A look at the conference

[bozar1]

UTPA 9-5
Houston Baptist 6-9
Utah Valley 5-8
New York Tech 3-6
UNC 4-10
New Jersey Tech 3-10
Chicago State 1-7
North Dakota 1-9

As you can plainly see, no powerhouses here. Pan American as well as Houston Baptist are pleasant surprises and Utah Valley is as expected. I still think that the Bears are doing a little better than expected and if you look at their strength of schedule and RPI on boydsworld.com you can also see that the rest of the world thinks they are at least ok. Keep it up. Two at Nebraska will be tough but a split is winnable.

 

[UNCbears6]

Just listened to the Bears game @ Nebraska on the Huskers radio, hung tough and was even up 4-2 after 6 innings, with HArdman hitting a big 3 run double... Then the bullpen came in and wasted a solid effort from Quisenberry (who didn't pitch beautifully but efficient) UNC allowed 13 runs in the 6th, 7th, and 8th.. Bozar, you sound like a true fan, is the bullpen a consistent problem with this squad? I know they were tired from the SDSU series but they really threw away a good opportunity for this team to pull off a nice upset..

I'm trying to get into UNC Baseball, I want to catch a couple of games this season when they get in to Greeley, I respect Smallcomb for going out and playing all the big boys though early in the season.

 

[Bearsfan24]

I was kinda disappointed to see with how they did againt South Dakota State, is SDSU that good? Bears play a tough OOC sched, it'll be interested to see how things develop once they get into league play.

 

[anon22]

I was kinda disappointed to see with how they did againt South Dakota State, is SDSU that good? Bears play a tough OOC sched, it'll be interested to see how things develop once they get into league play.

I don't want to come across as too pessimistic, but losses to SDSU are disheartening. SDSU entered the transition from D-II to D-I phase around the same time UNC did, and, as evidenced by the current state of each program, UNC clearly has missed the target. Again, its disheartening too see the current state of UNC's program when a comparable university (SDSU), and its athletic department has placed a substantial investment in its baseball program. For example, SDSU and NDSU became members of the Summit Conference, an established and competitive league where members are eligible for postseason play, which can also be a better ploy for recruiting. To answer your question, SDSU is a quality team, with a win over Arkansas earlier this year.

 

[bozar1]

This is in reply to Itsabearsthang.

I am a true fan of college baseball but I live in San Jose, CA and went to school there getting all my degrees and teaching credentials. I post a lot of articles on the WAC in general (baseball only) and the SJS Spartans in particular. I've only recently taken up paying attention to UNC since my wife and I (I'm retired) are thinking about moving out of this mess to Loveland. I was terrified until I found that UNC is close and plays ball. Whew! My new adopted team. I will be an occasional poster.

 

[bozar1]

In answering Itsabearsthang's question, I think all clubs have problems with pitching. It's more of an issue with depth. Big time programs usually are pretty solid from top to bottom. Let me give you an example: San Jose State was the regular season WAC champion last year and they lead the conference in pitching. The staff either graduated or signed with the pros leaving nothing behind. The Spartans had a good recruiting class but that means a lot of freshmen have to come through. Their best pitcher is a JC transfer and the rest is a struggle.I see no championship this year.

I suspect that with UNC they have one or two good starters and the rest is a crap shoot. I would like to see the Bears start getting the good players (of which there are many) that are in Colorado. I read about some who end up going to schools in the MWC and the WAC. They should stay at home. However, the Great West is a pretty poor conference with only 2-3 fair teams and the rest downright bad. BUT, they're playing and I'm not and I miss it.

 

[bozar1]

Here's more. SDSU is good. Losing to them is no shame. Here's a list who they have played and beaten (at least in one game): Air Force (not so good but in the MWC 3 of 4), Arkansas (split and they went to Omaha), and Creighton (lose 1 a member of the tough Missouri Valley).

As of right now, SDSU is the best in the Summit Conference which also has Oral Roberts (all joking aside a good baseball school) as a member. The others are sorta forgetable.