Out of State Wipe Out?

I don't like to blog without seeing any baseball, but my trips to Springfield this week only ended up in wasted gas.  With no more games scheduled locally this week, I may as well make a stab at how our teams are shaping up.

Arizona - Nevada Wipe Out?
  It looks like the six teams that went south for spring break will each get in from three to four games.  So far, we are 3-10, with Willamette (2) and Marist (1) picking up the wins.  But keep in mind that most of our out of state opponents have been playing since mid February.  Opponents bats and pitching are undoubtedly a little more dialed in than ours. 
  My three pre-season league favorites, Marist, North and Thurston all travelled South.  Marist picked up a 6-1 win, and I might add they were coming off of a great performance in the second game of a double header against North Medford last Saturday.  Marist is holding their opponents under 3 runs per game.  Keep pitcher Zach Eyster on your watch list.  That's a great sign for the Spartans.  Combine the defense with 7 runs per game on offense, including several dingers and I feel good about my prediction of Marist being in the top three.  Silver, Swindling and Ryan Inouye all jacked one in the second North Medford game.  For those not familiar with Marist baseball, just think football.  These guys hit as hard in baseball as they do in football.  Matt Beattie and Austin Baird are two more gridiron jocks who have had good games at the  plate.
  Thurston's defense looks good, giving up three and a half runs per game this year.  Colt bats haven't exploded, but they've been playing tough opponents.  There are going to be a lot of strong pitching staffs this year, and Thurston's Tyler Johnson and Kyle Watson are bound to generate buzz on the mound.  You can expect these guys to be in the top three, too.
  North Eugene lost a 2-1 game to a Selby coached Sierra Vista team.  Doesn't that sound like Highlander baseball!?  The Highlanders have given up over five runs per game; unusual for North.  But in the games Moore pitched, North is giving up just 1.66 runs per game.  With a league full of really tough pitching this year, North's other pitchers will have to step up.  Lefties Chris Clayton and Toby Woods have looked good at times.  I think North bats are ahead of where they were last year at this time. True, I'm comparing to an abysmal start last year, but this year's Highlander's are looking much more confident at the plate.
  Springfield and Willamette should be very good this year, if..... 
  If Kameron Bates is full strength.  The Millers have only played one game, but 2010 league MVP had a stellar pitching performance and appears to be back to full strength after knee surgery.  Blaine Dudley is going to try and be the other stopper.  Soph Malik Evans returns on the mound after a successful W-L year in 2010.   Dudley and Evans are going to have to come through if the Millers are to repeat.  I'm curious to see how Ryan Helfrich does at the plate this year after ringing up 10 RBIi's in league last year.
  If Willamette's pitchers don't walk batters. Willamette is my surprise team of 2011.  I've said this program is on the rise bigtime, and so far they haven't disappointed.  The Wolverines are 2-1 in Arizona.  Willamette's Achilles heel has been their pitching, but it looks like that is coming under control.  Trent Waggoner, Ryan Concannon and Koleton Williams gave up just three walks over the last two games.  Keep in mind that Willamette returns two all league sophs, Scott Kuvaas and Cole Uriste.
  South, Churchill and Sheldon are my unknowns.  I haven't followed the 6A schools the last four years and Churchilll only has three players returning from last year's roster.  Of the three, Churchill (2-2) and South Eugene (2-2) look to be doing a little better at this early stage.  Churchill scores a lot in it's first three games and defense had a shut out against Elmira before they left for the sunshine.  South Eugene's Gus Craig is sure to create some talk and maybe the entire team will, too.  South Eugene gave up just four runs in the last two games.  Axemen bats need to get hot as they are averaging just 3.3 runs at the plate.  Sheldon has played five games and given up at least 10 runs in three of them, one of which was an Irish win.  Let's just say this is a very young team with a lot of potential.  The Irish will progress rapidly as they gel as a team.
  Marshfield has lost the only two games it has played.  Like several recent years, I expect the Pirates to steal a couple of games and foul up some team's seeding.  By the way, Marshfield's softball team has a 4-0 record so far!

RPI fun
  Springfield is 1-0 with an RPI of 472.  Sheldon is 2-3 with an RPI of 521.  Willamette is 2-1 with an RPI of 'NA'. 
  I don't know why, but the RPI's are swinging a lot, sometimes several hundred points in a day for a team.  Sometimes over one hundred points for teams that haven't played.  I followed the RPI closely in football and basketball and this type of gyration did not occur in those sports.  I know some of the RPI weirdness is due to out-of-state games not counting much in RPI calculations, but that doesn't account for everything.  It's a good thing we have 16 league games.  The RPI will start to smooth out as we get into league play.

Roster loaded with frosh and sophs
  I have four complete rosters and a pretty good list of players from some other teams.  I thought the Peach Fuzz award would go to Sheldon with six sophs, but it  goes to South Eugene with five frosh!
  It will be interesting to watch Churchill, which has only three players returning.  The Lancers have three seniors and nine juniors and only two sophs. That might make Churchill, along with Thurston, one of the 'older' teams in the league. I'm betting that their defense will be good and they'll do just fine.
   The Colts are fielding five seniors and six juniors, making Thurston the senior citizens of the league.  I love their pitching staff.  The Colts may pitch their way to the title in a year with a lot of good pitchers.
  North Eugene has about four seniors, but they have four juniors who played on their state champion team last year and several more who were on that roster.  The Maine import has a wicked 12-6 curve coming from the left side.  North has to have a number two develop into an ace if they are going to take the MWL.
  Willamette has five seniors, six juniors, and five sophs.  The Wolverines are returning a lot of players of all ages.  They looked fundamentally sound last year, but the pitching just didn't come through.  The pitching is much better and the rest of the lads are older and stronger. 
  I haven't been able to scratch together a player list or roster from Marist, Marshfield or Springfield, so other than knowing that Marist is loaded, has a fair number of seniors; and Marshfield is planning on playing several frosh and may have just one senior, I'm in the dark about these teams.
  When I lived in DeSoto, Texas, the local high school's goal was to get a two-year or four year off for each senior on the team.  They had met their goal seven years in a row.  They also had ton's of seniors on their team every year, and the JV team was loaded with juniors awaiting their turn on varsity.  What a contrast to seeing so many frosh and sophs on our MWL teams over the last decade. (A lot of people think football when they think of high school sports in Texas, but I can assure that baseball is just as intense.)  If you haven't seen the All-Teams-At-A-Glance roster, here is what I have so far.  If you can help out on the missing teams pleast do.  All Teams One Page Roster. 

Thanks to all of the coaches and parents who have texted/emailed recaps this week.  I know it's not easy texting recaps on phones or finding computers and wireless access.

Bring some sunshine back, league games start next week.