Leatherneck Nation

No fooling about this: The Leathernecks take down #24 Iowa to the tune of 16-5 in a shortened (8 inning mercy rule) thrashing. It is a great day to be a Leatherneck!

I was amazed...walked out of my office at 4:30 and heard cheering from the baseball stadium (I work a couple hundred yards north of the field). Sounded like Western had just shut down Iowa to end an inning. They were cranking the music and there was a ton of people in the stands. Looks like a pretty darn good team this year.

Awesome! I've been trying to make it to some games but have just been too busy lately. Looks like attendance numbers keep climbing too.

Great victory over #24 ranked Iowa.

Iowa had a 5-0 lead in the top of the 5th. Western scored 7 runs in the bottom of the 5th to take the lead 7-5.

Western added 5 more runs in the 6th to make the score 12-5.

The winning run via the "Mercy Rule" was scored in the 8th inning in dramatic fashion: a grand slam homer to make the final score 16-5.

I don't get it. Summit League allows only top 4 of the eligible 5 baseball teams into their post-season conference tournament but all six eligible softball teams qualify. Tom Douple, do you need help drawing up a five-team double elimination bracket?

We need to do some damage in Fargo this weekend. Lots of baseball left but 9 of last 12 conference games are on the road.

sealhall74 wrote:Summit League allows only top 4 of the eligible 5 baseball teams into their post-season conference tournament but all six eligible softball teams qualify. Tom Douple, do you need help drawing up a five-team double elimination bracket?

While six teams are in the Summit League Softball Tournament, it is not a true double-elimination. Only the #1 and #2 seeds are given that guarantee.

In a single-elimination format, #3 plays #6 and #4 plays #5. The winner of those two games will join #1 and #2 in a double-elimination schedule.

http://www.thesummitleague.org/sports/s ... ship/index

wiu712 wrote:

sealhall74 wrote:Summit League allows only top 4 of the eligible 5 baseball teams into their post-season conference tournament but all six eligible softball teams qualify. Tom Douple, do you need help drawing up a five-team double elimination bracket?

While six teams are in the Summit League Softball Tournament, it is not a true double-elimination. Only the #1 and #2 seeds are given that guarantee.

In a single-elimination format, #3 plays #6 and #4 plays #5. The winner of those two games will join #1 and #2 in a double-elimination schedule.

http://www.thesummitleague.org/sports/s ... ship/index

Double-elim still the best way to go with a small number of teams - emphasizes pitching depth instead of favoring a team with a "ringer". I am pretty sure you could play full double-elim in three days (yes, playing twice in one day for some teams). Instead, they drag this "bastardized" Douple format out to four days for both baseball and softball. Dumb and costly (transportation, lodging, etc.) move.

Western won the first game of the 3-game series Friday night at North Dakota State: 6-4.

Attendance at North Dakota State was 166.

Western won Saturday's game 7-2.
Attendance at North Dakota State was 151.

As of today, Coach Brownlee is 55-97 (28-46) as he nears the end of his third season. Is this good enough, or is it just too hard to win in Macomb? I personally like him.