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The baseball season kicks off February 14th which is just a little more than 2 weeks away and the baseball website has not had any updates.  Will the individual player bio's and profiles be updated?  Will there be a pre-season preview?  Just seems like it has been really quiet on this forum and the Valpo website regarding the baseball team.  How did the Dominican trip go?  I thought there would be something on the website about the DR trip as that is a pretty big deal.  Just wondering.......

Valpotx, good insight and observation.  Like most Americans, I have never been to a third world or under-developed county so I can't really comprehend the level of poverty.  I am sure it is an eye-openning experience for the Valpo baseball team.  The players and coaches funded the trip themselves with fundrasier activities so they really should be commended for their hard work and sacrifice to help others less fortunate. 

Valpo Baseball is in the Dominican Republic this week for Thanksgiving break.  They left Saturday, 11/23 and are scheduled to return Friday, 11/29.  Playing games against MLB-sponsored Dominican baseball academy teams (Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals).  Also charity work planned; visiting an orphanage and holding a youth camp and donating baseball equipment to Domincan youth.  Some fun in the sun and beach time planned as well.  A great life experience and lasting memories for the Valpo Boys of Summer!!!

http://www.valpoathletics.com/baseball/news/2013-14/13180/baseball-heads-to-dominican-republic---for-work-and-play/

Official Fall World Series recap updated on the Valpo Baseball website:

http://www.valpoathletics.com/baseball/news/2013-14/13018/conclusion-of-world-series-signals-end-of-fall-team-practices/

Does anyone have any insight as to when the 2014 baseball schedule will be released?  Just trying to plan some trips and coordinate logistics.  I think it was released in September last year, but I was anticipating it would take a little longer with the new coaching staff transition.  Any insights out there?     

I can't believe I actually bothered to look this up, but Valpo is averaging 21pts per in conference games. So going with that I'll say Valpo will hit their average. Then I figure that Morehead is worse than last year, so they won't hit 76 again...I'll say 56. Additionally, Morehead is unlikely to borrow the Campbell uniforms, so we know Valpo won't win. Morehead State 56 Valpo 21.

If we lose 56-21 to Morehead, I will personally begin warming up the tar.

VU72, I think you are too late with the tar.  The tar is already hot, the feathers have been collected and the villagers have been amassed and awaiting the formal ceremony. 

Yeah, our unis have always lagged behind a little bit. 

Great analysis on the recent trend in college baseball Valposter.  I just have to mention that I hit a homerun with a BBCOR bat this summer, and you can barely tell that it hits your bat.  Any normal hit is like smacking the ball with a tennis racket, as the bat does not provide any 'oomph' at all compared to what it used to do.  I love pitching against these bats, as it seems like the same results when we switch over to wood bats in the Fall season!

valpotx, I bet you wish BBCOR bats were mandated when you pitched for Valpo!!!

The Valpo Baseball Team and Individual pictures are updated on the website:

http://www.valpoathletics.com/baseball/roster/

Go Valpo Baseball!!!!!

Someone asked about starting lineups so I thought I would engage in a little generic Valpo Baseball Hot Stove conversation.  I have played (high school and post-high school), coached (high school and elite travel), studied and watched a lot of baseball throughout my life.  Yes, I am an admitted baseball lifer and geek.  I have a couple of thoughts on lineup construction in D1 college baseball.  Power in the college game has really been de-emphasized by most D1 college programs since the regulation of the "deadened" BBCOR bats (aluminum bats with little to no "trampoline effect"  so that they perform much more like a wood bat).  BBCOR went into effect in the 2012 season in high school and the 2011 season in college.  Basically, BBCOR is like hitting a baseball with a lead pipe.  The intent of BBCOR is to protect pitchers from injury from hard come-backers.  The last few years since BBCOR bats were mandated in high school and college baseball there has predictably been very little power in the college game (even major D1 programs like in the SEC).  Homerun totals are WAY down throughout all levels of college baseball.  As such, college coaches are constructing their lineups (and rosters) more in line with "Small Ball" and "Moneyball" philosophies in mind.  Win with pitching, defense, and efficient, effective offense.  On offense, coaches are empasizing on-base percentage (OBP, i.e. the ability to "not make an out"), contact (minimize strikeouts and putting ball in play), productive at-bats, at-bat management (plate discipline and pitch selectivity, deep pitch counts, work the pitcher, hit hitters pitches, spit on pitchers pitches), and baserunning (bunt for basehits, stealing, taking extra base, hit and runs, but not sac bunts except in late innings because they give away outs).  Basically, On-Base Percentage is the percentage of time a hitter reaches base safely via a hit, walk or hit-by-pitch.  The kind of hitter we are talking about here is the professional hitter like Joey Votto of the Reds who never gives away an at-bat and deems it his primary job as a hitter to "not make an out" during each at-bat.  Having 9 Votto-type hitters in the lineup would be the ideal lineup.  The more guys Valpo can get in the lineup that can give you tough, quality at-bats, get on base, make things happen and pressure the pitcher and defense while on base, and ultimately score runs are the types of players that we need to stock our lineup with, imo. 

Power hitters in the college game may get you 2-4 homeruns a season with a BBCOR bat, but you usually sacrifice a lot of the qualities above to get those 2-4 homeruns.  Obviously, if you have the rare hitter that hits for both power (Slugging Percentage, SLG%) and high on-base percentage (OBP) with today's BBCOR bats, that is a great hitter (he will have a very high OPS) and he is in your lineup in the 3 or 4-hole no questions asked and you play him until he leaves in the first round of the MLB draft after his junior season.  By the way, OPS is On-Base Percentage (OBP) plus Slugging Percentage (SLG%) and is a great statistical measurement for a hitter's total overall effectiveness because it measures a hitter's ability to consistenly hit for power and to consistently get on base.  But a power guy with low OBP really isn't the best option to maximize team offensive output in today's college game.   I think most college coaches would acknowledge that sacrificing high OBP for a little extra power is not a good trade-off in today's BBCOR-era college baseball.

As far as sacrifice bunting goes, analytical statistics validate that sac bunting in the early and middle innings decreases a team's average runs scored per game in the long-run.  I can't cite the specific statistical research, but Sabremetricians have crunched the numbers and proven that it unequivocably does not make sense to sac bunt in the early and middle innings.  It does make common sense if you think about it that if you only get 27 outs a game, giving away 5 outs per game (19%) to move runners up one base is a losing proposition.  You are basically giving away 20% (at a minimum; more if you factor in the probability of stringing multiple at-bats together without making an out) of your offensive opportunity to score.  In college basketball, that would be like your opponent having 20 minutes of offensive ball possession while you willingly give away 4 minutes of offensive ball possession and leave your team only 16 minutes to score.  You have willingly put yourself in a deep hole.  And in baseball, it is an even-more pronouncehd effect.  You could theroetically have 9 hitters hit safely between each out made.  Giving away 5 outs in that scenario is huge because you are sacrificing 45 at-bats in which hitters reach base safely (i.e 45 baserunners and a crazy amount of runs scored) in that scenario.  Admittedly an exaggerated scenario to prove a point.

To summarize (and make a long-story short):  fill the line-up with guys that can get on base consistently (i.e. not make outs consistently), steal more if it can be done effectively (you don't want to give away outs on the bases either), and don't sacrifice bunt until the late innings of a close game.  This approach also puts high-leverage pitches and innings on the oppossing starting pitcher and makes him pitch from the stretch more, gets to the bullpen earlier, gives you more at-bats against the weaker middle-relief pitchers, and wears out the oppossing team's bullpen in a series.     

       

Where exactly would "lots of money" come from.  Taking away from other successful athletic programs at Valpo like basketball, baseball, softball, golf.  No, I don't vote for that.  I would go the opposite direction and eliminate football and re-direct the funding devoted to football to build an on-campus stadium for baseball with lights, chairback seating, decent concourse. A facility similar to Niscwitz Stadium at Wright State.  Our baseball program deserves (and has EARNED) a nice on-campus home to be proud of.  Softball has it.  Basketball has it.  Baseball needs some LOVE too!!!!!

Monday, October 7th was Game 2 of the Valpo Fall World Series.  The Gray Team won a hard-fought battle 6-5 to win the series 2-0.  Only 7-innings were played due to darkness.  I was able to watch the game live but do not have access to box scores.  I will provide my highlights based on memory. 

For the winning Gray team, Chris Manning looked good at the plate with a couple of hard line-drive base hits.   Zack Walsh had a big hit with a 2-rbi double down the LF line.  I believe Grant Yoder also contributed an extra-base hit. Ben Maher closed it out to get the save for the Gray team. 

For the Black team, there were a lot of freshman contributions.  Freshman Mario Losi was the starting pitcher and pitched very well with a plus fastball and excellent change-up as an out pitch.  Mario will compete significantly for the third spot in the week-end starting rotation, IMO.  Freshman catcher Ray Bartolomucci had a two-out 2-rbi single.  Freshman OF Chris Ramsey went 2-4 with 2-rbi's, including a 2-out rbi off of Mahar to pull the Black team within a run in the bottom of the 7th.  Mark Johnson had 2 hits on the day and Karch had another good day at the plate with at least one XBH I believe. 

Valpo Baseball looks to have a lot of pitching depth (more so than the last two years IMO) and a lot of overall position depth.  I'm not sure you will see a set starting eight going out for most games like you did the past couple of years.  Outside of returning starters Mahoney, Manning, and Hara you might see more platooning and playing of the hot hand offensively just becasue of the depth at most positions.  It will be interesting to see how it plays out.   

At this early date it looks like the potential for another strong year for Valpo Baseball.  The future looks bright!  Go Valpo Baseball!!!        

I think that it is pretty cool that they advertise our Crusader World Series more over the last few years, even mentioning the names of people on each team. The only way people knew about it when I was playing was word of mouth among friends . I am hopeful of another trip to the NCAA tourney!!

I agree TX!  I like to see the event promoted in advance to help generate some interest and support!  Also, I really like that Valpo published the Fall World Series rosters in advance of the event!  I know this is the first time Valpo has done this since I have followed the program, and probably safe to say the first time ever.  In fact, I follow a lot of college baseball websites and this is the first time I have seen a Fall World Series roster(s) published in advance.  A great idea to help generate interest, IMHO.  Should be a great weekend.....let's hope it stays dry!!!!!

Check out the Valpo Baseball website for the preview of the Valpo Baseball Fall World Series this weekend at Emory G. Bauer Field:  Saturday, October 5th at Noon; Monday, October 7th at 3 pm; Wednesday, October 9th at 3pm (if necessary).

http://www.valpoathletics.com/baseball/news/2013-14/12981/fall-world-series-starts-saturday/

Come on out and support the team and check out some fall baseball.  A great way to preview Crusaders Baseball before they leave for the Dominican Republic in November and kickoff the season next February!!!! 

I for one am excited to get an early look at Coach Schmack's 2013-14 Valpo Baseball squad as they get ready to defend Back-To-Back Horizon League Conference Tournament Championships!!!!!!   

What were we historically ranked?  What were the rankings from the last two or three years if anyone knows it.  Just curious....haven't seen this ranking in the past.  Is this a list of just private schools?  Surprised that Miami (public) and Dayton (private) are not on the list. 

Did anyone notice that Rob Cooper left Wright State Baseball to take the head coaching position with Penn State Baseball?  This happened a couple of weeks ago.  Also, it was just recently announced a couple of days ago that their Assistant Head Coach, Greg Lovelady, has been promoted to Head Coach.

The college baseball coaching carosuel was very active this off-season with 25 Division 1 Head Coaching changes out of 298 Division 1 baseball programs (almost 10%).  Including Valpo, there are New Head Coaches at:
(School/New Head Coach/Former Head Coach)

Auburn Sunny Golloway John Pawlowski
Cal State Northridge Greg Moore Matt Curtis
Cincinnati Ty Neal Brian Cleary
Florida A&M Jamey Shouppe Kevin Clethen/W.Brown
Georgia Scott Stricklin David Perno
Indiana State Mitch Hannahs Rick Heller
Iowa Rick Heller Jack Dahm
Jacksonville Tim Montez Terry Alexander
Kent State Jeff Duncan Scott Stricklin
Longwood Brian McCullough Buddy Bolding
McNeese State Justin Hill Terry Burrows
Miami (Ohio) Danny Hayden Dan Simonds
Nevada Jay Johnson Gary Powers
New Orleans Ron Maestri Bruce Peddie
Oklahoma Pete Hughes Sunny Golloway
Pennsylvania John Yurkow John Cole
Penn State Rob Cooper Robbie Wine
Richmond Tracy Woodson Mark McQueen
Saint Mary's Eric Valenzuela Jedd Soto
Southeastern Louisiana Matt Riser (interim) Jay Artigues
UT Martin   Bubba Cates
Valparaiso Brian Schmack Tracy Woodson
Virginia Tech Patrick Mason Pete Hughes
Wichita State Todd Butler Gene Stephenson
Wright State Greg Lovelady  Rob Cooper

Faust's teams were repeating mistakes, doing the same thing expecting different results

Ah yes. I was a kid then, but I remember my namesake uncle printing and selling "OUST FAUST" bumper stickers. $2 before the game. $5 after!

Gerry Faust.  A very nice man with great integrity in way over his head.  It just goes to show how much big business college sports has changed since then.  Could you imagine this lead story on ESPN today:  Breaking News-Notre Dame has just hired Cincinnati Moeller High School football coach Gerry Faust to lead it's Billion Dollar College Football Program".   Twitter would blow up.  The internet blogs would blow up.  The media would go into a feeding frenzy.  The ND alumni and boosters would storm the Golden Dome with spears and pitchforks.  That would just never happen today.   

The definition of insanity:  keep doing the same things and expect different results.  Nothing has changed from last year or the year before.  Playing the same players, with the same schemes, with the same head coach.

St. Joes:    28
Valpo:       14

I hope I'm wrong and Valpo can pull out a victory..........

What a cool name for a football player, Bama Powell . I would have thought that our new FR kicker would win that battle with his HS honors, especially since we were afraid to kick FGs last year with our kickers.

I admittedlly am not close to the football program and I am just a casual outside observer, and I don't know anything about any of the kickers in question other than what everybody else knows.  But, how can an incoming All-State kicker not win the job over the placekicker we had last year when we struggled to make extra-points and wouldn't even attempt field goals last year?  I'm just curious.......anyone closer to the football program have insight on this?  Was last year's placekicking difficulties more on the offensive line protection, long-snap execution, and/or the hold as much as the kicker?  I don't get it.

i'm sure they just bring him in from time to time to inject a little Leavitty into a long season

HaHa, well, as long as they Aar(on) the side of caution in over-using him!!!

Any word on new Asst Coaches?

Any word yet on new Assistant Coaches?

Congratulations to Coach Schmack!!!  Continuity should serve the program well and it certainly seems like the right move.  Moving decisively was also the right approach and reflects the Administration's confidence in their decision to promote Coach Schmack.  It's critical to have a known direction during the important summer recruiting period.  It is now job 1 to quickly and efficiently hire a quality coaching staff to support Coach Schmack.

Go Valpo Baseball!  Keep building upon the strong foundation!   

I have also heard a rumor (speculation on one of the college baseball blogs) that Rob Cooper of Wright State is also a candidate for the Kent State job.  I have not been able to confirm and I don't know if that is true. 

Head Coach Scott Stricklin has recently left Kent State and accepted the head coaching job of the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC.  Associate Head Coach and Pitching Coach Mike Birkbeck is remaining at Kent State in the same capacity.  He was voted the national Assistant Coach of the Year in 2012 when Kent State went to CWS.  He turned down the head coaching job at Kent State when Stricklin recently left and also declined to follow Stricklin to Georgia as well.  He currently has a son pitching at Kent State and is very tied to the community and is very happy in his current capacity. The other Assistant Coach, Scott Daeley, is following Stricklin to Georgia.  Kent State has a good roster but has lost some talent the last couple of years due to graduation and the draft.  A very, very good mid-major program in a mid-major conference located in the north.  Not a huge jump above Valpo. 

Although Kent State is a very good baseball program, I'm not sure it's a big enough jump to entice Coach Woodson and his family to break their many ties with Valpo unless the money makes it happen.  I hope Valpo is able to retain Coach Woodson until his dream job (or at least a national power southern destination job) becomes a viable opportunity for him.  I would hate to lose Coach Woodson to another northern mid-major baseball program, no matter how good that baseball program may be.

I assume Coach Woodson would want the opportunity to coach at his alma mater if the position became open. Is anyone familiar with the NC State situation? Would Coach Woodson be the leading candidate? He has obviiously put together a very impressive coaching resume but I am not familiar with other potential coaching candidates out in the universe that might have an interest. I would hate to lose Coach Woodson but I am happy for anyone that gets a chance for their dream job.

Let's not overlook the fact that Valpo is Coach Woodson's alma mater -- both bachelor's and master's degrees! Hopefully that is meaningful to him as well as his early years at NC State.

I guess what I meant to say is that NC State is Coach Woodson's baseball alma mater.  It is where he played collegiately, became an All-American, was a high-round draft pick his junior year which launched a successful professional career in the major leagues that ultimately positioned him for his successful coaching career.  It would represent a chance for him to go full circle and go back home while at the same time make significantly more money, have significantly better facilities, a larger operating budget, while being able to schedule significantly more home games in the warm southern climate.  Very few schools have the ability to host Regionals and Super Regionals and NC State is on that short list.  It is not realistic to expect Valpo to be able to compete with that no matter the strength of the ties that the Woodson family have with Valpo. 

My hope is that NC State is the only school that Coach Woodson would leave Valpo for with Valpo being his academic alma mater and his wife's home and alma mater combined with the recent success Coach Woodson has had at Valpo and likely will continue to have based upon existing and incoming talent.  Because I think it might be a few years before Avent leaves NC State (via retirement) and Coach Woodson would have a few more years of successful coaching experience at Valpo on his resume as he positions to take over the NC State helm.

I do think it is somewhat important for Coach Woodson to show the collegiate baseball community that his recent success at Valpo is sustainable and can be repeated with different recruiting classes and not just the function of one good recruiting class.  I have no doubt Coach Woodson will accomplish this.  He is losing a very good recruiting class but he had a good recruiting class last year and he has a very good recruiting class coming in this year to re-load.  Valpo's roster will still be plenty strong next year and in the next few years, imo.     

He apparently has already interviewed at Auburn back in 2008. Anyone know why that didn't work out? I also wonder if he's throwing his name in the ring to squeeze NCSU a little...

Jetz, I think you hit the nail on the head.  When he interviewed at Auburn in 2008 he withdrew his name from consideration after signing a contract extension with NC State.  This is likely a similar play.  That certainly makes more sense than leaving your current position after 17 years after having your best season with a loaded roster returning to leave for  a school that is a pressure cooker that has burned through coaches at a rapid rate and has accomplished little in baseball since Bo Jackson.  I just don't see it.  I don't think the money can be that much more significant to motivate such a move.