ND Baseball!

[Irish5Saint]

Swept Oakland to make it 8 in a row.

 

[irishandy]

This kid is going to be good for ND:

 

[MacIrish75]

Any shot of making the dance?

 

[irishandy]

If they sweep Pitt over the weekend they'll have 31 wins, I think if they can sneek out a couple of wins in the ACC tournament they could get in the dance.

 

[Irish2155]

Taylor Upland is loaded. They’d beat ND any day of the week (doesn’t matter who is pitching). They drop 15 pretty much every game.

 

[Irish5Saint]

This kid is going to be good for ND:

View attachment 3063383

I think any good player ND gets will get money….. from the SEC

 

[MacIrish75]

Taylor Upland is loaded. They’d beat ND any day of the week (doesn’t matter who is pitching). They drop 15 pretty much every game.

It’s an interesting case study. There have been college basketball players recently transition from the Crossroads to D1 and be very good. I wonder how applicable that would be for baseball? Let’s just fill our entire roster of the best of the CL and WHAC.

 

[Classic Irish]

Won two games out of three against Pitt this weekend.

 

[FWIrish4]

Taylor Upland is loaded. They’d beat ND any day of the week (doesn’t matter who is pitching). They drop 15 pretty much every game.

I strongly disagree with this. Could Taylor take a midweek game throwing their ace, ND throwing a midweek guy and not get ND’s full attention? Absolutely. Taylor is not taking a series from ND though. There is a massive talent disparity that you truly don’t see until a game is played.

ND is putting up massive crooked numbers in the scorebook against very good pitching in the ACC.

It’s an interesting case study. There have been college basketball players recently transition from the Crossroads to D1 and be very good. I wonder how applicable that would be for baseball? Let’s just fill our entire roster of the best of the CL and WHAC.

There absolutely will be guys that fly under the radar that are good enough at every level. The transfer portal is insane in NAIA. If you have any one worth a damn, they’re transferring up. I’ve got a couple college teammates that coach in the Crossroads and they can’t keep anyone good.

A kid from Garrett started at St Francis, transferred to Murray St and lead them to the college World Series last year as the stud pitcher. Pretty awesome success story.

Building a whole team out of that probably wouldn’t work. Baseball is such a different animal as hitting .400 in NAIA when you’re facing 80-90% guys topping out mid 80’s is a crapshoot projecting to big time baseball in the ACC.

 

[Irish2155]

I strongly disagree. Fair, it’s cool. I just happened to play in your backyard and pretty much raised rent in Lewiston, ID. I’ve spent a lot of time in Lewiston.

Hung 18 on ND. Hung 12 on MSU. Run ruled Ball State too…Malone was a gig fan of me. Dayton, yes they got smacked too. Victoria is my HS’s coach now.

My closers went round 4 and 5 in the draft.

 

[Irish2155]

We’d absolutely play with anybody. Hershberger, educate yourself before saying nonsense

 

[Irish2155]

Swept Oakland to make it 8 in a row.

I went yard 3 times in Oakland. Fucking stat day.

 

[FWIrish4]

We’d absolutely play with anybody. Hershberger, educate yourself before saying nonsense

Haha I wasn’t trying to offend you. I’m very familiar with IN Tech’s baseball history. Multiple guys from my high school have gone there over the decades. Our high school summer ball coach was there probably the same time you were - early 2000’s? He was a direct descendent of Hershberger’s style so that’s how I learned to play.

I was just saying 20+ years ago, IN Tech could load up and be a D1 level team. No internet, no formal recruiting/travel ball circuit led to A TON of guys flying under the radar that you guys stacked up. Then you add in the 1-year sit rule if you transferred, you could also hoard that talent at smaller schools.

That paradigm has shifted with how organized recruiting and travel ball is and the free transfer rule. Fewer guys fly under the radar and if they do, they’re transferring up the second they get their chance. Just like that St Francis to Murray St kid I mentioned.

Also, my only Hershberger interaction is a funny one. He ended up at Concordia Lutheran after IN Tech and they were Top 10 3A our senior year along with us at New Haven. For whatever reason, Hershberger had a problem with me and my best friend, who was our stud pitcher, and we were committed to IPFW and Valpo respectively. He was telling people neither of us were D1 players and that our ranking wasn’t warranted heading into our sectional game.

Well the game lasted 5 innings with a 10 run rule. A 1 hit shutout thrown by my buddy. My claim to fame is Hershberger intentionally walked our 9 hole hitter to load the bases for me to come to bat. I hit a grand slam first pitch. Never felt so vindicated in my entire life 😂

 

[Irish2155]

Haha I wasn’t trying to offend you. I’m very familiar with IN Tech’s baseball history. Multiple guys from my high school have gone there over the decades. Our high school summer ball coach was there probably the same time you were - early 2000’s? He was a direct descendent of Hershberger’s style so that’s how I learned to play.

I was just saying 20+ years ago, IN Tech could load up and be a D1 level team. No internet, no formal recruiting/travel ball circuit led to A TON of guys flying under the radar that you guys stacked up. Then you add in the 1-year sit rule if you transferred, you could also hoard that talent at smaller schools.

That paradigm has shifted with how organized recruiting and travel ball is and the free transfer rule. Fewer guys fly under the radar and if they do, they’re transferring up the second they get their chance. Just like that St Francis to Murray St kid I mentioned.

Also, my only Hershberger interaction is a funny one. He ended up at Concordia Lutheran after IN Tech and they were Top 10 3A our senior year along with us at New Haven. For whatever reason, Hershberger had a problem with me and my best friend, who was our stud pitcher, and we were committed to IPFW and Valpo respectively. He was telling people neither of us were D1 players and that our ranking wasn’t warranted heading into our sectional game.

Well the game lasted 5 innings with a 10 run rule. A 1 hit shutout thrown by my buddy. My claim to fame is Hershberger intentionally walked our 9 hole hitter to load the bases for me to come to bat. I hit a grand slam first pitch. Never felt so vindicated in my entire life 😂

I could fill your day with Hersh stories. Dude doesn’t fly or communicate when it’s time to go to ID. You’re forgetting about all the Dominicans I played with.

 

[Irish2155]

“Fuck a milk drinker”. “I want God Damned fucking beer driinkers”.

Hersh can’t say a prayer without the “F” bomb.

Stay the fuck out of Sports and Spirits. (Closed now). That’s Hersh’s. We stay north Peanuts, Pierre’s, and the like. Not Sports and Spirits

 

[Irish2155]

You know Kenny Fischer? That dude was an ace when Tech finished 2nd in the country. I never was his teammate but he’d pitch intersqaud.

Filthy from left side. His shit (as a lefty) would stat at my head then break into the zone. He’s the one who Hersh rode to #2 in the country.

Cool dude

 

[ab2cmiller]

I strongly disagree with this. Could Taylor take a midweek game throwing their ace, ND throwing a midweek guy and not get ND’s full attention? Absolutely. Taylor is not taking a series from ND though. There is a massive talent disparity that you truly don’t see until a game is played.

ND is putting up massive crooked numbers in the scorebook against very good pitching in the ACC.



There absolutely will be guys that fly under the radar that are good enough at every level. The transfer portal is insane in NAIA. If you have any one worth a damn, they’re transferring up. I’ve got a couple college teammates that coach in the Crossroads and they can’t keep anyone good.

A kid from Garrett started at St Francis, transferred to Murray St and lead them to the college World Series last year as the stud pitcher. Pretty awesome success story.

Building a whole team out of that probably wouldn’t work. Baseball is such a different animal as hitting .400 in NAIA when you’re facing 80-90% guys topping out mid 80’s is a crapshoot projecting to big time baseball in the ACC.

Huge Taylor "homer" here, as I've followed Taylor very closely over the last 5 years. I would generally agree with you

I think they could give ND a competitive game, but I think there is very little chance that they could take a 3 game set with ND.

Taylor has scrimmaged Valpo in fall baseball for quite some time. Over the last 2-3 years, Taylor has been the better team. Granted, fall baseball is not the same as spring baseball where there is real games, but Taylor's talent has been evident. However, getting the best of a Valpo team is a lot different than facing a ND team, even if we think they are underperforming.

I'm guessing most people think there is a wider talent gap between the top NAIA teams and D1 baseball than what is actually true. There are quite a few guys on the team that are good enough to be playing D1.

Unlike many of the teams in the Crossroads League, Taylor has been able to keep their guys. The culture at Taylor is second to none. Guys that are good enough to play D1 stay. Guys that could be starting for lesser teams in the NAIA stay, accepting their role as a situational replacements. Even had a kid drafted in the 6th round last year who said going into the draft that if the signing bonus wasn't a certain level, he would return to Taylor for his Senior year. It truly is a brotherhood. TEAM before individual isn't some meaningless mantra. They play for each other.

Quite a few players (mostly pitchers) from the Crossroads have transferred to D1 over the last 3 years with varying degrees of success.
Deron Swanson - Tx to IU and then to Toledo
Graham Kelham - Tx to Murray St.
Tyler Papenbrock - Tx to Louisiana
Graham Kollen - Tx to Purdue
Drue Young - Tx to Ball St. and then to USI
Brock Buckley - Tx to Butler
Will Eldridge - Tx to IU

Generally speaking:
Pitchers who transfer to D1 see their ERA's go up, D1 pitchers who transfer to NAIA see their ERA's go down.
Hitters who transfer to D1 see their BA go down and hitters who transfer from D1 to NAIA see their BA's go up.

This shouldn't come as any surprise.

 

[ab2cmiller]

I've been following PEARatings on Twitter this year and he puts together some good info and and strong data driven models to "rank" teams throughout the year purely based upon data driven analytics.

His site currently has the following Tournament Projection

D1 Baseball Tournament | PEARatings

NCAA Division 1 baseball tournament selection outlook and at-large projections.

pearatings.com

Last Four In
Va. Tech
Vanderbilt
Pittsburgh
Michigan

First Four Out
Clemson
Notre Dame
Louisiana
California

I think ND can get in with a decent showing in the conference tournament.

 

[FWIrish4]

Huge Taylor "homer" here, as I've followed Taylor very closely over the last 5 years. I would generally agree with you

I think they could give ND a competitive game, but I think there is very little chance that they could take a 3 game set with ND.

Taylor has scrimmaged Valpo in fall baseball for quite some time. Over the last 2-3 years, Taylor has been the better team. Granted, fall baseball is not the same as spring baseball where there is real games, but Taylor's talent has been evident. However, getting the best of a Valpo team is a lot different than facing a ND team, even if we think they are underperforming.

I'm guessing most people think there is a wider talent gap between the top NAIA teams and D1 baseball than what is actually true. There are quite a few guys on the team that are good enough to be playing D1.

Unlike many of the teams in the Crossroads League, Taylor has been able to keep their guys. The culture at Taylor is second to none. Guys that are good enough to play D1 stay. Guys that could be starting for lesser teams in the NAIA stay, accepting their role as a situational replacements. Even had a kid drafted in the 6th round last year who said going into the draft that if the signing bonus wasn't a certain level, he would return to Taylor for his Senior year. It truly is a brotherhood. TEAM before individual isn't some meaningless mantra. They play for each other.

Quite a few players (mostly pitchers) from the Crossroads have transferred to D1 over the last 3 years with varying degrees of success.
Deron Swanson - Tx to IU and then to Toledo
Graham Kelham - Tx to Murray St.
Tyler Papenbrock - Tx to Louisiana
Graham Kollen - Tx to Purdue
Drue Young - Tx to Ball St. and then to USI
Brock Buckley - Tx to Butler
Will Eldridge - Tx to IU

Generally speaking:
Pitchers who transfer to D1 see their ERA's go up, D1 pitchers who transfer to NAIA see their ERA's go down.
Hitters who transfer to D1 see their BA go down and hitters who transfer from D1 to NAIA see their BA's go up.

This shouldn't come as any surprise.

Man I love the insight. It’s an incredible program and has great facilities, especially for its level.

My neighbor went there to play and absolutely loved it.

 

[MacIrish75]

Taylor has come a LONG way since I was going to BB camp there in the early 00s. That campus is crazy now. Really the whole facilities arms race in the Crossroads is sort of nuts. Saint Francis is definitely “the poors” these days.

 

[stpeteirish]

I've been following PEARatings on Twitter this year and he puts together some good info and and strong data driven models to "rank" teams throughout the year purely based upon data driven analytics.

His site currently has the following Tournament Projection

D1 Baseball Tournament | PEARatings

NCAA Division 1 baseball tournament selection outlook and at-large projections.

pearatings.com

Last Four In
Va. Tech
Vanderbilt
Pittsburgh
Michigan

First Four Out
Clemson
Notre Dame
Louisiana
California

I think ND can get in with a decent showing in the conference tournament.

We start the ACC tournament with Clemson and would play Va Tech next if we win

 

[Irish2155]

Taylor has come a LONG way since I was going to BB camp there in the early 00s. That campus is crazy now. Really the whole facilities arms race in the Crossroads is sort of nuts. Saint Francis is definitely “the poors” these days.

They sure have come a long way. We didn’t even play Taylor when I was at Tech. They never made it to Regionals. Now they’re the #1 team in the country.

Side note, my boss at the time had a daughter going to Taylor when they had that mistaken identity fatal car crash. Pretty sad story.

 

[Irish2155]

Haha I wasn’t trying to offend you. I’m very familiar with IN Tech’s baseball history. Multiple guys from my high school have gone there over the decades. Our high school summer ball coach was there probably the same time you were - early 2000’s? He was a direct descendent of Hershberger’s style so that’s how I learned to play.

I was just saying 20+ years ago, IN Tech could load up and be a D1 level team. No internet, no formal recruiting/travel ball circuit led to A TON of guys flying under the radar that you guys stacked up. Then you add in the 1-year sit rule if you transferred, you could also hoard that talent at smaller schools.

That paradigm has shifted with how organized recruiting and travel ball is and the free transfer rule. Fewer guys fly under the radar and if they do, they’re transferring up the second they get their chance. Just like that St Francis to Murray St kid I mentioned.

Also, my only Hershberger interaction is a funny one. He ended up at Concordia Lutheran after IN Tech and they were Top 10 3A our senior year along with us at New Haven. For whatever reason, Hershberger had a problem with me and my best friend, who was our stud pitcher, and we were committed to IPFW and Valpo respectively. He was telling people neither of us were D1 players and that our ranking wasn’t warranted heading into our sectional game.

Well the game lasted 5 innings with a 10 run rule. A 1 hit shutout thrown by my buddy. My claim to fame is Hershberger intentionally walked our 9 hole hitter to load the bases for me to come to bat. I hit a grand slam first pitch. Never felt so vindicated in my entire life 😂

IPFW was pretty bad when I was in Ft. Wayne. Like really bad. Their softball team liked hanging out with us though. 😉. My former landlord (now Fort Wayne congressman Bob Morris) called their home basketball and baseball games. He is best friends with one of my former coaches (Steve Devine) who has his number retired by Tech. Devo’s claim to fame is that he is the NAIA record holder for most hit by pitch. Wear it!! lol

One of my former teammates Shawn Geise was just inducted to the Tech HOF last November. That dude could deal. Was a class ahead of me. He used to live with Brandon Dillon who played centerfield for USA softball…Miken named a bat after Dillon. Hersh kicked him out though and I was stuck transferring his steroids because I played summer ball still with him and he was buying off of our catcher.

You ever play at Huntington? Probably my least favorite park I’ve ever played in. Ball doesn’t carry worth a shit down in that wooded valley that they call home. Pitchers park for sure. You have to walk like a mile down stairs in the middle of the forest just to get to the field. Hated playing there.

 

[ab2cmiller]

You ever play at Huntington? Probably my least favorite park I’ve ever played in. Ball doesn’t carry worth a shit down in that wooded valley that they call home. Pitchers park for sure. You have to walk like a mile down stairs in the middle of the forest just to get to the field. Hated playing there.

Huntington’s field is pitcher friendly to left and center. Right field is super friendly to hitters. Probably the shortest RF dimension in the Crossroads at 305. So short that their field doesn’t meet the NAIA requirement to ever be able to host an NAIA opening round.

Owen Willard from Huntington won Crossroads Player of the Year and finished with 19 HR’s. In 18 home games he hit 10 HR’s compared to 9 HR’s in 35 Away/Neutral games. Right hand hitter, but would generally try to push everything to RF because of the short porch and was very successful.

 

[Ndaccountant]

We start the ACC tournament with Clemson and would play Va Tech next if we win

I would be surprised if a team with a RPI close to 70, with a non conf SoS near 300 and Q1 record of 3-13 gets in.

 

[ab2cmiller]

I would be surprised if a team with a RPI close to 70, with a non conf SoS near 300 and Q1 record of 3-13 gets in.

I hate RPI

The Q1 record is a huge issue.

 

[ab2cmiller]

ND up 4-2 in the bottom of the 6th.

Jayce Lee 3-3 so far with 2 doubles and a home run.

Berkland and Watters both with HR’s

 

[ab2cmiller]

 

[Irish5Saint]

ND up 4-2 in the bottom of the 6th.

Jayce Lee 3-3 so far with 2 doubles and a home run.

Berkland and Watters both with HR’s

Can’t wait to see him get paid millions to hop in the portal.

 

[MacIrish75]

Somewhere near Clempson, SC rn…