Valpo Baseball finished 2012 ranked 9th in Midwest!

[Valposter]

I just saw this ranking in College Baseball Lineup.  Valpo Baseball finished 2012 ranked 9th in the Midwest (out of 54 Midwest D1 baseball teams) by College Baseball Lineup.  They divide all 297 Division 1 baseball programs into one of six geographical regions and rank them within Region by Win-Loss Record, RPI and Strength of Schedule.  The Midwest Region includes all D1 baseball teams from the states of ND, SD, NE, KS, MN, IA, MO, WI, IL, MI, IN, OH.  I couldn't print the link so I just copied the list.  I thought this puts in very good perspective what a great season Valpo Baseball had in 2012 as measured against their true peer group in other Midwest D1 baseball programs.   

COLLEGE BASEBALL LINEUP REGIONAL RANKINGS
Rankings are computer generated, based on the impartial College Baseball Lineup Power Index. Only games against DI opponents are used in the cacluations.

MIDWEST REGION RANKINGS 
Rank  Record   Team 

1 44 - 14   Purdue Boilermakers
West Lafayette, IN
Big 10 Conference 

2 47 - 20   Kent State Golden Flashes
Kent, OH
Mid-American Conference 

3 40 - 22   Missouri State Bears
Springfield, MO
Missouri Valley Conference 

4 37 - 23   Michigan State Spartans
East Lansing, MI
Big 10 Conference 

5 31 - 19   Illinois State Redbirds
Normal, IL
Missouri Valley Conference 

6 40 - 19   Indiana State Sycamores
Terre Haute, IN
Missouri Valley Conference 

7 34 - 21   Wright State Raiders
Dayton, OH
Horizon Conference 

8 35 - 25   Wichita State Shockers
Wichita, KS
Missouri Valley Conference 

9 33 - 25   Valparaiso Crusaders
Valparaiso, IN
Horizon Conference 

10 28 - 25   Illinois Fighting Illini
Champaign, IL
Big 10 Conference 

11 41 - 18   Saint Louis Billikens
St. Louis, MO
Atlantic 10 Conference 

12 33 - 28   Missouri Tigers
Colombia, MO
Big 12 Conference 

13 32 - 28   Indiana Hoosiers
Bloomingon, IN
Big 10 Conference 

14 34 - 23   Nebraska Cornhuskers
Lincoln, NE
Big 10 Conference 

15 32 - 27   Evansville Purple Aces
Evansville, IN
Missouri Valley Conference 

16 31 - 26   Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame, IN
Big East Conference 

17 33 - 27   Ohio State Buckeyes
Columbus, OH
Big 10 Conference 

18 31 - 28   Southern Illinois Salukis
Cabondale, IL
Missouri Valley Conference 

19 30 - 26   Toledo Rockets
Toledo, OH
Mid-American Conference 

20 28 - 30   Creighton Bluejays
Omaha, NE
Missouri Valley Conference 

21 27 - 31   Kansas State Wildcats
Manhattan, KS
Big 12 Conference 

22 27 - 27   Bradley Braves
Peoria, IL
Missouri Valley Conference 

23 28 - 28   Xavier Musketeers
Cincinnati, OH
Atlantic 10 Conference 

24 38 - 19   North Dakota State Bison
Fargo, ND
Summit League 

25 25 - 28   SIU Edwardsville Cougars
Edwardsville, IL
Independent 

26 26 - 27   Minnesota Golden Gophers
Minneapolis, MN
Big 10 Conference 

27 32 - 28   Central Michigan Chippewas
Mount Pleasant, MI
Mid-American Conference 

28 31 - 30   Dayton Flyers
Dayton, OH
Atlantic 10 Conference 

29 30 - 29   Miami - Ohio Redhawks
Oxford, OH
Mid-American Conference 

30 25 - 27   WI - Milwaukee Panthers
Milwaukee, WI
Horizon Conference 

31 27 - 29   Eastern Illinois Panthers
Charleston, IL
Ohio Valley Conference 

32 22 - 34   Kansas Jayhawks
Lawrence, KS
Big 12 Conference 

33 22 - 27   Iowa Hawkeyes
Iowa City, IA
Big 10 Conference 

34 24 - 31   Eastern Michigan Eagles
Ypsilanti, MI
Mid-American Conference 

35 22 - 34   UIC Flames
Chicago, IL
Horizon Conference 

36 24 - 30   Oakland Golden Grizzlies
Rochester, MI
Summit League 

37 22 - 34   Michigan Wolverines
Ann Arbor, MI
Big 10 Conference 

38 26 - 29   Western Michigan Broncos
Kalamazoo, MI
Mid-American Conference 

39 20 - 35   Southeast MO State Redhawks
Cape Girardeau, MO
Ohio Valley Conference 

40 26 - 29   Ohio Bobcats
Athens, OH
Mid-American Conference 

41 17 - 38   Cincinnati Bearcats
Cincinnati, OH
Big East Conference 

42 12 - 36   Ball State Cardinals
Muncie, IN
Mid-American Conference 

43 17 - 33   Bowling Green Falcons
Bowling Green, OH
Mid-American Conference 

44 18 - 34   Northwestern Wildcats
Evanston, IL
Big 10 Conference 

45 15 - 40   Northern Illinois Huskies
DeKalb, IL
Mid-American Conference 

46 16 - 33   South Dakota State Jackrabbits
Brookings, SD
Summit League 

47 16 - 35   Western Illinois Leathernecks
Macomb, IL
Summit League 

48 19 - 33   Butler Bulldogs
Indianapolis, IN
Horizon Conference 

49 15 - 37   North Dakota Fighting Sioux
Grand Forks, ND
Independent 

50 12 - 36   Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks
Omaha, NE
Independent 

51 17 - 38   Akron Zips
Akron, OH
Mid-American Conference 

52 16 - 40   IPFW Mastodons
Fort Wayne, IN
Summit League 

53 11 - 43   Youngstown State Penguins
Youngstown, OH
Horizon Conference 

54 12 - 40   Chicago State Cougers
Chicago, IL
Independent 

[valpotx]

Interesting to see.  Love Butler at #48 

[vuweathernerd]

i was about to say they had mizzou's conference wrong, then i realized it was last year's final ranking.

[KL31NY]

Notice how 3 of the Top Ten teams were at the same Gary Regional (Purdue, Kent State, Valparaiso... not Kentucky). That was some fun ball, would've been more fun with a couple Valpo wins

[Valposter]

Notice how 3 of the Top Ten teams were at the same Gary Regional (Purdue, Kent State, Valparaiso... not Kentucky). That was some fun ball, would've been more fun with a couple Valpo wins

If we would have played our best ball I know we could have won a game or two in the Regional last year.  Our pitching was fine, but our defense uncharacteristically gave up way too many unearned runs which made us play from behind and took away the impact of our very effective small-ball offensive attack.  That was a very talented Regional. Kent State was a team of destiny.......they had been building to that moment for years.  Kentucky was loaded with the most talent in our Pool.........if they had won that first 27-inning game against Kent State they would have ended up in the College World Series instead of Kent State.  Purdue was very good.........not great.......we gave that game away.

We are building and next time (in the near future) we will not go winless!

Go Valpo Crusaders!
Go Valpo Baseball!

[jetz]

There was a definite feeling of "We're just happy to be here" at last year's Regional, and it showed in our sloppy play.  I don't blame anyone for that.  It had been since 1966!  This year, the talk from the coaches has a very different slant.  We expect to win the Horizon League.  The coaches have told the kids that one of the goals is to "advance on the national stage."  Much different expectations, and I think that will lead to better play in the Regional should we get there.  (The scary part is, this is baseball, and with--probably--no at large bid, you have to win the HL tourney to qualify.  A team must be healthy and "hot" at tourney time, and anything can happen.  Look no further than Wright State, who is ranked ahead of us in the above rankings from last year.  They won 4 of 6 from us during the season, but collapsed at the end.) If we get there, I think you'll see Valpo compete for a Regional championship in 2013, rather than just be giddy dancer at the party...

[Valposter]

There was a definite feeling of "We're just happy to be here" at last year's Regional, and it showed in our sloppy play.  I don't blame anyone for that.  It had been since 1966!  This year, the talk from the coaches has a very different slant.  We expect to win the Horizon League.  The coaches have told the kids that one of the goals is to "advance on the national stage."  Much different expectations, and I think that will lead to better play in the Regional should we get there.  (The scary part is, this is baseball, and with--probably--no at large bid, you have to win the HL tourney to qualify.  A team must be healthy and "hot" at tourney time, and anything can happen.  Look no further than Wright State, who is ranked ahead of us in the above rankings from last year.  They won 4 of 6 from us during the season, but collapsed at the end.) If we get there, I think you'll see Valpo compete for a Regional championship in 2013, rather than just be giddy dancer at the party...

I love hearing that jetz!!!