The Podcast About Division-III Baseball

Welcome to Episode 87 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. It's time to talk about the Mid-Atlantic -- well, half of what we've been used to being the Mid-Atlantic. We discuss (at 1:17) the changes to the region from last season before previewing all the favorites by conference. In order:

• AEC (at 3:57)
  • Marymount won the first ever AEC title and look primed to defend their title
• Centennial (at 11:05)
  • Johns Hopkins is loaded again but will be tested even more with a full schedule and traditionally ridiculous SOS
  • Swarthmore is back and we're excited to see if they can challenge Hopkins immediately after a full year off
  • F&M, Haverford, and Washington College can all be expected to be in the mix
• CSAC (at 32:17)
  • Keystone runs this conference and probably always will...
  • ...but could Wilson actually make a run at the Giants? We'd love to see it!
  • Huge shoutout to Alexia Jorge at St. Elizabeth
  • Shoutout to brand new program Rosemont
• Landmark (at 40:30)
  • Scranton won it all last year and has some exciting young talent returning
  • Catholic seems primed to take a huge step forward with some bona fide All-Region talent
• MACC (at 47:30)
  • York (PA) is gonna be FASCINATING with two All-American sluggers that might combine for 40 HR but a TON else to replace
  • Lebanon Valley could definitely challenge the Spartans, though

We conclude (at 56:48) with our player and pitcher of the year picks, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye.

Follow us on Twitter @d3baseballpod (DMs are open if you want to reach us there) and @CespedesBBQ.

Send us your best D-III stories or any other comments or questions to [email protected]

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Welcome to Episode 86 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. First (at 1:00) we shoutout Pacific Lutheran as the standouts of the opening weekend. Next (at 2:15) we make a very important announcement -- er, clarification -- about our "D-III College Gameday" idea that we tweeted about. Then (at 5:00) it's time to talk about the Central and the changes to the region from last season before previewing all the favorites by conference. In order:

• CCIW (at 7:00)
  • North Central (IL) got screwed last year being left out of the postseason and are now super duper loaded and ready to come back better than ever
  • Augustana had maybe the quietest 35-win season in D-III history and should be very good again
  • Millikin actually won this conference last year and have a good amount back to defend their title
• HCAC (at 23:20)
  • Transylvania has an elite two-way player in Trent Youngblood but has a ton of other offense to replace
  • Franklin used to hit a bajillion homers a year but those guys are gone now
  • Rose-Hulman is gonna be trending back up soon with new head coach Adam Rosen
• NACC (at 32:00)
  • Let's talk about Aurora for 10 minutes because we have A LOT OF THOUGHTS
  • Benedictine could definitely challenge the Spartans, though
  • We'd love to see Concordia-Chicago get back in the mix
• SLIAC (at 45:55)
  • Webster looks strong as always but will have to replace the legendary Matt Mulhearn on the bump; their SOS is completely ridiculous, mad respect
• UAA (at 58:18)
  • Jake's WashU Bears are definitely going to be good again but most of the World Series team is gone so there are going to be a ton of new faces

We conclude (at 1:06:20) with our player and pitcher of the year picks, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye.

Follow us on Twitter @d3baseballpod (DMs are open if you want to reach us there) and @CespedesBBQ.

Send us your best D-III stories or any other comments or questions to [email protected]

Subscribe + rate/review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-podcast-about-division-iii-baseball/id1342691759

Welcome to Episode 85 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. We head to the South, home to some of the strongest teams in D-III, including the defending champs. We have a quick discussion about what Pool B is (at 3:50), why the C2C teams are now in it, and how that impacts the postseason field before previewing all the favorites in the South (Region 6). In order:

• C2C (at 8:45)
  • Salisbury seems as good a bet as any in recent memory to repeat as national champs, but that's much easier said than done
  • Christopher Newport is playing a loaded schedule, as they'll need to in Pool B, but will need some younger guys to step up to win enough games against all that top-tier competition
• ODAC (at 22:50)
  • Lynchburg is being super underrated by the pre-season polls and has the talent to make a legit World Series run
  • Shenandoah has a ton of experience coming back and is always good
  • Roanoke has almost their entire pitching staff back and enough offense to compete
  • We always trust Randolph-Macon to be good but they lost a huge chunk of their team to graduation so a lot more question marks this year
  • Other teams like Hampden-Sydney, Bridgewater, and Washington & Lee should compete for spots in the conference tourney
• SAA (at 44:45)
  • Birmingham-Southern is one of the best programs left in D-III without a title; could this be the year?
  • Rhodes should always be taken seriously
  • Berry was so good in 2021 but have a lot to replace this season
• USA South (at 54:15)
  • NC Wesleyan ascended in a big way in 2021 and look primed for another huge season
  • LaGrange is still trying to get over the regional hump and certainly has the talent to finally do it in 2022
  • This conference is enormous so there are a ton of other teams that could be in the mix
• UAA (at 1:03:55)
  • Emory has been trying to get back to contender status for a while now; maybe this is the year1

We conclude (at 1:06:50) with our player and pitcher of the year picks, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye.

Follow us on Twitter @d3baseballpod (DMs are open if you want to reach us there) and @CespedesBBQ.

Send us your best D-III stories or any other comments or questions to [email protected]

Subscribe + rate/review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-podcast-about-division-iii-baseball/id1342691759

Welcome to Episode 84 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. We are extremely excited to be back for another season and the games are just around the corner. We begin with some general info about how this year will be back to relatively normal, the 60-team postseason field, the return of super regionals, the restructured regions (mostly just NE and Mid-Atlantic) and a few other minor notes (at 2:30). Then we give our usual caveats about how we plan to preview each region before previewing the West. In order:

• ASC (at 5:16)
  • The UT-Dallas Comets could have one of the best offenses in the country
  • The East Texas Baptist Tigers are always near the top of this league; can they finally reach the postseason this year?
  • The Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders might be ready to compete even sooner than we thought
  • Other teams like Concordia (TX) should also be in the mix
• SCAC (at 17:40)
  • The Trinity (TX) Tigers should rake as always; how will their pitching staff shake out?
  • The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs have graduated a bunch but still have some All-Region talent that should keep them in contention
  • The Centenary (LA) Gents are basically always good, and have one of the best two-way players in the region
  • Look for Southwestern (TX) to also contend
• SCIAC (at 32:45)
  • The Chapman Panthers had a semi-real season in 2021 and are always great but are losing some key contributors
  • The Cal Lutheran Kingsmen have more starters returning than Chapman but less experience overall
  • The La Verne Leopards broke out in a big way in 2019; can they contend again in 2022?
  • Redlands also played but seem a tick below the top 3; none of the other teams played in 2021 so who knows what they'll be?
• NWC (at 41:20)
  • The Pacific Boxers have a ton of talent returning and are looking to bounce back after a tough exit in last year's regionals
  • The Pacific Lutheran Lutes have two All-American Candidates and some strong depth behind them
  • The Willamette Bearcats HIT DINGERS SO MANY DINGERS but can they do the other things necessary to win baseball games? We think so!

We conclude (at 53:10) with some other notable players to watch, our player and pitcher of the year picks, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye.

Follow us on Twitter @d3baseballpod (DMs are open if you want to reach us there) and @CespedesBBQ.

Send us your best D-III stories or any other comments or questions to [email protected]

Subscribe + rate/review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-podcast-about-division-iii-baseball/id1342691759

Welcome to Episode 83 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. Jake is driving home from Cedar Rapids, but we wanted to check in before the championship series and give our thoughts about St. Thomas and Salisbury, as well as give a final farewell to the Bears after a remarkable season.

Follow us on Twitter @d3baseballpod (DMs are open if you want to reach us there) and @CespedesBBQ.

Send us your best D-III stories or any other comments or questions to [email protected]

Subscribe + rate/review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-podcast-about-division-iii-baseball/id1342691759

Welcome to Episode 82 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. Jake is actually in Cedar Rapids, so he gave us a general World Series vibe check before we break down all the action from Day 1 in reverse-chronological order:

• Cortland vs. Salisbury (at 4:40)
• Wheaton (MA) vs. Rowan (at 10:20)
• St. Thomas vs. Adrian (at 15:47)
• Johns Hopkins vs. WashU (at 22:30)

Then, we say goodbye.

Follow us on Twitter @d3baseballpod (DMs are open if you want to reach us there) and @CespedesBBQ.

Send us your best D-III stories or any other comments or questions to [email protected]

Subscribe + rate/review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-podcast-about-division-iii-baseball/id1342691759

Welcome to Episode 81 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. We made it to the World Series. Wow. What a time to be alive. In this pod, we do a recap (at 3:00) of all the crazy regional action (in order: High Point, Marietta, Decatur, Auburn, Hartford, Whitewater, Collegeville, St. Paul) and give each regional a letter grade based on how entertaining it was. Then we preview our 8 World Series contenders:

• WashU Bears (at 26:10)
• Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (at 35:30)
• Adrian Bulldogs (at 42:35)
• St. Thomas Tommies (at 48:05)
• Rowan Profs (at 52:27)
• Wheaton (MA) Lyons (at 56:30)
• Salisbury Sea Gulls (at 1:00:28)
• Cortland Red Dragons (at 1:03:55)
• We make our official World Series picks (at 1:08:00)

Then, we say goodbye.

Follow us on Twitter @d3baseballpod (DMs are open if you want to reach us there) and @CespedesBBQ.

Send us your best D-III stories or any other comments or questions to [email protected]

Subscribe + rate/review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-podcast-about-division-iii-baseball/id1342691759

Welcome to Episode 80 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. Regionals are here. This is a big one -- here's the agenda with timestamps so you can jump around and listen to the regional of your choice. Each regional is discussed in order of match-ups, so we talk about the teams in this order of seeding: 1, 6, 2, 5, 3, 4. Enjoy!

• We begin with a discussion of the at-large selections and our frustration with the process and one of the selections (first 10 minutes)
• Hartford (at 10:00)
• Marietta (at 23:05)
• Auburn (at 35:00)
• St. Paul (at 50:15)
• Decatur (at 1:05:10)
• High Point (at 1:24:30)
• Whitewater (at 1:36:00)
• Collegeville (at 1:51:30)
• Our picks for who is gonna win each regional (at 2:04:00)

Then, we say goodbye.

Follow us on Twitter @d3baseballpod (DMs are open if you want to reach us there) and @CespedesBBQ.

Send us your best D-III stories or any other comments or questions to [email protected]

Subscribe + rate/review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-podcast-about-division-iii-baseball/id1342691759

Welcome to Episode 79 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. The bracket will be announced soon, so we hopped on to give our projected at-large bids. Here's the agenda:

• Explaining the 4-5 teams we believe to be locks (WashU, Eastern Connecticut, St. Thomas (MN), North Central (IL), Oswego State)
• A look at the bubble and the various ways it could shake out between Trinity (Texas), Gustavus Adolphus, Augustana, Shenandoah, NC Wesleyan, Berry and Babson.
• Note: sorry the audio got cut off at the end but the main takeaway is that Jake thinks Gustavus Adolphus will get the last spot and Jordan thinks Trinity (Texas) will get the last spot but it's really close, we'll see!!!!

Then, we say goodbye.

Follow us on Twitter @d3baseballpod (DMs are open if you want to reach us there) and @CespedesBBQ.

Send us your best D-III stories or any other comments or questions to [email protected]

Subscribe + rate/review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-podcast-about-division-iii-baseball/id1342691759

Welcome to Episode 78 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. The third regional rankings were released on Wednesday afternoon so we wanted to hop on and talk about those before the last weekend of the regular season. Here's the agenda:

• an overview of what the postseason is going to look like AS FAR AS WE KNOW (because there is still somehow no championship manual)
• 48 teams, 42 AQs, it doesn't look like there will be any Mid-Atlantic or West teams hosting regionals so there could be some wacky movement in terms of where teams get shipped
• breaking down where the at-large bubble stands right now heading into the last weekend of conference tournaments and 23 auto-bids still up for grabs
• why we're 100% confident about WashU and the LEC loser, 60% confident about the MIAC & CCIW loser, and way less confident about basically everyone after that: Trinity (TX), NC Wesleyan, Berry, Babson, Cortland
• which conference tournament favorites we feel best about getting in if they don't win this weekend (Adrian, Rowan, Salisbury, UW-Whitewater, Webster, Oswego State, Shenandoah, Marietta)
• and a few other scattered thoughts!
• we're doing our best please don't be mad at us!!!!

Then, we say goodbye.

Follow us on Twitter @d3baseballpod (DMs are open if you want to reach us there) and @CespedesBBQ.

Send us your best D-III stories or any other comments or questions to [email protected]

Subscribe + rate/review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-podcast-about-division-iii-baseball/id1342691759