 (14) Texas Tyler (36-12) 22, 22
20 (21) Salisbury (30-13) 23, 21
21 (NR) Buena Vista (32-13) 24, 26
22 (16) Pomona-Pitzer (31-11) 17, 18
23 (15) St. Scholastica (38-8) 19, 19
24 (NR) Keystone (30-9) RV #26, 28
25 (24) Washington & Jefferson (32-12) RV #28, 27
Dropped out: No. 19 Trinity (Texas) (32-9), No. 20 Eastern Connecticut (31-15), No. 22 Worcester State (31-11), No. 23 Alvernia (33-12), No. 25 North Central (Ill.) (31-11)

In D3baseball.com Top 25 and not mine: No. 20 Trinity (Texas) (32-9), No. 25 Penn State Behrend (31-17)

In ABCA Top 25 and not mine: No. 20 Trinity (Texas) (32-9), No. 24 Webster (35-11), No. 25 St. John Fisher (31-14)

-Ricky Nelson

Ricky Nelson’s 2010 Wk 12 Poll

National poll info will be updated when available.
Rank, (My Last Rank), Team, (Record), D3baseball Wk 12 Rank, ABCA Wk 12 Rank
1 (1) UW-Whitewater (38-5) 3, 2
2 (3) Heidelberg (37-6) 2, 6
3 (4) Wooster (34-7) 4, 3
4 (2) Johns Hopkins (38-4) 1, 1
5 (6) St. Thomas (33-7) 5, 4
6 (5) Wheaton (Mass.) (32-8) 14, 21
7 (7) Shenandoah (34-8) 9, 7
8 (8) Chapman (30-9) 6, 5
9 (9) Tufts (31-5) 18, 12
10 (10) Linfield (30-10) 16, 15
11 (13) Cortland (32-8-1) 11, 9
12 (12) Birmingham-Southern (34-5) 7, 8
13 (14) Kean (34-10) 13, 17
14 (19) Texas Tyler (35-10) 17, 16
15 (11) St. Scholastica (38-6) 8, 11
16 (24) Pomona-Pitzer (29-9) 10, 13
17 (15) Marietta (32-11) 19, 18
18 (17) Mississippi College (36-9) 15, 14
19 (16) Trinity (Texas) (32-7) 12, 10
20 (18) Eastern Connecticut (30-13) 20, 24
21 (21) Salisbury (27-11) 24, 19
22 (25) Worcester State (31-9) RV #27, No votes
23 (22) Alvernia (32-10) RV #32, “Also receiving votes”
24 (20) Washington & Jefferson (32-10) 23, 20
25 (23) North Central (Ill.) (31-9) 25, 26
Dropped out: None

In D3baseball.com Top 25 and not mine: No. 21 Keystone (29-7), No. 22 Pacific Lutheran (30-10)

In ABCA Top 25 and not mine: No. 22 Webster (33-9), No. 23 Keystone (29-7), No. 25 UW-Stevens Point (29-15)

-Ricky Nelson

Ricky Nelson’s 2010 Wk 11 Poll

National poll info will be updated when available.
Rank, (My Last Rank), Team, (Record), D3baseball Wk 11 Rank, ABCA Wk 11 Rank
1 (2) UW-Whitewater (35-4) 2, TBD
2 (1) Johns Hopkins (38-4) 1
3 (3) Heidelberg (34-6) 3
4 (4) Wooster (34-7) 4
5 (9) Wheaton (Mass.) (32-8) 14
6 (8) St. Thomas (29-6) 5
7 (6) Shenandoah (34-8) 10
8 (5) Chapman (30-9) 6
9 (15) Tufts (31-5) 19
10 (12) Linfield (30-10) 16
11 (11) St. Scholastica (34-5) 8
12 (13) Birmingham-Southern (34-5) 7
13 (7) Cortland (31-8-1) 12
14 (21) Kean (32-10) 13
15 (20) Marietta (29-9) 17
16 (17) Trinity (Texas) (32-7) 9
17 (16) Mississippi College (36-9) 15
18 (10) Eastern Connecticut (28-11) 20
19 (NR) Texas Tyler (35-10) 18
20 (14) Washington & Jefferson (30-8) 21
21 (23) Salisbury (27-10) 23
22 (19) Alvernia (32-9) RV #31
23 (22) North Central (Ill.) (31-7) 22
24 (24) Pomona-Pitzer (29-9) 11
25 (NR) Worcester State (30-9) RV #30
Dropped out: No. 18 UW-Stevens Point (27-13), No. 25 Rose-Hulman (26-11)

In D3baseball.com Top 25 and not mine: No. 24 Pacific Lutheran (30-10), No. 25 Keystone (25-8)

In ABCA Top 25 and not mine: TBD

-Ricky Nelson

Ricky Nelson’s 2010 Wk 10 Poll

National poll info will be updated when available.
Rank, (My Last Rank), Team, (Record), D3baseball Wk 10 Rank, ABCA Wk 10 Rank
1 (1) Johns Hopkins (37-3) 1, 1
2 (2) UW-Whitewater (31-4) 3, 2
3 (3) Heidelberg (30-6) 4, 9
4 (5) Wooster (34-7) 2, 3
5 (7) Chapman (28-8) 6, 5
6 (6) Shenandoah (34-8) 13, 7
7 (13) Cortland (30-7-1) 10, 10
8 (8) St. Thomas (25-6) 5, 4
9 (9) Wheaton (Mass.) (29-8) 16, 30
10 (10) Eastern Connecticut (26-9) 14, 16
11 (4) St. Scholastica (32-5) 9, 12
12 (21) Linfield (30-10) 17, 14
13 (12) Birmingham-Southern (34-5) 7, 6
14 (14) Washington & Jefferson (27-7) 20, 25
15 (22) Tufts (27-5) 20, 15
16 (17) Mississippi College (34-7) 8, 8
17 (18) Trinity (Texas) (32-7) 11, 11
18 (15) UW-Stevens Point (24-11) 25, “Also RV”
19 (NR) Alvernia (32-8) RV #31, Also RV
20 (11) Marietta (25-9) 18, 19
21 (19) Kean (28-10) 15, 22
22 (NR) North Central (Ill.) (28-5) 22, 20
23 (24) Salisbury (26-9) 24, 17
24 (20) Pomona-Pitzer (29-9) 12, 13
25 (16) Rose-Hulman (25-9) RV #28, No Votes
Dropped out: No. 23 Pacific Lutheran (30-10), No. 25 Rochester (28-9)

In D3baseball.com Top 25 and not mine: No. 19 Texas-Tyler (32-10), No. 23 Pacific Lutheran (30-10)

In ABCA Top 25 and not mine: No. 18 Texas-Tyler (32-10), No. 21 Redlands (28-9), No. 23 Western New England (33-9), No. 24 Pacific Lutheran (30-10)

-Ricky Nelson