Braves Baseball

[bu fan 9]

Elvis was a bad hire I said it then and will say it now. But he has been a yes man to Glasser for years so he will be safe.

[Braves4Life]

I don't see a problem with those two statements Firsty. First (no pun), I think BU should be able to compete within their own conference. Cross said as much when he stated that he thinks every BU sport should be competing for conference titles. Now, time will tell if he meant what he said. I don't think BU (or most any MVC school) can compete on a national level based upon my above reasoning related to climate, however.

Regarding what BU is lacking to compete your guess is as good as mine. Poor pitching? I know that can carry a college team far. Like you, I'm looking to see if Cross meant what he said. If he did, and BU Baseball can't compete in the Valley over the next 3-5 years then something should be done with regards to coaching (one reason that I supported the replacing of Les, even though I would have preferred giving him another year). If not, then the BU administration obviously didn't mean what they said about competing for conference titles in all sports. What other kind of support should the admin. provide? Don't really know. Not my job.

[BU Firsty]

Thanks...

I think the administration absolutely wants to compete at the highest level, at a minimum within the MVC. I also believe they have provided all the resources necessary for baseball to do so.

[jrish12]

I completely agree...there's plenty of local talent --

--U of I plays a BIG TIME schedule of opponents and is 12-9 in the Big Ten -- tied for 2nd and only a single game out of first place.....
and their top hitter was from right in BU's own back yard...as is their fourth best hitter and best defensive infielder..
more than 30 of their their players are from within a 1-2 hour drive of Peoria!
Why can we not land some of those players??

--ISU is right down the road from us, and basically recruits kids from right under our own noses - and yet they're way better, 31-16, and challenging for the lead in the Valley...while we are firmly entrenched in the basement.
Again -- their entire roster is filled with kids from within an hour or two's drive from Peoria.

--even Illinois Wesleyan can claim they recruit better....
They are the DEFENDING National Champions....and not doing too shabby this current season either...
...with a roster filled with kids who could have easily played D-I but were overlooked except by the IWU coaching staff.
Every kid on their roster is from Illinois except two from neighboring states.
Heck -- one of their best pitchers, Nick Mehn (6-3, 3.94 ERA) is from Peoria.

Just my 2 cents, But Illinois is in the Big 10. ISU hired a guy from Miami with a history of winning plus having a newly renovated, on campus facility that is being called one of the best playing surfaces in all of college baseball. Illinois Wessleyan has one of the top D III overall athletic programs in the country. how does BU fit with any of these? Yes I realize they are all very close to BU, but in program comparison Bradley is the bottom of the barrel compared to these programs. IWU perennially goes to the D III world series. Doesnt hurt that their field is one hellava field for the D III level. The playing surface is almost better than O'Brien Field. Maybe having the small school state baseball finals here in Peoria may help, I dont know. Pretty sure the BU baseball team wont be playing at that time, no offense to anyone on here.

While at first I tried to give Elvis the benefit of the doubt, anyone can win games in february and march, but if you dont win in April and May you're finished in college baseball. It's just like basketball IMO, your league knows you like your little brother.

[RickBB]

In full disclosure I'm a former BU Baseball player who played under Dewey in the early 90's. Also, in full disclosure, I wasn't a big fan of hiring Elvis when Dewey departed, as I thought it was simply a show of nepotism. But, no matter how Elvis got the job, I'm in full support of his leading the program after talking to him the last couple years and I'll give him time to get the players in place to play his style of baseball.

BU will always be behind the 8 ball when it comes to baseball because its a private school. Since baseball isn't allotted a full number of scholarships to fill out a roster. 11.7 I believe (Thanks again Title IX), most players, at all schools across the country, are mostly on partial scholoarship. So when Elvis offers a kid 1/3 of a ride to come to BU, Mom and Dad still have a pretty Hefty check to write. If ISU or Eastern or even UI is offerring the same kid a chance to be a preferred walk on, his parents might have less of a check to write ISU/EIU/UI to Cover his entire year of schooling than it costs to pick up 66% of a year at BU. (Of course that doesn't take into account how much better a degree from BU is)

But now that I've written that, its just an excuse. We were good when I played and faced the same situation. It just seems that most Peoria area legit D1 talent heads to UI with the IVC kids and Brandon Wikoff. I think back and we had kids from Pekin, Peoria Central, Peoria Woodruff, Richwoods, Notre Dame, Morton, East Peoria, Rock Island, Galesburg, Beardstown, and Quincy.

I do hope they continue to improve. I believe in the next year or two you will see the Baseball Braves consistently be in the top half of the Valley once Elvis is able to really make it his program and his players mature.

[Braves4Life]

Thanks for your insight RickBB. I didn't realize BU baseball faced such a large hurdle.