[NU Sports] NU Baseball projected...

[John A. DeGroat]

I don't understand why Stevens uses mid week games as a form of try outs 
for non-starters.  Those losses don't help  NU is rankings or help in 
recruiting when some kid looks at the overall record.  Losing can be 
habit forming just as much as winning is.  In the context of the Big 
Ten, neither MSU or Purdue are pushovers.

John DeGroat

Roy Lamberton wrote:

>NU, presently tied with Michigan on top of the Big 10 has two series left
>
>Michigan State [23-24/10-14] at home this weekend and Purdue [25-20/11-13]  on
>the road the next, followed by the Big 10 Tournament.
>
>The Cats games this weekend will have the added distraction of the Big 10
>Softball tourney, but hopefully the actions of the ladies will help buoy the
>guys too.
>
>As with almost everything in Baseball [and Softball], it probably comes down to
>pitching and defense -- NU has had some outstanding performances on the mound
>this year, and you hope that continues.
>
>BUT - Overall, NU is 11th in Team Batting [.275], Pitching 19-27 5.97 ERA, and
>Fielding [.949]. However in conference games, the ones that count right now, the
>Cats are 4th in Batting [.299], 6th in pitching [5.47 ERA] but dead last in
>fielding [.951]
>
>Dan Brauer is NU's Ace right now, 5-1 in conference with a 2.69 ERA [2.56 in
>conf]. NU Team 5.47 pitching suggests that the Cats have to score lots of runs
>to win, but there are several NU pitchers with ERAs over 7.00 who have winning
>records. 
>
>Pat McMahon [.379], Caleb Fields [.345] and Antonio Mule [.317] are the leading
>hitters, the team has a .299 BA in conference right now. The Big 10 doesn't have
>a stat page with the last 10 games - something that would tell me a little more
>about how a team is playing.
>
>NU's poor 19-28 record overall is because of a disastrous West coast swing in
>late March where they lost 12 in a row to Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount and
>Pepperdine. However the Cats broke that losing streak against Michigan, where
>they took 3 of 4, and now hold the tiebreaker over the Wolverines.
>
>In any case, the Cats probably need to win 3 of 4 from both MSU and Purdue to
>ensure a top seed in the Big 10 Tournament. Then the challenge is to not run out
>of pitching, which the Cast apparently did yesterday at UIC.
>
>So there you have it. I think NU will have to win the Big 10 to get any kind of
>placement in the NCAAs. A couple of sweeps will get us close to .500 on the year
>- we have to win out to enter the tournament at .500 [28-28].
>
>In college baseball, that's hard to do, but then so is losing 12 straight...
>
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate
>Computer Applications & Support Associates
>and Publisher of Purple Reign, 
>The Scout.com Northwestern University Site
>(http://www.purplewildcats.com)
>AIM Handle: CoachRoy74
>======== Go Cats -  Beat 'em All ===========
>Every time I think I've got this Computer 
>Biz handled 
>            -- There's another upgrade.
>============================================
>
>  
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com 
>>[mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Herman Wang
>>Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 9:21 PM
>>To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
>>Subject: Re: [NU Sports] NU Baseball projected...
>>
>>
>>Baseball America lists Ohio State and Michigan as its two 
>>BigTen bids, for 
>>what it's worth.
>>
>>
>>    
>>
>
>
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