PSAC baseball in Johnstown

[jrshooter]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

And they, along with the 'Ville, have turned out the most pros in recent years, too.

Their PSAC Pitcher of the Year, Matt Minick, was lit up for six runs in two innings by Seton Hill. That may have been the surprise of the tournament so far.

WCU and Seton Hill are 7-7 in the fourth of the loser's bracket final. Looks like those nine-inning games are ravaging the arms, as usual. That's where you most see the lack of scholarships take its toll on a D-II team. Even the top-flight programs get a little thin toward the end of their pitching staffs.

[ctrabs74]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

West Chester leads Seton Hill 10-7 with the game suspended in the 5th inning. The game will resume tomorrow, weather permitting.

In the event the tournament can't be played to completion, Bloomsburg would earn the PSAC championship and the league's automatic berth to the Atlantic Regionals by virtue of being the last undefeated team remaining in the field.

[Horror Child]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

Kudos to the Huskies. After getting swept in their final season series, they sweep the PSAC tournament including avenging their losses to WCU. NCAA's are next!

[Horror Child]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

Probably the best PSAC baseball player to come through in recent years was Dan Altavilla. He pitched at Mercyhurst who has now sent a few players to the majors.

For those unaware, Altavilla pitches for Seattle. He started this year in AAA,

Quickly demoted to AA in mid-April which is surprising since, as you said, he pitched well for the Mariners last season: 3-2 2.61 era, .162 batting average against.

[jrshooter]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

Kudos to the Huskies. After getting swept in their final season series, they sweep the PSAC tournament including avenging their losses to WCU. NCAA's are next!

The Huskies and Millersville should represent the PSAC well in regionals, and perhaps beyond.

[IUPTrackMan]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

[Dozsa2]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

The Huskies and Millersville should represent the PSAC well in regionals, and perhaps beyond.

Will be interesting to see which 6 teams get in. I assume Shepherd is out and will be replaced by MEC tourney champ NDC or Charleston. Winston-Salem isn't in a conference, thus doesn't receive an automatic bid. It's their final year as a program, so does the NCAA throw them a bone and give them a bid? They have played a decent schedule and have an OK record. So I think yes.

Also of note is the new format this year. I'm not a fan of a 3-team regional, but I guess it makes finishing these things easier in terms of weather.

With that in mind, I think the NCAA goes this route:

Millersville gets the top seed and has a regional with Gannon (4) and the MEC champ (5)
West Chester gets the two seed and has a regional with Bloomsburg (3) and WSSU (6)

That second line could just as easily be Bloomsburg (2) in a regional with West Chester (3) and Mercyhurst (6). But I think the Lakers dropping their final series to Gannon plus going 0-2 in Johnstown keeps them out.

I'm also curious to see if these smaller regionals are played on campus sites or if Millersville will host at a place like Owls Field again.

[Bart]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

From BU sports:

"The championship is a monumental accomplishment for the Huskies as they earned the school's fourth overall title after winning in 1955, 1956, and 1965. The first two championships came when the school was known as Bloomsburg State Teachers College while the last title came five years after the school changed its name to Bloomsburg State College. Since the Huskies last championship, the United States of America has seen ten different presidents including Lyndon B. Johnson who was the country's leader in 1965. The cost of a stamp was five cents, a gallon of gas was 31 cents, and the price of milk was a whopping 95 cents. Fifty-four years ago, the Sound of Music was released, the St. Louis Arch was constructed, and the Vietnam War was still going on - just to put into perspective the historical nature of the Huskies' championship."

[jrshooter]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

Will be interesting to see which 6 teams get in. I assume Shepherd is out and will be replaced by MEC tourney champ NDC or Charleston. Winston-Salem isn't in a conference, thus doesn't receive an automatic bid. It's their final year as a program, so does the NCAA throw them a bone and give them a bid? They have played a decent schedule and have an OK record. So I think yes.

Winston-Salem's surprisingly solid history in the regional will weigh heavily in its favor.

I still see Millersville as a solid favorite here. They can throw two next-level starters in their first two games, and has quite a few guys who have been deep in the tournament previously. WCU probably has the single most dangerous bat in Jared Melone, but I don't know if their rotation lines up well. Bloomsburg would have beaten this field in April, saw its red-hot April sticks cool off, and is just now beginning to hit its stride again. Haven't seen enough of Gannon or Mercyhurst to give a really good read on them.

[Dozsa2]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

Winston-Salem's surprisingly solid history in the regional will weigh heavily in its favor.

I still see Millersville as a solid favorite here. They can throw two next-level starters in their first two games, and has quite a few guys who have been deep in the tournament previously. WCU probably has the single most dangerous bat in Jared Melone, but I don't know if their rotation lines up well. Bloomsburg would have beaten this field in April, saw its red-hot April sticks cool off, and is just now beginning to hit its stride again. Haven't seen enough of Gannon or Mercyhurst to give a really good read on them.

Welp, WSSU baseball is officially defunct. I agree with the committee's decision to put Mercyhurst in over WSSU but I wouldn't have disagreed had they taken the Rams over the Lakers. Mercyhurst had such a bad finish to the season. But now they get a mulligan. And an immediate rematch with Bloomsburg.

Some interesting super regional possibilities: West Chester vs. Millersville; Gannon vs. Merchyhurst; Bloomsburg vs. West Chester, etc.

I love the idea of super regionals in D2. I think super regionals in D1 are a very underrated part of that tournament. Plus, this format will help the D2 pitching staffs. Three or four games in a weekend is a lot more manageable than 7 or 8.

[Horror Child]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

Will be interesting to see which 6 teams get in. I assume Shepherd is out and will be replaced by MEC tourney champ NDC or Charleston. Winston-Salem isn't in a conference, thus doesn't receive an automatic bid. It's their final year as a program, so does the NCAA throw them a bone and give them a bid? They have played a decent schedule and have an OK record. So I think yes.

Also of note is the new format this year. I'm not a fan of a 3-team regional, but I guess it makes finishing these things easier in terms of weather.

With that in mind, I think the NCAA goes this route:

Millersville gets the top seed and has a regional with Gannon (4) and the MEC champ (5)
West Chester gets the two seed and has a regional with Bloomsburg (3) and WSSU (6)

That second line could just as easily be Bloomsburg (2) in a regional with West Chester (3) and Mercyhurst (6). But I think the Lakers dropping their final series to Gannon plus going 0-2 in Johnstown keeps them out.

I'm also curious to see if these smaller regionals are played on campus sites or if Millersville will host at a place like Owls Field again.

Well done sir.

[Horror Child]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

Winston-Salem's surprisingly solid history in the regional will weigh heavily in its favor.

I still see Millersville as a solid favorite here. They can throw two next-level starters in their first two games, and has quite a few guys who have been deep in the tournament previously. WCU probably has the single most dangerous bat in Jared Melone, but I don't know if their rotation lines up well. Bloomsburg would have beaten this field in April, saw its red-hot April sticks cool off, and is just now beginning to hit its stride again. Haven't seen enough of Gannon or Mercyhurst to give a really good read on them.

Did you really just put those statements next to each other? Bloomsburg's bats batted .173 and scored 11 runs in their 4 regular season games against West Chester. Granted, the WCU starter struggled against the Huskies in Johnstown. With six teams, it could be only three games each week.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

Little bit of coverage in the Trib ...


https://triblive.com/sports/seton-wa...omsburg-title/

[Dozsa2]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

Little bit of coverage in the Trib ...


https://triblive.com/sports/seton-wa...omsburg-title/

I give Seton Hill's coach credit for not complaining. If you allow your season to come down to winning the PSAC tournament, that's playing with fire (or rain).

I'm interested to see how this new format unfolds over the next two weeks.

[Horror Child]

Re: PSAC baseball in Johnstown

I give Seton Hill's coach credit for not complaining. If you allow your season to come down to winning the PSAC tournament, that's playing with fire (or rain).

True. After Seton Hill swept through the PSAC tournament last season and was one bad inning away from forcing a final regional championship game against Hurst last year, so they tend to get hot at the right time.

I'm interested to see how this new format unfolds over the next two weeks.

First observation is the region was reduced from 7 teams to 6 teams rather than increased to 8 teams like half the regions. Now, a team could win the region by winning just 3 games and then the super region the following week with another 2 games. So it's still 5 wins, but over two weeks, which means only 3 starting pitchers are needed, instead of 4 or 5 like in the PSAC tournament or in the NCAA's prior to the super regional format.