While others argue and quibble over why some are in and others out in the Division I preseason polls take some time and read this


Preseason Division II
#10 ---Franklin Pierce(NH)
#11 ---Kutztown (PA)
#19 ---West Chester (PA)
#20 -- California (PA)
#30 --- UMASS-Lowell
#39 ---Southern CT State
Slippery Rock (PA)
Noted: Shippensburg (PA)
Dominican (NY)
New Haven (CT)
Mercyhurst (PA)

DIVISION III---Preseason
#03 Montclair State (NJ)
#05 Southern Maine
#08 College of New Jersey
#09 Wheaton (MA)
#11 SUNY Cortland (NY)
#15 Kean (NJ)
#20 Ithaca (NY)
#22 Western New England (MA)
#23 RPI (NY)
#24 Rowna (NJ)

NOTED: William Paterson (NJ)
Johns Hopkins
Alvernia (PA)
York (PA)
Washington and Jefferson (PA)


I do not know about you but I find the list for both divisions pretty darn impressive---GOOD LUCK WITH THE COMING SEASON GUYS !!!!

Just one to add from Collegiate Baseball..

D111 #6 Eastern Ct State....

Very close to TR in his home state...

Coach Holowaty might never forgive me for missing them


Thanx

Those who ranked UMass-Lowell so low haven't been paying attention to what's been going on there...

One could argue that the Northeast dominates the D2 and D3 polls. Although not part of this thread, would like to mention that Ohio is also well represented. D2 Ashland is usually there. In D3, Otterbein, Wooster, and Marietta make three formidable teams with Marietta defending National Champs. Heidelberg is also a team to watch.

CD


what you say is so true---great baseball out that way

Absolutely. I was able to Otterbein play a few weeks ago in Florida and was very impressed (by their team and by the fact that they wore great st.patricks day green uniforms on 3/17!!). Truth be told...I was very impressed by a number of programs (both d2 and d3) that I had the pleasure of seeing in Florida. Lock Haven in particular (though their record isnt there) I found to be very impressive against us. They had some outstanding hitters and great pitching.

PM on the way MATT

You forgot pre-season NEC D1 - #1 CCSU

Do you think this could be because North East players develop later? With weather restrictions it's as if the guys south have a whole year on us... Thoughts?

i was wondering that myself, what makes d2-3 northeast baseball teams better than ones from the south, i would think the south could play year round so i dont understand that (although im happy to hear positive things about baseball in the northeast)

quote:

i was wondering that myself, what makes d2-3 northeast baseball teams better than ones from the south, i would think the south could play year round so i dont understand that (although im happy to hear positive things about baseball in the northeast)

Interesting thoughts I think I agree with your assessment about D3 possibly being stronger in the North. I would include Ohio in that as well with some powerhouse programs like Wooster and Marietta. Wisconsin and Michigan also produce some excellent teams.

I agree there are some D2 national powers in the North but my guess is that more of them are still in the South. Notably - the Peach Belt conference is very tough year in and year out. I see Francis Marion beat D1 Brown rather easily last night, for example.

Like to hear TrHit's thoughts on this as well.

I think one solid reason you see more Northeast teams in the D-II and D-III polls is that we have an abundance of them here in the region--many more than D-I programs ( I do not think there are any D-III Programs in Florida--if there are they are few and far between)

I think also many here in the Northeast think education before sports and the student/athlete here leans to the Division III/II programs which are stronger academically

It might also be the case that we have players who are good enough to play at the D1 level but can't get a look from schools in the south and west. They end up staying local at the DII and DIII programs, making them much stronger.

Another thought--some players may think that having a shot at making it to the CWS at the DII or DIII level beats playing a back-up role on a D1 somehwere. That makes the successful DII and III programs up here self-perpetuating.

o i see

sometimes i think we just have way more schools in the northeast than anywhere else. conn. being the capital lol. i wonder how many schools we do have in the northeast thread area?

quote:

I think also many here in the Northeast think education before sports and the student/athlete here leans to the Division III/II programs which are stronger academically

TR,


I do beleive this is a factor here for many athletes in our part of the country.

One example, we went to an open house this past weekend at Western New England College in Springfield, MA. This a school of 2500 to 3000 students and has a fantastic engineering program.
My son talked with the basketball team's starting point guard who is an Electrical Engineering student. They had a nice disscussion about time management and balancing athletics & academics. It was great for him to here that from a student/athlete in the engineering progam. It certainly had more weight than from this engineer dad!

There is a place out there for just about every kid that has the work ethic and desire to play at the collegiate level. It is mostly just a matter of putting in the time to find the right fit of academics and athletics. We are fortuante here in the Northeast that is a wide range of schools both in size and academic programs.


20dad,

My son got the cast off the hand yesterday and was cleared to go. He told me last night he threw some at practice and had no issues. Thank God!...he was going crazy wanting that thing off over the last week.

It looks like we will be at yourplace on May 9th and then you come to us a week later. I'm looking forward to getting a chance to talk with you.

Good Luck in your opener ...assuming your able to play next Monday

i can see where NE D111 schools get a very strong representation in the polls. Maybe just more of them here vs. other parts of the country?

But to say, as I have read in some posts, that NE schools also "dominate" in national DII polls is just not even close to accurate. Yes, we have some fine to excellent nationally ranked programs that in a given year may even rank as high as top 10 but we can't even remotely claim to dominate.