The Podcast About Division-III Baseball

Welcome to Episode 77 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. We have our first regional rankings of the 2021 season and my goodness, this is a gonna be a wacky postseason. We discuss what we learned, what we know, what we're still wondering, and then go region-by-region with our general thoughts on each ranking. Topics include (but are not limited to):

• Central
  • Webster a bit lower than expected but the resumes explain a lot, nothing too shocking
• Mid-Atlantic
  • Penn State-Abington is the big surprise but you can see how they ended up there
  • Why there's no Centennial team
  • No 2nd NJAC team is unusual but understandable
• Mideast
  • No surprises here, some underperforming teams have brought the overall strength of this region down
• Midwest
  • Whitewater is awesome, shouts out the Pointers for having 2 big leaguers on the Brewers; cool to see a new UMAC team
• New England
  • This region is almost guaranteed to get one at-large bid, but could they get 2 with the LEC/NEWMAC?
• New York
  • Oswego State has been excellent and look like the only team in solid at-large position if they don't win the SUNYAC
  • St. John Fisher is great but needs to win the conference
• South
  • How are we feeling about Berry's chances?
• West
  • No SCIAC teams at all is no surprise because of their abbreviated schedule, but who else could actually get an at-large here?

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 76 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. We run through the latest Top 25 poll, with topics including:

• WashU finally lost a game but it is also finally #1
• SCIAC finally starting play
• Marietta cracking the top 5 and why we believe in them but also want to see how they do against better OAC competition
• W&J being the last undefeated team (that has played a real number of games)
• Rowan looking like the premier NJAC team but will take on scorching hot William Paterson this weekend
• St. Thomas (MN)'s amazing pitching staff
• and more!

Then, we update the Bret Williams all-time HR chase and then have a brief discussion on what we are expecting to be the biggest challenges with projecting the at-large bids this postseason with a significantly smaller field.

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 75 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. This is our first normal-ish podcast of the 2021 D-III season! We mainly discuss our thoughts on the latest Top 25 poll, touching at least briefly on nearly everyone in the rankings, as well as some of the schools who just missed the list. Topics include:

• Undefeated WashU and their #1 case compared to Trinity (TX)
• How we think about Chapman/Cal Lutheran compared to all the other teams that have played way more
• The breakouts of N.C. Wesleyan and Berry
• Undefeated W&J taking care of business in the PAC
• How the NJAC has shaken out thus far
• Some surprise teams in the West region (Centenary (LA), Louisiana College)
• What the hell to do with Johns Hopkins
• and more!

Finally, we take a scroll thru some of the statistical leaders in the D-III season thus far, including a Bret Williams HR chase update and the best part about Caleb Durbin's season so far.

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 74 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. This is our eighth of eight regional preview pods -- this one covers the New York region and its four conferences. Before we begin, we do a brief check-in (at 1:30) on our respective alma maters and discuss why WashU's pitching staff is always so incredible and Wooster's 3-1 start to open the season. Also (at 11:30) another note about Bret Williams' chase for the all-time D-III HR record. Then, it's NY time:

• SUNYAC (at 14:30)
  • Cortland is Cortland, so obviously they're gonna win a lot of games and have some exciting #Year5 guys returning
  • Oswego State is still the Lakers, so we made more Lakers jokes but they have some key guys back as well
  • and as always, watch out for Brockport!
• Liberty (at 23:35)
  • Rochester impressed us a lot at the regional in 2019, and now look like the clear favorite in this conference with two strong starters
  • Ithaca joined from the Empire 8 and are traditionally strong but there aren't many familiar faces on the roster so tough to know what to expect
  • Other teams like Union, Clarkson, RIT are usually relevant in this conference race
• Empire 8 (or uh, the Empire 5? 6?) (at 34:00)
  • St. John Fisher looks loaded, is already off to a hot start, and now they're in a barren wasteland of a conference...should be interesting!
• Skyline (at 37:40)
  • Farmingdale State is always a rock solid bet to lead the Skyline pack but we've seen teams like like Manhattanville, St. Joseph's (Long Island) and Old Westbury in the mix
• CUNYAC doesn't appear to be playing but maybe we're wrong? No auto-bid, though.
• UAA (at 43:40)
  • NYU doesn't seem likely to be playing this spring but let us know if that's not true!

We concluded (at 45:30) with our player and pitcher of the year picks for the region, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening!

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 73 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. This is our seventh of eight regional preview pods -- this one covers the Midwest region and its four conferences. But first (at 1:30), we wanted to bounce around the nation and react to the relative full slate of D-III action from the weekend. Topics include:

• Bret Williams IS BACK and is already off to great start for PSU-Harrisburg
• Franklin & Marshall & Kalamazoo makin' us look real dumb for hyping up Johns Hopkins & Adrian (but also let's relax a little bit)
• Checking in on the West region, updating the SCIAC status
• Teams that are looking extremely good so far: Southern Maine, Marietta, NC Wesleyan, Centenary (LA), and of course, the 20-4 (!!!) Berry Vikings
• Salisbury looked great when we saw them live, hopefully their star Justin Meekins won't be out too long
• A quick correct on a New England College/Eastern Nazarene note from the last pod
• Mo Hanley pitched in front of A LOT of scouts

Then, we preview the Midwest, one chilly conference at a time:

• MIAC (at 20:15)
  • Saint John's (Minn.) is off to a strong start, including one surprising name on a crazy home run tear
  • St. Thomas has one more season in D-III (we think???) and have a great 1-2 punch atop their rotation that could help them go out in style
  • Gustavus Adolphus has been trending up and will certainly be in the mix
  • St. Olaf (at 13:15) got a first place vote too!
• NACC (at 30:25)
  • Aurora has become a consistent regional contender and now look like the clear favorite in this conference
  • Concordia-Chicago seems be having some pitching struggles in the early going, but should still be able to score enough runs to stay competitive
  • Benedictine is also solid and will likely compete
• UMAC (at 36:00)
  • Bethany Lutheran has suddenly become the consensus favorite
  • St. Scholastica is leaving the conference after this year; can they capture one more UMAC crown?
• WIAC (at 39:15)
  • Wisconsin-Whitewater is loaded as normal, with an inexplicable transfer hitter and an excellent pitching staff as usual
  • Wisconsin-La Crosse is very young but could be building back up to be a regional threat again soon
  • Other WIAC contenders like Stevens Point and Oshkosh are a tier below but have some intriguing talent

We concluded (at 47:30) with a few other notable player shout outs, our player and pitcher of the year picks for the region, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening!

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 72 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. This is our sixth of eight regional preview pods -- this one covers the New England region and its seven conferences. Topics include:

• CCC (at 1:40)
  • Salve Regina (at 2:00) is the class of this conference and boasts two of the best strikeout pitchers in the region atop their rotation
  • Teams (at 4:50) like Endicott, Roger Williams, Western New England, and Nichols will need to have a lot go right to compete with the Seahawks
• GNAC (at 7:10)
  • The last 12 titles have gone to either St. Joseph's (Maine) or Suffolk...maybe this is the year a team like Johnson & Wales could break the streak?
• LEC (at 10:20)
  • Southern Maine might be returning the most loaded #Year5 squad in the entire country and make have opened up an unusually large gap on their conference competition
  • UMass-Boston has been a perennial regional team but with a late start and a lot of new faces in the lineup, there's more questions than normal entering their season. We still love the Beacons, though.
  • Rhode Island has emerged as a strong sleeper but lost some key pieces from their pitching staff
  • UMass-Dartmouth, Eastern Connecticut, and Castleton will probably hang around this conversation as well
• MASCAC (at 19:15)
  • Westfield State will probably continue to run the show but their legendary 1-2 punch is gone so maybe there's room for a team like Fitchburg State, Worcester State, or Salem State to contend
• NECC (at 21:28)
  • Mitchell has been putting up big win totals vs. bad competition in recent years but now are starting to look more like a legitimately fearsome regional contender
  • New England College had one hell of a run in the 2019 postseason but now their coach and some of their best players departed for conference rival Eastern Nazarene, ooooo spicy spicy!!!
• NESCAC (at 28:20)
  • It seems that only four teams will be participating in this conference in this pandemic season, with Tufts and Trinity (CT) likely the ones fighting for the title
• NEWMAC (at 34:30)
  • Babson is losing some key contributors and won't have the traditionally insane SOS to boost their resume. Beavers are always good, though.
  • Wheaton (Mass.) is now more than just a Really Good Fundamental Baseball Team -- they've got super high-end talent that makes them a legitimate World Series contender
  • MIT isn't playing, which is a bummer
• UAA
  • Brandeis (at 40:15) are gonna have a tough time scheduling with all the conference-only restrictions but their roster actually looks pretty solid!

We concluded (at 41:30) with our player and pitcher of the year picks for the region, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening!

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 71 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. This is our fifth of eight regional preview pods -- this one covers the Mideast region and its five conferences. Before we begin, we quickly discuss the weekend that was in D3, the status of the SCIAC, and shoutout North Central (IL) for their no-no. Then we get down to business:

• AMCC (at 7:00)
  • La Roche has their longtime head coach back and plenty of talent as always, but will need some young pitching to step up if they want to dominate this conference as usual
• HCAC (at 11:25)
  • Franklin has proved capable of competing against better teams and appear primed to win this conference again
  • The HCAC is probably a bit underrated, with Anderson, Transylvania, Rose-Hulman, and Earlham all capable of having strong seasons
• MIAA (at 17:00)
  • Adrian has almost all of their seniors back for #Year5 and two of the best pitchers in the entire country; is this the year they finally go on a super deep run?
  • There is Hope...for the Dutchmen to make some noise in this conference as well
• NCAC (at 26:00)
  • Wooster still has plenty of top-tier talent but enters the season with far more inexperience than normal
  • Denison has some key players back for #Year5 and a fearsome lineup, but will need some of the younger pitching to step up
  • DePauw and Wittenberg could definitely make some noise as well
• OAC (at 40:30)
  • Heidelberg has some of their 2019 World Series contributors back for #Year5, which should help them continue to contend
  • Baldwin Wallace looks to have a pretty loaded lineup but a very young pitching staff
  • Otterbein, John Carroll, Mount Union, Ohio Northern will surely all be in the mix as well
  • Uh oh...is Marietta back?
• PAC (at 59:10)
  • Washington & Jefferson shouldn't have any trouble in this conference -- we'll see if they can make another World Series run
• UAA (at 1:04:05)
  • Case Western won't be able to play their usual insanely tough schedule but are still making the most of the difficult and unique situation

We concluded (at 1:08:00) with a few other notable player shout outs, our player and pitcher of the year picks for the region, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening!

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 70 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. This is our fourth of eight regional preview pods -- this one covers the Mid-Atlantic region and its eight conferences. First, we give some thoughts on the past weekend in D-III, WashU opening their season 3-0, and the new Top 25 poll. Then, we put on our swim trunks and head into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean...or something like that.

• AEC (at 7:30)
  • Cabrini seemed like the team to beat but now it appears Marymount is the team that can make some real noise. Most importantly, we think they have an AQ.
• Centennial (at 9:50)
  • Conference-only is understandable...but conference-only with only 14 games??? Uh........this could get weird
  • Johns Hopkins won the D-III offseason with several high-profile transfers and some big-time returners. On paper, they should dominate.
  • We are extremely bummed that Swarthmore will not be competing
  • Other teams such as Franklin & Marshall and Washington (MD) will need a lot of things to go right to contend for the conference title
• Landmark (at 21:40)
  • Susquehanna showed well in the 2019 postseason last year, and will look to defend its Landmark title but Catholic will likely be in the conversation as well
• MAC Freedom (at 25:40)
  • Misericordia is going for its 10th straight conference title and is always an extremely good D-III baseball team
  • Our thoughts are with DeSales after a recent tragedy within their program
• MAC Commonwealth (at 30:30)
  • Alvernia has been the gold standard in this conference in recent years but Hood may finally be ready to challenge them
• NEAC (at 33:00)
  • We are still salty about how this conference ended Toby Welk's career but now all we care about is whether Bret Williams is back and how many homers he's gonna hit for PSU-Harrisburg
• NJAC (at 36:55) -- once again, before talking about the teams, we bask in the glory of this reality show conference
  • TCNJ is always reliably Very Good but do not have nearly as much talent returning as some of their biggest conference foes
  • Kean, on the other hand, does have some big 5th year guys coming back and look like they might be the best team heading into the season
  • Rowan essentially graduated a D-III All-Star team in 2019 so they don't quite have the same elite depth but still have some big time returners
  • Ramapo is always good but they still haven't posted a roster so how are we supposed to talk about them? SMH.
  • William Paterson has elevated into the top tier of NJAC competition but
• CSAC (at 47:00)
  • Keystone is obviously gonna be good but will be harder to gauge this year with less non-conference competition on the schedule

We concluded (at 49:00) with a few other notable player shout outs , our player and pitcher of the year picks for the region, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening!

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 69 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. This is our third of eight regional preview pods -- this one covers the Central region and its four conferences, and of course, Jake's beloved WashU Bears. Before, we get into the Central, we discuss how the D3 landscape looks a few weeks in and shoutout (at 3:00) the incredible 14-inning game between Piedmont and Adrian. Topics include:

• CCIW (at 10:00)
  • North Central might have the best battery in the country in Rob Marinec/Charlie Klemm
  • Illinois Wesleyan has an ace in Quinn Gudaitis and could challenge for this conference if a few things break right
  • We'll see if anyone else like Wheaton (Ill.) or Augustana can make some noise
• SLIAC (at 17:00)
  • Webster was already loaded and brought back almost all of their seniors; the Gorloks are legit contenders
  • Spalding has a lot of talent but will have to prove it against the best competition
• ARC (at 29:50)
  • Coe has clearly established themselves as the team to beat but will have to replace some high-end talent
  • Buena Vista will need some younger players to step up if they want to defend their title
  • Wartburg used to run this conference but have been trending down -- but perhaps they are back?
• MWC (at 39:14)
  • This conference is fairly wide open so we touched on all the possible favorites: Chicago, Monmouth, Cornell, Ripon
• UAA
  • WashU (at 45:00) doesn't have any seniors returning for #Year5 but they still have a ton of talent on the roster including potential regional Player of the Year Caleb Durbin

We concluded our player and pitcher of the year picks for the region, and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening!

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 68 of The Podcast About Division III Baseball. This is our second of eight regional preview pods -- this one covers the South region and its four conferences. Topics include:

• CAC -- oh just kidding it's the COAST 2 COAST NOW (at 4:00)
  • Salisbury is loaded as usual but most importantly we just want another Justin Meekins roster photo
  • Christopher Newport has a lot of dudes to replace but we're still pretty sure they'll hit a bunch of dingers
• ODAC (at 12:50)
  • Randolph-Macon has most of their seniors back and you probably already know we think they are really good
  • Shenandoah is gonna mash as usual but the pitching is questionable
  • Other contenders like Virginia Wesleyan, Lynchburg, and Hampden-Sydney are a notch below
• USA South (at 20:00)
  • LaGrange will try to prove that they are the best Panthers in the region
  • Methodist has some big time senior hitters to replace but should still contend
  • We still love Piedmont, Huntingdon should be good...but oh baby, watch out for Pfeiffer
• SAA (at 28:30)
  • Birmingham-Southern has all their best pitchers returning as well as some All-Region-caliber hitters
  • Hendrix is super duper young but still has some intriguing guys
  • Berry usually gets off to hot starts but there is more reason to believe in them this year
  • Only Built 4 Rhodes Lynx...Pt. 4: Paul Giacomazzi Goes for Gold Glove #3 (and also this team should be legit)
• UAA (at 37:00)
  • Emory (and all the UAA teams) are hopefully going to be able to find enough games nearby to play since their conference is not feasible during a pandemic

We concluded (at 41:50) with our player and pitcher of the year picks for the region and our teams to beat. Then we say goodbye. Thanks for listening!

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