Upper Iowa University – 2010 Baseball Schedule

Upper Iowa University has posted their baseball schedule for the upcoming 2010 baseball season – Upper Iowa 2010 Baseball Schedule

The Peacocks spend the bulk of their non-conference schedule playing in Missouri and Kansas.  They will be hoping for better weather this year as the squad had 12 non-conference games wiped out by bad weather last year.  The team doesn’t have a spring trip to a warm climate so they are more at the mercy of good spring weather.  They do have a 3 game set against Wayne State (although Wayne’s schedule shows it as 2 games) which should be a good test but the rest of the schedule is a little less taxing as none of their opponents ranked higher than #66 in last year’s Boyd’s D2 Power Rankings.

The team doesn’t have Northern Sun Conference games against Wayne State, Concordia, St. Cloud State & Northern State.  They should be in the mix again for a top 6 spot in the standings which they secured on the last day of the regular season last year.

Wayne State – 2010 Baseball Schedule

Wayne State College (NE) has posted their baseball schedule for the upcoming 2010 baseball season – Wayne State 2010 Baseball Schedule

The Wildcats open their season against instate rival Nebraska – Kearney but to play each other they are heading to Golden, CO.  Their non-conference schedule has a decidedly central US flavor to it as they play in Colorado, Kansas & a spring tourney in Indiana.  They have 2 games in late March (home and home) against D2’s 2009 National Runner-up, Emporia State.  Wayne State also has 2 non-conference sets against Northern Sun opponents, both at neutral sites (Winona State at the Metrodome and Upper Iowa in Kansas).

The 4 conference teams they avoid playing this year are Winona State, Upper Iowa, Southwest Minnesota State & Mary.  Interestingly, they show Minnesota Duluth as home games while Duluth shows them as being played in Minneapolis. 

The Wildcats are coming off of 6 straight Northern Sun Conference regular season titles and are certainly a favorite for 2010 with a strong returning senior class.  If it weren’t for a brand new head coach they’d probably be the hands down favorite to repeat again but that change at the top might give conference foes a little glimmer of hope.  Wayne State should be a heavy favorite to be among the top 2-3 teams with whomever is calling the shots.

Northern State – 2010 Baseball Schedule

Northern State University has posted their baseball schedule for the upcoming 2010 baseball season – Northern State 2010 Baseball Schedule

The Wolves will open their season in late February with 6 games at the Metrodome against fellow Northern Sun schools, Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston, the 2 schools closest to them in the 2009 conference standings.  One thing that stands out is that their non-conference games are against teams that match their geography and level of competition.  By playing games against the likes of Jamestown, Dickinson State, Valley City State & Dakota State they don’t have to travel as much and have a better chance to win.  The team does have a spring trip scheduled to Phoenix in early March.

During conference play the team misses out on Bemidji State, Minnesota Crookston, Winona State & Upper Iowa.  For a team that won only 1 conference game last year, it hurts to miss out on playing Crookston.

The team did also announce the names of 9 new recruits to the team – Wolves Announce 09-10 Recruits.  They better hope some of those 5 pitchers can help right away as Northern State’s conference ERA of almost 14 was painful.

Concordia University – 2010 Baseball Schedule

Concordia University has posted their baseball schedule for the upcoming 2010 baseball season – Concordia 2010 Baseball Schedule

The team opens its season against Northwestern Iowa College at the Metrodome on February 4th – the same day SWMS & UMD play their first game against each other there.  What strikes you immediately is the number of non-D2 opponents the Golden Bears are playing.  Their first 6 games are against 2 NAIA programs and a D2 program.  Later in March they also play D3’s UW La Crosse.  In fact, the only non-conference D2 program on the schedule right now is a home & home series with Minnesota Duluth.  The team does have a spring trip to Orlando but it’s unclear whether they are in the same Russ Matt Tourney as most of the rest of the Conference since that is technically taking place in Winter Haven, FL.

The 4 Conference teams that Concordia doesn’t play this year are Minnesota Duluth, Mary, Upper Iowa and Southwest Minnesota State.  This could be a year of transition for the Golden Bears who lost a few really good players and will have a young team.  22 of the 31 players on their roster are either sophomores or freshman.

Minnesota Duluth – 2010 Baseball Schedule

The University of Minnesota Duluth has posted their baseball schedule for the upcoming 2010 baseball season – Minnesota Duluth 2010 Baseball Schedule

As I had previously reported, the team will be heading to the Russ Matt Invitational in Winter Haven, FL along with at least 5 other Northern Sun teams.  They hope to play as many as 10 games down there.  That’s a good thing as the vast majority of their other non-conference games will be played against other Northern Sun teams (12 games).  They do have 1 mid-week contest in April against Wisconsin Superior.  They open the season at the Metrodome against Southwest Minnesota State and have 8 games scheduled at the dome.

The Bulldogs face every other Northern Sun team except Augustana since they have the non-conference 4 game sets against SWMS, Mary & Concordia.  Their first conference opponent is once again Wayne State.  What’s interesting is that last year the Bulldogs were scheduled to have Wayne come to Duluth in late March but because of something called “winter” they had to move the games to Wayne, NE instead.  I had assumed that Duluth was out of luck and would have to travel there again this year but the games are listed as happening in Minneapolis (not the Metrodome).  Not sure if that means they will try to find an outdoor field in the Twin Cities which may still be difficult in late March.  This Twin Cities resident will appreciate if it really plays out this way.

Conference Doubleheaders – 9 innings & 7 innings

As news starts to flow about the upcoming 2010 NCAA Division 2 baseball schedules for teams of the Northern Sun Conference one little tidbit caught my eye as a big change for the upcoming season.

I noticed it in the announcement of Bemidji State’s 2010 schedule and wrote it off as a mistake but then it was specifically called out in St. Cloud State’s press release –

All conference games this year will be played with one 9-inning game followed by a 7-inning doubleheaders. 

Wow!  This is actually a big change!

Impact of new rule:

• Each team is scheduled to play 16 Conference doubleheaders.  Assuming they get all of their games in, this adds an extra 32 innings of play during the season or the equivalent of 4.5 more 7 inning games over the season.  The NCAA is mandating that all Division 2 baseball programs transition from 56 maximum games in 2010 to 50 maximum games in 2011.  By adding these extra innings at least it will mute a little of the NCAA’s mandate.
• An extra 4 innings each weekend adds up to 14% additional innings played.  This will stretch each teams pitching staffs a bit more and force managers to make tougher decisions.
• Most importantly, I think it might have a strategic impact for head coaches as they make decisions on who to start each game.  Do you pitch your #1 guy in a 9 inning or 7 inning game?  Most college pitchers don’t throw 9 innings so you may be better off saving your top guy for a game he can go the distance.  At the same time, it also means you have to consider match-up issues with what the other coach is planning.
• Finally, this could certainly impact a bunch of Northern Sun records.  I would expect that 14% more innings should lead to a lot more chances to break individual records in the books now.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

St Cloud State – 2010 Baseball Schedule

St. Cloud State has posted their baseball schedule for the upcoming 2010 baseball season – St. Cloud State – 2010 Baseball Schedule

In addition to just posting the schedule they came out with their own press release with highlights for the upcoming year (and saved me from doing the analysis) – SCSU 2010 Baseball Schedule Press Release

As you’ll read in the press release, some of the highlights include:

• 20 games at the Metrodome including their first 2 Conference series against Minnesota Crookston and the University of Mary.  This guarantees that the Huskies will get all 8 of those games in early in the season – and those 8 games are ones in which they should be heavily favored so it helps them to make sure they get played.  An interesting thing that happens with all the dome games is that the team is only scheduled to play 10 home games in St. Cloud this season.
• They have significantly upgraded their non-conference schedule.  A huge criticism of the team last year was their weak non-conference line-up.  The team came into conference play with gaudy statistics (especially the pitchers) but were unable to parlay that into a Top 6 finish.  This years team, especially with their strong recruiting class, should be squarely in the conference title hunt and a better non-conference schedule both prepares them better and improves their chances of further post-season play.  Central Missouri, UNO, Southern Arkansas and Ouachita Baptist are all teams that were in the national Top 25 polls during the 2009 season.
• The teams 4 conference opponents that they don’t face are Bemidji State, Upper Iowa, Winona State & Southwest Minnesota State.  Those last 3 teams are all tough squads so that should help them have a pretty good chance to do well in the Northern Sun standings.

Bemidji State – 2010 Baseball Schedule

Bemidji State has posted their baseball schedule for the upcoming 2010 baseball season – 2010 Bemidji State Baseball Schedule

Here are a few interesting things to notice –

• The Beavers play their first 14 games at the Metrodome.  Lots of trips to the Twin Cities but they do have them on back to back days most of the time.  If they implode the Metrodome some day it will really hurt D2 baseball.
• Bemidji State is the first team to announce its schedule that “isn’t” going to the Russ Matt spring tourney.  In fact, BSU is only taking a short 3 day trip in the early spring to play tough games against Emporia State in Missouri and then on to Arkansas Tech.  They do finish the season with 4 games in Montana.
• The team plays every other Northern Sun Conference team.  They play a non-conference series against all 4 teams not on their regular schedule during their Metrodome swing.  Those include Minnesota Crookston, Northern State, St. Cloud State and Minnesota State.
• It looks like once again Wayne State may be a big beneficiary of Northern Sun scheduling.  What are the chances that Bemidji’s field will be ready March 20th?  Last year, Minnesota Duluth gave up an early home series and had to make the 8 hour drive to Nebraska in March.  Looks like Wayne State could benefit from this again.  The Conference should schedule southern teams with home games in March and force them to travel to more away games later. 

Minnesota Crookston – 2010 Baseball Schedule

The University of Minnesota Crookston has posted their baseball schedule for the upcoming 2010 season – Minnesota Crookston 2010 Schedule

The Golden Eagles kick off their season with 6 winnable games at the Metrodome.  Bemidji State should be favored but games against the leagues last place team, Northern State, and D3’s UW-Stout should be match-ups they can win.  Like every other Northern Sun Conference team that has announced their schedule, Crookston is heading to Winter Haven, FL for the Russ Matt Tournament in March.  As a side note, the season opening games on February 5th at the Metrodome are also scheduled games for Southwest Minnesota State against Minnesota Duluth so there’s a chance to see 4 NSIC teams play that day (although there seems to be a time issue as SWMS lists a DH starting at noon and UMC lists a DH starting a 2pm – something’s messed up).

It’s interesting that they went ahead and scheduled their first Conference games at the Metrodome against St. Cloud State.  Those will be considered home games.  Crookston’s 4 Conference foes that they don’t play are Bemidji State, Northern State, Augustana and Minnesota State.  It’s a tough schedule as they don’t get to play the 11th & 13th place teams in last year’s standings.  They do sprinkle in a few more winnable non-Conference games during the Conference schedule against Valley City, Mayville State, Concordia-Moorhead, Jamestown and another Bemidji State matchup.  All of those extra games may prove taxing on the pitching and grades.

Minnesota State – 2010 Baseball Schedule

Minnesota State has posted their schedule for the upcoming 2010 baseball season – Minnesota State 2010 Baseball Schedule

The Mavericks open their season on the road in Lakewood, CO against RMAC’s Colorado Christian – a team at the bottom of their Conference last year.  They then play a pair of non-conference doubleheaders at the Metrodome against Bemidji State before heading to Winter Haven, FL for the Russ Matt Tourney.  So far 5 teams from the Northern Sun Conference are playing in the Russ Matt.

In conference play the team avoids playing Winona State, Minnesota Crookston, Bemidji State and Augustana.  This team finished a close 2nd last season in the conference and advanced to the NCAA Regional.  They did lose some key contributors but once again had a solid recruiting class that should help assure that they will be competing for a top 3 position this year.

Augustana – 2010 Baseball Schedule

Augustana has posted their schedule for the upcoming 2010 baseball season.  Augustana 2010 Schedule

The Vikings open their season at the Metrodome on February 3rd and again on February 7th against an unnamed opponent.  I guess that means they have the place rented and are looking for someone to come play with them.  They have 3 spring trips planned – Colorado on February 13-14, Missouri on February 27-28 and the Russ Matt Invitational in Winter Haven, FL March 11-17.  That means all 4 teams that I have seen schedules for are heading to the Russ Matt (UMD is heading there but hasn’t posted it online). 

Within the Northern Sun Conference the Augies will avoid playing Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota Crookston & Mary which gives them one of the tougher schedules on paper.  One highly favorable thing is that they won’t have to do a ton of traveling during the Conference season.  It’s highly likely that Bemidji will end up playing in Sioux Falls (Bemidji in March?).

NCAA Division 2 Sports – The Leaders Know Best

The NCAA is making final plans for changes that will affect all of Division 2 sports as they continue to emphasize academics at the expense of the current athletic structure.  As has been discussed numerous times before (D2 Proposal Advancing), they are looking to reduce the number of in season contests in many sports and looking to reduce the length of time it takes to play Championship Tournaments.

• Bylaw 17 goes to the NCAA Convention in January where it is expected to pass.  This change will reduce the number of regular season Division 2 college baseball games from a maximum of 56 to 50.  They also are looking at pushing back the start date for the baseball season toward the middle of February from its current early February start.  At least 9 other D2 sports are affected by this proposal as well.  Proposed NCAA Bylaw 17 Changes
• In addition to shortening the NCAA Division 2 college baseball regular season, the NCAA Championships Committee has agreed to reduce the length of the D2 College World Series and compress it from its current 8 day format to a 6 day format.  The number of games played in the double elimination tourney wouldn’t change fortunately.  What this does do is really emphasize pitching depth.  The Committee also confirmed Cary, NC as the College World Series location through 2011.  D2 Championships Panel Okay’s Changes
• Finally, the NCAA D2 Committee’s, in addition to pushing this new package of “sports/academics balance” plans has published a new website to try and promote a better “game environment and sportsmanship”.   They have a new website to promote this approach – NCAA Division II Game Environment. 

Without getting too controversial – lets just say I’m not a big fan of the NCAA’s powers that be and their decisions on these topics.  D2 sports brings these schools a crapload of money – heck they promote the whole “I Chose D2” brand to talk about the benefits of playing D2 sports (along with their miniscule scholarships).  Now the message is “academics over sports” and “everybody play nice together”.  Just a bunch of overpaid academic heads deciding they know best if you ask me.  Rant off.