As we know, the top 2 seeds are very well protected in the CAA Baseball Tournament ever since the new format was rolled out a few years back when JMU hosted. The 3-6 seeds duke it out on Day 1, finishing the day with an elimination game before the 1 & 2 seeds finally see action on Day 2.

However, only the 1-seed is protected to the point where, no matter what happens, they make it to Day 3 of the tournament. So it is essential to earn that top spot if it is within your grasp. The current standings:

CAA Standings (as of 4/13)

1. Charleston 11-1 (.917)
2. UNCW 8-1 (.889)
3. Elon* 7-5 (.583)
Northeastern 7-5 (.583)
5. W&M 6-6 (.500)
6. Delaware 3-6 (.333)
------------------------------
7. Towson+ 4-8 (.333)
8. Hofstra 3-9 (.250)
9. JMU 2-10 (.167)

* Elon owns tiebreaker over Northeastern (won 2/3 in H2H)
+ Bottom 3 eliminated - if season ended today, Towson is below the cutoff point despite same win % as UD


To this point, Charleston has been firmly in the driver's seat to earn that 1-seed, and get to host the tournament to boot. But remember that when they started 9-0, their 9 games were against the three weakest teams (Towson, JMU, Hofstra), with 2 of the 3 occurring at home. Credit them for taking full advantage of their schedule, but after another home series where they finally lost a game to Elon, things get tougher for them:

Charleston remaining CAA schedule

Apr 17-19: @ Delaware (3-6)
May 1-3: @ W&M (6-6)
May 8-10: vs. UNCW (8-1)
May 14-16: @ Northeastern (7-5)

Combined opponents' record: 24-18 (.571)

If they want that top seed they'll have to earn it on the road, and also go through us at home. In the meantime, we're finally getting healthy at the right time. Stupienski is back in the lineup, with Corey Dick soon to follow. Here's our remaining schedule:

Apr 17-19: @ Hofstra (3-9)
Apr 24-26: @ Elon (7-5)
May 1-3: vs. Delaware (3-6)
May 8-10: @ Charleston (11-1)
May 14-16: vs. JMU (2-10)

Combined opponents' record: 26-31 (.456)

We've already had our bye week, and thus have a lot of chances to pick up ground leading up to that huge series with Charleston May 8-10.

All the pieces are in place for a tremendous run for the top spot in the standings. It all comes down to who is peaking at the right time.

Finally cracked the D1Baseball T25: http://www.d1baseball.com/rankings/d1bas...-april-13/

(04-13-2015 09:17 AM)UNCWSuperFan Wrote:  Finally cracked the D1Baseball T25: http://www.d1baseball.com/rankings/d1bas...-april-13/

Interesting that they didn't have Charleston ranked last week. I figured they'd be on the list of "dropped out" this week.

Great to see us finally getting some recognition. Lots of work to do to overcome the Cougars though. They're gonna be tough down the stretch.

Time to take it to the Pirates again though.

Charleston was ranked 22nd in the Baseball America Top 25 poll and 30th in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 30 poll. We were not ranked in either.

In the USA Today Top 25 poll, neither us nor Charleston were ranked. Charleston received 52 votes (29th) and we received 38 (33rd). And of course we're still referred to as "North Carolina-Wilmington" in that one. Ugh.

NCBWA poll is the last one we're waiting on.

Gonna be a great race. Asked Kendall Rogers in his "chat" about if UNCW and CofC would both be in, and he said both teams would be in regionals if they continue to play the way they are playing.

(04-13-2015 02:36 PM)sctvman Wrote:  Gonna be a great race. Asked Kendall Rogers in his "chat" about if UNCW and CofC would both be in, and he said both teams would be in regionals if they continue to play the way they are playing.

Nice. It would be great to squeeze two bids out this year even when the CAA is, overall, having a pretty bad season.

In the NCBWA, Charleston was ranked 22nd. We received votes, but this poll doesn't list how many.

I still think you have the inside track due to us losing 2 weekend starters before the season even started. Most of our fans are surprised we have done this good considering the circumstamces. If our hitters have a bad night anyone can beat us as proven by Elon. We did manage a win at Coastal tonight. This season is probably the best coaching job our coach has ever done.

BA released their projected Field of 64: http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/p...28bd18d12.

UNCW checks in as a 2 seed traveling to #6 overall LSU. UVA the 3 & SE Louisana the 4 in that region. CofC a projected 2 seed at #8 overall OK State.

A trip to Baton Rouge eh? I'd love that. Back to where it all started.

Déjà vu

I'd have to think LSU wouldn't be excited about that projection.

Seahawks (9-1) win today but so did Charleston (12-1), handling Delaware 10-2. Both teams are now 26-8 overall.