MVC Tournament Conclusion

[1972Shocker]

In the "what if" game to determine who will play Illinois State tomorrow DBU put up a 7-spot in the top of the 1st against MSU on 8 consecutive hits, 7 singles and 1 double plus a FC ground out.

After 5 complete the score is now DBU 7 - MSU 3.

[SB Shock]

I am kindof tired of the bats. I believe I read somewhere about the NCAA changing the baseballs next year to something that would make it slightly harder for pitchers to throw breaking balls, and reduce drag so that they would carry more.

They are reducing the seam size (it will be equivalent to minor league seam size, major league is even less). I have read that actually pitchers like the reduced seam size and can allow (at least some type of pitches) to have even more movement. It also seems to reduce the risk of blisters. It will have reduced drag and testing showed 20 ft improvement over the larger seamed balls.

[1972Shocker]

Final: DBU 9 - MSU 4

DBU vs Illinois State in Saturday's Championship Game.

I think DBU is probably in as is INS. If ILS wins Valley will probably get 3 teams in. If not DBU and INS will represent the Valley in the NCAA Tournament.

[1972Shocker]

DBU 4 - Illinois State 1 to win the MVC Tournament and the auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament. Indiana State likely will receive an at-large bid.

No Shockers on the All-Tournament Team.

[Kung Wu]

They are reducing the seam size (it will be equivalent to minor league seam size, major league is even less). I have read that actually pitchers like the reduced seam size and can allow (at least some type of pitches) to have even more movement. It also seems to reduce the risk of blisters. It will have reduced drag and testing showed 20 ft improvement over the larger seamed balls.

Soccer did something similar several years back at the international level. Though a soccer ball's seams are not exposed like they are on a baseball, they reduced the panel count which increased the undisturbed surface area without any seams. Goalkeepers started crying a river because for the first time a ball would start taking a wicked "sliding" movement or "bobbing" movement which made it more difficult to read. I thought they were just being whiny asses until I started playing with one. It really _does_ take on some wicked movement. And it definitely had the desired effect of increasing the number of goals per game.

The reason I bring this up is ... if the seams are reduced on a baseball, while it primarily effects pitchers, I wonder what happens to the defense? Will the balls struck by bats slide and/or dip as they rocket outward, causing more errors? Or does the fact that they have raised seams at all prevent that?

[1972Shocker]

Soccer did something similar several years back at the international level. Though a soccer ball's seams are not exposed like they are on a baseball, they reduced the panel count which increased the undisturbed surface area without any seams. Goalkeepers started crying a river because for the first time a ball would start taking a wicked "sliding" movement or "bobbing" movement which made it more difficult to read. I thought they were just being whiny asses until I started playing with one. It really _does_ take on some wicked movement. And it definitely had the desired effect of increasing the number of goals per game.

The reason I bring this up is ... if the seams are reduced on a baseball, while it primarily effects pitchers, I wonder what happens to the defense? Will the balls struck by bats slide and/or dip as they rocket outward, causing more errors? Or does the fact that they have raised seams at all prevent that?

The seams will still be slightly higher than what is currently used in the major leagues so I don't think that will be an issue in baseball.

[Kung Wu]

The seams will still be slightly higher than what is currently used in the major leagues so I don't think that will be an issue in baseball.

Ah, okay that makes sense. I wonder if that would be desirable though? Might be an interesting way to increase the score without necessarily increasing the home run counts.

[1972Shocker]

Ah, okay that makes sense. I wonder if that would be desirable though? Might be an interesting way to increase the score without necessarily increasing the home run counts.

I think you want to avoid changing the essence of the game. Besides if pitchers are allowed to throw something that moved like a whiffle ball you would cut way back on the scoring. Pitchers still have that option if they can learn the knuckleball, but apparently that is easier said than done. Not sure I have ever seen a knuckleball pitcher in the college game. Even in the pros they are few and far between. But a good knuckleball is hard to catch let alone hit.

[Kung Wu]

I think you want to avoid changing the essence of the game. Besides if pitchers are allowed to throw something that moved like a whiffle ball you would cut way back on the scoring. Pitchers still have that option if they can learn the knuckleball, but apparently that is easier said than done. Not sure I have ever seen a knuckleball pitcher in the college game. Even in the pros they are few and far between. But a good knuckleball is hard to catch let alone hit.

Oh yeah, that also makes sense. :) Scoring would drop badly because it favors pitchers way more than it affects the defensive unit.

[1972Shocker]

As expected the Valley has two teams in the NCAA Tournament, Dallas Baptist and Indiana State.

DBU is the #2 seed at the TCU regional in Ft. Worth and will play Sam Houston State in the opening round. #7 national seed TCU takes on Siena in the other 1st round game in that regional.

Indiana State is the #2 seed at the Indiana regional in Bloomington and take on Stanford in the 1st round game. #4 Indiana will play Youngstown State in the other 1st round game in that regional.

Good luck to the Patriots and the Sycamores. I think they both are capable of doing some damage although you wonder about Indiana State losing to Bradley twice and MSU once in its last 3 games including a 2 and que result in the Valley Tournament on their home field. DBU on the other hand is playing pretty solid baseball.