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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
This isn’t so much a prediction as it is what the rankings should be today. I’m not sure that there’s much debate for these initial rankings.
Rank, Team, In-Region Record, (Strength Of Schedule)
1. UW-Whitewater 24-3 (.517)
2. St. Thomas 22-4 (.527)
3. UW-Stevens Point 18-7 (.578)
4. St. Scholastica 23-2 (.506)
5. Concordia Chicago 21-5 (.496)
6. St. Olaf 17-11 (.555)
The next 6: Edgewood 17-11 (.550), Aurora 18-11 (.509), Bethany Lutheran 21-6 (.441), Concordia-Moorhead 18-9 (.492), Rockford 19-9-1 (.477), Concordia (WI) 13-8 (.531)
The above records may not be the same as those in today’s published regional rankings because my records include results through 4/28. The regional rankings should be using records through 4/26, if my memory is correct.
UPDATE: Long story short, the NCAA did not use records through games of 4/27 like the Regional Rankings state. Not good.
Seeing CSS above UWSP is a pleasant surprise. Based on precedent, UWSP’s SOS would trump CSS’s record.
The NCAA also used some fuzzy math, according to my numbers. Also not good.
Here are two posts I made on the D3baseball.com message boards regarding the topics:
I claim the in-region records of these MW/C teams are incorrect in the Regional Rankings and Score Reporting Form. I admit I could be wrong, but I like my numbers more than the NCAA’s. I got an error when I tried to access the Central SRF in the past hour, so this list may be incomplete (Jim, I passed this along to PC already). Perhaps the NCAA is making changes as I type.
Buena Vista
Carthage
North Park
Hamline
Crown
UM-Morris
Presentation
and …
If the NCAA states that the rankings are through games of 4/27, I wish the records would include all games from 4/27. Seems logical to me and not a mere matter of semantics, but many results from 4/27 in the MW and C regions were not included apparently.
It becomes imperative that records are uniformly dealt with across the regions because a fairly important primary criterion, record vs regionally ranked opponents, is now termed – paraphrasing – “once ranked, always ranked.” For example, if the 4/27 games were included for Edgewood and St. Olaf in the Midwest, I suspect St. Olaf would be ranked No. 6 in the region, not Edgewood (although it would be close). What if St. Olaf is ranked and Edgewood is not from here on out? That may seem minor, but I don’t think it is.
Here are the first (of three public ones) Regional Rankings.
-Ricky Nelson
National poll info will be updated when available.
Rank, (My Last Rank), Team, (Record), D3baseball Wk 9 Rank, ABCA Wk 9 Rank
1 (2) Johns Hopkins (34-3) 1, TBD
2 (1) UW-Whitewater (26-3) 2
3 (5) Heidelberg (26-6) 4
4 (7) St. Scholastica (29-3) 7
5 (12) Wooster (31-7) 3
6 (3) Shenandoah (34-8) 13
7 (11) Chapman (25-8) 6
8 (4) St. Thomas (21-5) 5
9 (18) Wheaton (Mass.) (25-7) 18
10 (14) Eastern Connecticut (23-8) 15
11 (6) Marietta (24-8) 11
12 (10) Birmingham-Southern (34-5) 8
13 (9) Cortland (27-7-1) 12
14 (16) Washington & Jefferson (24-6) 21
15 (19) UW-Stevens Point (21-8) 19
16 (8) Rose-Hulman (24-9) 22
17 (20) Mississippi College (32-7) 10
18 (NR) Trinity (Texas) (32-7) 14
19 (NR) Kean (24-9) 17
20 (21) Pomona-Pitzer (28-8) 9
21 (25) Linfield (27-10) RV #28
22 (NR) Tufts (21-4) RV #26
23 (23) Pacific Lutheran (30-7) 16
24 (15) Salisbury (25-9) 23
25 (13) Rochester (26-7) RV #38
Dropped out: No. 17 Redlands (27-8), No. 22 Trinity (Conn.) (15-8), No. 24 Bowdoin (21-10)
In D3baseball.com Top 25 and not mine: No. 20 Texas-Tyler (30-10), No. 24 Redlands (27-8), No. 25 Trinity (Conn.) (15-8)
In ABCA Top 25 and not mine: TBD
-Ricky Nelson
