The question is not "Are the Carthage Red Men going to be good?" but rather "Are they going to be good enough?" Carthage College steamrolled its way into the 2009 national semi-finals before being derailed by the eventual National Champion, University of St. Thomas. 2010 shows promise once again for the Red Men, but they are not alone.
In addition to the Red Men, the Central Region is bursting with talent and contenders for the right to advance to the NCAA Division III Championship at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, WI. Beloit screamed into the national picture along with fellow Midwest Conference member St. Norbert and perennial national power Ripon to provide a three-headed monster from a conference that continues to get stronger every year. The SLIAC brings two contenders to the table looking to get a bite to eat in Webster and Fontbonne, who earned the regular season and conference tournament titles respectively. The emergence of Buena Vista, Coe and Luther in IIAC provides a challenge to the always powerful Wartburg, who stole their thunder with a late-season run in the IIAC tourney. Not to be outdone, the CCIW pushes forth a few candidates as well in to Challenge Carthage in Illinois Wesleyan, Augustana and Wheaton (IL). If that was not enough, the region also holds two wild-card players in Washington University from the UAA and up-and-comer Nebraska Wesleyan as an independent. Clearly, these fifteen spotlighted programs have the talent to make a run in 2010, but this is the Central Region, and anything can happen in this most unpredictable of the NCAA's eight regions.
The 2010 Central Regional will be hosted by Augustana who plays many of the region's contenders right out of the gate in Florida with games versus St. Norbert, Ripon, Fontbonne and Buena Vista in the first week of their season. The veteran-heavy Beloit will look to build on the 2009 post-season experience and will be a force to be reckoned with when the dust clears. The Buccaneers might be surprised to see the rest of the region in-line behind them at the dinner table ... with one exception. Carthage College appears to be reloaded, even with loss of two All-American arms from 2009 as they return seven starters from a team with boatloads of experience in the post-season. The Red Men are our pick to advance to the dance in 2010.
New Faces:
Mike Stawski, Spalding: Mike Stawski, a former assistant coach at Webster for the past three seasons, has been named the new Head Baseball Coach for the Golden Eagles this summer. Stawski served as pitching coach those three seasons for a Webster squad that compiled a 90-44 record enroute to winning three league titles. "It has been my dream to obtain a head coaching position at the collegiate level, and I am grateful to Spalding for this opportunity," said Stawski.
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW): Carthage Head Coach Augie Schmidt (699-274-5, .715%) is a single victory short of 700 career wins and this season should see him keep on winning. Winning the CCIW will not be an easy task for the Red Men as their two biggest guns from 2009 are absent from the roster. D3baseball.com All-American RHP Trace Ruffie will miss the entire 2010 season after off-season Tommy John surgery and while ABCA All-American RHP Jordan Jaehne-Llanas has transferred leaving the burden of the pitching expectations to fall on two-time All-CCIW selection, junior Mario Perez (6-1 4.09 ERA). The Red Men return seven of their nine starters from a team that reached the national semi-finals in 2009. Carthage has added a Division I transfer in Matt Soderlund (Valparaiso) to replace CCIW player-of-the-year catcher Mike Hughes who graduated in 2009. #8 Carthage may stumble out of the gate with a brutal stretch of games that pits them against #2 Wooster twice, #14 Heidelberg, #6 Kean and #1 St. Thomas in their first week of action, but this will only prepare them for the post-season run they have grown accustomed to. The Titans of Illinois Wesleyan appear poised to make a run to challenge Carthage for the CCIW title. All-American pitcher Brent Kulavic returns after missing all of 2009 with an injury to boost the Titans chances along with seniors Kraig Ladd (.410 in CCIW) and Brett Moore (.383) who both pounded CCIW pitching in 2009. The CCIW has been dominated by these two powerhouses, with no one else winning the title since 1998, but 2010 could be the breakthrough for the Wheaton Thunder, who qualified for their first ever post-season in 2009. Shortstop Brian Kolb, First Team All-American, in 2008, leads a powerful lineup. The conference is full of tremendous talent including Minnesota Twins draftee Mike Giovenco-P, of North Park and five All-CCIW selections from Wheaton (Brian Kolb-INF, Charlie Antal- OF, Ryan Miller-INF, Steve Dennison-UTL and Tim Urbanowicz- P).
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC): Fresh off an undefeated conference run of 24-0 in 2009, the Webster Gorloks look to continue their dominance of the SLIAC. The only stumbling blocking they hit last year was a SLIAC tourney upset which kept them out of the NCAA post-season. The Gorloks, who return six First Team All-SLIAC players headed by pitchers Will Savage and Bryan Stanley, are looking to avenge that stumble, which landed Fontbonne the NCAA bid that Webster felt it deserved. Gone from the SLIAC, and into NCAA Division II, is Maryville which finished second in the SLIAC in 2009. Taking their spot is Spalding (Louisville, KY) who moves into the SLIAC in 2010. Spalding has not been a baseball juggernaut in the past, but their arrival in the SLIAC could bode well for Golden Eagles chances to turn the corner. Finishing near the top of this conference is not out of the realm for Spalding.
Midwest Conference (MWC): 2009 proved to be a pivotal year in the MWC as the conference earned two NCAA bids, neither of which went to traditional power Ripon. St. Norbert snagged a controversial Pool C bid based largely on their incredible strength of schedule while the Beloit Buccaneers swiped the Pool A bid with an unforeseen run through the league. Much like the Civil War, the power in this conference lies in the North. As the waters of the MWC begin to clear this season, it appears that Beloit will again be the team to beat as they return their entire line-up from that NCAA experienced 2009 squad. The Bucs are lead by junior pitcher/utility player Mike Kovach (6-1/.451 30 RBI) who landed on the D3baseball.com pre-season team as an Honorable Mention utility player. St. Norbert counters with 2009 MWC player of the year Jared Yost (.465, 13 2B). Still, never count out a Ripon squad that, except for a slight bobble in 2009, has owned this conference. In the South Division, Monmouth returns four all-league selections and looks to challenge Knox and Illinois College for the South Division crown. Do not sleep on Grinnell who returns 21 players from a solid 2009 and has upgraded its roster with top-notch recruits for the 2010 season. That being said, the South is the weaker of the two divisions in the MWC and the North will prevail in the end.
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC): The IIAC has been all about parity in recent years. Wartburg (2009), Luther (2008) and Coe (2007) have all represented the conference in the NCAA post-season. This is league traditionally controlled by Wartburg, but recent developments have produced a plethora of contenders in this well-balanced league. Loras earned the #1 seed last season after Buena Vista stormed out of the gates and into the national rankings, only to fall late. The Knights of Wartburg made a late-season charge to snag the Pool A bid for the IIAC. The emergence of this conference in the past few years has really boosted the profile of the traditionally weak Central Region. Loras will be lead by an experienced pitching staff anchored by juniors Kyler Laurie, Cole Boge, Kevin Moriarty, and sophomore Austin Safranski. Those four combined to have a 22-6 record for the Duhawks last year and figure to toe the rubber often again this season. Buenna Vistos looks to stay atop the standings this season with the return of outfielder Brandon Pietrzyk (.447 8 HR 57 RBI) who must be considered as the favorite for IIAC player of the year. In the end, only one team will be left standing and we expect that team to be Wartburg or Loras with Buena Vista and Luther looking to play spoiler.
University Athletic Association (UAA): The UAA, unlike many conferences, plays its conference tournament to open the season during the school's Spring Breaks. While the league encompasses schools from all over, only one resides in the Central region: Washington University. Washington has made seven trips to the NCAA post-season and has the talent to do it again in 2010. On the mound, they will be lead by junior Adam Merzl (7-2 3.83 ERA). Offensively, the loss of Zander Lehman will hurt the Bears, but they have a long tradition of players stepping up to fill the void. Junior Matt Bayer (.348 27 RBI) appears to be the heir apparent to the offense leadership role.
Independents: Two independent schools fall into the Central Region's jurisdiction for 2010: Chicago and Nebraska Wesleyan. While Chicago's Maroons do not appear to make a dent in the Central Region power struggles, the Prairie Wolves of Nebraska Wesleyan are a different story. They are a team that made a deep playoff run in the NAIA post-season in 2009 and also carry the ability to declare for the NCAA Division III post-season by way of their dual membership. This could be the year that they take the leap into the NCAA as the Prairie Wolves return a playoff hardened squad and are the odds on favorite to win their conference (Great Plains Athletic Conference- GPAC). Their potential arrival could cause some serious havoc in the Pool B selection process provided they can play the required number of games against DIII opponents to qualify.
