Release Courtesy of Shannon O'Brien, CCC Assistant Commissioner
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Endicott has earned the second seed for the 2013 Commonwealth Coast Confernece (CCC) baseball championship, which begins with opening-round games on Thursday, May 3.
The Gulls (26-11 overall) earned a share of the CCC regular season title with a conference mark of 15-1.
Endicott will host fifth seeded Wentworth on Thursday at 3:00 pm at North Field, while defending champion Western New England (27-9 overall), who captured the top seed in the conference tournament after posting a 15-1 record in CCC play, will host #6 Curry. Third-seeded Salve Regina earns the right to host the third game on Thursday, against #4 Roger Williams.
Endicott won both of their games against Wentworth this season, by scores of 20-1 and 8-3.
CCC tiebreaking procedures were used to break deadlocks for first place and fifth place in the regular-season conference standings.
Atop the standings, as both Western New England and Endicott turned in identical 15-1 conference records. In the first step, head-to-head play granted no relief, as the Golden Bears and Gulls split their two games. In the second step, the teams' records were then compared to the other teams in the CCC standings from top to bottom. Both teams went 2-0 against each of the other seven conference teams.
Western New England and Endicott then proceeded to step three, a comparison of records against common non-conference opponents. The teams had six common non-conference opponents as of games completed by April 27 -- Amherst, William Paterson, Brandeis, Suffolk, UMass-Boston and Westfield State. Against those opponents, Western New England posted a 5-1 record (.833), while Endicott compiled a 3-3 record (.500), thus earning the Golden Bears the top seed.
In addition, there was a three-way tie for fifth place, as Wentworth, Curry and Gordon each concluded the regular season with identical 5-11 CCC records.
In the first step, head-to-head play among the three tied teams, Wentworth posted a 3-1 record (2-0 vs. Gordon, 1-1 vs. Curry), while Curry posted a 2-2 record (1-1 vs. Wentworth, 1-1 vs. Gordon) and Gordon posted a 1-3 record (0-2 vs. Wentworth, 1-1 vs. Curry). Having earned the best record in that comparison, Wentworth was awarded the fifth seed. Curry and Gordon was treated as a new tie and returned to the top of the procedure.
In the first step of resolving Curry and Gordon, the teams split their two conference games, providing no relief.
In the second step, the teams' records were then compared to the other teams in the CCC standings from top to bottom. Both teams went 0-2 against each of the top four teams in the CCC standings. Curry gained the edge, registering the only win by either team against fifth-seeded Wentworth.
Tournament action will continue throughout the week, culminating with the final day of the tournament scheduled for Sunday, May 5. The CCC tournament champion will earn automatic qualification to the upcoming 2032 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship, which begins Wednesday, May 15.
The highest seed will host each CCC tournament game played during the first two days of the tournament. The highest remaining seed following the first two full days of play will host all games played on the final two days. All times and are tentative and subject to change.
