Welcome to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference message board. history major has volunteered to help with this board.
The SCAC is a multi-region conference in baseball in the eyes of the NCAA and as listed in the 2005 Championship Handbook.
http://www.ncaa.org/library/handbooks/baseball/2005/2005_d3_baseball_handbook.pdf
Centre, Millsaps, Oglethorpe, Rhodes and U of the South are located in the South Evaluation Region.
DePauw and RHIT are located in the Mideast Evaluation Region.
Hendrix, Southwestern and Trinity are located in the West Evaluation Region.
Welcome aboard, SCAC. The nice thing about the southern latitudes is that we have games starting in 4 weeks!
PLAY BALL!
Hyperlinks to the SCAC baseball teams
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
SCAC Divisional Tourney, April 20-22, 2007 (Sites TBD)
SCAC Conference Tourney, April 27-29, 2007 at Georgetown, TX
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/
East Region
Centre -- http://www.centre.edu/web/athletics/baseball/baseball_index.html
DePauw -- http://www.depauw.edu/ath/baseball/
Oglethorpe -- http://www.oglethorpe.edu/athletics/baseball/
Rhodes -- http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/ (Moved to the East for 2007 and 2008)
U.o.S. (Sewanee) -- http://athletics.sewanee.edu/athletics/baseball
West Region
Austin -- http://www.austincollege.edu/Category.asp?762 (Assigned to the West Division for 2007 and 2008)
Hendrix -- http://www.hendrix.edu/athletics/team.aspx?s=3
Millsaps -- http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/index.shtml
Southwestern -- http://www.southwestern.edu/athletics/baseball/
Trinity -- http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/
Corrections appreciated
You're the man, Ralph! I'll try to keep the discussions on this board going. Of course TU Tigers RULE, but there's always good competition from Millsaps and Southwestern.
Anybody out there got predictions for this season?????
Any reason that no SCAC teams got any love in the first pre-season poll?
Trinity was 32-12, Southwestern 29-12, Millsaps 27-17, and DePauw 29-14... come on somebody deserves ranking!
Attached is the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's preseason DIII Baseball Poll.
Dec. 23
www.baseballnews.com
Rank School Name '05 Final Record Point Totals
1. Wooster, OH 39-9 252
2. Cortland St., NY 43-9 249
3. Wartburg, IA 37-11 247
4. Chapman, CA 37-11 245
5. Rowan, NJ 42-10 242
6. Wisconsin-Stevens Point 38-11 240
7. Alvernia, PA 41-6 237
8. Marietta, OH 32-10 236
9. Ferrum, VA 24-12-1 233
10. LaVerne, CA 31-13 229
11. Texas Lutheran 35-10 227
12. Hampden-Sydney, VA 27-15 224
13. Illinois Wesleyan 34-13 223
14. Trinity, CT 35-9 220
15. Otterbein, OH 31-17 218
16. Southern Maine 25-14 215
17. St. Scholastica, MN 36-7-1 213
18. Wisconsin-Whitewater 46-7 210
19. DeSales, PA 35-10 208
20. Kean, NJ 34-9 205
Ithaca, NY 25-15-2 205
21. Mary Washington, VA 27-10 202
22. Suffolk, MA 30-12 199
23. LaGrange, GA 31-13 198
24. Wheaton, MA 33-12 195
Manchester, IN 32-14 195
25. Eastern Connecticut St. 30-13 193
26. George Fox, OR 32-12 191
27. St. Thomas, MN 30-12 189
28. Monmouth, IL 24-9 188
29. Linfield, OR 33-9 184
30. Aurora, IL 34-9 181
Salisbury, MD 28-9-2 181
Washington-St. Louis, MO 32-10 181
Other Top Teams: Wisconsin-Oshkosh (29-13), Rockford, IL (25-16-1), Western New England, MA (31-8), Edgewood, WI (29-17), Lynchburg, VA (27-15), Ripon, WI (23-15), Frostburg St., MD (29-13), Husson, ME (25-17), Washington & Jefferson, PA (32-15), Oneonta St., NY (32-10), Haverford, PA (25-15), St. Joseph's, NY (26-17), Montclair St.
SCAC should be very competitive this year.
East:
RHIT is always good and will look to end their SCAC run on a high note. Return a wealth of talent on the offensive side and on the hill.
DePauw returns basically their whole team and has something like 10 senior starters! Has to be the favorite to win the East.
Centre made huge improvements last year and with added pitching can surprise some people.
Sewanee has some good seniors but the loss of Shackleton will be tough to deal with...
Oglethorpe was a disaster last year but has some individual talent.
West:
Millsaps was loaded last year and with the loss of Wetzel (Draft) and Garner (Graduation) it will be tough to repeat. But they always seem to have some of the best athletes in the SCAC.
Trinity is loaded with pitchers...some which won't see the hill until tourney time and they could crack any rotation in the conference.
Southwestern has talent all over the field...draw out of a hat between the big 3...
Rhodes is competitive but will find it tough sledding to crack the top 3. Move to the east next year will help.
Hendrix is young and is in the same boat as Rhodes...
Thoughts....???
Dirty... nice job summarizing the SCAC! Glad to see someone (else) is that interested. Do you really think that RHIT will get some sort of bounce out of the their lame-duck season? It would be interesting, but I think DPU will have something to say about that. I, too would think that that div would be between the two of them.
I don't have a real good read on the TU (pitching) situation.... I think Millsaps will be tough if they can replace the studs.... and SW is always solid...
You comments?
RHIT will look to 'STICK' it to the SCAC since Coach/AD Jenkins is the man responsible for getting them out the SCAC. He has been complaining about the conference the day they entered. But I agree DePauw is probably the favorite to win the East.
The West is a crap shoot between the top 3 teams....They'll battle it out for the regular season crown and then anything can happen in the Tourney. I have been following SCAC baseball for 5 years and Trinity has always had the best pitching top to bottom, But with the 6-team bracket in the tourney sometimes they have had the matchups work against them. I would say TU is the preseason favorite to win the West and the SCAC with SW right behind them...
Its amazing b/c basketball season is just starting to get good and baseball starts in about a month....gotta love DIII athletics...
Hmmmm... interesting take on coach/ad at RHIT... I had heard that he was the guy behind leaving the SCAC, but you're the first to confirm it. Seems he felt that RHIT would never 'dominate' the SCAC with the likes of TU, SW and MC... so he opted to go find greener pastures... all that crap about extensive travel bothered me anyway... now I get it.
Do you think that rumors of Hanover joing the SCAC have any credence?
Dirty South, that is a pretty strong allegation you make about the RHIT AD. Do you have any other documentation? Are you an official at an SCAC member institution?
He is the baseball coach, but he is also responsible for the success of 19 other sports. Travel may be a big concern for the coaches of the other sports, especially when competition is available without plane rides to San Antonio, Jackson or Atlanta.
I don't think its a serious allegation. Its not like he did anything wrong. I'm just saying the AD is the man who makes those kinds of suggestions to the powers to be....right? Ultimately the President and Board make the final decision but the AD has to report about the state of athletics and I guess from his standpoint they would financially be better off and I guess be more competitive because they are palying teams in their region?. Yes, he is in charge of 20 sports and it makes sense that they play in a closer conference with less travel. The fact that he also coaches baseball and not basketball is why I brought it up in this forum.
I know from a baseball standpoint he is at a disadvantage from playing in Indiana. I mean TU and SW have decent baseball weather in Texas where he has to deal with frozen turf until March. He does not make that fact hidden....
Dirty South, I understand your point about bringing the discussion to the baseball board.
As for being an Indiana school, they are facing a cold weather disadvantage early in the season, but they should be in shape by the tourney in late April. I looked at the schedule of Anderson in the HCAC. They go to Port Charlotte FL for "Spring Training" 2 weeks later than RHIT does.
I do have problems with the huge gap between the post-season tourney, both the SCAC and the ASC, and the NCAA Regionals. The ASC added another round of playoffs to decrease the time interval to 1 1/2 weeks from 2 1/2 weeks.
This should be another good season.
Good luck to the SCAC!
Quote from: historymajor on January 10, 2006, 11:51:09 PM
I had heard that he was the guy behind leaving the SCAC, but you're the first to confirm it.
I wouldn't call that a confirmation. It's just a post, there's no reason to lend it any more credibility than your own posts.
Glad to see this board started in support of the SCAC baseball players. I can't say that I'm an insider with all the scoops on Millsaps baseball but the impression I'm getting is that they will once again have a very solid team. I thought they had a lot of talented younger players last year who performed well when they were able to get on the playing field.
One player they won't have to replace is Garner Wetzel. SCAC pitchers will be disappointed to hear that he is back for his senior year. I know I don't have the story exactly right but it was discovered that he needed surgery (on his throwing arm I think) so he never signed with Colorado.
Is that right about Wetzel??? If that is true I would say they are the favorite to win the SCAC again....I know one man doesn't make the team but he makes that lineup scary, not mention his solid defense....
Can anybody also confirm this?
Wow... some news about Wetzel.... hope that doesn't mess up his chances for going pro eventually... Begs the question though... when someone gets drafted and gets to the point of leaving the amateur ranks, under what circumstances can they 'come back' to play in college like Wetzel is planning to do? In football and basketball when they 'declare', it's very difficult to get a 'do-over'... anybody out there that can enlighten me on how exactly this works???
Since this is the internet, I won't feel slighted that you need confirmation of my post. Millsaps has the 2006 schedule on the baseball page but not the 2006 roster. I guess we will all know for sure when Millsaps opens the season on Feburary 10th.
And while one player doesn't make the team, the hole in the offense created by the loss of both Ryan Skertich and Garner would have been huge and extremely difficult to replace. With Garner back, I won't be surprised if the offense is as good or better than last year.
Regarding the question historymajor just posted, I don't know all of the details but with baseball I don't think being drafted affects your status at all. For example, think of all the high school kids who get drafted and choose college. Also, I know with the D1 schools here they always have juniors who are drafted and then opt to come back for their senior year.
My guess (and my hope) is that the draft last year gave Garner solid proof that he has a shot at playing pro ball and that he probably has been working harder than ever to have a great season and improve his position in the draft.
Interesting site. You can see by where a MLB player went to school.
http://baseballreference.com/schools/
Ran into this while investigating some SCAC websites....a little different from the ordinary stuff...
http://www.oglethorpe.edu/athletics/baseball/Baseball%20Preview.wmv
Interesting clip on OU baseball--it helps to have a fast internet connection for the download.
I've taken photos at the Millsaps games for the last two years (http://photobucket.com/albums/v283/Millsaps_Majors/) but really only followed the team last season. I was looking at the stats for the last 3 years and here's are some numbers that surprised me:
Garner Wetzel 2003: .161 BA (5 of 31), no home runs, .194 SLG%
Garner Wetzel 2004: .311 BA (41 of 132), 1 home run, .492 SLG%
Garner Wetzel 2005: .407 BA (66 of 162), 12 home runs, .747 SLG%
I was surprised by the low numbers prior to 2005. By comparison, the numbers for Jason Hadley in his first two years have been:
Jason Hadley 2004: .383 BA (41 of 107), 1 home run, .514 SLG%
Jason Hadley 2005: .401 BA (67 of 167), 4 home runs, .587 SLG%
Now if Hadley can increase his home run total twelvefold for his junior year like Wetzel did...that would be impressive.
Those are some interesting numbers on Wetzel....he has also bulked up a lot in the past two years. Hadley is a good player, saw him play once and he is hard nosed and has a good swing. Doesn't it seem that Millsaps players are kind of built from the same mold? Athletic, hard nosed, and all carry a little swagger with them. Gotta love that. Jim Page has built a powerhouse over there in Jackson...can't wait to see what kind of talent he has rounded up this year...
It seems like Wetzel was being hyped as a high draft pick from the early part of last season and that's why the low numbers from his first two years surprised me. This was one case where the hype was right since he was in the top 300 picks last year and was the 4th highest D3 player taken.
I've been thinking about doing a very unofficial preview of the Millsaps team based on returning players and their stats from previous seasons. I might still do that when the 2006 roster gets posted on the Millsaps website, but I think the only people on the board at the moment are folks who might just go and look up those stats for themselves.
If you want my impression about this year's team (based on absolutely no inside infomation and no great baseball knowledge), I'll give you two impressions. First, I think they will be a better team than the 2005 SCAC Tournament winners based on the stats of the returning players. I think that's a fairly solid statement. My second impression is that I'm almost hearing too little about the team. Maybe it's just that it's January, it's baseball, and it's D3 sports, but I almost get the feeling that no one wants to come out and say just how good they think this team can be. They have a lot of senior pitchers on this team and if they all round into form, this might just be a very special year. I'm looking forward to mid-Feb. and the first home game.
Dirty_south... from my knowledge... Page is a punk.... maybe he can recruit.. and maybe he can coach... but over the last ten years,,,, he's been a punk.... Maybe Wetzel can carry the load, but SW, DPU and TU will all have something to say about the SCAC AC....
As Meatloaf sang years ago, "Two out of three ain't bad". At least there is recognition that Jim Page can coach and he must be a fairly decent guy since he can recruit and they sure seem to have a good retention rate with their players at Millsaps. I'm going to have to look deeper into that punk thing because I think one time out of the corner of my eye I just might have seen him snear one time. I'm going to be looking for other signs of punkness.
Of course, sometimes being labeled a punk comes with the territory of having been named SCAC coach of the year a record 6 times and leading your team to 7 SCAC Championships. I'd put up with a little name calling if it went along with such a resume of success.
SCACMan
What is your definition of a 'punk'?? Terrell Owens is a punk, Ron artest is a punk, Jim Page is not a punk. I bet you are a Trinity fan?? Right? And you are reacting to the incident back at the 2000 SCAC Championships in Millington? Right?? And what is this "knowledge" you talk about? Do you actually know the man or has your son been on the losing side of too many games against the Page led Majors? Its pretty coward to sit there and call a man a 'punk' if you do not know...
I agree SW, TU and DPU will be very good teams this year and will compete for the crown. I think the Majors return a wealth of talent and a team that is capable of reaching Appleton...they are my preseason favorites to win the West and the SCAC.
In fact here are my January predictions--This should spark some conversations! I'm basing this on very little inside information...just returning players, past stats and posted 2006 schedules...
West
Millsaps 33-11 SCAC Champs- DIII World Series
Trinity 29-13 Pool-c bid, SCAC 3rd place
Southwestern 28-15
Rhodes 16-24
Hendrix 10-30
East
DePauw 30-14 SCAC runner-up, Pool C bid
Rose-Hulman 25-17
Centre 21-22
Sewanee 18-22
Oglethorpe 15-25
I was up at a Millsaps basketball game this afternoon and Coach Page and just about all of the baseball players were at the game. I briefly spoke with Garner Wetzel about a person we both know. It was just a two minute conversation but he seems like a pretty good guy. I don't know if he has gotten any bigger since last year but I won't be surprised if he goes well over the 12 HR total that he had last season.
I also was listening in on a story Coach Page was telling regarding Wetzel. I think it is "Baseball Weekly" that has named Wetzel as their preseason player of the year for D3 and they have him ranked as the 28th best senior in the country at any level of college ball. I may not have that exactly right but that's the gist of what I heard. Of course preseason rankings are just opinions about potential so they have to be taken with a grain of salt. Since Wetzel was the fourth D3 player taken in the draft last year it doesn't seem like an outrageous pick by to me.
Other than the above story I didn't pick up much of anything new. They have a lot of good players back and they have some new players who have the potential to help right away. I guess we'll know more in a few weeks. I don't know when the SCAC coaches do their preseason rankings but I think we'll see them pick Millsaps as the team to beat.
As a Millsaps insider, particularly baseball, I'll shine some light on the Garner Wetzel situation. Wetzel is returning for his senior season. He was drafted in the 10th round of last year's MLB draft by the Colorado Rockies as the 298th selection overall. Before reporting for rookie ball in mid-summer, he played on some local summer league teams in Mississippi in preparation for pro ball. Just before he was to report to Colorado, he tore a ligament in his throwing arm (right) which requried him to have tommy john surgery. He never signed a contract and never talked to an agent. Therefore, he never had the opportunity to claim his hefty signing bonus.
His surgery was successful, and his arm is strong, although he will not be playing shortstop this year for the Majors. Instead, look for him to play left field or first base. As far as the Baseball Weekly pre-season accolades are concerned, they are all correct. Wetzel is listed as the pre-season player of the year for D3 and they have him ranked as the 28th best senior in the country at any level of college ball. Plus, he is a pre-season 1st team All-America selection.
I spoke with Wetzel earlier today. He is feeling good about the move to the outfield, and seems confident that he can learn how to play first base if needed. At a cool 6-3, 230 lbs, he's a pretty big target at either position.
I'll have more updates as I get them.
Few questions:
1) 6-3 230!!!!!
Why is he listed on the Millsaps 2005 roster as 6-1 210??? Are you telling me that he grew 2 inches and put on 20 pounds this offseason while rehabbing from tommy john??
2) Since when do you report to camp if you have not signed a contract?? I'm sure he is eligible and did not contact an agent but the timing of the whole thing is a little strange. My point a) why in the hell was he playing in a non sanctioned summer league when he was getting ready to report? b) why was he plannning on reporting with out a signed contract? c) How is he ready to throw less than 6 months after tommy john?
And one last point....10th round picks don't get hefty signing bonus'...maybe $5,000 to $10,000 if that....and about $1200 a month to play....
Dirty,
Regarding Wetzel:
On average, 10th round draft picks get signing bonuses anywhere from $5,000 to $135,000. Wetzel's was to be shy of the $135,000 mark but was to be well above $5,000.
I'm not sure why Wetzel was playing ball this past summer, but I suspect it was allowed. Also, I'm sure there must be some protocol with regard to the signing of contracts, and Wetzel never got that chance.
With regard to recovery time from Tommy John surgery, it's not a 9 month or a one year deal anymore.....in fact, two other Millsaps' players had Tommy John surgery and recovered in similar time frames as Wetzel has. 2005 senior Doug Garner, the SCAC's all-time career wins leader, had TJ surgery in April of 2004, and was back throwing by November. 2006 senior John Fox had surgery in March of 2003 and was back throwing in November of 2003.
Per Wetzel's physical stats on the 2005 roster, the website is inaccurate. If Wetzel is not 6-3, then he is 6-2 at the shortest. If he's not 230, then he is 225. He was 210 pounds when he came to school as a freshman.
As was pointed out by historymajor, no SCAC team was ranked or mentioned in the "Other Top Teams" in the preseason poll put out by "Collegiate Baseball". I counted up the teams and that means that at least 47 teams are considered better than the best of the SCAC.
Millsaps played in the Mideast Regional last year and they dropped a pair of 1-run games. I wonder if the long layoff between the SCAC Tournament and the regionals contributed to those close losses. Millsaps lost their first game to Manchester 5-4. Manchester, the preseason #24, lost in the Mideast twice to Otterbein, 4-3 and 6-3. Otterbein, the preseason #15, lost twice in the Mideast to Wooster, 7-6 and 5-4. Wooster lost in the national championship and is the preseason #1.
One way to look at the regionals last year is that Millsaps and Webster (lost to Wooster 7-5) both tied for last at 0-2. Another way to look at it is that all of the team in the Mideast Regional last year were fairly close in talent so an improved Millsaps team might have a decent shot at breaking through to the D3 World Series this year. Or, if Trinity or Southwestern or DePauw are better then Millsaps, then they should have a decent shot at getting to the World Series. I'd like to see someone from the SCAC get there this season.
Hyperlinks to the SCAC baseball teams
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
SCAC tourney April 27-30 @ Sewanee
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/
East Region
Centre -- http://www.centre.edu/web/athletics/baseball/baseball_index.html
DePauw -- http://www.depauw.edu/ath/baseball/
Oglethorpe -- http://www.oglethorpe.edu/athletics/baseball/
Rose-Hulman -- http://www.rose-hulman.edu/sports/baseball.htm
U.o.S. (Sewanee) -- http://athletics.sewanee.edu/athletics/baseball
West Region
Hendrix -- http://www.hendrix.edu/athletics/team.aspx?s=3
Millsaps -- http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/index.shtml
Rhodes -- http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/
Southwestern -- http://www.southwestern.edu/athletics/baseball/
Trinity -- http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/
Corrections appreciated
Enough talk about Wetzel already, I think we all know that he is coming back now and that he will be one of the best d3 players again, being new to the SCAC who would you say are the top baseball players in the SCAC? Like maybe a top 10 list or something... Im sure Wetzel is numero uno...
If you want to know who the best players in the SCAC are just go to www.scac-online.org and go to the baseball part and select who was on the all confernece team. However, the "team" had to have a selection from each team in the conference so the bottom feeders like Rhodes, Oglethorpe, and Hendrix all got at least a player on the team. Im not saying they did not have a good season but it could be a reason why some players are honorable mention and not on the team.
Hope this helps.
I thought since the SCAC website hasnt updated and to save time looking at everyones webpage, that the date of the first games would be appericated
Trinity 2/11
Southwestern 2/11
Millsaps 2/10
Rhodes 2/09
Hendrix 2/04
DePauw 2/25
Rose-Hulman 2/25
Centre 3/05
Oglethorpe 2/07
Sewanee 2/18
Hendrix starts of the new baseball season for the SCAC in two days!
Cant wait to see how the year goes.
Thanks for the info on the opening game for each team. It is good to see two new participants on this board. I'll agree that we have just about been Wetzel'd to death so far and I'm looking forward to games starting and more info from all teams.
I keep thinking that I'll do a Millsaps preview but I'm swamped trying to get caught up on Millsaps basketball photos--I have to get that caught up before the start of the spring sports. These next few weeks of basketball, baseball, fastpitch and tennis all going on at the same time will be a killer.
If I do a preview it will simply be a gathering of the numbers of the key returning players from last year. I'm not sure if that tells a whole lot. For example, a year ago a preview like that would rave about the return of Tal Hendrix after his 2004 8-0 season and 1.20 ERA but Tal struggled to a 1-4 record last year. On the other hand, last year I wouldn't have given a great amount of hype about the return of Wetzel with his 2004 .311 BA, 1 HR and 29 errors at short but we have overdocumented the kind of numbers that he put up in 2005.
I'm surprised the preseason coaches poll is not out, yet? Hendrix begins play in two days?!?!
I've also been looking for the poll. I did notice that the standings on the website have all be set to zero games instead of the 2005 final results and a SCAC composite schedule has been posted.
Last year the last game of the SCAC Tournament was April 24th and the first game of the NCAA Regionals was May19th. According to the SCAC composite schedule, that gap will be slightly shorter this year stretching from April 30th to May 18th. That's still a long gap but at least it is a week better than last year.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 03, 2006, 08:50:15 AM
I've also been looking for the poll. I did notice that the standings on the website have all be set to zero games instead of the 2005 final results and a SCAC composite schedule has been posted.
Last year the last game of the SCAC Tournament was April 24th and the first game of the NCAA Regionals was May19th. According to the SCAC composite schedule, that gap will be slightly shorter this year stretching from April 30th to May 18th. That's still a long gap but at least it is a week better than last year.
Frank, the ASC addressed that problem by going to an 8-game playoff. The first round games are best of 3 at the sites of the top 2 finishers in the divisions. The next weekend is a double-elimination among the four winners.
Unofficial Millsap Preview (Part 1):
Lost to graduation from the 2005 team:
Doug Garner (p) – 7-3 record, career wins leader in the SCAC.
Ryan Skertich (cf) – 2004, 2005 All-SCAC, .366 BA, 7HR, 60 RBI, 24 SB
Ben Wilson (1b) -- .308 BA, .465 OB%, .987 FLD%, Honorable Mention All-SCAC
Sherwood Collette (c) -- .255 BA, started 30 games, .352 OB%
Rob Elling (p) – 18 relief appearances, 2.19 ERA, 1-0 record, All-SCAC
Returning Field Players (over 50 at bats):
Garner Wetzel (of?) – Senior, 2005 Offensive POY, etc., etc.
Jason Hadley (cf) – Junior, 2-time All-SCAC, .401 BA, .4 HR, .587 SLG%, no errors in 2005.
Derrik Boland (position?) – Junior, HM All-SCAC in 2005 as DH, .311 BA, .419 OB%
Nick Crawford (2b) – Junior, .273 BA, .465 OB%, 14 out of 15 SB, .974 FLD%
Hunter Abrams (3b) – Soph., .318 BA, .434 OB%, 7 of 8 SB, .977 FLD% at 2b, 3b & SS
John Pacillo (of) – Junior, .296 BA, 28 games started, 8 of 9 SB, .963 FLD%
Joe Blades (of) – Junior, .253 BA, 27 games started, .373 OB%, .970 FLD%
Luke Morrow (catcher?) – Junior, played 3rd last year but they are trying him at catcher, .245 BA, 33 starts, 1HR, .368 SLG%
Unofficial Millsap Preview (Part 2):
Returning Pitchers:
Todd Kindler – Senior, 2005 All-SCAC, 8-1 record with 3.94 ERA, 10 starts, career record of 19-4 at Millsaps.
John Fox – Senior, 4-4 record with 5.88 ERA, 10 starts, 56 SO in 60 innings, career record of 11-6 at Millsaps.
Tal Hendrix – Senior, 1-4 record with 6.70 ERA following a 2004 season with 8-0 record and 1.20 ERA, 20 appearances, 31 SO in 41 innings.
David Hutzel – Soph., 3-3 record with 4.31 ERA, started a regional game in 2005 going 6 2/3 innings with no earned runs.
Brad Mizerany – Senior, 1-0 record with 2.70 ERA in 8 appearances, 14 SO in 17 innings.
Other returning pitchers who didn't see a lot of action last year include Jay Hollenbeck, Brandon Ingram, and Hunter Abrams and I'm sure that they have some new pitchers on the roster.
New Players, Summary, etc.:
I've heard that some new players will help right away. I thought Hunter Abrams with his .977 FLD% would move to short so they must have a slick new infielder if Hunter is slated to start at 3rd. For all the firepower Wetzel provided, he did commit 26 errors at SS so that's one area where Millsaps can improve.
Fox and Hendrix were a combined 14-2 in 2004 and that number fell to 5-8 in 2005. An obvious key for the Majors this season will be to see these two senior pitchers bounce back. If these two return to form, a 1-2 punch of Kindler and Fox with Hendrix in the bullpen would be a very formidable. David Hutzel showed in the regionals that he might be ready to produce big numbers in the SCAC and I like a couple of the other young pitchers who weren't able to get enough innings to prove themselves in 2005.
Millsaps lost some key players from 2005 but I have a feeling that the 2006 team will be better at the plate, will be better in the field, and I see the potential for a deeper and stronger pitching staff. And of course, I see this through the eyes of a fan and not as a baseball expert. Let the game's begin.
The coaches are voting as we speak...the poll should be released early next week.
Ralph... the problem with the SCAC setup is that it is run in conjunction with the "Spring Sports Festival" and all championships are decided over 3 days.... That give seedings and strength of pitching an almost insurmountable edge.... If you lose in the first or second round,,, you must play the max games to "win-back",,,, that means that if the top seed wins games 1 and 2,,, it likely faces teams that played 4-5 games to get to the final rounds..... almost impossible....
The Millsaps faithful probably have this format in their favor.... Look at the two divisions.... if MC can maintain, while TU and SW split,,,, and maybe let Millsaps prevail.... all they have to do is beat DePauw (or RHIT).
Let's groom the fields and lay down the chalklines and get-it-on!
Historymajor.....I'm not saying it makes it any easier, but the baseball tournament is actually a four-day event - Thursday-Sunday.
Has been since we increased the field from a 4-team to 6-team tournament.
There has been some talk among coaches about a new baseball tournament format for the SCAC. Not sure whether anything has been decided. Even if there is, it's not in effect for this season. It may be up for discussion at the annual meetings during the Spring Sports Festival.
Also, a three week break between the SCAC tournament and the NCAA regional is far from ideal, but it's nicer than a four week break. Millsaps was as hot as a team can be at the end of last year. The Majors won their last eight games, including their four wins en route to their SCAC title. Four weeks later, the winning edge had worn down. Perhaps you take a chance by not scheduling a full 40 before the tourney and then play a game or two before the regionals to keep sharp. But if you don't win the tourney, you short your guys a couple of games because in Millsaps' case with school ending the week after the tourney it would be hard to pay for guys to stay around to play "meaningless" games. (For those who might cry..."Awww...no game is meaningless....play for the love of the game".....I agree....but budgets don't.)
In the case of schools like DePauw, Rose-Hulman, and Centre, they play another couple of weeks after the tournament because school is still in session and their seasons start later because of the cold weather. These schools have an advantage if one were to win the tournament because they still have a game or two.
For the "warmer" schools, it's better to play a full schedule before the tournament and hope to keep a winning edge....just have to figure out how to do it.
I have to disagree with historymajor's speculation that Millsaps has any advantage with the format. In reality, Millsaps had an advantage last year because they did not prevail against Trinity and Southwestern in the regular season. Millsaps went into the SCAC Tournament as the 3W seed with TU and SW as 1W and 2W. Once Millsaps beat DePauw as the 1E team, Millsaps was rewarded with a game against opening round loser Sewanee. TU and SW won their opening games and had to face each other in the second round.
Thanks to the scheduling (plus the ability to beat the top-seed from the East), Millsaps threw freshman David Hutzel in a 13-1 win over Sewanee and saved Doug Garner for the matchup with Trinity. In contrast, TU and SW both had to use pitchers with 7-1 records in their 2nd round game.
As for the number of games played, it seems to me that the bracket is set up so that the undefeated team in the championship game will have always played 3 games and the team with one loss will have played 4 games. An advantage for sure, but not one that is impossible to overcome.
Baseball has finially arived!! Hendrix starts off the season
0 - 2 Losing 3 - 13 and 6 - 9
We will have to see if Oglethorpe can be the first team to win opening day.
Cant wait to see how strong or weak everyone will be this year
Go Baseball!
Thanks for the update--hope you'll stick around and add comments throughout the season. The 2005 roster is still posted on the Hendrix webpage. It shows that Hendrix only had 18 players in 2005 and 13 were freshmen. Have the numbers gotten any better? It a tough go to have a struggling program stuck in the same division with Trinity, Southwestern, and Millsaps, teams with 30-40 player rosters.
The two teams last year with the worst records in the SCAC Oglethorpe and Hendrix both lacked depth last year which probably was a huge factor in their records. Hendrix does not have the roster up yet but Oglethorpe does and they list 22 man roster.
From what I remember from last year like four or five of the players are actually on the Basketball team, so Oglethorpe still is lacking depth it will be interesting to see if they can succed without the depth which probably means lack pitching they only had 7 pitchers that pitched more than 10 innings last year and 2 of them are not on the 2006 roster. They picked up 3 freshman pitchers so we will have to see how it all plays out
But your right it would be tough to build a program against the powerhouses Trinity, Southwestern, and Millspaps.
I am here for the "Unofficial" Oglethorpe preview...As a Petrel backer here is what I am hearing from the baseball program:
Pitching:
Only one starter returns from last years squad (Greenfield). But they do return two starters from the 2004 season who missed last season (Baker-medical redshirt and Hess-a transfer back to OU). I believe Hes started the extra inning loss to Millsaps in the SCAC Championship in 2004, where OU lost 6-5 in 12 innings?? Baker was All-SCAC in 2004, I think. They brought in three freshmen who should step in right away, one who is 6-6 with a huge upside and apparently could be their number 1 by the end of the year. Should be a much improved staff. Last year there ERA was around 8.50!!!
Defense:
They return an ALL-SCAC CF Ernst who played in the Cape Cod league last summer and also their ALL-SCAC C Sabala who is a pretty good player. Not too sure about the middle infield but last year their 3B, SS, 2b combo fielded something like .860%!!! Not going to win many games like that! I think two of those three players were seniors so probably a group of freshmen there...
Offense:
Ersnt was 7th in the country in batting average but did not score many runs...They lost their big power guy (Sims), I right now I have not heard anything about the hitting of this club. Sabala hit over .300 and a couple of other guys over .300 but other than that not much else.
Overall:
Going to be a lot of new faces in the lineup and a much improved pitching staff. But still going to be tough to crack the top 2 on the east but the third spot is always wide open. I do not know much about coach Giordano other than he pitched for the Petrels from 1999-2002 and they won the East in 2002. He's young and will have to try and get the most out of all his players. Another recruiting class and they should be right in the thick of things in the east.
More to come later.......
Hendrix fall hard to 0 - 3 loosing again to University of Dallas 3 - 20
Not a great way to start off the year.
By the way with close examining I think that Hendrix's "2005" Roster is the 2006 roster with 13 freshman and it looks like they started 6 of them. I do not know much about Hendrix's team last year they must of lost a lot of players.
Depth at pitching could hurt as well. Hendrix has 8 pitchers five of them play another position. They have 5 freshman, 1 sophomore and 2 seniors.
Looking at the bright side for Hendrix is the fact that they were able to bring in 13 and if they can keep all the freshman and get another recruiting class like that it bumps them up to 26 young guys which could be a nice start of a program but again they have to battle Trinity, Southwestern, and Millspaps.
SCAC still seeking first baseball win
The Hendrix basketball team rebuilt this year with a lot of young guys and it could be argued that they are only a few plays or one player away from being a mid-level team in the SCAC this season. I would think that it takes a little longer to turn around a baseball program but maybe the baseball team can take some inspiration from the rapid turn around of the basketball program.
Bob,
Thanks for the preview on the Petrels. Seems like they are going to be a young team. Checking their schedule they sure play some tough teams:
Emory--3 times (always good)
LaGrange -- 3 times (31-13 last year, #23 this year)
Huntingdon -- 3 times (won GSAC in 2005)
Adrian -- (Midwest regional team in 2005)
Heidelberg --2 times
Not a lot of road games but nontheless they will have to run the gauntlet....
Anymore previews from other SCAC schools??
Bob_Lotts-
How is the rest of the east looking this year? What is your pre-season prediction?
Sorry SCAC_fan34 I mainly follow OU women's basketball but since I've been around OU lately I have heard some good things about baseball. I'm hoping in a few years down the road they have the same success as the Lady Petrels. Looking forward to the Trinity/OU game Friday night.
SCAC Baseball Predicted Order of Finish:
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball
We all were eager to see the preseason poll and now we have no comments? I assume that the lack of comments indicates that the poll showed exactly what we all expected. Millsaps opens up this Fri-Sat with a pair of games vs. East Texas Baptist, follows that up with 4 home games including a pair against Hendrix, and they end the month in San Antonio in a 3-game series with Trinity. That should start answering some questions about the 2006 team (still no 2006 roster posted on the Millsaps website--I'll post a link whenever that gets added).
The predicted finish was pretty much expected, of course that means absolutley nothing. There was some interesting things to note:
1) Sewanee getting one 1st place vote on the EAST?
2) No real clear cut favorites to win the respecptive Divisions this year, but I imagine all the East coaches voted for Millsaps to win the SCAC.
By the way way- SCAC 0-4 as Oglethorpe lost 4-2 at LaGrange.
Quote from: Dirty_South on February 08, 2006, 09:00:29 AM
The predicted finish was pretty much expected, of course that means absolutley nothing. There was some interesting things to note:
...but I imagine all the East coaches voted for Millsaps to win the SCAC...
Dirty South, the stated vote totals suggest that the East did not get to vote on the West and vice versa.
The vote matrix is pretty straight forward.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 Total
MC 3 1 - 1 - 21
TU 1 3 1 - - 20
SU 1 1 3 - - 18
RC - - 1 3 1 10
HC - - - 1 4 6
What happens next year with the departure of Rose Hulman? I assume that Rhodes moves to the East due to its geographic proximity to others in that side of the conference.
The predictions were as I expected
I think that rhodes is coming to the East and then Austin College is moving in on the West side.
I saw that Dirty beat me to the score update but I did how ever find this on Oglethorpes website
"Petrels Picked Off by Panthers
The Oglethorpe men's baseball team lost their season opener at LaGrange College on Tuesday afternoon, 4 - 2. The 23rd ranked Panthers jumped out to an early 1 - 0 lead, scored some insurance runs in the middle innings and held off a late Oglethorpe rally to claim the victory.
Read more...
The Petrels were able to get runners on base all afternoon and had only one inning elapse without putting a player on base. The Panthers, however, managed to pick off 4 Petrel runners, catch another one stealing and turn a double play to thwart several potential rallies.
Centerfielder Tim Ernst was 3 for 4 on the afternoon, including run scoring triple in the ninth inning. Petrel shortstop Evan Baker recorded the other RBI for Oglethorpe on a grounder to second in the ninth.
The Petrels got encouraging signs from their pitching staff as Jimmy Hess, Sean Tuttle and Nick Greenfield limited the Panthers to 4 runs on 9 hits and did not allow a walk."
La Grange is ranked 23 it was nice to see that the Petrels played them close
SCAC 0-4 Rhodes is next in line for the SCAC's first victory tomarrow at 2:30 against LeMoyne-Owen
Lets all pray for a SCAC win tonight
Here is a quick rundown on Rhodes's Roster
They have
12 Freshman
8 Sophmores
4 Juniors
5 Seniors
29 Players
They have 11 pitchers only 2 are just pitchers and 5 of the pitchers are freshman.
5 returning pitchers that pitched more than 10 innings last year
Lost one true starter although last year they only had two pitchers that routinely started one with 13 starts and the other with 12 then next highest was 5
Looks like Rhodes has more depth than Hendrix and Oglethorpe and that should help them out.
You can see that I think that depth of pitching is huge for a winning program
GO Baseball!!
My look at the TU roster
11 first years.......2 are LHP.....3 are RHP
7 sophs.............1 is LHP........3 are RHP
9 juniors............1 is LHP........2 are RHP
6 seniors............0 LHP............3 are RHP
4 lefties and 11 righties
33 players
Pitching staff has lots of experience, Adam Frey returning will anchor the pitching staff, and Drew Bignall had lot's of innings as a frosh last year.
Defensively on the infield, they're well stocked at the corners and stocked yet uproven up the middle.
The outfield is largely unproven with only Verrios returning.
They need to improve overall in hitting and start generating some power.....
If things come together in the right places, they should be a strong competition for Millsaps, DePauw and SW.
Go Tigers!
Ralph,
You are correct, but each team did have a say in the overall SCAC champion. Millsaps received 7 out of 10 first place votes for the overall champ.
Millsaps has their 2006 roster posted at the following link:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/roster.shtml
I'm assuming that it is correct and one name sent me on a search of SCAC records. Ben Wilson was a very solid player at first base and at the plate last year and it looks like he is back for another year. He was listed as a senior last year but apparently he didn't play his freshman year. Having Ben back again this year is a nice bonus for the Majors. In 2005 he was HM All-SCAC, had a .308 BA, only 9 SO's in 146 AB's, and had a .987 FLD%.
Quote from: Dirty_South on February 08, 2006, 05:34:20 PM
Ralph,
You are correct, but each team did have a say in the overall SCAC champion. Millsaps received 7 out of 10 first place votes for the overall champ.
Thanks, Dirty South, I missed that! :-\
Petrels go down in opener....
Looking at the box score looks like they played tough, got some good pitching and couldn't catch the ball. By reading the recap looks like Tim Ernst picked up where he left off last year, 3 for 4 with a triple. The returning SCAC batting champ starts off strong.
Per the 2006 Millsaps roster:
Frank,
Ben Wilson is a graduate assistant coach. His name should not have been included on the roster. He does have a year of eligibility remaining, but he opted not to play.
The Majors travel to East Texas Baptist to play a two game set on Friday and Saturday. Senior John Fox should get the opening day nod on the mound for Millsaps. Millsaps also seems to be shuffling their outfield a little bit. Junior Jason Hadley will remain in left field instead of playing center. Junior John Pacillo will move from right to center and Garner Wetzel will play right field. Hadley is strongest in left field, while Pacillo is able to cover significant ground in center. Wetzel's arm will be advantageous in right. Also, look for freshman Tait Hendrix to see a good bit of time in the outfield, particularly center, as he is being groomed as the Majors' center fielder of the future.
Junior Derek Boland will catch....he's a good receiver and controls the game well, and he has improved his arm strength. Junior Luke Morrow will move from thrid base to first. Junior transfer Justin Carter will play shortstop, while junior Nick Crawford will play second base.
Senior pitcher Todd Kindler will be a work horse along with Fox. Senior Tal Hendrix will be a spot starter and will be the definite closer for the Majors. Sophomore David Hutzel will be counted on in the weekend rotation, and freshmen Drew Maddox and Zach Moore will be welcome middle relief.
And to fill in the Millsaps starting lineup you would add Hunter Abrams at third base. If my internet research is correct, Hunter, Justin Carter, and Zach Moore all come from New Hope HS in Columbus, MS, one of the top baseball programs in the state (http://www.newhopebaseball.com/home.html). It also appears that Carter was first team all-state in Mississippi in his senior year of 2003.
We ahve head from millsaps, Oglethorpe, Rhodes and Trinity...any other schools out there?? Centre, Sewanee, DePauw???
Quote from: Dirty_South on February 09, 2006, 11:05:39 AM
We have head from millsaps, Oglethorpe, Rhodes and Trinity...any other schools out there?? Centre, Sewanee, DePauw???
Dirty_south... poor me a shot of whatever you're drinking!
It looks like the SCAC got into the baseball win column today but I'm not 100% sure. The Rhodes website posted this story:
Lynx Open Season with Big Win at Home
04/10/06---Chris Catalanotto pitched 5 strong innings this afternoon to shut down the Magicians of Lemoyne-Owen. Rhodes opend the game with a 6 run first inning, and later tacked on 7 more to win handily, 13-1. The Lynx play again Saturday in a double header agianst the University of the Ozarks...
Two things about the Rhodes story. How do you miss both the month and day when you post a story? Also, why does Rhodes always end their stories with "..."? I thought that meant there was more to the story so I searched for a way to get to a longer report but I think this is the whole thing.
In a search for more info, I went to the Lemoyne-Owen website. That's where the story gets a little strange. On their website (http://www.loc.edu/), they don't even list a baseball team in their athletics department. I'm sure there is an explanation but after Rhodes scheduled Messenger College in men's basketball and beat them 109-22, I'm wondering if this was a Lemoyne-Owen school team or some guys from the intramural league.
(I probably should but some of those smiley faces somewhere with this post but I hate those things with a passion.)
Messenger is actually a school in the NCCAA.
Maybe I should have used those smiley faces. Yes, Messenger is a legitimate school team that played a limited 10 game schedule which included a 109-22 home loss to Rhodes--not too bad a final score for a game that was 55-6 at halftime. Messenger had more turnovers (35) than shots (29).
So, it was mostly with tongue-in-cheek that I wondered if the LeMoyne-Owen team was an intramural team. I talk often about small college athletes needing to get more support and recognition but it gets really bad when your team isn't even listed under Athletics on your school's website. For the record, I used a Yahoo search to find a link to LeMoyne-Owen's baseball and here it is: http://www.loc.edu/athletics/baseball.htm
LeMoyne-Owen is traveling to play LaGrange College this weekend as is Rust College. But you bring up a good point: In the age of websites, emails, message boards, etc. Why haven't some schools picked up on the idea of updating their webpages more frequently. A) Its a huge recruiting tool B) Lets parents and family follow the team C) People like us want some damn info!!
HistoryMajor---RedBull and Vodka (not the cheap vodka) or Beam and Coke or a shot of Tequila (Patron if you have it).
After a month or more of great practice weather, Millsaps opens the seaon in Marshall, TX with weather more typical for this time of year. Today it looks like rain, a high of 54 and 10-20 mph winds. Tomorrow it should be sunny but with a high of only 45 and 20-30 mph winds. (Of course it could be worse, such as the high of 33 and snow flurries predicted for Greencastle tomorrow.) I wonder if the wind is going to be blowing in or blowing out in Marshall--the final scores might give us that answer.
Frank,
It's official now, the SCAC won its first game....I have the game stats posted!
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/rc01.htm
What I want to know is if Lynx P Chris Catalanotto is any relation to MLB's Frank Catalanotto ...
Just received word that today's game between Millsaps and East Texas Baptist has been postponed until tomorrow due to inclement weather. The two teams will play two 7-inning games tomorrow afternoon in Marshall, TX.
Trinity split a double header today at Howard Payne.
HPU 4 - TU 3 in the opener and TU 16 - HPU 3 in the second game.
Both teams are now 1-1.
Millsaps split a doubleheader with East Texas Baptist on a cold, windy afternoon in Marshall, TX. Both games were 7 inning contests.
In game one, Millsaps' starter John Fox surrendered 10 first inning runs before watching his Majors storm back to even the score at 14 runs a piece in the top of the 7th inning. A wind-aided homerun in the bottom of the 7th was the difference for ETBU in a 15-14 win.
In game two, Millsaps kept ETBU from having a big inning en route to a 24-11 victory. Todd Kindler picked up the win for the Majors.
Apparently, ETBU has a hitters' park. A combined 63 runs were scored on the afternoon in just 14 innings. I am not aware of any other particular except that Millsaps did not hit a homerun in the second game, which is pretty amazing considering the amount of runs scored.
Also of note, with the win Millsaps' head coach Jim Page is just one victory shy of reaching the 400-win plateau. His current record stands at 399-255-1. This is Coach Page's 18th season as the Majors' skipper.
I am so happy with the way the baseball boards are taking off!
This is great stuff! Please post game releases if you can get them!
We have not had so friendly a fan site before this!
Thanks for all of the posts so far! :)
Regarding Young Field, the diamond at East Texas Baptist, it is touted as a hitter's park on the ETBU website:
"Young Field has long been recognized as a hitter-friendly park, and ETBU's offensive numbers in recent years indicate that fact -- the Tigers have ranked consistently among national leaders in runs per game, home runs, batting average and slugging percentage since moving to NCAA Division III status in 1998. The park especially favors right-handed hitters and is a nightmare for southpaw pitchers -- the wall in leftfield sits only 325 feet from home plate. Distance to centerfield is a standard 400 feet, while the rightfield fence gives righthanded pitchers a bit more cushion, sitting 335 feet from the batter's box."
In the limited box score in the Jackson newspaper it only shows 4 HR's for the day, all by ETB players. Millsaps had 31 hits over the 14 innings which included 8 doubles. In the second game Millsaps had their own 10-run inning plus a couple of 6-run innings--the scoring line in both games looks a lot closer to church league softball than college baseball. The next game for Millsaps is Tuesday against local NAIA rival Belhaven College. It's a 6:30 start on a day that is predicted to have a high of 60 and a low of 43.
In a seperate post, thanks Ralph for all you have done and are doing to make this baseball board a success. It goes without saying that your efforts are appreciated by all who post here and I'm sure that number is greatly increased when you add in all who read the message board but aren't inclined to post.
Thanks, Frank! :)
Oglethorpe drops two more games to Huntingdon in Alabama on Sunday 6 - 8 and
0 -3
Oglethorpe has lost the first three games by a margin of 7 runs.
I think they have their home opener on wednesday
Trinity opened with a split at Howard Payne, losing the opener 4-3 before demolishing the Yellow Jackets in the 'nightcap' 16-3.
Millsaps vs. East Texas Baptist links:
Game story: http://www.etbu.edu/Current+Athletic+News/sports_item.htm?SportsID=934
Game 1 boxscore: http://www2.etbu.edu/content/sports/baseball/vsmil1.htm
Game 2 boxscore: http://www2.etbu.edu/content/sports/baseball/vsmil2.htm
Heading for Home:
A loss is a loss and a win is a win. But its nice to see OU at least competitive this year. As long as the pitchers keep you in the game they'll pull some of those close ones out..
Millsaps / ETBU:
Good gracious!!! How about some pitching please....I don't care how short the fences and how windy it is, you can still throw strikes and you can still hold teams under double digit runs!!
East Texas Baptist was 34-11 last year so they must have some talent but I wonder how much the home field played into the ETBU 2005 national rankings in the following stats:
BA -- 5th -- .359
Runs -- 12th -- 9.2 per game (Millsaps was 6th at 9.5 per game)
HR -- 4th -- 1.42 per game
Slug % -- 3rd -- .565
I'd like to see a breakdown of their numbers on the road vs. the numbers at home.
I believe that Millsaps' pitching will come around. The multi big innings for both Millsaps and East Texas Baptist in their weekend matchup would normally be considered unusual for most teams. But both of these clubs can apparently hit. While I can't speak at all for ETBU, Millsaps has consistently been known as a hitting team. Coach Page is a "let's try to get three outs as quick as possible and come in and hit" type of guy. But he certainly knows his pitching, too. In fact, the top three pitchers on the SCAC career wins list are all from Millsaps.
The Majors play Mississippi College Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson. The game will be the first Cowboy Maloney Series game of the season. Millsaps will be the home team.
The Cowboy Maloney Series is the annual baseball series between Jackson-area schools MC, Millsaps, and Belhaven. Each team will play the other three times, and the team with the best record at the completion of the series will be awarded the "Maloney Trophy." The Cowboy Maloney Series is sponsored by Cowboy Maloney's Electric City Superstores and owner Con Maloney, who is a Millsaps grad. The Maloney Trophy will be permanently displayed in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. An identical trophy will be given to the winning institution each year.
Millsaps won the inaugural Maloney series in 2002. MC won it in 2003 and 2004. Belhaven won in 2005.
The starting time on the Millsaps-MC game has been moved to 4:00. I have a feeling that a lot of folks won't know about the new time and they'll show up just in time for the 9th inning. The schedule on the MC and Millsaps websites still show 6:30 as the starting time.
Just got back from the Millsaps-Mississippi College game. Millsaps won 16-1, giving Coach Jim Page his 400 victory. I didn't get to the game until about the 6th and Millsaps was ahead 10-1 on the strength of two 5-run innings. John Fox was pitching at the time but I don't know if he started the game. He looked strong or else MC looked weak at the plate, maybe a combination of both. Fox for followed by Tal Hendrix and Tal's younger brother Tait pitched the 9th.
If anyone wants to discredit the following as the delusions of a fan then go ahead. The game was being played at Smith-Wills stadium, a minor league park designed for double-A ball. It's 330 down the left field line and 400 to center with two levels of advertising signs and a scoreboard above those in left-center field. In the 8th inning Garner Wetzel hit a ball over the scoreboard and the ball flight was more like a line drive than a fly ball. For those familiar with the Millsaps field, the ball would have landed somewhere near the middle of the soccer field that is behind the leftcenter fence. I don't know how far it actually went but it was hit harder than any thing I saw last season. It definitely made it worthwhile to stick around for the final innings of a blowout game.
Frank beat me to the board.....
Just heard about the Millsaps vs. MC game from assistant coach Cody McCain. John Fox did start the game and gave up 1 run on 4 hits. He gave up the one run and three of the hits in the first inning. Fox's performance was a nice confidence booster after he gave up 10 runs in 2/3 of an inning this past Saturday. Fox is a type of pitcher that is unhittable when throwing well. Today was one of those days.
Fox's pitching and Wetzel's homerun had scouts buzzing according to Coach McCain. Wetzel posted 6 RBI on the afternoon, raising his RBI total to 13. The Majors continue to swing hot bats......but their 19 runs per game average dipped a bit with only a 16 run outing today. ;)
Here's a brief writeup on the Millsaps game last night. No stories or box scores have been posted on the first three game on the Millsaps website or reported to the SCAC. Millsaps has home games with Hendrix this weekend but a fair amount of rain is in the forecast. Here's the link:
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060215/SPORTS030105/602150342/0/SPORTS
Baseball stats w/box scores are now up-to-date on the SCAC site for all games played through last night.
TU dropped a tough 4-3 decision at TLU yesterday. Looks like making comebacks and holding a lead are skills yet to be mastered by the Tigers.
It shows the value of a guy like Joe Brown. I'm going by recollection and not by a stat sheet, but it seems to me that he was tough on Millsaps and just about everyone else last year.
History,
"Holding a lead" in this case would be defined as: Bottom of the ninth, score tied 3-3, 2 outs, potential winning run on third base, first base is open, Tigers decide to pitch to Aaron Crais ??? True that Cannon the DH was up next, but with first base open "pitch to Aaron Crais" ??? (NOTE: Crais had already walked twice in the game, Cannon was 1-4 with a strikeout.)
Frank,
Absolutely, Joe Brown (The Wild Thing) could have changed the result of this game. How many times will this happen again this season ???
Wetzel is a man among boys, on another note I was was at the Emory/Washington&Lee game on tuesday and Emory has a lefty in the pen that transferred from TENNESSEE! He pitched in the college world series last year...Well, he only has one appearance: 2 Inn, 1 hit, 6 K's....by the way he's a senior and went to HS in Atlanta....very interesting. I remember a few years back their 3B transferred in from Baylor..he got drafted after his junior year and hit like .330 last year in his first pro summer...
I'm sure all of you reading this message board are planning to flock to Jackson for the weekend games vs. Hendrix. The games have been moved up a day because of the cold, wet weather predicted for the weekend. The new game times are:
Friday night: 6:30 PM (forecast is 42 degrees, 30% chance of rain)
Saturday afternoon: 1:00 PM (high for the day 43 degrees, 70% chance of rain)
Hendrix beats Millsaps 6-4 in SCAC opener!!!!
Details???
Hendrix 6 - Millsaps 4 Final (10 innings)
Not sure of any details other than what the box score shows on the SCAC website. Hendrix scored two runs in the top of the 10th and held Millsaps in check in the bottom half of the inning to claim the win.
Millsaps surged to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but the bats went silent after that. Hendrix tied the game with 3 runs in the 5th and took the lead on one run in the 6th. Millsaps then tied the game with a run in the bottm of the 8th.
Hendrix committed 2 errors compared to Millsaps' 3.
Both starting pitchers (Wooley for Hendrix (7 IP) and Kindler for Millsaps (5 IP)) allowed three earned runs.
Of interest, the Hendrix win is the first win against Millsaps in at least 25 games.....that dates back to the 2001 season. I can't find records before then on the SCAC site, so it could be more. That's an amazing statistic of consecutive games won against one team.
The Hendrix-Millsaps matchup was about pitching, weather and hitting, and to steal from Clint Eastwood, it was the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Pitching: Millsaps got their 3 runs in the first with the benefit of several walks and I think a hit batter. After that Wooley settled in and started finding the strike zone with some of the slowest pitches you'll ever see in college baseball. I'm not saying it was as slow as Rip Sewell's famous ephus pitch from the 1940's, but it sure looked slower than BP pitching. I don't know if it will be effective for an entire season but it had the hitter's offstride last night. Reliever Daniel Ward used the same style during his 3 innings so maybe that's a hint of what the SCAC can expect from the Hendrix pitching staff this season.
For Millsaps, Todd Kindler was okay but he wasn't the dominating pitcher that he has been in the past. Todd had a sore shoulder prior to the season and to my non-experienced eyes it just looked like he is a couple of weeks behind schedule. Tal Hendrix looked great with 10 KO's in his 5 innings. In the 2-run 10th he gave up 2 unearned runs and I'm don't think the ball was ever hit out of the infield.
Weather: It was nasty and the rest of the weekend looks like it will be worse. The wind was blowing hard from first towards third and I'm sure that just made the big sweeping pitch from Wooley more effective since he is a left handed pitcher. They might get a game in today but if not they will probably get it in on Sunday when the rain should be out of the way.
Hitting: Almost non-existant from both teams. There were 23 strikeouts in the game, 16 walks and only 13 hits. There was no rhythm to the game and neither team hit the ball very solid, even on the putouts. I remember very few balls actually getting out of the infield and only a handfull of hard hit balls. I think the poor hitting from both sides is more a reflection of the pitching and the weather than a lack of talent by the hitters on both sides.
All in all, it would have been a nice game to win but it isn't the end of the world. From an overall sports perspective, the bigger win last night was Millsaps over Hendrix in basketball but that's another topic for another board.
I'm just glad that Trinity and Rhodes had the good sense to postpone this years ICEBOWL games at Memphis. Nothing good can come out of a sub-freezing game. Get it on when the sun is shining and the sky is clear.
I just sat through the only 2 SCAC games on saturday at Oglethorpe...Light rain, a steady 10-15 mph wind and a 38 degree temp did not slow down any baseball in atlanta (well on this side of atlanta, as emory was washed out). The Petrels got their first win and had to earn it, they really have played decent baseball, better than their record shows. I think if the team they played wasn't from the other side of the country they would have probably cancelled these games....but....it was entertaining to say the least...my first baseball game watched from my drivers seat in my car.
Congrats to Oglethorpe on their first win of the year. It took a while but the Petrels finally got one. I was at the games on Staurday and it is true that the weather was awful. The Petrels did play well however and, despite their record, I'm really impressed with the team. They've got some good young talent and if Oglethorpe can overcome its history of retention problems the Petrels could develop into a solid program. Chris Thompson is a good first baseman with a solid approach at the plate and freshman Brandon Steen's ability to get himself around the bases was impressive. The pitching looked solid and it was definately good to see some ERAs below six when I looked at the stats. If the Petrels keep up the positive work ethic that could cause some problems by the time conference play rolls around.
Millsaps bounced back with a 6-2 victory over Hendrix Sunday afternoon. The weather was certainly non-baseball weather and each team only managed 5 hits. I wasn't at the game so all I know is what I saw on the SCAC baseball page (box score and brief Hendrix story).
Speaking of Hendrix, it looks like they are really working hard to upgrade their athletics. The basketball team and baseball team are young but seem to have a lot of potential and they are planning some major upgrades to their facilities that should help in building up their programs: http://www.hendrix.edu/athletics/athletics.aspx?id=1933
Nice to see the Petrels get the first win.....hope to see them play soon!!
Trinity defeats UMHB at Belton this afternoon 6-1.... more details when available
The box score of the Trinity game is on our Web site:
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/022106.htm
Oglethorpe won both games in a double hitter against Maryville
3 games in arow hey thats a winning streak
Game 1: 1-0
Game 2: 7-2
Quote from: HeadingForHome on February 21, 2006, 10:52:05 PM
Oglethorpe won both games in a double hitter against Maryville
3 games in arow hey thats a winning streak
Game 1: 1-0
Game 2: 7-2
I think you meant doubleheader... not double hitter.
Millsaps took a 3-1 win over local NAIA rival Belhaven College. The loss dropped Belhaven to 8-2 on the season and improved Millsaps to 4-2. I didn't see the game so I'll just post the links to the box score and the story and you can see all that I know about the game:
Story: http://blazers.belhaven.edu/baseball/default.htm
Box Score: http://blazers.belhaven.edu/baseball/stats/2006%20stats/Box%20Score%202.22.06.htm
Yo, Frank... The Millsaps boys are coming to SAT this weekend to face up with the TU Tigers.
What's your prediction?
I'm saying TU 2 out of 3.
Page will get ejected at least once, maybe twice and GW will leave with a <.300 weekend.....
Your predictions????
History,
I'll bite on the Millsaps vs. Trinity series......
Before my predictions, though, I will add my two cents about the Millsaps vs. Belhaven game from Wednesday night.....was probably my only chance to see Millsaps play this year....living on the west coast now prohibits my viewing of Millsaps' athletics.
Belhaven is a very good NAIA team who beat #1 ranked Delta State of the D II ranks earlier this year. Good pitching ruled the evening for both teams.....Millsaps took advantage of minimal opportunities to win. Millsaps pitched by committee with five or six different pitchers getting hill time.
As for this weekend.....
I say Millsaps takes two of three unless Millsaps wins both Saturday games, in which case Millsaps will win all three. Millsaps' John Fox, if he can get out of the first inning should be dominant for the 7 inning game on Saturday. John hit 94 mph on the radar gun repeatedly last night. In the second game, Millsaps' Todd Kindler should keep Trinity hitters off balance if he can keep the ball low in the strike zone....if he elevates the baseball then Trinity might have a leg up in the nightcap. Tal Hendrix will start the third game for Millsaps. He looked really good against Belhaven last night. He'll be good for about five frames, then the bullpen will be a factor late on Sunday afternoon.
Wetzel will hit over .300 for the weekend......with 2 homeruns. But watch for left fielder Jaso Hadley and DH Scott King to have a good weekend, too.
As for Coach Page, who loves the umpires in San Antonio......he will most definitely be tossed at least once. We had a nice talk about patience last night after the game. He says he's been working on it for his trips to Texas this year.
I appeal to TrinitySID to let us know when and for what reason Page got the ole heave-ho.
I didn't see the livestat link the first time I looked on the Trinity site but they are up and running now. Millsaps won the first game 9-3, had a 2-0 lead after the first in the nightcap. Here's the link:
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/06livestats/xlive.htm
Millsaps finished up with 2 wins in today's doubleheader. I think the second game was 10-4 or 9-4. Kindler got the win with several innings of scoreless relief from freshman Tait Hendrix.
Consultant mentioned how well John Fox has been throwing this season. In the 7 inning first game Fox went 6 2/3 innings with a no-hitter--gave up a single--left with runners on 1st and 2nd (a walked batter earlier in the inning) and Trinity got a 3-run homer off of the Millsaps reliever.
Here's a link to the Trinity baseball website for more info:
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/
Consultant and Frank.... I yield to your wisdom! It was clear today that Page is stacked, and Scannel is flat. The Majors were ON... great pitching, timely hitting, great fundamentals.... if it weren't for two bad pitches (golpher-balls), they would have shut out TU twice.
Tu needs to sharpen up the pitching,,, get fundamental on O and D,,, and find some consistent hitting.... Tomorrow Bignal tries to salvage 1 out of 3...
Stay tuned... Anyway, great job by the Majors today in SAT!
Trinity 4 -- Millsaps 2 Final
Trinity's four runs off four hits on Sunday afternoon were enough to defeat visiting Millsaps 4-2 as the Tigers salvaged the final game of a three-game series with the Majors. Millsaps helped Trinity's cause by stranding 12 base runners during their 10 hit effort and by committing four errors. Drew Bignall pitched 5 and 2/3 innings for Trinity and gave up two runs off seven hits to pick up the win. Millsaps' starter Tal Hendrix lasted just 3 and 2/3 innings and gave up three runs off of two hits in enduring the loss. With the victory, Trinity improves to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the SCAC. Millsaps falls to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in SCAC play.
Just for the sake of curiosities on this board, Coach Page was very well-behaved this trip (as well as his last, I might add), and didn't even come close to getting run.
I was impressed with Millsaps hitters this weekend, by the way. More so on Saturday than today, but overall, it seemed like they hit the ball solid in most of their ABs.
TUSid,
Thanks for the updates about the Millsaps' bats and Coach Page. I heard Page was very well behaved. For all who might care, Coach has his moments with umpires, and his most memorable moments with umpires have come in San Antonio. These moments, though, have certainly decreased in frequency over the last several years, and Millsaps very much enjoys the trip to San Antonio.
Congrats to your basketball teams for getting bids to the tourney!
Trinity came back from a 3-0 deficit to defeat Shreiner 9-3. Will Becker hit a HR in the win.
DPU beat Marian 7-6 yesterday. 7 errors in the game, DPU making 4 of them. Needless to say, struggled in the field a little. My first look at DPU this year, and they look kinda rusty early in the year, but it was good to see the bats finally come around a little bit. DPU 3-2 on the year.
(El Tea Gray--re: Trinity vs. Rhodes reschedule)
If the weather allows, the Tigers and Lynx have scheduled one of their make-up games this Fri. 3/3, 7:00 p.m. at USA Stadium in Millington, TN. Of interest, this site was formerly (1986-1996) used for USA Olympic Baseball training.
The remaining four games of the season series are to be scheduled for Fri.-Sun., 3/24-3/26, in San Antonio.
Ah, yes,,, been there... the 2000 SCAC Spring Sports Festival (baseball tourney) was held there.
I seem to recall Coach Page's performance as being one to remember (or forget).
Nice park in the middle of nowhere! (Thanks for reminding me dirty_south)
That wild and crazy Coach Page won another game yesterday. Millsaps beat Huntingdon College 16-5. Huntingdon came into the game at 7-0, including 2 wins over Oglethorpe and 2 wins over Sewanee.
All the info I have is an abreviated box score and a brief story that was in our local paper. Millsaps had 21 hits including 3 doubles and a triple by Derrick Boland and a grand slam by Justin Carter. It looks like Hutzel gave up 4 runs in the 1st for Millsaps and then Ingram and Mizerany only gave up 1 run in relief (8 inning game--10 run rule).
The box score isn't up yet but here's the link to the Huntingdon website and you can check it later if you want to see all of the stats:
http://www.huntingdon.edu/athletics/mens_athletics/baseball/schedule_and_scores
Looks like Millsaps got a quality road win at Huntingdon. Thanks to Frank for the update.
History, as for Coach Page's infamous episode at Millington......I remember the evening well....I was a sophomore with a lot more baseball to learn. This happened in the middle of a stretch of seasons when there was no love lost between the Majors and Tigers. Coach Scannell was the new guy on the block, and he and Page squared off in a battle of wills. Page and Scannell both contributed to that ordeal. I'll always defend Page, and I do know that he was provoked that night. Things are quite different now between the baseball programs at Trinity and Millsaps. The players for each team have mutual respect for each other. Both teams play hard, and there is no longer any distracting jibberrish that comes from the dugouts. Plus, Page and Scannell are very good friends as baseball coaches go.
(El Tea Gray--re: More on the game changes)
Due to possible bad weather in the Conway area, the Trinity Baseball Tigers will not travel to Arkansas this week-end. Therefore, forget the rescheduled game with Rhodes on Friday night at Millington,TN and the two single day games at Hendrix on Saturday and Sunday.
Instead, Hendrix will travel to San Antonio for a double-header with the Tigers this Sat., 3/4 starting at 2:00 p.m., and a single game this Sun., 3/5 starting at noon.
All is well that ends well (we can hope) :)
Interesting matchup this weekend between Southwestern and Millsaps in Jackson. Doubleheader on Saturday and single game on Sunday. The Pirates typically play well against the Majors home or away.
Previous season breakdowns......head to head regular season wins/losses between Southwestern vs. Millsaps back to 2001 season:
2005: Southwestern won 4 out of 5
2004: Millsaps won 4 out of 5
2003: Millsaps won 3 out of 5
2002: Southwestern won 4 out of 5
2001: Southwestern won 4 out of 5 (this was the year Millsaps swept everyone else in conference play)
ETG... I like the 'flexibility' shown by Hendrix and TU... Maybe DPU football should take a lesson.
Quote from: historymajor on March 03, 2006, 06:22:38 PM
ETG... I like the 'flexibility' shown by Hendrix and TU... Maybe DPU football should take a lesson.
Oh, for Christ sake, get over yourself.
Wow,,, arms and bats came alive today for TU (all right it was Hendrix), but Brian Oates pitched a no-hitter in the first game (7 innings)
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-HC.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/hc-tu.htm
and Chuck Huggins followed with a 1 hitter (a mercy rule 21-0,, and the reserve first baseman 'ole'ed' one with one out in the 7th).
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-HC2.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/hc-tu2.htm
Bignall is scheduled to close it out tomorrow.
So close.... does anyone remember 2 no-hitters in a doubleheader????
Oh,,, it appears DPU is still sensitive about the football cancellation and failure to reschedule... I'm over it,,, you're not! Maybe Hendrix needs to take lessons from DPU!
Quote from: historymajor on March 04, 2006, 09:28:53 PM
Oh,,, it appears DPU is still sensitive about the football cancellation and failure to reschedule... I'm over it,,, you're not! Maybe Hendrix needs to take lessons from DPU!
If you're so 'over it', why even bring it up? That's really weak.
DPU 8, Benedictine 4 today - to keep board activity baseball related. PJ Mitchell took a no-no into the 8th and fanned 10.
Everyone knows that 'lefty's' are wierd.... get over it..., I am.
Millsaps took 2 from Southwestern Saturday afternoon, 11-4 and 7-6. The two teams play a single game today at 1. There's a brief story and links to the box scores on the Southwestern website: http://www.southwestern.edu/athletics/
Millsaps won today's single game against Southwestern 13-2 in a game that was called for the 10-run rule in the 7th inning. Millsaps had 8 runs in the bottom of the 1st which included a hit batsman, 2 walks, 2 infield errors, a wild pitch, and 4 hits. It was not the type of inning you would expect from a Southwestern team. The box score and play-by-play are posted on the Southwestern website (see link in previous post).
Trinity finished off the Hendrix weekend series with a mercy rule shortened 10-0 2 hitter from Bignall. Nick Vera went 4-5 with a homer and two doubles.
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/hc-tu3.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-HC3.htm
J.T. Baker of Oglethorpe struck out 9 in 4.2 innings and had a perfect game going until an arm problem made him leave the game. OU went on to win 11-2 over a good Denison team who just swept LaGrange the day before in a doubleheader.
OU/Sewanee open up SCAC EAST Conference play on March 10th, 11th and 12th at The 'Thorpe.
In that win over Denison the SCAC All-Time 3-point king Josh Burr went 2-4 including his first home run in his college career...
Could a weekend series get more brutal than the Trinity-Hendrix matchup over the weekend? Trinity outscored Hendrix 35-0 and Hendrix only had 3 hits over the weekend. Hendrix is a young team but I think they have more talent at the plate than what they showed this past weekend.
I also think Southwestern is better than what they showed this weekend but they are going to struggle against the better teams if they don't improve their fielding. Southwestern had 13 errors this weekend compared to 2 for Millsaps. I'm not sure if it mattered in the 11-4 loss but it was a major factor in the 7-6 loss and then it took all the life out of SW when they committed 2 errors that helped Millsaps score 8 runs in the 1st inning of the last game.
Dirty South,
Do you know anything yet on what exactly happened to Baker? Will he be able to go this weekend?
With basketball over I now have some time to take photographs of the spring sports. This weekend was hectic and I was taking photos of 4 different sports, but I did get photos from the Sunday baseball game between Millsaps and Southwestern. I've given up on trying to find the time to add captions to the photos. Here's the link to the main menu and you'll see the baseball link and then the link for the Southwestern game:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v283/Millsaps_Majors/
I recommend taking the slideshow option and it will go through all of the photos or you can click on any of the small photos to bring up the full size photo.
Millsaps only scored in one inning but that was a 17-run 5th in a 17-3 victory over Piedmont College. I only saw the last couple of innings so I missed the fireworks but it included grand slams by Luke Morrow and Garner Wetzel. Tait Hendrix got the start and the win.
Millsaps upped their record to 11-3 and Piedmont fell to 6-5. Of some minor interest, two of Piedmont's wins this year were against Adrian College, the team that eliminated Millsaps at the regionals in 2005. Of more minor interest, Millsaps has played well against a good non-conference schedule. They are 1-0 against 14-4 Belhaven College and 8-2 Huntingdon College, and they split 1-1 with 8-2-1 East Texas Baptist. Those schools are a combined 29-5-1 in their non-Millsaps games and 1-3 vs. Millsaps.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 07, 2006, 07:48:43 PM
Millsaps only scored in one inning but that was a 17-run 5th in a 17-3 victory over Piedmont College. I only saw the last couple of innings so I missed the fireworks but it included grand slams by Luke Morrow and Garner Wetzel. Tait Hendrix got the start and the win.
Millsaps upped their record to 11-3 and Piedmont fell to 6-5. Of some minor interest, two of Piedmont's wins this year were against Adrian College, the team that eliminated Millsaps at the regionals in 2005. Of more minor interest, Millsaps has played well against a good non-conference schedule. They are 1-0 against 14-4 Belhaven College and 8-2 Huntingdon College, and they split 1-1 with 8-2-1 East Texas Baptist. Those schools are a combined 29-5-1 in their non-Millsaps games and 1-3 vs. Millsaps.
That bodes well for Millsaps... looks like they may be the team to beat down south. Is Wetzel the real deal??
The Rockies must have thought Garner was the real deal last year and I don't think he has done anything this year that would change that opinion. It must be tough for the pro scout to project major league potential when the prospects are all using metal bats. In the case of Garner, he hits the ball so darn hard that I guess they think he'll be a successful hitter when he switches over to wood bats. It's nice to have him in the middle of the Millsaps lineup for one more year.
Trinity put a thumping on Concordia (NE) last night in SAT. A four hitter this time, Adam Frey only gave up one hit in five innings... got the win. TU 12 - CUNE 3
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/cune-tu.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-CUNE.htm
Franklin and Marshall comes to town (from Lancaster, PA) for three this weekend.... I see they're favored to win their conference in PA.... anybody know anything more about them?
With Franklin and Marshall just starting their season (1-1 record), it might look like a mismatch for them to come down and play a Trinity team that is playing well and is well into its season.
However, the Franklin and Marshall win was an 11-1 victory over preseason #7 Alvernia with F&M getting 18 hits. It will make for an interesting matchup in San Antonio.
In totally unrelated news, Millsaps won 16-4 last night in 7-innings against Rust College. I haven't seen a box score but I suspect it was a game with many non-starters coming in mid-way through the game. Millsaps plays at Rhodes this weekend.
Sounds like F&M should be a great test for TU's pitching staff.... stay tuned.
TU split today with a talented squad from F&M....
TU won with Brian Oates prevailing in game one... 6-1
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/fmu-tu1.htm
F&M found their game in the second and beat TU 7-5
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/fmu-tu2.htm
Rubber game tomorrow... Bignall takes the hill at 1PM
TU more than atoned for the loss yesterday to F&M handing them a 15-3 shellacking. Drew Bignall went seven giving up only 4 hits and 1 earned run with 7 K's.
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/06livestats/xlive.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-FMC3.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/fmu-tu3.htm
F&M is a fine club and should go far this year. The players, coaches and fans were a class bunch!
TU seems like they have found 3 solid starting pitchers and that's going to make them very tough for the rest of the year. It looks like the loss came primarily from one inning of walks and wild pitches, otherwise TU would have had a sweep this weekend.
Millsaps and Rhodes split in a couple of games that were similar to the Millsaps vs. East Texas Baptist games that opened the season. Rhodes took the opener on Saturday 10-8 and Millsaps came back on Sunday for a 22-11 win. Look under schedule/results on the Rhodes baseball page for the box scores:
http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/
Frank... I'd say!
Player ERA W-L
Brian Oates........... 0.57 3-0
Drew Bignall.......... 2.19 3-1
Chuck Huggins...... 3.86 2-1
--------------
Jonathan Scudder. 0.00 0-0
Ryan Poffenroth.... 0.00 0-0
Matt Berning......... 0.00 0-0
Britton Horn.......... 2.13 1-1
John Allen............. 2.45 0-0
Evan Bronson....... 2.89 0-0
Adam Frey........... . 3.38 1-1
Ryan Hopkins....... 5.19 0-1
Totals.............. 2.34 10-5
Opponents........... 7.33 5-10
Trinity got all over UW-Stout early on route to a 16-2 pasting last night. Possibly an example of North (no games) schools, vs South (almost mid-season)....
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/uws-tu.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-UWS.htm
It certainly helps to have 15 games under your belt plus a lot of outdoor practices when you play a team that is opening the season and has probably done most of their workouts indoors.
That being said, Trinity started off the season 2-4 and now has gone 9-1 over the last 10 games. During that stretch that have only given up 21 runs with 7 of those runs coming in the 7-5 loss and no more than 3 runs given up in any of the other 9 games. They have scored 102 runs including 10 or more in 5 of the games. They are clearly the hottest team in the SCAC.
But, with that being said, they have had the advantage of playing at home during this entire stretch, having now played 12 straight at home. They go on the road to play Concordia and then they return home for 10 more games. I wonder if playing 22 out of 23 games at home in the middle of the season will be a problem when Trinity has to go on the road to play. It's just something to keep an eye on as the season unfolds.
Frank,,, no question that 'home cooking' is a factor in Trinity's successes so far. The Rhodes postponement and the Hendrix flip-flop are contributing factors also... It'll be a strain to play so many of the late season games on the road, but I think that the deep pitching staff will prove even more important in that stretch of the season.
Quote from: historymajor on March 14, 2006, 08:22:41 AM
Trinity got all over UW-Stout early on route to a 16-2 pasting last night. Possibly an example of North (no games) schools, vs South (almost mid-season)....
Many northern schools' first days outside are the day before the season opener when they go down south. I played one year where our practice was rained out and our first day outside was our season opener... very tough on outfielders.
Historymajor, I found something of interest that seems to have slipped by the Trinity website and everyone else. Nick Vera was named as honorable mention for the national hitter of the week award given by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. It was for the week of 2/27 through 3/5. Here's a link:
http://odac.bridgewater.edu/div3base/2006/stories/pow.htm
Press release from TU:
AUSTIN – The Concordia Tornados beat the Trinity Tigers 9-6 Tuesday in a non-conference baseball game at Keller-Fasholz Field.
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/cua-tu.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-CUA.htm
Trinity (11-6) fell behind after a two-run homer by Concordia in the bottom of the first inning. The Tigers rallied with a single run in the third inning followed by three total in the fifth and six to take a 4-2 lead. Concordia (10-8) exploded for seven runs in the sixth inning and took control of the game. Trinity added two runs in the eighth inning and brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but could not extend the game.
Millsaps defeated Huntingdon last night 5-4, scoring a run in the bottom of the 9th for the victory. It was a well played baseball game between two very good teams. Adding to the atmosphere of the game was about 100 kids who had participated in the Spring Break baseball camp--there was no trouble finding someone to chase after foul balls.
Millsaps went with a pitch by committee approach and only gave up 1 earned run. Tal Hendrix pitched to one batter (4-4 game, two runners on base) but it was the last out in the top of the 9th so he came away with the victory. He has pitched well in previous games and still picked up the loss so it was time for him to get a victory in a close game. The game ended with John Pacillo scoring on a wild pitch after he had opened the inning with a double, been sacrificed to third by Nicky Prather, and then the bases were loaded with walks to Nick Crawford and Jason Hadley. The win moves Millsaps to 14-4 and Huntingdon drops to 11-3. Link to stats: http://www.huntingdon.edu/athletics/mens_athletics/baseball/box_scores/03_15_06_msp
Additional stuff for those who care:
1) In the bottom of the 8th Wetzel got the green light on a 3-0 pitch in a 4-4 game with a runner on 3rd. He lined a bullet straight to the left fielder. I was standing by the Huntingdon dugout when they came in from the field. They were obviously impressed by the line out. I heard the comments, "He couldn't have hit that ball any harder than that" and "If he had gotten under that ball it would have gone 550 feet" among other statements. I've heard similar quotes from other visiting teams when taking photos near their dugout. Wetzel doesn't get many home runs because he rarely hits fly balls but apparently his bat speed is about as good as you'll find in college baseball.
2) In the 9th inning John Pacillo led off with a double which was huge. Nicky Prather moved Pacillo over with a sac. bunt and that was equally huge. I was listening to the Huntingdon coach go over the options and there were so many things that were in play because of the successful sacrifice, one of which was the opportunity to score on a wild pitch which is how the game ended. Doing the little things right is so often the key to success.
3) As far as non-conference games go, this was a big win. It would be nice if Millsaps puts themselves in a position to get an at large invite to the NCAA Tournament if they don't win the SCAC Tournament. Huntingdon is 11-3 with an 0-2 record to Millsaps and 1-1 against Sewanee. Huntingdon has victories over Methodist College, Bridgewater College, and Thomas More College, teams we don't see much in this area. It gives a selection committe a better point of reference--Millsaps beat Huntingdon, Huntingdon beat so-and-so, etc.
4) And finally, Millsaps host Illinois Wesleyan for 2 games this weekend. They were ranked 13th in the preseason so this will be a big series for Millsaps. Two wins this weekend would go a long way come tournament selection time.
Frank, the Baseball Handbook 2006 has not been released. However, I do not believe that baseball is different from basketball. This game will no impact on the formal criteria, because it is not an in-region game.
(The 2005 Handbook is not showing up on the NCAA site either.)
Ralph, it goes without saying that you know far, far more about how this all works than I do. It sounds like winning (or losing) to teams outside your region have no bearing on NCAA bids. It's a shame if that's the case and it doesn't seem like that's the way it works in the larger divisions, but I guess D3 must be considered as regional rather than national. I'm sure that both team will still be working their hardest to win the games this weekend.
Frank, this "regional criteria for a national championship" is what the CCIW, the WIAC, the MIAA, the NCAC and the OAC fans are squealing about in basketball.
I need to check this year's Handbook to see if there is a provision for the Last Quarter of the Season/Last 10 games.
Otherwise, why does IWU come south to get beat up by schools that have already played one-quarter of the season? Millsaps gets a good opponent, and the IWU gets quality competition to get his team into shape.
I know that the region games are supposed to have the biggest impact on the selections, but I have sat in on a Regional Meeting and they certainly do talk about wins and losses from outside the region... in some way it does have an impact if only to decide between two or three evenly rated in-region teams. I think that it should be that way.... at least for the Pool B and Pool C teams.
Teams should be rewarded for playing tougher games down south rather than scheduling cupcakes early in the season. I know this does not really affect the southern school but the cold weather teams are hugely affected by this.
I have the photos from the Huntingdon vs. Millsaps game posted. The following link is for the photo website--click on the Baseball 2006 link, and then click on the Huntingdon photo album. Click on the small photos to get the full size photos.
Link: http://photobucket.com/albums/v283/Millsaps_Majors/
The Saturday game between Illinois Wesleyan and Millsaps has been cancelled due to rain. The teams will play a doubleheader tomorrow starting at 2:00. If the Millsaps field is unplayable tomorrow, they will move over to Smith-Wills stadium, a minor league stadium in Jackson with artificial turf.
TU handled SW 10-4 this afternoon... Brian Oates gave up 4 runs in 5 innings and Blake Holman homered twice...
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/su-tu.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-SU.htm
Sounds like a couple of truckers talking on their CB's.... 10-4,,, 10-4... that was the score of both TU-SW games this weekend...
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/su-tu2.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-SU2.htm
The Pirates have had some bad luck this year with injuries and other things... Maybe they'll finish strong.
I glad to know that the Illinois Wesleyan games don't have any impact on NCAA bids since Millsaps lost both games this weekend. The Saturday game was cancelled but then the decision was made to play and IW came away with a 10-8 win on a cold, wet day. Sunday was a worse day and I didn't think there was any way that the teams would play but the SCAC scoreboard shows that IW won another close game, taking an 8-7 victory over Millsaps.
There's a story on the Millsaps website for the Saturday game but no box score. On the IW website they have no results or box scores for any of the games this season. Millsaps plays Mississippi College this Tuesday evening.
Frank,
Box scores are now posted on the SCAC site for both IWU/Millsaps games,
Game 1 - http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/mc19.htm
Game 2 - http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/mc20.htm
as well as all other games from the weekend (except for 4 Centre games - not yet received).
TU bested Concordia, TX 7-5 tonite. Britton Horn got the "W" and Adam Frey the "S".
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-CUA2.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/cua-tu2.htm
Millsaps beat Mississippi College 5-4 in 10 innings last night. It keeps Millsaps in the lead for the Con Maloney trophy, and annual competition between Millsaps, MC, and Belhaven College. Here's the story and a link to the box score from the Mississippi College website:
http://athletics.mc.edu/baseball/index.html
Millsaps plays at Rust College in Holly Springs, MS this Friday and then they go to Hendrix for a 3-game weekend series.
TU cruised by Carleton (MN) 4-1, and 13-2 Wed nite. Stats/box
Game 1:
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/car-tu.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-CAR.htm
Game 2:
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/car-tu2.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-CAR2.htm
TU put it on Doane (NAIA) NE this afternoon... 20-0... ouch!!!!
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-DC.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/dc-tu.htm
This sets up the crucial 4 game weekend marathon with Rhodes tomorrow....
It should be an interesting weekend at Trinity. Rhodes has the best record in the SCAC at 17-4 which is slightly better than Trinity at 17-6 and Millsaps at 15-6. I'm not sure when Rhodes last went to the SCAC Tournament but they have a good chance of being in the top three in the West this year if they don't stumble this weekend.
Frank,
To answer your question, Rhodes has never been...the only school in the SCAC that has never qualified for the postseason conference baseball tournament.
Rhodes didn't look like a post-season qualifying team as they got whacked by TU 9-0 in the weekend opener...
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/rc-tu.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-RC.htm
Looks like tomorrows starters will be Oates and Huggins.... stay tuned...
TU controlled the series with a 4-1 first game victory over Rhodes in game 1 and followed that up with a 14-3 mercy rule second game...
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/rc-tu2.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/rc-tu3.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-RC2.htm
Millsaps won at Rust on Friday and took two at Hendrix on Saturday. They will play a single game against Hendrix today.
It certainly appears that Trinity is playing the best ball in the SCAC at the moment. The one x-factor in that statement is that Trinity has had the luxury of playing 21 of their last 22 games at home. They lost the one road game during that stretch and are only 2-3 on the road but that doesn't mean much since those games were so early in the season. It all should make for some great baseball when Trinity visits Millsaps next weekend.
(El Tea Gray---re: Trinity vs. Rhodes in San Antonio)
The Tigers won the weekend series from Rhodes 3 games to 1 and thus clinched the 2006 season series; games #2 and #3 were played as Rhodes home games to make up for the earlier ppd. bad weather games. A game #5 may be played when the Tigers travel for their weekend games at Hendrix.
Rhodes scrapped back to win game four or the weekend series..
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/rc-tu4.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-RC3.htm
I pundited the first baseball poll and Regional Polls on the milti-region board.
Comments invited. ;)
http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=4159.45
Ralph--I had to dig around to find a link to the poll. Here it is for those who want to add it to their favorites:
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/abcapoll.html
(El Tea Gray---re: Trinity #18)
Ralph,
Re: your research/comments on the Tiger's ranking; could their "RA of 88" in their "27 games" have something to do with this ranking?
Is it "good pitching'' that trumps "good hitting" or the reverse; I can't remember exactly how that old saying goes?
Seriously? :-\
Looks like the Majors could not get on track last night. Had a chance in the 8th, but flied out with bases loaded to end the inning. Here is a link to the story on Belhaven's website, nothing yet on Millsaps' or in the local paper.
http://blazers.belhaven.edu/baseball/default.htm
ETG, good morning!
I have had a chance to research the nature of that baseball poll in the last 36 hours.
It seems that it is the results of 7 ballots, and does not imply the use of any specific criteria.
It is not the official NCAA Regional Ranking, the results of which should come out in the first rankings on 20April06.
That being said, then I can see why Trinity gets its first nod in the "beauty" contest. The West Region Independents, CSU-East Bay and Chapman, deserve to be there, as does the #1 in the NWC George Fox, the SCIAC's Redlands and TLU. Trinity is a good choice for the 6th.
It is good that we see TU vs. McM and HSU this spring. The runs allowed is a nice number, but I think that TU has not played as challenging a West Region schedule. Time will tell... :)
TU defeats UMHB 11-3 to go 21-7 this season...
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/baseball/statistics/mhb-tu2.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-MHB2.htm
Tuesday's McMurry at Southwestern game was postponed by rain.
My hiatus from the board has come to an end.
Big two game series between Trinity and Millsaps in Jackson this weekend.
Thoughts?
McMurry 12, at Southwestern 2.
McMurry takes the season series 2-0.
The TU-Millsaps series this weekend will 'set the table' for the SCAC tourney... indeed TU's scheduling shuffles have kept them home.... now on their first roadtrip in awhile,,, they'll have to be ready to rumble!
Report from Jackson,,, Millsaps won opener 12-7 in the sixth...seems TU gave up lots of walks and hit batters,,, Hadley had a 3 run homer in the 1st for Millsaps and Vera countered with two of his own... Bignall took the loss, Jon Allen pitched from the fifth and shut down Millsaps... Trinity had 13 hits accounting for it's seven runs and Millsaps had 11 hits...
Millsaps did most of their offensive damage with an 8-run third. It seems like they had 4 or 5 doubles in the inning along with a couple of intentional walks, etc. That put the lead at 10-1 with all of those runs coming off of Drew Bignall. Millsaps picked up single runs in the 4th and 5th and Trinity whittled away at the score by bits and pieces but they never really threatened to put together the really big inning they needed late in the game.
Todd Kindler got the win to push his record to 5-1. Drew Maddox got the save with several good innings that were marred only by a 2-run homer by Vera. The two teams play a single game tomorrow at 1. I'm not sure if John Fox will start that game or not. He has a sore ankle which I'm guessing he would pitch on if this was the SCAC Tournament but they might want to give it more rest since Millsaps is now guaranteed to win the head-to-head with Trinity in the regular season.
(El Tea Gray---re:Starting Pitchers/Big Innings)
Trinity giving up a seven-run inning vs. Concordia-Austin (there) and now an eight-run inning vs. Millsaps (there); can this be stopped? Starting pitcher selection on "the road" is not necessarily the same as the regular rotation for home games.
Tigers, let's do something about this! :-[
If the records on the SCAC baseball homepage are accurate, and if my math is correct:
A Millsaps win tomorrow vs. Trinity or a Southwestern loss to Rhodes tomorrow will clinch a berth in the SCAC baseball tournament for the Majors.
There has been alot of talk about the west side of the SCAC
Does anyone know much of what is going on in the east?
I've noticed on the SCAC website that Depauw and Centre split 2 - 2
that Sewanee won 3 against Oglethorpe
Rose-Hulman won the first 2 games today against Centre
Oglethorpe leads the series against Depauw 2 - 1 Even with a 19 - 5 drubbing Depauw over Oglethorpe
I am wondering if anyone has news or anything on any of the East Games?
Final TU 8 MC 4.... After trailing 4-2 in the middle of 4 on a Millsaps Luke Morrow grand slam off Huggins, TU battled back with two 2-run homers by Cavan and Holman to take an 8-4 lead into the eigth. Adam Frey closed out the win for TU.
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Statistics/mc-tu5.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-MC5.htm
Again, if my math is correct.......
With the Southwestern loss to Rhodes this afternoon, Millsaps has clinched a berth in the SCAC baseball tournament. Even if Millsaps were to lose out and Southwestern were to win out thus causing Millsaps and Southwestern to have identical conference records, Millsaps would advance to the tournament because they took the season series from Southwestern.
Maybe this is a post for the polls board, but what does Millsaps have to do to receive a higher ranking on the poll? Looks like its games against Emory could really help make a point.
As I posted on the Polls board, I really don't place much credence in the ABCA Poll.
Only 8 voters, no distinction in D3 vs all games, no focus on in-region which is the real issue for D3.
I encourage any poster to read the Handbook (on the Uselful links board), work out the in-region games (SCAC plus South, Mid-east or West Region opponents and any 200-mile opponents) and post them here.
Regarding in-region games... what about games played versus schools less than 200 miles aways, but the games were played down south on a road trip... do those count as in-region games? Just a thought.
The rules on in-region are as follows (as I understand them):
1) All Conference games are in-region.
2) West Region opponents are in the Handbook. They are in-region. (They did leave out UT-Tyler which is 3rd-year provisional and their games count as in-region). Any game amongst in-region opponents counts regardless of the venue of the game. CSU-EB vs. Chapman in Florida counts.)
3) Practically speaking, there are no 200-mile radius contests imaginable. (Only Miss College and Millsaps, that I can think of!)
Quote from: BigPoppa on April 04, 2006, 12:35:47 PM
Regarding in-region games... what about games played versus schools less than 200 miles aways, but the games were played down south on a road trip... do those count as in-region games? Just a thought.
Yes, they count. If you're Carthage, for example, and you play UW-Whitewater, it would be a regional game if you played in Kenosha, Whitewater, Duluth, Los Angeles, Cocoa Beach, etc.
Pat and Ralph... thanks for the info. You guys are really on top of the rules.
Schreiner beats Trinity 4-3! (http://athletics.schreiner.edu/Baseball/default.htm) Good win for the Mountaineers!
That also really helps the ASC teams when it comes to selections.
Trinity hosts McMurry tomorrow.
Wow, nice job Trinity. Just when you get ranked pretty high you go and lose to a team that was 5-21 :o
Not the best way to live up to your ranking...
Quote from: Rick Vaughn on April 04, 2006, 09:44:16 PM
Wow, nice job Trinity. Just when you get ranked pretty high you go and lose to a team that was 5-21 :o
Not the best way to live up to your ranking...
... on any given day.....
I remember one year Trinity beat Notre Dame (yes, TU was D3 at the time). Baseball's a funny game.
Here is the link to the Millsaps game from last night. The Majors pulled out a nice win against Belhaven last night, have not tallied it up, but this may lock up the Maloney Series for Millsaps.
It is the annual series played between Millsaps, Mississippi College and Belhaven.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060405/SPORTS030105/60405002/1085/SPORTS
That did clinch the trophy for the Majors, leaving them with a 4-1 record with one game to play and Belhaven and MC both have 3 losses. I have some good photos of the team receiving the trophy and posing with the trophy but I don't have them posted. I'll try to get them on the website before this weekend. (actually, I do have one photo posted but I'll get the whole bunch posted soon)
The photos from the Trinity games are now on the Millsaps photo site:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Millsaps_Majors/
What a difference a day makes, eh Ralph??? After getting caught with only a partial roster at Schreiner yesterday (because of the early start,,, some of the starters couldn't get out of classses and two pitchers started in the outfield) .... Don't you love DIII???... well the pitchers filled the field spots and when they came out in favor of the position players, they couldn't be used as pitchers... well you get the picture!
Anyway McM came to SAT and got spanked 12-0... Adam Frey went six strong innings and only gave up 4 hits... striking out 8.
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/06livestats/xlive.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-MCM.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/mcm-tu.htm
(El Tea Gray---re: Trinity 12 vs. McMurry 0)
History,
I saw the game and IMHO it was the Tigers most solid performance of the season; both pitching and hitting looked great. The team appears to be rounding into conference playoff shape.
Also, what have you heard the weather is supposed to be like in Memphis, TN and Conway, AR for this weekend (Fri., Sat., Sun.). The Weather Channel keeps talking about Weather Warnings with wind, thunderstorms and possible tornado activity. Do you think the games could once again be moved to San Antonio (hot and dry, really dry)?
Yeah, history, I posted my thoughts on the ASC board. Gee, it is comforting that Trinity thought it appropriate to put it all together today! Glad to oblige! ::)
Mud-face ugly! McMurry doesn't have the pitching staff that I would like. To go deep in the playoffs, you must have plenty of pitching, plenty of pitching, defense and plenty of pitching.
Did I mention that I don't think that we have enough pitching? ???
RHP Richard Burriss is a junior 2-VL man who is still picking up weekday roles and so he may be inconsistent at times. :-\
Adam Frey just shut down our bats badly! :(
ETG... I was glad to see (not yet hear) the Tigers bounce back today! I'm not sure about weather predicions are all about, but I'm sure we'll have to travel there to find out the weather predictions for this weekend)... anyway Millsaps has earned the drivers seat for the SCAC tourney and we'll just have to beat them in Sewanee to assure a bid.
Historymajor and I have different definitions of the term "driver's seat". With Millsaps at 11-4, Trinity at 10-4 and Rhodes at 8-5, there's a lot of doubt on how the final seeding will be at the tournament. Rhodes still has one game left with Trinity and 3 with Millsaps so they are right in the hunt even though they are 3 back in the win column.
Of course, last year Millsaps had an advantage being the 3rd seed from the West even though that meant a tougher 1st round game so winning the SCAC West might not be an advantage when a team gets to Sewanee.
TU starts a road weekend tonight with a 'make-up' game against Rhodes at Millington's USA baseball park at 7pm. Hmmm... fly to LIT, drive to MEM,,, play at 7pm... drive back to MEM (short night)... Play Hendrix at 1pm Saturday and Sunday... Guess we'll find out how well they 'travel'...
As long as they do better than the Spurs ... ;)
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 06, 2006, 01:17:43 AM
Yeah, history, I posted my thoughts on the ASC board. Gee, it is comforting that Trinity thought it appropriate to put it all together today! Glad to oblige! ::)
Mud-face ugly! McMurry doesn't have the pitching staff that I would like. To go deep in the playoffs, you must have plenty of pitching, plenty of pitching, defense and plenty of pitching.
Did I mention that I don't think that we have enough pitching? ???
RHP Richard Burriss is a junior 2-VL man who is still picking up weekday roles and so he may be inconsistent at times. :-\
Adam Frey just shut down our bats badly! :(
Ralph... you crack me up. People will soon realize that this game is all about pitching. Everyone gets so excited about scoring 10-12 runs a game, but it always the teams that only give up 2-3 runs a game that fare well in the post-season.
If offense meant much in this game we would be talking about the four-time defending World Series Champion Texas Rangers.
Quote from: BigPoppa on April 07, 2006, 12:40:34 PM
...
If offense meant much in this game we would be talking about the four-time defending World Series Champion Texas Rangers.
Big Poppa, you think about offensive explosions and MLB and you have the Cubbies and the Rangers.
The main differenence between the Cubbies and the Texas Strangers is that the Cubbies have been to a World Series before. :-\
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 07, 2006, 06:24:20 PM
Quote from: BigPoppa on April 07, 2006, 12:40:34 PM
The main differenence between the Cubbies and the Texas Strangers is that the Cubbies have been to a World Series before. :-\
I was not even aware that the Cubbies still had a team. Do they have enough guys off of the DL to even play?
.... and now watch the Cub fans ding my karma points... I am at +5 right now.....
East Side update
Both Centre and DePauw won their first game against Sewanne and Rose-Hulman
Looks like Depauw is winning the second game 1-0 in the 4th and Sewanne is winning 2-0 in I dont know what inning because the play by play man for Sewanne is by far the worst announcer I have ever heard.
The East looks like it could be a very interesting race for the top three.
Due to storms in MEM last night the game was played this afternoon in Hendrix (thanks to Rhodes' flexibility) TU beat Hendrix 13-1 in the opener and got Rhodes 6-4 in the makeup game... Bignall went 8.1 for the win and Frey closed it...
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/hc-tu4.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-HC4.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/rc-tu5.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-RC5.htm
I thought you were going to let it go already.
Chuck Huggins hurled a 10-0 no-hitter against Hendreix to finish off the weekend sweep!
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/hc-tu5.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-HC5.htm
Garner Wetzel posted a 3-4 effort with six RBI as the Majors rolled to a 10-1 victory over Southwestern on Sunday. Wetzel's 7th inning grand slam was the big blow for Millsaps. Tal Hendrix threw six and two-thirds innings of relief to earn the win. With the victory, Millsaps improved to 23-8 overall and 13-4 in the SCAC.
Millsaps' remaining schedule is below...... Look to two BIG two-game series versus top ranked Emory and 23rd ranked LaGrange. Last season, Millsaps lost 3 out of 4 games to LaGrange but swept Emory in a two-game series. The Majors will play Emory as if the conference title were on the line. This leads to possible pitching questions for for the Majors in the LaGrange series....not to mention a three-game series against a very good Rhodes squad to end the regular season.....WOW !!!
If nothing else, this schedule is as good as it gets for Millsaps heading into the SCAC tournament.
4/11 Louisiana College Home
4/12 Mississippi College Smith Wills Stadium (Jackson, MS)
4/14 Emory University Atlanta, GA
4/15 Emory University Atlanta, Ga
4/17 LaGrange College Home
4/18 LaGrange College Home
4/22 Rhodes College (DH) Home
4/23 Rhodes College Home
Quote from: consultant on April 10, 2006, 01:21:28 AM
Garner Wetzel posted a 3-4 effort with six RBI as the Majors rolled to a 10-1 victory over Southwestern on Sunday. Wetzel's 7th inning grand slam was the big blow for Millsaps. Tal Hendrix threw six and two-thirds innings of relief to earn the win. With the victory, Millsaps improved to 23-8 overall and 13-4 in the SCAC.
Millsaps' remaining schedule is below...... Look to two BIG two-game series versus top ranked Emory and 23rd ranked LaGrange. Last season, Millsaps lost 3 out of 4 games to LaGrange but swept Emory in a two-game series. The Majors will play Emory as if the conference title were on the line. This leads to possible pitching questions for for the Majors in the LaGrange series....not to mention a three-game series against a very good Rhodes squad to end the regular season.....WOW !!!
If nothing else, this schedule is as good as it gets for Millsaps heading into the SCAC tournament.
4/11 Louisiana College Home
4/12 Mississippi College Smith Wills Stadium (Jackson, MS)
4/14 Emory University Atlanta, GA
4/15 Emory University Atlanta, Ga
4/17 LaGrange College Home
4/18 LaGrange College Home
4/22 Rhodes College (DH) Home
4/23 Rhodes College Home
Actually, Millsaps is playing to consolidate a Pool C bid, if they don't win the tourney. ;)
I don't know if they can knock Emory from the top seed when the Regional Rankings come out next week.
Ralph,,, I think that TU's pitching staff was 'crafted' for the SCAC tourney. Millsaps can only hope for a pool bid if TU wins the SCAC tourney! The 'losers bracket',,, or non-top seed is brutal! It's all about the pitching,,, and TU has it!
Millsaps defeated Louisiana College 7-5 today in Jackson. No stats up yet. The Majors improve to 24-8 overall.
Here is the link to the Jackson newspaper article on the Millsaps game yesterday.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060412/SPORTS030105/60412002/1085/SPORTS
Quote from: historymajor on April 11, 2006, 09:07:08 PM
Ralph,,, I think that TU's pitching staff was 'crafted' for the SCAC tourney. Millsaps can only hope for a pool bid if TU wins the SCAC tourney! The 'losers bracket',,, or non-top seed is brutal! It's all about the pitching,,, and TU has it!
I know I've made this point before but I'll make it again. While the loser's bracket is more difficult, it is only one extra game. The undefeated team will have played 3 games and the defeated team will have played 4 games when they meet for the championship. I recognize that one game is a big factor but even the undefeated team may be 'pitching by committee' if they have used their 3 main starters to get to the championship game.
Being the non-top seed can be a great break as it was for Millsaps last year. Being the 3W was an easier path to the finals than being the 1W or 2W.
All that being said, I'll grant that TU has some outstanding pitching as does Millsaps. Still, we need to remember that Millsaps did win 3 our of 5 against TU in the regular season. Given that John Fox 1-hit Trinity early in the season but was unavailable when the teams split in Jackson, it's not unreasonable to think that Millsaps could easily have won 4 out of the 5 regular season games. And, if my math is correct, Millsaps has outscored TU 36-26 in those 5 games. It should make for a great tournament and I'm sure there are more legitimate contenders than just Millsaps and TU.
I have always thought that this region was very underrepresented in the NCAAs. Hopefully, this season will get two or more team into the dance. I would think that the strenght of overall records and in-region record would warrant that consideration.
I think the top conferences should get two or three teams into the tourney. It rewards them for playing a tough conference schedule. I am betting that many 2nd, 3rd or even 4th place teams from tough conferences would win a majority of the other weaker conferences. Those teams should get into the tourney. I think we all agree on that one. I was a CCIW guy who played at Carthage and many times the conference champions we faced in the regionals were not as tough as our 4th place CCIW teams... in fact, I would bet that some would not have finished in the top half of the conference.
A 15 team conference should be rewarded with at 2 bids if a 7 or 8 team conference gets one. Agreed??
Millsaps lost to Mississippi College 6-1 last night and based on the box score, I'm glad that I missed the game because of a tennis match. Todd Kindler took his 2nd loss of the season allowing 5 runs in 2 innings (only 2 were earned) and Millsaps only managed 3 singles and a double.
You could use the excuse that Millsaps had already captured the Cowboy Maloney Trophy so they were flat for their final game of that series, or you could say that they were looking ahead to the 2-game series with Emory, or you could say it was just one of those games. I doubt that I could post what Coach Page said about the game.
So for Millsaps it is on to Atlanta for a chance to redeem themselves from this poor performance. Since they took two from Emory last year, I'm sure that Emory will be looking to return the favor this year.
Link to Millsaps-MC box score: http://athletics.mc.edu/baseball/2006stats/mcbb3.htm
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 13, 2006, 09:00:26 AM
Millsaps lost to Mississippi College 6-1 last night and based on the box score, I'm glad that I missed the game because of a tennis match. Todd Kindler took his 2nd loss of the season allowing 5 runs in 2 innings (only 2 were earned) and Millsaps only managed 3 singles and a double.
You could use the excuse that Millsaps had already captured the Cowboy Maloney Trophy so they were flat for their final game of that series, or you could say that they were looking ahead to the 2-game series with Emory, or you could say it was just one of those games. I doubt that I could post what Coach Page said about the game.
So for Millsaps it is on to Atlanta for a chance to redeem themselves from this poor performance. Since they took two from Emory last year, I'm sure that Emory will be looking to return the favor this year.
Link to Millsaps-MC box score: http://athletics.mc.edu/baseball/2006stats/mcbb3.htm
Frank, thanks for the link. The key point about the Millsaps Miss Coll game is that this is an in-region game, and does impact the Regional Rankings.
I think we see our first Regional Rankings next Wednesday.
Not only is it a regional game, but it was a game against a local rival. Plus, it was just an overall poor performance and I'm sure that no coach is happy with that at any point of the season but especially not at in the second half of the season.
Maybe it was just great pitching by MC yesterday but it was just the 2nd time Millsaps was held to only 1 run in a game this season. On the plus side, Jay Hollenbeck, David Hutzel and Brandon Ingram combined for 7 innings of relief and only allowed a run. As tournament time approaches, I think one, two or all of these pitchers will have a key role to play.
Millsaps defeated Emory 6-5 in 10 innings today. No stats up yet.
Really nice win. A sweep of Emory might give the Majors the to seed and the chance to host the South Region.
I believe that the first Regional Rankings will be out on Thursday.
Despite committing four errors on the afternoon, Millsaps relied on opportune hitting to claim today's 6-5 win over top-ranked Emory. After a lead-off double by Nick Crawford to start the 10th inning, Jason Hadley followed with an RBI single to push across the winning run for the Majors. Garner Wetzel hit two home runs and tallied four RBI in a three for five performance. Millsaps' starting pitcher, John Fox, threw six innings and allowed just one run off three hits in a no-decision bid. Emory exploded for four runs in the seventh inning against usually reliable relief pitcher Drew Maddox. Tal Hendrix worked three and one-third innings in late relief to earn the win. Millsaps improved to 25-9 overall, while Emory fell to 29-5. The two teams will play again on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. Eastern.
BOX Score:
http://www.go.emory.edu/Statistics/Current/Base/eu34.htm
TU beat SW 9-4... Adam Frey got the W... two more tomorrow... Huggins, and Bignall
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/su-tu3.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-SU3.htm
Also on the Emory website is a story about the Friday game:
http://www.go.emory.edu/Headlines/2005-06/Head_Base.html
Notice the second story on the page about Emory's loss at Huntingdon earlier in the week. Millsaps is 2-0 verses Huntingdon so any quality wins by that program would in theory help Millsaps.
My prediction is that Millsaps won't really get that much of a boost even if they beat Emory today. Obviously they will get some but I think we get back to name recognition. Millsaps is not a nationally recognized overall D3 powerhouse so I doubt that they will get the votes that they might deserve. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised but I guess the silver lining is that a team that is slighted tends to stay motivated to prove the voters wrong.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 15, 2006, 07:14:15 AM
Also on the Emory website is a story about the Friday game:
http://www.go.emory.edu/Headlines/2005-06/Head_Base.html
Notice the second story on the page about Emory's loss at Huntingdon earlier in the week. Millsaps is 2-0 verses Huntingdon so any quality wins by that program would in theory help Millsaps.
My prediction is that Millsaps won't really get that much of a boost even if they beat Emory today. Obviously they will get some but I think we get back to name recognition. Millsaps is not a nationally recognized overall D3 powerhouse so I doubt that they will get the votes that they might deserve. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised but I guess the silver lining is that a team that is slighted tends to stay motivated to prove the voters wrong.
Frank, my thoughts concerning Millsaps wiln over Emory deal with the Regional Criteria used by the Selection Committees.
We have the Regional Rankings coming out on Thursday.
Millsaps cruised to an 11-4 win over top-ranked Emory today. The Majors' Garner Wetzel had another big day going 3 for 5, and starting pitcher Todd Kindler threw six and two-thirds innings en route to a win.
BOX score:
http://www.go.emory.edu/Statistics/Current/Base/eu34.htm
Millsaps fans, I think that the top spot in the South Region is yours to lose. (Please remember that Trinity is in the West Region.)
Congrats to the Majors ... anytime anyone can take down a "top-ranked Emory" team in any sport I am all for it.
Trinity takes two from Southwestern, 7-4 and 13-12 in 10. Chuck Higgins pitched five innings to improve his record to 6-1 in the opener; first-year Evan Bronson, the sixth of seven Tiger pitchers to make an appearance, was credited with the win in the "nightcap." Southwestern commited six errors as only seven TU runs were earned.
Trinity improves to 29-9, 16-4 while Southwestern drops to 12-24, 3-14.
Wish Emory's press releases would mention someone from the other team on occasion.
TU completed a season sweep of Southwestern with 7-4 and 13-12 wins...
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/su-tu4.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-SU4.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/su-tu5.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-SU5.htm
Pat,
I'm with you......
Both of the links to the Millsaps-Emory box scores pull up the Friday game. Here's the link to the Saturday box score:
http://www.go.emory.edu/Statistics/Current/Base/eu35.htm
It is interesting to see that Millsaps had 6 players steal a base yesterday. Millsaps players were also hit by pitches 4 times. Crawford was hit twice which is not unexpected and Wetzel was hit once, which probably isn't unexpected considering the way he abused the Emory pitchers this week. Emory used 6 pitchers but I can't tell if it was a designed "pitch by committee" since the first 3 pitchers gave up 8 runs in about 4 innings.
I should point out that Millsaps opens up this week with Monday and Tuesday games against a tough LaGrange team. With Fox and Kindler out of the mix, I guess we'll see how the #3 and below pitchers can do against a NCAA Tournament caliber team. These two games might be just as telling about Millsaps hopes for post season success as the two wins verses Emory.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know the story on Southwestern's big decline this year? I can understand that maybe a team would lose a lot of seniors and have to go through a rebuilding year, but 12-24 and 3-14 is quite a fall for a program that went 160-69 over the previous 5 years (40-11, 36-10, 28-18, 27-18, 29-12 from 2001 thru 2005).
Frank, let me start the speculation on Southwestern by analyzing the mid-week games that they played against ASC teams.
If we assume that the mid-week pitchers are the #3, #4, and middle relievers by committee, then Southwestern went 4-5 vs. the ASC, including some wins against very good teams, e.g., TLU twice and UT-D once plus HPU a mid level team in the ASC-West. The losses were to UMHB twice, and the top level ASC-West teams McMurry, HSU and Concordia.
Southwestern picked up weekend DH sweeps vs. weaker West Region teams, Schreiner and UDallas. A February 2-game Series vs. Austin College was canceled.
Going 8-5 vs. non-SCAC West Region teams helps get them to 11-20 in West Region games. That helps the QOWI, only if they are not swept by Hendrix in the 3-game series.
Therefore, I would specualte that it was the starting pitching, especially the #1 and #2 pitchers were weaker, or they didn't have "a #1 and a #2" starting pticher, by West Regions standards. And pitting a #3-caliber pitcher vs Trinity's or Millsaps' #1 does not portend for good outcomes. ;)
Just saw the news that Colorado College is joining the SCAC.... can anyone say "frequent-flier miles"????
Not sure whether baseball will be included... I know football will be... stay tuned
History,
Baseball won't be a factor for Colorado College because the school doesn't field a team.
Millsaps defeated LaGrange tonight 14-9. No stats posted. It will be interesting to see the new ABCA poll on Tuesday.
The Millsaps-LaGrange was scheduled for an 8 pm start and actually started late. There were about 30 hits combined and the game ended at 11:20.
Millsaps went with Jay Hollenbeck, Brad Mizerany, and Brandon Ingram on the mound. They will need to get some good innings from these guys in the coming weeks. I'd love to see David Hutzel and Tait Hendrix gets some innings today but I think we'll see the regular weekend pitchers with John Fox starting.
I suspect that LaGrange was also using non-weekend pitchers last night. Millsaps hammered the ball all night, scoring runs in each of the first 7 innings. Justin Carter had a HR and Garner Wetzel had his 7th HR which I think equals his total from last season (more impressive than the HR was a rope Wetzel hit into the leftfield corner for a double). Several Millsaps players hit the ball all the way to the fence and I think just about everyone had a hit.
This is just a general impression I have about the Millsaps hitting. Going by the stats, they have hit well all year but their offense hasn't been consistent. The most glaring example is the 17-3 win over Piedmont with all 17 runs coming in one inning. At Emory last weekend Millsaps scored in 10 of their 18 at bats. Last night they scored in 7 of their 8 at bats. We'll see if it continues today and this weekend, but it seems to me that the Millsaps bats might be heating up with the weather.
The latest ABCA poll is out and Millsaps is ranked 14th, while Trinity is ranked 11th.
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/abcapoll41806.pdf
The 14th ranked Millsaps Majors eased by LaGrange this afternoon 13-1. No stats available yet.
Millsaps/LaGrange Boxes:
(4/17) http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/mc36.htm
(4/18) http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/mc37.htm
Tu gave up 4 in the first and never came back,,, falling 6-3 to a talented TLU team...
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Statistics/tlu-tu2.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-TLU2.htm
The TLU starting pitcher plunked the first 2 batters, and then Coach Miller brought on Brad Wesson who got the win for 4 innings work. Brian Wallace, who has had 11 appearances and 2 starts, gave 4 more innings. (McMurry did not see either on their weekend series.) Austin Yager got his 5th save.
This was a very good outing for the Bulldogs. That has to help the confidence of the deep staff.
TLU 6, Trinity 3. (http://www.tlu.edu/athletics/baseball/news/060418_baseball__at_trinity.html)
I was taking photos at the Millsaps-LaGrange game yesterday. I must have over 100 photos of Millsaps batters taking a pitch. This is a hard stat to believe, but LaGrange pitchers (6 of them) combined to walk 17 batters yesterday. The 3, 4 and 5 hitters for Millsaps (Carter, Wetzel and Abrams) each walked 3 times.
In continuing on a theme from yesterday's post, Millsaps scored in 6 of their 8 at bats. It's a trend that needs to continue this weekend.
(El Tea Gray---re: Trinity vs. HSU)
"What a difference a day makes"; Trinity 11 HSU 0 :)
Tigers complete regular season at 30-10 and next play at the SCAC Playoffs in Sewanee, TN, 4/27-4/30.
ETG... wow TU 2 - Abilene 0... (or should I say TU 23 - Abilene 0)
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/hsu-tu.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-HSU.htm
Regional rankings are out....
TU 2nd in west...
Millsaps 3rd in south...
RHIT 8th in mideast...
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/0418regionalrankings.htm
A couple of thoughts.
It may not make much difference, but I think I would prefer to have a weekend series like Rhodes and Millsaps have this weekend rather than have a full week off prior to my first SCAC Tournament game. Again, probably not much of an advantage/disadvantage either way.
Last year it was the 1E vs. 3W winner that got to play a loser bracket team in the second round. Millsaps was the 3W, they won thier first game and that gave them a matchup with the 3E team while Trinity and Southwestern had to face each other in the 2nd round. This year it is the winner of the 1W vs. 3E game that gets to play a team out of the loser's bracket.
IF Millsaps sweeps Rhodes this weekend (that's certainly not a given), I'm not sure how they determine the 1W and 2W for the seedings. Whoever the 1W is, will they pitch their #4 starter in the opening game in an effort to save their top pitchers for later rounds? I bet they will.
I wonder what the over/under would be for total runs scored in the Rhodes-Millsaps series this weekend?
Both teams have played 37 games with Rhodes at 26-11 and Millsaps at 28-9. Rhodes has scored 10 or more runs 18 times, Millsaps 17 times. Rhodes averages 9 runs/game, Millsaps 9.8. The teams split two games in Memphis and scored a combined 51 runs in the two games (21 for Rhodes, 30 for Millsaps). It sounds like Saturday's doubleheader could take a while.
By the way, Millsaps is an impressive 16-3 on the road with the losses being at Rhodes, Trinity and East Texas Baptist. That should be a confidence boost when they go on the road for tournament play. On the flip side, Hendrix is 1-16 on the road this season but that win was a victory on the Millsaps home field. That should be a reminder to never take any team too lightly.
Quote from: historymajor on April 20, 2006, 07:12:17 AM
Regional rankings are out....
TU 2nd in west...
Millsaps 3rd in south...
RHIT 8th in mideast...
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/0418regionalrankings.htm
Hard to believe that the Majors punk Emory twice recently and Emory is ranked #1.
These are the coaches' regional rankings, just so everyone knows, the ones with the coaches Top 30 national poll.
BFB... I agree with your use of the term punked.... When beaten by a punk, I guess you're punked!
As expected, Millsaps rolled Rhodes today 4-1 and 8-0... setting up a showdown of sorts tomorrow.. Rhodes seems to have come a long way, but Millsaps IS the team to beat!
Millsaps got great pitching from John Fox and Todd Kindler this afternoon. The first game was a pitching duel between Fox and Robert Flanagan with Millsaps managing to scratch out 4 runs against Flanagan. Fox improved his record to 7-0 and Flanagan dropped to 9-3. I assume that Flanagan will pitch the first game of the tournament for Rhodes and that's bad news for RHIT.
In the second game Todd Kindler improved to 8-2 with 8 innings of scoreless pitching. It was the best game I've seen him pitch all year. With a combined record of 15-2 it is obvious that Fox and Kindler have pitched well all year but they seem to have taken it up a notch towards the end of the season.
It will be interesting to see who starts the game tomorrow. Fox and Kindler have started 13 and 12 games respectively and 5 pitchers have combined for the other 14 starts so tomorrow's starter could be just about anyone from the Millsaps pitching staff. I'm going to guess that it will be Jay Hollenbeck who is 3-0 with a 1.54 ERA but that's just a guess.
While pitching was the story for Millsaps, I should mention that Hunter Abrams went 5 for 6 in the doubleheader to push his average up to .409, third best in the SCAC. He also added 6 RBI's to move into 2nd place in the SCAC in that category.
According to the SCAC site Rhodes took today's game 11-9.
Good news BfB,,, #1 seed is always what you want!
I have not seen the answer to this question.
Colorado College does not play baseball. Austin College gives a 6-4 West to East mismatch in the sizes of the divisions. Will someone be reassigned to the East Division?
Another question--Has UDallas sought an affilate relationship in Baseball?
Ralph, I don't have a canonical answer but it's probable that Rhodes gets moved into the East to keep the brackets balanced. They are closer to the teams in the East than the teams in the West, anyway.
Re UDallas, the SCAC hasn't been high on affiliate members in the past and it would seem unlikely.
What's the deal with Sewanee? The failure by Millsaps to sweep Rhodes combined with Sewanee clinching the final spot in the East by winning their final game has created a Trinity-Sewanee matchup in the first round. On paper it looks like as big a mismatch as something like Trinity playing host Rhodes in the SCAC basketball tournament.
Sewanee is 16-23. They were 15-14 on April 9th and 6-2 in the SCAC and then they lost 9 straight which included 7 SCAC games. Needing a win in their final game, they beat DePauw for the first time in 12 tries. When they were 15-14 they had 5 losses to top 30 teams including a 5-4 and 4-0 loss to Emory and they also had a win over #1 ranked Wooster.
I had thought last week that the #1W team might be able to get away with saving a key starter in their first game. I'm not sure if I would take that chance with Sewanee playing on their home field.
While I know that Millsaps wanted to win the West and they would like to be the number 1 seed, I'm not sure that Trinity has as easier road as the top seed. Sewanee and DePauw are similar in their records so maybe Sewanee is the tougher draw since they are playing at home. IF Trinity and Millsaps both win, then I think Trinity will get #1E RHIT while Millsaps will have a rematch with Rhodes. That's strickly a guess made because of the impressive pitching of Robert Flanagan of Rhodes--I'm sure the RHIT fans would dispute my prediction.
It should be interesting and I'm sorry I can't get up to Sewanee to see the games.
The DePauw-Millsaps ballgame will be broadcast live by the DePauw radio station. The game time is 10 CDT and this link should get you to the info you need to listen to the game:
http://www.depauw.edu/ath/baseball/
After 3 it is 1-0 Millsaps over DePauw. Trinity and Sewanee are at 1-1 but I don't know the inning.
Frank... are these tournament games? Thanks for the updates. Keep them coming.
Middle of 6th with Millsaps coming to bat, Millsaps leads DePauw 7-1. Trinity leads Sewanee 5-1 in a game that started at the same time but in another location.
These are both 1st round games in the SCAC Tournament. The other 1st round game is Rhodes vs. Rose-Hulman at 2pm. Here's a link to the SCAC Spring Tournament site:
http://athletics.sewanee.edu/SCAC
I take it you are listening to the DPU webcast, since there aren't any partials posted on the SCAC Festival site (nor would I expect there to be). Thanks, Frank.
Millsaps over DePauw 7-1. Trinity over Sewanee 7-3.
Millsaps will play the winner of the Rhodes--RHIT game. Trinity will play the loser of that game.
Trinity and Sewanee will play tomorrow at 10.
For Millsaps John Fox went 8 strong innings for the win. I know Millsaps had 12 hits after 5 innings but I wasn't listening close enough to give details on the hitting.
It's nice when two of the schools have radio stations that cover their sporting events. RHIT will webcast their ballgame vs. Rhodes the afternoon at 2pm. This link will get you to the RHIT baseball site and you can listen live or get live stats on the game:
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/sports/baseball.htm
I have a feeling that this is going to be a good matchup.
With RHIT going to bat in the bottom of the 5th, Rhodes is up 3-1.
An interesting note is that the RHIT coach in the pregame interview really complained about the poor condition of the field. It sounded like he didn't feel like the facility was up to par for hosting an event of this caliber.
Also the announcers talked about rain in the forecast for the weekend. With John Fox throwing over 100 pitches today for Millsaps, I doubt that he would be available for much work unless the tournament got stretched to Monday due to rain. With the depth of Trinity's starting pitching, I'm sure they don't want an extra day of play.
RHIT has scored to make it 3-2 and they are threatening to added more with 2 outs and 2 runners on.
Going into RHIT's bat in the bottom of the 8th it is 3-3. Rhodes got their runs early on a 3-run homer. RHIT has chipped away in the last couple of innings. Rhodes hasn't done much at the plate since that early homerun.
Now going into the top of the 9th tied at 3-3. Each team has 3 runs, 7 hits and 1 error.
Rhodes got another 3-run homer in the top of the 9th, Flanagan walked two RHIT batters to start the bottom of the 9th, and the Rhodes reliever came in and struck out the side. Rhodes wins 6-3.
I thought this would be a great game with both teams getting excellent starting pitching. It puts Trinity against RHIT tomorrow and Millsaps against Rhodes. My guess is that both of those will be fairly close games.
Frank, this is kinda fitting that RHIT won't have to worry about those tough #3 seeded SCAC-West Region teams next year. ;)
After the first round of the tourney, SCAC-West 3, SCAC-East 0!
Trinity handled a scrappy Sewanee team 7-3... Will face RHIT tomorrow at 10am
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Statistics/SCAC1.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-SCAC1.htm
You can pick up the feed tomorrow from either RHIT or TU
When it comes to baseball, the Western teams have a huge advantage because of the weather. It's not just that they can start sooner and play more games, but they recruit kids who play baseball year round. Millsaps has 15 players from Mississippi, 6 from Louisiana, 4 from Texas, etc. These are all kids who had the opportunity to play baseball at least 10 months out of the year when they were growing up.
Last weekend Millsaps won against Flanagan, the top pitcher for Rhodes, and then they lost to one of the other Rhodes starters so a Millsaps win today is certainly no guarantee. The batting average against the other two starting pitchers for Rhodes is over .300 for the season so I do think that Millsaps will be able to score runs this afternoon.
On the other hand, going strickly by the stats, it appears that RHIT has three strong starters and their starter yesterday was pretty good so I think that RHIT will have a fairly strong pitching performance in their game against Trinity. Without a doubt Trinity is the favorite in that game but I'm just pointing out that they might see better pitching than one would normally expect from a team that lost in the 1st round.
Didn't RHIT knock off TU in last year's classic?
Yep .. 14-4 now that I look at the SCAC baseball site, though a rematch was 3-2 in Trinity's favor. Should be an interesting game.
Ron, I agree that it should be a good matchup. The scores your are referring to took place 2 years ago in the 2004 tournament. There isn't a link to the 2005 tournament but the scores are shown in the final stats for the 2005 season. Trinity beat Sewanee and Southwestern (twice) last year and lost to Millsaps twice.
I disagree on the weather aspect... If weather had much of an impact on the players development, more teams from the warm-weather states would win national titles. The majority of them are from the north. I know they have more JCs to compete with in the south for players, but that is a recruiting issue, not a weather issue. A solid recruiter can convince a kid to play anywhere.
Are you saying that weather isn't a factor? When it comes to national championships there are obviously many factors that are involved. One would be the size of the school since some D3's are less than 1,000 students and others are 10,000 students. Athletic budget may be the biggest factor and it goes hand-in-hand with a school's commitment to athletic excellence.
Back at the SCAC Championships, DePauw leads Sewanee 7-0 but I don't know the inning. After 3 innings, Trinity leads RHIT 3-0. RHIT has left 2 runners on base in all 3 innings. According to the RHIT announcers (BTW, they do a great job), Triinity has made great defensive plays for the 3rd out in two of those innings. On the other hand, an RHIT error lead to one of the Trinity runs and a poorly played ball that fell for a double help in the other scoring.
And speaking of defense or lack of, apparently the first 3-run homer by Rhodes yesterday bounced off the bicep of a RHIT outfielder, then off his glove and over the fence.
And RHIT now has the bases loaded in the bottom of the 4th, no outs, top of the order coming up, and Trinity is changing pitchers.
RHIT tied it up 3-3. Now in the top of the 5th. Both starting pitchers are out so it becomes pitch by committee at this point.
Interesting note. If RHIT wins then the Rhodes-Millsaps winner will be the only remaining undefeated team. That undefeated team will then have the advantage of playing their 3rd game against a team that is playing their 4th game and their 2nd game of the day.
Just got back from lunch. Still 3-3. RHIT batting in bottom of 8th. Had a runner on first, batter bunted, Trinity pitcher threw ball into RF. Now runners on 2nd and 3rd with no out. Frey has come in to pitch for Trinity.
RHIT took the lead in bottom of 8th 4-3. A sloppy start to the 9th by RHIT has Trinity tieing the game 4-4. TU now has runners on the corners, no out. RHIT has brought in Salisbury from rightfield to pitch. He apparently is their career saves leader but has only pitched 5 innings this year.
TU gets a hit to score a run and on the play RHIT makes their 6th error to allow another run (later ruled no error but the RHIT guys say it was an error). TU gets another hit to go to 7-4, no outs, 2 runners on base. RHIT is toast as it is now 8-4 with the prospect of it getting worse.
Trinity 10, RHIT 4. RHIT had battled back to take their first lead in the bottom of the 8th and they fall apart with a hit batter, some errors, a wild pitch, along with Trinity throwing in a bunch of hits. Apparently RHIT came in the game thinking that a good showing might get them an at-large berth even if they didn't win the tournament. Thoses hopes are gone now even though the team still has 4 games left on the schedule.
I would have preferred a Trinity loss because of the advantage it would give to Millsaps if Millsaps can win this afternoon. But, for the record I'm pulling for Trinity to win if Millsaps doesn't and Trinity fans should have the same attitude. I think both teams go to the Regionals if either win the SCAC Tournament but I'm not sure if both go if they both have to go on at-large bids.
11 errors in that RHIT-TU game ... ugh.
After five games, two of three East teams are out, the third is in only because it eliminated the second.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 28, 2006, 02:15:16 PM
...
... I think both teams go to the Regionals if either win the SCAC Tournament but I'm not sure if both go if they both have to go on at-large bids.
Frank I was hoping that we would have the 1st Regional Rankings posted, so we could get an idea about the Pool C candidates.
You may be right about RHIT needing a really good showing in the Tourney to get a Pool C bid. Their fans maybe thinking that their departure to the HCAC has not come any too soon.
I think that both Millsaps and TU have a good chance at the Pool C bid.
SCAC-West 4 wins, SCAC-East 4 losses.
The box score is up for Millsaps vs. Rhodes. Millsaps won 7-0. Kindler pitched the complete game shutout for the Majors and upped his record to 9-2. Schneider pitched well until a 4-run 7th and he took his first loss of the year to go to 5-1.
Carter and Wetzel each had homers and they combined to drive in all 7 runs. Each team had 9 hits but Millsaps was also aided by 4 hit batters, 2 walks, and 4 Rhodes errors.
Fox and Kindler are now a combined 17-2 for Millsaps this season but there is no regular 3rd starter on the team so it will be interesting to see who starts against Trinity tomorrow. My guess would have been Hollenbeck but he pitched an inning yesterday. That might be an indication that he will start because I wouldn't have expected him as the first choice out of the bullpen so maybe that inning was just to ease his nerves prior to the Trinity game.
Trinity has the same problem ... Bignall (6-2, 9 starts) got the start in game 1, Huggins (6-1, 10 starts) started game 2 and was relieved by Frey (5-2, 6 starts). That leaves as a possibility Brittan Horn (4-1, 1.08, 4 starts, 15 appearances) who faced four batters in the eighth inning of Game 1. Ryan Hopkins (4 starts, 3-2/4.06) is also possible but I doubt Trinity wants to start the pitcher with the highest ERA on their staff against Millsaps.
I wonder what happened to Brian Oates. Started out the season 4-0 with a 1.46 ERA in 6 starts, but has not seen any time since 1/3rd of an inning in a start vs Rhodes on 3/25.
Trinity came back and handled RHIT.... bye..bye... 10-4... Adam Frey put out the fire and earned the W.... tomorrow the BIG rematch against Millsaps.....
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-SCAC2.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/scac2.htm
The Millsaps/Trinity game will be a big one as is always the case. I expect Millsaps to start Tal Hendrix, "who has been here before" and who will look to rebound from his poor performance in his relief appearance last Sunday in the loss to Rhodes. Tal has actually been tagged with two losses against Trinity already this season. One came in a start against the Tigers in the third game of the first series between the two teams in San Antonio. Stats below:
Millsaps College IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Tal Hendrix......... 3.2 2 3 2 3 4 13 17
Drew Maddox......... 4.1 2 1 0 0 4 15 16
His other loss came in Jackson in a relief appearance in game two of the series......
Millsaps College IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Brandon Ingram...... 3.2 5 2 2 3 4 15 18
Tal Hendrix......... 1.2 4 6 5 2 1 7 11
Brad Mizerany....... 2.2 2 0 0 0 3 11 11
Tait Hendrix........ 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 3 3
Tal has had six days to rest, so perhaps he'll be able to get through a few innings and give way to some strong relief pitching in the form of Johnny All-Staff.
Trinity may very well pitch by committee, too. And I'll not speculate on a
Tiger starter because I am not well versed in their pitching habits.
In any event, it should be a great game......any broadcast so a guy on the west coast can get up early to listen?
Trinity had a webcast and livestats going yesterday so check out their website this morning (http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/index.htm).
I was listening to the RHIT broadcast yesterday so I can't give a report on the Trinity webcast. I did check out their livestats which seemed to be behind by about an inning or so but it would have been better than nothing.
While the Tal Hendrix as starter prediction might be insider info, I just don't see Tal as the starter. Tal hasn't started a game in a while and Trinity does seem to prefer his brand of power pitching. I think Hollenbeck will come back for the start or possibly Brandon Ingram. While Millsaps doesn't have an established 3rd starter, I do think they have guys available who can give the team a quality start.
Trinity did indeed start Horn ... who got tagged for four runs in the top of the first (and Millsaps stranded three more). Ouch. TU up to bat in the bottom of the inning. Brad Mizerany (0-0, 5.50 ERA, 11 appearances, 18.0 IP) got his first start of the season for the Majors so it looks like the committee approach is in.
Millsaps takes a 4-0 lead after 1 inning but you can get all the stats on the livestats or webcast from the Trinity website.
Regarding Brad Mizerany as the starting pitcher for Millsaps. He isn't a power pitcher like Fox even though he has 17 KO's in 18 innings. He throws a lot of 1st pitch strikes and gets the batters swinging at poor pitches when they get down in the count. It usually takes the opposing team a couple of at bats to get their timing on him so Mizerany might be expected to only go about 4 innings and then Millsaps might go to Drew Maddox or Tal Hendrix.
Webstats aren't getting updated. :( TU just got a two run HR in the bottom of the second. TU Announcers aren't giving out score updates ... I think it's 4-2 now in the bottom of the second with one out.
Sounds like the wind is blowing out.
Millsaps just tied the game in the top of the 8th........ 9-9 the score.
Wetzel hit a three run homerun and Hunter Abrams blasted a solo shot to tie it up. Millsaps still batting.
Trinity looking good in bottom of the 8th....two men on and no outs. Drew Maddox getting the call to the mound for Millsaps.
Man, was I wrong about the Millsaps pitching situation....figured the committee approach would be on....but did not get the impression that Mizerany would start. Hendrix did see relief action and got tagged.
What a game!!!
Tiger pinch-hitter Steven Ramos delivers a big two-out single in the bottom of the eight, plating two. Millsaps trails 12-9, down to their last out, two on thanks to a throwing error. Garner Wetzel, who already has one three-run HR to his credit, comes to the plate. Frey's control is off, he's been behind every runner in the inning. Full count on Wetzel ... but ball four. Abrams to bat, he also has an HR to his credit. Bases loaded. Abrams hits it to deep right but Ramos makes the catch. Trinity on to tomorrow's championship round, Millsaps faces DePauw this afternoon.
Hopefully Millsaps can put together enough pitching this afternoon to handle DePauw, we don't want to give the selection committee any reason to leave them or Trinity at home when the bids are announced.
DePauw scorched Rhodes today 16-4. Millsaps will have to re-group quickly to play DePauw.
With the pitching surprise earlier for Millsaps I'm not so sure about who will start for the Majors, but I would guess it would be Jay Hollenbeck.
If Millsaps wins this afternoon, pitching gets even more interesting for Sunday....I'll speculate about that if it becomes necessary.
Trinity Tigers Score Three in Eighth to Advance to SCAC Championship Game
Will Becker, Andreas Verrios, and Nick Vera touched up Millsaps for home runs and Steven Ramos' pinch hit two RBI single in the bottom of the eighth gave Trinity a 12-9 win in Saturday's semifinal game. Adam Frey earned the win in relief of Tom Dailey and Britton Horn.
Just lost the feed from the WGRE broadcast....livestats are down, too.
Millsaps leads DePauw 5-1 in the 6th. The Majors have hit a two-out homerun in three consecutive innings. Jason Hadley hit a two run homer in the 3rd. Luke Morrow a solo shot in the 4th, and Garner Wetzel hit a blast of a shot according to WGRE broidcasters for a two-run homer in the 5th.
Okay....well I actually didn't lose the feed to the WGRE broadcast.....I somehow managed to turn the volume down.......way down. Volume is up now and so are the Majors 5-1 in the top of the 7th. The rain is on its way, too.
Millsaps defeats DePauw 11-1. I'll have my pitching "probables" later.
Seems like Millsaps has two ways to go. If they feel like they can pitch John Fox tomorrow, you could start him in the first game and try to get a win while Trinity depletes some of their pitching in the first game. That leaves you with Tait Hendrix or Brandon Ingram to start the last game. I would have confidence in either of those pitchers. Tait has an ERA of 2.25 and the opposing BA is .211 and Brandon has an ERA of 3.10 and an opposing BA of .234. Combined they have only given up 1 HR in 44 innings and that might be a key factor if the wind is blowing like today.
The other option is to go with the fresh pitchers in the first game and try to find a way to get to a second game. If you get to the second game then just about anything goes in a showdown for the championship and I think Fox would definitely factor in somewhere during that game.
My guess is John Fox will throw in game one for Millsaps.
Below is the line for John in Millsaps 9-3 win over Trinity in game one of the three game series in San Antonio.
Millsaps College IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
John Fox............ 6.2 1 2 2 2 5 21 24
John did not pitch against Trinity in the second series in Jackson because he was sidelined with an ankle injury.
Wahooo... big showdown tomorrow... weather permitting...
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-SCAC3.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/scac3.htm
I was just about to post about the weather delay at Sewanee when the Trinity webcast started up at about 10:20. They say it has been raining off and on, start is now at 10:30. It is very windy and very cold.
In the livestats it show that Hopkins will be pitching for Trinity and Fox for Millsaps.
Nasty, nasty, nasty baseball weather here at Sewanee.... At the end of 4 it's MC 8 - TU 0....
MC 8R 13H 0E... TU hasn't started yet... 0-2-0
http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu-sports.m3u
TU has 3 in in the top of five
In a WILD last few innings, Millsaps defeated Trinity 18-10 in game one today. Game two will start within the hour....or so everyone hopes. It is raining hard in Sewanee with the tarp on the field.
It seems that if rain washes out a game two that co-champions will be declared......interesting what effect this will have on the automatic bid.
Millsaps has won four out of 7 from trinity on the year, but trinity finished with a one game lead in the conference standings. Not sure what the tie breaker is.....
The trinity broadcast is staying on the air with updates....
Game two will try to get under way at 2:50......if not then...3:30.....if not then co-champions.....at least that is the news right now.
The rain will not go away in Sewanee. Looks like no game two......official decision on what this all means is forthcoming.
Okay....no official word yet..... but from what I have just learned it looks like co-champions will be declared. Trinity will take the automatic bid by virtue of winning the west with a 16-4 record.....Millsaps had a 15-5 record.
Not ideal, but the best call I think....can't argue with conference rankings....every game counts and all teams know it.
For Millsaps at least, kids have finals starting in 18 hours.....
The big question is WILL MILLSAPS GET AN AT LARGE BID?
It's official now.....
Millsaps and Trinity will be declared co-champions.
Trinity will receive automatic bid.
Millsaps will now play the waiting game for a couple of weeks. There will be much posting about this in the coming days.
Trinity finishes the regular season and SCAC tournament with a 33-11 record overall and a 16-4 mark in the SCAC. Millsaps finishes with a 34-11 overall record by virtue of playing and winning an extra game in the tournament and a 15-5 mark in the SCAC.
(El Tea Gray---re: Trinity vs. Millsaps)
Let's now hope that Trinity and Millsaps can both win their Regional Championships (West and South respectively) and maybe get the chance to actually play this off "on the field" at the D3 Tournament in Appleton, WI?
Could it get any better than that? :)
I get a South Region record of 30-7 for Millsaps. (Corrections appreciated-- ETBU does not count. Is it officially more than 200 miles from Jackon to Pineville LA for Louisiana College?)
I really think that they get a Pool C bid.
When the Regional Rankings come out this week, we can start to guess which schools get a Pool C bid.
The first thing to look at will be those team with a 30-7 record (.811) and might lose their conference's Pool A bid.
Ralph,
It's under a 200 mile trip from Jackson, MS to Pineville, LA but just barely.
Quote from: consultant on April 30, 2006, 06:00:51 PM
Ralph,
It's under a 200 mile trip from Jackson, MS to Pineville, LA but just barely.
Consultant, by 2004 Microsoft Streets and Trips less than 200 miles from Jackson to Pineville?
Then Millsaps is 31-7 (.816). I think that they are in as a Pool C bid.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 30, 2006, 06:30:32 PM
Quote from: consultant on April 30, 2006, 06:00:51 PM
Ralph,
It's under a 200 mile trip from Jackson, MS to Pineville, LA but just barely.
Consultant, by 2004 Microsoft Streets and Trips less than 200 miles from Jackson to Pineville?
Then Millsaps is 31-7 (.816). I think that they are in as a Pool C bid.
If 31-7 does not get them in, the tournament needs to revise its criteria. I say they are a lock.
Hard to believe that Millsaps won't get a bid.
In other news, I think that Depauw's performance this weekend was good enough to win the SCAC President's Trophy ... the first time since the '00-'01 season and only the second time in 13 years for someone besides TU to win the all-sports championship.
Baseball: TU +15 (if co-champ points awarded)
Softball: TU +10
Golf (M): DPU +50
Golf (W): DPU +25
Tennis (M): TU +10
Tennis (W): TBD but likely net 0 (see below)
T&F (M): DPU +10
T&F (W): TU +10
Net DPU +40
Still one sport to be decided ... women's tennis, where "the women's tennis match was called with DePauw leading 3-1, due to travel conflicts for Trinity. The SCAC office declared the two teams co-champions and the women's tennis tournament committee will discuss the outcome on Monday."
Looks like the new ABCA poll will now be released on Tuesday...not today. Apparently technical difficulties are contagious......
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/abcapoll.html
Quote from: BigPoppa on May 01, 2006, 11:12:12 AM
If 31-7 does not get them in, the tournament needs to revise its criteria. I say they are a lock.
If only we had a regional poll to guide us ...
I'd like to take a moment and thank the folks at DePauw, RHIT and Trinity who were responsible for webcasting the baseball games from the SCAC Tournament. It worked out that 4 of the 5 Millsaps games were against these schools and it was great to listen in on so many games.
The Trinity broadcast mentioned on several occasions the number of folks that were logged onto their broadcast. The highest number I heard was 59 but maybe it went higher than that. It's a shame that the number wasn't at least 10 times 59 but I'm afraid that this is the reality of D3 sports at the moment. Hopefully this will change and certainly the internet which allows webcasts and allows message boards like this one is a great tool for improving recognition in the future.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 01, 2006, 03:30:07 PM
Hopefully this will change and certainly the internet which allows webcasts and allows message boards like this one is a great tool for improving recognition in the future.
I know the feeling... I wish all schools had the games webcast on-line. It would make my life much easier.
Let me add my props to DePauw, RHIT and Trinity for webcasting the games, too.
On Sunday, Trinity's crew said that they maxed out at 84 listeners at any one time. I believe that they would have gotten more hits had the sports festival website included the links to the broadcasts.
Word out of Millsaps today is that they feel good about receiving an at-large bid....not exactly earth-shaking news....but it's good to hear that they are confident. They'll take a few days off for exams and then get going again as they await to hear about a bid.
By the way, Millsaps' 34 wins this year is a school record for wins in a season. The only other times Millsaps has hit the 30-win mark came in 2004 (33-9) and 1996 (30-10 and finished with a 19th national ranking).
Quote from: Ron Boerger (BfB) on May 01, 2006, 11:41:14 AM
Hard to believe that Millsaps won't get a bid.
In other news, I think that Depauw's performance this weekend was good enough to win the SCAC President's Trophy ... the first time since the '00-'01 season and only the second time in 13 years for someone besides TU to win the all-sports championship.
Baseball: TU +15 (if co-champ points awarded)
Softball: TU +10
Golf (M): DPU +50
Golf (W): DPU +25
Tennis (M): TU +10
Tennis (W): TBD but likely net 0 (see below)
T&F (M): DPU +10
T&F (W): TU +10
Net DPU +40
Still one sport to be decided ... women's tennis, where "the women's tennis match was called with DePauw leading 3-1, due to travel conflicts for Trinity. The SCAC office declared the two teams co-champions and the women's tennis tournament committee will discuss the outcome on Monday."
Travel conflicts? Travel conflicts, like Trinity and DePauw can't get the game or match in because of travel conflicts? Where is the Hurricane?!?!? ???
Who woulda thunk! :o
Quote from: Ron Boerger (BfB) on May 01, 2006, 11:41:14 AM
Hard to believe that Millsaps won't get a bid.
In other news, I think that Depauw's performance this weekend was good enough to win the SCAC President's Trophy ... the first time since the '00-'01 season and only the second time in 13 years for someone besides TU to win the all-sports championship.
Baseball: TU +15 (if co-champ points awarded)
Softball: TU +10
Golf (M): DPU +50
Golf (W): DPU +25
Tennis (M): TU +10
Tennis (W): TBD but likely net 0 (see below)
T&F (M): DPU +10
T&F (W): TU +10
Net DPU +40
Still one sport to be decided ... women's tennis, where "the women's tennis match was called with DePauw leading 3-1, due to travel conflicts for Trinity. The SCAC office declared the two teams co-champions and the women's tennis tournament committee will discuss the outcome on Monday."
Bonzo, what about the differences in points for Volleyball, Football, XC and Swimming & Diving?
Good post Ralph! I have always felt that points awarded for various sports were totally without any basis in reality... My suggestion is that the number of points per sport be limited to the number of athletes eligible under playoff rules eligible to participate in the sports championships. Track and swimming/diving might require some interpretation, but OK.... football gets 52, baseball gets 25, basketball gets 15, hockey gets maybe 20, and golf, and tennis get 10-12..... any thoughts?
Quote from: consultant on May 01, 2006, 06:29:58 PM
By the way, Millsaps' 34 wins this year is a school record for wins in a season. The only other times Millsaps has hit the 30-win mark came in 2004 (33-9) and 1996 (30-10 and finished with a 19th national ranking).
I have a feeling that Millsaps could creep into the top 10 in the new ABCA poll. 34-11 is quite a season for them.
As for Championship Cup point totals, I am slightly conflicted about the point designations.
1) All Champions are champions. Make no distinction for Football or Basketball due to the "likability" of the sport.
2) The point totals should reflect the number of competitors (i.e., teams) that you defeated. National Championships in Golf or Ice Hockey are great, but do they reflect the quality and quantity of the competition as Women's Volleyball or M/W Soccer or M/W Hoops?
As for a conference, if the conference offers the championship, then the Conference Championship ought to have a certain value. I do make this distinction between the National and Conference Champs. If a school fields that sport and competes in the Conference, then a fourth place finish ought to be worth the same whether "4th" was a semi-finalist or the last place team in the conference, because 6 other schools did not send athletes in that sport! :)
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 01, 2006, 08:05:41 PM
Bonzo, what about the differences in points for Volleyball, Football, XC and Swimming & Diving?
Winter sports were previously included in the point totals that had DPU leading by ~50. You can get more details from the SCAC site, they've put up an article on the Cup (http://www.scac-online.org/trophy/index.html).
And, great Ghu, someone actually filed a protest over whatever was decided regarding the women's tennis champion. With one team #2 and the other #3 there shouldn't be any question of both getting bids. If I had to guess it would be whomever didn't get the conference's auto bid, since DPU was leading 3-1 that would probably be Trinity with the protest. [total speculation]
I posted this on the polls board, but I thought I'd add it here, too.....
I'd like to see Trinity and Millsaps jump into the top 10. I think it's possible and it would be outstanding for both clubs and the SCAC. On another note, I wouldn't be surprised if Millsaps and Trinity both leap into the number one spot in their respective divisions.....Millsaps in the South.....Trinity in the West.
I doubt that Trinity will leapfrog Chapman foir the #1 spot in the west region as Chapman has been on fire as of late. I am not saying they do not deserve it as Chapman never plays conference games and always throws their top three. I am guessing that they will end up in the #2 spot in the west.
The May 2nd ABCA poll is out with Trinity inching up to #10 and Millsaps staying at #14. They have Chapman at #7.
In the regional rankings you have Chapman followed by Trinity in the West and Millsaps follows Salisbury and Emory in the South.
In looking at the regional rankings I find 5 teams that Millsaps has played this season. Millsaps went 2-0 vs. Emory, 2-0 vs. Huntingdon, 4-3 vs. Trinity, 2-1 vs. Mississippi College and 0-2 vs. Illinois Wesleyan. That's a 10-6 record against regional ranked teams which isn't too bad. (For those interested, the other 5 losses were to East Texas Baptist, Hendrix, Rhodes twice, and Belhaven College).
ABCA national poll (http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/abcapoll5206.pdf) - regionals on second page.
Surprised that ASC East leader Miss Coll is in, but not ASC West leader Texas Lutheran, with a better record (27-10-1 vs. 27-13-1) and a 2-0 record against Trinity.
West
1. Chapman (26-8)
2. Trinity (33-10)
3. Redlands (29-9)
4. George Fox (25-10)
5. Mississippi College (29-14)
6. Cal State East Bay (22-10)
I was curious about the Emory record against ranked teams after I looked at the 10-6 Millsaps record. Someone may want to double check me but I think I have this right:
1-0 vs. Juniata College, 8th in Mid-Atlantic
1-0 vs. Adrian College, 7th in Mideast
1-0 vs. Washington University, 5th in Central
0-2 vs. Huntingdon College, 6th in South
0-2 vs. Millsaps College, 3rd in South
0-1 vs. Greensboro, tied for 8th in South
That comes to a 3-5 record, including an 0-5 record verses the ranked teams in the South Region. Could we get a recount.
By the way, I tried to look at the Salisbury record against ranked teams and it did looked pretty good. Maybe it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 9-3 but I may not have that quite right.
Emory's 0-5 record versus in-region ranked teams could play a factor in their NCAAS. I doubt they would be left out, but it may impact their seeding.
Quote from: BigPoppa on May 02, 2006, 06:53:56 PM
Emory's 0-5 record versus in-region ranked teams could play a factor in their NCAAS. I doubt they would be left out, but it may impact their seeding.
+1 Karma Big Poppa! You are learning the Handbook! ;) :)
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 02, 2006, 09:13:17 PM
Quote from: BigPoppa on May 02, 2006, 06:53:56 PM
Emory's 0-5 record versus in-region ranked teams could play a factor in their NCAAS. I doubt they would be left out, but it may impact their seeding.
+1 Karma Big Poppa! You are learning the Handbook! ;) :)
I consider you my mentor, Ralph. You have taught me well.
The SCAC 15th anniversary baseball team has been released:
http://www.scac-online.org/anniversary15/baseball.htm
The NCAA regional polls are expected to be released tomorrow..... Look to the South Region where, unlike the ABCA polls, Millsaps will be listed as the number one seed!
Quote from: consultant on May 03, 2006, 01:41:36 PM
The NCAA regional polls are expected to be released tomorrow..... Look to the South Region where, unlike the ABCA polls, Millsaps will be listed as the number one seed!
What is Millsaps in-region record versus ranked opponents?
Quote from: consultant on May 03, 2006, 01:41:36 PM
The NCAA regional polls are expected to be released tomorrow..... Look to the South Region where, unlike the ABCA polls, Millsaps will be listed as the number one seed!
As long as they got the abacus fixed, that is.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 02, 2006, 02:22:16 PM
The May 2nd ABCA poll is out with Trinity inching up to #10 and Millsaps staying at #14. They have Chapman at #7.
In the regional rankings you have Chapman followed by Trinity in the West and Millsaps follows Salisbury and Emory in the South.
In looking at the regional rankings I find 5 teams that Millsaps has played this season. Millsaps went 2-0 vs. Emory, 2-0 vs. Huntingdon, 4-3 vs. Trinity, 2-1 vs. Mississippi College and 0-2 vs. Illinois Wesleyan. That's a 10-6 record against regional ranked teams which isn't too bad. (For those interested, the other 5 losses were to East Texas Baptist, Hendrix, Rhodes twice, and Belhaven College).
Big Poppa--Here's the Millsaps record against all the teams that are ranked in the ABCA poll. Emory and Huntingdon are in the South, Trinity and MC in the West and Ill. Wesleyan is in the Central. I'm not sure if Trinity and MC are considered in-region on this since one is in the 200 mile zone and one is a conference opponent.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 03, 2006, 04:48:03 PM
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 02, 2006, 02:22:16 PM
The May 2nd ABCA poll is out with Trinity inching up to #10 and Millsaps staying at #14. They have Chapman at #7.
In the regional rankings you have Chapman followed by Trinity in the West and Millsaps follows Salisbury and Emory in the South.
In looking at the regional rankings I find 5 teams that Millsaps has played this season. Millsaps went 2-0 vs. Emory, 2-0 vs. Huntingdon, 4-3 vs. Trinity, 2-1 vs. Mississippi College and 0-2 vs. Illinois Wesleyan. That's a 10-6 record against regional ranked teams which isn't too bad. (For those interested, the other 5 losses were to East Texas Baptist, Hendrix, Rhodes twice, and Belhaven College).
Big Poppa--Here's the Millsaps record against all the teams that are ranked in the ABCA poll. Emory and Huntingdon are in the South, Trinity and MC in the West and Ill. Wesleyan is in the Central. I'm not sure if Trinity and MC are considered in-region on this since one is in the 200 mile zone and one is a conference opponent.
Frank your suspicions are correct.
Millsaps opponents are in-region if:
1) they are SCAC members, e.g.; Trinity or DePauw.
2) they are in the South Evaluation Region, e.g., Emory or Huntingdon.(Please see Handbook.)
3) they are from another evaluation region, but the campus is within a 200-mile radius, e.g., Mississippi College. (Did we confirm whehter Louisiana College in Pineville is less than 200 miles away officially?)
Pineville is 190 miles from Jackson according to MSN driving directions and Mapquest directions.
I've got the long-awaited first NCAA regional poll posted on the SCAC website:
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/50406regionpoll.pdf
That should be good for a karma point, shouldn't it Ralph?
:)
Consultant was halfway right on the thought that both Millsaps and Trinity might take the #1 spot in their regions. At least he got the important half right, and since Trinity has the automatic bid it was obviously much more important to Millsaps that they get ranked tops in their region.
Dwayne... you ARE the man... now give us the link to the All-SCAC tourney team...
I can't believe that Adam Frey didn't get some consideration... 2-1 and ran out of gas in a friggin Nor-Easter... comeon...
Here is the link to the SCAC baseball all-tourney team......
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/06alltourneyteam.htm
Quote from: historymajor on May 04, 2006, 07:22:40 PM
Dwayne... you ARE the man... now give us the link to the All-SCAC tourney team...
I can't believe that Adam Frey didn't get some consideration... 2-1 and ran out of gas in a friggin Nor-Easter... comeon...
Good point until you look at the box scores. After all, Frey ran out of gas after pitching a whopping total of 4 innings in his 2 wins. In his loss he gave up 5 runs without getting an out. Don't get me wrong, Frey is a very good pitcher but I think even he would laugh at the idea that his performance this weekend was enough to make the all tournament team.
As we are in this dead zone between the SCAC Tournament and the NCAA Regionals, does anyone have an opinion on the All-SCAC team and the offensive player of the year and pitcher of the year?
I don't think Garner Wetzel did anything that would change anyone's mind about him being the top offensive player in the SCAC. There might be a couple of contenders for that award but I think the player most coaches would least like to pitch to is Wetzel.
Pitcher of the year is an interesting category. To no one's surprise, I would vote for John Fox or Todd Kindler. Picking between the two, I would go with Fox because he was one of the top pitchers in every category once he got past the first game of the season. That was the East Texas Baptist runfest where Fox allowed 10 earned runs in 2/3's of an inning. Without that, his ERA for the season was 2.66, one of the tops in the league. Games of note included the dominance of Trinity at the beginning and end of the season, 6 shutout innings vs. Emory, his head-to-head victory over Robert Flanagan of Rhodes, and his strong showing against DePauw in the SCAC Tournament.
I'm sure there are those who would disagree and I'd be interested in hearing a case for other players or in seeing someone's pick for the All-SCAC team.
(El Tea Gray---re: SCAC Newcomers-of-the-Year)
Offense: Ryan Caven---TU
Pitchers: Brittan Horn---TU
Wow! :)
Those are two great choices for Newcomers-of-the-Year but I don't think they give that award in baseball. My guess is that both players will get multiple SCAC post-season honors over the next 4 years.
Millsaps still #1S, Trinity still #2W in the latest NCAA Regional poll (http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/polls/diviii).
Chapman did fall from #1 to #3 with the two losses last week, but apparently the one Trinity loss was sufficient to allow Redlands to leap from #3 to #1. I hate when that happens.
South
1 Millsaps 30-7, 34-11
2 Salisbury 25-5, 36-7
3 Emory 24-7, 31-7
4 Bridgewater (Virginia) 31-11-1, 31-12-1
5 York (Pennsylvania) 21-13-1, 24-15-1
6 North Carolina Wesleyan 20-11, 27-16
West
1 Redlands 19-5, 30-9
2 Trinity (Texas) 26-10, 33-11
3 Chapman 20-8, 27-10
4 Cal State East Bay 20-7, 24-10
5 Texas Lutheran 24-9-1, 32-11-1
6 Texas-Dallas 27-12, 33-14
Three TX teams, three west coast teams. Hmm.
What hurts the TX and CA matchups is that George Fox is already into the West Regional. Someone may get left out ...
Quote from: BigPoppa on May 11, 2006, 04:21:54 PM
What hurts the TX and CA matchups is that George Fox is already into the West Regional. Someone may get left out ...
Remember, if UT-Dallas made the playoffs as a Pool C bid and we got 2 Pool B bids from the West Region, then the West Region might have a 7-team bracket.
Quote from: Ron Boerger (BfB) on May 11, 2006, 04:19:03 PM
West
1 Redlands 19-5, 30-9
2 Trinity (Texas) 26-10, 33-11
3 Chapman 20-8, 27-10
4 Cal State East Bay 20-7, 24-10
5 Texas Lutheran 24-9-1, 32-11-1
6 Texas-Dallas 27-12, 33-14
Three TX teams, three west coast teams. Hmm.
The West region is only Texas and West coast teams :)
I would expect that the West will be a 7 team regional only if played in Texas. If played in So Cal I expect a 6 team regional due to travel expenses.
The point I was trying to make is that a 3-3 split would give a better chance to have the west regional here for a change instead out at Chapman again. Last week I think it was 3 WC - 2 TX - 1 team that would fly no matter what (Miss. Coll).
The George Fox thing probably screws that up, anyway.
If we have 3 teams from California, Redlands can host because the NCAA can bus Chapman and CSU-East Bay to Redlands.
That is the same bussing UT-Dallas and TLU to Trinity.
George Fox can fly anywhere.
I have my doubts that UT-Dallas earns a Pool C bid.
(El Tea Gray---re: Site for DIII West Region Playoff)
Trinity and TLU could host the playoffs in San Antonio (Wolff Stadium--- a.m., SA Missions play p.m.). Texas-Dallas busses in, and West Coast group flyes in. This finally gives a chance of "other than a Chapman site" in many years; NCAA DIII should take this opportunity as it may not occur again for may years? IMHO really not fare for Chapman to continually host as they are currently 17-4 at home? Wolff Stadium (San Antonio--no Trinity or TLU games this year , but DI Univ. of Texas, UTSA and Notre Dame did play there earlier in the season) is really a neutral site for all of the DIII teams currently ranked in the West Region.
Can the NCAA do the right thing by the DIII West Region? ???
If #1 Redlands did not file papers to host the tournament and #2 Trinity did, then Trinity is in line to host the tourney. Remember when the lower seeded Trinity hosted the higher-seeded Wesley College in football in 1999?
If there are only 2 Texas teams and there are 3 California teams, then it is cheaper to fly everyone to Southern California.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 11, 2006, 09:40:53 PM
If we have 3 teams from California, Redlands can host because the NCAA can bus Chapman and CSU-East Bay to Redlands.
That is the same bussing UT-Dallas and TLU to Trinity.
George Fox can fly anywhere.
I have my doubts that UT-Dallas earns a Pool C bid.
Redlands does not have the facilities to host an NCAA Regional. I am guessing that either Chapman or Trinity will host.
All of this hosting pros and cons is over my head so this question may be a little off base. Am I correct that the site for the South Regional hasn't been announced, and if so, is their any reason that Millsaps wouldn't be eligible to host if they do get into the tournament as an at-large?
I have no idea if Millsaps has any interest in hosting or if they put in a bid, but I'd sure love to see them play somewhere close to Jackson. You gurus might already have it calculated as to which teams will probably be in the South region and therefore which area might be the likely host site.
Any thoughts?
The #1 seed in a region (regardless of pool status) often has the best chance to host, if they have the facilities, filed the paperwork, and if it works from an NCAA travel $ viewpoint. I don't know where all those schools are located, Frank, but if say everyone had to fly to Millsaps and the NCAA could instead save money by busing several teams w/i 200 miles of the #2 or #3 seed, then that's who will host. Trinity has seen way too many times that they've had to fly as the #1 seed in other sports for that reason (tho sometimes there is a facilities issue).
Quote from: Ron Boerger (BfB) on May 12, 2006, 09:35:10 AM
The #1 seed in a region (regardless of pool status) often has the best chance to host, if they have the facilities, filed the paperwork, and if it works from an NCAA travel $ viewpoint. I don't know where all those schools are located, Frank, but if say everyone had to fly to Millsaps and the NCAA could instead save money by busing several teams w/i 200 miles of the #2 or #3 seed, then that's who will host. Trinity has seen way too many times that they've had to fly as the #1 seed in other sports for that reason (tho sometimes there is a facilities issue).
Ron, the bussing limit is 500 miles. But only Emory and the SLIAC team may be within the 500 mile limit.
If we were to "connect the dots" on the periphery of D3, then Seguin, San Antonio, Kerrville and Alpine would define the southern periphery of D3 in Texas. :-\
The next stop to the west would be the SCIAC and up the West Coast!
200 miles, 500 miles ... too many miles to keep track of. Thanks for keeping it straight, Ralph.
Of course, 500 miles in TX is like 200 miles in most other states ;-)
The bottom line to all this seems to indicate that watching Millsaps play in the regionals will mean a drive to Atlanta at best and quite possibily a longer trip up the east coast. That makes the webcasts sound awfully appealing but it is hard to take photos over the internet.
Does anybody know when/how the regional locations/seedings will be announced?
The seedings and locations will be announced late sun evening. The rumor on the south regional is that it's likely to be in Jackon MS at Millsaps. The site was supposed to be annoucned weeks ago, but problems emerged and everything should be cleared up late tonight, along with the announcements of regional tourney brackets.
Hope that Blang is right about that rumor. A story in the local paper this morning did confirm that Millsaps did put in a bid to host the tournament. My guess is that the tournament site would be at Smith-Wills stadium, a city owned ballpark that is about a mile from the campus.
I ran into some of the Millsaps players at a high school game yesterday and they felt good about their preparation prior to the regionals. They are hitting the ball well in practice and apparently everyone is healthy. As for pitching, John Fox has pitched well all year and Todd Kindler has pitched 17 innings of scoreless ball in his last two games and Jay Hollenbeck had a fairly dominant win over DePauw in the SCAC Tournament. They were thinking that they might get sent to RHIT for regionals but I know they would love to hear that they get to stay in Jackson to play. I'm sure there are plenty of parents who would love to hear that as well.
I can imagine 3 teams that could bus to Jackson, Emory, Wash St L and Webster...I think that they are barely within the 500 mile limit.
If UT-Dallas got a Pool C bid, then they could bus to Jackson, too. That would make 5. Add one plane flight and you have a bracket.
Ralph, It's Chapman.... complete bracket and times to follow
If that's the case, then my question is how do you get 6 teams to California and take the most deserving teams?
There's Redlands, Trinity, Chapman, TX Lu...and who else? East Bay? Just fly in someone or two from a major hub (Webster, Dominican)?
This problem gets worse if the South region is in Clinton, MS IMO, because then you've got Va. and NC schools that are flying too. then you have to try to backfill the central regional somehow and disperse the glut of Mid-Atlantic and New England teams. Did anyone in NC or Va put in a bid?
This is why I think the West regional should be in Texas, mideast in Ohio and the south in North Carolina as often as practical. NC offers a release valve for mid-Atlantic teams, as does an Ohio site for the Mideast. Then you can flow excess east teams from the NE/NY/MA regions into the South and Mideast.
If the regionals are hosted in Cali and Miss., I have a feeling these selections are going to look rather unusual. I've been playing with it here and...it doesn't work well lol.
Millsaps in St. Louis regional....#2 seed.
Do you know anything else?
Do not.... I've been traveling and got a text message as I got off the plane with nothing but the info
listed in the previous post.....
Well what you gave is several important pieces of info IMO.
1. There is a St. Louis regional. Far as I know this is a first. Guessing one of the Frontier League stadiums.
2. Millsaps is not hosting the South regional. With no teams anywhere near Mississippi, I doubt the South regional is going to be there. Perhaps the committee ran into the same problem I outlined, if they ever did plan to have the regional there.
Thanks for the info!
Here's the link to the regional breakdowns that was posted on the NCAA Tournament thread: http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/story/9439692
The St. Louis regional has:
1) Carthage (33-7) -- #1 in Central region
2) Millsaps (34-11) -- #1 in South region
3) Washington U. in St. Louis (34-5) -- #4 in Central region
4) Aurora (29-11) -- #2 in Central region (1-2 since regional rankings)
5) Webster (26-16) -- not ranked
6) Mount St. Joseph (28-15) -- not ranked
I'm not sure if there is such a thing as an easy regional but this one looks fairly tough with two teams ranked #1 in their region and the host team being 34-5. In the SCAC 6-team tournament everyone played in the first round. Is that how they do it in the NCAA or do the #1 and #2 seeds get first round byes?
Hosted by Chapman University, Orange, California
1. Redlands (30-9)
2. Trinity (Texas) (33-11)
3. Chapman (27-10)
4. Cal State East Bay (24-10)
5. Texas Lutheran (32-11-1)
6. George Fox (27-13)
F the NCAA. SIX straight years these guys have gotten to host the regional because of geography.
Sorry, Millsaps, you get it too. In both the Midwest and the West the #3 seed ends up being the host. ::)
Millsaps will open up with Webster University. I don't think the two teams have a common opponent this season. Webster just finished their conference tournament this past weekend while Millsaps has been off for about 3 weeks--I'm not sure who that favors but I think it might favor Millsaps.
Webster looks like a team with its strength at the plate. They have a .338 team batting average compared to .334 for Millsaps. Millsaps does hold the edge in the on base percentage and the slugging percentage. From a pitching standpoint, Webster doesn't seem to have that one big starter that is head and shoulders above the rest of the staff. Their three main starters are 5-2, 5-3, and 4-1 with ERA's ranging from 3.90 to 4.97.
A release from Millsaps says that the two teams will play the 2nd game on Wednesday but there is no game time given. On the Millsaps baseball page it says that all games will be webcast. Here's a link to that page:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/index.shtml
Looks like Millsaps got hosed. This is a tough regional to be in. Carthage and Aurora are both solid clubs. Aurorua was #1 in the region for quite awhile until they collapsed last week after beating Carthage in a non-conference game. AU fell apart in the NIIC tourney and was lucky to get a pool C berth. Carthage is a young, streaky team that is hot right now. They live on pitching.
From the Carthage Website:
The Carthage College baseball team (33-7), ranked eighth in the May 2 American Baseball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, is the top-seeded team in a six-team regional at Kelly Field on the campus of Washington University (Mo.) in St. Louis, Mo. The Red Men will open regional play on Wednesday, May 17 versus sixth-seeded the College of Mount St. Joseph (28-15) at 10 a.m. In the second game at 1 p.m., second-seeded Millsaps College (34-11) will play fifth-seeded Webster University (26-16), and third-seeded Washington University (Mo., 34-5) will take on fourth-seeded Aurora University (29-11) at 4 p.m. in the third game of the day. The regional continues with three games on Thursday, May 18, three games on Friday, May 19 and the championship round on Saturday, May 20. Kelly Field does not have lights.
Quote from: BigPoppa on May 15, 2006, 12:45:31 PM
Looks like Millsaps got hosed. This is a tough regional to be in. Carthage and Aurora are both solid clubs. Aurorua was #1 in the region for quite awhile until they collapsed last week after beating Carthage in a non-conference game. AU fell apart in the NIIC tourney and was lucky to get a pool C berth. Carthage is a young, streaky team that is hot right now. They live on pitching.
From the Carthage Website:
The Carthage College baseball team (33-7), ranked eighth in the May 2 American Baseball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, is the top-seeded team in a six-team regional at Kelly Field on the campus of Washington University (Mo.) in St. Louis, Mo. The Red Men will open regional play on Wednesday, May 17 versus sixth-seeded the College of Mount St. Joseph (28-15) at 10 a.m. In the second game at 1 p.m., second-seeded Millsaps College (34-11) will play fifth-seeded Webster University (26-16), and third-seeded Washington University (Mo., 34-5) will take on fourth-seeded Aurora University (29-11) at 4 p.m. in the third game of the day. The regional continues with three games on Thursday, May 18, three games on Friday, May 19 and the championship round on Saturday, May 20. Kelly Field does not have lights.
Big Poppa, since the NIIC was a "pool B" conference, and did not have an AQ, their (Aurora's) performance was balanced by the season long in-region record, IMHO.
My first impressions with the post-season conference tourneys in baseball are:
-- that they do not raise a a team to Pool C that wasn't already on the radar screen;
-- that they may knock out a marginal Regionally Ranked team like Simspon IIAC #5 Central;
-- and that anything under 4th in the regional rankings must win it all if they want a bid! (The Northeast Region is a bit unusual due to its size.)
I don't know enough about these other teams to know if Millsaps did or didn't get a raw deal. I've looked at the stats of all 6 teams to see how they compare but I don't know if that is a very valid comparison since I don't know how their strength of schedule compares.
To me it looks like all of the teams can hit and score runs. I think the big question for every team will be their pitching. My guess is that John Fox and Todd Kindler stack up well with the 1-2 pitchers of the other 5 teams. Jay Hollenbeck at 4-0 and about a 2.00 ERA isn't a bad guy to have as the #3 starter, especially after his 7 inning, 1 run performance vs. DePauw in the SCAC Tournament. Behind those three you have Tal Hendrix, Tait Hendrix, Brandon Ingram, Drew Maddox, David Hutzel and Brad Miserany, and I have confidence in all of those guys. On paper, it looks like the only staff that might be stronger is the Carthage staff but that's just on paper and it doesn't mean that it is reality.
Millsaps has a 2-0 record against #2 seed Emory this year and a 4-3 record against #2 seed Trinity so they have proven that they can win against top competition. Hopefully they will prove it again this week.
I don't understand some of the site selections. St. Louis has two minor-league stadiums that aren't being used until after the MLB draft. Sure it could cost to rent a little. Maybe they needed the money to ship Kings and Elizabethtown out to damn near Illinois.
Also curious is the selection of Rocky Mount for the South regional, when Methodist has lights. Give Methodist coach Tom Austin points for not choosing his own field to host at least. Maybe he lacked workers? NCWC has hosted at Barton in Wilson before, but they're hosting their conference tourney next week.
And does anyone other than Chapman submit regional bids in the West?
Suck it up and run this regional... Millsaps... you're better than all of them... and let's make a date with TU at Appleton!
Quote from: historymajor on May 16, 2006, 12:51:54 AM
Suck it up and run this regional... Millsaps... you're better than all of them... and let's make a date with TU at Appleton!
History... I love your enthusiasm for Millsaps. This is going to be one of the better regionals. Millsaps could easily be a #1 seed in this or another regional. Carthage and Aurora battled for control of this region for the last 14 years when Carthage was shifted from the Midwest to the Central. It seems like they meet in the finals every other year. I think Millsaps has a great chance to do some damage here.
Quote from: historymajor on May 16, 2006, 12:51:54 AM
Suck it up and run this regional... Millsaps... you're better than all of them... and let's make a date with TU at Appleton!
I'd love it if Trinity had a chance to even their record against Millsaps in 2006. I guess time will tell but I really think that the break between the SCAC Tournament and the NCAA Regionals will help both teams. It certainly makes it more feasible that a pitcher who throws on Wednesday and maybe even Thursday will be able to come back and give some quality innings later in the Regionals. I don't know if that will be true for guys who were pitching tournament games just a few days ago.
As for the rust factor of not having played in over 2 weeks, I'm hoping in both cases that the #2 seed will be strong enough to win over the #5 seed even if they are a little rusty. After that first game I think the Trinity and Millsaps hitters should feel back in sync.
I'm looking forward to following the Trinity games when they don't conflict with the Millsaps games and I'm pulling for them to get to the World Series along with the Majors.
Looks like there should be pleasant weather in St. Louis for the Central Regional tourney. Millsaps arrived in St. Louis this afternoon after a routine 8-9 hour bus trip. The coaching staff seems pleased with the bracket. From what I understand, there are no injuires to report, and the Majors have had two weeks of "good, crisp practices and scrimmages."
No word on who will be the starting pitcher for the Majors on Wednesday against Webster. Because Millsaps likes the way they match up with Webster, I wouldn't be surprised to see a pitch-by-committee approach in order to save some arms.
Millsaps is in a regional for the third time in the last four years. This year's seniors were freshman in 2003 when the Majors played in the South regional at Miss. College. Millsaps was the #6 seed that year and opened the tournament with a 2-1 10 inning win over #1 seed and second-ranked Carthage.
While waiting for the Regional games to begin, may I just point out the joke that came out on May 15th, namely the ABCA Poll.
Millsaps and Trinity both finished their season on April 30th at the SCAC Tournament. Millsaps finished 34-11, Trinity 33-11. Millsaps won 4 of 7 from Trinity but Trinity did win the conference by a game.
In the May 2nd ABCA Poll, Trinity was 10th with 160 points and Millsaps was 14th with 127 points. Not sure about that but so be it. Now without either team playing a game we have the May 15th poll with Trinity moving up to 9th with 180 points and Millsaps falling to 17th with 114 points. I guess Trinity was having better pre-regional practice sessions. Why does the ABCA even bother?
While I know that this poll has consistency issues, one thing to keep in mind is that in general you cannot judge a poll in a vacuum. You didn't mention who fell behind Trinity or who may have passed Millsaps. Those affect a team's ranking and points total as well.
Quote from: Pat Coleman on May 17, 2006, 12:15:20 PM
While I know that this poll has consistency issues, one thing to keep in mind is that in general you cannot judge a poll in a vacuum. You didn't mention who fell behind Trinity or who may have passed Millsaps. Those affect a team's ranking and points total as well.
Pat... I agree.... most of the movement can be attributed to the wins/losses of their previous opponents. I know they did not play, but many others were still playing.
2006 All-SCAC Baseball Team
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/06allscac.htm
Trinity's West Region Tournament games will be webcast, and will also feature live stats (as long as they are working - they have been hit-or-miss recently). The links to both can be found on Trinity's athletics site at:
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/index.htm
Some tech difficulties .... hpoe they were ironed out in time....
TU and Millsaps 'cruised'....
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2006/TU-NCAA1.htm
http://www1.chapman.edu/athletics/05-06/baseball/regionals/game2.htm
http://bearsports.wustl.edu/releases/baseball5-17-06.html
http://bearsports.wustl.edu/baseball/ncaa2.htm
Congratulations to Trinity on winning the game against Texas Lutheran that counted the most this season. Trinity and Millsaps played in a 6 team conference tournament so we should both be familiar with how big the #5 game is today. That's the "winner's bracket" game that has the 1-0 team vs. the 0-1 team. In both regions the 1-0 team is the #6 seed and probably the underdog in the game. Therefore, a win by Millsaps and Trinity today could very likely give them the winner's bracket edge after only 2 games.
If that happens, then your 3rd game of the tournament isn't against a 2-0 team but against a team that is playing its 2nd game of the day and 4th game of the tournament. That's a pretty good deal. On the other hand, if the #6 seed does win and you face them in a winner's bracket final, then you have to think that their #3 starter won't be very strong--there is a reason that they are the #6 seed. That's not a bad situation either.
The bottom line is that Trinity and Millsaps have a chance to really grab the upper hand in their regionals with a win today since the #1 seeds both got sent to the loser's bracket on the first day. It should be an exciting afternoon and evening of baseball and a win by both of the SCAC teams would greatly improve the possibility that these two teams might just meet again in 2006.
Great comments, Frank. Millsaps and TU really need to reach back and pull out a W today. As you say, it would put them in the driver's seat for the rest of the regionals.
Hate to see that Trinity went down in a late game last night. Looked like they were still in the game until a sloppy 4-run Chapman inning. Started off with a HBP, then a walk and all of a sudden you have two men on with no outs and Chapman hasn't even put the ball in play. Throw in an error, a wild pitch, and a few hits and that was the ball game.
On paper Trinity has the pitching to come back but it seems like the Trinity staff got a little thin in the SCAC Tournament. Still, they should be in better shape then most teams when it comes to pitching. The big question is will the bats heat up again after last night? They need to bounce back with a few 10-12 run outputs and they'll have a good shot of taking the region.
They had the misfortune of facing Chapman's best P ... but that's life. The good news is with him having pitched the CG last night, he should be unavailable should TU face Chapman in a rematch (or two). TU got 2 ER off of Drag, who had an 0.69 ERA before yesterday's game.
TU has to turn around and play the first game today ... going to make it tough. I imagine Trinity will start Chuck Huggins this AM and hope to have Britton Horn for a possible rematch with Chapman in the nightcap ... tho the opposite could easily be the case as well. Bignall should be good to go if there is another game after that, but they have to get by George Fox this afternoon.
Huggins is the best at denying hits (.200 OBA) and has 53 K's in 52.0 IP, but also leads the team with 38 walks, 11 WP and seven hit batsmen.
Chapman will have to start their #3 today, Billy Sulentor (4-4, 3.49). Klovstad probably comes back on Saturday and after that, should it be necessary, who knows.
Some call it a conspiracy theory... At best, I call it a cluster f*&*...
The brackets were redone late this morning and TU's noon game is now 4pm,,, after already having taken BP this morning, they are left to chill til 4, and win to force a second game at ??? against hometown Chapman... hmmmm... First wierd seedings,,, why would the two TX teams play first in front of the 4 Cali teams???? Scouting, maybe? Well the first result was ONE of THE TWO were forced into the losers bracket... with the #1 seed (the first bounced out) Redlands out of play...
Now TU faces a double header to stay alive... and poor TLU has to try to round up it's team (who can't all be accounted for because they weren't scheduled to play until later)... no BP... yada,, yada,,, yada... The NCAA has really bolluxed (sp) this one up!!!! And the TX teams seam to be getting the worst of it....
http://www.chapman.edu/images/userImages/daiken/Page_9036/brackets.pdf
What the heck? That is some crazy stuff. I wouldnt call it a conspiracy that 2 TX teams played each other right away, Chapman and East Bay are very familiar with each other too. Weird stuff about the time changes though
I've got a copy of the West regional bracket after the first day of play. There are still 2 potential brackets and the one you will use is dependent on the winner of the Cal State East Bay vs. George Fox game.
It says if George Fox loses that game, then bracket #2 will be used for the rest of the tournament. George Fox lost the game.
In bracket #2 it logically has the loser's bracket game at noon, followed by the winner's bracket game at 3:30. When the brackets are literally changed at the last minute in a move that gives the host team a big advantage, you have to wonder if this is a host team that deserves to get another regional.
Millsaps will start John Fox tomorrow morning vs. Aurora. Fox claims that he felt great after his outing against Webster on Wednesday. For Millsaps fans, let's hope that Fox does great on Saturday and that the bats stay hot.
Speaking of hot hitting, SCAC player-of-the-year, Garner Wetzel, broke the SCAC record for RBI in a season today with his 86th RBI. The old mark was 84 RBI set by Ryan Dowdy of Southwestern in 1999 during a 50-game season for the Pirates. Wetzel has knocked in 86 runs in 48 games played, and he has 10 RBI in 3 games played in the regional.
On another note Millsaps has outscored its opponents 39-9 in its first three games of the regional.
Tough to see the Trinity loss....and methinks I smell a rat in that regional.
Ok, TU is out, after getting thumped by a very talented slap-hitting GF team.... I hope TLU meets them tomorrow... they may match up better than TU did.... Go Millsaps and TLU!!!!
Quote from: consultant on May 20, 2006, 01:58:33 AM
Millsaps will start John Fox tomorrow morning vs. Aurora. Fox claims that he felt great after his outing against Webster on Wednesday. For Millsaps fans, let's hope that Fox does great on Saturday and that the bats stay hot.
Speaking of hot hitting, SCAC player-of-the-year, Garner Wetzel, broke the SCAC record for RBI in a season today with his 86th RBI. The old mark was 84 RBI set by Ryan Dowdy of Southwestern in 1999 during a 50-game season for the Pirates. Wetzel has knocked in 86 runs in 48 games played, and he has 10 RBI in 3 games played in the regional.
On another note Millsaps has outscored its opponents 39-9 in its first three games of the regional.
Tough to see the Trinity loss....and methinks I smell a rat in that regional.
TU bats just went cold ... I still think having the SCAC championships so darned early hurts the conference's representatives ... need to figure a way to keep the guys playing a game or two in the interim or push the championships back. In hindsight (and you know what they say) maybe holding Horn back in hopes that Huggins could get the W wasn't the best strategy.
Congrats to Millsaps for doing a much better job with the layoff and good luck in the second game today.
Quote from: Ron Boerger (BfB) on May 20, 2006, 03:34:37 PM
Congrats to Millsaps for doing a much better job with the layoff and good luck in the second game today.
Millsaps needs all that luck and more..... Down 3-2 in the top of the fourth Millsaps gave up a 7 spot. Score is now Aurora 10 - Millsaps 3 (Millsaps just pushed across the third run in btm of the fourth. There's a lot of baseball left, but Aurora seems to be clicking.
Quote
Majors showed a lot of heart with the big comeback today, consultant. Props on an excellent season that ended a couple runs short of a trip to the D3 CWS.
Pick one of many plays to change and Millsaps is going to the World Series. Maybe it's just one pitch, one decision, one call, a swing that is .03 of a second earlier or later, etc., and Millsaps is regional champions. But that's the nature of the game and it's odd that the outcome of a game that is often determined by such tiny things creates an emotional difference that is so huge. I know the Aurora players are on top of the world and the Millsaps guys had a tough ride home yesterday.
It was a disappointing finish to what was still a great year. Out of over 300 teams, Millsaps made it to the last 16 teams playing. They were ranked as the top team in the South and they had numerous outstanding performances as a team and as individuals. It's also important to note that they handled themselves with class throughout the year and they were excellent representatives for Millsaps and the SCAC. They lose a great group of seniors who have meant a tremendous amount to the program and to Millsaps but I'm sure the returning players will work hard and do all they can to make the step up to the next level.
Congratulations to the 2006 team for all they accomplished, good luck to each senior as he moves on to the next phase in his life, and I look forward to supporting another great team in 2007.
Thank you, Frank.
I also want to thank the posters from the SCAC, which was the 2nd most active conference board in D3, trailing only the CCIW board which may be the premier message board in D3.
You have been an active group of D3 fans. You have been knowledgeable and cordial. Your posts have been informative and constructive.
I hope each of you will continue to be active on the other boards, but this season has been more fun for me than any previous one that we've had on D3sports.com.
Have a good off-season. :)
And I really hope that Birimingham-Southern ends up in the SCAC! ;)
Great seasons by TU and Millsaps... Coach Page really showed some class the way he handled the SCAC co-championship situation and led his team to within a run of the World Series... Maybe next year will be the year for the "Showdown in WI"
It was a tremendous season by both Trinity and Millsaps. One day, Trinity and Millsaps will both be number one seeds and hosting a regional. When that happens, I like the chances of a Millsaps vs. Trinity showdown in Wisconsin without a doubt!
I actually think that the best thing that could happen for Trinity to host playoffs more regularly would be for enough schools (probably 4-5) in this part of the country to move to D3 so the ASC could break into 2 separtate conferences. With 3 AQ's in this geographically isolated part of the nation, then it is reasonable to bus 2 teams and fly in the rest.
Chapman hosted; Redlands and CSU-East Bay were bussed; George Fox, Trinity and TLU were flown in. If UT-D were from a different conference, then perhaps Trinity's higher regional ranking would have moved the tourney to San Antonio.
The NCAA would have needed to fly 4 teams somewhere. Why not to Texas?
Ralph,
I agree with everything you just posted, BUT first Trinity will need to administratively take the position that they CAN host a baseball regional. They did not even apply to do so this year; "uneven outfield surface" since the football team practices there (bull), "unreliable scoreboard" (more bull--easy to fix), "no press box" (true but could be worked around or better yet build one), yada, yada, yada. If there was ever a year that there should have been a San Antonio (area) regional; TU and TLU could have shared this year's host role?
Also, what is your scoop (or the poop) on Birmingham-Southern College (Big South--NCAA Division I)? Trouble in paradise? Currently, no football (am I correct)? ???
Wow, a field that won national awards a few years back and now it's come to this? Surprising. I guess I can't get PO'd at the AA if Trinity didn't apply to host.
Hopefully some of the money set aside for athletics in the "Campaign for Trinity University" (http://www.trinity.edu/departments/development/campaign/overview.html) will be used to address some of these problems ... but $5M doesn't go an awfully long way.
Trinity seems to have a problem with scoreboards ... maybe they need to bring in a new contractor ;-)
etg, some of the issues with the Trinity facilities are not "bull" in light of the NCAA requirements, and are not an easy fix. The NCAA requires a press box to host a regional.The configuration of the baseball field and the Bell Center makes construction of a press facility more than a challenge. Using the baseball field for football practice does take a toll.
Coach Scannell would love to host a regional. He is a dynamic recruiter/coach. In 7 years he has taken Trinity baseball to levels not seen since the 1970's, including the championship round of the regional twice (having to deal with the death of Coach Meccage during the 2002 regional) and losing to the eventual national champion in 2004, when the NCAA placed 5 teams rated in the top 30 in the West regional. If Brian Oates had been healthy all season, Trinity may well still be playing. Losing Brian midway through the season was huge, as he dominated in nearly every outing.
Trinity baseball is bringing in very good talent and then getting the most out of that talent. Hopefully their will be enough facility upgrades to match what the players/coaches are achieving.
Hey guys, sorry to bump in on the SCAC board but I found this on the Cal Lu home-page.
http://ww2.callutheran.edu/news/news_detail.php?news_story_id=2828
Looks like it will be pretty sweet. I know they played on the field this year and it is a beautiful field. This is the kind of stuff schools need in order for certain schools (Chapman) to have to go on the road for a regional. Having home field every year is a pretty nice thing to have. If it were up to me though, D-III would go to the same format as D-I but we all know that will never happen and it is a whole other discussion :)
Here is a link to show some drawings of what it will look like
http://www.callutheran.edu/about/watch_clu_grow.php
Quote from: etg on May 23, 2006, 10:33:34 AM
Ralph,
I agree with everything you just posted, BUT first Trinity will need to administratively take the position that they CAN host a baseball regional. They did not even apply to do so this year; "uneven outfield surface" since the football team practices there (bull), "unreliable scoreboard" (more bull--easy to fix), "no press box" (true but could be worked around or better yet build one), yada, yada, yada. If there was ever a year that there should have been a San Antonio (area) regional; TU and TLU could have shared this year's host role?
Also, what is your scoop (or the poop) on Birmingham-Southern College (Big South--NCAA Division I)? Trouble in paradise? Currently, no football (am I correct)? ???
Good day, etg!
This blog (http://www.d3hoops.com/dailydose/?p=186) contains most of the stuff that has been found.
I think that the BSC is a slam-dunk for the SCAC! Location, academic profile, sufficient endowment, a waiting suitor that has previously stated they were going to 12 schools and 2 divisions, Phi Beta Kappa Chapter.
I wish BSC would add Football, Men's and Women's LAX and Swimming and Diving and maybe Field Hockey to change the paradigm from D1 to D3.
Quote from: infielddad on May 23, 2006, 12:32:48 PM
Trinity baseball is bringing in very good talent and then getting the most out of that talent. Hopefully their will be enough facility upgrades to match what the players/coaches are achieving.
Infielddad, good commentary and please come back next year during the season. I had wondered what had happened to Brian Oates and could only surmise that he had an injury of some type. He's listed as a junior so hopefully returns next season.
"He's listed as a junior so hopefully returns next season."
Things sound promising for Brian. He will be heading off to Harwich and hopefully will have a great summer pitching in the Cape Cod League where he will be one of the very few DIII players with that type of opportunity.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 23, 2006, 01:03:34 PM
Good day, etg!
This blog (http://www.d3hoops.com/dailydose/?p=186) contains most of the stuff that has been found.
I think that the BSC is a slam-dunk for the SCAC! Location, academic profile, sufficient endowment, a waiting suitor that has previously stated they were going to 12 schools and 2 divisions, Phi Beta Kappa Chapter.
I wish BSC would add Football, Men's and Women's LAX and Swimming and Diving and maybe Field Hockey to change the paradigm from D1 to D3.
Thanks, Ralph, I'd missed that blog entry, too. Darned right these guys would fit better in D3 than D1.
TU's Adam Frey has signed with the Alexandria Aces (http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/frey-aces06.htm) of the independent United League.
John Fox of Millsaps is also playing in the independent United League. He had his first win for the Edinburg Coyotes last night after starting out 0-2. Their website is: http://www.edinburgcoyotes.com/
Adam Frey is doing well at Alexandria.
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060810/SPORTS/608100306/1006
I saw Adam Frey pitch last night in Laredo, TX... s o l i d ! ! !
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060817/SPORTS/608170330/1006
Adam Frey pitched 7 strong to guide Alexandria to the UBL championship over San Angelo 3-2... tomorrow against Edlnburg in LA (650 mi drive).... Watch for Adam back in Edinburg!!!!
Frey's regular season stats in his limited time with the Aces:
W/L - 4-1, 1 SV
ERA - 1.93, best on the team
App/GS - 15/4
IP - 46.2
Hits allowed - 36
K's - 27
BB's - 12
WP - 1
HB - 0
HR allowed - 1
OBA - .211, 2nd to the team's closer (20 IP in 17 App)
Not too shabby! If he had enough innings pitched he would hold the league ERA crown by a wide margin.
As the league championship is a five-game series it would not surprise me to see Frey get two starts. The local paper, in an article written before the Alexandria game (http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060829/SPORTS/60829006/1006) calls Frey "the best pitcher on the staff" and "a gold mine."
Adam Frey is scheduled to start tonite in what could be the championship game against Edinburg... Aces are up 2-1 in the 5 game series....
7:05 CDT weblink:
http://www.tiger1043.com/home.php
Trinity alum Adam Frey capped off Alexandria's season with an 8-2 win over Edinburg last night. He dominated with 7 shutout innings before giving up a 2 run homer and left the bullpen to finish up.
His final record with the Ace's was 6-1 with a 1.93 era... congrats!!!
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060904/SPORTS/609040322/1006
I hope he gets a shot with an MLB-affiliated team next year. My guess about the UBL is that it plays at the A to AA level, probably closer to A.
Hmm, the SA Missions could always use a pitcher ... tho Adam wouldn't know what to do if he had a crowd of over 5K actually supporting him in SA! :D
Ron,
I have to disagree on the comparative level of play. Based on watching 60-80 minor league games since 2004, I doubt any of the independent leagues could play with a Rookie league team, if that. While I admire the guys grinding away at the independent league level, I have seen Adam and another pitcher in that league quite a bit. My son played with both. The hard truth is that if they could play A ball and above, MLB would sign them in a minute. Think of it this way: Major league teams will sign, for a very small amount, any player who can make them better. They rarely sign independent league players.
Players in A ball include several #1 picks and even more guys picked in rounds 1-10. Every starter I saw for 5 games last week was 92 plus. Last year, our son faced Homer Bailey and others in A ball. Bailey cruised at 97 and on occasion hit 101. I have become pretty good friends with a scout with a major league team. His view is that Texas, Stanford and the like couldn't compete with Rookie league teams in MLB. The reason is actually pretty obvious: MLB drafts the very best players in the US and then combines them with the best free agents from the Latin countries and the rest of the world. In professional ball, the 7-8-9 hitters on a minor league team usually were the #4 hitters in college or were one of the elite high school players. The 10th pitcher on a professional team was a#1 or 2 on a college team at Texas, A&M or someplace like that.
I hope Adam gets a chance next year and that a MLB team will use his success this year to "find a reason" to sign him. The difference between the two, however, is enormous. Personally, I believe Adam has the "upside" to have a chance. However, unless you throw 90 plus as a righty, it is hard to get a "good look."
John Fox from Millsaps was on the team that lost to Adam Frey's team in the championship series. I talked to Fox recently and he said that Frey has changed his mechanics quite a bit and has improved dramatically thanks to the changes. Hopefully those improvements will be enough to give him a shot at progressing up the ladder in pro ball.
Fox had a fairly good second half of the season after a rough start and I think he is going to try to give it one more year to see what happens. Sometimes it's more about being in the right situation at the right time than just a matter of pure talent so hopefully he will find the right situation.
It's way too early to talk about the 2007 baseball season but yesterday I watched the Millsaps team wind up their fall practice. I took some photos of the batters and pitchers just to have something up on the photo website prior to the spring and those are posted at:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Millsaps_Majors/
It looks like Millsaps returns 7 of their starters in the field with the lone exception being Garner Wetzel. It will take a collective effort to replace his bat in the lineup but I expect that run scoring will be a strength of next year's team. The big question mark will be the starting pitching with John Fox and Doug Kindler graduating after combining for a 19-3 record as seniors and starting 31 of the 50 Millsaps games last year. Millsaps has an interesting mix of returning players, freshmen and transfers and I think the pitching will be strong and the team certainly is thinking about matching and/or exceeding the results of last season.
I'm not sure if it means much of anything, but the SCAC had two teams listed in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's preseason poll with Millsaps at 16 and Trinity at 26. As someone else pointed out, the poll is very similar to the rankings at the end of last year. Here's a link to the thread discussing the poll:
http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=5016.0
It seems a little early to be talking baseball but Millsaps opens the season on Feburary 9th which isn't really that far away.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on December 27, 2006, 01:37:52 PM
I'm not sure if it means much of anything, but the SCAC had two teams listed in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's preseason poll with Millsaps at 16 and Trinity at 26. As someone else pointed out, the poll is very similar to the rankings at the end of last year. Here's a link to the thread discussing the poll:
The preseason poll is a poor predictor of the end of the season poll.
JP--As you and others have pointed out on the other thread, the preseason poll seems to be basically a carrying forward of the teams that were successful last season. It might not mean much on how the 2007 season will end up but it's nice to get some recognition.
Millsaps lost a lot and Millsaps brings back a lot. I think they will be as strong or stronger than the team that was only a play or two away from being in the World Series last year. Replacing the hitting of Garner Wetzel will be tough but it will probably be easier than replacing the pitching of the four seniors from last year.
One thing about the pitching last year is that the depth of the pitching staff might have suffered because Fox and Kindler were so strong. I think they'll be a much deeper pitching staff this year and that should help tremendously in tournament play, plus I think people will be surprised at just how much pitching talent they have on this year's team.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on December 27, 2006, 03:58:29 PM
JP--As you and others have pointed out on the other thread, the preseason poll seems to be basically a carrying forward of the teams that were successful last season. It might not mean much on how the 2007 season will end up but it's nice to get some recognition.
It says more about the quality of your program than your propects for the upcoming season when you are in the preseason poll. For instance I really dont see why Eastern Conn State is ranked so high but they have a consistent program.
Millsaps can certainly return to the playoffs. I remember when a Wisc-Oshosh team lost their power hitters and best pitchers after the 1985 season and came back to the Championship the next year.
Does anyone know the details of the new championship format this year? I assume the first weekend in Memphis will be a cross divisional series. How many teams will make the cross divisional tournament, 3 or 4??? Lots scheduling changes this year, apparently....
Just a quick note primarily for Millsaps fans (but not limited to Millsaps fans). I've started a Millsaps Sports email that should be going out about once a week. Mostly I'm just gathering up information about coming events, recent results, and interesting articles and I'm putting them all in one spot.
If you would like to get on the emailing list then just drop me (Frank Ezelle) a note at millsapssports@yahoo.com . It's just something I'm trying to do to promote Millsaps sports by getting information out to Millsaps fans instead of counting on them to search the Millsaps website or other places on the internet.
Hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year and that 2007 is a great year for the SCAC--it certainly should be an interesting year with all of the new teams.
Frank.
Quote from: Bmo on December 28, 2006, 01:27:32 PM
Does anyone know the details of the new championship format this year? I assume the first weekend in Memphis will be a cross divisional series. How many teams will make the cross divisional tournament, 3 or 4??? Lots scheduling changes this year, apparently....
The new championship format will be a two weekend set up. The first will take place in Millington at USA stadium. It will be the top 4 teams from each side in best of 3 series. The 4 winners will move on to Georgetown for the final weekend.
Does Millsaps have a transfer from Ole Miss? What's the story with him?
I guess you are referring to Travis Bogue in regards to the Ole Miss player. He's a 6'5" left handed pitcher who was all-state in Mississippi as a junior and 2nd team all-state as a senior.
I've only done a search on the internet so I may have my facts a little wrong but it looks like he signed with Ole Miss and maybe spent a red shirt year up there before playing last year at Meridian Junior College. It seems like I saw something that describes him as a high 80's pitcher but who knows if that's too high or a little too low.
The SCAC baseball season gets underway in 4 weeks when Rhodes and Hendrix open at home. Predictions for the 2007 season?
Millsaps lost Garner Wetzel, a 1st team All-American with 14 HR's and a D3 leading 91 rbi's. They lost their top two starters, John Fox and Todd Kindler, who combined for a 19-3 record in last year. In addition they lost senior pitchers Tal Hendrix and Brad Mizerany.
That's a lot to lose but they also return a lot. The entire infield returns along with two outfielders and the main designated hitter. These 7 players all had an on base percentage of .414 or higher. The catcher's position was handled by 3 players last year and they all return. Nicky Prather had the most starts of the 3 and his on base % was .427.
The record of the returning pitchers from last year was an impressive 13-3 which included Jay Hollenbeck's 5-0 record and 2.08 ERA. The other four returnee's were solid last year with Drew Maddox making 26 appearances as a reliever and Tait Hendrix, Brandon Ingram and David Hutzel all appearing both as starters and relievers.
In addition to the above pitchers, Millsaps has a couple of transfers with a lot of upside and they have a handful of promising freshmen. I really don't know enough about any of these new pitchers to make any comments about specific players.
All in all, I think the players are optomistic about their prospects this season and their goal is to go further than they did last year when they were stopped in the regional finals. Millsaps opens their season Feburay 9th with a home game against East Texas Baptist.
Trinity schedule is out:
Sat. 2/17 University of Texas at Dallas (DH) Dallas,TX 12:00 pm
Sun. 2/18 University of Texas at Dallas Dallas, TX 1:00 pm
Tue. 2/20 Mary Hardin Baylor E.M. Stevens 7:00 pm
Thu. 2/22 Peoria Classic Peoria, AZ 3:00 pm
Thu. 2/22 Peoria Classic Peoria, AZ 7:00 pm
Fri. 2/23 Peoria Classic Peoria, AZ 7:00 pm
Sat. 2/24 Peoria Classic Peoria, AZ 11:00 am
Sat. 2/24 Peoria Classic Peoria, AZ 3 or 7 pm
Tue. 2/27 Texas Lutheran Sequin, TX 2:00 pm
Tue. 3/6 McMurry University @ McMurry
Tue. 3/6 Hardin Simmons @ HSU
Sat. 3/10 Centenary Shreveport, LA 7:00 pm
Sun. 3/11 Centenary Shreveport, LA 1:00 pm
Tue. 3/13 Mary Hardin Baylor Belton, TX 2:00 pm
Wed. 3/14 Concordia-Nebraska E.M. Stevens 7:00 pm
Fri. 3/16 Hendrix E.M. Stevens 7:00 pm
Sat. 3/17 Hendrix (DH) E.M. Stevens 1:00 pm
Sun. 3/18 Hendrix E.M. Stevens 12:00 pm
Mon. 3/19 Cardinal Stritch E.M. Stevens 7:00 pm
Wed. 3/21 Doane College (DH) E.M. Stevens 3:00 pm
Tue. 3/27 Schreiner University Kerrville, TX 2:00 pm
Fri. 3/30 Millsaps College Jackson, MS 7:00 pm
Sat. 3/31 Millsaps College (DH) Jackson, MS 1:00 pm
Sun. 4/1 Millsaps College Jackson, MS 12:00 pm
Tues. 4/3 Loyola University E.M. Stevens 5:00 pm
Fri. 4/6 Austin College E.M. Stevens 7:00 pm
Sat. 4/7 Ausitn College (DH) E.M. Stevens 1:00 pm
Sun. 4/8 Austin College E.M. Stevens 12:00 pm
Tue. 4/10 Schreiner University E.M. Stevens 7:00 pm
Fri. 4/13 Southwestern University Georgetown, TX
Sat. 4/14 Southwestern University (DH) Georgetown, TX
Sun. 4/15 Southwestern University Georgetown, TX
Tue. 4/17 Texas Lutheran University E.M. Stevens 7:00 p
Fri.-Sun. 4/20-4/22 SCAC Divisional Playoffs Millington, TN TBA
Wed.-Sun. 4/26-4/30 SCAC Championships Georgetown, TX TBA
Thu.-Sun. 5/10-5/13 NCAA Division III West Regional TBA
Fri.-Tues. 5/24-5/27 NCAA Division III National Championships Appleton
If I remember correctly, Trinity had a tremendous number of home games last year due to the schedule and the weather. This looks like a far more balanced schedule.
Any word on how the roster looks this year and has the team started practicing? I saw a little of a Millsaps intrasquad game yesterday--couldn't tell much but it felt like a balmy spring day with yesterday's temps in the 70's. It seems early for baseball but the opening pitch for Millsaps is Feb. 9th, less than 4 weeks away.
Here are the start dates for all the teams in the SCAC
Austin Feb 10 vs University of Dallas (DH) 12:00 pm
Centre Feb 24 vs Mount St. Joseph TBA
DePauw Feb 24 vs Anderson (DH) 12:00 pm
Hendrix Feb 3 vs University of Dallas (DH) 12:00 pm
Millsaps Feb 9 vs East Texas Baptist 4:00 pm
Oglethorpe Feb 6 at La Grange 3:00 pm
Rhodes Feb 3 vs Ozarks 12:00 pm
Sewanee Feb 17 vs Millsaps 11:00 am (at Rhodes)
Southwestern Feb 10 vs Schreiner 2:00 pm
Trinity Feb 17 at University of Texas at Dallas (DH)12:00 pm (thanks historymajor)
17 Days till Baseball Season!
Ralph,,, can I count on you attending the TU-UTD matchup in Dallas???? Maybe a webcast vocal walk-on?
Quote from: historymajor on January 25, 2007, 08:08:25 PM
Ralph,,, can I count on you attending the TU-UD matchup in Dallas???? Maybe a webcast vocal walk-on?
I am considering seeing McMurry hosting Chapman.
Yep, can't blame you for that! It should be a dandy! If you do, give me a report on Ryan Cavan,,,, he left TU after his great frosh year and transferred to Chapman....
Who is the favorite this year, East and West?? What team will sneak up on the pack (Rhodes in 2006)? Is it true that there are two weeks of conference tournament this year?
Who are the top players in 2007?
--BHL
East Division
Centre
DePauw
Oglethorpe
Rhodes
Sewanee
West Division
Austin
Hendrix
Millsaps
Southwestern (Tex.)
Trinity (Tex.)
Divisional playoffs at Millington, TN 4/20-4/22
Championships at SW (Georgetown, TX) 4/26-4/30
Does anyone have a beat on the Sewanee Tigers? Checking their 2007 roster I noticed that starting SS Sean Hilley, who would have been a Jr. is not on the roster? He was arguably their best fielder and probably going to be their leadoff or number three hitter. Big loss if he is gone...
-BHL
I saw a lot of the Millsaps baseball players at the basketball games this past weekend. It sounds like practice is going well for the team as would be expected for a top-20 team with so many returning players. The question mark will be the pitching but I think the pitching will be on par with last year and maybe better since the 4 game weekends will give them the opportunity to build more depth.
The player I've been most curious about is Brent Buffa, a senior transfer from Washington University in St. Louis. I can only go by what I hear from the players, but I hear that he is pitching well which is no surprise since he was 20-2 over the last 2 years at Washington. I also was told that he works hard in training which is no surprise since he pitched complete games in 10 of his 12 starts last year. The thing I'm waiting to see is the hitting. He got no at-bats at Washington last year but I was told that he is hitting well in practice and he has homerun power so maybe Brent will help Millsaps replace the senior pitchers from last year and a little bit of Wetzel's run production. I'm looking forward to seeing how this season unfolds.
Frank,
I think Millsaps will score runs!!!! They scored runs before Wetzel by hitting singles and running all over the bases. With Wetzel,, they emphasized power and not so much the speed. This year Coach Page has a very veteran lineup. They have players who hit as freshman and I am sure will hit as seniors.
Teams coached by Jim Page have shown they can score runs and win in a lot of different ways, except when Trinity combined deeper and stronger pitching and clutch hitting, which may end up being the Trinity recipe again this year. ;)
The last comment is a fairly good observation. Trinity and Millsaps were two evenly matched teams last season and that will probably be the case once again this season. Looking at the stats from last year, Millsaps was at the top of the league in just about all of the hitting categories with Trinity not far behind and the reverse was true when it came to pitching.
In regards to pitching, I firmly believe that Millsaps would have been in the World Series and in the top 10 last year if the SCAC had gone to the 4-game SCAC weekends in 2006. In 2006 they were one starter shy of what it takes to go through a regional tournament but it is hard to develop that extra starter with only 3 games on a weekend. Millsaps had the extra pitchers last year but they didn't have the available innings needed to get them experience.
I imagine the same was true at Trinity and I suspect that Millsaps and Trinity will be the two teams that gain the most by the extra weekend game. Millsaps has 14 games on the schedule between March 16 and April 1 with 12 of those games being conference games. We'll see just how deep the pitching staff is during that stretch of the season and how they might fare if they reach an NCAA Regional.
Frank, let me think out loud about your thoughts that the SCAC, and specifically Millsaps, does not develop pitchers in the 2006 format.
To contrast your Weekend double DH conference format, McM played a Friday 9-inning game and then a Saturday 7- and 9- inning DH. McMurry played a midweek game against another D3 or NAIA school. Here are the games started by their pitchers.
2006 McMurry Season Statistics (http://www.mcm.edu/athletics/baseball/2006/teamcume.htm) The McMurry ace Craig Erickson only started 10 games in the 39 game regular season. The projected ace of the staff did not work out, so that is why there are no other starters getting close to 10 games. McMurry played 21 division games.
I reviewed the Millsaps stats (http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/mc.htm#team.mlb) and saw that it seemed like Kindler and Fox and no one else, until I looked at it more closely. Those 2 pitchers accounted for 31 of the total 50 starts, but only 13 for Fox and 12 for Kindler in the 40 regular season games.
You are making the case that those extra five starts are where Millsaps will find that 4th and 5th starter. Four of those starts would have occurred on those SCAC weekends in which you only played 2 games against your opponents. The Majors #3 and #4 starters only made 5 starts on the season.
That is interesting...
I don't want to give the impression that I disagree with anything the coaches did on the pitching last year because I would have done exactly the same. I would have pitched Fox and Kindler on every 2 and 3 game series. I would have also given them work during the week to keep them sharp and to win the majority of our South Regional games. You have to do well enough in the regular season to get into the NCAA Tournament so you go with your best.
The problem is that we would run out of starters at the time that we needed them most. In the SCAC Tournament last year we went with Fox and Kindler in opening wins. Then we tried a pitch by committed and Brad Mizerany made his first start of the season and we lost that game. Hollenbeck got us a win and then we were back to Fox for the first championship game. The second game was cancelled and co-champions were declared but I don't know who would have started that game.
At the Central Regional, it was Fox, Kindler and Hollenbeck getting Millsaps into the regional finals but then it was back to Fox and a pitch by committee in the two games where we needed to win to get to the World Series. I think Tait Hendrix, David Hutzel and Brandon Ingram could have all been fairly good as that 4th starter but we just didn't have much of an opportunity to start them last year or to give them the innings that they needed. We'll be forced to come up with a 4th starter this season and I think that will help in the long run.
Frank, no I don't think that I mis-construed your position. To win the 2006 title, I do the same thing.
Ralph, there's one more reason why I think this change helps Millsaps and Trinity more than most of the other schools. I think it those two schools have the depth to find a 4th starting pitcher and maybe some of the other schools will have trouble finding a quality starter for that 4th game.
Just as an example, Hendrix still has their 2006 roster posted and it shows 18 players with 7 pitchers. It would obviously be harder for a smaller team like that to come up with 4 starters for the SCAC weekends.
Now that teams will play a 4 game series, how does that effect what players travel? How many pitchers do you take on each road trip? Is there an impact on postion player development? Do you think there will be an impact on player retention?
Quote from: ILVBB on February 01, 2007, 03:30:50 PM
Now that teams will play a 4 game series, how does that effect what players travel? How many pitchers do you take on each road trip? Is there an impact on postion player development? Do you think there will be an impact on player retention?
It means that teams will carry an extra pitcher or two and that position players that can play more than one spot are gold!
Millsaps got a mention in the local paper this morning. It's not much and the part on Millsaps is after the main story on Belhaven, but this is about as much as we ever get from the local paper.
The story is mostly about Belhaven College and the powerhouse team they have this year. Belhaven, Millsaps, and Mississippi College play a series of games each year and the team with the best record wins the "Cowboy Maloney" trophy. You play each team 3 times so the 3 games between Millsaps and Belhaven should be terrific matchups. MC is picked to finish the the upper level of their division this season and they were 29-16 last year so those games will also be very tough. Throw in a couple of games with Emory, East Texas Baptist, Huntingdon, LaGrange and Piedmont and Millsaps has a great non-conference schedule.
Here's the link the the story: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070202/SPORTS030105/702020338/1085&GID=ZNTb6KEANuBYS07dnB46sE/akQnOzJ10s971nMZ3o9Q%3D
Quote from: historymajor on January 26, 2007, 10:27:36 AM
Yep, can't blame you for that! It should be a dandy! If you do, give me a report on Ryan Cavan,,,, he left TU after his great frosh year and transferred to Chapman....
Here is the link to Cavan's debut with Chapman last night. He had a pretty good start.
http://www1.chapman.edu/athletics/06-07/baseball/wc-cu.htm (http://www1.chapman.edu/athletics/06-07/baseball/wc-cu.htm)
BigPoppa--They changed that link by adding a "1" at the end:
http://www1.chapman.edu/athletics/06-07/baseball/wc-cu1.htm
Thanks you. Chapman's Kurt Yacko moved from short to 3b to allow Cavan to play SS. Yack had a huge weekend with 7 or 8 hits, 2HRs, many RBIs and both a win and a save on the mound.
A Millsaps baseball preview has been posted on the Millsaps website:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/07Preview.shtml
Oglethorpe defeated La Grange 10 - 7 today.
Oglethorpe was down 6 runs after the first two innings and came back to win.
This is interesting because La Grange plays Millsaps, Rhodes, Sewanne, and Centre this year and its good to see the SCAC start of right against La Grange.
I keep checking the SCAC website for the preseason coaches poll. It came out right about this time last year and teams have started playing so I expect it will come out sometime in the next few days. Anyone have a clue on when that will come out or does anyone want to make any predictions of what the coaches will have to say?
The SCAC seems to be off to a good start with Oglethorpe, Hendrix and Rhodes winning. It will be interesting to see if that keeps up this weekend with the rest of the conference opening.
As far as preseason polls
1. Millsaps (overall #1)
2. Trinity (overall #2)
3. Southwestern
4. Austin
5. Hendrix
1. Depauw (overall #3)
2. Rhodes
3. Sewanee
4. Oglethorpe
5. Centre
But that's just a guess.
Earlier I mentioned that Millsaps has a good slate of non-conference games that will prepare them for postseason play, assuming that things go well and they get that far.
One team on the schedule for 3 games is Belhaven College, a local NAIA school. Yesterday Belhaven went on the road for a game against Delta State, the 4th ranked team in Division 2. Belhaven won 9-5 and they had a 9-1 lead going into the bottom of the 9th.
It should be real interesting to see how the Millsaps vs. Belhaven matchups turn out this season. It might prove to be as tough as any competition that Millsaps will face all year.
(El Tea Gray---re: Millsaps vs. Belhaven or Millsaps vs. Trinity)
Frank,
Don't bet that Belhaven will be the toughest series that Millsaps will play this year; I expect Trinity to win (at least) three out of four in Jackson this year. Pitching, pitching, pitching.
:)
Hopefully the SCAC preseaon poll will be out soon! SCACSid what's the word?
Here are my predictions:
West
1.Millsaps
2.Trinity
3.Southwestern
4.Austin
5.Hendrix
East
1.Rhodes
2.DePauw
3.Oglethorpe
4.Centre
5.Sewanee
Divisional Playoff:
Millsaps beats Centre 3-0
Rhodes beats Austin 3-0
DePauw beats Southwestern 2-1
Trinity beats Oglethorpe 2-1
SCAC Tournament: (I'm not sure how seeding will take place but here's a guess how'll they will finish)
1. Millsaps (NCAA AQ)
2. Trinity (NCAA at Large)
3. DePauw
4. Rhodes (Misses at large bid narrowly becacuse of weak schedule)
-BHL
Bob Henry Lotts
Quote from: etg on February 08, 2007, 09:53:00 PM
(El Tea Gray---re: Millsaps vs. Belhaven or Millsaps vs. Trinity)
Frank,
Don't bet that Belhaven will be the toughest series that Millsaps will play this year; I expect Trinity to win (at least) three out of four in Jackson this year. Pitching, pitching, pitching.
:)
Let's see--Millsaps won 2 of 3 at Trinity last year, the teams were 1 and 1 at Millsaps and then 1 and 1 at the SCAC Tournament. That means you believe Trinity has improved a lot or Millsaps has declined a lot. Of course Millsaps did average 9 runs per game against Trinity last year so maybe you are implying that Trinity didn't have much pitching last year and this year will be better.
But I see the little smiley face thing so most likely is that you respect the talents of the Millsaps team just as I respect the talents of the Trinity players and you are ready for the season to start. I'll agree with you that the series with Trinity is probably the toughest series on the schedule while the games with Belhaven might prove to be the toughest single games on the schedule.
It's raining in Jackson, the high today is suppose to be 44, and the first pitch of the season is scheduled for 4 o'clock. I don't know if they will try to play the game today or if they will push it back to a DH tomorrow. Both games will be broadcast by the local ESPN radio station: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php.
The scheduled game times are 4:00 today and 1:00 on Saturday.
2007 SCAC Predicted Order of Finish is posted:
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/07baseballpreview.htm (http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/07baseballpreview.htm)
Anybody know anything about Austin College? On paper, their first baseman looks like the POY front runner. Southwestern should be much improved if they can improve their defense up the middle. I hate to see Trinity losing a couple of key transfers about as much as I hate to see Millsaps gaining a few key transfers ;) All in all I think the west is going to be a battle especially with the new format and the addition of AC. Should be very tight, one through four, throughout the regular season.
Haven't heard any of the Trinity folks talking about losing any transfers but I guess you know more about their program. Personally, I don't want to see Trinity get weaker because they do a good job of representing the SCAC--I would rather see Millsaps win by having them get better, not by having someone else get any weaker.
I looked on the Trinity website for a baseball preview and there wasn't much of one but I did see this quote from the head coach. He also sees the 4 game weekends as a plus because of the opportunity to develop a 4th starter:
"I am excited about our new conference format," reveals Trinity Head Coach Tim Scannell. "We have tremendous challenges with the geographical locations of the schools in our league. This new format allows us to play a four game series, which eliminates the old home and home format. It will also help each school develop a fourth weekend starter which should provide more depth to the pitching staff come tournament time."
The rain has stopped in Jackson but it is still nasty outside. As much as I'm ready for the season to start, it won't bother me if they push the game back to a DH tomorrow.
Quote from: Bmo on February 09, 2007, 11:32:44 AM
Anybody know anything about Austin College? On paper, their first baseman looks like the POY front runner. Southwestern should be much improved if they can improve their defense up the middle. I hate to see Trinity losing a couple of key transfers about as much as I hate to see Millsaps gaining a few key transfers ;) All in all I think the west is going to be a battle especially with the new format and the addition of AC. Should be very tight, one through four, throughout the regular season.
I feel like Austin College might finish the season ahead of Southwestern. They had a surprisingly good season in the ASC East last year after never really being in contention prior to last year. Schleizer 1B is definitely an impact player in the middle of the order, but they did lose Kelly, Shockley, Ferguson (Srs) and where did Dusek go? Dusek (lead off until an injury) was a TOUGH out. His OBP% was .597 in his 19 starts before his injury. They have all three main starters back in Frost, King and Rushing, but none are particularly over powering. Experience on the bump could definitely be beneficial though. I'll go out on a limb and say they finish 3rd behind Trinity and Millsaps.
Big questions can't be answered by just one game but maybe the Millsaps opener provided some hints. The big question marks for Millsaps are the replacing of pitchers John Fox and Todd Kindler and 1st team All-American outfielder Garner Wetzel.
Meridian JC and Ole Miss transfer Travis Bogue lived up to his billing with 4 innings of shutout ball to get the win in a 15-1 victory over East Texas Baptist (game was shortened to 7 innings). He allowed 2 hits, struck out 5, and only faced 12 batters thanks to a pickoff and a DP. Washington U. transfer Brent Buffa followed with 2 innings of perfect ball in his first appearance for Millsaps.
Hunter Owens took over the right field spot and the 4th spot in the batting order. He drove in 5 runs with 2 impressive home runs, one a towering fly ball and the other a hard hit liner, plus he made a nice defensive play in right.
It should be pointed out that ETB is a very young team and many of their players were playing their first college game. On the other hand, Andrew Cantrell was their starting pitcher and he was 9-2 as a freshman last year and he is the ASC East Division preseason player of the year. In 3.1 innings he gave up 9 hits and 13 runs with 12 of those being earned.
The two teams play again at 1 today. Broadcast can be heard at: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
I forgot to add a link to the box score and the play-by-play. Here it is: http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/mc01.htm
Millsaps completed the 2-game sweep of East Texas Baptist with a 7-2 win Saturday afternoon. Jay Hollenbeck gave up 1 unearned run in 5 innings for the win. Hunter Abrams had a homerun and he held ETB scoreless in 2/3 innings of relief after coming in with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the 8th.
Here's the box score and play-by-play: http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/mc02.htm
Millsaps plays Mississippi College this Tuesday and that game has been moved to Millsaps with the starting time set for 4:00, but that starting time is subject to change.
And finally, Millsaps has a Baseball Coach's show this year on Monday nights at 8 PM. The link for that is: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
Hey, how 'bout them Petrels!!! Beat an always good LaGrange team, then swept Maryville on Saturday. I haven't seen them play yet, but it looks like a bunch of freshmen are stepping up.
--BHL
I have photos posted from the opening game for Millsaps vs. East Texas Baptist. The new faces that played a big key role in the game are starting pitcher Travis Bogue (#26), the second pitcher of the night Brent Buffa (#26), and Hunter Owen (#23) is the new right fielder. Link to photos:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Millsaps_Majors/Baseball%202006-07/
Once you get to this link you will have to click on the album for East Texas Baptist 02-09-07. I should have photos from the Saturday game up tomorrow morning.
For those interested in radio broadcasts pertaining to Millsaps Baseball, there will be a baseball coaches show on tonight at 8 (central time) and the MS College vs. Millsaps baseball game will be broadcast on Tuesday at 6:00 with a pregame at 5:45. The link to the broadcast is: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
Bob,
The Petrels are looking pretty good this year, mostly due to Freshmen and transfers along with the few remaining starters from last year. The young pitchers will get even better with confidence as they are led by 1 Jr. 1 So. and 4 or 5 freshmen. You can tell all players are used to winning as the came from behind against Lagrange won a 1-0 game against Maryville... taking advantage of an error to score the only run and then jumping on them early in the second game by scoring 5 in the first in route to the win. I wouldn't be surprised to see these guys finish in the top 2 in the east.
p.s. Bob- who are you? private message me.
Frank,
Remember when I asked for permission to use a baseball photo of yours for a project we were working on?
That project has opened: http://www.d3baseball.com. :)
Pat, that is fantastic. I find that news tremendously exciting and I think that a lot of other folks will be thrilled with the new site. I came in early this morning to post Millsaps photos for the second game with East Texas Baptist. You know how to get to my photos and please feel free to use them. If you ever need a higher quality photo then just let me know and I'll send you the original file.
I've said it over and over but I'll say it once again--thanks for all that you do and I know it means a lot to many folks who will never take the time to actually write an email and say thank you. It makes the college experience so much better for so many young men and women.
Frank.
No problem -- but thank Jim Dixon for this, because it is his site that is joining the organization. I couldn't create a baseball site and run it myself.
Well thank you to Jim Dixon as well. As for the photo, I didn't notice when I first looked at the website that it was being used in the logo at the top of the page. While I do take some pride in seeing my photo on the page, I'm primarily pleased to see Millsaps being featured and I know the players will enjoy the fact that a Millsaps photo is in the logo.
Thanks Pat and Jim for 'opening up' this website. As a proud father of a former football/baseball DIII student athlete, I'm glad to see baseball joining the likes of D3football.com and D3hoops.com.... I'm confident that Ralph is too!
Quote from: infielddad on February 13, 2007, 04:09:43 PM
Another terrific match up this weekend could be Trinity(TX) ranked 27th/30th nationally at UT Dallas, coming off a 33 win season and returning nearly every starter.
Trinity has a solid and talented senior class, many of whom have started and been signficant contributors since the 2004 West Region final team.
Trinity has quality pitching and depth of pitching but will need Brian Oates for the entire year. Brian, is usually 88-89, touching 92/93 mph. He was nearly unhittable over 8 appearances last season before things were cut short by an injury. Brian looks to have had a good summer in the Coastal Plain league along with teammate Nick Vera.
Trinity will also be challenged to replace Ryan Cavan. If they can suitably plug the hole left at short and Brian performs, this should be another very good team to challenge in the SCAC and West Region.
This is probably the wrong board for this, but I'll repost it on the SCAC board as well. I think Trinity definitely pushes Millsaps for that top spot, and I'll even go out on a limb and say Trinity wins the SCAC this year. They have a lot of depth on the mound IF Oates stays healthy. He's 15-2 as a Tiger with opponents probably hitting under .200 against him despite a little bit of a sophomore slump, but he's dealt with injury issues the last two years after a stellar freshman year. With Bignall, Huggins, Horn, Hopkins and a few others back their staff is really deep and they probably have the SCAC player of the year in Nick Vera who just dominated the Coastal Leagues this summer. Cavan was a big loss though and I just don't know that Stosh Hoover fills that hole, at least not offensively. It will be interesting to see how the pick up the offensive slack. Holman and Zabor will help solidify the middle, but Hoover has to swing it and Verrios has to return to 2005 form.
PS - I'm also psyched about the new site. What a great addition to the D3Baseball world.
You guys are Awesome (Jim Dixon, Pat and Frank). Thanks for exposing the Web to D3 baseball. It sure adds a new flavor and new insight into D3 baseball.
Not only that, i am sure this will keep us update with future MLB stars; like Cal Lutherns Jason Hirsh.
(El Tea Gray---re: 2007 Trinity Tiger Baseball)
Just_Some_Guy,
What a great overview of the Tiger's prospects for 2007; I absolutely agree with all of it. This is "not exactly" what Frank Ezelle wanted to hear regarding Trinity pitching; I summed it up in a much shorter version ("pitching, pitching, pitching") several days ago. Frankly, Frank sounds worried to me? Good reason. Thanks again.
:)
etg,
In watching him and his teams for 4 years, I learned to never underestimate Jim Page and the players at Millsaps. He is a fine, fine coach for his players. When all is said and done, they are competitive every year. That is a tribute to both his players and the coaching.
With that said, Trinity pitching and timely hitting, combined with Coach Scannell's agressiveness vs Millsaps hitting has been a lot of fun. No lead is safe in any game and every one is contested at the highest level. Those baseball games are INTENSE!!!! The SCAC tournament games in 2002 in Jackson and 2004 in Atlanta were highlights.
On the other hand, both teams recruit players who are very talented, good students, and truly nice and respectful players. That makes the games even more fun. From what Frank is posting, it sounds like Coach Page has decided to load up on pitching. I knew he would get this figured this out. But I agree, that even without Huggins, Trinity has depth of very fine pitching. The SCAC schedule and playoffs help Trinity a lot.
"Blue Jays Scout eh? That wouldn't make you the proud pop of J. Armstrong would it which would explain the banter between he and Vera. I hear Nick thinks he's going to go get some of Jason's records, and the two give each other a pretty good time about it. I'd love to see Vera and Oates get a chance to play at the next level and feel like both could. Oates has the stuff, and certainly the work ethic so I hope scouts don't shy away because of his past nagging injuries.
I guess those California boys just like going back to their home state, and without question there are some guys that I didn't mention... Horn, Dailey (who came on strong at the end of the year), and Poffenroth to name a few.
One thing about Trinity is that I wish Bardwell would've stuck with the program, because right about now TU could use that extra big bat, and he certainly could stick it. Fregosi is more a defensive option from what I've seen thus far."
Just_ Some_ Guy
Never heard of that Armstrong kid!!! ;D What could be better than Nick breaking one of the records. No one thought Jason had a chance before he put up 90 hits his senior year. It won't be easy for Nick because of the quality of competition. But he certainly has the talent. He also knows it can be done and what it takes to get it done.
I am a huge fan of Brian and Nick and agree they can capture a lot of scouts to San Antonio this season. Both have that ability to continue playing and have worked hard enough to, hopefully, earn a look.
Quote from: infielddad on February 13, 2007, 11:11:52 PM
Just_ Some_ Guy
Never heard of that Armstrong kid!!! ;D What could be better than Nick breaking one of the records. No one thought Jason had a chance before he put up 90 hits his senior year. It won't be easy for Nick because of the quality of competition. But he certainly has the talent. He also knows it can be done and what it takes to get it done.
I am a huge fan of Brian and Nick and agree they can capture a lot of scouts to San Antonio this season. Both have that ability to continue playing and have worked hard enough to, hopefully, earn a look.
I would like to think so, then, you never know. I think that both are projectable so that will help them, but I was really disappointed that Aaron Crais of TLU didn't get any looks after his career there. I understand that projectability was an issue with his size, and that he didn't have the speed to convert to second base, but you can't argue with the numbers that he put up - and there isn't a number that dictates just how clutch of a player he was. After the 17 home run season his junior year, it was going to be hard to duplicate. Well without Krog hitting behind him he still hit 9 Homeruns, increased his average from .331 to .422 and OBP% from .395 to .511 -- His BB/SO in '05 was 20/32, the following year 34/16 . I just wish more D3 kids got a chance.
" I just wish more D3 kids got a chance."
No disagreement on my end. But this is where Coach Scannell stands out and does not get enough credit. He sends his kids to the Cape, NECBL, Coastal Plain and other top wood bat leagues. Risks that if they are successful they will get recruited and transfer. Believe me, his concerns are real.
On the other hand, that type of exposure made and makes an enormous difference in the situations we are discussing. Scouts got to see Jason play against Team USA, play in the NECBL, play with wood against top DI guys and saw he could play multiple positions and be successful against 91-05, when he used wood. With that said, only a few teams viewed him as a prospect and only two spent lots of time with him. Coach Scannell deserves all the credit in the world because he risks everything for his top players to give them a chance at the next level.
DIII guys "earn" everything they achieve. Getting to the professional level, and surviving at that level, takes toughness and mental discipline, and the ability to play every position since only one might be open. Coach Scannell sent Jason to the NECBL where he played 2nd and 3rd and got a chance to show he could handle it. It is that versatility that gave him a chance at the next level. Jason earned some things but Coach Scannell had the vision to see what was needed.
It is great to see so many posts here this morning. I didn't go back to see if I sounded worried about Trinity and their pitching in any of my previous posts but I don't recall having that emotion. I do think Trinity will have a great team as they always have and I don't assume that Millsaps will win the SCAC this season--I just know they have a great team. And for the record, I was pulling for Trinity to come out of their regional last year--I do pull for SCAC teams once it comes to the NCAA Tournaments and I'd loved to see two SCAC teams at the World Series this year.
Millsaps had a great come-from-behind victory last night over Mississippi College, scoring 3 in the bottom of the 8th on a 3-run double by Hunter Owen to win 8-7. It was brutally cold with a stiff wind blowing in all night--one of the worst nights for watching baseball that I can remember. There a short summary at this link:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/0213_02_07story.shtml
(no box score has been posted at this time)
Just a note of interest. Outside of pitching, the two question marks for Millsaps were the right field/cleanup hitter spot and the catching position which was handled by committee last year. Hunter Owen has taken over for Garner Wetzel and has at least 8 rbi's, 2 home runs, and his base clearing double would have probably gone out on a normal night. At catcher Russ Boyd has started off with 8 hits in 3 games. Russ played basketball last year and didn't join the baseball team until March so this is the first year that he has gone through fall practice, etc.
Here's a link to the MC-Millsaps box score from the MC website:
http://www.gochoctaws.com/sports/baseball/2007/milvsmc1.htm
And Russ Boyd is only 7 of 11 so far instead of having 8 hits.
One final post today and it is just an interesting tidbit that doesn't mean a lot at this point in the season. Hunter Owen has gotten off to a fast start at Millsaps and I was wondering how it compared to Garner's start last year. In the first three games against the same two teams, here are the numbers:
Hunter Owen-- 6 of 11, 8 rbi's, 2 HR, 1 Double
Garner Wetzel--9 of 16, 13 rbi's, 1 HR, 4 Doubles
Those are both nice starts--it's too bad no one can keep up those averages for an entire season.
Trinity gets a paragraph in the D3 Baseball story today about Chapman being the favorite in the West:
http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2007/02/15/Chapman+favored+to+repeat+in+the+West
Probably something of interest only to Millsaps fans, but the photos from the MC game on Tuesday are posted:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Millsaps_Majors/Baseball%202006-07/MS%20College%2002-13-07/
Oglethorpe improved to 4-0 today with a 1-0 win over Piedmont College. John Hale picked up the win, improving to 2-0, going 8 strong innings and has still not given up an earned run in 14 innings. Nick Greenfield earned the save and pitched a scoreless 9th after he replaced Hale after the first batter reached base. Oglethorpe is off to one of the best starts in school history and will travel to Maryville this weekend for a double header as they look to eclipse the 5-0 mark and establish a new record for best start in school history. This will be the 3rd and 4th meetings of the year between the 2 schools as Oglethorpe swept Maryville just 6 days ago at home. Good Luck guys.
p.s. Bob- have you had a chance to make it to any games lately? - you've been kind of silent on the board.
Millsaps won 13-0 vs. Sewanee Saturday in Memphis. Jay Hollenbeck was the winning pitcher and that's all I heard about the game.
Millsaps is playing Rhodes today (Sunday) at 2 but it looks like the game started a little late. Last year's SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year Robert Flanagan is pitching for Rhodes and Travis Bogue is the Millsaps starter in a battle of two big lefthanders. Here's a link for livestats: http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/livestats/xlive.htm
UT-Dallas 4, Trinity 3 (10). Click for my game report. (http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=4158.248)
Please scroll to post #248. Thanks.
Millsaps also went down yesterday, losing 8-5 at Rhodes. It sounds like Flanagan pitched great and he held Millsaps in check most of the way. Just like last year, avoiding Rhodes in the first game of a tournament is a very good thing since you avoid Flanagan. He will make Rhodes a tough draw in the 2 out of 3 crossover matchup.
Don't know what Rhodes has outside of Flanagan. Hendrix beat Rhodes 6-5 on Saturday. While it ended up meaning that Millsaps picked up a loss, I'm glad that Rhodes held out Flanagan until Sunday. That's the kind of pitching Millsaps needs to see throughout the year if they want to do well in a regional.
How do the SCAC standings look right now? Is it playing out as expected? Are there any surprises?
Big Poppa, it's way too early to tell. Rhodes and Sewanee start off conference action on March 2nd. Rhodes and Oglethorpe match up on March 9th. Four more teams start SCAC play on the 16th of March and I think everyone is playing by March 23rd.
Trinity and Millsaps both lost yesterday. I think that leaves Millsaps at 4-1 with most if not all games being played in really cold, windy weather. Millsaps plays Tuesday (vs. Belhaven), Thursday and Friday (vs. LaGrange), and Saturday and Sunday (vs. Piedmont) and that stretch should at least let us see some more of the pitching staff.
Trinity only managed to win 1 out of 3 at UTD this weekend. Trinity continually put themselves in a position to let some of the worst umpiring I have ever seen in D3 'call the game'. Some of the calls even had UTD Comets fans burying their faces. Lesson learned,,,, never put yourself in a position were you can let a call on the road beat you!
P.S. Thanks to Ralph Turner for stopping by and chatting after game 3!!!
Quote from: historymajor on February 19, 2007, 12:06:41 PM
Lesson learned,,,, never put yourself in a position were you can let a call on the road beat you!
A great lesson to learn. The ball has a funny way of making odd things happen.
Millsaps plays Piedmont on Saturday and Sunday this week. Piedmont started 0-4 and got their first win on Saturday, handing #7 NC Wesleyan College their first defeat of the season. NCWC had narrowly avoided their first loss of the season on Friday with Blake Rice beating LaGrange 3-2. Millsaps will be playing LaGrange on Thursday and Friday.
The Friday thru Sunday games will be broadcast. I'll post a link to those broadcast later in the week along with game times, etc.
Interesting note about Millsaps playing LaGrange and Piedmont.........
Oglethorpe has beaten both of those teams already this year!! They beat LaGrange 10-7 in LaGrange on opening day, then beat Piedmont 1-0 a day before Piedmont beat NC Wesleyan....I was at the Piedmont game (only for a few innings because my feet were going numb) and Oglethorpe has a good baseball team...They have a decent pitching staff and pretty good team speed and defense. I'm not sure if it was the cold weather but they did not shown much at the plate. They should compete for a top 3 spot in the East.
Bob,
The pitching staff is young but the duo of Rivera and Hale have been tremendous so far. I think once Greenfield and Tuttle get back to last year's form this team will have 4 legitimate starters to take into conference.
As far as offense goes, I believe the cold played a major part. Their two losses this weekend came at Maryville where snow drifts came in and out and they couldn't muster much offense.
When their offense is clicking i.e. Lagrange and the 2nd game of the DH vs. Marville they can compete with the top of this league.
I see promise in two of this years transfers: Llano and Rizzo who are both hitting well to start the season. With the return of Ernst and Baker at the top and middle of the lineup this team will easily put up runs once the season heats up.
All in all I'm going to one up you and say that this team will finish in the top 2 in the East, and I wouldn't be surprised if they won it.
Also I must have just missed you at the Piedmont game, I got there at the 3rd inning, probably as you were leaving. If you get a chance to see the games this weekend come say hey- I'll most likely be at the wall.
Man, you guys are killing me. I come here every day and read these game recaps and stuff and I can't deal with it. UT-Dallas and Trinity played 10 innings the other day? Weird, 10.. that was the high temperature a couple days ago. You've been playing for a month and we've still got six inches of snow on the ground.
DePauw's supposed to open up this weekend, but I'm not sure that's actually going to happen.
DPU--Millsaps plays tonight against Belhaven College--expected high today is 68 but we may get some rain. The rest of the week is better with sunny skies and 70+ degrees each day. There's no question that the teams in the southern states benefit from a weather advantage.
Tonight's ball game will be broadcast. Pregame starts at 5:45 central time with first pitch at 6:00 if the rain holds off. I thought they were going to do 3 baseball games this weekend but now it looks like they will broadcast the basketball games. Link to listen is: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
Trinity's home-opener tonight vs. UMHB will be webcast as well as live-stats...
Justin Parker, SID at the controls.
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/index.htm
Feb. 19, 2007 | Baseball | Live Stats | Webcast
Tiger Baseball Opens Home Schedule Tuesday Night
Fresh off a three-game road series at UT-Dallas, the Trinity baseball team will open up its home schedule with a single game against the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Tuesday night at E.M. Stevens Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and fans can follow the game via the live stats and webcast links..
Millsaps won what appeared to be a wild contest against NAIA foe Belhaven College (Jackson, MS) on Tuesday night at Millsaps. The Majors won on a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning by John Pacillo to prevail 16-15. Millsaps held an 8-1 lead at one point before Belhaven rallied to take a 10-8 advantage. The teams swapped a couple of additional big innings before Pacillo's game-winning blast. Millsaps improves to 5-1 on the year.
Trinity 6 - Mary Hardin Baylor 2
WP Brian Oates 4 IP, 0 H, 7K
LP Tanner Vaughn 2 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 3 ER
R.B. Garza started for UMHB though and threw 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 SO
Trinity:
Andreas Verrios 2-2, run, RBI, BB
Nick Vera 1-2, RBI, 2 BB
UMHB:
CF Marcus Volz 2-4, 2B, RBI
2B Adam Froeschl 2-4, run
I don't know if it will work to cut-and-paste the box score I received in an email from Millsaps after yesterday's game. I listened on the radio since it was raining and therefore bad for my cold and for photography. So far Millsaps has been playing in less than ideal conditions.
Millsaps Baseball 2007
Belhaven College at #13 Millsaps College
Feb 20, 2007 at Jackson, Miss. (Twenty Field)
Belhaven College 15 (6-5)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
David Gilbert ss......... 6 1 4 2 0 1 3 4 0
Reg Ott cf............... 5 1 3 0 0 1 3 0 0
Thomas Royals 2b/p....... 6 1 1 1 0 1 2 1 2
Ricky Owens 3b........... 5 3 1 2 1 1 0 3 0
Bryan Bennett 1b......... 5 2 2 1 1 0 8 0 2
Blaise King rf/2b........ 4 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
Joe Scalzo dh/rf......... 5 2 4 2 0 0 0 0 0
Buddy Wyrick c........... 4 2 1 3 1 1 5 2 1
Jeffery Stephens lf...... 3 2 1 0 1 1 3 0 2
Riley Galloway p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Chris Norris p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jordan Scott p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Larkin Braxton p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Matt Lawrence p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 43 15 18 12 4 7 24 10 8
Millsaps College 16 (5-1)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Nick Crawford 2b......... 5 2 1 0 1 1 4 3 2
Jason Hadley lf.......... 6 2 4 3 0 1 2 0 1
Justin Carter ss......... 6 0 1 1 0 1 2 2 3
Hunter Owen rf........... 5 0 3 2 1 1 1 0 0
Hunter Abrams 3b......... 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 3
John Pacillo cf.......... 6 5 5 1 0 0 2 0 2
Luke Morrow 1b........... 4 3 3 3 1 0 7 0 0
Derrik Boland dh......... 4 2 4 5 1 0 0 0 0
Russ Boyd c.............. 3 1 1 0 2 0 8 1 0
Tait Hendrix p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Quinn Salmon p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Drew Maddox p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Brent Buffa p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals................... 44 16 23 15 6 4 27 10 11
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Belhaven College.... 010 180 050 - 15 18 4
Millsaps College.... 152 050 201 - 16 23 4
-------------------------------------------
E - Thomas Royal; Ricky Owens; Bryan Bennet; Jeffery Step; Justin Carte;
Hunter Owen; John Pacillo; Russ Boyd. DP - Blazers 2; Majors 2. LOB -
Blazers 8; Majors 11. 2B - David Gilber; Bryan Bennet; Jason Hadley 2;
Hunter Abram; Luke Morrow; Derrik Bolan 3; Russ Boyd. 3B - Jeffery Step. HR
- Ricky Owens; Buddy Wyrick; John Pacillo; Luke Morrow. HBP - Blaise King;
Jeffery Step; Hunter Abram. SH - Reg Ott. SB - Jeffery Step 2. CS - Hunter
Owen.
Belhaven College IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Riley Galloway...... 2.0 10 8 6 0 0 16 16
Chris Norris........ 2.1 7 5 5 0 0 13 13
Jordan Scott........ 1.0 0 0 0 3 0 3 7
Larkin Braxton...... 0.2 0 0 0 1 2 2 3
Matt Lawrence....... 1.0 4 2 2 2 1 5 7
Thomas Royals....... 1.0 2 1 1 0 1 5 5
Millsaps College IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Tait Hendrix........ 4.0 8 4 4 0 7 19 19
Quinn Salmon........ 0.2 2 6 1 3 0 5 8
Drew Maddox......... 3.1 7 5 5 0 0 16 18
Brent Buffa......... 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 3 5
Win - Brent Buffa (1-0). Loss - Thomas Royal (0-2). Save - None.
WP - Jordan Scott; Larkin Braxt; Tait Hendrix; Quinn Salmon 3. HBP - by Jordan
Scott (Hunter Abram); by Drew Maddox (Jeffery Step); by Drew Maddox (Blaise
King). BK - Jordan Scott.
Umpires - HP: Charles Frazier 1B: Bobby Barlow
Start: 6:00 pm Time: 3:22 Attendance: 88
Game notes:
Game two in the race for the Maloney Series Trophy:
Majors 2-0, Choctaws 0-1, Blazers 0-1
Weather: 63 degrees, scattered t-storms, rainy, winds S 13 mph
Riley Gallow faced 2 batters in the 3rd.
Tait Hendrix faced 2 batters in the 5th.
Thomas Royal faced 1 batter in the 9th.
Game: MCB-0220
Millsaps will broadcast their baseball games today through Sunday. I think there will be a 15 minute pregame show for most of these but the time I'm listing will be the starting time in the Central Time Zone (all games are being played in the ETZ).
Thursday vs. LaGrange @ 3:00 p.m.
Friday vs. LaGrange @ 2:00 p.m.
Saturday vs. Piedmont @ noon
Sunday vs. Piedmont @ 1:00 p.m
Radio Link: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
(The broadcast schedule went back and forth between doing the baseball or the basketball tournament. I think it finally was decided to do the baseball but I won't be 100% sure until I actually here the broadcast this afternoon.)
Trinity just defeated Whitworth 9-5 in the first game of its trip to Phoenix. They scored 4 in the 9th, highlighted by what sounded like a Nick Vera Triple driving in 2 runs.
Will be playing again at 8pm CST.
Trinity's game Friday against W&L has been moved to a 3pm MT start because of the threat of rain.
The game will be webcast from FASTBAT and Trinity http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu-sports.m3u
Trinity dropped the nightcap againt Hastings College NAIA 8-5.
Tough game for the Majors yesterday...They knocked out LaGange's ace in the third, then can't score a run after he leaves the game...LaGrange 13 Millsaps 7....Beautiful day in South Georgia.
Great weekend of DIII ball in and around Atlanta. Yesterday at LaGrange, today at Emory for the Rawlings Classic and then Saturday Emory in the morning and then to Oglethorpe in the afternoon. Sunday over to Piedmont for the Lions and Majors. This is a preview weekend for Millsaps in the SCAC alignment...do they have the pitching for four games in four days against good baseball teams? You know they'll see both LaGrange and Piedmont's 1 and 2's....
---Bob
Bob--The Millsaps announcer said yesterday that the Millsaps vs. Piedmont games for Saturday and Sunday may be combined into a Saturday doubleheader. It may have something to do with weather or travel and getting the kids back for Monday class and at the moment I only mention it as a possibility and not a certainty.
The Piedmont website still show Saturday and Sunday so this may be one of those game day decisions.
On the pitching you are absolutely right. Coach Page said on his talk show Monday that he was glad to have to chance to see what some of these young pitchers can do. Yesterday Millsaps starter Jay Hollenbeck had probably his worst start in his 3 year career--a balk, hit at least 3 batter, etc.--so Millsaps ended up with a string of pitchers. Like with football, I think Millsaps wants to win all of their games but they also look at this pre-conference time as a time to develop for conference play.
Infielddad,
I noticed your post on the west region rankings board regarding early '90s Trinity baseball and had to chime in...
You really can't compare the Trinity teams of the early to mid 90's to any of the current era teams. The landscape of baseball in Texas is so drastically different between those days and the current D3 era. At that time, Trinity was the only D3 in the entire state, and D3 in general was a complete unknown in the region. The non-conference slate consisted entirely of D1's, D2's, and NAIA's, who at the time were on par with most of the higher level D1's of the Southland and Southwest conferences.
As for conference games, those early teams used to bus to games in Memphis, Sewanee, Jackson, and Conway. Image this itinerary, get on a bus(and not the greyhound style, but more like a 25 person church bus) at midnight, drive 12-16 hours, get off the bus and play a double header. Needless to say, the team's record didn't truly reflect the circumstances with which the team was faced. Hughes and Scannell have done a great job of adding leadership, stability and structure to the program and elevating it to its current stature in D3, but some of the credit has to go to Bob King and Jeff Brown.
Bob King realized the only chance for the team to be competitive in such an expansive conference was for them to fly to conference games. He allocated funds for nice equipment, jerseys, and bats and actual food on road trips, instead of a bag of sliced bread for PB and J sandwiches. He also made a concerted effort to schedule more D3's instead of the Notre Dame's, UTSA's, and Texas State's of the world. In other words, he made winning baseball games at Trinity a priority.
Jeff Brown was able to recruit some fairly solid ball players despite all of the inherent disadvantages of being somewhat of a pariah on the Texas baseball landscape. He started on some pretty decent USC football and baseball teams in the early 80's along with such names as Marcus Allen, Jack Del Rio, Mark McGuire, and Randy Johnson. He was a top prospect for the Dodgers until an injury prematurely ended his career. Needless to say, he had a fair amount of recruiting credibility. He left the team before he could finish the job, but he laid a fairly solid foundation for what would occur down the road.
Bmo, great information. Thank you. I didn't realize the transition into DIII that took place during that time frame. Seems like the ASC came into existence within the last 10-15 years which I never knew. Also, I did not know about the calibre of the opposition outside of conference. Actually, the teams since 2000 had hoped to play DI teams and it just could not get done until this season.
What I did know is that Trinity had some very good players in that 1990-97 time frame. In fact, I have heard a lot about a flame throwing right hander who set all kinds of strikeout records. There was some mention of a catcher who could play a little bit, and a few others, but most of the talk was about that righty!!!!
I will have to interject one point of some clarification. Even though there was some air travel to other out of TX. cities, the budget for bats or actual food on those road trips wasn't much different.
With that said, Bob King does deserve credit along with the Coaches. From what I know, the 1990's Trinity would not have been able to find our son in California. Our family knows that opportunity was available because of Bob's impact in the AD and Coach Scannell being able to recruit in CA.
I have posted several times that our son had multiple options/invites to transfer, including one to play shortstop in the ACC. While being a starting SS in the ACC was hugely tempting, his experience at Trinity, the quality of the education, the relationship with Coach Scannell and the opportunties he provided with summer leagues and professional scouts, the respect and friendships with other coaches and his teammates, kept him firmly planted in San Antonio, until the phone rang and the Jays scout congratulated him.
I'm not so sure about the exact budgetary figures, they obviously didn't let the inmates run the asylum. But trust me, there was a fairly significant difference in the quality of the equipment and travel arrangements, pre-Bob King, as to post Bob King. We were always told, or assumed, that the school was still holding some of the cost of the field renovation out of the operating budget. But man, those foam front mesh back practice hats were ten years too old to be original and ten years too new to be retro.
The new field and the Bell Center also had a fairly big impact on the baseball team as well as the majority of the athletic programs at the university. They showed fairly well to recruits in comparison to the majority of the other facilities at that time. Probably not so much now...
I'm sure I know the righty of whom you speak, however, I don't profess to be him. I alway considered strikeouts to be a little fascist. I used to rack up some HBP's though, mostly wildness, only a little spite...
Infielddad, I think that your son made the smart choice.
Unless you are going to play in the majors, you should be getting the education at this time in his life. I am glad he is having a good experience.
D3 is Texas is very competitive now. I think we see very good baseball. The Trinity-UTD series was exciting.
The ASC was founded in 1996.
Trinity dropped a close 6-5 loss to W&L this afternoon in Peoria.... very unusual territory to be starting the season 3-4. All the credit goes to a scrappy W&L team who fought back from a 5-1 deficite to win 6-5.
11 AM MST rematch with Whitworth tomorrow, and the final game follows at 3 (if a loss) or 7 (if a win).
W&L will meet Hastings College and loseer play at 3, winners at 7... Both TU games should be webcast:
http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu-sports.m3u
Quote from: historymajor on February 24, 2007, 01:29:00 AM
Trinity dropped a close 6-5 loss to W&L this afternoon in Peoria.... very unusual territory to be starting the season 3-4. All the credit goes to a scrappy W&L team who fought back from a 5-1 deficite to win 6-5.
11 AM MST rematch with Whitworth tomorrow, and the final game follows at 3 (if a loss) or 7 (if a win).
W&L will meet Hastings College and loseer play at 3, winners at 7... Both TU games should be webcast:
http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu-sports.m3u
Only games versus Whitworth are in-region. The W&L loss is not a West Region game for Trinity. (Hastings NE is NAIA.)
Millsaps wins 6-2 at LaGrange yesterday. Brent Buffa went to 2-0 on the season with a complete game (he had 10 complete games in 12 starts last year), giving up the two runs in the bottom of the 9th. Hunter Owen went 2 for 3 with 2 walks and 2 rbi's--the two hits were a double and his 4th home run of the season. I'm fairly sure that his batting average is still at or above .500 and his slugging % might be over 1.000 (5 doubles and 4 home runs in 8 games).
John Pacillo has also been hot lately with 9 of 15 in the last 3 games including a walk-off HR to complete a 5 of 6 night against Belhaven, a 3-run HR against LaGrange on Thursday, and 3 of 5 with a double yesterday.
Millsaps still has a lot of things to work on like most teams at this point in the season but it seems like things are going fairly well for the early part of the season. I guess Travis Bogue will start today but I don't know who else will start this weekend. They might go back to Tait Hendrix and they might give someone their first start of the season.
Thanks Ralph, now I feel like eating some breakfast and heading back to Peoria.
Couple of side notes... Sandy Alderson spoke to all four teams assembled in one big group of fans and players from all around the US. He thanked them for their love of the games and hard work on and off the ball diamond, and told them he has a special place in his heart for D3 athletes. He challenged everyone to do teir best to graduate on-time and maybe he'd see some of these same players back here in a major league uni some day. Nice!
Kevin Kouzmanoff (OF Padres, traded in off season from Indians) stopped by the webcast and signed a few balls. His brother Ky plays (well) for Hastings. Kevin went to school at Nevada-Reno and holds the distinction of being the first (and only) major leaguer to hit a grand slam in his FIRST MLB at-bat. Wow!
The Trinity University Tigers baseball team came back from the consolation bracket to win the Peoria Classic Saturday night at Peoria Stadium. Trinity beat Whitworth (Wash.) 3-1 in the opening game Saturday and then defeated Washington and Lee (Va.) 13-7 to take home the championship trophy.
The Tigers went 3-2 at the tournament and stand at 5-4 on the season. Trinity takes on Texas Lutheran Tuesday at 2 p.m. in a non-conference game in Seguin.
Millsaps won 14-3 at Piedmont Saturday. Travis Bogue got the win, giving up 2 hits in 5 shutout innings. This gives Millsaps a 7-2 record on the season.
With the hectic nature of SCAC basketball ending up and all of the spring sports starting up, the stats on baseball are understandably behind on being posted. I said yesterday that I thought Hunter Owen was over .500 with a slugging % over 1.000 but I can't verify that. Yesterday he went 5 of 6 with a double and a triple so that didn't hurt his numbers at all.
Justin Carter went 2 of 5 yesterday with a home run and Jason Hadley was 2 of 3 plus he drew 2 walks, had a double and drove in 3 runs.
The two teams play again today with a 1:00 Central time first pitch. That game can be heard at: Radio Link: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
The Millsaps-Piedmont game scheduled for Sunday has been rained out. They were talking about making the Saturday-Sunday games into a Saturday DH as early as Thursday because of the weather forecast--it's a shame that didn't get worked out.
Millsaps next plays this Tuesday against Huntingdon and that game will be broadcast with an opening pitch at 4:00. The webcast link is: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
Right now basketball has center stage as well it should so it is hard to get caught up with all of the baseball stats. I pulled up the Millsaps Box Scores from the LaGrange and Piedmont sites to get some info for this week's sports email. I was impressed in the output by Hunter Owen in the three road games:
8 of 13, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homes run, 7 rbi's, 4 stolen bases
Add in his 3 of 5 against Belhaven earlier in the week and I think he has a good shot at another Hitter of the Week award.
Trinity goes up against TLU at Seguin on Tues. Trinity's ace Brian Oates scheduled to pitch. TU comes in just having racked up the championship in a tough Peoria Classic Tourney in PHX.
(El Tea Gray---re: Trinity Baseball vs. TLU--2/27--in Seguin)
History,
You forgot to mention that Lutheran is currently 10-0; this a huge game for both teams (Western Region). Are you planning to "come-on-down" to Seguin and webcast it? I hope so.
:)
ETG, no unfortunately my trip to AZ will keep me here thru Wed. (seeing my (f)ailing dad).
Trinity will 'try' to webcast, or we were hoping TLU would be webcasting it.
I finally did get some updated numbers on Hunter Owen's fast start this season. These come from a story about the 14-3 win over Piedmont (http://www.d3baseball.com/pressreleases/Millsaps/2007/02/25/Majors-Pummel-Piedmont-14-3/1643)
"For the season, Owen is batting a stellar .588 (20-for-34) with 21 RBIs, 14 runs, 40 total bases and four HRs. He also holds a 1.176 slugging percentage through nine games."
I know there is a triple among those 20 hits so it looks like he has 9 singles, 6 doubles, 1 triple, and 4 home runs in 9 games. I don't expect the numbers to stay at this level for the entire season but it is an impressive start.
Looks like we're back to our loosing ways. I was naive to think that the 4-0 start was the start of a change... after loosing our next 6 I can see that there is plenty of work to be done- mostly in the fielding aspect of the game. Quick note from the Adrian game tonight in which OU lost 9-7 in which Adrian scoring two in the 9th. Two inning stuck out BIG TIME to me, the 1st and 9th. OU started off the game going down 5-0 in the first, Adrian played 5 runs on 1 hit assisted by two errors. In the 9th they plated to 2 go ahead runs on 0 hits a few stolen bases and yet another error. By my calculations they scored 7 runs on 1 hit in those two innings.
I know these guys have what it takes! I know they're eager to win! I hope they'll put all the pieces back together and get back on the winning track! I'm pulling for you guys.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 25, 2007, 01:56:07 PM
Millsaps next plays this Tuesday against Huntingdon and that game will be broadcast with an opening pitch at 4:00. The webcast link is: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
It was easier to quote this than to type it again. Beautiful day at Millsaps, Tait Hendrix on the mound for Millsaps--no score in the top of the 2nd.
Millsaps beat Huntingdon 21-2 yesterday. Link to story: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/022707story.shtml
Millsaps plays 19th ranked and 5-0 Emory this Saturday and Sunday at Millsaps. Both games will be webcast at the normal link and I will put a post up later with the times and the link, etc.
Millsaps and Emory have played 4 times in the last 2 years with Millsaps winning all 4 games. That includes 2 games in Atlanta last year when Emory was #1 in the nation. I'm sure both teams will go with their best pitchers and they will be highly focused on winning--it should be a great series with great weather in the forecast.
Emory took the opening game against Millsaps this weekend by a 5-1 score with 4 runs coming in the 8th to break a 1-1 tie. The two teams play again today at noon (Central time) and that game will be webcast. The link is in multiple previous posts.
Millsaps story: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/030307story.shtml
Box Score: http://www.go.emory.edu/Statistics/Current/Base/eu07.htm
Millsaps comes back to win the Sunday game against Emory by a 12-2 score.
Story: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/030407story.shtml
Box Score: http://www.go.emory.edu/Statistics/Current/Base/eu08.htm
Trnity Tigers travel to Abilene for DH Against HSU and McMurry 3/6
The Trinity baseball team will play its annual Abilene doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon, taking on Hardin-Simmons University and McMurry University. Both games will be webcast live, with the Hardin-Simmons game kicking things off on 1:00 p.m., followed by the McMurry game at approximately 5:00 p.m.
SID Justin Parker on the call... assisted by Josh Moczygemba.
http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu-sports.m3u
Depending on site facilities, live stats may be available at:
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/index.htm
Is Josh Moczygemba a relative of the famous Father Leopold Moczygemba (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/MM/fmo77.html), who brought Polish settlers to Texas. He established the first permanent Polish settlement in the US at Panna Maria, where Father Moczygemba celebrated Mass under the big, beautiful live oak tree on Christmas Eve, 1854? :)
Ralph, you bring such education to us sports nuts. :)
A quick schedule note on Millsaps baseball on the internet. Millsaps has a rematch at Huntingdon this Wednesday at 4:00. There will probably be a pregame starting around 3:45. Huntingdon has lost a couple of close games to Rhodes, they struggled last week at Millsaps, and they have won 4 games over Oglethorpe.
Link to webcast: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
Millsaps beats Huntingdon 16-4 on the road Wednesday afternoon. Next games are a DH with Tougaloo College this Saturday--one of those situations where I hope to get photos of every player on the roster in action.
Story on Huntingdon game: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/030707story.shtml
Quote from: Bmo on February 09, 2007, 11:32:44 AM
Anybody know anything about Austin College? On paper, their first baseman looks like the POY front runner. Southwestern should be much improved if they can improve their defense up the middle. I hate to see Trinity losing a couple of key transfers about as much as I hate to see Millsaps gaining a few key transfers ;) All in all I think the west is going to be a battle especially with the new format and the addition of AC. Should be very tight, one through four, throughout the regular season.
The western division isn't off to such a hot start and the east is even worse with the exception of Rhodes College (http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/). While I don't expect anyone to dog their own team, how about some reports of how things are going at other schools. It may turn out that the west is a close race between the top 4 but why is it looking so bad at the moment?
Is Austin down because of injuries, a tough schedule, key players not quite coming around to their potential, or what? I thought Trinity would be better than 5-7 based on their pitching alone so there must be some story on their slow start. And what it the story from Southwestern, a program that has really fallen off in recent years? Hendrix is 9-7 but the starting pitching seems a little shaky based on ERA so will they have the depth needed for the new 4-game SCAC weekends?
Anyone out there care to report? I know you all get tired of coming this board and only seeing posts about Millsaps because I feel the same way.
I really think that it will take time for the Austin College programs, and I mention several, to come up to SCAC standards. The programs that you have seen as competitive in the SCAC were their strengths in the ASC.
I think that AC was hoping for more immediate success in their inaugural season in the SCAC. The new construction at Baker Field may bring talented players, but AC and UT-D are competing for the same students, and UT-D can be every bit as academically challenging as AC.
Frank, I want to thank you for your continued insights and observations. I read them almost preferentially. (By that I mean that I look at the most recent posts on all boards and go to yours very often as the first one that I read.)
Thanks for that compliment Ralph and I certainly enjoy all the insight that you bring to the board, especially the technical parts and the behind the scene workings that most average fans don't know or understand. And as you close in on 12,000 posts (compared to my 500+), I think we can safely assume that you are about 20 times crazier more dedicated than me.
Regarding Austin, it has been a rough year for them in the SCAC. In football there were next to last. In soccer they were in the middle of the pack. They did well in volleyball but I don't think it was as well as hoped. Men's basketball was winless and the women were in the middle of the league. It's early for the spring sports but tennis and softball aren't looking too good and baseball is just below .500 at the moment.
I've seen years when the above would sound like a typical Millsaps year so I know what it's like when there is such a gap between where you are and where you want to be. To be honest, the Millsaps women's programs are looking at that sort of gap at this point in time. It takes a lot of energy, commitment and attitude changes to turn something like that around and sometimes people just accept the status quo and sometimes people step up to the challenge and accomplish great things. It will be interesting to see what happens at Austin College over the next few years.
There is a hell of a series going down in Atlanta between Rhodes/Oglethorpe. Rhodes is up 3-0 but the games have been close and VERY exciting. Especially last night when OU banged around SCAC Pitcher of the Year Robert Flanagan for 10 hits and 6 runs including a 2-run go ahead HR in the bottom of the eighth by freshmen JJ Rizzo. Give Rhodes credit for coming back in the top of ninth. But I think OU was robbed when the third base umpire made a very controversial runners interfernece double play call.....a really close play that effected the game way more that it was called than if it hadn't been called. The runner had already beaten the throw at first.
They play game four today, not sure who has what as far as pitching...but word is Oglethorpe is without one of their aces John Hale for the entire weekend? could be a slugfest as the weather warms up the ball should jump out of that small park.
Rhodes is as good as their 13-2 record and Oglethorpe, even though 4-13 is tough as nails. They play a tough schedule and I wouldn't be surprised if they made some noise in SCAC tourny this year.....
I went and checked out the Rhodes-OU scores and found that Rhodes had come out on top 10-7. 8-6. and 8-7. It certainly takes no stretch of the imagination to see that OU isn't too far away from maybe a 2-1 lead in this series (I believe that the Friday game was 10-1 going into the bottom of the 9th so that game might not have been as close as it seems).
It seems like earlier posts have indicated that OU has a young team this year and maybe they will make some noise before the season is over. The Rhodes team is still a mystery to me. Obviously they have a chance to win any game that Flanagan starts and Holt had a 4-0 record with a 0.59 ERA through March 4th. Rhodes has a win over Millsaps but also a loss to Hendrix on a weekend where they decided to use Flanagan against the Majors (which I'm sure is exactly who the Millsaps team wanted to see).
Rhodes won two from Huntingdon this season by a combined score of 9-5. Millsaps won two from Huntingdon by a combined score of 37-6. I don't know if that indicates anything or not, especially since the Rhodes games were so early in the season. In more recent games Rhodes scored 56 runs in a 4-game sweep of Sewanee and they have scored 26 runs in 3 games at OU so they obviously are scoring runs now. While the move of Rhodes to the SCAC East seems to have helped balance the divisions, it's a shame that Rhodes and Millsaps won't have a 4-game series this season. That would be an entertaining series.
In Millsaps baseball news over the weekend, Millsaps took a DH from local Tougaloo College by a 48-0 margin. It was one of those days where Millsaps got to play a lot of players and Tougaloo got in two road games without a lot of expense so there were some pluses from the games.
It will be a lot tougher for Millsaps as they go to MS College for a Cowboy Maloney Series game on Monday at 6:30 and then they host Austin College this weekend in the first SCAC games for Millsaps.
It looks like the radio schedule (always subject to change) for this week will be:
Millsaps at MS College, Monday at 6:30
Baseball Coaches show moved to Wednesday at 8:00
Austin at Millsaps, Sunday at 1:00
Link to listen: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
As Bob said this was a Hell of a series in Atlanta... even though Oglethorpe lost all 4 games. Every time Oglethorpe scored and took a lead Rhodes would answer the next inning. OU took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd only to see Rhodes score 5 in the Top of the 3rd to take a 5-4 lead. The score opened up throughout the game with the Lynx holding a 10-7 advantage going into the 9th before a Petrel rally fell just short as Freshman Chris Lucas plated 2 with a single before Brandon McMichael was thrown out at 3rd on the same play, ending with the Final score 10-9.
For the Series the Petrels lost all games by 3 runs or less (10-7, 8-6, 8-7, 10-9). Like Bob said, these guys are tough as nails and I know they will use this series as a building block and show the conference what they're made of the rest of the season.
On a side note. Senior Tim Ernst went 3-4 and with his last hit became the Career Hits leader at Oglethorpe with 191. Congratulations to Tim Ernst for a great accomplishment!
Thanks for the reports Bob and Flight. There is a tendency on these boards that people stop posting about their teams when their teams aren't winning. That's a shame because I've always found that encouraging words during difficult times carry more weight than people jumping on the bandwagon when things are going great.
I'm sure there are people who think that I post too much to the SCAC boards but my take is that it only looks like I post too much because other people aren't posting enough. Don't you think the Rhodes players would like to see that someone is proud enough of their team that they would come on the D3 message board and post some praise? And don't you think the Trinity guys would appreciate some posts about how the talent is there and someone has 100% confidence that they will put it all together when it matters the most? And don't you think all the players at all the schools would like to see something about their team on the most visible D3 sports message board?
I think we all agree that each SCAC school is a great school and that the vast majority of student-athletes at these schools are great young men and women. We also all agree that it is a shame that they work so hard and get such little recognition. These message boards are a perfect vehicle to give your school's student-athletes a little praise when they deserve it and a little encouragement when they need it and I think it is a shame that so many pass on that opportunity.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 12, 2007, 08:03:14 AM
Thanks for the reports Bob and Flight. There is a tendency on these boards that people stop posting about their teams when their teams aren't winning. That's a shame because I've always found that encouraging words during difficult times carry more weight than people jumping on the bandwagon when things are going great.
...
+1 Frank, thanks for the encouraging words to your fellow SCAC'ers.
A long history of fair balanced observations that give a reasonable analysis of what you have seen or what seems to be happening to a particular team is highly valuable.
Consistency in your reporting is remembered and then additional weight and prestige are attributed to what you say. The SCAC baseball board has been one of the best from the beginning. Please continue to post, especially from the SCAC-East!
Got my first look at Coach Walker's gang this weekend. Took two from Hanover on Saturday by a 5-4 score in both games. Beat Manchester by the same score on Sunday.
Two or three very promising freshmen and a transfer or two for Coach Walk. Mike Stout transferred in from Butler... he's currently leading the team in hitting, playing primarily 3B, but also DH'ing some. Kid's got a lot of power and it looked like he's got a nice glove, too.
I knew it was going to be tough for Walk to replace a lot of the seniors, particularly in the infield, but he's got a good looking group right now.
Jeremy Alland is trying awfully hard to do his best P.J. Mitchell impression. The lefty was awesome on Saturday in the first game against Hanover.
I think the problem that will arise is that the rotation isn't very deep. John Tschantz threw OK on Sunday. Walks got the best of him, 4 runs in 6 innings. Paul Rodenhouse is emerging a very nice closer in the ninth. Ended up with the save yesterday and the win in the nightcap on Sunday.
DePauw didn't have ideal conditions when they went to Centre last weekend and dropped 3 of 4. I know that's not an excuse, but they looked much better than 4-5 this weekend.
I'd like to to take this opportunity to jump in on the SCAC discussion. With reference to the Millsaps/Rhodes discussion.....Rhodes' W-L record of its opponents
is 70-67-1 while Millsaps is 78-80. What does this prove?? I dunno....just more numbers to throw in the argument.
I'm curious to see the national reaction (i.e. rankings) to Rhodes current season. I think its fair to say its not a fluke considering last season (28 wins) where they had the biggest turnaround in Division III. Sweeping 2, 4 game conference weekends is impressive regardless of competition. I think their true test will be upcoming soon when they take on Methodist and Piedmont on the road.
First off, welcome Pauperboy. It will be nice if we can have a Rhodes supporter on board because I do think that Rhodes is going to have a very interesting season.
My comment on Rhodes wasn't meant as a negative or to indicate that Millsaps is a better team. It's just hard to tell what they have because they aren't playing a lot of tough teams and when they do play a tough team they throw Flannagan, hardly a typical pitcher on anyone's staff.
Look at the current 10 game winning streak of Rhodes. It starts off with a 5-4 win over Christian Brothers and that seems to be a good win. Then Rhodes wins a 4-game series over Sewanee, a team that is currently 1-12. Next there is a win against the Discovery school (Eureka College) but that was the first game of the year for Eureka (I will refrain from any comments about Eureka sounding like a school that sucks). Finally, there was the 4-game sweep of 4-14 Oglethorpe where they only outscored OU by 7 runs in the series.
Winning 10 games in a row is a nice achievement but this hasn't been the toughest stretch of the schedule. Rhodes does have earlier wins over Maryville and Millsaps but that brings in the Flannagan factor and they did lose 15-0 to Maryville and 6-5 to Hendrix in the games right before or after those wins.
And all of that gets me back to my original comment. I think Rhodes is a very dangerous team and I won't be surprised if they win the East. I'm not sure if they have totally proven themselves with the current schedule. They have proven that they can sweep some of the weaker teams and they have proven that they can beat the stronger teams in one game. The unanswered question is how will they do in a series against a stronger team. I look forward to seeing how that unfolds and I look forward to more posts about Rhodes baseball.
For a quick update on Millsaps, they won an ugly game over MS College last night by a 14-7 score. As the radio announcer said, the Millsaps bats couldn't find the ball and the MS College pitchers couldn't find the plate. Millsaps was trailing 6-2 going into the top of the 8th and scored 3 runs thanks in part to some walks. Then Millsaps scored 9 runs in the top of the 9th on 2 hits to go along with 7 walks and 2 HBP. While it is always good to get a win, I don't think this qualified as a very satisfying win.
One note of interest: Nick Crawford had no official at bats with a walk and 4 HBP. In the previous two games against Tougaloo he was 7 of 7 with a HBP. Against Huntingdon he got on base with a hit or HBP his last 4 at bats. That gives him 17 straight plate appearances where he has gotten on base with a hit, a walk or a HBP--don't know if that's a record but it has to be close to some record.
Here's a link to the MC story and they have a link to the boxscore: http://www.gochoctaws.com/News/baseball/2007/3/12/BSBMillsaps7-14.asp?path=baseball
It appears that 20 consecutive on base is the D3 record (18 for D1 and 15 for D2) if I'm looking in the right spot in the record books: http://www.ncaa.org/library/records/baseball/baseball_records_book/2007/2007_baseball_records.pdf
I think I'm right that Nick is now up to 17 straight but I'm sure someone will double check behind me on that. And I think this is all the news I have today so everyone else feel free to jump in and post.
Frank I think in the end if you compare the numbers you will find that Rhodes record is on par with Milsaps. I am not a fan of either team but I respect good programs. Here is what I see looking at the records.
Milsap has 6 wins against teams that are .500 and above.
Milsap has 3 loses to teams that are .500 and above.
Milsap has 7 wins against sub .500 teams.
Rhodes has 6 wins against teams that are .500 and above
Rhodes has 2 loses to teams that are .500 and above.
Rhodes has 11 wins against sub .500 teams.
Those records are very similar to me. The fact of the matter is that both teams are very solid and if things work out we will be treated to a showdown between the two of them in championships!
I wish my son's team was doing half as good as these two programs but they are not. In the end some very exciting baseball is taking place and I for one feel very lucky to have a child that is a part of such a great conference.
D3baseballdad--Welcome to the board. I don't know which team your son plays for but it would be great if you put some posts up for the team.
I know that most people have no interest in writing as much as I do but we could use someone from each school who simply gave a one paragraph summary of how the team is doing and maybe provided links to box scores and stories. I just think the kids at each school would like to see that someone is reporting on their progress.
Regarding Rhodes vs. Millsaps, I never intended to imply that Rhodes didn't have a very good team at the very least, I just pointed out that they haven't been in a situation to show how they will do in a long series against a really strong team (no offense intended to Sewanee and OU). It wouldn't bother me if someone said the same about Millsaps--I would probably say the same about Millsaps at the moment.
Millsaps hits the cover off the ball against most teams but they have had poor hitting games against Rhodes, Emory, MC and maybe one of the games against LaGrange. Millsaps has four strong starting pitchers but I think each one has had at least one rocky outing this season. Millsaps is playing well enough right now to beat a lot of teams but they still have a lot of improving to do to reach the level they were at towards the end of last season. That's natural at this point of the season and I imagine the Rhodes players feel that exact same way about their season--a good start but still room for improvement.
A rather odd one at Walker Field this afternoon as DePauw beat Wabash for the 14th straight time. 8-7 the final. DePauw was down 7-0 going in to the bottom of the sixth and scored 8 straight to win it.
DPU got 1 in the 6th, 3 in the 7th, 2 in the 8th, and 2 in the 9th for the win. Freshman Drew Holy won it with a single into center with a man on third in the 9th to win it.
Oglethorpe goes 0-3 these past two days. (2 against Heidelberg and 1 against Franklin and Marshall)
The 3 losses increase the loosing streak to 17 games... The good thing is Spring Break is on the Horizon which will give the guys a week off before returning to SCAC action against Centre. Hopefully the time off will allow them to refocus and return to their early season form after going 4-0 to start the year.
There's only one way to go from here!
Trinity returned home (finally) and pasted Concordia-Neb 10-3. A nice win for lefty Evan Bronson who went six innings of 2 hit ball. The homestand continues with a 'new' format 4 game SCAC series against Hendrix this weekend. Stay tuned.
Austin travels to Millsaps this weekend for the SCAC opener for both teams. Austin (http://www.austincollege.edu/Category.asp?762) is currently at 8-10 and Millsaps (http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/) has a 13-3 record. Weather forecast is sunny but just a little on the cool side.
It will be interesting to see how teams line up their pitching with the new 4-game series. Do teams end up matching their 1, 2, 3 and 4 pitchers head-to-head or does a supposedly weaker team try to go with their 1 & 2 against the 3 & 4 of the supposedly stronger team and get a split? Millsaps has 5 pretty good starters with Travis Bogue, Brent Buffa, Jay Hollenbeck, Tait Hendrix and Brandon Ingram and the biggest difference in the 5 might be the number of effective innings that each can pitch before needing relief.
Millsaps plans to broadcast the second game of Saturday's DH and the Sunday game. A best guess on the Saturday game would be about 3:30 for the first pitch and the Sunday game starts at 1:00. The link to the broadcast is: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
Rhodes 4
Piedmont 2 Final
Andy Holt picks up with the win scattering 6 hits in the CG effort. Rhodes
manages only 4 hits but scores 2 runs late to break the tie. Nice road win for the Lynx who look to continue their winning ways with Flanagan on the hill tomorrow vs. Methodist.
Rhodes continues to impress and represent the SCAC well. Holt improved to 7-0 and we all know what Flanagan can do. Methodist will be a tough test today but I'd place my money on Rhodes with Flanagan on the mound. A win by Rhodes today would move them to 20-2, certainly one of the best records in the country.
Millsaps opened up their series with Austin with a 6-3 victory. Certainly I was hoping for a Millsaps victory but I also wanted to see Nick Crawford set a national record and that didn't happen. He had reached base safely (hit, wak or hit by pitch) 17 straight times going into last night and the NCAA record and D3 record was 20 straight times. Unfortunately, the streak ended at 17. To put it in perspective, let's say a guy has a very impressive on base % of .500--he gets on base safely half the time. Getting on base 17 times in a row for a guy with an OBP of .500 is like flipping a coin 17 times and it comes up heads 17 times in a row. It's an incredible feat at any level against any competition.
But back to the game. Travis Bogue started for Millsaps and pitched well after giving up a 2-run homer in the first. Brandon Ingram and Drew Maddox preserved the victory with 3 innings of scoreless relief. Chermak pitched well for Austin with only 2 ER's in 7 innings but he did have 3 wild pitches and there were 3 pass balls that certainly helped the Millsaps cause. Justin Carter had 3 RBIs for the Majors and Jason Hadley and John Pacillo each had 2 hits. Means had 2 hits and all 3 RBIs for Austin and Herrick also had 2 hits.
The two teams square off today at 1 for a DH. I suspect that Brent Buffa and Tait Hendrix will pitch for Millsaps to give a right-left combo for the day and that Jay Hollenbeck will close out the series tomorrow. The second game today and tomorrow's game will be broadcast--see an above post for details.
Trinity handled Hendrix in the opener of the 4 game weekend series 9-2. FY Michael Hunter recorded his first 'W' as Steven Ramos continued his hot hitting going 2-3, FY Andrew Lawson went 1-2 w/3 rbi.
Series will be webcast from SAT.
Trinity--Hendrix story: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2007/TU-HC.htm
Trinity--Hendrix Box Score: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/hc-tu.htm
Rhodes plays Methodist at 12 (not sure if that's Eastern or Central time) Livestats for game: http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/livestats/xlive.htm
Rhodes win over Piedmont story: http://www.piedmont.edu/athletics/06_07_headlines/03_16_07_base.htm
Rhodes over Piedmont Box Score: http://www.piedmont.edu/athletics/baseball/07stats/pcb19.htm
Good win for Rhodes...Holt is the ace of that staff. Flanagan is overrated...last week at OU a scout showed up from the Cardinals, after hitting 83 a couple of times and pitching at 80-81 he left after the 4th inning...not very impressed. His slider had zero tilt and his fastball was flat. OU did not chase the slider out of the strike zone and really pounded him pretty hard. His changeup is below average, it is obvious that noboy has ever worked with him to improve that pitch. Classic case of a hard thrower never learning how to pitch. Holt on the other hand throws 80-83 with a very good slurve, and an unbelievable changeup. You can see him thinking through the game and he KNOWS how to pitch.
If Flanagan can develop a changeup and control his slider maybe he will have a chance. But there is no way he approaches 6'7!! 6'4...6'5 on a good day.
Rhodes 6
Methodist 1 Final
Rhodes reaches the 20 win mark this season as Flanagan scatters 6 hits and the Lynx score 5 runs in the top of the 9th to break open a 1-0 lead. Methodist scored their lone run in the bottom on the 9th. Flanagan was consistently clocked at 90 and would appear to have regained any form that some in these forums have brought into question. As a side note, I am one to judge a pitcher's stuff not just from one start but rather his complete body of work. Make no mistake and nothing against Holt and his current season, but Flanagan is the ace of this staff.
It seems Rhodes may have answered many of their critics with 2 quaility wins on the road. Although you don't win anything for wins during the regular season, it would appear that this could be a memorable year for the Lynx. The bandwagon has officially been created and I'd be more than happy to drive anybody else who wants to jump on.
Pauper:
Good game today...sorry I missed you there. But Flanagan did not hit 90...not even once. It was a chilly, windy day... a tough day to pitch when you really can't feel your hands...he threw a good game, no doubt. But please let's not jump the 'gun' and say he consistently hit 90. He pitched between 84-86 and occasionly rushed it up there at 87-88. He threw much better today then last week but I' still like Holt...
no matter, nothing should take away from Rhodes and their 20-2 start...awesome!
Trinity knocked of Hendrix twice more Saturday,,,, 6-0, and 5-4. Are my eyes deceiving me? What's up with AC knocking off MC twice? Is AC that good?
Quote from: historymajor on March 18, 2007, 06:33:38 AM
...
Are my eyes deceiving me? What's up with AC knocking off MC twice? Is AC that good?
AC is 6-5 vs ASC teams this year, so they might be that good.
It appears that Mississippi College is a little weak.
AC still has 3 versus UT-D, 2 vs. UT-Tyler and single games vs. HSU and McM.
I think he was referring to Millsaps, not Mississippi. Millsaps scores only 4 runs in 16 innings of play on Saturday?? Wow...welcome to the 4-game weekend where anything can happen. Prediction for Sunday---lots of runs! MC 16 AC 12
Quote from: Bob_Lotts on March 18, 2007, 11:31:29 AM
I think he was referring to Millsaps, not Mississippi. Millsaps scores only 4 runs in 16 innings of play on Saturday?? Wow...welcome to the 4-game weekend where anything can happen. Prediction for Sunday---lots of runs! MC 16 AC 12
I was, too. I was using the Millsaps-Mississippi College contests as a barometer of relative strengths, and trying to gauge AC by their historical performances. :)
In doing that, I am wondering exactly where the strength in the South/Southwest lies.
Does AC finish in the Top 2 in the SCAC/West? ;)
I really didn't see much of the Millsaps vs. Austin series this weekend, only catching most of the Friday game and a couple of middle innings of the 3rd game. I put something last week on a thread under the National topics about my concerns about Millsaps hitting at this point in the season and they certainly didn't hit much against Austin pitching.
I don't know how many people were around during the basketball season but it was marked by close games between just about all of the teams. So far we have had 4 SCAC series and there have been 3 sweeps which doesn't sound like much parity in the baseball. A closer look at the scores shows that the Rhodes-OU series was fairly tight as was a couple of games in the Trinity-Hendrix series. I think we will see a lot of good competitive weekends this season and the cross over weekend and the SCAC Tournament might offer some real surprises.
Just a comment on the Holt vs. Flanagan debate. Baseball is a game of numbers and the numbers that matter most are the ones that relate to the final results. I don't know a thing about Flanagan except that he had a great season last year and he is having a great year this season. Based on the results, if Flanagan is overrated then he must be pitching to a bunch of equally overrated hitters and teams.
Trinity found their old bats (and gloves) this weekend and completed a four game sweep over a much improved young Hendrix squad. TU really NEEDED the sweep to get back on their winning ways!
Trinity ran it's win streak to 6 with a convincing 10-0 victory over a rusty Cardinal Stritch (NAIA). Soph Evan Bronson went the distance fanning 13 and scattering only 5 hits.
That was a big sweep for Trinity...seeing as what happened to Millsaps, taking four from Hendrix this weekend could be huge for the Tigers.
But let's talk about Hendrix for a sec: Over the past six years, the Warriors have gone to San Antonio and gotten slapped around like a fresh prom date. We're not talking just losses. We're talking run ruled, morality draining, bug-meets-windshield losses.
But yet an undermanned team made up entirely of freshmen and sophomores showed up this past weekend and did a marvelous imitation of a quality, competitive baseball team. First-year pitchers David Keine and David Hagan were beyond gutsy on the hill, and rubber-armed reliever Wheeler Gnat kept Hendrix going in the late innings. Offensively, the program has a foundation with newcomers Nathan Skeen and Nathan Hill (does every name on this team come in pairs?) joining sophomores Matt Giza and Daniel Ward.
I understand the above sounds like any fan of a losing program when it avoids the usual thumping from an established program. But I lay this on history...Hendrix has never been as consistently competitive in San Antonio as it was this weekend. If these players continue to work hard and listen to their coaches and believe that good things will happen, this team has a chance to steal some games here and there.
Gus, welcome to the board.
We appreciate all fans' contributions. It is especially hard for fans to post during a losing season, but almost all of the core of contributors are extemely appreciative and respectful of fans from programs that are not winning that season.
In fact, objective criteria from third parties on the board who have shown consistency in their posts often are held in greater esteem when they make an observation.
Please continue to post. We encourage hyperlinnks, game impressions and other content that you may find interesting.
Thanks! :)
Gus, yes I agree that Hendrix will surprise some people. The frosh-soph character of this young team will grow into something very nice from Conway. It HAS to have been very painful for players and parents to travel to Georgetown and SAT in the 'post-Holland' years and get abused by TU and SW.
I see nothing but good things ahead for the Warriors IF they stick with their present course and new Coach R.J. Thomas builds on this nucleus of underclassmen.
Quote from: Gus Sinski on March 20, 2007, 12:31:37 AM
Over the past six years, the Warriors have gone to San Antonio and gotten slapped around like a fresh prom date. We're not talking just losses. We're talking run ruled, morality draining, bug-meets-windshield losses.
I like this guy already.
Also, dunno if I missed the boat on this earlier, but does anyone have any thoughts on the new format for the conference tourney?
Gotta say I think it hurts probably 2nd-4th seeds in the East division. The west is just so darn strong.
Welcome Gus but I'm afraid that you have already made a critical mistake. As DPU3619 indicated, you have set an awfully high standard for yourself with your first post and either you are going to be brilliant or you have already peaked!!!
Hendrix is making great strides in pulling up their athletic programs and it looks like baseball is following suit. OU seems to be on the same course with their baseball team. As we are seeing in other SCAC sports, it is getting harder and harder to have an off game and come out with a victory which is great for the league in general and it will push the top teams to get even better if they want to stay on top.
Let me correct myself. After reading some of the articles Gus has on the Hendrix website, I can see that we have a ringer of a writer on the board. I enjoyed reading some of your work even though I wasn't familar with the people, places or events.
Frank, I appreciate the kind words. Though I won't speculate as to whether or not I've "peaked", I can end the brilliance speculation by mentioning that I once nearly burned my apartment down while trying to make pancakes in college. MENSA seems to have lost my number.
You are, though, off base on who I am. I've not written a sentence on the Hendrix board, nor am I affiliated with the school in any way. Just think of me as a baseball person with too much free time.
Lots can be credited to the Hendrix coaching staff...coaches Thomas and Groat both bring a tremendous amount of energy to the job. At first I was a tad nervous on the whole setup...neither look old enough to drive, and my experiences have been that twentysomething coaches struggle to contain their emotions and trust their players.
But Thomas has so far nailed the process. The players feed off his enthusiasm, yet he maintains a greater-than-expected level of maturity. Plus, both coaches have played for the program, so they have a vested interest in getting this thing right.
That said, there's acres between "having a foundation" and "getting there." The Trinity series showed the team is not there yet, and may not be for another year or so. Any hopes of a breather in the West were pretty much erased by Austin's performance against Millsaps, as it's clear the 'Roos have benefitted from playing in an equally-tough conference.
Hendrix's key to competitiveness will have to be retention. That means not only keeping the likes of Ward, Skeen, Keine, Hill, Gnat and Giza, but also keeping Thomas as well. That means peeling the "interim" tag off his title at season's end. The college will be getting a new field to compliment its new athletic center, but passing up on Thomas will likely mean the program will simply be bumbling about in prettier settings.
Hopefully, the school will recognize Thomas' work and avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Incidentally, I still like Millsaps for taking the whole thing.
Look for Rhodes to finish strong . Flanagan and Holt are both quality pitchers who can go very deep every time out. Simmons and Catalanato add considerable depth to the staff and are getting better with each outing. Solid defense around the diamond helps keep them in every game and a surprisingly mature approach at the plate 1-9 keeps consistent pressure on opposing pitchers.
The next two weekends are big for the Lynx. Depaw and Centre. If needed, I expect help from Oglethorpe as they are a quality opponent who will add depth to the east side for a couple of years.
Gus Sinski ;D ;D ;D Best name on the board.
Yours Truly,
Billy Chapel
Gus--I was referring to the stories under this link: http://www.hendrix.edu/goodbyegrove/grove.aspx?id=9040, which I assumed were yours. I read a couple of those stories and I'd like to get back and read more.
Glad to see Lynx Fan join in. I don't know why we don't get more participation from Rhodes on the message boards but maybe one of the best records in D3 baseball at the moment will keep Lynx Fan around and encourage others to join in. If Holt and Flanagan stay healthy then Rhodes will be tough indeed. Is there any insight from the Rhodes fans on why Holt has turned things around so much this season--if memory serves me correct he was 3-7 last year. My guess is that it is a lot of improvement on his control but that's just a guess.
Millsaps plays Ill. Wesleyan this afternoon at 4. IW beat MS College 18-0 yesterday but MS College is thin on pitching and they may have been saving their key pitchers for conference play. I'm going to try and get by the game without my camera so I can watch a game as a fan--something I've probably done less than 5 times in the last 2 years.
In the fall of 2004 the first group of players recruited by Rhodes' head coach Jeff Cleanthes came to Memphis. Daniel Vanaman, Richard Hurd and Matt Beesley were plugged into the lineup immediately, bringing with them a new work ethic that set the standard for seasons to follow, hitting a combined .339 their freshman year.
Robert Flanagan, who posted a 3-10 record in 2005, with lackluster defense and offense in support, has worked hard to achieve the status he enjoys today. With "Flanny" on the hill the Lynx Cats of 2007 are tough. Equally impressive is sophomore Andy Holt, who takes the mound with confidence and tenacity. Comparisons between the two are inevitable. Lynx fans are delighted that they both wear the same uniform!
Coach Cleanthes has continued to throw young players to the fray, adding J. R. Bizzell, Mason Mosby, Drew Hubbard and Charles Simmons in 2006. Left-hander, Chris Catalanotto has come on strong and will be a deciding factor in conference and post-season play. Jeff Mueller will be a big factor for the Lynx, coming on in relief.
Freshman infielders Andy Boucher and Brooks Royer have been a welcome addition to this year's lineup, as have been pitchers Adkins, Chadwick, McAlpine and Gertz.
While a diehard Lynx supporter, a few comments about other programs in the SCAC... Hendrix baseball is on its way up. Their coach and young players are to be commended. Congratulations to Millsaps' Nick Crawford on the amazing 17 on-base streak. Tim Ernst of Oglethorpe set a school record for hits during the Rhodes-Oglethorpe series. He does everything well. Ernst and Crawford will be missed next year.
Arguably Holt did not live up to expectations as a freshman but he is a gamer with excellent composure. Simply put, his off season dedication and commitment to the game are two of the reasons why he has improved over last year. Confidence in your defense can never be over rated either.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 20, 2007, 03:54:16 PM
Gus--I was referring to the stories under this link: http://www.hendrix.edu/goodbyegrove/grove.aspx?id=9040, which I assumed were yours. I read a couple of those stories and I'd like to get back and read more.
Holy cow! I never knew they got around to putting those on there. :o
Though I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Obviously inspired by my complimentary posts, Hendrix went out today and lost to Elmhurst 16-6. With the new conference weekend format, I predict that coaches will be scheduling midweek conference games much more judiciously than in years past. Though I know most of the conference's schools may have a bit more depth, I'd be curious to see how these coaches are handling their pitching staffs in terms of conference games vs. non-conference games. That one extra weekend game can take a bite out of a staff.
Or, in the case of the Warriors, several bites and dessert to go with it.
On the subject of pitchers, maybe someone from Rhodes can answer a question I've had for a year now: How in the heck did you guys
get Robert Flanigan?
Rarely do you see pitchers of his physical stature playing in this league. If you do, you can usually rest assured that they're a lot like my present cell phone...impressive looking but fragile, erratic and undependable.
But if there's one guy in the SCAC that I would pay to see, right now it's Flanigan. And while I'm no expert, I do sniff around the occasional Division II and mid-major Division I game...I'm not sure he could be any worse than the mid-week pitchers on some of those squads.
Gus, the SCAC has had some pretty talented pitchers over the past years. Forest Martin from Southwestern was as good as they come until he had TJ surgery after his junior year. But he came back, had a solid 5th year, signed as a free agent and did well for a few years in minor league ball.
Doug Garner and John Fox from Millsaps and Mike Frost and Adam Frye were both talented guys. Fox battled a very serious injury but still had a very fine career. Heck, the top pitcher for UC Santa Barbara this year was a walk on transfer from Trinity. He is doing quite well at the DI level, better in fact than at the DIII. I have not seen Flanagan pitch but it sounds like he fits well within this type of group.
I think it is great for the SCAC to see what is happening at Rhodes and Hendrix. Coach Groat played against our son. Some of those games were not pretty. Even then Neil Groat competed very hard and you could tell really loved the game. I hope they continue to have success and when they get it, it will have to feel awfully good when he looks back.
When the new Rhodes coach took over in 2004, he stated he thought they had the talent to compete with anyone in the SCAC. To his credit, he learned quickly how wrong he was and has done a wonderful job of upgrading.
From a distance, Rhodes moving up, Hendrix battling Trinity and Southwestern struggling show how quickly things can be changed in college baseball. I think they also show the importance of coaching. I don't know what has happened in Georgetown but I always admired the job Jim Mallon did. Following him would have to be challenging.
My speculation on why Flanigan (or any one else) chooses Rhodes College;
Parents want their sons to get a world class education.
Rhodes has a georgous campus on the outskirts of a great American City.
Coach Cleanthes and Coach Schrier are very good coaches, genuinely interested in your sons personal advancement, and excellent recruiters.
The opportunity to contribute immediately is available if you are good enough.
Everyone wants to win while applying the proper perspective.
I could go on for a while but I think you get the general idea. After a visit or two you just walk away with the right feeling about the Rhodes experience. And the best part now is all the hard work is paying off on the field as well.
Quote from: infielddad on March 20, 2007, 07:35:32 PM
Gus, the SCAC has had some pretty talented pitchers over the past years. Forest Martin from Southwestern was as good as they come until he had TJ surgery after his junior year. But he came back, had a solid 5th year, signed as a free agent and did well for a few years in minor league ball.
Doug Garner and John Fox from Millsaps and Mike Frost and Adam Frye were both talented guys. Fox battled a very serious injury but still had a very fine career. Heck, the top pitcher for UC Santa Barbara this year was a walk on transfer from Trinity. He is doing quite well at the DI level, better in fact than at the DIII. I have not seen Flanagan pitch but it sounds like he fits well within this type of group.
I think it is great for the SCAC to see what is happening at Rhodes and Hendrix. Coach Groat played against our son. Some of those games were not pretty. Even then Neil Groat competed very hard and you could tell really loved the game. I hope they continue to have success and when they get it, it will have to feel awfully good when he looks back.
When the new Rhodes coach took over in 2004, he stated he thought they had the talent to compete with anyone in the SCAC. To his credit, he learned quickly how wrong he was and has done a wonderful job of upgrading.
From a distance, Rhodes moving up, Hendrix battling Trinity and Southwestern struggling show how quickly things can be changed in college baseball. I think they also show the importance of coaching. I don't know what has happened in Georgetown but I always admired the job Jim Mallon did. Following him would have to be challenging.
Good points.
I remember a few of those guys...Martin had one of the best, most biting breaking balls I've seen from an SCAC pitcher, and Frost was just dominant.
If there's one pitcher I really came to admire, it was Millsaps' Chat Lenhart. Nothing dominant, nothing overpowering, he just went out there, took the ball and won ballgames. A prototypical DIII pitcher if there ever was one.
Does Flanigan belong in that echelon? In my mind, absolutely. It'd be a fun argument to dicker over who the top five pitchers from the SCAC would be, and while I'm not sure Flanigan would fall in there, he might make the top 10.
Incidentally, if your son is who I think he is, watching him compete was always a pleasure and he always did it with class. And I know Coach Groat would appreciate your compliments. Lots of guys play four years on a losing team and then take off...to stick around and try to be part of the solution takes guts.
Those stories on the Hendrix site are pretty interesting. But I can't find where it tells what the heck the AIC is. Can someone explain?
I believe it's an old NAIA conference. Arkansas Intercollegiate. Ozarks was in it. I had a relative go there a while ago. Central Arkansas was in it (before it was UCA, Arkansas Teachers College I think).
Couple of schools I haven't heard of. Henderson, Ouchita Baptist, and Harding.
Another note, DePauw lost 12-3 at Franklin today. They're good. Again.
It's great to see a board with so much activity and with so many interesting facts and insights. It's a good point about the depth of pitching and the new SCAC 4-game format.
Ill. Wesleyan was at MS College Monday and beat them 18-0 and my guess would be that MC had used all of their pitching over the weekend. Yesterday was a different story as Millsaps beat IW by an 11-6 margin, getting 5 strong innings and a shaky 6th inning from Brandon Ingram. Millsaps has good starting pitching but at the moment they don't have the 1-2 punch like last year with John Fox and Doug Kindler. That's not surprising since they were two of the winningest pitchers in school history and were 19-3 combined last year.
Rhodes apparently has that 1-2 combination this year and that's going to take them a long way. Based on what I saw last year, just how far Rhodes goes will depend heavily on how well the 3 and 4 starters can perform against top-notch teams.
Quote from: Pat Coleman on March 21, 2007, 03:12:34 AM
Those stories on the Hendrix site are pretty interesting. But I can't find where it tells what the heck the AIC is. Can someone explain?
Here is a link (http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=7) to the football champions in the old AIC at College Football Data Warehouse.
I have not found a comparable database for basketball, not have I found the archives of the AIC online. :)
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 21, 2007, 07:23:36 AM
It's great to see a board with so much activity and with so many interesting facts and insights. It's a good point about the depth of pitching and the new SCAC 4-game format.
Ill. Wesleyan was at MS College Monday and beat them 18-0 and my guess would be that MC had used all of their pitching over the weekend. Yesterday was a different story as Millsaps beat IW by an 11-6 margin, getting 5 strong innings and a shaky 6th inning from Brandon Ingram. Millsaps has good starting pitching but at the moment they don't have the 1-2 punch like last year with John Fox and Doug Kindler. That's not surprising since they were two of the winningest pitchers in school history and were 19-3 combined last year.
Rhodes apparently has that 1-2 combination this year and that's going to take them a long way. Based on what I saw last year, just how far Rhodes goes will depend heavily on how well the 3 and 4 starters can perform against top-notch teams.
Frank, you are correct.
MissColl's Jared Gregg got his first start of the season and they used 7 pitchers. Miss College seems to have one good pitcher this year and he got middle inning (mid-start?) work.
Tactically, this game is not even an in-region game for Miss Coll under the expanded guidelines, so little harm was done.
Season stats for MissColl (http://www.gochoctaws.com/sports/baseball/2007/teamcume.htm)
MissColl-IWU game stats (http://www.gochoctaws.com/sports/baseball/2007/mcvsiwu.htm)
Found the following interesting, funny and sad:
http://www.aolvideoblog.com/2007/03/15/baseball-player-fakes-getting-hit-by-pitch/
Quote from: Lynx Tracker on March 21, 2007, 03:57:51 PM
Found the following interesting, funny and sad:
http://www.aolvideoblog.com/2007/03/15/baseball-player-fakes-getting-hit-by-pitch/
As the Arkansas catcher, he is finished!
Gus,
My son speaks very highly of Neil and Neil could not have been nicer in the things he said about the way Jason played the game. If Jason is who you were thinking of, thank you also.
I had a chance to email with Neil on another site and thought it was great when he decided to take the coaching position.
If I remember correctly, Neil went to one of the Midwest League Games when Jason played near his home in Illinois. Hope that gets to happen again. ;)
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 21, 2007, 06:30:57 PM
Quote from: Lynx Tracker on March 21, 2007, 03:57:51 PM
Found the following interesting, funny and sad:
http://www.aolvideoblog.com/2007/03/15/baseball-player-fakes-getting-hit-by-pitch/
As the Arkansas catcher, he is finished!
I believe only soccer players have the patent on the blatant faking of injuries.
I remember watching that last season and wondering how the post-ejection argument between Dave Van Horn and the plate umpire would have gone...
VAN HORN: Why'd you toss my player?!?
UMP: He pointed his bat at me!
VAN HORN: He should have been on first! He took one in the arm!
UMP: He was never hit!
VAN HORN: How can you be so sure?
UMP: He pointed at me WITH THE SAME ARM!
VAN HORN: Oh...
A quick Millsaps post:
Millsaps story on Illinois Wesleyan game: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/032007story.shtml
Millsaps box on IW Game: http://www.iwu.edu/%7Eiwunews/sports/bb2007/mcb-0320.htm
Millsaps will broadcast/webcast all 4 games with Southwestern this weekend. The second game of the Saturday DH will be co-broadcast with a local high school baseball game with the Millsaps updates being given in between innings of the high school game.
Link to listen: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
Game Schedule: Friday at 3:00--Saturday DH starting at 1:00--Sunday at 1:00.
Rhodes played a nice game vs. Ill-Wesleyan coming out on top 7-5. They continue to get consistent production through out the lineup. A double-double this weekend vs Depauw will answer the questions regarding depth.
Lynx defeat Illinois Wesleyan 7-5
03/21/07--- The Rhodes Baseball team defeated Illinois Wesleyan this afternoon 7-5. Junior Robert Flanagan picked up the victory coming out of the bullpen, pitching 3 innings, giving up 1 hit, and striking out 5. Flanagan is now 8-0 on the year. Sophomore Charles Simmons picked up his 6th save of the year pitching one inning and striking out 1. Sophomore Drew Hubbard was 2-3 with a double and a walk. Junior Matt Beesley hit a 2 run homerun in the 3rd to put the Lynx up 5-2. Juniors Richard Hurd and Daniel Vanaman were both 2-4 on the day. Hurd had 1 RBI, while Vanaman had 2 RBI's and a run scored.
The guys up at Rhodes are piling up the wins--8 wins by Flanagan has to be somewhere near the top of the individual stats for D3. Rhodes has played a lot of games already this year so that factors in on stats leaders, etc., but is there any concern that Flanagan and Holt are 1-2 in the league in innings pitched? They are both right at 50 innings and when you start adding up the remaining league games, the cross over games, the SCAC Tournament, and the NCAA Tournament it seems like 100+ for both of them is likely.
Fox and Kindler were 1-2 in innings pitched last year at 91 and 87 in a 50 game season and I'm sure that they pitched more innings in the 2nd half of the season. Flanagan and Holt are a good bit ahead of that pace after 24 games if they are going to throw 6-9 innings in their remaining starts which is what I would expect.
Also, for those of you who can't listen to the radio at work Friday at 3pm, there is the option of gametracker for the Southwestern-Millsaps game: http://southwesternpirates.cstv.com/
I wouldn't be concerned at all about Flanagan and Holt's innings. Good teams with good aces end up having those guys throw quite a few innings.
I think Rhodes is pretty good. I'll be interested to see how they do against LaGrange/Washington/Emory at the end of the year. So far they've played some solid teams, but the overall weakness of their schedule has allowed them to throw Flanagan or Holt in all of them.
I'm going to assume that the Rhodes coaching staff has everything well under control and they monitor the innings closely. It's just a lot of innings for any D3 college pitcher.
I looked back at the stats for last season (http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/stats) and I looked under the list of D3 pitchers with the most wins for 2006. It lists all of the pitchers with 8 wins or more (most wins last year was 13, well within the reach of Holt and Flanagan) and only 4 pitchers threw more than 100 innings. That would be the top 3 in wins along with Blake Rice. John Fox would have been over 100 also but he missed about 3 starts with a bad ankle.
When you consider the number of teams in D3 and how they all need to get the most out of their ace pitcher, it appears that 100 innings must be about the upper limit for a season and Rhodes might easily have 2 over that mark in 2007. Just an interesting thing to watch as the season progresses and we get into the key games in the warmer weather.
Another conference weekend begins. Big series for Milsaps if the Majors want to recoup their losses from the Austin series. Be interesting to see if someone other than Hollenbeck can step up on the mound.
Meanwhile, going 0-4 but looking good in the process won't help Hendrix against Austin. The Warriors were impressively competitive at Trinity last week, but to stay alive, they need some W's this weekend.
One interesting thing to note about their # of innings... Holt and Flanagan are racking up innings but the coaches have a leash on them when it comes to the number of pitches thrown.
Both pitchers are always around the plate and remarkably efficient. Their games tend to go very quickly with out a lot of wasted pitches. Yes there are the occasional long innings but when Flanny or Holt pitch I always have plenty of time to catch my flight out of Memphis.
Well it really all comes down to three things: pitch count, mechanics and conditioning. Marietta's been running guys out there 100+ innings for a long time, but we have a conditioning and training program in place that has worked for that. We've had very few injuries to top end pitchers, and the one to DeSalvo was at the beginning of the season and to his knee, so not really attributable to use at all.
Flanagan's a BIG guy, I wouldn't think he'd have much problem throwing a lot of innings unless something's seriously wrong. Holt may, depending. I've never seen him so I don't know what his mechanics look like or what pitches he uses most.
Hendrix got their first SCAC win of the season yesterday before getting hammered by Austin in the 2nd game of the DH. Scores were 8-6 and 19-0 but the bottom line is that they split the opening two games of the series.
Centre took care of OU by a 12-1 margin in a 7-inning game to open up that series.
Millsaps outhit Southwestern 11 to 4 but only outscored them 4 to 3 to opening up that series. Travis Bogue started for Millsaps and pitched well for 5 innings and then he got in trouble to open the 6th with a couple of walks, a wild pitch and 2 of the 3 hits he allowed for the game. Freshman Bobby Osburn came in and got out of the 6th inning jam and finished up the game allowing only 1 hit in 3.2 innings. Morrison went the entire game for Southwestern--of the 11 hits he gave up, 3 were to Hunter Owens and 3 were to Hunter Abrams.
Rhodes hosts DePauw in a big DH today followed by another DH tomorrow. DePauw started the season 0-5 but then they won 8 straight before losing to Franklin College on Tuesday. I don't see anything about DePauw broadcasting the games but Rhodes has livestats at this link:
http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/livestats/xlive.htm
First game starts at noon.
Centre took both games from OU today to go up 3-0 in the series...OU is a completely different team since the Rhodes series. They started 4-0 this year and have dropped 20 straight decisions!! 20!! I've seen this team play all year and really they are so much better than a 4-20 record. But you have to make plays and score runs and they have not done either the last two day.
Centre is a good team that smacks the ball around...Pitching depth is a concern and their defense is shaky but boy do they play hard....
DePauw opened up the season by derailing the Rhodes express, taking a DH and snapping the 16 game Rhodes winning streak. Holt got the loss in the 4-2 first game and Catalanotto took the loss in the 8-5 second game, giving up 8 runs but only 3 were earned.
Box scores for the game:
http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/2007_results/3-24-07_DePauw1.htm
http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/2007_results/3-24-07_DePauw2.htm
Live stat for today's games: http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/livestats/xlive.htm
Hendrix took it off the shins against Austin Saturday, losing 18-8.
Dave Keine had the Warriors in the game until leaving after the second inning with an injury. That's when the pelota fiesta started for Austin. Matt Aurand, Jordon Robison and Bennett Herrick combined for nine hits for the 'Roos.
Austin, I have a feeling, is going to be a "pest" for the league's best teams this season. They proved themselves against Millsaps, and are obviously playing with a lot of confidence. It'll be interesting to see what they can do.
Hendrix, right now, is faced with a grim choice: Either hope for complete games from its starters or pitch Wheeler Gnat until his arm goes on strike. The bullpen depth just isn't there. It's a shame the team had to lose projected conference starter Jason Wendt to a season-ending injury, because it forced the at-times impressive David Hagan into a starter's role, diluting the relief pool even more.
Austin won Sunday 5-1. Game was tied 1-1 before the 'Roos put up four in the eighth. Another good outing by Hagan, albeit for naught.
Also, Millsaps beat Southwestern 14-4. Hollenbeck improves to 5-0 on the season.
Not so good today for the Old Gold, Frank. 5-0 shutout in the opener and an ugly 19-6 loss in the nightcap. Pretty pleased with taking 2-4 with how well Rhodes was playing.
Gus--We get back to a topic from earlier in the year which is the effect of going to the 4-game series. Right now Millsaps has 3 very solid starters and 2 very capable starters for that last slot. They have enough depth to probably get a decent pitch-by-committee from the rest of the staff. There's no question in my mind that the move to 4 games helps the more established teams.
DPU3619--Getting 2 of 4 from Rhodes is a good weekend considering how much longer those guys have been playing games. While there is some controversy on the prior win recorded by Flanagan (http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=5182.45), there is no doubt that he is going to be tough to beat by all teams this season. It looks like winning against Holt will also be a tough deal even though DePauw managed to do that this weekend.
On Millsaps, they got some good pitching this weekend and finally scored some runs. In the game they lost they got runners on base and in scoring position several times in the late innings and failed to get the runner(s) across the plate.
It's interesting that Millsaps has a 19-6 (5-3 SCAC) record at this time and on March 26th of 2006 their record was 19-6 (10-3 SCAC). Certainly there is a difference in the SCAC record but the season is basically on pace with last year. The catch there is that the second half of the season is the tougher half so Millsaps will have to tighten up the pitching just a little bit and get more consistent on the clutch hitting if they want to match the second half of the season turned in by the 2006 team.
A little midseason talk about the East.
In the East Rhodes has clinched a spot in the Divisional Playoff, Holt and Flanagan (and yes in that order) make the best 1/2 punch in the league. In a best of 3 series Rhodes can beat anyone in the country! Centre is off to a strong start, I saw them at OU on Saturday, and boy can they swing it. Moore their #3 hitter is a bull, good hitter. Pitching is a little suspect... DePauw had a decent weekend at Rhodes. I have not seen them play this year. Sewanee lost a ton of quality players...pitching is very weak but they can swing it. Burns and Davis? are two really good players. Oglethorpe is young, very young. They start seven freshmen and have three freshmen as starting pitchers and two more in relief.
I've seen every East team play in '07 except DePauw but if I had to make a midseason top 5 here it is:
1. Rhodes
2. Centre
3. DePauw
4. Sewanee
5. Oglethorpe
That last spot will come down to Sewanee/Oglethorpe, not sure if either team deserves it right now...I bet Hendrix wishes they were in the East. Speaking of Hendrix they make a rare trip to Atlanta to face the Petrels in some NC action. Which means that all 10 SCAC teams will be playing another SCAC team this weekend! Interesting...
Anybody want to fill us in on the West??
Quote from: Bob_Lotts on March 26, 2007, 05:13:39 PM
Anybody want to fill us in on the West??
One man's opinion thus far...
1) Trinity - A tenuous hold on No. 1 thanks to a early-season sweep of Hendrix. This is a younger-than-usual Tiger team that has a few depth issues, but they will remain strong thanks to its pitching. I have heard good things about reliever Ryan Poffenroth.
2) Millsaps - The Majors are two good starting pitchers away from being almost invincible. The talent on the mound is there, but save for Hollenbeck, it hasn't manifested on a consistent basis. We all know they can hit...Millsaps players seemingly come out of the womb swinging DiMarinis.
3) Austin - Surprise, surprise...the conference newcomer has some spit n' vinegar, as two wins against Millsaps and three against Hendrix have proved. I'd like to see this bunch play Millsaps.
4) Southwestern - Still a wild-card. Showed well against Millsaps last week, but got hammered in the Sunday game. Like Austin, the Pirates are probably suited for the spoiler role at best.
5) Hendrix - Ask around the league, and people will say the Warriors have improved. Ask around the league, and people will also say the four-game weekend schedule is pure murder on Hendrix's thin staff.
Incidentally...
CONGRATULATIONS
to R.J. Thomas for having the 'interim' tag removed from his coaching title today!
Interesting posts from Bob and Gus and hard to argue with much from either except that I have a different take on Millsaps. It seems to me that their pitching is pretty good right now but it is their hitting that is suffering.
On the pitching, first off I'm glad to see that people recognize the abilities of Jay Hollenbeck. His win on Sunday gives him a 5-0 record this year and a 12-0 record in his 3 years at Millsaps. His career ERA is probably right at 3.00 or a little lower. With Travis Bogue and Brent Buffa, I think Millsaps has a trio of outstanding pitchers.
With Bogue and Buffa you have to be a little careful about going just by their numbers. Bogue's ERA of 4.55 is mostly a result of pitching one inning too long early in the season. He is usually very good for about 5 innings and then he seems to get tired and struggle and I think the coaches will get him out at the right time in the key games. Buffa has given up 57 hits in 43.2 innings but his ERA is only 3.09 and I think it is because he keeps the ball low and he gets a lot of DPs. Of the 57 hits, 49 have been singles and it is hard to build a rally with just singles. He obviously knows what he is doing on the mound because he was 20-2 over the last 2 years at Washington U.
It will be interesting to see if the 4th starter against Trinity this weekend is Tait Hendrix or Brandon Ingram. Tait is extremely talented and he has 31 K's in 22.2 innings but he also has 21 walks. Add up the walks, the 24 hits and the 2 HBP and he is averaging 2 runners on base per inning which explains a high 5.15 ERA for a pitcher who can sometimes be unhittable. Brandon Ingram is not as overpowering but he only has 8 walks in 27.2 innings and that makes a big difference in keeping down the big innings.
As for the hitting, the team numbers don't look much different from last year. Double Hunter Owen's numbers to get a full season total and his numbers match up well with Garner Wetzel's. Double the team numbers and they match up well with the final numbers from 2006. But there seems to be something missing and I think the team is still adjusting to not having Garner in the lineup.
Garner took the pressure off of everyone else. Every game Millsaps played last year they had the biggest, baddest hitter in the game on their side. It's like a guard playing defense in basketball and he can be a little more relaxed and confident if he has a Shaq-like player playing defense behind him. I'm not knocking the current Millsaps players and especially not Hunter Owen who is having a great season, but last year there was always that safety net of being able to stay relaxed because of a feeling that Garner would somehow come up with the big hit if it was needed. I'm sure that's how Michel Jordan's teammates always felt, able to play just a little more relaxed because Jordan had their back.
Now without Garner, there is a little more pressure for others to come through in the clutch. Most of the time they do, sometimes they don't. The three losses in conference have been by scores of 5-0, 5-4, and 4-3. I just think they would have won those games last year because of the swagger that Garner brought to the team. I think this team is still trying to regain that swagger, something that isn't so easy since none of them are nearly as brash and cocky as Garner. If they find a way to bring back some of that brash attitude (I do like Garner by the way) then you will see a team that just might get to the CWS.
As usual I've written far too long a post. What else is new?
The ABCA has released its first in-season rankings for Div. III. Millsaps climbed from number 13 to number 11. Wooster is the new number one thanks to a fast 15-0 start to the season. Rhodes is tied for 6th in the south region, which is slammed with talented teams.
I have not seen Millsaps play this year, and I'm afraid that I won't catch a game. This will snap a 10 year run of seeing at least a couple of games. That recent historical perspective allows me to say that Jim Page's teams go through a little hitting funk (that's a relative term at best) from time to time during the middle of a season. But they always get hot in late March and carry it through April. That has particularly been the case the past several years. I certainly hope that the pitching continues to roll.
It will be a huge weekend in Jackson between Millsaps and Trinity. The series is always fun!
I know you are thinking "Could he really have more to say?" As is usually the case, the answer is yes.
Latest Coaches baseball poll is out. Millsaps moves up from 13th to 11th and no one else in the SCAC receives a vote. Millsaps ranked 3rd in the South and Rhodes is tied for 6th. I sure that will generate some comments.
Millsaps has an interesting and busy schedule with 6 important games over the next 6 days:
Today: Playing Belhaven at 6 in a Maloney Series game, a competition between Millsaps, Belhaven and MS College. Belhaven is ranked #25 in NAIA and Millsaps will clinch at least a tie for the trophy with a win tonight. Millsaps will go with a group of non-tested pitchers.
Wednesday: vs. Piedmont at Birmingham Southern. This is a makeup of an earlier rained out game and is more important than today's game because it factors into the regional ranking. Game starts at 6:00 and will be broadcast--see link in my signature area below.
Friday through Sunday: Huge series with Trinity. This is a series that I would really like to watch rather than work because it should be a good one from start to finish. All games will be broadcast with Friday's game starting at 6:30, Saturday's DH starting at 1:00 and the Sunday game starting at noon.
Just wanted to weigh in on what has been going on on the board. First let me say that I am a Sewanee fan, so the rankings really mean nothing to me. I did think that Rhodes would at least get a consideration, seeing as how they beat both Millsaps and Methodist but still remain ranked lower.
But I did want to weigh in on the Holt and Flanagan debate, as I got to see both of them pitch. First, they are both great pitchers and as long as they continue pitching the way they do, Rhodes can go far, but I think that Flanagan remains the ace of the staff.
Holt certainly is having a great season, but look at the breakdown of both pitchers wins.
Holt: (7-1. 1.31 ERA) (SCAC Website)
1) Huntingdon (good regional team)
2) Blackburn
3) Christian Brothers (relief win, d2 school, but not that great as well)
4) Sewanee (not very good)
5) Oglethorpe (not very good)
6) Drew (relief win) (not very good)
7) Piedmont
and a loss to DePauw (good team, but a must win for an ace)
Flanagan: (8-0, 1.69 ERA) (SCAC Website)
1) University of the Ozarks
2) Huntingdon (good regional contest)
3) Millsaps (11th in nation)
4) Maryville (8th in region)
5) Sewanee (not very good)
6) Oglethorpe (not very good)
7) Methodist (21st in nation)
8) DePauw
Both of these players are having great years, but a breakdown of who they pitch against shows (at least to me) that Flanagan remains the ace of the staff, as he is getting the much tougher games, and still putting up the same great numbers. Either way, I know at Sewanee I would love to see 2 pitchers like that on the staff, and I congratulate both of them on their accomplishments so far this year.
Just to comment on those teams I didnt know about.
Blackburn is (3-10)
Piedmont is (9-16)
Huntingdon is (16-8)
and Universtiy of Ozarks is (14-12) it looks like and DePauw sits at (10-10)
It's good to see another new name on the board and I like the fact that you did some research and brought that information to the board. There's one part of your post that I think everyone agrees on:
"First, they are both great pitchers and as long as they continue pitching the way they do, Rhodes can go far..."
That's the key point. Last year Millsaps had two great pitchers in John Fox and Todd Kindler. I would have hated to see a debate about which was the better pitcher because that starts bringing in negatives where there should be no negatives. Holt is having a great year and Flanagan is having a great year--I don't see much to be gained by debating which is the better of the two.
"On Friday, Manchester (Ind.), ranked 24th by the American Baseball Coaches Association fell 5-4 to Sewanee in Port Charlotte. After falling behind, Sewanee rallied to tie the game and later go ahead in the eighth inning. Austin Stephenson (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) drove in the winning run in the eighth inning.
Senior Josh Curtis (Winchester, Tenn./Franklin County) took the win for Sewanee from the mound. He pitched the entire game, only allowing seven hits and only walking one batter. Curtis struck out two."
Big win for Sewanee here, lets hope they can build on this.
I agree with you on the Flanagan/Holt issue, not trying to belittle the accomplishments of either one, they are both great pitchers having great years, and I hope they both continue throwing the way they do, it would be good to see even more SCAC teams in the regional tournaments.
I told a few people I thought Manchester would struggle a bit...but wow.
As far as Flanagan and Holt goes...I think Flanagan's the ace, but you're right that it really doesn't matter much. When you get into a tournament situation, the winning the first two is really big. But who your ace is matters a little bit because you get a better chance to recycle the first starter whereas you get not much chance to recycle the second except perhaps in a relief stint.
A few comments on the ABCA poll:
It would have been nice for the hard-working Lynx Cats to receive a little recognition for their accomplishments—but that did not happen. Why not? How can a record of 24-4 be overlooked when several teams on the list are barely playing above .500? Winning 16 consecutive games. Not easy for any team. Would Rhodes get "points" for having JUCO transfers on their roster? Maybe they should have gone to Iowa over spring break and beat Wartburg like a rented mule.
It has been stated that Rhodes does not have a "very tough" schedule. However, the Lynx invited #11 Millsaps to Memphis, and cut short their spring break trip to drive 530 miles by bus to play #21 Methodist. They beat Piedmont and Methodist, got back on the bus, and drove 525 miles back to Memphis, defeating Illinois-Wesleyan the following day.
One blog poster said, "DePauw opened up the season by derailing the Rhodes express." The Rhodes express wasn't derailed—it just ran out of steam...temporarily. DePauw is a quality team. The Lynx offense simply did not give Holt what he deserved.
Baseball is a game of strict ritual, steeped in an inflexible mindset and unbending tradition. That's why we love it. Sometimes it doesn't love us back.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 25, 2007, 01:29:56 PM
DePauw opened up the season by derailing the Rhodes express, taking a DH and snapping the 16 game Rhodes winning streak. Holt got the loss in the 4-2 first game and Catalanotto took the loss in the 8-5 second game, giving up 8 runs but only 3 were earned.
Box scores for the game:
http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/2007_results/3-24-07_DePauw1.htm
http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/2007_results/3-24-07_DePauw2.htm
Live stat for today's games: http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/livestats/xlive.htm
I didn't think there was anything negative towards Rhodes in the post. It certainly wasn't my intention to convey anything negative and I thought using "Rhodes express" and mentioning the 16 game win streak was a way of letting people know just how hot Rhodes had been of late. The only reason I posted was because no one from Rhodes or DePauw had posted anything--I'll leave that up to the Rhodes fans in the future.
On the matter of the polls, I think you have a legitimate complaint and I understand your feelings. At this time last year I was feeling like Millsaps wasn't getting any respect in the polls and it all boils down to name recognition. Past rankings help in the current rankings, especially in the early season.
Also remember that being ranked in the polls is nice recognition but it is the rankings later in the year by the NCAA that are critical and they are the only rankings that matter. With that in mind, the Millsaps team is on a bus right now headed for Birmingham to play a makeup game with Piedmont in hopes of improving their South Regional ranking. That game can be heard on the internet starting a 6:00 (the ESPN link is below).
No offense taken Frank! Just perpetuating the railroad jargon—derail, steam etc.
Lynx supporters, including myself, should have posted sooner about the DePauw game. Simply put, Rhodes' bats were below par on Saturday. We did not execute when we needed to, and hit into more double plays than I can remember seeing in a double-header. Your postings regarding Rhodes baseball are quite insightful and provide an objective perspective that give Lynx fans food for thought.
You are correct about the importance of name recognition. In the past, Rhodes players [and probably others] have been passed over in All-Conference selections, even though their individual numbers surpassed players in winning programs. Does anyone know how the ABCA points are awarded and what they represent?
Anyone who has not listened to Millsaps' ESPN radio broadcast via the internet is missing a real treat. Their announcer does great play-by-play and color commentary reminiscent of a bygone era.
I was surprised to see Rhodes not be *slightly* higher. But their record is inflated by their schedule. Yes, they played Millsaps and Methodist. But they also have about 12 wins over teams that are highly unlikely to be a factor for anything (Sewanee, Oglethorpe, Drew, Eureka, Blackburn).
The split against DePauw really hurt.
I think the big test for Rhodes comes when they have to play a good team and Holt and Flanagan aren't available. That'll come in early April when they have 6 games in 7 days -- 2 each against LaGrange and Emory and one against Washington (Mo.).
I would presume that Flanagan and Holt will get Rhodes into the SCAC tournament. Does anyone know how the seedings would work for that? Does it go purely by record? Since you could end up with more teams from one division than another, you can't just say E1 vs. W2 or whatever.
I think Holt and Flanagan will get a start against LaGrange (on the 9th and 10th) and then they'll have plenty of rest for Emory (the 14th and 15th). In between you have Rust and the startiing pitcher doesn't matter in that game and you will need a good performance by the #3 starter against Washington. That will be a key week for Rhodes to improve their South Region ranking, especially the games against Emory.
One thing about the change on the SCAC Tournament is that it shifts the emphasis a little away from pitching depth to the quality of your top starters. The crossover is 2 out of 3 and then you come back fresh for a 4-team tournament instead of a 6-team tournament as in the past.
Yes I noticed that about the tournament formats...pretty much like Division I where two guys can get you a long way.
Do you know what the scenario is for how the tournament (the second round I guess, the 4 team deal) gets seeded?
I don't know how the format on the SCAC Tournament will go--I guess we'll get that info soon enough.
Millsaps beat Piedmont 4-1 last night at the neutral site of Birmingham Southern. That drops Piedmont to 9-16 I think but they seem to be a pretty good team with a tough schedule:
3 losses to #1 in the South Emory including a 5-4 10-inning game.
2 losses to #3 in the South Millsaps including the 4-1 loss yesterday
2 losses to #4 in the South Methodist including a 3-2 loss
1 loss to #6 in the South Rhodes by a 4-2 score
1 loss to #8 in the South Christopher Newport by an 8-7 score
1 win over #8 in the South NC Wesleyan by an 5-4 score
1 win over Centre by a 5-0 score
Trinity won 6-2 last night on the road at Schreiner and there is an interesting contrast between Millsaps and Trinity leading up to the series this weekend. Trinity is well rested having only played a DH with Doane on the 21st and the single game yesterday. Millsaps is well tested having played the 4-game series at Southwestern from the 23rd thru the 25th, a game with Belhaven on the 27th, and the road game last night.
A non-SCAC score of interest this week: Huntingdon beat Emory 7-6 Tuesday.
Huntingdon moves to 16-8 with two of thoses losses coming against Rhodes and two others coming against Millsaps. Huntingdon's other 4 losses were to NC Wesleyan, MS College, UW-Platteville and Ferrum.
Emory came into the game ranked 4th in the nation in the latest Coaches' poll and #1 in the South and the loss drops their record to 19-4 with one of those losses being to Millsaps in a split 2-game series.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 29, 2007, 06:49:13 AM
I don't know how the format on the SCAC Tournament will go--I guess we'll get that info soon enough.
Millsaps beat Piedmont 4-1 last night at the neutral site of Birmingham Southern. That drops Piedmont to 9-16 I think but they seem to be a pretty good team with a tough schedule:
3 losses to #1 in the South Emory including a 5-4 10-inning game.
2 losses to #3 in the South Millsaps including the 4-1 loss yesterday
2 losses to #4 in the South Methodist including a 3-2 loss
1 loss to #6 in the South Rhodes by a 4-2 score
1 loss to #8 in the South Christopher Newport by an 8-7 score
1 win over #8 in the South NC Wesleyan by an 5-4 score
1 win over Centre by a 5-0 score
Trinity won 6-2 last night on the road at Schreiner and there is an interesting contrast between Millsaps and Trinity leading up to the series this weekend. Trinity is well rested having only played a DH with Doane on the 21st and the single game yesterday. Millsaps is well tested having played the 4-game series at Southwestern from the 23rd thru the 25th, a game with Belhaven on the 27th, and the road game last night.
Add two losses to the defending champions to that list of games for Piedmont. They've played a ridiculous schedule...if they were just a *little* better they might be 15-10 and against that schedule might be in contention for a Pool B berth. I expected that wouldn't be an easy game for Millsaps.
Having seen Piedmont in person I can attest that they're not a bad club. Dimitroff looked good against Marietta (granted our first weekend) even though he's had a few rough outings.
Don't know much about Huntingdon except that they were pretty decent last year and look to be again this year. But Emory is really their first quality win. It wasn't a cheapie; Glushon started and went 7 for Emory (3 unearned runs). Splitting Ferrum isn't the worst thing in the world, but this year doesn't really qualify as an eye-opener.
Emory's lived by the 1 run ballgame this year...do that enough and eventually you're going to die by it.
Oglthorpe looses again to NAIA Reinhardt 8-2. The loss extends their loosing streak to 22 games after winning their first 4.
Is there more than meets the eye in the OU situation or is it simply a combination of young players, a tough schedule and some bad breaks?
The first four wins were against LaGrange, Maryville(2) and Piedmont so that's promising. They had a 5-game stretch in the middle where they lost to Emory 6-2 and then the 4 losses to Rhodes by a total of 7 runs so that indicates some fairly good play. Some of their results sound far better than a team that is on a 0-22 stretch.
From a fans perspetive I think it is the combination of a young team being totally drained from so many bad breaks.
To put icing on the cake I was informed their starting 2nd baseman Evan Baker quit the team recently, unfortunately that means yet another freshman will be plugging a whole in the infield. That makes all 4 infielders and 2 outfielders Freshman starters. Hopefully all these guys will stick it out all 4 years because I know it will pay off... Oglethorpe has had a hard time retaining players in the past.
Depauw wins conf tourney and makes first NCAA DIII CWS appearance....any takers?
I say you are wrong about DePauw winning the SCAC Tournament since this is a bet of DePauw vs. the rest of the field. I don't see how any team in the SCAC can be considered a better than even chance to win the tournament which is why putting yourself in position to get an at-large berth is so important. It was important enough to Millsaps that they drove to Birmingham Wednesday to play a makeup game that helps improve their regional ranking.
Millsaps certainly has to be considered as strong a favorite as any SCAC team to win the SCAC Tournament but I'm sure the folks from Rhodes, Trinity, Centre, DePauw, Austin and others might beg to differ. The bottom line is that any team capable of getting in the top 4 of their division is capable of getting great hitting and great pitching one weekend and winning a 2 out of 3 crossover matchup. Any team that advances to the conference tournament is playing well enough to win a 4-team tournament.
The conference tournament will be won by the team that peaks at the right time and I must say that Coach Page at Millsaps has a reputation of getting his teams to peak at the right time.
Friday night result: Rhodes 7 Centre 3.
Holt went 8 complete with one earned. Threw right around 100 pitches.
Game 1 goes to OU in the Battle of the young SCAC... Oglethorpe 4 Hendrix 3
Wild game....
Quote from: Bob_Lotts on March 30, 2007, 10:35:35 PM
Game 1 goes to OU in the Battle of the young SCAC... Oglethorpe 4 Hendrix 3
Wild game....
What's that word I'm loking for? Oh yeah...@$#%!
Not a good game in the field for the Warriors...no excuses for this one. But congrats to the Petrels for finally getting the 500-pound primate off their backs. There's a light at the end of the tunnel if you just keep working.
Millsaps scored 6 in the 8th to break a 6-6 tie and beat Trinity 12-6. For the first game of a series, the pitching was really subpar. Neither pitcher made it through the 4th.
The broadcaster was on his game for the full 9 though! :) Good broadcast overall.
(NOTE: The Trinity--Millsaps DH has been moved up to a noon start today because of the weather forecast. Getting in the entire 4 game series will be dificult. Current weather forecast for today: "A few showers this morning with numerous thunderstorms developing during the afternoon hours. A few storms may be severe. High 79F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. "
The game last night was a good one for Millsaps fans. The bats came alive highlighted by Hunter Owen's 2-run HR to get Millsaps on the board in the 1st and Hunter Abram's 3-run triple to close out the 6-run rally in the bottom of the 8th. As Spence mentioned, both starters left early but that set up a great pitching duel between freshman Bobby Osburn of Millsaps and junior Ryan Poffenroth of Trinity. Osburn only gave up 2 hits in 5 innings (both HRs by Nicholas Vera) and Poffenroth pitched well until the wheels came off and 6 runs scored in the 8th (5 unearned).
I have links below with more info but a huge play isn't mentioned in the stories or the box score. Jason Hadley is playing with a fractured rib(s). He was the runner going from 1st to 2nd when the shortstop made an error trying to get the force out at 2nd that would have ended the inning. His 100% hustle and speed helped rush the play and create the error and he obviously paid a painful price for his aggressive play. It might not show up in the box score but it was as big as any play in the game.
Millsaps story: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/033007story.shtml
Trinity Story: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2007/TU-MC.htm
Box score: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/mc-tu.htm
Good point on Hadley...I was starting to nod off by that point lol.
Osburn was quite good. He's been pretty good all year...any chance of him supplanting some of their other starters? Hollenbeck's done well albeit not against the toughest matchups, but Buffa and Bogue have IMO been pretty mediocre for a team with regional and World Series aspirations. Meanwhile Osburn has like 21 innings now and only given up 4 runs on 13 hits. Almost seems like he could start and Tait "Wild Thing" Hendrix could relieve.
A reply to the pitching post by Spence but keep in mind that this is just the impression of a fan and by no means is it an expert opinion:
As an overall impression, I get more and more impressed with the Millsaps pitching each week. I also keep in mind that Coach Page and Coach McCain have a knack of getting the best pitching performances at the end of the year when the games are tougher and more critical. A team can't peak for the entire season so sometimes it is hard to judge a team or a pitching staff by the first half of the year.
Travis Bogue had a rough start Friday but he is getting more and more consistent in his outings. Keep in mind that he didn't get a lot of innings when he was at Ole Miss and I don't know what his situation was at Meridian JC last year, but he was one of the top high school pitchers in Mississippi a few years back and I think he is starting to find that form. When he is on form, he is very, very good.
Brent Buffa gave a typical performance yesterday, pitching a complete game in an 8-2 victory over Trinity. He is going to give up some singles but not many runs, he'll throw a lot of strikes and walk very few, he will grind out the innings and he will compete from the first pitch to the last. It doesn't look that impressive but he is all about winning and he is certainly a proven winner.
Jay Hollenbeck is very much like Brent except that he gives up very few hits. He has had a couple of occasions where control has been a problem but I doubt that will be a problem at tournament time. Jay proved himself under pressure last year with a 1-run allowed complete game over DePauw last year when Millsaps was in the SCAC loser's bracket and with a strong 7-innings victory in the winner's bracket finals in the Central Regional.
Tait Hendrix is a wild card more than a "Wild Thing" (I do get the movie reference). Last year as a freshman he pitched 25.2 innings, had 25 K's, 20 BB, 2.45 ERA, and .198 B/Avg. This year in 24.1 innings he has 32 K's and 22 BB. The numbers show both the potential and the problem but he really isn't a wild pitcher. He's always around the zone and he really isn't very far away from being one of the most dominant pitchers in the SCAC.
Bobby Osburn has looked great so far but he seems more valuable as a reliever instead of a starter. He's one of those guys who seems to be sharp right from the start which you need from a reliever and he gets a lot of strikeouts without walking many (20.1 innings, 15 K's, 6 BB). He and Brandon Ingram give Millsaps a couple of really good middle relievers and Ingram has proven to be a quality starter if they need he on the weekend or for mid-week.
That's probably more info than anyone wants to read and it is hardly an expert opinion but it is an honest opinion of what I've seen so far this year. I think it is a pitching staff that will do well in post season play and it is one that can take Millsaps a long way.
With that long post out of the way, Millsaps won the first game of the DH yesterday and Trinity was leading the second game in the top of the 4th when the game was halted. They will try to resume that game today and then play the 4th game of the series. It has been raining a lot all morning but there seems to be a break in the weather so maybe they will get the games in.
Millsaps story on Sat. Games: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/033107story.shtml
Trinity story: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2007/TU-MC2.htm
Box Score: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/mc-tu2.htm
Today's action is suppose to start at noon but that is tenative. They will post changes on the Millsaps website at one of the following:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/schedule.shtml
Well, you can see them, and I can't (at least not until later this month when I get TDYed to Keesler, then I might...).
But my judgment on pitchers in general is that people overvalue pitchers who don't strike people out. The pitcher can directly impact the outcome of an at-bat with a strikeout or a walk. Other than that, he's relying on other people, and to some extent (what extent is debatable), luck. If you have a great defense, or are just very very good and consistent at getting batters to not hit it hard, you can still have success. The second part of that may not even possible for the pitcher to control (SABRmetricians would say it isn't, but it's debatable whether work based primarily on professional games applies to Division III baseball as well).
This isn't to say at all that pitchers that don't strike people out cannot be effective. I'm saying it's much harder to and the ones that can are uncommon. Most of them have excellent control and walk very few.
So this said, it shouldn't be surprising that I agree with you on Hendrix. Anyone that has that kind of strikeout rate (and did last year) has some stuff. His walks IMO make him a better reliever than starter (preferably coming in at the start of an inning, so that if he walks a guy it's not as big a deal).
My rule of thumb is if a guy gives up fewer hits than innings pitched, has around as many strikeouts as innings pitched, and walks less than 1 every two innings, he's probably a pretty decent pitcher. The farther up on that scale, obviously the better.
Rhodes 12
Centre 1 Final
Chris Catalanotto picks up the CG victory for the Lynx and moves to 4-1 on the year. Chris gave up a solo homer in the 9th to avoid the always fantasy baseball favorite........CGSHO. This may be the first time all season where the dominating pitcher for a series wasn't named Holt or Flanagan.
So I guess with this 4 game sweep and losses by just about everyone ahead of the Lynx in the region, Rhodes should probably fall to about 8th in the region??? ::)
Oglethorpe takes 1 of 2 from Hendrix this weekend to end their 22 games loosing streak. Also this weekend the Petrels were defeated by #4 Emory 12-4. The young Petrels now stand at 5-24. Up next is a trip to Sewanee that will most likely decide 3rd in the East and the last team to go to the Tournament.
It was a good weekend for Millsaps in taking 3 of 4 from Trinity. The only loss was the second game of the DH which found Millsaps down 6-0 in the bottom of the 4th when the game was suspended till Sunday because of rain. Millsaps never got it going against the Trinity pitcher Bronson who had the oddity of a complete game spread out over 2 days. That game ended up 10-2.
Outside of that loss, the Millsaps bats were hot with 38 runs in the other 3 games. I saw the first 2 games and listened to the last 2 on the radio. I thought the intensity of the Millsaps team was much higher than in the previous home series with Austin and I'm glad to see the team prove me wrong when I said they were lacking a certain swagger this season. I thought there was a good chance that they would prove me wrong and I hope they keep that intensity for the remainder of the year.
Speaking of the radio, apparently these were the last broadcast until the SCAC Tournament. Listening on the radio is the only chance I really get to be a fan so I'll miss DP broadcasting the games for the next 3 weeks. I think they still plan to do the one hour coach's show and that should be on tonight from 8-9 central time.
Spence--Your post on pitchers made me think about a famous Sports Illustrated article on hitting by Ted Williams. One of the graphics showed the strikezone and it was overlaid with baseballs. Each baseball was marked with a batting average. This link gets you to that graphic: http://www.tedwilliams.com/index.php?page=phtips&level=1#
Obviously a hitter is looking for pitches in the high batting average areas of the strike zone and the pitchers are looking to throw strikes in the areas that will produce a lower batting average or they want the batter to swing at the even harder to hit balls that are out of the strike zone. The question is whether to let them hit a ball in the low percentage area or hope they will swing and miss on a ball out of the strike zone. It seems like finding the right balance is the tricky thing.
For my money, I like the pitchers who throw a strike to the .250 batting average spots in the strike zone on the first pitch. Most hitters will lay off and fall behind in the count. I guess that's baseball 101 to try and get ahead in the count. After that, do you throw low percentage strikes so they put weak balls in play or do you try to get them to chase a pitch outside of the zone? With the Millsaps defense, I'd take my chances with making them hit balls in the low percentage areas of the strike zone and I wouldn't worry too much about the need to strike out batters. And for a guy like Tait he has enough stuff that people will strike out on balls in the strike zone.
Sewanne takes one from Depauw, Rhodes Wins East.
With a big win by Sewanne (4-21, 1-7) over Depauw (15-11, 5-3) yesterday, and with Rhodes (29-4, 14-2) sweeping Centre (10-13, 4-4), Rhodes has now clinched the regular season East.
A huge weekend coming up for Sewanne when they play Oglethorpe. It will be a battle of which team will take the number four spot from the east.
After Millsaps took 3 of 4 from Trinity it looks like Millsaps will easily secure the regular season West, and most likely Hendrix will find themselves out of the tournament, however I feel if they were in the East they could possibly pull off the number four spot.
What do you think the crossovers will be? If Sewanne gets the 4 spot, I do not like our their chances against Millsaps at all. If Southwestern gets the 4 spot in the West, it could be a test for Rhodes perhaps. I Rhodes really took it to Southwestern last year, but I am sure Southwestern will be hungry and will elevate their game, it could be quite a good series in fact.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 02, 2007, 11:08:58 AM
Spence--Your post on pitchers made me think about a famous Sports Illustrated article on hitting by Ted Williams. One of the graphics showed the strikezone and it was overlaid with baseballs. Each baseball was marked with a batting average. This link gets you to that graphic: http://www.tedwilliams.com/index.php?page=phtips&level=1#
Obviously a hitter is looking for pitches in the high batting average areas of the strike zone and the pitchers are looking to throw strikes in the areas that will produce a lower batting average or they want the batter to swing at the even harder to hit balls that are out of the strike zone. The question is whether to let them hit a ball in the low percentage area or hope they will swing and miss on a ball out of the strike zone. It seems like finding the right balance is the tricky thing.
For my money, I like the pitchers who throw a strike to the .250 batting average spots in the strike zone on the first pitch. Most hitters will lay off and fall behind in the count. I guess that's baseball 101 to try and get ahead in the count. After that, do you throw low percentage strikes so they put weak balls in play or do you try to get them to chase a pitch outside of the zone? With the Millsaps defense, I'd take my chances with making them hit balls in the low percentage areas of the strike zone and I wouldn't worry too much about the need to strike out batters. And for a guy like Tait he has enough stuff that people will strike out on balls in the strike zone.
Great article, and I wouldn't expect anything less from Ted Williams. I think the Voros McCracken theory that pitchers have zero control over what happens (over time) once the ball hits the bat is wrong, and moreover, it's been proven so. But those pitchers are revealed by their low hits/IP, and usually as well demonstrate excellent control needed to consistently hit those cool spots (like Ted's low and away; but keep in mind college also uses metal).
I started to go into a DIPS (defense-independent pitching stats) analysis of Millsaps, but stopped because frankly I'm not sure outside of you and me how many would really care to read it. If you want to take this conversation off the board that'd be fine.
Suffice it to say that their excellent defensive stats (at least percentage-wise, haven't done a range factor type analysis of really anyone including Marietta) help their pitchers a lot.
The Rhodes Express steamed into the Bluegrass State this weekend, sweeping a 4 game series with the Colonels of Centre College. The Lynx Cats improved their overall record to 29-4, and are now the SCAC East Division Champions. On Sunday afternoon the 2007 Rhodes Baseball Team eclipses the school record for single-season wins. Undoubtedly, other school records will be broken by season's end. Hopefully, the Rhodes community will give these student-athletes the recognition they deserve.
I have seen literally thousands of baseball games in my lifetime. Rarely have I seen such solidarity, heart and true team play as I saw this weekend. To the Lynx Cats one and all—thank you for a terrific weekend!
The Lynx [a.k.a. the Beast of the East] will resume play on Tuesday at 2:00 pm against Christian Brothers University.
Spence,
Clue me in on the DIPS analysis for Millsaps. I'm quite interested.
Millsaps got a solid series win versus Trinity. The Majors appear to be swinging the bats the way they expect to be swinging them this time of year.
Rhodes continues to play well, but Rhodes will not really be tested until the end of the month.
Should be an interesting post-season setting.
OK OK...dangit, don't y'all know I've got stuff to do? :)
This isn't *just* DIPS (which is BB, K and HR) which would be the McCracken approach...which over time probably mostly balances out. I also look at hits/IP and XBH/IP, sometimes they can bely the DIPS, whether it's by fortune or by plan. But more hits means more chances for errors, which brings us back to DIPS lol.
So with that.
Buffa -- 53IP, 7BB, 26K, 2HR, 9 XBH. A LOT of balls in play. Doesn't strike out many, walks even fewer. Almost half their team unearned runs are his, IMO a function of how many balls are in play. He gives up a lot of hits, but his very low walks though keeps him effective, but against a step up in competition you have to wonder if that would stay so. Last year it didn't, as he got blasted by Aurora in the regional.
Bogue -- 42IP, 20BB, 28K, 3HR, 9 XBH. Obviously, the first thing that jumps out at you is the walks. His strikeouts aren't *that* high, and he's given up as many XBH as Buffa in a LOT fewer IP (and H). This suggests he's getting behind hitters and then giving up hard hit balls, not a recipe for success.
Ingram -- Keeps his hits per inning under one, doesn't walk many, doesn't strike out many either. He's given up quite a few hard hit balls.
Hollenbeck -- This guy doesn't give up many hard hit balls at all. Lowest hits per IP on the staff, lowest rate of extra base hits as well. Walks and K's similar to Ingram. But I know he hasn't gotten the toughest of assignments as far as competition goes and has gotten hammered a couple times when he has.
Osburn -- He has very solid numbers, as I said before. His strikeouts look like Bogue's, his walks more like the other guys other than Buffa, and his hits like Hollenbeck's. 2 HRs is a concern, but those were both to the same guy in the same game and he's got no other XBH allowed. He doesn't have many innings, but he's pitched well and against some top end teams on their schedule.
Hendrix -- 24IP, 23BB, 32K. If this kid ever learned to throw strikes, you've got a lights out pitcher on your hands. Very high XBH rate and a pretty H/IP overall, so I think that's traceable back to the walks and pitching from behind. These kinds of K/IP numbers from a lefty are RARE and even though they're against the second-tier competition, still indicate to me that he's got potential.
Has anyone noticed that every left-handed compliment that the Rhodes Baseball team receives has a "but" attached?
...but they have an easy schedule.
...but they are untested.
...but their depth is questionable.
...but their mother's dress them funny.
For many years Rhodes and Hendrix were considered the whipping boys in the SCAC West. Everyone knew that if the Lynx did not finish in the top 3 in the West Division last year, the cry would go up, "Yeah, but they couldn't make the playoffs until they moved east". Many, if not most Lynx fans did not want to be moved into the East Division. We wanted the tougher competition—but the choice was not ours.
As my father-in-law is fond of saying, "If ifs and buts were fruit and nuts, we would all have a merry Christmas."
Rhodes is already a great story this season...but most of the discussion here tends to center around the conference races and the regionals. On that front, Rhodes is still somewhat unproven.
My personal opinion is that Rhodes' top two are good enough for them to be a legitimate threat to win the SCAC, and to do quite well if they end up in the Central regional.
Rhodes' success is great for the school and for the conference. Now here comes the "but." But, over the last 12 years only one East team has claimed the SCAC title (DePauw 2001). No left handed comments are being made. The observation that Rhodes is a good up and coming team with no history of significant success that is making its first run for a conference championship is very obvious to most objective posters on this board.
Everyone in the conference recognized last year that Rhodes was improving. At this point, the Lynx strong start only furthers the argument that they are improving. Advancing deep into the tournament or winning it will substantiate the argument. Until then, the West has the upper hand.
As long as we are limited to discussing conference races, let's look at Rhodes in Conference record..... 14 wins and 2 losses....sounds pretty darn good to me....No speculation needed here....Whoever the SCAC East put in front of Rhodes they managed to take care of business....And it was more than Holt or Flanagan being dominant....Last time I looked hitting and defense play a part in winning baseball games....these are 2 aspects of the game Rhodes does quite well....even for an "East" team...
If I may break blog protocal and discuss the overall record for Rhodes....29 wins and 4 losses is none to shabby either....congratulations to a fine group of young men who have set (and will shatter) a school record of 28 wins....
Their next biggest challenge lies in front of them and they are well focused on the job that is yet to be done....GO LYNX
Lynx fan, the Rhodes schedule has not been overly strong to date, but I will acknowledge these games:
the win over Millsaps, the split with Maryville and the win over Methodist.
I want to see the outcome of the Wash U game and Emory DH. ;)
I think that Rhodes will win the SCAC this year. I predict that it will come down to Millsaps and Rhodes, and that Rhodes, behind Flanagan and Holt, and their very tough lineup will be able to overcome Millsaps in this series. (As they did before earlier this year)
In response to the big games that Rhodes has won on their schedule, all of those games were games that Flanagan pitched in, which gives Rhodes a big advantage in my opinion, but I would like to point out that in the conference they swept 3 of the 4 weekends and split the other. Winning 4 games a weekend 3 times is tough to do regardless of who you are playing, and they should get some credit for that. (I think).
This week will be big for Rhodes playing Wash U and Emory in 3 games as both of these are ranked highly, if Rhodes wins 2 of these, then they should get a ranking.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 02, 2007, 10:14:03 PM
Lynx fan, the Rhodes schedule has not been overly strong to date, but I will acknowledge these games:
the win over Millsaps, the split with Maryville and the win over Methodist.
I want to see the outcome of the Wash U game and Emory DH. ;)
Same here, though I would put the win over Illinois Wesleyan in that category more so than Maryville.
Quote from: Spence on April 03, 2007, 01:06:46 AM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 02, 2007, 10:14:03 PM
Lynx fan, the Rhodes schedule has not been overly strong to date, but I will acknowledge these games:
the win over Millsaps, the split with Maryville and the win over Methodist.
I want to see the outcome of the Wash U game and Emory DH. ;)
Same here, though I would put the win over Illinois Wesleyan in that category more so than Maryville.
I did not count IWU because Rhodes victory over IWU was in their 23rd game. IWU was playing its 6th of the season. :)
Starting with the obvious, Rhodes is a very good team even if their mother's do dress them funny. The question that no one can get a handle on is just how good a team are they?
My impression is that they are very good in a short series and that's all they will have until they get into an NCAA Regional which I think they will do this year. Up until then they will be able to go with their ace pitchers against LaGrange, then come back with the same two against Emory, then use the same two in the first two games of the crossover, and then use the same two to open up the SCAC Tournament. If Holt and Flanagan continue to pitch well then Rhodes will continue to be a very good team. If one of them gets hurt or goes off form, then I'm not sure if the schedule has told us much about how the other pitchers will do against top-notch competition.
But for the moment, all Rhodes fans should be glad that Rhodes isn't getting votes in the poll. There's nothing better to get a team motivated than to have them determined to prove their critics wrong. Lack of respect or a preceived lack of respect is exactly what I would want if I was a Rhodes supporter.
A quick note for those wanting to listen to the Millsaps vs. MS College game tonight. The Millsaps broadcasts are over until the SCAC Tournament but MC is webcasting tonight's game start with a 5:45 pregame for the 6:00 scheduled start. That link is:
http://www.gochoctaws.com/Sports/admin/2006/Broadcast.asp
I could hear bits of their broadcast in the background of the last Millsaps-MC ESPN radio broadcast and it sounds like they do a really good job.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 03, 2007, 02:25:24 AM
Quote from: Spence on April 03, 2007, 01:06:46 AM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 02, 2007, 10:14:03 PM
Lynx fan, the Rhodes schedule has not been overly strong to date, but I will acknowledge these games:
the win over Millsaps, the split with Maryville and the win over Methodist.
I want to see the outcome of the Wash U game and Emory DH. ;)
Same here, though I would put the win over Illinois Wesleyan in that category more so than Maryville.
I did not count IWU because Rhodes victory over IWU was in their 23rd game. IWU was playing its 6th of the season. :)
I was more inclined to discount it because IWU was throwing down the line pitching. But Rhodes threw Catalanotto.
I think it's a quality win and will look increasingly like one.
(El Tea Gray---re: the "Lost" side in the SCAC)
With two weekends remaining in the SCAC Regular Season the "Lost" side looks like this:
SCAC Games "Lost"
Rhodes (E) 2 (Conf. Regular Season Over---East and Overall Winner)
DePauw (E) 3
Trinity (W) 3
Centre (E) 4
Millsaps (W) 4
Southwestern (W) 4
Austin (W) 6
Hendrix (W) 7
Sewanee (E) 7
Oglethorpe (E) 8
??? ??? ???
Do you know what determines which divisional champion gets top seed in the tournament (assuming they make it)?
Millsaps lost 6-5 in 10 innings at MS College yesterday (http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/040407story.shtml). This was the last game in a difficult stretch of the schedule for Millsaps with the 4 games at Southwestern, two mid-week games including a trip to Birmingham, the 4 games with Trinity and then the Tuesday night game with MC. They get a little chance to catch their breath this weekend with just a DH with Rust College on the schedule.
By the way, Hunter Owen was named co-offensive player of the week in the SCAC following his 4 home run outburst in the Trinity series. He had a bases loaded double last night so I think his RBI total is up to 50+ or at about 1.65 per game. The first D3 stats come out today and it will be interesting to see where that ranks. It should be near the top since Garner Wetzel won that category by a wide margin last year with about 1.9 per game.
Link for stats (not updated at 7am but they say it will start on 4/4 for D3):
http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/rankings?sportCode=MBA&rpt=wkly
Frank,
I saw that Garner Wetzel was released by the Padres. Any word on other teams that might pick him up or if he will try and sign with an Independent League team?
He sure did not seem to get much of a look in the Padres organization.
Infielddad,
Garner has elected to attend law school at Miss. College beginning in the fall. I talked to him just recently. He is very grateful for the opportunity that the Padres extended to him.
Best of luck to Wetzel in whatever he decides to do from here on out. He was a delight to watch and, like most players from the Millsaps program, a complete class-act.
Quote from: infielddad on April 04, 2007, 02:14:44 PM
Frank,
I saw that Garner Wetzel was released by the Padres. Any word on other teams that might pick him up or if he will try and sign with an Independent League team?
He sure did not seem to get much of a look in the Padres organization.
Consultant gave you all the info I know. I think you are right about not giving him much of a look but some of that is bound to come down to the options Garner has in his life. If I was looking at prospects, I would give more time to the 18 year old high school kid who really doesn't have a fall back plan and therefore is willing to stick around for however long it takes. I wouldn't give nearly as much time to a 22-23 year old guy with a college degree, a 3.6 GPA at a good academic college, and acceptance papers to law school.
Some of you remember that Garner was drafted in the 10th round by the Rockies after his junior season and only in the 18th round by the Padres after his more successful senior season. I have no doubt that the 8 round drop was because Garner had a college degree after his senior season and therefore more options with his life (plus he was one year older and the clock is always ticking on an athletes potential playing years).
Lynx defeat CBU, Reach 30 Win Plateau
04/03/07---The Rhodes baseball team defeated Christian Brothers University this afternoon 7-6. Robert Flanagan picked up the victory after relieving starter Kevin McAlpine. Flanagan is now 10-0. Charles Simmons pitched the 8th and 9th to pick up the save, his 7th. Senior Daniel Killary was 2-2 on the day with a double and 2 RBIs. Sophomore Brett Miller was 2-4 with an RBI. With the victory, the Lynx improved to 30-4. This is the first time any Rhodes baseball team has reached the 30 win plateau. The Lynx will return to action next Monday night at Lagrange.
Hurd and Catalanotto earn SCAC Player of the Week honors
04/04/07---Junior outfielder Richard Hurd and Junior pitcher Chris Catalanotto have been named SCAC players of the week for games played from March 26th to April 1st. On the week Hurd hit .542 (13 for 24) with 5 home runs, a double, three walks, 10 runs scored, and 16 RBIs. On the mound, Chris Catalanotto was 1-0 on the week, picking up a complete game 12-1 victory over SCAC opponent, Centre College. Catalanotto kept Centre hitters off balance, scattering only 5 hits, with no walks and 11 strikeouts.
Richard Hurd named Division III National Co-Hitter of the Week
04/05/07---The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association named Richard Hurd the Co-Hitter of the Week for games played from March 26th to April 1st. Highlighted by two multi home run games, Hurd, on the week went 13 for 24 (.542), belting 5 home runs, driving in 16 runs, and slugging an incredible 1.208. For the season, Hurd leads the SCAC in batting average (.450), runs (48), hits (58) and total bases (93). Behind this great effort the Lynx went 5-0 on the week, including a 4 game sweep of SCAC East opponent, Centre College.
See: http://www.sportswriters.net/ncbwa/news/2007/div3players070405.html
It's interesting that Flanagan has picked up another win because he came in to relieve a starting pitcher when that pitcher had a lead. Kevin McAlpine started the game for Rhodes, went 4 innings and left the game with Rhodes leading 7-2. Flanagan comes in to pitch in the top of the 5th, gives up 4 runs and almost blows the game and he gets the win.
This has happened before the season in the Ill. Wesleyan game where Flanagan was given the win as the 3rd pitcher in the game after the first 2 pitchers left the game with a lead. That win was later credited back to Ragan after some people questioned the ruling on who should get the win (all of that is under the National Topics, the thread on Baseball Rules, starting at the bottom of page 2).
To be fair, McAlpine walked 4 in the bottom of the 4th and had 2 wild pitches and somehow got out of the inning giving up only 1 run so he may have been totally out of gas. It just seems odd that we are seeing Rhodes pull pitchers while leading in the game and then putting in Flanagan so he can pick up the wins. Maybe that's what it takes to win national recognition.
Freshman Kevin McAlpine, while rehabbing an injury, threw 91 pitches against a Division II baseball team, prior to giving out of gas. He did a good job keeping his team in the game and the offense helped him out. Good for him!
Not wanting to take a "knife to a gunfight", Coach Cleanthes simply put in what seemed to be his best bet—his freshest southpaw, Robert Flanagan. [Note: In a 1 run game against Christian Brothers earlier this season, Chris "Cat" Catalonotto, a lefty, did well—giving up just 2 earned runs in 5.2 innings.] Baseball is a game of tendencies. You don't throw a change to a guy who can't catch up to your heater.
True, Flanny didn't have his best outing. But, teammate Chuck Simmons came in and slammed the door on the 30th Lynx win. Booyah!
For years, Millsaps, Trinity and Southwestern pulled into Memphis, got off the bus, beat the Lynx like a red-headed step-child, yawned and left for home. That was life in the SCAC—then. Today, the prospect of Rhodes getting any recognition— national or otherwise, seems to really antagonize some folks. I find that amusing.
Just got the Streamline Text Message. OU Baseball takes first 2 of the doubleheader from Sewanee! Great job guys! 2 more now... lets secure that spot for the divisional!
Hendrix evened up its series with Southwestern 1-1 with a 2-0 win today. Daniel Ward pitched seven innings for the win, and Wheeler Gnat finished the last two for the save.
The bats were mostly silent for both teams today, and Southwestern starter Wes Willis pitched a strong game in his own right. Frigid temperatures and gusty winds in Conway today...this was a game a Republican would love, as it was a pretty good argument against global warming. David Hagan was the only Warrior player with two hits today.
Gnat, incidentally, has five saves to his credit with an ERA below 2.06 and 26 K's in just over 39 innings. All-SCAC, All-SCAC, All-SCAC...
Lynx Tracker--I certainly see where you are coming from and I understand that you are going to be defensive about anything that might seem to question the success had by Rhodes or an individual. For the record, here's a general recap of what I've posted in the past:
--With Flanagan and Holt, Rhodes has a chance to beat any team they play in a short series like the 2 games coming up with Emory, in the SCAC Crossover, and in the SCAC Tournament. I think the question mark on their other pitchers doesn't come into play very much until the NCAA Regionals.
--The schedule Rhodes plays isn't exactly the strongest schedule in D3 so it makes it hard to determine just how good they are. Others have made that same point about the schedule but I don't recall anyone saying they think Rhodes is anything less than a very good team.
--I would be surprised if Rhodes doesn't get to an NCAA Regional one way or another. Maybe the only way they don't get an at-large bid is if they have a total collapse against LaGrange, Washington and Emory next week. My personal belief is that Rhodes goes 4-1 in those 5 games with the one loss coming to Washington when Rhodes has to use a 3rd starter or in a pitching duel with Jason Glushon of Emory. He is 9-0 with a 1.10 ERA and he looked really good in his win over Millsaps and it would be very interesting to see Flanagan and Glushon go head-to-head.
As for the post about Flanagan picking up a win when he comes into the game and Rhodes is already winning, I was simply pointing out a situation that has happened on a couple of occasions this year. To be honest, I would not have a problem with the Rhodes coach IF he was trying to work it where Flanagan got a couple of extra wins. You've seen that getting recognition as a team is difficult for the newcomer and I'm sure that holds true for the players on a newcomer team. Getting a few extra wins and leading the nation in wins this year might be the only way that Flanagan will be considered for some regional and national awards and I don't have a problem IF a coach looked at things from that angle.
Sounds like Rhodes has a version of
Spahn and Sain
And pray for rain
QuoteA poem in The Boston Post in 1948 by sports editor Gerald Hern led to the famous phrase about the Braves' two terrific pitchers and had commentary in it about the rest of the staff:
"First we'll use Spahn, then we'll use Sain,
Then an off day, followed by rain.
Back will come Spahn, followed by Sain,
And followed, we hope, by two days of rain."
Other sports may have claims to fame, but baseball probably has the greatest "legacy of literature". :)
Quote from: consultant on April 04, 2007, 08:36:39 PM
Infielddad,
Garner has elected to attend law school at Miss. College beginning in the fall. I talked to him just recently. He is very grateful for the opportunity that the Padres extended to him.
This is one ASC (McMurry) fan who is glad that Wetzel has used his eligibility! ;)
Now he can begin his quest to run a MLB team! ;D
Getting back to action from the weekend, things are starting to shape up in some interesting ways:
--In the SCAC East Sewanee and OU have a DH today that will probably determine the 4th seed in the East. OU won the first 2 games of the series and has a 1-game lead on Sewanee.
--DePauw is looking pretty good as the #2 seed unless Centre can sweep them in a DH today.
--Millsaps looks good to win the West if they are focused when they go to Hendrix next weekend. At the moment the standings are Millsaps (8-4), Austin (9-6), Southwestern (5-5), Trinity (5-6) and Hendrix (2-8).
--Hendrix really needs to win both games today to have a chance to get to the crossover series. On the other hand, if Southwestern wins today they then move to 7-5 prior to their closing series with Trinity and they would be in great shape for a high finish.
--Trinity is in a tailspin at the moment, having lost 3 of 4 to Millsaps and now 3 straight to Austin. If Trinity loses today then a Rhodes vs. Trinity matchup is very possible at the SCAC Crossover. If Trinity wins today and wins next week's series over Southwestern then it would probably result in a Rhodes vs. Southwestern matchup.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 07, 2007, 10:15:00 AM
Sounds like Rhodes has a version of
Spahn and Sain
And pray for rain
QuoteA poem in The Boston Post in 1948 by sports editor Gerald Hern led to the famous phrase about the Braves' two terrific pitchers and had commentary in it about the rest of the staff:
"First we'll use Spahn, then we'll use Sain,
Then an off day, followed by rain.
Back will come Spahn, followed by Sain,
And followed, we hope, by two days of rain."
Other sports may have claims to fame, but baseball probably has the greatest "legacy of literature". :)
First we'll throw Flanigan, then we'll throw Holt
And we'll see if the SCAC East can cope
Or perhaps we'll start Holt, and move on to Flanigan
I'm not sure...nothing rhymes with Flanigan
Let's try this: :)
First we'll throw Flanigan, then we'll throw Holt
Perhaps that will give the division a jolt
Or perhaps we'll start Holt, and move on to Flanigan
And if that doesn't work, we'll simply begin again
Quote from: Pat Coleman on April 07, 2007, 08:46:19 PM
Let's try this: :)
First we'll throw Flanigan, then we'll throw Holt
Perhaps that will give the division a jolt
Or perhaps we'll start Holt, and move on to Flanigan
And if that doesn't work, we'll simply begin again
+1! :D :D :D :D :D
Or,
Flanigan and Holt
To win baseball games we pitch
Flanigan and Holt.
;D
You're not planning on this for a career are you? ;D
Quote from: Spence on April 08, 2007, 01:10:38 PM
You're not planning on this for a career are you? ;D
:D :D :D :D :D
If I may give a little bit of respect to the non-Holt and non-Flanagan pitchers on the Rhodes staff, we get back to the deal about strength of schedule. When Rhodes plays a tough non-conference team they throw Holt or Flanagan. In the SCAC weekends you have one winning team among the 4 conference opponents. Centre, OU and Sewanee are a combined 23-68, hardly the type of competition that lets you judge the strength of a pitcher. I guess we will get the answer to their pitching depth if they get past the crossover.
In the SCAC race, the East looks like it will be Rhodes, DePauw, Centre and OU from 1 thru 4 unless Sewanee can split with Centre. In the West it looks like Hendrix is eliminated unless they sweep Millsaps and Trinity gets swept by Southwestern. The order of the West is still up for grabs from 1 through 4.
If Millsaps sweeps Hendrix then Millsaps wins the West. Keep in mind that Hendrix was 1-19 in the SCAC last year with that one win coming over Millsaps and that kept Millsaps from winning the West so don't assume a sweep. Austin is 9-6 with a postponed game with Trinity to possibly play. Southwestern is 7-5 with 4 games against Trinity and Trinity is 5-6 with the above mentioned games to play.
If Millsaps loses a game then Southwestern could tie for first with a sweep or fall to 4th if they lose 3 of 4. Southwestern winning 3 of 4 moves them ahead of Austin unless Austin plays and wins the rematch with Trinity. It's just all up in the air but it looks like Rhodes will play Trinity or Southwestern in the crossover and DePauw get Trinity, SW or Austin. Those are tough matchups to have to play just to get to the SCAC Tournament.
All true, but the format plays to Rhodes and their top two. If they win with them, they only need to win one other game to get to and win the tournament.
If Holt or Flanagan lose though...then they have to win with Catalanotto in the cross divisional or win several in the tournament itself if they get to it and then lose in the first two games.
Much like any other tournament...win early and the end becomes much easier. Lose early and you've got a long road back.
Spence, you point out the tremendous amount of pressure on Holt and Flanagan to pitch well and to win their games. For example, Trinity and Southwestern both have quality pitchers that are capable of pitching well and holding down the Rhodes bats on a given day. Let's say that Flanagan has an outing like the recent game against Christian Brothers and Rhodes loses that game.
All of a sudden someone like Catalanotto is in a game that he must win to keep the Rhodes season alive--certainly a berth in the SCAC Tournament is resting on the outcome and possibly an NCAA at-large berth. Catalanotto has good stats on the season but the 4 wins were against Sewanee, OU, Centre and Elmhurst and the 1 loss was a rocky outing against DePauw.
While I'm certainly interested to see the results of the Rhodes vs. Emory games this weekend, the most telling game might be the Rhodes vs. Washington game on Saturday.
I'm not sure based on their numbers if Trinity has just been unlucky or what. Their pitchers strike out a ton of guys, don't walk all that many (except Horn), but they're 14-18 and some guys have given up a lot of unearned runs. That's not what you'd expect...you'd expect them to give up fewer unearned runs because of the strikeouts they can get to get out of jams. But their fielding average isn't any lower than their opponents.
They are 1-5 in one run games, so they could easily have a couple more wins. but only 1-1 in the conference in one-run games.
Southwestern seems the opposite...hard to figure out they haven't lost more. They're 6-3 in one-run games, but 1-1 in the conference. Morrison has 5 of their 13 wins and accounts for 5 of the one-run games (3-2). Willis and Rogers are 2-10. Willis' numbers are amazingly odd...he's allowed 19 XBH in 44 innings and yet only has a 4.50 ERA.
Well Sewanee has tanked, so thats never any good...but on a side note,
I dont know what you are talking about with the Rhodes coach putting in pitchers simply to get wins for someone, I looked at the game reports on the SCAC site, Flanagan has had 9 starts, and won them all to get his 10-0 record, one instance is hardly some case of multiple times as you point out...Holt has 2 cases of this it appears, which means he has won 6 of his 7 starts, still very good.
As for Sewanee, it looks like our big win over DePauw is what will will Rhodes the East, it will be nice to see a team from the East make some noise in the SCAC tournament and hopefully regionals. Looking at the way Rhodes really turned it around makes me hope that we here at Sewanee can do the same and that good things are in store for the baseball program here.
Sewanee may have tanked but the Petrels came out and took care of buisness.
Game 1: Last inning, down by one and none on....3 straight hits to tie the game. Win in extras 8-6
Game 2: Sean Tuttle (6-2 in 2006, 1-6 2007) gets back to form and goes 6 2/3 falling one out short of a complete game. Wins 7-4
Game 3: Petrels complete sweep with some more clutch hitting....Win 9-6
I go back to the Rhodes series...
Game 1: 10-7 win for Rhodes. It was 10-1 going into the bottom of the ninth. Holt was dominat but the game was close all the way.
Game 2: 8-6 win for Rhodes. Catalanotto was ok, limiting the Petrels to just 7 hits, but 6 runs 5 earned. Not a very dominating performance.
Game 3: 8-7 Win for Rhodes. This is the game OU wishes they had back....Flanagan goes 8 innings giving up 10 hits and 6 runs, 5 earned. The Petrels take the lead in the bottom of the 8th on a two-out, two run homer off of Flanagan. Then give up 4 runs in the 9th. In the bottom of the 9th the Petrels get hosed on an 'illegal slide' at 2nd base. Still w/ 2-outs and none on, they hit back to back doubles. The game ends with the tying run on 2nd.
Game 4: 10-9 win for Rhodes. McAlpine, Mueller, Simmons combine for 9 innings, 16 hits, 9 runs. game ends with the tying run thrown out at 3rd base on a double.
Moral of the story: Don't sleep on the Petrels. Their ace was not available in the Rhodes series. A young team with a bunch of talent. That series was as close as it gets without winning a game. Flanagan was roughed up, I mean roughed up. 10 hits and they were not cheapies. Holt was the only pitcher that shut down the Petrels all weekend. Don't forget the Petrels have beaten LaGrange, Piedmont and Maryville this season. I'm not saying they are going to win the SCAC but they can give people some fits. Their magic number for the playoff is 2. My prediction; they go to DePauw and split that series. You heard it here first.
Quote from: Bob_Lotts on April 08, 2007, 10:45:11 PM
My prediction; they go to DePauw and split that series. You heard it here first.
Well good luck with that, then. (Bonus Related Fun Fact!: DPU 10-2 in last 12 against OU at home.)
DePauw took all four from Centre this weekend. Got three excellent outings from Jeremy Alland, John Tschantz (good to see the big fella have a good outing), and Derek Bryant respectively. The youngster Westernkirchner had a decent outing the nightcap yesterday, and the offense was there to provide enough of a lift to get through it.
Interesting posts on baseball in the SCAC East.
--Sewanee winning over DePauw and dropping DePauw into 2nd reminds me of Hendrix winning one game in the SCAC in 2006 but it was over Millsaps in the opening game of the SCAC season and that prevented Millsaps from tieing Trinity for the SCAC West crown.
--Hope springs eternal for everyone with the new crossover format and it should. Everyone has a pitcher capable of getting hot and winning the first game and that really turns up the pressure on the opponent. The crossover format reminds me of the SCAC basketball tournament because it gives 8 of the 10 teams a shot at the end of the season and most team stay in the hunt for one of those spots until the last SCAC weekend.
--The Rhodes vs. OU series is the mystery series to me. OU opened the season with wins over LaGrange, Maryville (twice), and Piedmont and then they had a 10-game losing streak going into the Rhodes series and that was extended to 14 games with 4 close losses to Rhodes. Was it just an odd series, is OU better than their record indicates, does it indicate anything about Rhodes, or was it all too long ago to be relavent at this point in time?
Well it has been a while for me since my first post. I must say this is a wonderfully active board. The SCAC is a fun conference to watch.
Quote from: Baseball_FanAs for Sewanee, it looks like our big win over DePauw is what will win Rhodes the East, it will be nice to see a team from the East make some noise in the SCAC tournament and hopefully regionals. Looking at the way Rhodes really turned it around makes me hope that we here at Sewanee can do the same and that good things are in store for the baseball program here.
The way I look at it the Sewanee team holds its fate in it's hands. They are a solid enough team to beat Centre in 3 games. They are not out of it yet. Now if they have a defeated attitude then you are right they are done. It is easy to say that Centre beat OU and OU beat Sewanee but things just are not that simple. It never is as far as baseball goes.
Quote from: frank_ezelle-The Rhodes vs. OU series is the mystery series to me. OU opened the season with wins over LaGrange, Maryville (twice), and Piedmont and then they had a 10-game losing streak going into the Rhodes series and that was extended to 14 games with 4 close losses to Rhodes. Was it just an odd series, is OU better than their record indicates, does it indicate anything about Rhodes, or was it all too long ago to be relevant at this point in time?
Frank, you are right to ask that. I have a thought on that series and it was a major turning point for OU. The Petrels had started a losing streak but stayed up beat because in most cases they were losing to very good teams. Rhodes rolled in and the boys hung tough with them the first game. They were excited and started to believe they could truly beat Rhodes. They played them tough and I truly believe they would have beaten Rhodes in one game had it not been for a truly bad call the umpire never should have made.
I know, I know those happen everyday but they should not change the out come of a game and this one did that without a doubt. The umpire even said after the game, he perhaps should not have made the call but felt he had to, to let a young team like OU know they have to slide into second the right way on a double play. I almost fell out when I over heard him saying this to his fellow umpire as they walked to their cars.
The team lost heart after that series and that is the problem with having such a young team. The entire attitude of the team changed and they started to doubt themselves. It has taken time for them to start to believe again and we shall see if they can keep up the positive attitude and play Depauw tough.
I have a question for the board though. The last game of the OU/Sewanee series was not played due to the weather. If Sewanee takes 3 games from Centre( and OU is swept by Depauw) do OU and Sewanee have to go ahead and play their last game to determine who gets the fourth slot or is OU just out of luck?
On the bad call: It was a very bad call, how many times do you see an umpire walk up to a pitcher and warn him about balking?? It's over, can't go back and change it. Hopefully the young men can move on and learn from it.
The East is not quite done...Centre still has to win some games to guarantee them a spot. Sewanne wins four and OU wins two puts Centre out. Rhodes is locked in the #1 seed and Depauw is locked in at the #2 seed.
As far as I know Game 4 with Sew/OU is gone forever.
Any Centre fans out there....looking through the box scores I did not see Justin Basham pitch against DePauw?? He's their #2 on a very thin pitching staff....makes a big difference when games 3 and 4 roll around. Any news?
I came into the office early this morning to work on some tax stuff--my typical waiting till the last minute procedure. Naturally I checked the sports news first and was surprised to see LaGrange beat Rhodes 9-1 yesterday. LaGrange has a good team so the loss wasn't completely surprising but the details were out of the ordinary. The LaGrange pitcher broke a school record with 16 K's in the game and Holt got hit fairly hard (7 innings, 11 hits, 8 runs, 6 earned runs).
My guess is that Rhodes had a long bus trip before the game and that couldn't have helped matters, but it still is a South Region loss and Rhodes needs to bounce back in the game today and gain the split.
LaGrange Story: http://www.lagrange.edu/athletics/baseball/news-Rhodes.htm
Box Score: http://home.lagrange.edu/athletics/stats/Baseball/game28.htm
In an item from the SCAC West, there's the possibility that Austin and Trinity will play the game that was cancelled last weekend (http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/). I judge from the story that the game will only be played if necessary. Maybe in a case where SW and Trinity split, so SW goes to 9-7 while Austin is 9-6. If Trinity plays and beats Austin, then SW would move into second because they have the head-to-head over Austin.
I can see where playing the game might be important but that would be a difficult task for Trinity to play their 5th game of the weekend against a team that has only played once.
Attended the Rhodes vs. LaGrange game last night....
Assessment:
Rhodes Pitching—Plenty good to win a college baseball game. Holt should have been out of several innings long before he was. You can't give a good team 4 or 5 outs per inning.
Rhodes Defense—The worst I have seen since 2005.
Rhodes Offense—Did not put the ball in play enough to be considered "offense". Never made the adjustments needed to handle LaGrange pitcher Tim Canady, who had a career game against Rhodes.
Remedy: Pull the plug on the 4 day Easter weekend "pass" for the team. They may be able to win 30 games, but it seems that four days of "wine, women and song" may have put them in a tailspin.
For the record: This was Rhodes' first "away" loss of the season. The Lynx Cats are Road Warriors! They live for bus rides, crowded motel rooms and cheap Chinese buffets! Shake it off and kick some fanny—you gotta score some runs for Holt, Cat and Flanny!
New Coaches Poll out: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/abcapoll.html
Millsaps drops to 22, Rhodes moves up to a tie for 30. In the South, Millsaps is in tie for 4th and Rhodes is 6th.
I can't complain about the ranking for Millsaps. Only one other school with 9 losses is in the top 30 and that is Methodist at 18th. I think Rhodes is 1-0 vs. both Millsaps and Methodist so they might feel like they should be higher.
DePauw plays #10 Washington today in a DH starting at 1:30 Eastern time. They have live stats at: http://www.depauw.edu/ath/live/baseball/xlive.htm
Quote from: Bob_Lotts on April 09, 2007, 02:45:29 PM
Any Centre fans out there....looking through the box scores I did not see Justin Basham pitch against DePauw?? He's their #2 on a very thin pitching staff....makes a big difference when games 3 and 4 roll around. Any news?
I believe Basham is hurt, may be done for the season.
#10 Washington defeats DePauw 9-4 in the first game of DH.
Just my luck to post my first message right after Rhodes drops two straight to LaGrange, 9-1 last night and 5-4 (in 10) this afternoon. I'm a Rhodes professor, the faculty associate (i.e., informal adviser) for the baseball team, and I'm writing a book under contract with LSU Press called Serious Play: A Year in the Life of the Division III Rhodes College Baseball Team. The season I'm writing about is 2008. I've enjoyed reading all of your posts and have learned a lot.
One comment for now: Rhodes has shown great resilience this season--lose to Hendrix, then beat Millsaps the next day; lose two to DePauw, then run off seven straight against DePauw, Centre, and DII Christian Brothers; and so on. Bad days have never turned into bad weeks, much less tailspins. If recent history is any guide, the losses to LaGrange will only spur Rhodes to make its best effort against Washington University and Emory University this weekend. I'll be posting about the games from Millington, a wonderful baseball facility just north of Memphis.
Doc,
Welcome aboard! Congratulations on your contract to write what will be an interesting story!
DePauw won the nightcap 11-1. 9 runs in the first for DPU, only 3 of them earned. David Morefield tossed a gem.
Doc, that sounds great about the book and I look forward to more posts from you on this board. Various notes:
--Millsaps vs. LA College was rescheduled for 6 this evening. I think there is no internet/radio coverage of the game.
--Nice comeback by DePauw to split with #10 Washington. In the first game DePauw got behind early on a sloppy inning and that hurt a lot so I guess it was turn around to get those unearned runs early in the second game.
--Certainly the Rhodes story has been the most interesting in the SCAC this year. I think it hurt them as a team to move to the SCAC East instead of playing the stronger schedule in the SCAC West. Now they are faced with their hardest stretch of the season--two road games against a very good LaGrange team, 3 Memphis area games against top-10 teams, and then a crossover series against a good SCAC West team. I thought they would get two from LaGrange but the hitting wasn't there. In the first game the LaGrange catcher and 1st baseman combined for 24 of the 27 putouts which is a bad sign. Without a doubt, they need to win at least 1 game this weekend but ideally they would come away with 2 out of 3.
(For the record, I'd like to see the SCAC get 2 teams in the NCAA this year and I'd also like to see Millsaps win the SCAC Tournament. The best way for that to happen is for Rhodes to have great results this weekend so I'm 100% pulling for Rhodes to get some big wins over Washington and Emory.)
Doc, Frank.... Looks like Trinity will limp up to MEM with what is most probably a four seed. I guess that'll mean they'll face Rhodes, or possibly DePauw. In any case the games will be webcast and available for anyone to listen. Just check Trinity's website for links before gametime.
Historymajor, any thoughts on the current season at Trinity? This hasn't been a typical winning season for Trinity and it looks like a combination of losing a lot of key players from the 2006 team, a tough schedule, and maybe some bad luck here and there.
Trinity seemed to lack their normal pitching depth when they played Millsaps but their pitching really isn't that bad. In 33 games they have given up 183 runs but only 119 were earned. Contrast that to Millsaps giving up 152 runs with 125 being earned in 34 games. That points to some defensive problems.
On the flip side, obviously the hitting is lacking at this point in the season (compared to the typical Trinity team). A team batting average of .291, a slugging percentage of .400, 13 HRs with 7 coming from Nick Vera, less than 6 runs per game. It's just not what we normally see from a Trinity team.
All that being said, I don't count them out. Trinity only goes to the NCAA if they win the SCAC Tournament so I think they'll really be focused on this second chance opportunity. They certainly have the pitching to win a 2 of 3 weekend if they get some timely hitting and solid defense. If they win that then they play the SCAC Tournament close to home and pitching depth is a little less critical than it was in past SCAC Tournaments. I just see Trinity being a factor as they are every year.
Frank... you are correct sir! I couldn't have said it better! Win, or go home! I hope they'll snap out of their funk.... Last night's win over Schreiner showed me some of the 'old' spark!
If Trinity is the 4 seed that this is a tough draw for Rhodes. Like some have said, Trinity's pitching doesn't look that bad. Certainly not an easy series.
Trinity has played most of this season without the top 3 pitchers they expected to return from last year. Chuck Huggins, their #3 guy from last year transfered to a DI program where he is now the #2 pitcher and likely to be a higher round draft pick come June. Brian Oates has battled injury and is shut down. I think the same might be true with Drew Bignall but he pitched last night and hopefully is fully healthy. Drew is now their #1 and did not pitch in the Millsaps series. That staff led Trinity to the SCAC title last year and the West Regional so they lost a lot!!!
Trinity has also struggled with the bats and up the middle. They just have too many players playing out of position and have pretty much used up all their depth to do so.
With that said, this group has played in high profile games and they know what is at stake. Bignall is as good as any pitcher in the SCAC and is capable of beating anyone. Matching up with him in the first game in a cross-divisional could be a huge challenge. Vera is such a good hitter he could put this team on his back for a short series. Vera has produced big time in huge situations since his freshman year.
As historymajor posted, it is time to do it or go home and these guys are not used to going home anywhere near this early. Will be interesting to see how they respond.
What seems to be ailing Oates? Is this a re-flare of a pre-existing injury, or something new altogether? And what does this mean for his possible draft prospects?
I am not sure of the answer. Brian is a very hard worker and competitor. He had one or two very good early outings with limited innings and a low pitch count. Whether things flared when he tried to extend or whether something new happened, I don't know.
My guess would be he will not be drafted and may apply for a redshirt and come back in 2008.
Not that it matters a whole lot, but Rhodes beat Rust 40-6 today in a seven-inning game. For the record, Rhodes did its best to avoid running up the score--twenty-eight players played in the field, including six pitchers. Flanagan took a turn at third base (he also went one-for-one at the plate) and Holt played an inning at first. What can you do when the rules require that a fight that should have been stopped in the second round (it was 27-5 at that point) must go seven?
I appologize for getting off subject but the board won't let me send private messages.
Frank, Any idea how the Millsaps Men's Tennis did the other day against Mississippi College?
Regarding the tennis, MC and Millsaps were rained out and will make up the match on Tuesday the 24th.
On the Rhodes vs Rust score, this subject about lopsided scores comes up often each year and in almost every case the winning team is doing all they can to keep the score down once the game is basically won. Not surprised about Flanagan going 1 for 1--he is ranked high in several hitting categories at his old high school.
Millsaps beat LA College 20-4 last night. I don't know much about LA College but the score is a little bit of a surprise since they are a respectable 20-13 on the season, including a 16-5 record at home and a 7-5 record in the ASC East. Tait Hendrix had another good outing and he has really cut down on his walks of late. It's a big plus for Millsaps to have him pitching well at this time of the year. For the game, Millsaps pitcher struck out 13 including 3 by Brent Buffa in his one inning of relief.
Frank, I appreciate the information... I sometimes wonder if Millsaps athletics would survive without you.
Quote from: FlightofthePetrel on April 12, 2007, 09:10:39 AM
Frank, I appreciate the information... I sometimes wonder if Millsaps athletics would survive without you.
I appreciate that compliment but I also must keep in mind the quote from former French leader Charles de Gaulle: "The graveyards are full of indispensable men."
Overall, the Millsaps sports programs would do just fine if I never did another thing. What I've tried to do with the posts here and the photos that I take is to bring some much deserved recognition to the players and to provide them with something that they will have in the future to help keep alive their memories of this important time in their life. I'm not exactly sure why I do this except that I think it needs to be done and no one else has stepped forward to do it.
I saw where the individual national rankings came out. It looks like Flanagan is leading the nation in wins with Devin Drag. (both 10-0) Select company indeed. It also looks like Holt is right behind them tied for 4th behind 7-8 other people with 8 wins. Flanagan also is number 2 in the country in strikeouts, not far behind the number 1 man. I am a little disappointed that Flanagan got the no-decision against LaGrange, as that would have made him the sole national leader, and it is always good to see SCAC players getting national recognition.
Hunter Owen also is tied to lead the nation in RBI's per game, so congrats to him as well.
What are people's All-SCAC selections at this point, I know Flanagan was named the SCAC pitcher of the year last year, what are the odds he repeats? He seems to be the frontrunner at this point to do just that. There isnt any pitcher from Sewanee that can be named All-SCAC in my mind, but there are a few hitters who hit very well and should get some looks.
What is the potential that anyone from the SCAC gets drafted this year? I know Owen has put up some great numbers, but have not seem him play all that much, and I know Flanagan again has put up great numbers and being such a huge lefty surely cant hurt him. Vera is also certainly having a great year. What does everyone think?
Millsaps vs. Hendrix series has been pushed back to Saturday DH followed by a Sunday DH. I don't know if that favors either team.
Interesting that Hunter Owens is tied for the national lead in RBI's per game, the category that Garner Wetzel led in last year. Based on the numbers, you could argue that Hunter is having a 1st team All-American season since he is right on track with the numbers Garner put up last year as a 1st team All-American:
Garner in 2006: BA .400, Slugging .724, 14 doubles, 2 triples, 14 HRs, on base % .510, RBI's 91, Stolen bases 18 of 19.
Hunter in 2007 (with projected number if he keeps the same pace for 50 games, the number Millsaps played last year): BA .407, Slugging .787, 16 doubles (23 projected), 1 triple, 10 HRs (14 projected), on base % .497, RBI's 58 (83 projected), stolen bases 15 of 17 (21 of 24 projected).
It certainly isn't an exact comparison since it is different competition, etc, but obviously Hunter Owen has done all that could be expected of him in taking over for Garner Wetzel. Since he was out most of last year with an injury he didn't have much name recognition going into the season and I hope that doesn't hurt his chances when voting is done for various awards at the end of the season.
Baseball_fan,
I honestly think stats in college, especially at the DIII level, have nothing to do with the draft. Scouts are looking at whether that player has skills that can improve and also trying to project how the skills in a DIII game project in professional baseball. In a sense, stats and playing at the DIII level can be a drawback, not a positive, when it comes to the draft.
With that said, the fact that Nick Vera had a wonderful summer in the Coastal Plain wood bat league, is big and strong, can run, has a good arm and has shown he can hit DI level pitching with a wood bat, should help him a lot in the eyes of scouts. The fact he has improved so much in 4 years of college ball could also be of help. I don't know how much scout activity Nick has generated this year in San Antonio but he plays in an area where there are more scouts than nearly anywhere in the US. Based on what I know of Nick and the draft, I would be guessing he will get selected by someone later in the draft.
Just based on his size and being a lefty, I expect Flanagan will be picked. I have never seen him pitch or play. Again, he won't be picked based on anything he has done this year. His stats mean nothing. It is his size, velocity and being a lefty that give him a huge advantage with professional scouts.
I agree 100% with what infielddad says--no question they draft on potential and not on the number. Of course, those with major league potential usually have pretty good numbers (while those with pretty good number rarely have major league potential).
For those who are interested, there's a good interview with Coach Page in the Millsaps school newspaper: http://www.millsaps.edu/p&w/04-12-07_page_9.pdf
Quote from: infielddad on April 13, 2007, 12:14:00 PM
Baseball_fan,
I honestly think stats in college, especially at the DIII level, have nothing to do with the draft. Scouts are looking at whether that player has skills that can improve and also trying to project how the skills in a DIII game project in professional baseball. In a sense, stats and playing at the DIII level can be a drawback, not a positive, when it comes to the draft.
With that said, the fact that Nick Vera had a wonderful summer in the Coastal Plain wood bat league, is big and strong, can run, has a good arm and has shown he can hit DI level pitching with a wood bat, should help him a lot in the eyes of scouts. The fact he has improved so much in 4 years of college ball could also be of help. I don't know how much scout activity Nick has generated this year in San Antonio but he plays in an area where there are more scouts than nearly anywhere in the US. Based on what I know of Nick and the draft, I would be guessing he will get selected by someone later in the draft.
Just based on his size and being a lefty, I expect Flanagan will be picked. I have never seen him pitch or play. Again, he won't be picked based on anything he has done this year. His stats mean nothing. It is his size, velocity and being a lefty that give him a huge advantage with professional scouts.
A friend of mine that's seen Flanagan said he doesn't throw as hard as one might expect, but he figures he'll still get his shot, being an enormous left-handed pitcher.
Somehow, from reading this site, I developed the impression he was 86-88 mph. If that is correct, and just looking at his bb/innings pitched, and being a junior, I wouldn't be surprised if he did not get selected in the first 10 rounds.
If his velocity is below that on a consistent basis, I agree he will still be picked based on those other factors.
What likely would then be the issue is where he is picked. Being a junior, this is his only "leverage" year. If he were selected after the 12th round or so, a club may not pay him enough bonus to include the MLB scholarship plan, if he is a 83/84 type guy, unless they believe that a change in mechanics or further maturity will change that. Another thing to watch will be his innings. He is already over 70. If Rhodes makes it to the SCAC tournament and possibly beyond, past use would indicate he could be pitching upwards of 12-14 innings in 3 day time frames. If that happens, some teams will pay attention to that in drafting and in bonus money.
From earlier in the week, just saw this...Rhodes 40, Rust 7. Rhodes missed the PAT.
http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/2007_results/4-11-07_Rust.htm
32 players played for Rhodes. It was 33-5 after 3 innings. This seems like it could have eclipsed Bridgewater State and Newbury if not for Rhodes dressing and playing everyone.
Oglethorpe played a doubleheader against Depauw today. The Tigers took the first game 10 to 6. Solid hitting for the Tigers helped them defeat the Petrels in the first game of the day.
The second game was carried on Depauw's student radio station and those of us here in Atlanta are thankful it was. It was very exciting to hear the game broadcast live.
Oglethorpe got a solid outting from Sophmore Sean Tuttle who looked more like the pitcher he was last year. Combine that with Oglethorpe pounding out 15 hits and they took the second game 8 to 3.
The magic number for the Petrel's now drops to 1. They need one more win or they need Sewanee to drop tonights game to Centre.
Thanks again to Depauw for the live broadcast and way to go OU!!!!
DPU/OU postponed today. It's ugly here in Greencastle. About 40 and rainy. Will probably snow some before the day is over.
They'll play two nine inning games tomorrow. 11am first pitch.
Quick correction: I don't think WGRE is going to start their coverage until after the broadcast of the Gobin Church service is over. Probably a quarter to noon or so.
Coach Jeff Cleanthes's Rhodes College Lynx beat tenth-ranked Washington University 8-3 this afternoon. The Lynx will play two against highly-ranked Emory University on Sunday afternoon, with Andrew Holt and Robert Flanagan on the mound.
Chris Catalonotto shut down the Bears through six-plus innings today, and fielded his position brilliantly. So did shortstop John Robert Bizzell, left fielder Richard Hurd, catcher Matt Beesley, and others. Rhodes won the game on offense by playing superb small ball--indeed, during the first five innings they spun gold into straw by building a 3-0 lead with only one hit.
One quality of the Rhodes team that doesn't show up in the stats but is obvious to anyone who has seen the Lynx play this year: the constant and enthusiastic vocal support that the team on the field gets from the team in the dugout. Juniors Matt Jack and Jeff Mueller, both of whom are significant contributors in their own right whenever they step into the lineup, consistently provide their teammates with energetic, articulate, and altogether positive support, as well as getting the rest of the dugout up and going whenever the opportunity arises. Leadership comes in many forms--these two (and others) are leaders every time they put on their cleats.
Millsaps won two from Hendrix (6-1 and 13-0, complete games from Travis Bogue and Brent Buffa). Southwestern looks like they are about to take the 1st game of DH against Trinity. If that happens, the standing in the West will be:
Millsaps at 10-4 (2 games remaining with Hendrix)
Southwestern at 9-5 (2 games remaining with Trinity)
Austin at 9-6 (a potential makeup game with Trinity)
Trinity at 5-8 (with the above games remaining)
Hendrix at 2-12
If the Trinity bats don't wake up this afternoon or tomorrow I guess that's the way the West will end up. In the East it looks fairly certain that it will be Rhodes, DePauw, Centre, Oglethorpe and Sewanee from top to bottom.
Doc, thanks for that update. That's good news for Rhodes getting such a strong performance out of Catalonotto and it will be interesting to see how Rhodes does with Emory. Emory has a great record but they are a team that wins a lot of close games and low scoring games. I could definitely see Holt and Flanagan holding down the Emory scoring and Rhodes winning both games. The big problems is finding a way to score some runs against the Emory ace (Glushon is the pitcher's name I think).
Quote from: Doc Nelson on April 14, 2007, 04:59:34 PM
Coach Jeff Cleanthes's Rhodes College Lynx beat tenth-ranked Washington University 8-3 this afternoon. The Lynx will play two against highly-ranked Emory University on Sunday afternoon, with Andrew Holt and Robert Flanagan on the mound.
Chris Catalonotto shut down the Bears through six-plus innings today, and fielded his position brilliantly. So did shortstop John Robert Bizzell, left fielder Richard Hurd, catcher Matt Beesley, and others. Rhodes won the game on offense by playing superb small ball--indeed, during the first five innings they spun gold into straw by building a 3-0 lead with only one hit.
One quality of the Rhodes team that doesn't show up in the stats but is obvious to anyone who has seen the Lynx play this year: the constant and enthusiastic vocal support that the team on the field gets from the team in the dugout. Juniors Matt Jack and Jeff Mueller, both of whom are significant contributors in their own right whenever they step into the lineup, consistently provide their teammates with energetic, articulate, and altogether positive support, as well as getting the rest of the dugout up and going whenever the opportunity arises. Leadership comes in many forms--these two (and others) are leaders every time they put on their cleats.
Catalanotto may have pitched well (and has in other games against solid opponents), but Washington might be the most overrated team in the country.
0-3 against Emory, losses to Brandeis, Rhodes, Edgewood, split with DePauw. They simply have not beaten anyone and when they have played someone, they've lost except for the split against DePauw. Illinois Wesleyan is pretty much their last chance to get a quality win, not that it matters. With their schedule, their region and the system in place, they had a regional bid when the season started.
Let me see if I've got this right.
Rhodes is overrated because they play a weak schedule.
Rhodes handily defeated Washington University, the tenth-ranked team in the country, yesterday.
Washington University must be overrated.
Therefore, Rhodes is overrated because they play a weak schedule.
Go get him DOC.
I personally think every team benefits as the individual SCAC teams improve. This current roster of Rhodes players has done better than any Rhodes team in school history. Congratulations are in order.
After watching Ogelthorpe vs Rhodes I kept thinking how similar Ogelthorpe is now to the Rhodes team of 2 years ago. Best of luck to them as I think they will prove to be a formidable competitor sooner rather than later.
This new and improved Rhodes team is a result of good coaching, good recruiting and good attitude. A little respect would be nice rather than negative comments, but the world is unfortunately a predictable place.
Best of luck to all SCAC teams in the upcoming playoffs. I am looking forward to some really good baseball.
To clarify, my opinion on Washington has nothing to do with my opinion on Rhodes.
I thought Washington was overrated before they played Rhodes, and that result didn't do anything to change my mind. If Washington were in the South region, I would submit they'd be ranked about 8th, behind Rhodes and Averett. We also know that regional ranking is correlated with national ranking, so Washington's national ranking is purely a function of being in Central region and a combination of no one emerging in that region and having played more games than most teams in it to this point. I don't make judgments very often off just one game, unless that one game is the only data point. I haven't judged Washington off one game, nor Rhodes.
I think I've spoken pretty positively about Rhodes this year. I lost a little confidence in them when they only split with DePauw, but I still think they're pretty decent. They've got a chance to really help themselves against Emory. *REALLY* help themselves with a sweep; but even a split would help.
Spence is not afraid to say what he thinks as is evidenced by his -90 Karma rating. In this case, he said what I was thinking but just didn't bother to write because I knew it would be taken as a knock on Rhodes and that would not be my intent. I don't really think that was the intent of Spence either.
When the polls came out and I saw that Washington was #10 it made me go and look at their record. The only reason I even noticed their ranking is because Brent Buffa transferred from Washington to Millsaps this year so I was surprised that they could lose their top pitcher and still be ranked so high.
I think most Rhodes fans would believe they would win a 3-game series with Washington, especially after yesterday. Rhodes is ranked 30th and Washington is ranked 10th. I think most Millsaps fans would believe they would win a 3-game series with Washington but Millsaps is only ranked 22nd. Therefore, most Rhodes and Millsaps fans think that either their team should be in the top-10 in the nation or Washington is ranked too high. That doesn't mean that Washington isn't a very good team, it just means that it is probably a real stretch to say that they are one of the 10 best teams in the country.
So I go back to my original assessment that it was a very good win for Rhodes that their #3 starter got a win over a very good team. I also think they have a very good chance of winning both games with Emory if Holt and Flanagan are on their game and if the Rhodes hitters can scratch out 3 runs against Jason Glushon.
Spence got a post in while I was typing mine--I didn't bother to change mine up to reflect what he had just written, especially since we were on the same train of thought.
On another note, Trinity winning against SW in the nightcap yesterday has brought up some interesting things:
--It gives Millsaps a 2 game cushion in the loss column going into their DH with Hendrix today. I like Millsaps chances of winning the SCAC West regular season outright but they still have to execute this afternoon.
--Austin and SW are now tied at 9-6. Southwestern holds the tiebreaker over Austin (won the series 3-1) so a SW win today means that Austin could tie SW if they played the postponed game with Trinity but they couldn't get the 2nd seed. If SW loses today, they could still get the 2nd seed if Trinity beats Austin. The #2 seed plays Centre, the #3 seed plays DePauw in the crossover and that appears to be a significant difference.
The Stormy Petrels loose a heart breaker to Depauw 6-5 in 9 (of a 7 inning game).
OU came back to score 3 in the 5th and 2 in the 7th to send it to extras, but a walk- stolen base, error and fly out in the 9th secure the win for Depauw. It was fun listening to the game to see the fight from the Petrels to come back late in the game.
Rhodes got roughed up pretty bad in the first game with Flanagan taking his first loss in a 14-3 game. The game was scoreless after 4 innings, Emory got 3-1-3 runs in the 5th thru 7th and then 7 more runs in the 9th. Flanagan gave up the first 7 and a reliever the last 7.
There's live stats on the game at: http://www.rhodes.edu/athletics/baseball/livestats/xlive.htm
These will probably be wiped out shortly for the start of the second game.
Millsaps won 10-4 at Hendrix in the first game today giving them a guaranteed outright win of the SCAC West regular season.
Rhodes took two of three this weekend against No. 3 Emory and No. 10 Washington by winning the second game of today's double header with Emory, 8-3. Sophomore Andrew Holt threw eight strong innings, and the Lynx overcame a 2-1 deficit by scoring five runs on two hits in the bottom of the fifth, taking advantage of every crack in Emory's armor.
The two leading qualities that have marked the Rhodes team throughout this entire season are poise and resilience. The Lynx have had bad days but have consistently kept them from turning into bad weeks. Today, in fact, they were able to keep a bad morning from turning into a bad afternoon. Thirty minutes after the end of a disastrous first game against Emory, which went from 3-3 after five innings to 3-14 by game's end, Rhodes returned to the diamond with remarkable confidence and dominated the team that had just dominated them.
OU took the nightcap 8-6 to split the 4 gamer.
A 7 run second frame did in the Old Gold today. HBP, BB, E1, HBP, 1B, 1B, 1B, 1B, 1B, 1B, GIDP, 4-3.
Kudos the Petrels. Somebody said earlier in the week that they'd split the four gamer and I wasn't a believer. They played well this weekend.
I am in Memphis visiting some relatives, and went out to watch the Rhodes/Emory game. Let me just say this, I want Rhodes to do well, as I want to see the SCAC East go far, but that first game was terrible. Flanagan actually pitched very well, but Rhodes looked like a little league team with their heads cut off. They could not field, throw or hit behind Flanagan. It really was a pathetic game. Rhodes had more errors than they did hits. I think they made 7 errors today for something like 11 on the weekend. No nationally ranked team should be doing that regardless.
The test of a team is not that it never screw up. The test of a team is what it does after it screws up. Rhodes passed that test with flying colors today.
Mr Baseball Fan...did you care to comment on the Rhodes victory over Washington on Saturday or the night cap victory over Emory on Sunday? If Rhodes is a little league team with its head cut off what does that make # 10 and #3 in the country. In case you did not notice, Rhodes beat them.
Congrats to the Lynx on taking two of three from 2 top 10 ranked schools. Enjoy the victories but lets go to work on what went wrong during game two this weekend. If it had to happen , you picked a good time to get that out of your system.
You guys are well positioned for a strong run in to the playoffs. Your fans are proud of your accomplishments to date and expect nothing but the best from you going forward.
Quote from: Doc Nelson on April 15, 2007, 08:04:16 PM
The test of a team is not that it never screw up. The test of a team is what it does after it screws up. Rhodes passed that test with flying colors today.
While rather philospohical and thought-provoking, I tend to disagree.
In general, the tendency is that a team that makes more errors than its opposition loses more often than they win. What happens when there's a "what it does after it screws up" after Rhodes commits 4 errors or something in the conference tourney against Millsaps?
Holt and Flanagan are great pitchers, but how great are they against top tier D-III teams when they have to get extra outs?
Quote from: DPU3619 on April 15, 2007, 09:46:25 PM
Quote from: Doc Nelson on April 15, 2007, 08:04:16 PM
The test of a team is not that it never screw up. The test of a team is what it does after it screws up. Rhodes passed that test with flying colors today.
While rather philospohical and thought-provoking, I tend to disagree.
In general, the tendency is that a team that makes more errors than its opposition loses more often than they win. What happens when there's a "what it does after it screws up" after Rhodes commits 4 errors or something in the conference tourney against Millsaps?
Holt and Flanagan are great pitchers, but how great are they against top tier D-III teams when they have to get extra outs?
I agree with Doc, and what I think he is saying is that errors are going to happen. Bad days are going to happen. Good teams rebound quickly and don't dwell on mistakes. That is what Rhodes did by putting an attrocious game behind them and rebounding with a big win.
Another Huge win this weekend as Oglethorpe splits this weekend with Depuaw in which all were close games. Oglethorpe rebounded after a tough loss in the first game of the double header, coming back after being down 5-0 only to loose it in the 9th. OU had no sign of a letdown as they scored early and often posting 7 runs on 6 hits in the second inning- giving them all they needed to secure the win.
I'm proud that these guys never gave up during the season and they have ended the year on a high note. The team has momentum going into the Divisional where they will face a VERY good Millsaps team which will be hard to beat on any day. I know ya'll won't read this till late tomorrow due to the fact that you were somewhere in Kentucky when I talked to you about an hour ago, but Good luck!- I'll be watching the live stats and pulling for ya!
SW failed to hold on to a 6-1 lead after 3 and lost their final game to Trinity 10-7. That allows Austin to take the second spot with a 9-6 record compared to the 9-7 of Southwestern. I'm assuming that Austin and Trinity have no interest in making up their cancelled game since it could only help Southwestern and if that's the case then the crossovers are set:
(West teams listed first and in order from 1st to 4th)
Millsaps vs. Oglethorpe
Austin vs. Centre
Southwestern vs. DePauw
Trinity vs. Rhodes
It can't be stressed enough that this is a new beginning for all 8 of these teams. It's just like with basketball--if you can be in the top 80% of the regular season play then the records get wiped clean and you are once again tied with everyone as far as winning the SCAC Championship and the automatic berth. With OU winning 2 at DePauw this weekend I am going to assume that they will be in Memphis thinking they can win 2 of 3 from Millsaps and I'm sure the Trinity team thinks they can knock off Rhodes. There will be no easy series next weekend.
Lynx_Fan, Rhodes beating those teams in the other games doesnt say anything about those teams in regards to the meltdown that was game 1. When Rhodes plays well they can beat anyone, but when they dont they get embarrassed.
According the the box scores, Rhodes made 20 errors in the span of 5 games. Hardly what I would call quality defense, or championship calliber. If this happened early in the year fine, but if they continue to make this many errors, they are going to be 2 and done in regionals. It might work when you play Rust, but it didnt work against LaGrange and obviously it didnt work in game one against Emory. I am all for Rhodes going far, I want them to do well, I am tired of the SCAC west being the only side that goes anywhere, but Rhodes needs to get it together if they want to go anywhere.
So in the end, errors kill, and for that game at least, Rhodes did indeed look like a headless little league team, good teams dont lose because of errors, good teams lose because they get beat.
DPU beat me to the punch...Earlier I predicted a split between OU and DU. Looks like it was a very close series.
The test of a team is not that it never screw up. The test of a team is what it does after it screws up. Rhodes passed that test with flying colors today
What about losing 22 in a row then turn around and go 5-2 in your last 7 SCAC games, all on the road! The young Petrels don't give up.....
Should be an exciting weekend in Memphis.
Let's look at the "error" situation in another light. The Lynx played six games in seven days. Rhodes College is one of the toughest academic schools around, and at this time during the semester, players have long papers to write and exams to take. Instead of slamming any Division III team by likening them to "little leaguers" I would like to take my hat off to all D-III athletes. They receive no athletic scholarships; they are not pampered, tutored, or housed in athletic facilities. They are not taking business math and basket weaving courses. They play because they are trying to get a solid education while playing the game they love.
Don't pick on teams who commit a string of errors. Go after the poor sports and trash talkers instead.
I agree, I have alot of respect for DIII atheletes, but that being said, to be a championship team you have to figure out how to leave your schoolwork and papers behind for 9 innings and go out and play baseball. If I had to guess, I would assume that no team that ever went far into the playoffs had players who were sitting in the locker room thinking about the fact that they played alot of games lately or that they really needed to go write a paper, they were thinking one thing, win the game. To win a championship, at least in my mind, you have to put everything else aside, and just go out and play baseball.
Errors are going to happen, thats just life, but to be a real contender and a championship team, which I want for Rhodes (Sewannee hopefully one day), they have to set school aside and cut down on the errors, and if they get beat, I hope it is because they actually get beat and not because they beat themselves. When you are a good team more is expected of you, and that many errors would not matter if Rhodes was .500, but I am sure they do not view their year thus far as a success, I would imagine they want more, but from here on in the teams they play will all be good teams, and errors will kill them.
Quote from: Lynx Tracker on April 16, 2007, 11:03:39 AM
Let’s look at the “error” situation in another light. The Lynx played six games in seven days. Rhodes College is one of the toughest academic schools around, and at this time during the semester, players have long papers to write and exams to take. Instead of slamming any Division III team by likening them to “little leaguers” I would like to take my hat off to all D-III athletes. They receive no athletic scholarships; they are not pampered, tutored, or housed in athletic facilities. They are not taking business math and basket weaving courses. They play because they are trying to get a solid education while playing the game they love.
The academia argument holds no water in this forum, friend. Sorry. Just about every school in this conference deals with that in every sport. More schools in D-III are that way than aren't. It's an even playing field, which is why if Team X hits better than Team Y, commits more errors, can't get anybody out, or strikes out more, it's worth comparision.
The athletes aren't pampered, but they
are recruited. D-III players are pretty good players. You've got to be able to swing it, pick it, or throw a pretty good breaking pitch to be here. This ain't the local beer league. I don't expect the kids to be Ozzie Smith or Brooks Robinson out there, but 7 in one game and over 2/game in April is a bit much, don't you think?
Rhodes is in the middle of the pack in the conference in errors committed. It's not like they've committed 112 errors or whatever Hendrix has. Errors happen. Sometimes you hemmorhage out half a dozen errors and get your tail kicked. It happens over the course of a 50 game college season. Part of baseball. Most guys go buy a new glove after that.
That said, they've committed more errors at a much more alarming rate since the turn of the calendar to April than they did at the beginning of the year. That would certainly be a point of concern for me if I was Coach Cleanthes. That stuff works against Centre and LaGrange, but if you're Rhodes, you've got be pretty close to perfect when you suit up against the class of the West.
This ain't the local beer league....
I like that! If you hear "Come on Lynx! This ain't no beer league! Your playin' the class of the West!"next weekend---it will be me!
I was making a reference to sleep deprivation and fatigue, not players "fretting" over schoolwork.
I am in no way disparaging the talent pool in the SCAC by implying that they are "scholars attempting to play sports". In fact many of them could excel at the Division I level.
Hey, I can see where a Rhodes fan would be a little touchy about having someone say Rhodes looked like a bunch of little leaguers with their head's cut off, especially coming on a weekend where they beat the #3 and #10 team in the country. And especially after an entire season of winning where many (including myself) have wondered about the strength of their schedule. Rhodes has to feel like the Rodney Dangerfield of the SCAC right now.
Let's give credit where credit is due. Rhodes lost two road games to a very good LaGrange team and then they came back winning 2 out of 3 against top-10 teams. That is impressive. They had a bad game in the middle, but I saw Emory lose 12-2 at Millsaps and Millsaps recently lost 10-2 to Trinity which just goes to show that very good teams are still capable of having a very bad game.
The Rhodes games this past weekend were good for Rhodes and good for the SCAC. I certainly hope that it helps them get an at-large bid into the NCAA Regionals (we are assuming here that Millsaps will win the SCAC Tournament :) :)).
Quote from: Lynx Tracker on April 16, 2007, 12:32:28 PM
I was making a reference to sleep deprivation and fatigue, not players "fretting" over schoolwork.
And what I tried to say is that right now, every other player on every team in this conference is too. It's not an excuse for inexplicably being unable to catch the ball in April. You're a ballplayer. Go play ball. Go pitch it, hit it, catch it, and throw it.
My point is actually exactly what Baseball_fan said:
Quote from: Baseball_fan on April 16, 2007, 09:13:43 AM
According the the box scores, Rhodes made 20 errors in the span of 5 games. Hardly what I would call quality defense, or championship calliber.
If Rhodes plays good defense, they're great. If they don't, they're not. When Rhodes doesn't commit errors, you probably won't beat them. The Rhodes W/L in April shows that clearly.
Splitting with Emory is nothing to be upset about. Even very good teams have bad games. I remember seeing a PLAYER on a good team one time commit 6 errors in a game. It should be noted that that team's strength was offense, but still.
I'm sure they hoped for better than 2-3 from this stretch, but they did show something in battling back and getting the split against a highly-regarded opponent that has beaten some good teams.
I in no way wanted to belittle the accomplishments of the Rhodes baseball team. The split with Emory is definatly huge for Rhodes and I appluad what they are doing. Being a Sewanne fan, I am frustrated I suppose with the West's continued domination of the SCAC, and am very glad to see someone from the East having such success. With the amazing season that Rhodes is having I suppose I am holding them to a higher standard, but I do not mean to take anything away from the Rhodes players and coaches, and I congratulate them on their amazing season and look foreward to the SCAC tournament. I think it will come down to Millsaps and Rhodes, but that Rhodes will take it, which would be huge for the SCAC East and hopefully Rhodes can make some noise within the region and bring the spotlight onto the SCAC and help the other schools (such as Sewanee) turn their programs around and accomplish what Rhodes has accomplished.
Geez, can we get off the Rhodes subject. They had a bad game on the field. That is baseball. The Nay sayers and the Yay sayers will see how Rhodes does in the next two weeks. With that taken care of
Does anyone have predictions for this weekend?
I've only seen the east teams play this year so I don't have a feel for this weekend. However, I have noticed that only one team from the west had an .500 winning percentage or better. With that in mind does anyone believe that east can get two or three teams pass the first round.
The passed three years the west has dominated the tournaments, so it could be nice to see the SCAC become much more competitive between west and east.
I predict that Millsaps easily handles Ogelthorpe. (2 games)
I think Rhodes will beat Trinity in a good series. (3 games)
I think Austin will beat Centre. Have never seen Austin play but if they can go 2-2 with Millsaps and finish 2nd in the West, I think they will beat Centre. I think it will take 3 games however and be a close one.
Not sure on DePauw vs. Southwestern, Southwestern really turned it on lately and will have some momentum, but it will be a tough series and I will say DePauw takes it in 3 games.
I agree that Millsaps takes Ogelthorpe. (2 games)
I think Rhodes will be beaten by Trinity in a great series. (3 games)
I agree Austin will beat in 3 games.
I think DePauw will edge Southwestern in 3 games.
None of us have seen all the teams play and there is very little crossover information to go by so it is a guessing game where past history has to be taken into consideration. Without having seen most of these teams play, my picks would be:
Millsaps over OU--Nothing is a given but I think most non-OU fans would make this prediction.
Rhodes over Trinity--I expect Trinity to be tough but Trinity is 4-10 over their last 14 games which includes 1-3 against Millsaps, 0-3 against Austin, and 2-2 with Southwestern. They haven't won a series against the top three in the West so I can't favor them to win a series over a Rhodes team that is playing in Memphis.
Austin over Centre--Both teams have losing records overall but look at Centre's SCAC record. They are 7-0 against Sewanee and OU and 0-8 against DePauw and Rhodes. Now look at Austin's SCAC record. They are 2-2 with Millsaps, 3-0 with Trinity, 3-1 with Hendrix and 1-3 with Southwestern. There's no question that on paper it was a huge difference to finish 2nd instead of 3rd in the SCAC West.
Southwestern over DePauw--I haven't seen either team play so this is a pick based strictly on game results. Mostly I'm going by who they have played over the last few weeks. DePauw has the better record over that stretch and they did split with Washington, but they haven't had a lot of really tough games. Southwestern has done well against a tougher schedule and it is this chance to play against a tougher schedule that has me picking Southwestern.
While the focus is on the crossover games this weekend, there is still a nice slat of games to be played this evening. Millsaps has a huge game this evening with a trophy on the line.
Millsaps, MS College and Belhaven compete each year for the Cowboy Maloney Trophy and the winner of tonight's game between Belhaven and Millsaps wins the 2007 competition (if Millsaps wins both team will be 4-2 but Millsaps will be up 2-1 on the head-to-head).
Belhaven is ranked #11 in NAIA at the moment and they have won 19 of their last 20 games. Millsaps is ranked #22 in D-3 and they have won 16 of thier last 20. It should be a heck of a game but unfortunately there seems to be no plans to broadcast the game or have live stats, etc.
Well now I must say that it is interesting to look over these predictions and see what you all have to say. I am new to this conference and have not seen any of the teams in the west except Hendrix. I have gathered from the history of the conference that the west has dominated things over the years.
I want to state something right up front. I have had the privilege of meeting some very well mannered young men from most of the teams in the east and the parents that have raised them should be proud. I am sure it is the same of the players in the west as well (I can say it with certainty about Hendrix).
I think looking over things that I agree with some of the predictions I have read but I will interject the following:
Milsap vs. OU: I don't think OU will roll over as bad as the rest of you seem to think. They have played a tougher schedule then you might realize. They play teams like Emory, Lagrange, Huntington, Reinhardt, Maryville and others. They will put up a fight that I can assure you.
Rhodes vs. Trinity: I think Rhodes will take this one. Not sure how many games or how tough a contest but I see Rhodes out on top.
Austin vs. Centre: I think Austin takes it. Once again not going out on a limb and saying how many games, just giving the nod to Austin.
DePauw vs. Southwestern: I am a bit torn on this but I think I have to give this one to Southwestern.
Okay so there I have put it down on paper and so it goes.
Now on to real life................ I just want to say I hope you will all include the victims and family of those slain at VT in your prayers in the days that follow. I could not imagine losing my son to something like this, it would be devastating! Reflect on what is important, be thankful for your loved ones and cherish the time you have with your kids!!!
Looking forward to Memphis and the great baseball to happen this weekend!!
Nice post d3baseballdad, especially the part about real life.
One more bit of Millsaps news. There's a story on the Millsaps website about the sweep of Hendrix but it has a lot about Nick Crawford breaking the NCAA record for being hit by a pitch and how this year's team compares with Millsaps wins of the past.
Regarding Nick, the casual observer might look at his .267 BA and not realize how important he is to Millsaps. Combine his hits with 21 walks and 26 HBP and he has an impressive .446 on base percentage, just what you want from a leadoff hitter. In addition, he has turned in many spectacular plays in the field this year while only committing 4 errors for a .978 fielding percentage. He will be hard to replace.
Here's the link: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/041607story.shtml
I'll throw in my two cents....or maybe one and half:
Milsaps over OU....Oglethorpe will put a scare into Millsaps but in the end experience will take over.
Trinity over Rhodes....This will be the series to watch. Rhodes is good but Trinity will be pumped for this one.
DePauw over Southwestern...This one was tough. SW playing some good ball of late, DePauw has won a TON of close games. Toss up series....
Austin over Centre...Centre can swing it but they are very thin in the pitching staff.
These predictions remind me of football season.
I like Millsaps over Oglethorpe in 2 games. The Majors have too much of everything, and this team knows how to get it done in post season play.
I'm torn between Trinity and Rhodes. Even a Trinity team that is way down this year is still good. If things click for the Tigers, Rhodes may have to hope for an at-large berth. However, I think Rhodes will prevail in three, but they'll have to limit defensive mistakes to do it.
I like Southwestern over DePauw in three. This series may be the most entertaining. They are two fairly evenly matched squads, with Southwestern playing for home field advantage at the Spring Sports Festival.
Austin over Centre in 2. Austin may not blow away Centre, but they'll have just enough to get a sweep.
Let me help Bob_Lotts out in promoting OU:
--OU has wins over LaGrange, Maryville (twice), Piedmont, and DePauw (twice) so they have beaten some good teams this year.
--They split with LaGrange, same as Millsaps and better results than Rhodes.
--They have a lot of losses but many are to very good teams and not by that much. The losses to Rhodes were 10-7, 8-6, 8-7, and 10-9. The losses to Emory were 6-2, 12-4, and 8-3. The losses to DePauw were 10-6 and 6-5. And that loss to LaGrange was only 14-10. It's not like they are a team that loses by 10 runs or more everytime they play a good team.
The bottom line is that I agree with Bob that the Oglethorpe series is not an automatic win for Millsaps, but I also agree with Consultant that it is very unlikely that the Millsaps players will overlook OU when there is so much on the line.
All this interest in the crossover tells me that once again the SCAC has gotten it right just as they did with the season ending basketball tournament. It keeps more teams in the hunt and it certainly keeps the interest up for the entire season.
Wow, Trinity knocks off #8 TLU tonight 5-4.... committee pitching, big HR by Verrios and MOmentum to carry the Tigers to Millington.... I'll take a tiger over a lynx in a fight anytime!
Adding to the WOW factor for the SCAC last night, Millsaps knocked off the NAIA #11th ranked Belhaven College team 10-9 to win the Maloney Trophy (an annual competition between these two schools and MS College). It was a great game to play in preperation for the postseason and I'm sure the guys will be totally focused when they get to Memphis.
I'll get a link to the box score later and maybe even a photo, but I wanted to take a minute to just say how much I've enjoyed watching the Millsaps seniors play over the last few seasons. They all seem to be great guys and as a group they are really something special that will be hard to replaced. It appears to me that their immense talent on the baseball field is surpassed by their character and they represent their families and Millsaps in an outstanding manner. This might have been the last game I get to see them play for Millsaps but I hope that I will be keeping up with them all the way through to the World Series in Wisconsin. I couldn't think of a more deserving group.
(https://www.d3boards.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi8.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fa38%2FF_L_E%2FMisc%2520Photos%2FBlogger%2520Photos%2FIMG_8132Small.jpg&hash=313f332a44509a9b8bfc2ce40c435dcff46945fb)
The image is rather small but this photos is of the coaches and of the players who are probably playing their last season at Millsaps. The three coaches are Doug Fortenbery and Cody McCain on the far left and Head Coach Jim Page on the far right. In between on the back row you have Brent Buffa, Derrik Boland, Joe Blades, Taylor Jones, Justin Carter, Luke Morrow and Nicky Prather. Kneeling up front are Jason Hadley, John Pacillo and Nick Crawford.
Two other scores to add to the WOW factor...
HSU beat AC 6-4 in a 5 inning rain-shortened outing, then AC lost to McMurry 22-4 in the nightcap as the McMurry pitching committee gave up one earned run.
Maybe in fairness to Austin College it should be pointed out that they threw the bottom of the pitching staff against McMurry:
--Duplessis had 16 innings prior to last night
--Serhant who was pitching for the first time all year
--Reisig had a total of 3 innings all season
--Finke had thrown 11 innings.
I think the Austin coaches were willing to take a pounding last night rather than use any pitchers that might be needed this weekend since all these pitchers were seldom used and all were at the high end of the ERA list.
If traditions of baseball excellence were a sure predictor, Trinity would beat Rhodes this year. But I can't help but think that in 2007 Trinity is the 1965 Yankees and Rhodes is the 1969 Mets. Based on their traditions, no one could believe that the Yankees would lose or the Mets would win. But that's what happened.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 18, 2007, 09:18:02 AM
Maybe in fairness to Austin College it should be pointed out that they threw the bottom of the pitching staff against McMurry:
--Duplessis had 16 innings prior to last night
--Serhant who was pitching for the first time all year
--Reisig had a total of 3 innings all season
--Finke had thrown 11 innings.
I think the Austin coaches were willing to take a pounding last night rather than use any pitchers that might be needed this weekend since all these pitchers were seldom used and all were at the high end of the ERA list.
Frank, I think that that is a fair and accurate statement. McM's Hank Casey (ostensibly the #4 starter) picked up his first win of the season. Middle-reliever Dakota Smith may have had his best outing and Brent Voorhees got one inning of mid-week work.
Oglethorpe lost both games of the DH against Lagrange yesterday in their final tuneup for the SCAC Divisional. Like Austin they pitched some of the middle of the line guys... conceding the win to save their big guys arms. Center fielder Tim Ernst got the start in game 2 and was relieved by 3rd baseman JJ Rizzo.
The 2 losses bring their record to 10-30...
Tim Ernst pitched 3 shutout innings and JJ Rizzo only gave up 2 earned runs in his 2 innings--that's pretty good against a team like LaGrange. Maybe they should have been saving these two for the weekend. :)
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 19, 2007, 08:49:20 AM
Tim Ernst pitched 3 shutout innings and JJ Rizzo only gave up 2 earned runs in his 2 innings--that's pretty good against a team like LaGrange. Maybe they should have been saving these two for the weekend. :)
I would bet that if needed you will see one of them put in.
It is great to learn that the games will be broadcast live by Trinity. That is very nice of them to arrange, I am sure a great many of the parents that can not make it to Memphis will enjoy being able to listen on the web!
Lets hope for a great weekend of baseball and that all the games prove to be exciting to watch! :)
I'm not sure if we can say it enough times so I'll say it once again--the SCAC home office does a terrific job in providing timely information and going the extra mile. The site they have set up for the crossover games is just another example.
The link for the site is: http://www.scac-online.org/baseball_divisional07/index.htm
There are some really great previews of the series that will be played this weekend. AND BE SURE AND NOTICE THAT ALL THE GAMES ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY WILL BE WEBCAST. We have the folks from Trinity to thank for that. There is a link on the above mentioned site but here are direct links to the webcasts:
Link for Hi-Speed: http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu-sports.m3u
Link for dial up: http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu_sports-36kb.m3u
Thanks to those who are taking the time and making the effort to provide these webcast for the weekend.
Game times for Friday and Saturday (same time each day, central time):
Austin vs. Centre -- 11:00
Rhodes vs. Trinity -- 2:00
DePauw vs. Southwestern -- 5:00
Millsaps vs. Oglethorpe -- 8:00
Frank,
Your post about the Millsaps seniors made me think about how this cross divisional might be different for Trinity if some of their top talent had not left for DI programs, to be close to home or had been able to avoid injury.
Right now, Trinity has a former SCAC pitcher of the year, Brock Hewitt, completing his eligibility as a starter in
Conference USA, another(Chuck Huggins) who has moved up to the Friday night position with a Big West team and has wins over Pepperdine and UC Riverside(both nationally ranked), Ryan Cavan being a candidate for the Chapman MVP with Yacko, and Brian Oates hurt.
Boy, Trinity could be running a rotation of Brock Hewitt, Chuck Huggins and Oates backed by Bignall, Horn and the like.
With the players they have lost, it is a tribute to the team this year that folks consider them to be a solid opponent for a team as good as Rhodes. Who knows what kind of momentum they will bring from the TLU win? For me, it is hard when I imagine what "could have been." It also makes me proud that folks think this team, even in a down year, has a chance.
infielddad--Trusting my memory instead of looking up the stats, I think you also had 6 seniors on last year's team so that's about 10 guys that had to be replaced. Tuesday night when we wanted to get a photo of the Maloney Trophy and the seniors, it really was astounding to see just how much talent Millsaps will have to replace next year. I'm sure Coach Page has been recruiting and preparing for the day when this class leaves so I have faith in next year's team but there sure will be a lot of new faces at the field positions.
But that is a worry that can wait till next year. The Trinity wins to close out the Southwestern games (games that Southwestern really needed to win) and their win over TLU shows that they are focused on getting back to the NCAA Tournament the only way they possibly can, namely by winning the SCAC Tournament. I'll certainly be tuned in to tomorrow's game and I expect a good one.
The webcasting effort by Trinity will be anchored by SID Justin Parker, and Asst Josh Moczygemba,,, I'll be helping fill-in. We're glad they volunteered for this effort and hope to get decent listenership by the other seven SCAC teams at the tourney being hosted by Rhodes, and held at the USA Baseball complex in Millington, TN.
We are putting out the call to anybody willing to help either by taking a turn at the mic, or by contributing an interview, or donations to help defray their expenses (which are being jointly financed by TU AD Bob King and the Trinity Baseball parents). We're going to 'pass the hat' during each webcast to buy them some steak (or BBQ) dinners for their marathon efforts, and help pay for gas.
Historymajor, you folks at Trinity have done a fantastic job all season with your webcasts. I listened in when Hendrix traveled to San Antonio, and was taken aback by the professionalism and organization that went into the broadcasts...even if one got the impression that R.J. Thomas' parents named him "The Hendrix Coach." ;D
I would strongly encourage those who can't make it to Millington to give a listen to the Trinity webcast when applicable. I think you'll enjoy it. I'll be at the games for most of Saturday, and hopefully I'll be able to contribute a few bucks to the good folks doing the broadcasting.
Gus,
The parents of the players at Trinity are a fabulous group. They have worked tirelessly to do little things supporting the players and the program. When you think that very few are from San Antonio, it is amazing!!!
With Bob King extending himself and the resources available within the Athletic Department, combined with the SID, Justin Parker, this combination has done so much to make games available in real time.
Playing at the DIII level isn't easy. This group of parents help signficantly, and in a very unselfish ways. That they have contributed the resources to bring this first cross divisional to the internet isn't too surprising to me. On the other hand, your recognition, and the recognition of others, for those efforts is greatly appreciated, I am sure.
With what I hear about the La Grange Oglethorpe game,
Ernst only pitched 33 pitches in 3 innings
and
Rizzo only going two innings
They are going to be ready to come in if need be.
Only Greenfield, of the three main pitchers made an appearence.
Basically the La Grange was a pitching by committee much like Austin to prepare for this weekend, which is probably a good idea going up against the bats of Millsaps.
Is there any sentiment in the league or among the posters to permit mid-week work?
Stated another way, if a pitcher is scheduled to work every 7th day, does getting 25-30 pitches in the middle of that rest any benefit? Especially if it is an in-region game?
The way I understand it with Millsaps and I'm sure with virtually every other team, these pitchers are going to do a solid bullpen session in the middle of the week anyway so there isn't much difference if they are throwing hard in the bullpen or throwing hard in a real game.
When Millsaps played Belhaven Tuesday they started off with Tait Hendrix who didn't have a start in the Hendrix series and then Brent Buffa came in and threw about 4 innings. I'm sure it was Buffa's day to do bullpen work so they just let him do it in the game. Millsaps doesn't try to squeeze too many innings out of a weekend starter in mid-week but it isn't unusual to see them throw 2 or 3 innings. Brent probably threw a little extra because of the importance of the game.
I'd imagine that the old practice of giving guys some mid-week work has been affected by the new four-game conference format, at least for some clubs. Non-conference games, and the timing thereof, must be handled a bit more carefully than in years past, since teams are using a higher percentage of their top-teir pitchers on weekends.
Also, taking a page from the D-1 book, you don't see mid-week appearances very often. Vanderbilt's David Price can take the ball on a Friday and not step on the mound again until next Friday. I'd wager that a good portion of college coaches would rather their best guys get their mid-week throwing done in a controlled environment. Johnny Stud taking a line drive off the shin against Trinity? Acceptable. Johnny Stud taking a line drive off the shin against the Tulsa School of Welding? They're taking the name off the door to the pitching coach's office.
Plus, remember these are college arms. The younger kids are coming off high school schedules in which some of them pitched only once a week. It's probably better to gently nudge their arms into larger and larger workloads, rather than start working them twice weekly.
I don't know what high school schedules you have where you are, but a lot of high school pitchers throw a LOT.
I have absolutely no problem with a coach throwing his weekend guys for an inning or two during the week. I would go so far as to say it doesn't that much sense not to unless they're pitching on Sunday and then again on the next Friday or Saturday or something.
Spence;
Around here, it's not unusual for a team to play one or two conference games a week. In these parts, you don't want to put too much strain on the kids because, geez, they've got to be at their best for spring football. ::)
I've been pretty familiar with the prep baseball scene here, and incidents of kids being pitched like Kerry Wood are few and farther between. I'd imagine in other, larger states, it's different. But I wouldn't know for sure.
As for the mid-week debate, I'll reference the 80's hair-metal ballad that included the lyric "You don't know what you've got until it's gone." In this conference, having that one guy you can give the ball to and know that you'll be competitive is often the difference between playing in the post-season and going to Friday classes.
I'll bring up Rhodes, and note that their real push toward becoming a top-teir conference team coincided with the arrival of Robert Flanigan.
Obviously, that's not all there is to it. But unless you can fashion together a Millsaps-style murderer's row of hitters, you need a bona fide No. 1. That makes the odds a little bit more favorable for winning at least one conference game, and makes taking one out of the remaining three a less daunting proposition.
Looking at the way the standings played out this season, a team that pieces together 2-4 and even a few 1-3 weekends is going to be playing some post-season baseball.
Perhaps I'm a bit high-strung, but in no way would I want to take any chances with that No. 1 pitcher unless absolutely necessary. Now, are the chances of injury significantly higher in a game setting vs. a controlled setting? No. And just as many things can go wrong in practice. But the variables are greater in a game.
That may sound like small taters to some, but not others. Let's say you're one of those lower end programs that has a significant drop-off from their "ace" to their No. 4 guy. Your top guy may very well be the thread that's holding your conference tournament hopes together.
Again, I use the D-1 example. Often, programs will not take a chance with a marquee pitcher. Too many things can happen, and there are too many innings to be pitched in the post-season.
Flanagan getting lit up as we speak, but so is Bignall. 7-3 Rhodes in the 3rd.
I think the turnaround has coincided more closely with the arrival of the current coach.
Nice wins by Rhodes and Austin thus far today. Both games were 7 inning contests per the conference tourney run rule. Very interesting. I did not expect either of those games to conclude after 7. That's why baseball is great! You just never know!
Rhodes hammered around Trinity; Flanagan got hammered around early but settled down and ended up with a pretty respectable outing (4R, 2BB, 9K).
Kind of a break for Trinity that it ended in 7.
(El Tea Gray---re: SCAC Cross-Divisional Tournament and Double-Elimination Round)
Spence,
You are correct, but remember Trinity in this stretch of the season is playing their best baseball. After allowing 5 runs in the first inning the Tigers tried hard but could not recover on this day; Pandora's Box then just flew open. Ending in seven innings this afternoon will allow the Tigers to forget about this game early, and move on with winning the last two games just like they did in the Arizona Tournament earlier this season.
If (better when) they qualify, Trinity will win the Double-Elimination Round next weekend.
etg,
I love your optimism, but . . . you're kidding, right? Trinity lost to Rhodes 15-4 in seven and that's reason to think Trinity will go on to win the next two?
That reminds me of the story that Ronald Reagan used to tell about the birthday boy who stood beaming next to a large pile of manure. When a man happened by and asked him why he was so happy, the boy said, "Because there's got to be a pony around here somewhere!"
On to Flanagan. After being felled today in an early inning by a lined shot that hit him slightly south of the equator, Flanagan stood back up and pitched one-hit, no-walk, shutout ball the rest of the way. Needless to say, his teammates drew all sorts of conclusions about how to him and other motivate pitchers in the future.
Oops--"how to motivate him and other pitchers" is how the last line of that psot was supposed to read.
Quote from: Doc Nelson on April 20, 2007, 07:25:15 PM
Oops--"how to motivate him and other pitchers" is how the last line of that psot was supposed to read.
Still hilarious both times.
After the struggles of the Trinity pitching staff this afternoon, I wonder if they will regret that mid-week win and having to use 9 innings of pitching? I know it doesn't sound like much but injuries and transfers have left the pitching staff awfully thin and it sounds like it is going to be hard to come up with enough pitching to win 2 straight against Rhodes.
And just in case they are checking the board, you guys on the Trinity webcast are doing a great job. I heard the first two games but had to miss the SW-DePauw webcast.
One tidbit about the game tonight is that Jason Hadley of Millsaps is one hit short of tieing the Millsaps record for most hits in a career. So two hits this weekend will give him the Millsaps record at 229 hits, quite an accomplishment considering the number of hitting stars that Millsaps has had over the years. He has already demolished the school record for most runs in a career.
Millsaps College 1st - Nick Crawfor grounded out to ss. Jason Hadley doubled to left center. Justin Carte reached on an error by 3b, advanced to second on an error by lf, advanced to third on a throwing error by lf; Jason Hadley advanced to third on an error by 3b, scored on an error by lf, unearned. Hunter Owen tripled to center field; Justin Carte scored, unearned. Hunter Abram doubled down the lf line, RBI; Hunter Owen scored, unearned. John Pacillo struck out. Luke Morrow walked. Derrik Bolan flied out to cf. 3 runs, 3 hits, 3 errors, 2 LOB.
Unless the error was on a play to get Hadley out, this is wrong. Out, 2B, out, 3B, 2B. Should be 2 earned.
Millsaps gets a solid 12-1, 10-run-rule win over Oglethorpe tonight. The only run-rule of the day that I was expecting was the nightcap between Millsaps and Oglethorpe.
Anybody think that the cross divisional will be over tomorrow? If today is any indication, tomorrow may be all she wrote.
A DePauw win wouldn't surprise me. The others i think may be over.
I do not think Trinity has any regets about the use of thier pitching staff on Tuesday for the BIG win over TLU. Some Trinity players think the TLU games are a couple of the biggest games they play all year. With that being said, tomorrow brings about a whole new world to all of the players from Trinity. The seniors on this team have always been a part of a team which is accustomed to winning. I believe they will come out tomorrow and show the leadership they can bring to this team. If and when they take game two, I have to agree with ETG that they will have a great shot at game three with the momentum.
I'm with you BigJim,,, never say die! ETG got it right!
ETG and historymajor may turn out to be right--we'll know soon enough. But as I read their arguments I'm reminded of a note that Huey Long reportedly scribbled in the margin of one of his speeches: "Weak point. Holler louder!"
Man you're full of great lines, Doc! :)
A Huey Long quote on the SCAC message board--I think that's a first.
My guess is that Trinity will need to hold Rhodes to 5 runs or less this afternoon if they want to play on Sunday. Certainly they are capable of that but are they likely of doing that? I guess that's the $64,000 question.
I do know that Evan Bronson held Millsaps to 2 runs in 9 innings so he is capable of shutting down a good lineup. Zack Bukowski is someone who hasn't pitched much but he has interesting numbers with a 0.64 ERA and holding opposing teams to .218 at the plate. Whoever it is, I think that Trinity only gets to Sunday if someone comes up with a truly outstanding performance on the mound today.
I looked at Bukowski but it looks like he's played against people that just about anyone on their staff could beat.
Bronson's got nice numbers.
Evan Bronson pitches a 3 hitter and Trinity wins 9-0. Vera gets them going with a 2 run homer and freshman Evan Jones does the same. Quality production up and down the lineup.
Tomorrow should be a lot of fun. The Trinity seniors have been in these situations since winning the SCAC's their freshman year. Vera came up huge in the 2004 championship game and I would not be surprised to see him do the same tomorrow.
One of those two teams has huge expectations and an entire season riding on tomorrow and one has nothing to lose. That seems like an interesting matchup. BTW, Trinity has more pitching...like the guys who combined to beat TLU on Tuesday.
Hats off to Trinity for a splendid 9-0 victory today. Evan Bronson pitched superbly, with able backup from his teammates at bat and on the field. Maybe I should have realized before I quoted them that Ronald Reagan and even Huey Long were right a good bit of the time!
That said, Rhodes has a stronger pitcher in Chris Catalanotto (5-1, 2.54 ERA) than anyone Trinity can field for Game 3. Also, Rhodes's pattern this year has been to follow bad days--and there have been a few, even in a 34-8 season--with good ones. Poise and resilience have been this team's watchwords all year.
What an interesting first half of Day 2. Congratulations to Centre and Trinity for stepping up the pitching and heating up the bats to even those series after losing the first day by double-digits. It should be interesting tomorrow and I can't see where there is any way to call a favorite in those two games.
I'm curious what everyone else thinks about Rhodes getting an NCAA at-large bid. Keeping in mind that they did beat #10 Washington and #3 Emory last weekend, do you think they have done enough to get an at-large bid if they lose tomorrow or will a lose tomorrow end their season?
Can I piggy back onto Frank's question and ask how the process for issuing at-large bids works? I'm thinking of basic questions like who makes the call, how many slots are there, whether bids can only be in one's region, etc.
Rhodes has a stronger pitcher in Chris Catalanotto (5-1, 2.54 ERA) than anyone Trinity can field for Game 3.
Doc, I am not sure that Chris' record in any way reflects he is "better/stronger" than anyone Trinity can pitch. But I would hope Rhodes heads into the game thinking that way. Coach Scannell coaches for the end of the season. He has guys with a lot more innings and experience than Rhodes, especially if Trinity gets to Catalanatto early.
Let me tell you a little story about Coach Scannell. In 2004, in the final game of the West Regional, he started a freshman against Scott Hyde/George Fox. That freshman had pitched in some very tough situations but his "stats" weren't all that eye catching. That freshman went 5 innings and gave Trinity a chance to win. The next year, that kid was the SCAC pitcher of the year. The moral is don't think Trinity doesn't have some good arms, like the guys who beat TLU.
Frank, I would be absolutely shocked if Rhodes gets an at large if they lose tomorrow. I realize Trinity and Millsaps have given the conference good showings in the regionals and improved the way the conference is perceived. But losing 2-3 to a Trinity team having a very off season, not making the conference tournament and winning the weaker SCAC division won't do it unless the South is very weak. By analogy, in 2003, Trinity enterred the tournament ranked in the top 20 after playing a very rugged schedule. If I remember right, they broke TLU's 35 game win streak and knocked them out of the #1 slot in all of DIII. Trinity ended up about 32-10 and that ended their season. If Rhodes loses tomorrow, despite having Doc's stated "edge" in the pitching, I think they start working on next year.
Quote from: Doc Nelson on April 21, 2007, 06:38:48 PM
That said, Rhodes has a stronger pitcher in Chris Catalanotto (5-1, 2.54 ERA) than anyone Trinity can field for Game 3. Also, Rhodes's pattern this year has been to follow bad days--and there have been a few, even in a 34-8 season--with good ones. Poise and resilience have been this team's watchwords all year.
I'm not sure that I agree with this statement. Catalanotto pitched well against Wash U. but seemed vulnerable against conference opponents Olgethorpe and Depauw.
All this talk about Trinity's pitching staff not having enough depth is pretty far from the truth in my opinion. It's their sticks that are the weaker of the two. (Despite hitting Holt pretty well) With the exception of Nick Vera, they don't have any premiere guys at the plate. They're hitting .288 as team this year. Most solid playoff contenders are well into the .300s.
I feel like Trinity will go with Britton Horn whose stats my show him as vulernable (3-2, 4.75, .304 against), but he's a good pitcher and they have plenty others in that pen that can toss if they need to. Michael Hunter (.244 against, 25 BBs, 31 Ks in 23.2 IP). throws it in there pretty well also. The problem is both guys HAVE to throw strikes to succeed. I agree with Spence that Bukowski (0.64, .218 against) hasn't throw against great competition all year, but he could see some work out of the pen. Finally, Ryan Poffenroth (3.79, 2.58 against) will see some time on the bump as well.
IF Bobby Zabor can fire them up, and Nick Vera can put them on his back for another game, I think this Trinity team has a chance.
After Catalanotto who does Rhodes have they can trust in a game like this? Gertz? Mueller? Simmons? I agree that maybe Catalanotto matches up better than Horn or others in terms of SP and numbers thus far this year, but I think Trinity has more depth if either team can get in each others' respective pens.
Just my 2 cents, and I'm no SCAC afficionado.
Good luck to both teams.
Southwestern just eliminated DePauw form the tourney with a bottom of the ninth tie-breaking run, 8-7.
So they will indeed 'host' the SCAC finals in Georgetown next weekend.
Congrats to Coach Shelton and all the SW players and fans.
Rule #1 of pitching use on an elimination/championship day: Everyone is available.
Rule #2: See rule #1.
If Catanalotto can get them through the first 5-6, I wouldn't be surprised to see a big lefthander come in to try to finish it. Trinity definitely has more options though.
Millsaps advances to the SCAC championships with an 8-7 win over Oglethorpe tonight. The Stormy Petrels charted a furious comeback in the late innings, but Millsaps pushed across the winning run in the top of the ninth.
Congratulations to Millsaps and Southwestern for advancing. Good luck to Rhodes/Trinity and Centre/Austin on Sunday. I expect two great ballgames.
Many to thanks to the dynamic duo of TrinitySID and SCACSID for giving us the play-by-play.
Let me add to consultant's post a congratulations to the team from OU for the hard fought effort this evening. While they didn't come out with a victory, they certainly showed a lot of heart with the big comeback in the 8th.
In hindsight, maybe Millsaps left Buffa in too long but he was pitching well, he is a senior and he is a competitor, plus Coach Page is extremely loyal to his players and I'm sure he wanted to see Buffa get a complete game. It was good to see Bobby Osburn come in and pitch well to close the game just as he did Tuesday when Millsaps got their big win over Belhaven.
One other thing I'd like to point out. OU walked 9 batters and hit 3 more during the game to give Millsaps 12 base runners during the game. Some people may think that is just poor pitching and that OU "gave the game away" but I think the Millsaps hitters deserve a lot of credit for being patient and taking the walks instead of going after bad pitches. You can throw them strikes and let them hit or pitch carefully and put a lot of runners on with walks--the way they can swing the bats it's not such a bad plan to keep the ball out of the strike zone.
Kind of surprised Scannell went with Bukowski over the more experienced Britton Horn despite his struggles with control of late. I guess he didn't want to have a few early walks and dig a hole he couldn't get out of. Poffenroth has been used in a TON of games this year. I wonder how long he can go. Catalanotto is throwing quite well.
EDIT: It's not over yet, but Catalanotto has pitched a gem, seemingly better than Rhodes #1 & #2 and TU can't get the bats going with the exception to Vera. Score is 5-1 in the bottom of the 7th.
Anyone listening live? How did Vera not score on the double play ball that Welch hit to 2nd. Like I said before, I thought that Trinity was going to be doomed at the plate, as they have been all year.
If Austin were to beat Centre today, with Millsaps and Rhodes advancing as 1 seeds, how would they determine who would play the 2 seed Austin vs. the 3 seed Southwestern?
I think Vera did score on the double play ball and the final score was 5-2 instead of the 5-1 shown by live stat. The announcers said the runner scored and Rhodes was probably glad to give up the run for the two outs. Then in the top of the 9th they said that Trinity needed 3 runs.
Congratulations to Rhodes on getting to the SCAC Tournament. One thing that both Millsaps and Rhodes would do well to remember is that it is a 4-team tournament with all teams capable of beating all of the other teams (regardless of which team gets that 4th spot). One interesting factor is that I would think that the SCAC is in good shape to get 2 teams in the NCAA Tournament--the tournament winner and one at-large. I don't know who will get left out if the tournament winner isn't Rhodes or Millsaps--that might be determined by the results next week.
Spence, this is just my guess. I would imagine that the brackets were already set up prior to this weekend based on the seeds from regular season play. My guess would be that the SCAC Tournament would be:
Winner of 1W vs. 4E plays Winner of 2E vs. 3W
Winner of 1E vs 4W plays Winner of 2W vs 3E
If that's the case, then it would be Millsaps vs. Southwestern and Rhodes vs. the winner of today's game between Austin and Centre. While this makes sense to me, the SCAC Tournament website says that the #1 seed plays the #4 seed Friday at 1:00 and the #2 seed plays the #3 seed at 4:30 which doesn't make my guess look very good.
The only problem with the tournament bracket is how do you determine the seeds? How can you pick a #1 and #2 seed between Millsaps and Rhodes?
Exactly. The only way I can think of would be conference record, but there are obvious problems with that as well.
It's the wording on the site that has me wondering.
Spence, here's another potential answer. Dwayne Hanberry is helping with the webcast of the Austin-Centre game (Austin up 7-0 in the bottom of the 4th). He didn't go into great detail on the seeding but he said that they would get the seedings done and posted tomorrow. I heard something about a conference call with the coaches so maybe they reseed the teams based on the opinion of the SCAC coaches.
If things stay as they are in this last game, I think the only advantage of being the 1st seed is playing the first game on Friday and therefore getting a little more rest for the next game but that's a minor advantage. Austin finished 9-6 in the SCAC and Southwestern finished 9-7 with Southwestern winning the head-to-head 3 games to 1.
Well, Southwestern's at home. I think that would be the biggest difference. I really was just curious though. I actually thought about seeding it but figured they wouldn't do that. Would love to be a fly on the wall when *that* is going on lol...Rhodes has a better record and a win over Millsaps, but probably most would say they've played an inferior schedule. That coudl get to be an interesting discussion lol.
How many of those who post on the SCAC board knew how to spell Catalanotto at the start of the season, or even at the modway point of the season. ChrisCat (and remember, he's Rhodes's No. 3 pitcher) shut down a fine Trinity team on four hits today, adding another complete game to his earlier nine-inning effort against Centre. His best pitch is the ground ball to shortstop John Robert Bizzell, who had eight assists and four putouts today.
A couple other things bear mentioning that LiveStat isn't able to capture. One is how thoroughly Drew Hubbard and Richard Hurd owned every inch of USA Stadium's expansive center and left fields today. The other is how good the Lynx are at hitting the ball to the opposite field. One would never guess from a scattergram of Rhodes' hits that there's not a single lefthanded hitter in the lineup.
Austin College Roos capture the 4th qualifying spot for next weekend's show-down in Georgetown, TX. They run-ruled Centre 12-2.... A fine pitching complete game from Clint Rushing....
Millsaps
Rhodes
Southwestern
Austin
I guess it's going to be Millsaps v. Austin (#1 seed v. #4 seed) at 1:00 on Friday and Rhodes v. Southwestern (#2 seed v. #3 seed) at 4:30, although there's certainly an argument to be made for seeding Rhodes No. 1, given their 35-8 record and their victory over Millsaps in the one game the two teams played.
Seeding TBD according to SCAC Assoc Commissioner Dwayne Hanberry..... stay tuned
Quote from: Doc Nelson on April 22, 2007, 06:08:12 PM
I guess it's going to be Millsaps v. Austin (#1 seed v. #4 seed) at 1:00 on Friday and Rhodes v. Southwestern (#2 seed v. #3 seed) at 4:30, although there's certainly an argument to be made for seeding Rhodes No. 1, given their 35-8 record and their victory over Millsaps in the one game the two teams played.
As I mentioned earlier, I don't think the seeding really matters. Millsaps split the series with Austin 2-2 at home and beat Southwestern 3-1 on the road but that's old news now. Austin finished a half game ahead of Southwestern by virture of one less loss but Southwestern took 3 of 4 from Austin.
The real key will be how much pitching do you have if you happen to lose a game? You can win the tournament with 3 straight wins, otherwise you have to win 4 out of 5 (someone may want to double check me on this). The first round losers have to come back and win 2 games on Saturday and then win 2 games on Sunday. The loser of the winner's bracket final has a tougher road--they have to come back with less rest and win their second game on Saturday and then win a doubleheader on Sunday.
To be honest, the SCAC needs to change the schedule that is currently listed. The winner's bracket final should be the first game played on Saturday so the loser of that game gets more rest than the team that wins the loser's bracket game. Not that it makes too much difference--lose in the first round and you play 4 more games in about 28 hours or lose in the second round and you end up with 4 games in about 25 hours. I'm glad that Millsaps has 5 solid starting pitchers but I hope they find a way to win 3 straight. I'm also glad that they probably have done enough to get an at-large bid because winning this tournament is far from a given for any of the four teams.
An interesting tidbit for Rhodes and Millsaps fans. Both of those teams beat Illinois Wesleyan back in March and Illinois Wesleyan is now leading their conference with a 15-0 record (22-8 overall). IW just won 3 straight games this weekend from #26 Carthage.
I don't think it helps improve the all important South Region ranking for Rhodes or Millsaps but it is nice to beat a team and then see them go on to win their conference.
Another tidbit while waiting on the seedings. On April 11th Millsaps won a road game at Louisiana College by a 20-4 score. This past weekend UT-Tyler took their 35-0 record to Louisiana College and lost 9-2 in the first game of the weekend series. UT-Tyler did come back and win the final 2 games 6-3 and 1-0 to complete a 37-1 season.
Admittedly LC used a pitch by committe against Millsaps but it is still something to wonder about when a team can lose by 16 and then turn around 10 days later and convincingly beat a UT-Tyler team that is supposedly one of the top 2 or 3 teams in D3 (they are in their last provisional year and therefore ineligible for the NCAA Tournament).
That LC vs. UT-Tyler series is just the latest in a long littany of examples of how the game of baseball works. For all intents and purposes, on any given day, any team can beat another team. That is why multiple game series help decide the pecking order in baseball.
Looking back 37 and 38 games ago, the day before Rhodes defeated Millsaps, Rhodes lost to Hendrix. Pit Hendrix and Rhodes together right now. Rhodes wins the series for sure.
I submit that the cross over this past weekend led to the SCAC having its best four baseball teams slugging it out for conference supremacy. The better teams won the their respective series. This weekend should be exciting.
as promised on broadcast yesterday, seeding for SCAC Baseball Championships now posted on SCAC website.
And after my debut on the Austin/Centre game yesterday, I have a newfound respect for people who do play-by-play for a living. :)
The seedings are out:
#1 Rhodes vs. # 4 Southwestern
#2 Millsaps vs. # 3 Austin College
A coin flip determined the #1 seed. I suppose that the conference will have to follow this method of determining # 1 seeds for the conference tournament if the top seed from the west and the top seed from the east make the SCAC championships. Moreover, seedings in general may call for coin flips in the future. Imagine the scenario of the # 3 and #4 seeds out of the east and west advancing to the tourney.
I looked at the Rhodes schedule and it looks like they had 22 games against teams that Millsaps also played (I may be off a little--I ran out of fingers and toes). My guess is that if you compared how Rhodes and Millsaps did against common opponents you would have no definitive answer on which should be seeded higher.
That being said, it would be a real mistake for anyone to overlook Austin and Southwestern. There will be no easy games in this tournament and I'll be surprised if any game is stopped early because of the 10 run rule.
Rhodes kind of wins, yet loses here. They get the 1 seed, but have to play the home team.
I have to admit, I'm rooting for the underdog here. I'd love to see how a team like Rhodes can do in regionals.
The SCAC tourney was by geographic designation.
Georgetown would have hosted if they had not made the tourney.
I know...just saying it's kind of a tough break to get the 1 seed, which is bizzarro.
Now that the seedings have been set, I still have a problem with the Saturday schedule.
At noon the losers of the Friday games play. The winner of that game gets to eat a meal, get reorganized and refocused, get some rest, and scout the 3:30 game which will provide their next opponent.
At 3:30 the Friday winners play. One of those teams will lose and they will have to turn around and play an elimination game at 7:00. It seems like the team that wins at noon has a scheduling advantage over the team that wins on Friday and then loses at 3:30.
To me, it seems like the teams that win on Friday earn the right to a schedule advantage rather than a schedule disadvantage. Certainly every team wants to win 3 straight and win the crown, but for the 3 teams that go to the loser's bracket it is better to be the teams that lose early--that doesn't seem right to me.
Am I wrong here or should it be that the first game on noon is between the two teams that won on Friday?
Frank, even in the 'old format', the #1 seed was 'in the driver's seat', and it was a tough challenge to unseat/seed them. This time Rhodes draws #1 and their three deep staff may be tough to beat, but if Millsaps takes care of business, the Majors are still my pick.
Actually, I don't think the seeding between #1 and #2 matters in this tournament--I couldn't pick between Austin or Southwestern as to which I would prefer to play in the first round. As someone has pointed out already, maybe Southwestern is the tougher draw because they are at home. I think the tougher draw is the team that has the best #1 starter but I don't know if that would be Austin or SW.
My point about the schedule has nothing to do with the seeding. If Austin and Southwestern win on the first day then the loser of the Austin-SW game on the second day will be at a scheduling disadvantage timewise when they play at 7:00 Saturday evening.
No doubt that a team that gets 3 good starting performances could sweep through to the crown and Rhodes has 3 good starters. Of course, Millsaps has 3 starters with a 7-1 record (Bogue, Ingram, and Hollenbeck) and Brent Buffa is at 6-2 with a 2.09 ERA. Backing them up is Tait Hendrix who has really pitched well of late, including the win against NAIA #11 Belhaven. I hope Millsaps doesn't get in the loser's bracket but they certainly have the starting pitching it would take to win 4 of 5 games.
I'm new to the board, a northeast dad with a son on the Rhodes baseball team. The latest D3 rankings are out --- Millsaps 15, Rhodes 25 -- and it seems respect for the SCAC is begruding at best. I live in the snow belt and I don't believe the quality of D3 baseball up here is comparable to what I've seen in teh SCAC. Also Rhodes has more wins -- 35 --than any school on the list. They've had a great year with more quality games to come.
Frank,
You're right. That's pretty unusual. Usually the first game of the day would be W1 vs. W2, then L1 vs. L2. Course you might say that not making a winner come back early the next day is helping them as well.
Friends,
Please check out my new web site-still a work in progress, but a start.
Here's the link: http://seriousplaythebook.com
Doc, I look forward to reading your reports from the tournament and good luck with the book.
I don't know if there will be any webcast from the tournament like the Trinity folks so kindly provided last weekend, but the Millsaps games from here through the end of the season are all scheduled to be broadcast on 1240 AM in the metro Jackson area and webcast at:
http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
Ther first game for Millsaps will be this Friday at 4:30 vs. Austin College. I imagine that the broadcast will start at about 4:15 or 4:20 with a pregame show.
Maybe I'm the only one who will find this interesting. Earlier in the year I had a post prior to Millsaps playing Belhaven College, a local NAIA school. I said they might be the toughest team on the Millsaps schedule and I still think that is a valid statement.
Millsaps, now ranked #15 in the D3 polls, won 2 out of 3 from Belhaven. Belhaven, now ranked #9 in the NAIA polls, beat Delta State last night to complete a home and away sweep for the season. Delta State came into the game with a 15-game winning streak and a #11 ranking in the D2 polls.
I know that comparing scores like this and coming to conclusions is bad science (see http://www.cfbanalyzer.com/index.html ), but I do think it is some indication of the quality of the teams that are at the higher level in the SCAC.
The latest ABCA poll came out and didn't spark much interest. Millsaps moved from 22nd to 15th after going 8-0 between the poll dates. Rhodes moved from 30th to 25th after going 5-4 between the poll dates.
I think we all know that the ABCA poll has results that will leave you scratching your head. I thought it was interesting that Washington went 2-3 between the polls and only fell from 10th to 13th. Those losses were to DePauw, Rhodes and Emory but still, that's not much of a fall for a losing stretch.
Even more interesting is that Emory only fell from 3rd to 4th while going 4-3 over the two weeks. I looked to see who they lost to and saw that one of the losses was them getting hammered 18-13 by Huntingdon. Okay, maybe it was a pitch by committee deal on the road that Huntingdon took advantage of so I check and it turns out that the Emory ace Jason Glushon was the starting pitcher and he took his first loss of the year, yielding 13 hits, 10 runs (8 earned) in 5 innings and it was a home game for Emory (http://www.go.emory.edu/Statistics/Current/Base/eu36.htm).
Huntingdon is 25-14 at the moment but that record includes 2-6 against SCAC teams (0-2 vs Millsaps and Rhodes and 2-2 with OU). Millsaps beat them by a combined score of 37-6 which makes a Huntingdon win over Glushon and Emory a truly surprising result. (For the record, Glushon gave up 4 hits and 1 run in 8 innings when Emory defeated Millsaps.)
(I coming back to this post because I was looking at the Emory schedule after Emory was ranked #1 in the South and Millsaps was unranked. Emory lost both of thier games to Huntingdon, a team that went 0-4 against the better teams in the SCAC. Something seems a little off with this picture.)
Looks like Millsaps needs to win the SCAC Tournament--they are not ranked in the South Region. Rhodes is 5th in the South. Here's the link: http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/polls/diviii
Regarding the NCAA rankings -- that's ridiculous that Millsaps is not ranked in the South region. They will have to win the tournament to get a bid. The NCAA selection committee will not go outside the rankings to put a team in.
Although not as suspect as the Millsaps snub, Wooster is second in the mideast behind Otterbein. Not sure I get that one either.
Otterbein won at Wooster with Wooster throwing one of their top guys and Otterbein throwing a 3-4 guy with conference games this weekend. That game wasn't counted in the stats on the site, but might have been taken into consideration this morning.
Wooster's played a horrible schedule, a lot of teams could have 28-30 wins against what they've played considering their conference is so easy they can have their top guys go against your down the line guys as they have the last two weeks.
Otterbein should absolutely be ahead of Wooster.
Spence,
Perhaps you have clarified the Otterbein/Wooster rankings. Thanks.
Don't get me wrong, I was surprised to see it. But I think it's absolutely right.
I thought some might want a direct link to the SCAC Baseball Tournament page:
http://southwesternpirates.cstv.com/ot/07-spring-sports-festival-basebl.html
There will be Gametracker available for all the games and the Millsaps games will be broadcast/webcast. You can get the info for these at the above site. The schedule today is:
1:00 Central time--Rhodes vs. Southwestern
4:30 -- Millsaps vs. Austin
One other link of interest is the blog being kept by Mike Nelson as he travels with the Rhodes baseball team and prepares to write a book on their 2008 season. He has an entry today about the team's travel and arrival at Georgetown and I think most D3 baseball fans will enjoy and can relate to his posts:
Blog link: http://seriousplaythebook.com/
Hopefully Game tracker will work for the balance of the tournament. Right now Rhodes has played two innings vs. SWest and Game Tracker is not working. No way for us out of towners to follow SCAC action this weekend without it.
Just spoke to Jeff Sutton, the SID at Southwestern, and he told me that the campus' wireless is down....they've got IT trying to fix it....
I apologize for the problem with the live stats...hopefully, it will be up soon.
Any chance that we could get a score while waiting on Game Tracker?
While sitting here wondering if the lack of a score being posted means that Southwestern is winning (we have Rhodes fans on the board but no Southwestern fans), I'll mention that Millsaps defeated Rhodes in softball 8-4 in the first round.
Also, a reminder that the Millsaps games are scheduled to be webcast so you should be able to follow that game even if Game Tracker is down. That game starts at 4:30 and the link is: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
That theory was wrong. Gametracker is up and Rhodes is also up by an 8-2 score after 4 innings. Flanagan pitching for Rhodes and Morrison for SW. No surprise--interesting note: as of 4/22, Flanagan lead the nation in innings pitched with 91.7 and Morrison was in the top 10 with 82.7 (I'm taking this from the list of pitchers with 6 wins or more). The only other SCAC pitcher in the top 10 is Holt with 85.3 innings.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 27, 2007, 03:58:41 PM
That theory was wrong. Gametracker is up and Rhodes is also up by an 8-2 score after 4 innings. Flanagan pitching for Rhodes and Morrison for SW. No surprise--interesting note: as of 4/22, Flanagan lead the nation in innings pitched with 91.7 and Morrison was in the top 10 with 82.7 (I'm taking this from the list of pitchers with 6 wins or more). The only other SCAC pitcher in the top 10 is Holt with 85.3 innings.
Wasn't that Flanagan and Holt... ;)
Please don't get that bad poetry started again. :)
Rhodes held on to win 8-6. Morrison went the 8 innings for SW and Flanagan went 6, giving up 5 runs, 9 hits and 7 walks. Simmons came in and cooled off the SW run scoring for the last 3 innings.
That game ended around 3:50 so I'm guessing the start of the Millsaps-Austin game will be pushed back just a little.
Great thanks to Frank Ezelle for the plug of http:// seriousplaythebook.com. I just posted another entry (also slightly off beat) from Georgetown but continue to read the SCAC message board avidly.
A request to those of you who visit http://seriousplaythebook.com now and then--please feel free to use the comment function to give me your reactions.
Austin College 14 - Millsaps 5
WP: Chermak 7.1 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 4 Ks
LP: Bogue 3.1 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 K
Millsaps:
2B Nick Crawford 2-3, 2 R
SS Justin Carte 2-5, 1 R, 2 RBI
RF Hunter Own 3-3, 2 RBI
Austin College:
2B Finke 4-5, 4 RBI
C Ray 2-5, 3 R, 2 RBI
DH Means 3-4, 2 R
Wow! Way to go Roos! Throwing the Majors into the loser's bracket early makes the tourney more interesting! :)
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 27, 2007, 05:01:08 PM
Please don't get that bad poetry started again. :)
Rhodes held on to win 8-6. Morrison went the 8 innings for SW and Flanagan went 6, giving up 5 runs, 9 hits and 7 walks. Simmons came in and cooled off the SW run scoring for the last 3 innings.
That game ended around 3:50 so I'm guessing the start of the Millsaps-Austin game will be pushed back just a little.
According to the box score here, Flanagan went 6 innings, 2 runs, 8 hits, 5K's and 5 BB's.
Your stats are wrong.
Congrats to Rhodes winning, and I was schocked to see that Millsaps lost, but thats baseball for you, Austin killed the ball it looks like.
I appreciate the update on Flanigan's stats because I would never have gone back and looked. I was just going by the stats on Game Tracker and they had Flanigan for the numbers I posted--when you look at the final stats you can see that Game Tracker had Jeff Mueller's stats added in with Flanigan's at one point in time.
As you can tell from my post saying that Flanigan was relieved by Simmons, Game Tracker wasn't even showing that Jeff Mueller came into the game when I was looking at the stats. Thanks for pointing out that correction.
As for the Millsaps game, you have to start off with a huge congratulations to Austin. I don't think it should have come as a big surprise that Austin won considering that the teams split in the regular season and I don't think it was a surprise that the Rhodes and Southwestern game was a close game. These are 4 very good teams despite the record of Austin and SW. Keep in mind that Trinity finished 4th in the SCAC West and yet they beat #8 Texas Lutheran last week and extended Rhodes to a 3rd game at the crossover.
For Millsaps the task is simple--they need to win a Saturday DH. That's all they need to do today and they don't need to look ahead to Sunday. We knew coming into the weekend that 3 of the 4 teams would eventually find themselves in the spot where they would have to go 4-1 to win the championship. We also knew that if you were going to lose on Friday or Saturday, it was better to lose on Friday so at least that's a silver lining. Millsaps has had time to get regrouped, they play at noon in a tough game with SW, and then hopefully they play again at 7. That 7 o'clock opponent will be a team that just lost and is hopefully still a little down.
I'm sure Millsaps will start Brent Buffa at 12 and that leaves Brandon Ingram and Tait Hendrix as available starters if Millsaps continues winning. If they get to a 5th game then Jay Hollenbeck will probably start even though he pitched some yesterday.
The road to the championship was tough prior to game one and now it is tougher but not impossible. I certainly think Millsaps is capable of winning two today and if that happens then I think they can win the first game tomorrow. If they can win that game then the momentum of a 3-game winning streak might help carry them to a championship. I do think they have the pitching to get through 5 games and I think they have the hitting that will take advantage of the lower half of another team's pitching staff.
I anticipate a day with 3 tough games and no surefire favorite in any of them.
I thought I'd find more than myself on the board today. Millsaps got behind early and battled back all day to take a nail biting 12-10 victory over Southwestern. It was 6-6 going into the 9th and Millsaps scored 6 and Southwestern came back with 4 and I think they had the winning run at the plate. In an interesting note, Brent Buffa pitched into the 9th and Brandon Ingram came in to get the save--Ingram will come back and start the night game.
I remember reading the quote that "the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little bit extra". Today and yesterday Millsaps and Rhodes had that little bit extra over Southwestern but I would hardly call the Southwestern team ordinary. They really played well down the stretch and it just shows the competitiveness of this tournament that they were the team that went 2 and out.
Here's a link to the Millsaps vs. SW boxscore: http://southwesternpirates.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/stats/2006-2007/mcsu0428.html
Rhodes is batting in the top of the 6th with a 4-2 lead over Austin. Who ever loses this game will have about an hour to get over the loss and face a Millsaps team that is probably going to play better than they played in the first two games. As I've said before, I think the first round losers catch a break over the championship bracket loser which doesn't seem right but that's not my call and I'm glad Millsaps will now have that advantage.
Frank, your comment on the game 5 composition, championship bracket loser versus loser's bracket winner prompts this question.
Would you recommend this format?
Day #1 (Friday?)
Game #1 A vs. B A wins.
Game #2 C vs. D C wins.
Next day
Consolation game #1 (Game #3) B vs. D B wins; D eliminated
Winner's Bracket #1 (Game #4) A vs. C; A wins; C to losers bracket.
Consolation Game #2 (Game #5) B vs. C.
Let's go back to Friday night and pose an alternative. As Team C, do you want to play Game #3 as a winner's bracket game at 11 am versus team A, or do you want to have the loser's bracket game precede you and then play the winner's bracket game starting about 2:30 pm?
If you win the Winner's bracket game at 11 am, then the next game is on Day 3. :)
All I would have done is flip-flopped the 1st and 2nd game today. The games on Friday were afternoon games so everyone can play, get a meal and get enough rest.
I would have the winner's play the first game as a reward for winning in the first round. It doesn't make much difference to the team that wins the winner's bracket game on Saturday, but the team that loses the winner's bracket game is going to need to regroup for an elimination game. Shouldn't the first round winner get longer to regroup than a team that lost in the first round?
Millsaps will have about a 4 hour break to come down from their first game and prepare for the evening game. Austin and Rhodes are in the bottom of the 8th in an 8-8 game. One of those teams is going to lose a heartbreaker and they will have one hour to get refocused and play an elimination game. It's a case of a team (in this case Millsaps) getting a better draw because they lost right away instead of losing in the second round.
I'm heading out from the office and I don't have internet at home so I'll leave it with you Ralph. I won't bother me any if the Millsaps radio broadcast doesn't start till about 9 because Rhodes and Austin get hooked up in a long, long extra inning game. :) :) :)
One last thing (I swear) regarding the Game Tracker. Yesterday they had the stats on Flanagan wrong during the game. Just now they showed the score as 8-8 with Austin batting in the bottom of the 8th. All of a sudden the 2 runs showing for Austin in the 7th changes to 3 runs in the 7th, so apparently they were leading instead of tied going into the 8th. Is Game Tracker always this bad--it makes it hard to trust what is being posted.
For the record I think it is Austin up 10-8 with Rhodes coming to bat in the top of the 9th.
Hey Frank... I wish I was doing the webcast!
Austin College 10 - Rhodes 8
WP: Stevens (who as far as I can tell is their #4)
They'll have who I feel like is their #1 Rushing, and possibly the #3 Frost relatively fresh for Sunday's championship game(s).
The most impressive thing about this Roos team is they've done all of this without stud 1B Bobby Schleizer.. hats off to them and it should be a good game between them and Millsaps/Rhodes.
If Rhodes comes back (they're down 4-0 in the 4th) I don't know that they'll have much pitching left. Millsaps on the other hand will have Jay Hollenbeck (7-1, 3.91, .215 against) Tait Hendrix, Bobby Osbourn and even 1st game starter Travis Bogue available for innings.
IF Millsaps wins tonight, they could take both games tomorrow with the arms they have left.
Some_Guy
PITCHING POST:
--Note to Jim Dixon or Pat Coleman or whoever: I can't officially nominate anyone for pitcher of the week but I'd like to unofficially nominate Brandon Ingram of Millsaps. With Millsaps facing the end of their season with a loss, Brandon came in and got the save in their first victory Saturday and then he came back and had a complete game in the nightcap victory over #25 Rhodes. It allowed Millsaps to get through Saturday using only two pitchers, a huge plus since they need to win another two games today.
--As Just_Some_Guy noted, Millsaps is in good shape on their pitching. Jay pitched a little on Friday when all the pitchers developed the jitters and Austin took advantage. I expect to see him start in game one since he is a guy who will usually give a lot of quality innings. That still leaves Tait Hendrix for a second game and Tait has pitched very well of late. Spence loves Taits K's per inning stat and Tait would be high in the national rankings if he only had a few more innings pitched. He falls just short of the 1 inning per games played by the team requirement.
--As for the Austin pitching, I thought it was an interesting move to go with Stevens against Rhodes and it certainly paid off. He came into that game with a 1-6 record and a 6.53 ERA and they did have Frost and Rushing available. I would expect that both of these will get a start if two games are played today and both have pitched some in relief already so that should help with the nerves.
THEORY POST:
--I wonder if Millsaps was a little tight on Friday because they had just gotten the news that they were unranked in the South? That's not a knock on the Millsaps players or the Austin performance, but I think it certainly could have been a factor. Think of a trapeze artist in a circus who works with a safety net. He/she could be the best trapeze artist in the world but it would still add tension to their performance if the net suddenly was removed. The lack of being ranked removed the safety net for Millsaps at the last moment and maybe it's not a coincidence that Friday was their worst loss of the season.
--Austin has the advantage of only needing to win 1 of 2 but that advantage goes away if Millsaps wins the first game. Austin also has the advantage of only playing two games so far compared to three for Millsaps. Millsaps has the advantage of having played and won two must win games. They also have the advantage of being the victims of Aurora last season who came out of the losers bracket and won two against Millsaps last year. It is proof positive that their task is not an impossible one.
--The bottom line is that it should be one or two great games today. Both teams have great hitting, both teams have outstanding pitching left, and both teams have the momentum of having won two straight games. First pitch is at 11:00 (pregame around 10:45) and it will be broadcast at: http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php
(I know they normally broadcast a church service on Sunday's but all indications are that they will start the baseball at about 10:45 with a pregame. If I tune in and get a church service then I'm going to assume that something in the broadcast contract said they had to do the church service and they will join the Millsaps game in progress.)
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 29, 2007, 09:47:55 AM
(I know they normally broadcast a church service on Sunday's but all indications are that they will start the baseball at about 10:45 with a pregame. If I tune in and get a church service then I'm going to assume that something in the broadcast contract said they had to do the church service and they will join the Millsaps game in progress.)
Count on Divine intervention for the Methodists over the Presbyterians and pray for Livestats to work! ;D
Millsaps finally got to starter Rushing for 4 runs in the top of the 6th to make the score 5-4. The Majors haven't gone to Tait Hendrix; whereas, Austin College is going for broke (probably what they should do) with Frost coming in to relieve Rushing. IF the Majors pull this one out you have to think they have the advantage going into the last game.
Some_Guy
I think that I must root for the Roos to increase the chances that we can pull the Regionals into Texas.
8-7 Austin in the 8th, right?
Austin wins SCAC Championship!?!?!?
Is it possible to get three in the NCAA? Who goes in Millsaps or Rhodes?
Does either? Rhodes was only 5th in the region and I doubt they changed too many minds with how they did on Day 2 of the tournament. It probably depends on what else happens in conference tourneys to come.
Honestly, I think Millsaps is the stronger team. I just don't feel like Rhodes has enough depth on the bump to be successful in a tournament format.
It seems that Jim Dixon disagrees with you, Guy.
He says Rhodes has a Pool C chance in the Daily Dose from Friday.
http://www.d3sports.com/dailydose/2007/04/27/claering-the-bases
Yeah, it's spelled wrong, but the link is right.
The thinking at Millsaps is that the season is most likely over and I think the same holds true for Rhodes which is a shame for both teams. The shame is that both of them fall victim in great degree to the poor records of the teams they beat.
Rhodes and Millsaps both were 1-0 vs Illinois Wesleyan, a team ranked 4th in the Central and not too long ago IW had a 15-0 record in their conference. Rhodes and Millsaps both went 1-1 with Emory, the top team in the South. Rhodes was 1-0 vs. Washington, the 3rd team in the Central (DePauw split with Washington 1-1). Rhodes was 1-0 vs. Methodist, the 4th team in the South. Millsaps went 2-1 with NAIA #10 team Belhaven.
There are enough quality wins there to show that both are very good teams. Then you look at how Millsaps and Rhodes did against Trinity, Austin, and Southwestern and you have to figure that thoses teams are fairly good. But, those teams all have losing records and that's a killer for someone like Millsaps that is playing all 16 conference games against teams under .500 and Rhodes is playing 12 of 16. (You can read more about how the Quality of Win index works by going to #3 at this link:
http://www.d3baseball.com/faq/category/NCAA+Tournament ).
Maybe it's the switch over to the 4-game weekends and teams are losing more mid-week games because they don't have the pitching for the weekday games or because they are having to use the early season to develop more pitchers and therefore they are losing more non-conference games. I don't know the answer but I hope the 4-game weekends, which are really good at preparing a team for the NCAA Tournament, don't end up creating overall poorer records among SCAC teams and therefore make it harder for the conference to get an at-large bid.
Quote from: DPU3619 on April 29, 2007, 04:42:54 PM
It seems that Jim Dixon disagrees with you, Guy.
He says Rhodes has a Pool C chance in the Daily Dose from Friday.
http://www.d3sports.com/dailydose/2007/04/27/claering-the-bases
Yeah, it's spelled wrong, but the link is right.
It should be pointed out that Rhodes went 1-2 since this article was written. They were already on the borderline with a #5 ranking in the South and this may knock them out--it's the reality that you had better be ranked really high before the SCAC Tournament because you will either come out of the Tournament with the automatic bid or 2 additional losses.
But that's true of any tournament, and there are a bunch of them left.
I agree that Rhodes and/or Millsaps has a chance, just don't think they both do, or that either of them is a really great bet to get one.
I ran the in-region record on Austin College.
With their 5-1 record in the SCAC tourney, they go from a QOWI 10/11;2/3 team (10 or 11 points for a win; 2-3 for a loss) to a 12/13;4/5 team.
That does help anyone who has played Austin College, e.g., McMurry (1-0) , Rhodes (0-1) and Millsaps (2-4).
I think that if EITHER Millsaps, or Rhodes had won the SCAC tourney, the OTHER would have had a shot at a bid. The FACT that NEITHER won, probably eliminates BOTH.
Well congrats to Austin for winning the SCAC, I didnt see any of the games, but looked at the stats online, and they all seemed to be good games.
It would have certainly been nice to see someone from the East win it, but Austin certainly had a great weekend it seems. It will be interesting to see if Millsaps and/or Rhodes can get an at-large bid for regionals, as they have both certainly put together great seasons as well.
Now that SCAC games are over, what does everyone think the All-SCAC team will look like? From Sewanne I think John Davis must be considered. He hit .409 for the year with 4 HR's and only struck out 7 times in 115 AB's. I know his fielding was a little off, but hitting wise he did just fine. Tom Willis could also perhaps get a consideration.
My Opinion:
SCAC Player of the Year: Hunter Owen (Millsaps)
SCAC Pitcher of the Year: Robert Flanagan (Rhodes College)
Owen has had a great year, hitting .404 with 11 HR's, which is why I put him ahead of maybe Daniel Vanaman from Rhodes who is hitting .422 but with only 4 HR's. He also has alot more stolen bases and alot fewer errors and a few more RBI's, but I think either one could get it. Am I leaving anyone out here?
Flanagan was the SCAC pitcher of the year last year, and I think he deserves it again. With a 12-1 record and a 2.49 ERA he certainly has made a case for it. His 100 strikeouts are also quite impressive and he has thrown almost 100 Innings. I dont know of anyone else that can really make a better case for it, but this is obviously just my opinion. What does everyone think?
Coach of the Year: Austin College's Carl Iwasaki
I agree that he could be up for this award, what are the requirements to get this award? Must one win the SCAC? I think last year that Jeff Cleathnes should have won. I read that Rhodes was the most improved team in 2006 for DIII. I am just curious as to what the criteria is that people look for when naming this award?
You make a great point about about 4 game weekends. It is hurting the overall records of the SCAC teams.
Only three teams had over a .500 winning percentage...That hurts the entire SCAC.
I follow OU and I know after playing Rhodes 4-times, they played Heidelberg on Tuesday (leading the OAC), Heidelberg again on Wednesday then Franklin and Marshall on Wednesday night. They also play Emory three times in mid-week games, LAGrange three times, and Piedmont twice. They usually face Emory's 1 or 2 and they throw their #5 and 6. I'm sure every team in the SCAC goes through the same thing.
Carl Iwasaki is the run away winner of COTY..no doubt. That team was 2-36, 4 years ago! What a great job. Jeff Cleanthes would get it almost any other year.
Hunter Owen wins the Player of the Year and Flanagan is back-to-back pitcher of the year...
Nick Vera for player of the year.
.419 avg; .772 slg; .534 ob
The reason for fewer runs and RBIs is the rest of the team could not get on base or move him around. I believe 6 of his 8 knocks were solo shots.
Does anyone have anything specific to report about the prospects for Millsaps and/or Rhodes receiving a bid to the NCAA regional? In particular, has anyone calculated the Quality of Win Indices for our teams and their likely competitors for bids?
BTW, if you have a minute, check out blog entries "The Art of Chatter" and "The Prose of Livestat" at http://seriousplaythebook.com
Re Coach of the Year: Coach Iwasaki is an excellent coach but despite the late-season surge his team's record this year was essentially .500. Compare that to the record of Rhodes Coach Jeff Cleanthes, whose team has gone from 11 wins to 28 wins to 36 wins in the last three seasons, without his every winning the award. Everything in its season: Iwasaki's season will come but Cleanthes's season is now.
I must agree with you here. To often it seems that whoever wins the conference will be the coach of the year. Certainly Austin has turned it around big time, coming from a 2 win season 4 years ago, but I agree with Doc, it must be noted that they are still sub .500, and I dont think they will go anywhere in a regional.
I thought that Jeff Cleathnes should have won it last year for sure for being the most improved in DIII. He went from an 11 win year in 2005 to a 28 win year in 2006 to a 36 win year in 2007. Austin has gone from a 2 win year to a 22 win year. Certainly solid, but not on the same level. Austin may have won the SCAC, but their coach (and not to bash him) still sits at the helm of a sub .500 team, and being coach of the year should account for the entire year, and not simply the SCAC tournament.
I slugged my way thru the Rhodes schedule and have calculated the QOWI. (It makes me appreciate the tools that Pat has on the football and the hoops boards!!! )
I have about 75% confidence that I am within +/- 0.300 of the real value.
I count 350 QOWI points in 36 in-region games. That gives an index of 9.722.
Please double-check me:
Ozarks W 10
at Huntingdon WW 26
Hendrix L 0
Millsaps W 14
Maryville TN (WL) 20
Sewanee WWWW 32
at Ogle WWWW 36
at Piedmont W 11
Methodist (n) W 15
DePauw WWLL 34
at Rust W 9
at Centre WWWW 44
LaGrange LL 10
Rust W 8
Emory (n) WL 22
Trinity (n) WLW 31
Millsaps (n) L 7
Austin (n) L 5
Total 350
Corrections appreciated!
Where would Millsaps size up with Rhodes in regards to this? Would they have a better shot at getting the bid?
Ralph--Thanks for the post on Rhodes and it shows better the point that I was making a few days ago--a point that was probably buried in too long a post.
Rhodes plays Sewanee and gets 32 points for 4 wins. Rhodes plays DePauw and gets 34 points for 2 wins and 2 losses. It points out that if you are a team that is trying to get an at-large bid then winning is not enough. Your opponents also have to have good seasons, something that isn't under your control.
Millsaps played 16 SCAC games during the regular season, going 12-4 but those were all wins and losses against teams with losing records. That is a tremendous blow to the QOWI number. Rhodes faced the same probem in the East. Was this just an off year in the SCAC or are good teams coming up with losing records because of the 4-game weekends? It seems like this is something that needs to be considered by the SCAC in the future.
Ralph, one question on your efforts. When calculating the win-loss percentage of each opponent, did you look at that teams overall record or just their regional record? I was going to do a QOIW for Millsaps last week but then I saw that the win-loss percentage that you have to use for a team is their regional games only and that would be a nightmare to calculate.
I'd also like to point out that this ranking system only looks at wins and losses when determining the strength of your opponent. Beating a good team that plays a tough schedule and is just below .500 doesn't give you as many points as beating a bad team that plays a creampuff schedule and is just above .500.
One final thought is that maybe Millsaps and Rhodes have to look at dropping Rust from their schedule. It would be a blow to the Rust program (they need to play teams in their area) and it would be a missed opportunity for Rhodes and Millsaps to play guys who don't get to play much, but wins against Rust actually hurt a team's chances to get an at-large bid. The system seems to have some flaws.
It does have some flaws, which is why it's going away at the end of the season.
However, keeping teams from playing bottom-tier opposition is not a flaw. It's probably the intent of the rule, in fact.
Pat, I understand what you are saying and I see that point of view. I also know that there is no system that could be created that would be perfect for every situation.
I don't know exactly who Rust played or the results because they don't have a webpage for baseball, but I'm sure they were overmatched in just about every game they played this year. I did find that they lost to Crichton, Lambuth and Huntingdon in addition to Rhodes and Millsaps. I also saw that 4 games in mid-April with the U. of Dallas were cancelled.
I don't know why the U. of Dallas games were cancelled but the reality is that U. of Dallas has hopes for a pool C bid and winning 4 against Rust would have diminished their chances--that seems to be fundamentally wrong. For baseball to continue at a school like Rust, they need to be able to schedule games with some of these better teams and while I don't think those better schools should gain by beating a team like Rust, I also don't think they should be penalized.
Maybe they could change it where schools under a .333 winning percentage just doesn't count as anything, much like playing a D2 school, an NAIA school, or a school out of your region.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 02, 2007, 08:26:59 AM
Ralph, one question on your efforts. When calculating the win-loss percentage of each opponent, did you look at that teams overall record or just their regional record? I was going to do a QOWI for Millsaps last week but then I saw that the win-loss percentage that you have to use for a team is their regional games only and that would be a nightmare to calculate.
I'd also like to point out that this ranking system only looks at wins and losses when determining the strength of your opponent. Beating a good team that plays a tough schedule and is just below .500 doesn't give you as many points as beating a bad team that plays a creampuff schedule and is just above .500.
One final thought is that maybe Millsaps and Rhodes have to look at dropping Rust from their schedule. It would be a blow to the Rust program (they need to play teams in their area) and it would be a missed opportunity for Rhodes and Millsaps to play guys who don't get to play much, but wins against Rust actually hurt a team's chances to get an at-large bid. The system seems to have some flaws.
Frank, that is why I said that I "slugged my way thru". ;) :) I actually tried to calculate the QOWI on every opponent's value. That is why the football and hoops boards are so good for us fans.
I only used the games that the committee uses to the best of my ability. I do not think that WashStL is in region...Different Conference SCAC vs. UAA; different evaluation region, South vs. Central; Admin Region #3 for Rhodes vs #4 for Wash StL and 292 miles away.
I also put out my assessment for everyone to double-check me.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 02, 2007, 10:44:07 AM
Pat, I understand what you are saying and I see that point of view. I also know that there is no system that could be created that would be perfect for every situation.
I don't know exactly who Rust played or the results because they don't have a webpage for baseball, but I'm sure they were overmatched in just about every game they played this year. I did find that they lost to Crichton, Lambuth and Huntingdon in addition to Rhodes and Millsaps. I also saw that 4 games in mid-April with the U. of Dallas were cancelled.
I don't know why the U. of Dallas games were cancelled but the reality is that U. of Dallas has hopes for a pool C bid and winning 4 against Rust would have diminished their chances--that seems to be fundamentally wrong. For baseball to continue at a school like Rust, they need to be able to schedule games with some of these better teams and while I don't think those better schools should gain by beating a team like Rust, I also don't think they should be penalized.
Maybe they could change it where schools under a .333 winning percentage just doesn't count as anything, much like playing a D2 school, an NAIA school, or a school out of your region.
Actually, I want to teams with "losing" percentages in the calculations. It is best for all concerned.
UDallas has "cherry-picked" their schedule to optimize their playoff access. You cannot blame a coach for doing that. However, cherry-picking does have its limitations. I don't know if UDallas can get a sufficiently high QOWI with their schedule.
The ASC is a very brutal conference. It has lots of balance. The 5th place team in the ASC-East took the #8 ranked ASC-West #1 TLU Bulldogs to 3 games on the road in the playoffs. That is balance! It is hard for a Trinity or Southwestern or AC or UDallas to cherry-pick among the "middle-tier" (those teams with an in-region record in the 12/13 point value, .500-.667) that is comfortably beatable. (It is also balance that Trinity beat TLU.)
I don't think we have a Top 8 team too often, but I think that our Top 5 in each division are in the Top 100 in the country (of the 350 D3 teams that play baseball).
Much like the SCAC where #4 in the West Trinity beat 8th ranked Texas Lutheran on Tuesday in non-conference play and then took the #1 in the East (Rhodes) to a 3rd game while playing in Memphis.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 02, 2007, 01:29:33 PM
Much like the SCAC where #4 in the West Trinity beat 8th ranked Texas Lutheran on Tuesday in non-conference play and then took the #1 in the East (Rhodes) to a 3rd game while playing in Memphis.
Yes!
I got called away while my previous post was in the modify mode. You had "read my mind" (or "great minds on the same track") in the interval. :)
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 02, 2007, 01:29:33 PM
Much like the SCAC where #4 in the West Trinity beat 8th ranked Texas Lutheran on Tuesday in non-conference play and then took the #1 in the East (Rhodes) to a 3rd game while playing in Memphis.
But it's precisely why in the playoffs it's not single elimination and you play best of 3 series, etc. Nearly any team can beat any other team on any given day at least once depending on who is on the bump. In the case of Trinity, I still think they underacheived all year long with an okay offense and struggled finding a consistent middle infield. It's hard to justify someone else's status because so and so beat so and so on this day and our team swept them on this day. I mean Austin College was 2-7 against the ASC West including 0-2 against ASC West 7th place Schreiner. Does that mean I can say that Schreiner is better than the entire SCAC since they took both from Austin and Austin won the SCAC.... Of course not. Sul Ross beat TLU for their only conference win this year. ANYTHING can happen in the game of baseball on any given day and you can't necessarily justify the strength of another team based on that.
Some_Guy
I'm down at (gulp) Millsaps helping my son Sam get situated for the fall semester. On Friday afternoon, while Sam was hanging out at the SAE house, I stopped by to introduce myself to (double gulp) veteran baseball coach Jim Page. He's a huge admirer of the Rhodes baseball team (and, of course, of his own), which made it easy for us to fall into conversation. . . .
Read the rest of the story at http://seriousplay.com, and scroll down to read other entries like "Nicknames," "The Art of Chatter," and "The prose of Livestats."
CORRECTION: The web site is http://seriousplaythebook.com
The address I left in my previous message will take you to a Lego site--maybe not such a bad thing . . .
Millsaps, Rhodes and QOWI--Post 1 of 4
I spent way too much time this weekend working on the QOWI (Quality of Win Index) for Millsaps and Rhodes and I thought I'd share the results for fans of those schools and for the baseball geeks in general. Calculating the QOWI is complicated and it would be easy to make a mistake when doing it by hand as I did or doing it by computer as the NCAA does.
I worked up the numbers for both Rhodes and Millsaps because simply coming up with a number for Millsaps didn't help me. I needed to know how that number compared to a team in the South rankings and Rhodes was the easiest to calculate since they play many of the same teams as Millsaps. If my numbers are correct, then the two teams are virtually tied and the difference might well come down to Texas Lutheran scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th last night to tie their game with U. of the Ozark and then scoring 1 in the bottom of the 10th for a 8-7 victory. Such is the world of QOWI.
Explaining QOWI is difficult and I might have an error in my basic understanding so correct me if I'm wrong. A team gets points for wins and losses throughout the season against teams in their region. The value of a win or loss is on a sliding scale based on the win-loss record of your opponents against teams in their region--you get more points for winning or losing to a team with a better percentage. So to calculate this number you have to look at the opponent's schedule and figure their in-region record, not their overall record. It's a pain in the you-know-what to do. For more info go to page 10 in the handbook: http://www.ncaa.org/library/handbooks/baseball/2007/2007_d3_baseball_handbook.pdf
Millsaps, Rhodes and QOWI--Post 2 of 4
QOWI for Millsaps (I think this is correct but that's not a 100% guarantee--neutral site games get the same points as away games so I'm listing them as "at".)
MS College--W--10 points
at Sewanee--W--9 points
at Rhodes--L--7 points
at LaGrange--LW--18 points
at Piedmont--W--11 points
Huntingdon--W--12 points
Emory--LW--20 points
at Huntingdon--W--13 points
at MS College--W--11 points
Austin--WLLW--32 points (Austin is 22-23 overall, I calculate as 21-19 in region)
at Southwestern--WWLW--36 points
at Piedmont--W--11 points
Trinity--WWLW--40 points (Trinity 19-22 overall, I calculate 16-16 in region)
at MS College--L--3 points
Rust--WW--16 points
at LA College--W--11 points (21-20 overall, I have 14-16 in region)
at Hendrix--WWWW--36 points (13-24-1 overall, I have <.333 in region)
at Oglethorpe--WW--18 points
at Austin--L--5 points
at Southwestern--W--11 points
at Rhodes--W--15 points
at Austin--L--5 points
Total = 350 points in 38 games = 9.2105 QOWI
Millsaps, Rhodes and QOWI--Post 3 of 4
Note: The handbook's definition of a neutral game is: "A neutral game is defined as being in neither team's locale and, as such, is awarded as if it were an away game." I don't know if Rhodes playing at Millington is a home game or neutral. I'm giving them the point for an away game in the Emory games and the Trinity games to give them their best possible score. If those are counted as home games then you have to subtract a point in each of those 5 games.)
QOWI for Rhodes:
U. of Ozarks--W--10 points* (see below)
at Huntingdon--WW--26 points
Hendrix--L--0 points
Millsaps--W--14 points
Maryville--WL--16 points (25-19 overall, I have 23-13 in region)
Sewanee--WWWW--32 points
at Oglethorpe--WWWW--36 points
at Piedmont--11 points
at Methodist--15 points
DePauw--LLWW--32 points
at Rust--W--9 points
at Centre--WWWW--44 points
at LaGrange--LL--10 points
Rust--W--8 points
at Emory--LW--22 points (would be 20 if this is considered a home game)
at Trinity--WLW--31 points (would be 28 if this is considered a home game)
at Southwestern--W--11 points
at Austin--L--5 points
at Millsaps--L--7 points
Total = 339 points in 37 games = 9.162 (slightly behind Millsaps)
* If U. of Ozarks wins their next 2 games Rhodes gets 2 more points. Those points along with Millington being considered away games would give them 341 points in 37 games = 9.2162 QOWI (slightly ahead of Millsaps)
Millsaps, Rhodes and QOWI--Post 4 of 4
All of the above was probably way more than the average fan would want to know but the average fan probably isn't on this message board. IF my calculations are correct, and that's a big IF, then I think Millsaps should be rated in the South QOWI. York is ranked #3 in the South and they have gone 0-2 since that last ranking with a tough DH at NC Wesleyan today. Methodist is ranked 4th in the South and they won yesterday over York but play a DH at Salisbury on Monday. I don't know if they can be caught on the QOWI.
What I do know is that Rhodes and Millsaps both showed that they would be good NCAA Tournament teams this year and it is a real longshot that either will go which is a shame. Rhodes split with Emory and Millsaps and they beat Methodist, Illinois Wesleyan and Washington--you can't tell me that they aren't good enough to play in the NCAA Tournament. Millsaps split with Emory and Rhodes, they beat Illinois Wesleyan and they won 2 of 3 from the #10 team in the NAIA so you can't tell me they aren't good enough to be in the NCAA Tournament.
All that being said, I understand that the NCAA has to have a system for picking teams and everyone knows the system before the season starts. Some very good teams won't be playing in mid-May and I'm afraid Rhodes and Millsaps will be among those teams who are sitting instead of playing. That doesn't diminish the fact that both programs were outstanding this year and have a lot to be proud of and a lot to look forward to. Congratulations to all of those players and coaches.
Frank, thanks for the QOWI's. I will check them this afternoon. +1! :)
My first glance is Austin College Series may be worth 12 + 4 + 4 + 12 = 32 points for the home series.
Trinity for the home series should be 12 + 12 + 4 + 12 = 40.
If Millington is not the campus site, then I believe that you are right about it being neutral.
Fans, the good thing about this is that Frank put up here for others to double-check.
I encourage others to look at this and see whether you agree.
(Corrected! Thanks, Frank!)
Ralph--On both of those the question is regarding points given for a loss at home to a team that has a .500 to .667 winning percentage. I show that as being worth 4 points instead of 5.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 06, 2007, 08:59:54 AM
Ralph--On both of those the question is regarding points given for a loss at home to a team that has a .500 to .667 winning percentage. I show that as being worth 4 points instead of 5.
Thanks Frank! I was still in "rapid basketball mode" where I was assuming home win and away loss would give 12 plus 5!
My bad!
Remember that we definitely confirmed that a road win over a .667 team was worth 13 points and a road win over a .668 team was worth 15 points! :-\
An interesting note for those who find the topic of QOWI interesting. I was reading Mike Nelson's blog entry about his visit with Jim Page (http://seriousplaythebook.com/ -- it's the entry for 5/5). He quotes Coach Page as saying the rule of thumb for postseason bids to the NCAA is that a team must average 9.5 to count on getting one.
So whats the difference between Millsaps being at 9.21 and 9.5 on the QOWI? The Rust games have a purpose but they can't help your QOWI so let's say they were off the schedule. Taking those two wins off the schedule and winning instead of losing a 10-inning game to MS College on April 3 would give Millsaps a 9.5 QOWI. Are two wins and a 10-inning loss a good reason to say that a team isn't worthy of an NCAA bid?
And what is the difference between Rhodes being at the 9.162 that I calculated and them being at 9.50? Well, for starters they could have removed three games from their schedule that weren't going to help their QOWI even if they won--the February home game with Hendrix and the two games with Rust. Those games probably pull you down if you win and if you lose one it will kill you. Take the loss to Hendrix and the wins over Rust out and the numbers become 322 points in 34 games for a 9.47 QOWI. If the U. of the Ozarks win their next two games then the QOWI goes up to 9.53.
Isn't it an odd set of events that Rhodes and Millsaps may be sitting at home simply because they did a favor to the Rust team by keeping them on the schedule and they each lost a 10-inning 6-5 game that really had no bearing on anything other than the QOWI?
Frank, let me play devil's advocate.
The Rust in-region games boost the in-region winning percentage, so I think that the committee might consider that a wash. Two extra in-region wins look good when you are trying differentiate yourself. Playing more in-region games than your opponent helps, too.
As for the Mississippi College game, why should Millsaps play any in-region opponents and just take a chance on the SCAC QOWI being enough to earn a bid?
The challenge in the South is that we don't have much outside competition to boost our QOWI. We are a closed system.
I am looking at McMurry's record against in-region opponents thru this afternoon's games.
They are 1-2 versus Chapman at home (6 +14 + 6 = 26 points, 8.666)
They are 0-3 versus TLU at home (6 + 6 + 6 = 18, 6.000; 10-12 in 10 innings, 5-8 and 1-3.)
They are 3-2 versus UT-D; 2-1 at home 1-1 at UT-Dallas; 12-13 (10); 15-8, 16-14; 3-4 (10) 14-4 (8 ).
McMurry has played 11 games versus West Ranked teams.
Millsaps split with Emory and with Rhodes, only 4 games total. They are the only four games versus ranked opponents. I think that the four losses to Austin College are what really killed your chances.
The Capital AC (York, Salisbury, Mary Washington) has been a strong South Region conference in the few short years I have followed D3 this closely. Inviting them for an in-season series, maybe a week in Atlanta, would be a good thing next year. An alternative would be to get games from the IAC, the NCAC the HCAC or the MIAA from Administrative Region #3 to come south.
Ralph--All good points and no doubt losing 4 to Austin hurt, especially that last one. We all know that there is a fine line between winning and losing and Millsaps lost the first championship game 9-7. Most people feel that the pitching situation would have strongly favored Millsaps if they could have won that first game and then we probably wouldn't be having any of this conversation.
At the baseball banquet Saturday Coach Page had a thank you in his remarks to the parents who helped monetarily during the season to help make ends meet. Like most D3 programs, the baseball team at Millsaps spends money without bringing in much and it does make it hard to travel to the ranked teams that are 5-states away even if you meet at a mid-way point. This year they had an overnight in Memphis early, another trip to Memphis for the crossover, 3-nights of hotel bills on trips to Georgia, Southwestern, Hendrix, and the SCAC Tournament. It's about 15 nights of hotel bills for an entire baseball team that charges no admissions for home games.
I think my gripe, and I'll let it drop after this, is the notion that teams like Rhodes and Millsaps aren't even in consideration because of their low QOWI. According to Doc Nelson, Coach Page feels like they won't select anyone under a 9.5 QOWI. On the national board I read where some feel it really takes a 9.7 to be considered. As I pointed out in the previous post, Rhodes and Millsaps are below the 9.5 level because they won 2 games against a team with a winning percentage under .333 and because they lost a 6-5 10-inning game.
Just to give one more example about the QOWI. Hendrix was 13-24-1 overall which is above the dreaded .333 winning percentage. They were 2-0-1 against U. of Dallas but those quality wins didn't count in region and consequently the Hendrix in-region winning percentage dropped below the .333 mark. Suppose that Hendrix had skipped play the U. of Dallas and had picked up 4 in-region wins with home and away DHs with Rust. All of a sudden Millsaps gets 8 more points because Hendrix weakens their schedule.
Let's just say that Southwestern also weakened their schedule just a few games and it boosted them to .500 in-region. All of a sudden Millsaps gets 10 more points added to their total. So without changing any Millsaps results and simply by having Hendrix and Southwestern watering down their schedule just a little, Millsaps goes from a 9.2105 QOWI to a 10.22 QOWI which would probably have gotten them into the NCAA Tournament. Am I the only one who sees the flaw in the logic that a team should be penalized because their opponents seek to play better teams instead of pushovers?
The same arguement could be made for Rhodes. Oglethorpe played a tough non-conference schedule--4 games with Maryville and Huntingdon and 2 games with Emory and LaGrange. If OU plays a weaker schedule then Rhodes gets 8 more points. Add in Centre playing a weaker non-conference schedule and Rhodes gets 8 more points and their QOWI goes over 10 with ease.
Anyway, I've made my point so now I'll just get ready for 4 months on freedom from Millsaps photography--I certainly can use the break. Ralph you do a great job on the message boards and thanks for all of your input--have a great summmer.
Frank, U Dallas is in-region for Hendrix. Those games do count in the QOWI. Both teams are West Region teams.
As for weakening the schedule, I would ask you to see whom you will play in D3 to give you the in-region opponents. Trying to find real names to fill the schedule with D3 opponents is very tough.
I think that the South is just a tough region. I think that you just cannot lose any games that you are supposed to win. This summer, I want to look at the basketball Pool C bids, for which we have better data and see what burst the bubble for that team in basketball. Of course, beating Austin College in the tourney...
As for travel, we at McMurry have the same travel challenges. Every weekend trip is over night. I will ask my friends how many nights McMurry spent in the hotels this year.
The QOWI is being replaced by the opponents' opponents' record. (We have not seen the parameters that will be used.) That is a variation of the QOWI. The increments of change are much smaller than the QOWI, but it does not change the concept of having a power index.
Ralph, thanks for that correction. I took another look at Hendrix with that information and they were actually respectable when they didn't have to play SCAC West teams, going 11-10-1 in non-conference games.
Again if my calculations are correct, Hendrix was 8-18-1 in region games for a winning percentage of .315. The tie came on February 4th. Hendrix had already won the first two games in the 3-game series with the University of Dallas and the second game of a DH was call a tie with a 5-5 score after 6 innings. If Hendrix gets a win there instead of a tie, Millsaps gets 8 more QOWI points because Hendrix moves to 9-18 in region to reach the all important .333 winning percentage. A tie game in early February costs all Hendrix opponents 2 QOWI points per game.
I see where the ASC has the same problem with U. of Ozarks just dipping under .500 with two losses this weekend. While I don't have a better system to suggest, I have to say that the system stinks when a team is penalized for scheduling opponents who have the guts to play a tough schedule and a team is rewarded for scheduling opponents who play a powderpuff schedule.
Frank, Ralph, . . . Today's Daily Dose column includes Rhodes in Pool C, a solid tenth of fourteen in that category. That's something to cling to for a Rhodes fan. Does it strike you as a reliable prediction? What about Millsaps, which is not on DD's list?
Frank, I ran the in-region wins for Hendrix. I have their West Region record as 9-19-1, (.332).
Wins: UDallas 2, LaCollege 1, Rhodes 1, USouth 1, LeTU 1, AC 1, SW 1, Ogle 1.
Losses: LaCollege 2, U Ozarks 2, Trinity 4, AC 3, SW 3, M'saps 4, Ogle 1.
Ties: UDallas 1
The 5 games against Blackburn IL, Clarke IA, Eureka IL and Elmhurst IL are not in-region because those schools are in Administrative Region #4.
Let's imagine the SCAC coaches huddled in the proverbial smoke filled room and made out "winnable" non-conference in-region schedules for each other. Hendrix is in Administrative Region #3. They could schedule 4 games versus Rust, also in the same administrative region, instead of the SLIAC schools, Eureka and Blackburn. Clarke is going to the NAIA next year.
Quote from: Doc Nelson on May 07, 2007, 08:30:33 PM
Frank, Ralph, . . . Today's Daily Dose column includes Rhodes in Pool C, a solid tenth of fourteen in that category. That's something to cling to for a Rhodes fan. Does it strike you as a reliable prediction? What about Millsaps, which is not on DD's list?
Greetings Dr Nelson!
I have not wanted to over-promise in my predictions, but the carnage in the Mid-Atlantic and the predictable outcomes in this weekend's tourneys have helped Rhodes' case.
I was hoping for McMurry to slip into a Pool A bid, but they didn't and I think that UT-Dallas is secure.
I think you need an early out by Thomas More, Augie and Trinity CT in tourney play this weekend.
Also, Mary Washington hosts JHU on the 9th and plays at Villa Julie in a DH on the 10th. They could really help or hurt their Pool B/C chances in those games, but JHU and VJC might pick up wins versus an in-region ranked opponent. Those are essentially playoff games. You might hope that Mary Washington does no better than 1-2.
Trinity did not make the NESCAC tournament.
Ralph--I missed the 1-1 vs. Oglethorpe, including that incorrectly as part of the 2-14 SCAC record for Hendrix. While it gets Hendrix closer to .333 on their winning percentage, it doesn't get them over the hump.
As you pointed out, the 2-3 record against the region 4 teams does not count--if they did Hendrix would be a 11-22-1 for a .338 percentage and everyone on the Hendrix schedule would get 2 extra points per game
-OR-
If Hendrix had made their schedule easier by replacing those 5 tougher games with games against Rust (I'm assuming this would lead to 4 wins), then everyone on the Hendrix schedule would get 2 extra points per game because Hendrix played weaker teams.
I know this QOWI is being replaced by something different yet similar next year so it seems like the same basic flaw will remain. It seems like leagues should encourage their weaker teams to play weaker schedules. I don't anticipate that any league would do this but if OU, Centre, Hendrix, and Southwestern (not exactly a weaker team) had all done this then Millsaps and Rhodes would both be much better off on the QOWI.
Doc, I still think that Millsaps is ahead of Rhodes in the QOWI and I'm going by what you've reported that it seems to be the first criteria for which teams are considered. We'll see what the NCAA has for the South rankings when they come out this week but I think Millsaps should have been included last week so either my numbers are wrong or their numbers are wrong. I don't think there will be any interest at Millsaps to check the numbers if Millsaps is still behind so we may never know which is right. If Rhodes gets in the tournament then I wish them well.
Frank, you call this simple attempt at a Power Index (the QOWI) a flaw. How do you propose to evaluate the quality of the competition that Millsaps has beaten?
I actually think that the coaches should concentrate on scheduling as many winnable games inside your region to give yourself the best chance.
Respectfully, I get the general impression that Millsaps is 2 victories shy of a playoff calibre team this year. Cinderella (Austin College) got to go to the Dance this year because they beat you the 2 times they absolutely had to beat you.
Look at March Madness, the Majors' AQ's comprise most of the top 12 bids. The best of the at-larges and the mid-major AQ's make up the mid 40 and the weakest AQ's make up the last 13.
On the big picture, we have 53 bids. I submit that we have the best 16 AQ's (and I will call a Pool B like Emory or Chapman an AQ). Next we have about 20 "mid-majors" and other Pool B's and Pool C's. Finally, we have the weakest 17 AQ's. I believe that Millsaps is better than plenty of those weakest AQ's, but not quite good enough for a Pool C bid.
Thanks! :)
Doc, let me give a better (and much longer) answer to the question about Rhodes chances:
--I think the lists we are seeing now are just guessing games and I wouldn't put too much stock in them.
--It had to have helped Rhodes that York lost 3 of 4 since the last rankings. All the games were against good teams but that has to hurt their rankings. Also, Methodist lost a DH to Salisburg yesterday after beating York on Saturday.
--My gut feeling is that the coaches of teams like Rhodes and Millsaps must get some clue from the NCAA on their chances of getting an at-large bid. Maybe I'm wrong on this but it seems like teams on the bubble would be told to keep practicing just in case. Rhodes is still practicing so maybe that's some indication of what the NCAA committee is thinking.
--On the flip side, Millsaps is not practicing and Coach Page has been at this for 19 years and he is on the South Regional Advisory Committee. From MY way of thinking (I'm stressing the MY), if Millsaps isn't in then Rhodes isn't in because I think Millsaps can make a slightly better case for an at-large bid. I would expect all Rhodes fans to disagree but here would be my argument:
--Millsaps finished at 35-11 and 28-10 in region, basically the same as Rhodes at 36-10 and 27-10.
--If you look at common results against good teams, it is basically the same. Millsaps and Rhodes each split with Emory and each beat Huntingdon twice and Ill. Wesleyan once, and they split with each other. Millsaps was 1-1 with LaGrange and Rhodes was 0-2. On the other hand, Rhodes beat Methodist and Washington and that probably offsets the LaGrange losses and gives them a slight edge on wins against good teams.
--On QOWI, I think the two teams are very close with Millsaps slightly ahead. I'm not 100% sure that my numbers are right and I'm also not 100% sure that the NCAA numbers are right. I think this is close to dead even.
--At this point I would say that there isn't much difference between the two teams and that maybe Rhodes has a slight edge, but my final argument would be that Rhodes was 3-3 against SCAC West teams other than Millsaps and Millsaps was 13-6 against those same teams. Millsaps was clearly playing the tougher conference schedule and their overall record and in-region record still matched Rhodes. To me, that would give Millsaps the slight overall edge.
Let me conclude with this very important point: If I were a Rhodes fan then I think I could make a convincing argument that Rhodes is a slightly better team than Millsaps, especially by stressing the wins over Washington and Methodist. I don't think there is much difference between the two teams, I think both deserve to play in the NCAA Tournament, and I think both would do well in an NCAA Regional. If the two teams are so close in every area, I think it would be logical that both have the same chance for an at-large berth and Millsaps apparently doesn't think that it has a chance. That makes me wonder about the chances of Rhodes getting an at-large bid.
Ralph--You see that I was busy giving way too long an answer to Doc when you posted.
I don't have a better solution as I have stated in past posts. My impression is that the QOWI is used almost like a cutoff point on which teams are considered and maybe my solution would be that it not be such a definitive factor. It just seems like teams are rewarded or penalized by the scheduling choices of their opponents, a factor beyond their control. Of course, without a cutoff it makes the process more subjective with more teams in the mix and I understand the mess that causes.
You are right that the bottom line is Millsaps should have won a couple of more games on the last Sunday in April and then QOWI wouldn't have been an issue. That would still leave Rhodes with the same argument that I've been making for both teams if they were out of the picture but the rest of you wouldn't be subjected to my long posts. :)
I also agree that because of the AQ situation the strongest 53 teams won't be in the field and that maybe Millsaps is just one of those teams that is better than some teams in the tournament but not necessarily better than the top candidates for the at-large bids. I don't have a problem with that and I don't have a problem with AQ going to weaker teams if they are the best in their conference--I think that's good for D3 baseball.
SO, I think I have this out of my system. Life will go on and I will still follow the NCAA Tournament with interest. And I still thank you for all you do on the message board and for D3 sports in general. Have a great summer.
Frank, I am not sure how long you have been a serious poster on the SCAC boards.
Your analysis of the situation is good. I commend you. Washington StL is not in the primary critieria for earning an at-large for either team, but they might figure in seeding the tourney were they (M'saps or Rhodes) sent to the same regional.
If Austin College is the only SCAC team in the tourney, I think that we might make the case that they knocked both M'saps and Rhodes from Pool C.
The current tourney gives access to all 350 schools playing baseball, and it is constructed so a team can build as AC did in baseball and Millsaps did in football. After the equal access is determined by the 39 Pool A and B schools we get next best 14.
By the time we get thru with all of the conference tourneys, (33 conferences times an average of 6 teams invited to each conference tourney), we had one big playoff for 200 schools.
As for agonizing on how close McMurry was, I think that we were a road 1-point loss to ETBU in men's basketball and two of our six one-run losses in baseball from a Pool C. We beat UT-Dallas 3 of 5 this year! We just couldn't get past TLU. Arrrrggggghhhh! :-\
Ralph, I'm just trying to learn this stuff as I go and I appreciate the input and corrections from more experience D3 followers. What really has done in Rhodes and Millsaps at the moment is the move from 3-game to 4-game series in the SCAC. I suspect it is a money saver to get away from the home and away 3-game series each year but the records of SCAC teams have suffered.
What it means is that each SCAC team has to develop 4 starters just to compete each weekend. That means that early in the season you are losing non-conference games by trying to develop more pitchers instead of just using your top 3 or 4 guys. It means that once conference play starts you are using 4 starters each weekend so you are always going with a #5 starter or a pitch by committee for the non-conference games. It is the primary reason only 3 of 10 SCAC teams had overall winning records and why the in-region records were also weak.
It also means that in conference games you are going with a #4 starter and maybe the opponent has saved their #1 or #2 starter for that game in an effort to salvage a game or to split the series. It's just so hard to get a sweep when you have to get 4 quality starts instead of 3.
The good news is that SCAC teams that get to the NCAA Tournament should be fairly deep in pitching. Millsaps has used 5 starters this year and their games started are 12-10-9-8-7 with 4 of the pitchers have 7 wins or more. As I have said before, I think the Millsaps team has done enough to get in the tournament but we'll see if that becomes a reality. Given their #16 ranking in today's poll, they might be a team that would be borderline on getting in because of QOWI even though they might be as high as a #2 or #3 seed if they do get in.
Here's a followup post on something I didn't realize until Ralph made a point about limited options in the South on who you play. I looked at the non-SCAC teams in the surrounding states to Mississippi to see just which teams Millsaps could play as in-region teams. Here's the list:
Louisiana: LA College (200 mile rule)--Millsaps was 1-0 vs. LC this year.
Mississippi: MS College--Millsaps 2-1 vs MC
Mississippi: Rust College--Millsaps 2-0 vs. Rust
Alabama: Huntingdon--Millsaps 2-0 vs. Huntingdon
Georgia: Emory--Millsaps 1-1 vs Emory
Georgia: LaGrange--Millsaps 1-1 vs. LaGrange
Georgia: Piedmont--Millsaps 2-0 vs. Piedmont
Tennessee: Maryville--did not play this season.
If you take out the SCAC East teams, Millsaps played every team that would count as a South Region game except for Maryville and they even played two non-conference games against SCAC East teams. Millsaps made the attempt to prove themselves against the South Region teams.
As for non-region games, they played:
East Texas Baptist: Millsaps won 2 of 2. Not a great team this year but keep in mind that this home and away series was set up after ETB had a great season in 2005.
Belhaven College: Millsaps won 2 of 3. This is one of the top-10 teams in NAIA baseball.
Tougaloo College: Millsaps won 2 of 2. Okay, this was just a play everyone set of games.
Illinois Wesleyan: Millsaps won 1 of 1. A win over a nationally ranked team
Obviously Millsaps is trying to play tough teams and they are trying to prove themselves against all of the other teams within reasonable driving distance. There's not a whole lot more they can do to upgrade their schedule (can't go to Texas instead of Georgia because those are out of region) unless they get a lot of extra money for travel, something that isn't going to happen.
Frank, I enjoy the discussion. Let's work thru these points one at a time.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 08, 2007, 09:17:25 PM
Ralph, I'm just trying to learn this stuff as I go and I appreciate the input and corrections from more experience D3 followers. What really has done in Rhodes and Millsaps at the moment is the move from 3-game to 4-game series in the SCAC. I suspect it is a money saver to get away from the home and away 3-game series each year but the records of SCAC teams have suffered.
The records of the 10 teams will still be a .500 percentage, and the effect on the QOWI will be a wash. As I finally realized, the 14/15 strata for a win practically speaking began at .668 winning percentage. They did not round up to .667.
What it means is that each SCAC team has to develop 4 starters just to compete each weekend. That means that early in the season you are losing non-conference games by trying to develop more pitchers instead of just using your top 3 or 4 guys. It means that once conference play starts you are using 4 starters each weekend so you are always going with a #5 starter or a pitch by committee for the non-conference games. It is the primary reason only 3 of 10 SCAC teams had overall winning records and why the in-region records were also weak.
I can only see that having more pitching meant that in 2008, you have an underclassman that was your #4 now being #2 or #3. I have to believe that this is a one-year aberration and pitchers will look at the SCAC and see that they get a better chance at starting in the SCAC than the ASC or the GSAC.
It also means that in conference games you are going with a #4 starter and maybe the opponent has saved their #1 or #2 starter for that game in an effort to salvage a game or to split the series. It's just so hard to get a sweep when you have to get 4 quality starts instead of 3.
The sweeping the series only knocks the QOWI of the SCAC team down even farther.
The good news is that SCAC teams that get to the NCAA Tournament should be fairly deep in pitching. Millsaps has used 5 starters this year and their games started are 12-10-9-8-7 with 4 of the pitchers have 7 wins or more. I strongly agree. As I have said before, I think the Millsaps team has done enough to get in the tournament but we'll see if that becomes a reality. Given their #16 ranking in today's poll, they might be a team that would be borderline on getting in because of QOWI even though they might be as high as a #2 or #3 seed if they do get in.
Please remember that the ABCA Poll has absolutely no impact on the NCAA Regional Rankings!!! None at all.
I think that the SCAC was down this year. I cannot get away from that fact as I look at records.
These were the records versus the ASC:
AC 6-11
HC 1-4
Millsaps 5-1
SU 4-9
TU 5-5
Total 21-30. Nine games below .500 knocks each teams QOWI just a bit.
Great post while I was typing. :)
As an outsider, I can defend everyone of those games strategically.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 08, 2007, 09:40:47 PM
Here's a follow up post on something I didn't realize until Ralph made a point about limited options in the South on who you play. I looked at the non-SCAC teams in the surrounding states to Mississippi to see just which teams Millsaps could play as in-region teams. Here's the list:
Louisiana: LA College (200 mile rule)--Millsaps was 1-0 vs. LC this year. (Also in Administrative Region #3.)
Mississippi: MS College--Millsaps 2-1 vs MC (In-region; good game for D3)
Mississippi: Rust College--Millsaps 2-0 vs. Rust (In-region; good midweek game)
Alabama: Huntingdon--Millsaps 2-0 vs. Huntingdon
Georgia: Emory--Millsaps 1-1 vs Emory
Georgia: LaGrange--Millsaps 1-1 vs. LaGrange
Georgia: Piedmont--Millsaps 2-0 vs. Piedmont
Tennessee: Maryville--did not play this season.
If you take out the SCAC East teams, Millsaps played every team that would count as a South Region game except for Maryville and they even played two non-conference games against SCAC East teams. Millsaps made the attempt to prove themselves against the South Region teams.
As for non-region games, they played:
East Texas Baptist: Millsaps won 2 of 2. Not a great team this year but keep in mind that this home and away series was set up after ETB had a great season in 2005.
Belhaven College: Millsaps won 2 of 3. This is one of the top-10 teams in NAIA baseball. (Great game for Jackson college baseball; doesn't hurt to play tough teams)
Tougaloo College: Millsaps won 2 of 2. Okay, this was just a play everyone set of games. (Easy mid-week game; easy on the budge and school time.)
Illinois Wesleyan: Millsaps won 1 of 1. A win over a nationally ranked team (good to play non-in-region games against quality D3 opponents)
Obviously Millsaps is trying to play tough teams and they are trying to prove themselves against all of the other teams within reasonable driving distance. There's not a whole lot more they can do to upgrade their schedule (can't go to Texas instead of Georgia because those are out of region) unless they get a lot of extra money for travel, something that isn't going to happen.
I think that some creative scheduling may allow some administrative region #3 teams from AR, MI, IN, OH, WV, and KY to come down for games.
Also Birmingham-Southern comes online next year. Their games don't count towards the QOWI until 2010, but they provide some more games.
Ralph, you and I think a lot a like except for the fact you are a lot smarter--I'm somewhat of a Ralph-lite thinker. There's no doubt that we pull for our particular team but we also take a logical approach and we try to back up our points with examples and facts.
I believe that the reason the SCAC was down vs. ASC teams is because the ASC teams were seeing weaker pitchers or weakened staffs because of the 4-game series in the SCAC. I won't go back and study the entire season, but I'll give one example that I remember because I commented on both games at the time.
In the week prior to the crossover series McMurray beat Austin 22-4 and Trinty beat Texas Lutheran 5-4. The pitchers used by Austin against McMurray didn't pitch a single inning in the crossover series or the SCAC Tournament and McMurray pounded out 26 hits. The pitchers used by Trinity were some of their top-line guys and they won against a team ranked in the top-10. I still wonder if Trinity should have saved those pitchers and given them rest for the crossover series but we will never know which was the right call.
In addition to often using weaker pitchers in non-conference games, I think some pitching staffs just wore out. In the 3-games series you have 25 innings of pitching (7-9-9) and you don't have to squeeze an extra inning or two out of a pitcher. In the 4-game series you have 32 innings (9-7-7-9) and guys are having to pitch to their absolute limits in some case just to get a staff through the weekend. So even if the weekend pitchers are throwing in mid-week, I think they got worn out as the season progressed--Hendrix is a good example but you even saw that with the teams with the better and deeper pitching staffs. As you pointed out, that might make for greater depth in the future but it hurt the teams this past season (in my opinion).
And finally (for the moment), I know there are things that I point out about the Millsaps team that don't have any impact on getting an at-large bid. How they are ranked in the coaches' poll, their wins against an NAIA powerhouse, and how they did last year in the tournament are good examples of this. I mention these things because I want to make the case that this year's team is every bit as good as the team that was in a regional final last year. Maybe they won't get into the NCAA's and have a chance to prove it but the players deserve an advocate who will point out that they did just as much and were just as good as the team that was so successful in 2006.
Last year the team went 37-13 and 15-5 in the SCAC. This year the team is 35-11 and was 12-4 in the SCAC. Last year they beat Emory twice but lost to I. Wesleyan twice. This year they split with Emory but beat I. Wesleyan. Last year they had an All-American rightfielder and this year his replacement put up similar numbers. Last year they had two standout pitchers, maybe slightly stonger than who ever the top two are this year but there is more depth this year. As for all of the other field players, they are the same as last year and they are just as good.
I have no doubt that this year's team is the equal of last year's team and I think they are very capable of getting to the World Series if they are selected to play in a regional. I just want them to be judged by the merits of their season and not hampered by the win-loss percentages of their opponents. But I guess you all have heard me say that about a dozen times already.
Frank, Ralph, et. al.--
I've enjoyed reading the last few posts from you both--very well reasoned and thought out.
Frank, I thought I'd chime in with MY opinion on your frustration (and Ralph and I have had this conversation before)--because I understand where you're coming from, and do sympathize.
The regional system the AA employs for its DIII championships is inheirently skewed to benefit teams in the northeast and midwest parts of the nation, given the AA-imposed mileage limitations. Simple math tells us this, and it has been bourne out in every "major" sport this year.
The first thing that would help develop the best championship brackets possible, and Ron Boerger has suggested in the past--and I wholehartedly agree with him--would be for the AA to lose the regional system all together, and calculate stats like QOWI based on all results versus DIII competition, not just regional competition.
The second thing would be for the AA to actually be able to read and interpret their own rules, but I digress....
Would any of this help Millsaps or Rhodes get in this year? I honestly don't know--I haven't followed baseball closely enough to make an educated guess at that. At the end of the day, one or two teams that are better than some of the AQs (as Ralph points out) are unfortunately going to get left out. But getting rid of the "regions" would at least allow for the most fair bracketing possible (and minimize to a large extent the eggregious exclusions with regard to determining at-large berths), and all of our DIII athletes deserve that no matter what.
Great thanks to Ralph and Frank for answering my request for enlightenment with their recent posts. Even though no definitive answers are available this week, you have illuminated some important facts and issues.
My position on the change to the single, four-game, weekend series instead of two shorter weekend series against each division rival is not locked in stone. But in focusing on the possible consequences of that change for pitching, let's not overlook the benefits in terms of reduced travel and fewer days away from class. Baseball is not an end in itself in schools like ours. Instead it's an integrated but nonetheless subordinate part of the academic mission of these institutions and of the experience the students on the teams have there.
Good morning Frank!
I did look at each schedule and considered the impact of SCAC on each one.
AC: Played TU the 4 game series April 5-6, then played UT-Dallas Saturday April 14, then went to Abilene for an HSU McM DH on Tues. April 17. The tourney started on Friday April 20th. The UT-Dallas-game pitchers should have been ready. For AC, I will concede a Wed, a Tues, a Tues and a Tues, versus UT-Tyler times 3 and UT-Dallas once during the SCAC play. That puts AC at 5-4 versus ASC "non-second round" Tourney teams.
Hendrix had no crossover challenges.
Millsaps: I see an IWU win in division play, a Belhaven loss, a Piedmont win and a Miss College loss in that crucial time period.
Southwestern: no conflicts.
Trinity: Two wins over Schreiner and a win over TLU during the SCAC-West season.
It looks like AC's building a pitching staff on ASC competition may be working over the long haul.
Frank, I think that I have found the difference between 2006 and 2007.
The 2006 team was 25-6 in-region before the SCAC tourney where they improved to 29-7, in-region. They earned a bid as the AQ, the Pool A from the SCAC.
The 2007 team was 23-8 in-region before the SCAC tourney where they went 2-2. That gives them an in-region record of 25-10 for the selection committee to consider.
Respectfully, the 2006 and 2007 teams are being considered by different criteria by the NCAA to make the tourney. Pool C varies from year-to-year and the Majors are carrying 3 more losses into the selection criteria in 2007.
We see how fine is the line. Thanks. :)
Josh--I'm glad you said the thread was interesting because I feared that I was being long-winded and repetitive. I can do that at times. Counting all D3 games instead of just in-region would open up the Texas area and Northern teams that travel for Millsaps. That would have been 3-0 this year.
Doc--I'm also glad that I haven't bored you and you are 100% right about the academics (and the financial) coming first. I'm glad that the schools find the budget to let the teams play and travel as much as they do. In the case of Millsaps, there are individuals who help supplement that budget and I bet that is true at many schools.
Ralph--Good point about the in-region record prior to the NCAA Tournament. For the record, Millsaps was a Pool C last year. Trinity and Millsaps were facing a late Sunday game in terrible weather to decided the AQ and they decided to call it a tie for the championship with Trinity getting the automatic bid. Millsaps was ranked #1 in the South on QOWI at the time so it was basically a certainty that they would get a bid.
The difference on the in-region records vs. overall record between 2006 and 2007 is that the 2006 team did poorly out of region but that didn't hurt their QOWI and the 2007 team did well against out of region teams but that didn't help them. I guess we will just have to wait and see where the line is drawn and how the remaining handful of games play out.
Thanks for the info on the "co-championship".
What might really help the ASC and SCAC would be for Millsaps to be moved to the West Evaluation Region so all of those games versus ETBU, LeTU and other ASC teams would be in-region, but your teams in Adminstrative Region #3, MI, IN, OH, WV, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, AR, TN and KY would be in-region as well.
Of course, then you are trading the Capital AC, the USAC and Emory for the NWC, the ASC, and Chapman. ;)
Just like John Madden, the Millsaps baseball team doesn't fly (unless the NCAA wants to foot the bill to send them to a regional). The bus ride between Millsaps and Chapman is 1,830 miles--do you think the teams could just agree to meet midways and play in Van Horn, TX? :)
I've been to Van Horn. You really don't want to do that. ;)
Quote from: Josh Bowerman on May 09, 2007, 03:15:54 PM
I've been to Van Horn. You really don't want to do that. ;)
Coach Holmes grew up in Van Horn! :o
You better watch it!
:D
He left, didn't he? ;)
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 09, 2007, 03:13:24 PM
Just like John Madden, the Millsaps baseball team doesn't fly (unless the NCAA wants to foot the bill to send them to a regional). The bus ride between Millsaps and Chapman is 1,830 miles--do you think the teams could just agree to meet midways and play in Van Horn, TX? :)
The famous John Madden Haul of Fame is located in downtown Van Horn. I am a "regular". :P It sounds like the perfect place to meet.
http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/archive/curiosities/kelso_madden.html
What are the odds that I would reference John Madden and Van Horn, TX in a post and there would actually be a connection between the two? I'm taking this longshot coincidence as a positive omen that Millsaps will beat the odds (created by the QOWI) and will get an at-large bid.
I look forward to the NCAA rankings that come out this afternoon. I have been contending for a week that Millsaps should be ahead of Rhodes by the slightest of margins and hopefully some of the other South Region teams will have dropped due to their losses since the last rankings were posted.
Here's a story about a couple of Millsaps players getting recognized by ESPN for their combination of academic and athletic achievements. Congratulations to John Pacillo and Hunter Abrams.
"Millsaps senior outfielder John Pacillo and junior infielder Hunter Abrams have been named to the 2006-07 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI First Team as voted upon by more than 1,800 members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)......"
Read more of the story at: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/051007story.shtml
Recognized by CoSIDA. ESPN just sponsors it.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 10, 2007, 11:04:13 AM
What are the odds that I would reference John Madden and Van Horn, TX in a post and there would actually be a connection between the two? I'm taking this longshot coincidence as a positive omen that Millsaps will beat the odds (created by the QOWI) and will get an at-large bid.
I look forward to the NCAA rankings that come out this afternoon. I have been contending for a week that Millsaps should be ahead of Rhodes by the slightest of margins and hopefully some of the other South Region teams will have dropped due to their losses since the last rankings were posted.
I think the real long shot is that Ralph didn't post this. He knows everything about west Texas. :)
Regional rankings are out:
http://www.d3sports.com/dailydose/2007/05/10/ncaa-regional-rankings-third-release/
I'm don't pretend to know how to translate these new rankings into Pool C selections, but surely it's significant that Rhodes is 5-2 against teams that routank it (1-1 against Emory and Millsaps, 1-0 against Wash U, Illinois Wesleyan, and Methodist). On the face of it, isn't there a good case to be made for both Rhodes and Millsaps?
The only thing I'd take from it is it seems very likely that Methodist would be selected for Pool C ahead of Millsaps or Rhodes. Washington may go in as a Pool B and not even be in competition with Rhodes for a bid.
Check out the Pool C thread on the national topics board for my breakdown on the new region rankings.
Quote from: Doc Nelson on May 10, 2007, 06:13:07 PM
I'm don't pretend to know how to translate these new rankings into Pool C selections, but surely it's significant that Rhodes is 5-2 against teams that routank it (1-1 against Emory and Millsaps, 1-0 against Wash U, Illinois Wesleyan, and Methodist). On the face of it, isn't there a good case to be made for both Rhodes and Millsaps?
Doc, I'm with you that a good case could and should be made for both teams but I have no idea of how it will all work out. I think it is safe to say that Rhodes and Millsaps are both better than some of the teams that will be playing in the NCAA's but we see that in the NCAA D1 basketball tournament each year. I do think the automatic qualifiers filling the majority of the slots is the right way to go even if it means that the best 53 teams don't all get into the tournament.
What everyone at Rhodes and Millsaps needs to hope for right now is a lack of upsets in the remaining tournaments for automatic bids. When the strongest teams win their league's AQ then it means less competition for Rhodes and Millsaps for a Pool C bid. I hope everything works out just right where both SCAC teams get at-large bids--both teams are deserving and it is my belief that both teams would really perform well at a regional.
I have tried to look at the national thread on Pool C bids to figure out how things look for both Millsaps and Rhodes and I don't have a clue. Obviously both teams are on the bubble and my feeling is that they are side-by-side on that bubble because there isn't much difference in the seasons posted by the two teams. I choose to look at the minor differences between the teams in a way that gives Millsaps a slight edge and I would expect Rhodes fans to focus on the differences that give Rhodes the edge. I hope that most SCAC fans are pulling for both teams to slip into the field. I think both teams will do well if given the chance.
If the teams don't get in, there will be plenty of "what-ifs" for both teams. To start with, Rhodes will wonder "what if we had won that 10-8 winner's bracket championship against Austin" and Millsaps will wonder "what if we had won that 9-7 game against Austin Sunday and forced a second game". The difference between winning and losing is often small and this year the difference between being in or being out of the NCAA tournament will also be small. What-ifs are just part of life and I think the only ones you can really regret are the "what-ifs I had tried harder", and I doubt that either team had one of those this season.
With the bracket announcements nearing, I want to once again congratulate the players and the coaches for both teams on an outstanding season. Both teams won their regular season conference title, both teams did well against nationally ranked competition, their current records are outstanding with Rhodes at 36-10 and Millsaps at 35-11, and both teams did an outstanding job of representing their school and the SCAC. Regardless of what the NCAA Selection Committee decides this afternoon, both teams have to be considered one of the best or possibly the best team in school history which is quite an accomplishment. And by all accounts, both teams showed a tremendous amount of class while running up their impressive record, something I've come to expect from the vast majority of SCAC teams.
I know I speak for all Millsaps fans in saying that it was a great year to follow the Majors and I feel sure that the Rhodes fans feel the same about their team. I hope the fans from both teams get a chance to cheer just a little bit more.
For those wondering when the brackets come out and where they can find them, I originally thought the brackets were coming out this afternoon but it looks like they come out a 2 a.m. eastern time Monday morning--I won't be getting up in the middle of the night to check the brackets but it's the first thing I'll check when I get near a computer Monday morning.
I'm assuming that the bracket info will be posted at this NCAA site, but I'm sure that the word will go up on a thread under the national topics soon after the brackets come out. Here's the NCAA website:
http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/schedules/diviii
Something as important as the selections would be posted on the front page of D3baseball.com, Frank, rather than just on the message board. People should absolutely check our site first.
Put on a pot of coffee then. :)
Will do, though 2 a.m. is 10 p.m. Jim Dixon Standard Time.
All part of the brilliant plan, eh? :)
Well, I'll burn the midnight oil too but probably just to provide tech support.
It is certainly a disappointing morning for the fans of Rhodes and Millsaps. I won't be one of those fans who cries out that we were cheated, I just think both teams had to do more than what should have been necessary this year because of the weakness of the SCAC overall.
I think it is safe to say that a low QOWI was the chief reason both teams failed to get an at-large bid so even if one of these two teams had won the SCAC, the other wasn't going to get an at-large bid. The only reason Millsaps actually got in the hunt for an at-large was because Austin won 3 straight to get their in-region record over .500--if Rhodes had won the tournament (therefore keeping Austin below .500), Millsaps would have had virtually no shot at an at-large.
It's unfortunate that one or both of these two teams isn't going on to NCAA Tournament play this weekend. I wish Austin well in the tournament and I hope they get a win or two--I think their lack of pitching depth won't allow them to go very deep in the tournament but maybe I'm wrong. It was as deep as it needed to be to win the new SCAC Tournament setup and that's the main goal they were trying to achieve this season. I hope we aren't at a point that this is the only way an SCAC team will get to the NCAA Tournament.
I know I'm probably the last one on board over here--things clear out pretty fast when the season closes. So maybe I writing to myself but when has that ever stopped me.
Here are the teams in the South Regional with their record and their seeding:
1. Emory (35-7)
2. Salisbury (32-8)
3. York (Pa.) (29-12)
4. Methodist (29-13)
5. Bridgewater (Va.) (21-21)
6. Ferrum (22-16)
7. Villa Julie (24-20)
Here we have Emory as the top team in the Region with a 35-7 record. Then split with Millsaps (35-11) on the season and Rhodes (36-10). I know that Rhodes and Millsaps are the equal of Emory in this regional.
I can't say much about Salisbury or York but I do know that Methodist lost their head-to-head against Rhodes and they are only 3-6 against the teams in this regional. When I look at the records of Bridgewater, Ferrum, and Villa Julie, I applaud them for winning their conference automatic qualifier but I doubt that these teams are on par with Rhodes and Millsaps.
I look at this and I just have to wonder about the setup when teams that are the same caliber as the 1-4 seeds in a regional are left out of the tournament. Yes, Millsaps or Rhodes could have gotten in by winning the SCAC Tournament but that's not a guarantee for any team. After all, many of the Pool C's teams came from favorites who didn't win their conference tournaments including #1 ranked Wooster. Maybe the time has come to expand the number of at-large teams.
They were just expanded in 2006.
No Frank, you are not alone. I just stopped by the board to see if last night's cruel "joke" at the expense of the Rhodes Lynx had been commented on...or perhaps had been merely the side-effect of an "undigested bit of beef". Last night I woke up shortly before 3 am, and in a curious—although hazy moment, decided to check the D-III website to see if the at-large bids had been posted. To my delight—and to the delight of 32 wide-awake young men miles away in Memphis, Tennessee, Rhodes was listed among the Central Regional slots. I went back to bed feeling like a million bucks, only to awake later, finding out that Rhodes was passed over due to a mistake.
Dewey Wins!!!
Oh well, the players at Rhodes and Millsaps can take some satisfaction knowing that few teams paired in the Regionals will boast 71 wins between them...some not even 50. Short of winning the SCAC Tournament—what could these teams have done differently that would have gotten them a bid?
That's a move in the right direction (referring to Pat's post about the expansion in 2006). I guess I'm just looking at it from a percentage standpoint. I may have my numbers off slightly but I think this is accurate enough for discussion:
--There are 350 D3 teams.
--53 teams go to the NCAA Tournament.
--38 slots are reserved for Automatic qualifiers and Pool B.
--That leaves about 312 teams looking at the remaining 15 at-large bids, meaning less than 1 in 20 will get an at-large. I'm going to guess that there are a handful of leagues that are almost assured of getting a second team in so that 1 in 20 really gets squeezed down to an even smaller number.
I know that you have to draw the line somewhere and you can't let every team with a winning record into the draw but I do think the number of at-large teams is too limited when you have legitimate contenders with excellent records being left out of the field.
Naturally I think Millsaps should be in the field but I could also point to Rhodes with their 1-1 record vs. Emory, 1-0 vs. Methodist, 1-0 vs. Washington U., 1-0 vs. Ill. Wesleyan along with the 1-1 vs. Millsaps. They obviously can play with the big boys and win the majority of those games but there's no room in the field for them after all they have done this season--at the very least you would think that if 7-team regionals are acceptable to the NCAA then they could expand to 7 teams in every regional and bring in 3 more nationally ranked and regionally ranked teams.
I agree -- every field could be 32 or 64 and it would be a lot happier for all involved.
What I hope is that, as schools finish their provisional membership in the coming years, this committee will fight for incremental increases -- from 53 to 54 and 55, every time the required 6.5 teams join Division III and/or add baseball.
We have not seen this to date in any of the sports we cover.
Lynx Tracker, I had not heard about Rhodes being listed and then de-listed among the regional teams. What makes that so brutal is that they deserve to be among the 53 still playing. I'm curious if they had a seeding for Rhodes when they were listed or if they just had the list of teams.
It also makes me wonder if Rhodes was the 54th team. I've said before that Rhodes and Millsaps were probably side-by-side in the NCAA rankings. I would argue that Millsaps deserved the bid for having the same basic record in the tougher half of the conference. You would argue that Rhodes had the better record against nationally ranked teams. In the end I think it would get back to Rhodes being able to bus to the Central Regional and Millsaps having to fly, thereby giving Rhodes the nod.
But you are right. Millsaps and Rhodes did prove themselves among the nation's elite this year and both teams accomplished a lot. They both just missed out because their opponents didn't win enough games and there's not a whole lot you can do to control that.
Rhodes was listed as the #6 seed in the Central around 3am.
Yes, there was an error in our retyping of the NCAA release that persisted on the site for a few minutes last night. We have apologized to the team affected. :-\
Frank, really, I think you are going way offbase in blaming geography. I wish you would read what people are telling you and quit beating that horse.
Frank, there are only 33 Pool A conferences. The exceptions include the Capital AC, CUNYAC, the UAA and the Empire 8 which have basketball AC's and not baseball.
Quote from: Lynx Tracker on May 14, 2007, 05:47:55 PM
Rhodes was listed as the #6 seed in the Central around 3am.
Wondered how many people other than me saw that. Unfortunate error, I feel bad for the team and for the folks that run things here, because I know they try to do the best by everyone involved with the sport.
Well, I guess I should start off by nominating myself the the Mike & Mike "Just Shut Up" award this morning and I will follow up that nomination with two apologies:
1) I didn't think I was being critical to anyone when I responded to Lynx Tracker's post about Rhodes briefly being listed on a website. I didn't even know which website he was referring to. But in hindsight, I obviously touch a nerve unintentionally by even mentioning the subject so I apologize. I know from experience that criticism comes quickly and thanks comes seldom so I understand the reaction and I'm sorry I even touch on the subject.
2) I had to go back and look at my posts on the subject of geography (top of page 21 of the Pool C thread and then a few posts above here). I tried very hard to clearly state that I didn't blame geography for Millsaps not getting selected. I stated that if all other things were basically equal, I personally would consider cost as a tiebreaker which seems like a more practical tiebreaker than flipping a coin. I apologize for not making that more clear in some way and for giving anyone the impression that I thought Millsaps was shunned because of their location.
And with that, I will close with my usual thanks to Pat, Jim and Dwayne for all the work they have done this year. It is amazing just how much they and a handful of others have opened up the world of D3 sports with their efforts.
As for me, I have enjoyed the year here with football, basketball, and baseball. This year was a year that I tried to do too much with the photographs (over 12,000 donated to the athletes at Millsaps), the failed attempt to start a Millsaps sports email, and way too many posts here on the message boards. It may be that I force myself to just cut back to the photography next year in order to regain at least a part of my normal life.
Good luck to Austin this week and I hope everyone has a great summer.
Thanks for all your work here frank, its greatly appreciated... Not to disrespect Austin's upcoming games (and I do wish them luck), but anyone have predictions for the conference next year?
I figure there won't be much action on this board since the Austin folks don't post so maybe no one will mind if I post a few more things. Naturally I've been watching the scores, especially the ones in the South and Central Regions, the regions where I figure Millsaps and Rhodes had the best shots of finding a slot. I'm not sure if my stomach will be able to take it and the Rhodes folks probably feel the same.
In the South, Methodist beat Bridgewater 21-14. Methodist was 4th in the South regional QOWI with Millsaps 5th and Rhodes 6th. Rhodes folks will also remember that Methodist lost 6-1 to Rhodes and Robert Flanagan this season. The contrast in scores has to make you wonder about quality of pitching in some areas of the South Region.
In the Central there are a ton of interesting things:
--The #1 seed is Luther, the AQ from the IIAC, a 29-9 team that went 0-0 in the regular season against teams in the NCAA Tournament. That's right, zero games against teams that made the tournament and they only managed to go 29-9. That's the top seed in the region.
--The #2 seed is Illinois Wesleyan with an at-large bid. SCAC people will be familiar with some of the teams IW played this year--they went 0-2 with Rose-Hulman, 1-0 with MS College, 0-1 with Millsaps, 0-1 with Rhodes, and 0-1 with Washington. Not a great record against quality teams outside their CCIW Conference.
--The #3 seed is Carthage, the AQ from the CCIW, and I really found no ties between them and SCAC teams.
--At #4 we have Washington with an at large bid. They went 1-1 with DePauw, 0-1 with Rhodes and 0-3 with Emory but they did go 1-0 against Illinois Wesleyan just like Rhodes and Millsaps.
--At #5 is Webster, the AQ from the SLIAC. There were 1-5 against teams in the NCAA Tournament and I know that Millsaps beat them 15-1 at last year's regional but that was last year.
--At #6 is Augustana, maybe the recipient of the last at-large bid since they are seeded 6th in what appears to be a fairly weak regional. Augustana lost 3-1 today to the top-seed Luther so maybe Augustana is deserving or maybe Luther is a paper tiger that feasted on weak teams.
Illinois Wesleyan, Carthage, and Augustana all come from the CCIW Conference which Illinois Wesleyan won with a 20-1 record. I wonder if a league that can be so throughly dominated by Illinois Wesleyan is deserving of 3 teams in a regional--apparently the members of the selection committee thought that was the case. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Frank, I love that fact that you are such a great advocate for your team! I have to say that I would have loved to see Rhodes and Millsap both in the tourney!! I think it would have been great for the SCAC to have three teams there.
The idea that perhaps some of the other schools should have played an easier schedule is an interesting one. I for one thought that having an easy game here or there for a young team like OU would have kept their spirits high. It is tough on teams like that to lose constantly and be told, "You will be great next year! This hard schedule is great for building character and ability!".
It is tough for a coach and an AD to work out a schedule that will please everyone and I think most coaches want to play a highly competitive schedule to help their team develope. A hard non-conference schedule gets you set for tough conference games. I am not sure if I believe that or not but I hear it said a great deal.
I think in the end the AD's and coaches of the SCAC are going to have to get together and work on a few things to help this conference gain a bit more respect out there! I can also assure you that there are many more teams out there just as deserving of a playoff birth who, like Rhodes and Millsap, did not make it. No matter what not everyone is going to be happy!
I now have summer ball to look forward to and can't wait for next season to arrive! Lets all hope that the SCAC has a better year next year and good luck to Austin in your playoff bid!!!
Frank, just for the record, I'm an Austin College fan and I post! :)
Austin College guy here, just discovered this board...
Unfortunately, we're down 3-2 in the bottom of the 4th against Pacific Lutheran, after taking a 2-0 lead in the first. Let's hope Carl can get the boys to turn it around...the Pacific Lutheran broadcast is tape delayed and won't start for another five minutes, so who knows what has happened, but sounds like Pacific Lutheran took advantage of an error and got to Rushing a little (a bit surprised Carl went with Rushing over Chermak based on end of season performance, but Rush has been quality all year and is a senior, so can't fault the logic).
Anyway, I hope you folks are ready for AC to continue to give you all fits in the years to come...I mean, after all, this year we're not starting a single senior at any of the non-pitching positions, with only one junior getting the majority of the starts (Aurand in right), and more or less relying on frosh and sophs. Add in that next year we'll be getting Schleizer back (All-West last year), and hopefully Jad Dusek (hitting over .400 in 19 games as a freshman before getting injured, and then getting re-injured in preseason this year so he missed the whole season), along with the good recruiting class Carl seems to be putting together, and we should be good to go.
All we need is another pitcher or two to go along with Chermak and Frosty.
and now it's 4-2 in the top of the fourth...
come on 'Roos, put some things together and get that pitching in order! right now is when it REALLY shows that we really, really need someone other than Chermak to show up for crunch time pitching.
Jekelish, welcome aboard!
We need someone to keep Josh company!
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 16, 2007, 10:50:53 PM
Jekelish, welcome aboard!
We need someone to keep Josh company!
Is Jad Dusek the son of Brad Dusek of Temple HS, Texas A&M and Washington Redskins fame?
Josh, I've seen plenty of your posts and somehow I never made the connection that you were an Austin College supporter--or maybe I made the connection and forgot which seems to happen more and more to me lately.
Sorry to see that Austin lost yesterday. I do believe they will be a force to be reckoned with in the future--just as they were a force to be reckoned with this season. Millsaps graduated a lot of talent this year but they will still be strong. I expect Trinity to bounce back. Austin will be better as the above post mentioned. I expect Southwestern will keep pace. And Hendrix is improving even though the record didn't show it this year. I can't speak for the SCAC East, but the SCAC West should be a heck of battle next year which means you better plan on winning the SCAC Tournament--the teams are going to beat up each other to the point that an at-large berth will be impossible to obtain.
D3baseballdad, I think you and I are on the same page that we would like for a coach to schedule teams that are tough enough to make your own team better. In the case of OU, they had a combination of a tough schedule and some tough breaks that spiralled out of control in that long losing streak. Personally, I think the OU schedule is fine and I wouldn't change it a bit because my gut feeling is that the program over there will grow into that schedule and will be successful. I just hate that the growing pains that come from scheduling tough teams gets passed along to other teams--in this case Rhodes. The 4 game sweep on the road by Rhodes this year actually lowered the QOWI for Rhodes. Rhodes was just lucky that they were road games because the home sweep of Sewanee hurt the QOWI even worse. With these being conference games, Rhodes didn't have any choice on scheduling or not scheduling these games. But gosh, some of you may have heard me complain about that in previous posts so I'll put that complaint to rest.
Hopefully we'll see Austin come back with a win or two out West and I'll leave it up to our Austin members to post on that.
Before I leave once again, I'll repeat an offer I've made in the past without many takers. I have literally thousands of sports photos posted on the Millsaps website. Naturally the photos are shot and cropped to feature the Millsaps athletes but in some photos there is a pretty good image of a player from the opposing team. I've always gladly shared these photos with people from other teams at no charge just as I provide these photos to Millsaps at no charge. The link to the photos is in the area at the bottom of this post--feel free to look through the photos and email me at frankezelle@yahoo.com if you would like the original photo file which is much larger than the photo files in the photo album.
No problem, Frank. I actually have a degree from Hardin-Simmons University, but currently work at Austin College. Ergo, I have split loyalties.
From an update standpoint, AC is leading Pomona-Pitzer 5-0 about midway through. Here's hoping the 'Roos can hang on and get a win!
Heading into the 7th, it's 6-4 in favor of the 'Roos. P-P scored four runs in the sixth, and AC got one back to get it to the current score. From looking at the line score only, it looks like two errors played a big part in P-P's big inning. Wonder if Coach Carl stuck with Chermak through the inning, because there's really not a ton of depth to back him up, especially since he went with Frost after Rushing got pulled last night.
first, good luck to austin
second, the all scac team has not yet been named....as posters on d3baseball.com, and following the teams of the SCAC who gets your vote.
MVP-
Pitcher-
Newcomer-
Coach-
1st team-
2nd team-
Extra innings--come on 'Roos!!!!!!
well, the game has gone final. two runs for Pomona in the top of the 10th and AC could not recover. our bats disappeared as the game wore on, and our pitching got worn down. too bad, but a good experience for our very young team.
I don't think I'll be insulting any Austin fans by saying that their team was a little thin on pitching this year, giving up right at 6 runs per game and not having a tremendous amount of depth. In the Crossover and the SCAC Tournament they gave up 5.8 runs per game but they won 5 of 6 by scoring just over 10 runs per game. When the bats were hot this season Austin was very tough and they just weren't quite hot enough today.
(CORRECTION: The era for the season was right at 6 per game and runs given up was at about 6.6 per game.)
Josh, I think you met the father of a Millsaps football player who also takes photos at the Millsaps football games. It's rare that I actually get photographed, but he took this photograph of me at the Millsaps Homecoming game last year:
http://wwin39216.blogspot.com/2007/05/blogger-05-11-07.html
I know this will shock a lot of people, but I also tend to get a little wordy when writing to my blog--I just happens to be long-winded on a wider range of subject.
Frank,
I've seen your pictures, and they are great. It's a shame not many people take you up on your offer. I only wish that I as in a couple of the pictures, Millsaps is lucky to have such a dedicated person to provide such a service.
Thanks for that compliment. There was a time when I considered trying to take photos of both teams in a game instead of just the Millsaps team but it really makes the work load unbearable. I know for a fact that the vast majority of athletes at Millsaps are outstanding young men and women and I'm glad I can capture these important moments for them.
I would also say with 99% certainty that a vast majority of the athletes at all of the other SCAC schools are outstanding young men and women and I wish I could capture some of their important moments as well. To be honest, I hope that at some point in time the athletic departments at the other SCAC schools will see the photos of the Millsaps athletes and it will encourage them to do the same for their athletes. Maybe that will happen as the years go by.
In reply to sports 10...
MVP-- Matt Beesley of Rhodes College, the hardest working man in show-business!
Coach-- Jeff Cleanthes of Rhodes College, hands down, period!
Hello everyone. I would just like to introduce myself as Jimmy and I am Nick Vera's (Trinity) older brother. I was only introduced to the board not long ago, but I have tried to keep up as much as possible and I have found the board very informative and very entertaining. It is nice to see different oppinions from all over the SCAC and even some outsiders.
Of course I will be biased and put my vote out there for Nick as player of the year as I have once before on a previous post. But I strongly believe he has the numbers to be a strong contender for this award. Do I have total blinders on here or does anyone agree?
Welcome to the board Jim. If Nick hit against everybody like he hit against Millsaps this year then he would be a shoo-in for the National POTY.
To the surprise of no one, I would pick Hunter Owen for the SCAC POTY while recognizing that there are several very good candidates to choose from. Hunter stepped in for 2005 and 2006 POTY Garner Wetzel and basically put up the same number. Some of those numbers and their ranking in the SCAC were:
Batting Average--.404--6th in SCAC
Slugging Percentage--.776--1st
On Base Percentage--.520--3rd
Doubles--23--1st
Home Runs--11--1st
RBI's--70--1st
Stolen Bases--21--2nd
And the list goes on.
---You've got the high batting average and on-base percentage.
---You've got the power shown by leading the league in both doubles and home runs (over half of his hits were for extra bases).
---And you have the speed that turned 21 of the stops at 1st base into a free pass to 2nd base.
There's no doubt that Millsaps had a huge hole to fill in the lineup with the departure of Wetzel and Hunter filled that hole completely. I'm glad he's just a junior (or maybe a sophomore--he only played 4 games and had 5 at bats last year so I'm guessing that could be a medical redshirt).
Hunter Owen is definitely the candidate I would have gone with. I'm fairly certain he got the Austin College vote.
Frank,
Hunter Owen would qualify for a medical redshirt if he played only in the first half of the season in 2006 and did not play in more than 20% of the team's scheduled games. In Hunter's case, he would meet the 20% criteria. Without looking it up, I'm not sure about in which part of the season Hunter played.
One disclaimer: the NCAA has just expanded the medical hardship rule from 20% to 30% for Division I. Not sure if it applies to Division III. The rule is also applied retroactively to the fall of 2003.
BigJim,
While Nick may be the position player with the best overall skills in the SCAC, history says his chances of winning Player of the Year honors are very much tied to the success of the team. Going back to 2001, Page, Sharp, Yglesias, Armstrong and Wetzel all played on teams that won the SCAC or a team that made the regional.
Unfortunately for Nick, I think chances for the honor are too much linked to the team's results as opposed to his performance.
With that said, our entire family is really rooting for him to get some good news in early June. He has worked so hard and come so far that it would be only right for him to get that chance to show what he can do in professional baseball.
Please tell Nick the Armstrongs say hello...and thanks for taking it easy on that hits record. ;)
Infielddad,
I will no doubt pass on the hello.
We appreciate you all thinking of Nick and hoping for the good news in June. It can not come soon enough for us. The suspense is incredible, as you know. He has had a couple of strong work outs and with a few more scheduled we are hoping for the best. If you all can throw in a couple of short prayers, I am sure that would not hurt anything.
I try to keep up with Jason's success through Nick. Best of luck to him, we all know he too has worked very hard for what he has acheived.
Thanks again.
Where is the ALLSCAC team?? Seems like it should already be out...
Just released:
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/07allscac.htm (http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/07allscac.htm)
At this moment it is taking all the restraint I can muster to keep from using a string of expletives to describe my absolute shock and disappointment at the disgraceful vote by the SCAC coaches in robbing the Coach of the Year Award from Jeff Cleanthes of Rhodes College for the second year in a row.
I am sure that Coach Carl Iwasaki of Austin College is a fine man, a good coach and absolutely no disrespect is intended to him. Sure—congratulations to Austin College for winning the 3-day tournament. They played well and deserved to win. But, even a blind squirrel can find an acorn once in a blue moon! I could even see it if Austin had not gone "2 and out" in California, and had advanced deeper into the regional tourney.
Personally, I would be absolutely embarrassed to accept this award if I were the coach of a below .500 team—when men with .783 and .761 winning percentages were in the running! It sounds to me that there is some petty jealousy and vindictiveness among the SCAC coaches.
I've never seen a group of petty, vindictive coaches actually prefer "the new guy" to one of their own.
When I'm choosing coaches of the year for D3football and D3hoops, I look long and hard at the coach whose team most exceeds preseason expectations. Austin was essentially tied for seventh in the SCAC preseason poll.
Quote from: Lynx Tracker on May 21, 2007, 04:15:38 PM
At this moment it is taking all the restraint I can muster to keep from using a string of expletives to describe my absolute shock and disappointment at the disgraceful vote by the SCAC coaches in robbing the Coach of the Year Award from Jeff Cleanthes of Rhodes College for the second year in a row.
I am sure that Coach Carl Iwasaki of Austin College is a fine man, a good coach and absolutely no disrespect is intended to him. Sure—congratulations to Austin College for winning the 3-day tournament. They played well and deserved to win. But, even a blind squirrel can find an acorn once in a blue moon! I could even see it if Austin had not gone "2 and out" in California, and had advanced deeper into the regional tourney.
Personally, I would be absolutely embarrassed to accept this award if I were the coach of a below .500 team—when men with .783 and .761 winning percentages were in the running! It sounds to me that there is some petty jealousy and vindictiveness among the SCAC coaches.
Pat Coleman got to this before I did, but the above post is very petty and vindictive.
I will make the case that Coach Iwasaki did a better of job of preparing his team for the post season. He did not shy away from strong competition either. He sought mid-week games versus UT-Tyler 3 times, he lost 2 games versus UT-Dallas, and then traveled to Abilene for a HSU McM midweek doubleheader. When the time came to play the #15 and the #25 ranked (ABCA Polls) teams in the country in the SCAC tourney, he beat them. He even beat the Rhodes #2 pitcher in the tourney!
I am interested to see what type of baseball program that B-SC puts together. They have excellent facilities and a love of baseball. I think that the SCAC just got tougher!
Scrushy-Striplin Field (http://www.bscsports.net/Sports/baseball/2005/scrushy-striplin-field.asp) at Birmingham-Southern College.
wow...that looks like an incredible facility for D3.
It ought to - it's a D-I facilty, as are most of B-SC's facilities.
Many years ago I was helping a friend with Little League baseball and this friend decided to give a "Hustle Award" to one player after each game. It sounded like a good idea on the surface but the end result was the winner of the award went away from the game happy and 10 other players went away thinking they had been screwed.
Coach of the Year is always a tricky pick. Do you give it to the guy who won the league or the most games or the one who did the most with the talent he had. I think we all get tired of seeing the coach with the most talented players getting the nod for best coach while another guy might have done magic with next to nothing (this is a general statement, not a reference to any current SCAC teams).
This award was going to come from either Millsaps, Rhodes or Austin. Certainly Coach Page at Millsaps and Coach Cleanthes at Rhodes are worthy candidates but they are the ones with the most talent. Rhodes had 5 all-SCAC position players and 3 of the 7 pitchers. Millsaps had 6 position players (including the offensive player of the year) and one pitcher. On the other hand, Austin had 4 position players and no pitchers and yet they finished 2nd in the tough SCAC West and they came up big when they had to come up big.
I say congratulations to Coach Iwasaki of Austin and I see the SCAC becoming one of the premier baseball leagues in the country--now we just need to find a way to get some at-large teams in the tournament. I hate that Millsaps and Rhodes both seemed to be the equal of World Series participant Emory this year and yet neither team was picked to participate in an NCAA regional.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 22, 2007, 08:12:19 AM
I say congratulations to Coach Iwasaki of Austin and I see the SCAC becoming one of the premier baseball leagues in the country--now we just need to find a way to get some at-large teams in the tournament. I hate that Millsaps and Rhodes both seemed to be the equal of World Series participant Emory this year and yet neither team was picked to participate in an NCAA regional.
Frank, I can tell you that I have heard that the coaches and A.D.'s of the SCAC share your concern. They are talking about ways to improve the conferences chances of putting more teams into the NCAA tourney. I think they will be looking at things from scheduling of non-conference games to possibly doing away with four game weekends for conference games.
We shall just have to wait and see what happens in the future to help with this problem.
Coach of the year.
While its nice to see the SCAC improve (welcome Austin and look for Oglelthorpe to improve next year) I agree that Coach Cleanthes got hosed two years in a row. If you look at exceeding expectations as a prerequisite how does having the most improved D3 team in the NATION in 2006 not qualify you as coach of the year in the SCAC?
Being overlooked in 06 was ridiculous, then its compounded by another snub in 2007. Heck, in 2005 this team was terrible ( 11 wins and alot of losses) and somewhere late in 07 they are ranked 25th in the nation. All on Cleanthes' and his assistants recruits.
No one says life if fair but if Cleanthes can't get the vote than I am not sure anyone should.
Whats a guy got to do, go 50 and 0 and hope that's enough to beat out a team that goes 500.
Bottom line is you better win the SCAC tournament or it looks like you are going home. Lets prepare for next year and take care of business. All this other stuff seems pretty silly.
Debate all you want. Cleanthes deserves some recognition and should have gotten Coach of the Year in either 06 or 07.
He certainly could have won the award in one or both of those years and he certainly has won the support of the Rhodes fans and he has re-established Rhodes on the national scene.
On the issue of post-season awards, there were a few SCAC players who won awards today. On the ABCA Regional team you had:
--Hunter Owens of Millsaps as a 1st Team All-South and the Player of the Year in the South.
--Daniel Vanaman of Rhodes made 1st Team All-South.
--Robert Flanagan of Rhodes made 1st Team All-South.
On the D3Baseball All-American team Hunter Owens made the 3rd team, the only SCAC player that was listed (unless I overlooked someone).
Personally I think postseason awards should be voted for before the 'postseason' starts....the problem is the East and West will never see each other play....Maybe create separate teams. All SCAC East Team and an All SCAC West team. Instead of two at each position cut it to 1 each and just let the East vote for the east and the west for the west. Just a thought.
And....how was Hunter Owen the only player from the SCAC on the D3baseball team!!!! and on the 3rd team for no less. Your telling me the South region player of the year is only on the 3rd team???
It's an All-American team, not an All-South team, just as a reminder. And the D3baseball.com team doesn't have to agree with the ABCA. I see that D3baseball.com has a different South Region player ranked ahead of Owen at the same position, for example. I would expect that if D3baseball.com named an All-South team, that Salisbury's Andrew Jensen or perhaps Mary Washington's Eric Fitzgerald would be the South Player of the Year.
I stayed out of the selection process, since I didn't see enough baseball to qualify as an expert. But I've been in enough selection processes between D3hoops.com and D3football.com to know how they work, and I know what Jim and his team went through to assemble this team. And I've certainly answered the same kind of questions ... year after year after year ... to answer the most basic ones about an All-American team.
To weigh in on the Hunter Owen awards, I think it is a tremendous honor for him to be named to the 3rd team All-American list. With 350 D3 schools in the country that means you have about 1,000 starting outfielders and he was picked in the top 9--that's quite an honor for a guy who only had 5 at bats last year due to an injury (http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/owenBio.shtml).
Take all 9 of the outfielders listed on the All-American team and they all have great numbers. Sometimes the difference between the players is just that one plays on the team that had more postseason success or maybe the player already had somewhat of a national reputation from success in the previous season. Those things usually factor into the process and I don't have a problem with that.
So, for Hunter to get the recognition that he has received in his first full season of play at Millsaps is really spectacular. If he can repeat his output from this season and if Millsaps can make it back to the playoffs next season, then maybe Hunter will work his way higher on the list. He seems like the kind of guy who will work hard to make that happen.
can anyone tell me where i can find the list of all region picks?
what website? ive tried www.abca.com, but its from last year
Sports10, I got my information from a post under the National topics. I think this link will get to that thread: http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=5265.0
The honors continue to pile up for Hunter Owen of Millsaps, and Danial Vanaman and Robert Ferguson of Rhodes. The ABCA All-American team is out and Hunter Owen gives Millsaps their second straight 1st team All-American while Vanaman made the second team and Ferguson made the third team. It's a huge honor for all 3 players. (List of the teams: http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/NCAAChampionship/2007/basehits/all-americans/2007.xml)
I've mentioned this before but it is worth mentioning again. Hunter Owen came into this season with just 50 at bats in his college career, 45 as a freshman and only 5 due to injury last season. It is really remarkable for him to get honors like 1st team All-American, South Region POTY, and SCAC Offensive POTY in his first full season.
Hunter, Flanagan and Britton Horn are all playing in the Coastal Plains League this summer (http://www.coastalplain.com/about/today).
Just to note, its Flanagan, not Ferguson. But congrats to all these players who have done so well.
(Sadly Sewanee had no All-Americans, but next year will be the year)
Thanks for that correction--I don't know where in my memory banks I could have pulled out a totally different name like that--I did get it right on my third try at the bottom of the email.
One thing to add in the "Beat a Dead Horse" category, I guess that most of you have seen that Emory came out of the loser's bracket and they play for the national championship today. Certainly when it comes to the NCAA Tournament it is all about which team is playing at their peak and which team gets the right bounce, etc., and apparently that has been the case with the Emory team. Still, for the players and fans at Millsaps and Rhodes who all saw two head-to-head games between their team and Emory, you would be hard pressed to convince any of those people that there is any significant difference between Emory, Rhodes, and Millsaps.
On May 16th I wrote, "Naturally I've been watching the scores, especially the ones in the South and Central Regions, the regions where I figure Millsaps and Rhodes had the best shots of finding a slot. I'm not sure if my stomach will be able to take it and the Rhodes folks probably feel the same." That was two weeks ago and I've moved on from the disappointment of Millsaps not getting into the NCAA Tournament, but I do continue to wonder what might have been when I see just how far Emory has been able to advance. There's no reason for me to believe that a Millsaps team that got hot and got the right bounces (and got invited to the tournament) couldn't have done the same.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 29, 2007, 07:40:39 AM
...There's no reason for me to believe that a Millsaps team that got hot and got the right bounces (and got invited to the tournament) couldn't have done the same.
:) ;D
Instead Austin College got hot and got the right bounces and got the invitation and even knocked out its competition.
Haven't we all sat in that seat before! :-\
Austin did indeed get hot at the right time and they won the AQ as a result. When a league gives the AQ to the tournament champion then it gives many teams the opportunity to get to the NCAA Tournament regardless of their regular season results. I happen to like that arrangement because it gives motivation throughout the season to so many teams and players.
I personally don't think that Austin winning the SCAC Tournament was that big a surprise. The new format is far less taxing on the depth of a pitching staff and all 4 teams were quite capable of winning the tournament. I think the big surprise was that the SCAC wasn't deemed strong enough to get at least one at-large team in the tournament. Three teams from the SCAC might have been too much to ask even though the CCIW got 3 teams in (I guess it didn't hurt that the coach of the third team to get in was also the chair of the Central regional advisory committee so he was in a good position to pitch the merits of his team).
Hopefully this season will serve as a learning tool and SCAC teams can schedule in such a way that the league can get two teams in the NCAA's in future years.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 29, 2007, 12:40:52 PM
(I guess it didn't hurt that the coach of the third team to get in was also the chair of the Central regional advisory committee so he was in a good position to pitch the merits of his team).
A coach or AD cannot be on the conference call while the team they represent is being discussed.
Robert Flanagan pitches 7 strong inning in his first start for the Edenton Steamers in the Coastal Plains League: http://www.coastalplain.com/statistics/2007/obx5-31.htm
Two SCAC players were named as members of the 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Baseball Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. John Pacillo of Millsaps was named to the 2nd team and Richard Hurd of Rhodes is a member of the 3rd team.
Millsaps story on John Pacillo: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/053007story.shtml
Release from COSIDA: http://www.cosida.com/formpdfs/2007_baseball.pdf
Just a proud big brother posting that Nick Vera was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 32nd round; #981 overall.
Congrats to Nick, you should BOTH be very proud!
BigJim,
I had posted on the following the draft thread when I read about Nick on Friday. Going in the 28th to the Cardinals is terrific. There are a lot of us who are very proud of Nick, but none more than you.
Please tell him the Armstrongs are all very happy for him and proud as heck of what he has accomplished.
I will be bookmarking him on Milb.
Hunter Owen, Britton Horn and the New Bern River Rats all got off to a slow start in the Coastal Plains League this season, but all have been turning it around lately.
Last night Britton evened his record at 1-1, going 7 innings and allowing just 1 unearned run and 4 hits, while Hunter went 2 for 2 at the plate, his 3rd multiple hit game in his last 5 starts.
Box Score: http://www.coastalplain.com/statistics/2007/nwb6-18.htm
Also, I saw before that you said Flanagan was in this league, so I looked him up after I saw the other two. He seems to be doing very well, his team cant score him any runs it looks like.
So far he has a 1.42 ERA through 19 IP, and has allowed only 3 run, and 13 hits while striking out 16 and holding hitters to just a .197 BA. However, he currently however 0-2 as his team cant find the bats when he takes the mound I guess.
I also notice that New Bern plays Edenton today, I dont know if Flanagan will pitch or not for Edenton, but could be a game that sees three SCAC players involved with Flanagan, Owen and Horn.
Also, where are the other SCAC players playing like Daniel Vanaman from Rhodes, or Hunter Abrams or other All-Region selections such as Beezley, or Hadly so we can keep up to date on their summers as well? I figured some players like Moore from Centre would not play because they graduated, but these players are all junors right?
The Johnson City Cardinals (Rookie ball for the St. Louis Cards) just finished thier first game, which was scheduled for yesterday, but was postponed to today due to rain. Nick Vera (Trinity) went 4 for 4 with 2 doubles, 2 rbi, and 2 runs scored. Nick started the game at 3B, a position he has not played in quite a while. Sorry for tooting my brother's horn, but, WOW, what a first game. They play the second have of the double header later. Thank you to everyone for all the support, especially infield dad. By the way, our family wishes Jason a speedy recovery and we hope is back on the field soon.
Trinity's Drew Bignall was selected to pitch in the NECBL All-Star game next week.... congrats!
http://www.necbl.com/pdf/2007_All_Star_Game_Press_Release.pdf
Wow, Nick Vera has re-established himself with the A Johnson City Cardinals..... after starting off like blazes, he slumped down near the Mendoza line and has rebounded to be hitting near .300...
All the TU/SCAC faithful hopes he finishes strong and 'represents'!!!!!
Theo Stathakis... watch out for this kid this year!!!
Any ideas about the new recruits at Birmingham/Southern? Mostly freshman, where are they from, any standouts, any knowledge out there?
Coaches are new as well, should be exciting to watch.
Welcome to the boards, ffb. The SCAC is a great board which gets started sooner than most.
There are plenty of good posters on this board. Which team do you follow?
I like to go for the underdogs. I try to follow the new and developing guys .
Would like to see BSC do well for that reason. Glad to hear the conference starts earlier with posts than the others. Would like to know more about the
Also , they had a strong baseball school, would like to see it continue and have some of the guys feel the success of the past. I do think Rhodes will continue to be strong from what I have read. Thanks for the welcome.
Fall practice has started , will continue until Oct. 20. Anyone in Birmingham can attend from what the website said today. 32 new recruits at BSC.
I know it's early, but what is the outlook for the 2008 season?
What kind of pitching is returning for the schools etc? Any ideas as to the final standings.
Wow, i finally found a board that is active, alive and willing to share inight on baseball during the fall. Even though, i follow SCIAC baseball, i hope that i can learn something new from your schools and this site. Awesome, insight so far. ;D
SCAC board is a very good message board. The SCAC added Austin College last year, and the 'Roos responded by winning the Tourney.
There is plenty of interconference play between:
Millsaps and Miss College,
Austin College and UT-Dallas/UT-Tyler/McMurry/Hardin Simmons
Trinity/Southwestern and HSU/McM/Texas Lutheran/Schreiner/UMHB/Concordia-Austin
The SCAC-East is almost a separate conference in its non-conference opponents in baseball.
Nick Vera (Trinity University) played 3rd and 1st for the Johnson City Cards this summer.... hit .286
Been told he's in Florida instructional league, and may be assigned to play winter ball.
Trinity should be 'locked and loaded' this season. Hope that Oates and Bignall have great senior campaigns!
It will be an interesting season for Millsaps this year as a ton of talent graduated last year. Multiple year starters who graduated included Luke Morrow at 1st, Nick Crawford (and his NCAA record for being HBP) at 2nd, Justin Carter at SS, Jason Hadley in LF, and John Pacillo in CF. Also gone are utility man Taylor Jones, and I'm not sure about Joe Blades and Nicky Prather--they were listed as juniors but I think they graduated. Also Brent Buffa is at Millsaps but he has an appeal pending with the NCAA on gaining another year of eligibility.
That's a lot to lose but Hunter Owens, the reigning SCAC offensive player of the year is back in RF and Hunter Abrams is back at 3rd. Starting pitchers Jay Hollenbeck and Brandon Ingram are back for sure (I see them all the time) and I feel sure that Travis Bogue is back, so pitching will be a strong point for this year's team.
The Millsaps team plays several scrimmage games with Hinds JC today and I'll probably get out to see a couple of the games. It will be interesting to see just how strong the Millsaps team is this year. With so much talent graduating, it would be natural to think it might be a down year. On the other hand, when All-American Garner Wetzel graduated in 2006, his replacement Hunter Owen came in and was named a 1st team All-American in 2007, so I'll take a wait and see attitude about all of the new starters that will be on the field this season.
BSC has 2 scrimmages Sunday starting at noon. This is homecoming weekend . Playing a jc. Don't know which one. Will try to get more details and some names of players if any lists are out. This is a young team. Should be a good day for baseball. Everyone is welcome to attend. Families are invited. Great field to host baseball.
IMO this program becomes a national-title caliber team within a decade, and I'm probably being conservative there.
Good coaching, good talent base, super facilities by D-III standards. I see no way this doesn't happen.
Not quite my post-Katrina Tulane to D-III doomsday scenario, but maybe close.
Glad you got to go, couldn't attend .
in terms of returning players, AC looks to be strong again in 08. they're getting back Bobby Schleizer, who got a medical redshirt after missing most of last season. he's a big time hitter, set the school record for homers in a season as a sophomore and will be a big boost to their offense.
they return three of their top pitchers in Will Chermak (ace), Justin Frost, and Cory Stevens but there isn't much depth in the rotation. if they can find some more solid arms, especially a lefty or two, they will be tough to beat.
There wasn't exactly much depth in the AC rotation last year, but as they proved in 2007, depth is not as important with the SCAC tournament now split over two weekends. If things go right, two good starters can get you through the crossover weekend and three good pitchers can get you through the SCAC tournament. That's especially true if you are putting up runs like AC did down the stretch last season.
In a correction to my earlier post, Joe Blades is back for Millsaps this season. He didn't get a lot of at bats last season, mostly splitting time at the DH position, but he adds power to the Millsaps lineup and he has a good shot at being the starter in left field. That's where he was playing last Friday when Millsaps scrimmaged Hinds JC, a strong program in the local area. I think Millsaps went 2-0-1 against Hinds.
While pitching may seem to be the strength of the Millsaps team since they lost so many starting position players last season, don't be surprised if some of these guys who have had to wait their turn for a couple of seasons turn out to be very solid players. I expect Millsaps to be in the thick of things along with Rhodes and just about everyone from the West. While it is possible that someone in the east will step up to challenge Rhodes, past history says that once again the better ball will be from the western half of the SCAC.
Frank, football's over Saturday for D3,,, MtU vs UWW for all the marbles.... Let's get ready for Baseball!
I'm picking Trinity if that great pitching staff can stay healthy!
Less than a month untile baseball starts. Any word on new recruits for OU?
Quote from: historymajor on December 11, 2007, 07:37:03 AM
Frank, football's over Saturday for D3,,, MtU vs UWW for all the marbles.... Let's get ready for Baseball!
I'm picking Trinity if that great pitching staff can stay healthy!
Historymajor, it's crazy, off-the-wall comments like picking Trinity to win the SCAC that has you at a negative karma. :)
As we saw last year, this new formula of a crossover tournament followed by a 4-team SCAC Championship really opens the door for a lot of teams to get the automatic bid. If you have two really good pitchers then you will win enough regular season games to get into the crossover and you have a good shot at winning that 2 out of 3 game series. From there, two good starting pitching performances get you into the championship game at the SCAC Tournament and you then go against a team that has been using up their pitching in the loser's bracket.
As a general statement based on the results from last year, I believe the top 4 teams from the West and the top 2 from the East will all have good shots at the AQ bid to the NCAA Playoffs. Like in SCAC basketball, it's a crap shoot when you get to a weekend tournament with 4 strong teams, so teams need to position themselves for a potential at-large berth during the early part of the season. More on that and on Millsaps later--my report just finished on the printer.
Another big report is printing:
When it comes to the subject of getting an at-large bid, I certainly learned a lot last year. The number one lesson is that there is no unimportant game when you are playing against a D3 team that will count in your regional ranking. Look at Rhodes last year and they probably lost their at-large bid on February 17th, a cold and miserable Memphis day when Hendrix beat Rhodes 6-5 in a non-conference game. If that wasn't the deciding factor, then maybe it was the 2-loss trip to LaGrange right after Easter--I remember someone from Rhodes posting something about the team just wasn't focused after being off for Easter. Those losses kept Rhodes out of the NCAA Tournament and they had the pitching to do well if they could have just gotten in the tournament.
The number two lesson from last year is that when a team in the conference is having a bad year, it hurts all the other teams in the conference. I don't know if they will have the same system as last year but I'm sure there will be something in place where winning over strong teams gives you more credit than winning over weaker teams. Last year Rhodes actually hurt their point average when they sweep a couple of series because they got so few points for the wins. Millsaps had a similar problem in the West as they were the only team in the West to finish over .500 overall last year. The non-conference losses by the other Western teams took away points from Millsaps, points that might have kept them out of an at-large bid.
Hopefully this year the SCAC as a whole will be a stronger league and that will give the SCAC a much better chance of getting at least 2 teams into the NCAA Tourament.
And now for part 3 of the trilogy--how will Millsaps do this year?
The short answer is, "Who knows?". Gone are Luke Morrow, Nick Crawford and Justin Carter from the starting infield. Gone are Jason Hadley and John Pacillo from the starting outfield. Gone is starting pitcher Brent Buffa and I believe one of the top freshmen pitchers from last year. All in all, that's a big loss to graduation and transfers, plus I'm sure there might be a few more non-returners that I'm not thinking of.
The good news is that they return a lot, especially on the mound. The trio of Travis Bogue (7-3), Jay Hollenbeck (7-1), and Brandon Ingram (8-1) give Millsaps a great opportunity to win every 3 and 4 games series that they play. Add Tait Hendrix (49 Ks but also 33 BB in 39.1 innings) to that group along with a freshman pitcher I saw this past fall and I think Millsaps has the depth of starting pitching that is needed to win a lot of games.
On the offensive side, Millsaps returns Hunter Owen, Hunter Abrams, and Russ Boyd from the starting lineup last year along with the DH Derrik Boland. That's a great starting point but after that the experience drops off big time. Joe Blades is a good bet to take over in left field and he had 43 AB's last year and Billy Murphy looks like the starting SS after only getting 10 AB's last year. Quinn Salmon with 12 at-bats is the only other returnee with double-digit visits to the plate. Of course, Hunter Owen only had 5 at-bats in 2006 and he was a 1st team All-American in 2007 so who knows about the guys on the Millsaps bench.
It will be an interesting year at Millsaps and I look for them to be in the title hunt from start to finish with the biggest question marks being the offense of the new starters and the relief pitching. If those two things come around then I could see Millsaps getting back to the NCAA Tournament despite losing a bundle of talent from the 2007 team.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on December 27, 2007, 10:52:51 AM
Quote from: historymajor on December 11, 2007, 07:37:03 AM
Frank, football's over Saturday for D3,,, MtU vs UWW for all the marbles.... Let's get ready for Baseball!
I'm picking Trinity if that great pitching staff can stay healthy!
Historymajor, it's crazy, off-the-wall comments like picking Trinity to win the SCAC that has you at a negative karma. :)
As we saw last year, this new formula of a crossover tournament followed by a 4-team SCAC Championship really opens the door for a lot of teams to get the automatic bid. If you have two really good pitchers then you will win enough regular season games to get into the crossover and you have a good shot at winning that 2 out of 3 game series. From there, two good starting pitching performances get you into the championship game at the SCAC Tournament and you then go against a team that has been using up their pitching in the loser's bracket.
As a general statement based on the results from last year, I believe the top 4 teams from the West and the top 2 from the East will all have good shots at the AQ bid to the NCAA Playoffs. Like in SCAC basketball, it's a crap shoot when you get to a weekend tournament with 4 strong teams, so teams need to position themselves for a potential at-large berth during the early part of the season. More on that and on Millsaps later--my report just finished on the printer.
Naw, the negative karma arises from the objections by grammarians to the commas in ellipses (i.e., ,,, ) that he sprinkles thruout his posts. :D
Frank, great assessment of the SCAC. +1! I, too, agree with your comments. I think that the SCAC-West
is four-deep. The SCAC-West and the ASC have enough games to get a really good assessment of talent.
As I posted about Pool C last year, if you think that you "blew" an in-region game, then it probably cost you a Pool C bid. Splitting a great three-game series versus a regionally ranked opponent doesn't hurt badly. Three "blown" games against teams that you should beat definitely put you out on the bubble.
Ralph, I think what really hurt the SCAC the most was the weakness of the conference against outside competition, and I think some of that was caused by the change over to 4-game series. That's just a gut feeling with my theory being that team might have lost a few games early in the season while trying to develop or find a 4th starter for the weekend series, plus during the season there would be less pitching left over for the mid-week games. Again, that's just a theory.
While the Millsaps roster for 2008 hasn't be posted to the website, the 2008 schedule is available and it's fairly tough during the non-conference with two road games to Emory, a home and away with Rhodes, games with Wabash and Illinois Wes., and two away games with Jacksonville State. Here's the link:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/schedule.shtml
I am new to the board this year and am willing to bring detail and accuracy to the SCAC Baseball Conference. Can't wait for a great and exciting season to begin in the Spring, as we all know it will be a roller coaster ride through the SCAC regular season and playoffs. This is a tremendously talented conference and it should only get better. I am coming in looking to post on the news of Oglethorpe University's young yet "experienced" baseball team. They will look to improve vastly on their 10-32 overall record, and increase there 4-0 start from last year. I have heard many quality freshman have come in to the picture in the 2008 campaign along with some transfers who will look to help the majority sophmores. They have the talent to make some noise this year, and hopefully will look to avenge some tough losses from last year incuding Emory,Rhodes,and Millsapps. I will personally be looking forward to watching this young, high tempered team as they go on yet another journey throughout the year. Look out for the "youngins" as the teenagers call them these days. I will look forward to hearing from all of teams this year. Good Luck!
Spirit of the Petrel
Welcome to the boards. We are glad to have more posters, especially from the SCAC-East.
The SCAC is one of the better boards. You will find lots of good information here. Please post hyperlinks to interesting articles and web sites. Thanks. (+1 :) )
OU should be an interesting team to watch this year. After winning their first 4 games, they lost their next 22 in a streak where they just didn't seem to get any breaks. One of the oddities of that losing streak was the series with Rhodes, a series OU came close to winning with scores of 7-10, 6-8, 7-8, and 9-10.
As mentioned above, OU will still be young with a roster that shows 1 senior, 1 junior, 14 sophomores, and 10 freshmen (http://www.oglethorpe.edu/athletics/baseball/roster.asp). I have a hard time seeing OU beating Rhodes for the SCAC East title, but it's not too hard to see them moving up to 2nd if they have brought in some freshmen who can help right away.
Frank, you are 100% correct about the Rhodes-OU series from last year. What a tremendous series it was indeed! The Petrels bang around Flanagan,the future 3rd team All American, and end up getting screwed on a horrible runners interference call. But thats baseball, and there's always this year. As Frank showed you guys, OU has 1 senior and 1 junior, and then 24-26 freshman/sophmores. Looks like the Petrels are loading up for the next 3 to 4 years and are looking to start making a run this coming year. The Petrels will need to bring their "nitty-gritty" wont quit attitude to the field day in and day out to compete for a shot at a SCAC Championship, as they now have the pitching depth(with 8-11 quality arms from the pen) and an offensive massacre from all sophmores and the newly acquired freshman. It will be another tough schedule for OU as they have to face Southern Region powerhouses Emory 4 times, LaGrange 3 times, Maryville, and Huntingdon plenty of different times. Any other news on the SCAC?
Heart of the Petrels
Speaking of Flanagan, I hear that he has a shoulder injury at the moment. Any word from a Rhodes fan about his status?
Frank,
I can report to you that the "rumors" speculating on Flanagan's shoulder are false as false can be. Reality is that he came off a tremendous season for the Lynx in 2007 and carried that over into an impressive summer league campaign. I'm sure like most coaches would do and the path Coach Cleanthes has taken is to scale back his normal fall routine. Fact is that in the limited action he did see this fall, he looked as good if not even a little better. And that statement can be applied to the whole Rhodes team itself, we the number of returning starters and the addition of some quality freshman to the mix for the upcoming 2008 season.
As for "getting screwed on a horrible runners interference call" alleged by PetrelBaseball, I'm not sure if your were there or not but I don't see how someone sliding 4 feet outside of the bag would be considered a legal play at the college level. But then again i'm sure you will argue it wasn't that far.....but the umpire thought so and that's all that matters.
Looking forward to the upcoming season.
Pauper thanks for the update on Flanagan, glad to hear hes alright. On the other hand, I was at the game when OU got the bad end of a call by the umpire. Not sure if you had a better seat in the house than me, but I'd put my money and say it was a stretch of a call. It did not need to be made as the runner already beat the throw to first. But that's over with, and we shouldn't dwell in the past. This season should bring great insight into what SCAC East team(s) can make a run at the West in the cross over divisional playoffs. Any predictions on the East side this year? Season begins in a little over a month now, and it's the best time of year! Good luck everybody!
THE petrel
Pauperboy, I thought I was asking a question, not starting "rumors". It sounds like I unintentionally hit a nerve of some sort which was not my intention. As for Flanagan in the 2007 season, you state the obvious since he was the SCAC pitcher of the year, and in regards to Rhodes in the 2008 season, I think everyone will have them as the preseason favorite.
Well Frank, do you have any predictions for 2-6 in the East?
Should be a dogfight for the 2nd seed in the conference and it will likely go to the team who can scrap a win or two off the Rhodes squad. OU,Depauw,Centre all have quality swingers back who can exploit the pitching staff of any team. Should be interesting to see which team comes out fired up.
Petey the Petrel
Quote from: PetrelBaseball on January 01, 2008, 03:28:30 PM
Well Frank, do you have any predictions for 2-6 in the East?
Should be a dogfight for the 2nd seed in the conference and it will likely go to the team who can scrap a win or two off the Rhodes squad. OU,Depauw,Centre all have quality swingers back who can exploit the pitching staff of any team. Should be interesting to see which team comes out fired up.
Petey the Petrel
I don't think that BSC games will count in the conference standings this season.
Am I correct? ???
Ralph, I'm sure that's correct since none of their other sports count. As far as predicting standings, I think everything is up in the air outside of Rhodes being the favorite in the East. Unless something has dramatically changed, it is probably a safe guess to say that Sewanee is the most likely to miss the tournament in the East.
In the West, I think Millsaps, Trinity, Southwestern, and Austin will all be strong contenders to make it to the crossover tournament and I don't know how anyone could accurately predict an order of finish between those four. Colorado doesn't have a team and Hendrix has a lot of ground to make up in order to get out of the cellar.
SO, with all that being said and with no effort being made at all to check out returning players, etc, here's my prediction of the final standings in the SCAC this year:
East:
1--Rhodes
2--Oglethorpe, since that will make the current posters happy
3--DePauw
4--Centre
West:
1--Millsaps
2--Austin
3--Trinity
4--Southwestern
Crossover winners: Rhodes, Trinity, DePauw is an upset, and Millsaps
SCAC Tournament winner: Millsaps with Rhodes getting an at-large bid.
Ralph, I have heard that BSC games will count for baseball this year. For example, if they do not count, then OU will have 12 counted conf games instead of 16 if they did count, since they do not play Depauw this year because of the addition of BSC. But Sewanne will have 16 counted conference games since BSC is not on their schedule. Therefore, it is an unfair advantage to one of these teams, so the BSC games will count this year. This is only the rumor that I heard in the fall.
Nce predictions Frank, hopefully OU will prove you wrong and winning the cross over divisional! ;D
Any specific players to look for to have a huge impact on a teams success, like an X Factor?
I don't know if the BSC games will count or not. Would like to see them count since they just have freshmen and not anyone from the former team , it would make sense to me that they could count. It will give the players more of a chance to feel more apart of the conference. I think it is going to be an exciting year for those guys, don't count them out, looks like the roster has guys from everywhere from Kentucky. NC, GA, to FL. Some of the bios. look pretty good. They will be ready with the coaching staff. Heard great things about those guys down there. ;D
Link to BSC baseball page: http://www.bscsports.net/index.asp?path=baseball
On their schedule, the games against SCAC opponents are marked as conference games but I'm still not sure if those will count in the official standings since the games in basketball are marked as conference games and we know they don't count in the standing.
While looking on their webpage, I clicked on the link for facilities and it looks like they have a great field with fences that the SCAC power hitters will love: http://www.bscsports.net/Sports/baseball/2005/scrushy-striplin-field.asp
Hello all!
I have followed this board for a while now and have enjoyed the great discussions that all of you have shared, and I would love to throw in my two cents.
I agree with all the remarks about last season being a dog fight, and I believe that on any day, any team in the SCAC has a chance to win, especially in the west. I think this year will be no different, and I love the way that the teams in the east are getting better every year, making the conference as a whole that much stronger. Hopefully this year each team will fare better in nonconference games and we can get two teams from the SCAC into regional play.
As far as standings go, I predict that once again Rhodes, Millsaps, and Austin will have solid years, but I especially look for a great bounce back year from Trinity. They have a great mix of youth and experience and will be playing to prove that they are once again a top tier team in the nation after a disappointing season a year ago. The pitching staff returns a solid three man rotation in Oates, Bronson, and Bignall, as well as proven arms in Horn, Poffenroth, Hunter, and Bukowski. More importantly, I look for Stosh Hoover to have a tremendous season as the everyday shortstop after recovering from his season ending spleen injury a year ago. I have seen several practises and his defense looks smoother than ever. Hoover will defintely be a spark to a team that is also returning proven leaders such as first basemen Jordan Pennington, and catcher Zack Fregosi.
Didn't seem to go thru. Leadoff, what about Oatsie? He could be the X-factor!
Welcome to the boards, Leadoff man!
The SCAC board is a really good one.
Millsaps plays their first game 4 weeks from today, a matchup with LaGrange that is part of a 3-day tournament which also includes the Rhodes team and the University of the Ozarks. The students aren't back from the Christmas break so I'm fairly certain that spring baseball practice hasn't started. They don't even have a roster posted at the moment, but I think they don't post the roster till right before the start of the season.
Here's a Millsaps story on Coach Page speaking at the ABCA National Convention:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/011008story.shtml
Frank,
Having watched for 4 years how dominating and intimidating Coach Page tries be on a baseball field, it was fun to learn/read there might be a circumstance he was "overwhelmed."
Thanks for the link. He is a very good coach. That is a nice honor and well deserved recognition.
infielddad--He may have been nervous at the start but once Coach Page is behind a podium and he gets up a head of steam, he can be hard to stop--I imagine that it was both an informative and entertaining 40 minutes by Coach.
Millsaps will be an interesting team to watch this season after having lost so many field players. Having Hunter Owen and Hunter Abrams in the center of the lineup is a nice starting point, but there will be some really untested bats ahead of and behind that pair. The starting pitching should be the strength of the team with 3 seniors returning after being weekend starters last season.
It sure seems like there is a lot of strong starting pitching around the league this season and we don't have to wait long for a potential pitching duel since Rhodes and Millsaps are scheduled to play on February 10th in Jackson. It seems awfully early for such a big game, and while it isn't an SCAC game, both Rhodes and Millsaps found out last year that a loss in early February might be what keeps you out of the NCAA Tournament.
Birmingham Southern's SCAC games WILL count in the standings in 2008. But they are not eligible for the SCAC Tournament.
The East plays a very crazy or even ridiculous schedule this year. East teams will not play the entire East!?!?!?? Rhodes and Centre, DePauw and Oglethorpe, Sewanee and BSC do not play each other in SCAC games this year???
Also, starting in 2009 (pending final approval from the Presidents or an easier way of an act of Congress) the EAST will go to three game SCAC weekends against everyone in the EAST, while the WEST goes back to the 3 away and 2 home series against all WEST teams.
Thanks for that info, Lou.
Most of you have probably looked at the D3Baseball pre-season All-American team so you know the SCAC is well represented with 3 players. Hunter Owen of Millsaps was picked to repeat on the 1st team, Robert Flanagan of Rhodes was named to the 2nd team, and Daniel Vanaman of Rhodes was one of eight players named as honorable mention.
Three SCAC players out of 35 who made the list is a pretty good number. As mentioned in an earlier post, Rhodes and Millsaps are playing in less than a month with a game scheduled for 2:30, February 10th, at Millsaps.
If BSC's games count for the season and just say they do better than a team that gets to go to the tournament, wouldn't that be a disappointment to all the guys that worked hard at BSC? I understand that they are the new team that moved from D1 to D3 , but none of the players are from the D1 team. It just seems it would be disappointing to know that you are better than a team going to conference tournament. First , I realize they have to prove that, and I think they will looking at the talent and reading all the bios. Hopefully, they will play hard knowing this.
The players and coaches knew going into the next few seasons that they would not be eligible for the SCAC Tourney or NCAA play. Hopefully the players were well aware of this...as I'm sure they are. But if you knew ahead of time, I don't think you should be dissapointed. Nobody forced those kids to attend BSC. If they were interested in Championships, then they would have not picked BSC in the first place. I think it is commendable that they choose a fantastic school and are playing the game for the reasons they should be playing the game and will receive a degree from a fine institution.
I do think they will be a force to reckoned with a few years time...
No SCAC teams in the D3Baseball preseason Top 25 but Rhodes is close at #28. Millsaps is the only other SCAC team with votes, getting enough to come in at #40.
Any news from around the SCAC? I've been busy with basketball photos so I haven't seen the Millsaps team practice. It has been cold here (I expect no sympathy from the schools north of Jackson) so I'm sure that has hampered practices to some degree. The first game is two weeks from today and the matchup with Rhodes is just 16 days away.
I have heard that a freshman should be in the weekend rotation--he looked very good when I saw him pitch a few innings in the fall. I don't know much about the other newcomers. One "newcomer" is a player making a comeback. Ronnie Wheat, better known from his linebacking play in the fall, is back out for baseball. I don't know how he is doing but I was told that he is very fast--it brought up visions of Ronnie being used as a pinch runner and I pity the fool who is near second base on a close play if Ronnie is the runner.
While I miss the seniors from last year, I'm excited about seeing a lot of new faces in the mix this year. I hope those new faces include a lot of young stars because Millsaps will be losing another talented senior class at the end of the 2008 season.
Last thing--Mike Nelson, are you out there? I've checked your blog to see if their are any preseason reports on Rhodes but haven't seen anything unless you started in the last day or two. You've got a book to write--get that blog up and going so we can see how the SCAC favorites are doing.
I know this might upset Frank, but I feel Rhodes is the team to beat in the SCAC. A lot can be said of their top two on their pitching staff, and while I am not sure who they lost offensively, those two arms can carry them a long way this season.
Flanagan only lost 1 game last season, and Holt had a strong 9 wins himself with a 3 ERA.
Look forward to seeing how they play this season...
Op-Ed (http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/01/18/0118schrum_edit.html) in the Austin American-Statesman online edition concerning the D-III-D-IV issue.
Frank, your last sentence/comment is totally unnecessary. Sems like it is directed to one pitcher who happens to be a wonderful young man, with tons of talent. This isn't what I would expect from nearly everything else you have posted.
There isn't any reason for your jab. It takes away from all the constructive comments you have provided to make this a very informative section.
I don't think that Frank was intentionally meaning to jab at Trinity for their past injury issues, it is true that the team has seemed to have troublesome injury problems the past couple of years.
With that said, the update on Trinity is good. The team has been practicing extremely hard since they returned from winter break and everyone seems optimistic about the season and a chance for a fresh strat. Coach Scannell will definitely lead them in the right direction and then it will be interesting to see how the team plays together, with so many new faces on the roster. The pitching staff appears healthy and should be the team's strength this year. Ryan Hopkins is the only member of the staff gone from a year ago, and if Brian Oates can come back for a strong senior campaign then the pitching staff will have a very good chance to lead the program back to its dominant form.
The lineup should look alot different from last years, with 5 seniors departed. The whole outfield and third base will be occupied by fresh talent eager to experience SCAC competition.
I can't wait for the season to start and see how it all unfolds... Any news from other West teams?
Frank,
I don't have any problem with the comments and opinions you have expressed on the Trinity program and it's players. I think you try very hard to be fair and that comes across in your posts.
This one just seemed out of character, to me. Maybe it is because I know how hard one of those pitchers has worked and how much I am cheering for him that impacted the context of the comment.
During the time my son played for Trinity, Millsaps three main pitchers had very serious arm problems. Even though the teams play each other at a very high level of intensity, there wasn't any one from Trinity who didn't want those guys to get well and who cheered when each did.
Don't stop posting because of me. Your comments are almost always terrific and on message board you certainly aren't going to please everyone all the time.
infieldddad--You'll see that I've gone back and deleted the post that somehow offended you. How it offended you is still a mystery to me, especially since you've seen enough of my posts to know that I would never take a jab at an SCAC athlete, such as gloating about their multiple injuries. Like I said, I'll refrain from anything Trinity from now on, probably on all boards, just to make sure there isn't a problem in the future.
Frank I'm with you...let's get back to some baseball. While we wait for the SCAC to release the predicted order of finish, here is my $.02.
East
Rhodes - Is it their year? Flanagan and Co. have been waiting for this year!
Depauw - They always seem to field the same team...Good pitching, good coaching, timely hitting.
Oglethorpe - Young and talented, very tough nc schedule...#5 Emory four times...
Centre - Lost Moore to graduation and lots of innings on the hill.
Sewanee - Need pitching and whole lot of everything
BSC - Talented group of freshmen.
WEST
Trinity - Top of line pitching (and healthy), new faces in the field
Millsaps - Underrated pitching staff, must replace key offensive guys
Austin - Return top hitters and arms from title squad in 07
Southwestern - Need to replace top hitter and pitcher
Hendrix - Word is... brought in some key transfers to put around surprising 07 group
I like Rhodes to take home the crown in 2008. Once again the West looks stronger than the East from top to bottom.
Lou, it's hard to find much to disagree with in your list. I think the West will be better than the East in general, but Rhodes has to be considered the top team in the SCAC until someone proves otherwise.
The West will be strong but every team has so many question marks. Since these are all strong programs, it is safe to assume that these question marks will be filled by solid replacements. It will be a most interesting year.
I watched Millsaps practice yesterday. Can't tell much from a practice except that they have plenty of players and they were working hard. Last year the weather was great in preseason, this year the weather has been poor. Ready or not, the opening game is scheduled for one week from tomorrow.
Baseball pre-season picks are out. Rhodes is the overwhelming overall pick and Eastern pick. Trinity gets the top spot in the West. See the results at:
http://www.scac-online.org/
It's hard to believe that the SCAC is opening up today, but Hendrix has a DH in Dallas and another game tomorrow. The scoreboard section of the SCAC page still has the 2007 games so I don't know if there are any other games this weekend. Millsaps opens next Friday (2/8).
SCAC gets off to an 0-1 start as Hendrix falls to U. of Dallas 3-0 in the opener. In the past I wouldn't really care, but now I realize that a Hendrix loss is bad for all the teams in the SCAC West. Maybe they can come back and win the remaining two games in the series.
Box score: http://www.udallas.edu/athletics/baseball/schedstats.cfm
Dallas takes both ends of the DH with Hendrix, winning the second game 6-1. The teams are schedule to play again tomorrow (single game I think).
Looks like a typical SCAC Sunday game as Hendrix lost its third game to Dallas...18-12. Hendrix held a 12-8 lead and gave up 10 runs in the bottom of the 8th. Both teams combined for 26 hits, 6 errors and 30 runs...not to mention the pitchers combined to walk 18 guys!
Maybe the schedule is incorrect but it looks like Hendrix plays a lot of February games!
Any other scrimmages this past weekend?
Scores, leading hitters, pitching? Updates out there?
Thanks
I saw a few innings of a Millsaps team scrimmage on Saturday. In the scrimmage that had Hunter Abrams at short instead of third and Hunter Owens was in center instead of right. I have no idea if that's the way things will start out this year--I guess we'll see on Friday.
Hunter Owen hit a long home run--no big surprise there--and I've heard that the hitting looks pretty good at the moment. Millsaps opens Friday with LaGrange and it looks like all the games this weekend will be carried on the internet. That would be:
LaGrange--Friday--3 PM (Central)
U. of the Ozarks--Saturday--11:30 AM
Rhodes--Sunday--2:30 PM
The first coach's show is in about 2 hours, starting at 5 pm Central time today. Click on the "Listen Live" at the following link to hear the games and the coach's show:
http://www.espnradio1240.com/
I wonder what it must feel like to face those Millsaps hitters in intrasquad games?? I mean, I know other pitchers hate facing them but if your trying to win a spot in the rotation and you have to face Owens and Co. in practice...geez.
Lou, I'm listening to the Coach's show and they have been interviewing the players. A couple of the older players said they have never seen a Millsaps team hitting the ball so hard in spring practice. Considering some of the lineups that they have had over the last few years, that's saying a lot. It sounds like Millsaps might have a lineup that isn't quite as fast but has more power than the team from the past couple of years.
I should get out to the Friday and Saturday game this weekend, but I'll be taking photos of basketball when Millsaps and Rhodes play on Sunday--that will be the third game of the weekend for each team and I'll be interested in the pitching assignments for that game.
Wow, that is really saying something considering the offensive output of the last few years. I do believe they will really miss Crawford and Hadley setting the table for the big guys. And I'm not sure if Abrams can give them what Carter did defensively and offensively. He has some pretty big shoes to fill.
I wonder how Coach Page would pitch his own guys??
I always said intrasquad games keep coaches up at night. If the offensive pounds the ball around you worry about your pitching staff, if your pitching staff dominates you worry about your hitters. No win situation.
A D3Baseball.com story that should make Rhodes fans happy:
http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2008/02/05/All+Rhodes+lead+to+Appleton
Oglethorpe gets pounded against Lagrange in their season opener 13-2. The fielding woes continue as OU commited 6 errors... could be another long season but I bet these youngins right the ship rather quickly.
A very ugly loss for the Petrels tonight. 6 errors, 10+ walks and they could only muster 6 hits.....I know this team is young but they looked bad on defense, and on the mound. LaGrange has a very solid lineup 1-9 but I wasn't overly impressed with the pitching.
Hendrix also lost since the weekend, falling to U. of the Ozarks 15-7, which puts Hendrix at 0-4 and the SCAC has now opened up with an 0-5 record.
It's interesting that LaGrange and Ozarks will be back in action against SCAC teams this Friday at Millsaps. Rhodes takes on the Ozarks at 11:30 Central followed by Millsaps and LaGrange at 3:00. Rhodes and Millsaps will swap opponents for a single game on Saturday and then Rhodes and Millsaps will meet on Sunday.
I also see that Hendrix will probably move to 0-7 this weekend as they take on Texas-Tyler for 3 games. Texas-Tyler lost one game in 2007, their last year of probation. I'm not picking on Hendrix here, but this gets back to the Hendrix record makes a difference to Millsaps, Trinity and the other SCAC teams on their schedule because it can get to the point where winning over a team pulls down your rankings in the regional. I would love to see Hendrix win all three games this weekend, but it doesn't seem real likely.
Quote from: Lou_Brown on February 04, 2008, 09:49:39 PM
Wow, that is really saying something considering the offensive output of the last few years. I do believe they will really miss Crawford and Hadley setting the table for the big guys. And I'm not sure if Abrams can give them what Carter did defensively and offensively. He has some pretty big shoes to fill.
I wonder how Coach Page would pitch his own guys??
I always said intrasquad games keep coaches up at night. If the offensive pounds the ball around you worry about your pitching staff, if your pitching staff dominates you worry about your hitters. No win situation.
Lou, because Coach Page does such a great job with his hitters, it seems like it doesn't matter who they had last year. But he was spoiled in a way having Crawford and Hadley at the top of his order for 4 years.
One of the better pitchers in the SCAC over the past 10 years described pitching against Millsaps as pitching against a lot of DI hitters, many of whom happened to be playing at the DIII level.
Because most of the Millsaps guys are right on top of plate and aggressive, it takes a different approach, and perhaps talent level, to have some consistency to get them out.
The most successful I saw over the period from 2001 to 2004 was a pitcher who threw 86-87, stayed inside on their hands and down, threw a hard slider and a very good change. Since his ERA was around 1.09, one year, he got everyone out. But he proved you have to pitch inside and down to keep them from getting extended and to keep them from dominating the outside part of the plate. Being able to throw a hard slider away, once you got them looking inside was also important. Having the 3rd pitch change took away some of their aggressiveness.
You also needed to have terrific control to keep hitters like Crawford, and before him K.K. Aldridge off base and the pitcher out of the stretch.
Other than things like that, you hope your offense brought their hitting shoes.
Any predictions for the Trinity/Concordia series this weekend?
JSG
JSG,
Trinity-Concordia is the following weekend, 2/15-2/17.
Either that or my son is travelling to Tx. for nothing? ;)
The fact Concordia will have played 5 games should provide them a significant edge.
The major test for Trinity will be run production. They graduated a number of players and last year they just didn't hit and score runs as they had in the past.
Seems like Coach Scannell must have a number of younger position players who will be challenged from the very first inning. From the Fall World Series summary on their website, they are loaded with pitching, both in terms of quality and depth. Runs will be the issue.
Quote from: infielddad on February 07, 2008, 02:30:41 PM
JSG,
Trinity-Concordia is the following weekend, 2/15-2/17.
Either that or my son is travelling to Tx. for nothing? ;)
The fact Concordia will have played 5 games should provide them a significant edge.
The major test for Trinity will be run production. They graduated a number of players and last year they just didn't hit and score runs as they had in the past.
Seems like Coach Scannell must have a number of younger position players who will be challenged from the very first inning. From the Fall World Series summary on their website, they are loaded with pitching, both in terms of quality and depth. Runs will be the issue.
My mistake on the dates.
Yeah, I think runs will definitely be an issue for TU. Also, Hoover is pretty solid defensively, but I'm interested to see what else they have in terms of infield defense. I know last year a lot of those really good pitchers didn't necessarily live up to expectations. I had a couple of people mention
that they got discouraged when there were errors behind them and stopped throwing ground balls, worked too deep, and as a result ended up
having control problems, etc. last year. I don't know if that's evident in the stats or not.
Thanks for the correction on the games.
JSG
Having Hoover gone from the lineup shook everything up for Trinity last year. The team struggled to find infielders that could play above average defense while being productive offensively. Claydon is an extremely above average fielder, but never really found his swing. And, as the offense struggled to produce at the high production that the team was used to over the years, players were juggled into new roles to try to get some needed run support. Coach Scannel tried about 5 different lineup options where quality hitters were inserted into middle infield positions that they had never played before, resulting in far too many errors. And, as stated above by Just_Some_Guy, the more errors that were made behind the pitchers, the longer the pitch counts, and less quality pitches were being thrown.
Anyways, I honestly believe that having Hoover in the lineup everyday this year will not only solve the error problem, but also look out for him to have a tremendous offensive season. He has yet to show anything close to his potential at the plate, and they will definitely need him to swing it if they want to make a solid run at it this year. As for the performance and roles of the young players, only time will tell...
Quote from: infielddad on February 07, 2008, 02:30:41 PM
JSG,
Trinity-Concordia is the following weekend, 2/15-2/17.
Either that or my son is travelling to Tx. for nothing? ;)
IFD,
Glad to hear Jason will be in town for these games. I will not be able to make it but Nick will be there. He has been working out with the team and says they look really good. We hope Trinity will return to the top spot in the SCAC.
Big Jim
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 04, 2008, 03:49:04 PM
Millsaps opens Friday with LaGrange and it looks like all the games this weekend will be carried on the internet. That would be:
LaGrange--Friday--3 PM (Central)
U. of the Ozarks--Saturday--11:30 AM
Rhodes--Sunday--2:30 PM
Click on the "Listen Live" at the following link to hear the games and the coach's show:
http://www.espnradio1240.com/
Just bringing this info forward.
Rhodes is trailing 5-2 to U. of the Ozarks in the bottom of the 7th. Holt has gone all 7 for Rhodes. Live stats at:
http://livestats.internetconsult.com/rhodes/baseball/
Great (in-region) win for Ozarks, 5-2 Final!
That also helps the ASC!
No additional scoring for the rest of the game, Ozarks defeats Rhodes 5-2 with the help of 4 unearned runs. It puts the league off to an 0-6 start--hopefully Millsaps will break that streak this afternoon.
Millsaps breaks the 0-6 SCAC losing streak beating LC 18-9. Frank, what did you think of LaGrange? Who pitched for MC? Any highlights?
LaGrange looked good at the plate but they tried 6 pitchers and didn't really find one who was effective against Millsaps. Before the game I thought that it was a bold move for Millsaps 1st baseman Quinn Salmon to switch to #13 this year, the number worn by Garner Wetzel 2 years ago. Quinn went 4 for 5 with 2 home runs and 9 rbi's so I guess he doesn't need to worry about living up to the jersey number.
Here's a link to the box score, play-by-play, etc:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/mcb-020808.htm
Millsaps beats the U. of the Ozarks 6-5 today. It was a day where pitching had the edge over hitting. Quinn Salmon added another home run to give him 3 and his 2 rbi's bumped his two game total up to 11. Quinn's hitting in the 5 spot might force teams to pitch to Hunter Owen who had 4 walks in 4 at bats today. That gives him 7 walks in 2 games.
Rhodes takes on LaGrange in the second game this afternoon. It looks like Flanagan is getting his first start of the season. See link below.
Link to Millsaps box score:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/mcb-020908.htm
Link to Rhodes live stats:
http://livestats.internetconsult.com/rhodes/baseball/
Austin College split its first doubleheader of the year with Texas Lutheran, losing 7-2 in the first game before run-ruling TLU in the second game, 10-0. AC had a freshman pitcher post a shutout, giving up just 5 hits in the second game, and Bobby Schleizer, who missed all but 10 games last year, had a two run homer.
Quote from: jekelish on February 09, 2008, 08:07:49 PM
Austin College split its first doubleheader of the year with Texas Lutheran, losing 7-2 in the first game before run-ruling TLU in the second game, 10-0. AC had a freshman pitcher post a shutout, giving up just 5 hits in the second game, and Bobby Schleizer, who missed all but 10 games last year, had a two run homer.
Run-ruling? I don't remember that being invoked in a D-III game in the recent past.
Are there lights on the field at AC? Was the run-rule invoked because of darkness?
Thanks
I know I've seen the 10-run rule applied at Millsaps in recent years. I just can't remember the exact circumstances of when it is and is not applied.
LaGrange bounced back from yesterday's loss to Millsaps to hand Rhodes their second loss of the weekend. In the 11-6 game, Flanagan took the loss after allowing 3 runs in the bottom of the 4th. He finished the day with 4 innings pitched, 3 earned runs, 3 walks and 1 K. Brent Lindsey hit a grand slam for Rhodes in the top of the 9th but it was too little, too late.
Rhodes and Millsaps square off tomorrow and I'll be interested to see who starts for both teams. I expect Jay Hollenbeck for Millsaps even though he had a rough relief appearance against LaGrange. Rhodes has already started Holt and Flanagan, plus Chris Catalanotto pitched 2 innings this afternoon, and those were the 3 main starters for Rhodes last season.
Two big results today...
the in-region win for Austin College over TLU, and
the in-region loss by Rhodes to LaGrange!
Frank, you remember how much "wailing and gnashing" of teeth there was at the end of the 2007 season concerning Pool C bids.
Let's remember if these losses knock out either TLU or Rhodes. :)
Quote from: jekelish on February 09, 2008, 08:07:49 PM
Austin College split its first doubleheader of the year with Texas Lutheran, losing 7-2 in the first game before run-ruling TLU in the second game, 10-0. AC had a freshman pitcher post a shutout, giving up just 5 hits in the second game, and Bobby Schleizer, who missed all but 10 games last year, had a two run homer.
Box One (http://www.tlu.edu/i/athletics/baseball/stats/2008/08bbgm1.htm)
Box Two (http://www.tlu.edu/i/athletics/baseball/stats/2008/08bbgm2.htm)
For Austin College, it's always a good sign when you can get a performance like that on the mound for a true freshman. I also had forgotten about Schleizer's medical redshirt last year. With him, Reisig and Means in the middle that Austin College team is going to be a solid squad in the SCAC.
Austin College might be able to take 2 out of 3 from TLU if Chermak throws like he did last year. Might also see a bit of Adcock as well if I was guessing.
JSG
Oglethorpe took to the field against Maryville today in a double header. The Petrels were looking to get in the win column and trying to put the loss to LaGrange behind them.
In the first game they jumped out to an early lead but could not hold it long before they let the Scotsmen tie it up. Errors once again plagued the young team. They held things together and managed to plate another run to win the game 3 to 2.
The second game saw the Scotsmen take an early lead but the Petrels did not give up. They battled back and took the lead and never looked back. The kept the errors to a minimum in this game and posted 4 runs in the sixth to go ahead 6 to 2. That was the final.
The Petrels had solid pitching today and the defense managed to back up the pitching with some clutch plays. The pitching staff also held it together and mananged to get some key strike outs when they were needed. All in all it was a good day and something to build on.
Rhodes looks vulnerable to me.
I think that the SCAC-East might be up for the takings.
Ralph I am intrigued by your commit. My question is who do you think in the SCAC-East could challenge Rhodes even with weakness showing through?
My guess would have to be Depauw, they always seem to field a good team that can compete with anyone on any given day.
Oglethorpe won its first two games today so they were quick to rebound after a terrible first game. I know the past few years a loss like the one to La Grange would of set them back. Oglethorpe might be young enough not know any better than to just fight and claw victories this year in the SCAC, but to take the top spot the jury is still out.
Centre I really don't know much about their recruits or their team this year other than they no longer have the big bat of Moore.
and Sewanne... Im not sure they will be much improved from last year.
DePauw and Oglethorpe, yes. Or I am making too much of this opening weekend for the Lynx. Ozarks will do well to finish fourth in the ASC-East.
As I reviewed the SCAC-West, I thought that Austin College was the team to beat.
I am impressed with Coach Iwasaki and what he is building. The facilities in Sherman have been upgraded, and there is a huge quantity of good players in north Texas who will be attracted to AC.
Coach Iwasaki scheduled aggressively last season. I think that his young team benefited from the challenge when it came to the playoffs. They got hot and won the SCAC tourney.
Birmingham Southern wins 2 games against Greensboro. Big wins for the group of freshman. You know it was exciting for them as well as the coaches! ;D
Two games is a little early to write off a team with as much talent as Rhodes. Of course, Ralph didn't write them off, he simply pointed out that they have gotten off to a slow start and it might be a little early to give them the SCAC East title. He also pointed out that these early games are all important for those teams who want the insurance of being in position for an at-large berth if they don't win the SCAC Tournament. It was a big win for Millsaps to hold on in the 9th today to get the 6-5 win over the Ozarks.
As for the U. of the Ozarks, it's possible that they might be a little stronger than preseason perceptions. They have enough pitching to hold Rhodes to 2 runs yesterday and Millsaps only had 4 hits today. Either their pitching is pretty good or Millsaps and Rhodes are weak at the plate. I also think LaGrange is a very good offensive team that needs to find more pitching than they showed against Millsaps. I believe they issued 10 walks against Millsaps, a stat that tends to get a pitching staff in trouble all day.
It's good to see some wins from the SCAC this weekend. Hendrix did get pounded 21-6 and 19-3 today, but I have a feeling that the University of Texas-Tyler is going to pound quite a few teams this season. I know the theory of playing the best to be the best, but scheduling UT-Tyler is a very difficult 3-game non-conference series for a young team like Hendrix.
I think its a little to early to count Rhodes out! Two loses and all of sudden they won't win the east? LaGrange is legit, Ozarks is a good ball club. They'll get back on track.
Good wins for Oglethorpe on Saturday...fielding is an issue on the right side of the infield, but their SS is VERY good.
BSC won two games on Saturday...I've said it before, that team will be better than people think...they may be all freshmen but they are talented.
It's definitely early in the season. Nevertheless, Millsaps just knocked of Rhodes 8-2 to improve to 3-0 on the year. Rhodes falls to 0-3. The Majors hosted a strong tournament field this weekend. Very good wins for Millsaps early on.
15-7 loss for the 'Roos against TLU today. Schleizer threw for AC in his first start since...man, two years ago? He only gave up three runs, but threw a ton of pitches.
Chermak didn't pitch this weekend for AC. I think Coach Iwasaki is just resting his ace for as long as he can, and also trying to see what he's got for the remainder of his staff.
A team finally pitched to Hunter Owen this year after having been walked 7 times in the first two games. He responded with 2 home runs. Billy Murphy, the new starter at 2nd also added a home run.
Freshman Aaron Williams started for Millsaps and gave up 1 hit in 5 scoreless innings. Jason Riggins, who didn't pitch any last year, pitched a scoreless 3.1 innings to finish up the game. Millsaps plays Mississippi College this Tuesday and then they take on Emory in Atlanta for single games on Saturday and Sunday. All of those games will be broadcast.
Link to box score:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/mcb-021008.htm
Quote from: Rufio on February 09, 2008, 11:11:59 PM
My guess would have to be Depauw, they always seem to field a good team that can compete with anyone on any given day.
Yeah. I'll get back to you on that in two weeks when DePauw actually plays a game. Pending the weather, of course.
You guys are playing ball and we're due for a half foot of snow tonight. sigh.
Wes, not only playing ball, but playing ball in 60-70 degree weather. It seems like we get this kind of weather early in the season and the really cold weather hits right about the time some of the northern teams come south for their spring break trip.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 11, 2008, 09:49:49 PM
Wes, not only playing ball, but playing ball in 60-70 degree weather. It seems like we get this kind of weather early in the season and the really cold weather hits right about the time some of the northern teams come south for their spring break trip.
Yes, the meteorological pattern that we have in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in February is a stable pattern in which we get a cold front that clears up the weather. A day later, we get a warm front out of the southwest from the Pacific or up out of the Gulf; we get partly cloudy to cloudy skies and the another cold front comes thru. This cycle happens every four days, especially if the jet stream keeps the really cold Arctic air out of this part of the country.
In March, we get the instability in the jet stream and allows the turbulence in the major weather systems. March is ugly. Only does it get better in April.
:)
NOTE: This game has been move to 6:00 Thursday night because of bad weather.
MS College is scheduled to play at Millsaps this evening at 6:00 Central time. The weather is a little iffy, beautiful at the moment but with an 80% chance of rain this afternoon and evening. There will be two broadcasts available if the game is played:
MC Broadcast:
http://www.gochoctaws.com/Sports/admin/2006/Broadcast.asp
Millsaps Broadcast:
http://www.espnradio1240.com/
Southwestern trailed Howard Payne 4-3 after two innings and that was all the scoring in the game today.
http://southwesternpirates.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/021208aaa.html
Southwestern hits the field again tomorrow with a single game against U. of Texas at Dallas.
Can't wait for the rest of the SCAC to start up. Most of the other teams get going this weekend. Hat to see Hendrix get off to a 0-7 start. I have to question the scheduling? Why would you take a young team to face off against Texas-Tyler THREE times in the early part of the year? Also, they have already played 7 games! How many games will they have in April?
Big series in Atlanta this weekend with Millsaps playing Emory. It will be Emory's first games of the season. They returned most their starting nine, but will rely on a plethora of freshmen pitchers. I would not like to be a freshmen and go up against the Millsaps' lineup as my first college start...It should be some fun baseball, and have a regional type atmosphere.
Trinity: Bronson, Bignall, Oates, Poffenroth, among others, take to the hill this season. Does anyone in the SCAC have greater depth on the bump?
Welcome Krakatoa! Glad to have a new poster!
I think that Coach Iwasaki is building a good staff at Austin College.
TU has a good representation of games vs. the ASC (13 games) including at least one game versus every team in the ASC-West except SRSU.
Thanks Ralph. It appears my son will pitch in the SCAC starting next season, so trying to brush up on the conference a bit.
Quote from: Krakatoa on February 13, 2008, 12:21:33 AM
Trinity: Bronson, Bignall, Oates, Poffenroth, among others, take to the hill this season. Does anyone in the SCAC have greater depth on the bump?
You could probably add Britton Horn, Michael Hunter, maybe Zack Bukowski (I thought his stats were better than he was last year) and some newcomers into that group.
Personally, I don't think any team in the West region has as much pitching as that team is CAPABLE of having, but they still have to prove it, AND they are going to have to score runs to win games.
They'll have a slew of freshman starting from what I understand, and most of the veterans on that team haven't proved they can swing it yet. Ramos is the only everyday starter they return from last years team that hit over .300.
They need Fregosi to swing it, they need Hoover to swing it, they need Pennington, Bays, and Claydon to swing it. (These are guys they're counting on). They need Lawson and Jones to duplicate what they did last year in limited action. There's SO MANY questions on offense they'll be an interesting team to follow.
IF Hunter finds the zone he's throws HARD, IF Bignall and Horn pitch like they're capable of and don't implode, and IF Oates stays healthy there's not much telling how many games this pitching staff can carry TU to, but there's a lot of IFs. I'm rooting for them, but like I said -- they'll be interesting to watch.
JSG
Quote from: Krakatoa on February 13, 2008, 12:21:33 AM
Trinity: Bronson, Bignall, Oates, Poffenroth, among others, take to the hill this season. Does anyone in the SCAC have greater depth on the bump?
Yes. I believe the Millsaps pitching staff is as deep as any in the league, bringing back 3 senior starters that combined for a 22-5 record plus a lot of guys who got experience last year. They added a freshman who held Rhodes to 1 hit over 5 innings and struck out 5 of the first 8 batters this past weekend. I think they are also excited about a few other freshmen.
But all of that really means nothing right now. Let's say that both schools (and probably others) have the potential for very deep staffs and we'll see how it pans out. Plus, as we discovered last year, the SCAC playoffs are set up where 3 outstanding pitchers can carry you a long way so depth might be a great luxury but not an absolute necessity.
Yes, both Trinity and Millsaps have pitching depth, but I think what it will come down to is how both teams perform offensively.
Millsaps is already showing so far at least that they have one of the most potent offenses in D3 baseball, again. It is amazing that year after year they graduate key position players, only to have someone waiting in the wings to fill the gap (i.e. Quinn Salmon). I think that they have to have the edge in the SCAC West until Trinity or another team proves otherwise.
I can't wait to see how the Trinity bats swing it in Austin on Friday!
For the 3 game weekend series it looks like Millsaps had 16 extra base hits--8 doubles, 1 triple and 7 home runs. Hunter Owen had two of the home runs but the other five came from guys who didn't start last year--Quinn Salmon(3), Joe Blades, and Billy Murphy. Quinn was 7 for 10 with 12 rbi's.
Even at that, Millsaps did struggle at the plate somewhat, only scoring 6 and 8 runs in the last two games. A few of the guys got off to somewhat of a slow start, but they are guys who you would expect to come around before too long. As I said in an earlier post, the Millsaps players talked like this team was hitting the ball harder in preseason than teams of the past few years. They sure seemed to hit it hard this past weekend, but I'd like to see them do this for 10-15 games before I jump to any conclusions.
Trinity posted their roster today.
It includes 16 freshman and continues to show how hard Coach Scannell recruits on a national basis. He has 4 more from CA.
I only know of one of them. He has significant(maybe better) upside having been the leading hitter in what most consider one of the top 2-3 conferences in CA. His team has players who were top recruits at Cal, UCLA and a number of other DI programs and he has the skills to be a top hitter, early.
Hopefully these 16, and especially the CA guys, can produce quickly, like some others from CA did, and get Trinity battling at the top of the SCAC's.
I must say that Trinity probably has one of the most diverse rosters in the country when it comes to the home state of the players. It is interesting to compare the reach of their roster with the far more regional approach taken by Millsaps:
Trinity Roster: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/roster.htm
Millsaps Roster: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/roster.shtml
Frank,
I have seen Coach McCain at the Stanford All Star camp the last two years.
Building a national recruiting base takes some time and effort but it appears Millsaps has seen what Coach Scannell does and is making some efforts that direction, or is getting a better idea of the players he is attracting. ;)
For Trinity, recruiting nationally seems to partly reflect the views of Coach Scannell but also is reflective of the extremely tough Trinity admission requirements. He needs a broader base to attract quality players with extremely high academic performance.
Coach Scannell also recognizes the significant talent base in CA. There are far more quality players throughout CA than there are places to play in college, especially at the DIII level. Trinity has done a very nice job at identifying players with DI talent who, for some reason, get lost in the masses of available talent in CA. For those types, Coach Scannell outworks many of the CA coaches. Combine that with the fact that Trinity has much to offer and San Antonio is a terrific community and the result can be a great academic and baseball performance.
The other thing Coach Scannell has done which, is starting to be followed in other programs, is placing players in Summer Wood Bat leagues. In 2001, he placed about 10 players and I believe that exceeded the number in all other SCAC programs combined. While Trinity continues to place large numbers around the nation, it is great to see Rhodes, Millsaps and a few others making similar efforts and seeing those players compete on a level with top DI's.
All of it makes the SCAC a better baseball league.
I think Trinity's baseball recruiting in some ways reflects the wider net that Trinity casts as a school. When it comes to baseball recruiting, I think Millsaps is content to concentrate on Mississippi and the neighboring states of Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee. Recruit well in those states and then add some from Texas, Georgia and Florida and you can have a heck of a team.
On another note, the SCAC West is off to a rough start. Hendrix is 0-7, Southwestern is 0-2, and Austin is 1-2 to go along with the 3-0 start of Millsaps. These records are of no significance to the winner of the SCAC Tournament, but they do play into the chances of teams that are hoping for a shot at an at-large berth. I certainly have become of a fan of all SCAC teams when they play non-conference games because every time an SCAC team wins a non-conference game it is a plus for the other SCAC teams.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 12, 2008, 10:52:23 AM
NOTE: This game has been move to 6:00 Thursday night because of bad weather.
MS College is scheduled to play at Millsaps this evening at 6:00 Central time. The weather is a little iffy, beautiful at the moment but with an 80% chance of rain this afternoon and evening. There will be two broadcasts available if the game is played:
MC Broadcast:
http://www.gochoctaws.com/Sports/admin/2006/Broadcast.asp
Millsaps Broadcast:
http://www.espnradio1240.com/
Just bringing this forward. I expect a tough game tonight, especially since this is the opening game of the Con Maloney Series, a competition that runs throughout the season between Millsaps, MC and Belhaven College.
MC is 1-2 after two tough losses to Creighton (sp?) by scores of 7-5 and 7-6 and a win over Huntingdon by a 6-1 score or something close to that. With this game being moved from Tuesday to Thursday, all pitchers should be available for both teams and it will be interesting to see who takes the mound. Millsaps has a big series with Emory this weekend with single games on Saturday and Sunday.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 14, 2008, 11:55:29 AM
On another note, the SCAC West is off to a rough start. Hendrix is 0-7, Southwestern is 0-2, and Austin is 1-2 to go along with the 3-0 start of Millsaps. These records are of no significance to the winner of the SCAC Tournament, but they do play into the chances of teams that are hoping for a shot at an at-large berth. I certainly have become of a fan of all SCAC teams when they play non-conference games because every time an SCAC team wins a non-conference game it is a plus for the other SCAC teams.
Just a quick note regarding AC's 1-2 start...while they would have liked a couple of wins, they also did not pitch Chermak, who is far and away the ace of the staff and very well may have been enough to push the 'Roos past TLU (who, by the way, was ranked No. 17 at the time) for another win. It's also still a pretty young team, and Coach Carl made sure to play a lot of guys during that opening weekend. I think the 'Roos will be just fine the rest of the way if Chermak throws anything like he did last season, and there's no reason to believe that won't be the case. Plus, it appears we've got a solid No. 2/3 combo now in Steed and Stevens. Stevens didnt get a win, but he pitched well in his first start of the year, and Steed obviously got Co-Pitcher of the Week after his collegiate debut.
Jekelish, your post brings up the issue of the SCAC moving to the 4 game weekends last year. That put coaches in a position where they had to develop more pitchers in the early part of the year, hence increasing the potential for losses, and they sometimes found themselves depleted of pitching for the mid-week games. But, those things don't factor in when calculating win-loss percentages, etc, so losses for whatever reason hurt.
On another note, Millsaps beat Mississippi College 10-0 this evening in a game that hit the 10-run rule in the bottom of the 7th. We've been talking about pitching depth and it was good to see Tait Hendrix turn in an outstanding performance. He pitched 6 innings, struck out 9, allowed 3 hits, and I think he hit a batter but allowed no walks. That's a far cry from 2007 when Tait pitched 39.1 innings, struck out 49, but also allowed 40 hits and 33 walks. It will be a huge boost to Millsaps if Tait has put those control problems behind him.
Millsaps once again had a fair number of extra base hits. I remember a Hunter Owen home run and a double he hit off the fence. As for the rest of the stats, Millsaps SID Kevin Maloney is pretty good at getting the box scores posted soon after the game. When it is posted, the box score can be found at this link:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/results.shtml
Speaking of control problems, and having cruised around many, many college ball team stats pages (all levels), I have to say I'm somewhat surprised by the failry high percentage of pitchers who would appear to have serious control issues (# walks very near # IP). Being that I'm sure the picthing coaches have been working with the pitchers all fall and winter, what can we attribute wildness to when the season rolls around? Shouldn't all pitchers have found reasonable control after five and a half months of preparation? I know the answer is 'not necessarily', but wanted to get some discussion going on this as, obviously, 'depth of staff' has almost everything to do with reasonable control from 5-7 pitchers.......
Quote from: Krakatoa on February 14, 2008, 10:42:53 PM
Speaking of control problems, and having cruised around many, many college ball team stats pages (all levels), I have to say I'm somewhat surprised by the failry high percentage of pitchers who would appear to have serious control issues (# walks very near # IP). Being that I'm sure the picthing coaches have been working with the pitchers all fall and winter, what can we attribute wildness to when the season rolls around? Shouldn't all pitchers have found reasonable control after five and a half months of preparation? I know the answer is 'not necessarily', but wanted to get some discussion going on this as, obviously, 'depth of staff' has almost everything to do with reasonable control from 5-7 pitchers.......
I wonder if the problem in D3 in Texas is that the "better" pitchers have been taken by the scholarship Juco programs. What we have a more offensively capable players who can pitch.
Just a thought...
Another thought is the metal bats in college ball. Knowing that a mistake that gets too much of the plate is going to get clobbered, maybe pitchers err on the side of caution and they pitch a little wider, higher and lower than they would if the hitters were up there with wood bats.
That's just a theory and I would combine it with Ralph's theory. In high school there are a lot of kids who can just throw the ball past most pitchers. I'm sure there are many pitchers in the SCAC who fell in that category. However, only the top high school pitchers have enough stuff to just throw it by college hitters and those are the kids who get some sort of scholarship. That leaves D3 with a lot of guys who have to develop more control than their high school years because the D3 hitters can hit the stuff that most high schoolers couldn't.
That's just my guess and I'd be interested to hear what others had to say. I think Millsaps received 10 walks in their game against LaGrange last weekend and I see plenty of games where they get numbers that high. I doubt that these pitchers issued so many walks during their high school years.
"I think Millsaps received 10 walks in their game against LaGrange last weekend and I see plenty of games where they get numbers that high. I doubt that these pitchers issued so many walks during their high school years."
Or even against other D3 teams!
I agree with the statement about high school pitchers. They don't learn to actually pitch. Also, most HS teams use 3 pitchers a season almost exclusively, sometimes 4. Roles are not developed, learning how to warm up in the pen before entering is not properly exlplained. How many times do you see a guy head to the pen during an inning and he throws from the windup?!?!? If you are going to enter the game during an inning 9 times out 10 its going to be from the stretch. Coaches spend so much time on fielding groundballs, taking bating practice and working on 1st and 3rds they forget about a simply thing of just warming up.
Austin College swept their double header with NAIA William Jewell last night...in the first game, speaking of developing more pitchers, 1st Team All-SCAC 2nd baseman Matt Finke threw a complete game in a 3-2 win. I wasn't at the game, but very surprised to hear that one.
Of note - last year William Jewell absolutely crushed AC in a pair of jayvee games, so the two wins this year might be an indication of the continued improvement for the 'Roos.
Chermak still has not thrown yet this year. My guess is he'll get his first action this weekend vs. Ozarks...
I also see that Piedmont squeeked by Oglethorpe 5-4 yesterday. Oglethorpe takes to the field this afternoon at 2:00 Eastern against Reinhardt.
Squeak by is right. Piedmont scored 3 runs in the 7th to take a 5-4 lead. Here's a breakdown of how that happened (to the best of my memory). First 2 batters a retired... 3rd guy battles and gets a hit then steals second. Next guy walks... next guy gets hit by pitch (starting pitcher removed) Walk in a run and then a double.
Oglethorpe came up in the 9th and freshman Cliff Cross lined a pitch that hit off the yellow on the wall for a double (6 more inches and we would have gone extras). 3rd string catcher Lofhlm pinch runs ???. Pinch hitter comes up and lines a ball that hits off the second basemen and goes into shallow right field... Lofhlm is sent home and is out by 5 or 6 steps... COULD have been 1st and 3rd no outs... instead we lose 5-4. TOUGH, TOUGH game for OU to lose as they were up for the majority of the game.
Hopefully these young Petrels will rebound against a tough Rhinehardt team this afternoon.
Bad loss for the starting pitcher he threw a good game and deserved a win, maybe next time.
Well Im new too posting to this board but have been reading it for a while now, and the few previous post's regarding pitching control has caught my attention, having gone to the 1st 4 games of OU ( first real D-III experience) the thing that I have seen is that the pitchers know full well that the hitters can hit and unless your popping 90+( havent seen any of that as of yet) then you arent going to throw it by them, so they tend to throw away from contact, I know it is early in the season but I would think there would be more confidence in the defense, and of course I could be wrong about my entire theory.
By the way this is a really great board that has enlightened me considerably about the SCAC and the teams that play within.
quick scheduling note...
Trinity games against Concordia this weekend have been moved due to severe weather. They are planning on 2 games in Austin Sunday and then a single game in San Antonio Monday. I don't know the times yet...
Millsaps knocks off # 5 Emory 5-1 this afternoon in Atlanta. The Majors improve to 5-0 on the year and are off to a great start! Millsaps and Emory will play tomorrow afternoon to conclude a two-game set.
Millsaps has now won 6 of 7 games with Emory going back to the 2005 season. Freshman Aaron Williams followed up his 5 inning, 1 hit performance against #28 Rhodes with a 7 inning, 2 hit performance against #5 Emory.
Millsaps bunched 4 hits in the top of the 2nd, including 3 doubles, to score 4 runs. The two teams are scheduled to play at 1:00 Eastern tomorrow but the game might be moved up to noon Eastern because of weather. Here's a link to the live stats:
http://www.go.emory.edu/LiveStats/Base/xlive.htm
The Millsaps game with Emory this Sunday has been moved up to 10:30 ET because of weather conditions. The game will be broadcast by Millsaps.
Listen live link: http://www.espnradio1240.com/
Very impressed with #21 Aaron Williams from Millsaps..he got stronger as the game went along. Emory looks like a completely different team then last year. When you lose your top two all everything pitchers that will do it. Just didn't have that same Emory arrogance to them...
Emory beats Millsaps 4-1 this afternoon. The Millsaps run was the only earned run of the game as Emory used several Millsaps errors to get 4 unearned runs. It was a pitcher's weekend in Atlanta with the two teams combining for 6 runs and 10 hits yesterday and 5 runs and 11 hits today.
Travis Bogue had his second impressive outing of the season despite picking up the loss, going 6.1 innings and giving up 5 hits and 3 unearned runs. Getting a split on your first road trip of the season against the preseason #5 team isn't bad and I'm sure that facing that level of pitching this early in the season will help both teams.
Rhodes won their home opener Saturday with a 4-3 win over Huntingdon. Holt got the win and Flanagan got the save. The two teams play again today.
Story for yesterday: http://www.rhodeslynx.com/news/baseball/2008/2/16/Lynx%20Win%20Home%20Opener.asp
Live links for 1:00 game Sunday: http://livestats.internetconsult.com/rhodes/baseball/
Trinity wins the first game of a double header over Concordia 7-1. Evan Bronson pitched a CG 4 hitter, striking out 5. A couple of freshman hit homeruns, Kevin Calbick and John Prato-Mathews. Calbick went 4-4 in his collegiate debut.
The second game will have an audio broadcast as well:
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/
Great start for the Tigers!
Good start for Trinity. Rhodes finally had the bats come alive and they beat Huntingdon 13-8 this afternoon. They didn't do the live stats and so far there isn't a box score posted so I have no details on that game.
OU got blasted today by Washington and Lee 19-4. The wind was blowing out at 20mph with the thunderstorms approaching Atlanta and 6 balls left the yard. OU threw three freshmen who got lit up for 21 hits. They play again tomorrow at OU, 3pm first pitch.
OU will have LIVE Internet Broadcast and LIVE Stats.
http://www.oglethorpe.edu/athletics/listen_live.asp
http://www.oglethorpe.edu/athletics/live_stats/baseball/mens/xlive.htm
Trinity dropped the second game of the double header 7-5. Brian Oates had a shaky first inning but then dominated. I think he had at least 10 K's in his 6+ innings. Evan Jones and Jeff Claydon hit homeruns for the Tigers but it wasn't enough.
The two teams will meet for one last game tomorrow night in San Antonio.
I know the regional wins are key, but I'm actually surprised Scannell was letting his starters (particularly Oates with his history of injuries) work so deep into the games this early.
I'm anxious to see which freshman emerge as key contributors for the Tigers, and to see how Stosh Hoover has developed offensively.
JSG
Oates and Bronson both were on pitch counts and barely threw over 100 pitches.
Stosh Hoover was also 4-9 for the double-header and played a solid SS, as usually.
As for Freshman contributors, Kevin Calbick who started in LF and went 5-9 on the day was a late addition due to an injury to one of the top Freshman Dylan Early. Prato-Matthews will also be a solid contributor as will Kyle Felix and Dominic Robusto. All California kids, actually, except Calbick.
Bronson and Oates both looked good. Defensive OF lapses in the first inning of game two was the difference as Oates settled in and recorded 10 K's.
Monday's 7PM game in SAT against Concordia will be webcast and hopefully the streaming video will be launched.
Details for the webcast on Tues at UMHB at 2PM are being worked out.
Check Trinity's website for links.
Four games in three days will be a good prep for the SCAC schedule. The crop of FY's hit well, but need to work on staying focused defensively in a DH.
Quote from: Large Tuna on February 18, 2008, 12:01:10 AM
Oates and Bronson both were on pitch counts and barely threw over 100 pitches.
Stosh Hoover was also 4-9 for the double-header and played a solid SS, as usually.
Barely throwing over 100 is usually a full day's work prior to conference play. I guess I just suspected they would be on something closer to 65-70 for the first weekend.
As while Hoover is pretty smooth up the middle he has had a propensity to make some errors in the past. His fielding % was under .900 his freshman year and only .929 his sophomore year.
I think he'll make less mistakes this year than in previous years, but I'm not holding my breath for .950+ though he's certainly capable of that. I think where we'll see the biggest difference in him is at the plate, and TU will need that kind of performance from him.
Looking forward to today's rubber game.
JSG
Major Diamond Notes is scheduled to broadcast tonight from 8-9 Central time. They usually do about a half hour with Coach Page at Millsaps and then finish up with about a half hour of interviews with players.
The rest of the schedule for this week (as shown on the radio station's website):
Tuesday, 6:00 -- Millsaps at Belhaven College (in Jackson)
Wednesday, 3:00 -- Millsaps at Huntingdon
Saturday, 2:00 -- Piedmont at Millsaps
Sunday, noon -- Piedmont at Millsaps
Link to listen: http://www.espnradio1240.com/
Oglethorpe had a little better showing today losing to W&L by the score of 7-2.
Sophmore John Hale went 6 innings allowing 8 hits and 3 runs
Concordia 6 4 2
Trinity 4 9 2
WP: Stephen Szkotak 6 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
LP: Michael Hunter 3 IP, 4 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 3 K
S: Matt Aubry
Poffenroth pitched great in relief giving up 0 hits, 4 BBs, 5 Ks.
Both Hunter and Poffenroth a little trouble with control.
For Trinity:
SS Stosh Hoover was 1-2 w/ 1 run, 2 BBs
1B Jordan Pennington was 2-4 w/ 1 run, 2 2Bs, 1 RBI
3B Dominick Robusto was 2-3 w/ 1 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI
For Concordia:
SS Bryan Jacobs was 1-2, w/ 2 BBs, 2 runs
CF Patrick Mercer 2-5 w/ 1 run, 4 RBIs, 1 3B
LF Tom Williams had 5 BBs
Great series win for Concordia.
Trinity started 5 freshman, 4 from Cali and 1 from British Columbia.
JSG
Feedback I received is that Concordia is good.
Bronson did a great job with a number of scouts in attendance, many of whom watched his entire game. Right now he is 84-87. If he gets a couple more mph in velocity, he may have options for his senior year.
Oates also threw well. Some freshman mistakes(probably errors/ruled hits) in the first inning cost him.
Trinity had very good chances to win all three but they made some youth mistakes and Concordia was very timely.
All in all, while Coach Scannell does not like to lose, he may be optmistic with this very young team. If they don't lose focus, and continue to work hard, being very competitive against someone as strong as Concordia bodes well as the season progresses and the freshman hopefully become more comfortable and experience more success.
Quote from: infielddad on February 19, 2008, 07:21:30 PM
Feedback I received is that Concordia is good.
...
Trinity had very good chances to win all three but they made some youth mistakes and Concordia was very timely.
All in all, while Coach Scannell does not like to lose, he may be optmistic with this very young team. If they don't lose focus, and continue to work hard, being very competitive against someone as strong as Concordia bodes well as the season progresses and the freshman hopefully become more comfortable and experience more success.
Thanks for the kind words about Concordia.
CTX (as they now abbreviate the school's name) is picked to finish 5th in the 8-team ASC-West.
Millsaps lost to local NAIA rival Belhaven College last night 6-5 despite outhitting Belhaven by a margin of 15 to 8. It was a case of getting a lot of hits but not enough timely hits.
Tait Hendrix pitched well again, a performance that would normally be good enough for a win. Hunter Owen went 3 for 5 to keep his batting average up over .500 and his OBP must be close to .700 or .800 when you consider all of his walks. Millsaps hits the road at 8 this morning for a 3:00 game at Huntingdon. While the Belhaven game was important as a local rivalry and part of a local trophy competition, the Huntingdon game is far more important since it is a NCAA D3 game. The game will be broadcast--see earlier post for the broadcast link.
Link to yesterday's box score: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/mcb-0219.htm
AC up to 4-2 after a 13-2 win at East Texas Baptist. Chermak threw for the first time this season to pick up the win.
McMurry at Southwestern on Wednesday afternoon.
SU has Gametracker working! McMurry leads 1-0 bottom of the second.
Dakota Smith on the mound for McMurry
McMurry 3 Southwestern 0, top of the fourth.
McM 6 SU 0, bottom of the fourth.
McM pitcher Dakota Smith has been relieved by Aaron Redman.
Smith walked the first two batters and was relieved. The Pirates scored 3 in the bottom of the fourth. Two McM errors contributed. McM 6-3 after four.
SU scores five in the bottom of the fifth. McMurry is deep into their (midweek) bullpen. SU leads 8-6.
SU adds 7 in the bottom of the 7th. SU 15-6.
Final Southwestern 15, McMurry 10.
Baseball is an odd game. Yesterday Millsaps had 15 hits and lost a game 6-5. Today they had 6 hits and won 10-8 over Huntingdon.
It was a game of a lot of freebies--Millsaps pitchers walked 12 batters and hit 1; Huntingdon pitchers walked 8 batters and hit 6. That 27 base runners who got on without a hit or an error--it reminds me of the discussion about control that we had not too long ago.
The bottom line is that Millsaps didn't play real well and they still came away with a road win. Next up for Millsaps will be single games this Saturday and Sunday with Piedmont--both games will be broadcast and the link is in a post about 10 posts up. Here's the link to today's box score:
http://www.huntingdon.edu/athletics/mens_athletics/baseball/box_scores/2008/02_20_08_millsaps
Question: How does Robert Flanagan get a win while starting and only pitching 3 innings? The game was only seven innings b/c of 10-run rule but the innings as a starter still apply in this case. And for that matter if the game is scheduled to go 7 innings the starter must go four innings. Some interesting scorekeeping to pad the stats? Any Rhodes fans that can explain the situation?
Quote from: Lou_Brown on February 21, 2008, 02:33:53 PM
Question: How does Robert Flanagan get a win while starting and only pitching 3 innings? The game was only seven innings b/c of 10-run rule but the innings as a starter still apply in this case. And for that matter if the game is scheduled to go 7 innings the starter must go four innings. Some interesting scorekeeping to pad the stats? Any Rhodes fans that can explain the situation?
The actual rule book doesn't go in-depth on this. Here's the official rules:
"For all games of fewer than eight innings, the starting pitcher
must pitch at least four innings to get credit for the win."
"If the starting pitcher does not pitch enough innings, the win is credited
to a relief pitcher in the following manner:
(1) The winning relief pitcher shall be the one who is the pitcher of
record when his team goes ahead and remains ahead throughout the
remainder of the game. No pitcher may receive credit for a victory
if the opposing team ties the score or goes ahead after he has left
the game.
Note: Whenever the score is tied, the game becomes a new contest insofar as
the winning and losing pitchers are concerned.
Exception—If a relief pitcher conforms to the above regulations but pitches
briefly and ineffectively, the scorer should not credit him with a win. If a
succeeding relief pitcher pitches effectively and helps maintain the lead, the
scorer should award the win to that succeeding pitcher.
(2) By prearrangement, if three or more pitchers are to be used, the
pitcher of record shall be considered the winning pitcher."
I don't know how you interpret that, but I take it to mean Flanagan can
obtain the win in this situation via scorer's disgression on account of it
was obviously a pre-arranged pitching scenario.
JSG
How can you prearrange a 10-run rule? How can you prearrange a baseball game?
Stats are stats, Rhodes won and that's more important. Good test for Rhodes with Piedmont coming to town. The Lions are a veteran squad and have started strong.
Spence, it won't really make a dent in your total but I gave you a +1 for that one. :)
I've seen this rule used several times in the last few years... the prearrangement is that three or more pitchers are scheduled to be used in the game. So even if it was stopped after 7 b/c of the 10 run rule, if 3 of the pitchers did get into the game the win can be given to the starter IF his team took the lead ()and maintained it throught the game)...
I was baffled the first time I saw it used... just as Lou_Brown is becasue he asked the question. BUT it is in the colelgiate rules... So as long as the coach states his intentions before the game starts and meets the criteria it isn't "padding" stats.
I agree with Frank about +1 for Spence...
when he was in the game was supposed to be inside the parenthesis... but my fingers didnt' type it in... ???
Rhodes defeats Piedmont this afternoon:
http://www.rhodeslynx.com/News/baseball/2008/2/22/Rhodes%20Defeats%20Piedmont.asp?path=baseball
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 22, 2008, 06:32:26 PM
Rhodes defeats Piedmont this afternoon:
http://www.rhodeslynx.com/News/baseball/2008/2/22/Rhodes%20Defeats%20Piedmont.asp?path=baseball
Piedmont finally loses a close one. They were 4-0 in 1-run games I believe.
Good win for the Lynx. I like that Piedmont team, they will give LaGrange a run for the GSAC title.
Holt looked good, has anybody seen Flanagan pitch this season. It seems like he's not striking out a lot of guys? Is his velocity down or i'm reading too much into the stats? I remember someone on here said he had some arm troubles in the fall?
Centre, DePauw and Sewanee open up this weekend, any thoughts from their fans?
Trinity takes Rutgers 11-1. Evan Bronson went 7, with 14 K's, gave up only one hit, dominant performance. Jeff Claydon went 3-4 with 4 rbi's including a 3 run HR. Evan Jones went 2-3 with 3 rbi's including a 2b and a 3b.
Nice way to start the weekend.
Southwestern won Thursday on a ninth inning two strike suicide squeeze.
http://southwesternpirates.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/022108aaa.html
Trinity pounded our 17 runs on 15 hits to beat Rutgers 17-4. Evan Jones had 7 rbi's with a 2b & HR (grand slam) and scored 4 runs, Jordon Pennington had 4 rbi's with a 2b and a HR also scoring 4 runs, Dom Robusto and Dillian Early both had 3 hits.
Brian Oates went 6 innings, giving up 2 runs while striking out 5.
Final game of the series Sunday morning.
I love the smell of salami in the night air! Great job Evan!
How about Evan Jones of Trinity.
2 HR's, 1 triple, and 13, yes 13 RBIs in the weekend series. As you might expect, he had a bundle of hits.
Wow!!! Wow!!!
Rutgers-Camden was 15-24 last season, but only 2-16 in the NJAC.
My bad!
Rutgers-Camden isn't involved in Trinity's sweep, as the Tigers played Rutgers-Newark. The Scarlet Raiders were 12-26 last year, (NJAC 7-11).
It's great to be able to watch the games this year. And yeah, Evan Jones is knockin' 'em dead!! Way to go, Evan! And how about Calbick, Robusto, and Prato-Matthews? So far (and yes, it's early) it looks like Coach Scannell has brought in some great young talent that will greatly benefit Trinity baseball for several years to come.
Ralph,
This very young Trinity team had very good chances to sweep Condordia.
While I don't pay much attention to could have, should have, I do here.
This team has very, very good pitching. Bronson may be with the top in DIII.
What Evan Jones did this weekend can give a young team a huge amount of confidence.
Trinity bats will be week to week for those freshman to get better and better..
Their pitching looks really good. For CUA to beat UT Tyler 2-3 and for a very young Trinity team to be in a position to win all 3 vs CUA provides a very good look for Trinity.
Their freshman hitters are going to be better. Their pitching is "GOOD."
I have never seen Bronson pitch but our son, who I think is a great judge of pitching, raves about him.
I am so proud of Brian Oates and have every finger crossed that he will be as good in April and May as he is now, and I think he will. Trinity is back!
Good pitching is what is missing on the average team in this part of the country!
I will follow Trinity with that in mind!
Thanks for the assessment!
Quote from: infielddad on February 24, 2008, 10:27:28 PM
For CUA to beat UT Tyler 2-3 and for a very young Trinity team to be in a position to win all 3 vs CUA provides a very good look for Trinity.
CUA only took the first game of the UT Tyler series.
I completely agree with the rest of your assessment.
JSG
Let's wait until these Trinity freshmen win something before we crown them the next kings of the SCAC. They are 4-3 and beat a poor team from Rugers-who cares, who has been outside three times before their first game. I'm sure Trinity is good but you guys are talking like they just won the World Championship....lets just realx and enjoy watching this thing unfold. Long way to go.
Millsaps lost both games to Piedmont this weekend, 7-4 in an 11 inning game and then 9-6 yesterday. That drops Millsaps to 6-4 after a 5-0 start. I haven't seen any of the last 6 games (2 at Emory, Belhaven, at Huntingdon, and the 2 with Piedmont) but it seems like hitting and fielding have been problematic as one might expect with so many new starters.
Millsaps plays 12 of their next 13 games on the road with 11 of those games being out of state. With the schedule and all the new starters, I don't see this team rebounding to the point that they have a shot at an at-large berth. In a way, that's not bad since they can now focus for the next few weeks on different lineups, etc. The talent is certainly there to do well in the SCAC league play and in the SCAC Tournament, they just seem to need time to mess together.
Here's a page with links to box scores of their games this season:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/results.shtml
Lou, those seem like very odd comments.
The previous posts commented on how pitching performances by Bronson, Oates and others combined with the hitting of Jones and Hoover was giving the Trinity freshman time to develop and make the extremely difficult transition from high school to college, against good teams like Concordia and supposedly lesser teams, as you view them like Rutgers-Newark.
Having Jones and Hoover produce in the middle of the lineup can be contagious, and it can also take some pressure off the freshman.
With all that said, the freshman do need to produce consistently. They also need to get better every game.
Trinity is doing some things to suggest they could be very good by the end of April when everything matters, but they still need to do it on the field.
If you have a problem with posts of that type from myself and J_S_G, so be it.
Southwestern defeats Texas Lutheran 9-0
W: Wes Willis 9 IP, 5 H, 0 BB, 2 HBP, 9Ks
L: Jeremy Wilhelm 4.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
SU:
Richard Falcone 3-4, 3 runs, 1 RBI, 1 SB
Michael Murphy 1-3, 1 run, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Blake Williams 2-5, 4 RBI
Eric Gonzalez 2-3, 1 run, 1 RBI
TLU:
Kyle Harvey 1-4, 2 SB
Bulldogs make 3 more errors, all on the middle infield.
Had some opportunities for clutch 2 out hits with runners in scoring position from key players in the 1st, 2nd and 5th innings but were unable to convert.
JSG
AC had a horrible outing last night against ETBU, a team they run-ruled last week. They had 6 errors resulting in 10 unearned runs all by the fifth inning, leading to a 13-9 loss. Just a sloppy game all around.
On the brightside, soph. shortstop Andy White is really turning into one heckuva ballplayer. So far this season he's ripping the cover off the ball...batting .475 with 8 doubles, a triple, 10 runs scored, and 10 RBI in 10 games.
Still, you're not going to win many games when you give up 10 unearned runs. Frustrating game to watch.
Millsaps is playing D1 Jacksonville State this afternoon. Coach Page is moving some guys around trying to find the right combination. He has 3 freshmen starting today. Millsaps lost to Jacksonville yesterday 11-2 or 11-3. Tait Hendrix and Jay Hollenbeck combined to strike out 13 in 8 innings, but there were also 8 or 9 walks in the mix.
Millsaps is off to a better start today with 5 hits in the top of the 1st and a 2-1 lead after one. Brandon Ingram is on the mound for Millsaps. Link to live stats:
http://www.jsugamecocksports.com/stats/baseball/live/xlive.htm
Millsaps leads Jacksonville 11-1 going into the bottom of the third. They have had 11 hits, including a HR by Derrick Boland, 2 doubles by Russ Boyd, and doubles by Hunter Owen and Billy Murphy. There's still a long way to go before claiming a win today, but it is nice to see the Millsaps bats heat up again.
Millsaps now up 17-1 with 15 hits as the game goes to the bottom of the 6th. Freshman Tony Malaschak hit his first HR as a Major in the top of the 6th.
Brandon Ingram is still on the mound for Millsaps. He has given up 4 hits and just 1 run and the game now goes to the top of the 7th. I wonder if they have a 10-run rule in place for this game? Assuming that Millsaps hangs on to win this game, the victory over a D1 team will mean nothing in the eyes of the NCAA, but it is a game that might be a turning point for Millsaps after the mini-slump of the last few games.
"It was probably the biggest win in Millsaps history," 20th-year head coach Jim Page said. "We found the spark we were needing today and for the first time this season we fed off each other both on the field and in the dugout. Ingram pitched a great game for us."
Millsaps beats D1 Jacksonville State 17-3 as Brandon Ingram picks up his 10th straight win, allowing 1 run in 7 innings. Read the complete story here:
http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/022708story.shtml
Jacksonville State story which includes link to box score:
http://www.jsugamecocksports.com/article.asp?articleid=90539
It will be interesting to me to see how Millsaps plays this weekend at LaGrange after the win against Jacksonville. The Millsaps baseball schedule show the following dates and times for the games:
2/29--3 pm
3/1--1 pm
3/2--noon
All of the games are scheduled to be broadcast. The link for the radio station is:
http://www.espnradio1240.com/index.php
LaGrange is playing Oglethorpe at the moment. I haven't found a link for live stats or audio of that game.
Oglethorpe dropped their sixth straight against LaGrange 9-3. The Petrels were held hit less until the 5th. They were down 3-0, then rallied for three runs in the sixth to tie the game at 3-3. But Lagrange's offense was too much to handle and scored three in the 6th and three in the 7th for the final margin.
I've watched the OU team play a few times this year and they are one of the most frustrating teams to watch. There really hasn't been a guy who has stepped up and taken control of this team. With one senior and one junior (both pitchers) you can see a lack of leadership among the players. The pitching has been below average, their defense is shaky and the hitting is inconsistent. They are good enough to hang around and maybe surprise you but until a go to guy emerges they will struggle..
They have also been hit with a few key loses....Where is the SS who started the season Matthew Cornwell? He is a very good player and hasn't played since their last win? I've also heard they lost their backup SS, a weekend starter, and an outfielder?
Millsaps wins at LaGrange this afternoon by a score of 9-6 or 9-7. I was trying to keep up with baseball and basketball at the same time so I lost track. Travis Bogue got the win and Drew Maddox registered a save. I missed a big chunk of the middle of the game, including the 7-run 3rd for Millsaps when they had 7 singles and 2 walks, so I'm not sure about the hitting stars of the game for Millsaps.
These two teams play again tomorrow at 1:00 Central. The game will be broadcast--see link in the post above.
AC run-ruled Ottawa University in both games of their double header yesterday. Chermak and Stevens got the wins for AC. Chermak was pretty much unhittable and only threw 52 pitches in five innings.
Millsaps wins at LaGrange this afternoon 6-3 in 10 innings. Freshman Aaron Williams went 8.2 for Millsaps in another strong outing. Drew Maddox got the win in relief. The two teams finish up the 3 game series tomorrow--see time and radio link in my post above or on the previous page.
Oglethorpe lost two more today loosing 4-2 and 7-6 to Maryville. Lets just hope this team does not continue down the same path last years team did by loosing 22 straight. I cant see that happening but they are just struggling to put all the pieces together for a complete game.
Lou... I heard through the grape vine that Cornwell isn't allowed to play anymore this year. I do not know any details just that he wont play again this year. The back up shortstop has fractured his wrist and they are hoping to have him back at some point this season. Llano who was the starting shortstop last year has regained his spot. I know an outfielder quit as well, but he didn't play much last year and looked like he wasn't going to play much this year.
Millsaps completed their 3 game sweep at LaGrange this afternoon with a 9-0 win (I think that was the score). Tait Hendrix had another strong outing as Millsaps upped their record to 10-5 on the season, 9-3 against D3 competition.
Oglethorpe dropped its 9th straight to visiting Reinhardt College. 11-4
Going into the third the score was 0 - 0 and the Petrels took out their starting pitcher Keubler who I believe hadn't given up a hit (had walked some guys) and the reliever got rocked the Petrels gave up 3 homeruns and 9 runs in the third inning.
I don't know exactly why Keubler was taken out but I could only assume it was a predetermined pitching by committee or that he'd only go two regardless.
I've got a fun fact about Keubler who can actually pitch both right and left handed. He has recorded outs using both hands this year. However he mainly uses his left.
Trinity has a big game today down in San Antonio as Hardin-Simmons comes to town.
The bats have come alive a bit for Trinity and the young team has won 5 straight.
Bronson takes the hill tonight. On the year he's 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA. 22 K's and 4 BB's in 15 IP.
Should be a good one.
Tuna, it was a good one, Bronson came away with the loss on a freak bases loaded infield fly rule run scored in the ninth. Great game by two excellent teams!
Quote from: historymajor on March 05, 2008, 09:01:38 AM
Tuna, it was a good one, Bronson came away with the loss on a freak bases loaded infield fly rule run scored in the ninth. Great game by two excellent teams!
I need some clarification, please.
Situation: HSU had the bases loaded, less than 2 outs. An infield fly rule was invoked.
Did the winning run score by tagging up at third when the ball hit the ground, and the player was safe at the plate?
Okay, I found it. :)
Here is the game story (http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/Recaps/2008/TU-HSU.htm).
Thanks
Oglethorpe lost 9-4 to visitng Emory last night. A solid game played by both teams but emory was just too much for the Petrels. Pfister launched another HR last night for Emory and Andrew Llano hit his 3rd HR of the year for the OU.
Oglethorpe was in the game all the way and even had a 3-1 lead at one point, but couldn't muster that big hit all night....or all season for that matter. The pitching has been just so-so at best and the offense has struggled for any kind of consistency.
One thing that hasn't been talked about is how the drought in Georgia is effecting the playing fields. There is a complete outdoor watering ban in effect for the state of Georgia. The infield clay areas at both Emory and OU are playing like concrete...very dangerous conditions. There must have been a few balls that hopped up on the infielders and a few more that took wicked hops through the infield for hits last night. Not to mention the lingereing dust after a slide or dive.
Will the Millsaps games in Memphis this weekend take place considering the rain/snow forecast? If so, who's scheduled to pitch?
The Millsaps at Rhodes games was cancelled. According to the Rhodes website, Rhodes will come to Jackson Saturday and play Wabash at Millsaps at 11. The Millsaps schedule still shows Millsaps playing Wabash at 2:00 on Saturday. All of this is obviously due to weather conditions, and especially the road conditions between Memphis and Jackson.
Drew Bignall takes the hill for the Tigers tonight agaist Desalles University.
This is a big game for the Tigers because of it. If Bignall comes back and appears to be back at top form, they could have a scary rotation with Bronson, Oates and Bignall.
It's snowing in Jackson at the moment (11:20 PM), but it's a light snow and tomorrow is suppose to be sunny with a high of 50. It is my understanding that there will be a Wabash DH at Millsaps tomorrow, with Wabash taking on Rhodes in the opener at 11 and then Millsaps in the second game around 2 or 2:30.
I must not understand basic scoring because how does Poffenroth get the win for Trinity when TU was up 6-2 when Bignall left the game?
Here's the box score of the game you are asking about:
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/statistics/dsu-tu.htm
Bignall did not pitch the usually required half a game that is needed to get the win as a starting pitcher, only going 4 of the 9 innings. I say usually because there are exceptions that were covered in recent pages of this thread during a discussion of the Rhodes vs. Rust game.
Wabash lost an odd SCAC doubleheader today, falling to Rhodes 5-1 in the opener and then dropping game 2 against Millsaps. This oddity was a result of games being rescheduled because of bad weather.
Holt won the game for Rhodes and Travis Bogue pitched 5 scoreless innings to get the win for Millsaps. Aaron Williams pitched the final 4 innings and got the save. Derrick Boland had a homerun in a game where the pitchers kept the batters generally under control.
Link to Millsaps box score: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/mcb-030808.htm
Should have given you a heads-up, Frank. DPU was in Jackson this afternoon and took a pair from Blackburn. 8-1 and 10-7 the finals.
Apparently, the boys are on the bus towards Conway. They'll play a pair of singles against Hendrix and Central Baptist on Monday.
Conference play begins next weekend, what has the preseason shown us? It is fun to predict what a season will look like before it begins, now that we have "seen" the teams, what is going to happen in coference play?
Quote from: Ralph Turner on February 09, 2008, 11:27:03 PM
DePauw and Oglethorpe, yes. Or I am making too much of this opening weekend for the Lynx. Ozarks will do well to finish fourth in the ASC-East.
Back on the opening weekend, Ralph thought it was a bad sign for Rhodes that they lost to a weak Ozarks team. At the time, I too thought that it looked bad for Rhodes to lose to the U. of the Ozarks, and then Millsaps only beat Ozarks by a 6-5 score. Apparently that wasn't so bad since Ozarks is now 15-2, having scored 14 or more runs in 9 of those 17 games. Only once all year have they scored less runs in a game than the 5 runs they scored against both Rhodes and Millsaps.
Also, the pitcher who beat Rhodes just won the National player of the week award after striking out 14 in a game, including 11 straight. It looks like losing to the Ozarks is something that a lot of teams will do this season and it looks like that win will be a very good win on the Millsaps record.
In a related post to the above, I thought Millsaps was having somewhat of a growing year with just a 11-5 record at this point in the season. Then I got to looking more closely at the 5 losses and realized that they were all to very tough opponents:
--Lost 4-1 at #11th ranked Emory to split that 2-game series
--Lost 6-5 to NAIA Belhaven College, a team that is now 18-8 with a 12 game winning streak.
--Lost 11-3 to D1 Jacksonville State then came back and beat Jacksonville 17-3 the next day to split the 2-game series.
--Lost 7-4 to #17 ranked Piedmont in 11 innings
--Lost 9-6 to Piedmont.
Along the way they have picked up the win over the #24 Ozarks team, a win over Rhodes, 4 wins over a 7-7 LaGrange team, a win over an 8-8 Mississippi College team, along with the above mentioned wins over Emory and Jacksonville.
All in all, maybe the 11-5 doesn't look too bad since this is a team that is trying to replace so many starters from the 2007 season. Once the hitting comes around, this team might just be the team to beat in the SCAC.
Today's Trinity-TLU game was moved to Trinity due to field conditions in Seguin.... check TU's baseball site for audio/video links
Millsaps defeats Mississippi College this evening 8-1 behind a strong pitching performance of Tait Hendrix.
Story: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/031108story.shtml
Box Score: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/mcb-031108.htm
Trinity let a 7-3 lead slip away in an 8-7 loss to TLU last night. The bats came out on fire, scoring 2 runs in each of the first 3 innings, but then cooled and faded late.
The team still looks strong for a bunch that starts 4-5 freshman each game. They are 8-5, with those 5 losses coming by a total of 6 runs.
They face off against Division One, University of Buffalo night at 7:30 PM before hitting the road for Hendrix.
JSG's Weekly rankings (http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=5123.121) has some interesting analysis on UOzarks.
I am surprised for Ozarks as well. They seem to be making noise on the East to help de-stabilize the division that had been "proverbially conceded" to UT-Tyler. The Eagles face UT-Dallas and UT-Tyler in the next two weekends, on the road.
The ASC Tourney is on the West this year.
Millsaps beat Huntingdon 17-11 yesterday in a ball game that seemed to drag on and on after Millsaps took a 9-0 lead in the first inning. Huntingdon outhit Millsaps 17-8 but Millsaps received 16 free baserunners via 14 walks and 2 hit-by-pitch. In fairness to the Millsaps hitters, I think it is difficult to find any rhythm at the plate when the opposing pitchers are walking almost 2 batters per inning.
Link to box score: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/mcb-031208.htm
It is my understanding that all 4 games of the Millsaps at Austin series will be broadcast this weekend. The starting time for those games will be 6 on Friday, a DH starting at 1 on Saturday, and a noon game on Sunday. The link to the broadcast is: http://www.espnradio1240.com/
My guess is that Millsaps will use Travis Bogue, Aaron William, Tait Hendrix, and Brandon Ingram as the starters this weekend. It will be interesting to see how they fare in this first SCAC series.
I'd guess that AC will counter with Will Chermak in tomorrow's game, and Cory Stevens starting game one on Saturday. Tyler Steed will likely get a start this weekend, but the fourth spot is a bit up in the air...probably Bobby Schleizer, but a possibility that it'll be Matt Finke.
After last year, no Millsaps fan should over look any game with Austin, the thorn in the Majors side in 2007. Two of the starters you named have an ERA over 11, but that probably doesn't mean much with it coming in pre-conference play.
Will Hendrix be walking into a buzzsaw in their quad-stacker with Trinity, or does anyone think they're capable of an upset or two?
Indeed, Frank, those pitchers have had a couple of rough outings but those have come against top notch teams, such as Texas-Tyler last week. At the same time, Steed, who is a frosh, shut out TLU in his first collegiate start, so he's clearly got some potential. Stevens has thrown a few gems in his career, too...he's also the type that can sometimes get deep into the count with numerous batters depending on how the umps are calling it. He can throw some serious heat though, and at times has some overpowering stuff.
Millsaps takes the opener 7-3 against Austin tonight as Travis Bogue goes 8 innings, giving up 2 hits, 7 walks and 2 unearned runs. Chermak took the loss for Austin. I was mostly listening to the Millsaps basketball win that puts them in the final 8, but I do know that Hunter Owen had his 4th HR of the season.
Trinity takes the first game from Hendrix 9-3. Poffenroth gets the win going 6 strong innings. Calbick and Felix both had 4 hits with Felix having 4 rbi's and 4 runs. Both Felix and Jones had triples with Jones getting 2 hits.
However, Daniel Ward of Hendrix was the story of the game hitting for the cycle.
Owen did indeed hit his 4th homer. It was an absolute shot, too.
Abrams went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI. Ordeneaux went 3-for-4.
AC just couldn't get anything going offensively, and the first two innings for Chermak were rough. After that he settled down considerably, but the damage was done.
AC jumps out to a 4-0 lead in game one today against Millsaps after one inning. Bennett Herrick hit a three run homer and Bobby Schleizer knocked in a run to get to Aaron Williams early and put the 'Roos on the board.
Majors get 2 back in the top of the second, one coming off a Boland homer to right center.
looked like it was going to be a blowout here in Sherman, as AC went into the 7th leading 15-6...however, the 'Roos gave up eight runs in the top of the seventh and had the bases loaded with two outs, with the final out coming on a fly ball that carried all the way to the fence. crazy game.
Boyd, Owen, and Boland had homers for Millsaps; Schleizer and Herrick both had three run shots for AC.
Stevens gets the win, Max Berry takes the loss, and Tyler Steed gets the save for getting an out against the only batter he faced.
Austin seems to be the thorn in Millsaps' side. My hats off to the Austin hitters as they chased Williams and Ingram from the mound yesterday, two starters who have done very well all season. Millsaps needs a big start from Tait Hendrix today to even the series and they need for the bats to explode in the early innings, not just the last inning like yesterday.
While today's game is big in regards to winning an SCAC title, I just don't see Millsaps in contention for winning an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. In a way that is good because the season can somewhat focus on the SCAC Tournament and Millsaps can continue to experiment in an effort to find the right combination of starters. It is somewhat like the path Austin took to the NCAA last year.
About 15 minutes from first pitch here in Sherman...Hendrix is going for Millsaps, while AC is giving a local freshman the first start of his career. We'll see how it goes...
After two complete, AC leads 1-0 on a sac fly by Brian Buehler following an error by Hunter Abrams.
'Roos get out of a jam in the top of the fourth...Millsaps had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, but AC gets a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning without surrendering a run to keep it 1-0.
'Roos get out of another mini-jam, with Millsaps stranding a runner on third after a leadoff double by Causey. AC still leads 1-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth.
Now, they just need to figure out how to hit Tait Hendrix.
Wow...unassisted triple play by Andy White to get AC out of a jam after two singles. Abrams and Owen got some solid singles, and Boland ripped a line drive up the middle, but White got over to it, stepped on second, and tagged out Owen for the unassisted triple play.
Great play by White.
Millsaps finally got a run home on Curtis and had the bases loaded, but Scooter Merritt makes a great diving catch just off the infield for the third out to keep it tied at 1-1 heading into the bottom of the 8th.
I don't know what other top pitching performances were thrown in the SCAC this week, but it will take a lot to top the performance by Tait Hendrix as Millsaps gets a win this afternoon to even the series with Austin. The difference between this series ending 2-2 instead of 1-3 will probably be a big factor at the end of the season. Tait went 9 innings, allowing 2 hits and 1 unearned run, and got the win as Millsaps scored 2 runs to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the 10th and then Drew Maddox pitched a scoreless bottom of the 10th.
In addition to this gem, Tait also got a win over Mississippi College on Tuesday, going 6.1 innings and giving up 3 hits and no runs. That's 15.1 innings pitched, 2 wins, 5 hits, and only 1 unearned run. Not a bad week of pitching.
Rhodes pitcher's had a good weekend. And I think Brett Lindsey is player of the week with his performance over the weekend. He hit .571 (8-14) 7 RBI's and was 2-2 SB's against Oglethorpe.
Daniel Ward from Hendrix had an ok weekend versus Trinity. 11-13, hit for the cycle, 2 hrs, and 4 2bs.
Those are some strong numbers for Daniel Ward.
It was an interesting first week of conference play with no sweeps. OU got a win off of Rhodes, Hendrix got a win off of Trinity in a close series, Millsaps and Austin split, and Birmingham took 2 of 3 from Centre. Is it a case of the weak have gotten stronger or the strong have gotten weaker? Whatever the case, it seems like this might be a year where there's enough parity that only the AQ will get to the NCAA Tournament and 5 or 6 teams will probably be strong contenders for the SCAC crown.
I know the AC folks were a bit disappointed that they didn't pull out the victory on Sunday, but the prevailing thought is that going 2-2 against another championship level team will both serve as a confidence boost and also, considering they could have easily taken 3 games, serve as motivation going forward as they travel to Hendrix this weekend.
What the weekend proved to me is that, despite a relatively shallow pitching rotation for Coach Carl, when the 'Roos are swinging the bats well they will be tough to beat in the SCAC this year. They are playing outstanding defensive baseball right now, and Andy White is a name to remember. He's only a sophomore and started to make a name for himself being All-Tourney last year as a frosh, but the progression he's made from frosh to soph is incredible. He's improved himself so much physically that, by the time he's done at AC, you're looking at a potential SCAC Player of the Year type of kid. Great defensively, and he's gotten himself to the point where he's a huge threat at the plate. Meanwhile, we've got some kids who were 1st Team All-SCAC last year who are still trying to find their swings (Finke and Means, specifically...which has to stem at least a BIT from missing fall ball as they were both playing football)...once they get back into form and if Christian Curtis and Tyler Steed can develop into front line pitchers, watch out.
Response to Frank: I think the SCAC has a ton of parity...teams like Millsaps/Trinity have forced the Rhodes/Austin of the world to get better! Southwestern has been a little less dominate in the last few years and Hendrix keeps improving. On the East Birmingham is going to be a powerhouse. I've said it before. Sewanee is down, DePAuw is good, Centre has been on the upswing and OU has played a very tough schedule...Piedmont (16-3), Emory (#5), Wash&lee (14-4), Adrian (10-3), Transy (9-1)..... I think the east is up for grabs. Rhodes is still the favorite with their pitching, but offensivley they look vulnerable. With Centre/Rhodes not playing this year and OU/DePAuw not playing, Birmingham will have a lot to say about who wins the east.....
I can't see any other team getting a bid this year....but I do think the two weeks of SCAC tournament is going to be a blast....
In a pitching duel this afternoon, Millsaps took a 21-16 win over Illinois Wesleyan. There was a strong wind, maybe 20-25 mph blowing out to center and right and baseballs were flying out of the yard. Millsaps had 3 HRs in one inning, I believe IW has 2 in one inning, and there must have been 7 or 8 homers during the game.
No box score links at the moment. I'll try to get that link when a box score becomes available.
With spring break going on, it took a while to get the box for the Millsaps-Illinois Wesleyan game. Millsaps had 6 HRs in the game, two by Hunter Owens and one each from Russ Boyd, Hunter Abrams, Derrick Boland, and Ronnie Wheat.
Here's the box score link: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/mcb-031808.htm
Looks like AC wasn't happy with their split against Millsaps, taking it out on Hendrix over the weekend in a four game sweep. They outscored the Warriors 37-8 over the four game span, and got an absolute gem from Cory Stevens in an 8-0 win. Seven complete innings, 12 strikeouts against three walks and seven hits. Best game of his career, I'd say.
Big week ahead, too. AC takes on No. 4 UT-Tyler on Tuesday and then will face Trinity to see who can come out on top of the West Division at this point in the year. Of course, if they split the series it leaves the door open for Millsaps to move up the ladder as well. Going to be a big week in the West Division, that's for sure.
Really looking forward to the TU - AU series this weekend. There will be some HOT baseball in Texas! TU has had some pitchers really step up and fill some gaps. I suspect both teams will be making solid use of most of their pitching staffs to get through this quad-stacker. Good luck top both sides!
In other recent results:
Rhodes split with Emory, Holt pitching well in the victory and Flanagan getting hit fairly hard in the loss.
Trinity took a 3-1 series over Southwestern. Pitching dominated the first two games and then the run production started to creep up.
OU got a much needed series win over Sewanee, 3-1.
DePauw has taken 3 convincing wins over Birmingham Southern with the 4th game being played on Monday.
Millsaps got a nice break with no games this weekend. After a lot of travelling in the first half of the season, Millsaps plays their next 11 games at home. It should be a great opportunity for the team to peak prior to the final road trip to Trinity and then the SCAC Tournament.
OU played a fairly decent series against Sewanee...except for the second game. But there is some news filtering out of Atlanta about some trouble with Huntingdon.
OU and Huntingdon were supposed to play a doubleheader on Tuesday but the game has been cancelled. Apparently, last week Huntingdon's CF barrelled into one of OU's catcher, sending the catcher to the ER with a grade 5 separation of his left shoulder, he will miss the rest of the season. From what I'm hearing the collison was malicious and could have been easily avoided. The play was a 5-2 putout were the runner was out by at least 5 steps...The CF was ejected from the game. He stood at home plate over the catcher and laughed until the umpire removed him from the area. This all happened in game one of a doubleheader. The player in question returned to the starting lineup in game two and was all laughs and continued to show poor sportsmanship. He apparently continued to jab at OU from the dugout and apparently kept talking trash to the players in the field.
I keep saying apparently, b/c I'm getting this info second hand. But the facts are that Huntingdon showed zero class in a very serious situation. The NCAA clearly states it is very concerned about the safety of its student-athletes....the fact that he continued to run his mouth during the second game is low class. Has anyone heard anything about the incident? Obviously I'm hearing this all from OU's side but I think they cancelled the games to avoid any further conflict.
Quote from: Lou_Brown on March 24, 2008, 09:20:42 PM
OU played a fairly decent series against Sewanee...except for the second game. But there is some news filtering out of Atlanta about some trouble with Huntingdon.
OU and Huntingdon were supposed to play a doubleheader on Tuesday but the game has been cancelled. Apparently, last week Huntingdon's CF barrelled into one of OU's catcher, sending the catcher to the ER with a grade 5 separation of his left shoulder, he will miss the rest of the season. From what I'm hearing the collison was malicious and could have been easily avoided. The play was a 5-2 putout were the runner was out by at least 5 steps...The CF was ejected from the game. He stood at home plate over the catcher and laughed until the umpire removed him from the area. This all happened in game one of a doubleheader. The player in question returned to the starting lineup in game two and was all laughs and continued to show poor sportsmanship. He apparently continued to jab at OU from the dugout and apparently kept talking trash to the players in the field.
I keep saying apparently, b/c I'm getting this info second hand. But the facts are that Huntingdon showed zero class in a very serious situation. The NCAA clearly states it is very concerned about the safety of its student-athletes....the fact that he continued to run his mouth during the second game is low class. Has anyone heard anything about the incident? Obviously I'm hearing this all from OU's side but I think they cancelled the games to avoid any further conflict.
The real question is - did any OU pitcher bother putting one in the kid's ear? That's the tried and true way to stop that bullcrap in its tracks. If he's being half the punk that your second-hand info says he is, there's no reason the OU coach shouldn't have put in his hardest thrower with explicit instructions to put one on him. But then, I'm an old-schooler by nature, and a former pitcher, so that's where I'm coming from. Some folks don't like the idea of a retaliatory HBP, but I sure as hell am not one of them.
DePauw's off to a 15-3 start, their best since 1996. Got a 7-6 win over BSC today to complete a four-game sweep. They get Emory and Piedmont during this Spring Break trip so we'll get a better idea of what this team is made of. The big difference has been the pitching - seniors Jeremy Alland, John Tschantz, and Aaron Myers have really emerged as workhorses in the rotation, and they give the Tigers a great shot to beat anybody every time out. It's certainly the best starting rotation DPU has had since Tyson Becker and PJ Mitchell went 1-2.
I'm all for sending a message but if its done correctly and you don't throw at someone's head. In the box score the player in question did have an HBP in game two...I'm assuming they did throw at him.
For anyone interested in the AC/UT-Tyler game, AC is testing out live stats on their website for the first time tonight.
Trinity's "comeback kids" did it again. Down 8-2 in the 7th scored 4 then 3 in the 8th to beat McMurray, 9-8. Great win, fun to watch and exciting for a bunch of young players. Oates gets the W, Bronson the save. Big hits from nearly everyone on the team.
My worst fear, and what I emailed my good friend Historymaker!
Not sufficient bullpen strength.
A set-up man and a closer isn't affected as dramatically by mid-week demands. IN fact it may help the bullpen keep the rhythm.
AC picks up a huge win over UT-Tyler...8-7 victory, had to rally from down 7-6 in the bottom of the 10th. Andy White got an RBI infield single with two outs after a crazy play tied things up after a throwing error when UTT appeared to have a runner picked off between second and third.
Excellent job by Trinity and Austin in their comeback wins. Those wins trickle down to help all the SCAC teams, or at least the teams in the West. Millsaps lost tonight to NAIA Belhaven 16-10. Millsaps seemed more concerned with pitching by committee and getting the staff ready for this weekend, and Belhaven threw one of their top pitchers for almost 8 innings. While I would have loved to see a Millsaps victory this evening, I now understand much better that NAIA opponents are just exhibition games in the eyes of the NCAA. I'd rather lose tonight than against a D3 team.
Also, after having 2 SCAC Men's basketball teams finish in the D3 Top 10 (Millsaps at 6 and Centre at 9), we now have 3 SCAC teams in the baseball coaches poll with Millsaps and Rhodes tied at 23 and DePauw at 27. Winning the SCAC AQ this season is going to be a tough task indeed.
Link to poll: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/abcapoll32508.pdf
Link to tonight's box score: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/mcb-032508.htm
Just a thought from a casual observer--it appears to me that DePauw is the favorite to win the East section of the SCAC this year. Not only do they have a 1 game lead over Rhodes in early action, but they also are the host team this year in the match up between the two teams.
It seems fairly certain that DePauw and Rhodes will be the top 2 teams in the East, but the 2nd place team is going to get a really tough draw at the crossover tournament. At the moment Millsaps is the 3rd team in the West and that would be a tough draw for anyone. If Trinity or Austin fall to 3rd, it will be an equally tough draw. Of course the flip side is that avoiding the 3rd spot in the West will be fairly important because playing either Rhodes or DePauw at the crossover is a tough draw for a 2 out of 3 series.
I agree that those two teams have the inside track...but don't sleep on OU. They just beat #5 Piedmont at Piedmont. The Petrels outhit Piedmont 17-7...and held on late for a 9-8 victory. They seem to be playing some good baseball and take on DePauw Thursday in a "Friendly"....I know DePauw will be saving their top pitchers for the weekend, but still should be a good one in Atlanta...Live stats and radio broadcast are available. Also, OU you will be honoring the women's final four basketball team before the game.
It should be a very competitive race the rest of the way. Again, really looking forward to the AC/Trinity series. All games will feature live stats on the AC website. The win over UT-Tyler has to have given AC some confidence, and serves as a sort of response to the Trinity win over McMurry. Both teams are coming in hot, so it should be a fun series.
Of course, here's hoping that AC can take 3 of 4...
What a nice mid-week by the SCAC in baseball. Let's recap:
March 25th:
Trinity beats McMurry 9-8
Rhodes beats MS College 6-5
Hendrix beats #19 Ozarks 17-10
DePauw beats #11 Piedmont 7-5
Austin beats #5 Texas-Tyler 8-7
Centre does loses to Thomas More 10-3
Millsaps loses to NAIA Belhaven 16-10, a game that has no NCAA implications.
March 26th:
Rhodes beats Christian Brothers 16-6 (I believe CB is NAIA, but still a nice win)
Oglethorpe beats #11 Piedmont 9-8
DePauw does lose at #14 Emory 8-5
SCAC teams go 4-1 against Top-25 teams this week. That's showing a lot more strength that what we had last season and these wins are good for all of the teams in the conference. Excellent.
Christian Brothers is D2, Gulf South Conference.
It would appear that the SCAC may single-handedly drum Piedmont right out of the Top 25. Good job, SCAC teams!
Can't wait for the TU/AU series!! And TU/Millsaps after that!! The SCAC is HOT!!
Per historymajor:
The Trinity FASTBAT baseball booster club will try to bring the streaming AC/TU weekend series:
VIDEO/AUDIO (Ethernet speed dependent): http://secure.stretchinternet.com/broadcasts.php?time=1206687600
Audio only (hi-speed): http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu-sports-ch1-96kb.m3u
Audio only (dial-up): http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu_sports-ch1-36kb.m3u
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 27, 2008, 07:17:46 PM
What a nice mid-week by the SCAC in baseball. Let's recap:
March 25th:
Trinity beats McMurry 9-8
Rhodes beats MS College 6-5
Hendrix beats #19 Ozarks 17-10
DePauw beats #11 Piedmont 7-5
Austin beats #5 Texas-Tyler 8-7
Centre does loses to Thomas More 10-3
Millsaps loses to NAIA Belhaven 16-10, a game that has no NCAA implications.
March 26th:
Rhodes beats Christian Brothers 16-6 (I believe CB is NAIA, but still a nice win)
Oglethorpe beats #11 Piedmont 9-8
DePauw does lose at #14 Emory 8-5
SCAC teams go 4-1 against Top-25 teams this week. That's showing a lot more strength that what we had last season and these wins are good for all of the teams in the conference. Excellent.
Add two more on March 26 ...
BSC beats Rust 15-2 and 5-2.
Trinity 6 - Austin College 2
Brian Oates (4-1) - 9 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 15Ks
2B Jeff Claydon 2-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB
JSG
Great performance by Oates against AU....and they still have Bronson to get through.
I see SW also took it to Millsaps in a big way.
I am more than willing to show my bias for Brian Oates.
What a wonderful effort in a huge game to start this series.
Equally great to see the Trinity freshman starting to produce as the season progresses.
With Stosh Hoover and Evan Jones having carried the team offensively to allow the freshman to gain experience, this team can be very tough when it counts.
But, with all that said, tonight is about Brian Oates. Terrific pitcher who has worked so very, very hard. I sure hope this can continue for Brian from now to sometime in May.
I took photos at the Millsaps vs LaGrange game on February 8th and the game against the Ozarks on February 9th. Since that time Millsaps has been on the road a lot. When they have been in town, I've missed their games because I was working on photos for other sports. Consequently, I had not seen Millsaps play a full baseball game in about 6 weeks until Friday afternoon. What I saw today was rather stunning. I don't believe I've ever seen a Millsaps baseball team look so dispirited and it was a far cry from the team that I saw during the opening weekend of the season.
LET ME STRESS THAT MAKING A JUDGEMENT BASED ON ONE GAME IS A RISKY AND OFTEN INACCURATE THING TO DO. LET ME ALSO STRESS THAT I STILL HAVE FAITH IN THE TALENT OF THIS TEAM AND I SUPPORT THEM 100%. I put that all in caps because during decades of coaching and years on this message board, I've learned that people take an honest observation as a negative attack. In my honest opinion, something was wrong Friday that ran far deeper than Millsaps not being able to stop the Southwestern scoring or the Millsaps inability to put runs on the board.
I would not be surprised if I'm 100% wrong, but Friday afternoon Milllsaps looked like a team that wasn't having fun. They looked like a team that had lost their passion. To be honest, in many ways they didn't look like a team. Maybe that's a little harsh, maybe not. Sometimes things change gradually and it is hard to see the magnitude of the changes when you are close to the situation. In my case, I've only seen the opening weekend and yesterday and seeing the full change all at once was eye opening.
If I had to guess (stressing once again that I would not be surprised if I'm 100% wrong), I would say that the natural disorder of this season has worn down the entire team from the coaches all the way down. In 2007 there was a starting lineup set in stone that only changed because of injury. In 2006 it was the same thing except for the catcher's position. In those two seasons, the starters generally performed at a level where no one questioned their role in the starting lineup. In 2008 it is the exact opposite with change being the norm instead of the exception. The starting lineup has changed often, the batting order has changed often, and even now it doesn't seem like there is a clearcut group that has won the starting roles.
Most people on this message board have played and/or coached quite a bit of sports. In my personal experience, I found:
1) It was easier to cheer for my teammates when it was obvious that they should be starting over me (which was quite often the case). When I thought I had a shot at the starting position, it was much more difficult to encourage my teammates to play well, knowing that their playing well would keep me on the bench.
2) When I did start, it was much easier to play well when I didn't feel like my starting position was in jepardy if I played a poor couple of games.
3) When I coached, I found that team unity was much better when I didn't have a bench full of guys who thought they should be starters and I was coaching sports like basketball and soccer where the subs got to play. In baseball, the starters usually get all the innings.
I'm not sure if anyone will take the time to read such a long post. Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill. Maybe Saturday I'll see a Millsaps team that is alive, passionate, and dominating. I just know that I saw the exact opposite Friday afternoon and I can only guess at the reasons. IF the deep down root of the problem comes back to lack of team unity and lack of support for teammates, then it will be a very long second half of the season. That's just one person's opinion based on limited input, but what I saw yesterday was a far cry from typical Millsaps baseball.
A little stressed out, aren't you, Frank? I am confident that Coach Page will get the Majors back on track and will be there to make the SCAC playoffs interesting as usual!
Saturday and Sunday's weekend series between AC and TU WILL be available (thanks to extra help provided by the AC IT department)
VIDEO/AUDIO: https://secure.stretchinternet.com/wlive.php?user=trinity&id=33577
Audio only (hi-speed): http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu-sports-ch1-96kb.m3u
Audio only (dial-up): http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu_sports-ch1-36kb.m3u
Looks like Trinity freshman are growing up.
Today, Evan Bronson gave up 6 hits in the opener and Trinity beat Austin College 12-0. Kyle Felix, a freshman, had a big day with a homer and 4 RBI's to back Bronson.
In the nightcap, Trinity pounded out 20 hits in a 14-6 win.
Evan Jones had another huge night going 3-5 with 3 RBI's.
Kevin Calbick had 4 hits, 3 RBI's and 2 runs scored and Felix had another 4 RBI's.
Sometimes those early season 1 run losses like the ones against HSU and Concordia can define a season.
On the other hand, for some teams, it can motivate them. When you combine that with leadership of the type that can come from Oates and Hoover, you can end up with a team playing very good baseball when it counts.
Let's hope it continues.
Quote from: historymajor on March 29, 2008, 10:26:15 AM
A little stressed out, aren't you, Frank? I am confident that Coach Page will get the Majors back on track and will be there to make the SCAC playoffs interesting as usual!
I have learned in both football and basketball this season that you have to bend over backwards on this message board to clarify some posts. Even then, there are people who will lift half a sentence and claim that I was saying the exact opposite of what I wrote.
With Millsaps this year, when things are clicking the team is good and at times it is very good. That is obvious by their record and by some of the teams they have beaten. Are they as good as last year after losing 5 multi-year starters from the lineup? Not yet and that's to be expected. That's not a criticism of the current team, but an acknowledgement of the talent of those 5 key starters from last year's team (plus they lost Brent Buffa from the starting rotation).
Last year Millsaps had 10 guys who started at least 10 games and all of them had an OBP of .400 or higher and as a team Millsaps had an .447 OBP. Based on the stats through Friday, this year only 4 of 9 guys with 10 starts have an OBP over .400 and the team has an overall .385 OBP. I do believe that the current players are better hitters than what we are seeing, certainly better than being 10th out of 11 SCAC teams in batting average, and Millsaps will be very dangerous if the bats heat up at the right time. We all know that hitting can be contagious and sometimes lack of hitting can be contagious. I remember at the beginning of the season the players were talking about how well the team was hitting the ball in the preseason, so I have to believe the potential is there to hit well.
But lack of hitting is not what caught my attention Friday night. During the game Friday I remembered something told to me a couple of years ago by the father of one of last year's non-starting seniors. It was fairly obvious a couple of years ago that Taylor Jones was never going to be a starter for Millsaps, not with the guys in his class who were already starting ahead of him. Prior to his junior season, Taylor's dad had a heart-to-heart talk with his son, wanting to be sure that Taylor wasn't sticking with the baseball team just to please his dad. The gist of Taylor's reply was that he knew he would never start, but this was his group of close friends at Millsaps and he wanted to be a part of the team and he wanted to do whatever he could to help the team win.
Taylor's attitude personified what I've seen from the entire Millsaps team over the last few seasons and it seemed to be missing Friday night. I was roving between tennis, softball and baseball Saturday so I didn't see all of the baseball, but I thought the team showed a lot more life and unity on Saturday. I know this is much easier said than done, but I believe that if the Millsaps players compete like heck for the starting jobs during practice and then 100% support whoever happens to start on game day, then Millsaps has just as good a shot as any to win the SCAC Championship and return to the NCAA Tournament. Unlike the hitting fundamentals, I'm not sure if the coaches have much control over that.
Frank, I'm excited to be watching Trinity's pitching solidify and the young position players step up. If this keeps up, Millington should be a real showcase of great talent. Bring your JUGS guns!
What a crazy weekend! Trinity dominates AC 4-0 (40-8 runs) and SW takes 3 of 4 from Millsaps (27-17 runs). I guess that's why they play the games!
One would hope that Trinity might now crack the Top 25........or at least get some votes which, shockingly, they have not received at all the past couple weeks.
I have to give a lot of credit to the Southwestern pitchers this weekend. Millsaps got some good pitching performances during the series but inconsistent hitting and some fielding lapses were a problem all weekend.
Despite losing 2 of 3 on Saturday and Sunday, I actually came away from those two days feeling much more positive about the team. It might turn out that Friday's game was that dark hour before the dawn, that low point that you have to hit before things start to come together. The team definitely looked like a unified team this afternoon and they just didn't get the hitting they needed to win the game. At the start of the weekend, I was far more concerned about the unity than the hitting.
For Millsaps, the task is now very simple. There will be no at large berth to the NCAA and a West division championship is virtually impossible. That makes the Hendrix series next week a must win situation in order to get into the crossover games. If they get over that hurdle, then they know that all teams will start back at 0-0 when SCAC Divisional play begins. I believe Austin was a 17-22 team heading into the Divisional weekend last year, and they finished the year as the SCAC Champions. Millsaps certainly has the potential to follow that same path this season.
I saw some things Sunday that make me think Millsaps will rebound in April. That doesn't guarantee an SCAC Championship, but I think they'll get back in the mix as one of the teams with a decent shot at the crown. It looks like April will be a very interesting month for SCAC baseball.
Frank,
A few observations:
Jim Page is a very, very good college coach. He is very much toward the top of the coaches in college baseball, from DI to DIII.
He is also a great motivator. His players play very hard. They are tenacious and reflect his demeanor in almost every game.
With that said, it is very hard to do what Austin College did last year.
Playing well and at a high level heading into post-season play in the SCAC's usually determines the outcome, now that Jim Mallon isn't coaching. That guy was amazing in getting his team to peak. In my view, there is much more talent in the SCAC now and it just seems unusual that over 3 game series, talent will not be the deciding factor, especially when the talent includes pitching and hitting.
But, the games are still won on the field and post season berths can create tension that is hard to measure.
To me, the real factor being overlooked is the coaching. The SCAC has some veteran coaches who do their job very well. They know how to prepare their kids and they know how to prepare for the opponents.
Coaching as much as players could make some differences as this season concludes. Proven results of the type achieved by Coach Page and Coach Scannell still makes a difference.
infielddad, those are some very good points. Admittedly it is very hard to do what Austin did last year, but I think we all know that it is just flat out hard to win the SCAC Championship period. It is actually harder now than it was in the days before the divisional weekend.
Look at last year. Austin used the pitching of Chermak, Rushing, Stevens and some relief from Frost in winning 2 out of 3 from Centre. Then those same guys got a week of rest before coming back to do the same thing in 3 straight wins at the SCAC Tournament. Did they have anyone who could have pitched a 4th game in a weekend--we don't know because unlike previous SCAC Tournaments, they didn't have to play a 4th game in order to win the SCAC.
Compare that to the 2006 SCAC Tournament. Millsaps beat DePauw on Thursday, Rhodes on Friday, lost to Trinity on Saturday, beat DePauw that evening, then beat Trinity on Sunday and the league declared co-champions because of the time factor and the brutal weather. Very few teams had the pitching to get through such a tournament, even if they stayed in the winner's bracket and only had to play 4 games. With the new setup, a team with 2 good starters and some timely hitting is a threat to win the whole thing, and a lot of SCAC teams could fall into that category.
The bottom line is that talent does win a baseball series, but talent becomes less of a factor as the series gets shorter. Anything can happen in a 3 game series as we saw last year. Trinity came into the crossover with a losing record, got 10-run ruled by Rhodes in game one, then stunned Rhodes with a 9-0 win in game 2, before losing a close 5-2 game in the finals. Austin had to go three games to beat a woeful Centre team. DePauw lost two 1-run games to Southwestern and Millsaps avoided a third game by scoring in the top of the 9th to take an 8-7 victory over a 10-32 Oglethorpe team. If a team gets to divisional play, then they have a decent shot to get to the SCAC Tournament. If they get to the SCAC Tournament, then they have a decent shot to get hot and win the whole thing. Last year that was bad news for Millsaps and this year it should provide extra motivation for working hard to peak at the right time.
Anything can happen in the Divisional Playoff and SCAC Champsionships...you just have to get there and play ball. With no home field advantage and really no true advantage to being a higher seed everyone has a shot of winning the title. I think that's why the two weekends make it so interesting. You are only going to see the best pitchers on each team. Yes, some teams (Trinity) have better top pitchers but I'll tell you the kid from Sewanee (Bartelski) sp? can go out and beat anyone in the SCAC. If Sewanee can get into the tournament he can win his game and hope for someone else to step up...bang into the SCAC Championship Round at a current record of 4-17. That's why you play the games...
Little doubt that you have to play the games.
But when they are played, history back to 2002 says one of the teams with the best regular season results almost always win.
When looked at in that context, what Austin College did last season is very much the singular exception. Of course, it is that exception that gives every team hope and optimism the same can happen this year.
But, usually, it doesn't.
Quote from: infielddad on March 31, 2008, 11:23:11 AM
Little doubt that you have to play the games.
But when they are played, history back to 2002 says one of the teams with the best regular season results almost always win.
When looked at in that context, what Austin College did last season is very much the singular exception. Of course, it is that exception that gives every team hope and optimism the same can happen this year.
But, usually, it doesn't.
That's exactly my point about how the new system opens up championship possibilities for more teams. Prior to 2007, you had to win 4 minimum in a weekend to win the title and it was going to be one of the stronger teams that had the pitching or the hitting to do that. Austin College winning over Rhodes and Millsaps last year, teams with much better records, was made easier by the breakdown of the SCAC Tournament from one big weekend to two more manageable weekends.
Don't get me wrong on this--at the moment Trinity would be one of the big favorites to win the SCAC crown, just as Rhodes and Millsaps were favorites last year. I just think that Trinity would be more of a favorite if the SCAC still was using the old format.
This message board is great! I enjoy reading all the posts and appreciate the fact that the SCAC seems to be one of the conferences full of devoted fans that follow their teams day-in and day-out. It is incredible to see how busy this board is compared to many others.
I would like to make a few points if I may. First and foremost I wish to echo what I have read here in many other posts, this has been quite a season in the SCAC thus far. The predicted leaders are both in places other than atop their side of the SCAC. I think it speaks to the fact that the level of competition in the SCAC has increased. That is a good thing for everyone in the conference.
I would also like to touch on something Frank has posted about. The spirit of a team is important and a coach's major role is to keep his team up and ready to play! That means keeping every member of the team inspired and not all coaches know how that is done but it is one of the greatest skills they can develop for it will pay off tremendously in the end. I would like to give one small example of this if I may. My son played in a travel football program in his pre-teens and before middle school. This team dominated their conference and always won in end of season trips to tournaments in Florida. The team had an end of year banquet and one of the coaches said something to the starters that stuck with me to this day. He said, "You gentlemen who started for us should thank those who were your backups. Those young men pushed you to be better and when you scrimmaged you played the second best team in the division for our second string was better than any other team you played on Saturdays!" Coaches need to develop every player, starters and bench because you never know when someone will be hurt and your backup may have to play.
The next two weeks will be huge for everyone and it will be interesting to see who makes it to the crossover and from there to the championship. I have enjoyed following this season with all its ups and downs. My son has friends from his former high school team playing throughout Division III baseball and boards like this make it possible to keep track off all those teams!!
Trinity, and all those freshman, with Evan Jones and Stosh Hoover leading the way, is just pounding the ball. After scoring 40 runs in it's 4 game series with Austin College, they scored 24 runs on 25 hits today. Defeated TLU 24-12 in a mid week game.
Felix had another 4 hit game, Jones 3 more hits and 5 RBI's, Kalbick(a freshman) had 2 hits and 5 RBI's, Jackson(a freshman) had 3 hits and 2 RBI's, and Early( yep, a freshman) had another 3 hits.
Jones is on the way to breaking school records, with at least 10 games left in the regular season.
Hitting can certainly be contagious. But this sure seems like the deepest Trinity lineup since Coach Scannell arrived in San Antonio. There are 9, or 12, very tough outs.
I think that there is a very fine line on the TU roster on the pitcher vs hitter equation.
We can see what Schreiner can do. TU probably beats SU today, and HPU in two weeks. The UMHB series will be instructive.
Trinity was shut down by the 4th McMurry starter until the 7th inning (http://athletics.mcm.edu/sports/baseball/2008/teamcume.htm). TU then got the win off a pitcher who only has 7.1 innings thru the 29 games season. McMurry called in their "Friday starter" as the closer, but he could not shut down in time. (McMurry really needs a set-up man and a closer...like most D3 staffs do.)
I think that TU wins it all in the SCAC, and then comes to Abilene for the Sectional...(lots better than Chapman ;) ).
I think there is no question that Trinity has always done better against pitchers who throw hard fastballs and can run it up in the high 80s. The soft-tossing pitchers have historically given them lots of trouble.
However, even in the games this year where Trinity was "held down" by pitchers, they were still picking up lots of hits, just leaving guys in scoring position. This offense is not a fluke.
Now if they can get Bignall back and healthy by the time the playoffs roll around it would solidify a four man rotation of Bronson, Oates, Bignall and Poffenroth and Trinity could be looking at a very deep run.
Quote from: infielddad on April 01, 2008, 09:57:27 PM
Trinity, and all those freshman, with Evan Jones and Stosh Hoover leading the way, is just pounding the ball. After scoring 40 runs in it's 4 game series with Austin College, they scored 24 runs on 25 hits today. Defeated TLU 24-12 in a mid week game.
Felix had another 4 hit game, Jones 3 more hits and 5 RBI's, Kalbick(a freshman) had 2 hits and 5 RBI's, Jackson(a freshman) had 3 hits and 2 RBI's, and Early( yep, a freshman) had another 3 hits.
Jones is on the way to breaking school records, with at least 10 games left in the regular season.
Hitting can certainly be contagious. But this sure seems like the deepest Trinity lineup since Coach Scannell arrived in San Antonio. There are 9, or 12, very tough outs.
I'd argue that the 2004 Trinity team had a deeper lineup. I had a lengthy post discussing my rationale, but the boards timed out and I lost it, and I don't feel like typing it all up again. You'll have to take my word for it. I suspect you'd be a little biased towards that squad as well...
With the power in the middle of Armstrong, O'Connor and Tettleton. Baugaus and Madison setting the tone, Sowyrda prior to getting to bulky too swing it, a young Nick Vera, Verrios in the 8-9 hole, and not only that, but every last one of those them with the exeption of Findlay (and Mihalski if he was in the lineup) would swipe a bag as well.
Though, it's scary to think how good all those TU freshman hitters could be if they continue to mature at the plate over the next couple of years.
JSG
J_S_G,
Boy, I hope you don't live close to the Mihalski's. ;)
The 2004 team, compared to this one at TU, had vastly more experience, especially when you consider Jason started for 4 years and Stosh is for all practical purposes, really in about his second full season of playing time.
The intangible difference of the 2004 team, in addition to two guys who played pro ball and plenty of talent beyond those two, was the fire, spirit, dedication and determination each one made in August of 2003 when they lost 'Schmos.
If this team can stay healthy and together for 2 years, they should have a clear chance to surpass 2004 offensively.
Bill... I 'been watchin' the TIG's longer than you and I see better depth,,, pitching and hitting... oh MY!
Big west region double header in San Antonio today between Mary Hardin Baylor and Trinity starting at 4. If Trinity can pull off a sweep it should up their chance at a possible at large bid.
It will be interesting to see who each team decides to start on the mound. UMHB has a conference series this weekend with Concordia I believe, and Trinity has 4 heated games against Millsaps starting Friday.
It might be an offensive explosion today!
Leadoffman.... are you going to be there, or watching/listening to webcasts/following livestats???
I won't be there, but hopefully i'll be able to keep up with the video and livestats. I will be in San Antonio this weekend for the Millsaps series though!
Maybe you can help me arrange some interviews with former players and fans and some old "Millsaps rivalry stories". Stop by and let's discuss!
The Petrels took down #18 Emory 5-4 tonight at OU...They led the entire way and played an outstanding game. Emory had the tying run on third and the go-ahead run at second with no outs in the ninth before the Petrels worked out of the jam with the Win. This is the second ranked team they have beaten this year, #5 Piedmont is the other. A nice win for a young team...
Great win for OU and that loss really stings Emory.
That is a great win for OU and it goes to show that there will be no easy matchups when the SCAC Crossover is played. OU has the win over Emory, Piedmont and Rhodes and they could easily be the #4 in the East.
On the other side of the SCAC, it looks like Millsaps and Austin will be #3 and #4 or vice versa, pairing them up with DePauw and Rhodes in the crossover. That will be some very good baseball.
Millsaps is starting to come around with their pitchiing and their hitting--I'm not sure if that will show up with wins at Trinity if this Trinity team is truly one of the best teams they have had in years, but Millsaps is looking like a team that might very well end up playing their best ball of the season at just the right time.
Frank, will you be in SAT this weekend? If not, tune in... I'll give you a shout out!
It's very rare that I travel out of the Jackson area--there has to be some limit to this photo project. I probably will listen to every inning of every game as I'll be tied to the computer all weekend working on softball, tennis and baseball photos from the last few weeks. Taking the photos is time consuming but it only amounts to about 15-20% of the time involved in producing the finished product.
I will be interested to see how the Millsaps pitchers do against the Trinity hitters. I expect the starters this weekend to be Travis Bogue, Tait Hendrix, Aaron Williams and Brandon Ingram, and all have shown the ability to put together 7-9 innings of outstanding pitching. Can they do that this weekend? That will be interesting to see.
As for the Millsaps hitters, Millsaps is 9th out of 11 SCAC teams in BA, but they have the most walks of any team and their OBP is 4th in the SCAC. Plus, they have the most HRs of any team and their Slugging Percentage is 3rd in the SCAC. Of course, Trinity leads most of the team hitting categories, but my point is that Millsaps is putting up some decent numbers despite the low BA.
Still, based on the numbers, it looks like Trinity should take at least 3 out of 4 this weekend. For Millsaps to prevent that, they will need to get some consistent production throughout the lineup instead of having dead spots that don't produce. Last year's team seemed to put together big innings when a string of guys would bang out hits, and this year the team hasn't put together a lot of those big innings. If all the guys get hot at the same time, then Millsaps can play with anyone. I sort of have a gut feeling that this will happen in the last few weeks of the season and hopefully that will start with this weekend.
Any one else have a lot of difficulty picking up the Trinity broadcast this evening? I tried just the audio first and could barely hear anything. The sound on the video has been sporatic but they are very sparse in their description of the game.
The audio had some problems yesterday and, no, the guys aren't ESPN broadcasters -- but give 'em a break (and everyone else who worked very hard to get the whole live-feed thing up and running). What an absolute gift to parents (form BOTH teams, mind you) to enjoy seeing their kids play ball from anywhere in the world.
Didn't mean to sound critical. I would love for Millsaps to have such a feature and I know that several Trinity parents have done a lot to make the webcast available to fans from both teams. In my case, I was hoping to pick up the audio that I imagine is geared more towards reporting the game, the balls and strikes, the outs, etc. The webcast appears to be a little more informal, geared towards the P.A.W.S. group more so than just calling the game. I have listened to quite a bit and am glad to have the up-to-date scoring, etc.
DePauw wins the East and gets Austin in the crossover. Rhodes stays at 2nd in the East and will play Millsaps. Millsaps played well at Trinity, winning the last two games to get the split and holding on to third place.
Trinity still won the west with the split and that puts them up against Centre or OU. So far there aren't any scores posted for those two teams today so I'm not sure which will finish 4th. Southwestern will obviously play the team that finishes 3rd.
It's hard to make much sense of the DePauw and Rhodes series this past weekend as to which team it is better to face. I know the weather was wet and cold at DePauw so maybe that had something to do with all of the run scoring with games that finished 6-0, 12-9, 16-6, and 20-9. That's a lot of runs against teams that are thought of as teams with strong pitching and I won't expect either team to give up that many runs next weekend.
All in all, it looks like there will be 4 good series next weekend and anything can happen when it is just 2 out of 3. I look forward to seeing how it all turns out.
(El Tea Gray--re: Crossover opponents for next weekend)
DePauw vs. Austin
Rhodes vs. Millsaps
Southwestern vs. Centre
Oglethorpe vs. Trinity
Now that the match ups are out there....let's hear the predictions!!
I think.....
Austin will stun DePauw
Rhodes over Millsaps in a series of pitching duels
Trinity over OU
Southwestern Over Centre
and from there?????
Quote from: Krakatoa on April 14, 2008, 10:25:27 PM
I think.....
Austin will stun DePauw
Rhodes over Millsaps in a series of pitching duels
Trinity over OU
Southwestern Over Centre
and from there?????
It would not surprise me to see an All-SCAC West Final Series, especially if the AC DPU series goes for the Roos.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 15, 2008, 12:12:20 AM
Quote from: Krakatoa on April 14, 2008, 10:25:27 PM
I think.....
Austin will stun DePauw
Rhodes over Millsaps in a series of pitching duels
Trinity over OU
Southwestern Over Centre
and from there?????
It would not surprise me to see an All-SCAC West Final Series, especially if the AC DPU series goes for the Roos.
Guess you folks will have to learn the hard way that we play some
ball in the SCAC East. I like the top seeds out of the East to win with ease - sorry, this ain't 2007 (Austin) or 2006 (Millsaps). Garner Wetzel isn't walking through that door.
Those high scores in Greencastle this past weekend were just a tad out of character - you'll have to trust me when I tell you that miserable weather and wind blowing out contributed to those pinball scores on Saturday. I'd take DPU's top two (Alland and Tschantz) and Rhodes' top two (Holt and Flanagan) against any lineup you want to show me in this league.
DePauw over Austin in 3 games
Millsaps over Rhodes
Southwestern over Centre
Trinity over Oglethorpe
Quote from: Leadoff Man on April 15, 2008, 08:15:44 AM
DePauw over Austin in 3 games
Millsaps over Rhodes
Southwestern over Centre
Trinity over Oglethorpe
I'm going with exactly the same picks as Leadoff Man, which is to say that I'm guessing that the results will be the same as last year with the #1E beating the #4W and the West winning the rest. While that was the result last year, I think we all saw that there is no certainty in a 3 game series.
My thought on the DePauw series is that DePauw will win the first game behind their ace pitcher who has an ERA well below 2. He threw a 2 hitter against Rhodes so I'm guessing that he'll do well against Austin. After that, any team that wins the first game has to be the favorite to win the series.
With Millsaps and Rhodes, obviously I'm going to pick Millsaps. I don't think this series will be about the pitching because both teams have plenty of pitching for a 3-game series. It will be about the hitting and I believe that Millsaps is peaking at just the right time on offense. This should be the best matchup of the weekend and I think most people would consider it a 50-50 matchup.
Southwestern over Centre and Trinity over Oglethorpe are similar series. Centre went 1-3 against both DePauw and Birmingham Southern and they were 3-1 against OU and Sewanee. They beat DePauw so I could see them winning a game against Southwestern, just not 2 games. OU was a little different, going 1-3 against DePauw and Centre, splitting with Birmingham, and winning 3-1 over Sewanee. OU also played well against some ranked teams so I could see them winning one game but not the series.
DePauw over Austin in 2 (Depauw can pitch, hit and run like crazy. This is a really good team.)
Rhodes over Millsaps in 3 (Old School West matchup, most entertaining games all weekend.)
Southwestern over Centre in 3 (Herbert wins Friday's game. When he pitches Centre believes they can beat anybody in the country! SU wins the other 2.)
Trinity over Oglethorpe in 2 (OU has been giant killers this year....not as easy for TU as some may think.)
I don't think anyone will be overlooking DePauw. They are hitting over .300 and they have 3 good starting pitchers, plenty of pitching for the SCAC Tournament format.
When you look at the numbers it looks like DePauw should be heavily favored. Then again, it's hard to discount that Austin is about where they were at this time last year and they put together two winning weekends. I don't think that was just luck. I have to believe that they will be a dangerous team and I just have a feeling that Austin will find a way to win game 2 and then I believe DePauw might have the pitching edge needed to win game 3.
Trinity over Oglethorpe in 2.
Southwestern over Centre in 3.
Millsaps over Rhodes in 2.
DePauw over Austin in 2.
Depauw over Austin in 3
Rhodes over Millsaps in 3
Southwestern over Centre in 2
Oglethorpe over Trinity in 3
Gotta have faith...
Trinity over Oglethorpe in 3 (nothing comes easy this year)
Southwestern over Centre in 2
Millsaps over Rhodes in 3
DePauw over Austin in 3
By the numbers......
Okay, it was a wee bit slow at work today, so I occupied my time with number-crunching. We all know that the numbers don't tell the whole story (strength of schedule is huge here, but too much work for me!), and that the HEART variable can wreak havoc on expected outcomes, but here are some match-ups by the numbers.
RHODES
Andy Holt........... 2.84 66.2
Chris Catalanotto... 3.38 42.2
Robert Flanagan..... 3.43 57.2
Hunter Chandler..... 5.81 26.1
Taylor Babich....... 6.61 31.1
Average ERA of top five IP: 4.14
Team BA: .319
MILLSAPS
Aaron Williams...... 3.40 55.2
Tait Hendrix........ 3.43 60.1
Travis Bogue........ 4.10 59.1
Drew Maddox......... 5.13 33.1
Brandon Ingram...... 6.64 39.1
Average ERA of top five IP: 4.54
Team BA: .289
-----------------------------------------
AUSTIN
Garrett Adcock...... 5.70 30.0
Will Chermak........ 6.28 61.2
Bobby Schleizer..... 6.53 30.1
Tyler Steed......... 7.75 40.2
Cory Stevens........ 8.77 40.0
Average ERA of top five IP: 7.00
Team BA: .298
DEPAUW
John Tschantz....... 1.63 60.2
Jeremy Alland....... 3.35 51.0
Aaron Meyers........ 3.88 46.1
Derek Bryant........ 3.16 25.2
Brad Gerlach........ 6.48 33.1
Average ERA of top five IP: 3.70
Team BA: .308
-----------------------------------------
TRINITY
Evan Bronson........ 2.26 59.2
Brian Oates......... 3.09 64.0
Ryan Poffenroth..... 3.88 48.2
Britton Horn........ 4.88 24.0
Zach Bukowski....... 5.23 31.0
Average ERA of top five IP: 3.87
Team BA: .336
OGLETHORPE
John Hale........... 5.40 46.2
Sam Briend.......... 7.06 51.0
Sean Tuttle......... 7.74 50.0
Nick Greenfield..... 8.19 48.1
Brad Brickhouse..... 8.55 33.2
Average ERA of top five IP: 7.39
Team BA: .278
Lastly:
Average Team ERA of the East (all teams): 5.95
Average Team ERA of the West (all teams): 6.39
Average Team BA of the East (all teams): .297
Average Team BA of the West (all teams): .309
Avg Winning % in the East (overall): .495
Avg Winning % in the West (overall): .526
For what it's worth.......probably not the cyber-paper it's printed on, but it helped kill an hour at the office!
Depauw over Austin in 3
Millsaps over Rhodes in 2
Southwestern over Centre in 2
Trinity over Oglethorpe in 2
Why I think that the DePauw-Austin series could be very interesting.....and just like College Hoops bracket picks, why I'd pick Austin to take this one, or at the very least to take it to three in a very, very close series.
DePauw's wins have come against teams with a total average winning percentage of .461 (could be a bit lower -- Central Baptist stopped keeping track of its wins and losses a month ago....and were losing almost every game).
Austin's wins have come against teams with a total average winning percentage of .563
After over 6 hours of rain delay, it looks like Millsaps and Rhodes will get started around 5:15 this afternoon. That is scheduled to be followed by DePauw and Austin at 8:15 and then in the midnight special for those in the Atlanta area, Trinity and OU are slated to hit the field at 11:15 Central time. Anyone at OU going to stay up past midnight for the first pitch?
The schedule shows Southwestern and Centre playing at 8 this evening so that obviously has to be an alternate location. You can get links to audio, video and live stats at the SCAC site ( http://www.scac-online.org/ ).
After a long delay we are finally under way at Millington.
To clarify...if we get all three games in tonight, Southwestern and Centre will play the first game of their series at 1 p.m. Saturday over at Rhodes College.
The rest of Saturday's schedule would remain unchanged, with Southwestern and Centre playing the second game of their series at 8 p.m. at Millington.
You can watch and/or listen to all games for free at the Divisional website:
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball_divisional08/index.html (http://www.scac-online.org/baseball_divisional08/index.html)
Rhodes pounded Millsaps in the first game.
AC just chased DPU's Tschantz from the mound in the top of the seventh and leads 6-0. Bladwin gets Finke for the 3rd out. DPU up.
Thanks for the livestats.
AC 7, DPU 0 Final
Crimeny, Oglethorpe and Trinity are still playing, top of the fourth with Trinity up 9-1.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 18, 2008, 11:44:49 PM
AC 7, DPU 0 Final
Yep...I didn't watch, but looks like they hit Tschantz pretty well. 13 hits over 6-something innings. And AU threw their fifth guy in terms of IP this season - a kid carrying an 8.77 ERA after the regular season. So now DU has spent it's #1 kid versus AU's (arguably) #5 kid. Who's in the driver's seat?
I think I've called this series correctly. It may go three, but I firmly believe Austin will take it.
There seems to be something about Austin and the post season play. I've never seen Tschantz pitched but his numbers were so good and he shut down the Rhodes hitters last week, so my best guess was that he would be a tough guy to hit in game one of the crossover. Bad guess. Plus, it appears that Austin pitchers improve remarkably once the regular season gets out of the way. For the record, Stevens is one of the main starters for Austin so it's not quite accurate to describe him as a #5 kid. He pitched the opening games in the last two SCAC series that Austin played.
The good news for Millsaps is that the score goes back to 0-0 today. I have to give Rhodes credit all around for how they dominated yesterday's game. Millsaps couldn't find an answer at the plate or on the mound against Rhodes and this game wasn't the game most expected. It's hard to find a silver lining to a game last this, but it's worth remembering that this isn't the first 14-2 loss in 7 innings that Millsaps has had this season. That was the result on March 28th against Southwestern and Millsaps came back behind freshman Aaron Williams and won the next day 7-1. Aaron will be on the mound today and all Millsaps fans hope that history will repeat itself. Aaron did pitch 5 innings of 1-hit ball against Rhodes in the opening weekend of the series--I'm not sure if that is a telling stat or not since we are talking about mid-February.
IF Millsaps wins today, they'll comeback Sunday with Travis Bogue and he pitched well against Trinity last week. I believe Millsaps has the pitching to come back and win this series. The question will be if they can get some runs against the Rhodes pitchers. That has been a question mark all season and Millsaps will need to come up with the right answers today and tomorrow or the season will be over for the Majors.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 19, 2008, 09:10:33 AM
For the record, Stevens is one of the main starters for Austin so it's not quite accurate to describe him as a #5 kid. He pitched the opening games in the last two SCAC series that Austin played.
Correct. Chermak and Stevens are basically 1A and 1B for the 'Roos. Stevens doesn't have the innings because, frankly, at the end of the season we played some OOC games, and he was being rested. However, in two of his last three starts he was pretty much lights out (except for one inning against Trinity). Against Hendrix, he went 7 complete shutout innings with 12 K's, and then his next game against Trinity he went 6 innings, four runs, 9 K's in what was a pitchers duel until the Tigers finally got to him in that sixth inning (before that, they pretty much couldn't touch him). Basically, when Stevens is on, he's extremely tough. He's a competitive kid who can hit the low 90's on the gun.
It'll be interesting today to see if Chermak follows up his outstanding postseason from a year ago, when he was just a frosh. Last year, when he was on the mound for the 'Roos in the playoffs down at Southwestern, there was just a sense that he wasn't going to lose. Hopefully for the 'Roos, he'll get that form back today. He's been a bit up and down this year, but when he's on, he's unhittable. He blanked UT-Tyler a couple weeks ago, for example, and obviously everyone saw what he did in the SCAC tourney last year.
Either way, it should be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Millsaps steals one...
Bases loaded for Millsaps in the bottom of the 9th trailing by one with 2 outs, Malaschak gets caught leaning the wrong way of 2B on a ball three pitch to give a full count. The Rhodes catcher tries to throw him out at 2nd and the ball goes into the infield to score the tying and winning run. Millsaps, 6-5. Game three tomorrow.
Millsaps takes a 6-5 win over Rhodes in a game with an odd and sudden ending. Millsaps was down 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded as Rhodes had just given an intentional walk to Hunter Owen. With Derrick Boland at the plate and a 2-2 count, the Rhodes pitcher through a ball to give a full count, the runner on second bluffed like he was running and was way off second, the catcher threw the ball to second, it went into the outfield, and the runner on 3rd and 2nd both scored to end the game.
Was it a base running error and Millsaps got very lucky or was it a designed play trying to get a rundown going between 2nd and 3rd while the runner on 3rd scores and sends the game to extra innings? I'm not sure. I can't remember what the runner on 2nd did when the throw came to second and if that runner was trying to get back to the bag or playing for the rundown. Either way, Millsaps was one pitch away from the end of their season and now they are still alive.
In a coaching decision that proved to be 100% correct, Coach Page brought in Travis Bogue in relief today. Millsaps was trailing 5-0 at the time and Bogue shut out Rhodes the rest of the way. Who will start for Millsaps tomorrow is an interesting question. Three potential starter pitched in game 1 and the other two starters pitched today. I could see Tait Hendrix coming back to pitch and I could see Drew Maddox starting the game instead of coming out of the bull pen.
One note from the game is that Millsaps senior Hunter Abrams had a huge day with 4 hits, starting off with a 2-run homer that got Millsaps on the board and ending with a single in the bottom of the 9th as he eventually came around as the tieing run. The 4 hits tie him with Stuart Phillips at 228 career hits, second on the Millsaps list and behind Jason Hadley's 1st place total of 236 hits. I'd love to see Hunter break that tie in tomorrow's game and then break the record at the SCAC Tournament.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 19, 2008, 03:26:22 PM
Millsaps takes a 6-5 win over Rhodes in a game with an odd and sudden ending. Millsaps was down 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded as Rhodes had just given an intentional walk to Hunter Owen. With Derrick Boland at the plate and a 2-2 count, the Rhodes pitcher through a ball to give a full count, the runner on second bluffed like he was running and was way off second, the catcher threw the ball to second, it went into the outfield, and the runner on 3rd and 2nd both scored to end the game.
Was it a base running error and Millsaps got very lucky or was it a designed play trying to get a rundown going between 2nd and 3rd while the runner on 3rd scores and sends the game to extra innings? I'm not sure. I can't remember what the runner on 2nd did when the throw came to second and if that runner was trying to get back to the bag or playing for the rundown. Either way, Millsaps was one pitch away from the end of their season and now they are still alive.
In a coaching decision that proved to be 100% correct, Coach Page brought in Travis Bogue in relief today. Millsaps was trailing 5-0 at the time and Bogue shut out Rhodes the rest of the way. Who will start for Millsaps tomorrow is an interesting question. Three potential starter pitched in game 1 and the other two starters pitched today. I could see Tait Hendrix coming back to pitch and I could see Drew Maddox starting the game instead of coming out of the bull pen.
One note from the game is that Millsaps senior Hunter Abrams had a huge day with 4 hits, starting off with a 2-run homer that got Millsaps on the board and ending with a single in the bottom of the 9th as he eventually came around as the tieing run. The 4 hits tie him with Stuart Phillips at 228 career hits, second on the Millsaps list and behind Jason Hadley's 1st place total of 236 hits. I'd love to see Hunter break that tie in tomorrow's game and then break the record at the SCAC Tournament.
That surely is chancy, and it takes the bat out of the batter's hand.
Secondly, how does the runner know that he should be that far off the base on a 2-2 count to start that play.
I think that it was a lucky freshman mistake, on which Millsaps was able to capitalize.
As my dear departed Dad would say, DPU "ran themselves out of the inning" with a failed sac bunt and a caught stealing in the top of the first off Chermak.
I don't know if it was intentional or not. If it was intentional, then the variety of this play that you see most often is a runner on 1st and 3rd, 2 outs, and the runner on 1st gets a poor jump in an attempt to steal 2nd. The trick is to make it look like you really want to get to second when you actually want to get in a rundown and let the runner on 3rd score before you are tagged out. It's a play that I see most often when the batter has 2 strikes.
Since the runner is attempting to draw a throw, his job is to make it look like he is a dead duck. Plus, he has to be far enough away from the base that he doesn't get tagged out on the initial throw to the bag. It makes it hard to tell if you are seeing poor base running or good acting.
Personally, I think it was an attempt to draw the throw because what other reason would the runner have to take off like that? All I can go by is what I saw on the video and I think it was a designed play to get the game into extra innings. The lucky part was the throw going to the outfield so that it gave Millsaps the win in regulation.
I could not tell if the man on third had a comparable jump to score before Malaschak would be tagged out.
DePauw forces a Game 3 with an 8-2 victory over Austin today. The Tigers scored 8 in the first four innings to chase Chermak, who didn't have great command and didn't really show an effective breaking pitch today. Alland was stellar over eight innings for the Tigers, extricating himself from numerous jams and allowing just two unearned runs despite allowing 13(!!!) hits (all but one of which were singles).
Aaron Myers will throw tomorrow for the Tigers - DPU has only lost one of his starts all season. Not sure who will go for the Roos - Steed worked the final five innings in relief of Chermak. I suppose it'll be either Schleizer or Finke.
ed. Sunday morning - read the stats wrong, DPU's 6-1 in Myers' starts, 6-0 in starts by Brad Gerlach.
Southwestern leads Centre 5-1 at the end of 7. (SU won game one; Centre is home team for this game.)
Southwestern eliminates Centre on a 5-2 victory.
Quote from: DPULefty22 on April 19, 2008, 06:50:07 PM
DePauw forces a Game 3 with an 8-2 victory over Austin today. The Tigers scored 8 in the first four innings to chase Chermak, who didn't have great command and didn't really show an effective breaking pitch today. Alland was stellar over eight innings for the Tigers, extricating himself from numerous jams and allowing just two unearned runs despite allowing 13(!!!) hits (all but one of which were singles).
Aaron Myers will throw tomorrow for the Tigers - DPU hasn't lost one of his starts all season. Not sure who will go for the Roos - Steed worked the final five innings in relief of Chermak. I suppose it'll be either Schleizer or Finke.
Odds are it'll be Schleizer, but that puts the 'Roos in a tough spot, because if you've got him pitching, you still want to keep the DH spot...meaning you won't have Schleizer's bat in the lineup. If not Schleizer, I'd actually bet on Christian Curtis taking the hill for the 'Roos...but again, odds are it'll be Schleizer.
I didn't go back and look through the posts but it seems as if the SCAC Crossover has gone about like everyone expected with the 1 and 2 from the West winning in 2 and the 1 and 2 from the East going into a third game. It gets back to the reality that the West is the stronger half of the SCAC in baseball and I have to believe that weather is a big factor in that. Not only do the West division teams have better weather for baseball throughout the year, they also recruit primarily from states where kids play baseball 10 out of the 12 months of the year. It makes a difference.
On the games today, I have no predictions. I have no idea who Millsaps will throw to start today's game. Yesterday I suggested that Tait Hendrix might come back since he only threw 1.1 innings on Friday. I also like the idea of starting Drew Maddox and seeing how many innings he can go. Drew usually isn't called on for more than an inning or two at the end of the game, but I believe he is capable of 4 or 5 innings if needed. For Rhodes I have to think that Catalanotto starts and Flanagan comes in as a reliever. With Rhodes having a 5-0 starter rested and ready to go, you have to make Rhodes the favorite in this game, but it's now a 1-game series and you might as well flip a coin to predict the winner.
DPU 6, AC 0. CG SO for Aaron Myers. See ya in Danville! ;D
Millsaps 6, Rhodes 5, top of the 7th.
Final: Millsaps 8, Rhodes 6.
RC's Lindsey flied to RF with runners on third and first.
SCAC-West dominates the series, winning 7 games to the SCAC-East's 3.
While I'm certainly happy for the Millsaps players and coaches who will now be playing in the SCAC Tournament next week, it would only be appropriate that someone mention the group of seniors at Rhodes who have come to the end of their SCAC careers. They have done so much to revitalize the Rhodes baseball program.
According to the roster listed on the Rhodes website, there are 8 seniors on the team this season: Matt Beesley, Richard Hurd, Daniel Vanaman, Matt Jack, David Welch, Jeff Mueller, Chris Catalanotto and Robert Flanagan. Three of those seniors started in the field today and three pitched in today's game. They leave some big shoes to fill for the 2009 season.
In the 4 years prior to this group arriving at Rhodes (2001-2004), Rhodes had an overall record of 43-87. Over the last 4 seasons that overall record has improved to 102-66 with an extremely impressive record of 91-38 over the last 3 years. I believe it's a group that was deserving of at least one trip to the NCAA Tournament and I also believe they would have been a very serious threat to win a regional if they had received an at-large bid in 2007. I know that the results from yesterday and today were a disappointing way for the season to end at Rhodes, but this group of young men have had outstanding careers and they leave quite a legacy at Rhodes College.
One quick Millsaps note. I didn't get to watch the last inning of today's ballgame because they had an awards ceremony at 6 this evening to honor the senior athletes at Millsaps. The evening ends with a presentation of 4 special awards and the Archie Lamb Sportsmanship Award for the male athletes went to Hunter Abrams. While I can think of other worthy candidates from the Millsaps athletic community, it would be hard to argue with the selecton of Hunter for this prestigious award.
So, who is the #1 seed at the SCAC tournament? Millsaps has to be the #4 seed and Southwestern the #3, but is it Trinity or DePauw at the #1 spot. At this point I don't know if it makes much difference who you play since everyone will have rested starting pitching and all the teams are capable of winning the tournament. At the #4 seed, Millsaps will face a tough starting pitcher with either Trinity or DePauw--the good news is that the #4 seed gets a little more rest between games than the #2 and #3 teams. It's not much of an advantage, but in a short tournament like this it has to help a little.
They have fixed the flaw in the schedule from last year. If memory serves me correctly, the Saturday games started off last year with the loser's bracket game, then the winner's bracket game, and the last game of the day was the game two loser having to come back and play a team coming off a win and a few hours of rest.
This year they have flip-flopped games one and two on Sat. The winner's bracket game is first so the loser of that game will have some time to regroup before playing in the evening game. The loser's bracket game is second which gives the winning team less rest for the next game, but it will be a team coming off the positive momentum of a win.
As #1 seed, TU plays Millsaps. IMO, that's a tougher assignmnet than DePauw gets with Southwestern. That's the way the cookie crumbles, but SW is this sportsfan's choice as #4 in terms of toughness.
In any event, the best team will have to get all the way through one way or another. Good luck to all!
Since Southwestern finished 2nd in the west and they won 3 out of 4 at Millsaps, they obviously had to be put ahead of Millsaps. The last 18 games for Southwestern have been against SCAC teams. They lost 3 of 4 at Trinity in games decided by 1, 2, 3 and 4 runs. Next, they won 3 of 4 at Millsaps. Then they hosted Austin and Hendrix and won 3 of 4 in those series, and finally they won 2 straight from Centre. That puts them at 12-6 in those games and 11-3 in their last 14 games. They are a team fully capable of winning the SCAC Tournament.
It is a safe bet that Millsaps will face Evan Bronson this Friday. He has finished the season with a string of top quality starts:
3/15 -- 3-2 win over Hendrix
3/21 -- 2-0 win over Southwestern
3/29 -- 12-0 win over Austin
4/12 -- 5-3 win over Millsaps
4/18 -- 11-1 win over Oglethorpe
The starter for Millsaps will probably be Travis Bogue or Aaron Williams. Both pitched very well against Trinity a couple of weeks ago and I'm guessing it will be the senior Bogue over the freshman Williams. That might have more to do with it being the lefthander Bogue over the righthander Williams. It should be a low scoring game with a big advantage going to the team that can come out of this game with a win. If you lose this game then you are looking at having to win 4 games over a 26-hour period. That's a tall order for any pitching staff.
What must be talked about is the playing surface at Centre. It will play a BIG role in these games. Three Southern teams used to playing on fast, hard and flat fields. Centre is quite the opposite. Don't get me wrong Centre is a fine school and a very good program but the SCAC Championship should not be played on that field. Pitchers have a HUGE advantage with a VERY slow infield. The clay is sandy which makes it hard for runners to get around the bases...should be interesting.
Lou,
I guess there are two parts to this.
First, it really isn't very acceptable that the conference championship will be decided when there are field conditions that can impact the qualify of play.
It was my impression after the 2004 SCAC championships, which were played on a field that was almost sponge like in texture, and filled with holes, that there would be field quality requirements for hosting.
In 2004, the field conditions certainly affected the overall quality of play by the best teams.
On the other hand, all the teams need to compete on the same field so they are all left with the same competitive challenge or handicap as the case may be.
When I saw on their website that Centre would be replacing the field this summer, I was worried about what you posted to be a reality.
2004?? Looking back at the record books wasn't that held at Oglethorpe? I didn't see OU's field in 2004 but I would venture to say it was never spongy... That field plays as hard and fast as any field around..
It was at Oglethorpe, and the field had areas behind 2nd base into centerfield and into left field that were like walking on sponge. Was it fast? You bet. The ball was bouncing higher as it went through. The holes were a different issue.
Would be nice if they have it corrected but it was an experience for all involved 2004.
Quote from: infielddad on April 22, 2008, 11:21:16 PM
It was at Oglethorpe, and the field had areas behind 2nd base into centerfield and into left field that were like walking on sponge. Was it fast? You bet. The ball was bouncing higher as it went through. The holes were a different issue.
Would be nice if they have it corrected but it was an experience for all involved 2004.
I recall the right field corner warning track area and areas in between towards second base having standing water. It was like this for a few years then the field was lazer graded (whatever that does) about 2 years ago and from what I have seen from games this season that problem is now gone. But in reference to INFIELDAD- yes there was most likely a problem back in 2004.
Let me respond about Oglethorpe's field in 2004 in right field we pretty much called it the swamp or the quagmire it didn't matter if it was 90 degrees and sunny for a full week the "swamp" never dried up. So I can see why someone would call it spongy. Everywhere else played fast and hard sometimes too hard but right field was terrible.
Since then Oglethorpe has not laser graded the outfield but they did put in some drainage pipes under the field which corrected the swamp problem. The main problem with Oglethorpe's field now is the outfield fence and the grass around the home
Secondly, The field I hated the most to play on was Centre, The grass is I guess bluegrass it is thick it seemed always too long to me. Also the infield dirt was like running around in a sandbox always tough to stretch out a double or steal bases. Also, the wind always seemed to blowing out when they hit and in when we hit. Im just bitter from the last time I was up there when it seemed like they hit 20 homeruns in a four game series.
I do have to say that Centre has made huge strides from back when I first came to the SCAC and I didn't see the field this year. I do believe the field looks nice from the point of view from the dugout or stands so that's a plus.
Is there anyone out there that can fully explain how at large berths into a regional work? What do Pool B and Pool C mean?
Yes, both teams play on the same field but teams that can run and steal bases will have a hard time in the "sandbox"...also OF's cannot play aggresive in that OF due to rough patches in the grass. I think the infielders will love the slow grass and pitchers who throw groundballs will dominate...RF plays very small at that park, so the lefties at Trinity will be in heaven!!!
Prediction:
I think Trinity and DePauw are the two standout teams this season...both have very talented, deep staffs that can withstand a long weekend....DePauw tradionally is a poor tournament team but this year I think that is different, they have to travel the least amount and that will help. They have also played on that field a ton of times!! DePauw is my upset to win the SCAC!!
Lou,
I don't think travel has too much importance at this point. Getting back to campus for finals is a lot more of a factor/problem mentally than getting to the tournament to play.
My view is that leadership, experience and depth are the intangible factors adding to talent that make the difference in this tournament, when you don't have a home field advantage.
I will say, the first round match up with Bronson on the mound vs the Millsaps hitting should be the best game of the tournament. Those two teams play each other at the highest intensity and competitive level.
Bronson is the dominant pitcher in the SCAC's. Millsaps hitters, everyone of them in the line-up, are tough outs.
My expectation is Trinity will score runs so the pressure will be on the Millsaps hitters who didn't do well the first time around against Bronson.
Quote from: Leadoff Man on April 23, 2008, 04:37:02 PM
Is there anyone out there that can fully explain how at large berths into a regional work? What do Pool B and Pool C mean?
Most conferences get an automatic bid. These are called "Pool A" bids.
Pool B's are for conferences that don't merit automatic qualifiers (because they have too few teams or are too new). SCAC teams aren't eligible for Pool B bids because they get a Pool A.
Pool C's are for the best schools who didn't get Pool A or Pool B bids.
Pool B and Pool C bids are made by a selection committee which follows a set of criteria (record, quality of opponents, good wins, etc.). B's are selected first, then the teams that don't get B's fall down into the C selection pool.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 24, 2008, 12:27:07 PM
Quote from: Leadoff Man on April 23, 2008, 04:37:02 PM
Is there anyone out there that can fully explain how at large berths into a regional work? What do Pool B and Pool C mean?
Most conferences get an automatic bid. These are called "Pool A" bids.
Pool B's are for conferences that don't merit automatic qualifiers (because they have too few teams or are too new). SCAC teams aren't eligible for Pool B bids because they get a Pool A.
Pool C's are for the best schools who didn't get Pool A or Pool B bids.
Pool B and Pool C bids are made by a selection committee which follows a set of criteria (record, quality of opponents, good wins, etc.). B's are selected first, then the teams that don't get B's fall down into the C selection pool.
Here is the FAQ (http://www.d3baseball.com/faq/category/NCAA+Tournament). This year's allocation of bids is 34 Pool A bids, 6 Pool B bids and 14 Pool C bids.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 24, 2008, 01:25:32 PM
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 24, 2008, 12:27:07 PM
Quote from: Leadoff Man on April 23, 2008, 04:37:02 PM
Is there anyone out there that can fully explain how at large berths into a regional work? What do Pool B and Pool C mean?
Most conferences get an automatic bid. These are called "Pool A" bids.
Pool B's are for conferences that don't merit automatic qualifiers (because they have too few teams or are too new). SCAC teams aren't eligible for Pool B bids because they get a Pool A.
Pool C's are for the best schools who didn't get Pool A or Pool B bids.
Pool B and Pool C bids are made by a selection committee which follows a set of criteria (record, quality of opponents, good wins, etc.). B's are selected first, then the teams that don't get B's fall down into the C selection pool.
Here is the FAQ (http://www.d3baseball.com/faq/category/NCAA+Tournament). This year's allocation of bids is 34 Pool A bids, 6 Pool B bids and 14 Pool C bids.
define quality of wins? and does this include the point's that are accumulated with the wins for an independent team?
The Millsaps games at the SCAC Tournament will be broadcast by the local ESPN radio station. Those in the Jackson area should know that they can hear the game at 1240 AM on the dial. The internet "Listen Live" link can be found here:
http://www.espnradio1240.com/
The first game will be the Friday game at 1:00 against Trinity University. After that the schedule depends on whether Millsaps wins or losses their games.
Thanks for posting the live audio link for Millsaps games, Frank. For everyone else, please be advised Danville, Ky, is on Eastern Daylight Time, so the start times will reflect that. Also, the weather will determine a few things this weekend with a 60 percent chance of rain tonight into late afternoon tomorrow. The SCAC main page has all links for baseball, softball, tennis, golf, etc. that lets you know how your team is doing. Baseball will once again have live video/audio compliments of Trinity University, so a big thanks to Bob Edwards, Justin Parker, Josh M. and staff.
Thanks for that post about the time zones. The Millsaps-Trinity game is a noon start in the Central time zone, weather permitting.
There's a thread under the national topics that has the link for the regional rankings that just came out. No SCAC teams have a regional ranking so I think we can safely figure that the SCAC will not get an at-large bid this season. Keep in mind that anyone looking for an at-large bid after the SCAC Tournament will have two additional in-region losses, hardly something that will move you up in the regional rankings.
I think what traditionally hurts the south/west region teams is that because of favorable weather/playing conditions, they get their 40 or so games in long before eastern/northern teams do, and therefore compile more losses. It seems to me that national/regional rankings are based more on fewest losses, than most wins.
What also hurts is the inability to cherry pick a schedule because of the limited number of D3 schools to play against. As Rhodes and Millsaps found out last year, there is a thin margin of difference between teams that get an at-large bid and those who are left out. With the QOWI based on win-loss numbers, a coach would be crazy if he didn't look at ways to bump up his numbers by scheduling weak teams that do well in weak conferences. In the case of Millsaps, there aren't enough D3 schools within 400 miles to do any cherry picking. I'm not sure if that would have matter this year, but it would have made a real difference last season.
I have another take on the ball in the South and the West.
We beat each other up.
The old saying is that you will win a third, lose a third and we're fighting over the other third. I gave my West Region assessment on another board. The West is just so competitive that we knock schools out of Pool C.
One other thought for Pool C...
If you lost a game that you should not have lost, then that is too many. All other games are good results.
For Millsaps, I see that you are 26-16. I count an in-region record of 24-12, .667 winning percentage. In the in-region games, let's say that you beat AC 3 games to one instead of splitting, beat Southwestern 3-1 instead of losing the series, and win the Trinity series 3-1. We have just increased the in-region record to 28-8. You have made a stronger case for a Pool C bid. And, split with Piedmont, a regionally ranked team, at home and you are 29-7, .806 winning percentage! If you go 1-2 in the SCAC championship series, then you are in-region 30-9, .769. That is a solid Pool C contender.
McMurry is 24-16, but 23-15 in the West. They have bad losses against ETBU, UT-Dallas and SRSU (2). Taking 2 of 3 against Chapman on the road, and 2 of 3 against George Fox at home would move them to 29-9! That is how close McMurry is to a Pool C bid. (Or, win both in the Season Series versus both Southwestern and Trinity, instead of going 1-1 in each.)
The ASC and the SCAC have too much parity just on the edge of the Regional Rankings to earn a Pool C bid.
anyone know how to contact WGRE and let them know the audio through the video feed is not working?
Quote from: d3allstar on April 25, 2008, 06:00:30 PM
anyone know how to contact WGRE and let them know the audio through the video feed is not working?
Seemed to work fine when I loaded it up. I joined the party a bit later than you, though.
I'm not very surprised. Trinity vs Millsaps for the SCAC championship and automatic berth.
The good part is Millsaps needs to beat Trinity twice and that is always tough when these teams play.
What an outing by Brian Oates against DePauw. 10 innings, 5 hits, one run, 13 strikeouts and Trinity wins in the 11th, 3-1.
Sure looked like it was a great, great game.
As usual, Millsaps pounded their way through the day beating Southwestern and then beat DePauw 7-0.
I think Frank had some great pre-tournament analysis talking about the losers/winners today.
DePauw had to be emotionally very down after that 11 inning loss and needing to come back 30 minutes later. That is a tough situation but when you know there isn't a game tomorrow if you lose, you have to recover quickly.
Great games by starting pitchers Aaron Williams and Tait Hendrix to get Millsaps to tomorrow's game without having to use up the entire pitching staff. Tait had 15 K's in the game this evening. I'm not sure if that's a single game record or not--the SCAC record book just lists K's for the SCAC Tournament and that record is 22 for the entire tournament. It does appear that there have been no more than 5 other 9 inning shutouts in tournament history, a number that is lower than I would have expected.
My guess is that Millsaps will go with Jay Hollenbeck tomorrow. He pitched well against Trinity in the regular season matchup. With the complete games pitched today, I won't be surprised if Drew Maddox is on tap to get the second start of his career if Millsaps can win the first one.
Under last year's schedule it would have been DePauw coming back after a 30 minutes rest. Since Trinity and DePauw were the first game of the day, the DePauw team had several hours to regroup before the game with Millsaps.
Personally, I think that makes the situation a toss-up on who has the advantage. Sure, DePauw had a tough loss but they have that time to get refocused, knowing that they only needed to win the nightcap to get back into a rematch with Trinity. I suspect DePauw was ready to play but they just ran into a second great pitching performance. Tait has made tremendous improvements this year and hopefully Millsaps fans will get to see him pitch again this year.
From the SCAC Livestats...
Trinity 6, Millsaps 5, in the bottom of the 9th of Game #7!
Millsaps and Trinity are DIII programs headed by absolutely terrific coaches. Coach Page and Coach Scannell are so competitive, so determined, and yet great friends.
Their teams battle so tenaciously and shake hands after just like their coaches.
This one had to be a battle of wills, instilled by coaches who will never quit and never let their kids quit.
To see Brian Oates go 10 innings yesterday and do what seniors do, what he did in 2004 against Rose Hulman is so touching.
To see Stosh Hoover, who Coach Scannell, if I remember right, found at a camp in AZ, succeed and drive in the winning runs with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th is vindication for Coach and especially for Stosh, who didn't even start many games in high school, because he played at the top school in AZ.
When Millsaps and Trinity play baseball, the games are the best. In part, it is due to two terrific coaches.
In part, it is due to the fact they recruit terrific players.
In part it is due to the fact they recruit players who are terrific people.
I know one team was on the end of the winning score, but there really are not any losers when Trinity plays Millsaps and that is a true compliment to Coach Page, Coach Scannell and the "never say it's over" they each teach and instill.
To see Trinity score 4 in the bottom of the 9th to win, seems like the norm between these two teams, which is a tribute to each of them.
Rhodes is trying to get another quality win in region. They will travel to play Salisbury on May 5. See release on D3baseball.com
Interesting? How does Rhodes still have weeks left to play these games? Their schedule shows they started games on Feb 8th...Looks like they will also be playing Greensboro...I'm sure they went through all the complaince garbage...Good luck they'll probably need at least 2 victories to have a shot for an at large bid.
Quote from: Lou_Brown on April 29, 2008, 08:47:28 PM
Interesting? How does Rhodes still have weeks left to play these games? Their schedule shows they started games on Feb 8th...Looks like they will also be playing Greensboro...I'm sure they went through all the complaince garbage...Good luck they'll probably need at least 2 victories to have a shot for an at large bid.
According to the Rhodes' schedule, they had 39 games in the regular season. IWU and Sewanee were canceled. They have 3 games to add to make 40 by the end of the regular season, Sunday, May 12th.
There's no secret to what they are trying to do and it has nothing to do with how many regular season games they played. It's obvious that the Lynx are trying to pick up a few points as far as Opponent's Win Percentage and Opponent's Opponent's Win Percentage are concerned. Two criteria for a Pool B and C Bid.
Look at who they've added and some interesting facts.
1. #4 Salisbury (Md)... 37-2 overall... .949 Win Percentage
**They were ranked #1 in the South Region for the first Regional Rankings - April 24
2. Greensboro College... 25-14 overall... .641 Win Percentage
**Also an in-region opponent.
*And they are making both trips to Maryland and North Carolina.
Rhodes is pulling out all the stops in order to try to make it into a regional, but it seems that alot of people think Millsaps is more deserving of a South Region Playoff spot, at least according to D3baseball's latest poll.
Quote from: Major_Fan on April 30, 2008, 09:11:03 AM
There's no secret to what they are trying to do and it has nothing to do with how many regular season games they played. It's obvious that the Lynx are trying to pick up a few points as far as Opponent's Win Percentage and Opponent's Opponent's Win Percentage are concerned. Two criteria for a Pool B and C Bid.
Look at who they've added and some interesting facts.
1. #4 Salisbury (Md)... 37-2 overall... .949 Win Percentage
**They were ranked #1 in the South Region for the first Regional Rankings - April 24
2. Greensboro College... 25-14 overall... .641 Win Percentage
**Also an in-region opponent.
*And they are making both trips to Maryland and North Carolina.
Salisbury had completed their season. They need some competition to keep their edge. A game versus Rhodes is a win-win!
Quote from: Leadoff Man on April 30, 2008, 10:00:58 AM
Rhodes is pulling out all the stops in order to try to make it into a regional, but it seems that alot of people think Millsaps is more deserving of a South Region Playoff spot, at least according to D3baseball's latest poll.
Neither the NCBWA/D3Baseball.com nor any other poll is recognized as criteria by the selection committee.
I applaud the aggressive scheduling.
Quote from: Major_Fan on April 30, 2008, 09:11:03 AM
There's no secret to what they are trying to do and it has nothing to do with how many regular season games they played. It's obvious that the Lynx are trying to pick up a few points as far as Opponent's Win Percentage and Opponent's Opponent's Win Percentage are concerned. Two criteria for a Pool B and C Bid.
Look at who they've added and some interesting facts.
1. #4 Salisbury (Md)... 37-2 overall... .949 Win Percentage
**They were ranked #1 in the South Region for the first Regional Rankings - April 24
2. Greensboro College... 25-14 overall... .641 Win Percentage
**Also an in-region opponent.
*And they are making both trips to Maryland and North Carolina.
Greensboro is doing the same thing - looking for quality wins. Why not stop off in N.C it is on the way home from Salisbury.
I am looking forward to Rhodes-Salisbury game.
I'm glad it was captured (again)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFgs_R-ZZk
Quote from: historymajor on April 30, 2008, 09:36:51 PM
I'm glad it was captured (again)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFgs_R-ZZk
;D ;D
Okay Millsaps fans,
We ASC fans remember the buzzer beater that knocked UMHB out of the Sweet 16!
:D ;)
Maybe it's just me, but both of those last two posts struck me the wrong way. I believe they both would have struck Trinity fans the wrong way if it had been Millsaps that won the game last Sunday.
History Major, you have got to be kidding me. And why are they calling it a miracle versus Millsaps? People come from behind to win baseball games all the time, it's no miracle. I love it how Trinity fans are making a big joke about this and the football game tying together. There is no comparison. It will be nice when all this comes back around to the Tigers and all the gloating stops. It's getting ridiculous with the TU fans and the comments.
Frank, I totally agree with your last post. Had it been the other way around, I believe that Trinity fans would've taken offense to that.
Relax; making reference to prior events (football) is a way of giving context to the event. Yes, teams do come from behind.
Using the word "miracle" is giving credit and respect to a terrific Millsaps team that had absolutely crushed the ball and dominated the three previous games and the first 8 innings of the final game.
I was there, I am proud of the kids on both teams. Millsaps for being a great team, led by coaches that have instilled passion and pride into some terrific young men. Trinity for never quitting, believing in themselves and having the faith and gusto to come back and win.
Last weekend is why baseball, especially at the D3 level, is such an important life lesson.
Agreed -- calling a rally from three down in the bottom of the ninth miraculous is a huge stretch. If that's the standard for "miracle" then miracles happen on a weekly basis.
This is weak.
major_fan,
Since we are all "fans," I think we tend to "react" as fans do.
Personally, there are some life's lessons here in my view.
They include watching the class that both teams and coaches showed after the score is announced.
You see Coach Page getting his players lined up and his hugging more than one of the Trinity players.
You see Coach Scannell, instead of celebrating with his players, walking out of the dugout and directly to the Millsaps 3B to talk with him. I have a good guess he provided words of encouragement.
From every discussion I have ever had with Coach Scannell and Coach Smith of Trinity, they respect and care about the Millsaps players, almost like they go to Trinity. Their respect for Coach Page is at the very highest level.
From the few discussions I had with Coach Page, and all the complimentary and positive things my son has said about him, I have little doubt he feels the same about the players from Trinity.
When all is said and done, the game is about the players, not the fans.
There is a lot to be learned from that last minute of that tape, after the score is announced.
It is why the Millsaps/Trinity baseball players and coaches from at least 2001 to the present have experienced what, in my view, college athletics is about. They all end up winners.
+1 Infield dad! :)
Great fun in the post-season.
It spices up the SCAC-West next year. :)
Congratulations, Millsaps! (http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/default.aspx?id=212508)
#5 in the South after the SCAC Tourney! ;)
Quote from: Major_Fan on May 01, 2008, 05:21:39 PM
Thanks for the post Ralph. Unfortunately it's the exact same spot we were last year. It just means we'll be the first team left out in the South Region, again.
Ouch!Lynchburg goes about round #9 and Millsaps sits. >:(
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 01, 2008, 08:20:01 PM
Quote from: Major_Fan on May 01, 2008, 05:21:39 PM
Thanks for the post Ralph. Unfortunately it's the exact same spot we were last year. It just means we'll be the first team left out in the South Region, again.
Ouch!
Lynchburg goes about round #9 and Millsaps sits. >:(
Ralph, just a simple statement saying what the numbers were last year. No disrespect intended. We were 5th in the South last year come tourney time and were left out as expected. This year will unfortunately be the same outcome. >:(
Quote from: Major_Fan on May 01, 2008, 08:47:40 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 01, 2008, 08:20:01 PM
Quote from: Major_Fan on May 01, 2008, 05:21:39 PM
Thanks for the post Ralph. Unfortunately it's the exact same spot we were last year. It just means we'll be the first team left out in the South Region, again.
Ouch!
Lynchburg goes about round #9 and Millsaps sits. >:(
Ralph, just a simple statement saying what the numbers were last year. No disrespect intended. We were 5th in the South last year come tourney time and were left out as expected. This year will unfortunately be the same outcome. >:(
I think that you are right...
Quote from: Major_Fan on May 01, 2008, 11:59:36 AM
History Major, you have got to be kidding me. And why are they calling it a miracle versus Millsaps? People come from behind to win baseball games all the time, it's no miracle. I love it how Trinity fans are making a big joke about this and the football game tying together. There is no comparison. It will be nice when all this comes back around to the Tigers and all the gloating stops. It's getting ridiculous with the TU fans and the comments.
Frank, I totally agree with your last post. Had it been the other way around, I believe that Trinity fans would've taken offense to that.
People who weren't at the game should not comment on any behavior that took place between the teams. After Trinity ended it celebration the players all lined up and gave a round of applause the Millsaps players and coaches. It was a great sight because it showed just how much these two teams respect each other. They battle hard, but when all is said and done, they ahve the utmost respect for the players on the other side. They were celebrating, not gloating.
Putting the video on the internet is not a way of rubbing it in Millsaps face. Whether you were on the winning or losing side, that ending was a storybook one. Making a generalization about TU fans and "their comments" is unfair. No Trinity fan has tried to rub Millsaps noses in it. We are justhappy for our boys and proud of the determination they showed on the field. It has nothing to do with making people from Millsaps feel bad.
Quote from: LargeTuna21 on May 02, 2008, 12:02:47 PM
Quote from: Major_Fan on May 01, 2008, 11:59:36 AM
History Major, you have got to be kidding me. And why are they calling it a miracle versus Millsaps? People come from behind to win baseball games all the time, it's no miracle. I love it how Trinity fans are making a big joke about this and the football game tying together. There is no comparison. It will be nice when all this comes back around to the Tigers and all the gloating stops. It's getting ridiculous with the TU fans and the comments.
Frank, I totally agree with your last post. Had it been the other way around, I believe that Trinity fans would've taken offense to that.
People who weren't at the game should not comment on any behavior that took place between the teams. After Trinity ended it celebration the players all lined up and gave a round of applause the Millsaps players and coaches. It was a great sight because it showed just how much these two teams respect each other. They battle hard, but when all is said and done, they ahve the utmost respect for the players on the other side. They were celebrating, not gloating.
Putting the video on the internet is not a way of rubbing it in Millsaps face. Whether you were on the winning or losing side, that ending was a storybook one. Making a generalization about TU fans and "their comments" is unfair. No Trinity fan has tried to rub Millsaps noses in it. We are justhappy for our boys and proud of the determination they showed on the field. It has nothing to do with making people from Millsaps feel bad.
Yes, I was at the game and I'm not talking about how the players acted I'm talking about comments from TU alumni and parents. There were several made that were jokingly uncalled for. Take the players out of the equation, both teams played well and ya'll advance we don't. You must have missed the previous comments that were relating to the baseball/football game tying together, because that's what I'm talking about. The video was typical, with "miracle" on the title and someone saying "Glad it was captured, again." The conversation had already been resolved earlier between a few of us on the board.
I don't think anyone has questioned the sportsmanship by any coach or player. Also, I received a very nice email from a Trinity parent that was the height of sportsmanship. In keeping with that high level of sportsmanship, it is just my opinon that a post with the link to the YouTube video could have been stated better than:
"I'm glad it was captured (again)"
That just had the feeling of taking a shot at Millsaps and rubbing it in, especially the "(again)". I would have had no problem with a link that said something like:
"It was an exciting ending to the Millsaps-Trinity game for the SCAC Championship. For those who didn't have a chance to see the ending, here's a link to the video from the bottom of the 9th."
But hey, that's just my opinion. I've seen far worse things posted on the board and I've certainly had my fair share of posts that have unintentionally or intentionally rubbed some folks the wrong way.
Congrats to the 2008 SCAC Baseball All-Tournament Team:
http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/08alltourneyteam.htm
The video's been removed from youtube. What happened that was so unlikely or incredible that it's got everyone talking? There's got to be more to it than scoring three runs in the bottom of the 9th.
As an outsider enjoying the multi-sport rivalry that has blossomed between Millsaps and Trinity, it was great fun!
FWIW, Trinity has had Millsaps number for several years now, in several sports.
The recent championship games occurring between these two schools has been fun, i.e., football, Millsaps strong team in basketball, best since the 1990's at least, and now a great baseball series.
It just makes it more fun when the teams are this competitive! ;)
Quote from: TU2698 on May 02, 2008, 06:39:29 PM
The video's been removed from youtube. What happened that was so unlikely or incredible that it's got everyone talking? There's got to be more to it than scoring three runs in the bottom of the 9th.
Nope, that was pretty much it.
The Trinity-Millsaps baseball video was re-mastered and quality improved ... here's the updated correct link:
Trinity Baseball M*racle in Kentucky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulGNdwmAZFY
Let me also add my congratulations to the Millsaps & Trinity teams on a fine series and excellent seasons (football and baseball).
After watching the entire 10 minute video, IMHO it was no ordinary ending to a baseball game. Exciting, unlikely, surprising, yes ... "pretty much it" hardly applies. I think individuals, especially those who were present at the events, are entitled to choose their own titles or descriptions, regardless of team affiliations. All editorial comments are noted, but there's no need to be snippy or condescending to anyone, "guru".
People that pay for things never complain. It's the guy you give something to that you can't please.
--- Will Rogers
"Pretty much it" sums it up just right. Teams come from behind every night in baseball just like the game in Danville last weekend, and for some reason this game is being referred to as another "miracle" because the teams happen to be the same two who... well, you know the football ending. :-X
Ralph's post was a correct view in saying the rivalry is blossoming, but winning from 3-down in the 9th is not unordinary TigerDad. Just watch SportsCenter tonight and you may see it. :)
Changing the title of the YouTube video to "Wild Finish Between Millsaps and Trinity at SCAC Championship" would be sufficient and less of an issue.
It's the context of the game that makes it exciting.
It was the Conference Championship game, lose and go home. Trinity couldn't muster any offense all game and was on the verge of losing 2 straight games and being sent home by the lowest seeded team in the field of 4 (justified or not). Plus, the play that it ended on, scoring from first on a single with an incredible slide at home. Add that together and it makes for a very exciting and unusual ending.
Coming back from 3 down in an MLB regular season game is nowhere near the same thing.
Quote from: TigerDad on May 03, 2008, 10:40:30 AM
The Trinity-Millsaps baseball video was re-mastered and quality improved ... here's the updated correct link:
Trinity Baseball M*racle in Kentucky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulGNdwmAZFY
Let me also add my congratulations to the Millsaps & Trinity teams on a fine series and excellent seasons (football and baseball).
After watching the entire 10 minute video, IMHO it was no ordinary ending to a baseball game. Exciting, unlikely, surprising, yes ... "pretty much it" hardly applies. I think individuals, especially those who were present at the events, are entitled to choose their own titles or descriptions, regardless of team affiliations. All editorial comments are noted, but there's no need to be snippy or condescending to anyone, "guru".
People that pay for things never complain. It's the guy you give something to that you can't please.
--- Will Rogers
I'll leave the quote in as a note of who we do this site for free for. :)
Seriously, though -- when someone needs calling out, I will do it, whether it's you or someone else. I agree with the statements of others in terms of the overreaction.
The Centennial Conference ended with a four-run bottom-of-the-ninth rally as well. The nature of miracle as references Millsaps/Trinity football is the once-in-a-lifetime way it ended. I still submit that miracle is misplaced.
Great ending? Sure. Miracle? Ehh, no.
Getting on to more current baseball news, Rhodes plays a single game with Salisbury today at 1:00 Central. Salisbury is 37-2 on the season. The only common opponent between the two teams is LaGrange. Salisbury beat LaGrange 9-8 at home on April 4th, Rhodes lost to LaGrange 11-6 on Feburary 9th in a game played at Millsaps.
For the record, Millsaps went 4-0 against LaGrange this season, winning a home game 18-9 and then winning by scores of 10-7, 6-3 and 9-0 at LaGrange. LaGrange is also the only common opponent between Millsaps and Salisbury.
I don't know how a win by Rhodes would help their regional ranking and I wonder if it would help the Millsaps ranking since Millsaps won 3 of 4 from Rhodes this season. Rhodes hasn't played since April 20th so it will be hard to predict how they will play, especially being on a long road trip, but I bet they give Salisbury a very good game. Don't be surprised if a rested Robert Flanagan gives Salisbury their third loss of the season this afternoon.
I couldn't find any links for live stats on the game. Here's a link to the Salisbury baseball page for those who want to check for the score later today:
http://www.suseagulls.com/sports/bsb/index
If there are live stats today, they'd be here:
http://livestats.prestosports.com/salisbury/
Thanks, Pat. I saw the livestats link after I posted my message but I wasn't sure if they would have baseball today. The game starts in 30 minutes and so far they have no lineups posted--I'll check back closer to the top of the hour.
live stats are working.
Rhodes trails 2-0 after 1.
Salisbury wins, 8-5.
Salisbury now has a pitcher at 10-0 and two others at 9-0. I wish I had a better feel for the quality of competition that they play. Maybe it's a tough schedule, maybe not--it's just so hard to compare the South region teams when the Gulf Coast states don't play many common opponents with the Atlantic Coast teams.
After keeping up so much with the Pool C discussion last year, I've mostly tuned it out this season. I don't know if these extra games by Rhodes will do much one way or another for Millsaps. Rhodes came into this game at 27-13, a .675 winning percentage overall and now they are down to 27-14 and a .659 percentage. I know that's overall and not their South region numbers, but it seems three late season losses by Rhodes would have to hurt Millsaps, a team that won 3 of 4 from Rhodes. I sure hope Rhodes wins the DH tomorrow against Greensboro--for their sake and for Millsaps as well.
The Capital AC is well respected as a baseball conference. :)
Just wondering since Salisbury and Millsaps seem fairly even based on the two common opponents. Millsaps went 7-1 against Rhodes and LaGrange and Salisbury went 2-0 with both games being competitive (Rhodes an 8-5 win today and LaGrange a 9-8 win on April 4th).
The Rhodes DH with Greensboro is scheduled to start at 1:00 Central. If Greensboro is going to webcast the games or provide live stats, you should be agle to get connected at this link:
http://www.gborocollege.edu/athletics/sports/pridenet.htm
Rhodes also had their live stats going yesterday and I figure that they will do the same today.
Rhodes 12, Greensboro 9 F in G1.
G2 videocast starting around 5:30 ET.
http://www.gborocollege.edu/athletics/sports/pridenet.htm
G'boro 6-4, bottom of the 7th.
Rhodes ties in the top of the 8th.
Going to the bottom of the 8th, 6-6.
Bottom of the 9th. G'boro has Dale Martin on first, steals second, goes to third on a wild pitch.
Richard Fee at the plate, hits a long one for out #3. 6-6. Extra innings.
Bottom of the 11th.
Richard Corona triples.
Donaldson is walked intentionally. Kyle Bolick, walked intentionally. Dale Martin at bat with the bases loaded and no outs. 3-0 count on Martin, ball four. GC splits the series 7-6.
I'm not sure what 3-0 on this road trip would have done for Rhodes, but I know that 1-2 isn't going to do anything to improve their changes. I commend Coach Cleanthes and whoever else was involved in making this decision to play these additional games. At least the team knows that they exhausted all possible avenues in trying to get an at-large bid.
I want to make a general statement about baseball in the SCAC. In my opinion, you could take the baseball teams from DePauw, Rhodes, Trinity, Southwestern, Millsaps, and Austin and no matter how you matched them up you would have a good 2 out of 3 game series. The SCAC is a league with a lot of talent and I think the Rhodes trip this week showed it. Rhodes was second in the East and they lost in the crossover series to the third team from the West (admittedly a very close series). My point is that Rhodes is not the top team in the SCAC and here they were travelling 1,000 miles to play a Salisbury team that has throughly dominated their region and it was a very competitive 8-5 game. Then Rhodes travels almost 400 miles to play Greensboro, another team with NCAA hopes, in a DH. Given that Rhodes has used some key pitchers on Monday and had such a long trip, it was a good effort to get a win and then an extra inning loss. Without the Monday game, Rhodes most likely wins two today.
I know you can pick and choose in situations like this, but I think the Rhodes trip does make a good case of how the teams from the SCAC measure up against some of the teams from other areas. Last year both Millsaps and Rhodes split with the Emory team that made it to the finals of the D3 World Series. I still believe that given a chance, both Rhodes and Millsaps had a decent shot at getting to the World Series, but that's water under the bridge. The bottom line, as has been said over and over, getting an at-large bid is purely a numbers game and some areas of the country have a harder time making those numbers. That's the unfortuanate hand dealt to the SCAC teams.
Frank,
When you consider the SCAC schools are about 1,500 to 2,700 students and, for Millsaps, Southwestern, Trinity, Rhodes,etc in DI rich/DII rich, NAIA rich scholarship areas, these schools and coaches do an amazing job of identifying, attracting, and developing talent.
The same is true of the top ASC schools.
When one considers the huge, enormous talent pool of players in California, as contrasted with the number of DI/DII and NAIA's with scholarships, programs like Chapman have a much larger pool of talent that drops through to them.
In my view, the issue the better SCAC programs and ASC programs encounter, because of the smaller group of available players and small enrollments, is depth of talent.
Millsaps, Rhodes and Trinity, and probably others, have players who can succeed at the DI level. They also have players with one or two skills that are on par with DI.
What they don't have is the depth that you are going to get with schools in New England, Wisconsin, etc where enrollments are 10,000 and above and DI's are few and far between. They also just do not have the huge talent pool that exists in just the greater LA and San Diego areas that can feed Chapman even after the DI's/DII's etc take from that group.
I don't think the SCAC owes anyone any apologies. Just my view, but you could take Coach Page, Coach Cleanthes, Coach Scannell, and some others and they would make other programs far better than they are now. Those guys can beat you with theirs and take yours and beat you with them.
They just have a hard time admitting enough of "them." Of course, it is still about academics and graduation and finding a job....and there aren't many doing a better job than the SCAC schools.
Great post, dad! +1! :)
Millsaps and Christopher Newport are both idle since the last rankings. In today's ranking Millsaps goes from #5 to unranked and Christopher Newport goes from unranked to #5. Methodist goes from unranked to #6 after winning two games from Piedmont. The only other change is that Piedmont and Lynchburg switched at the 2 and 3 spots.
It's a shame that a Millsaps team that ended the season playing its best baseball of the year is not going on.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 08, 2008, 06:01:55 PM
It's a shame that a Millsaps team that ended the season playing its best baseball of the year is not going on.
Will the permanent configuration for the SCAC-West be TU, SU, AC, HC and Millsaps?
If so, I would like for Millsaps to consider moving into the West Region.
Now that may be the "frying pan to the fire" thing, Salisbury for Chapman and USASouth for the NWC, but if Piedmont and the GSAC teams go into the USASouth, that conference just got tougher.
I see the advantage of Millsaps moving to the West Region is that all of the Texas schools become in-region games. Millsaps would still be administrative region #3 and keep all of those eligible teams, but the chance to play UT-Tyler, UT-Dallas, and all of the ASC-West as in-region games might help with their OWP/OOWP.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 05, 2008, 07:38:22 PM
Just wondering since Salisbury and Millsaps seem fairly even based on the two common opponents. Millsaps went 7-1 against Rhodes and LaGrange and Salisbury went 2-0 with both games being competitive (Rhodes an 8-5 win today and LaGrange a 9-8 win on April 4th).
From a practical standpoint, Millsaps moving to the West would be worse because it would mean even more distance between Millsaps and their regional opponents.
The problem I have with the regional rankings is that the South region rankings are dominated by teams that might as well be on the moon when it comes to Millsaps facing them in head-to-head competition. It just isn't very practical from a money and time standpoint for Millsaps or most D3 schools to schedule teams that are over 400 miles away so an area like the South is really multiple sub-regions and it seems to me that these sub-regions vary in strength.
Since I haven't seen all of these teams play, this is obviously just a theory. I base my theory on the knowledge that Salisbury totally dominated their region and yet using the limited available common opponents information (see quote above), they don't sound like they are any stronger than Millsaps.
I also know that Emory in 2007 was 43-10 and they finished second in the College World Series. And yet, when you look at how they did against teams from the Millsaps area of the South region, they split with Millsaps, they split with Rhodes, they went 0-2 against Huntingdon, and they squeaked by a weak MS College team 7-6. That's a 3-4 record and for what it is worth, in 2007 Millsaps beat Huntingdon in 2007 by scores of 21-2 and 16-4. It just makes me wonder if we are comparing apples to oranges when we look at the records that teams are able to compile in various area of the South Region.
Let me be clear that I'm not saying Millsaps is better than the teams that are regionally ranked--I believe Millsaps and Rhodes are at least equal to those teams, but I can't claim that they are better. What I think is happening in the South region is what I see happening in the local tennis league every year:
Lets say that teams like Millsaps, Rhodes, Salisbury, Emory, Lynchburg, Piedmont, Methodis, etc., are all the equivalent of good 4.0 tennis players. My belief is that the area around Millsaps is like a 4.0 tennis league while there are weaker areas of the South that would be more like a 3.5 tennis league. A good 4.0 tennis player playing in a 3.5 league is going to have a great record, certainly better than the 4.0 player in a 4.0 league. That's how I see the South region at the moment with the rankings dominated by the good teams in the weak area and the good teams in the stronger area are going to find it difficult to rise to the top of the rankings because they are playing stronger competition from week to week.
That's just one person's opinion and I don't have a solution. I guess the only real solution is to win the SCAC AQ if you want to get into the NCAA Tournament.
Frank, Millsaps would still be able to count every school in the states of VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, AR, TN, KY, IN, MI OH and WV as in-region.
I think that the question would be, do you want to be considered by the committee as South Region (Capital AC, USASouth AC, ODAC and some SCAC teams plus Emory and the GSAC schools) or West Region schools (ASC, SCAC-West, SCIAC, NWC, plus Chapman, CSU-East Bay, UDallas and Menlo).
As I mentioned, the advantage to being in the West Region is that UT-Tyler, LeTU, ETBU and UT-Dallas become in-region as well as the West.
In 2007, Emory got to the tourney as a Pool B. That was luck of that draw. Salisbury gets to take advantage of the in-region advantages that I am trying to give to Millsaps. Salisbury is South Evaluation Region, but Administrative Region #1 (MD, DC, DE, NJ, CT, RI, MA, VT, NH and ME). All of those games versus those teams are in-region for Salisbury. Salisbury also picks up those 200-mile radius schools, that Millsaps doesn't have.
Your Tennis analogy is good. I personally think that the addition of the ASC and the NWC in the last 10 years have made the West a tougher region than the South.
Ralph,
The west is stronger this year. Very few, if any really weak teams. The point is Millsaps is in the South and Frank's comments are on point. Rhodes and Depauw both would be very highly regarded if you removed Millsaps from the equation . However Millsaps doesn't get much credit for beating them or the teams that Frank refers to with common opponents with Emory. The entire West division along with Rhodes and Depauw of the SCAC seem fully capable of prevailing in the South Region this year but the west teams have certainly impacted Millsaps. Tough spot.
Those of you who did not get to see Millsaps play late in the season, once the line-up got settled, really missed a great hitting team. They would have been really dangerous in a regional. But that's Baseball!
Welcome to the boards, G22.
Thanks for the comment. :)
My argument, or really just an observation, centered around the point made by the tennis analogy. The problem Millsaps has isn't with picking up more teams to play, especially more teams that are two states away. The problem Millsaps has is that there's no way for them to compete on the field with the teams from the area that seems to dominate the rankings each year. Those teams are so far away that even common opponents between Millsaps and the ranked teams are hard to find.
My observation is stronger with the 2006 team rather than the 2007 team since this year Millsaps is 1-3 against the ranked South teams (1-1 with Emory and 0-2 against Piedmont) and they do have 14 losses in region, but the problem is that this situation is going to have Millsaps at a disadvantage every year because they play in a tougher conference.
Looking at this year's Millsaps team, Millsaps went 8-8 in the SCAC West, a division that has 4 really solid teams plus Hendrix (and Hendrix is getting better, going 11-13 this year outside of SCAC games). Millsaps also won 2 out of 3 against Rhodes in the crossover plus a non-conf. early season game, and then they went 3-2 at the SCAC Tournament. That's a 14-11 record against SCAC teams.
You get outside the SCAC and Millsaps went 1-1 with South #4 Emory and they went 0-2 against South #3 Piedmont (one an extra inning game). Then they went 2-0 against a Huntingdon team that went 24-17, 4-0 against a 25-19 Lagrange team, 1-0 against a 32-11 Ozarks team, 3-0 against a 24-19 MS College team, 1-0 against a 32-8 Ill. Wesleyan team, 1-0 against a 20-19 Wabash team, and 1-0 against a 17-26 LA College team.
To summarize:
--Against SCAC teams, which included all of the West Division teams and the two top teams in the East Division, Millsaps went 14-11.
--Against all other D3 teams on the schedule, which includes teams currently ranked #1, #3, and #4 in regional rankings, Millsaps went 14-3. I should note that only one of those games was against a team that had a losing record this year (the win over LC).
--I just have a feeling that some of these teams that show up in the South rankings year after year would find that life was a little tougher if they had to play the schedule that Millsaps faced in a typical season. I also have a feeling that things won't change any time soon and if anything, the SCAC West will probably become even tougher as the years go by.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 09, 2008, 03:56:13 PM
...
--I just have a feeling that some of these teams that show up in the South rankings year after year would find that life was a little tougher if they had to play the schedule that Millsaps faced in a typical season. I also have a feeling that things won't change any time soon and if anything, the SCAC West will probably become even tougher as the years go by.
Thanks for the comments.
Let's see how the Pool C teams do from the South Region.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 09, 2008, 07:55:07 PM
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 09, 2008, 03:56:13 PM
...
--I just have a feeling that some of these teams that show up in the South rankings year after year would find that life was a little tougher if they had to play the schedule that Millsaps faced in a typical season. I also have a feeling that things won't change any time soon and if anything, the SCAC West will probably become even tougher as the years go by.
Thanks for the comments.
Let's see how the Pool C teams do from the South Region.
I just want to point out that I have clearly stated that I'm not saying Millsaps is a better team than those ahead of them in the ranking, just that I think some of the teams in the SCAC, especially those in the SCAC West, have a tougher road for getting an at-large bid. Whoever gets the Pool C bid(s) from the South will probably do fine, just as I believe Millsaps would do this year or would have done last year.
Frank, unfortunately, the selection process again shows it is quite difficult and imperfect, and often times does not end up with the best teams.
For me, at least, the clearest example is the selection of Rose Hulman.
During the 8 or so years they competed in the SCAC, they never won the championship and, to the best of my recall, never even made it to the championship game. This was true even though they often times were nationally ranked entering the tournament.
They did have good, solid teams. They were not at the top of the SCAC with Millsaps, Trinity, etc.
Now, after having left the SCAC, they are getting a group C selection.
Are we to assume they have improved so much in such a short time that they are now better than Millsaps/Rhodes, etc? I don't think that would be the correct answer. My expectation is that if they played Millsaps/Rhodes today, they would end up on the short end as they did all those years in the SCAC's.
Such is the vagary of the Pool C process.
Rose-Hulman left the SCAC for just that reason...they would NEVER make it while playing the SCAC. That is a fact. Are they a good team...yes. Better than Millsaps or Rhodes...nope.
infielddad, I was thinking the same thing this morning and I started to make a post, but it seemed like beating a dead horse if I brought up the subject. I have this vague recollection that when RHIT pulled out of the SCAC, someone posted a comment that one of the big reasons for the pullout was because the baseball team was having such little success in the SCAC. I can't remember the exact specifics but it seemed like someone with a lot of pull wanted the baseball team where they could get to the NCAA Tourrnament like they did a couple of times in the mid-90's.
Early this morning I went to see how RHIT did in baseball during their SCAC years and while they did manage to dominate the SCAC East during several seasons, they never were a huge factor in the SCAC Tournament. From 2002 through 2006 they went 2-2, 1-2, 2-2, 0-2, and 0-2 for an overall record of 5-10 in their last 5 years in the SCAC.
And while RHIT had a good overall athletic program while in the SCAC, they never came very close to being the top athletic program in the SCAC like they were this year in the Heartland Conference (http://www.rose-hulman.edu/sports/08commcup.htm). Like you infielddad, I seriously doubt that RHIT would have the numbers needed to be a Pool C team if they were still in the SCAC.
AND JUST TO CLARIFY ONCE AGAIN, I'm not saying the SCAC is the toughest league in the land and I'm not saying Millsaps is better than the Pool C teams that were picked, espcially since I haven't seen any of the Pool C teams play this season. I'm just saying that I believe some teams, like RHIT in this case, have a better shot at winning the numbers game because they play in a less competitive league or area. That's just my opinion (and I bet that it is the opinion of folks from Emory this morning).
Just to update the RHIT numbers from the SCAC Tournament, in 1999 they went 2-2, in 2000 they went 0-2, and in 2001 they went 0-2.
So, while they did win 4 Eastern Division titles in 8 years (and I believe that twice they went 15-1 in Eastern Conference play), in the SCAC Tournament they were a combined 7-16 in 8 years of play and they never made the championship game and never did better than 2-2. It does make you wonder when they get back to the NCAA Tournament so soon after leaving the SCAC.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 12, 2008, 02:17:24 PM
Just to update the RHIT numbers from the SCAC Tournament, in 1999 they went 2-2, in 2000 they went 0-2, and in 2001 they went 0-2.
So, while they did win 4 Eastern Division titles in 8 years (and I believe that twice they went 15-1 in Eastern Conference play), in the SCAC Tournament they were a combined 7-16 in 8 years of play and they never made the championship game and never did better than 2-2. It does make you wonder when they get back to the NCAA Tournament so soon after leaving the SCAC.
Yup, sure makes you wonder!! And with good justification.
Quote from: Lou_Brown on May 12, 2008, 01:55:01 PM
Rose-Hulman left the SCAC for just that reason...they would NEVER make it while playing the SCAC. That is a fact.
Really, they left shortly because of baseball competitiveness? Come on now ...
I remember the conversations on these boards about RHIT not liking the 4-week head start that the Texas and southern teams had on them.
Competing the HCAC gave them a more level playing field with respect to cold weather. Check out reply #9 on the first page of the SCAC board, January 12, 2006!
Point made! RHIT seems to have benefited here from the move!
Quote from: Pat Coleman on May 12, 2008, 10:59:56 PM
Quote from: Lou_Brown on May 12, 2008, 01:55:01 PM
Rose-Hulman left the SCAC for just that reason...they would NEVER make it while playing the SCAC. That is a fact.
Really, they left shortly because of baseball competitiveness? Come on now ...
IMO left for two reasons: (1) the stated reason of SCAC-mandated travel being too disruptive on student athletes, and (2) their general lack of competitiveness in all SCAC sports. In just a couple of years they've gone from being a back marker in the SCAC President's Trophy (seventh nearly every year) to 1st in HCAC men/2nd women ... which does pretty well show how the two conferences compare athletically. So they're happy and it doesn't seem to have hurt the SCAC any.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 13, 2008, 01:12:35 AM
I remember the conversations on these boards about RHIT not liking the 4-week head start that the Texas and southern teams had on them.
Competing the HCAC gave them a more level playing field with respect to cold weather. Check out reply #9 on the first page of the SCAC board, January 12, 2006!
Point made! RHIT seems to have benefited here from the move!
Ralph, it is clear RHIT benefited. But that also shows the DIII Championship isn't competition amongst the best 54 teams. It is a competition based on regional and travel/cost issues. RHIT selection this year is the very, very best demonstration that much better teams in the SCAC and ASC are sitting at home due to travel and cost issues even though they are much more talented.
To me, the RHIT selection is a focus of a continuing issue at the DIII level and in NCAA baseball. Cost will override competition and the quality of the competition.
Why should a team like RHIT benefit from moving to lesser competition at the expense of those far more talented teams with which it was proven they cannot compete and who get left out of what is called the DIII Championships?
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 13, 2008, 01:12:35 AM
I remember the conversations on these boards about RHIT not liking the 4-week head start that the Texas and southern teams had on them.
Competing the HCAC gave them a more level playing field with respect to cold weather. Check out reply #9 on the first page of the SCAC board, January 12, 2006!
Point made! RHIT seems to have benefited here from the move!
Ralph, thanks for finding that set of posts. In fairness to RHIT, the idea that they wanted to cut down on travel is a powerful argument. We all know about the time and expense involved in SCAC travel and they have cut back on both considerably by changing conferences. I'm sure it was a factor that it also allowed them to be a big fish in a smaller pond, but none of us can actually know how big a factor that was in the decision making process.
While on the subject of those firsts posts on this board, let me thank you and remind board members that you were a big factor in getting the baseball boards going. As we approach 100 pages of posts in just over 2 years, it is appropriate to remember the people who were there to get this thing off the ground. Thank you, and thanks to Jim Dixon and Pat Coleman and the many others who make a site like this possible.
Not that it matters much because the Karma totals are so high, but I'm going to make sure to give all three of you a +1 today and I wish I could give more.
Quote from: infielddad on May 13, 2008, 11:28:26 AM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 13, 2008, 01:12:35 AM
I remember the conversations on these boards about RHIT not liking the 4-week head start that the Texas and southern teams had on them.
Competing the HCAC gave them a more level playing field with respect to cold weather. Check out reply #9 on the first page of the SCAC board, January 12, 2006!
Point made! RHIT seems to have benefited here from the move!
Ralph, it is clear RHIT benefited. But that also shows the DIII Championship isn't competition amongst the best 54 teams. It is a competition based on regional and travel/cost issues. RHIT selection this year is the very, very best demonstration that much better teams in the SCAC and ASC are sitting at home due to travel and cost issues even though they are much more talented.
To me, the RHIT selection is a focus of a continuing issue at the DIII level and in NCAA baseball. Cost will override competition and the quality of the competition.
Why should a team like RHIT benefit from moving to lesser competition at the expense of those far more talented teams with which it was proven they cannot compete and who get left out of what is called the DIII Championships?
Absolutely!
D-III committed to the Pool System at the end of the 1990's to afford equal access to the championship.
The offshoot of this is the strengthening of the conference system. The conference system goes back to the Big Ten, peer institutions. Pool B has shrunk to almost nothing now, because schools have joined conferences, so they can have equal access to the championship. I think that there are 5 new conferences getting Pool A bids that were not there in 2002. The Northern Athletics Conference and the Capital AC get a Pool A bid next year, the Landmark Conference in 2010, and the UMAC in 2011. Those conferences have some of the powers from Pool B in previous years, e.g., Rockford, and Aurora, Salisbury and York, (the Landmark has grown into its own conference so it can have its very own Pool A bid for like minded institutions), and St Scholastica. I will bet that Piedmont is in the USA South next season or 2010, to get out of Pool B!
The story around the ASC is that Austin College wanted to be in the SCAC long before they were invited.
What got AC invited? Losing RHIT in football, which prompted the action to prevent losing the Pool A bid. The Northwest Conference, home of 2 national football champions in the last decade, was shut out of Pool B this year. They have added Menlo to eliminate that possibility.
The numbers worked to RHIT's favor this year. I don't know how much sentiment hosting the tourney had in the selection. Their numbers fell in place for them at the right time. Had Suffolk not lost 2 games last weekend, RHIT might be at home? Had one other Pool A lock not won, (Trinity CT? or Cortland State), I believe that RHIT sits at home! :)
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 13, 2008, 11:35:47 AM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 13, 2008, 01:12:35 AM
I remember the conversations on these boards about RHIT not liking the 4-week head start that the Texas and southern teams had on them.
Competing the HCAC gave them a more level playing field with respect to cold weather. Check out reply #9 on the first page of the SCAC board, January 12, 2006!
Point made! RHIT seems to have benefited here from the move!
Ralph, thanks for finding that set of posts. In fairness to RHIT, the idea that they wanted to cut down on travel is a powerful argument. We all know about the time and expense involved in SCAC travel and they have cut back on both considerably by changing conferences. I'm sure it was a factor that it also allowed them to be a big fish in a smaller pond, but none of us can actually know how big a factor that was in the decision making process.
While on the subject of those firsts posts on this board, let me thank you and remind board members that you were a big factor in getting the baseball boards going. As we approach 100 pages of posts in just over 2 years, it is appropriate to remember the people who were there to get this thing off the ground. Thank you, and thanks to Jim Dixon and Pat Coleman and the many others who make a site like this possible.
Not that it matters much because the Karma totals are so high, but I'm going to make sure to give all three of you a +1 today and I wish I could give more.
Frank, thanks for the kind words. As I look back on the 2+ years of the message boards, the SCAC board has been the singularly strongest baseball board. Other conferences have strong boards, but IMHO, baseball is the sport for the message boards (and not football or hoops) of the SCAC. Only the CCIW, better known for its Men's Basketball board (CCIW Chat), has a more active posting crew! It has been a joy to see the SCAC baseball board thrive! It makes for a great baseball rivalry down here! :)
Let's see. We've complained about the weak pockets of the South Region and how the South Regional Tournament each year should be more aptly named the MD-NC-VA Regional. We've trashed talked about RHIT. Is there anything else to talk about?
Oh yeah, Trinity is playing in the NCAA Tournament this afternoon. That has gotten little attention here, possibly because it is in the West Region, but I'm pulling for them to well represent the SCAC this week. I looked at the George Fox stats and it doesn't appear that they have that one big ace that you hate to face in the first round of a tournament. Instead, they seem to have a solid group of starters and my guess is that they'll start Hedgecock since he is main left handed pitcher.
Looking at the stats for Trinity and George Fox, I would pick George Fox to win a 5 game series between the two teams because of deeper pitching, and I pick Trinity to win today's single game because I think either Bronson or Oates will be a little better than the George Fox starter.
I believe the Trinity weakness will be pitching depth so they really need a good start from both Bronson and Oates. Trinity needs to repeat the performance Austin had in the 2007 SCAC Tournament where they got a lot from a few pitchers and the batters were having a really good weekend. Obviously that's a formula that would work for a lot of teams, but I also think it is the only formula that will work for Trinity.
Frank, Trinity got a complete game from Bronson, who struck out ten while only allowing one run and one walk in an easy 8-1 win against George Fox. Nick Bratney got the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) in the three innings of work before yielding to Brady Rhodes (6.0 IP, seven hits, four runs [two earned], five K's and one walk).
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 14, 2008, 06:54:17 PM
Frank, Trinity got a complete game from Bronson, who struck out ten while only allowing one run and one walk in an easy 8-1 win against George Fox. Nick Bratney got the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) in the three innings of work before yielding to Brady Rhodes (6.0 IP, seven hits, four runs [two earned], five K's and one walk).
This is one half of what Trinity needs and when you look at the numbers, there isn't much difference between Bronson and Oates. I could see Oates having the same type of game tomorrow and if that's the case then Trinity can beat anyone. It will help if Trinity continues to plate 8 runs each game, something that I think is quite possible.
Trinity got the game they needed from Oates and now is in the finals of the winner's bracket against #1 Chapman. Not sure who Trinity will pitch at noon today, but Chapman looks like they will go with Jordan Sigman, a pitcher with a 9-1 record but a ERA close to 5. Sigman is a freshman and he is a right hander, and I have a feeling that the Trinity left-hand loaded lineup will get their scoring opportunities. Don't pencil in Chapman with a victory just yet.
I'm not sure if there are many people still reading this board, especially Millsaps people. After such a heartbreaking loss at the conference finals, maybe there would be some Millsaps fans who just can't bear to see the Trinity success because they feel in some way that Trinity is unfairly taking the glory that should have gone to Millsaps. I haven't heard anyone express that opinion, but I know people sometimes take that viewpoint.
I happen to be pulling for Trinity to get to the World Series. Anyone who has read the board in the last couple of weeks knows my feeling that SCAC teams that are better than the Pool C choices are getting passed over because the selection process works heavily against the teams from good conferences. Right now Trinity is proving that the SCAC is a good conference. Considering that Trinity edged Millsaps 4-3 in games played this year and Millsaps was on the road for all of those gemes, I believe the Trinity success makes a good argument that Millsaps would likely have done well if chosen for the NCAA Tournament. Just as the Rhodes and Millsaps teams would have done in 2007.
Just as Austin got last year at the SCAC Tournament, Trinity needs one more great start and they need to take advantage of their scoring opportunities. If they get that today and can come back with some innings from Bronson on Saturday, then a regional win is certainly within their grasp.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 16, 2008, 07:14:08 AM
Trinity got the game they needed from Oates and now is in the finals of the winner's bracket against #1 Chapman. Not sure who Trinity will pitch at noon today, but Chapman looks like they will go with Jordan Sigman, a pitcher with a 9-1 record but a ERA close to 5. Sigman is a freshman and he is a right hander, and I have a feeling that the Trinity left-hand loaded lineup will get their scoring opportunities. Don't pencil in Chapman with a victory just yet.
I'm not sure if there are many people still reading this board, especially Millsaps people. After such a heartbreaking loss at the conference finals, maybe there would be some Millsaps fans who just can't bear to see the Trinity success because they feel in some way that Trinity is unfairly taking the glory that should have gone to Millsaps. I haven't heard anyone express that opinion, but I know people sometimes take that viewpoint.
I happen to be pulling for Trinity to get to the World Series. Anyone who has read the board in the last couple of weeks knows my feeling that SCAC teams that are better than the Pool C choices are getting passed over because the selection process works heavily against the teams from good conferences. Right now Trinity is proving that the SCAC is a good conference. Considering that Trinity edged Millsaps 4-3 in games played this year and Millsaps was on the road for all of those gemes, I believe the Trinity success makes a good argument that Millsaps would likely have done well if chosen for the NCAA Tournament. Just as the Rhodes and Millsaps teams would have done in 2007.
Just as Austin got last year at the SCAC Tournament, Trinity needs one more great start and they need to take advantage of their scoring opportunities. If they get that today and can come back with some innings from Bronson on Saturday, then a regional win is certainly within their grasp.
Very gracious, Frank. Today's game is going to be tough b/c they played the nightcap last night and the starting pitching drops off dramatically now that Oates and Bronson have pitched. The loser of the noon game turns around and plays the nightcap in an elimination where the winner doesn't play until tomorrow. I'm hoping the guys can continue their hitting success.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 16, 2008, 07:14:08 AM
... Anyone who has read the board in the last couple of weeks knows my feeling that SCAC teams that are better than the Pool C choices are getting passed over because the selection process works heavily against the teams from good conferences. Right now Trinity is proving that the SCAC is a good conference...
Good post, Frank.
I'll agree that the SCAC is a good conference. It and the ASC are
not great conferences. The NJAC sent 3 Pool C bids to tourney. The conference's four teams are 4-2 this morning, and have played one game amongst themselves.
The other multi-team conferences in the tourney include the WIAC (3-3), the Little East (3-3) and the CCIW (3-3).
I have reviewed the playoffs since 2000. The SCAC has not sent a team to the D3 World Series. From the South Region, these teams have won the Regional.
2000 Emory
2001 Salisbury (Capital AC)
2002 CNU (USA South) (Concordia-Texas edged Trinity to win the West)
2003 Emory
2004 Salisbury (Capital AC)
2005 Hampden-Sydney (ODAC)
2006 NCWC USA South
2007 Emory
The balance in the SCAC has made the difference. The teams are strong and competitive but cannot break out of the packs in the respective regions.
Ralph, I wrote a long post and decided against it. You are correct about the SCAC team not getting to the World Series. Rarely does the SCAC have two teams in the tournament so that hurts. When one of the Texas teams gets in the Tournament they usually get shipped out to California with this year being a rare exception.
Even in 2006 when Millsaps was #1 in the South in the last public poll, then got shipped out of the South Region. The South regional tournament seems to be dominated by teams from VA, NC and MD. Is the baseball that good in those regions or are those teams just able to work the system to get in and play against each other over and over.
Last year Emory split with Rhodes and Millsaps and I guarantee you that Rhodes and Millsaps were every bit as good as Emory. It is certainly not a stretch to say that both Rhodes and Millsaps would have had a good shot at winning the South Regional or maybe the Central Regional if they had been given a Pool C. Heck, look at how well Trinity is doing at the moment and they are only playing because they came up with an improable rally at the SCAC Tournament. Without that, they are sitting at home, but they have proven that they belong in the NCAA Tournament.
I'm not saying the SCAC is the best league in the land. I think they are good enough to have two teams in the NCAA most years and it just won't happen because the league beats up on each other over the course of the season. They also have had to deal with these 4 game weekends so mid-week games are tough because you may have depleted pitching.
Anyway, I'm rambling and I have to pack to go out of town. I'll just make one more point about the South. Salisbury went through the regular season with a 38-2 season. One of those wins was against a good Rhodes team that is on par with 4 or 5 other SCAC teams. That game was 8-5, certainly a game where it probably help Salisbury that Rhodes had made a 1,000 mile trip to the game. Now last night Piedmont comes along and beats Salisbury. I'm just thinking that Salisbury wouldn't be a 38-2 team if they were in the deep South or in Texas and they had to play the teams that the SCAC and ASC teams play. I have no way to prove that, it's just my opinion.
Ron--I wrote a long post and the D3 server went down so here's a recap:
--Not really gracious, just logical. When one SCAC team does well it filters down to all SCAC teams.
--I'll may be away from internet for 48 hours so here's my prediction of the West Regional:
--Trinity wins today maybe by 9-7, maybe by 10-7. Both scores feel right to me.
--Bronson comes back and throws 5 or 6 gritty innings tomorrow and Trinity bats stay hot, allowing Trinity to win 4 straight games and the championship.
--Good things come in 3's. As a Millsaps fan, after the lateral play and the rally in Kentucky, this is the most reasonable of the three unlikely events Trinity will have this season so I don't think Trinity winning the regional is a surprising prediction.
--As for the Trinity pitching, lets remember that they face tough lineups all year in both the conference and non-conference schedules. I think Trinity has some guys who can come in a get the job done and they certainly won't be surprised by the caliber of players that they are facing.
And with that, I'm off to a wedding.
A tough gut-wrenching loss this afternoon to #1 Chapman. Man, we were so close to a Trinity W! A break or two and the outcome might have been better for Trinity! Anyway, that's water-over-the-dam, I think that tonight's elimination game against the CESEB/LaVerne game should be a great one and we're hoping to see Chapman tomorrow. I think that they know we can play. Go Trinity Tigers.
Find links at www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/index.htm and you find the link(s) to the various audio/video webcasts.
Trinity falls just short of a trip to Wisconsin ... #1 Chapman defeats the Tigers 4-3. Thanks for the webcast, guys ... as usual, nice work!
Quote from: historymajor on May 16, 2008, 07:24:58 PM
A tough gut-wreching loss this afternoon to #1 Chapman. Man, we were so close to a Trinity W! A break or two and the outcome might have been better for Trinity! Anyway, that's water-over-the-dam, I think that tonight's elimination game against the CESEB/LaVerne game should be a great one and we're hoping to see Chapman tomorrow. I think that they know we can play. Go Trinity Tigers.
Find links at www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/index.htm and you find the link(s) to the various audio/video webcasts.
Wish you guys had let us know -- we'd have linked to it too. :-\ The D3Cast video had thousands of viewers per day and a whole lot of them came through us.
Having traveled to Tennessee and Kentucky for the SCAC tournaments then to Texas to watch the teams selected to participate in the NCAA tournament from the West region, there is no doubt several SCAC teams were left at home that could have competed head to head with what was supposed to be the best from the West. I regret the NCAA selection committee did not do a better job evaluating the talent in SCAC and give credit where credit was due.
Frank, I absolutely agree "that SCAC teams that are better than the Pool C choices are getting passed over because the selection process works heavily against the teams from good conferences." As an avid Trinity supporter I have no reservation stating that Milsaps, particularly with the way they were playing at the end of the season, had the potential of beating every team I saw in Abilene including the nation's number 1 ranked team.
I appreciate those comments AGMAN. Trinity lost two 1-run games to Chapman, the West Regional winner and the top-ranked team in the country. During the season Trinity edged Millsaps 4-3 in the seven games played (all in the last month of the season), with the difference being that bottom of the 9th in the SCAC Championship game.
Going back to the 2007 season, Rhodes and Millsaps both split with Emory, a team that made it to the national finals. In the case of Rhodes and Millsaps that year, it wasn't their record that did them in but the weaker record of their opponents. Both teams were every bit as good as Emory and yet both were left out of the Pool C entries because the teams they played didn't win enough games.
We'll never know what the 2007 Rhodes and Millsaps teams and the 2008 Millsaps team would have done if they had gotten into the NCAA Tournament. We do know what the 2008 Trinity team did in the NCAA Tournament and they were only there because of that 9th inning rally. Here is a team that finished second in the West, a loser of two 1-run games to the top-ranked team in the nation, and Trinity had absolutely no shot of getting an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament. Trinity proved on the field exactly what I've been pointing out over the last couple of weeks and it's a shame that weaker conferences have a far better chance of producing a Pool C team than a stronger conference like the SCAC.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 19, 2008, 08:37:03 AM
... Trinity proved on the field exactly what I've been pointing out over the last couple of weeks and it's a shame that weaker conferences have a far better chance of producing a Pool C team than a stronger conference like the SCAC.
Frank, I still must be missing some statistic or quantifiable or historical data that you have uncovered that tells us D3baseball fans that weaker conferences are getting the Pool C bids in the tourney, preferentially over stronger conferences.
Please share with me those points and I will share it with Jim Dixon for an off-season analysis of the trends in the playoffs and in Pool C.
Over on the national tourney board, I proposed that there were 80-90 schools that were playoff quality because of the parity that we are seeing. When Mr Ypsi followed up on a post to Massey Ratings and showed where Webster and Adrian had been rated, he pushed that number to about 120.
Thanks in advance of reading your research. :)
Ralph, you highlighted the word conference and I probably shouldn't have used conference since in most cases that only amounts to half of a schedule. I probably should have either phrased it as a stronger area of a region or maybe just a stronger schedule.
I go back to the tennis example of a 4.0 player playing in a 4.0 league will not have as good a record as a 4.0 player playing in a 3.5 league. Ideally, there are be rules in place that even up these differences in strength of schedule, but I'm not sure that winning percentage is completely balancing the differences. Since the NCAA could care less what I think, I'm not going to do a case study on this subject but here are some interesting numbers using the Massey ranking of strength of schedule. I know the NCAA doesn't use the Massey ranking but it's the only numbers I have available to use.
Pool C teams and their Massey strength of schedule:
Adrian -- 222
Augustana -- 66
Carthage -- 91
Eastern Connecticut State -- 134
George Fox -- 53
Lynchburg -- 47
Montclair State -- ? (Couldn't find on list)
The College of New Jersey -- ? (Couldn't find on list)
Rose-Hulman -- 79
Rowan -- ? (Couldn't find on list)
Southern Maine -- 108
Wisconsin-Oshkosh -- 57
Wisconsin-Whitewater -- 94
Wooster -- 95
Those are not exactly the top of the crop when it comes to playing difficult schedule. I have no doubt that in other years you will find teams with tough schedules on the list and maybe the three teams I couldn't find have tough schedules. For the record, here are the strength of schedule for SCAC teams this year:
Millsaps -- 8
Rhodes -- 10
Trinity -- 14
Austin -- 18
Oglethorpe -- 33
Southwestern -- 38
Sewanee -- 44
Hendrix -- 49
DePauw -- 64
Centre -- 151
When you play a tough schedule, it is hard to build the winning percentage needed for a Pool C. Plus, when your opponents are all playing a tough schedule their winning percentages are lower so you get less credit for beating those teams even with the added layer of winning percentages this year.
Of course this is all going by the Massey rating and for what it's worth, they had Millsaps as the 17th best team in D3 in 2007 and 19th at the moment in 2008, a high ranking for a team that didn't get one of the at large berths. Of course, in the eyes of the NCAA the Massey ratings are worth nothing.
I wouldn't advocate using Massey 2008 ratings. You ought to take a look at the records he cites for teams: 23 games for Chapman, 19 for Trinity CT, 7 for Transylvania ...
On a different note, I think the SCAC did a huge injustice their all-SCAC voting. I know I am biased, but how could Evan Bronson not be pitcher of the year. His overall numbers were better than Tschantz and no doubt played in a tougher division of the SCAC. Bronson won both his divisional game and his conference tournament game. Again, not saying that Tschantz didnt deserve it, but I think Bronson deserved it more.....
Quote from: Pat Coleman on May 19, 2008, 03:54:45 PM
I wouldn't advocate using Massey 2008 ratings. You ought to take a look at the records he cites for teams: 23 games for Chapman, 19 for Trinity CT, 7 for Transylvania ...
Very valid point. I only looked at that source because Ralph asked for numbers and he had posted a link to the Massey ratings. Maybe the bottom line is that it would be nice if there were more Pool C bids. Millsaps in 2006 made it to a regional final. In 2007 they returned basically the same team, went something like 36-12 with the same basic players (trading one All-American outfielder for another and two transfer pitchers replacing 2 senior starters), and they were left out of Pool C because of the records of the teams they played. In 2008 the record wasn't as good but the opposition had a far better record--still no dice.
The 2007 team was certainly capable of winning a regional and this year's team would have been tough to beat based on their showing in the SCAC Tournament and Trinity's showing in the West Regional. I know other teams are in the same boat, such as Emory this year even though they did lose a lot from last year's runner-up team. While I'm in favor of AQ's for a lot of leagues, I think there is something wrong when teams that have a reasonable shot of winning a regional are left out of the tournament. That's just my opinion, one that is obviously not shared by the NCAA.
As indicated by tiger_fan2000, the SCAC baseball honors have been announced:
"SUWANEE, Ga. – Hunter Owen of Millsaps College was named the league's Offensive Player-of-the-Year for the second consecutive season and John Tschantz of DePauw University was selected the league's Pitcher-of-the-Year in exclusive 2008 all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) voting by the conference's head coaches. In that same balloting, Sam Hill of Birmingham-Southern was selected as the conference's Freshman-of-the-Year and Trinity University head coach Tim Scannell was named the SCAC Coach-of-the-Year."
For the complete story got to http://www.scac-online.org/ and go to the baseball section. And with that I had better drop off the baseball board for this year as my dropping karma indicates that it is time to move on to other things.
Congratulations to Trinity(TX) Tigers Evan Jones, Brian Oates, and Evan Bronson for their selection to the 2008 American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings NCAA III All-West Region Team. The complete listing can be found on: National topics | Topic: All-Region Teams.
Quote from: AGMAN on May 20, 2008, 01:25:17 AM
Congratulations to Trinity(TX) Tigers Evan Jones, Brian Oates, and Evan Bronson for their selection to the 2008 American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings NCAA III All-West Region Team. The complete listing can be found on: National topics | Topic: All-Region Teams.
... and to Daniel Ward (Hendrix) and Richard Falcone (S'western) in the West Region as well as Hunter Owen and Hunter Abrams from Millsaps and Richard Hurd and Matt Beesley from Rhodes on the All-South Region Team!!
Okay, now that whatever was happening up in Wisconsin is over, let's look at the SCAC for the '09 season!!
Which teams are returning most of their starters? How does returning pitching look? Anyone care to make any predictions eight months out? :o
If you ever needed proff that the Division 3 ranking system makes no sense, look no further than the final ABCA Top 30. How is Trinity not ranked at 35-15 after reaching the Regional Final? Not only that, but East Bay is listed as "others receiving votes" and Trinity doesn't even get that mention even though they beat East Bay easily twice in the same regional. They may as well just do away with the ranking system in general.
Final D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25: http://www.d3baseball.com/top25/2008/week-14
Congratulations to TU pitcher Evan Bronson, drafted by Milwaukee in the 36th round. Former TU standout Chuck Huggins (UCSB) was drafted in the 23rd round by the Blue Jays.
The SCAC is an anomaly as far as conferences go in that the distances between schools is far greater than any other D3 conference. The past two seasons, each team played a 4-game series within the division. Next season it is my understanding that each divisional team will play a home and an away series.
Each school has just committed to double their conference travel budget. On top of that travel costs have generally gone up 25% in the last few months. Effectively, travel costs for conference games just went up 150% (current cost x 2 x 1.25).
I suspect that athletic directors have yet to focus on this increase in cost. I know that my son's program was as lean as possible with a good deal of funding coming directly from parents. Given this new economy is the SCAC becoming impractical? Given a increase in costs (what was $100 last season will be $250 next season) will any teams elect to forfeit a series so that they can remain within budget? Or am I out of my mind and seeing a problem that does not really exist?
I don't think that you are out of your mind, but these schools have chosen to align themselves as peer institutions. There are some relative haves and have-nots, and that depends on the respective adminstrations' wishes to invest in the SCAC itself.
Others may cut this group differently but the "haves" include Trinity, DePauw, Colorado College and probably Southwestern, with its $350M endowment and growing.
Birmingham-Southern wants to be here instead of D-I.
Oglethorpe wants to be here, instead of in the GSAC or USA South.
Hendrix wants to be here so badly that they added football.
Austin College wants to be here so badly that they committed to the extra expense of the SCAC, instead of "just getting by" in the ASC.
Centre, Millsaps, Rhodes and Sewanee are the old guard. They aren't changing for anything. What these four schools want to do is probably what carries.
Congratulations need to be given to Major_Fan (aka the Millsaps Sports Information Department) for the Millsaps baseball media guide winning an award as the best in D3 baseball this season:
"PHILADELPHIA, Penn. – Temple University Associate Director of Media Relations Cathy Bongiovi announced today the contest results for CoSIDA's 2008 Division C baseball media guide category as Millsaps College's 60-page publication designed by the sports information department was named "Best in the Nation" amongst Division III schools."
Link to full story: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/061208story.shtml
Link to online media guide: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/2008_baseball_mediaguide.pdf
It's a well deserved award.
Thanks, Frank. It feels good to see that the hard work is paying off. It just means now that we'll have to step our game up in the other categories (FB, VB, BKB).
Major_Fan... congrats for the bb accolades and all you have done to raise the quality of SID output at Millsaps!
Thanks again, historymajor! The department has the potential to be one of the Top 3 in the conference and a contender on a national level. We've just got to get the support from the school to get an assistant in there to continue to progress. The student-athletes are the selling point of the job, they're great to work with. We're busy preparing for the fall semester now... should be another exciting one!
I saw this article by Matthew Waxman of ESPN the Magazine and thought it might be of interest to those on the SCAC Baseball board- especially those affiliated with Trinity University.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3488178
This should explain why Trinity has regained dominance in the SCAC- private tutelage from a Major League Pitcher, lol.
From Jim Dixon's "What we are reading" blog... (http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_9938039?source=most_emailed)
Club baseball at Colorado College.
Brian Oates, Trinity Univ RHP has had a good 1st summer (hot) in Peoria, AZ Mariner rookie league. Led team in innings, K's and some other categories, got shipped to Pulaski, VA team last night. See if he can get a couple of moderate weather starts... although that nasty hurricane rain might 'dampen' his arrival.
Oates was masterful in his first Pulaski Maariners (A) start at the Bristol sox tonite. (I think everbody there would rather have been at the Bristol Motor Speedway)
Pitching line:
----------IP--H-R-E-B-K-H--ERA
------------------R-B----R
Oates----5.0--4-0-0-2-5-0--0.00
Good to see AC Coach Iwasaki at the McM-AC football game today.
He likes the 3/2 home/away format for the 20 game divisional schedule.
His schedule is not up yet, but he says that the Roos will play the best schedule that he can find, including most of the ASC powers!
Coach Iwasaki has set out an ambitious course for AC. It paid off in 2007.
Good luck to the Roos, and we're looking forward to baseball already!
Ralph--I'm sure I'm not the only one who is uninformed on how league play will be structured in the SCAC this year. Would you give us an update or point us to a link that explains the new setup? Thanks.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on September 14, 2008, 09:19:15 PM
Ralph--I'm sure I'm not the only one who is uninformed on how league play will be structured in the SCAC this year. Would you give us an update or point us to a link that explains the new setup? Thanks.
I saw Coach Iwasaki at the AC-McM game and he said that the West would be home and away series, 3 games at one site and 2 games at the other.
I did not ask him about the East.
Thanks for the info Ralph. Millsaps lost 3 senior pitchers after the 2008 season so my initial reaction is that the move from 4 SCAC games in a weekend to just 2 or 3 will be a plus for Millsaps. Assuming that Tait Hendrix and Aaron Williams returned for the 2009 season, Millsaps should have as strong a 1-2 starting tandem as anyone in the SCAC. On the offensive side, the combo of Hunter Owen and Will Hawkins will be hard to beat for a 1-2 power punch in the middle of the lineup, but of course it take more than 2 pitchers and 2 hitters to make a winning team.
Fall ball is winding down......and when the WS is over, man, it's going to be hard to be baseball-less. Anyone have any info / news / opinion / prelim schedules, ANYthing SCAC-related to share?
Early predictions for top 3 on West/East to make it to conference tournament are
West: Trinity, Millsaps, Southwestern
East: Rhodes, Centre, Depauw
richball, you must have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express!
Historymajor, you have a different perspective?
No, I agree! Can't wait to hear the ump holler "PLAY BALL"
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/112408aaa.html
West Regional is at Linfield in 2009.
Hope everybody is doing well since last year. Any early predictions/analysis on the East side of the SCAC? I know Depauw and Rhodes lost plenty of talent due to graduation. How does everybody think the East will shape up? Any early favorites?
Petey
Believe the East will be up for grabs this year between Rhodes, DePauw, and Centre. Rhodes lost some very talented players but still return some young experienced talent and have an edge facility wise, probably the best team offensively, DePauw relies heavily on pitching and lost their 3 conference starters, which will be tough to replace, but I'm sure they will, very good team fundamentally, Centre lost their #1 pitcher, but return everyone else plus added a good group of young arms, could arguably have best one two punch on the mound.
The East should be interesting this year...
Rhodes lost a ton of players but still return Holt - pitcher, Bizzell stud at SS , Mosby and Lindsey. They'll have to find a way to replace Flanagan, vanaman, hurd, and beesley.Still probaly the favorite to win the east. Their neew facility looks nice, they have some nice pics up on the web
Depauw lost a ton on the hill, but hit .309 as a team stole 114 bases and scored 352 runs in 46 games...thats a darn good offense! Always well coached, fundamentally sound team. They have lost a ton, but they always, always figure to be in the mix.
Centre? I can't figure out the comment best 1/2 punch? Herbert was a flat out stud, he's gone. The returning pitchers numbers are hardly overwhelming....Taking a look at their website it looks like the fall intrasquad games were high scoring afairs? Where was the pitching? RichBall do you have any inside info? Any stud Freshmen?
Oglethorpe returns all but one player...but they usually are very weak on the hill and lack offense punch. Looking at their stats nothing really jumps out..Llano is a good player at SS, and Briend is solid on the hill...
Sewanee has not had much to talk about the last few years...they did bring in 14 newcomers according to their roster. Bartelski was as a good pitcher for them last year...Burns is all conference player at 1B and Irwin returns after a solid freshmen year.
Overall the West shadows the East from top to bottom...and I don't see that trend ending this year.
Less than 1 month until baseball season officially gets underway in the SCAC! Less than 2 months until non-conference opening games start for the SCAC! I know I'm excited, how about everyone else? Haven't heard a lot of talk about the year yet, so I figured I would maybe get us going.
I believe OU has the talent to finally make some noise this year. I know this has been a recurring theme the past two or three years, but I can honestly tell all of you that this is it. The Petrels finally have a tremendous 1/2 punch on the bump, and a quality 3rd starter. The bullpen is the X factor in my eyes as it will be consisted of mostly all underclassmen, however they have the talent to succeed. The offense is the peak of the Petrels this season as they return all players on offense, and have added 3 or 4 bats that any team would die for. And last but not least, the part of the petrels that has caused them the most problems the last couple of years- defense. This may be the smoothest fielding infield the Stormy Petrels have had...EVER. It looks to be a very exciting year in the SCAC and hopefully OU will live up to my usual preseason talk. How's everyone else look?
Trinity returns a team which came within one game of the CWS and all ten of their top ten at-bat guys from last seasion return:
.402, .367, .357, .353, .353, .344, .316, .307, .293, and .288 ...... and five of those were freshmen. Offensively, TU promises to be highly potent.
On the hill, Bronson is back but lower-inning guys from last year and some talented newcomers will have to pick up the torch as Oates and Poffenroth have graduated. If the P-staff can put it all together, they could go deep into May.
But they Trinity must get out of one of the most balanced regions in baseball.
No argument there. However, they manage to do it fairly often (at least into Regional action).
I have said it many times before, but Trinity will always be average until they make it out of a regional. Maybe they will do it this year but the TX schools have always had outstanding regular season records but come regional time, only one (CU Austin in 2002) has been able to do it.
Quote from: Jack Parkman on December 16, 2008, 11:30:54 PM
I have said it many times before, but Trinity will always be average until they make it out of a regional. Maybe they will do it this year but the TX schools have always had outstanding regular season records but come regional time, only one (CU Austin in 2002) has been able to do it.
+1! :)
Quote from: Jack Parkman on December 16, 2008, 11:30:54 PM
I have said it many times before, but Trinity will always be average until they make it out of a regional. Maybe they will do it this year but the TX schools have always had outstanding regular season records but come regional time, only one (CU Austin in 2002) has been able to do it.
I am not sure how that makes a program "average." They have made it to the championship game in the West Regional 3 times since 2002.
Are we to think George Fox is above average solely because they rode the arm of Scott Hyde, and I mean rode it, to the CWS in 2004?
Trinity is anything but average, as evidenced by the number of guys they are getting drafted, and how well they have performed at a consistently high level.
On the other hand, unless and until they get to the CWS, there isn't anyone in the program who will feel satisfied.
By your definition, there are about 16 or so above average programs in DIII and 300 or more that are average or below.
I guess it depends on how you define "average." In my experiences in college baseball, only those who are well above average get to and experience success in the Regionals, and do it regularly.
Maybe "average" isn't the best word to use....but honestly, I can't really think of another.
Many schools will have inflated regular season records but when it come to the regionals, they simply can not get it done. I am not trying to sound like I have something against Trinity, but until they make it past a regional they are not going to be considered an elite team.
I don't really like the draft argument but I guess that is a pretty good indicator of the level of talent they are bringing in.
What do I think of George Fox? Thats a tough one because they had the one year where they did ride Scott Hyde, but it takes A LOT more than one guy to win the CWS. I do realize that without him they likely would not have even made it there but there were 24 other guys on that team that made it happen.
"Inflated????"
If you are playing lollipop schedules, you don't get to the championship game of the West Regional 3 times since 2002. There isn't a top team in the West Region that Trinity has not beaten, including Chapman.
Since 2002 they are on a tier just below Chapman but equal or above George Fox, anyone in the SCIAC and NWC, the ASC, and all the independents.
As Krakatoa pointed out, the issue is usually pitching depth, not quality.
I can assure you that in 2004, Coach Scannell could have thrown his #1, Mike Frost , an All Amercan, as many innings as Fox did with Hyde.
Last Spring he could have done the same with Evan Bronson in the McMurry regional.
He won't do those things.
Some think it is worth the risk and actuality of injury to do that and get to Wisconsin. The Trinity coaching staff does not.
If those issues and coaching decisions leave you with the view they are "average," then so be it.
Their opponents know they are not and neither do the scouts heading down the I35 to scout their players.
I said MANY schools have inflated records, and did not say anything about Trinity. We could go back and forth on this stuff until May, but I am just stating an opinion. Like I said, I have nothing against Trinity but I would like to see them get over the hump before adding them in the nations elite.
On a side note, I do believe they would make it out of another regional without Chapman in it. Look at what Linfield did...
Quote from: Jack Parkman on December 17, 2008, 02:16:04 PM
I said MANY schools have inflated records, and did not say anything about Trinity. We could go back and forth on this stuff until May, but I am just stating an opinion. Like I said, I have nothing against Trinity but I would like to see them get over the hump before adding them in the nations elite.
On a side note, I do believe they would make it out of another regional without Chapman in it. Look at what Linfield did...
I completely agree they need to get out of the Region to be considered at the elite DIII level. One thing they are doing is upping the level of competition in the SCAC. Between 2004 and now, Rhodes, Austin College and to a lesser extent, Hendrix, have made huge improvements. Those games used to support "inflated" records. But those days have changed and what the Trinity staff has done since 1999 when they arrived plays quite a role in that improvement.
As an illustration, when Rhodes hired their new coach in 2004, he stated he thought they would compete. When Trinity left their field, he readily acknowledged how wrong he was.
To his credit, he has turned Rhodes in to a regional power and they are continuing to improve.
The SCAC West, combined with playing the ASC schools gives Trinity a very strong schedule. Toss in Notre Dame and Nothern Illinois this year and they will have their hands full to get to Linfield.
Quote from: Jack Parkman on December 17, 2008, 02:16:04 PM
...
On a side note, I do believe they would make it out of another regional without Chapman in it. Look at what Linfield did...
And so would Pac Lutheran in '07, Texas Lutheran in '06, and Texas Lutheran in '05 and George Fox in '03, CSU East Bay (Hayward) in '01 and Cal Lutheran in '00. ;)
Looks like the SCAC will have some very talented players this year. Hopefully we'll have some players get picked up come June. Any thoughts on who might get some SERIOUS looks from MLB affiliates.
Well, there will be plenty of scouts heading down the I-35 corridor to watch Evan Bronson. If Evan can continue to show improvement on his fastball, since he will be a Lefty senior sign with a Summer in the Cape, he could be a bargain and get drafted much higher than he was last June.
It is pretty tough for any position player to get drafted other than as a senior, and even then, it is pretty rare in all of DIII.
Trinity is NOT an average D3 program...put them in the range from above average but not yet elite.
Bronson will draw a lot of attention, does anyone know where he was this summer with his MPH? Trinity is so young offensivley but probably a few guys in 2011 will get some looks.
Hunter Owen from Millsaps has to get a chance, right?
Lou- I agree and already said "Average" probably wasn't the best work to use. I think they have had some very good years, but need to get over the hump. I have nothing against Trinity at all.
Quote from: Lou_Brown on December 17, 2008, 10:02:17 PM
Hunter Owen from Millsaps has to get a chance, right?
Lou,
I have never seen him play. He sure puts up great numbers in DIII baseball. He comes from a program known for producing terrific hitters.
The issue is whether scouts can project him in Milb. For that, DIII ball actually isn't all that helpful unless he has very good success against guys like Bronson, or has played with good results in a top quality summer wood bat league like the Valley, Coastal Plain, etc.
If he has shown the ability in those leagues with wood, and is projectable defensively, then he has a chance.
On average, only about 8-10 position players are drafted each year. Those 8-10 not only put up huge DIII numbers, they do it in a way where scouts can project their swing, speed and defensive ability to Milb.
On top of that, he needs to show he is still improving. As good as his numbers have been, they need to be better in 2009 to show scouts he has more upside to his development an projectability.
I hope this helps and I hope he does get the opportunity.
Wow, that was a nice flurry of activity!! Pros, cons, it's all good at this time of year. Looking forward to more, more, and more as the season draws ever closer and then.......at long last.......begins!!
Happy Holidays to All!
Centre's Jake Jones was sitting 88-90 touching 93 this fall along with a nice curve and change. If he keeps that up through the season he will get his looks. Let's hope Jones, Bronson, Owen's, and hopefully some others do well so that the SCAC will get some deserved recognition.
We just opened the door on another new area of the SCAC website - SCAC Interactive.
We will use this area to blog from championship events as well as post pictures and video. Also, we plan on a weekly (or bi-weekly podcast), featuring interviews with student-athletes and coaches.
To check out the inaugural podcast, click this link:
http://www.scacsports.com/inside_athletics/interactive (http://www.scacsports.com/inside_athletics/interactive)
Quote from: PetrelBaseball on December 16, 2008, 01:06:07 PM
Less than 1 month until baseball season officially gets underway in the SCAC! Less than 2 months until non-conference opening games start for the SCAC! I know I'm excited, how about everyone else? Haven't heard a lot of talk about the year yet, so I figured I would maybe get us going.
I believe OU has the talent to finally make some noise this year. I know this has been a recurring theme the past two or three years, but I can honestly tell all of you that this is it. The Petrels finally have a tremendous 1/2 punch on the bump, and a quality 3rd starter. The bullpen is the X factor in my eyes as it will be consisted of mostly all underclassmen, however they have the talent to succeed. The offense is the peak of the Petrels this season as they return all players on offense, and have added 3 or 4 bats that any team would die for. And last but not least, the part of the petrels that has caused them the most problems the last couple of years- defense. This may be the smoothest fielding infield the Stormy Petrels have had...EVER. It looks to be a very exciting year in the SCAC and hopefully OU will live up to my usual preseason talk. How's everyone else look?
I have to agree with you Petey. Although I am new to all this, I do think OU will be much improved this year. I am not saying OU will be a powerhouse, but I do think they will be much improved over the past few seasons...at least I hope they will ;D ;D.
A very slick infield indeed. With Soph Cornwell manning SS all year and Freshman Jake moving in at 2B, AB(also a Freshman) behind the plate, defensively we should be very strong and improved up the middle. We'll be strong on the corners too as two returning upper classmen Archer and Riggins will man those spots. Llano moves back to the outfield where he is strongest along with senior (one of only 2) "Tex" Lucas. The other spot I think is still up for grabs but either way, this team looks to be pretty decent. Hitting will also be improved, and they were not too shabby last year. Guys like Ben Giddens and super soph Andy Farrey can really hit, as can every one of the starters. Pitching? Absolutely improved as Sam returns, and 2 new transfers look to be top starters. Sarinsky (from N Ga..a D1 school) throws in the high 80's to low 90's consistently, and the new kid coming in from Piedmont College should help alot. Sean Tuttle (the other senior) also throws well making for a much improved and more seasoned pitching staff.
I can't wait! I look forward to seeing and hearing about the other teams also. I hear Depauw is always strong and I know Rhodes is the same. I hope we can compete. I
think we can. Fun stuff.
What a surprise indeed to see such activity so early. I'll join in the fun with my thoughts on the previous two pages:
1) Obviously Trinity is not "average", a word that was used to describe a step below the very elite in D3 baseball. I'd hate to think what word would be used for the mid-level conference teams and the cellar dwellers if conference champions were only considered to be average.
Whatever the right words should be, the point being made is that Trinity and Millsaps both are programs that have been highly ranked but haven't made it to the CWS. Millsaps was only an out away in 2006 after having won the winner's bracket in their regionals, but it's amazing how the result of one play or one pitch can effect the perception of how a team compares nationally. Trinity and Millsaps are both programs that have been close to the CWS and I hope they'll both get there someday soon.
2) Regarding pro prospects out of the SCAC, keep in mind that the pros see these guys as already having 2 strikes against them. First, they are really old to be starting a minor league career, especially since they have not been facing the competition seen in a league like the SEC. Second, these guys have options. I think back to 2006 when Garner Wetzel was playing in the lower minors, maybe as one of the oldest guys on the team and probably the only one with a college degree and an acceptance to law school waiting back at home. As a pro team, would you rather draft that type of guy or the 18 year old kid who has a construction job as his fall back option?
2a) While recognizing that getting drafted is a low probability for D3 players, with Millsaps I think you'd have to look at Hunter Owen and Tait Hendrix. Hunter's numbers "slumped" early last year when Millsaps couldn't find enough consistent hitting to put in front or behind him. Once the other hitters came around, Hunter went on a tear. Plus, he has speed and the type of frame that could add more power. With Tait, the key is that he is a left handed pitcher with more strikeouts than innings pitched. When his control is sharp and he is staying ahead of the hitters, he is very impressive. He's the type player where some scout might see a lot of potential upside through a change of mechanics, or more reps, etc.
3) And like everyone else, I'm really looking forward to the start of the season even though I'm enjoying the basketball quite a bit. Millsaps should have a lot of hitting returning for 2009 which is good because they lost a lot of pitching. They will be helped by the new home and away setup where you only play 2 or 3 SCAC games over a weekend. They have the returning pitching to be tough in a short series--I'm not sure if they would have enough to cover 4 games for several weekends in a row. As for newcomers who might help right away, that's hard to say since the 2009 roster hasn't been posted. I'm hoping there's a potential weekend starter in the new faces--you can never have too many of those players.
Frank,
The age/college aspect is widely variable by MLB organization.
There are probably 1/2 the teams that emphasize college players in the draft as opposed to high school players. Teams like the A's, Rays, Blue Jays and others place an emphasis on college players, for a number of reasons.
Our son played on teams that were 90% or more college players throughout the minor leagues. The balance, actually, were Latin and Asian players, not high schoolers. But you are also right that when the Padres drafted Wetzel, that team was heavily invested with younger players, especially from the Dominican.
I agree that DIII players have 2 strikes when it comes to the draft. The stats of 20 players being selected out of 1,500 is clear proof.
It really comes down to the ability to project the DIII player continuing to improve when they play against the best talent at the highest level.
Hitting .500 in DIII does not prove you can do that
Quote2a) While recognizing that getting drafted is a low probability for D3 players, with Millsaps I think you'd have to look at Hunter Owen and Tait Hendrix. Hunter's numbers "slumped" early last year when Millsaps couldn't find enough consistent hitting to put in front or behind him.
I need infielddad and others to jump in here,
but I believe that a scout would much rather evaluate the quality of a player when pitchers are pitching around him. How does he take what is offered and start the rally? What is the "plate discipline" that he demonstrates?
Thanks.
Ralph--I know what you are saying but with Hunter last year there were times when he saw nothing. In one game he had 4 at-bats and either saw 16 or 17 pitches as he walked all 4 times (the Ozark game early in the season). The situation got better as the season progressed and Hunter ended up with 45 walks and 12 HBP to go along with 160 official at bats. I don't know how that compares to others in the SCAC for 2008 since the SCAC baseball page is displaying the 2007 stats.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on December 21, 2008, 03:27:29 PM
Quote2a) While recognizing that getting drafted is a low probability for D3 players, with Millsaps I think you'd have to look at Hunter Owen and Tait Hendrix. Hunter's numbers "slumped" early last year when Millsaps couldn't find enough consistent hitting to put in front or behind him.
I need infielddad and others to jump in here,
but I believe that a scout would much rather evaluate the quality of a player when pitchers are pitching around him. How does he take what is offered and start the rally? What is the "plate discipline" that he demonstrates?
Thanks.
Ralph, I would tend to agree with you. Professional evaluations of hitters at the DIII level can be pretty hard.
Certainly, if you are not even seeing pitches in the strike zone, showing that type of plate discipline is helpful, to an extent. I think the scouts would prefer to see a hitter who makes the guy in front and behind him better hitters and then takes his AB's seeing the best pitches in the best locations and succeeds in any count.
At the professional level/DI level, scouts know hitters are going to see better pitches, and will see them in any count. They have to be able to translate what they might be seeing at the DIII level with what they know exists when the velocity is 88-93, with breaking balls/sliders and change ups that can always be thrown for strikes, and that always look the same out of the hand.
Thus, if the guys hitting in front and behind you at the DIII level cause you to get better pitches, a scout might look at that as a downside.
For our son and Nick Vera, I think the fact the Trinity coaches put them in top summer wood bat leagues and they hit around .300 and above made a huge difference. For our son, scouts told him it took out the guesswork and helped them be able to project(of course he didn't like some of the projections, but they turned out to be wrong.) It also made them much better hitters, in any situation.
I don't know if Hunter Owen has played with wood. Personally, I think that could have hurt Wetzel. He had tremendous tools and was physically very, very impressive. But he struggled with the transition to wood and you don't get many chances in professional ball if you do.
If Owen has had success with wood, he is much less of a risk than trying to judge solely off what he does in DIII with aluminum.
Just about a month to go. Trinity will tangle early with UT-Tyler, on 2/7 and 2/8. That will be a fun pair to watch.
IF UT-T has the facillities to support our streaming video, you WILL be able to watch it... I'm checking with their SID to confirm whether they have the internet connection.
I saw the Millsaps guys out on the field when leaving the Sunday basketball games. Millsaps opens up with 3 games on the weekend of Feb. 6-8, a round-robin series with LaGrange, U. of the Ozarks, and Rhodes. There's not really much up on the Millsaps baseball season at the moment but Rhodes has a preview up on their baseball home page:
http://www.rhodeslynx.com/index.asp?path=baseball
Trinity recently posted their 2009 schedule, they have 8 home conference games and 12 road confernce games. You would think everyone would be able to play 10 home and 10 road conference games. Do other teams have unbalanced home/road schedules?
Strange conference scheduling. Southwestern has all of its 3 games series at home this year, Trinity has all of the 2 game series at home, and everyone else has a mix.
Also looks like the conference tournament has changed format again this year to a 3 day schedule. Anyone know the format?
Oglethorpe plays 9 on the road and 6 at home. Is Birmingham Southern eligible for postseason play this year?
Hunter Owen of Millsaps has been named on the D3Baseball preseason All-American team. I believe he is the only SCAC player on the list: http://www.d3baseball.com/
Millsaps has a 2009 Preview posted on the baseball home page: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/09Preview.shtml
I did not realize that the SCAC Baseball Tournament will be held in Jackson this year and when I look at the Millsaps baseball schedule I see no weekend reserved for the crossover series. Is it back to the top 3 from each side go to a 6-team tournament?
Quote from: wishbone ash on January 12, 2009, 04:13:25 PM
Oglethorpe plays 9 on the road and 6 at home. Is Birmingham Southern eligible for postseason play this year?
Answer - Birmingham Southern isnt eligible for postseason play.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on January 15, 2009, 12:49:47 PM
Hunter Owen of Millsaps has been named on the D3Baseball preseason All-American team. I believe he is the only SCAC player on the list: http://www.d3baseball.com/
Millsaps has a 2009 Preview posted on the baseball home page: http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/09Preview.shtml
I did not realize that the SCAC Baseball Tournament will be held in Jackson this year and when I look at the Millsaps baseball schedule I see no weekend reserved for the crossover series. Is it back to the top 3 from each side go to a 6-team tournament?
Answer: It is back to the top 3 from each side and the 6 team double elimination tournment I believe.
The new website for Millsaps athletics went online yesterday. Check it out and note that there is a box on the lower right where you can sign up for the sports e-newsletter.
Link: http://www.gomajors.com/
(And thanks for that answer HeadingForHome--your D3 message board name makes me think of the Meat Loaf song "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"--"He's heading for home, I think he's going to make it")
Frank,
Thank you for the link. The new website is a beauty and, in my view, very much adds to the sports/baseball program at Millsaps.
The Trinity athletic website, to me at least, is very much the opposite. Luckily, historymajor uses his IT talents to bring live coverage for most baseball games. Other than Bob's efforts, the site itself no longer reflects the quality of the program.
Looks like this message board could use a voice for the Lynx in '09...its still early but this team looks very talented, and Coach C has more depth at each position than ever before. Having played at every field in the SCAC except Austin and Birm. Southern, I think the newly renovated field is now one of the top facilities in the conference. Too bad for the freshly retired Lynx it came a year late...
Trinity has posted its 2009 team preview.
16-0 in high school....a high school in Illinois where you probably dont play a ton of games.....crazy :o
Regarding last 3 posts:
1) Link to Trinity 2009 preview: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/preview_recap.htm
2) In reading the preview you will see that it is Northwestern University transfer Eric Binder who went 16-0 during his senior year in high school. Regardless of the level of competition, that's something you don't see often and it appears to be a misprint in the Trinity preview based on this link from the Northwestern website: http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/binder_eric00.html
3) In defense of the SID's around the SCAC and other D3 leagues, I have to believe that most are tremendously overworked during the bulk of the school year and that is a huge factor in the lack of an impressive website at many schools. Plus, they often have their hands tied as they have to conform to a standard template that doesn't work well for sports or they have limited access to making changes on the sports website.
When I first started taking photos at Millsaps, the SID position was a part-time job that didn't even pay half of a decent salary. It was a great day when that position became a full-time job and Millsaps hired Kevin Maloney, but he was one person trying to do the job of at least two. The SID at Millsaps is responsible for a tremendous amount of game day preparation at each sporting event, and in the fall and the spring there are often 5 or 6 sporting events over a weekend. After making sure that the sporting events are hosted properly, the SID still has to write the story, get the stats posted and reported to the SCAC, the newspapers, etc.
All I have to go by is Millsaps, but I've seen Kevin put in more than 40 hours of hard work over the Friday-Sunday stretch many, many times, and then he still has the rest of the week where he is worrying about media guides, requests from local home town newspapers, and a ton of other jobs that fall into his lap. Fortunately, Millsaps hired a second full-time staff member for the SID department this year and that has worked out great. It is money well spent because doing a good job of promoting the athletics is a great way to promote the school, and for most SCAC schools the athletes make up a significant part of the student population. A strong SID department is money well spent on deserving athletes and on recruiting for the school in general and I think the vast majority of school administrations fail to see this point.
16-0 would be impressive....but the Northwestern site says he went 8-0 his senior HS season, still a pretty darn good season. He then went on to go 7-0 during his summer ball team, which is not his HS team. Especailly if they were ranked #5 in WWBA. Most of those teams have very high draft picks.
I like Coach Scannell's comment that his offense is young??? Ummm, its the same offense (minus the SS who posted the lowest numbers of all regulars) that took you to the regional last season and hit .330 and scored over 400 runs!
Trinity is going to be top 15 by the end of the season...
its the same offense (minus the SS who posted the lowest numbers of all regulars) that took you to the regional last season and hit .330 and scored over 400 runs!
Minor correction Lou -- it is the same offense minus a catcher that played a little more than 1/2 the games (the SS is back).
EXACTLY!! Thanks for the correction and sorry to Hoover, good player.
Quote from: lynxbackstop on January 21, 2009, 09:10:49 PM
Looks like this message board could use a voice for the Lynx in '09...its still early but this team looks very talented, and Coach C has more depth at each position than ever before. Having played at every field in the SCAC except Austin and Birm. Southern, I think the newly renovated field is now one of the top facilities in the conference. Too bad for the freshly retired Lynx it came a year late...
Spoke with Ass't coach S. late last year and asked what the schedule would be like for 2009. He said the the Lynx would have the toughest schedule ever. He was right! With all the young guys trying to step up to fill the the positions left by the grads I think a season of a little over .500 would be respectable. The out of conference schedule is really tough. I agree with the depth of players, but Coach C will be challenged to keep them all happy. The addition of Cat as pitching coach is a big plus.
The new field additions are great and new prospects and visitors will be impressed.
Condolences to Coach C. as he goes through a very difficult time in his life. Keep him in your prayers.
Last year Millsaps had a lot of holes to fill and a lot of talented players deserving of a chance to fill those holes. It seemed like every game was a different lineup as older players who had waited for their chance were given opportunities and younger players eagerly looked to play right away.
In my opinion, the Millsaps coaches did the right thing by giving everyone a fair chance to prove their case about deserving a starting role. However, at one point in the season it seemed to me that team unity and spirit was lower than I've ever seen at Millsaps--I believe that was during a dismal home series against Southwestern and I remember writing a post with that observation. Things improved immensely in the second half of the season as the lineup became a little more consistent and roles on the team became a little more defined.
My hope is that Millsaps will start off this season with less ebb and flow in the daily lineup and that should be the case. Of the guys who played almost every day, Millsaps lost Hunter Abrams at SS, Derrick Boland as the DH, and Quinn Salmon at 1B. While those are big holes to fill, the key is that there aren't as many holes to fill as there were at the start of 2008 when they had lost 5 of the starting field players.
From what I can gather, this Millsaps team should be strong at the plate. That's what I said at the beginning of last year and they were strong at the end of the year. I believe the ever changing lineup hurt the run production during the middle of the 2008 season. It will be interesting to see if Hunter Owen can improve on his 16 HRs and if he can match Juan Joseph with his 3rd straight SCAC Offensive POTY award. I'll be interested to see what Will Hawkins can do if he is in the starting lineup for the entire season. Throw in Tony Malaschak and you have 3 guys in the lineup who could easily hit double-digits in HR's--Tony hammered one over the 400 ft marker while I was watching a few minutes of a practice scrimmage Friday evening.
As for the pitching, I know there is quality at the top with Tait Hendrix and Aaron Williams. After that I just haven't heard much. Maybe Drew Maddox will be switched over to a starting role this season. One thing for sure is that Millsaps will be helped by the switch away from the 4-game weekend series at least during the regular season. You still have to have depth if you want to win the SCAC Tournament and do well at Regionals.
One last thing on this post that is probably too long. I thought teams like Millsaps were starting early with an opening game on Feb. 6th, but yesterday I saw that local teams Belhaven College and Tougaloo College are already playing. College baseball in January--even for the deep South that sounds way too early.
Further to an earlier post, if Rhodes can survive its first 20-25 games, they will be battle hardened for the conference schedule. They play something like 50% of their first 24 games against either ranked or "mentioned" top 30 teams, including: Piedmont,NC Weslayan, Marietta, Denison, Emory, Ripon and WI-Stevens Pointe and Millsaps, plus La Grange, Greensboro, etc. The team has some big shoes to fill, with Beasley, Flanigan, Vanaman, Hurd and Catalanotto having graduated. But the defense has looked just outstanding this fall and this spring (when its not snowing or too cold), and the pitching, while young, has the best depth ever. Bullpen is particularly deep, and if the new guys can step up early and gain confidence, the year could be a good one. But, it is not an easy schedule. Pitching and defense will determine the season for Rhodes.
For once in my life I would love to come out of spring (winter) training saying"We're killing the ball, but our pitching is behind" :).
You're always wondering if your pitching is that good or your hitting that bad? If you look at last years stats Rhodes was near the top in most stats in the SCAC. So, it will be tough to improve statistically. But, it seemed they lacked the crucial hit in big games last year.
They have five good solid hitters, but the remaining guys in the lineup will make the difference if it is going to be a successful season.
In the era of aluminum bats you have to put up big run numbers to win, I don't care how good your pitching is.
Thats why I love to watch Millsaps play, they always have guys that can rake. Speaking of that, can't wait for this coming weekend. LaGrange, Millsaps, and Ozarks will all know where they are after next weekend.
Good luck Lynx and have a good opener Tuesday!
Barring a rainout, Millsaps will have a game under their belt one week from now and hopefully Coach Page will have his 500th career victory. I'm excited about the start of the season even though I dread what the start of sping sports will do to my life as I try to photograph many of the home events over the next few months.
Last Friday I was watching a few minutes of a Millsaps baseball scrimmage. One of the veterans was on the mound, Coach Page was at the backstop behind the catcher so he could get a good look at the pitches, and Tony Malaschak totally crushed a ball over the 400-foot marker in straight away centerfield. It was then surprising to hear Coach Page say something like, "That was a good pitch. That's exactly where you need to be putting the pitch and in this case it was simply a great swing by the batter". As donotknowscac said, in the era of the aluminum bats, the odds are tilted in favor of the hitters. With a wood bat, it would have been a good pitch, a great swing, and a long out.
With SCAC teams beginning play this weekend I haven't seen a predicted order of finish or season preview?? SCAC office?
Lou, d3baseball.com has a write up about the south. They mention Rhodes and Depauw but nothing about the West. It's a weak write up. I think the east is up for grabs, with Oglethorpe improving the most. The west always has to deal with Millsaps.
Rhodes plays CBU today (tuesday). I predict it will be real, real cold. I may out on a limb though.
Rhodes, Millsaps, The Ozarks and Lagrange play this weekend at Millsaps in their annual love fest. Those teams will know where they stand early in the year after this weekend. Millsaps came out swinging in this last year. It was well attended also.
Rhodes just beat CBU 11 to 2 in 33 degree weather and the wind chill in the 20's. I'm glad I watched it on Live Stats instead of in person. Babich started and went 3 good IP, and the other starters and then the pen went an inning each. Good offense for the Lynx, but it's hard to tell on Live Stats how hard they hit the ball. But, as indicated earlier this team has good pitching and good defense and really outstanding speed. Chemistry is really good at this point, too. On to Jackson for a fun weekend series.
SCAC-West write-up (http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2009/01/29/6272/.html)!
"The west always has to deal with Millsaps."
One could argue that the West always has to deal with Trinity. But I think both arguments are valid!
Austin didn't do such a bad job back in 2007. The West is never a cakewalk for anyone.
I can't believe I'm writing this now before most teams have thrown the first pitch, but it's going to be a great SCAC Tournament in Jackson this April.
Southwestern just split with UMHB (which only fell two votes shy of being the ASC-West pre-season favorite.)
SCAC-West definitely is always tough and somewhat unpredictable. Milsaps will always have some big hitters but I don't think anyone plays as fundamentally sound as Trinity. I think they will take the west followed closely by Milsaps and Austin. Hendrix is improving but is very young again this year with something like 14 freshman on the team. They lost a game to Ozarks tuesday that was much closer than the score implies.
Welcome nvnorthpaw!
Whom do you follow most closely? :)
Hendrix most closely followed closely by Cal Lutheran.
The Millsaps season opener will be webcast at 3:00 Central today as they try to defeat LaGrange College and give Millsaps Head Coach Jim Page his 500th career victory.
Here's a link to the Millsaps baseball page where you can find a season preview, the 2009 roster, and at the bottom right of the page is the link for the webcast--most of the Millsaps games will be webcast this season:
http://www.gomajors.com/index.aspx?path=baseball&tab=baseball
Note: Millsaps will play U. of Ozarks Saturday at 11:30 and then Rhodes College Sunday at 2:30. The weather forecast is sunny all weekend with lows in the 50's and highs in the mid-70's.
Millsaps opened up the season with a 12-8 victory over LaGrange to give Coach Jim Page his 500th victory. It was a nip and tuck game with Millsaps taking an early lead, LaGrange hitting 2 or 3 home runs to go up 8-5 (I believe), and Millsaps rallying for the victory.
One of the key plays of the game was a Millsaps triple where the LaGrange outfielder simply lost the ball right from the start. I'm not sure if an out there instead of a triple would have changed to outcome, but that was a big momentum swing.
Here's a link to a partial story on the Millsaps website: http://www.gomajors.com/news/2009/2/6/BB_0206091232.aspx
Millsaps takes their second win of the season with a 9-5 victory over the U. of the Ozarks. Tait Hendrix started the game and went 4+ innings, Boomer Hudson came in and pitched the remainer of the game, giving up 1 hit and earning his first college victory.
The first HR for the Majors this year came from catcher Tyler Berry and the second came from freshman 2nd baseman Todd Barnthouse who added 2 doubles in a 3 for 4 day. A more familiar name, Hunter Owen, had the third and final HR for the Majors as he extended his hitting streak to 14 games stretching over 2 seasons.
Rhodes also won their first game yesterday, something like 15-8 over the Ozarks. Their game today with LaGrange is scheduled to start shortly. Millsaps and Rhodes will play tomorrow at approximately 2:30 and that game will be webcast as will the Monday and Tuesday games at Piedmont and the Wednesday game where Millsaps hosts Huntingdon.
What I have learned over the last few years is that these two wins are huge for Millsaps and the next 4 games are critical. If you are playing a D3 team, there is no such thing as a non-critical game. Every team in the SCAC has less than a 50-50 chance to win the league's automatic qualifier. Let's just say you have Millsaps, Trinity, Rhodes, DePauw and 2 other SCAC teams of your choosing in a 6-team tournament. If you were a betting person, would you take an even bet with any of those teams against the field? I wouldn't.
Therefore, you had better play well enough during the regular season to give yourself a chance at an at-large berth. That all comes down to your regional ranking and a game played in early February carries just as much weight as one played in April. Come Thursday morning, it will be a huge boost to the Millsaps playoff hopes if they are 6-0 or at least 5-1. As for the game tomorrow between Rhodes and Millsaps, don't be surprised if we look back at the game at the end of the season and see that the results of this game put one team in the NCAA's and kept the other team out.
Hendrix had a rough opening home set vs. U. of Dallas although there were several bright spots. As soon as the big bats come around they should be fine. Note: the second game featured something like eight freshman in the line-up..
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 07, 2009, 04:14:18 PM
...
What I have learned over the last few years is that these two wins are huge for Millsaps and the next 4 games are critical. If you are playing a D3 team, there is no such thing as a non-critical game. Every team in the SCAC has less than a 50-50 chance to win the league's automatic qualifier. Let's just say you have Millsaps, Trinity, Rhodes, DePauw and 2 other SCAC teams of your choosing in a 6-team tournament. If you were a betting person, would you take an even bet with any of those teams against the field? I wouldn't.
Therefore, you had better play well enough during the regular season to give yourself a chance at an at-large berth. That all comes down to your regional ranking and a game played in early February carries just as much weight as one played in April. Come Thursday morning, it will be a huge boost to the Millsaps playoff hopes if they are 6-0 or at least 5-1. As for the game tomorrow between Rhodes and Millsaps, don't be surprised if we look back at the game at the end of the season and see that the results of this game put one team in the NCAA's and kept the other team out.
Absolutely, there is too much parity in D-III to permit losing even a single game, especially an in-region game.
As for Pool C at-large bids, there are only 14 to distribute among the 320 schools that fighting for them. :)
Millsaps are scheduled to play at 2:30 Central time this afternoon. The time may vary slightly since they are following the 11:00 game between U. of the Ozarks and LaGrange, two teams trying to get their first win of the weekend.
Here are some links:
Rhodes had live stats yesterday. If they have them today you should be able to find them at this link: http://www.rhodeslynx.com/schedules.asp?path=baseball
Millsaps will webcast at this link: http://www.atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm
Photos for the Millsaps vs. LaGrange game and the recognition ceremony for Coach Page's 500th career victory can be found here: http://gomajors.smugmug.com/Millsaps_College_2008-09/712001
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 08, 2009, 02:10:39 PM
Millsaps are scheduled to play at 2:30 Central time this afternoon. The time may vary slightly since they are following the 11:00 game between U. of the Ozarks and LaGrange, two teams trying to get their first win of the weekend.
Here are some links:
Rhodes had live stats yesterday. If they have them today you should be able to find them at this link: http://www.rhodeslynx.com/schedules.asp?path=baseball
Millsaps will webcast at this link: http://www.atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm
Photos for the Millsaps vs. LaGrange game and the recognition ceremony for Coach Page's 500th career victory can be found here: http://gomajors.smugmug.com/Millsaps_College_2008-09/712001
Thanks for the link. It's nice to see some action.
Quote from: DGilblair on February 08, 2009, 03:48:24 PM
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 08, 2009, 02:10:39 PM
Millsaps are scheduled to play at 2:30 Central time this afternoon. The time may vary slightly since they are following the 11:00 game between U. of the Ozarks and LaGrange, two teams trying to get their first win of the weekend.
Here are some links:
Rhodes had live stats yesterday. If they have them today you should be able to find them at this link: http://www.rhodeslynx.com/schedules.asp?path=baseball
Millsaps will webcast at this link: http://www.atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm
Photos for the Millsaps vs. LaGrange game and the recognition ceremony for Coach Page's 500th career victory can be found here: http://gomajors.smugmug.com/Millsaps_College_2008-09/712001
Thanks for the link. It's nice to see some action.
:D :D :D
Eat your heart out, you frozen Yankees!
How many feet of snow are snowblown into that corner of your yard?
;)
Frank, the difference between this year's Majors and last year's is that they have that "Leave No Doubt" urgency about them!
Millsaps leads 7-2 bottom of the 3rd.
Lynx tied with Millsaps 13-13 as i write this post...so much for the offense being a question mark for Rhodes this year.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on February 08, 2009, 04:46:50 PM
Quote from: DGilblair on February 08, 2009, 03:48:24 PM
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 08, 2009, 02:10:39 PM
Millsaps are scheduled to play at 2:30 Central time this afternoon. The time may vary slightly since they are following the 11:00 game between U. of the Ozarks and LaGrange, two teams trying to get their first win of the weekend.
Here are some links:
Rhodes had live stats yesterday. If they have them today you should be able to find them at this link: http://www.rhodeslynx.com/schedules.asp?path=baseball
Millsaps will webcast at this link: http://www.atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm
Photos for the Millsaps vs. LaGrange game and the recognition ceremony for Coach Page's 500th career victory can be found here: http://gomajors.smugmug.com/Millsaps_College_2008-09/712001
Thanks for the link. It's nice to see some action.
:D :D :D
Eat your heart out, you frozen Yankees!
How many feet of snow are snowblown into that corner of your yard?
;)
Hahaha.....trust me we are. Still have some snowbanks a couple feet high but it's melting fast, 50 above zero today. Was nice to see some action and all that green grass.
Millsaps and Rhodes pounded out some runs. Quite a few homers too.
Rhodes live stats shows the game at 13-13. Millsaps actually scored in the bottom of the 8th to go up 14-13 and then held Rhodes scoreless for only the second inning of the game to win 14-13. Millsaps scored in all but one of their eight innings.
There were two buses in the parking lot at the end of the game as Millsaps also is hitting the road tonight for an afternoon game at Piedmont tomorrow. Opening the season with 6 D3 Regional games in 6 days is a gamble which has paid off at the halfway point. I would think that Millsaps will go back to the 3 starters again since none of them pitch more than 5 innings this weekend. THESE GAMES AT PIEDMONT WILL BE WEBCAST.
The Millsaps schedule shows tomorrow's game at 2:00 and I'm thinking that Central time. You can see the Millsaps schedule at the following link and if you click on details you will see link for the webcast.
http://www.gomajors.com/schedule.aspx?path=baseball
One last thing about Millsaps and then hopefully someone else will take the opportunity to talk about their team or the SCAC in general.
It was less than a year ago that I had a post here which seemed to irritate some Millsaps people. I believe Millsaps had just played a dismal series against Southwestern and I wrote something about the team showing less team spirit than I had ever seen from a Millsaps baseball team. To their credit, the team turned that around and I believe their renewed unity had a lot to do with the late season run that almost resulted in an SCAC Championship.
What I saw this weekend was the exact opposite of that dismal series. What I saw at the games and what I see when looking through my photos, is that this bunch of guys really seem to enjoy being teammates. It reminds me a lot of the 2006 team except maybe more relaxed while being just as intense. Of course, they have only played 3 games, but I think the team's attitude plus their talent is going to make Millsaps a very tough team this season.
I hear Trinity is off to an 0-3 start..
Trinity is off to an 0-3 start which is bad news for the other SCAC teams hoping to be in the running for an at-large bid. Since the points one gets for a win/loss are based on the record of your opponent, it helps if your opponents have a better record. It was the weak SCAC non-conference records in 2007 that killed the chances of Millsaps and Rhodes to get an at-large bid.
Here's an interesting stat: Piedmont opened up with 2 games at Guiford College this weekend, scored 40 runs, and only gained a split. They lost on Saturday 19-18 and came back to win on Sunday 22-5.
With Piedmont averaging 20 runs per game and Millsaps almost 12, I hope DP has a comfortable chair for his broadcast today--it might be a long one.
What was in the water in Jackson Ms this weekend? Watched most of the games at the Wilson/DiMarini Classic. After the Rhodes/Millsaps game last night I saw them icing up the scoreboard operator's fingers. I heard he has tendonitis from posting the runs scored this weekend. I think, if I added correctly, there were 22 HR's hit in 6 games.
Rhodes really hit the ball well and averaged a little over 14 hits per game. A real change from last year at this time. Unfortunately they surrendered 18 walks/HBP to Millsaps last night or they would be undefeated to begin this season. Of course, the way Millsaps was hitting those 18 free passes may have turned into 18 HR's! In reviewing the line ups each day of all teams, it is good to note that most teams playing this weekend were very senior laden. Rhodes, while they have 2 SR's that will be hard to replace next year, had their line up full of sophomores and juniors, with a really good freshman leadoff hitter in the mix. The season and the future is bright for the Lynx. They have a tough weekend series with Huntingdon this weekend. But, this year's schedule is tough every weekend.
On the HR's in Jackson, there was some wind helping the first two days but not much wind at all on Sunday. Millsaps plays Huntindon Wednesday in a game that will be webcast. I believe the first pitch is 3:00.
I'm taking the afternoon off so I'll listen/watch the Millsaps game while working on photos. Millsaps is going with Ryan Zemke, a freshman from Baton Rouge. He is listed as a righty on the Millsaps roster, but clearly is a lefty (http://media.2theadvocate.com/images/ryan+zemke_050406.jpg). Ryan gave up a triple to his first batter, struck out the next, then got a flyout/tagout DP to end the inning when a runner tried to score on a fly to right.
After an inning and a half, Millsaps only has a walk in 7 batters (to Hunter Owen, no surprise). It might take a while to get the hitting going since they ended the game with Rhodes about 20 hours ago and then had the long bus ride to Georgia. I'll try to post an update at about the midway point of the game.
After 3 innings, Millsaps leads 1-0 with an unearned run in the top of the third.
Zemke has done a good job on the mound for Millsaps. Gave up a triple in the first, double in the second, and had a runner get on with an error and reach third in the third, but he didn't give up a run.
I'll try to post after each inning since it just dawned on me that some of you are working and can't have a webcast up and there's no live stat for the game.
4th inning:
Millsaps:
Will Hawkins starts with a single.
Tyler Berry hits to SS, ball it booted, runners on 1st and 3rd.
Tony Malaschak strikes out
Tyler Berry steals 2nd, runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out
Todd Barnthouse strikes out, 2 outs in the inning.
Billy Murphy grounds out to SS.
NO RUNS--MILLSAPS LEADS 1-0 GOING INTO BOTTOM OF FOURTH
Piedmont (they play good music during the breaks):
1st batter: infield single
Wild pitch, runner to 2nd.
2nd batter: lined out to second--1 out in the inning.
Stolen base, runner on 3rd with 1 out.
3rd batter: Sac fly to CF, runner scored from 3rd.
4th batter: Swinging K
AFTER 4 INNINGS--SCORED TIED 1-1
5th Inning:
Still pitching for Piedmont is senior LH Matt Burgess. Burgess was one of the 4 main starters for Piedmont last year, getting 10 starts and going 5-2 with a 5.90 ERA
Josh Ordeneaux--strikeout on call third strike, 1 out.
Jeremy Aliff--lines it into the leftfield corner for easy standup 2B
Russ Boyd--singles up the middle, Aliff scores from 2nd. Boyd's 2nd RBI of game.
Hunter Owen--Walks (I think this is 7 walks in 3+ games). Runners on 1st and 2nd.
Will Hawkins--Single to left. Runners stop at the bases. Bad throw from left bounces off cutoff man into dugout. Boyd and Owen both score and Hawkins to 2nd.
Tyler Berry--short fly out to OF, 2 outs.
Tony Malaschak--fly out.
MILLSAPS SCORES 3 IN THE INNING, LEAD 4-1 GOING INTO BOTTOM OF 5TH.
Piedmont, bottom of 5th (Zemke still on mound for Majors):
1st batter: fly to CF, 1 out
2nd batter: single to left, Piedmont's 4th hit of game
3rd batter: grounder to SS, force out at 2nd. 2 outs with runner at first.
Stolen base, runner on 2nd.
4th batter: grounder up the middle, nice play by Billy Murphy, runner out at first.
END OF 5TH--MILLSAPS LEADS 4-1
6th Inning:
Junior RH Josh Strickland now pitching for Piedmont. Josh appeared in 10 games last year, 4-0 record, 2.89 ERA (2nd best in 2008)
Millsaps:
Todd Barnthouse: Single
Billy Murphy: Strikeout, 1 out
Josh Ordeneaux: Fly to CF, 2 outs
Jeremy Aliff: Ground out.
MILLSAPS 4, PIEDMONT 1 going into bottom of 6th. Looks like Zemke is still on the mound.
PIEDMONT:
1st batter: fly out
...just got a call that my mom has a flat tire so that's the end of my ballgame watching.
Top of the 9th, just got back to the computer to see Will Hawkins hit one that the RF caught reaching over the fence. Tyler Berry then hit one to the warning track in center for another out. Tony Malaschak grounds to SS, throwing error, Malaschak to 2nd.
Millsaps must be leading the game. No score has been announced.
...ground out to end the inning. Millsaps leads 6-4 going into the bottom of the 9th. Drew Maddox is on the mound for the Majors.
Piedmont has the 2, 3 and 4 hitters this inning.
1st batter: strikeout on 3 pitches
2nd batter: triple off RF wall, tieing run will come to the plate with one out.
3rd batter: single. Millsaps now lead 6-5.
4th batter: single. John Duke goes 4 for 4 and now runners are on 1st and 2nd.
5th batter: grounder. Out at 2nd, looked like DP but ump said foot came off base. I was typing so I have no opinion. 2 outs runners on 1 and 3.
6th batter: grounder to 3rd, Ordeneaux long throw, Hawkins good play at 1st. Millsaps wins.
MILLSAPS WINS 6-5! Great win team on short rest. Hopefully they will get a good rest tonight and be 100% rested tomorrow at 2:00 Central.
Had to take a break from editing photos so I looked up the box score from today's game. After having his 14 game hitting streak snapped against Rhodes, Hunter Owen went hitless again today. The big question is how did he ever see enough decent pitches to have a 14 game hitting streak?
After 4 games, Hunter is hitting a lowly .222 on 2 for 9 hitting (a 2B and HR). However, he leads the Majors with a .619 OB% as he has walked 7 times and been HBP 4 times (shades of Nick Crawford). For you math majors, it's a .619 instead of .650 because he also has a sac fly to give him 21 at bats. At some point in the season teams are going to realize that they might need to pitch to Hunter instead of putting him on over half of his at bats for Will Hawkins.
Hawkins leads the Majors with a .474 average and a .789 SLG% (9 hits, 3 doubles, 1 HR) and he was apparently robbed of a home run today by a play which Coach Page said ranks as one of the best plays he has seen as a coach. Not bad for a guy who missed the fall season because of football. Those two guys back-to-back in the Millsaps lineup will make for some tough coaching decisions for Millsaps opponents.
Opening day for the Stormy Petrels tomorrow at Lagrange. I can't wait. Will be our first game and I am freakin pumped! I know that OU is no powerhouse, but we really have improved (I think) and we'll be better than in years past. I know Lagrange can hit as I watched the Milsaps game. Hope we can hit, play D, and get some decent pitching. My son said the team is excited too. Anyways, I know I'm geeked!
......now back to the D3boards Milsaps updates...lol :D :D ;D
I thought I had everyone else blocked from posting--I'll have to check my software code! :)
There was a recent season, I can't remember if it was 2008 or 2007, when OU got off to a fairly good start and then they ran into a losing streak that stretched about 20 games. It seems like there were a bunch of games in that stretch where they almost won--including an opening 4-game series with Rhodes that OU came very close to splitting.
My guess is that there were injuries involved, maybe a lost of team unity because they had so many young guys competing against one another for playing time, and maybe a sense of deja vu set in--those are just my guesses. In cases where a team has had very little success for a while, it often takes a group that will compete hard every inning of every game regardless of the score and regardless of the season record. That kind of group lays a foundation and I hope OU has that group this year. The SCAC needs more strong teams in the East.
I'll try to keep the posts down by modifying instead of new posts each inning.
1st inning--Millsaps 0, Piedmont 0
2nd inning--Millsaps 0, Piedmont 1
3rd inning--Millsaps 0, Piedmont 1
4th inning--Millsaps 0, Piedmont 3
(At this point it has been all Piedmont and Millsaps is fortunate to be within close range. Still a lot of time to go, but the bats need to come alive for the Majors.)
5th inning--Millsaps 3, Piedmont 3
6th inning--Millsaps 3, Piedmont 3
7th inning--Millsaps 4, Piedmont 3 (solo HR by Jeremy Aliff for Majors)
8th inning--Millsaps 7, Piedmont 3 (Boomer Hudson completes his 4th inning--no hits, I think)
Final--Millsaps 11, Piedmont 7
Millsaps moves to 5-0. Boomer Hudson gets his 2nd win of the season.
Notes:
--Hendrix should have a game in the books with Harding by now but the live stats show the previous Harding game. Maybe a rain delay or rainout?
--Starters and batting order for Millsaps: Jeremy Aliff(cf), Russ Boyd(c), Hunter Owen(rf), Will Hawkins(3b), Tyler Berry(dh), Bryant Palmerton(1b), Billy Murphy(ss), Todd Barnthouse(2b), Hayes Brian(lf) with Aaron Williams pitching.
--John Marshall Pemberton pitched the 3rd for Millsaps. Aaron Williams was on a pitch count of about 35-40.
--After 4 innings, Millsaps has just 2 infield hits and 6 strikeouts (plus 2 HBP, once again Hunter has been hit along with Tyler Berry).
--Top of the 5th, Hayes Brian draws 2 out walk; goes from 1st to 3rd on WP; scores on Aliff's single; Aliff steals 2nd; scores on Russ Boyd's single; Hunter Owen doubles to score Boyd; Piedmont makes pitching change--freshman Alex BeeBe was great up to this point, he looks like a good one; Hawkins grounds out to end the inning.
--Bottom of the 5th, Boomer Hudson comes in to pitch for Millsaps. Piedmont PA guys still playing good music between innings (spoke too soon--song between 5th and 6th wasn't too good, but they had extra time and redeemed themselves with the Allman Brothers).
--Forgot to mention a defensive change for Millsaps in the 6th. Josh Ordeneaux came in to play 3rd and Will Hawkins moved to 1st.
--Top of 8th for Millsaps: Hawkins ground out; Tyler Berry walked; Josh Ordeneaux singles moving runner to 2nd; Todd Barnthouse singles, drives in Berry, Ordeneaux takes 3rd, Barnthouse takes 2nd on throw; pitching change; Billy Murphy singles in Ordeneaux, runners at 1st and 3rd; Hayes Brian with SF to bring in run; Jeremy Aliff HBP, runners on 1st and 2nd; Russ Boyd HBP, bases loaded; Hunter Owen grounds out to end inning.
--Top of 9th: Hawkins walks; Tyler Berry strikes out; Josh Ordeneaux singles, runners at 1st and 2nd; Todd Barnthouse deep flyout to left; Billy Murphy walks, bases loaded; Hayes Brian gets hit up the middle drives in 2, runners on 2nd and 3rd; Jeremy Aliff safe on throwing error to 1st, both runners score; Russ Boyd grounds out.
Trinity falls at Texas Lutheran 7-3: http://www.tlu.edu/i/athletics/xlive.htm
It doesn't appear that Hendrix and Harding played their DH today.
LaGrange beats OU 10-5: http://home.lagrange.edu/athletics/stats/Baseball/live/xlive.htm
The Hendrix-Harding doubleheader was postponed due to weather and a single game will be played at Harding this thursday at 1pm.
Kind if surprised by Trinity's 0-4 start....whats going on out there?
I realize that a message board needs more than one person making 90% of the posts about one school. The solution will be that I cut back or others chime in, and what we really need are more voices from the other schools.
A 5-0 start isn't reason to assume a national championship for Millsaps or even an SCAC West title. It is just enough games to give us a hint about what the 2009 Majors will be like and for the Millsaps fans reading and the diehard D3 baseball fans, here's what I've seen so far:
---The concern coming into the season was centered primarily on the pitching. Early season ERA's can be deceiving so I'm going to assume that Aaron Williams and Tait Hendrix will be solid starters for Millsaps--that was the thinking going into the season and it should prove to be true in the long run. The big question mark was about the rest of the starters.
From first impressions, I like JC transfer Shelby Robertson. He's a big guy who looked good against Rhodes in his first start. It was also good to see a new lefthander having a good outing with freshman Ryan Zemke getting a win in his first start. Piedmont had put up 18 and 22 runs in their previous games and Zemke held them to 1 run in 5.2 innings.
Boomer Hudson has been the surprise of the early season with his 2 wins matching his total number of innings pitched in 2007 (I think he was a medical redshirt in 2008). Drew Maddox hasn't been a surprise after his solid 2008 season. While Drew's numbers seem inflated if you look at the stats, he seems to be the guy who wants to be on the mound when the game is on the line. He seems to make the big pitch when the pressure is the highest.
Several other guys have seen action at critical times so far. It's too early to tell how they'll do over the course of the season, but they all seem willing to throw strikes and challenge the batters. I think they have the guys who will do well in midweek games this year and in weekend games over the rest of their career, but I'm not sure which 2 or 3 will emerge from the untested group of pitchers.
---Moving over to the offensive side, the big surprise is home runs by 7 different players in the first 5 games. Unlike the first half of last season, there seems to be an established pattern to the lineup. The situation in 2008 was unavoidable with so many field positions up for grab and so many players deserving of a shot, but it was also disruptive. This stability to start the season is a huge factor that shouldn't be discounted.
Maybe it's too early to say this and maybe this is an overreach, but this offense reminds me of the 2006 team. That was a great team that really had some bad luck on the last day of their season to fall just short of making the World Series. They were a team that could start and maintain a rally from any part of the lineup. It was just as likely to have a big inning when the #5 guy lead off the inning as when the #1 guy lead off the inning. It seems like the 2009 team is going to be the same way and that has been a factor in some of these early season come from behind victories.
---All in all, it's too early to make a solid prediction of what this season holds for Millsaps. I like what I've seen so far, both in the field and in the dugout. The baseball team at Millsaps has traditionally been the leader in togetherness and this group seems to be in that tradition. The only certainty at this moment is that they have done a good job so far of staying in position for a nice South Regional ranking at the end of the season--it's never too early to think about that and it's always nice to have an alternative path to the playoffs.
My gut feeling is that this team will be in the NCAA playoffs at the end of the year. If the starting pitching steps up and finds a couple of dominant performers like the 2006 team had, then I see this team with the potential to make a run at the World Series like the 2006 team did. That's a big if and it's a long season. Just don't be surprised if the Millsaps baseball team follows in the steps of the football team, just as the football team a few years ago was looking to follow in the footsteps of the baseball team.
Frank,,, what can I say? My dad reminded me often, that "if you don't have anything nice (good) to say, don't say anything at all". Well you had plenty of good things to talk about Millsaps baseball, and as for me... well not so much,,, well not at all,,, about Trinity baseball. Looking forward to some good baseball ahead though!
I'll chime in, Lagrange-OU game was a pretty good game going into around the 5th when OU had one of those innings everyone wishes they could avoid. OU offense looked pretty decent and one can only hope as the season goes on they will get progressivley better. The season is early and this OU team looks a whole lot better (Mature) than last years team, how that will equate on the field is anyones guess.
Good luck to to all teams and of course I have high hopes of being at Jackson at the end.
Quote from: historymajor on February 11, 2009, 09:33:59 AM
Frank,,, what can I say? My dad reminded me often, that "if you don't have anything nice (good) to say, don't say anything at all". Well you had plenty of good things to talk about Millsaps baseball, and as for me... well not so much,,, well not at all,,, about Trinity baseball. Looking forward to some good baseball ahead though!
Bob,
Well said!!! ;D
Despite yesterday's forecast of thunderstorms and 80% chance of rain, it is a beautiful day in Jackson, MS. Millsaps plays Huntingdon today at 3:00 3:30 Central time and the link for the webcast is in my signature below. For some reason, my company thinks I should occasionally work a full day so I'll be hit and miss on keeping up with the game.
Based on Aaron Williams being on a pitch count of 40 yesterday, I suspect Tait Hendrix will start and go a couple of inning and then maybe someone like Max Berry or just a general pitch by committee. A week ago I would have said that 5-1 would be great for this 6 games in 6 days. Now that they have gone 5-0, I'll be disappointed if they don't stretch it to 6-0.
Link to 10-page pregame writeup: http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/General/Binder1.pdf
Link to Southwestern live stats (they play Howard Payne at 3:00 Central): http://livestats.prestosports.com/southwestern/
Millsaps wins over Huntingdon 13-10 in a game that was tied 10-10 after 4 innings. Drew Maddox came in with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the 5th and got a strikeout to end the last real threat by Huntingdon. Drew gave up 2 hits over 5 innings for the win, with Tait Hendrix getting a strikeout to end the game.
Tony Malaschak had a home run and double to drive in 4 runs (I think that's right), becoming the 8th Millsaps player with a home run this season.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 11, 2009, 07:29:47 PM
Millsaps wins over Huntingdon 13-10 in a game that was tied 10-10 after 4 innings. Drew Maddox came in with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the 5th and got a strikeout to end the last real threat by Huntingdon. Drew gave up 2 hits over 5 innings for the win, with Tait Hendrix getting a strikeout to end the game.
Tony Malaschak had a home run and double to drive in 4 runs (I think that's right), becoming the 8th Millsaps player with a home run this season.
Good wins... ;)
Talking to some folks who are around the OU program, they believe they have a team to compete this year in the East. Specifically they are solid in the infield especially at 3B and SS. They only have two seniors on the team one position guy and one pitcher. One freshmen will start (Adam Brazenas looking at the LaGrange box score) and a couple others may work their way into the lineup. Apparently their #1 is a transfer from a DII school in Georgia and their other starters have both been ALL SCAC performers...Offensively they should be better, 10 hits against LaGrange on tuesday.
Honestly in the past OU has played a very difficult schedule. 2008 saw them play Emory four times, piedmont twice, lagrange 3 times, Adrian, etc...
I hope to see them next week as the host the rawling southern classic.
Question for the OU guys about their new #1 Sarisky from North Ga Coll & State. I see in 2007 he threw 12innings with a 6.75era and for the 2008 season he was not on the roster. Is he coming back from an arm injury, academics???
Richball...I can't answer your questions specifically. All I know is that north georgia is very good. Bumped from NAIA to DII a few years ago and they always have had good teams. Not sure how that applies to Sarisky...anyone else with some info??
It seems like the move away from 4-game weekend series will help teams like OU more than it will help the traditional powerhouses. If OU can find 2 good starting pitchers, and a few who can pitch well to close out the game, then they have a shot to win each of their SCAC series.
(El Tea Gray--re: Trinity's 0-4 start!)
Lou, frank and history:
All the Trinity 0-4 start means to me is that the best regular season record that the Tigers can now have is 36-4. Count on a 30-win season and a SCAC championship; 0-4 start against Dallas, Tyler and Lutheran means nothing to me. I've been following Tiger Baseball since my freshman year (yes 1963) and have seen any number of bad starts that turned into great seasons (including Trinity's D-I days). Stay tuned.
:)
etg--I looks at Millsaps at 6-0 and Trinity at 0-4 and the numbers are absolutely meaningless when it comes to the SCAC regular season and the SCAC Tournament. I look at the very close Millsaps win over Rhodes and I see that Rhodes is gong to be very tough to beat in the SCAC Tournament. Southwestern's Brantley Freeman sounds like an ace pitcher based on his first week of action, so I don't think winning a series againest SW is a given, especially the 2-game weekends. I could go on.
What I do see when I look at the early season records is two things. First, Millsaps has put themselves in better position for an at-large berth than Trinity. That's not important if you win the SCAC Tournament, but look at the improbable finish Trinity needed at the SCAC Tournament last year just to get into the NCAA Playoffs--and they were a team that was good enough to get to the West Regional finals. The SCAC Tournament this year promises to be as tough or tougher than some NCAA Regionals, and having an alternative route to the playoffs will be important.
The second thing I see is that Trinity's 0-4 start hurts Millsaps and all the other SCAC teams. I believe I'm correct about these three stats from the 2007 season, a season where Millsaps and Rhodes were left out of the at-large selections:
1) Rhodes swept a 4 game series with OU and the overall rating for Rhodes went down because OU's winning percentage was under .333.
2) Millsaps lost the final game to Hendrix in a 4-game series and it actually helped the Millsaps rating because it moved Hendrix to or above .333, giving more value to the multiple wins Millsaps had over Hendrix earlier (and to the one loss). (SEE BELOW)
3) When Austin beat Millsaps in the SCAC Final to take the SCAC AQ, the silver lining was that it pulled Austin up to a .500 team which added more value to the results of the Austin games from earlier in the season.
Now I may have those things a little bit off, but the bottom line is that every SCAC loss to a non-conference D3 teams hurts the other teams in the league just a little. I would be much happier to see Trinity 4-0 at this point than their current 0-4.
(REGARDING ITEM 2: The more I thought about it, I didn't think Millsaps lost that last game to Hendrix and they did not. I think that because it was the last game for Hendrix, a loss put them under a .333 regional winning percentage for the season and a win would put them over, so Millsaps got the win and it lowered their rating a little bit more than where it would be if they had lost the game and Hendrix had become an above .333 team.)
Quote from: richball on February 11, 2009, 08:20:16 PM
Question for the OU guys about their new #1 Sarisky from North Ga Coll & State. I see in 2007 he threw 12innings with a 6.75era and for the 2008 season he was not on the roster. Is he coming back from an arm injury, academics???
The word out of NG on him is that he is a hard thrower who had control issues, I do know he has had issues with his back but is ready to go. I look forward to seeing him throw, and hope his control issues are behind him.
Hendrix is leading Harding (D-II) 16-7 in the 9th..wow
Quote from: nvnorthpaw on February 12, 2009, 05:18:54 PM
Hendrix is leading Harding (D-II) 16-7 in the 9th..wow
Hendrix won that game 17-9. As noted above Harding is D2 so it doesn't count on the D3 records for Hendrix, but it is a nice win nevertheless. Link to final live stats: http://www.hardingsports.com/sports/baseball/LIVE/xlive.htm
There are no games today and then a bunch of games on Saturday, including SCAC matchups of Hendrix at Millsaps, and Austin at Trinity. You can look up the complete schedule at this SCAC link:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2008-09/schedule
Etg... see you at EM Stevens this weekend. Hopefully our Tigers will be feasting on Kangaroos.
They should be 'hungry enough'!
A quick note that will only interest Millsaps people--the photos from the Rhodes game were posted last night and are at this link: http://gomajors.smugmug.com/gallery/7347321_v8TyC#472910380_NpZuU
Unlike football and basketball, my final edits in baseball rarely include opposing players so I don't think folks from Rhodes will find much of interest in the album.
The first pitch for the Hendrix-Millsaps game has been moved from 1:00 Central to 2:00 Central because of overnight and early morning rain.
Currently in Jackson--let me go out on the back porch--it is cool, damp and overcast but it looks like most of the rain is gone. Of course since it's February 14th, todays weather in Jackson would be warm and sunny for all you SCAC teams up north.
The game will be webcast and that link is below in my signature. The Sunday game will not be webcast since they are doing the noon men's basketball game which should be a good one. Millsaps and Southwestern are battling for the last SCAC West spot in the tournament and both are playing well of late. Millsaps beat Trinity handily last night here in Jackson and Southwestern edge out Hendrix on the road. If you want to see a highly competitive game with a lot on the line, tune in at noon for the Southwestern-Millsaps basketball game Sunday.
Deja vu all over again.
Hendrix came to Jackson in 2006 for the SCAC opener and they won the first game 6-4 behind a lefthander named Jordan (I believe he was a lefty and I know it was a cold and windy day for baseball). It was Jordan Wooley back then and today it was Joran Suydam, and in both cases Millsaps was held to 4 runs (a 6-4 game in 2006, a 5-4 game today). Millsaps came back in 2006 to win the Sunday game 6-2 and went on to have a decent year, making it all the way to a NCAA Regional final, so today's loss isn't the end of the world for Millsaps.
I haven't seen the box score and anyone watching the video probably has a better idea of the stats from the game and who did what at the plate. You could say it was a tough loss for Millsaps and it was, but on the other hand, they have had several close games go their way already this season. With baseball, they won't all go your way.
I see that Trinity and Austin also opened up with a close one, with Trinity winning 9-8 in 11 innings. It's going to be a dogfight in the West this year. In other scores, BSC beat Emory 12-5, Rhodes won over Huntingdon 7-5, and Southwestern beat Hardin-Simmons 4-3. A great day for the SCAC overall, not such a great day for Millsaps and Austin.
rarely see much on here about OU so for those that have an interest OU Vs Maryville game 1 Sirisky was pretty much unhittable through the first 3 innings giving up 1 hit which was a GB that took a weird hop or lack of hop. When he came out in the 5th he had given up 2 runs on 3 hits. And the bullpen struggled from there Maryville ovrcame a 5 run deficit to earn the win the big blow being a 3 run HR from there Soph. catcher Goherly.
game 2 Briend was stellar, yeilding only 2 hits through 6 innings and the OU offense exploded. All in all OU looked very good still a few early season issues with base running and maybe a little nerves from the relivers, but 19 runs in 2 games is hopefully a preview of the offenseive abilities of this team. As the seaons goes they will learn how to put away a team when they have a 5 run lead.
I've been adding basketball posts and I had hope someone would have already done an SCAC update. No such luck.
At Millsaps, Aaron Williams picked up a 10-inning complete game victory, allowing just 4 hits and an unearned run in the low scoring 2-1 affair. The game was decided in the 10th by a Hunter Owen walkoff HR, his 2nd roundtripper of the season. Since I was at the Millsaps basketball games, I don't have much to add that you can't get from the boxscore:
http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/09Baseball/stats/mcb09-08.htm
In other action, Austin won 14-8 at Trinity so we have a 4-way tie for first in the SCAC with the 5th team, Southwestern, yet to play a conference game.
Maybe I'm wrong about this, but I think we are going to see lower scores on average in the SCAC this year. Last year a team had to find 32 innings of pitching every weekend and you might have some guys unavailable because of midweek games. In these 2-game weekends, teams will be throwing their best two starters and they can go to the bullpen earlier. Even in the 3-game weekends, it will make a big difference to not have to save a guy for use as a 4th starter. It should be interesting to see how this develops.
Ughh. Looks like Rhodes had a clunker yesterday. Looking at the livestats page, it looks like 2 passed balls, 4 errors, 4 hpb and giving up 5 runs on only 3 hits. Hopefully they can get over that and get after it in Atlanta next weekend. A real tough schedule in the tournament upcoming. Piedmont, Emory, Greensboro and NC weslyan.
Ralph, who knows on the pitching and low scoring games. It seems like every year you have to average around 10 runs per game to be one of the leaders in the SCAC. For that matter, any level of NCAA baseball. It's just that the advent of metal bats makes a good inside pitch by a pitcher that would saw off a wood bat, gets muscled over the infield with metal. Two or three of those hits a game combined with the usual long ball and you have 5-6 runs there. I believe the big difference in comparing teams is there defense. A fine defensive team will keep a couple of runs off the board per game. I also believe that is one of the big differences between the D 1 ball and DII/III ball.
Don't be mislead by Milsaps 2-1 game. You guys will still bash. After all, Hunter Owens did hit a walk off. If he didn't probably Hawkins would have. (or Malaschak or Barnthouse, etc. etc.)
Oops, made an error like Rhodes yesterday, :) I meant to reply to Frank.
Here's a question for the Trinity fans and it is related to my observation that the 2-game series means that each team will be facing top pitching in both games. Millsaps goes to Trinity in mid-March for 2 games and it's almost like those games are an afterthought on the schedule. Here's what's showing on the Trinity website:
Tues., Mar. 10 Concordia (TX) University 7:00 p.m.
Wed., Mar. 11 vs. Illinois State University (@ Irish Classic) TBA
Thurs., Mar. 12 Wabash College 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 14 Millsaps College* 1:00 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 14 vs. University of Notre Dame (@ Irish Classic) TBA
Sun., Mar. 15 Millsaps College* 1:00 p.m.
Is this still correct that Trinity is actually going to play Notre Dame in the middle of a SCAC series and after playing 3 midweek games?
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 16, 2009, 03:22:31 PM
Here's a question for the Trinity fans and it is related to my observation that the 2-game series means that each team will be facing top pitching in both games. Millsaps goes to Trinity in mid-March for 2 games and it's almost like those games are an afterthought on the schedule. Here's what's showing on the Trinity website:
Tues., Mar. 10 Concordia (TX) University 7:00 p.m.
Wed., Mar. 11 vs. Illinois State University (@ Irish Classic) TBA
Thurs., Mar. 12 Wabash College 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 14 Millsaps College* 1:00 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 14 vs. University of Notre Dame (@ Irish Classic) TBA
Sun., Mar. 15 Millsaps College* 1:00 p.m.
Is this still correct that Trinity is actually going to play Notre Dame in the middle of a SCAC series and after playing 3 midweek games?
That is the schedule. We will see. I wouldnt be surprised to see Bronson throw against Notre Dame either. Knowing Coach Scannell, he will have the mindset that TU will need at least 2 other pitchers to win the Conf Tourney so those guys can throw against Millsaps. Maybe TU will catch fire and go 5-1 or 4-2 in that stretch. They could very easily go 1-5 as well........
Quote from: tiger_fan2000 on February 17, 2009, 09:11:00 AM
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 16, 2009, 03:22:31 PM
Here's a question for the Trinity fans and it is related to my observation that the 2-game series means that each team will be facing top pitching in both games. Millsaps goes to Trinity in mid-March for 2 games and it's almost like those games are an afterthought on the schedule. Here's what's showing on the Trinity website:
Tues., Mar. 10 Concordia (TX) University 7:00 p.m.
Wed., Mar. 11 vs. Illinois State University (@ Irish Classic) TBA
Thurs., Mar. 12 Wabash College 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 14 Millsaps College* 1:00 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 14 vs. University of Notre Dame (@ Irish Classic) TBA
Sun., Mar. 15 Millsaps College* 1:00 p.m.
Is this still correct that Trinity is actually going to play Notre Dame in the middle of a SCAC series and after playing 3 midweek games?
That is the schedule. We will see. I wouldnt be surprised to see Bronson throw against Notre Dame either. Knowing Coach Scannell, he will have the mindset that TU will need at least 2 other pitchers to win the Conf Tourney so those guys can throw against Millsaps. Maybe TU will catch fire and go 5-1 or 4-2 in that stretch. They could very easily go 1-5 as well........
I'll point out the obvious--a team doesn't need 2 other pitchers to win the SCAC Tournament if they don't qualify for the SCAC Tournament. Out of the 5 teams from the West--Austin, Hendrix, Millsaps, Southwestern, and Trinity--there will be 2 teams that don't make the Tournament. Austin just split with Trinity, Hendrix looked for real to me, and Southwestern is 6-3 in pre-conference play. While the Millsaps vs Trinity series has often determined 1st and 2nd in the SCAC West, this year it might determine who goes to the SCAC Tournament and who stays home.
While I can hope that Trinity burns their #1 and #2 pitchers on Wednesday and Saturday against D1 teams that don't count for squat on their D3 record, I just don't see how they could possibly discount the importance of those two games with Millsaps. On the flip side, if you save all of the top guys and get pounded by a couple of D1 programs, I don't see how that helps the Trinity program at all. Maybe there's some logic to this scheduling, but it escapes me.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 16, 2009, 03:22:31 PM
Here's a question for the Trinity fans and it is related to my observation that the 2-game series means that each team will be facing top pitching in both games. Millsaps goes to Trinity in mid-March for 2 games and it's almost like those games are an afterthought on the schedule. Here's what's showing on the Trinity website:
Tues., Mar. 10 Concordia (TX) University 7:00 p.m.
Wed., Mar. 11 vs. Illinois State University (@ Irish Classic) TBA
Thurs., Mar. 12 Wabash College 7:00 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 14 Millsaps College* 1:00 p.m.
Sat., Mar. 14 vs. University of Notre Dame (@ Irish Classic) TBA
Sun., Mar. 15 Millsaps College* 1:00 p.m.
Is this still correct that Trinity is actually going to play Notre Dame in the middle of a SCAC series and after playing 3 midweek games?
In-region games are in
bold.
Notre Dame and Illinois State are what you tell the grandkids.
Concordia-TX and Millsaps scores are what you tell the NCAA.
The logic behind Trinity's schedule is simple. If you get an opportunity to play a D1 team (especially one with the notariety of Notre Dame), you take it no matter how it fits into your schedule. How many other D3 teams are there around the country that play that high of caliber D1 team this season?
As for who to throw, that is a tough decision.
Obviously you want to win SCAC games, especially if the season continues with the parity we are seeing early. But, how awesome would it be to tell recruits that you played and possibly beat Notre Dame. Think of what that could do for the program. Plus, if you embarrass yourself against Notre Dame then you probably don't get an opportunity like that again from any other big name programs.
I honestly think it's going to come down to Trinity's conference record at the time. If the Millsaps games are absolutely must wins, then Bronson should pitch.
Coach Scannell has a tough decision on his hands.
Here's part of a news release from Jacksonville State University yesterday and it has a Millsaps connection:
"Jacksonville State's Ben Tootle was named to the Baseball America preseason All-America team, which was released on Monday.
The Oxford High School product was the only player from the Ohio Valley Conference named to the preseason All-America squad. Tootle recently became the first player in OVC history to earn first-team preseason All-America honors by the National College Baseball Writers Association, is a second-team Louisville Slugger preseason All-America, third team by Ping!Baseball and is on the Brooks Wallace Award Watch list.
He helped Jacksonville State to the 2008 Ohio Valley Conference regular-season Championship with a Conference record 23-4 mark. Both ESPN and Baseball America both have named Tootle as one of the top prospects in the country and is projected as a first round draft pick in 2009."
Complete story: http://www.jsugamecocksports.com/news/2009/2/16/BB_0216094323.aspx
The Millsaps connection is that Ben Tootle was hammered by Millsaps hitters last year, giving up 6 hits and 9 runs (6 earned) in just 1 inning of play as Millsaps beat the Ohio Valley Conference champs 17-3 to split a 2-game series.
I'm not sure if Millsaps brought in any recruits with that victory, but I do understand that it is nice to play a D1 school when it can be fitted within the schedule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
There are plenty of games on tap in the SCAC today (all times Eastern):
Southwestern (Tex.) @ Texas Lutheran 3:00 PM
Rust @ Rhodes 3:00 PM Boxscore Live stats
Trinity (Tex.) @ Mary Hardin-Baylor 3:00 PM
Atlanta Christian @ Oglethorpe 4:00 PM Live stats
Ozarks (Ark.) @ Hendrix 4:00 PM
Atlanta Christian @ Oglethorpe 7:00 PM Live stats
Millsaps @ Mississippi Col. 7:00 PM Video
The links for all of the live stats, etc, can be found at: http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2008-09/schedule
I have a feeling there are other links available so please post any that you find. Here's one for live stats on the Millsaps game: http://www.gochoctaws.com/news/2009/2/17/BB_0217092114.aspx
An early surprise from Memphis, Rust is up over Rhodes 1-0 after 3 innings: http://livestats.internetconsult.com/rhodes/baseball/
Trinity is up over UMHB 2-1 going into the bottom of the 2nd or maybe the top of the third. You can find links to audio and video here: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/
Hendrix leads Ozarks 4-3 and is batting in the top of the 5th: http://eagles.ozarks.edu/baseball/stats/live/xlive.htm
Rhodes woke up and now leads 10-1.
Hendrix has fallen behind 8-5 going into the bottom of the 7th.
UMHB scored 11 in the bottom of the 3rd and now leads Trinity 12-2 going into the 4th.
As mentioned many times before, it helps every SCAC team when other SCAC teams win non-conference games, especially helping the teams that have hopes of qualifying for an at-large bid. While it is unlikely that Trinity can come back from 10 down, it would be nice if Hendrix could rally.
Ozarks 12 Hendrix 10 (http://eagles.ozarks.edu/baseball/stats/live/xlive.htm)
David Smith walk-off 2-run HR in the bottom of the 9th.
Bummer for Hendrix--they are a much improved team this year.
Millsaps leads 12-1 in the top of the 3rd and still batting. Will Hawkins hit a towering 3-run HR, Hunter Owen drove in 3 with a based loaded double, and I think 7 Millsaps hitters have been HBP. It could be a long night at MS College.
UPDATE: The game actually went fairly quick, ending in about 2 hours and 30 minutes. Millsaps won 20-3 in a game shortened to 7 innings. Here's the final live stats from the MS College site:
http://sidearmstats.com/mississippi/baseball/
Oglethorpe swept the doubleheader against Atlanta Christian College.. Winning the first game 7 to 6 and second game 4 to 1.
Game 1: Oglethorpe was up by around 4 runs (I cant quite remember and stats are not updated) but Atlanta Christian College brought it back in the last two innings which had some flashes of deja vu when Oglethorpe lost a 6 run lead to Maryville on Saturday. Chris Lucas started the game and went 4 strong innings but the impressive stat was his hitting 2 for 2 with a HR,2b and 5 RBI's.
Game 2: This one all I can say was that John Hale pitched a beautiful 6.1 innings and got the win.
The Petrels looked pretty good today but the true test will come tomorrow if the rain stays away as they are set to play Emory.
Lucas is on fire and the entire middle of the order is getting it done with the exception of one little weakness which hopefully will start lighting up it soon, John Hale needed this win in a bad way and hopefully his confidence will show through. All in all 2 good wins for OU but your right if they play tonight it will be there toughest test of the young season.
Oglethorpe's game against Emory has been postponed to a later date.
Having played for Coach Scannell, I think I know why he will throw Bronson against Notre Dame. I said earlier that you need more than two pitchers to win the conf. tourney. Coach Scannell's reasoning could be this.....If TU can't get to the conf. tournament using other pitchers besides Bronson, then what difference does it make. Being 1-6, they can kiss an at-large bid good bye, seeing as how they have lost to every in-region team. The only chance they have to make it to a regional is to win the tournament. They will need at least 3 pitchers to do that. So, let Bronson go get Notre Dame and see what happens with Millsaps. This Trinity team is coming to a crossroads very fast, they can still turn it around. But it is time for guys to start playing like they are capable.
Ideally they sweep at Sul Ross State this weekend and then start to ride a little momentum.
Quote from: HeadingForHome on February 18, 2009, 10:38:57 AM
Oglethorpe's game against Emory has been postponed to a later date.
It's a good thing the game has been postponed--OU plays Ferrum, Franklin, York and N.C. Wesleyan this weekend. It sounds like a good stretch for rested arms.
On the Trinity schedule, I guess we'll see what we see when that weekend comes. Keep in mind that it's not just the part about playing a night game that may start well after 7 Saturday night while the Millsaps team is resting, but it's the D3 games on Tuesday and Thursday and the D1 game on Wednesday. Even in a very good year, that's a lot to ask from your pitching staff. I hope you're right and Trinity expends their best pitching on Wednesday and Saturday night, but that would greatly surprise me.
Frank,
To follow up a bit on tiger_fan 2000, I really think you need to know Coach Scannell when you look at this schedule.
First, for anyone who has seen he and Coach Page on the same field, each is extremely competitive. Each wants the best result for his players and team. Each also does a great job of leaving it on the field.
Coach Scannell believes strongly in effort and giving 100% every day you are part of his team.
But, he also believes DIII baseball is part of an experience where baseball provides openings to opportunities players would never otherwise experience.
When he recruited our son, he focused not only on Trinity, but Summer leagues, being in New England, playing in parts of this Country you have never visited and making contacts and friends through baseball that will last a lifetime. As he summarized it, playing in a Summer league in New England would make him a better player and, through baseball, he would not only have experiences that would last a lifetime, he would meet friends and build relationships.
Coach feels strongly there is more to college baseball/DIII baseball than what happens from February to May during the 4 years you attend Trinity.
I think playing Notre Dame, especially, is a further illustration of his approach.
While I doubt he, or anyone, thought his team would be scuffling as they are right now, Coach knows that week/playing Notre Dame is another part of DIII baseball that few, if any will ever experience.
I think he also sees that week as a way to challenge his players to compete at levels most everyone questions. The way they have started raises the noise on those questions even louder. If you know Coach Scannell, you know he does not back down from challenges and won't let his team do that either.
Coach Scannell is a wonderful and probably superb DIII coach. Does he believe in winning? You bet.
But he also believes there is a lot more to the DIII experience than winning a game. Wins come in lots of different ways and many are not measured in runs scored and ERA.
infielddad--Well, there you go. When I brought up the question, I really was curious about the choice of scheduling. It wasn't a question about right or wrong, but the scheduling obviously makes the Millsaps games more difficult for Trinity to win and I'm not close enough to the Trinity program to know why that would be done. I appreciate your detailed answer.
I can see where playing Notre Dame and playing in their tournament is a big deal, and from what you are saying, maybe it will be more important in the Trinity scheme of things to let Bronson pitch against Notre Dame and give him the chance to highlight his individual skills against a D1 team. I'm sure that whoever does pitch against Millsaps will be ready to battle and I expect two tough games in San Antonio.
Also, as tiger_fan2000 mentioned, I'd like to see Trinity sweep Sul Ross State this weekend (along with Millsaps sweeping Southwestern).
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 18, 2009, 02:21:59 PM
infielddad--Well, there you go. When I brought up the question, I really was curious about the choice of scheduling. It wasn't a question about right or wrong, but the scheduling obviously makes the Millsaps games more difficult for Trinity to win and I'm not close enough to the Trinity program to know why that would be done. I appreciate your detailed answer.
I can see where playing Notre Dame and playing in their tournament is a big deal, and from what you are saying, maybe it will be more important in the Trinity scheme of things to let Bronson pitch against Notre Dame and give him the chance to highlight his individual skills against a D1 team. I'm sure that whoever does pitch against Millsaps will be ready to battle and I expect two tough games in San Antonio.
Also, as tiger_fan2000 mentioned, I'd like to see Trinity sweep Sul Ross State this weekend (along with Millsaps sweeping Southwestern).
I can live with the Majors sweep as well.
Quote from: BATR441 on February 18, 2009, 10:35:25 AM
Lucas is on fire and the entire middle of the order is getting it done with the exception of one little weakness which hopefully will start lighting up it soon, John Hale needed this win in a bad way and hopefully his confidence will show through. All in all 2 good wins for OU but your right if they play tonight it will be there toughest test of the young season.
Yes, Lucas is on fire big time. So is Llano as he also closed out both games on the hill. Sirisky didn't play last year as he did have some health issues. He is just a sophmore. The lil weaknes is coming around too. Went 2-5 last night. I would think we'd have given Emory a great game tonight. Frank is right, we needed to rest some arms for the 4 games this weekend. It's gonna be cold for Friday night's game. I look for OU to really have the best season it's had in years and be competitive in every game as the pitching and hitting seem to be clicking. At least I sure hope so.
Live Stats for the Oglethorpe game against Ferrum are not working... But I got an update that at the Top 4 Oglethorpe is down 0-4.
Thanks for that update. I had tried and couldn't get the live stats to work. In other scores, Rhodes won at Piedmont today, by a score of 10-8 I believe.
Rhodes beat Piedmont 10-7.
Ferrum beat OU 12-1 this afternoon.
OU is now playing Franklin and the score is about 4-4 in the 3rd or 4th--I was halfway listening to the audio webcast.
Birmingham Southern beat Spaulding today 15-4.
Trinity at Sul Ross State should have started 20 minutes ago but there are no live stats and there's no audio. Maybe a rain delay or rainout? Any TU folks out there who can fill us in.
I changed the date in the link from the SCAC site and got the Sul Ross State live stats:
http://www.sulross.edu/livestats/baseball/2009/022001/xlive.htm
Trinity is up 3-0 and batting in the top of the 2nd.
UPDATE: Trinity is up 9-0 in the top of the 8th. Bronson has a 1-hitter over 7 innings with 3 walks and 11 K's.
UPDATE AGAIN: Bronson came out after 7 with Trinity leading 11-0. The relief pitching gave up 5 in the bottom of the 8th, then Trinity scored at least 2 in the top of the 9th to go up 13-5. I went on to other things and when I came back to the live stats they were somewhat wiped out. My guess is that TU won--I'd hate to think they gave up 9 or more in the bottom of the 9th.
OU beat Franklin 19 to 12. OU had 23 hits lead by S. archer, 5 2b and 1 single. Hoban went 5 scorelsess innings in relief of Sirisky who left the game with an injury. The Ferrum game was just one of those games for OU, no hitting and the pitching just didn't have it going. Lagrange beat NC Wesleyn 17-3 apparently NCW is not quite what they have been in recent years. Oh well on to tomorrow good luck to all the SCAC teams this weekend.
Trinity 13 SRSU 5 (http://www.sulross.edu/pages/6222.asp?ssid=2412&nid=2785)
Hendrix took game 1 of the double-header vs. Austin 11-10.
Someone help me out here. Is it 3 teams from each side that will make the SCAC Tournament or 4? The Millsaps announcer has said 4 teams on a couple of occasions and I thought it was just 3.
On today's activity, the Hendrix 11-10 win over Austin is just another example of how the SCAC West is going to be a battle this year. There was a time when you felt like you were losing ground if you didn't sweep Hendrix--that time seems to be over.
Scores today:
Rhodes over Greensboro on a neutral field 9-3
DePauw splits at Maryville (Tenn), winning the first 2-1 and losing 11-8
Transylvania sucked the blood out of Centre by a 18-3 score and then by 5-2
Sewanee fell at LaGrange 6-5
Birmingham Southern beat Spalding 14-2 and 13-0
Hendrix won at Austin 11-10
Trinity won at Sul Ross St 18-9
Millsaps won the first game 13-6 at Southwestern, and is leading 9-7 with SW batting in the bottom of the 7th
Oglethorpe fell to York 12-7
AC takes the second game against Hendrix 16-5. Hendrix committed seven errors, walked 12 and hit three batters, and their pitchers just really struggled all game. Pretty much everything that went wrong for Hendrix (or right for AC, take your pick) that could have happened, happened.
First game was interesting...AC had a chance at the end, but Schleizer hit one down the line with two runners on that the Hendrix third baseman was just able to get to for the final out. For a second I thought it was going to sneak past him and get down the line to score at least the tying run.
We'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm hoping Chermak bring his best stuff for AC. That kid can be scary good when he's on his game.
Millsaps wins the second game 11-7 so they will leave Georgetown with a series win, hopefully a sweep. Drew Maddox pitched several innings to end both games--got the win in the second game and maybe a save in the first. Tony Malaschak had 4 rbi's and Hunter Owen and Will Hawkins each had 2 in the second game.
Rhodes defeats Emory 6-1 to improve to 8-2 on the year. Andy Holt picks up the win to move to 3-0. Mason Mosby and Brent Lindsey combined for 5 hits and 5 RBI's. Rhodes finish up their weekend with a game against NC Wesleyan. Take note, game was originally scheduled for a 4:00 start but it has since been moved up to 2:45.
Also, Emory provided a webcast of the game and must say it was very well done. I know Millsaps uses this as well. Wish more programs/institutions would implement the use of this technology!
Quote from: Pauperboy on February 22, 2009, 02:11:03 PM
Rhodes defeats Emory 6-1 to improve to 8-2 on the year. Andy Holt picks up the win to move to 3-0. Mason Mosby and Brent Lindsey combined for 5 hits and 5 RBI's. Rhodes finish up their weekend with a game against NC Wesleyan. Take note, game was originally scheduled for a 4:00 start but it has since been moved up to 2:45.
Also, Emory provided a webcast of the game and must say it was very well done. I know Millsaps uses this as well. Wish more programs/institutions would implement the use of this technology!
It is always nice to pick up a win against Emory. Emory knows how to build a schedule, so they usually have really good "numbers" as an opponent. Emory has usually played some key teams that look good as common opponents when the committee is looking at that stuff!
Millsaps is currently down 3-0 at Southwestern with the Pirates batting in the bottom of the 6th. Millsaps started freshman Ryan Zemke and he has done well, just not as well as Chris Churchwell. Millsaps really hasn't generated much of a threat and it's not like Southwestern is hitting the ball all over the park.
Zemke got the first batter in the bottom of the 6th, then gave up a single and with his pitch count up to about 90, Millsaps has brought in Boomer Hudson. This game just goes to show the importance of keeping an at-large bid alive (as Rhodes has been doing this week). If you run into a pitcher who is "on" in the SCAC Tournament then any team can send any other team to the losers bracket, and from there you are fighting an uphill battle.
Hudson just had a line drive hit back at him and he threw to first to double off the runner. Millsaps has 3 innings to scratch out a win.
Millsaps comes back to win 8-3. It's nice to see such good pitching from new pitchers--Ryan Zemke is a freshman and I believe Boomer Hudson pitched 2 innings in 2007 and had a medical redshirt last year. This was Hudson's 3 win of the season which ties him with Drew Maddox for most wins--it's a reflection of both good long relief work out of the bullpen and the ability Millsaps has shown to come from behind in the late innings.
It certainly helps that Hunter Owen and Will Hawkins are hitting like All-Americans, both over .400 with Owen having an OB% in the .650 to .700 range which helps explain the 25 rbi's in 12 games for Hawkins, but Millsaps is winning with a complete team effort. Today that had 7 hits from their 3 catchers in the lineup--Tyler Berry caught and had 3, Russ Boyd had 3 as the dh, and Hayes Brian had one while playing CF/LF (I doubt that Hayes will see much action behind the plate this season).
At 11-1, I won't be surprised if Millsaps gets a ranking this week, something that has its pros and cons. If Rhodes can hang on and beat NC Wesleyan (Rhodes is up 9-6 and batting in the bottom of the 7th), then they certainly are deserving of consideration. They would go to 9-2 with the only losses being the 14-13 loss at Millsaps and the 5-4 loss at Huntingdon.
Next weekend Millsaps travels up to Memphis for 3 game: Emory on Friday, LaGrange on Saturday, and Rhodes on Sunday. That should be a good weekend of baseball.
Well, Chermak brought his a-game but Austin College commits 5 errors on their way to a 4-3 loss. Chermak took a no-hitter into the sixth and ended up giving up 4 runs (only one earned) on 3 hits while striking out six batters.
It was a nice little pitchers duel, though Hendrix had a little trouble with hitting AC batters...7 or 8 hit batters for the Warrior pitching staff, but they also combined to give up just five hits.
Early in the season I thought that even with it being just Austin, Millsaps, Southwestern, and Trinity as the contenders, no one should assume that they were going to be in the top 3 from the West that will go to the SCAC Tournament. I was obviously wrong to let past history rule out the possibility of Hendrix competing for one of those tournament slots.
At 3-2, Hendrix is now second in the West behind 4-1 Millsaps. Keep in mind that Millsaps won a 2-1 extra inning game against Hendrix last weekend which shows how close Hendix is to being 1st in the West. There will be no breathers on the schedule this year and I won't be surprised if 2 of the 3 spots are still up for grabs going into the last weekend of the regular season.
PS--I see that Rhodes beat NC Wesleyan. While I have seen a score on the OU vs. NC Wesleyan game, I think that NCW came into the day with only 2 wins and they now have 3 so they must have beat OU.
Rhodes swept through the Rawlings Classic in Atlanta. Andy Holt pitched a heck of a game this morning at Emory.
Rhodes won the afternoon game over NC Weslyan. Not as pretty, but a win. This young team is playing very well. There were a lot of contributors over the four game span.
Now, it's on to next weekend's games. Rhodes finally get to play at home, but against very tough competition in Emory, Millsaps and Lagrange. It's early, but the Lynxes feel good.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 22, 2009, 05:41:57 PM
Early in the season I thought that even with it being just Austin, Millsaps, Southwestern, and Trinity as the contenders, no one should assume that they were going to be in the top 3 from the West that will go to the SCAC Tournament. I was obviously wrong to let past history rule out the possibility of Hendrix competing for one of those tournament slots.
At 3-2, Hendrix is now second in the West behind 4-1 Millsaps. Keep in mind that Millsaps won a 2-1 extra inning game against Hendrix last weekend which shows how close Hendix is to being 1st in the West. There will be no breathers on the schedule this year and I won't be surprised if 2 of the 3 spots are still up for grabs going into the last weekend of the regular season.
PS--I see that Rhodes beat NC Wesleyan. While I have seen a score on the OU vs. NC Wesleyan game, I think that NCW came into the day with only 2 wins and they now have 3 so they must have beat OU.
NCW BEAT OU IN 7 12-0 UGLY GAME
Trinity finally knows what a winning streak is, sweeping Sul Ross State in a 3 game series. The TU bats finally came alive. The defense and pitching will need to improve with a SCAC weekend against Hendrix.
I think 12-8could very well win the west this year.
Quote from: tiger_fan2000 on February 23, 2009, 02:51:36 PM
Trinity finally knows what a winning streak is, sweeping Sul Ross State in a 3 game series. The TU bats finally came alive. The defense and pitching will need to improve with a SCAC weekend against Hendrix.
I think 12-8could very well win the west this year.
Eight SCAC West Division in-region losses really hurt Pool C chances.
OU's Stephen Archer tied a NCAA DIII record with 5 doubles in one game on Friday night. He went 6-6 with 5 doubles and a single and scored 4 times. Dating back to a pinch hit performance earlier in the week he hit 5 consecutive doubles and 6 doubles in 7 plate appearances!!
The very next game against OU, York's SS went 5 for 6 and hit for the cycle!
Fun tournament this weekend in atlanta. Congrats to Rhodes who played exceptional baseball. They will be tough to beat in the east and I think this team is built to win tournament style baseball.
I didn't see Rhodes play, but if they won all their games they have to be pretty darn good. After sitting and freezing for the 4 OU games, I wasn't gonna hang around to see anything else. I needed hot chocolate or cold beer immediately after every game. ;) ;)
OU definitely came back to earth this weekend. We gave up 12 runs in every game. That being said, Sarinsky did hurt himself a bit and is day to day with his back. Piedmont transfer Mark Hoban pitched very well for OU. But one of our up n comers, Andrew Llano popped his toe with a foul ball and was done after a game and a half and he never did get to pitch. He was really coming on as a pitcher. We'll know more about the toe next week.
Over all it was a rough weekend for Oglethorpe, but we did win one game and really were in the other games til late.
The bats have cooled a bit but no one could have expected 4 or 5 guys to hit over .400 forever. Steven Archer did have a career day, going 6 for 6 with 5 doubles. I bet he had the time of his life that night. It was fun to watch. Andy Farrey and JJ Rizzo had good series too. Matt Cornwell could also emerge as a nice starting pitcher as he threw well every time he pitched. We shall see. Have Lagrange on Weds and they are pretty tough. At least the weather will be in the 50's that day and not 40 with another 10 degrees off for wind chill. Man it was brutal.
Ferrum looked like they have a real good club and they are very well coached too. I would look for them to make some noise this season.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on February 23, 2009, 03:01:08 PM
Quote from: tiger_fan2000 on February 23, 2009, 02:51:36 PM
Trinity finally knows what a winning streak is, sweeping Sul Ross State in a 3 game series. The TU bats finally came alive. The defense and pitching will need to improve with a SCAC weekend against Hendrix.
I think 12-8could very well win the west this year.
Eight SCAC West Division in-region losses really hurt Pool C chances.
absolutely....but that doesnt matter if TU can win the tournament. Losing 6 in region games to start the season didnt do anyone any good when it comes to Pool C chances. First things first, TU has to take care of a very good Hendrix team weekend. There wont be any easy games in the west side of the SCAC this year.....
I thought the tournament in Atlanta this weekend was very good baseball. Rhodes did exhibit their newly found (this year) bats and scored something like 35 runs in the 4 games. There is not a hole in the line up, and there is some very good pop to go along with the small ball the team has shown with its speed. The lineup has a very good combination of upper and lower classmen. While the starting pitching was really good, the depth and quality of the bullpen was evident, too. Holt (sr), Carden (fr), Babich (so) and Lainoff (rfr) got each game off with solid pitching. Simmons (sr), Gertz, (jr), Chandler (so), Ungashik (so) finished the games, and there was still some solid arms ready to go.
Of interest, the victory over Emory represented the senior class' 100th victory. This is a great testamant not only to the team that Cleanthes and Schrier (and Cat) have put together, but a recognition of the program that is in place. The players this year are having fun. It's quite evident.
Quote from: tiger_fan2000 on February 23, 2009, 02:51:36 PM
Trinity finally knows what a winning streak is, sweeping Sul Ross State in a 3 game series. The TU bats finally came alive. The defense and pitching will need to improve with a SCAC weekend against Hendrix.
I think 12-8could very well win the west this year.
It would be a strange year indeed if 12-8 won the SCAC West, but there has been early signs of parity so that's not impossible. I'd like to think that Millsaps can win 3 of 5 games from here on out which would put them at 13-7, or 2 of 3 games which would put them at 14-6. Continuing at their current pace would put them at 16-4, but a record like that would take a nice combination of good play and good breaks. That's just the nature of baseball where no one is expected to win every game.
Is it too early and/or too odd to say that the Hendrix series at Trinity is critical? Trinity won last night to move to 5-6, but these last 4 games have been ones where even a single loss would have hinted at major problems. The sweep of Sul Ross State dropped them from 1-9 to 1-12, and Schreiner fell from 3-6 to 3-7 with last night's loss. I see that Trinity brought in Bronson after the first batter reached in the 8th and he pitched 2 scoreless innings to preserve the 7-6 victory. They probably wanted to get Bronson some midweek work anyway, but it also sounds like they had to have him on the mound in order to win this game.
Habitual thinking tells me that Trinity will sweep both games from Hendrix, but someone with no historical knowledge might look at the results of this year's Austin games and see Hendrix coming away with the sweep.
When you throw in the fact that Trinity has the scheduling oddity of hosting all of their 2-game series and being on the road for the 3-games matchups, they are on the road for 9 of their last 11 SCAC games, and they are playing the Millsaps home games while participating in a D1 Tournament, then I think Trinity needs two wins this weekend or else their SCAC Tournament chances get dicey. Is this a fair statement or should I have more belief in the Tigers?
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 25, 2009, 07:33:00 AM
Quote from: tiger_fan2000 on February 23, 2009, 02:51:36 PM
Trinity finally knows what a winning streak is, sweeping Sul Ross State in a 3 game series. The TU bats finally came alive. The defense and pitching will need to improve with a SCAC weekend against Hendrix.
I think 12-8could very well win the west this year.
It would be a strange year indeed if 12-8 won the SCAC West, but there has been early signs of parity so that's not impossible. I'd like to think that Millsaps can win 3 of 5 games from here on out which would put them at 13-7, or 2 of 3 games which would put them at 14-6. Continuing at their current pace would put them at 16-4, but a record like that would take a nice combination of good play and good breaks. That's just the nature of baseball where no one is expected to win every game.
Is it too early and/or too odd to say that the Hendrix series at Trinity is critical? Trinity won last night to move to 5-6, but these last 4 games have been ones where even a single loss would have hinted at major problems. The sweep of Sul Ross State dropped them from 1-9 to 1-12, and Schreiner fell from 3-6 to 3-7 with last night's loss. I see that Trinity brought in Bronson after the first batter reached in the 8th and he pitched 2 scoreless innings to preserve the 7-6 victory. They probably wanted to get Bronson some midweek work anyway, but it also sounds like they had to have him on the mound in order to win this game.
Habitual thinking tells me that Trinity will sweep both games from Hendrix, but someone with no historical knowledge might look at the results of this year's Austin games and see Hendrix coming away with the sweep.
When you throw in the fact that Trinity has the scheduling oddity of hosting all of their 2-game series and being on the road for the 3-games matchups, they are on the road for 9 of their last 11 SCAC games, and they are playing the Millsaps home games while participating in a D1 Tournament, then I think Trinity needs two wins this weekend or else their SCAC Tournament chances get dicey. Is this a fair statement or should I have more belief in the Tigers?
You are dead on. Trinity needs to sweep this weekend to not press the panic button. I was pleasantly surprised to see Trinity escape with a win from Schreiner yesterday. They, for some reason, always play Trinity tough in Kerville, no matter the records. Coach Scannell and Coach Smith didnt want to chance anything, so bringing in Bronson was a no-brainer. He didnt throw many pitches and will be ready for either Saturday or Sunday.
On a different note, how in the world did someone not notice that TU has only 2-game series at home? Is it that hard to make sure everyone have 2 2-game series and 2 3-game series???
Millsaps, Hendrix, and Austin all have an even split with 10 games at home and 10 on the road. Trinity has the 8 home game and 12 away, while Southwestern has 12 home and 8 away.
It's too early in the day for me to do the math, but it could be that with 5 teams there is no way to do the schedule without one team getting just 8 home games and another getting 12.
That's just a guess--this sounds like a question that Ralph can figure out and answer.
It is possible to split the conference games up evenly with every team having 10 home games and 10 road games... just did the math.
I still don't know if the Hendrix games are a must must win for Trinity, but the fact that we are even addressing that at this point in the season is crazy.
Parity is good. My question is whether yall think the previous years' bottom tier teams are getting that much better, or if the historically strong teams of late are getting worse? And why either way?
Quote from: Leadoff Man on February 25, 2009, 10:43:13 AM
It is possible to split the conference games up evenly with every team having 10 home games and 10 road games... just did the math.
I still don't know if the Hendrix games are a must must win for Trinity, but the fact that we are even addressing that at this point in the season is crazy.
Parity is good. My question is whether yall think the previous years' bottom tier teams are getting that much better, or if the historically strong teams of late are getting worse? And why either way?
I think that the issue in this part of the country is parity. Trinity won the SCAC last season, but was only 3-6 versus the ASC. McMurry made the NCAA's as West Region "Quad-Champs". UT-Tyler wins 35 games but is swept by CTX in the ASC tourney.
I think that Hendrix has the most up-side ahead of it. AC, Southwestern and Trinity seem to be back in the very large pack.
Millsaps is on my radar. Let's see how they do in conference play.
Maybe I wrote these down wrong, but wasn't Trinity 6-7 against the ASC last year: 1-2 vs Concordia, 0-3 vs UMHB, 0-1 vs Hardin-Simmons, 1-0 vs Howard Payne, 2-0 vs Schriner, 1-1 vs TX Lutherian, and 1-0 vs McMurry.
But that would just be part of the story. The problem SCAC teams had last year is that they were often pitching the bottom half of the rotation in non-SCAC games to either save or develop pitchers for the 4-game weekends or the top guys were on a pitch count in mid-week games. That certainly was true for Millsaps and I suspect it was true for every SCAC team. Considering that and the closeness of every ASC win over Trinity (Concordia won by 7-5 and 6-4; UMHB won by 6-5, 5-3, and 10-9; Hardin-Simmons won by 3-2, TX Lutherian won by 8-7--giving a run differential of 10 runs in these 7 victories), I don't read much in the Trinity record vs ASC teams.
More important would be the fact that when they went with their full staff on SCAC weekends, they were 12-4. Also, they went 2-0 in the crossover playoff weekend and then they were able to win the SCAC Tournament. But that was all against SCAC competition and some might think that's weak competiton. Therefore, most important would be that when they had their full staff available, they made it to the West Regional finals and what kept them from the World Series was a narrow 10-9 loss to #1 Chapman and a just as narrow 4-3 loss to Chapman in the regional finals.
I just thought I point these things out to save the Trinity fans the trouble.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 25, 2009, 02:51:25 PM
Maybe I wrote these down wrong, but wasn't Trinity 6-7 against the ASC last year: 1-2 vs Concordia, 0-3 vs UMHB, 0-1 vs Hardin-Simmons, 1-0 vs Howard Payne, 2-0 vs Schriner, 1-1 vs TX Lutherian, and 1-0 vs McMurry.
But that would just be part of the story. The problem SCAC teams had last year is that they were often pitching the bottom half of the rotation in non-SCAC games to either save or develop pitchers for the 4-game weekends or the top guys were on a pitch count in mid-week games. That certainly was true for Millsaps and I suspect it was true for every SCAC team. Considering that and the closeness of every ASC win over Trinity (Concordia won by 7-5 and 6-4; UMHB won by 6-5, 5-3, and 10-9; Hardin-Simmons won by 3-2, TX Lutherian won by 8-7--giving a run differential of 10 runs in these 7 victories), I don't read much in the Trinity record vs ASC teams.
More important would be the fact that when they went with their full staff on SCAC weekends, they were 12-4. Also, they went 2-0 in the crossover playoff weekend and then they were able to win the SCAC Tournament. But that was all against SCAC competition and some might think that's weak competiton. Therefore, most important would be that when they had their full staff available, they made it to the West Regional finals and what kept them from the World Series was a narrow 10-9 loss to #1 Chapman and a just as narrow 4-3 loss to Chapman in the regional finals.
I just thought I point these things out to save the Trinity fans the trouble.
Boink! Sorry for the imprecision. TU was 3-6 versus the 4 ASC-West teams that made the ASC tourney. (CTX, HSU, UMHB and McM). A forward-looking coach knows that a win over Trinity might be a win over a regionally ranked opponent. That is the way that I treat it!
But the ASC teams have the same problem that TU does. We are in the middle of division play as well. Those teams gain nothing by ruining their pitching staffs in a Trinity game on Wednesday and losing a divisional game on Saturday.
I think that we are saying the same thing and that you make the case for parity!
I know that games with TU, Southwestern and AC are always valuable games to win for ASC schools! :)
(As for MissCollege and Millsaps or Hendrix and Ozarks, that is probably the same thing.)
You're right Ralph, we agree on the parity, etc, and there's no doubt that the ASC teams weren't using their full staff for those games as well. I do think the move from 4 games in a weekend to either 2 or 3 games makes the SCAC teams tougher in mid-week. Right now, the bigger problem for Coach Page has been finding enough work for his key pitchers, not trying to find pitchers for all the innings.
I want to go back and quickly address the issue of home and away games. I'm going to have a few beers with friends at 5:30 so I had better post now instead of later. Three SCAC teams have a 10 home and 10 away games, and there is a huge disparity in the home games between Trinity and Southwestern. It seems like one of two things happened: (1) Someone made a scheduling error and everyone decided to live with it; or (2) after the schedule was made, it had to be changed because some conflict came up.
I'm going to go Oliver Stone here and come up with a wild guess--and let me stress that I have no facts or private conversations to support this:
---What if all the teams did have 10 home and away games with the original schedule, and on this schedule Millsaps was playing 3 at Trinity and 2 at Southwestern, plus Trinity had the 3 home games with Southwestern.
---Then Trinity was offered the chance to play in the Notre Dame Tournament. Well, they couldn't play 3 with Millsaps and play a night game on Saturday, so they asked to flip the home and away schedule with Millsaps.
---That was fine with Coach Page if he could flip another series so Millsaps would still stay with 10 home, 10 away.
---For the other three teams, there wouldn't be a reason for them to switch with Millsaps because it would throw them off the 10 and 10 pattern. With that being the case, maybe Trinity sweetened the pot by offering Southwestern the 3 games home series this year and again next year--and that's how Southwestern ended up with 12 home games this year.
Crazy? Maybe, but does anyone have a better theory? How likely is it that the original schedule would have that inbalance and that it would not have been changed? Somebody out there has to know the real story--log in and give us the scoop.
(El Tea Gray--re: Frank's Schedule Theory)
Frank,
Are you sure that you didn't have those "few beers" at 4:30 this afternoon?
???
d3baseball.com Poll week #1:
Millsaps #16 (11-1, wow!)
Trinity #36 (even at 5-6, double wow?)
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 25, 2009, 06:21:27 PM
You're right Ralph, we agree on the parity, etc, and there's no doubt that the ASC teams weren't using their full staff for those games as well. I do think the move from 4 games in a weekend to either 2 or 3 games makes the SCAC teams tougher in mid-week. Right now, the bigger problem for Coach Page has been finding enough work for his key pitchers, not trying to find pitchers for all the innings.
I want to go back and quickly address the issue of home and away games. I'm going to have a few beers with friends at 5:30 so I had better post now instead of later. Three SCAC teams have a 10 home and 10 away games, and there is a huge disparity in the home games between Trinity and Southwestern. It seems like one of two things happened: (1) Someone made a scheduling error and everyone decided to live with it; or (2) after the schedule was made, it had to be changed because some conflict came up.
I'm going to go Oliver Stone here and come up with a wild guess--and let me stress that I have no facts or private conversations to support this:
---What if all the teams did have 10 home and away games with the original schedule, and on this schedule Millsaps was playing 3 at Trinity and 2 at Southwestern, plus Trinity had the 3 home games with Southwestern.
---Then Trinity was offered the chance to play in the Notre Dame Tournament. Well, they couldn't play 3 with Millsaps and play a night game on Saturday, so they asked to flip the home and away schedule with Millsaps.
---That was fine with Coach Page if he could flip another series so Millsaps would still stay with 10 home, 10 away.
---For the other three teams, there wouldn't be a reason for them to switch with Millsaps because it would throw them off the 10 and 10 pattern. With that being the case, maybe Trinity sweetened the pot by offering Southwestern the 3 games home series this year and again next year--and that's how Southwestern ended up with 12 home games this year.
Crazy? Maybe, but does anyone have a better theory? How likely is it that the original schedule would have that inbalance and that it would not have been changed? Somebody out there has to know the real story--log in and give us the scoop.
I dont know the reason why TU started with 8 home games, but I do know for a fact that it was scheduled that way before TU was asked to play in the Irish Classic.
Here is the box score from last year's McMurry-Trinity game.
McM's starting pitcher was Cory Davis. This was one of his 2 starts and 5 appearances last season. (He pitched 14.2 innings with a 6.75 ERA.) It looks like TU pitched by committee. Those are definitely comparable challenges for both teams in their 3-game and 4-game divisional schedules.
http://athletics.mcm.edu/sports/baseball/2008/mcm-tu.htm
Quote from: etg on February 25, 2009, 10:27:19 PM
(El Tea Gray--re: Frank's Schedule Theory)
Frank,
Are you sure that you didn't have those "few beers" at 4:30 this afternoon?
???
d3baseball.com Poll week #1:
Millsaps #16 (11-1, wow!)
Trinity #36 (even at 5-6, double wow?)
That's pretty funny. And lets all admit that Trinity getting votes at 5-6 is a head scratcher.
Now then, taking tiger_fan2000 at his word that Trinity was on an 8 home, 12 away alternating schedule before they were invited to the Irish Classic, can anyone give a good reason for this from either angle: (1) Why would the league treat two teams different when they could have done a schedule that was equal, and (2) why would a Trinity accept such a schedule or do you think they were simply told "tough luck" by the league office?
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 26, 2009, 08:18:47 AM
Quote from: etg on February 25, 2009, 10:27:19 PM
(El Tea Gray--re: Frank's Schedule Theory)
Frank,
Are you sure that you didn't have those "few beers" at 4:30 this afternoon?
???
d3baseball.com Poll week #1:
Millsaps #16 (11-1, wow!)
Trinity #36 (even at 5-6, double wow?)
That's pretty funny. And lets all admit that Trinity getting votes at 5-6 is a head scratcher.
Now then, taking tiger_fan2000 at his word that Trinity was on an 8 home, 12 away alternating schedule before they were invited to the Irish Classic, can anyone give a good reason for this from either angle: (1) Why would the league treat two teams different when they could have done a schedule that was equal, and (2) why would a Trinity accept such a schedule or do you think they were simply told "tough luck" by the league office?
Trinity TX getting votes at 5-6?
The one last gasp hoping that the program ends up at 32-8.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 26, 2009, 08:18:47 AM
Quote from: etg on February 25, 2009, 10:27:19 PM
(El Tea Gray--re: Frank's Schedule Theory)
Frank,
Are you sure that you didn't have those "few beers" at 4:30 this afternoon?
???
d3baseball.com Poll week #1:
Millsaps #16 (11-1, wow!)
Trinity #36 (even at 5-6, double wow?)
That's pretty funny. And lets all admit that Trinity getting votes at 5-6 is a head scratcher.
Now then, taking tiger_fan2000 at his word that Trinity was on an 8 home, 12 away alternating schedule before they were invited to the Irish Classic, can anyone give a good reason for this from either angle: (1) Why would the league treat two teams different when they could have done a schedule that was equal, and (2) why would a Trinity accept such a schedule or do you think they were simply told "tough luck" by the league office?
Knowing and playing for Coach Scannell, I can guess that he looked at the schedule and thought, "Well, we have to win on the road in the tournament, so who cares we only have 8 home games." He isnt one to sweat the small stuff. Personally, I would have said something to someone and tried to get it fixed. His only goal is to get the team ready to peak at the conf. tourney. The tourney isnt at TU, neither is the regional, so he figures to let his team become very accustomed to playing on the road. I think it goes back to the Notre Dame game and slating Bronson to pitch against Notre Dame, although Millsaps is in town. He knows TU will need pitching besides Bronson to win a tournament, so lets go see what we have.
Again, just my thoughts......
Hmmm. That last post left me at a loss for words and you all know the rarity of that. You folks know Coach Scannell well and no one can argue with the success of the team, so I guess this is a method that works well for their program.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 26, 2009, 01:03:18 PM
Hmmm. That last post left me at a loss for words and you all know the rarity of that. You folks know Coach Scannell well and no one can argue with the success of the team, so I guess this is a method that works well for their program.
Coach Scannell has left numerous people at a loss words.......it is one of his gifts :)
Ralph,,, I can't think of anything to say.
I think I'll chime in on the Trinity topic:
First prioirty has to go to SCAC games, especially against your rival. I think the decision to pitch Bronosn vs. ND will depend on where they stand in the west heading into the weekend. But I don't know Coach Scannell, but obviously what he does in Texas has worked.
Last question: What does a win vs. ND really mean to a d3 program? I think a coach needs to answer this first. Would you rather have a win vs. ND and miss the SCAC tournament by 1 game or lose vs. ND and make the SCAC tournament by 1 game?
Quote from: Lou_Brown on February 26, 2009, 03:35:43 PM
I think I'll chime in on the Trinity topic:
First prioirty has to go to SCAC games, especially against your rival. I think the decision to pitch Bronosn vs. ND will depend on where they stand in the west heading into the weekend. But I don't know Coach Scannell, but obviously what he does in Texas has worked.
Last question: What does a win vs. ND really mean to a d3 program? I think a coach needs to answer this first. Would you rather have a win vs. ND and miss the SCAC tournament by 1 game or lose vs. ND and make the SCAC tournament by 1 game?
In X # of years, when Stosh Hoover is talking with his kids/grandkids about playing collegiate baseball......what story will he tell???
We got to play and beat Notre Dame......
or
We made the tournament by 1 game and then was promptly eliminated.......
I know, all it takes is getting into the tournament and catch fire and win it, then win a regional, etc. If it comes down to Trinity missing the tournament by 1 game, then the chances of them winning the tournament are very slim. That means that either the bats went flat or other starting pitching didnt emerge. Either way, having it come down to one game isnt good and doesnt give them much of a chance to make it out of the conference tournament. If that is the case, I think I would rather tell the first story above than the second.....
Okay, we've established the starting pitcher against Notre Dame and we've got Trinity as the winner--any word on the final score or is that something we going to have to wait on? :)
One thing we do know is that it's going to be a very interesting year and hopefully there'll be more who join in the chatter. For example, it shouldn't be left to me to point out that LaGrange is now 7-4 with their losses coming from 4 SCAC teams--Millsaps, Rhodes, Sewanee, and Oglethorpe. Is there any word on how things look at DePauw, Centre, Birmingham Southern, or Sewanee? I'd like to know and I think the players and their parents might like some recognition. Nothing would please me more than being drowned out by a flood on new participants.
In the meantime, let me remind those who want to watch/listen to a little baseball tomorrow at work, the Millsaps-Emory game will be webcast at 11:00 Central time. There's rain in the forecast for Friday and Saturday so times may change, but Saturday's LaGrange-Millsaps game at 2 and Sunday's Rhodes-Millsaps game at 2 will also be webcast.
The link for the webcast is in the signature section below.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 26, 2009, 09:13:43 PM
Okay, we've established the starting pitcher against Notre Dame and we've got Trinity as the winner--any word on the final score or is that something we going to have to wait on? :)
One thing we do know is that it's going to be a very interesting year and hopefully there'll be more who join in the chatter. For example, it shouldn't be left to me to point out that LaGrange is now 7-4 with their losses coming from 4 SCAC teams--Millsaps, Rhodes, Sewanee, and Oglethorpe. Is there any word on how things look at DePauw, Centre, Birmingham Southern, or Sewanee? I'd like to know and I think the players and their parents might like some recognition. Nothing would please me more than being drowned out by a flood on new participants.
In the meantime, let me remind those who want to watch/listen to a little baseball tomorrow at work, the Millsaps-Emory game will be webcast at 11:00 Central time. There's rain in the forecast for Friday and Saturday so times may change, but Saturday's LaGrange-Millsaps game at 2 and Sunday's Rhodes-Millsaps game at 2 will also be webcast.
The link for the webcast is in the signature section below.
Wow, frank, didnt mean to upset you. All I meant was that Bronson gives TU the best chance to win. Who knows, maybe Coach Scannell will do something crazy and not throw him at all :)
Not upset at all which is why I used one of those smiley face things that I hate so much.
The reality is that none of us know what the Trinity and Millsaps SCAC records will be when those teams meet in mid-March so it's really hard to predict that far in advance. I don't think the record would matter for Millsaps--they will pull out all the stops to win an SCAC game. Thanks to the conversation going on here, I better understand that Trinity takes a different approach and I understand the concept behind that theory. There's no right or wrong, just two great programs and coaches doing what they think is best for their players.
Dealing with news of the present instead of the future, Millsaps is crushing Emory 13-2 and batting in the top of the 7th. Aaron Williams has gone the distance for Millsaps--just about everyone has hit well.
Rhodes is trailing LaGrange 5-4 with Rhodes coming up to bat in the bottom of the 6th. I couldn't find live stats on this one and the Rhodes announcer doesn't give out the score very often--if I was doing one of these webcasts I'd make myself a big note to announce the score every 3 or 4 minutes.
I couldn't find any live stats for Rhodes, just the video which I think is a new feature for them. I hope they haven't dropped the live stats--it's great to have both. Millsaps is adding live stats starting this Tuesday for baseball (starting this evening on softball).
For those who haven't check, Rhodes came back to beat LaGrange 7-5 yesterday.
Rhodes is playing Emory this morning. Andy Holt shut down Emory in a 6-1 victory last week but Rhodes appears to be saving him for Millsaps if that game is even played--it may get snowed out.
Emory is now leading Rhodes 7-0 and they are still batting with no outs in the top of the 2nd.
Anybody know if the Hendrix-Trinity game this afternoon has live video or live stats??
Quote from: nvnorthpaw on February 28, 2009, 01:09:06 PM
Anybody know if the Hendrix-Trinity game this afternoon has live video or live stats??
(ADDED NOTE: THERE IS A WEBCAST--SEE A COUPLE OF POSTS DOWN FOR THE LINK)
You can check the Trinity website: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/index.htm
The SCAC website shows no links and I didn't see any on the Trinity page--they are probably all focused on the basketball. ALSO, while the schedule says it's a 1:00 game, on the Trinity athletic home page it lists it as 3:00 under today's events. The time was probably changed because of the basketball games.
In Memphis it is 36 degrees with a 17 mph north wind, and Emory just run-ruled Rhodes 12-2. Maybe one of the Rhodes fans will provide more info but I suspect it was the worst game of the season by far for Rhodes--5 errors, 5 hit batters, and it seemed like just all around sloppy play to match the weather.
On the Emory side of the equation, they probably played this like a championship game because (1) Rhodes beat Emory 6-1 last week in Atlanta; (2) Millsaps embarrassed Emory yesterday; (3) this was the 300th victory by the Emory coach and I'm sure the players wanted to get that in a big way.
Millsaps and LaGrange will probably start on time at 2:00 OR considering the weather in Memphis, I won't be surprised if that game is moved up to start earlier. The link to the video of that game is in the signature area below.
Just got the word that the Millsaps game against LaGrange has been cancelled. Tomorrow's games are uncertain--given the weather forecast, I'd say the games tomorrow are unlikely.
Quote from: nvnorthpaw on February 28, 2009, 01:09:06 PM
Anybody know if the Hendrix-Trinity game this afternoon has live video or live stats??
FOUND A LINK TO THE TRINITY-HENDRIX GAME:
It's not listed anywhere, but I went back and tried the video link for the Austin vs. Trinity game and it looks like there is a webcast of today's game. That link is:
http://atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Trinity%20University.htm
It sounds like a very windy day in Texas--even for Texas.
Hendrix is up 3-0 early in the second against Bronson.
Looks like you got it right Frank. Not a lot of word coming out of the Rhodes campus after that game. Whew! One other point was today was when Rhodes dedicated their new baseball facility. So, that loss hurt. The HBP, walks, and errors piled up on Rhodes a couple of weeks ago at Huntingdon. Emory being the team that they are, really made Rhodes pay.
It is cold an miserable, but Emory played in it also. No time to hang their heads, Millsaps tomorrow. Snow shoes are optional tomorrow!
Forgerson hit a grand slam in the 4th to put Hendrix up 8-0 over Trinity.
After Hendrix took the Saturday opener 10-8 from Trinity yesterday, it looks like things are back to normal as Trinity leads today 10-2 after 3 innings. The big damage was a 7-run second where 3 hits were mixed in with 5 or 6 walks by the Hendrix pitchers.
It's obvious that Trinity had a serious team meeting after yesterday's game as the "chatter" from the Trinity dugout has been loud and consistent since the beginning of the game. Maybe yesterday was a turning point for this year's Tigers.
In the only other conference series going this weekend, Southwestern won at Austin 14-9 in 11 innings yesterday and Austin leads 1-0 today with Southwestern threatening in the top of the 3rd.
While the SCAC East remains gridlocked in a tight race from top to bottom, there were some things of interest going on in the SCAC West:
---Okay, put your hand up if you thought Hendrix would be 4-3 after opening with 7 road games--2 at Millsaps, 3 at Austin, and 2 at Trinity? Both my hands are still on the keyboard. With 10 of their remaining 13 games at home, you have to believe that Hendrix has a good shot at coming to Jackson for the SCAC Tournament.
---On the flip side, Austin split a pair on the road with Trinity and have since lost 4 out of 5 at home. With a 2-5 record, they face a critical road trip to Millsaps this weekend for 3 games.
---Southwestern snapped a 5 game skid last weekend with their 2 game sweep of Austin. With UMHB putting up a 12-spot in the first inning today, I believe Southwestern's win streak will end at 2. At 2-3 in the SCAC, Southwestern is facing a big home series this weekend with Trinity.
---Did Trinity turn things around Sunday? I listened to the game and it was obvious that the Trinity dugout was intent on showing a lot of life from the very beginning. That's a start and Trinity won with ease that day. At 2-2 and 12 of their remaining 16 games on the road, they need to keep this renewed spirit going in Georgetown this week. Trinity is playing Concordia at this moment and the link to the video is:
http://atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Trinity%20University.htm
---Millsaps didn't get a lot of work over the weekend after beating Emory handily on Friday. They play NAIA Belhaven this evening and I suspect Millsaps will use a string of pitchers to get them a little mound time before Austin comes to town. What I've come to find out is that no matter what the Austin College record is, they will give Millsaps a tough game.
The game with Belhaven will be webcast at 6 Central this evening and the link is in the signature area below.
Oglethorpe's game has been moved to Piedmont and scheduled to start in a few minutes (4 pm). I was planing to stop by after work to watch the Petrels play at home at 5 but now I may be left in the dark as I looked through Piedmonts website and didnt find any place for live stats.
Does anyone know if Piedmont offers live stats?
Seems from the games Sunday vs Hendrix and today with Concordia that Trinity is getting closer to playing at the level expected in the preseason and that would be consistent with their talent level.
In the 9th at Dell Stadium, Trinity leads CTX 14-4.
Good hitting and good pitching against a very good hitting team.
Interesting! They still have a long way to go to climb out of their early season doldrums, but they have the talent to do so.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news for all SCAC enthusiasts out there hoping to see Trinity beat ND, but I don't see it happening. I was in Phoenix this weekend and watched ND start a guy who lived 92-94 through 6 innings (not exagerating, I was sitting behind a couple guns), then march out three other pitchers topping out over 90. I'm all for arguing the gap between DIII and DI teams is not that wide, but as far as the pitching is concerned...it is. That being said Bronson I know can throw the ball pretty darn well too (I hit off him numerous times - pretty unsucessfully), but its going to take a big effort to beat a team like Notre Dame.
Also interesting, Notre Dame's leadoff hitter is also the school's best wide reciever, Golden Tate. As you can imagine, he runs pretty well. Mike Scoicia's son is the back up catcher for ND as well. The apple kinda fell far from the tree because despite being a pretty big kid, hes got a wet noodle for an arm.
Good luck to Trinity I hope they can pull it out, but I would recommend ramping up the heat on the old Iron Mike machine for the hitters.
I would be surprised if Coach Scannell didn't know all of that before he scheduled ND.
The challenge for TU is to step up and compete. I know for sure that Evan Jones and Kyle Felix have faced 90-92 when they played in high school in the WCAL. They have also faced that velocity in Summer leagues as have Hoover and some others.
One of their assistant coaches has seen 101mph more than once and done fine.
Will their hitters be challenged? Absolutely. But that is the way they are coached and that is how they get better.
Will Bronson pitch? I don't know but whoever does will be out there competing and having fun.
The issue for TU is whether the team which played Sunday/today continues to get better from here. They have started to hit. They have upside to get even better with the bats. If they continue to improve, they are not going to be over matched by ND. They will be challenged but they will have approaches that will be solid and guys who know they can hit 90-92 and will execute just fine.
Again, winning is great, if it happens. But, knowing Coach Scannell, this game is about the discipline of staying focused against Millsaps and not looking ahead 6 hours.
It is about competing against ND and using that challenge to get better.
If TU does those two things, the day will be a success. If they split, the day will be a huge success.
It is only if they don't get mentally prepared and compete that they lose.
From the talk by the Trinity broadcasters on Saturday, the bigger challenge for Trinity hitters is when they face a 73 mph fastball. :)
However, in the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that the Millsaps batters didn't do any better against that same pitcher. :(
Millsaps won tonight 14-4 in 7 innings against a good NAIA team (Belhaven College, now 14-8 on the season). Hunter Owen had 2 long home runs and 5 rbi's and Will Hawkins put one over the 400 foot mark in centerfield.
Having Solomon go 7 innings against CTX was a big deal for Trinity. Granted, he gave up some shots where our OF made great plays against the fence and would definitely have been HR at Trinity's field, but none the less. Trinity desperately needs pitchers to step up who want the ball and will perform when given the ball. The bats are starting to come around. The difference between Hendrix run total Sunday and yesterday's game was TU earned their runs yesterday. Sure CTX made some errors, but TU also hit the ball all over the yard. On Sunday, TU was the beneficiary of a very bad strike zone, scoring several runs on walks, etc. As a fan, seeing the box score of yesterday's game made me much more excited about TU baseball than Sunday's game.
On a different note, the series this weekend has been changed to a 2 games series at Southwestern. That will give TU one 3-game series at home.
I've written and erased several long posts. Here is a summation of what I've wanted to say:
Personally, I respect the Trinity baseball team just as I respect the teams from Austin, Hendrix and Southwestern. From what has been written here over the last couple of weeks, it sounds like Trinity doesn't have a lot of respect back for Millsaps or the other teams in the SCAC West.
Am I the only non-Trinity person getting that feeling or is that the way it has come across?
Hi all, I am new to the forum, but I have spent much time watching the SCAC, both the west and east, in the last several years. I am in complete agreement with Mr. Ezelle regarding his comment about Trinity's lack of respect for the rest of the conference. Many of the SCAC teams play with a large degree of professionalism and sportsmanship, however these traits have never been so absent in Coach Scannel's program. He really needs to rethink his methods down there in San Antonio, and take note of what coaches like Coach Page at Millsaps and Coach Cleanthes at Rhodes are doing. From what I have seen, Scanell presents himself with a sense of arrogance, and refuses to accept the fact that his squad is at the bottom of the conference. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think their 7-7 record is representative of the major faults in Scannel's program.
I want to quickly point out that I'm totally referring to the posts made on this board over the last couple of weeks and none were made by Coach Scannel. From my casual spot as an observer and my close up spot as a photographer, I've never had any problem with the Trinity coaches and players and I don't recall every seeing anything that I thought was out of kilter when they have played at Millsaps.
I also don't have a problem with the Notre Dame game in itself. I can see a coach weighing the pros and cons of getting to play in this tournament and choosing to play. I am a little surprised that anyone would then add two D3 non-conference games to the mid-week, but there may have been good reasons for that.
My problem has been this rationalization that the Notre Dame game is just a way for Coach Scannel to challenge his players to get the best out of them. I consider it a big challenge when Trinity comes to Jackson for a series, but I guess Millsaps going to San Antonio isn't enough of a challenge for Trinity--at least that's how the explanations here have sounded.
And the fact that Trinity has less home games than anyone else--shoot, that's no big deal--it's only Austin, Hendrix, Millsaps and Southwestern. Those teams are a good warmup for when we play in the NCAA Tournament and we'll have to play those games on the road. Again, that's how it has been spun on this board, and that really sounds condescending to the other teams in the league.
Maybe that's not how it was intended, but that's sure how it came out.
I commend Mr. Ezelle for not wanting to alienate the Trinity fans on the forum, but for someone who has seen Scannel's program up close and personal, I have witnessed some serious faults with his style. The bush league actions that many of his players have performed over the past several years are not because of individual players, but the undisciplined system as a whole.
What I am trying to say is that in previous years, when they were the dominant team in the SCAC, they could get away with their cockiness and lack of respect. However, the rest of the league is on their same level and in many cases better. The fact that Hendrix went out and beat them is a testament of this.
As far as the Notre Dame game is concerned, I don't think that such a big deal should be made out of this. I wish more mid-major confernece Division 1's decided to play D3's.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 04, 2009, 08:07:36 PM
I've written and erased several long posts. Here is a summation of what I've wanted to say:
Personally, I respect the Trinity baseball team just as I respect the teams from Austin, Hendrix and Southwestern. From what has been written here over the last couple of weeks, it sounds like Trinity doesn't have a lot of respect back for Millsaps or the other teams in the SCAC West.
Am I the only non-Trinity person getting that feeling or is that the way it has come across?
Frank.
Why not go and talk to Jim Page about the respect between Trinity and Millsaps and Coach Page and Coach Scannell and their players?
That is a terribly, terribly wrong post.
A bit of background:
In the SCAC's in 2000, there was an incident. Neither coach likes to talk about it. Neither is proud of it.
Now, each Coach has the greatest respect for each other.
Their players compete with each other in a way that can only be described as tenacious. Maybe even more intense.
On another board, in complimenting Millsaps and Coach Page, I talked about this level of on field competition. In our experience, there is nothing at any level of college baseball that exceeds the level of intensity.
But, when the final out is made, there is nothing like the level of respect between coaches and players.
Jim Page is a favorite of our son.
Millsaps now sends Coach McCain to the Stanford Camp because of that TU/Millsaps relationship and what Coach Scannell has done recruiting from that camp.
Before you post like that, have a chat with Coach Page. Ask him if he thinks Coach Scannell would coach his team has you suggest.
Ask him about the level of respect between the teams/players.
Please come back and post.
Ask former players like Matt Yglesias about what it meant to compete with TU and the level of respect between the players on each team.
After doing that, please come back and post.
scac, my son's name is Jason Armstong. Tell me one player in the SCAC who will say he was cocky, arrogant or lacked respect for any opponent. Tell me the name of one player from TU who lacked respect for any opponent/player and was disrespectful.
What a crock!
I look forward to your posts after you talk to players and Coach Page.
You are not going to find two more fiery coaches than Jim Page and Tim Scannell.
You are not going to find two better and more respectul coaches off the field than those two.
Those posts are just really disappointing in facts. Maybe that might be your impressions on a message board. If so, take it out on the posters. Don't attribute what we post to those guys and coaches leaving it on the field.
Why not tell us your name scac? I would look forward to discussing your comments. The last two coaches I talked with in2004 were Jim Page and Jim Mallon. At Rhodes I talked with Coach Cleathes for a bit.
I doubt any of those coaches would agree with anything you have said.
Fun on a message board I guess. Disappointing...you bet.
Frank, did you miss the part about Coach Scannell doing this schedule so that his team would focus on Millsaps and not be looking 5 hours ahead.
All of this is teaching. Players can handle more than one big challenge in one day but they sure need mental discipline to do so.
Do you know that in 2004, Millsaps scheduled a game at TU against a national DIII power from New Jersey...and then played their SCAC game against TU?
Was that "disrespectful" to TU?
If my posts came across as TU not respecting the SCAC, that wasnt the case. To re-iterate what infielddad said, TU and specifically has the upmost resepct for Millsaps. I know this for a fact as I have had many conversations with Coach Scannell about it. I was at the unfortunate incident in 2000 and know, personally, that both coaches have moved on and become very good friends. They talk all the time on the phone. I doubt that would happen if either felt the slightest bit of disrespect. I echo infielddad, ask Coach Page.
If my posts implied any type of arrogance or lack of respect, that wasnt the intention.
Quote from: scacbaseballfan on March 04, 2009, 10:58:51 PM
I commend Mr. Ezelle for not wanting to alienate the Trinity fans on the forum, but for someone who has seen Scannel's program up close and personal, I have witnessed some serious faults with his style. The bush league actions that many of his players have performed over the past several years are not because of individual players, but the undisciplined system as a whole.
What I am trying to say is that in previous years, when they were the dominant team in the SCAC, they could get away with their cockiness and lack of respect. However, the rest of the league is on their same level and in many cases better. The fact that Hendrix went out and beat them is a testament of this.
As far as the Notre Dame game is concerned, I don't think that such a big deal should be made out of this. I wish more mid-major confernece Division 1's decided to play D3's.
What bush league actions have you witnessed up close and personal? I would like examples.
On your comment about Notre Dame, I wouldn't exactly call them a mid-major.
Quote from: tiger_fan2000 on March 04, 2009, 11:48:58 PM
Quote from: scacbaseballfan on March 04, 2009, 10:58:51 PM
I commend Mr. Ezelle for not wanting to alienate the Trinity fans on the forum, but for someone who has seen Scannel's program up close and personal, I have witnessed some serious faults with his style. The bush league actions that many of his players have performed over the past several years are not because of individual players, but the undisciplined system as a whole.
What I am trying to say is that in previous years, when they were the dominant team in the SCAC, they could get away with their cockiness and lack of respect. However, the rest of the league is on their same level and in many cases better. The fact that Hendrix went out and beat them is a testament of this.
As far as the Notre Dame game is concerned, I don't think that such a big deal should be made out of this. I wish more mid-major confernece Division 1's decided to play D3's.
What bush league actions have you witnessed up close and personal? I would like examples.
On your comment about Notre Dame, I wouldn't exactly call them a mid-major.
Massey (2008) ranked Notre Dame below TrinityCT, Chapman and Cortland and above Salisbury.
http://www.mratings.com/rate.php?lg=cbase
Since Trinity TX was competitive with Chapman, then that ought to be a fair game.
Why am I still surprised when a board members totally misreads a post and goes nuts?
My comment wasn't about the Trinity coaches or players--I specifically clarified that I have never seen anything negative from them. The problem has been with the tone of the posts as they would be read by non-Trinity members of this board. How do I write this to make it any clearer?
Mr. Armstrong, you wrote: "Those posts are just really disappointing in facts. Maybe that might be your impressions on a message board. If so, take it out on the posters. Don't attribute what we post to those guys and coaches leaving it on the field."
I was talking about the posters on this board--where on earth do you read that I'm attributing this to the players and the coaches? I also wrote that I didn't think they were intended to sound like condescending comments but that's the way they were sounding.
Could you go back and read what I said and then criticise me for thinking your posts were coming across the wrong way? I'll be glad to respond to that, but I don't have any way to respond to criticisms of things I didn't say.
By the way, I have no idea what happened in 2000 and why do people like to bring that up? Whatever it was, can't people give it a rest instead of bringing it up every so often on the message board? It's ancient history that should be allowed to fade away.
And now I'm going to bed but I'll be glad to respond tomorrow morning to anything that relates to what I actually wrote.
Frank,
this is what you posted:
"From what has been written here over the last couple of weeks, it sounds like Trinity doesn't have a lot of respect back for Millsaps or the other teams in the SCAC West.
Am I the only non-Trinity person getting that feeling or is that the way it has come across?"
I don't see how I misinterpreted this: Trinity "does not have a lot of respect for Millsaps or the SCAC West."
Not sure where I went nuts about what you didn't say or what I "misread." All I read is what you posted..about Trinity. Have a chat with Jim Page and let us know.
So, when Millsaps scheduled the game in 2004 against Montclair St, before they played TU, was that a lack of respect for TU?
Again, talk to Jim Page. If you post that you talked with him and he confirmed your "getting that feeling" then I am willing to admit my observations and what our son and his teammates told us was plain wrong.
Referring to the post that Notre Dame isn't a mid-major, I would like to point out a few things about Northern D1's in general, and say that I expect Trinity to put up a solid effort, and potentially beat them. I may anger a few posters when I say this, but I think the quality of baseball and talent of southern D3 teams (Millsaps, Trnity, Rhodes, Emory, etc) is equal too or potentially better than many northern D1 teams, although there may be several phenomenal northern D1's that are the exception.
If you look at the top 25 Division 1 teams according to Baseball America, the only two Northern teams in the rankings are #17 Kent State and #24 Oregon State. My point is that the D3 teams I previously mentioned could be very competitive with the Northern D1's and regardless of the Trinity-Notre Dame outcome, and I think more of these games should be scheduled early in the Division 1 season.
Hey I've been watching these boards for a while now and thought I'd join the action. I have my ties to Hendrix so thats mostly who I will be chatting about but I'm definitely up for all the discussions that go on. Now that my introduction is over with.
Hendrix lost tonight 9-5 against #7 in the nation UT-Tyler (who just beat Austin 14-2) in a game that was much closer than the score entails. Hendrix batters were hitting the ball on the screws all game but it seemed to always be right at someone (I believe there were 3 line drive, bang bang double plays). The Warriors defense had one bad 5 run inning that was the difference in the game. The impressive thing was that down 9-1 going into the ninth, Hendrix fought back for 4 runs off of Tyler's number 2.
Hendrix finishes up Tyler with an afternoon game on Thursday and then heads to California for their spring break to face #9 Chapman, #18 Cal Lutheran, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, and Pomona-Pitzer.
Welcome, casual_observer. I actually set the alarm clock 30 minutes early this morning, figuring that there would be some long reply about my recent posts that I should respond to, and it nice that instead I'm welcoming you to the board.
I hope you'll keep posting with regularity to the board. You would be amazed at how much your posts will be appreciated by the players and their parents, not to mention the rest of us who like to keep up with SCAC action. I wish every SCAC team in every sport had at least one person reporting to this message board. We all know that D3 athletes are woefully neglected by the press and usually by the majority of their fellow students. This message board is the prime spot where every team can have a voice, every great game or worthy off the field accomplishment can be relayed to the public, and yet so few people step up and speak out for these young adults.
Since I have this extra 30 minutes, let me take the time to warn you about the feeling you'll have of working in a vacuum. You'll type up all these posts and there will be very few if any items of feedback bouncing back your way. You will start to wonder if anybody cares about what you are writing and couldn't you use the time it takes to post for something better in your life. I've been posting under my real name for several years and often I've felt like it doesn't make a difference, and then out of the blue there will be an email from a parent who says they really appreciate the posts about the team. Or a former player will come by one of the games and they'll thank me for both writing about the team when they were playing and keeping them more informed now. Mostly though, you just have to trust that your efforts are being appreciated and keep posting. It will be time well spent in the long run.
And for the rest of you who have been watching the boards for a while, why don't you join in the action. You don't have to be a genius--I prove that every day--and you don't even have to attend the games. Look at the box score, report the score and give us an idea of who had a good game. Just write something so people will get a break from all of my long posts.
Welcome casual observer.
Your participation will make one of the best baseball boards on this site even better.
The SCAC board took off early as a quality board. Another Hendirx follower will help provide some balance to it.
scacbaseballfan---fair enough on the northern team comment. Maybe ND shouldnt be held is such a high regard. I would also like to see more teams do this. However, I doubt it happens because of the "nothing to gain" aspect from it. ND should be more talented at just about every position than any D3 team they play. But, because this is baseball, TU has a chance to win. Same with any team on any day. Reminds me of watching the Auggie Guarrido documentary and his comments about why he loves baseball. Because, the more talented team doesnt always win. Football.....I highly doubt a D3 team could match up against a mid-level D1 team. But, with baseball, absolutely it can happen. Not the majority of the time, but it can happen.
I would still like to know what classless actions you witnessed up close and personal, however. Feel free to send me a message if you dont want to post it here.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 17, 2009, 02:40:39 PM
Here's part of a news release from Jacksonville State University yesterday and it has a Millsaps connection:
"Jacksonville State's Ben Tootle was named to the Baseball America preseason All-America team, which was released on Monday.
The Oxford High School product was the only player from the Ohio Valley Conference named to the preseason All-America squad. Tootle recently became the first player in OVC history to earn first-team preseason All-America honors by the National College Baseball Writers Association, is a second-team Louisville Slugger preseason All-America, third team by Ping!Baseball and is on the Brooks Wallace Award Watch list.
He helped Jacksonville State to the 2008 Ohio Valley Conference regular-season Championship with a Conference record 23-4 mark. Both ESPN and Baseball America both have named Tootle as one of the top prospects in the country and is projected as a first round draft pick in 2009."
Complete story: http://www.jsugamecocksports.com/news/2009/2/16/BB_0216094323.aspx
The Millsaps connection is that Ben Tootle was hammered by Millsaps hitters last year, giving up 6 hits and 9 runs (6 earned) in just 1 inning of play as Millsaps beat the Ohio Valley Conference champs 17-3 to split a 2-game series.
I'm not sure if Millsaps brought in any recruits with that victory, but I do understand that it is nice to play a D1 school when it can be fitted within the schedule.
I'm bringing forward this post from the past because it fits with the current conversation. I certainly believe Trinity can beat Notre Dame based on what happened in this one game last season.
Nice article.......
Frank, are you going to make it to the games in San Antonio?
I don't travel much to photograph the teams and it's rare indeed when I ever get a chance to simply watch a game. I'm always here in town taking photos of another Millsaps team or spending my weekends editing a backlog of photos. Millsaps is hosting a big softball tournament that weekend and I'll spend a lot of time at those games. I hope to catch the webcast of the Sunday game, but it's going to be hard to catch the Saturday game with Millsaps playing softball at 12 and 2.
I could have sworn Trinity did defeat Notre Dame once in the not-too-distant past, but according to the ND media guide the Irish are 10-0 all-time against Trinity with a couple of one-run wins in the series.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 05, 2009, 12:09:10 PM
I don't travel much to photograph the teams and it's rare indeed when I ever get a chance to simply watch a game. I'm always here in town taking photos of another Millsaps team or spending my weekends editing a backlog of photos. Millsaps is hosting a big softball tournament that weekend and I'll spend a lot of time at those games. I hope to catch the webcast of the Sunday game, but it's going to be hard to catch the Saturday game with Millsaps playing softball at 12 and 2.
Hope you can catch the games that weekend.
I've read this board for quite some time, but have never felt inclined to chime in until now. I'm not sure why that is (perhaps boredom), but here we go.
I personally find all this discussion/dissension surrounding the Notre Dame game to be rather silly, and I couldn't help but be reminded of the game infielddad mentioned between Millsaps and Montclair State played on a Saturday afternoon before a night cap against Trinity (it was actually 2003, but that's not important). In that game, Millsaps was absolutely destroyed by a very good Montclair St. team. That night, Millsaps came back and put together its best game of the year to that point, and beat Trinity (8-1, I think), and then went on a good second-half run for the SCAC title.
People talk a lot about turning points or defining points in a season, and I suppose that weekend could have been regarded as such. But was it the actual games being on the schedule, or was it what Coach Page made of those games and relayed to his players that caused the "turning point?" I would suspect the latter. Point being, its not the schedule thats going to define this year's Trinity team. Its the players and coaches. While it makes for good message board fodder, I don't see much sense in arguing what a single day, several weeks in the future, means for a team, much less what it means for other teams in the conference. A good coach like Coach Scannell will take any type of win or loss against Notre Dame and use it to build toward the next day and the rest of the season.
I think it goes without saying that the entire conference hopes that Trinity represents the SCAC and D3 admirably in that game, and should hope the Tigers come away with a win.
As for the disrespect issue, I think that is just a matter of folks supporting/defending their team a little more adamantly than they commend others, and I personally don't see anything wrong with that. Tis the nature of fanhood.
very well spoken crash!
Crash,
Welcome to the DIII message boards.
After reading your post, I hope you continue to provide your input and thoughts.
I think you captured things very cogently. Nice post.
Your insights as to how Coach Page/Coach Scannell might motivate their players/ team is quite accurate, in my view.
Was it really 2003? Geez, I am a year older than I thought! :o
Any report on the Trinity game yesterday? I'm not familiar with Desales. DIII? NAIA? I imagine it was a pitch-by-committee type thing with the Southwestern games this weekend.
Trinity lost 11-8. It turned into a pitch by committee for both teams as a lot of scoring was done in the early innings and both starters didn't last very long. I believe Desales is a D3 team from the northeast, and I think this now just about evens their record. They did have an early season 3-0 loss to the #4 team in the polls--is that Kean or Kern--I should know that.
Welcome Crash!
Kean, pronounced "cane".
DeSales (http://athletics.desales.edu/news/2009/2/24/BB_0224093807.aspx), Allentown PA, is picked to win the MAC Freedom Conference.
Oglethorpe put on a hitting display vs. Mt. Aloysius and beat them 12-2...20 hits including 6 doubles and a HR...I think 3 guys in the lineup had 3 hits apiece (Rizzo, Farrey, Lucas)..Sarisky started but had to leave the game early due to another injury, it seems his back is still giving him problems, yesterday he sat at 91-92 and reached back and hit 95 on a few occasions.
OU moves to 6-6 and has played some good games against some good teams. If they can get their pitching together they are going to win a lot of ball games.
Millsaps won the opening game of their DH with Austin, taking a big lead and holding on for a 13-9 victory (I'm not 100% certain on the score but that's close).
In the nightcap, Austin held a 5-4 lead going into the bottom of the 9th. Tait Hendrix started things off with a single. He stole second and scored on Russ Boyd's hit, a double I believe. With the score tied at 5-5, Hunter Owen hit a ball well over the leftfield fence to give Millsaps a 7-5 victory. I'm working on getting photos to Millsaps at the moment. I'll try to post more later.
More later: Here's the story from the Millsaps website which includes links to the box scores:
http://www.gomajors.com/news/2009/3/7/BB_0307093524.aspx
Thanks for the report Frank.
It's just been that kind of year for AC so far, particularly in conference. At this point, they're about 5 or 6 runs (and a few mistakes here and there) away from being 7-2 instead of 2-7 in conference.
Quote from: jekelish on March 08, 2009, 12:22:59 PM
Thanks for the report Frank.
It's just been that kind of year for AC so far, particularly in conference. At this point, they're about 5 or 6 runs (and a few mistakes here and there) away from being 7-2 instead of 2-7 in conference.
You're absolutely right about Austin being close to reversing their record and they seem far better than a 2-7 team to me. When their hitters get rolling, they can hit a ton.
At the moment Austin leads Millsaps 3-2 going into the bottom of the 2nd. Hunter Owen followed up last nights game winning home run with another 2-run shot in the bottom of the first. That ties him for the career lead at Millsaps and it's his 4th HR in the last 4 games.
Millsaps wins today 10-7. The 16-1 start is the best start in school history. Will Hawkins added a home run in his last at bat to complete a 5 for 5 day which also included a triple. Drew Maddox got the save which ties him for the most saves in Millsaps history with 10. Tait Hendrix got the win and did a much better job on holding down the walks.
As for Austin, they remind me a lot of the Millsaps Mens Basketball team this year that played everyone tough and seemed to have everything go against them. I believe this puts them at 2-8 in the SCAC but I won't be surprised in the least if they rally back to 9-11 over the next 10 games and I'm thinking that might be good enough to get to the SCAC Tournament.
Wasn't it just a couple of years ago that the better teams were beating Hendrix by scores of 21-2 or something similar?
Now the scores like the 15-3 win by Trinity last Sunday seem like the flukes. Admittedly, Hendrix has lost 3 times since that Trinity game, but the scores have been 9-5 and 9-4 against #7 University of Texas-Tyler and 10-8 against #9 Chapman. Those are competitive games against top-10 teams, plus they split with Millsaps who might very well be top-10 by tomorrow.
Congratulations are in order for the coach and his staff. I'd mention them by name except Hendrix doesn't include anything about the coaches on the Baseball page. I'm sure it's somewhere on the athletic website, but you Hendrix folks know who they are and it looks like they have really turned the program around.
Cal Lutheran vs. Hendrix will be on live video today at 2:30 PM (PST)
www.kadytv.com
Hendrix is giving #18 CLU a heck of a game, just scoring in the top of the 9th to tie the score at 3-3 and now with runners at 2nd and 3rd and 1 out. Check out the link above to see if the game is still on--it's a good one.
New to this Board and a Hendrix supporter. Following 5 local players from So.Cal. and watching the team turn around instantaneously. With only 3 seniors, the team is very young. Last year I watched a 4 game series against UT Dallas without an offensive or defensive substitution through all 4 games (other than pitchers). Now they have some depth and youth on their side. I watched both the Chapman game and the CLU game. Chapman scores 8 in the 2nd inning until a pitch calling miscommunication is discovered and out plays Chapman for the next 7 innings. Smoyer then throws 6 innings of 2 hit ball against CLU. The game is a 4-3 loss in the bottom of 9. Basically 2 long balls (very long) were the difference. Competitive baseball, what more can you ask? After this swing in California, they head home for the rest of the season until Southwestern in April. Coaches Thomas, Maddox and Groat have done a great job!
The good thing for Hendrix baseball is that they are playing the quality national teams (southern California) teams, that just happen to be, in-region games.
Hendrix needs to compete at that level to build their program. That is a big gain for all of the SCAC.
I watched the last inning of the Hendrix-CLU game and it is clear Hendrix is better. The depth that was talked about earlier is very important progress for their program.
Recruiting CA and the West has long been a goal and skill of Coach Scannell. He was the first SCAC coach to attend the Stanford Camp and recruit heavily from CA.
In 2000 he recruited our son and Mike Frost from CA and they ended up being the player/pitcher of the year in 2004 and led TU to their first regional appearances.
The current TU roster is filled with West Coast players.
Now, at camps like those at Stanford and Headfirst, you see Coach McCain from Millsaps, the Hendrix coaches, DePauw and others.
Most parents and players on the West Coast know nothing about the caliber of academics and athletics in the SCAC. They are considered "fly over" schools" to get to to the Ivys, Williams, Amherst, Bucknell and the like.
That isn't the case any more and it is great for schools like Hendrix and it is great for the SCAC and the players/parents from the West who get recruited there.
Each gets a very, very high quality education and the ability to compete at the highest level of DIII athletics.
Since the subject of the day has been the improvement of Hendrix, who wants to take a shot at this fill in the blank:
There is a ___% chance that Hendrix will finish in the top 2 in the West.
They are already in second after playing 7 road games. That gives them 10 out of the 13 remaining games at home--hosting Millsaps and Trinity for 3 each, Austin and Southwestern for 2, and going on the road for 3 at Southwestern (I'm not exactly sure about those Austin games--is one a neutral site tomorrow?).
Even though Hendrix, Trinity and Southwestern are bunched together and one bad series will bring Millsaps back to the pack, don't you think there's at least a 50% chance that Hendrix will be in the top two considering the number of home games they have remaining?
I thought Hunter Owen had a shot at SCAC Offensive POTW with his .353 batting average (6 of 17), 1.118 slugging %, 11 rbi's, 7 runs, and 4 home runs, including the walk off home run Saturday night.
Maybe he can pick it up a little and win the award next week. ::)
Two good wins for OU today over a good Haverford club. A 3-2 win in game one and a 10-5 win in game two. Looks like OU is starting to get some decent pitching. They played two solid games on defense turning a few double plays and offensivley they picked up a ton of 2-out RBI's...
Quote from: Lou_Brown on March 10, 2009, 08:44:16 PM
Two good wins for OU today over a good Haverford club. A 3-2 win in game one and a 10-5 win in game two. Looks like OU is starting to get some decent pitching. They played two solid games on defense turning a few double plays and offensivley they picked up a ton of 2-out RBI's...
Lou it amazes me looking at the box score that the good pitching didn't come from what was thought to be Oglethorpe's top 3 pitchers coming into the season. The great pitching came from Oglethorpe's starting SS Cornwell getting his first start after only pitching 4 innings before. He went 5 dominate innings and got a little tired in the sixth and gave up the two runs. The second game was pitched by what I guess is Oglethorpe's top reliever since he has the most appearances but this was his first start. He was able to give the Petrels I think 5 good innings to clinch the 10-5 win.
Hopefully, the two good outings that these two pitchers had will help rest of the pitching staff to come around and follow suit. Next up for the Petrels is a three game conference weekend with Centre so it will nice to see how the the first week of eastern conference play shakes out.
JR Bizzell, the Rhodes College shortstop recorded his 200th career hit today against Christian Brothers. He's had an outstanding career and his presence in the middle infield is one of the prime reasons that Rhodes has come so far in the last 5 or 6 years. Rhodes beat Div. 2 Christian Brothers by a score of 19-3, and have really been pounding the ball this season. From what I have seen and read, the offensive firepower is certainly present this year, and offensively they look poised for a shot at the title. With conference play beginning for the East this weekend, who do ya'll foresee as the favorite to win the East division at this point in the season?
Quote from: scacbaseballfan on March 04, 2009, 10:58:51 PM
I commend Mr. Ezelle for not wanting to alienate the Trinity fans on the forum, but for someone who has seen Scannel's program up close and personal, I have witnessed some serious faults with his style. The bush league actions that many of his players have performed over the past several years are not because of individual players, but the undisciplined system as a whole.
What I am trying to say is that in previous years, when they were the dominant team in the SCAC, they could get away with their cockiness and lack of respect. However, the rest of the league is on their same level and in many cases better. The fact that Hendrix went out and beat them is a testament of this.
As far as the Notre Dame game is concerned, I don't think that such a big deal should be made out of this. I wish more mid-major confernece Division 1's decided to play D3's.
scac,
In my view, until you respond and support your accusations about Coach Scannell and his players, or acknowledge a mistake, I think your posts lack reliability and credibility. This won't go away because you brought in really accusatory and serious issues.
Look, if there is reliable information, I would be interested. I have seen how hard Coach Scannell works. I know he gives his players 110% effort. Certainly, he coaches them to respond in the same way...and he produces really good players who are terrific young men.
I have seen how much he loves this game, loves his players, and demands respect for the game and opponent.
I have seen him demand his players respect the game and not throw helmets and the like.
I have also been with him when TU experienced the loss of a teammate, Chris Ashmos and a great, great coach, Bob Meccage. I have seen Coach Scannell and his team and how he teaches respect, demands respect for opponents, for the game and how he will not tolerate less than 100%, whether they win or lose. Winning/losing isn't all that is involved when you have lost a player like Schmos and a Coach like Bob. There is not a TU player who does not know of them or the importance of playing/practicing/acting in their memory.
If you have factual information please provide it. If you just want to trash, so be it. This is a message board and trashing without facts can happen.
Bill Armstrong
Mr. Infielddad,
Your adoration for the Trinity program is pleasant, but have you wondered how the view is from the other side of the aisle? You can call me out and say that I lack reliability, but if you want to dance sir, then we will dance. Coach Scannell is the Al Davis in the SCAC coaching fraternity due to misinterpretation of the word functional, and his complete lack of respect for other schools. He may "love" his players, but by no means does this reflect on how they act towards other teams. He may demand respect for the game, yet he still treats other coaches/players like dirt. Do you really want me to sit here and list each and every thing that his kids have gotten away with? To begin, I specifically recall Coach Scannell berating of a lefthanded pitcher about his physical stature that was a bit larger than average. Here's another, a colleague of mine went on a baseball recruiting visit to Trinity several years ago. The number one thing he took away from that eyeopening experience was the prevalence of drunk driving throughout their entire team. He actually had to get a taxi back to campus because there was not a player with a low enough blood alcohol content to perform a simple 3 mile drive. You know, maybe this shouldn't be deemed bush league, but the words irresponsible and frightening are appropriate. Honestly sir, the list goes on, and we can continue this complete revealing of Trinity's true colors, but I feel like most of the SCAC agrees with me on this issue. The fact that you have witnessed his sensitivity at the lost of a teammate only proves that he is not soulless, and nothing more. I am assuming that you are going to get worked up about this post and try to eradicate me from the forum, so I will leave you with this. You're son graduated 5 years ago and yet your heart still dances when you think of your messiah Coach Timothy Scannell. I hope these facts clear the air for you....
Yours truly,
scacbaseballfan
Quote from: scacbaseballfan on March 11, 2009, 02:49:24 AM
Here's another, a colleague of mine went on a baseball recruiting visit to Trinity several years ago. The number one thing he took away from that eyeopening experience was the prevalence of drunk driving throughout their entire team. He actually had to get a taxi back to campus because there was not a player with a low enough blood alcohol content to perform a simple 3 mile drive. You know, maybe this shouldn't be deemed bush league, but the words irresponsible and frightening are appropriate.
Not to get in the way here, but this has nothing to do with the coach. He is their coach, not their baby sitter. College kids make stupid choices all the time, and driving after drinking is one of them. Coach Scannel can put rules in place and tell these young men about doing the right thing, but he is not with them every second of the day.
I have no thoughts either way on the subject, but bringing things up like this on a message board are bush league in my opinion. You can rip me all you want, I will have no reply for you.
Hendrix won a bad baseball game 10-9 against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps...tons of errors on each side. This makes them 1-2 so far on the California trip with the last game Wednesday against Pomona-Pitzer.
I can't believe I'm asking this question given their history but does a team that has given several ranked teams a serious run for their money (Millsaps only loss and 2-1 loss in 10 for an almost 2 game sweep, 10-8 against Chapman, 4-3 against Cal Lutheran, winning convincingly over Trinity and competitive games against UT-Tyler) possibly get ranked themselves. Yes, I'm talking about Hendrix getting some votes in the rankings. I doubt they will for the simple fact that they are below .500 and have a terrible past. But you could also make a serious argument based on the difficulty of their schedule this year.
I just want to know if you think its possible.
scac,
Why not check with Jim Page and his players at Millsaps and let us know what they think. I can assure you that you don't speak for Jim Page
In 2004, at the SCACs, Coach Jim Mallon, the retiring Southwestern Coach and one of the great coaches of all time, made a point of walking across the field to shake hands and tell my wife and I how much he loved competing/coaching against TU and our son. He described how much he admired what each had done and how happy he was TU would represent the SCAC's in the Regional.
I used to email with Coach Groat of Hendrix. Never once did he ever mention anything to support anything you have posted. Just the opposite. In fact, he made a trip from his home in Illinois to watch our son play Milb and to say hello to him. On another baseball board where he and I used to post, his comments were exactly the opposite of your views.Over the years, I have seen and heard plenty of coaches get in players faces. Coach Scannell is included in that. He surely is not alone.
Don't take a personal grudge and start speaking for the SCAC.
Since you don't put your name on anything, you can spew your venom.
Bill Armstrong
Quote from: scacbaseballfan on March 11, 2009, 12:04:34 AM
JR Bizzell, the Rhodes College shortstop recorded his 200th career hit today against Christian Brothers. He's had an outstanding career and his presence in the middle infield is one of the prime reasons that Rhodes has come so far in the last 5 or 6 years. Rhodes beat Div. 2 Christian Brothers by a score of 19-3, and have really been pounding the ball this season. From what I have seen and read, the offensive firepower is certainly present this year, and offensively they look poised for a shot at the title. With conference play beginning for the East this weekend, who do ya'll foresee as the favorite to win the East division at this point in the season?
JR Congratulations! If you were around this guy his enthusiasm and personality is really inspiring. He really makes the team go.
Rhodes had a tough weekend. They were on a roll after winning the Rawlings classic in ATL, but have kind of spit the bit the last few games. It seems that if they could pitch, then they couldn't hit, and if they hit they made a bunch of errors and would lose. The Marietta game was a great game to watch, but the final score was a bummer. Weird things happened that have plagued them lately. Wind blown double for Marietta got them on the board in the 10th, Rhodes has guys on 1st and 2nd with no outs in the bottom of the tenth. Sac bunt fails for a K, and then the guy on second gets picked off. That was game. Not good play for a team that is relying on small ball. Then Denison just crushed the ball in the other three games. But that said Rhodes is still number 2 in ERA in the SCAC.
This weekend's games with DePauw are gonna be played in adverse weather conditions the way it looks. But, many say it's between Rhodes and DePauw for the East championship. So, this series is really huge.
I look for Rhodes to prevail due to there tough scheduling early in the year. But, I don't think the East will be decided until late in the year. Oglethorpe could jump up if they can get their pitching going. Birmingham Southern would be my other pick if they were eligible.
Observer, I just don't think the voters would take the time to look that deeply into what Hendrix or a team like them has done. I'm not saying that the voters don't try their best to get it right, or that Hendrix does not deserve recognition, as I can remember the days when the Warriors could basically get from game to game in a 15-passenger van, the trainer was also the bullpen catcher, and moral victories far exceeded actual ones. I just think the voters would be more comfortable throwing votes at a 12-2 team that may have beaten up on some bad competition, rather than having to provide an explanatory appendix to any votes given to Hendrix or the like.
That said, it is great to see the Hendrix program doing what it has.
I have no desire to get involved with the discussion of Coach Scannell, but does anyone remember Hendrix's former coach, Baxendale. To put it as nicely as possible, that guy never failed to entertain.
Quote from: scacbaseballfan on March 11, 2009, 02:49:24 AM
Mr. Infielddad,
Your adoration for the Trinity program is pleasant, but have you wondered how the view is from the other side of the aisle? You can call me out and say that I lack reliability, but if you want to dance sir, then we will dance. Coach Scannell is the Al Davis in the SCAC coaching fraternity due to misinterpretation of the word functional, and his complete lack of respect for other schools. He may "love" his players, but by no means does this reflect on how they act towards other teams. He may demand respect for the game, yet he still treats other coaches/players like dirt. Do you really want me to sit here and list each and every thing that his kids have gotten away with? To begin, I specifically recall Coach Scannell berating of a lefthanded pitcher about his physical stature that was a bit larger than average. Here's another, a colleague of mine went on a baseball recruiting visit to Trinity several years ago. The number one thing he took away from that eyeopening experience was the prevalence of drunk driving throughout their entire team. He actually had to get a taxi back to campus because there was not a player with a low enough blood alcohol content to perform a simple 3 mile drive. You know, maybe this shouldn't be deemed bush league, but the words irresponsible and frightening are appropriate. Honestly sir, the list goes on, and we can continue this complete revealing of Trinity's true colors, but I feel like most of the SCAC agrees with me on this issue. The fact that you have witnessed his sensitivity at the lost of a teammate only proves that he is not soulless, and nothing more. I am assuming that you are going to get worked up about this post and try to eradicate me from the forum, so I will leave you with this. You're son graduated 5 years ago and yet your heart still dances when you think of your messiah Coach Timothy Scannell. I hope these facts clear the air for you....
Yours truly,
scacbaseballfan
Being a former player of Coach Scannell, I do want instances where he has treated other coaches or players like dirt. I received my fair share of him yelling at me, but it wasnt anything I didnt deserve. I was also man-enough to know that when and what he said was done and over with the moment after he said it. As far as other teams or coaches, I witnessed once instance when he verbally went after a player on another team, but that was only after the player told him to F--- off. And, because I was there, he only told the player that he would get smoked again and again. Define berating as well, in reference to the fat left handed pitcher. I am sorry, but I refuse to sit idly by and let someone belittle my coach.
I would like to ask what program you root for scacbaseballfan, or it is just against Trinity. Did Coach Scannell personally offend YOU at some point during your college career?
On a different note, it looks like all the TU/ND talk might not happen as San Antonio is expected to get rain from Today all the way through Saturday. I can't see them playing a game on a sloppy field. By that, I mean I can't see the Wolfe Stadium Ground Crew allowing college teams to tear up their field.
Quote from: casual_observer on March 11, 2009, 03:37:46 AM
Hendrix won a bad baseball game 10-9 against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps...tons of errors on each side. This makes them 1-2 so far on the California trip with the last game Wednesday against Pomona-Pitzer.
I can't believe I'm asking this question given their history but does a team that has given several ranked teams a serious run for their money (Millsaps only loss and 2-1 loss in 10 for an almost 2 game sweep, 10-8 against Chapman, 4-3 against Cal Lutheran, winning convincingly over Trinity and competitive games against UT-Tyler) possibly get ranked themselves. Yes, I'm talking about Hendrix getting some votes in the rankings. I doubt they will for the simple fact that they are below .500 and have a terrible past. But you could also make a serious argument based on the difficulty of their schedule this year.
I just want to know if you think its possible.
Casual observer,
Good morning. Most fans have no practical concept of the breadth of D-III.
We are talking about 360 teams, from 40 conferences, from which the voters are talking about the top 25. By the end of the season, there will only be about 40 teams getting any votes. Practically speaking, that is only one team from every conference even getting votes. Some conferences have no teams, but others have two or three teams getting votes like the WIAC, the NJAC, the Little East. Fifty-four teams earn bids to the tourney. If we subtract the first 16 teams from the eight regionals that go "2-and-barbecue", we are down to 38. We are nowhere near "Top 25".
The second thing about Top 25 voting is the lag to get into the voting. It takes several seasons of "name recognition" that a program will continue to perform at a certain level. There is much recognition going on at that level when the program's reputation is the only "promise" that most fans have. Trinity TX was in the Top 25 "love" early, but has fallen drastically.
Hendrix is coming onto radar screens. The difference is that Top 25 teams
win the series with UT-Tyler,
and beat Chapman and Cal Lu. Hendrix looks like another of the Top 100 teams, of which we have numerous teams like that in the South and West.
If Hendrix wins the Pool A bid from the SCAC, then they will get Top 25 consideration. The best team in the SCAC gets that type of respect.
What a nice change to see so many different people posting to this board--that frank_ezelle was getting on my nerves with the way he tries to dominate the board.
But speaking of Millsaps, they won over MC last night 11-4 with Drew Maddox getting the start and going 7 innings. That extended their best start in school history to 17-1. At this moment they are on a bus travelling to Huntingdon College for a single game which starts at 4 and will be webcast. That webcast link is below (and if you want to see good photos of the hawk that flies around the Millsaps campus all day, look at today's post on my blog link).
Great action on the board!!!
Hendrix in Top 25: I think you have to start winning close games to get some votes. No doubt the program has come a long way, but wins get your votes not close games.
Scannel: I think this whole discussion (attack) on Coach Scannell is unjustified and shows a complete lack of class and professionlism by those bashing him and the program. If you have "real" evidence then bring it to the table with a "real" posting name attached. Don't start bashing a person and his livelihood then hide behind a false screen name.
1st SCAC weekend in the east: Depauw/Rhodes, Sewanee/BSC, OU/Centre...Should be interesting. Unfortunantly bad weather is in the forecast for all three sites... I think the east is going to be very competitive this year. Which will only help them come tournament time to play with the big boys from the West.
After 3 innings, Millsaps leads at Huntingdon 8-1. Hunter Owen hit a 3-run HR in the first, making him the new career leader for Millsaps with 35.
After Lou's post, let me just make sure again that everyone is clear about what I wrote since Lou said "those" who bash Coach Scannel. I wrote a post about how what was being written on this board gave a certain impression, not necessarily the impression that was intended by the posters. Scacbaseballfan used my post to blast Coach Scannell, which in a way tied me to his attack.
I tried to clarify what I said in a second post and I sent a personal message to Bill Armstrong to make sure that it was clear that (1) I wasn't referring in any way to the Trinity coaches or players, and (2) I was talking about the impression given while realizing that it probably wasn't the impression that was meant to be given. Bill wrote back and we have no problems between the two of us.
Now hopefully we can all get back to baseball. My guess is that scacbaseballfan is a fan of Rhodes and there's plenty to write positive about Rhodes without having to criticise other coaches and other teams.
Frank,
Thank you very much for your thoughts and for being proactive with your private email. Everyone should know the steps/efforts you made including taking the lead to clear the air. Top quality all the way.
Very nicely stated by you, indeed.
Lot's of fun SCAC baseball to discuss, unless it rains in SAT this weekend and this was all for nothing???? ??? ::) >:( ;) ;D
If TU and Millsaps get the games in this weekend, the Tigers have their work cut out. Millsaps seems to be very consistent, at a high level of play.
TU seems to be quite inconsistent. They have some glimpses at the high level of play but have a lot to prove this week
Last word on the Trinity coach topic and I'll stay with on the field topics...
Frank, I was not reffering to you. You are not part of "those" posters....I enjoy your insightful posts about Millsaps baseball. In my humble opinion I think the Majors baseball program is the class of the SCAC. Good baseball, class kids, class coach and they win the right way. Not saying others teams don't have good kids or classy coaches but Millsaps has been doing this way for over two decades.
Congrats to Hunter Owen, best hitter I've seen in my short time following SCAC baseball.
Lou, I appreciate those kind words about the Millsaps program. I know from being around them that it's a great program with great coaches and players, but it's always nice to hear someone else say the same. And I know that Millsaps isn't unique in this aspect in the SCAC--it's a league filled with quality coaches and quality student-athletes.
On to baseball action, Millsaps won a game today that 9 times out of 10 they probably should have lost. Will Hawkins hit a lead off home run in the top of the 12th and Aaron Williams pitched 4 innings of relief to get the 9-8 win for the Majors. Millsaps was out hit 17 to 6, and 4 of the Millsaps hits came in the first 3 innings when they scored 8 runs.
When you look at the Millsaps schedule and results (http://www.gomajors.com/schedule.aspx?path=baseball), you see that they have played a fairly competitive schedule. Their only loss was by a 5-4 margin to Hendrix, so you could argue that they are only a play or two away from being undefeated. Or, you could look at their 4 games that were 1-run wins and say that they are only a few plays away from having a good record, but not great.
Personally, I think Millsaps is the type of team that will be very good until they start thinking that they are very good. Their success is in the details, in doing all of the small things right. We've all been around sports enough to know that when success comes, there is a temptation to start thinking you are good enough to shortcut on the details, the very things that brought about that success. I guess that's why it's often easier to climb to the top than it is to stay on top.
It should be a very interesting two game set in Texas this weekend. Trinity's game tonight was postponed till Thursday at noon which would give them a DH with D1 Illinois State at noon and Wabash in the evening. Obviously the San Antonio weather is going to be a huge factor over the next few days--it should be interesting.
(Link to Huntingdon-Millsaps box score: http://www.huntingdon.edu/athletics/mens_athletics/baseball/box_scores/2009/3_11_09_mc )
My apologies to those who were offended in during these last several posts. I believe we are all entitled to our own opinion, and from this point on I will focus any of my posts to strictly on field news. Mr. Armstrong, although we are in complete disagreement, I respect that fact that you support your coach and defend him at all costs. Baseball is a competitive game, and bad feelings are inevitable at one point or another.
The Trinity game with Wabash this evening has been cancelled. The game that is suppose to start at noon CST against Illinois State University is still on but the forecast isn't great. Friday's forecast is also poor and then the weather improves over the weekend. Here's the link to the Trinity video site just in case they play at noon:
http://atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Trinity%20University.htm
Trinity v Wabash is rained out completely. They are working on the field today to try and get it ready for tomorrow's game against Millsaps. If Sats game if rained out, they will try and play 2 on Sunday.
Did I see somewhere that this is the first significant stretch of rain in San Antonio in 17 months? What a bummer for the teams involved in the Irish Classic.
If the Millsaps games get pushed back to a Sunday DH, then the starting time becomes a factor if Trinity does get in the game with Notre Dame. Millsaps has a 600 mile bus ride back to Jackson after the games and I'm sure they'll want to start the DH as early as possible Sunday while it would seem that Trinity would like a later start if they are playing a game Saturday night.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 13, 2009, 01:02:40 PM
Did I see somewhere that this is the first significant stretch of rain in San Antonio in 17 months? What a bummer for the teams involved in the Irish Classic.
If the Millsaps games get pushed back to a Sunday DH, then the starting time becomes a factor if Trinity does get in the game with Notre Dame. Millsaps has a 600 mile bus ride back to Jackson after the games and I'm sure they'll want to start the DH as early as possible Sunday while it would seem that Trinity would like a later start if they are playing a game Saturday night.
Yep, it's been real dry. The 3" we got in Austin is more than the total since September.
Most of the rain has headed east. Hopefully things will dry out enough so the important (conference) games aren't impacted.
Unfortuanantly, some important (conference) games are getting the rain that has headed east. I saw Birmingham and Sewanee got their series in, even though I bet Sewanee wishes it had rained...I'm not so sure about Rhodes/DePauw and Oglethorpe/Centre....
I've been keeping an eye on the Birmingham Southern scores and it seems like they are going to be a big factor in the East, at least as far as the standings go. By the time they become eligible to go to the SCAC Tournament, it appears that they will be a force to be reckoned with.
There's nothing on the Trinity website at the moment about the status of today's game with Millsaps. I hope they can get that game in because it would be better for both Millsaps and Trinity. Millsaps doesn't need to play a DH tomorrow and get such a late departure from San Antonio, and Trinity doesn't need to play till late in the night and then turn around and play a DH about 12 hours later.
There's been a lot of discussion on the board about the pitching selections by Trinity for this weekend. At the moment I believe that both teams have all of their main starters available for this weekend. I imagine Aaron Williams will be the Sunday starter for Millsaps since he went 4 innings on Wednesday. As for Trinity, there's been a lot of speculation about who Bronson will pitch against, but Mike Panozzo actually has better numbers at this point and I wouldn't be surprised if Trinity gave Noah Solomon a start. Trinity will have plenty of arms available for these two games, especially since the Wabash game was cancelled. It should be a good weekend of baseball.
Millsaps wins today 10-0 behind 6 shutout innings by Tait Hendrix. Millsaps had 14 hits and I believe Hunter Owen had 4 rbi's.
Also saw that Rhodes won the first game of a DH against DePauw by a 1-0 margin. The two teams are in the top of the 4th now with Rhodes leading 4-3.
The Trinity game against Notre Dame is still on for tonight as rain appears to have moved out of the San Antonio area. No idea if Bronson will pitch tonight or start tomorrows game to try and even the series.
I say throw your best vs. Notre Dame. Trinity's season is a wash right now and it would be tough to get crushed tonight while having your best guy waiting for tomorrow. Just my opinion.
Yikes! Trinity starting a Freshman that is 0-4 with a 10 ERA. Welcome to college buddy.
Edit at 7:08 pm- I am eating my words right now as the kid has thrown 3 scoreless innings and has not given up a hit.
Trinity took an 8-5 lead after six and one half, now trail 11-8 in the bottom of the eight with Notre Dame still at bat.
Notre Dame ended up winning 11-8. I had problems with the Trinity webcast around the 8th inning so I switched over to the ND webcast. The announcers said on at least two occasions that Trinity is better than some D1 teams that are on the ND schedule. The specifically mentioned Grambling and Chicago State and Valpo...... (you know the school I thinking of and can't spell). They also said that if Trinity was playing in the Big East conference they would definitely wins some games.
They can pretty close to beating a Big East team tonight!
The Centre/Oglethorpe series has been completely washed out due to rain. It has been raining non-stop in Atlanta since late Friday night and they are calling for rain through Monday afternoon. Not sure what the SCAC protocol is for rain outs but it would be a shame if these two teams do not play this season.
Oh well...no baseball this weekend for the Petrels...
Lou, it's very odd that the SCAC West will be at the halfway point of their season while this is the opening weekend for the East and as you pointed out, 2 of the teams won't get to start this weekend.
On the Western side, there are 3 very big games today. While Millsaps looks to have a big lead, it's not really very big with a half season to go. A Millsaps loss today combined with a Hendix sweep would leave those two teams seperated by a single game.
The records going into today are Millsaps at 8-1, Hendrix at 4-3, Trinity and Southwestern are tied at 3-4, and Austin is at 2-8. With a bad stretch of games, Millsaps could fall out of the top 3 and with a good stretch of games Austin could move back into the top 3. Barring those two things happening, that would leave Hendrix, Trinity and Southwestern battling for 2 spots in the SCAC Tournament.
Hendrix winning a DH today would push them to 6-3 and drop Southwestern to 3-6. Considering all the home games Hendrix has and the way they have recently played all of these top 20 teams so tough, that would almost drop Southwestern out of reach of both Millsaps and Hendrix. While the Millsaps-Trinity single game is important, I sort of think the Southwestern-Hendrix DH is the key thing today.
Thought someone would have done a post on the Trinity 3-2 win over Millsaps. Evan Bronson and Aaron Williams both went the distance in a game where pitching dominated hitting. I'll write more on this game later but right now I'm trying to get photos from a JV baseball game done before going to bed.
Another score of importance today is that Southwestern won the opener 5-4 in Conway. If memory serves me correct, that leaves Hendrix, Southwestern and Trinity all at 4-4 and it means Millsaps will end the day 2-up in the loss column regardless of what happens in the second game (SW is leading 3-1 with Hendrix batting in the bottom of the 4th). There's still a lot of baseball to be played.
One more quick post and then others are going to have to pitch in:
First, the obvious: This was a huge win for the Trinity team. It's the kind of thing that can rally a team and turn things around after a very disappointing start considering the talent that is on the 2009 team.
Regarding Bronson pitching today instead of last night, despite what others wrote on this board I just couldn't see him not pitching against Millsaps. Trinity plays in the SCAC West, not the Big East and you have to take care of business in your own neighborhood before setting out to conquer the world. This win today was far bigger than a win over Notre Dame and you have to hand to Bronson for stepping up and making it happen along with some timely hitting by the Trinity batters.
Second, and the not so obvious: This was a good loss for the Millsaps team. They needed a loss and they needed someone to shut them down at the plate. Granted, I was pulling for them to come away with a victory today and I wouldn't have been disappointed in the least if they had gotten to 20-1. BUT, there comes a time when nothing destroys success like success. If you have played sports and/or coached, then you know this to be true.
Part of me wanted the Majors at 20-1 and in the top 10, but there was another part of me thinking that this has been too easy, too early. Coach Page knows a thing or three about hitting and I've heard him say on numerous occasions that the time to worry about a hitter is when they are having great success. That's when they start trying to do too much and the swing falls apart--for me, I relate to this in golf. As soon as I start hitting the ball well off the tee, I get away from what has created that success is an effort to hit the ball 20 yards farther.
One last thing about the loss that needs to be kept in mind. While 19-2 looks great, it's important to remember that for all practical purposes, Millsaps has 4 regional losses. The two on the books already and the two they will get at the SCAC Tournament if they don't get the AQ. When you consider that Millsaps is the only SCAC West team over .500 which hurts the quality of win numbers, I can't seeing Millsaps getting an at-large bid if they lose over 10 games. In other words, there's not much room for slip-ups, but I guess there never was any room for slip-ups considering the difficulty of getting an at-large bid.
After watching all 3 games this weekend, I hope the Tigers use this weekend as a spring board to the 2nd half of their season. In the first game of the weekend, they looked horrible. They didnt compete at all against Millspas who took it to the Tigers all game long.
Then, behind first year Ben Klimesh, they started to play baseball. They werent intimidated at all by Notre Dame. That was huge for several reasons. 1) They needed to stop playing looking at last year and just compete. They did and almost beat Notre Dame. 2)That is two very good starts for Klimesh. Trinity desperately needs another arm to emerge, as they start 3 game series during conference.
I was very curious to see if that confidence with which they played Notre Dame would show up today against Millsaps. Bronson was the pitcher of old, attacking each and every hitter. Williams did the same for the Majors and Trinity just got the key hit when it needed....something that had been lacking all year long. Maybe TU can get it going and play like they should.....
Since Rhodes came home from their successful Atlanta Swing earlier in the year they have played ten games and have a 4-6 record. Unfortunately, all but one of these games was at home.
This weekend's series with DePauw started out well with Andy Holt winning an incredible pitchers duel over Gerlach. It was one of the greatest pitching matchups I've ever seen. Great job by Andy.
As great of a game that was, Rhodes followed it up with two nasty games. They made at least 10 errors and uncountable mental errors in the next two losses. It got so bad that in yesterday's game coach pulled ALL starters and replaced them in the middle of the game. I've never seen that happen in baseball.
It has been a sudden change in events. It is the same team that started off the year so well. No injuries, no changes in the lineup. Just a sudden loss of confidence. The team now travels to FL and face Ripon and Stevens Pointe in their first two games. No cupcakes there.
Although it is hard to determine with the way Rhodes is playing, it looks like DePauw has some good pitching to follow up Gerlach.
An interesting report on Rhodes, a team that started out strong and certainly pushed Millsaps to the limit back in early February.
It's interesting to see how teams deal with the spring break period. Last week Trinity was loaded up with games, having 6 scheduled from Tuesday through Sunday. Rhodes is going down to Florida and if I counted right, by this Saturday they will have played 13 games in 16 days.
Millsaps is doing the opposite and taking a break during spring break. They do have a game Tuesday with Ill. Wesleyan, but the main activity of the week is the Spring Break baseball camp being run by the coaches and the players. It has been 6 weeks since the start of the season and this seems like a good breather to take before going on to the second half of the season. Also, there's something about watching the joy little kids have in playing a sport that reminds us all that while college baseball can be serious stuff, it also needs to retain the joy of playing.
The Millsaps game will be webcast tomorrow at 6 central. The weather in Jackson should be very spring like, and former Millsaps SID Jeff Mitchell is going to fill in on the play-by-play.
We are just back from our first weekend in SAT since 2005....and yesterday brought back great feelings about what happens when Millsaps and TU play and both compete.
As tiger_fan2000 posted, as bad as TU was on Saturday, it was hard to expect much against ND and then for them to come back Sunday.
The ND game was fun, exciting and a game they should have won. ND starts and finishes with 2 lefties throwing upper 80's and the TU hitters had great AB's all night.
Against Tait Hendrix, a very good lefty, in the 83-84 range, well, he made it look easy on Saturday, and it was. Hard to figure the darn game of baseball.
During the ND game, I had the pleasure to chat with Coach Page and Coach McCain for about 30 minutes. Even in the 3rd inning, with the score 0-0, Coach Page believed TU would beat ND. He knew Sunday would be a battle with Bronson.
We had a great visit and many laughs. He told me about the impact of Nick Crawford's talk with his team just before the season.
We talked about the real importance of leadership and getting players to truly commit and buy in and how tough that is from season to season and sometimes game to game. Coach Page pinpointed players in his program and TU's that made those types of impact. It is interesting to hear how leadership is so valued and how he can see when it is present and who captures it, even for an opponent.
It is clear it takes a very, very special person/player to assume that role in both programs. It is clear that special players just have the ability to "will" their team in a direction, and Millsaps and TU have been blessed with some, and not by accident, I don't believe.
Also got an update on Hunter Owens who is a wonderfully terrific player. Coach is cautiously optimistic for him in the June draft. Some nice things are being said about Hunter by some scouts. Coach Page and I both commented it only takes one to really like him. From what I saw over the weekend, he is a real player and mentally "manages" the game very well.
Then came Sunday and my first chance to see Evan Bronson.
What amazed me is how he pitches inside against metal bats. I have never seen a college pitcher, at any level, including the Pac10 command the inside part of the plate. He just pounded the inside part of the plate with a very good slider under the hands. After a shaky 6th when Millsaps got their 2, he got better. By the 9th, he was unhittable.
I loved the match ups with he and Owen. You could just feel the intensity rise in each AB and those two went after each other on a level much different than the rest of the weekend. For Evan and Hunter, it would be hard to imagine they won't be playing in July in some professional organization
Jordan Pennington had himself a weekend and Evan Jones HR yesterday was a huge AB.
TU has dug themselves a huge hole and they will need much more than Bronson to get them out. They cannot rely on last year and cannot even rely on yesterday, if they are to become the team the coaching staff recognizes they can be.
Klimesh started that rise against ND and hopefully it will give that freshman the confidence he needs, and others will step up like they did yesterday..
Finally, I am going to say that yesterday was the very best game I have seen Coach Scannell manage. He was an emotional leader from the dugout. He would not let his players take a rest, for even one out.
In my view, yesterday was a special day on the diamond in SAT. Millsaps didn't lose. They really battled. Yesterday was one of those in baseball when you know you didn't lose, the other guy won. Yesterday was 9 innings that brought back all the great things I loved about SCAC baseball, about Millsaps and their players, about Jim Page, about TU, its players and Coach Scannell.
DIII baseball played at a high level is much more emotional, for me, than DI. When kids want to compete and are fully committed to each other, you hear it from their dugout. You see it on the field.
With that said, let's also not forget the great pitching job by Aaron Williams of Millsaps. He reminds me a lot of Doug Garner, the 2003 SCAC pitcher of the year. You sure think you are going to hit him and then you have an 0-4 to show for it.
What a great post! Thanks for taking the time to pass along those insights from the weekend.
As for Trinity, they are only in a large hole from the stand point of polls and an at-large bid. They are only 2 back in the loss column from Millsaps so they still control their destiny in regards to winning the SCAC West and they are in great shape for going to the SCAC Tournament if they get pitching like that had this weekend.
I would very much like to see Millsaps win tomorrow against Ill. Wesleyan and get to 20-2 even though they is something about 19-3 that ties into a thought I've had for the last few weeks. I'll write about that later in the week. I hope some of you get a chance to catch the game on the Millsaps webcast at 6:00 Central (link is down below).
Rhodes rips Ripon 9-0!
I wonder how many hack writers have used some variation of Ripon and rips in a headline?
It was a good start for Rhodes on their Florida trip as Colby Mattheson pitched a 9-inning shutout, allowing only 4 hits, giving up only 4 walks, and striking out an impressive 12 batters. Not bad for a guy who had only pitched one inning all year!
There's no way to know who is reading the posts here on the message board, but I'm writing this post specifically for the Millsaps players and fans so I hope some of them are reading this board:
I've had an odd feeling about the Millsaps team since the start of the season. In that first weekend when they swept LaGrange, Ozarks, and Rhodes, there was some intangible sense of team spirit that seemed stronger and more energetic than anything I had seen in the past at Millsaps.
Given the loss of pitching from the 2008 season, I was impressed that the team won the 3 games on the opening weekend and extremely surprised when they were able to win 6 games in 6 days. After a few weeks a thought struck me that hasn't gone away. That feeling has actually gotten stronger and more accurate as the weeks have past--this 2009 Millsaps team is on the exact path of the 2007 Emory team that finished 2nd in the nation. For example:
---The Emory team started the preseason at a respectable #19 in the polls. Apparently the first regular season poll wasn't till the last week of March because on March 25 Emory was 19-3 and suddenly they jumped from #19 to #4. Compare that to this Millsaps team which started the year in the receiving votes category and after compiling a 19-2 record they had moved all the way to #6 in the polls.
---The Emory team was one that seem to almost always find a way to win the close games. After 22 games they were 19-3 with 7 of those wins coming by 1 run. The Millsaps team is a little better with a 20-2 record and only 4 wins coming by 1 run. The difference here is that the Millsaps losses have both been by a single run, while Emory had lost by 1-run, 5-runs, and 10-runs. The 10-run loss, their worst loss of the season, came at the hands of Millsaps.
---When I look at the Emory stats for 2007 (http://www.go.emory.edu/Statistics/2006-07/Base/teamstat.htm) and the Millsaps stats in 2009 (http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/09Baseball/stats/teamstat.htm), I see two teams that are fairly similar with neither having a strong edge over the other. One would have to give the pitching edge to Emory at this point and the hitting edge to Millsaps with their higher slugging % and on-base %. The teams are about equal in fielding.
HOWEVER, THEIR IS ONE BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO TEAMS: The 2007 Emory team kept it up for an entire season and the 2009 Millsaps team has only performed at this level for half a season. Over the rest of the regular season after their 19-3 start, Emory compiled a 16-4 record and then they 4-1 at regionals and 4-2 at the World Series. Impressive numbers indeed, but why can't Millsaps do the same?
Those of you who have followed the D3 boards closely might realize that while I'm a strong supporter of Millsaps, I try to write with my head instead of my heart. That's one reason why I've waited till mid-season to write this even though I been thinking it for a couple of weeks. I know that no one thought on February 1st that this Millsaps team could get to the World Series, and that's still a long way off, but I keep seeing things that make me think it is possible:
---The 2007 Millsaps team was every bit as good as Emory and Emory made it to the 2007 Championship game.
---The 2008 Millsaps team was every bit as good as Trinity and Trinity made it to the finals of the Western regionals.
---When I look at the 2007 and 2008 Millsaps teams, I don't see more talent than what I see in 2009. Those teams didn't get into the NCAA Tournament, but with the right breaks that are needed in a regional tournament, I think they had the potential to win a regional.
---The 2006 Millsaps team was so close to going to the World Series and while my initial impression was that they had more talent than this 2009 team, I'm not so sure about that when I go back and look at the numbers.
---The 2009 Hendrix team went out to the West coast and while they didn't win a lot of games, they sure seemed competitive with the ranked teams in that area. It's one more thing that makes me feel like Millsaps teams are competitive with top teams from other regions.
It just seems to me that the potential is there for this Millsaps team to go a very long way as long as they take that belief and use it as motivation to work harder instead of thinking they are good enough to slack off and still win. I look forward to seeing how the rest of this season unfolds, starting with the 3-game series at Hendrix this weekend.
Oglethorpe beat Arcadia 12 to 1.
Hoban pitched 8 innings giving up no earned runs and had 14k's !!!!!
Kennedy pitched the ninth and struck out 3 more guys. This isn't a misprint Oglethorpe's pitching struck out 17 guys tonight.
It is so nice to see the pitching at Oglethorpe to come around.
Oglethorpe cruised to a 13-1 victory today behind a fantastic pitching performance by sophomore transfer Mark Hoban. Hoban went 8 innings striking out 14 and gave up 0 earned runs. He gave up 3 consecutive hits to start the game then struck out the side to end the threat. He allowed 8 hits and zero walks.
Offensively the Petrels pounded out 15 hits including a grand slam by their freshmen 2B Jake Spear and freshmen catcher Adam Brazenas went 4-4 with 3 doubles. JJ Rizzo also had 3 hits.
Frank, nice post...interesting comparasion. I don't see a Jason Glushon type pitcher for Millsaps. That guy was lights out, and Ganzer wasn't too shabby either. Williams is good, but not at the level of Glushon.Nonethless Millsaps has a chance at getting to the level of the 2007 emory team, I do think that Millsaps playing in a "real" conference hurts them. The SCAC tournament will not be easy this year...never is.
Sorry for the repeat info...Headingforhome beat me to the punch as I was typing...
Sorry about that Lou as you information was much more in depth than mine. The score was indeed 13 to 1 like you reported.
Quote from: Lou_Brown on March 18, 2009, 11:33:06 PM
Frank, nice post...interesting comparasion. I don't see a Jason Glushon type pitcher for Millsaps. That guy was lights out, and Ganzer wasn't too shabby either. Williams is good, but not at the level of Glushon.Nonethless Millsaps has a chance at getting to the level of the 2007 emory team, I do think that Millsaps playing in a "real" conference hurts them. The SCAC tournament will not be easy this year...never is.
Lou, that's a very valid point about Glushon and Ganzer. It really helps to have two ace pitchers which is what Millsaps had in 2006 with John Fox (9-0) and Todd Kindler (10-3). In 2007 Glushon held Millsaps to 4 hits and 1 run in 8 innings. Ian Ganzer didn't have the same success, giving up 5 runs and 6 hits in 2 innings.
I'm more familiar with Fox and Kindler and I do think that Aaron Williams and Tait Hendrix match up with those two very well. Every guy at this level really wants to win, but occasionally you see the players that go beyond the norm in the way that they really hate to lose. I don't know much of anything about pitching, but seeing Aaron Williams compete on the mound reminds me so much of John Fox and that's a guy who really hated to lose.
As for Tait and Todd Kindler, that's a hard comparison to make because of the difference in consistency. Todd was going to be very good every start. Tait can be extremely good or he can drive you nuts with the walks. I have a theory that Tait is a better pitcher when both his walks and strikeouts go down because I think the two are tied together. When he's throwing the ball just off the plate, both numbers go up, when he brings it in just a couple of inches so hitters are putting more balls in play but having to hit balls in difficult areas of the strike zone, both numbers go down. When both numbers are down, I think Tait is as good as any pitcher in the SCAC.
Beyond those two, Millsaps still needs to find a consistent 3rd starter. I think they are good with the relief pitching with Drew Maddox and Boomer Hudson, but they need to find one more guy in that area as well. All in all, I think the potential is there for Millsaps to have the pitching staff needed to get to the World Series. It's going to be crucial that certains things solidify over this second half to change that potential to reality. At least that's my humble opinion of how things look this season, but keep in mind that I know a lot more about photography than baseball.
Frank,
there is one very practical but very difficult issue for the SCAC teams when they get to a regional and try to advance to Appleton..
The SCAC's end in April. Most times, the SCAC teams playing in the regional have at least 3 weeks without a game, sometimes 4 weeks.
No matter how we look at it, it is a disadvantage when you get to a regional and face teams that have been playing sometimes up to the prior weekend.
It is very tough to be game ready, against the quality of a regional opponent, when you have been playing intersquads for 3-4 weeks.
Quote from: infielddad on March 19, 2009, 07:06:36 PM
Frank,
there is one very practical but very difficult issue for the SCAC teams when they get to a regional and try to advance to Appleton..
The SCAC's end in April. Most times, the SCAC teams playing in the regional have at least 3 weeks without a game, sometimes 4 weeks.
No matter how we look at it, it is a disadvantage when you get to a regional and face teams that have been playing sometimes up to the prior weekend.
It is very tough to be game ready, against the quality of a regional opponent, when you have been playing intersquads for 3-4 weeks.
+1! :)
Absolutely!
Oglethorpe wins it's 5th straight game 2-1 against Arcadia. Junior Pitcher John Hale went seven outstanding 7 innings only giving up 1 run and 3 hits. He left the game when it was 1 to 1. The Petrels scratched across the winning run due to a passed ball in the bottom of the 8th and Transfer pitcher Sarisky got the win.
I have been following the Petrels since 2004 and I am very excited to see them have this good start. They are only three games away from the top win total for a season since I have been around.
Its also amazing to look at the East Standings and see 4 out 6 teams with winning records and then look at the West and see only one out of 5 teams with a winning record. I know a lot of this has to do with West already well into conference games but it is just seems so foreign to me.
It's true that the SCAC teams have to deal with a long break if they qualify for the NCAA Tournament. There can be arguments made in favor of playing straight through from regular season to NCAA Tournament play, and likewise arguments could be made about getting a break to regroup--most people would probably agree that even if a break is good, 3-4 weeks of a break does present challenges.
Not much can be done about the long break, but the main thing is that a team has to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. If memory serves me right, the 2006 Millsaps team went as an at-large team so it's important to keep that option open. This Millsaps team needs to put the first half of the season behind them and go out and put together something similar in the second half.
Regarding HeadingForHome's post, it is good to see the records improving in the East but the situation in the West isn't a first. In 2007 Millsaps was the only SCAC West team to finish with a winning record, and the losing records of the other SCAC West teams is what denied Millsaps an at-large bid that year (just as the terrible 2007 seasons by Centre, OU and Sewanee killed the chances for Rhodes). Every non-conference D3 win by a SCAC team is a plus for the other teams in the league so I'm always glad to see Hendrix, Austin, Southwestern and Trinity win games when they play outside the SCAC.
A quick scheduling note: I'm fairly certain that the Millsaps at Hendrix series was originally scheduled to have a single game on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Now it is showing up as a DH on Saturday starting at 2:00 Central and a single game on Sunday. It is my understanding that all 3 games will be webcast by Millsaps.
Millsaps wins a single game at Hendrix 5-2 today behind a complete game, 12 K performance by Aaron Williams. Both Hendrix runs were unearned. There was something about the weather that caused them to move the DH to Sunday. I didn't catch the entire story on that. Here's a link to the Hendrix website story:
http://www.hendrix.edu/Athletics/game.aspx?id=32230
Oglethorpe won their 7th straight today sweeping Bates 2-1 and 3-1. Outstanding pitching performances by Matt Corwnwell and Sean Tuttle. Cornwell went the distance in gm 1 striking out 7. Tuttle went 5 innings in game two allowing 2 hits and a run. Sarisky came in and finished the job with 3 k's and picked up his 2nd save on the season.
The offense has cooled off a bit but the pitching has really stepped up lately. One bat that continues to stay hot is 3B Rizzo. He hit a monster HR in game one. Defensively the Petrels were outstanding once again, great infield play from all four spots.
Note: starting CF Brendan Pilger has not played in the last few games, I'm not sure of his status by I think its due to some sort of arm injury??
Trinity slept though a 7-5 victory against Univ of Dallas today. Watching the game, a 5 run first helped by 2 errors from U of D allowed TU to coast to a victory. Interesting note, Bronson was warming up in the 9th. I assume he will pitch tomorrow.....
Millsaps wins the first game at Hendrix 5-1. My understanding is that Tait Hendrix had a very good outing, but I haven't seen the box score and the live stats now show the second game.
Hendrix leads the second game 6-1 after 3. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised and Millsaps is able to come back, but it doesn't look like it's going to be their day. Twice they have had a line out, throw behind the baserunner double play. But besides that, it seems like Millsaps is in a hitting slump right now. Early in the season it seemed like a rally could and would be started by any section of the lineup. At the moment they don't seem to be hitting nearly as well up and down the lineup.
Now going into the bottom of the 4th at 6-1 and Hendrix singles on the first pitch. It just doesn't feel like Millsaps is going to come back and win this game.
Pretty good video feed of the game, minus the pole right in the middle of the screen. Very good quality picture.
Tait Hendrix looks like a pretty solid arm. He looked like he was throwing hard but obviously that was on the video.
Jack,
Based on what I saw last weekend in San Antonio, Hendrix is 82-84.
Very good command and his fastball has a huge tail. Darn lefties...how do they do that?
Last weekend he pitched away, away, away and was almost always ahead in the count.
Against right handed hitters, Millsaps plays their outfield about where you would play a left handed pull hitter.
With the tail and pitching away, and great command, Hendrix is really good.
The outfield positioning takes away the ability of right handed hitters to go the other way.
Hendrix will win a lot of games.
TU beat Dallas today, 6-0. Evan Bronson looks like he has found himself. I think both runs were unearned against Millsaps last Sunday. If I am right, he has 18 scoreless now.
Am I crazy or was Hendrix wearing green hats?
I didn't notice any green hats but it's not like the webcasts are high definition. Millsaps got down by 11 and came back 10 to lose 13-12 after stranding a lead-off double in the top of the 9th. It's their third loss of the season, all by 1-run (2 to Hendrix and 1 to Trinity).
There were certainly things to be learned in this game--Coach Page said as much in the postgame interview--but I would have rather learned those lessons in a comeback victory. Millsaps still hasn't solidified the #3 starter which is a little odd to say because last year you had to have a #3 and #4 starter for SCAC weekend. Someone recently told me that they would like to see Boomer Hudson get a start--based on what he did today and the ERA under 1.00, it might not be a bad idea.
A few observations from Hendrix v. Millsaps, more specifically the acid reflux-inducing Game 2 Sunday.
* Yes, those were green hats. The coaches broke them out for the players for a St. Patrick's day double-header against Central Baptist College. The motive behind the verde redux Sunday remains unknown to the author, but bright green upon bright orange is nothing if not a pleasing and natural hue, no?
* I do not know where Jim Page found Aaron Williams, but after Saturday, my best guess is the planet Krypton.
* On a similar note...I would not worry about the lack of a No. 3 if I were a Majors backer. Just find someone to get through the lineup one time, then hand the ball to Maddox, then hand the ball to Hudson. You'll be fine.
* On the Hendrix side...kudos to Geoff Lomax for getting the save in Sunday's tilt-a-whirl. But my admiration goes out to frosh set-up man Caleb Schallawitz, who reduced the downpour to a trickle just when it was needed most.
* If Hunter Owen isn't the best pure hitter in the SCAC, Daniel Ward has to be. And/or vice versa.
* I'd say that Millsaps showed a lot of character by battling back from a 11-1 deficit, but that shouldn't be considered news. The Majors are a first-class, hustling ballclub under Jim Page. You know, as usual.
Phew! I thought I saw green hats and if not, I was going to Best Buy to get a new computer!
Oglethorpe ran their winning streak to 8 games after a dramatic come from behind win. Trailing 8-1 in the 4th the Petrels shut down the North Central offense for the next 7 innings. Right hander Kennedy put in some nice work in middle relief and Sarisky did it again striking out 8 over 4 innings and picked up the win.
The Petrels DH Farrey hit a 3-run opposite field HR in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs to send the game to extras where a HBP forced in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th.
Fine win for the Petrels who are back in action Tuesday night against the same North Central team...
Great comeback win for Oglethorpe... It was the first game (actually the last 2 innings) but this Petrel team is quite a bit different from years past. Not sure about the quality of the opponents they are playing but the look and feel is of a team that has confidence that they can beat any team out there. There is skill at every position and quality pitching (and depth) which hasn't been there in years past. It will be interesting to see how they fair once conference play finally starts against BSU this weekend. Hopefully the Petrels will live up to some of the hype they've been forecasted over the past few years. These are the young Petrels that can and/or should win this year... these guys have been here for a few years now and it's finally time to put it together.
GO PETRELS!
"Oglethorpe ran their winning streak to 8 games after a dramatic come from behind win."
It must be nice for an OU fan to get the opportunity to write such a sentence. At the beginning of last year it seemed like the OU program had turned around and then they hit that extremely difficult 20 game stretch where things just fell apart. It sounds like this year the combination of talent and experience has gotten them over the hump.
The games with Birmingham Southern will be a strong test. From what I've seen, the SCAC East is going to be a real dogfight between Rhodes, DePauw, and BSC for the top spot and I think it's going to be hard for the other three to break into that group this year. Of course, since BSC isn't eligible for the tournament, being 4th isn't so bad this year.
BSC did get votes in the top-25 poll this week. The Millsaps loss at Hendrix kept them out of the top 3 as they ended up tied for 4th and just 3 points behind the number 3 position (505 votes to 502). I beleive Millsaps will get an at-large berth if their losses stay at 10 or less and they are at 3 losses plus 2 that would be tacked on if they don't win the SCAC Tournament and therefore need an at-large berth. Things look good but there's not much room for error when you are trying to keep the safety net of an at-large berth opportunity.
I didn't realize BSC baseball was non-provisional. Looking at their history, they had a D1 team but it was disbanded after 2006 and so I guess they got a fresh start in 2008.
Edit: The 2008 BSC media guide says "Panther Baseball returns to Striplin Field in 2008 after the 2007 season was cancelled. BSC was granted a one-year exemption by the NCAA to suspend the season after the remaining players transferred to other schools following a decision to reclassify from NCAA Division I to NCAA Division III in May of 2006."
Rhodes played down in Winter Haven Florida this past week. It was an exciting atmosphere. When the Cleveland Indians pulled out of Winter Haven and went to Arizona, MattRuss baseball stepped in and brought 200+ teams that played over 600 games to the facility the Indians left. All divisions were represented.
Got to see Rhodes play a tough schedule. Rhodes went 3-2. Got beat by Wisconsin Stevens Pointe in a tight game and got beat by Anderson in the last inning on two errors.
The good news is that Andy Holt is still dealing, a freshman stepped up and pitched a complete game shutout and it looks like a new defensive alignment may be in place to solve the fielding woes Rhodes has faced this year.
The bad news is some of the relievers may be a little tired or ouchy. Some Rhodes relievers have appeared 13 or 14 times in 26 games. Now with the conference games beginning and no middle of the week games on the schedule hopefully everyone will get over their knicks and bruises.
The big buzz down there was Denison knocking off #1 Trinity in a double header.
Also, in speaking with fans and other coaches, they were wanting to know how good Millsaps is.
I've seen Rhodes play Millsaps, Wisconsin Stevens Point, Marietta, Ripon, and assorted other good teams and it seems to me that at any time one team could beat the other. I believe that Millsaps stands above them though, due to the ability to just crush the ball and any time.
An example is that Rhodes beat Franklin and Marshall 17-14. Franklin and Marshall swept Denison in a double header. Denison then sweeps #1 Trinity. Go figure!
Good luck Rhodes this weekend. Time to end the home field curse!
Oglethorpe blasted North Central 24-4 tonight to win their 9th straight...Llano had 2 HR's, and I think 7 RBI's...
Big test for them this weekend as they travel to BSC. ..should be a fun series with both teams playing extremely well. SCAC East will start to shape up here in the next couple of weeks...
Well, maybe Trinity isn't done after all.
Following Evan Bronson's 5 hit shutout on Sunday, Noah Solomon and Eric Binder combined to give up 2 hits and 2 runs over 8 innings to TLU.
Trinity won 14-6 in a game not nearly that close.
Binder has a very impressive arm but has struggled with control/command. He is 92-93 based on what I saw against Notre Dame.
Klimesh, the freshman, is also a higher velocity kid who is improving.
Solomon has been quite impressive.
This team can hit.
I listened to Coach Scannell on the SCAC podcast and he talked about the team forgetting last year and recognizing they are good but last year doesn't count.
I wonder if they got counted out too early.
This weekend will provide the answers I think.
If Trinity got counted out too early, it was only by the Trinity fans or it was in regards to their chances for an at-large bid which would seem to be nil at this point in time. Considering that Trinity has split all 4 of their 2-game series, that means they have always been at .500 after an SCAC weekend and it would be hard to count a .500 team out of the running for the top 3 in a 5 team league.
When one looks at the SCAC standings, it is obvious that the 3-2 win in the pitching duel between Bronson and Williams was a huge game. There's a lot of difference between being 4-4 as opposed to 3-5, especially with 9 of your remaining games on the road. That win is what puts Trinity ahead of Hendrix right now, but Hendrix could eliminate that lead by winning 2 of 3 at home this weekend.
Without a doubt, Trinity still has work to do just to get to the SCAC Tournament, but I really never doubted that they would turn around their season. Millsaps had some bumps in the road last year in the first half, but losing has a way of bringing a team together and sharpening the focus. Millsaps was a much different team in the second half of last season and I expect the same from Trinity this year.
A little quite on the board in the last couple of days. But with big SCAC games upcoming I have a feeling that will change quickly.
Quick Note:
I talked with someone familar with the OU program and b/c of a few rainouts OU will play D1 Georgia State April 1st at Georgia State. This is the same Georgia State that just beat #3 Georgia Tech 10-1 this week. I can't imagine OU having a ton of pitching for this game as they play Rhodes April 3-5... Georgia State is not Notre Dame but nonetheless they are D1.
Quote from: Lou_Brown on March 26, 2009, 10:45:08 PM
A little quite on the board in the last couple of days. But with big SCAC games upcoming I have a feeling that will change quickly.
Quick Note:
I talked with someone familar with the OU program and b/c of a few rainouts OU will play D1 Georgia State April 1st at Georgia State. This is the same Georgia State that just beat #3 Georgia Tech 10-1 this week. I can't imagine OU having a ton of pitching for this game as they play Rhodes April 3-5... Georgia State is not Notre Dame but nonetheless they are D1.
That is awesome. Not that OU needs it, but if you look at the TU game v Notre Dame, that would be a turning point for this TU team. The talk amongst the players was that they deserved to be on the same field as ND. Since then, the Tigers have played good baseball, with confidence. Good luck to OU......
Are there any Hendrix fans on the board? I know they got some rain this week, but how much? I think they are currently getting some, but it is supposed to move out late tonight and be windy. How does the field drain?
this is a crucial series this weekend as whomever wins 2 games will have the tie breaker. Both Hendrix and Trinity have key games in the future, but this series could go a long way in determining who makes the Tournament. Two wins by Trinity and that gives them some breathing room. A sweep would be great, but winning 2 would be awesome as it would separate the two teams by 4 in the loss column.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on March 24, 2009, 09:58:01 AM
I didn't realize BSC baseball was non-provisional. Looking at their history, they had a D1 team but it was disbanded after 2006 and so I guess they got a fresh start in 2008.
Edit: The 2008 BSC media guide says "Panther Baseball returns to Striplin Field in 2008 after the 2007 season was cancelled. BSC was granted a one-year exemption by the NCAA to suspend the season after the remaining players transferred to other schools following a decision to reclassify from NCAA Division I to NCAA Division III in May of 2006."
Handbook (http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/champ_handbooks/baseball/2009/3_baseball_handbook.pdf)
The Handbook has not listed BSC as an eligible member of the SCAC in the South Region of D-III. See page 38.
The new football program at BSC was not allowed to skip the provisional process.
I am well aware of the numerous inaccuracies that arise in the Handbook, but for now, I will consider BSC baseball as a provisional member of the NCAA.
I was at Millsaps during lunch and the baseball team was planning to leave at 1:00. There's some questions about the playing conditions tomorrow in Sherman and the possibility of the series becoming a DH on Sunday. Here's the lastest forecast for the Austin College area:
Tonight(Friday): Mostly cloudy skies. Low 36F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph.
Tomorrow(Saturday): Variable cloudiness and windy. High around 50F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph.
Tomorrow night: Clear. Cold. Low 32F. WNW winds at 15 to 25 mph, diminishing to 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: Sunny. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the low 50s.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 27, 2009, 02:37:27 PM
I was at Millsaps during lunch and the baseball team was planning to leave at 1:00. There's some questions about the playing conditions tomorrow in Sherman and the possibility of the series becoming a DH on Sunday. Here's the lastest forecast for the Austin College area:
Tonight(Friday): Mostly cloudy skies. Low 36F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph.
Tomorrow(Saturday): Variable cloudiness and windy. High around 50F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph.
Tomorrow night: Clear. Cold. Low 32F. WNW winds at 15 to 25 mph, diminishing to 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: Sunny. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the low 50s.
Light rain now in the far north Dallas southwest Collin County region 50 miles southwest of Sherman
The TU website says that today's tennis matches at AC have been postponed due to "weather damage at the Austin College Facilities." If memory serves the courts are pretty close to the ball field; hopefully they came through OK.
Edit: The AC web site shows the tennis matches canceled but the baseball games are still on.
Good luck to OU next week against Georgia State!
Quote from: tiger_fan2000 on March 27, 2009, 10:10:16 AM
Are there any Hendrix fans on the board? I know they got some rain this week, but how much? I think they are currently getting some, but it is supposed to move out late tonight and be windy. How does the field drain?
this is a crucial series this weekend as whomever wins 2 games will have the tie breaker. Both Hendrix and Trinity have key games in the future, but this series could go a long way in determining who makes the Tournament. Two wins by Trinity and that gives them some breathing room. A sweep would be great, but winning 2 would be awesome as it would separate the two teams by 4 in the loss column.
The field at HC drains fairly well as far as I know. There were some pretty heavy rains that came last night, but it has dried out a bit throughout the day. Unfortunately it seems as though a storm is currently setting in as I type this, hopefully it doesn't effect the status of tomorrows games.
Hendrix took two of three from Trinity this weekend!
Good weekend on several fronts for Hendrix. The Warriors took their season series with Trinity, something that I'm not sure has ever happened.
Here's the rundown:
* Sunny skies with the occasional cold breeze greeted both teams Sunday, and it was a welcome change from the overcast brrrrrrrrr fest that marked Saturday's DH. It was especially nice to not have any five-minute monsoons, like the one that hit late in the second game Saturday.
* Wheeler Gnat struck out six Tigers in three innings of relief to save Sunday's 9-7 victory, with three Ks in the ninth inning.
* It's time to tip the ol' green cap to Dave Keine, who has found the game-to-game consistency that has previously eluded him. Six strong innings against a Trinity lineup that has been playing with a lot of confidence the past two weeks.
* Speaking of...the "old" Evan Bronson was on hand for Trinity Saturday. He may have struggled earlier in the season, but he did a fine job keeping the Tigers in the game Saturday. Hendrix's lineup was just too potent (thus ends the first time the above has been said in the history of the Interwebs.)
* A friend with way more intelligence and knowledge of the program than poor old yours truly pointed out today that both Daniel Ward and Jeff Forgerson have broken Hendrix's previous single-season home run mark...with at least seven games left in the season. Given its baseball history, being a record-holder at Hendrix is sorta like being the richest man in post-communist Russia, but the Warriors do have a bit of history when it comes to power numbers (Wes Holland, Chris Black, Andy Kucek, etc.)
* I'm not a fan of arguments on who should be the Player of the Year, but I would like to humbly submit that Daniel Ward should be part of the discussion. If nothing else, no elite player in this conference has persevered through more out-and-out misery than that kid.
* ibid re: R.J. Thomas as Coach of the Year.
* Speaking of coaching, congrats to hitting coach Jay Mattox, who got his first collegiate victory as the day's acting head coach. Given his generous nature, I'm quite sure Jay will lend half of that victory to assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Neil Groat.
* Speaking of head coaches, join me in welcoming Sophie Thomas to the world. I'm sure dad didn't mind missing the game a bit under the circumstances, and must be thrilled that his little one got a Warrior victory.
Millsaps wins 2 over Austin today. In what must be somewhat of an oddity in baseball, Drew Maddox won the first game in relief and then won the second game as a starter. Tait Hendrix was suppose to start the second game but he tweaked something in his back during a pinch hit role late in the first game, so Drew started the second game and went 5 of the 7 innings (since the first game went into extra innings, the second game reverted to a 7-inning game).
This puts Millsaps at 12 wins and by my calculations it clinches a SCAC tournament spot for them. Austin can't get to 12 wins and Hendrix can only get to 12 wins and Millsaps holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over them. It is just my guess that the head-to-head is the first tiebreaker since it seems to be for every sport in the SCAC. If you are guaranteed to be ahead of two teams, then you are guaranteed a spot in the tournament.
Not taking anything away from BSC, they are a very good team top to bottom, but OU played very uninspired ball this weekend. OU showed they could hit the cream of the crop ( pitching stats) BSC but you have to play a full 9 innings both offense and defense, you can't strand 11 runners and expect to be succesfull against a team like BSC.
Maybe the 9 game winning streak had something to do with it but hopefully this weekend will be a wakeup call for OU.
Well I'm new to the board so I thought I'd chime in,
I'm not sure I would say OU played uninspired ball this past weekend at BSC, just maybe a little sloppy. BSC is a solid team throughout and OU played right with them in all 3 games...the difference was just OU made a few more mistakes and as BATR said, you can't make mistakes against good teams like BSC. From what I have seen of the OU program in the past, this year is a huge step forward and I believe they will compete for the East division this year and for the next few to come.
Daniel Sarisky was filthy Saturday and has been dominant as the closer (he legitimately hit 95 mph on Saturday at BSC multiple times). Andy Farrey should be getting talked about more as he is hitting .430 and has one of the best pure lefty swings I've ever seen. JJ Rizzo has been raking (.400 BA) and playing great defense, Andrew Llano is over .350 and is a clutch hitter. Mark Hoban, who transferred from Piedmont, is 5-1, and their new side-arming setup man Spencer Kennedy has been lights out since dropping down.
Tommorow should be very interesting as the Petrels get the opportunity to take on Division I Georgia State. No matter what the result is, it should be a great experience for the players to play a team at that level. Im pretty sure they will be pitching by committee, seeing as they have a big series this weekend with Rhodes. It should be a lot of fun tomorrow and this weekend against Rhodes!
95mph???
Are you sure...95mph???
That is faster than 95% of the guys in DI.
That is probably faster than 90% of the pitchers in Milb and MLB.
In 3 years of watching Milb, I only saw one guy at 95..but he was 97 to 100, when he wasn't 101mph.
Believe me I was shocked when I heard 95 mph too but both BSC's and OU's guns had him consistently from 90 to 93 and he hit 95 five different times on both guns
I remember an article years ago in a track magazine about a guy (maybe Jim Hines) who had set the world indoor record in the 50-yard dash. They broke the race down into segments--the first 10 yards obviously being the slowest and the last 10 the fastest. At the 40 yard mark, he was at something like 4.18 seconds. I can't remember exactly, but the point was that the best short sprinter in the world with the advantage of starting blocks, etc, had a time that was only about .1 of a second faster in the 40 than what some high schoolers supposedly run. That doesn't compute.
Sometimes sports numbers are extremely exact and sometimes they are more of a descriptive nature. It sounds like OU has a closer with a lot of heat. Exactly how hot might depend on the speed gun being used, but it must be fairly hot since Sarisky has 39 K's in 24.2 innings.
The bigger point is that OU did play a very competitive series at BSC this past weekend and BSC is playing very well. The SCAC East as a whole has taken a huge step up this year and that's good for the league. In the West we just had Hendrix win their 2009 series with Trinity 3 games to 2. Will the equivalent happen in the East with OU winning the 2009 series against Rhodes? It should be an interesting battle to watch.
I've only seen The Petrels play a few times this year... but I can help validate that Sarisky can absolutely throw the heat. Not sure if it's 95 mph, I don't have the eye of a MLB scout, but that's the word from those on the team.
Also after a relief appearance a week or so ago when he had something like 8 strikeouts in 4 innings I heard a parent fromt he opposing team comment that he had the best stuff he'd seen all year and by far threw the "fastest" that he's seen at this level.
But don't take our word for it. Ask your son after he faces him and see what he thinks as that balls blows by ;)
I've seen Sarisky pitch a few times this year and I've seen the speed guns as well. The night I saw him he was 90-93 and hit 94 twice. There is no doubt this kid can throw the ball that hard. He is only a sophomore and has outstanding mechanics.
Quote from: FlightofthePetrel on April 01, 2009, 11:25:19 AM
I've only seen The Petrels play a few times this year... but I can help validate that Sarisky can absolutely throw the heat. Not sure if it's 95 mph, I don't have the eye of a MLB scout, but that's the word from those on the team.
Also after a relief appearance a week or so ago when he had something like 8 strikeouts in 4 innings I heard a parent fromt he opposing team comment that he had the best stuff he'd seen all year and by far threw the "fastest" that he's seen at this level.
But don't take our word for it. Ask your son after he faces him and see what he thinks as that balls blows by ;)
Thanks for the input from those who have seen Oglethorpe and this young man. Personally, I love hearing the SCAC is attracting this type of talent.
My hope is they are able to keep this type of talent. The new DI transfer/sit out rule should sure help. Iknow from experience that before the new DI transfer rule, a talent of that type would get considerable transfer interest.
flight, my son won't be facing him as an injury ended his career. But, during the time he was playing, he had plenty of AB's off Homer Bailey.
On a night in Lansing, MI, the gun showed Homer throwing 101mph and that didn't "blow by him." In fact, when 101mph gets turned around, even with wood, it goes out with a lot more velocity. There are hitters who love those challenges.
As I posted earlier, one of the fun days I have had this college baseball season was watching Evan Bronson vs Hunter Owen.
Certainly, a pitcher throwing 90-94 in the SCAC's with good command and a breaking ball is likely to over match many hitters. I don't think that would be true of guys like Owen, Jones, Pennington and some others.
But, all of that said, those would be match ups that would be very fun to watch. Hopefully, they will happen at the SCAC's and a lot more will be written.
Quote from: spring bruce09 on March 31, 2009, 07:14:34 PM
Well I'm new to the board so I thought I'd chime in,
I'm not sure I would say OU played uninspired ball this past weekend at BSC, just maybe a little sloppy. BSC is a solid team throughout and OU played right with them in all 3 games...the difference was just OU made a few more mistakes and as BATR said, you can't make mistakes against good teams like BSC. From what I have seen of the OU program in the past, this year is a huge step forward and I believe they will compete for the East division this year and for the next few to come.
Daniel Sarisky was filthy Saturday and has been dominant as the closer (he legitimately hit 95 mph on Saturday at BSC multiple times). Andy Farrey should be getting talked about more as he is hitting .430 and has one of the best pure lefty swings I've ever seen. JJ Rizzo has been raking (.400 BA) and playing great defense, Andrew Llano is over .350 and is a clutch hitter. Mark Hoban, who transferred from Piedmont, is 5-1, and their new side-arming setup man Spencer Kennedy has been lights out since dropping down.
Tommorow should be very interesting as the Petrels get the opportunity to take on Division I Georgia State. No matter what the result is, it should be a great experience for the players to play a team at that level. Im pretty sure they will be pitching by committee, seeing as they have a big series this weekend with Rhodes. It should be a lot of fun tomorrow and this weekend against Rhodes!
Please don't misunderstand, when I say "uninspired" I don't mean they didn't play competitivley, they just let some good opportunities slip away (29 LOB) across 3 games comes to mind.And yes there are several positives to this team from top to bottom, the freshman have stepped up when called upon, the upperclassmen are getting it done, and the experience is showing through, finding good pitching from Cornwell, and kennedy is huge, Tuttle is showing signs of promise, and overall the team is playing well, In my humble opinion they just need to belive!
As far as competing for the East this year, well, they have shown that they should, but..... having BSC as a non issue for this season helps. Missing the series with Centre probably hurt more then helped as this would have given them an opportunity to get a few Conf. games under there belt prior to facing what I belive to be the power of the East.
I have been following the OU team last year and this year and it is good to just have something to talk about this season.
OH! and by the way Sarisky is the real deal, make no mistake about it.
I was watching Millsaps play Belhaven yesterday and Belhaven brought in a guy who supposedly was throwing about 90 or in the 90's. I think he got one out while allowing 3 or 4 runs. Meanwhile, Boomer Hudson of Millsaps was shutting down a high scoring Belhaven offense with his sidearm/submarine pitch that will never impress anyone with its speed.
Boomer got the win to go to 4-0 on the season and he continued to keep his ERA under 1.00--it just goes to show that there's more than one way to be the real deal.
Quote from: infielddad on April 01, 2009, 12:46:21 PM
flight, my son won't be facing him as an injury ended his career. But, during the time he was playing, he had plenty of AB's off Homer Bailey.
I'm sorry to hear about the injury and I hope you didn't think I was in any way singling you or your son out. Just making an open ended comment to anyone out there who might happen to play against OU.
OGLETHORPE comes back from 3 down in the 9th to shock Georgia State. The Petrels pull off a most unlikely comeback win to beat the Ga State Panthers 14-13 in a slugfest. Andy Farrey hits a 3 run homer in the top of the 9th and Sarisky comes in, in the 9th and strikes out the side... hitting 96 on the last pitch of the game!
BOY THIS SURE IS A HUGE WIN FOR THE PETRELS!
Good one, Petrel. Too bad the date is what it is...
Petrel had me going, had to look up GSU's box score myself (14-7). Looks like the offense did well, probably saw some good pitching.
Sorry... Had to pull that lil April Fool's joke.
All joking aside the Petrels seemed to be very competitive today against Ga State. Take away a 6 run inning that Ga State had and it's only 8-7. Not sure who Ga State threw and where they stacked up in the rotation but it looks like OU didn't throw anyone more than 2 or so innnings... obviosuly saving their vital arms for the series this weekend. I'd be interested to see what the outcome of this game would be if OU could throw their aces... looks like the offense would have faired fairly well either way.
Farrey had another solid day for OU as he continues to see his average rise... he continues to impress me game after game.
Quote from: FlightofthePetrel on April 01, 2009, 07:30:01 PM
Quote from: infielddad on April 01, 2009, 12:46:21 PM
flight, my son won't be facing him as an injury ended his career. But, during the time he was playing, he had plenty of AB's off Homer Bailey.
I'm sorry to hear about the injury and I hope you didn't think I was in any way singling you or your son out. Just making an open ended comment to anyone out there who might happen to play against OU.
Petrel,
Everything is fine here. I am enjoying reading all the OU posts and learning about the new found optimism. I know you didn't intend anything negative toward my son.
I have every reason to believe my son would have found hitting off Sarisky to be a lot of fun, a real challenge and a situation to get better.
The "sense" of reality I hoped to bring from my response is that the SCAC has players who can compete and succeed beyond the SCAC and beyond DIII. Sounds like the OU pitcher can be one of them.
This conference needs more of them and that gets tough with ever increasing academic standards, higher costs and a down economy.
As Jack Parkman accurately pointed out earlier this year, even though TU has done extremely well since 2002, they have yet to get to Wisconsin.
Same with Millsaps. The SCAC isn't going to get national respect in baseball unless and until they either get a team to Appleton or others start to recognize that there are some spectacular players/students in this conference.
I am cheering for Owen, Bronson and Sarisky because I hope they get a chance beyond DIII, prove they belong with the best and help further establish the quality of play in the conference. Having watched the success our's had in 3 years of Milb, I know it can and will happen.
OU takes down Rhodes in extra innings!!! Big win for the Petrels as they show they can play with the top of the SCAC.
Quote from: FlightofthePetrel on April 03, 2009, 09:54:34 PM
OU takes down Rhodes in extra innings!!! Big win for the Petrels as they show they can play with the top of the SCAC.
And whatever speed Sarisky was throwing, it was good enough to strike out 6 batters in 3 innings, with 2 or 3 of those coming on 3 straight pitches. This was a big win for OU and DePauw got a big win over BSC earlier today.
tonight was indeed a big win for OU...John Hale kept OU in the game by mixing speeds and keeping the ball down...the only mistake he made was one pitch to Mosby who hit a big 3 run homer to make it 5-3 Rhodes in the 5th...but OU fought its way back and scrapped together two runs to tie it with one in the 6th and one in the 8th...spencer kennedy went the 6th and 7th and pitched 2 perfect innings and then Daniel Sarisky came on and pitched 3 innings to get the win...he struck out 6 and was clocked between 91-94 and topped at 95 a few times again...this is a very big win for OU as they beat Holt and Babich but they still need to take care of business and make sure they win 2 out of 3...this win is big but its only big if OU comes out ready to play tomorrow and Sunday...I sure hope this win gives the Petrels a big confidence boost as they should know now they can play with the big boys...also of note is that freshman 2B Jake Spear went 3 for 4 with a huge double to lead off the 10th and played flawless defense
Welcome Spring! Bring your friends! ;)
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 03, 2009, 10:37:25 PM
Quote from: FlightofthePetrel on April 03, 2009, 09:54:34 PM
OU takes down Rhodes in extra innings!!! Big win for the Petrels as they show they can play with the top of the SCAC.
And whatever speed Sarisky was throwing, it was good enough to strike out 6 batters in 3 innings, with 2 or 3 of those coming on 3 straight pitches. This was a big win for OU and DePauw got a big win over BSC earlier today.
Now maybe Rhodes can validate that this kid (Sarisky) can throw absolute gas. Why don't you as Mosby... he fanned twice!
For those interested the Alumni game will be played tomorrow at 10 a.m. with a ceremony coming beforehand to honor a former Petrel Josh Blythe who donned the black and gold only a few years ago. We lost Josh much sooner than necessary but we will forever remember him for being the ultimate athlete, consummate Petrel and much more importantly and tremendous human being. His number 5 in the Superman Emblom, of which he was known to wear religiously, will now hang on the right field fence where he used to play.
Good luck tomorrow OU and as always GOOOO PETRELS!!!
Wow!!! What a 1st Game between Centre and Sewanee. Final score Centre winning 3-2.
-Centre's Jake Jones was very impressive sitting 88-92 all 9Innings and topping 94, gave up 5 hits with 11K's.
-Sewanee's starter also threw well, but I would have to say an extreme low point in the game was in the 7th inning with a man on 2nd and 2outs and the intentional beaning of the starter Jones in the ribs. It was bush league baseball. Guess Jones got the last laugh with a double to rightcenter to win the game.
Quote from: richball on April 04, 2009, 11:39:41 PM
Wow!!! What a 1st Game between Centre and Sewanee. Final score Centre winning 3-2.
-Centre's Jake Jones was very impressive sitting 88-92 all 9Innings and topping 94, gave up 5 hits with 11K's.
-Sewanee's starter also threw well, but I would have to say an extreme low point in the game was in the 7th inning with a man on 2nd and 2outs and the intentional beaning of the starter Jones in the ribs. It was bush league baseball. Guess Jones got the last laugh with a double to rightcenter to win the game.
It seems pretty logical to me to throw at a guy on purpose in a close game.
After dropping the first game in the 3 game set with Oglethorpe, Rhodes played some very nice baseball to win the next two games.
The first game was another error prone and brain cramp game by the Lynx, but the next two games they just got down and played solid ball.
Congrats to Mason Mosby who got his 200th hit of his career yesterday. Just so happens it was a long homer to left. Mason is having a great year. He is also stepping up at third base and turned in some sterling plays yesterday.
Congrats to the Rhodes pitching staff. Their line over the weekend was 28 IP 25 K's, 3 walks, 4 ER's. This was against a Oglethorpe team that was leading the SCAC in batting average going into the weekend. Nice Job!
Congrats to Coach C and Coach S!. Rhodes got their 20th win Saturday. They have won over 20 games in the past 4 years. Coach C has done a great job since taking over a moribund program.
Now on to a tough Birmingham Southern team. They took 2 of 3 from Depauw, at Depauw, which is tough to do.
Can't wait to see their D 1 facilities!
Mosby was a man against boys this weekend. He hit three majestic home runs, two to right center and the other to deep left. Tremendous hitter, but to say he made sterling plays in the field is stretching it a bit. He made 5 errors in two games and the 1B saved at least a few more. Rhodes has solid pitching, their top 5 hitters (minus a struggling 4 hitter) are as good as they get but defensively besides Bizzell they are shaky. They put themseves in a good position with a series win this weekend.
Yep, he will admit he stunk it up the first two games. He did make some nice plays yesterday though. And yes, the 1st baseman is at the chiropractor today! But, he is a unselfish player. He went over to third just last week and is playing a position he hasn't played.
I think the ball found him about 12 times in the first half of the game Saturday! He is a good athlete and will only improve over there as seen yesterday.
Defense has been an issue with Rhodes all year. Just look at the stats page. But, a few games over .500 may be enough to get in the tourney and then hope you play some errorless ball. If a few more plays could have been made over the course of the year Rhodes would be the other SCAC team with a national rating. But, right now, that's baseball. The Lynx haven't hung there head about it.
I see that Emory(19-10) is playing today and tomorrow against OU and then they will travel to Jackson to play Millsaps on Friday and Saturday. In the past they might have thrown some lesser pitchers against OU and saved the top of the staff for Millsaps--it doesn't seem like that would work so well this season with OU playing so well. It will be interesting to see how they use their pitching.
For anyone interested, today's Millsaps game with LA College at 4:00 Central will be webcast and the link to that webcast is in the signature area below.
Frank--
How is Tait's back. I know it was bothering him when they played TU and then saw he hasnt been hitting much lately. Finally, I read he came out against SU on Sunday because of it. I hope he can get healthy down the stretch because he is a lot of fun to watch.
Good question about Tait's back. Tait was going to pitch the second game at Austin two weekends ago but he hurt his back while pinch hitting at the end of the first game. He did pitch 3 innings against Southwestern and did well, but I think his back started bothering him again so Boomer Hudson came in to pitch.
It has been described as a day-to-day injury. It wouldn't surprise me if Tait pitches against Emory this Saturday, but the key thing is to have him at 100% for the SCAC Tournament. He's really been pitching well lately and Millsaps needs him healthy for the SCAC and hopefully NCAA Tournaments.
In the meantime, the role of the 3rd starter seems to be start someone and then bring in Drew Maddox or Boomer Hudson. Drew came in to start the 3rd inning against MS College last night and he pitched 8 innings for the win in extra innings. Boomer's last two outings have been very successful 6 innings stints. Unless a solid #3 starter steps up in the next couple of weeks, look for those two relievers to pitch a lot of tournament innings.
Wow... Oglethorpe tops Emory 8-7 in 11 innings. OU came back to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th inning as Chris Lucas scored on a wild pitch to score the game. Ironically it was Lucas who came around to score the eventual walk off game winning run on a throwing error by the 3rd baseman. This team sure is getting comfortable coming back in the late innings and stealing games away!
Sarisky comes in to pitch 4.2 innings in relief and gets the win to improve to 5-0... check out the stat line
4.2 IP 1H 0R 1BB 11K... striking out 11 of 16 batters faced... looks like everyone in the emory lineup got a taste of him. That brings his season total to 59 strikeouts in only 34.1 innings picthed. The 59 strikeouts puts him second to only Evan Bronsons 77 in 67.1 IP.
Oglethorpe improves to 17-11 and continues to improve on their best season in recent memory. Look forward to hopefully seeing the guys take another one from Emory tomorrow.
A great win for OU and the SCAC. There's no doubt that teams will want to have a lead on OU going into the late innings when you see what Sarisky is doing in some of these games. It also points out how tough the SCAC Tournament will be this year because it's going to be 6 teams that are capable of winning the thing--that has rarely been the case in the past.
As I wrote earlier today, I thought Emory would be making a mistake if they looked past OU to the Millsaps series. I see that the Emory starter was making his first start of the season and he only had 12 innings going into the game. He gave up 6 of the 8 runs during his 3 innings. I wonder if Emory will go with one of their top 3 starters tomorrow against OU or will they save them all for Millsaps?
There's an interesting thread regarding strength of schedule under the national topics (link: http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=6282.0 ).
It shows Austin with the 3rd toughest schedule, Hendrix at #4, DePauw at #7, Millsaps at #13 and Trinity at #21. This is taken from an interesting statistical list of D3 baseball that can be found at http://www.boydsworld.com/baseball/isr/d3_isr.html
I did not find Southwestern on the list which is odd, but the other 4 SCAC West schools all rank as being in the top 10% in the nation when it comes to having the toughest schedule. That might help explain why only Millsaps is above .500 overall in that division.
Outside of DePauw, the SCAC East teams didn't fare as well on the list, but they didn't do poorly. There was Rhodes at 41, Centre at 75, BSC at 117, OU at 119, and Sewanee at 133. That's out of 222 teams on the list so only Sewanee is significantly below the midway point. And by the way, if you want to argue these numbers, keep in mind that I didn't create the list and I'm only the messenger so don't address your arguement to me.
Great info Frank. You are a super sleuth!
Let's see what happens with the list of SOS created by Boyd as the season progresses. (No, I am not shooting the messenger! ;) )
That reflects games played. The West and South have played more games.
In my mind, the Millsaps baseball season starts over this Friday. The 28-4 start is great, the national rankings are nice, winning the Maloney Trophy was rewarding, and clinching a spot in the SCAC Tournament was critical. What those things have done is allowed the team to look at the remaining 6 games and the SCAC Tournament in a different light:
Games vs Emory on Friday and Saturday: I believe Emory will save their best pitching for these two games. While the Emory record this year isn't on par with some of their NCAA teams in recent years, they are still going to be representative of the type teams Millsaps will have to beat in the SCAC and hopefully the NCAA Tournaments. This is an excellent challenge for Millsaps with post season play coming up on April 23rd.
Let me just add that I think Millsaps has slumped a little since the early part of the season. Not much obviously since they are 28-4, but they haven't seemed as sharp in little ways. Maybe it's the difference between a B+ and an A, or maybe it's more like the difference between a B and an A, but Millsaps needs to gear up to play their best ball of the season over the next 20 days and the Emory games would be a great place to start.
April 14th vs Belhaven: Another strong team and it's a game where someone could step up and earn that #3 starter spot for the SCAC Tournament. The Maloney Trophy is won but it would be nice to go 6-0 for the 2009 series.
April 18-19 vs Trinity: So much will be on the line in this series. Millsaps needs wins here to clinch an at-large berth guarantee, maybe a #1 ranking in the South, and maybe a #1 seed in a regional. Plus, they get to face Bronson again after he held them to 2 runs earlier in the season. For Trinity they are still looking to clinch a spot in the SCAC Tournament so they will be as focused as they possibly can be--which is about the norm for a Millsaps-Trinity series anyway. This is also a series for a #3 starter to step up.
SCAC Tournament: I don't need to write anything about the importance of this weekend.
As a Millsaps fan looking at this closing schedule, it doesn't get any better than this: Emory 2 games, Belhaven, Trinity 3 games, and then the SCAC Tournament right here in Jackson. The first 32 games have set the stage for a potentially great season, but there are plenty of challenges to go and I believe we are going to see Millsaps go to a higher level to meet those challenges. I can't wait.
Tough 3-2 loss for the Petrels at Emory today. OU led 2-1 entering the 8th but was unable to hold the lead and eventually lost in the bottom of the ninth. Sarisky obviously was not available today after 4+ innings last night. Good game, both teams had good pitching performances. OU had bases loaded in the top of the 9th with one out and was unable to push across a run.
OU is off to Sewanee this weekend looking to get into the top three in the east...Sewanee is a tough place to play but I think this team is ready.
I think OU is in for a little more game than they think with Sewanee. To get to Sarisky in the bullpen, OU is going to need a starter to step up. Sewanee's record and stats may not reflect that they are capable of staying in the box and hitting. If Bartleski throws like he did against Centre he will be a tough test. I believe Bartleski gets win 1, Hoban, relief, & Sarisky game 2, and slugfest game 3.
The SCAC East is still very wide open when it come to tournament slots. BSC has a comfortable lead a 7-2, but they can't go to the tournament. That leaves Rhodes and DePauw at 5-4, Centre at 3-3, OU at 2-4, and Sewanee at 2-7. And crazy me, I didn't realize until this week that the East only plays 15 games in the form of 3-game series against each of the other teams instead of any home-away setup.
Here are the remaining games for each team:
Rhodes: 3 at BSC, 3 hosting Sewanee (BSC could put them in a world of hurt)
DePauw: 3 hosting Centre, 3 hosting OU (seems like the easiest remaining schedule)
Centre: 3 at DePauw, 3 hosting BSC (seems like the hardest)
OU: 3 at Sewanee, 3 at DePauw (finishing out with 6 road games)
Sewanee: 3 hosting OU, 3 at Rhodes (not an impossible task to get to the tournament)
You sharp eyed readers may notice that this still leaves OU and Centre with just 12 games. Their series was cancelled earlier in the year and there's no time to make it up. It seems like that's going to become a big factor in the race for a tournament spot and I don't know exactly how that will be handled.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 09, 2009, 02:40:05 AM
The SCAC East is still very wide open when it come to tournament slots. BSC has a comfortable lead a 7-2, but they can't go to the tournament. That leaves Rhodes and DePauw at 5-4, Centre at 3-3, OU at 2-4, and Sewanee at 2-7. And crazy me, I didn't realize until this week that the East only plays 15 games in the form of 3-game series against each of the other teams instead of any home-away setup.
Here are the remaining games for each team:
Rhodes: 3 at BSC, 3 hosting Sewanee (BSC could put them in a world of hurt)
DePauw: 3 hosting Centre, 3 hosting OU (seems like the easiest remaining schedule)
Centre: 3 at DePauw, 3 hosting BSC (seems like the hardest)
OU: 3 at Sewanee, 3 at DePauw (finishing out with 6 road games)
Sewanee: 3 hosting OU, 3 at Rhodes (not an impossible task to get to the tournament)
You sharp eyed readers may notice that this still leaves OU and Centre with just 12 games. Their series was cancelled earlier in the year and there's no time to make it up. It seems like that's going to become a big factor in the race for a tournament spot and I don't know exactly how that will be handled.
Only in the SCAC could we have two halves of a conference that dont play the same format. WOW. I understand the reasoning, but still.
As a new follower of the SCAC I still find myself wondering how it is possible that the two divisons of THE SAME CONFERENCE can play a completely different format? As a follower of OU I can say I definitely believe the entire conference should be playing the way the West plays because that way every team is playing enough games so that if something happens like a rained out weekend like OU-Centre, there is less likelihood of ending up with a tie. As it stands a lot can still happen in the East but there is obviously the possibility of OU and Centre ending up with the same conference record. I just think it is ludicrous that the people who run this conference cannot set one format for the whole conference.
The obvious difference in the two divisions is the weather. It would be impossible for the SCAC East to play the 8 weekends of games played by the West this year, and is there anything gained by forcing the SCAC West teams to play the format being used in the East?
I would be curious to know what the tiebreaker will be if OU and Centre are tied for the third spot in the SCAC Tournament--would the teams go to a one-game playoff or would they look at results against the other teams? I'm sure such a situation is covered in the rules.
Last years 4 game format might have worked. I am not really sure why they went away from that. Why does the SCAC championship happen when it does? Why can't the tournament be pushed back a weekend or two? That would definitely help the winner be more game ready for the Regionals. That would also help the east teams get in more games with the weather. Finals at Trinity begin May 5. Why not have the SCAC tournament the weekend before that? That would give teams one more weekend of play, might help more with the weather. That might make too much sense and be too logical for the SCAC.
Tiger_fan, I understand where you are coming from because I was coming from the same spot when I first joined the message board. Over the years I've questioned some of the things done within the SCAC and over the years I've come to understand that there's usually a good reason for things that seem strange. The league and the schools seem to do a really good job of trying to find the balance between what seems logical when you factor in athletics, education, costs, etc, and try to come up with a viable plan.
That doesn't mean that I don't question things from time to time, like the decision to play the women's basketball games after the men this year which hurt the women's teams, or this amazingly shortsighted idea to cut SCAC Tournaments to just a 4 team affair next year--I'm still hoping that will be reverse before it ever goes into actions.
Getting back to baseball, I see that BSC won over Rhodes last night by a 6-1 score. That drops Rhodes to 5-5. Let's drop BSC (ineligible) and Sewanee (2-7 and unlikely to win 5 of 6) out of the conversation, and that leaves 4 teams in a tight race for 3 spots:
DePauw (5-4) with 3 home games with Centre and 3 home games with OU remaining.
Rhodes (5-5) with 2 road games at BSC and 3 home games with Sewanee remaining.
Centre (3-3) with 3 road games at DePauw and 3 home games with BSC remaining.
Oglethorpe (2-4) with 3 road games at Sewanee and 3 at DePauw remaining.
That's tight. On the West side, the race is just as tight for the last 2 spots with:
Millsaps (13-4) with 3 home games with Trinity.
Southwestern (8-6) with 3 at Trinity and 3 hosting Hendrix
Trinity (7-7) with 3 hosting SW and 3 at Millsaps
Hendrix (7-8) with 2 hosting Austin and 3 at Southwestern
Austin (4-14) with no hope of the Tournament and that surprises me--they are a better team than what their record shows.
It's going to be a very exciting last 2 weeks and I hope the fans come out to support their teams. And now I need to go out and meet a friend at the jogging track--the only reason I'm up so early when I have the day off.
We're a little over two hours until game time here in Conway and it looks to be a cold! night for baseball. Fortunately however, the race to Jackson, MS should keep things interesting. It looks like Trinity is leading Southwestern in SA right now by a score of 8-0 in the bottom half of the sixth. If the tigers can hold on in TX, that would place Southwestern and Trinity in a two-way tie for second in the West at 8-7. Hendrix currently is sitting at 7-8 but pulling out a win tonight against Austin would advance them to 8-8. Now, Hendrix holds the tie-breaker with Trinity (3-2 series advantage) and is down 2-0 in the series with Southwestern as they dropped two close games earlier this season. Depending on how things go the rest of the weekend (will trinity take all three from southwestern?? will Hendrix take 1, 2?), things are really going to be fun next weekend as Southwestern hosts Hendrix for a three game set to end the regular season! I personally predict that Hendrix will take two from Austin this weekend, and two of three from Southwestern next weekend, thus placing HC at 11-9. If Trinity can take 2 this weekend and one from Millsaps next weekend, that would put Trinity at 10-10. By my predictions/thoughts/wishes southwestern takes one from trinity and one from Hendrix, that puts them at 10-10. All in all, this puts HC in 2nd place!!!! when is the last time that happened? Anybody else have any predictions on who will take the last two spots to Jackson, MS??
Evan Bronson throws a 3 hitter, Kyle Felix goes 4-4 with a HR and 3 RBI's, Evan Jones goes 3-4 with 2 doubles, 1 RBI and one run scored and Trinity pounds out 15 hits and wins the 7 inning part of the DH by the score of 10-0.
They need to play them one game at a time...like that has never been said before. ;D
It is going to be an interesting 2 weeks of baseball on both sides of the SCAC.
The Millsaps games with Emory this weekend are important for both teams. For Emory, two wins over Millsaps would have gone a long way towards a Pool B bid, but now they'll have to play for the split as Millsaps won the opener 6-3.
Maybe these games aren't equally as important for Millsaps but they are important. A win tomorrow would come close to sewing up an at-large bid. It would keep Millsaps in good position for a #1 seed at a regional as long as Millsaps doesn't falter too much against Trinity or at the SCAC Tournament. And in general, it gives the team the experience of going up a high quality team, the kind of team they will face from here on out in 2009.
I agree with you on that notion, Millsaps' games are very important as far as gaining a possible at large bid should they not win the conference title. It looks as if Trinity will complete the sweep of Southwestern today as they are leading 6-0 in the 8th inning. Here in Conway, AR Suydam and Chermak are in a pitchers dual; 0-0 in the bottom of the fourth. Hendrix currently has runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out!
With the Hendrix loss, I believe that if Trinity wins today they will secure a birth into the tournament. With a win today, worst case Trinity could fall to would be 10-10.
HC is 7-9 right now, lets say they win today to go to 8-9.
SU with a loss today, would be 8-9.
Those two match up next weekend in a 3 game series and no matter what happens, TU will be in the tournament.
I hope we get the same type of determination today that we saw in the Tigers yesterday. That was fun baseball to watch.
Beautiful day here in Conway for game 2 of the series with Austin College. Just an interesting note that should not surprise anyone...these are the current SCAC-West standings with corresponding team ERA, FLD %, AVG, and HR hit. This just goes out to prove pitching and defense DO win championships..
Team ERA FLD % AVG HR
Millsaps 4.77 .966 .314 40
Trinity 5.70 .957 .320 33
Southwestern 6.44 .943 .298 16
Hendrix 7.30 .958 .285 24
Austin 7.52 .948 .290 18
Which two of the three teams fighting for the last two spots will achieve their goal and which will be left out?
The Warriors took one from Austin College 12-7 on senior day here in Conway. Daniel Ward, one of the four seniors(Matt Giza, David Foley, Wheeler Gnat, Ward) honored today was 4-5 with 2 2R-HR, 5 RBI, 4 Runs. He is now sitting at 192 career hits! Hopefully he reaches the 200 plateau with 4 games left in the regular season.
With Trinity sweeping Soutwestern this weekend and Hendrix spliting with Austin, Trinity is in and the last spot will be the winner of next weekends series between Hendrix and Southwestern.
I would like to see Hendrix make it; they have come so far in the last two years, it would be good for their program and the conference (this in no way is a slight against Southwestern).
TU wins a great game, 1-0 in 10 innings. Tiger Pitchers Mike Hunter and Mike Panozzo combine to only give up 1 hit in the 10 innings. With the win, TU secures a birth in the tournament. What a series this was and what a series next weekend will be.
Trinity certainly came up big this weekend with a sweep that puts them into the SCAC Tournament. Millsaps is a lock at #1, Trinity is a lock to be in the tournament at either #2 or #3, and the winner of the Southwestern at Hendrix series will be the third representative. As important as the Trinity at Millsaps series might be to both of those teams, the key series in the West will be the one in Conway.
The East is still a mess with one series rained out and the leader of the division ineligible to go to the SCAC Tournament. My gut feeling is that the three teams from the West will be stronger as a group than the three teams from the East, but it seems like the gap is closing a little. That's especially true regarding whoever ends up being the #3 seed in the East. That's going to be a good team and no pushover for the #1 in the West.
An interesting look at two guys who are having great years with many similar numbers and very different styles:
Player ERA W-L APP GS CG SHO/CBO SV IP H R ER BB SO
Daniel Sarisky...... 2.62 5-0 12 3 0 0/0 2 34.1 27 13 10 13 59
Boomer Hudson... 0.93 5-0 12 0 0 0/1 1 38.2 27 11 4 9 31
As you know if you've been reading this message board, Sarisky plays at Oglethorpe and throws in the mid-90's. I talked to a couple of Emory guys who said 94, but whatever the number, he obviously is faster than most in D3 ball.
Boomer pitches for Millsaps and is coming off a medical redshirt after pitching about 2 innings in the 2007 season. He uses a funky, junky delivery that is somewhere in the sidearm/submarine style. It obviously works even if it's not as impressive as a mid-90's fastball.
Okey dokey, the gauntlet has been thrown and it goes as such for the Hendrix Warriors:
Win next weekend's three-game series against Southwestern in Georgetown and they're in.
Let's throw out a little perspective. The last time Hendrix took a trip to the SCAC post-season, the year was 1999. In 1999...
* Apple debuted the "clam shell" iBook
* Texas Governor George W. Bush announced he would seek the Republican presidential nomination
* A guy named Lance Armstrong won his first Tour De France
* Moviegoers flock to see The Matrix and Fight Club
* David Cone pitches a perfect game for the New York Yankees
* Yours truly shocks several in his community by graduating from high school in one piece, and sends further ripples of surprise by getting into a college without the word "vocational" in the title
* Present-day Hendrix coaches R.J. Thomas, Neil Groat and Jay Mattox were playing high school baseball.
It can't rain forever, right?
OU swept a doubleheader from Sewanee on a foggy, windy, chilly Saturday. OU was down 1-0 in game one with Sewanee starter Bareski (SP) dominating the Petrels. But once again the Petrels found a way to score a couple of runs in the 7th on some timely hits and Sarisky came in and closed the door.
Game two saw starter Hale throw a CG, six-hitter giving up just one unearned run. OU pounded out 15 hits including 4 from Llano, 2 from Rizzo and 3 from Brazenas.
Petrel pitchers gave up just two runs, one earned in 18 innings. And only walked one batter.
Game 3 was postponed and will be played on Monday (Sewanee can't play on Easter). Of course the weather forecast looks rainy for monday.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 11, 2009, 08:04:51 PM
Trinity certainly came up big this weekend with a sweep that puts them into the SCAC Tournament. Millsaps is a lock at #1, Trinity is a lock to be in the tournament at either #2 or #3, and the winner of the Southwestern at Hendrix series will be the third representative. As important as the Trinity at Millsaps series might be to both of those teams, the key series in the West will be the one in Conway.
The East is still a mess with one series rained out and the leader of the division ineligible to go to the SCAC Tournament. My gut feeling is that the three teams from the West will be stronger as a group than the three teams from the East, but it seems like the gap is closing a little. That's especially true regarding whoever ends up being the #3 seed in the East. That's going to be a good team and no pushover for the #1 in the West.
Frank....while it appears Millsaps to be a lock, I think a sweep next weekend by the Tigers puts TU and MC at identical records, with TU winning the series, I think TU would be the #1 seed. That is a highly unlikely scenario, but so did a sweep of the pirates.
You are correct about Trinity being able to win the SCAC West Regular season championship with a sweep at Millsaps. Well, technically I think the teams would be co-champions but Trinity would get the #1 seed.
That could be seen as motivation for Millsaps or motivation for Trinity, but let's face it, both teams will already be 100% focused on these games. With no disrespect intended for the teams in the East, I'd be willing to say that these three games coming up will be tougher for both Millsaps and Trinity than the first three games that they'll play in the SCAC Tournament. It should be great fun and I hope the Millsaps faithful will turn out for all three games.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 12, 2009, 06:12:03 PM
You are correct about Trinity being able to win the SCAC West Regular season championship with a sweep at Millsaps. Well, technically I think the teams would be co-champions but Trinity would get the #1 seed.
That could be seen as motivation for Millsaps or motivation for Trinity, but let's face it, both teams will already be 100% focused on these games. With no disrespect intended for the teams in the East, I'd be willing to say that these three games coming up will be tougher for both Millsaps and Trinity than the first three games that they'll play in the SCAC Tournament. It should be great fun and I hope the Millsaps faithful will turn out for all three games.
It is going to be a great two weekends of baseball. Looking at the bracket for the SCAC tournament.....Looks like it would be better for TU to the be the #3 seed. The winner of W1/E3 plays the winner of the W2/E2 in the 2nd round. Because of the wonderful 6 team tournament, the winner of the W3/E1 gets to play the loser of the W1/E3. Not that I am assuming TU would beat the E1 seed, I am confident enough in the Evan Bronson that I have seen the last 3 weeks to say that I will take him against anyone else's #1 in the SCAC.
It is going to be fun......
Two things:
1. Don't count out the East folks....don't do it. There is some damn good baseball being played in the SCAC East.
2. I don't think Bronson pitches the 1st game of the tournament for Trinity. More on that next week.
Quote from: Lou_Brown on April 12, 2009, 06:55:12 PM
Two things:
1. Don't count out the East folks....don't do it. There is some damn good baseball being played in the SCAC East.
2. I don't think Bronson pitches the 1st game of the tournament for Trinity. More on that next week.
On your #2.....why wait until next week. I watched him pitch on Friday and he looked fine to me. Is he hurt?
Hey Lou, Ain't it fun up there on the mountain. Last year Rhode's game with them was fogged out. That was a first!
The Lynx went to Birmingham and got just plain ol' beat in two games. The game in the middle was not for lovers of the game. I gave up counting errors by both teams at 12. But at this point of the season a win is a good thing.
I was very impressed with Birmingham Southern's stadium, scoreboard, fans, fan turnout, coaching and of course their baseball team.
In speaking with other coaches, fans, prospective players, etc., they run a great program and have lots of $$$.
BS is gonna be a 2000 lb. gorilla wandering around the SCAC after they get through this reclassification thing.
Looks like the east is boiling down to the last weekend. Haven't tried to mathematically figure it out, but I'm sure after next weekend the series that was lost due to weather in the East will be a topic of conversation with some team.
Quote from: Lou_Brown on April 12, 2009, 06:55:12 PM
Two things:
1. Don't count out the East folks....don't do it. There is some damn good baseball being played in the SCAC East.
2. I don't think Bronson pitches the 1st game of the tournament for Trinity. More on that next week.
I don't think anyone is counting out the East at all. Regarding my statement about the toughness of the upcoming Trinity @ Millsaps series, wouldn't you agree that:
1) Trinity won't face 3 games tougher to start off the SCAC Tournament than facing Millsaps on the road--I think this point is a given.
2) Trinity is 11-4 over their last 15 games which makes them the 2nd hottest tournament eligible team in the conference right now. It would be hard to argue that Millsaps will face 3 tougher games to open up the SCAC Tournament.
I wasn't demeaning the teams from the East, just giving a reasonable observation.
By the way, here's the link to the SCAC Tournament website: http://www.gomajors.com/sports/2009/4/2/BB_0402092119.aspx?path=baseball
Oh yeah, it would be hard to see the logic in not pitching your #1 on Thursday which would then give him 2 days of rest before coming back and pitching on Sunday. I would be surprised if Bronson didn't pitch the opening game--just as it would have shocked me if he had pitched against Notre Dame and not Millsaps.
Quote from: donotknowscac on April 12, 2009, 08:21:27 PM
Hey Lou, Ain't it fun up there on the mountain. Last year Rhode's game with them was fogged out. That was a first!
The Lynx went to Birmingham and got just plain ol' beat in two games. The game in the middle was not for lovers of the game. I gave up counting errors by both teams at 12. But at this point of the season a win is a good thing.
I was very impressed with Birmingham Southern's stadium, scoreboard, fans, fan turnout, coaching and of course their baseball team.
In speaking with other coaches, fans, prospective players, etc., they run a great program and have lots of $$$.
BS is gonna be a 2000 lb. gorilla wandering around the SCAC after they get through this reclassification thing.
Looks like the east is boiling down to the last weekend. Haven't tried to mathematically figure it out, but I'm sure after next weekend the series that was lost due to weather in the East will be a topic of conversation with some team.
Dontknowscac, Rhodes didnt get fogged out they were clouded out and it is appearently a common problem for Sewanee home games. I am pretty sure that I have only see one sunny and pleasent day in my three trips that I have made up to the mountain. Fun times.
I do agree with you about BSC they are a very talented team and they just seem to hit everything but does anyone know when they will be done with the reclassification?
I was going to try give a break down on the East bracket but work appears to be getting in my way maybe more to come later.
Quote from: HeadingForHome on April 13, 2009, 09:58:34 AM
...
I do agree with you about BSC they are a very talented team and they just seem to hit everything but does anyone know when they will be done with the reclassification?
...
BSC becomes a full member in 2011-2012.
Most of you probably already know this, but the poll question above shouldn't include Trinity since they have locked up a berth in the tournament. Southwestern and Hendrix both have to win twice to have a hope of catching Trinity, and since those teams play each other this weekend, there's no way that both can win twice in a 3-game series.
Well that breakdown isn't going to come because frankly there are way too many possibilities but I can say that Sewanee has been eliminated unless they make up that game with Oglethorpe and win but from what I hear that doesn't sound like that game will be made up but you never know.
If the Sewanee and Oglethorpe do not play than I can say with some confidence that DePauw, Rhodes, Oglethorpe, and Centre all are mathematically eligible to take the number one spot for the East in the tournament. So this should turn out to be a crazy weekend in the east.
Remaining games in East:
BSC (9-3) @ Centre (4-5)
OU (4-4) @ DePauw (7-5)
Sewanee (2-9) @ Rhodes (6-6)
---Obviously Rhodes should win at least 2 of 3 and make the tournament.
---DePauw is playing a tougher team, but they should win 1 of the 3 at least and that's all they should need to get in the tournament.
---Centre is sort of screwed. They are now a half game behind OU where they really needed Sewanee to beat OU on Monday. That means Centre needs to do one game better than OU this weekend--the best scenario on that would be Centre taking 1 and DePauw sweeping OU. Personally, I think OU takes at least one game which would mean Centre has to win 2 of 3 from BSC--I don't see that happening.
If I had to predict the final standings in the East, I'd say:
BSC 11-4 but not eligible for the tournament.
DePauw 9-6 (they hold the tiebreaker over Rhodes)
Rhodes 9-6
OU 5-6
Centre 5-7
Sewanee 2-12
Hey all,
Just wanted to be the first to congratulate Millsaps on being ranked #1 in the country!!!!!!
It has to bode well for the SCAC that the only team's to defeat the number 1 team are teams within the SCAC-West (Hendrix twice, Trinity, Southwestern) am I wrong??
I want to also congratulate Millsaps for there number 1 ranking its pretty cool to think that number 1 team in the nation is in the SCAC.
About the only losses being in the SCAC West I bodes well to a point but even for the number one team in the nation it is hard to beat a team 5 times. So I feel like it would make sense for their only losses to come in the SCAC West.
Neverless, Congrats to the Millsaps!
Good point about the difficulty of beating a good team 5 out of 5 in a season. Right now Millsaps is 3-2 vs Hendrix, 4-1 vs Southwestern, 5-0 vs Austin, and 1-1 with Trinity and the remaining 3 games being played this weekend.
Last night the Millsaps announcer was out so the webcast for the Belhaven at Millsaps game was handled by the Belhaven announcer. At one point he was talking about the other teams in the SCAC West, noting that none of them had very good records outside of Millsaps and indicating that the West is a fairly weak conference. I'm afraid that this is the perception many have because they only look at the records, but the West teams all play difficult schedules and they they beat up on each other in conference play.
I think back to the Hendrix trip to California this year. Despite the disadvantage of such a long trip, they were very competitive with the best of the West Coast: Hendrix lost to Chapman 10-8, to Cal Lutheran 4-3, and to Pomona-Pizer 9-4. Chapman is a team that just dropped from the top-25, Cal Lutheran is #15, and Pomona-Pizer is #8. Plus, Hendrix was playing their 4th day in a row against a rested Pomona-Pizer team. I have a feeling that if you took the Hendrix team and based them in California for a full season, they would have a far better record than what they have now.
BY THE WAY, it looks like the Millsaps vs. Trinity games have been moved up a day. The Millsaps website has a single game on Friday with the time TBA and a DH on Saturday starting at 1. These games were originally scheduled as a DH on Saturday and a single game on Sunday.
Frank....that MC/TU series was moved up to a single game on Friday night and then DH on Saturday. This was done to allow TU players to get home Sunday and be able to work on school before they had to leave again for the conf. tournament.
Question about the conference tournament---I have seen pictures of the field from the milsaps web page, but I heard it was all field turf. I can find any pictures with field turf, but is that true? Is there any dirt on the field at all?
Quote from: tiger_fan2000 on April 15, 2009, 02:57:44 PM
Frank....that MC/TU series was moved up to a single game on Friday night and then DH on Saturday. This was done to allow TU players to get home Sunday and be able to work on school before they had to leave again for the conf. tournament.
Question about the conference tournament---I have seen pictures of the field from the milsaps web page, but I heard it was all field turf. I can find any pictures with field turf, but is that true? Is there any dirt on the field at all?
Tiger_Fan- Check out these great pics by Frank. All field turf!
Quote from: Jack Parkman on April 15, 2009, 03:28:07 PM
Quote from: tiger_fan2000 on April 15, 2009, 02:57:44 PM
Frank....that MC/TU series was moved up to a single game on Friday night and then DH on Saturday. This was done to allow TU players to get home Sunday and be able to work on school before they had to leave again for the conf. tournament.
Question about the conference tournament---I have seen pictures of the field from the milsaps web page, but I heard it was all field turf. I can find any pictures with field turf, but is that true? Is there any dirt on the field at all?
Tiger_Fan- Check out these great pics by Frank. All field turf!
Wow--even the pitchers mound in field turf......going to be interesting.
The Petrels were given a good ole fashion butt whooping by Emory tonight 21-1. Hopefully this will serve as a wakeup game that will cause OU to buckle down before the HUGE series at Depauw and carry that momentum into the conference tournament.
Yikes on the Emory at OU score. My assumption was that the same thing happened to OU as with Millsaps Tuesday, namely a big loss due largely to saving pitching for a weekend series, but it looks like OU used two main starters early in the game and Emory was the team that went with pitchers who hadn't thrown much this year (http://www.go.emory.edu/Statistics/Current/Base/eu35.htm).
In both games however, the big concern would have to be the lack of run production as OU only managed 1 run while Millsaps hitters could only plate 3. I expect to see both of these teams hitting better than that this weekend.
Regarding the field at Smith-Wills stadium, the site of the SCAC Tournament, it is indeed all artificial turf including the pitchers mound. It is an older stadium and therefore outdated somewhat for a minor league pro team, but it is a nice site for a D3 Tournament. Plenty of chairback seating behind home plate that is all covered. Lots of seating down both lines that is protected from foul balls by netting. Lots of restroom facilities. I think the teams and the fans are going to enjoy the location--I just hope plenty of fans are there to enjoy the location.
OU took one on the chin last night as emory thrashed them for 21 runs. OU did start tuttle one of two seniors but I heard he was only scheduled to pitch one inning last night in prep for DePauw. Other than that OU was just plain bad last night, tons of errors, no hitting and poor pitching. To me it looked like a team that was focused on DePauw...not emory. Well, now dePauw is next on the scheulde...going to be a fun weekend in the SCAC.
A couple of comments...first off frank_ezelle, did you say the mound was turf!?
Also, I want to congratulate Daniel Ward of Hendrix on his National Hitter of the Week award. Anybody who has followed the SCAC over the past four years has had the opportunity to observe one of the best offensive and most well-rounded ball players in the country!
The entire surface is artificial--click on this link to get to a photo of the mound:
http://gomajors.smugmug.com/gallery/7776431_Zz2X4#505489626_YhcTJ
That just doesn't look right.
By the way, for those who don't know, Daniel Ward is featured in this week's SCAC podcast, if anyone wishes to take a listen. You can find it on the official SCAC website.
I still don't know what the hell a "podcast" is, but oh well.
While the big series in the SCAC West is at Hendrix, the series between Trinity and Millsaps will be a good one to watch. The teams play tonight at 7 Central. I've been at the tennis courts all afternoon which are besides the baseball field. The wind was blowing out hard to dead center all afternoon. If that holds up, it's going to be a difficult challenge for whoever pitches this evening--my guess is a rematch of Evan Bronson and Aaron Williams.
Pregame will start around 6:45 or 6:50 and here's the link:
http://www.atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm
Small correction, Frank. The Hendrix-Southwestern series is at Southwestern, not Hendrix.
On that note, Rockwell Field is apparently lacking the bandwidth to do a live gamecast, so those wanting to keep up with the series will have to settle for live stats. Bummer.
Millsaps wraps up the top seed in the West and the SCAC West Region Championship with a 14-4 win over Trinity this evening in 7 innings.
(Before I forget, the DH tomorrow has been moved up a 12 o'clock start time (that's Central time).
There lots of hitting stars with Millsaps getting 15 hits in their 6 at bats, but the biggest difference was the fielding. Millsaps went without an error and Trinity committed 3. Bronson allowed 10 runs in 4 innings, but only 4 of them were earned. Of course, Millsaps hitters deserve a lot of credit for taking advantage of those second chance.
Here's the link to the box score: http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/09Baseball/stats/mcb09-36.htm
PS--Thanks Gus for that correction. By the way, the other game tonight had Centre beating BSC. That pulls Centre even with OU with a .500 record. (Hmm, I just notice that it pulls them even with Rhodes as well. They are all at .500 with Rhodes being 6-6, Centre being 5-5, and OU being 4-4.)
Jones is stopping everybody he faces, team is starting to hit the ball. They make it to the conference tournament, they will win the first game no matter who they play.
Season Underdog Centre makes it in taking 2 from BSC...
OU was 4-4 going into this weekend and they have lost the first two so they are now 4-6. Centre was 4-5 and based on the post above, I take it that they won 2 of 3 to move to 6-6 and that makes them uncatchable by OU.
That would put Millsaps and Centre as the 7:00 game next Thursday. While richball may assume that Centre will win that game, I'll give Millsaps at least a fighting chance to come out the winner. On the other hand, I do believe that every team has the pitching to beat every other team in the first round of a tournament. Centre had to win 2 of 3 from a very good BSC team and they did that--I won't assume that this game is a guaranteed victory for Millsaps.
There's one spot remaining and Hendrix has the upper hand. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like:
East #1 -- DePauw*
East #2 -- Rhodes
East #3 -- Centre
West #1 -- Millsaps
West #2 -- Trinity -OR- Hendrix if they beat Southwestern 2 times on Sunday**
West #3 -- Southwestern if they win 2 on Sunday -OR- Hendrix if they win 1 on Sunday -OR- Trinity if Hendrix wins 2 on Sunday.
*While DePauw and Rhodes could still tie at 9-6, I believe DePauw has the head-to-head tiebreaker.
**Two wins by Hendrix would move them to the same 11-9 record held by Trinity and Hendrix won the head-to-head. Southwestern is currently 8-10 and they can only overtake Hendrix.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 18, 2009, 11:03:01 PM
There's one spot remaining and Hendrix has the upper hand. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like:
East #1 -- DePauw*
East #2 -- Rhodes
East #3 -- Centre
West #1 -- Millsaps
West #2 -- Trinity -OR- Hendrix if they beat Southwestern 2 times on Sunday**
West #3 -- Southwestern if they win 2 on Sunday -OR- Hendrix if they win 1 on Sunday -OR- Trinity if Hendrix wins 2 on Sunday.
*While DePauw and Rhodes could still tie at 9-6, I believe DePauw has the head-to-head tiebreaker.
**Two wins by Hendrix would move them to the same 11-9 record held by Trinity and Hendrix won the head-to-head. Southwestern is currently 8-10 and they can only overtake Hendrix.
Hendrix wins the first game today, so they are in. If they sweep, they are the 2 seed. If SU wins, they are the 3 seed.
Hendrix won't sweep.
They emptied the bench in the second game...I think the bus driver is playing first base, and some Southwestern student that opted to take a study break by going to the baseball game pitched the sixth inning for us.
It's 8-0 Southwestern in the bottom of the eighth.
Perfectly fine with going in at No. 3, because it shakes out well if we get through the first game. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if Hendrix wins the first game against DePauw, they'd get the loser of Millsaps-Centre (let's just say Centre.) If they lose, they face the loser of Trinity-Rhodes...and the Warrior lineup has a ton of confidence against Trinity at this point.
Food for thought: Daniel Ward went 0-4 in Saturday night's victory and was a non-factor in Sunday's victory. Jeff Forgerson, too, was not overpowering. Hendrix fans should take this as a positive sign, considering the team managed to beat two very good SCAC starters (Willis, Freeman) without their two big boppers.
In fact, the only pitcher in the conference that seems to give the Warrior hitters the howling fantods is Aaron Williams. Hopefully, Millsaps will pitch him early in the tournament. As for Hendrix, Dave Keine was given only spot duty to stay fresh in the throwaway game, so I would assume he'd be taking the ball Thursday. Keine has been a Sunday starter, but has also been the team's best starter in the second half of the season.
In the interim, any basic knowledge of DePauw would be greatly appreciated. Also, since I'm hoping my boss will let me cash in some vacation time, advice on some of Jackson's better watering holes would be dandy as well.
Quote from: Gus Sinski on April 19, 2009, 05:11:52 PM
Hendrix won't sweep.
They emptied the bench in the second game...I think the bus driver is playing first base, and some Southwestern student that opted to take a study break by going to the baseball game pitched the sixth inning for us.
;D One of the funniest things I have read on here.
[quote author=Gus Sinski link=topic=4180.msg1059990#msg1059990 date=1
In the interim, any basic knowledge of DePauw would be greatly appreciated. Also, since I'm hoping my boss will let me cash in some vacation time, advice on some of Jackson's better watering holes would be dandy as well.
[/quote]
I am just assuming but they went with #1 guy against OU on Sat. and he is good but not great, OU had 9 hits off of him just none when they were needed there #2 guy had just as much velo but FB was falt and straight, OU hit a couple of dinngeres off of him and I think had 7or 8 hits off of him before they wnet to the pen. Defensivley thay are solid and can hit from 1-9, However lacking any consistant power up and down the order and they run, run ,run, Not surprising against OU ( not a good CS record).
Would like to congradulate all the teams that made it in and wish them luck, in particular Centre, wow 9-21 they are the absolute proof that anyone can get in, it all depends on who is playing the hottest baseball at the right time.
Also just wanted to say good season to the OU squad and coaches, this team will be better prepared next season to get it done in the big games, this year is a good building block.
I know they will be loosing a few guys but I feel confident they have a few guys that are ready to step in and hopefully this seasons record will help some in recruiting.
again good luck to all the teams in the tournament I know no matter who wins it The SCAC will be well represented.
I have see alot of D-1 through D-3 baseball in my life and I will say that as a conference the SCAC has some really good talent on the field.
With the SCAC Tournament starting on Thursday, it makes sense for Hendrix to rest some guys and also rewards some others with playing time. Plus it doesn't hurt that the 3rd seed gets an easier second game if they win the first, and I would think there's not a lot of difference between playing Rhodes or DePauw first. It was mentioned a while back by a Trinity fan that coming in 3rd seemed like a good deal if you couldn't come in first.
As for watering holes, there's a great restuarant named Nick's just a half mile east of the statium. The food is outstanding and therefore it is a little pricey, but they have a seperate side with a bar and tables. Drinks (except for wine) are half price from 5 to 7. It's not a sports bar, but it a good place to catch a drink with friends--I meet with a group of friends there every Wednesday night. Our group spent about a year going to a different location each month before deciding we were crazy not to go to Nick's each week.
Thanks BATR441 for the Congrats on Centre. They really have been playing well in Conference play. I believe the mid-week studies really get to them (and I think the record reflects) considering they have 4 doctors, 7 lawyers, and one future President on the roster.
All season long I've mentioned the importance of Millsaps winning their non-conference games to keep alive their chances for an at-large berth if they don't win the SCAC Tournament. I believe they have that locked up with 5 D3 losses that would become 7 losses if Millsaps doesn't win the tournament.
The reason this is so important is because no one is even close to being a favorite to win this tournament. If all 6 teams were exactly equal, then you would say that each had a 16-17% chance of winning the tournament since your percentages would have to add up to 100%. For example, if I want to say that Millsaps has a 50% chance of winning, then I can only assign a total of 50% chance for the other 5 teams. Considering that Millsaps only won their season series 3-2 over both Trinity and Hendrix, there's just no way to put the Millsaps chances anywhere near 50%.
Keeping in mind that this is about being able to win 4 or 5 games against strong competition over a 4-day period, here's my rough estimate of the chance for each team in the tournament:
Millsaps -- 25%
Hendrix -- 19%
Trinity -- 19%
DePauw -- 16%
Rhodes -- 16%
Centre -- 5%
Okay, for all you Centre fans, I'm not looking past you in the first round. I simply have doubts that the pitching is there to win 4 games in a row. If the pitching staff is that deep, then it seems like Centre would have a better record this season.
Hendrix and Trinity are too close to seperate and DePauw and Rhodes are the same in the East. Based on past history, the SCAC West teams have performed better in the tournament so I've given Hendrix and Trinity the edge. I started to make it 20% and 15% which really isn't much of a change, but it seemed like too big a gap.
Please feel free to find fault with my estimates, or better yet, give us your numbers.
Quote from: Gus Sinski on April 19, 2009, 05:11:52 PM
Hendrix won't sweep.
They emptied the bench in the second game...I think the bus driver is playing first base, and some Southwestern student that opted to take a study break by going to the baseball game pitched the sixth inning for us.
It's 8-0 Southwestern in the bottom of the eighth.
Perfectly fine with going in at No. 3, because it shakes out well if we get through the first game. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if Hendrix wins the first game against DePauw, they'd get the loser of Millsaps-Centre (let's just say Centre.) If they lose, they face the loser of Trinity-Rhodes...and the Warrior lineup has a ton of confidence against Trinity at this point.
Food for thought: Daniel Ward went 0-4 in Saturday night's victory and was a non-factor in Sunday's victory. Jeff Forgerson, too, was not overpowering. Hendrix fans should take this as a positive sign, considering the team managed to beat two very good SCAC starters (Willis, Freeman) without their two big boppers.
In fact, the only pitcher in the conference that seems to give the Warrior hitters the howling fantods is Aaron Williams. Hopefully, Millsaps will pitch him early in the tournament. As for Hendrix, Dave Keine was given only spot duty to stay fresh in the throwaway game, so I would assume he'd be taking the ball Thursday. Keine has been a Sunday starter, but has also been the team's best starter in the second half of the season.
In the interim, any basic knowledge of DePauw would be greatly appreciated. Also, since I'm hoping my boss will let me cash in some vacation time, advice on some of Jackson's better watering holes would be dandy as well.
Hey Gus, You're gonna face Gerlach. A really good pitcher, he's gonna hit his spots, he's gonna pitch deep into the game and he leads the SCAC in ERA in conference games. He is a really fine pitcher. Very composed. If he leaves they bring in a freshman (usually) and if blue is giving the outside edge, he'll throw it there over and over.
They are well coached and when they get guys on, they start moving runners around. Hopefully you can keep Weiner off the base paths.
Rhodes got through Sewannee this weekend, with a great pitching match up in the first game, Holt got another complete game victory. The second game, Rhodes got good relief pitching and the bats came around late for a win, and then Sewannee just had nothing left for the blow out win yesterday. Their #1 pitcher, Bartleski, has had a tough year, but has great stats. He gets my hard luck for the year award. He has lost a bunch of close games.
As with most tournaments, we now get to see how deep everyone's pitching is!!
Playing on that rug ought to be interesting.
On Thursday everyone is going to have to play against good pitching. On Friday everyone should be playing against good pitching. Come Saturday and Sunday, it will be a chance for the hitters to take over as the pitching wears thin. It's a fairly big park and I'm not sure that there will be a lot of home runs, but I expect a lot of doubles.
As far as weather goes, it should be beautiful throughout with no real sign of rain in the 10-day forecast for Jackson. The temps are expected to get into the mid-80's and I suspect it will feel hotter than that on the field. That's another factor to consider as the extra heat is going to make it tougher on the pitchers. Here's that 10-day forecast:
http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USMS0175?from=sixten_topnav
This is probably the most open tournament that I can remember in a while in the SCAC. Millsaps, while being the #1 team in the country, doesn't scare me so to speak. Owen and Hawkins scare me, and the rest are just role players that know exactly what to do to make them successful. I would go as far as to say that this is the least talented Millsaps team in a long while. That isnt meant as an insult by any means, because they play like champions and find ways to win games, which is all that matters. For some reason, I just dont have them winning the tournament.
I hope I dont come across as biased, but depending on which TU team shows up, could win it all or lose their first 2 games and be back in Texas before Saturday. Talent-wise, I think TU matches up well against anyone. Whether they can play with the desire and energy needed is an entirely different questions. Personally, I am hoping they decide to play a little and make a run in the tournament.
Hendrix is the big question mark. They play the game hard and dont every quit. I wonder how they will react to being in this position. This is new territory for the guys on this team.
As far as the east teams, I know Rhodes will pitch well, play good defense, and run wild on the bases. Depaw and Centre, I dont know much about.
Here is to a great weekend of SCAC baseball.
Lots to get to here...
Frank: Accuse me of rampant homerism, but I think you have to give Hendrix an edge over Trinity when laying down odds just on the basis of the season series. You can, I think, throw out the San Antonio series when Hendrix clobbered Evan Bronson, because everyone was clobbering Evan Bronson early in the season. But with Bronson back to his usual dominant self in Conway, Hendrix still beat him and took two of three to win the season series. That's part of what I meant earlier when I said the Hendrix lineup has to feel very confident against Trinity, because they have hit some top-line pitching.
Donotknowscac: I did a little preliminary research on DePauw, and Gerlach certainly has numbers that jump off the page and punch you in the kidneys. Now here's where I assume the role of SCAC West snob: I think the hitters in the West are better overall...Will Hawkins, Hunter Owen, Daniel Ward, Jeff Forgerson, Jordan Pennington, etc. But yet and still, the top half of the conference's team batting average stats is dominated by EAST teams. So does that mean the pitching is also weak? And even if it is, doesn't Gerlach's 1.80 ERA show that he's just plain good? My head's hurting just running through all this. Maybe I can make it up Thursday and see for myself.
tiger_fan2000: Hendrix is indeed a wild card, but this is a remarkably confident and laid back group. Their recruiting philosophy has been to find kids from nationally prominient programs who maybe don't play as much, as opposed to the misery days of the early decade when we'd find a kid who batted .500 for Possum Grape High School or something. A lot of these guys — Ted Smoyer, Jeff Forgerson, Dave Keine, Mark Vlaskamp, Kyle Raskin — grew up playing with and against absolute studs. So playing in big games against guys with reputations is nothing new to them. I daresay the coaches may be wound tighter than the players. Not to mention, a big chunk of the roster is from California, and folks from there do seem to be a little less excitable.
Okay, that's that. Sorry for the longwindedness...coffee, downtime at work, etc. Looks like I'll be able to head to Jackson no later than Friday...let's hear it for company-mandated furloughs!
Having been at the SCAC's when it was last played at Smith-Wills in 2002, Frank is correct when he says it is a big park. It is very big and plays much larger than any SCAC field.
While it was not turf in 2002, the infield was very fast even then. I assume it might even be faster with good turf.
For the most part, the size of the field, especially in the power alleys, neutralizes the power game. If there is any breeze blowing in, most fly balls are just ordinary outs.
The field puts an emphasis on pitching, defense, speed and execution.
In 2002, scores amongst the teams with stronger pitching included 1-0, 4-3, 5-1, 6-0, 11-0. If a team gets good pitching throughout the tourney, they have huge advantage because of the park.
In addition to the impact of Smith-Wills, you cannot underestimate the difference in intensity of these games. It is noticeable and will be obvious from the first pitch in the Hendrix-DePauw game. The intensity and the emotions are all part of winning the SCAC. Understanding the background of the players from Hendrix and what they have accomplished, this is different. Playing the schedule they did will help them.
But they will feel the difference. You cannot miss it.
My view is that it isn't a secret why the SCAC's have been won by Trinity and Millsaps over the past several years. In part it is due to their players and coaches. In part it is due to the fact they know what to anticipate and how to deal with those "intangibles."
---In news that should not surprise anyone, Hunter Owen and Juan Joseph were named co-winners this evening as the top male senior athlete at Millsaps. It has been great watching these two guys play over the last several years.
---Gus, the regular season didn't really provide much seperation between Millsaps-Trinity-Hendrix regarding head-to-head games. While Millsaps and Hendrix both won their series with Trinity 3 game to 2, one has to factor in that Millsaps and Hendrix had the extra home game over Trinity this season.
---Here's something I did not know until today: 16 out of 17 SCAC baseball tournaments have been won by a team from the West. DePauw won in 2001 when they were the host. I do think the tide is turning on this. Rhodes certainly has been capable of winning in the last few years. DePauw is always solid. OU has improved greatly in the last year or two. And of course BSC will be coming off probation soon.
No love for Centre.. They've been in it 3years in a row and they are peaking right now. OU has one OK year (non-conference) and now they're conference champions.
So sit back, close your eye's, and let CENTRE roll off your tongue, now that just feels good!!
Richball: Calm down with all your talk. Centre has been playing some good baseball, but lets not forget they are still 9-21 overall (which hurts the SCAC b/c it will lower the QOW of teams in the tournament). Jones gives them a shot at winning a game, but he will not beat Millsaps.
Obviously, OU is very dissapointed with not making the tournament. Losing 4 conference games due to rain absolutley hurt them this season, they never played Centre and missed a game with sewanee. they had a good season but played their worst baseball at the worst time of the season. I think a injuries caught up to this team in the end. They lost their ace March 1st, their #1 catcher the second week of March, their #2 catcher during the Rhodes series and Sarisky had to leave the game at DePauw wth back issues. Not to mention Llano sat out a handful of games including two SCAC contest. But rain and injuries are all a part of baseball, no excuses. They had their chance and could not capitalize. I don't think they had all the pieces to win the tournament this year but they are going in the right direction. I would have loved to see a healthy Sarisky vs. Owen matchup. OU will regroup, early word is they are having a decent recruiting class and be in the hunt again next year.
Good luck to all of the teams! I think Millsaps and Trinity are too deep not to win the tournament. Millsaps will go to the NCAA no matter what, so maybe the best thing for the SCAC is to have a team like Trinity or Rhodes win this thing and get two teams in the NCAA.
Does anyone know if all the games will be shown via video?
As provided previously, here is the Tourney's Homepage.
http://www.gomajors.com/sports/2009/4/2/BB_0402092119.aspx?path=baseball
It states that livestats and live video will be provided for all games. I watched enough live video of Millsaps games this season and if it's the same setup....their play by play guy is very good and the quality compared to alot of others I have seen is outstanding. Tremendous asset for fans to follow along.
After throwing around some stats all night, here is a list of statistical categories I personally feel will play an important role in the SCAC tournament this week/weekend:
Offensively:
-XBH/Game:Millsaps, Trinity, DePauw, Rhodes, Hendrix, Centre
-FB(BB+HBP)/G:Millsaps, Rhodes, Trinity, Centre, DePauw, Hendrix
-K/G:DePauw, Trinity, Millsaps, Hendrix, Rhodes, Centre----this means DePauw K's the least amount per game.
-AVG:Rhodes, Trinity, DePauw, Millsaps, Centre, Hendrix
Pitching:
-ERA: Rhodes, Millsaps, DePauw, Trinity, Hendrix, Centre
-WHIP(with HBP included, they count too!): Rhodes, Trinity, Millsaps, DePauw, Hendrix, Centre
-FB/Game: DePauw, Rhodes, Millsaps, Trinity, Hendrix, Centre
-K/FB: Rhodes, DePauw, Millsaps, Trinity, Hendrix, Centre
-ARA: Rhodes/Millsaps, DePauw, Trinity, Hendrix, Centre
-FLD%:Millsaps, Hendrix, Trinity, Rhodes, DePauw, Centre
-Also, just to clarify ARA is Average Runs Against...I believe that it really doesn't matter whether or not a run is earned when it comes down to winning a game in the tourney
-A "FB" refers to Free Base, whether it be a walk or a HBP
After going through these lists, I assigned descending point totals for different categories to predict the outcome of the tournament. After several calculations and many a sheet of paper, I came up with these odds for each team:
Millsaps 26.2%
Trinity 21.4%
Rhodes 19.8%
DePauw 15.1%
Hendrix 11.9%
Centre 5.6%
However, the beautiful thing about this game is any team can win on any given day :)
I applaud nvnorthpaw's efforts while disagreeing with the conclusions. One thing that hurts in trying to compare the teams from both divisions is that they play totally different schedules. Few teams in the West have played the teams played by the teams in the East and vice versa. The closest you come to finding scores against the same competition would be games played by Millsaps and Rhodes.
Two things about the conclusions of mvnorthpaw's research: (1) He and I agree that no one is considered a strong favorite to win the tournament since he has Millsaps in the lead with about a 1 in 4 chance. (2) I don't see how the season results can be disregarded and Millsaps and Trinity get about a 2 to 1 edge over Hendrix. I'll go with results over stats here and that tells me that these three teams are close when playing against one another.
One thing that is difficult to determine from the regular season stats: Who has the pitching to last? It should tell you something that the Millsaps coaches decided last week that since Will Hawkins has a strong arm, they would try him out on the mound in practice. He pitched one day in practice and actually came in the game and got the win in the final game against Trinity. This reminds me of the SCAC Tournament at Sewanee when Hunter Abrams came in to pitch in a key situation and it was his first time to pitch all year. The team that wins will probably needs some strong innings from some unlikely arms.
And one last thing that will be evident to anyone at the stadium--it will be very helpful if your outfielders have a lot of speed. It's a big outfield with a fast turf so look for a lot of doubles and triples. Having outfielders who can cut off some of those balls and hold hitters to singles will be a big plus. I have to believe that fielding will play a bigger role in determining the champion than it might play in a smaller park with a grass field.
nvnorthpaw those are pretty interesting stats, do you have them for just conference games so that way we can see how they do against eachother excluding the outside comp.?
As for Lou_Brown, calm down huh, well you would be pretty excited too if you and OU got to go to Jackson.
Well, here goes my end of the season rant,
It is an absolute shame and a joke that this conference has a schedule designed so that teams can play an inequal amount of conference games. OU had a turnaround year and while they didn't help themselves by how they played at Depauw, they still should have had the opportunity to earn themselves a bid to Jackson. What I am trying to say is that after beating Sewanee's ace and then pounding their number 2 starter they did not get to play the 3rd game. Not to slight Sewanee but I firmly believe this would have been an OU win. Couple that with the fact that the series with Centre (which was at home!) got cancelled and what shakes out is unfair scheduling. I'm not trying to say OU would have beaten Centre because I am sure Centre could have played well and won but at least then it would have been settled on the field. I just find it unbelievable that the conference games (which are what should matter most when it comes to scheduling) could not be rescheduled or made up. I understand the money side of things but it is truly a shame that the OU player's season is over and it is partially out of their own control.
Like I said I realize that they could have won 2 out of 3 at Depauw to take care of business themselves and they didn't but they didn't get to play 4 games this season against the bottom two teams in their division (other than themselves obviously) and 3 of those games were home games. In the end they only got to play 3 home conference games all season! That is preposterous and I think the league needs to change the way it does the conference scheduling. Whether it be leaving an extra week at the end before the conference tournament so teams can make-up games or making every team play each other home and away, something needs to be done.
Oh well, there is my rant so good luck to all the teams this week, hopefully its a great tournament.
I agree springbruce09 that it would have been nice for Centre and OU to have played. I hear Centre wanted to play them the following weekend while on their spring break but OU wouldn't adjust. Centre needed the wins for their conference standing, (14-2 against OU last 4 years),to take some pressure off later in the season. But in all reality in the end Centre stepped up and OU didn't.
Quote from: richball on April 21, 2009, 11:10:25 AM
nvnorthpaw those are pretty interesting stats, do you have them for just conference games so that way we can see how they do against eachother excluding the outside comp.?
As for Lou_Brown, calm down huh, well you would be pretty excited too if you and OU got to go to Jackson.
richball, you reminded me of something that should be remembered by the Millsaps team. Centre is a team with a poor record overall but they played well at the end against the best team in their division and they earned their way to the SCAC Tournament. In a lot of ways, their story is like the Millsaps Men's Basketball team this season except the Majors fell just short of the tourney.
No one would be impressed by the overall record posted by the Millsaps basketball team this season, but they were playing as well as anyone at the end of the year. They lost to Centre and DePauw in the last seconds of those games and they handily beat Trinity. It would have been very exciting if Millsaps had qualified for the SCAC Tournament and they would have gone in thinking that they could beat anyone in the field. I understand why you feel the same way about your Centre baseball team.
Centre will obviously be 100% focused on Millsaps. I believe Millsaps will be 100% focused on Centre and if that's the case, then I like the chances for a Millsaps victory in this game. It should help Millsaps that they are the one team that will almost certainly get to the NCAA Tournament even if they don't win the AQ. There's still plenty to play for so I expect them to be motivated, but they don't have everything on the line and I think that's an advantage.
Regarding the post by spring bruce09, I think it's a valid point. It would have been worse if say OU had been rained out against Sewanee and Centre had been rained out against DePauw. At least in this case Centre and OU played the same schedule and Centre would have still been ahead even if OU played the Sewanee game and won. The problem comes in trying to find a valid solution to the situation.
I believe pushing the tournament back a week would conflict with exams at many schools. Plus, the only way that would help is if teams left it open as a dead week on their schedule. If it's a week set aside for makeup games, then you can't go and schedule games knowing that you might cancel on your opponent. What I've discovered over the years is that you can count on
the SCAC home office, the athletic directors, and the coaches to do the best they can to do what's right for the student-athletes. When they are the ones calling the shots, I trust their judgement.
Quote from: richball on April 21, 2009, 11:10:25 AM
nvnorthpaw those are pretty interesting stats, do you have them for just conference games so that way we can see how they do against eachother excluding the outside comp.?
As for Lou_Brown, calm down huh, well you would be pretty excited too if you and OU got to go to Jackson.
Richball...thanks for the idea, I don't know why I didn't go that route in the first place. Anyhow, after re-calculating the same stats with conference only statistics here are the results (interesting to note how the odds correlate with the seeding within each division):
Offensively: AVG: Trinity, Centre, DePauw, Rhodes, Millsaps, Hendrix
XBH/Game: Trinity, Millsaps, DePauw, Rhodes, Centre, Hendrix
FB/Game: Millsaps, Centre, DePauw, Trinity, Rhodes, Hendrix
K/Game: Trinity, DePauw, Millsaps, Hendrix, Rhodes, Centre
Pitching:ERA: Rhodes, DePauw, Millsaps, Trinity, Centre, Hendrix
WHIP: DePauw, Rhodes, Millsaps, Trinity, Hendrix, Centre
FB/Game: DePauw, Rhodes, Millsaps, Trinity, Centre, Hendrix
K/FB: Rhodes, DePauw, Millsaps, Trinity, Hendrix, Centre
ARA: Rhodes, DePauw, Millsaps, Trinity, Hendrix, Centre
FLD%: Millsaps, Hendrix, DePauw, Trinity, Centre, Rhodes
It is important to note that the pitching stats are independent of how many Batters each team hit because I could not locate that stat for conference only games. After re-compiling these stats my new odds are:
1. Millsaps/DePauw both 22%
2. Trinity 19%
3. Rhodes 14%
4. Hendrix 12%
5. Centre 10%
I don't imply anything by these numbers, I love baseball for the simple reason that anything can happen (Red Sox coming down from 3-0? what were the odds on that one?). I just have too much fun throwing around numbers!
For those who don't know, the SCAC has a blog (like who doesn't?) where they have recorded interviews with conference coaches and players.
The latest entry has an interview with Hendrix's R.J. Thomas and Coach Pritchard from Centre.
http://scacsports.blogspot.com/
Those who do the Facebook thing can sign up to become a "fan" of the SCAC and get notifications when new interviews come out.
In less than a month, the SCAC has interviewed R.J. Thomas twice, Wheeler Gnat once and Daniel Ward once. This sets a new record for number of baseball interview requests fielded by a Hendrix sports information director. The previous record was zero, held by the 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 teams.
The six teams will be converging on Jackson tomorrow for their individual practice times as set up by the Millsaps baseball staff. Can't think of a better program to be hosting this thing. Good luck to all, and perhaps I'll meet a few of you this weekend. May the best team win.
Quote from: spring bruce09 on April 21, 2009, 02:05:41 PM
Well, here goes my end of the season rant,
It is an absolute shame and a joke that this conference has a schedule designed so that teams can play an inequal amount of conference games. OU had a turnaround year and while they didn't help themselves by how they played at Depauw, they still should have had the opportunity to earn themselves a bid to Jackson. What I am trying to say is that after beating Sewanee's ace and then pounding their number 2 starter they did not get to play the 3rd game. Not to slight Sewanee but I firmly believe this would have been an OU win. Couple that with the fact that the series with Centre (which was at home!) got cancelled and what shakes out is unfair scheduling. I'm not trying to say OU would have beaten Centre because I am sure Centre could have played well and won but at least then it would have been settled on the field. I just find it unbelievable that the conference games (which are what should matter most when it comes to scheduling) could not be rescheduled or made up. I understand the money side of things but it is truly a shame that the OU player's season is over and it is partially out of their own control.
Hey Mr. Bruce09,
As I had posted previously, I figured someone would be taking the time this week to write your sentiments. It was just a matter of who it was gonna be, OU, Centre, or Rhodes.
You would have to be a math wiz to figure it out going into the weekend. But, Rhodes folks were thinking that if you went 2 for 3 and the Lynx won 2 of 3 then we both would be one game over .500. But because OU played LESS games your winning % would be better and consequently OU would have gone to Jackson. The same scenario goes for Centre also.
Then to make matters worse, it looked for a while that the games would be rained out in Memphis this weekend. So, when the first game started at Autozone stadium Saturday, there was a lot of pressure on the Lynx. They had to win because of the possibility of rainouts for the balance of the weekend. Also, had to survive a controversial call on a two out ninth inning home run by Sewannee. It was ruled foul.
So, in summary, last year's 4 game series but not playing all teams and this year's 3 game series playing everyone doesn't seem to work.
It is a tough situation and I'm sure not smart enough to have an answer.
" In less than a month, the SCAC has interviewed R.J. Thomas twice, Wheeler Gnat once and Daniel Ward once. This sets a new record for number of baseball interview requests fielded by a Hendrix sports information director. The previous record was zero, held by the 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 teams."
Gus, that is hysterical. ;D
To be honest, Hendrix had some very, very good players in the 2001-2004 time frames.
Matt Blanton was a very,very good lefty pitcher who was drafted, by the Cardinals, I believe. Brad Henry was a hard throwing righty and, together, they were very solid. Certainly Andy Kucek could have played on most any SCAC team.
But, clearly, this is a very different Hendrix team.
Quote from: infielddad on April 21, 2009, 06:56:03 PM
" In less than a month, the SCAC has interviewed R.J. Thomas twice, Wheeler Gnat once and Daniel Ward once. This sets a new record for number of baseball interview requests fielded by a Hendrix sports information director. The previous record was zero, held by the 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 teams."
Gus, that is hysterical. ;D
To be honest, Hendrix had some very, very good players in the 2001-2004 time frames.
Matt Blanton was a very,very good lefty pitcher who was drafted, by the Cardinals, I believe. Brad Henry was a hard throwing righty and, together, they were very solid. Certainly Andy Kucek could have played on most any SCAC team.
But, clearly, this is a very different Hendrix team.
Believe me, I am very, very, very familiar with that era and the players from it, and to a certain extent you're exactly right. I would also throw in Mike Acosta and Justin Taylor as two prime examples of former Warriors who were good enough for a spot on any other conference team.
The problem, at the end of the day, was that Hendrix could never field a
complete team. Every team in the conference had their studs, be it Walker Thrash, Forrest Martin, Jason Armstrong or roughly every Trinity starting pitcher from 2000 to 2003 (or so it seemed at the time.) But those teams were strong in every facet of the game and had competition at every position.
Meanwhile, until this season, Hendrix was unable to put together a travel roster. It wasn't that long ago that the season ended with ten players on the roster.
There's been an outpouring of congratulations for Hendrix baseball this year, not just from alumni but from some of the conference's veteran coaches and longtime observers of the conference such as yourself. I think it's because those who have been around for a while know this wasn't just a program that finished fourth or fifth every year...this was a program essentially on life support.
As for the reasons behind a decade of futility, I can only offer up something my mother told me when I was very young: "Son, if the nicest thing you can say is 'Hendrix baseball has been marred by coaches who did not fit the mold of what the college strives for academically and athletically, and those shortcomings were blatantly obvious on and off the field' then don't say anything at all." So I'm not going to say anything at all.
richball, im not sure what your sources were but OU tried everything to play those games against Centre...they tried to get Centre to cancel their games against Lagrange and whoever else they played that week of spring break but Centre would not...from what I was told it was partialy because Centre didn't want to give up those games but also because Lagrange's coach wouldn't help OU or Centre out by moving games around...in the end it is not either Centre or OU's fault for not playing it is the way the schedule was built...oh and while you seem to be supremely confident that Centre would have won that series, OU was playing their best baseball then so while it is true that Centre has beaten OU the past few years I have no doubt that it would have been a very good series and I believe that at home OU would have played very well...the point in all of this is that all we get to do is speculate about it instead of actually seeing it settled on the field which is disappointing and downright wrong
I just thought I'd throw out my predictions for the entire weekend
Game 1: Hendrix over DePauw
Game 2: Trinity over Rhodes
Game 3: Millsaps over Centre
Game 4: Rhodes over DePauw - DePauw Eliminated
Game 5: Hendrix over Centre - Centre Eliminated
Game 6: Millsaps over Trinity
Game 7: Millsaps over Hendrix
Game 8: Trinity over Rhodes - Rhodes Eliminated
Game 9: Trinity over Hendrix - Hendrix Eliminated
Game 10: Trinity over Millsaps
Game 11: Millsaps over Trinity - Trinity Eliminated - Millsaps Champions
I've seen all the East teams except for Centre this year and frankly I think the East has gotten better but I think the better bet is that the West will dominated this tournament like it always has.
I think all the teams are on the road to Jackson today, so I wish them all a safe trip and I'm ready for some good baseball. Goodluck to all the teams...
Quote from: richball on April 21, 2009, 03:18:54 PM
I agree springbruce09 that it would have been nice for Centre and OU to have played. I hear Centre wanted to play them the following weekend while on their spring break but OU wouldn't adjust. Centre needed the wins for their conference standing, (14-2 against OU last 4 years),to take some pressure off later in the season. But in all reality in the end Centre stepped up and OU didn't.
wrong! OU coach was on the phone for over an hour trying to get the LaGrange coach to allow the team we were scheduled to play that weekend to go to La Grange and play them and let Centre come to OU and get the series in.
Belive me regardless of the 14-4 record Center had in the past 4 years this was not the same OU team they had faced and judging from there season record not the same Centre as well. OU would have gotten Centre at a poin in the season when they were not playing there best (Centre) so for you to assume they would have won the series is ridiculous if your that good at predicting things give me your phone # number I could use some insight on who to pick in next years Super Bowl. That being said I still wish them the best of luck this week.
Something I found interesting. When Hendrix played their last game, they were in a situation of winning and becoming the #2 seed or losing and becoming the #3 seed. They lost so they face DePauw and Brad Gerlach with his sub-2.00 ERA.
That sounds like it would have been better to be the #2 seed and to avoid Gerlach, except:
Gerlach is 7-2 and his two losses were a 3-1 game with Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a 1-0 loss to Rhodes. In the Rhodes game it was Gerlach vs. Holt with both pitching a complete game and Holt (6-1, 2.48 era) getting the win.
It going to be interesting to see how Hendrix and Trinity do against these two pitchers who have been outstanding all year. I don't think either of those games will finish with a 1-0 score.
New to the board but follow Hendrix. Looking forward to a great tournament and very disappointed I will not be able to attend. I will be watching all the games on my computer at work though.
My predictions....I have not seen the east but have done a little statistical research.
Game 1: Hendrix over DePauw
Game 2: Rhodes over Trinity
Game 3: Millsaps over Centre
Game 4: Trinity over DePauw - DePauw Eliminated
Game 5: Hendrix over Centre - Centre Eliminated
Game 6: Millsaps over Rhodes
Game 7: Hendrix over Millsaps
Game 8: Trinity over Rhodes - Rhodes Eliminated
Game 9: Millsaps over Trinity - Trinity Eliminated
Game 10: Millsaps over Hendrix
Game 11: Hendrix over Millsaps in extra innings
Hendrix College 2009 SCAC Champs!!
Good luck to all teams!
You follow Hendrix? I couldn't tell by your predictions!!!
Welcome to the board and isn't it great that the option now exists to watch a tournament on the internet if you can't get there in person. I know how much I've appreciated the radio broadcasts at DePauw in basketball and other sports, the webcast at Trinity, etc, and I've really taken advantage of the Millsaps webcasts this season.
I remember reading a post last year where someone wrote that his former school once won a national championship in baseball and he didn't knew about it until 3 months later when the alumni magazine came out. The internet has really been an amazing tool for sports fans at small colleges.
By the way, it hit 87 in Jackson today and it looks like the high for the next few days will be 85-87 degrees. Those little black rubber pellets they use with this artificial turf apparently absorb a lot of heat and adds to the heat for the players on the field. The heat will be a factor for a team that gets into the losers bracket and has to play 6 games to win the tournament.
Quote from: BBallFanHC on April 22, 2009, 09:24:06 PM
New to the board but follow Hendrix. Looking forward to a great tournament and very disappointed I will not be able to attend. I will be watching all the games on my computer at work though.
My predictions....I have not seen the east but have done a little statistical research.
Game 1: Hendrix over DePauw
Game 2: Rhodes over Trinity
Game 3: Millsaps over Centre
Game 4: Trinity over DePauw - DePauw Eliminated
Game 5: Hendrix over Centre - Centre Eliminated
Game 6: Millsaps over Rhodes
Game 7: Hendrix over Millsaps
Game 8: Trinity over Rhodes - Rhodes Eliminated
Game 9: Millsaps over Trinity - Trinity Eliminated
Game 10: Millsaps over Hendrix
Game 11: Hendrix over Millsaps in extra innings
Hendrix College 2009 SCAC Champs!!
Good luck to all teams!
Welcome to the board. I suppose I should surrender my mantle as the resident Hendrix homer, since I haven't even displayed the necessary
huevos to make any tournament predictions, much less one that involves the Warriors winning the whole omlette.
I too would like to extend my thanks to the folks who are going to make the Internet broadcast possible. Since I won't make it down to Jackson until Friday, the Interwebs option is a lifesaver. My co-workers, who will be wondering what the hell I'm talking about when I blurt things like
"C'mon, Forgerson!" in the middle of the office will doubtfully be feeling the same thing, but they can deal.
Suppose the weather in Jackson will lead me to break out the shorts for the first time this year. Lord help you all.
Gus, will you be wearing your Hendrix Warriors Baseball Classic Thong under those shorts?
(for those who just thought "what the _____", click on the link at the bottom of his post)
First pitch of the 2009 SCAC Tournament is in 2 hours. My first thought would be to expect a lot of close games with everyone going with their #1 starter. I went back and looked at the crossover games from 2007 and 2008 and was surprised that blowouts were the norm in the first game (of course these games were 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 games):
2008--1st game of crossover series:
Rhodes 14, Millsaps 2 (Millsaps won this series)
Austin 7, DePauw 0 (DePauw came back to win)
Trinity 11, OU 1 (Trinity the winner)
Southwestern 6, Centre 4 (Southwestern won series)
2007:
Austin 12, Centre 2
Rhodes 15, Trinity 4
Southwestern 3, DePauw 2
Millsaps 12, OU 1
(I think it was Austin, Rhodes, Southwestern, and Millsaps all going on to win these series)
On another topic, I see that my karma went down a point recently--if it was because I asked Gus if he would be wearing a thong, then I probably deserved the deduction.
Rest assured, my wardrobe for the weekend will be completely above board.
Just flipped on the first game. What a great job by the folks providing the live video and commentary. It really adds a lot to what should be a great weekend.
2-0 Hendrix in the top of the first so far. Gerlach got a clutch strikeout of Forgerson to stop the bleeding. Dave Keine on the bump for Hendrix.
Hendrix wins game #1 10-7 against Depauw. Hendrix scores 4 in the top of the ninth to take the lead for good. Depauw loads the bases in the bottom half, but only gets one across and a 3rd to 1st double play ends the game. Gerlach got hit pretty hard in the first three innings but beared down and held Hendrix in check for the next three. Wasn't overpowering but seemed to really have command of three pitches.
One side note for Hendrix is that Gnat threw 5 1/3 probably over 80 pitches to pick up a win out of the bullpen. This should be a factor for the next few days as Gnat seemed to be the go to guy for Hendrix out of the bullpen.
Rhodes and Trinity both had runners on base in the first but couldn't get a run across. This is looking to be a very good game.
Trinity has broken open this game with a 11-3 lead and Rhodes coming to bat in the bottom of the 8th. Trinity has 20 hits in the game.
How have the pitchers adjusted to that mound?
Is that field (Smith-Willis) laid out to catch the prevailing winds out towards left center?
It looks like it would be hard for the second baseman to convert the 6-4-3 DP late in the evening.
Good broadcast! :)
Final TU 11 Rhodes 3
How many games will the East win in the tourney?
One?
Two?
More than two?
The West leads the East 20-8 on the first day of action since going to the 6-team format in 1999.
Top 7 Centre up 3-1. Centre looks to playing some impressive defense. Millsaps just had Owen thrown out at home to end the sixth. Jake Jones, 5H 1ER through 6...
Could the East upset #1 in the nation??
I wonder what Hendrix is thinking right now?
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 23, 2009, 07:12:20 PM
Final TU 11 Rhodes 3
How many games will the East win in the tourney?
One?
Two?
More than two?
The West leads the East 20-8 on the first day of action since going to the 6-team format in 1999.
Centre up 4-1 in the 7th. Their pitcher is sitting at 89-90 mph on the gun. Williams for Millsaps is 84-88.
Centre beats Millsaps!
The Centre pitcher threw an 89MPH fastball for a called third strike on his 141st pitch.
Stunner. A real stunner.
Centre wins 4-2 over Millsaps.
So, tomorrow is Millsaps vs Hendrix and TU vs Centre.
For TU to have 20 hits against one of the very best in the SCAC is terrific.
The tournament just became very interesting.
Of course, I am not about to count out Millsaps.
But the curse of winning the West still exists.
Oh. My. God.
Plenty of credit will go to Jake Jones, and for good reason. That may be one of the gutsiest outings by a SCAC pitcher I have seen in a long time.
But give some credit to Centre's lineup, which was infuriatingly disciplined against one of (if not the) best pitchers in the SCAC.
Now here are the questions:
• Is this the Centre that took two from Birmingham Southern then went back to losing, or is this the legitimate start of something?
• What of the rest of Centre's pitching, and the precipitous statistical drop-off that we see after Jones?
• Will Millsaps be shell-shocked tomorrow? Mentally detached because they're in the dance regardless? Or hopping mad and ready to take it out on Hendrix?
• Does the fact that Hendrix took two, and very nearly three, from Millsaps this year matter at this point? And how do the Warriors handle the shift from expecting a walkover to facing the class of the conference in a desperate state?
Man, I cannot wait to get to Jackson.
Gus,
this is where Coaches Page and Scannell are so good, in my view.
Jim Page will have his kids ready to play.
In my view, if they go two and out, they certainly are no lock for a bid, based on past experience...TU in 2003.
Jim Page will have those kids ready.
On the other side, Coach Scannell will get his kids focused on the job of Centre and will use what they did tonight to do that.
Frank commented on TU's ability to hit up and down the line up. They sure showed that today. With Bronson only going 4 today and with Noah Solomon ready tomorrow(he is under the radar because of Bronson, but really good), Coach will keep them focused, even though the fans might well be looking to Saturday morning.
Finally, our son is coaching at TU.
When I talked with him before they left for the SCAC's, he made it clear that no one will overlook Hendrix. He really likes your team.
I was just going to say the same thing....I think the only team in D-III right now that is assured a spot is North Carolina Wesleyan. Going 2 and out in a conference tournament is not a good way to win the voters over, imo.
You have to give Jake Jones credit for being as good as advertised. Aaron Williams and Drew Maddox also combined for a game normally good enough for a win with the only hick-up being 3 straight hit batters to start an inning and all three runners scored.
I think Millsaps will come back strong which is a necessity because every team here has pitchers and a lot of hitting. One thing about this tournament is that all but one team will find themselves in a position of having to win 5 out of 6 games in order to win the tournament. The Millsaps loss came early, but 4 other teams are going to end up in the same position.
As for Centre, their stats don't look like they have the pitching to win this tournament, but they are on a roll with the wins over BSC and now the win over Millsaps. You have to applaud the way they have played and we'll see if they have enough gas to make it to the finish.
Wow what a game. Both Centre and Millsaps played a hell of a game. Definitely a pitching duel between Jones and Williams/Maddux. Both teams played good defense. But just like I said earlier, when Jones takes the bump that team firmly believes they are the team to beat. I think Hendrix is going to see a very pissed off Millsaps. Go Colonels!!!
Now the chess game gets interesting....!!!
Aces/#1 starters used... winners bracket confidence,,, losers bracket desperation...
Strategy, strategy... tune in to the Millsaps or Trinity webcasts to see how it unfolds!
DPU 6 Rhodes 2 in the top of the ninth.
Final DPU 7, Rhodes 2. Rhodes eliminated.
Hendrix and Millsaps tied at three after four innings. Both starters still in (Hendrix for Millsaps, Suydam for Hendrix). One of Millsaps' runs is unearned. Both pitchers have calmed down after early jitters, with no runs scored since the bottom of the second.
Millsaps just made an illegal substitution. The rule is on page 79-80 under Game pitcher is not the DH (10-player lineup). Hendrix is allowed to stay the DH, but he HAS to come in for Boyd. Boyd entered the game as the catcher. boyd should not have been allowed to enter the game.
doesn't matter Millsaps is struggling...and looks like they will lose this game. 2 and the que for Rhodes and Millsaps!
Quote from: Lou_Brown on April 24, 2009, 06:31:46 PM
Millsaps just made an illegal substitution. The rule is on page 79-80 under Game pitcher is not the DH (10-player lineup). Hendrix is allowed to stay the DH, but he HAS to come in for Boyd. Boyd entered the game as the catcher. boyd should not have been allowed to enter the game.
doesn't matter Millsaps is struggling...and looks like they will lose this game. 2 and the que for Rhodes and Millsaps!
There was an off-microphone discussion by 2 umpires on that substitution that I missed that supposedly explained it.
Hendrix leads 6-3 in the Millsaps' top of the 6. 1-2-3 Millsaps goes down. Onto the Hendrix half of the 6th.
Top of the 7th, DH Tait Hendrix gets a one out double. Boyd doubles in Hendrix. Owen grounds out 4-3 to end the inning. Hendrix leads 7-4.
End of 7, Hendrix 9, Millsaps 4. Hendrix tried a suicide squeeze that ended up a pop foul out and DP going 2-5, doubling the guy off third base.
Hendrix 9 Millsaps 8. Millsaps got 2 doubles and 2 singles off Suydam, the Hendrix starter to score 2 runs. Geoff Lomax came on to relieve. He gave up 3 long flyball outs, 2 of which were SAC flies.
Hendrix is retired 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 8th. Hendrix lealds 9-8.
Hendrix wins 9-8.
We can get an idea of what Millsaps Pool C chances are when the next 2 regional rankings come out. If they stay ahead of Shenandoah, then I think they are in. If they stay ahead of CNU, then they may have a chance.
Lomax gets the save for Hendrix.
Do you believe in Miracles? Maybe all those games against ranked opponents (Tyler, Chapman, CLU, Pomona, Millsaps) and D-II opponents (Harding, Ouachita) has payed off..
Quote from: nvnorthpaw on April 24, 2009, 07:51:18 PM
Do you believe in Miracles? Maybe all those games against ranked opponents (Tyler, Chapman, CLU, Pomona, Millsaps) and D-II opponents (Harding, Ouachita) has payed off..
How valuable was the California trip in molding this team?
Millsaps now has a long wait to see what the NCAA decides. I think they will get in thanks to the fact that almost every non-conference victory came against teams with winning records. As for the SCAC Tournament, I'm pulling for Hendrix to win over Trinity in the finals purely for the fact that I think that will help Millsaps the most. We need Hendrix to get up to the .500 mark and Trinity to hold on to their .500 mark. Centre and DePauw winning games doesn't help Millsaps at all. (Let me change my thought on this--Hendrix can't get to .500 because 4 of their wins came against Central Baptist. Trinity might be able to get over .667 so I'll pull for them. Ralph will probably figure out the details, but I know Trinity has two D1 losses so their D3 winning percentage might be pretty good if they go 4-0 this weekend.)
For what it's worth, it appears to me that about mid-season Millsaps went from becoming a team trying to win games to a team trying not to lose. It looked like that change in approach happened right around March 15th when Millsaps jumped to 6th in the nation. Right after that they won three straight games but only scored 5 runs in each game. Then Hendrix beat Millsaps in that wild game where Millsaps got down by 10 runs and came back to only lose by 1. That seemed to energize the run scoring, but the hitting seemed to drop again under the burden of defending the #1 ranking.
If Millsaps gets in the NCAA, I believe we'll see the team that jumped out to a 19-1 start. In this case, it seems to me that the 3-4 week break between the SCAC Tournament and the NCAA Regionals is just what Millsaps needs and it would be a plus instead of a negative. Now we just have to wait on the NCAA at-large bid.
Trinity had 19 hits in a 14-4 win over Centre that was called in the bottom of the eighth. They'll face fellow unbeaten Hendrix tomorrow noon.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 24, 2009, 07:58:52 PM
Quote from: nvnorthpaw on April 24, 2009, 07:51:18 PM
Do you believe in Miracles? Maybe all those games against ranked opponents (Tyler, Chapman, CLU, Pomona, Millsaps) and D-II opponents (Harding, Ouachita) has payed off..
How valuable was the California trip in molding this team?
The most important facet of the California trip can't be measured in wins and loses. The thought that this (mostly) younger team could compete was proven on the field. The mental aspect of this trip was a tremendous benefit to the whole team. 2 of the 3 losses came from the types of mistakes that a younger team commits. Still part of the game, but a valuable learning tool at the same time. Perhaps the results of the California trip was most evident in the Southwestern series immediately following the trip. Hendrix seemed sluggish and maybe even tired. This Hendrix team seems to have the whole teamwork package this year, supporting seniors that laid the foundation, competing for playtime without routing against a teammate, and genuinely cheering for those few guys that did not always get the opportunity to play every week. Regardless of the outcome over the next 2 days, a solid foundation has been formed by Coaches Thomas, Mattox and Grote! Remember, there are only 4 seniors on this team, albeit very good seniors!
Wow,,, Trinity faces Hendrix at noon Saturday in the winners bracket,,, Millsaps and Rhodes are out, and Centre and DePauw battle out of the losers bracket. Tune in to the games on the Trinity or Millsaps streaming video feeds.... great chess awaits!
It looks like Trinity can't keep the ball in their glove's! Hendrix has capitalized each and every time....all 7 runs off of Solomon have been unearned! Well...defense and pitching wins championships right??
Quote from: nvnorthpaw on April 25, 2009, 02:26:48 PM
It looks like Trinity can't keep the ball in their glove's! Hendrix has capitalized each and every time....all 7 runs off of Solomon have been unearned! Well...defense and pitching wins championships right??
Wow! All 6 Hendrix runs in the 6th scored with 2 out! Hendrix 8-3, in the Trinity bottom of the 7th.
HC 9-5 going to the bottom of the 9th.
TU scores on a 2-run HR but leavs runners on 1st and 2nd. HC wins 9-7.
TU plays the winner of the Centre -DePauw game. Hendrix moves to Game #10 tomorrow.
Centre leads DPU 10-4 in the (DPU) top of the 5th.
DPU scores 2 in the top of the 5th. Now trails 10-6.
Centre is leading 11-9 as they bat in the bottom of the 8th.
Centre wins 11-9. DPU is eliminated. Centre catches Trinity in 30 minutes.
Quote from: nvnorthpaw on April 25, 2009, 02:26:48 PM
It looks like Trinity can't keep the ball in their glove's! Hendrix has capitalized each and every time....all 7 runs off of Solomon have been unearned! Well...defense and pitching wins championships right??
Tough to give up one earned run, score seven, and lose, but you gotta catch the ball. Going to be an interesting Sunday.
[Edit: I didn't realize that TU would still have to play another game tonight to get to Sunday - apologies]
Because the SCAC Tournament games are exempt from the maximum number games (40) that a Division III team may play during a season, Millsaps has two games left that they can play in advance of the postseason. The question is whether Millsaps will elect to play a game as playing can either bolster or hurt their chances of an at large.
I believe that Millsaps will get in. I'm not sure another team can make as compelling a case as Millsaps has made this year.
Trinity run-rules Centre again tonight, 16-0 in seven innings. Ben Klimesh got his first win of the season by pitching a shutout for the first six.
Now to try and find pitching for tomorrow's game(s) against Hendrix ...
HOLY COW!
Congratulations to Hendrix on their first-ever SCAC championship.
As you all know, I wanted Millsaps to win the SCAC Tournament. Unlike past years, I'm not going to worry about the chances of getting an at-large bid and post a lot of pros and cons over the next couple of weeks. The NCAA will do what every they want to do and my posting won't change that. I will say this however:
It seems like a grossly flawed system if a team can be a top 5 team in the nation and also #1 in the South by the NCAA standards, and then they lose a 2-run game and a 1-run game and now they aren't good enough to play in the NCAA Tournament? That thinking seem highly illogical and I hope it proves to be highly illogical.
What we do know is that Hendrix is going to the NCAA Tournament and the only real question I have about their team is how on earth did they finish under .500 for the season (I believe that correct since they have 4 wins over non-NCAA Central Baptist). To answer my own question, I know the record is skewed because they played what has to be one of the toughest 3 weeks of baseball in D3 in March and their win-loss record really took a dive even though they were playing very well.
Regarding Hendrix as the AQ from the SCAC, I think they will represent the SCAC well with the only problem being that they draw the ace from the #1 seeded team to open the NCAA Tournament. At least it's my assumption that they will be seeded at the bottom of their region or next to last just like Austin was when they won the SCAC AQ in 2007.
Also regarding Hendrix, I was extremely impressed by the comments of the head coach and the players after the game. When you think about what the Hendrix seniors have been through, you have to be happy for that bunch even while being disappointed for the players on your favorite team. Once again the Hendrix players proved to me that the vast, vast majority of student-athletes in the SCAC are really quality young adults. I wish them well in the playoffs.
Great weekend for Hendrix...I tried to watch most of the games and they just outplayed every team. The diving/ game saving catch the CF made against Trinity on Saturday was the play of the tournament in my opinion.
If you said Hendrix would finish #1 in the SCAC and Centre would finish #3 at the beginning of the year or shoot the beginning of the tourny everyone would have called you crazy..congrats to both teams.
No way Millsaps is left out of the tournament, no way. Baseball is a marathon and even though they had a tough weekend, they were clearly the best team in the SCAC over the entire season.
let the waiting begin...
All of the South Region action will be completed by the May 7th Regional Rankings.
We will know then how close to the bubble that Millsaps is.
Before the energy of the past 72 hours drains from my pretty much sleep-starved and sunburned body, here are a few thoughts from the action in Jackson.
* I'll leave the number crunching to those better educated, but my $0.02 is that the NCAA will not regret handing an at-large berth to Millsaps. It would also, I think, be damned illogical to shut the door on a team that was very recently ranked No. 1 nationally. Regardless, the Majors are a team fully capable of making a push, and I for one hope they'll get the chance to prove it.
* On that end, maybe someone can enlighten me: Does it at least help their cause that they lost to the eventual tournament champion, one that only, gee, let's see, run ruled the runner-up?
* Speaking of Trinity...the best moments in sports are often the ones people don't see. So I felt privilaged to witness Tim Scannell descreetly taking Danny Ward aside after today's game, shaking his hand and telling him what an honor it's been to compete against him. He didn't do it out of obligation, and he didn't do it to get attention. He did it because that's the kind of person Tim Scannell is.
* Caleb Schallawitz.
* If you've watched sports even a bit, you have probably heard announcers talk about how hot artificial surfaces get in warm weather. You may even think you know how this would feel. I submit that you do not. Walking onto the field after the final out of the championship game, I was gripped by two thoughts. The first was My God, what an absolutely amazing feat for a program that's been buried in mediocrity for a decade. This is why I still love sports. The other was Wow, my shoes are melting.
* Hendrix alums from across the lower 48 followed the action this weekend, and all agreed: Whoever does the play-by-play on the Millsaps broadcasts is a consummate pro.
* Caleb Schallawitz.
* When dining in Jackson, dine at The Pizza Shack. Good pizza, $5 pitchers and some of the friendliest stray cats around.
* This is by no means an attempt at rubbing salt on the wound, but it appears Trinity has some issues to address as far as pitching goes for next season. Noah Solomon looks to be the next great Tigers pitcher, but with Bronson graduating there seems to be a drop-off. That said, there will be enough returning pop in the lineup to make Trinity formidable next season, but if and only if some weekend help is found.
* All glibness aside, and on a personal note: Folks, it's always fun to accomplish something major and have your back patted. But it's ultimately more enriching to be the one doing the back patting. I've been lucky enough to succeed at a few things in my life, but few of those moments made me feel as good as watching one of my dearest friends celebrate like a little kid after the final out of the 2009 SCAC baseball championship. Congratulations, Neil. I won't forget it anytime soon.
* Caleb Schallawitz
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE READ THIS:
With all the excitement generated by Hendrix and the fine play of Centre, keep in mind that with the plans now in place, these two teams would not have been at the tournament. The new plan is for only the 1st and 2nd place teams from each division participating in the SCAC Tournament in baseball and several other sports.
This rule has to be changed and everyone interested in these SCAC athletes needs to talked to the coaches, the athletic directors, and especially the school presidents who made this decision. I understand the need to save money, but there have to be better ways to cut costs rather than denying deserving and capable teams and athletes a shot at an SCAC Championship.
Silence from the fans, parents, etc. on this is a real disservice to the student-athletes of the SCAC.
To follow on some of Frank's observations:
Congratulations to the Hendrix players and coaching staff! What a day, what a tournament, what a season!!
For me, this day has some special meaning that might help others have a glimpse of what this day means at Hendrix.
In 2004, TU won the SCAC's and our son had a wonderful season. Through another message board, I received a very nice email. It was from a 2004 Hendrix player/graduate I had never met. Included in the email were some thoughts about how our son played the game with respect for his opponents.
In 2004/2005/2006, we continued to email, he continued to follow our son, and even went to see him when Jason played a Milb game near is home in Illinois.
Through these communications, I was impressed with the love for the game, the love for Hendrix and Hendrix baseball, and that there was a true appreciation that while his team struggled, he and his teammates were treated with respect.
Through further emails, I learned the player was thinking of becoming a coach at Hendrix. He provided glimpses of what he thought they could accomplish and the dream he had for others, that he had not experienced.
Well, that player is now an assistant coach.
His name is Neil Groat.
Yesterday, he saw his players fulfill the dream he emailed about in 2004/2005. To the credit of Neil and the Hendrix staff, they created the dream so that others could experience what they did not. They then did the recruiting and the coaching so this team could share the dream Neil helped create.
Congratulations to Neil Groat for dreaming big, for standing in your dream, for doing the work to make that dream become real, and for helping others experience what you only dreamed.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 26, 2009, 10:17:16 PM
It seems like a grossly flawed system if a team can be a top 5 team in the nation and also #1 in the South by the NCAA standards, and then they lose a 2-run game and a 1-run game and now they aren't good enough to play in the NCAA Tournament? That thinking seem highly illogical and I hope it proves to be highly illogical.
Agreed. Here's to Millsaps getting an at-large bid.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 27, 2009, 08:21:52 AM
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE READ THIS:
With all the excitement generated by Hendrix and the fine play of Centre, keep in mind that with the plans now in place, these two teams would not have been at the tournament. The new plan is for only the 1st and 2nd place teams from each division participating in the SCAC Tournament in baseball and several other sports.
This rule has to be changed and everyone interested in these SCAC athletes needs to talked to the coaches, the athletic directors, and especially the school presidents who made this decision. I understand the need to save money, but there have to be better ways to cut costs rather than denying deserving and capable teams and athletes a shot at an SCAC Championship.
Silence from the fans, parents, etc. on this is a real disservice to the student-athletes of the SCAC.
Frank, I could not agree more with this sentiment. As a very, very proud Hendrix alum, I am sad that this is the kind of cost-cutting measure that just deprives deserving kids. It seems to be that there are other ways to cut budgets without taking away opportunities like those that Centre and Hendrix just had.
You would also hope that these private colleges, when their teams get such opportunities, will find the money to support them with donations and fundraisers.
Quote from: infielddad on April 27, 2009, 11:57:52 AM
To follow on some of Frank's observations:
Congratulations to the Hendrix players and coaching staff! What a day, what a tournament, what a season!!
For me, this day has some special meaning that might help others have a glimpse of what this day means at Hendrix.
In 2004, TU won the SCAC's and our son had a wonderful season. Through another message board, I received a very nice email. It was from a 2004 Hendrix player/graduate I had never met. Included in the email were some thoughts about how our son played the game with respect for his opponents.
In 2004/2005/2006, we continued to email, he continued to follow our son, and even went to see him when Jason played a Milb game near is home in Illinois.
Through these communications, I was impressed with the love for the game, the love for Hendrix and Hendrix baseball, and that there was a true appreciation that while his team struggled, he and his teammates were treated with respect.
Through further emails, I learned the player was thinking of becoming a coach at Hendrix. He provided glimpses of what he thought they could accomplish and the dream he had for others, that he had not experienced.
Well, that player is now an assistant coach.
His name is Neil Groat.
Yesterday, he saw his players fulfill the dream he emailed about in 2004/2005. To the credit of Neil and the Hendrix staff, they created the dream so that others could experience what they did not. They then did the recruiting and the coaching so this team could share the dream Neil helped create.
Congratulations to Neil Groat for dreaming big, for standing in your dream, for doing the work to make that dream become real, and for helping others experience what you only dreamed.
What an exceptional post. Your son was indeed a classy, accomplished player on an incredibly tough team. And Neil is indeed one of the finest people you'll ever meet, absolutely committed to this program and the development of these players.
It's incredible that this Warrior team accomplished what it did for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that for the better part of a decade, it was a program that unfortunately had some coaching instability and some splintering among team members. I think it's safe to say that behind the leadership of RJ Thomas, Neil Groat and Jay Mattox, you now have a bunch of guys who see themselves as a single unit and plays the game day in and day out with vigor and enthusiasm. Hendrix's team stats this year weren't necessarily impressive, but they fielded the ball almost flawlessly, and their pitchers didn't put guys on base like they used to do in the past. Add in the fact that you had a very strong lineup that really started pounding the ball in April, and a shut-down type of reliever in Wheeler Gnat, and the formula for a conference championship team was in place.
Millsaps, incidentally, is absolutely one of the best teams in the country and deserves an at-large bid. After all, they lost three one-run games to Hendrix this year, and now those are quality losses when you consider what the Warriors have done. Jim Page is all class, all the time, and his team merits the bid without question.
This probably won't win me any love letters from either the board or my friends in the Hendrix baseball family, but here goes.
As memorable and fun as this past weekend was for all of us who follow the Hendrix program, and knowing full well such a moment would never have happened under the new format, I for one support the conference's proposed changes.
Not because I think they will help, but because I think they're necessary.
The effects of the economic crisis have been worse than anyone initially imagined, and it's hard to find anyone who hasn't been affected directly or indirectly. Even areas that used to be considered sturdy shelters in the midst of unpredictable fiscal winds - like higher education - have been hit and hit hard. Just recently, a private Division II school here in Arkansas that only a year ago was playing for the baseball national championship laid off three athletic department staffers, including their SID. Meanwhile, all assistant coaches in every sport except football were told their contracts would not be renewed.
And of course we have heard of the hard decisions that recently had to be made at Colorado College.
I say this to say that many private universities are presently experiencing near-harrowing drops in endowment. Much as advertising fuels newspapers and consumer confidence fuels car manufacturers, endowment fuels small private colleges.
The choices many of these schools must make to create a sustainable budget often involve reducing costs that do not directly impact a student's academic experience. This forces these schools to make hard decisions on what truly is necessary and what is not.
I understand the argument here is that athletics are part and parcel of the liberal arts college experience. Believe me, you are pontificating to the choir. But the central driving force of these schools is academics. At the end of the day, that's what we love about the colleges we support and discuss here on this board. We're all proud to represent schools that do things the right way.
But right now, the SCAC is a monster covering three time zones. That would create a heavy travel budget for a well-heeled mid-major Division I university, to say nothing of Oglethorpe and Hendrix. In the best of times, traveling in the SCAC was a pricy process. Now it may be untenable.
I would love to see the conference eventually go back to its old baseball tournament format if these rough seas ever calm down. But I am also mindful that these changes are made by the college presidents, and many of these presidents are operating in crisis mode.
Does it break my heart to know another team and another group of fans won't get to experience the unforgettable ride we folks with Hendrix baseball have been on? You bet. But I would gladly give the wonderful weekend I just had away if it means even one student could continue to get the same quality education he expected to receive at a SCAC institution.
There are colleges that are quite literally having to make that choice right now, and to their credit, they consider the academic experience to be sacred when it comes time to make cuts. Unfortunately, that makes for painful cuts in other areas. But like it or not, there's a central mission that unites the colleges of the SCAC, and I believe that mission should remain a top priority no matter the cost.
Gus,
You won't find a person on the board or at any college in the SCAC who doesn't agree that times are tough and sacrifices need to be made. The question is which sacrifices.
Let's look at the 2008-09 men's basketball season. Halfway through the season it was obvious that Millsaps wasn't going to be in the top 2 in the West, but they could still make the SCAC Tournament and get a new beginning. That gave them motivation for the entire season and it was a tremendous positive for the team. In the SCAC West and East, every team had this motivation up until the last weekend or two except maybe Rhodes. On the women's side it was much the same way.
Now under the new system, some teams might be eliminated from the league championship by mid-season. The majority could very well be eliminated with 2-3 weeks to go. I don't see where this is good for the athletes or the sports programs at the different schools.
Maybe instead of eliminating one day of games at the SCAC Tournament, they could instead eliminate one of the crossover weekends. Heck, eliminate both crossover weekends if you want to really save money--that would save a lot more than cutting the basketball tournament down to 4 teams. I'm sure their are other things that could be done to save money that wouldn't involve sucking away the motivation to play hard and continue to improve in hopes of a championship.
I understand the need to save in this economy. I just think the school presidents have decided to cut the tap root instead of pruning the branches.
I don't know when Centenary College decides that trips to Fargo ND, Brookings, SD, Fort Wayne IN, Rochester MI, and Cedar City UT are too expensive.
I don't even know if they see D-III as an option.
I do think that splitting into two 8-team conferences under an appropriate administrative umbrella that increases the number of AQ's that a mega-conference can receive might be an option.
Who was the D-II school? Ouachita Baptist? The ASC would love to have them! We have numerous peer institutions to Ouachita Baptist...Mississippi College, Louisiana College, ETBU, UMHB, Howard Payne and Hardin-Simmons, and that is just the Baptists!
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 03, 2009, 03:24:07 PM
---Okay, put your hand up if you thought Hendrix would be 4-3 after opening with 7 road games--2 at Millsaps, 3 at Austin, and 2 at Trinity? Both my hands are still on the keyboard. With 10 of their remaining 13 games at home, you have to believe that Hendrix has a good shot at coming to Jackson for the SCAC Tournament.
What a year for Hendrix Baseball. I laughed my butt off when I read the post above. My son told me about it and that is when I started following the message Board. After only winning 3 conference games last year, I dont think anyone expected this year.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 27, 2009, 08:21:52 AM
Millsaps, incidentally, is absolutely one of the best teams in the country and deserves an at-large bid. After all, they lost three one-run games to Hendrix this year, and now those are quality losses when you consider what the Warriors have done. Jim Page is all class, all the time, and his team merits the bid without question.
And on the same line, did anyone ever think that Millsaps would be using the competition against Hendrix as a positive point towards getting into the regionals? I understand that this was not the Millsaps team making this comparison. It would be an absolute crime if Millsaps is not included! I believe there are 34 automatic berths out of 54 total berths? You cant tell me that there are 20 higher ranked, more qualified, better (or whatever scenario you chose) than Millsaps. Even if they were to fall to #21 in the country, are all 20 teams above them not earning an automatic bid?
On a final note, I want to shout out to Coach Page as one of the most sincere and respectful baseball coaches I have met. A top class individual and he ran a fantastic tournament this weekend. With an almost 50 player roster, I saw him Sunday morning with a broom in his hand sweeping down the bleachers with his staff. I was honored to meet him before the tournament and thank him at the end of the tournament. His demeanor was no different and just a geniune great guy!
Welcome svbb!
A point of clarification...
There are 35 conferences that have automatic bids as the SCAC does. Only 4 do not have a post-season tourney to determine the automatic bid. And, yes you are correct. There may 15 teams that are not as good as Hendrix or Millsaps. They won their conference bid. They get in. D-III is about equal access. It was the SCAC which chose to have the tourney.
There are 355 schools that are in D-III baseball. The NCAA funds one playoff bid for every 6.5 schools that sponsor the sport.
There are 303 schools in those 35 Pool A conferences. That gievs a ratio of 1:8.65 (called the access ratio) to determine that the 52 schools not in Pool A conferences get access to 6 Pool B bids.
After those 41 bids have been determined, the remaining (355 - 41) 314 schools are evaluated for 13 at-large bids from the 8 regions. The criteria are in the Handbook.
http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/champ_handbooks/baseball/2009/3_baseball_handbook.pdf
Last year, D3baseball.com predicted 5 of 6 Pool B's (the 6th being vigorously debated) and 12 of 14 Pool C bids, the 2 that were missed were in the last group of 8 teams considered. (Two of the fourteen Pool C bids went to teams without a post-season tourney.)
http://www.d3sports.com/dailydose/2008/05/12/2008-ncaa-d-iii-baseball-championship-release/#comments
On Sunday May 10th, D3baseball.com will evaluate the 13 Pool C bids to predict whom the Committee will select.
My guess is that Millsaps needs to be ahead of the best Pool C candidate from the USA South.
I cannot overstate the parity that we have in D-III behind the best 8-15 teams. There are plenty of qualified teams that are sitting on the bubble.
I wish Millsaps luck, but it will be an anxious 13 days.
svbbcoach--Just to clairfy, the comment about Millsaps with three 1-run losses to Hendrix came from Tojo Buttafuoco, but your point is well taken. Those of us who have followed SCAC baseball for a while never really thought the time would come when Hendrix had 3 wins over Millsaps in a season.
Your post did remind me of something that will not mean squat to the NCAA but it is something that needs to be pointed out. The 7 losses Millsaps had in D3 this season came by a total of 12 runs. There were 4 losses by a single run, 2 losses by 2 runs, and a 4 run loss to Trinity in the final weekend.
As I've pointed out on several occasions, the majority of the Millsaps wins are against teams with winning records. All of their losses came to SCAC teams, a league that doesn't have teams with super great records because they play very tough schedules (at least that seems to be the opinion of the Boyd ratings). Take Hendrix for example. They had 6 games with Millsaps, 7 with Trinity, 2 with Texas-Tyler, a very long road trip to play Chapman, Cal-Lutheran, and Pomona-Pitzer. That's 18 tough games and DePauw, University of Dallas, Southwestern, and others weren't exactly cakewalks either. With a schedule like that, you can see why they can be a very good team but still have a record near the .500 mark.
Okay, I said this year I wasn't going to write much about the Millsaps playoff chances but I seem to still be writing a lot. Now I'm going to cut back--I really mean it this time--so let me end by mentioning the number that scares me the most about Millsaps getting an NCAA bid. That number is 500 or whatever the cutoff is between a team travelling by bus or by plane. Money is a factor in these selections--it may not be in the NCAA handbook but history has convinced me that it is a major consideration--and Millsaps is a team that is outside of driving range of a regional. I fear that in the end, that might be the biggest thing working against them. I would love for the NCAA to prove me wrong.
Congratulations to Hendrix for being recognized in todays D3baseball.com poll! I am pretty confident in saying this is the first time HC has ever received any votes whatsoever!
Quote from: nvnorthpaw on April 28, 2009, 10:02:57 AM
Congratulations to Hendrix for being recognized in todays D3baseball.com poll! I am pretty confident in saying this is the first time HC has ever received any votes whatsoever!
You know, any other week, that might seem strange.
Incidentally, we here in Conway make do with reading possibly the most godawful local paper in the state of Arkansas. We do it because, ironically enough, it's home to one of the best sports columnists in the south.
He penned a good column the Wednesday prior to the DePauw game (obvious flub on a pretty important name notwithstanding) and had one today about the team's reception back on campus.
http://www.thecabin.net/stories/042209/spo_0422090026.shtml
http://www.thecabin.net/stories/042809/spo_0428090020.shtml
I enjoyed both of those columns.
To expand on something from one of those columns: The D3 rankings at the Boyd's Worlds site (http://www.boydsworld.com/baseball/isr/d3_isr.html) are a little quirky because they depend on the accuracy that they know to be less than perfect. For example, they show Millsaps with a 36-6 overall record and I believe it is closer to 32-8. But in general, it seems to be fairly close and this is what they have for Strength of Schedule for teams in the SCAC West as of today:
Hendrix schedule is rated #1
Austin College is #4
Millsaps is #6
Trinity is #7
Southwestern is not on the list and hasn't been all year. I imagine they are in or near the top-10.
Now what do you think the Hendrix record would be if their SOS was #100 instead of #1? Do you think any school in the SCAC West would even be below .500 if they had a SOS of #100 instead of one of the 10 toughest schedules in America? I think a lot of people make the mistake of simply looking at win-loss records to gauge the strength of a conference. They don't look at the strength of competition faced. It says a lot that Millsaps went 15-7 against SCAC foes and 15-0 against non-conference D3 teams.
Well, as chess games go... it didn't turn out to be a thriller. Hendix found a way to "check" when they hit Bronson at will, and found the "check-mate" when Schallawitz was able to tame the Trinity bats... They earned the crown! Good luck at Linfield, and here's to hoping for two SCAC teams in Appleton!
Ooops...forgot to include another column, and this one was the best of the bunch.
http://www.thecabin.net/stories/042809/spo_0428090024.shtml
The news just keeps getting better...thanks no doubt to the baseball team's championship, Hendrix finished an unprecedented sixth in the SCAC President's Trophy race. While I understand a sixth-place finish would trigger some conference ADs to employ a samurai sword on themselves, it represents a huge step forward for a formerly downtrodden athletic program.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 28, 2009, 03:18:03 PM
I enjoyed both of those columns.
To expand on something from one of those columns: The D3 rankings at the Boyd's Worlds site (http://www.boydsworld.com/baseball/isr/d3_isr.html) are a little quirky because they depend on the accuracy that they know to be less than perfect. For example, they show Millsaps with a 36-6 overall record and I believe it is closer to 32-8. But in general, it seems to be fairly close and this is what they have for Strength of Schedule for teams in the SCAC West as of today:
Hendrix schedule is rated #1
Austin College is #4
Millsaps is #6
Trinity is #7
Southwestern is not on the list and hasn't been all year. I imagine they are in or near the top-10.
Now what do you think the Hendrix record would be if their SOS was #100 instead of #1? Do you think any school in the SCAC West would even be below .500 if they had a SOS of #100 instead of one of the 10 toughest schedules in America? I think a lot of people make the mistake of simply looking at win-loss records to gauge the strength of a conference. They don't look at the strength of competition faced. It says a lot that Millsaps went 15-7 against SCAC foes and 15-0 against non-conference D3 teams.
frank_ezelle
It looks like the numbers are updated daily and it looks as if Austin is now ranked at #2! This means the SCAC west boasts teams with SOS' of 1, 2, 6, 7, and I cannot seem to find where Southwestern is listed. Regardless, WOW! Four of the five teams have top-ten SOS..
To borrow a phrase from that great philosopher Butt-Head, I don't like numbers because there's too many of them. But regardless of where Hendrix truly ranks when it comes to strength of schedule, there's no doubt it's among the tops in the nation.
It's also an unprecedented step for a program that often differed from the rest of the SCAC's approach to scheduling.
One of the many oddities about Hendrix's rise to the top is that the program only broke the school record for victories after beating Trinity last Saturday. The previous record holder, which was either the 2001 or 2002 team, went a robust 20-20 but managed only four conference victories.
When the likes of Trinity and Millsaps loaded up on opponents that would mirror what the SCAC had to offer, Hendrix typically played numerous series with the likes of Rust, Central Baptist and then-struggling University of the Ozarks. It got victories, it built confidence, but when it came time to play the likes of Trinity, Hendrix was (wait for it) a paper tiger.
I'll admit, I thought R.J. Thomas' decision to schedule practically a who's who of Division III was borderline suicidal. But (in between bites of crow) I'll now say that there's no way this team would have probably even made the SCAC turnament if not for facing the likes of UT-Tyler and Cal-Lutheran.
Unfortunately, I doubt the economy will let Hendrix make a schedule like that again. And the competition within the immediate area is pretty bland unless Thomas opts to schedule a slew of Division II teams or a few low Division I's.
But Thomas did prove what Millsaps and Trinity have known for years: You usually only play to the level of your competition.
Quote from: Gus Sinski on April 29, 2009, 05:46:15 PM
To borrow a phrase from that great philosopher Butt-Head, I don't like numbers because there's too many of them. But regardless of where Hendrix truly ranks when it comes to strength of schedule, there's no doubt it's among the tops in the nation.
It's also an unprecedented step for a program that often differed from the rest of the SCAC's approach to scheduling.
One of the many oddities about Hendrix's rise to the top is that the program only broke the school record for victories after beating Trinity last Saturday. The previous record holder, which was either the 2001 or 2002 team, went a robust 20-20 but managed only four conference victories.
When the likes of Trinity and Millsaps loaded up on opponents that would mirror what the SCAC had to offer, Hendrix typically played numerous series with the likes of Rust, Central Baptist and then-struggling University of the Ozarks. It got victories, it built confidence, but when it came time to play the likes of Trinity, Hendrix was (wait for it) a paper tiger.
I'll admit, I thought R.J. Thomas' decision to schedule practically a who's who of Division III was borderline suicidal. But (in between bites of crow) I'll now say that there's no way this team would have probably even made the SCAC turnament if not for facing the likes of UT-Tyler and Cal-Lutheran.
Unfortunately, I doubt the economy will let Hendrix make a schedule like that again. And the competition within the immediate area is pretty bland unless Thomas opts to schedule a slew of Division II teams or a few low Division I's.
But Thomas did prove what Millsaps and Trinity have known for years: You usually only play to the level of your competition.
Every SCAC-West team has made the NCAA Playoffs at least once since 2002.
Congratulations!
From Log Cabin Democrat:
Now, we return to Daniel Ward. He entered the title game needing two hits to reach 200 for his career, something very few players have done in SCAC history. The coaches were initially worried about longterm damage to the hand, but he decided to play.
On his first two at-bats, he laid down sacrifice bunts, both of which led to runs and Hendrix building an early lead. On his final at-bat, he crushed a home run with the a cast on his finger and hand. Thus, he finished his SCAC career one hit shy of 200.
He sacrificed some individual glory to help his team win a trophy.
Stuff like this transcends sports...
Quote from: casual_observer on April 29, 2009, 07:21:29 PM
From Log Cabin Democrat:
Now, we return to Daniel Ward. He entered the title game needing two hits to reach 200 for his career, something very few players have done in SCAC history. The coaches were initially worried about longterm damage to the hand, but he decided to play.
On his first two at-bats, he laid down sacrifice bunts, both of which led to runs and Hendrix building an early lead. On his final at-bat, he crushed a home run with the a cast on his finger and hand. Thus, he finished his SCAC career one hit shy of 200.
He sacrificed some individual glory to help his team win a trophy.
Stuff like this transcends sports...
Maybe his hand will heal sufficiently over the next three weeks for him to get his 200th hit on the playoffs.
The fun thing to do will be to give him the ball from the NCAA Regionals if he does it!
Quote from: Gus Sinski on April 29, 2009, 05:46:15 PM
To borrow a phrase from that great philosopher Butt-Head, I don't like numbers because there's too many of them. But regardless of where Hendrix truly ranks when it comes to strength of schedule, there's no doubt it's among the tops in the nation.
It's also an unprecedented step for a program that often differed from the rest of the SCAC's approach to scheduling.
One of the many oddities about Hendrix's rise to the top is that the program only broke the school record for victories after beating Trinity last Saturday. The previous record holder, which was either the 2001 or 2002 team, went a robust 20-20 but managed only four conference victories.
When the likes of Trinity and Millsaps loaded up on opponents that would mirror what the SCAC had to offer, Hendrix typically played numerous series with the likes of Rust, Central Baptist and then-struggling University of the Ozarks. It got victories, it built confidence, but when it came time to play the likes of Trinity, Hendrix was (wait for it) a paper tiger.
I'll admit, I thought R.J. Thomas' decision to schedule practically a who's who of Division III was borderline suicidal. But (in between bites of crow) I'll now say that there's no way this team would have probably even made the SCAC turnament if not for facing the likes of UT-Tyler and Cal-Lutheran.
Unfortunately, I doubt the economy will let Hendrix make a schedule like that again. And the competition within the immediate area is pretty bland unless Thomas opts to schedule a slew of Division II teams or a few low Division I's.
But Thomas did prove what Millsaps and Trinity have known for years: You usually only play to the level of your competition.
Gus, I received an email from someone pretty knowledgeable and close to the Hendrix program. What it conveyed was not a real surprise to me. It probably isn't to you either.
Through the rebuilding process, the Hendrix staff received support, cooperation, some guidance, and more support and cooperation from two main sources outside of Hendrix U: Jim Page and Cody McCain of Millsaps and Tim Scannell and Dave Smith of Trinity.
DIII baseball at its very, very best.
P.S. You guessed it: I have emailed and called Coach Scannell to voice my complaints and try and put an end to this stuff. Bring back 2004! ;D
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 29, 2009, 07:25:09 PM
Quote from: casual_observer on April 29, 2009, 07:21:29 PM
From Log Cabin Democrat:
Now, we return to Daniel Ward. He entered the title game needing two hits to reach 200 for his career, something very few players have done in SCAC history. The coaches were initially worried about longterm damage to the hand, but he decided to play.
On his first two at-bats, he laid down sacrifice bunts, both of which led to runs and Hendrix building an early lead. On his final at-bat, he crushed a home run with the a cast on his finger and hand. Thus, he finished his SCAC career one hit shy of 200.
He sacrificed some individual glory to help his team win a trophy.
Stuff like this transcends sports...
Maybe his hand will heal sufficiently over the next three weeks for him to get his 200th hit on the playoffs.
The fun thing to do will be to give him the ball from the NCAA Regionals if he does it!
Apparently, it wouldn't count towards entering the 200 hit club. Maybe someone can clear this up about Regionals not counting towards a career but thats what I heard.
Based on what is listed in the SCAC record books, all post season stats are included in the career numbers.
Millsaps looks good...
http://www.d3sports.com/dailydose/2009/04/30/ncaa-regional-rankings-week-2/#comments
Ralph, thank you. That is good news for Coach Page and his players who truly deserve a post season berth. I hope it happens and am very happy the waiting times for selections is shorter this year
To put this in some context, every year since they left the SCAC, Rose Hulman is right there in the regional rankings.
When they were in the SCAC's, they never made it to Sunday with their very best teams.
So, they leave the SCAC's and they end up getting regional rankings and some post season chances, when teams like Millsaps and/or UTT get overlooked.
Sometimes the difficulty of seeing all DIII's makes comparative assessments of team quality difficult when post season selections occur.
To me, though, when/if Rose Hulman gets Pool C selections, it is a much clearer picture. They knew they would never make it in the SCAC's so they leave and get what they hoped while better teams sit home.
Quote from: infielddad on April 30, 2009, 04:47:40 PM
Ralph, thank you. That is good news for Coach Page and his players who truly deserve a post season berth. I hope it happens and am very happy the waiting times for selections is shorter this year
To put this in some context, every year since they left the SCAC, Rose Hulman is right there in the regional rankings.
When they were in the SCAC's, they never made it to Sunday with their very best teams.
So, they leave the SCAC's and they end up getting regional rankings and some post season chances, when teams like Millsaps and/or UTT get overlooked.
Sometimes the difficulty of seeing all DIII's makes comparative assessments of team quality difficult when post season selections occur.
To me, though, when/if Rose Hulman gets Pool C selections, it is a much clearer picture. They knew they would never make it in the SCAC's so they leave and get what they hoped while better teams sit home.
I think that the SCAC-West gets out of the gate faster than the northern teams, and they get farther into the season faster, too.
RHIT can start with the rest of the teams in the HCAC and arrive at the destination better with the later start.
I think that RHIT is getting the extra 2 weeks of the season that they need to get into form. You are right. It would have never happened in the SCAC. A Millsaps and a Hendrix and an RHIT are roughly equal by May 15th, but not by April 22nd.
Well, from what I saw Millsaps is a hell of a team and very deserving team for a berth into the big show. They have a solid lineup that doesn't chase pitches and the middle with Owen and Hawkins is just plain good. They play good defense and they have some tough arms on the mound. And I'm pretty sure they will not see a starting pitcher with the velocity and secondary pitches(maintained throughout a game) of Centre's Jake Jones. If he were just a closer he'd be a 93-95 guy.
But maybe this video can help Mllsaps cause, this is Jones throwing against Birmingham Southern for a full 9inning game. And remember against Millsaps the kid was still 88-90 in the last inning after 140 pitches.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OAvnJ5Ev0E
If Millsaps stays at the #2 ranking in the South, it's hard to see a scenario where they get excluded from the NCAA Tournament. The discussion has often come up on the board about the long break between the SCAC and NCAA Tournaments. Personally, I think it's an advantage. There's a mental and physical drain that goes into an SCAC baseball season and I like the fact that the guys get to focus on finals, get some much needed down time, and then have time to come back recharged and ready to go. I understand the argument about being away from live games for too long, but there are some positives in this long break as well.
If Millsaps gets an at-large bid, it was won in February and March against the likes of the Ozarks, LaGrange, Piedmont, Huntingdon, etc. The importance of these games never fully registered with me in the past. Those first weeks of the season are ones where you keep your at-large hopes alive. Sophomore Andrew Pearce only pitched 3.1 innings of varsity ball this year, but his contribution was huge as he held Rhodes to 1 run in the 8th and 9th innings of a 14-13 win on February 8. Freshman pitcher Ryan Zemke was only 1-1 this year, but his great start in the 6-5 victory over #27 Piedmont on February 9 was critical as Millsaps was trying to find enough pitching to win 6 games in 6 days. When a team gets to the NCAA Tournament via an at-large bid, just about every player has a hand in the accomplisment because there is so little margin for error.
Regarding the finish to this great regular season, Millsaps went 2-4 in their last 6 games. That's a stretch that started on April 14 against Belhaven. The Millsaps baseball team hit #1 in the nation in the D3baseball poll on April 12. Coincidence? Maybe and maybe not. It was a tough stretch of games: a loss to NAIA Belhaven while trying to save pitching for the Trinity series; winning 2 out of 3 against a Trinity team that can hit the ball a ton; a loss to Centre ace Jake Jones; and then a loss to a talented Hendrix team playing their best ball of the season. A lot of teams would have gone 2-4 or worse in those games, but I think the Millsaps team of March that was climbing the rankings would have been 4-2 or better in that stretch.
That's just my opinion, but let me stress a critical part of that opinion. If the rise in the polls hurt Millsaps, it wasn't because the team got overconfident and cocky. If it hurt the team, it was because the individuals put more pressure on themselves because they didn't want to let down their teammates. That's what appeared to be happening over the last few weeks--at least in my far less than expert opinion. There comes a time when trying too hard is counterproductive and trying to do too much results in doing less. I believe the Millsaps team that plays in the NCAA Tournament will more closely resemble the team that was hitting the snot out of the ball in early March and that will be a very dangerous team.
One last point to make in this rambling post. Maybe the most impressive thing about Millsaps this year is the closeness of their losses. I was thinking about that this weekend as MS College won 10-0 in a mercy game against Texas-Dallas, #4 in the West regional rankings, and then won 15-4 in another mercy game against West #2 Texas-Tyler. Let's put that in perspective: Millsaps, a team that went 3-0 against MS College this year, lost 7 D3 games this year by a combined total of 12 runs. There were 4 losses by a single run, 2 losses by 2-runs, and the only "blowout" in D3 was a 4-run loss to Trinity (Millsaps did lose 11-3 to Belhaven in that April 14 game prior to the Trinity series). You add up all the Millsaps losses and the seasonal total hardly would make a mercy loss--that's an example of playing consistently well from start to finish.
Frank,
Can you give us an update on Millsaps? Are they practicing? Intrasquads? Whats the mood around the baseball team?
Quote from: Lou_Brown on May 05, 2009, 11:32:13 AM
Frank,
Can you give us an update on Millsaps? Are they practicing? Intrasquads? Whats the mood around the baseball team?
They SHOULD be practicing... they will be playing a regional in ten days. I do not see any way they could be left out of the tournament.
Quote from: BigPoppa on May 05, 2009, 12:42:51 PM
Quote from: Lou_Brown on May 05, 2009, 11:32:13 AM
Frank,
Can you give us an update on Millsaps? Are they practicing? Intrasquads? Whats the mood around the baseball team?
They SHOULD be practicing... they will be playing a regional in ten days. I do not see any way they could be left out of the tournament.
agreed.
I heard a radio interview with Coach Page this past Monday. They are practicing and apparently all is going well. Coach Page said that since Hunter Owen is a senior and doesn't have exams, they were able to work on his swing all week and he is hitting the ball better than ever. That shouldn't be surprising. The best players in all sports are always having little flaws creep into their form and Coach Page is a guy who can find that minor flaws in a baseball swing.
Coach also talked about how Shelby Robertson has really looked good and he's excited that Shelby is getting this extended work. Shelby is a big JC pitcher new to the Millsaps program this year and he struggled early but has looked very good over the last few weeks. My guess is that he'll be the third starter in the NCAA Regional rotation.
I mentioned this in the last post--I really think there are more pros than cons with the 3 week layoff prior to the first regional game. The guys get to concentrate on exams and get a breather for a week, and then they can turn 100% of their attention to baseball. Also, as with Hunter, when you have a stretch without games you can go back and work on some of the small things that might be difficult to work on when playing 2-4 games a week. It won't surprise me if this break does wonders for hitters up and down the lineup.
I'm excited about the probability that this team will get an NCAA bid and I'm anxious to see how they will do in regional play. My bet is that they will do quite well.
Frank,
Thank you for the update.
From what I know about Coach Page, his love for baseball, his passion for hitting, and his ability/willingness to teach both, Hunter Owen might be wishing he had some exams to take. ;D :D ;)
Someone asked me this question the other day. Since technically all teams are still in the running for an at-large berth (at least teams with decent records) can these teams be practicing like Millsaps? I know the week limit comes into play but Millsaps is out of weeks? Anybody? I see this as a big grey area. I imagine some teams take advantage of this, but it really hurts the spirit of d3.
Lou, that's a good question. I know that in the past Millsaps teams with a shot at an at-large bid have practice in preparation only to be disappointed at selection time. The same was true with Rhodes in 2007.
I very, very vaguely seem to remember that maybe the NCAA allows you to keep practicing if you are a legitimate contender for an at-large bid and maybe you have to get that okay from them. That's probably more of a guess than a memory on how the procedure works. Odds are pretty good that someone will have the answer here within the next 12-16 hours.
Since we're talking about practicing for the regionals, here's a quick dispatch from Conway:
The week began with R.J. Thomas arriving at the ballpark, only to find the field missing. However, several witnesses from the area would later claim they witnessed the field floating down Interstate 40 towards Little Rock.
Plans were initially hatched to practice on other area fields. However, the field at Central Arkansas was completely submerged, and the UCA athletic administration opted to turn lemons into lemonade by re-naming Bear Field the Bear Natatorium and re-naming the baseball team the water polo team.
Meanwhile, a practice at Conway High School was cut short after Daniel Ward found himself having to wrestle an alligator in order to get to the dugout. Meanwhile, we found that Kyle Raskin's exceptional range at third base was rather hampered by the fact that he had to wear waders.
Even an attempt at just some casual long toss in the backyard of assistant coach Neil Groat had to be aborted when a massive amount of frogs that had been washed ashore by the flood waters refused to leave after being asked nicely.
So to sum things up: Hendrix may not have had much time on the field by the time the post-season begins, but if an impromptu backstroke contest breaks out, I like our chances.
It's a shame that weather has interferred so much with the Hendrix practices for Regionals. Considering that the first games are next Wednesday and there has to be time set aside for travel, there aren't a lot more days of practice time available. I'm a little anxious about the Regional rankings coming out today--there were some games played after the last release so in theory someone might have passed Millsaps for #2 in the South. I don't think that will be the case, but we'll see.
Since I don't know anything about who will be in which regions, I'm leaning towards wanting Millsaps in the South region if they get a bid. That's not because I think the South region is easier, but I'm just interested to see how Millsaps compares on the field to these South Region teams that are too far away to play in the regular season.
I think Millsaps will land in the Central or Midwest regions.
I sort of think the Central region. It's 1,100 miles from Jackson to the South Regional site--it goes to show just how big some of these regions are which makes true regional competition difficult--I know the folks out in the West region have an even bigger problem with this distance factor.
Yeah, baby--we're #2!!!! This actually means that Millsaps will be the top team from the South when it comes to the Pool C at-large bids since #1 Salisbury is going to get a Pool B bid that is reserved for teams that aren't in a conference that gets an automatic qualifier.
This doesn't guarantee Millsaps a bid, but it makes them a very good bet to get one. Here's how I understand the situation and the process:
---There are 13 Pool C bids, at-large bids available to schools in conferences that have an automatic qualifier or Pool B teams that didn't get one of those bids.
---There are 8 NCAA Regions.
---The selection committee creates a list of 8 teams, the top ranked team in each region that is in the running for a bid.
---Using their various criteria, the best of those 8 teams gets a bid. Then the committee fills the spot on the list with the second highest team from the region that got the first bid. Now they pick the best team from the new group of 8. It could be the team that was just added to the list if the committee thinks that team ranks higher than the #1's from the other 7 regions. This process continues until the 13 bids are awarded.
It is not automatically the 8 teams that are the highest in each region and then 5 of the second highest teams. It has happened in the past that a region doesn't get an at-large berth and that may happen again this year. It is unlikely that it will happen with Millsaps and the South this year, but you can see that there aren't really many at-large bids to go around when they are being split among 8 regions. That's why it is important to be on that first list of 8 instead of having to wait to be added to the list later in the selection process.
I believe that's the gist of the process. If anyone has corrections or additions to add to this, please do so.
I think that Millsaps goes to Salisbury as the #2 seed and Hendrix goes to the Central or Midwest bracket as a lower seed.
I hope that they fly them to separate locations.
Courtesy of our good friend cush (from the Future of D-III board)
QuoteTHis seems like an easy decision in my book with this school+ these d1 athletes don't get the d3 concept:
http://arklatexhomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=62172
plan to see a lot of cuts in sports...when stanford and MIT cut sports, you know school's are feeling the $ crunch...
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 07, 2009, 06:14:54 PM
I think that Millsaps goes to Salisbury as the #2 seed and Hendrix goes to the Central or Midwest bracket as a lower seed.
I hope that they fly them to separate locations.
I agree. That makes sense since Cal lutheran will get a bid in the West to fill that region up: this explains hendrix's move.
THere is also no other legitimate #2 seed for the south regional besides Millsaps. It works out perfectly bc they are an ideal #2 seed
Last night found me in baseball paradise. The Atlanta Braves have their AA team in the Jackson area (Pearl, MS), they play in a fantastic minor league park, and one of my friends gets to reserve his company's skybox every so often. It was a great night at the ballpark and it was finally nice to watch a baseball game this year. Being a fan is fun, being a photographer is productive, but there's not a lot of crossover. While I don't regret coming out of "retirement" after taking off the first 5 weeks of the 2008-09 school year, it was definitely nice to be a fan once again.
While walking around, I saw Millsaps first baseman Will Hawkins. It game me a chance to congratulate Will on his recent recognition for his academics (ITHACA, N.Y. -- Senior pitcher Tait Hendrix and sophomore infielder Will Hawkins of Millsaps College have been named to the 2009 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI Team as voted upon by more than 2,300 members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)...... Here's the link to the story: http://www.gomajors.com/news/2009/5/7/BB_0507094137.aspx ).
Here's a sophomore who played linebacker this year on a team that reached #3 in the nation (57 tackles, 5th best on the team), you know what he does for a Millsaps baseball team that reached #1 in the nation, and he is winning academic awards. You absolutely have to love the student-athlete aspect of D3 sports.
We talked about the prospects of getting into the NCAA Tournament and what would happen after that. Like just about everyone else, the team feels like they are getting a bid and the team feels like they can go a long way. While Will didn't say this, it just seems like the minor tailspin at the end of the year deflated the pressure that had built up on the team while not deflating the confidence in their abilities as a team.
It reminds me of something Coach Page said Monday in the radio interview I heard. He was asked, "What did you say to the players after the loss to Hendrix in the SCAC Tournament?". Coach Page said the team met and naturally they were extremely disappointed, so he told them to meet him the next day and they would talk about the game then. When they met and talked 24 hours after the loss, it was easier to put the season in perspective and to reflect on what went right and what went wrong at the end.
Personally, while I certainly wanted Millsaps to at least reach the SCAC Conference finals, this small fall back to earth might be the best thing that could have happened for the big picture. They hit the ball well, pitched well, and just ended up on the wrong side of a 2-run and 1-run ball game. It wasn't like the ASC Tournament held last weekend at MS College where three of the top 4 ASC teams lost by the mercy rule in the tournament (the 4th team was the one that went 0-2 so go figure). One more hit at the right time in the Centre and Hendrix games and Millsaps would have been a 2-0 team instead of 0-2, so it's not like Millsaps wasn't right there on the edge of victory.
While there no way for me to know how Millsaps will stack up against teams that I've never seen at regionals, I feel confident that Millsaps will be a more relaxed team in the regionals than they were in the SCAC Tournament. Talking with Will last night reinforced that feeling. It's that more relaxed team that was the one ranked #1 in the nation, and I think they'll be a handful for anyone they meet next week. When this group of guys go out and have fun at the ballpark, they are a hard team to beat.
That's cool.
Winning your conference should never be your final goal if you are a team of that caliber. Your goal should always be to do well in regionals. Therefore, their coach should tell them that this why they play. THey should forget about everything else before this....it doesnt matter.
They need to understand, and I am sure they do, that this is the most important tournament of their lives, and the SCAC tournament importance pales in comparison to this. This is why you play.....regionals
From the SCAC website:
ITHACA, N.Y. - Led by first-team selections Tait Hendrix of Millsaps College, Andy Holt of Rhodes College and Jeff Claydon of Trinity University, the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference placed seven student-athletes on the 2009 ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District baseball team.
Brantley Freeman of Southwestern University, Brad Gerlach of DePauw University, Will Hawkins of Millsaps College and Jeffrey Williams of Centre College also were named as second-team selections in their respective districts.
Congratulations to these 7 players. They exhibit quite a combination of success in the classroom and success on the field of play. Here's a link to the full list:
http://cosida.com/documents/2009/5/7/09baseball.pdf
The Hendrix players and coaches will get together very, very late tonight (or, probably, very early in the morning) to await the phone call on their destination.
Talking to people far more knowledgable than myself, the latest rumor is that Oregon is less or a sure thing than it was thought to be two weeks ago. But after talking to so many people about the selection process, the only certainty seems to be that no one is certain.
If I can, I'll post the news as soon as we get it, providing I still have the ability to type by then. It's been that kind of week.
Gus, last year it was at about 2 in the morning when the brackets came out. I don't think I'll stay up that late to check on the fate of Millsaps. But then again, I rarely sleep straight through the night so I'll probably be up at 12, 2, 3:30, etc. Old age combined with an addition to diet sodas can make sleep difficult.
I have a feeling that Millsaps will be the #2 seed in the South which is about an 1,100 mile trip to Maryland. If that's the case and Millsaps isn't going to the Central region, then it makes Hendrix going to Rock Island, IL a definite possibility. At 600 miles, it's still air travel, but it would be something nice for the folks who are in and around the Conway area.
Good luck to Hendrix. I believe they have the potential to surprise some people at regionals. The lack of good weather for recent practices is a concern, and the possibility of just being satisfied at getting a trip to regionals is a pitfall to avoid, but Hendrix proved their ability all season, not just over one weekend. I can see them winning a couple of games and if things go just the right way....well, it's baseball so you never know what will happen.
Oregon, baby.
All my best wishes to the coaches, players and parents that have made this season one to remember. Have fun up there.
Quote from: Gus Sinski on May 11, 2009, 02:37:40 AM
Oregon, baby.
All my best wishes to the coaches, players and parents that have made this season one to remember. Have fun up there.
In an earlier post, the question of how much it helped Hendrix to do the California run is now clear. Chapman, Cal Lutheran, Pomona Pitzer, and Tyler are all in the same regional as Hendrix. The only unknown is George Fox.
Quote from: svbbcoach on May 11, 2009, 02:48:16 AM
Quote from: Gus Sinski on May 11, 2009, 02:37:40 AM
Oregon, baby.
All my best wishes to the coaches, players and parents that have made this season one to remember. Have fun up there.
In an earlier post, the question of how much it helped Hendrix to do the California run is now clear. Chapman, Cal Lutheran, Pomona Pitzer, and Tyler are all in the same regional as Hendrix. The only unknown is George Fox.
Coach Thomas won this one in the off-season!
Assuming that 2 plays 5 in a 6-team regional, Millsaps would play Wartburg (27-18). Wartburg has an obvious #1 pitcher in Jerrold Martijn who is 10-1 on the season.
Martijn pitched a complete game victory on Thursday (http://www.go-knights.net/baseball/2009stats/iiact091.htm) and another complete game victory on Saturday (http://www.go-knights.net/baseball/2009stats/iiac10.htm). I'm sure he'll be good to go a complete game on Wednesday.
Here's a link to the Wartburg season stats: http://www.go-knights.net/baseball/2009stats/teamcume.htm
Hendrix will have its work cut out with a noon start on Wednesday.
Hopefully, the NCAA has travel arranged for them today and they have Tuesday to acclimate, get on the field and not be traveling. Traveling on Tuesday would be unfair to those kids.
If not, well, they have overcome everything else this year, why not one more???
That CA trip has to help them immensely in terms of confidence. There isn't anyone here they have not seen and everyone starts 0-0 on Wednesday.
Gus, isn't Daniel Ward from Washington??
What a nice reward for a senior.
How is the hand?? Any word on it...that you care to share???? ::)
I went to the SCAC site to look up some stats on the Hendrix trip out West. My search got sidetracked by the article on the SCAC post-season honors. The big four awards:
Player-of-the-year: Will Hawkins of Millsaps
Pitcher-of-the-year: Noah Solomon of Trinity
Freshman-of-the-year: Taylor Barrett of Sewanee
Coach-of-the-year: R.J. Thomas of Hendrix
While Coach Page certainly did a lot with a team that no one ever projected as a potential top-rated team in the nation, I'm sure he would be the first in line to congratulate Coach Thomas (well, maybe not the first in line since Coach Page is rather busy right now, but you know what I mean).
Here's a link to the full article and the rest of the post-season selections:
http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2008-09/news/allscac.pdf?dec=
The local newspaper has a great story on Millsaps this morning. Before I give the link, I'd like to take a moment to address an issue about this D3 message board:
The Millsaps people know about the photos I take and possibly even have some idea of the number of hours it takes to cover all the Millsaps teams. There's hardly enough time left for anything else including posting to this message board, but I post here because it is important. It helps bring recognition to the Millsaps teams and players, something that is almost universally lacking in D3 sports programs. I don't want to see the Millsaps teams and individuals get virtually no recognition--something that happens with many of the other SCAC programs and players when no one from their school takes the time to post to the message board.
I have a point and it isn't that I'm so wonderful. The point is that by posting to this board, it become inevitable that some people will get upset about what I write. Even when trying to stay positive, even when avoiding second guessing, there will be some people who will find reasons to get upset. Like recently when I said that in my opinion, it looked like the pressure of being #1 or trying to achieve #1 in the last month was a factor in the mini-slump at the end of the year. I'm under the impression that this offended some people, spinning it to make it sound like I was accusing the team of choking under pressure. That wasn't what I said. I said exactly what Coach Page says in this article--it looked like Millsaps started trying not to lose instead of trying to win. They changed their focus as their situation changed.
I hardly care about what non-Millsaps people think about my opinions and I don't expect every Millsaps person to agree with all of my opinions. It's just bothersome when some people take one small piece of the whole and then get upset because they misinterpret or simply disagree with an opinion. If you disagree, sign on and write a post. And if you think you can do better, join in so I can post less and get a little more free time in my life.
That's just something I've wanted to get off my chest for the entire year. And now I'll get off the soapbox and here's the link to this morning's story:
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090512/SPORTS030105/905120333/1287/SPORTS/Once+ranked+No.+1++Millsaps+hopes+to+get+its+mojo+back+for+D-III+playoffs&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL
---MILLSAPS WEBCASTS---
There will be a Millsaps webcast tonight from 6-7 Central time to look back at the 2009 season and look ahead to the Central Regional.
Also, all Millsaps games will be webcast by Millsaps. Since Millsaps did webcasts of NCAA Tournament football games this year, I presume that they have gotten all of the apporpriate okays from the NCAA for these webcasts.
Here's a story with more info and with the link to the webcast:
http://www.gomajors.com/news/2009/5/12/BB_0512090021.aspx
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 12, 2009, 09:51:40 AM
The local newspaper has a great story on Millsaps this morning. Before I give the link, I'd like to take a moment to address an issue about this D3 message board:
The Millsaps people know about the photos I take and possibly even have some idea of the number of hours it takes to cover all the Millsaps teams. There's hardly enough time left for anything else including posting to this message board, but I post here because it is important. It helps bring recognition to the Millsaps teams and players, something that is almost universally lacking in D3 sports programs. I don't want to see the Millsaps teams and individuals get virtually no recognition--something that happens with many of the other SCAC programs and players when no one from their school takes the time to post to the message board.
I have a point and it isn't that I'm so wonderful. The point is that by posting to this board, it become inevitable that some people will get upset about what I write. Even when trying to stay positive, even when avoiding second guessing, there will be some people who will find reasons to get upset. Like recently when I said that in my opinion, it looked like the pressure of being #1 or trying to achieve #1 in the last month was a factor in the mini-slump at the end of the year. I'm under the impression that this offended some people, spinning it to make it sound like I was accusing the team of choking under pressure. That wasn't what I said. I said exactly what Coach Page says in this article--it looked like Millsaps started trying not to lose instead of trying to win. They changed their focus as their situation changed.
I hardly care about what non-Millsaps people think about my opinions and I don't expect every Millsaps person to agree with all of my opinions. It's just bothersome when some people take one small piece of the whole and then get upset because they misinterpret or simply disagree with an opinion. If you disagree, sign on and write a post. And if you think you can do better, join in so I can post less and get a little more free time in my life.
That's just something I've wanted to get off my chest for the entire year. And now I'll get off the soapbox and here's the link to this morning's story:
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090512/SPORTS030105/905120333/1287/SPORTS/Once+ranked+No.+1++Millsaps+hopes+to+get+its+mojo+back+for+D-III+playoffs&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL
Hey Frank,
I have enjoyed your posts over the years. Unlike a lot of boards I read I really like this board because most of the posters keep it positive and avoid the smack that is associated with athletics.
Since you post the most on this board you always run the risk of someone turning what you post into a negative. It's just the nature of posting on any subject. But, I have never taken your posts that way.
Good luck in the South bracket. Rhodes beat NC Wesleyan earlier in the year. I know a little about a couple of the other teams and I think you guys have a great chance of coming out of there on top.
Man, I look at the teams that got in and think of what could have been for Rhodes. They got beat by Marietta by one run in ten innings. Had Wisconsin Stevens Pointe beat in the ninth and kicked the ball around for a one run loss. Oh well, on to next year for the Lynx. Sure gonna miss those seniors!
Also, good luck to Hendrix, what a great season they have had!
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 12, 2009, 09:51:40 AM
The local newspaper has a great story on Millsaps this morning. Before I give the link, I'd like to take a moment to address an issue about this D3 message board:
The Millsaps people know about the photos I take and possibly even have some idea of the number of hours it takes to cover all the Millsaps teams. There's hardly enough time left for anything else including posting to this message board, but I post here because it is important. It helps bring recognition to the Millsaps teams and players, something that is almost universally lacking in D3 sports programs. I don't want to see the Millsaps teams and individuals get virtually no recognition--something that happens with many of the other SCAC programs and players when no one from their school takes the time to post to the message board.
I have a point and it isn't that I'm so wonderful. The point is that by posting to this board, it become inevitable that some people will get upset about what I write. Even when trying to stay positive, even when avoiding second guessing, there will be some people who will find reasons to get upset. Like recently when I said that in my opinion, it looked like the pressure of being #1 or trying to achieve #1 in the last month was a factor in the mini-slump at the end of the year. I'm under the impression that this offended some people, spinning it to make it sound like I was accusing the team of choking under pressure. That wasn't what I said. I said exactly what Coach Page says in this article--it looked like Millsaps started trying not to lose instead of trying to win. They changed their focus as their situation changed.
I hardly care about what non-Millsaps people think about my opinions and I don't expect every Millsaps person to agree with all of my opinions. It's just bothersome when some people take one small piece of the whole and then get upset because they misinterpret or simply disagree with an opinion. If you disagree, sign on and write a post. And if you think you can do better, join in so I can post less and get a little more free time in my life.
That's just something I've wanted to get off my chest for the entire year. And now I'll get off the soapbox and here's the link to this morning's story:
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090512/SPORTS030105/905120333/1287/SPORTS/Once+ranked+No.+1++Millsaps+hopes+to+get+its+mojo+back+for+D-III+playoffs&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL
Frank, what you have done for Millsaps, and D3 Baseball in general with your postings and photos is remarkable. Please keep up the great work.
FYI: Those that matter never have a problem with you... though many people do have a problem with the truth. Keep it up.
Quote from: infielddad on May 11, 2009, 08:22:46 PM
Hendrix will have its work cut out with a noon start on Wednesday.
Hopefully, the NCAA has travel arranged for them today and they have Tuesday to acclimate, get on the field and not be traveling. Traveling on Tuesday would be unfair to those kids.
If not, well, they have overcome everything else this year, why not one more???
That CA trip has to help them immensely in terms of confidence. There isn't anyone here they have not seen and everyone starts 0-0 on Wednesday.
Gus, isn't Daniel Ward from Washington??
What a nice reward for a senior.
How is the hand?? Any word on it...that you care to share???? ::)
The hand: Danny of late has been wearing a cast over his hand that's big enough to hunt with. You could easily club a wilderbeast to death with this thing. That said, the general thought at the moment is that he's going to play Wednesday. Though I don't know the exact details, Danny's injury is one that typically takes weeks to heal, but can also be played through given the proper precautions.
It certainly helps that Ward had a tough go of things in Hendrix's do-or-die series at Southwestern, and showed only flashes in Jackson. This shows that Hendrix has so far been able to score runs as a lineup, rather than waiting for Danny to do his usual magic. The whopping six players on the SCAC All-Tournament team support this.
The outlook: When I was in Jackson, someone told me that Hendrix reminded them of last year's Fresno State team...not overly talented, but hard-nosed, united and catching fire at the perfect time. I found this to be a pretty apt description. The only issue is that that the Warriors have hardly had anything even remotely resembling a routine since then. The players, of course, have long since stopped worrying about what factors may be working against them, and the coaches seem to think that the hay is in the proverbial barn by this point.
But yet and still, the fact remains it's been a while since this team has been in a competitve setting. The bats will have to get back in the groove very quickly, because pitching depth will be the same issue it was in Jackson.
Odds and ends: The state newspaper ran a front-page story on the Hendrix team in today's paper. While I most certainly cannot vouch for the character of the gentleman who penned the article, it's the first time any Hendrix College team has been featured in the state publication since 1995.
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/259457/
Aforesaid newspaper also ran a Web feature with extended player and coach interviews. I
think you can access it here, but then, I never know how this stuff works.
http://www2.arkansasonline.com/videos/2009/may/11/3553/
And finally, at the risk of incurring the Internet version of a roomful of people staring blankly at me and blinking: Hendrix's first opponent, Pomona-Pitzer, was the former teaching home of the late writer David Foster Wallace, who died this past September. Not sure how many readers are on this board, but as a certified book nut, I'd be remiss in not dropping an endorsement. If you've never read Wallace, pick up his classic essay collection
A Supposedly Fun Thing Ill Never Do Again or the posthumous publication
This Is Water and thank me later.
That's it for now, folks. To those who managed to make it to Oregon, wish I could drink a post-game pitcher of beer with ya. GO WARRIORS!
Great videos, Gus!
Got the link to those literary masterpieces? ;)
Gus,
Thank you for posting the link to the article and video.
Not sure who he is, but the reporter appears to have a very, very bright future!!! ;)
In reading the article, looking at the videos and reading the links Frank provided to Coach Page and his team at Millsaps, I can certainly understand why both teams are still "competing."
Part of the equation is talent. I loved reading the backgrounds of the Hendrix players.
The other part is heart and a "team" first attitude. The video interviews vividly capture that "team" first aspect for the Hendrix players.
And finally, it is a somewhat interesting dichotomy when we look at the two SCAC post season teams.
As Frank and I posted earlier this year, Coach Page used the history of success in building chemistry and commitment for this Millsaps' squad.
Hendrix appears to have used the ability to "overcome" history as a major part of their motivation.
I continue to believe that the best talent does not always correlate with championships. Success in college baseball combines talent with heart, leadership, commitment and focus.
Talent alone often times isn't enough.
Talent combined with the others leads to unforgettable memories of the type you are reporting.
Gus, thanks for your "reporting."
Today's forecast for Moline, IL:
Today: Windy with thunderstorms - possibly strong. Storms may produce large hail and strong winds. High 72F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph.
Tonight: Scattered thunderstorms, some strong during the evening, will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Storms may produce large hail and strong winds. Low 49F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Millsaps is scheduled to play the second game at 3:30.
While waiting on the weather, here's a local high school story that has some connection to Millsaps baseball and maybe Millsaps football. I know that Drew Maddox's mom missed the Millsaps webcast last night because her son Luke had a high school playoff game. The game was the place to be as Luke homered in his last 2 at-bats during a come from behind 7-6 victory. It wouldn't be bad to have another Maddox to photograph for the next 4 years.
The football connection comes from a comment made about one of the other Jackson Prep stars of the night, saying that he's "looking at joining the football team at Mississippi State or Millsaps next fall". Despite the success of Millsaps, the presences of Coach DuBose, and hopefully the possibility of being a national champion at Millsaps, it stills seems odd to read about a player weighing the choices between playing for an SEC team or an SCAC team. At least he'll get SEC quality coaching either way, maybe more so at Millsaps!
Here's the link to the story: http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090513/SPORTS06/905130371/1287/SPORTS/AAA++Big+blasts+save+Pats+in+Game+1&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL
From the Tournament website at Moline, IL:
The first-round NCAA Division III baseball regional games scheduled for Wednesday, May 13 have been delayed by rain. The noon game between Carthage and Fontbonne will not start on time. No start time has been determined. Check back later for more details. (as of 11:25 Wed. morning)
Ditto for Hendrix in McMinneville. We'll be pushed back about an hour, or so I'm being told.
Perhaps I already missed this, but is there a LiveStats link or something for Millsaps? I'd like to be able to keep up with them as well.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 13, 2009, 12:26:11 PM
From the Tournament website at Moline, IL:
The first-round NCAA Division III baseball regional games scheduled for Wednesday, May 13 have been delayed by rain. The noon game between Carthage and Fontbonne will not start on time. No start time has been determined. Check back later for more details. (as of 11:25 Wed. morning)
Ignore the aforementioned. Today's games at Linfield have been officially washed out.
A Trip Down Memory Lane:
For reasons not important here, I did an internet search on Ole Miss baseball player JoJo Tann. That led me to the following link which had a video of JoJo:
http://www.cstv.com/goingyard/2007/04/watch_out_now.html
I haven't seen JoJo for years so I click on the first video in the article without looking at the player very well, and was surprised to hear a 2007 report on Nick Crawford of Millsaps talking about his NCAA record for being hit by pitches. It's an interesting 2 minute segment with comments by Head Coach Jim Page and now assistant coach Derrik Boland is also in there.
Where this ties in with 2009 is that Nick gave a 20-minute speech to the team this year the day before the first game. It's a story I've told on the board before and one that I've heard Coach Page tell more than once this year. Apparently it was the spark that united this team and helped pull them together in a way that has allowed them to get the most out of their collective talents.
If you watch the interview, it's obvious that Nick was a guy who did what it took within the rules to win, and if he could help the team by getting hit 30 times in a season from the leadoff spot, then that's what he was willing to do. I can't think of a better inspiration for a team to have and he certainly is part of the success shown by Millsaps this year.
Millsaps shortstop Billy Murphy is a great infielder. If you want proof of that, go to the SCAC hitting stats.
That's not a typo. Go to the hitting stats, start at the bottom, and you'll find Billy in a hurry. That's not a knock on Billy, just a undeniable reality of this baseball season. You have to ask yourself, just how great an infielder is this guy if he has started every game at shortstop on one of the best teams in the nation? Yesterday he showed that he is pretty, darn good.
Not perfect since he threw away a ball late in the game that allowed a run to score, but he made a great play to rob a Wartburg batter of a 2-out single in the 9th that probably would have tied the game. The Millsaps announcer had already called it a hit up the middle when Billy made a diving stop which would have been a great play on its own, but then he got up and threw the runner out at first. Maybe the biggest defensive plays of the season considering the situation.
(In Billy's defense about his batting, I should point out that he is among the nation's leaders in walks, a list usually populated by sluggers and midgets. This moves his .187 batting average up to a much more respectable .376 on base percentage. He also is among the national leaders in sacrifice flies.)
Scheduling note: With rain in the forecast, the games in Moline have been moved up. Millsaps is now scheduled to play at 4 this afternoon, but with the first games scheduled for 10 and 1, it's unlikely that they'll start at 4 even if the rains stay away.
Frank- great assessment! I always point out that it takes a great pitcher to lose 20 games in the big leagues. They obviously see something in a pitcher if they keep sending him out there... the same goes for shortstops.
I had read about how the layoff between the SCAC Tournament and the Regionals is an advantage/disadvantage. Well the rust factor was a large factor in Hendrix 8-3 loss yesterday to Pomona Pitzer. Freshman Ted Smoyer showed apparent jitters by hitting 4 batters in the first 5 innings before sttleing down to complete the game allowing only 8 hits to the #1 team in the country. Hendrix out hit Pomona but the HBP and 3 errors (5 unearned runs 4th) were too much to overcome.
Question: Has anyone in the past noticed a pronounced effort for the umpires at the higher levels to make their presence known? The strike zone (consistent for both sides after the first batter) was unbelievably high. There was no low zone. Makes it dangerous for pitchers. Evident by Pomona"s ace striking out only 3, the first batter was victim of the umpire establishing this zone. Another call on a routine ground out, delayed call of 1B leaving the bag early. No excuses or blame on the umpires, lack of field time appeared to be the biggest factor.
Today, Hendrix faces UT-Tyler who was hammered by Chapman yesterday. Hendrix is 0-4 vs. Tyler the past 2 years but each game gets closer. Noon PST today. It is amazing that a large majority of games across the country are video cast yet very few of the Regionals have video. I can't see the gate being effected as $10 entry is hardly worth watching the video rather than live! JMO. Go Warriors!
Congrats to Millsaps on the first round victory. Looks like weather will play a large part the rest of that regional.
Quote from: svbbcoach on May 15, 2009, 10:57:08 AM
... It is amazing that a large majority of games across the country are video cast yet very few of the Regionals have video. I can't see the gate being effected as $10 entry is hardly worth watching the video rather than live! JMO.
It's evolving technology.
McMurry video streamed about 16 home games this year, and Millsaps videostreamed some of their games.
UTT added videocast for the ASC first round series vs McMurry.
I imagine that more schools will adopt the technology as it becomes available.
In the ASC, at this time, I have heard athletic events, on local radio being caught and web-streamed, of produced on the university's website from all but about three schools.
Two quick responses:
1) Millsaps actually did a webcast of every baseball game this year. I don't know the mechanics of how this was financed, but I want to thank all who were involved in making that happen. I also want to thank announcer DP (Derrel Palmer) for his dedication to the sports programs at Millsaps.
2) Regarding Hendrix, I'm not sure if we can say the time off hurt them or the inability to practice during that time off. My understanding is that they had a lot of rain interferring with their practice times. Plus, nerves would probably have been there regardless for a team making their first outing on such a big stage. Good luck to Hendrix today.
PS-- The almost official word from the Central Regional is that today is washed out. That would push the tournament out to a Monday finish.
Yes, look at that weather system that is moving thru Moline.
http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/Loop/NatLoop_Small.gif
Rain is depressing. Not as depressing as being #1 in the South and going 1-2 in a regional that you are hosting, but it's still depressing.
The Friday games in the Central Regional have been called and there's a new schedule up with all sorts of "what-ifs" since a 6-team tournament has that odd game with a 1st day winner playing a 1st day loser. As it is set up now, we have Fontbonne vs. Wartburg at 10 Saturday with the loser being eliminated. Then Carthage vs Washington at 1:00, followed by Millsaps vs. Whitewater at 4:00. That part is for sure.
---If Carthage wins at 1:00 to eliminate Washington, then Carthage will play the winner of the Millsaps-Whitewater game at 7:00 Saturday evening.
---If Washington beats Carthage at 1:00, then Washington would play the loser of the Millsaps-Whitewater game at 7:00
SO, Millsaps plays at 4 Saturday and they will play at 7 if Carthage and Millsaps both win OR if Washington and Whitewater both win. We'll worry about Sunday after the results from Saturday.
Link to Central Regional website: http://www.augustana.edu/x12950.xml
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 15, 2009, 03:03:39 PM
Rain is depressing. Not as depressing as being #1 in the South and going 1-2 in a regional that you are hosting, but it's still depressing.
The Friday games in the Central Regional have been called and there's a new schedule up with all sorts of "what-ifs" since a 6-team tournament has that odd game with a 1st day winner playing a 1st day loser. As it is set up now, we have Fontbonne vs. Wartburg at 10 Saturday with the loser being eliminated. Then Carthage vs Washington at 1:00, followed by Millsaps vs. Whitewater at 4:00. That part is for sure.
---If Carthage wins at 1:00 to eliminate Washington, then Carthage will play the winner of the Millsaps-Whitewater game at 7:00 Saturday evening.
---If Washington beats Carthage at 1:00, then Washington would play the loser of the Millsaps-Whitewater game at 7:00
SO, Millsaps plays at 4 Saturday and they will play at 7 if Carthage and Millsaps both win OR if Washington and Whitewater both win. We'll worry about Sunday after the results from Saturday.
Link to Central Regional website: http://www.augustana.edu/x12950.xml
That part makes my head hurt.
UTT vs. Hendrix--I'll modify this post each inning instead of doing a new post each time:
Starting pitchers: UTT is Blake Booher and Hendrix is Suydam
Link to GameTracker: http://www.ncaa.com/gametracker/launch/gt_mbasebl.html?event=783677&school=ncaa&sport=mbasebl&camefrom=&startschool=&
A summary for those who can't keep GameTracker running on their work PC:
1st inning: UTT 0 -- Hendrix 1 (Sims walked, went to 3rd on throwing error by pitcher, scored on ground out by Ward)
2nd inning: UTT 0 -- Hendrix 1 (Hendrix opened with a walk, runner moved to second as was stranded there)
UTT has the only hit of the game, both teams have 1 error with the UTT error leading to the Hendrix run.
3rd inning: UTT 0 -- Hendrix 1 (Gagilo gets bunt single, erased in DP)
4th inning: UTT 0 -- Hendrix 1 (Ward leads off with single, zilch after that)
5th inning: UTT 0 -- Hendrix 1 (Foley walked to open the inning, no real threat after that)
Not many balls are even being hit out of the infield. There's some great pitching going on or weak hitting. UTT has 3 hits after 5, Hendrix has 2.
6th inning: UTT 0 -- Hendrix 3 (Ward walked to open inning. I believe the leadoff has gotten on every inning. Forgerson homers to right to score 2 runs. Just 1 out in the inning. Tommy Rozell comes in to pitch for UTT. Hill doubles, get stranded there.)
(Top of 7th inning: UTT threatening after a walk and single. Runners on the corner with no outs. Pop up for first out. Strike out for second out. Fly out to left. No runs.)
7th inning: UTT 0 -- Hendrix 3 (3 up 3 down for Hendrix. Suydam is still on the mound for HU. Both teams with just 4 hits.)
Top of 8th inning: UTT gets a hbp and single, runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Hendrix error in the infield, bases loaded and no outs. Hodges doubles, 2 runs in with runners on 2nd and 3rd and no outs. Gnat to pitch for Suydam, might have come 4 batters too late which is easy to say in hind sight. Another double, another single, along with an out and a walk. Now 5-3 with 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd. Hendrix needs a DP to keep this game within easy reach. Another hit but runner thrown out at plate. Then the third out. Inning over after major damage done.
8th inning: UTT 5 -- Hendrix 3 (Grinstead pinch hit and made first out. Ward and Forgerson are up next. Ward flies to left. Forgerson grounds out to first.)
Top of 9th inning: Fly out, single, double play. The error in the last inning really hurt as the last two runs were unearned (as was the first run by Hendrix). Hendrix has 3 more outs to extend their breakthrough season.
Bottom of 9th: UTT leads 5-3. Tommy Rozell is on the mound in relief and has given up 1 hit in 2.2 innings. Scheduled up for Hendrix are Harr, Hill and Foley. Harr popped up to third, Hill flied out to center. 2 outs. Foley flies to center.
Still a fantastic year for Hendrix. I wish they could have gotten a tournament victory but this weekend will pay dividends in future years.
Not much to say, except that I don't think you could find a prouder alum than I am today.
I know it's been very eloquently alluded to on this board, but it bears emphasis one final time: Unless you've followed Hendrix baseball on a game-to-game basis throughout the decade, you really can't grasp what a quantum leap this program has made. I've literally lost count of the number of times I've heard some variant of the phrase "Dude, I can't believe this is happening" within the past month.
The coaches, players and parents will have memories they can carry with themselves for a lifetime, and I couldn't be happier for a better group of folks. This season is for every player who ever stuck it out and played all four years in a Hendrix uniform — one in particular.
Congrats all around once again. For the returning players, I offer a phrase one of my former coaches was fond of: If what you did yesterday still looks big today, then you haven't done much today. The fight for a spot in the 2010 SCAC tournament starts now.
I remember the first SCAC game played by current Hendrix seniors Matt Giza, Daniel Ward, Wheeler Gnat, and David Foley. I had to look up some of the particulars, but it's one of the few Millsaps games over the years that has stuck in my mind.
The SCAC stats show me that the game took place February 17, 2006. My memory is of a cold, miserable night at Twenty Field on the Millsaps campus. I remember a small lefthanded pitcher for Hendrix throwing junk that was greatly aided by a strong wind blowing from first towards third. I remember looking at the almost empty Hendrix dugout when Millsaps was batting and thinking that their roster was more the size of a church softball team--how on earth would they find the pitching needed for an SCAC weekend? According to the 2006 stats, Hendrix had 15 players that year.
I remember Millsaps losing that game. The only reason the memory has stayed with me is because Trinity wound up 16-4 that year and Millsaps was 15-5. The one game difference was the Hendrix victory of 2/17/2006, the only SCAC game won by Hendrix in 2006. No offense to Hendrix coaches, players and fans, but I remember that game because it was such a great example of how costly it can be to overlook any opponent, even an opponent as terrible as the 2006 Hendrix baseball team. Let's face it, with a 1-19 record in the SCAC and being outscored 58-1 in 5 games with Trinity, Hendrix in 2006 was a really terrible team.
That's where this Hendrix program was in 2006. When you look at how far they have come in such a short time, you have to congratulate everyone involved with this revival. You have to applaud the seniors who came to such a lowly program and stuck around when any hopes of going to an NCAA Regional seemed laughable. If you love sports and all the positive values that it can pass along to its participants, then you don't have to be a Hendrix alum or fan to also feel pride in what was accomplished by the team from Conway this season. It was a very special season earned with a tremendous amount of hard work. Well done.
Yet another Hendrix baseball article. They've moved from the sports page and onto the editorial page.
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/259715/
Well, back at home from Oregon. The Hendrix team was amazing this year! Almost every game this year was a edge of your seat, bite your nails, and try to avoid leaving your seat for even a brief moment. What an experience for this young team. They will be losing 4 very good seniors but everyone else returns. There are only 5 juniors too. A large group of players that now know they can compete and win against anyone. Now the challenge of working hard and preparing for next season with everyone looking to knock them down a notch. A very good problem to have!
I am curious to get some feedback from Illinois about the umpiring. Oregon was awefull! (Only in regard to the umpires)! After Hendrix was eliminated, I returned to watch CLU and Chapman play. Plays like home plate ump asking a player if he was hit, to allowing a shoulder high drilling of the big guy who hit a homerun next at bat, to warning the entire bench for cheering/jeering, to allowing a player on a homerun jog to visibly jesture to the opposing teams dugout while rounding a base, to 3B blue checking a new pitcher on the mound after warmup tosses by looking up his sleeves (for what, I dont know). Odd stuff! It appears that the umpire crew (6) universally tried to let everyone know they were there and in charge every game. In Hendrix elimination game, the same guy who made a similar call at 1B the day before, called that 3B didn't touch the bag he tripped over while tryiong to double up the hitter. During the argument with Coach Thomas, called the player a liar and then ejected coach after he had taken 3 steps walking away with his back turned after the whole deal was over. I understand that these guys may be the best in the area, but then there needs to be more scrutiny in this area before awarding a bid to host. I know, if a team would score 10 more runs a game then the umpires could have no say, but come on. Just an observation.
Regardless, It was a great experience for both the players and fans. Puts a taste in the mouth to want to return next year. Great Season Warriors!
My recap of the 2009 Millsaps baseball season:
Let me start with a list: Jason Hadley, John Pacillo, Justin Carter, Luke Morrow, Nick Crawford, Hunter Abrams, Derrick Boland, Quinn Salmon, Brent Buffa, Brandon Ingram, Travis Bogue and Jay Hollenbeck. That's a list of the key starters lost from the 2007 and 2008 Millsaps teams.
Loss through graduation is a reality for all college teams, but that's a lot of talent to replace and it looked like a two year project to me. The 2007 team graduated the majority of their starters in the field and the 2008 team graduated three key hitters and three key pitchers.
Obviously 2008 was a rebuilding year which somehow ended up just one out shy of the NCAA Tournament. In January, 2009, it would have been logical to expect the 2009 season to be the second phase of a rebuilding process. Consider the loss of Abrams, Boland, Salmon, Bogue, Ingram and Hollenbeck from the 2008 team. Consider that the starting lineup included 4 sophomores and a freshman. Consider that the 4th most experience pitcher only had 17 innings during his 2-year college career. There seem to be a lot of potential, but that potential was matched by a lot of question marks.
This was a team that received two votes in the preseason Top-25 poll, a total that left them tied for 50th in the nation. This was a team that barely edged out Southwestern for the 2nd place spot in the preseason SCAC poll. Who would have predicted a 19-1 start? Who would have predicted this 2009 team would become the first team in Millsaps history to earn a #1 national ranking?
It was a season that far exceeded any reasonable expectations. At this point in time, there may be a feeling of disappointment because the last few weeks didn't match the first couple of months. I understand that disappointment. I wish the folks in Moline could have seen the Millsaps team that sprinted up the national rankings for much of the season. I guess it says a lot about the outstanding nature of a season when finishing 3rd at an NCAA Regionals is a disappointing result.
Once again, Millsaps baseball will lose a lot of talent to graduation. There's some outstanding hitting, pitching, defense and leadership that needs to be replaced for the 2010 season. I guess every year is a rebuilding year at Millsaps and that's the way it should be, but each loss is an opportunity for others to step up into the voids left behind. It was a great year that maybe ended a few games too soon. I'm sure the coaches, the returning players, and the newcomers next year will work hard to extend their season just a few games longer in 2010.
Congratulations on a great year and good luck to all of the seniors as they embark on new careers in life.
I've noticed that some regions have released their All Region teams? Has anybody seen the complete list or even the South's All region list?
SCAC Post Season Recognitions:
American Baseball Coaches Association All-South Region Team:
1st Team: Hunter Owen (Millsaps), Sam Hill (BSC), Mason Mosby (Rhodes), Daniel Sarisky (Oglethorpe)
2nd Team: Will Hawkins (Millsaps), Aaron Williams (Millsaps), Boomer Hudson (Millsaps), Andy Holt (Rhodes)
3rd Team: Drew Leachman (BSC)
Link to full list: http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/09Baseball/2009%20ABCA%20All%20_3_.pdf
Link to Millsaps Story: http://www.gomajors.com/news/2009/5/22/BB_0522094816.aspx
SCAC Post Season Recognition--Post 2
Senior outfielder Hunter Owen of Millsaps College picked up his second national honor of the week as he was selected to the 2009 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division III All-America Third Team on Friday.
The Jackson native became the first Major in school history to be named a three-time D3baseball.com All-American on Wednesday and now is a three-time ABCA All-American, earning first team honors as a sophomore, second team honors as a junior and third team honors as a senior.
Owen batted .387 with 13 home runs, 52 RBIs, 16 doubles and 56 runs scored. His 41 career home runs rank second in SCAC history, while his 186 career RBIs were only six behind Southwestern standout Matt Gelotti's conference record of 192.
Owen led the league in home runs, runs scored, walks (43) and slugging percentage (.755). He also finished in the Top 5 in four other categories, including on-base percentage (.531 - 2nd), RBI (52 - 2nd), doubles (16 - 4th) and total bases (117 - 2nd).
SCAC Post Season Recognitions--Post 3:
From Millsaps website: Owen, Hawkins Earn D3baseball.com All-America Honors
Senior outfielder Hunter Owen capped off a stellar four-year career on Wednesday, as he was named to the D3baseball.com All-America Third Team. In addition, teammate and SCAC Player of the Year Will Hawkins was named an All-America Honorable Mention after a breakout sophomore campaign.
Owen and Hawkins were the lone two representatives from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference to be named to the All-America Team, while Owen becomes the first player in school history to be named a three-time All-American.
In starting all 44 games, Owen hit .387 on the year with a team-best 56 runs, 13 homers, 43 walks and a .755 slugging percentage. He also added 60 hits, including two run-scoring hits in a 12-5 loss to No. 7 Carthage College in the NCAA Regionals, to become the seventh player in Millsaps history to join the prestigious 200-hit club.
In all, Owen closes his Millsaps career with a pair of school records, including 41 home runs and 186 runs driven in. He also finished his career tied for first in doubles (55) and total bases (387), second in walks (123), third in batting average (.382), fourth in stolen bases (65), t-fourth in hit-by-pitches (40) and seventh in hits (201).
Hawkins hit a team-leading .406 en route to grabbing SCAC Player of the Year honors, adding 11 home runs, 55 RBIs (1st in the SCAC), 17 doubles, two triples, 47 runs and 127 total bases (1st in the SCAC). He also led the league with 73 hits, which ranks fifth in a single-season at Millsaps.
SCAC Post Season Recognitions--Post 4
It was a little harder finding the West All-Region teams since the ABCA's website is still showing the 2007 team under All-Region. I was able to find a listing on the University of Redlands website:
http://www.goredlands.com/sports/bsb/2008-09/news/05_20_09_BSB_All_Region
SCAC players on the 2009 ABCA West All-Region team are:
2nd Team: Jordon Pennington (Trinity)
3rd Team: Kyle Felix (Trinity), Daniel Ward (Hendrix)
will there be a 2009 all west, all south gold glove team announcement forthcoming ?
Here are the South Region Gold Glovers:
http://www.d3baseball.com/pressreleases/Millsaps/2009/05/23/Millsaps-Murphy-Tabbed-South-Region-Gold-Glove-Winner/4397
The SCAC put 2 on the South list.
I just returned from the Millsaps Baseball Banquet and that was the first I heard that Billy Murphy of Millsaps won the gold glove for shortstops in the South Region. The other SCAC winner was J. J. Rizzo of Oglethorpe. That's quite an honor for both of those players.
Regarding the banquet this evening, it was a really special occasion that focused on the seniors first and then on what the team accomplished this year and over the last 4 years. Millsaps graduates 10 seniors this year and the character of that group will be missed as much as their talents. I was glad to be a part of the celebration.
Evan Bronson, TU 2009, was selected in the 29th round (again) by the Washington Nationals. Congrats!
Daniel Sarisky from Oglethorpe was selected in the 40th round by the Houston Astros... I wonder if he stays or goes? Either way Congrats to Bronson and Sarisky!
I heard through the grape vine that Sarisky signed a deal with the Astros. Being a fan of Oglethorpe baseball it hurts to lose a kid who hit 95 mph on the gun multiple times. You just don't replace that type of arm easily or at all.
I wish Daniel the best of luck and I am very excited to follow an ex Oglethorpe baseball player throughout his professional career.
As far as what type of money her received I don't know, butt I will continue to try figure out
It looks like Daniel Sarisky won't be terrorizing the SCAC East hitters with that fastball any more. He apparently did sign and is listed on the roster for the Greeneville Astros:
http://greeneville.astros.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t413
Daniel Sarisky sees his first action as a professional, pitching 2 innings of scoreless ball with 3 K's as he picks up the victory. Good luck to this former SCAC standout:
http://greeneville.astros.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090628&content_id=5592956&vkey=pr_t413&fext=.jsp&sid=t413
It's July 8th already! Let's hear some 2010 predictions!! :p
How about we start with the Petrels? Lose two guys to graduation, their # 4 pitcher and their 8 hitter. They will return their whole offense and pitching staff with two guys coming back from injuries. The rest of the East loses some key parts, including Rhodes' holt, bizzel, and mosby. Centre loses their ace also in Jones and their 3 hitter Williams. I am finally predicting the now experienced and motivated Petrels will come to shine in 2010. Their 1-5 hitters all hit above .330, and their infield is one of the best with a talented shortstop in Cornwell and South region gold glove winner Rizzo anchoring down the hot corner. It's all going to depend on the arms that the Petrels will put out on the mound. Briend, Hoban, and even Cornwell looked like 3 very promising starters last year and Kennedy in the bullpen was lights out. The departure of Sarisky to the MLB is going to have a severe impact on the arms in the pen and also to the mental side of the boys on the squad. If they can get past this, and bring in some quality freshman and maybe an arm or two from a transfer, the Petrels may possibly be the team to beat in 2010.
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/news/owen_edinburg_ubl
(Story taken from the Millsaps College website)
EDINBURG, Texas - Former three-time D3baseball.com and ABCA All-American Hunter Owen of Millsaps College has signed a one-year independent contract, with an option for a second year, to play with the Edinburg Roadrunners of the United Baseball League.
"I'm really excited to get the chance to play," Owen said. "It's been a dream of mine to play in the major leagues one day and I'm ready to get started."
The ULB is an independent league of six professional baseball teams located in Texas that include Amarillo, Coastal Bend, Laredo, Rio Grande Valley and San Angelo.
Owen joins former Millsaps right-handed pitcher, John Fox, as an independent contract signee who also played for Edinburg one season in 2006. Fox went 2-3 with a 6.54 ERA in seven starts, hurling two complete games and striking out 39.
In his first game, July 10, Owen went 2-for-4 with an RBI in a 7-4 Edinburg win. He was the DH but should see time in right field.
"Ever since the season ended, I've been working hard and staying in shape," Owen said. "I just need to work on being consistent everyday and putting good swings on the ball. As I face better competition everyday, I'll try my best to keep improving."
The Roadrunners, formerly the Edinburg Coyotes, are currently 13-15 on the year under skipper Vince Moore and sit in fourth place in the six-team league.
Thanks for posting that about Hunter. It was odd that they pinch hit for Hunter in the third AB of his third game. In yesterday's pregame show the announcer said that Hunter had injured his hand and was expected to be out for a series. I hope that's not anything too serious and that he'll be back in the swing of things soon.
ALSO, as has been hotly discussed on the football website, the SCAC has come out with new decisions on ways to cut cost and benefit the welfare of student-athletes. On the plus side, the number of tournament participants have been reverted back to the same as they were this year. On the negative side, all SCAC teams will be limited to a maximum of only 90% of the maximum number of games allowed by the SCAC. (See Millsaps story: http://gomajors.com/news/2009/7/13/GEN_0713094740.aspx )
For some sports this might not be too big a deal. For baseball where teams like Millsaps, Trinity, Rhodes, DePauw, and maybe others are candidates for at-large berths, this rule could be a killer. I would hate to see Millsaps drop NAIA Belhaven from the schedule--they are great competition and the schools are only a mile apart so it's the most cost effecient game on the schedule--but I don't think Millsaps can drop 4 NCAA D3 games when those games are critical in getting an at-large berth. So for Millsaps, this cost saving rule might have the effect of causing them to drop the least expensive games on their schedule. Go figure.
Good morning Frank,
Millsaps' schedule had three Belhaven "mid-week" games. IMHO, that is the value of those games, and probably won't be cut.
There was an early season trip to Piedmont for a DH that can be cut.
Millsaps could cut the Louisiana College.
Illinois Wesleyan is a non-region game that does not match primary criteria used by the selection committee.
There are four.
Or Millsaps could start the season one week later. :)
No doubt about it, the SCAC's cuttting the season hurts the ASC as well.
Ralph, you are right that they won't cut the Belhaven games. They are part of a 3-team competition which also includes MS College, plus they are the least expensive games on the schedule. Dropping a trip to GA makes the most sense, be it LaGrange or Piedmont. That would be in keeping with the spirit of holding down costs.
Regarding this entire cost cutting program, I personally prefer the loss of 10% of the games over the cutting back on teams making the tournaments. I am very glad to see this decision reversed by the league presidents.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on July 14, 2009, 10:10:18 PM
Ralph, you are right that they won't cut the Belhaven games. They are part of a 3-team competition which also includes MS College, plus they are the least expensive games on the schedule. Dropping a trip to GA makes the most sense, be it LaGrange or Piedmont. That would be in keeping with the spirit of holding down costs.
Regarding this entire cost cutting program, I personally prefer the loss of 10% of the games over the cutting back on teams making the tournaments. I am very glad to see this decision reversed by the league presidents.
The conference that is most likely to be hurt by this maneuver is the ASC. >:(
Quote from: Ralph Turner on July 14, 2009, 10:21:42 PM
The conference that is most likely to be hurt by this maneuver is the ASC. >:(
What is your reasoning behind that conclusion sir?
Quote from: Cru Info on July 14, 2009, 10:24:20 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on July 14, 2009, 10:21:42 PM
The conference that is most likely to be hurt by this maneuver is the ASC. >:(
What is your reasoning behind that conclusion sir?
Thanks for the question.
In all sports, the ASC teams are the nearest non-conference D3 foes to SCAC teams.
That SCAC will fill up its allocation of conference games. In baseball, that may be 20 games. That leaves 20 non-conference games permissible. They won't cancel the big nice trip to an exciting destination, 3-4 games. They won't cancel the tournaments in which they invite name foes from around the country, 3-4 games. They will probably cut down the remaining filler games that they needed to make a 40 game schedule. In baseball, that means that 12 possible games for ASC foes drops down to 8.
:)
Quote from: Ralph Turner on July 14, 2009, 11:31:04 PM
Quote from: Cru Info on July 14, 2009, 10:24:20 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on July 14, 2009, 10:21:42 PM
The conference that is most likely to be hurt by this maneuver is the ASC. >:(
What is your reasoning behind that conclusion sir?
Thanks for the question.
In all sports, the ASC teams are the nearest non-conference D3 foes to SCAC teams.
That SCAC will fill up its allocation of conference games. In baseball, that may be 20 games. That leaves 20 non-conference games permissible. They won't cancel the big nice trip to an exciting destination, 3-4 games. They won't cancel the tournaments in which they invite name foes from around the country, 3-4 games. They will probably cut down the remaining filler games that they needed to make a 40 game schedule. In baseball, that means that 12 possible games for ASC foes drops down to 8.
:)
Ralph, aren't those invitational tournies the most expensive games for the host teams? I don't really have any first-hand knowledge, but I have been under the impression that they help defray the expenses of the visiting participants. Or perhaps that's more economical than being on the road.
Quote from: RSSmith on July 15, 2009, 11:18:43 AM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on July 14, 2009, 11:31:04 PM
Quote from: Cru Info on July 14, 2009, 10:24:20 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on July 14, 2009, 10:21:42 PM
The conference that is most likely to be hurt by this maneuver is the ASC. >:(
What is your reasoning behind that conclusion sir?
Thanks for the question.
In all sports, the ASC teams are the nearest non-conference D3 foes to SCAC teams.
That SCAC will fill up its allocation of conference games. In baseball, that may be 20 games. That leaves 20 non-conference games permissible. They won't cancel the big nice trip to an exciting destination, 3-4 games. They won't cancel the tournaments in which they invite name foes from around the country, 3-4 games. They will probably cut down the remaining filler games that they needed to make a 40 game schedule. In baseball, that means that 12 possible games for ASC foes drops down to 8.
:)
Ralph, aren't those invitational tournies the most expensive games for the host teams? I don't really have any first-hand knowledge, but I have been under the impression that they help defray the expenses of the visiting participants. Or perhaps that's more economical than being on the road.
I will ask opinions from more knowledgeable people than I. :)
Daniel Sarisky has been called up to Short Season A-Ball and already has two appearance
Click below to see his stats and be able to keep tabs on him
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=t577&t=p_pbp&pid=573143
Interesting schedule not...Trinity's Evan Bronson and OU's Daniel Sarisky will face each other in the NYPA league August 22-24. Well, they PERSONALLY won't face each other but the SCAC will be well represented in that series.
I've been keeping up with Hunter Owen as he is continuing his career as a member of the Edinburg Roadrunners of the United League:
United League Baseball (ULB) is an independent baseball league which operates in cities throughout Texas. It operates in cities not served by Major or Minor League Baseball teams and is not affiliated with either. The league began its first season on May 16, 2006 with six teams: the Alexandria Aces, Amarillo Dillas, Edinburg Coyotes, Laredo Broncos, Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings and San Angelo Colts.
He joined the team in midseason and is near or at the top for Edinburg in batting, slugging, OBP, and HR's. Here's a link to their website:
http://roadrunnerball.com/
Don't know what the odds are of going from this independent league to a MLB organization, but at least he is getting a chance to play and he is playing well.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on August 20, 2009, 01:03:32 PM
I've been keeping up with Hunter Owen as he is continuing his career as a member of the Edinburg Roadrunners of the United League:
United League Baseball (ULB) is an independent baseball league which operates in cities throughout Texas. It operates in cities not served by Major or Minor League Baseball teams and is not affiliated with either. The league began its first season on May 16, 2006 with six teams: the Alexandria Aces, Amarillo Dillas, Edinburg Coyotes, Laredo Broncos, Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings and San Angelo Colts.
He joined the team in midseason and is near or at the top for Edinburg in batting, slugging, OBP, and HR's. Here's a link to their website:
http://roadrunnerball.com/
Don't know what the odds are of going from this independent league to a MLB organization, but at least he is getting a chance to play and he is playing well.
I have been following him too and he has been doing great. Not sure of the chances but it does seem the independant teams across the country do get a lot of players signed to the minors. I hope he makes it but I'm sure he is enjoying himself this summer.
Below is a link to the SCAC website and an article about the success in professional baseball of Evan Bronson from Trinity, Daniel Sarisky from Ogelthorpe, and in Independent ball for Hunter Owen of Millsaps.
Evan Bronson's numbers this Summer, pitching against many of the top draft selections from June are spectacular. I also put in the link for his Milb stats summary. Because he loved to pitch inside, even against aluminum, I thought he had a chance for fine success when the hitters had to manage with wood.
This is better than I thought. ;D
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/releases/bronson_owen_sarisky_update
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=542972
Psst... MiLB... Bronson is from Midlothian, VA not TX..... although I'm sure the Dallas suburb would love to claim him!
In an odd bit of Millsaps news, I've heard that Brent Buffa (who transferred from Washington U. to play his senior year at Millsaps in 2007), has signed a pro contract with a team in Italy. Brent has been helping with the Millsaps team for the last two seasons and I believe he was playing in a league this summer and somehow ended up being seen and signed by an Italian team.
While I doubt this is going to be a path to the Major Leagues, it still sounds like a good opportunity to see the world, play some baseball, and make some good money (I hope they are paying him in Euros).
Season is only 4 months away...how are teams looking so far this fall? how did guys do this summer? What are your predictions? Can Hendrix really compete again?
Casual--It's a little hard to generate much baseball interest with the fall sports still going and basketball yet to come.
I've asked around at Millsaps to see how the baseball is looking for 2010. They have a good group coming back and it appears that they have a large and talented freshman class. Sounds like there are some potential starting pitchers in this group that will add depth for sure, and maybe push some of the returning guys for significant innings.
My impression is that Millsaps will be in good shape for sure in the infield and the outfield is the spot with questions. Replacing Hunter Owen is the big task, and then last year Millsaps didn't have a lot of depth to fill in when some guys were hurt. It would be interesting if Millsaps moves Will Hawkins out to rightfield which would keep going the streak of All-American candidate players in that spot (following in the footsteps of Garner Wetzel and Hunter Owen). He has the speed and a good arm, but he also is a darn good at digging out low throws at first.
I believe Millsaps will be strong this year, not much of a prediction since they almost always are strong. If some of these freshmen come through, then they might have the talent needed to make another run at a strong regional showing and if things fall right, maybe a berth in the World Series.
Hello again all. Is it already time for baseball! It seems like just yesterday that Hendrix was hoisting the trophy in Jackson! ;D
Hendrix is still a very talented team but will not sneak up on anyone this year. Only losing four seniors they seem to have the players to make another run at the title but who knows how they will respond to being in the discussion in the preseason for a change. I've heard that they recently recieved some very extravagent champ. rings and hopefully they do not settle for just one.
Well I'm sure we will get more indepth with preseason talk after christmas but just wanted to chime in a bit. Hendrix did not make any friends in the SCAC and i'm sure no one would like to see them anywhere close to the trophy this year. Good luck to all schools preparing for the upcoming season.
Welcome BBallFanHC--I saw your post on the basketball board and forgot to say welcome when leaving a reply over there.
While it is early, we've already had one big win in SCAC baseball with the decision being make to have an 8-team tournament instead of just 4-teams. Hendrix proved last year that there is enough depth in the SCAC for teams lower than #1 and #2 to win the tournament. It's a lesson Austin had shown a few years earlier.
Millsaps has been having fall baseball practice but I've been too busy to stop by and watch. It's not like I could tell much anyway. One interesting baseball/non-baseball note is that Will Hawkins, the SCAC Offensive Player of the Year, is now the leading tackler on the Millsaps football team and tied for first in the SCAC with 9.9 tackles per game. I asked Will if he was trying to add a SCAC Defensive Player of the Year award to go along with the baseball honor, and he said all he wants to do is win games. He certainly has been a part of a lot of wins in his 2+ years at Millsaps.
Quote from: BBallFanHC on October 24, 2009, 10:11:01 PM
Only losing four seniors they seem to have the players to make another run at the title but who knows how they will respond to being in the discussion in the preseason for a change.
In my experience, it isn't always how many a team might lose, it is who they are.
For Hendrix, one very strong impression left with SCAC West opponents was from Daniel Ward. Maybe outward impressions were not correct, but he was viewed as the mental glue and toughness that would not let Hendrix lose.
From what I know, both Millsaps and Trinity may have had better overall and deeper layers of talent.
Ward made the difference.
He was the leader in making every Hendrix player a better player, a tougher player, and a player who realized he was playing for everyone else, not just himself. Outwardly, he was credited for creating an attitude and for getting everyone on that team to believe.
Leaders like Daniel Ward are not easily replaced. You might replace their production on the field, but the intangibles off the field, in the dugout, on busrides, in practice, during lifting, in Fall Ball are not as easily subsumed.
Making baseball and playing in May "the" priority, to which every other player "buys in" is a very tough sell, at times. From many years of watching and observing SCAC baseball, it is that mindset that often times is the difference at the end of the SCAC's.
Because of those types of intangibles, and how they vary from year to year, we probably will be discussing the top teams next April and talent, alone, won't account for the results.
Well good news to all Hendrix fans who agree with the previous post! Daniel Ward is a volunteer assistant coach for the Warriors! What an addition to an already stellar coaching staff!!!!
Quote from: BBallFanHC on October 26, 2009, 10:53:51 PM
Well good news to all Hendrix fans who agree with the previous post! Daniel Ward is a volunteer assistant coach for the Warriors! What an addition to an already stellar coaching staff!!!!
Bballfan, Maybe Daniel is the type of personality who can impact a team not only as a player but also as a coach. Personally, I have not seen that in my years of observing.
It takes a leadership, internally, within those 25 to 30 players. The Hendrix team of 2010 needs its own identity and strength, as does each and every SCAC West team.
Much of my thinking on this topic comes from observing successes when they could least be expected, disappointments when they could be least expected, and from talking with Coach Page and Coach Scannell, both of whom I admire so very much.
Team dynamics are so amazing in college baseball. Leadership is huge. Attitude means so much. Unselfishness the same.
Having 25 players with the same level of committment and belief requires guidance from the coaching staff. Ultimately, only the players buy in or "sell out."
Last weekend Trinity had their "Fall World Series" which I attended several, but not all the games. This will be a very good Trinity team this year. They have an excellent recruiting class with several players, both position and pitchers that will be impact players. The pitching staff is both very good and very deep. I saw at least 8 pitchers that toped out at 88-90 (they were not cruising at that speed). The hitting was consistent with what they have done the last 2-years.
I was amazed this weekend that they were able to roll out pitcher after pitcher that threw hard and threw strikes. And at the same time there was a core group of hitters that consistently hit the ball very hard.
As a parent, I am excited about what I saw and am looking forward to potentially an excellent season.
It is odd to be talking about baseball with the fall sports still going and basketball yet to come. But, since the fall practice period is just ending, I'll give a shot at a very general outlook for Millsaps.
Let's start with the seniors they lost: On the mound they lost Tait Hendrix and Drew Maddox. They were a combined 14-3, with Tait being the primary lefthanded starter and Drew being whatever they needed. In the field, they lost Hunter Owen in RF, Russ Boyd behind the plate, Billy Murphy at SS, and Hayes Brian who started 29 games in the outfield. In addition to those main graduating players, second baseman Todd Barnthouse and leftfielder Tony Malaschack transferred.
So there's a lot of loss from last year's team which at one time was rated #1 in the nation, which means there is also a lot of opportunity for the returnees and newcomers in 2010. And from what I've heard, there are a lot of talented newcomers that should be able to help right away and Millsaps always seems to have a junior or senior who have waited their turn and then responds with an outstanding season when given more opportunities to play.
Regarding the pitching, the main returnees for Millsaps will be Aaron Williams, Shelby Robertson, and Boomer Hudson. That's a nice trio to build around and maybe one of the lesser used returning pitchers will burst on the scene this year like Boomer did last season. I briefly saw some of the freshmen pitching a few intrasquad innings and several looked very good. It seems like Millsaps will be solid on the mound this season.
With the returning field players, I gave Coach Page my suggestion about moving Will Hawkins to rightfield to keep the string of All-American rightfielders going. He politely disregarded my suggestion, so it looks like Hawkins will be the only returning starter to the infield. Murphy graduated, Barnthouse transferred, and Josh Ordeneaux is moving to the outfield (at least that seems to be the current plan). My guess is that Tyler Berry will start behind the plate after splitting that role with Russ Boyd last year and Jeremy Aliff will be back out in centerfield as he has been the last two years.
So Millsaps needs a new starter at 2B, 3B, SS, RF and there are plenty of potential innings up for grabs on the mound. From what I've seen, there are some talented guys ready to step in and fill those spots. The only thing I fear is a repeat of 2008 when the competition for the available spots seemed to drain away the team unity. The first half of that season didn't look like much fun for the players and I know it wasn't much fun for this photographer/fan. Fortunately, it got much better in the second half of the season and Millsaps started playing some great baseball.
After reading the above, it would be natural to label this a rebuilding year for Millsaps. Maybe it will be to a degree, especially when considering the lofty record and ranking of the 2009 team, but my gut feeling is that Millsaps is going to be really good. Maybe not quite the power of the last few years with Hunter Owen out of the lineup, but possibly more speed, better defense, and if some of these freshmen are as good as advertised, more depth on the mound. I'm looking forward to the 2010 baseball season in about 3-4 months. In the meantime, there are plenty of other events to keep me occupied.
10 Weeks until SCAC Baseball, the best time of year is yet to come. Coming off a strong fall, the Petrels look to build from their eight returning offensive starters and a starting staff that can be at the top of the conference. Another strong defensive unit will be put on the field for the Petrels as they are looking to put much more emphasis on the defensive side..Defense WINS championships. On the mound, the Petrels are above average with depth, and if some freshman can step up, they will have a staff that throws strikes and will force the defense to make plays, which plays to the strength of the Petrels in their infield defense. The Petrels are hoping to overcome a couple injuries and get their boys back by early February before the games start. How's everybody else looking?? GO PETRELS
Well as Christmas approaches, I'm ready for some BASEBALL (D3 that is)!!!
We saw how well Robbie Long did @ DPU football last fall, has anybody heard what to expect from Jake Martin in baseball this spring? Has anybody heard the details of Matt Walker's departure?
Collegiate Baseball has their preseason poll out and no SCAC team made the top-30 or were included in the 10 teams that received votes. The list is in this thread under the national topics:
http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=6704.0
OK; where are the conference championships this year. Half of the SCAC teams have Millington as the site, the other half have listed Jackson. What is the deal?
Good question--for the record, Millsaps shows Millington as the site of the SCAC Championship.
Yea; and Rhodes says it is in Jackson ???
Host teams haven't done very well in the SCAC postseason so maybe it is a case of wishful thinking for both teams.
On a different subject, I took the time this afternoon to put the Millsaps schedule on my office calendar. When writing down all of the 2-game and 3-game series, it got me thinking about how a team doesn't really need a lot of pitching depth to be a contender in the SCAC. It makes doing a preseason poll very difficult because the addition of just one star pitcher can make such a difference--certainly a much bigger difference than when the teams were playing the 4-game weekends.
The 2010 SCAC Baseball Championship will be played at Millington. We were originally scheduled for Jackson, but a scheduling conflict forced us to move the event to Millington.
Hope everyone had a merry Christmas. Baseball season is quickly approaching, and I know everyone is as excited as I am! Any predictions for this upcoming season for the East side of the SCAC? Does anyone have a team to look out for? I was thinking about key players for this years east side of the conference, would anybody like to share there key players?
Have a safe new year..the year of the Petrel is upon us ;D
Was it last year or the season before that Millsaps had great January practices because the temps were in the 60's and 70's for most of January? This morning it is 19 degrees with the lower teens predicted for later in the week. It could be worse. Currently it is 6 degrees in Greencastle with a high of 21 expected later in the day. Or, it could be better like the current 30 degrees in San Antonio with a balmy 54 predicted for later in the day. Global warming? I'm ready for some global warming at the moment (but I'm sure I'll think different around August).
Cold weather or not, Millsaps is scheduled to start the season one month from today, hosting the U. of the Ozarks in a DH on Feburary 5 and a single game on the following day. The first SCAC action will be a 3-game home series with Hendrix on February 13-14. The campus is still closed for the semester/Christmas break and I've wondered if the baseball players would be coming back early to start practice. I'm not sure of the NCAA time frame for starting practice, but there are extra costs associated with the players coming back early and I'm not sure how much they could get done given the weather. My guess is that Millsaps will crank up practice next Monday and hope to be ready by the 5th.
It's hard to believe that the season is so close to starting for the teams in the South.
Had mid-60's weather in Jackson today after starting off the year with two weeks of colder than normal temps. Will Hawkins was listed on the 2nd team of the D3Baseball Preseason All-American team. I believe he was the only SCAC player listed. Here's the link for the complete list:
http://www.d3baseball.com/all-american/preseason2010.pdf
I was wondering what happened to Hendrix' Caleb Schallawitz, the FY pitcher from last season who threw a gem in the final game of the SCAC championships. He is not showing on the Warriors 2010 roster. Anyone know anything?
[color=orange]I was wondering what happened to Hendrix' Caleb Schallawitz, the FY pitcher from last season who threw a gem in the final game of the SCAC championships. He is not showing on the Warriors 2010 roster. Anyone know anything?[/color]
Caleb is at Central Baptist College - I hope he has a great season; a couple bumpy outings across town, but otherwise a real good 2nd season.
WAKE UP SCAC BASEBALL FANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There hasn't been much to talk about so far, but that will be changing soon. Southwestern gets things kicked off this weekend with an alumni game on Saturday and the season opener on Sunday. Southwestern was a powerhouse in years past and has fallen off the pace in recent years. If they get back on track then the SCAC West will go from brutal to extreme brutal.
Austin is the next to swing into action with a game next Tuesday and then Millsaps throws out the opening pitch 8 days from now on Friday the 5th.
Saturday (2/6) is the big day with Oglethorpe, Hendrix, and Trinity kicking off the season and Southwestern, Austin and Millsaps all have games scheduled for that day. Obviously the SCAC East has some delay due to weather, but you can always get your baseball fix by tuning into the Millsaps webcast. Many of the games will be on the web and I'll try to keep reminders posted throughout the season. Here's the link for the SCAC 2010 schedule: http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/schedule
Baseball preview for the Millsaps Majors:
http://www.gomajors.com/news/2010/1/28/BB_0128102800.aspx
Frank,
thank you for the link.
I just read on the SCAC that Millsaps is once again the pre-season coaches pick to win the conference, followed by Trinity. Historically, those are always an "oh no!"
It looks like Coach Page will again field a top team, with 2 DI transfers handling the middle infield positions. When he suggested to Coach McCain that they "recruit top talent or Coach McCain might be spending time at the Vermont All Star camp", I guess he made his point. ;D
From what I have heard, Trinity could well be starting 3 freshman in their infield. They are supposed to be very, very good players; some of the best Coach Scannell and his staff have attracted.
Doesn't seem fair, though, that freshman would be expected to compete with DI transfers!
Maybe Millsaps and Coach Page would be willing to give some runs??? ;)
Trinity hasn't posted a roster for the 2010 season yet, but they do have a preview of the season on their website. It seems like Trinity and Millsaps will be very similar in having a solid core group of upperclassmen supported by a very talented group of newcomers. Should make for the continuation of a good rivalry for years to come:
Trinity preview: http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/previewRecap
Also, the Southwestern game vs. the Alumni was rained out today, but they are still scheduled to play tomorrow at Houston-Victoria. Hard to believe that SCAC baseball opens up less than 16 hours from the time of this post.
El Tea Gray---re: 2010 Trinity Tigers vs. Tiger Alumni Sunday, January 31st (10 am start, 32degrees F)
2010 Trinity Tigers--------------5
Trinity Alumni-------------------4
Really great game! Lots of "high hope" for the 2010 Tiger season (starts Saturday).
:)
ETG.... come on,,, you told me froze your butt off and spent most of time in Bell Center trying to thaw out. Sounds more like the report of an eternal optimist???? Streaming vid was hard to watch, but thx for the report!
Southwestern opened up with a 2-0 victory. SCAC is 1-0 for 2010!!!
(but it think Houston-V is a NAIA school so that win doesn't matter much to the NCAA)
I will have to admit that in following Trinity, Southwestern, SCAC and ASC baseball over the past 10 years, I have never heard of Houston-Victoria.
Quote from: infielddad on February 01, 2010, 11:11:55 PM
I will have to admit that in following Trinity, Southwestern, SCAC and ASC baseball over the past 10 years, I have never heard of Houston-Victoria.
According to their website, UHV is currently an upper-division and graduate campus with a total enrollment of around 3500. It added athletics in 2007 and will enroll its first set of underclassment (~200 freshman/sophomores) this fall. They are an NAIA independent, offering only softball and baseball as intercollegiate sports - but will add golf and soccer next season. The baseball team won the 2009 Association of Independent Institutions baseball championship.
Anyone notice the preview on the South region had no mention of the SCAC West. It only mentions the East and absolutely nothing in the West? ???
It also said that BSC won the East which is untrue because they're not eligible. Yes, they were 10-5 along with DePauw, but not recognized as the East winner.
Not an interesting read at all. Wish JD would've gone more into detail.
Ready for the Majors to get it going on the diamond!
I'm also ready for the opening pitch this Friday. Regarding the preview, most of the SCAC West teams are in the West Region so that half of the conference is covered in the preview of the West.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 02, 2010, 12:25:20 PM
I'm also ready for the opening pitch this Friday. Regarding the preview, most of the SCAC West teams are in the West Region so that half of the conference is covered in the preview of the West.
Ah, I see. Good point. I was wondering if it was going to be somewhere else. Thanks for the heads up!
I retract my last statement, my bad JD.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on February 02, 2010, 09:34:57 AM
Quote from: infielddad on February 01, 2010, 11:11:55 PM
I will have to admit that in following Trinity, Southwestern, SCAC and ASC baseball over the past 10 years, I have never heard of Houston-Victoria.
According to their website, UHV is currently an upper-division and graduate campus with a total enrollment of around 3500. It added athletics in 2007 and will enroll its first set of underclassment (~200 freshman/sophomores) this fall. They are an NAIA independent, offering only softball and baseball as intercollegiate sports - but will add golf and soccer next season. The baseball team won the 2009 Association of Independent Institutions baseball
championship.
Thanks, Ron.
I was curious as to the quality of their play, not having heard of them.
If they are an NAIA offering scholarships, that, plus being able to recruit from Houston, means they could be pretty darn good even though they are a very new program.
2010 NCAA Division III "Players to Watch" from Collegiate Baseball
The SCAC had six players named to the list including:
Brantley Freeman, LHP, Southwestern
Kyle Belski, 1B, Southwestern
Brad Gerlach, RHP, DePauw
Rob McPike, 1B, DePauw
Chris Conkell, C, Rhodes
Brent Lindsey, OF, Rhodes
I was a little surprised Will Hawkins (Millsaps) was not on the list, but of course I'm biased cause he's a Major. The guy was named SCAC Offensive Player of the Year and was an All-American. I guess it's better he fly under the radar and have another breakout year.
You would also think that Noah Solomon of Trinity, the 2009 Pitcher of the Year, would get a mention as well. Without checking stats, I presume that the players named are well qualified to be on the list, but the list seems a little incomplete.
Let's add Kyle Felix and Evan Jones, both of Trinity, to the Watch List. Both are well-deserving and should quickly prove why.
Here, here Frank and Krak! There will be more from TU that 'represent'... stay tuned my friends!
Indeed, HM, indeed! I look forward to hearing your booming presence on the videocasts!
The Millsaps opener against U. of the Ozarks has been pushed back to 4 this afternoon due to heavy rain Thursday. The teams will now play a DH Saturday starting at 12.
All 3 games will be webcast and the link to those webcast is down in my signature section.
Millsaps wins the opener 16-2 against the University of the Ozarks. Aaron Williams started and got the win. Two or three freshmen pitched well in relief along with a shutout inning from Boomer Hudson.
Millsaps drew a lot of walks, and to the surprise of no one, they got a bunch of hit by pitches. It was a game played in cold wet weather and things just went downhill for the Ozarks in the later innings. The two teams play a DH tomorrow starting at 12. The webcast will start about 11:50 and the link for that is below in my signature area.
Box score for Millsaps game and it was two newcomers who pitched in relief with one being Jake Mills who is a junior college transfer. He looks like he will help both at the plate and on the mound.
Story on Millsaps website: http://www.gomajors.com/news/2010/2/6/BB_0206101326.aspx
Box score: http://gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/10Baseball/stats/mcb10-01.htm
Defending SCAC Champs....Hendrix College will open up tomorrow at the University of Dallas. They bring a lot of guys back and look out for 1B Jeff Forgeson finally out of Daniel Ward's hefty shadow to carry the lineup. Returing the entire infield, corner outfield, and starting pitching staff I am very excited to see how far they will go this year.
If you guys remember I made the outlandish prediction before the tournament last year that Hendrix would bring home the hardware so I've decided to make another such prediction.....2010 SCAC Pitcher of the Year: Soph. from Hendrix Ted Smoyer...
Look forward to another amazing season
That is all.
Thanks for the post BBallFanHC and you have made an interesting pick for Pitcher of the Year. Smoyer would have to leapfrog a lot of talented pitchers who return from 2009--individual stats for 2009 are here: http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2008-09/stats/lgplyrs.htm --but a lot can change from year to year in the SCAC.
You prediction is much farther out on the limb than mine which is: The SCAC West is going to be extremely competitive this year.
The only team that fell off the pace last year was Austin and I expect them to bounce back this season. Austin split with Northwood to open the season and Northwood was 36-19 last season and is ranked #25 in the preseason NAIA poll. It is going to be a great season of baseball and I hope fans from all the schools will support their team. The players and coaches deserve that support.
AC is just about to get a doubleheader against TLU started here in Sherman. They play the Bulldogs again tomorrow.
Millsaps wins the first game 11-1 in a game that ended with the 10-run rule. Jules Roussel is taking over the right field spot which has produced 4 of the last 5 SCAC Offensive POTY winners (Will Hawkins beat out Hunter Owen last year) and Jules hit a bomb in the 7th inning for the first Millsaps HR of the season. Shelby Robertson got the start and the win. The teams have completed the first inning of game two and Ozarks has a 3-0 lead.
A good opening weekend for Millsaps with a 3-0 start. We've seen in recent years that no one goes into the SCAC Tournament with even a 50-50 chance of winning the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament so keeping an at large possibility alive during the regular season is of vital importance.
Some key numbers from the 3 games against the University of the Ozarks:
--42 runs scored
--on base percentage of .500 thanks to .350 batting average, 25 walks, and 9 hbp
--16 out of 18 on stolen bases
--12 pitchers combined for an era of 3.60
(link to stats: http://gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/10Baseball/stats/teamcume.htm )
Of course, it's only 3 games that were played in miserable weather against a single opponent who might be fairly good or might be in for a long season. It was however, a weekend that showed promise and it was 3 NCAA wins without a loss. All in all, a great start for the Majors.
Oglethorpe opened up the season yesterday and split a double header with Maryville. (yes Super Bowl Sunday...freaking rain)
Game 1: The Petrels battled back from 0-4 in the second inning to win 8-7 on a walk off 3 run home run by the Senior Outfielder Pilger. That home run was actually his 3rd home run of the GAME! I pretty sure he ended up with 7 RBIs. Thats the first time I have ever actually been at a game where someone has hit 3 home runs so that was fun.
Game 2: The Petrels started off hot gaining a 8-1 advantage after the 2nd inning but then went as cold as you could be and gave up 15 unanswered runs.
Oglethorpe's defense was pretty sloppy for both games. I just hope that they will put it all together in these next coming games...
Look forward to watching some more baseball this weekend as Oglethorpe plays Emory 3 times (Friday-Sunday).
That's quite a change of momentum in game 2. The Emory series will be the opener for Emory, a team that has fallen off some since getting to the finals of the D3 World Series a few years ago. It will be interesting to see if Emory can bounce back to the nationally ranked level that was once the norm.
Millsaps has Huntingdon on the schedule for tomorrow and then starts SCAC play this weekend, hosting Hendrix in a 3 game series. That seemed to be really early in the season for conference play, but I checked last year's schedule and Millsaps hosted Hendrix on Feb. 14 and 15 last season. With 8 weekends needed to complete the SCAC West schedule, I guess play needs to start this early.
So far it has been a mixed bag of results for the SCAC. You can see the schedule and results so far at this link:
http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/schedule
Soon after shoveling heaps of snow off the diamond, Hendrix traveled down to a warmer (slightly) U. of Dallas and swept the first series of the year for the Warriors. Forgerson picked up where he left off, homering for his third straight game dating back to the West regional tournament. Look for big things from both Forgerson and previous first team All-SCAC selection Eric Mathis. With those two big bats and plenty of guys who can scrap their way on base, the offense will not be an issue. Only one arm has departed (Gnat) and the rest should be well rested. A freshman is in the three slot and shut down U. of Dallas this past weekend to secure his first collegiate win. Smoyer, Suydam, and Keine are all returning with their spot in the rotation and all but one member of the bullpen is back. The Hendrix club lost only one starter and three other players to graduation last spring; look for a very competitive program yet again.
I also find it very intriguing that Hendrix has received absolutely no love in the preseason predictions, polls, and other hoopla. This team cruised its way through the SCAC Tournament, returns all but one starter, yet is hardly considered in the SCAC preseason release? Can someone please explain this logic..? Good luck to the SCAC 2010!! TGIBS!
Well, let's keep in mind that not every voter keeps up with Hendrix as closely as you do. Also, while Hendrix had a great tournament run last year, it wasn't a great year record wise (22-23 with a 10-10 SCAC record). Plus, it was only one year and preseason voters tend to look for a pattern of success of a longer stretch.
There's no doubt that the coaches and players around the SCAC are aware of the huge strides recently made by the Hendrix baseball program. If the weather cooperates and Millsaps and Hendrix do play three this weekend, I'm expecting 3 very close games. Every series is going to be tough and it will be hard for any team to match the 15-5 conference record posted by Millsaps last season.
2 starters, lets not forget about a certain All-Tournament Catcher ;) Hendrix had a very good run to close the year but the record and history put them exactly where they belong in the preseason rankings. They finished third in the West 2009 season and they will most likely finish there again this year. As long as they just get in the tournament!
Am looking forward to a visit to Jackson this weekend as Hendrix will be playing both baseball and basketball. Reminds me again of the 2nd lost starter ;)
Hope for lots of sun to melt the 4 inches of snow still on the ground in Conway.
The forecast calls for some odd weather in Jackson over the next few days. Might have several inches of snow Thursday night and Friday, and then the forecast shows sunny and 55 on Saturday. It seems like the weather will be okay for the games on Saturday and now we have to see if the Hendrix team can get from Conway to Jackson.
I was on the Hendrix website and saw their baseball preview. While they have 20 returning players, it was a little surprising to see that they only have 3 freshmen. Makes me wonder if they have a roster limit and just didn't have room to recruit any more freshmen. Here's the link to that Hendrix preview:
http://www.hendrix.edu/Athletics/news.aspx?id=45736
We SCAC "lookers-on" also see that the SCAC tourney can let a hot team slip in.
Hednrix had a great run in 2009.
Ausitn College did the same in 2007.
http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2006-07/stats/confstat.htm
There are too many good quality baseball players in this part of the country for one to see one schools or another break ahead of the pack.
What this may mean for Hendrix is that they are always on everyone's watch list.
Trinity--solid
Millsaps -- always tough
Austin College- Coach Iwasaki will play anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Southwestern -- has had a tougher last half decade from their power days in the early 2000's.
The SCAC-West is now as balanced a division as any conference in the country. It makes for brutal in-region records, where a solid team cannot get any national love, but I think that the SCAC-West and the ASC are building reputations of very competitive leagues.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 10, 2010, 04:31:51 PM
The forecast calls for some odd weather in Jackson over the next few days. Might have several inches of snow Thursday night and Friday, and then the forecast shows sunny and 55 on Saturday. It seems like the weather will be okay for the games on Saturday and now we have to see if the Hendrix team can get from Conway to Jackson.
I was on the Hendrix website and saw their baseball preview. While they have 20 returning players, it was a little surprising to see that they only have 3 freshmen. Makes me wonder if they have a roster limit and just didn't have room to recruit any more freshmen. Here's the link to that Hendrix preview:
http://www.hendrix.edu/Athletics/news.aspx?id=45736
I would hope that HX is developing a great JV program.
I was on the Hendrix website and saw their baseball preview. While they have 20 returning players, it was a little surprising to see that they only have 3 freshmen. Makes me wonder if they have a roster limit and just didn't have room to recruit any more freshmen. Here's the link to that Hendrix preview:
http://www.hendrix.edu/Athletics/news.aspx?id=45736
I would hope that HX is developing a great JV program.
A couple observations
1. You may remember that Hendrix was not that good for a while. The '09 title has made it easier, but these freshmen were recruited in what we hopefully will refer to as the dark days.
2. HC has a large sophomore class.
3. It looks as though the class of '14 will have both quantity and quality.
4. Y'all are gonna be in a lot of trouble.
No JV program yet, just a good team and coaches, plenty of playing time and fingers crossed for the injury bug to stay away.
Trinity played its best game of the young season. Today they beat a quality UMHB squad 7-0. Evan Jones and Kyle Felix are pounding the ball. Their freshman shortstop is a player.
Today, Ben Klimesh showed he may have overcome his freshman wildness.
Klimesh is 88-91 with a good breaking ball. Would not be surprised if this isn't is best college start even though he was terrific last year against Notre Dame.
The Tigers are hitting.
Their starting pitching has been good. If they get more quality from the balance of the pitching staff, their starting freshman will continue to improve. Jones and Felix are just going to be tough outs all year.
While it is still early, this could well be the best team Coach Scannell has had at TU, and he has had some good ones.
Got up in the middle of the night (old people do that often) and saw the last two posts. Two quick comments:
1) Regarding Hendrix, JimiBall makes my point with #1 and #2. Hendrix recruited a great class of freshmen for the 2009 season even when Hendrix was in the dark years and then only add 3 players after showing a ray of hope. Yes, I see his point that this year's freshman class was recruited before the SCAC and NCAA Tournaments, but last year's freshman class was recruited when times were far bleaker. The dropoff in recruits totals is odd and it made me wonder if there was a "rest of the story".
2) Ben Klimesh played on the same New York summer league team as Aaron Williams of Millsaps. I kept an eye on that team's stats and Klimesh had a good year in a league with a lot of D1 players. I actually looked through the stories about the fall intrasquad games for his name and couldn't find it. Then I looked in the Tigers' season preview and couldn't find mention of his name. His good start this year isn't a surprise to me--I'm more surprised to find that he is still on the team after no mention up until now. I suspect he is going to continue to have a great season.
An update on the forecast for Jackson this weekend. About 12 hours ago the forecast said 55 degrees and sunny for Jackson this Saturday. Now the forcast from the same source (Yahoo weather) shows a high of 39 on Saturday with snow in the morning.
Why does anyone actually believe that the weather scientists can accurately predict anything 5-day, 10-day, or decades into the future, when they make such dramatic forecast swings regarding events of the next 2 or 3 days?
Heck, Al Gore thought he could predict it ten years out!
Al Gore still thinks he knows the weather 10 years out!
As far as Hendrix 2009-10 Freshman class, I heard it was more a matter of economics. Last year was a devastating year financially overall and there was an unanticipated late raise in tuition that cost a few new recruits and a few transfer students. Hence the 10% reduction in games this season. I am sure Hendrix will have a sizable incoming 20010-11 class next year to bolster the 2008-09 class. This situation exposes Hendrix potential weakness of lack of depth later in the season. A healthy season can also help this matter! Looking back, it is amazing the number of successful freshman starters Hendrix has had the past 4 years during the building of last year's team. You can't yet discount the few incoming freshman as LHP Tyler Keever allowed only 3 hits for the win in his debut. Don't be surprised as there are a few players that may have multiple roles throughout the season.
Regarding the upcoming Milsaps-Hendrix series this weekend,
1. Will there be an available live video feed available for all 3 games?
2. Is there an archive of Milsaps live videos from the Ozarks series?
Thanks!
On Saturday the Millsaps webcast will be of the two basketball games against Hendrix. I don't know if there will be any live stats during the day on Saturday. My guess is that there aren't live stats because the basketball announcer said he would try to get text messages from people at the baseball game so he could pass along the score to the basketball viewers.
The Sunday game is scheduled to be webcast. As for archived games, that feature isn't available at Millsaps this season.
Quote from: svbbcoach on February 12, 2010, 11:36:48 AM
Al Gore still thinks he knows the weather 10 years out!
As far as Hendrix 2009-10 Freshman class, I heard it was more a matter of economics. Last year was a devastating year financially overall and there was an unanticipated late raise in tuition that cost a few new recruits and a few transfer students. Hence the 10% reduction in games this season. I am sure Hendrix will have a sizable incoming 20010-11 class next year to bolster the 2008-09 class. This situation exposes Hendrix potential weakness of lack of depth later in the season. A healthy season can also help this matter! Looking back, it is amazing the number of successful freshman starters Hendrix has had the past 4 years during the building of last year's team. You can't yet discount the few incoming freshman as LHP Tyler Keever allowed only 3 hits for the win in his debut. Don't be surprised as there are a few players that may have multiple roles throughout the season.
Are you talking about Hendrix self-imposed a 10% reduction in games or a SCAC imposed one. If it is SCAC imposed, that is stupid. Teams that raise money to supplement their budgets should not be penalized.
Tfan:
The scac voted last year to reduce cost of athletics by reducing the number of games by 10% for all sports and certain other cost cutting measures by sport (reducing the number of umpires at scac games from 3 to 2). I believe that it goes into effect next season.
I'm REALLY curious to hear what happens coming out of the Trinity/AC series this weekend. The 'Roos have a ton of solid players coming back from last year, including Andy White (who missed almost all of last year after being a 1st Team All-SCAC shortstop the year before) and Will Chermak, who should be one of the top pitchers in the league, but I think pitching depth might potentially be an issue unless Coach Carl has a few young hurlers ready to contribute.
Offensively, the 'Roos should be pretty solid with White, Jordan Robison, Brian Buehler, Scooter Merritt, Sean Muder and John Reisig all back, and he's got a few young kids who look like they are going to be legit threats. Just trust me when I say you'll know the talented freshmen when you see them, one in particular (who is going to be an absolute STUD in this conference).
Don't know much about Trinity, but I figure they'll always be one of the more talented teams in the league so this should be a pretty good measuring stick for an AC team that blends lots of experience with some talented newcomers.
Millsaps-Hendrix DH on Saturday has been postponed because of the heavy snow in Jackson Friday--that's heavy by Mississippi standards. The teams might try to play a DH on Sunday.
Link with a photo of the Millsaps field from today: http://www.gomajors.com/news/2010/2/12/BB_0212104652.aspx
Quote from: ILVBB on February 12, 2010, 01:20:35 PM
Tfan:
The scac voted last year to reduce cost of athletics by reducing the number of games by 10% for all sports and certain other cost cutting measures by sport (reducing the number of umpires at scac games from 3 to 2). I believe that it goes into effect next season.
Stupid, just stupid. 2 man umpire crews for conference. The umps weren't great to begin with, now they will really suck. I bet Coach Smith has been working on balk moves like crazy with his staff then. I know Trinity has done a great job of raising outside money and they shouldn't be punished. I understand the economy is not where it was and everything keeps getting more expensive, but cutting games isnt a good move, IMO. If they want to keep it fair, cut the athletic budgets evenly and then not restrict anything else. Make each team give back X amount of money from their athletic budget. If that team can then raise that money on their own, they should get to play 40 games or have 3 umps, etc.
The 10 percent forced reduction only hurts the student athletes in my opinion. They could have cut costs in areas that didn't rob players of their already fleeting college careers. For instance, a reconstruction of the schedule back to the old "home one year, away the next" would have been much better at saving money. It would have greatly reduced travel costs (buses cost about 5,000 per trip while you would only need to add one more day in a hotel). That money could have then been spent on umpires for an extra 2 home games, and 2 more day trip away games that would have only cost meal money.
Also, 4 games a year adds up to 16 missed games; THAT'S 40% OF A SEASON! There's definitely recruits who turned away from the SCAC and went elsewhere such as the ASC; That's tuition revenue going bye-bye.
Worst of all is that at least one of these schools who lobbied for the reduced schedule, Hendrix, refuses to even think about advertising revenue and won't allow sport specific donations. In other words, they actually have the ability to make up large amounts of their costs but instead take it out on the rest of the SCAC.
I have to agree with the previous post and say that there is no other word to describe this but stupid.
Word out of the SCAC is that the 10% reduction has been tabled and will not go into effect in 2011. The Presidents apparently received so much blow back from the student-athletes they had no option but to table it. The SA's at the SCAC schools wrote letters and had petitions signed voicing their displeasure. So, any school that has a 10% reduction in games it is a self imposed reduction, not a SCAC mandate.
3 umps or 2 umps...honestly it doesn't make a difference. Teams play nonconference with 2-man crews, and some of those games are just as important in regional rankings as SCAC games.
I did not intend to wake the masses about cuts and reductions. Living a couple thousand miles away, this message board is my main source of information. I trust that the information posted here is somewhat reliable or corrected fairly quickly.
I have no knowledge as to who if anyone, imposed a reduction. I heard about it here on the message board last year shortly after the SCAC baseball championships. This year Hendrix has a 36 game (+ Alumni game) schedule instead of a 40 game schedule. Coincidence, maybe, but a 10% reduction regardless. I am not pointing fingers nor care to get worked up about it. Personally I would like to see the teams in the East Division a couple times a year rather than play our own division on 2 different weekends. Since I must travel half way across the country to see any games, the old 4 game weekend benefited me best by getting 12 games in 3 weekends of travel.
All I know is that far more knowledgable people that have all the facts and reasons for making changes will make the decisions that best fit the big picture and not one sport, school or group of people. We just have to deal with it! I don't think the players care as long as they are playing the games. Just my opinion!
Trinity takes two from Austin this afternoon. I watched some of the last game which was won by Trinity 12-9. Never heard the score on the 1st game but my impression is that Trinity won that game by a wider margin.
Evan Jones had two home runs today--he is off to a very hot start this season. The Trinity hitters in general are off to a hot start.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 13, 2010, 08:57:44 PM
Trinity takes two from Austin this afternoon. I watched some of the last game which was won by Trinity 12-9. Never heard the score on the 1st game but my impression is that Trinity won that game by a wider margin.
Evan Jones had two home runs today--he is off to a very hot start this season. The Trinity hitters in general are off to a hot start.
TU won the first game 15-3.
Jones had his two HR and did not make an out in either game. 5-5 on the day. Calbick, Early, and Pappas each had a HR. TU had 30 hits and scored 27 runs on the day.
Six games does not make a season. But you sure gotta love a team batting average of .406. With the 3-5 hitters hitting a combined .563, with a slg% of .958 and 6 hrs (not to mention, 6-2b and 2-3b)amoung them.
It is sure fun to watch offensive baseball (as long as you are a TU fan).
Quote
As for archived games, that feature isn't available at Millsaps this season.
In the two years Millsaps has had a webcast, they've never archived. Fans, parents, recruits, etc., really need that option. I think it's time for Millsaps to nut up and pay for the archived feature, or think about going to another provider that offers it as part of their package. I really enjoy ATW Sportscast (because it's free of course) but there are several other good sites that offer archives (like Stretch Internet that MS College uses). I'd be willing to pay $50 for a subscription if that was available, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I've heard tons of baseball parents over the years talk about that.
Frank, anyone you could ask on the athletics staff about that?
I think you hit the nail on the head with "I'd be willing to pay". It would be interesting to hear from some of the pay-to-view schools and their fans on which they would prefer. And let's keep in mind that while ATW might be free, Millsaps pays for the equipment, the announcer, and his travels. There is definitely an expense involved in providing this service to the fans.
I don't know how much it would cost to use a system that includes archiving. If it's not much, then maybe it's a question of enough people making the request so the school will know that this is something parents and fans want. If it's a lot, then I'd prefer to see that money covered by donations rather than a fee to everyone. These Millsaps athletes deserve all the recognition they can get and charging to see the games on the internet would definitely cut down on the number of people watching them play.
There are companies that provide the equipment and bandwidth for free. The company charges consumers for the feeds daily, monthly or annual. There are a number of high schools using this system. With the fee comes the archiving.
Where Milsaps and Trinity separate themselves from the rest is their announcers. Derrel (Milsaps) and Bob (I think) (Trinity) do an outstanding job. When you watch Hendrix feed, there is no announcer. Hendrix now has an individual broadcasting his wit and personality via Twitter.
The video feed is not for the locals and would not take away from the fan base. It is for the parents, alumni and fans that are out of the area, state or across the country. Trust me, 2 years ago I waited for a phone call at the end of the day to hear how the game(s) went. In this day of communication, there is no reason that every school should not have some form of live stats, video, broadcast, twitter, text updates, etc... This is a promotion of the school, sport and players.
The Twitter situation used at Hendrix is done by a volunteer and is the only answer to Austin and Southwestern that have no broadcast information to my knowledge. This is not intended to be a slam on any school, just information that this technology is out there for everyone with minimal knowledge or expertise required. It probably isn't as big of a deal for parents of students from the local area, but parents of the athletes that chose to attend those schools from out of state are excluded otherwise.
Milsaps and Trinity do it right! Sometimes conflicts between sports are inevitable. Hendrix is on the right track. Would just like to see Austin and Southwestern without having to travel 3 hours on a plane. And yes, I know it was a choice to attend an out of area college. Just trying to make the world a little bit better!
Southwestern has a webcast I believe, but you pay to view. I choose not to pay and to follow the live stats instead. Also, I'll agree that the webcast are most important for the folks who are out of town, but I've listened to my fair share of games on the webcast even though I live in Jackson near the campus. I really appreciate this service provided to Millsaps fans.
Regarding the Trinity broadcast, I always enjoy listening to their games as well as the crew from DePauw. I only heard the last few innings from the Trinity games yesterday. I believe that was Evan Bronson who was giving the insight in how to pitch to the batters and what he remembered about batters from previous seasons. That was good stuff and it really made the broadcast interesting to me.
Regarding the Trinity team and comparing them to the early start by Millsaps, it appears that Trinity will be a team loaded with sluggers and Millsaps will be more of a small ball team. I think Millsaps had 25 walks, 9 hbp, and 16 SB in their first 3 games to go along with 1 HR. They still scored 14 runs per game, but in a far different manner than the way Trinity is getting their double-digit scores. It makes for an interesting contrast.
In regards to the ATW webcasts......is some kind of wi-fi hotspot needed at the field? How does it work? I'm looking into it for the high school team I coach which happens to be an overseas DoD school. Would love to be able to broadcast to parents who are deployed and to families back in the States.
OU just layed the wood to Emory, 19 hits posted by the Petrels who almost gave up the game up 6-zip and here came Emory put up a 6 spot, Ou charged back to go ahead and never looked back.
was good to just get in a game next up for OU Piedmont weather permitting.
At this point in the season, it certainly looks like Trinity is the team to beat in the SCAC. Admittedly, it's extremely early with some teams yet to play their first game and with Millsaps off to a solid 3-0 start, but Trinity seems to have everything in sync at the moment.
With a 12-2 win today, Trinity put the finishing touches on a sweep of Austin. The 'Roos came into the series having allowed 51 runs in 5 games, and allowed double-digit scores to the Tigers in all three games. The Austin pitching will obviously need to improve in a hurry.
In other action, it wasn't a great weekend for SCAC baseball. Southwestern got no-hit in a 10-0 loss to Texas Lutheran and then outhit Texas Lutheran 8-3 in the second game but loss that by a 2-1 score. Rhodes opened their season today with a 6-3 loss to Huntingdon. On the plus side, Oglethorpe finally got their game played with Emory and won 13-8.
As for Millsaps and Hendrix, there's no word on the Millsaps website about those games being rescheduled. There was talk of playing a DH Monday or Tuesday and then having Hendrix host a 3-game series instead of a 2-game series, but nothing has been made official on that.
I received word from a player that they are planning on leaving Hendrix Monday afternoon for Jackson. Reportedly a DH to start Tuesday around 1pm CT. The 3rd game will probably be played at Hendrix during the March 20 rematch weekend. Nothing official yet. Anyone else hear anything?
Millsaps athletic newsletter came out during lunch and here's the baseball schedule for this week:
Tuesday: Hendrix at Millsaps (DH)--1:00 and 4:00 (the series at Hendrix later will become a 3-game series)
Wednesday: MS College at Millsaps 6:00
Saturday: Millsaps at Southwestern 1:00
Sunday: Millsaps at Southwestern 1:00
It's mostly likely that Aaron Williams and Shelby Robertson will get the starts Tuesday and I guess they would have time to come back and start the games against Southwestern. The game against MS College might become a pitch by committee against a tough team--that would give some idea of the Millsaps pitching depth this season.
According to the baseball schedule on the Millsaps website, the Tuesday games with Hendrix are going to be webcast at the following link:
http://www.sportsnation360.com/schools/webcast/Millsaps-College
The forecast is for a sunny day, but the high will only reach 49 degrees and a 10-15 mph wind will make for a chilly day at Twenty Field. It seems like a good day to work on photos of the basketball teams, the cheerleaders, and the dance team while listening to DP's broadcast.
watching the webcast right now...Majors up 5-0 in 3rd.
Millsaps wins the DH with Hendrix today, taking the first game 8-4 and the second by a 10-8 margin. The wins move Millsaps to 5-0 and 2-0 in the SCAC. The losses drop Hendrix to 3-2 and 0-2 in the SCAC. The third game of this series will now become a home game for Hendrix later in the season.
Boxscore game 1: http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/10Baseball/stats/mcb10-04.htm
Box score game 2: http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/10Baseball/stats/mcb10-05.htm
Millsaps has gone through a difficult preseason with the first two weeks of January being about the coldest long stretch of weather that I can remember in Jackson. Then there's been a fair amount of rain, plus a heavy snow. For Millsaps and their first two opponents (Ozarks and Hendrix), I would expect a lot of improvement once the weather gets better and there's the opportunity for more consistent practice time. In the meantime, it's good to be 5-0, especially with new starters at 5 of the 8 positions and a lot of newcomers getting time on the mound.
Next up for Millsaps will be a single game tomorrow against MS College. That will be a tough test and then the weekend brings the first two SCAC road games with a trip to Southwestern. Those are 3 games that will tell us a lot more about this year's Millsaps team.
Hello to the regulars. This is the first of what will probably be many posts about Hendrix and the SCAC.
First Congrats to Millsaps.
Second Boooo Hendrix. This team is much better than they played today and I think the series at Hendrix will be a good one. I think being jerked around for 4 days, then traveling late presented some hurdles those guys and they will get it together before the next meeting.
On a slightly older topic I don't think I saw anyone mention the issue of tuition when discussing Hendrix's small recruiting class this year. I believe there was a solid line up some of which was lost when Hendrix announced an increase in tuition.
Does this seem likely?
Hoping for another great Hendrix season!
Anyone at the Hendrix/Millsaps game today; how much did the cold impact the game? The box score shows more errors than you would expect from these teams, did the cold play a part in the games?
I wasn't there but talked to some Hendrix players. They said that the weather wasn't bad when I asked the same question.
The weather today didn't look to be the primary issue, but instead the amount of practice time I am assuming both teams have had. I am more familiar with Conway and Hendrix and can say there is no possible way Hendrix has held more than two practices on a baseball diamond. I cannot remember any time in recent memory that the weather has been this much of an issue. I assume that with improved weather conditions, the teams will be able to get more outdoor practice time; there is only so much you can do in a gym/cage.
Despite the large amount of errors, most of them were not extraordinarily bad. The shortstop from Millsaps had a handful, although he seems like he is pretty sure-handed and will be much improved later on.
Regarding the cold of last night and of 2010, it seems like both were factors in the high number of errors. With Millsaps opening against Ozarks and Hendrix, that gave them two opponents who have also struggled with weather problems in the preseason. While I haven't kept up with the weather in Georgetown, TX for the last 6 weeks, my guess is that their team has had better practice conditions and that is something to consider regarding the Saturday and Sunday games.
Millsaps plays MS College tonight at 6:00 in a huge game that will be webcast:
http://www.sportsnation360.com/schools/webcast/Millsaps-College
Maybe it seems a little overstated to call this a "huge" game, but I start out every season knowing that keeping the prospects for an NCAA at-large berth alive is extremely important. Remember that the 2006 and 2009 teams went to the NCAA on an at-large berth and the very talented 2007 team missed out on an at-large because of one or two losses here and there throughout their regular season.
Personally, I think that 9 NCAA losses are about the most you can have if you are looking for an at-large bid. Let's say a team goes 15-5 in the SCAC and then picks up two losses in the SCAC Tournament. That's 7 losses right there. It doesn't leave much wiggle room for losses in the non-conference games and MS College is a tough team that's on the schedule 3 times. Millsaps needs to win at least 2 out of 3 with MS College this year and that's why tonight's game is so important. It should be a good one and I hope you get a chance to tune in for some of the action.
Looking at the box score, Trinity rolled again last night. Everyone had a hit, except Evan Jones, who had 3 RBIs. Through 20% of the season, the Tigers appear to be clicking on offense. I hope it lasts....
Via Text message I have learned that Oglethorpe has defeated Piedmont today 6-2 @ Piedmont.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on February 17, 2010, 09:42:43 AM
Looking at the box score, Trinity rolled again last night. Everyone had a hit, except Evan Jones, who had 3 RBIs. Through 20% of the season, the Tigers appear to be clicking on offense. I hope it lasts....
What Evan Jones is doing to a baseball right now is just silly. I especially like the 10 BBs to the 1K, which is a good indication that while he's probably not going to hit .600 (ha) he's primed for a great season at the plate.
Kyle Felix can swing it as well and it seem Scannell has gone out and gotten a great crop of young guys including his freshman middle infield tandem.
(Granted, they certainly haven't faced great pitching at this point yet either).
The question marks do seem to reside on the bump where Robertson has been sub par, and there's some question marks about the depth. Hunter certainly has a high ceiling, though the fastball's been a little flat in the past & command inconsistent. Be interesting to see if he can eat some some midweek innings if Robertson doesn't come around.
JSG
Quote from: HeadingForHome on February 17, 2010, 05:47:19 PM
Via Text message I have learned that Oglethorpe has defeated Piedmont today 6-2 @ Piedmont.
You are correct. Junior Mark Hoban went 8 and 1/3 for the win. OU now has wins over both Piedmont and Emory so far this young season. The bats are on fire and now the arms are getting there too. Hope we keep it up!!!
Millsaps lost their first game of the season, falling 9-6 to Mississippi College with most of the damage being done by MC putting up a 7-spot in the top of the first.
The good news is that Millsaps went with all newcomers on the mound yesterday and a combo of freshmen held MC to 2 runs after that initial outburst. The bad news, other than losing the game, is that Millsaps chipped away but could never put together a big inning. I believe they scored twice on plays where the batter grounded into a DP. It's nice to get a run, but sacrificing 2 outs for one run is a rally killer.
Of course, Millsaps is extremely inexperienced at the moment. Newcomers at 2nd, SS, and 3rd. An infielder making the transition to playing leftfield. A sophomore who rarely played last year taking over in right. A lot of new pitchers. All things considered 5-1 is a nice start and with Aaron Williams, Shelby Robertson, and Boomer Hudson ready to go this weekend, I hope to see Millsaps get to 7-1. But, it is a team that is getting acclimated and I expect to see Millsaps improve a lot as the season progresses.
Quote from: Just_Some_Guy on February 17, 2010, 11:17:27 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on February 17, 2010, 09:42:43 AM
Looking at the box score, Trinity rolled again last night. Everyone had a hit, except Evan Jones, who had 3 RBIs. Through 20% of the season, the Tigers appear to be clicking on offense. I hope it lasts....
What Evan Jones is doing to a baseball right now is just silly. I especially like the 10 BBs to the 1K, which is a good indication that while he's probably not going to hit .600 (ha) he's primed for a great season at the plate.
Kyle Felix can swing it as well and it seem Scannell has gone out and gotten a great crop of young guys including his freshman middle infield tandem.
(Granted, they certainly haven't faced great pitching at this point yet either).
The question marks do seem to reside on the bump where Robertson has been sub par, and there's some question marks about the depth. Hunter certainly has a high ceiling, though the fastball's been a little flat in the past & command inconsistent. Be interesting to see if he can eat some some midweek innings if Robertson doesn't come around.
JSG
You might see some of Robertson's innings go to Ben Klimmesh. He might have turned a corner from last year with back to back solid outings so far this year.
Hopefully they can figure out the back end of the staff while the bats are still hot.....
JSG,
Hall, Franke and Clements can really play. I hope you get to see them soon. They will make some freshman mistakes for sure. The great thing right now is Jones and Felix and some other upper classmen are hitting so well and Panozzo and Solomon are pitching well so the freshman are able to transition without too much pressure.
With that said, Hall, Franke and Clements will be way better in April than they are now and they are certainly, according to the coaching staff, right there with the best Coach Scannell has recruited to Trinity.
By April, that will be a line up of 9 very tough outs.
In talking with Coach Smith, he has a lot of good arms and there seems to be healthy competition. Hopefully, that will result with some quality pitchers elevating their game. As tigerfan said, Klimesh has had two quality starts and looks like he can add a lot. They will need some others.
Quote from: 18wheeler18 on February 16, 2010, 11:49:42 PM
Hello to the regulars. This is the first of what will probably be many posts about Hendrix and the SCAC.
First Congrats to Millsaps.
Second Boooo Hendrix. This team is much better than they played today and I think the series at Hendrix will be a good one. I think being jerked around for 4 days, then traveling late presented some hurdles those guys and they will get it together before the next meeting.
On a slightly older topic I don't think I saw anyone mention the issue of tuition when discussing Hendrix's small recruiting class this year. I believe there was a solid line up some of which was lost when Hendrix announced an increase in tuition.
Does this seem likely?
Hoping for another great Hendrix season!
Welcome Wheeler! Both fists in the air!!!
Oglethorpe beats Atlanta Christian today 11-2. Makes OU 4-1 on the young season. Tough games coming up with Washington and Lee (2-21 & 22) and Lagrange (2-23). OU is really looking good thus far. These next three games will be a good test for the battling Petrels. Last night Hoban went 8 1/3 with 10K's and 2ER. Tonight Cornwell pitched 8 and gave up just the two runs. Awesome fun! ;D ;D ;D 8-)
JSG.... stay tuned,,, Trinity is only going to get BETTER! If Clint can 'find it' after his long rehab,,, ADD him to the mix!
The Southwestern baseball homepage says that today's SCAC opener against Millsaps has been pushed back to 3:00.
(http://southwesternpirates.com/sports/m-basebl/index)
The Southwestern baseball schedule and results shows that Millsaps beat Southwestern today 3-2.
(http://southwesternpirates.com/sports/m-basebl/2009-10/Schedule)
Based on the live stats, I believe they have posted a softball score to the baseball results in error, but I hope they are correct in predicting a Millsaps victory. A 3-2 score would be fine, just as long as it's a Millsaps win.
Hendrix lost game 1 to Austin in the bottom of 7th, 2-1.
Millsaps going with freshman Elliot Varney on the mound against Southwestern today. Live stats at:
http://livestats.prestosports.com/southwestern/bsb/
Austin College scored one in the bottom of the 7th to take the first game of a DH 2-1 over Hendrix. Second game to follow soon. Live stats at:
http://baseball.austincollege.edu/
Millsaps got two runners on in the top of the first and grounded into a DP. Southwestern then scored 4 runs before Millsaps got the first out, helped partially by an error. Southwestern has the based load with just one out so Millsaps is in danger of starting off another game giving up 7 in the 1st--hard to win games like that.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 20, 2010, 04:22:36 PM
Millsaps got two runners on in the top of the first and grounded into a DP. Southwestern then scored 4 runs before Millsaps got the first out, helped partially by an error. Southwestern has the based load with just one out so Millsaps is in danger of starting off another game giving up 7 in the 1st--hard to win games like that.
Frank...can u keep updating the score? I can't get the live stats to work.
Saw where Austin college took both from Hendrix today.
Final Millsaps 19 Southwestern 10
I went out walking after the game and have just seen this request. In a game that might make purist puke, Millsaps came back from the 0-5 first inning to win 19-10, a game with a whopping 16 errors (9 by SW, 7 by Millsaps).
Millsaps had 18 hits and Jules Roussel had his 2nd HR of the season. Jules is the sophomore who had taken over in RF, and while he hasn't made us forget Hunter Owen just yet, he had a very nice 3 for 5 day with 4 rbi.
There's something in the stat sheet today that is a good representation of what to expect from Millsaps for the first half of the season. Millsaps started a freshman pitcher today who went a third of an inning, gave up 4 hits, 5 runs (3 earned), walked a batter and had a wild pitch. He was replaced by junior college transfer Jake Mills and Jake had a solid outing--6.2 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and 6 K's. Here's the kicker--Jake pitched against MS College Wednesday and had this outing--no outs, 5 hits, 7 runs (6 earned), 2 wild pitches, 1 hbp.
That's what I expect to see from Millsaps for about 20 games, guys getting acclimated to a new environment and a different level of play. The talent is there, the experience is not. I'm glad to have started 6-1, but there will be tougher stretches in the schdule where it will take better play to keep up a record like that. Let's see how fast these new guys can develop.
Here's a link to the Millsaps stats and boxscores for the season. While looking through the numbers I saw a stat that seemed highly abnormal, but maybe it really isn't--you tell me:
---After 7 games the Millsaps OBP of .468 is higher than the .463 slugging percentage.
I would have sworn that this is abnormal, but then I saw that the Millsaps opponents have a OBP of .383, which is about the same as the .388 slugging percentage. I think the cold weather for most of the Millsaps games might be a factor. Maybe more walks and hbp by the pitchers who have lost feeling in their fingertips and balls not travelling as far in the cold air.
Link to Millsaps stats: http://gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/10Baseball/stats/teamstat.htm
Final Millsaps 21 Southwestern 7
Oglethorpe went crazy at the plate again today this time versus Washington & Lee. OU was down 7-4 early but put up 10 unanswered runs en route to a 14-7 final. Another solid win versus a south region opponent. Brendan Pilger went 4-4 with 4 runs, JJ Rizzo was 4-5 with 2 RBI and FY Nick Manai had 3 hits and 3 RBI's.
The two teams face each other again Monday at 4pm.
A good day for Millsaps at the plate with 18 hits, 11 walks, and no strike outs. Here's a link to the live stats--they still have the stats up for the game:
http://livestats.prestosports.com/southwestern/bsb/
Yes it was another sweet win for OU. In addition to the offense listed below, Andy Ferry and Adam Brazenas each drove in 3 runs as well. In fact, hitters 3,4,5,and 6 drove in 11 between them! Freakin JJ and Pil are simply on fire. Neal Amos (Fr) also pitched 4+ innings of shutout ball in middle relief. I think he picked up the win too. Brad Brickhouse threw the 9th and shut them down 1-2-3. Brad pitched his first pitches today since having Tommy John surgery in 2008. Was very nice to see. The Petrels seem to be clicking right now. Let's hope they can keep it up!
Quote from: Bob_Lotts on February 21, 2010, 06:25:56 PM
Oglethorpe went crazy at the plate again today this time versus Washington & Lee. OU was down 7-4 early but put up 10 unanswered runs en route to a 14-7 final. Another solid win versus a south region opponent. Brendan Pilger went 4-4 with 4 runs, JJ Rizzo was 4-5 with 2 RBI and FY Nick Manai had 3 hits and 3 RBI's.
The two teams face each other again Monday at 4pm.
SCAC surprise has to be Hendrix 0-4 start. Losing two to Millsaps is one thing, but getting swept by Austin College is not a good sign. Will be interesting to see what happens this weekend as TU travels to Conway.
What is the biggest surprise to me are the results coming out of Southwestern.
Millsaps sweeps 19-10 and 21-7?
I had posted earlier that Hendrix would need to establish a 2010 identity absent their seniors and the Daniel Ward leadership.
But what has happened to Southwestern?
Quote from: infielddad on February 22, 2010, 01:42:44 PM
But what has happened to Southwestern?
It's been a few years now since Southwestern had a good program in my mind. Most years they're a 3rd place team in the SCAC, occasionally jockeying with Millsaps for second in the early 2000s, and then last year. They were terrible in '06 and benefited from Trinity being down in '07. Since I've followed D3 baseball (and I'm not looking it up right now), but it feels like SU has been routinely beaten by most of the mid to upper ASC teams.
I realize tuition is high, but you'd think with the location and proximity to a lot of good baseball they could go out and get some more talented players. I don't think Shelton's a bad coach, I just think he's trying to compete with less talented players.
JSG
JSG,,, with all due respect, since Coach Mallon has retired, there has seemed to be a gradual slippage. (word?)... recruit,,, recruit,,, recruit! Something's wrong and I don't think it's the tuition!
Ogelthorpe wins again tonight against Washington and Lee! Joe Parillo comes off the bench to hit a walk off grand slam in his first at bat of the season to send OU to an 11-10 win. Again OU shows they are something special this year. OU now sits at 6-1 with some tough wins against good programs already. Up tomorrow is another one with Lagrange coming in for a 3PM matchup.
Quote from: Just_Some_Guy on February 22, 2010, 06:45:29 PM
Quote from: infielddad on February 22, 2010, 01:42:44 PM
But what has happened to Southwestern?
It's been a few years now since Southwestern had a good program in my mind. Most years they're a 3rd place team in the SCAC, occasionally jockeying with Millsaps for second in the early 2000s, and then last year. They were terrible in '06 and benefited from Trinity being down in '07. Since I've followed D3 baseball (and I'm not looking it up right now), but it feels like SU has been routinely beaten by most of the mid to upper ASC teams.
I realize tuition is high, but you'd think with the location and proximity to a lot of good baseball they could go out and get some more talented players. I don't think Shelton's a bad coach, I just think he's trying to compete with less talented players.
JSG
JSG,
please don't think I am complaining! ;) ;D
ifd... good to see you and 'the better half' in SAT last Saturday. How did the Austin Marathon go?
Oglethorpe lost today at home to Lagrange 14-7.
The Petrels still put up a good amount of runs and actually left quite a lot of men stranded today.
Like I said before I just hope that the pitching staff can put it together so the Petrels don't have to keep putting up 10+ runs to win.
It was a good 5 game winning streak that just ended. They beat some pretty decent teams (Emory, Piedmont away and Washington and Lee who Won the ODAC tournament last year)
It certainly appears that OU has taken a step up this season. The East race is going to be an interesting one this year. Will one of the traditional powers like DePauw or Rhodes being able to dominate? Will BSC show that they will soon be the baseball team to beat in the SCAC? Is OU capable of putting it together for an entire season--after all, they have had promising starts that have flamed out in the past.
It should be an interesting season on both sides of the SCAC.
Quote from: historymajor on February 23, 2010, 10:30:02 PM
ifd... good to see you and 'the better half' in SAT last Saturday. How did the Austin Marathon go?
Bob, i.e. HistoryMajor, it was great seeing you also.
We so much enjoy being at TU and seeing great friends and supporters like you and Theo.
Being with the Coaches for even a few minutes was great.
The Austin Marathon was......long, very long.
About mile 15, Shmos started suggesting marathoners don't have calves like I do.
We had a great talk for the next 11.2 miles or so.
Not sure who prevailed.
Time wasn't great but I finished.
I think I heard Shmos say "nice job."
I know I said I love you Chris..in between gasps.
Tell Schmos to come out to SW series in Georgetown, or come down to SAT and see the 'new Tigers'.
A big series this weekend as the Tigers travel to Hendrix. Trinity needs two wins to keep pace with Millsaps. A sweep would be bad news for Hendrix, starting conference 0-6. I will be very curious to see how the Tigers respond to what happened last year. The older guys, I am sure, remember watching Hendrix celebrate in Mississippi last year as they waxed TU in the finals. Hopefully the weather will be good and we can watch two good games....
Hendrix has really been struggling to find that clutch hit this year. Watching them lose some close games with the pretty solid pitching performances has been tough. Hopefully they can find it this weekend. A win or two would really get them on track.
LET'S GO WARRIORS!
Quote from: 18wheeler18 on February 26, 2010, 01:33:29 PM
Hendrix has really been struggling to find that clutch hit this year. Watching them lose some close games with the pretty solid pitching performances has been tough. Hopefully they can find it this weekend. A win or two would really get them on track.
LET'S GO WARRIORS!
I noticed that, just by looking at their stats. They have a decent average, been running the bases, but aren't scoring runs. Nothing against you, but I hope the bats continue to sleep through this weekend ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Unfortunately those averages are somewhat skewed by the first weekend against the University of Dallas. I think the warriors had around 40 hits in the 3 game set. Since then the Warriors have had a tough go of it at the plate.
Hendrix just beat Trinity 13-12 in the bottom of the 9th with a bases loaded hit to left by Mathis! Trinity was up 12-2 until the 7th.
That's an amazing turnaround and an improbable win that was greatly needed by Hendrix.
Millsaps edged Piedmont 6-5 in a 10 inning game. Not much output from either team at the plate along with some good effort by both teams on the mound. The two teams will play a single game tomorrow but the games this weekend aren't being webcast because of a conflict with the basketball tournament.
Oglethorpe won a pitchers duel in Atlanta today 4-1 versus Johnson & Wales. Matt Cornwell threw a complete game striking out 16 and allowing just 4 hits. The Petrel offense was held in check today for the first time all season... JJ Rizzo led the offense going 2-4 with a HR and a double.
WOW! What a stunning game for Hendrix. I believe they were an out away from being run ruled at one point. I think it bears mentioning that the Hendrix bullpen threw a no-hitter after the 4th inning very impressive stuff for a couple 2nd years. Should be interesting to see what happens tomorrow after such a huge swing at the end of this first game. More great SCAC baseball on the way!
An awesome team victory for Hendrix today. Every starter had a hit or an RBI and the bullpen locked down TU for the final 6 innings. All but one of the Warrior runs scored with 2 outs - finally got some of those good swings to find dirt and grass instead of leather. Next time someone wants you to leave a baseball game early, go back to Feb 27, 2010 and think "Warrior magic" - it really is a 9 inning game.
AC took two from Southwestern yesterday and will be looking for their 5th straight win today. Steed and Chermak have been impressive on the mound the past two weekends, and if they keep it up the 'Roos will be tough to beat when those two are on the hill. Chermak had 10 k's in 5.0 innings of work yesterday.
I know it's early in the season, even in the West, but what a big difference that Hendrix comeback made in the feel of things. In a game that was a blowout with the final few innings being more of a formality, it looked like Trinity was going to move to 4-0 and a first place tie with Millsaps, and Hendrix was going to drop to a devastating 0-5 beginning.
Instead, Hendrix got some life and now has a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the 4th of today's game with a chance to go to 2-4 if they can hang on. Trinity might fall to 3-2 and Austin could take over 2nd place in the West. Obviously, a lot can happen in the last half of a game, but that game yesterday seems like it was a lot more than just 1/20th of the SCAC schedule.
Hendrix completes the sweep and wins 7-4. Smoyer pitches 5 2/3 for the win.
An awesome weekend for Hendrix, that really shakes things up in the SCAC west! Never, would I have thought a visit from TU is just what Hendrix would need to get things on track.
Way to go WARRIORS!!!
After a terrible weekend, TU bounces back with a much needed win against TLU. Klimesh goes the distance again, striking out 10, walking 3, and giving up 3 hits. Hopefully TU can carry this into the weekend series at Southwestern. I wonder when Klimesh is going to start to get innings on the weekend?
Several SCAC teams get recognized in Week 1 of the D3.baseball.com top 25. Keep in mind that this is week 1 where 15 of the top 25 teams are tied with a 0-0 record, so the voting is a mix of what has happened and what is expected to happen. There are no SCAC teams in the top 25, but here are the ones receiving votes and where that vote total ranks them:
27th--Millsaps (64 points)
31st--Rhodes (34 points)
32nd--Birmingham Southern (31 points)
37th--Trinity (16 points)
For the record, the two Millsaps losses to NCAA teams came to MS College, ranked 25th with 74 points, and Huntingdon, a team that received 5 points. Also, the Millsaps at MS College game scheduled for last night was postponed. No makeup date has been announced.
O.U. Has SOOOOO much talent outside of the pitching they really need someone on the pitching staff to step up, and I belive a few of them will, Key is going to be how the coaching staff utilizes what they have available to them and not completely burn out, or not have someone ready to come off the bench if needed. This offense is ligit and could be what carries them to a conference tournament opportunity
TU travels to Southwestern this weekend. SU looked much like Hendrix did last weekend, desperate, on a losing streak. Lets hope the results are different and TU remembers how to hit, pitch, catch, and throw.
SU was a very error prone team when Millsaps played a series there a couple of weeks ago. I believe they made 9 errors in one game, only a few more than the Majors made that day. If SU doesn't shore up that defense, then it is hard to see them winning a game against Trinity.
Millsaps hosts Austin for two games this weekend. I believe the temps will be in the lower 60's for both games--that will be a pleasant change. I don't know if the records back me up on this, but it seems like Austin has been the most difficult SCAC team on the Millsaps schedule over the last several years. Millsaps will need to play very good baseball all around to go 2-0 this weekend.
Austin's big bats made the trip to Jackson as the 'Roos pounded out 4 HRs in the opening game of the 2-game series. It was a lot of run production, but not enough as Millsaps got at least one hit from every starter en route to a 14-9 victory Saturday afternoon.
The key to the game was Boomer Hudson holding Austin to no runs and one hit over the final 4 2/3 innings. Millsaps did get one dinger as Jules Roussel continues his quest to have people ask "Hunter who?". He still has a ways to go before people forget about Hunter Owen, but Jules was 4 for 5 with two doubles to go along with the roundtripper, and he drove in 3 and scored 3 more.
Here's a link to the Millsaps story and box score:
http://www.gomajors.com/news/2010/3/6/BB_0306104742.aspx
Wanted to make note of a great day for the SCAC. There were conference games which obvious had to produce an SCAC loss (Millsaps beat Austin in a single game, Trinity beat SW in a DH, and Centre and Sewanee split), but against non-conference foes the SCAC went 9-1 Saturday. Not too shabby.
You can see the teams played and the scores at this link:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/schedule
Saw the first of the TU DH at Southwestern yesterday - junior Noah Solomon was impressive on the mound, allowing only three hits in five innings of work as the Tigers punched out 19 hits in rolling to a 16-3 win in the seven inning opener.
The second game was a back-and-forth affair, but Trinity pulled away with four runs in the top of the eighth to secure a 14-9 win in the nightcap (afternoon-cap?) . Both teams had 16 hits.
Millsaps freshman 3B/1B/P Wes Perkins came into today's game with a respectable .320 batting average, a number built on 15 singles and 1 double. So exactly who would have expected 3 HRs from Wes, the last being a 3-run shot to right in the bottom of the 8th that gave Millsaps a 21-11 victory over Austin?
I haven't seen the box score from the game, but I remember Millsaps getting HRs from Will Hawkins, Josh Ordeneaux, and Tyler Berry. Austin had 3 or 4 as well on a nice spring like day, but one without much of a breeze helping the hitters.
It's nice to see the Millsaps bats come alive this weekend and it was much needed. There's something about playing Millsaps that seems to turn the 'Roos into the 1927 NY Yankees. If you're a fan who likes a lot of scoring and balls sailing out of the park, then Twenty Field on the Millsaps campus was the place to be this past weekend.
Update: Here's the link to the box score. Austin only had 2 HRs so it was 6 total for the game:
http://gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/10Baseball/stats/mcb10-14.htm
With the two softball league type scores in Jackson this weekend, it would be very easy to overlook a potential pitcher of the week performance by Boomer Hudson of Millsaps. He was remarkable both days.
On Saturday he entered the game with one out in the 5th. At that point Austin had 9 runs on 10 hits and a runner on first base. Over the final 4.2 innings Austin had 1 hit, no runs, and Boomer retired the last 10 men he faced with 4 swinging strikeouts and 1 strikeout on a taken pitch.
Sunday was a shorter outing but also highly impressive. Boomer came in with 1 out in the 8th, Millsaps leading 16-11, but Austin had the bases loaded. The first batter hit a weak fly to right that wasn't deep enough to score the runner and the second batter struck out swinging. Millsaps then scored 5 in the bottom of the 8th to win the game 21-11.
So look at the numbers. On a weekend when hitting was the norm, as in Millsaps scoring 35 runs on 33 hits in 17 innings, Austin College had 20 runs on 25 hits during the 11.2 non-Boomer innings and 0 runs and 1 hit during Boomer's 5.1 innings of relief. If that's not enough to win the SCAC Pitcher of the Week then it's unlikely that a reliever will win the award this season.
TU won three games, all in different fashion. Can't wait for the weekend series with Millsaps...should be a good one!
OU won a slugfest against ACC last night 12-10. OU is now 10-3.
But they have been hit pretty hard with the injury bug. Senior Brenden Pilger has a broken hand and is out, not sure how long but I can guess maybe the whole season. He was having a SCAC Player of the Year type of season before he got hurt. .470, 4 HR, 16 R, 15 RBI, 10-10 SB in 9 games. Last night FR. RF Nick Manai who is having a great campaign (.350, 1HR, 12 R, 11 RBI) had to leave the game after crashing into the fence. He left the game and went to the ER. It looked like he was pretty beat up with blood on his jersey. They will have to regroup and find some guys who can fill the voids.
Are there any hitters, anywhere, having better seasons, putting up better numbers, and being more consistent in their production from game to game than Trinity's middle of the order guys, Evan Jones and Kyle Felix? These guys are terrific hitters and not just at the DIII level.
Trinity is almost 1/2 way through the season in terms of games played and each has monstrous numbers, which I feel will continue the second half of the season:
Player AVG GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB HBP
Evan Jones.......... .509 16-16 57 17 29 5 1 5 26 51 .895 17 0 5
Kyle Felix.......... .476 17-17 82 29 39 11 1 4 30 64 .780 1 3
Here are all the SCAC players batting .425 or better:
Player AVG GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB HBP SO SB-ATT
Evan Jones, TU............. .509 16-16 57 17 29 5 1 5 26 17 0 5 2-2
J.J. Rizzo, OU............. .500 11-11 46 15 23 5 1 2 15 2 2 4 2-2
Kyle Felix, TU............. .476 17-17 82 29 39 11 1 4 30 1 3 1 3-3
Brandon Ricco, BSC......... .464 14-14 56 18 26 6 1 1 17 8 3 4 6-6
Drew Leachman, BSC......... .458 14-14 59 23 27 5 3 1 22 9 1 7 8-9
Jake Mills, MC............. .455 15-14 55 15 25 6 0 1 18 4 4 4 0-0
Andy White, AC............. .453 16-16 64 16 29 7 0 1 12 6 0 5 5-5
Bruce Maxwell, BSC......... .431 14-14 58 20 25 5 1 5 25 11 0 8 0-0
Taylor Hoffman, DU......... .429 9-9 35 8 15 2 0 1 5 2 0 7 5-5
Leaders in other batting stats:
Batting avg
-----------
1. Evan Jones, TU............. .509
2. J.J. Rizzo, OU............. .500
3. Kyle Felix, TU............. .476
4. Brandon Ricco, BSC......... .464
5. Drew Leachman, BSC......... .458
Slugging pct
------------
1. Evan Jones, TU............. .895
2. Bruce Maxwell, BSC......... .810
3. J.J. Rizzo, OU............. .783
4. Kyle Felix, TU............. .780
5. B.Higginboth, BSC.......... .765
On base pct
-----------
1. Evan Jones, TU............. .590
2. Brandon Ricco, BSC......... .544
3. Josh Whitaker, BSC......... .536
4. Nick Pappas, TU............ .530
5. Sam Hill, BSC.............. .521
Runs scored
-----------
1. Kyle Felix, TU............. 29
2. Drew Leachman, BSC......... 23
Jonathan Hall, TU.......... 23
4. Josh Ordeneaux, MC......... 22
5. Nick Pappas, TU............ 21
Hits
----
1. Kyle Felix, TU............. 39
2. Andy White, AC............. 29
Evan Jones, TU............. 29
4. Drew Leachman, BSC......... 27
5. 2 tied at.................. 26
Runs batted in
--------------
1. Kyle Felix, TU............. 30
2. Evan Jones, TU............. 26
3. Bruce Maxwell, BSC......... 25
4. Drew Leachman, BSC......... 22
Nick Pappas, TU............ 22
Doubles
-------
1. Kyle Felix, TU............. 11
2. Sam Hill, BSC.............. 8
3. Andy White, AC............. 7
4. 3 tied at.................. 6
Triples
-------
1. Drew Leachman, BSC......... 3
J.D. Hulse, BSC............ 3
3. Aaron Bowen, HC............ 2
Nick Pappas, TU............ 2
5. 25 tied at................. 1
Home runs
---------
1. Dylan Early, TU............ 5
Evan Jones, TU............. 5
Bruce Maxwell, BSC......... 5
4. 6 tied at.................. 4
Total bases
-----------
1. Kyle Felix, TU............. 64
2. Evan Jones, TU............. 51
3. Bruce Maxwell, BSC......... 47
Nick Pappas, TU............ 47
5. Sam Hill, BSC.............. 44
Walks
-----
1. Evan Jones, TU............. 17
Kyle Belski, SU............ 17
3. Travis Perkins, RC......... 16
4. 3 tied at.................. 13
Jones and Felix have proven for several years that they are great hitters and it sounds like teams can't pitch around them because the Trinity lineup is loaded with big hitters this year.
As for Millsaps and their hitters, they have started to show more power at the plate now that the weather has warmed up. This has been the coldest beginning to a season that I can remember and it has made it difficult to get a good read on the Millsaps hitting as a whole. Based on last weekend, the first decent weather I remember for a Jackson game, Millsaps looks like they have a fair amount of power, but that was just one series. Maybe we'll learn more this weekend.
I see that the forecast for Saturday is a high of 62 and a wind out of the west of 15 to 25 mph. That's blowing in towards the visitor's dugout and it will often shift just a little and really help balls hit to right field. I suspect that 20 foot fence in right is going to be cleared a few times during this two game series. It should be two great games and a real challenge for both pitching staffs.
Trinity wins again, making it 6 straight. Looking at the stats, it was an ugly game. Scored 20 runs and only had 3 hits from Felix, Jones, and Pappas. TU travels to Jackson this weekend and that is always a great series. Looking forward to watching that. The voice of the Major's webcast is awesome and I watch him any chance I get. I do not envy the pitchers in the next two games, for either team.
According to the Trinity website, Kyle Felix has 1 strikeout in 86 AB's.
That is amazing. Evan Jones only has 6. Guys in the middle of the line up who always put the ball in play are extremely nice to have.
Looks like TU will use Solomon and Klimesh to start the 2 games and they will surely have their hands full.
It really isn't the Millsaps power that makes me pay attention. It is the fact that they are so aggressive on the bases. When they get a pitcher in the stretch, they make the pitcher and catcher work extra hard.
Solomon is pretty proven. This would be a big start for Klimesh if my guess about his starting is right.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 12, 2010, 08:21:38 AM
Trinity wins again, making it 6 straight. Looking at the stats, it was an ugly game. Scored 20 runs and only had 3 hits from Felix, Jones, and Pappas. TU travels to Jackson this weekend and that is always a great series. Looking forward to watching that. The voice of the Major's webcast is awesome and I watch him any chance I get. I do not envy the pitchers in the next two games, for either team.
Both teams have been hitting the cover off the ball lately and there should be a hitting display going on this weekend. HOWEVER, we all know but tend to forget that fielding will probably be the key to this series. Those big innings seem to occur when you give a good hitting team 4 or 5 outs in an inning plus one or two extra base runners. Millsaps with a .916 percentage (compared to .946 for Trinity) will have to play better in the field and they have been playing better of late. I think that low number you see at the moment is a reflection of the poor weather and a lot of new players starting.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 13, 2010, 09:28:45 AM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 12, 2010, 08:21:38 AM
Trinity wins again, making it 6 straight. Looking at the stats, it was an ugly game. Scored 20 runs and only had 3 hits from Felix, Jones, and Pappas. TU travels to Jackson this weekend and that is always a great series. Looking forward to watching that. The voice of the Major's webcast is awesome and I watch him any chance I get. I do not envy the pitchers in the next two games, for either team.
Both teams have been hitting the cover off the ball lately and there should be a hitting display going on this weekend. HOWEVER, we all know but tend to forget that fielding will probably be the key to this series. Those big innings seem to occur when you give a good hitting team 4 or 5 outs in an inning plus one or two extra base runners. Millsaps with a .916 percentage (compared to .946 for Trinity) will have to play better in the field and they have been playing better of late. I think that low number you see at the moment is a reflection of the poor weather and a lot of new players starting.
I have a question that has to do with posting and not the quote above. When I quote something like the above or write anything larger than the size of the message area that is displayed in the "Post Reply" form, the display screen gets all screwy. Instead of seeing the line that I'm typing, the text displayed in the message box jumps back up to higher in the post. I have to use the slide bar to get back down to read what I just typed. This happens both on my home PC and at the office.
Does anyone else have this problem or do you have a suggestion of what setting I can change on my PC to fix this?
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 13, 2010, 09:37:21 AM
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 13, 2010, 09:28:45 AM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 12, 2010, 08:21:38 AM
Trinity wins again, making it 6 straight. Looking at the stats, it was an ugly game. Scored 20 runs and only had 3 hits from Felix, Jones, and Pappas. TU travels to Jackson this weekend and that is always a great series. Looking forward to watching that. The voice of the Major's webcast is awesome and I watch him any chance I get. I do not envy the pitchers in the next two games, for either team.
Both teams have been hitting the cover off the ball lately and there should be a hitting display going on this weekend. HOWEVER, we all know but tend to forget that fielding will probably be the key to this series. Those big innings seem to occur when you give a good hitting team 4 or 5 outs in an inning plus one or two extra base runners. Millsaps with a .916 percentage (compared to .946 for Trinity) will have to play better in the field and they have been playing better of late. I think that low number you see at the moment is a reflection of the poor weather and a lot of new players starting.
I have a question that has to do with posting and not the quote above. When I quote something like the above or write anything larger than the size of the message area that is displayed in the "Post Reply" form, the display screen gets all screwy. Instead of seeing the line that I'm typing, the text displayed in the message box jumps back up to higher in the post. I have to use the slide bar to get back down to read what I just typed. This happens both on my home PC and at the office.
Does anyone else have this problem or do you have a suggestion of what setting I can change on my PC to fix this?
Same for me. It's been that way for some time. I sent something to PC, but I have not heard anything from him (probably busy with basketball).
OshDude--It has been doing this with my post for quite a while. I'd say at least a couple of months. While it's a bit of a pain, sometimes I write up my post as a word document and then cut and paste it into the message box. That's a lot easier than trying to type without being able to see the text.
In baseball news, Millsaps scored a run in the bottom of the 7th to go up 12-2 and win the first game of the series via the 10-run rule. I haven't seen a box score yet but the big damage at the plate came from 2nd baseman Trey Roundtree Rountree with a 3-run homer early and shortstop Drew Leonard with a grand slam late in the game. Aaron Williams had a great start for Millsaps to get the victory and freshman Carson Goldsmith did a good job on the mound finishing up the game.
ADDITION: I corrected the spelling on Trey's last name above, and here's a link to the Millsaps story which contains a link to the box score:
http://www.gomajors.com/news/2010/3/13/BB_0313100505.aspx
(El Tea Gray--re: Trinity vs. Millsaps, Sunday 3/14/10)
Trinity Tigers 10
Millsaps Majors 7 Final
:)
It was a good game and more like what most of us expected out of this series. There didn't seem to be much difference between the two teams today and Millsaps actually had the tieing run at the plate in the bottom of the 9th. Millsaps might have given up a run or two more with errors or lack of making a play in the field, but then again an errant pickoff play by Trinity in the later innings helped Millsaps score 2 runs. All in all it was a balanced game that just went the way of the Tigers.
No box score has been posted yet. I'll try to post that later but I'm trying to get some softball photos completed this evening so don't count on me getting back to the D3 boards today.
This week's D3baseball Top 25 should provide plenty of interest for SCAC fans. Millsaps stays in the receiving votes category with 28 points, but that's only good enough to be considered 4th in the SCAC. Birmingham Southern with their 13-1 record is ranked 16th and Trinity received 37 points while Rhodes picked up 34.
There was a post earlier in the year by a non-SCAC person but a major contributor in all sports on all boards, and he predicted an at-large berth for Millsaps because they had a weak schedule this year. I'm looking at this recent top-25 and I'm thinking about Millsaps having 3 games against MS College (#12), 5 games with Trinity (#30), 2 games with Rhodes (#32), and 2 games with Huntingdon (#35).
That's 12 games against tough teams, then you add in the 2 games with Illinois Wesleyan this week and the games at the SCAC Tournament which will all be tough. Plus, there's really nothing weak about Hendrix, Austin, Piedmont, and LaGrange, especially since Millsaps has 9 away games against those teams. All in all, this is a difficult schedule and Millsaps will need to step it up on the road to keep alive the chances for an at-large bid. (I left out the 3 against Belhaven since they are NAIA and those games don't matter regarding an at-large bid.)
Link to Top 25: http://www.d3baseball.com/top25/2010/week-3
Millsaps took a 8-7 victory over Illinois Wesleyan Tuesday evening in another cold weather game--it now seems like a tradition that the Titans will bring cold weather with them when they hit Jackson on their spring break tour. The two teams play this evening starting at 5 and the temps will be in the 40's by games end.
Shelby Robertson had a solid start for Millsaps yesterday and Boomer Hudson pitched well in relief. Jules Roussel and Jake Mills both were 3 for 3 on the evening. It will be interesting to see who pitches this evening since Millsaps has a big 3-game series with Hendrix this weekend. My guess is that a lot of guys who have been working hard will get the chance to show what they've got this evening. Maybe one or two will impress the coaches and gain a few more looks over the second half of the season.
Link to Millsaps story on the 8-7 victory: http://www.gomajors.com/news/2010/3/16/BB_0316103312.aspx
Millsaps takes another 1-run victory over Illinois Wesleyan this evening, scoring 3 in the bottom of the 9th to come out on top 11-10. Millsaps went with a pitch by committee, going with guys who haven't thrown much or at all this year and in general they did fairly well. It was good to get work for those guys and getting the win at the end was certainly a nice bonus.
The win puts Millsaps at 14-5 heading into the 3-game series at Hendrix this weekend. That's going to be a big series for both teams and hopefully the rain will hold off until the end of the weekend.
The first half of the season is over. After seeing all SCAC west teams these are some general observations going into the second half.
Millsaps: In my book they are the team to beat. They play well as a TEAM, they run very well, the pitching is solid and they are coached very well. They are a good (not great) hitting team; what they do well is run the bases and make their opponent play solid defense. The one thing that you can see in them is both a tradition and a belief that the are the best and should be competing with and against the best. The one thing that I have yet to factor in is how well they will do in the 3 game series' the second half.
Trinity: They are the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of SCAC baseball. At times they look unbeatable and then the next inning; poof, it is a different team. As a team, they can hit. Good pitching may slow them down, but as a whole they will get their hits. Their defense and pitching can be unpredictable. You can expect to get at least 2 good starts out of their 3 starters; the question is how will the bullpen hold up. They have lots of good arms; they need to figure out the right combination and the number of innings they can go. Coming back from the first game loss against Millsaps shows that they are capable of playing with the best; now if they can only figure out how to beat Hendrix, they may compete for the championship.
Austin: They are scrappy and play tough 9 inning baseball. After a tough start against Trinity they have played everyone tough. In reading box scores; they are getting more out of their pitching and stringing together hits nicely. They have the best shortstop in the west in White and Coach I has them playing as a team. I would expect an improvement from this team the second half of the schedule.
Hendrix: After beating Trinity; they have had a tough time stringing together wins. The program continues to make progress and they are clearly deeper than in prior years. They appear to lack the spark that Daniel Ward gave them last year. The kids play with great joy and are clearly proud of what they accomplished last year. However, they don't have the pitching or the bats that will carry them as far as last year. The do have the pride and "magic" in their hearts that may make a difference the second half.
Southwestern: From what I saw; they need help. Hopefully their injured pitchers with experience make it back into the lineup soon. Until then, they will need to get career performances out of pitchers with little experience. Their hitting is like their pitching; thin and lacking much experience. It was good to see them take two from Hendrix; I couldn't tell if they won the games or Hendrix lost them; either way it shows improvement which should help make the second half of the season more competitive.
Now that was an outstanding post--thank you for that contribution. I think you hit the nail on the head regarding Millsaps at the moment. It is my hope that the hitting will pick up some in the second half of the season with 5 of the 9 hitters being new to the starting lineup this season.
However, it's worth pointing out that the team is now hitting .327 with a .480 slugging percentage, and last year's teams finished the year at .305 and .484 respectively. Where I really believe the team will improve over the second half is in fielding and pitching. With Hawkins now over at 3rd, the only two spots with returning starters are centerfield with Aliff and catcher with Berry. At times, the defense has been shaky.
As for the pitching, it's just a matter of some guys getting a few more innings and games to get acclimated. It seems like the talent is there, but we'll find out a lot more in these 3-game series and at the SCAC Tournament. Several of these newcomers will have to contribute significantly if Millsaps expects to win the SCAC AQ.
Here's a schedule change that caught me by surprise--Millsaps and Hendrix moved their series up a day and are playing a DH today. Millsaps is doing a webcast but it looks like the feed is being provided by Hendrix. Go to the Millsaps home page and you'll see a link for the webcast in the section for scores and events.
Millsaps home page: http://www.gomajors.com/
(Tyler Berry just hit a 2-run homer as Millsaps has scored 4 in the top of the 3rd for a 4-0 lead.)
Millsaps leading 5-1 after 5 innings. This is the 7-inning first game of the DH.
Frank, wonder if it has something to do with the weather forecast. My wife is up in central OK for the weekend and they suddenly put a near-blizzard in the forecast for tomorrow. You'd think it would head over to Arkansas next.
Millsaps takes the first game 6-3. Aaron Williams had a 6-1 lead with 2 outs in the 7th, but gave up a 2-run HR and then a bloop double, so Boomer Hudson came in and got the last out and the save.
Game 2 starts around 3:50.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on March 19, 2010, 03:52:56 PM
Frank, wonder if it has something to do with the weather forecast. My wife is up in central OK for the weekend and they suddenly put a near-blizzard in the forecast for tomorrow. You'd think it would head over to Arkansas next.
Apparently rain is in the forecast for Saturday, but I think it might be late enough in the day that a game started at noon could be completed. There's a chance of snow flurries Saturday night, and then only a high of 47 on Sunday with maybe more rain.
Since this is the Spring Break week, playing on Friday isn't that big a deal except that both Millsaps and Hendrix played on Tuesday and Wednesday. Millsaps went with a pitch-by-committee on Wednesday, so I think they are in good shape with Blake Boleware, Jake Mills, Shelby Robertson, and Boomer Hudson available for the next two games.
In addition to the above mentioned pitchers, Millsaps also has freshman Carson Goldsmith available and he is getting the start today. He has pitched in 4 games for a total of 4.1 innings with no runs allowed. He did allow a triple to the first batter, but he is working with a 4-0 lead as the first 6 Millsaps batters got hits, including a long bomb by Jules Roussel, his 5th HR of the season.
Todays Hendrix Milsaps finale will begin earlier than scheduled.They are trying to beat the storm and also get Milsaps back on the road home ahead of the storm. I believe it will be an 11:30am start. The final from yesterday's 2nd game was 19-9 (8 innings). An amazing 35 combined hits between both teams with over a dozen of those "found a hole" fly balls. Just one of those days. Today may be a 1-0 game! Love the game of Baseball!
So I see the 2nd Millsaps-Hendrix game ended via ten-run rule. Let me ask a question about that rule - is it only for nine inning games, or do the coaches both have to agree? A couple of weekends ago Trinity was up 13-2 on Southwestern in the top of the fifth, 15-2 after the top of the sixth, 16-2 after the top of the seventh, but the game continued until SW got their final AB in the seventh.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on March 20, 2010, 11:53:57 AM
So I see the 2nd Millsaps-Hendrix game ended via ten-run rule. Let me ask a question about that rule - is it only for nine inning games, or do the coaches both have to agree? A couple of weekends ago Trinity was up 13-2 on Southwestern in the top of the fifth, 15-2 after the top of the sixth, 16-2 after the top of the seventh, but the game continued until SW got their final AB in the seventh.
The RussMatt mercy rule (as I understand it) applies after 5 innings and 2 hours when there is a game scheduled to follow the blowout. Otherwise it applies after 7 innings, if the coaches and umpires have agreed to it during ground rules.
Lots of 10-run games today with Millsaps getting 3 if you count the 14-0 and 15-3 wins the softball team had over Trinity.
--Rhodes swept a DH against OU, winning 4-2 and 16-4 in a 7 inning game. Haven't we seen this story line before with OU coming out strong and then hitting a big losing streak? Rhodes moves to 16-6 with the wins.
--Sewanee got in on the big scores with a 23-2 win over SUNY Cobleskill. I believe this puts Sewanee at 4-4 for their Florida trip.
--DePauw took a bite out of Birmingham with a 6-1 win in the first game of a DH. Second game should be over by about now, but I don't have a score.
--Centre eked out a 7-6 win over Miami-Hamilton today and Trinity scored big again in winning 14-9 over Dallas.
And that's your wrapup of baseball in the SCAC this Saturday.
Wow, the 10-run bashings continue. Southwestern tops Austin 17-1 in the first game of a DH. Admittedly, I'm listening to C-Span this afternoon rather than keeping up with SCAC baseball. They just reported that Bart Stupak has finally given in to the pressure or squeezed out all that he could get and now he'll vote yes. If that's true, then the bill will pass. I'm just pointing out that reality, not trying to start a debate on the pros and cons of the bill.
Since the Pirates from Southwestern have no one posting here, let me give them a shoutout for an outstanding performance when they had their backs to the wall. Coming into today's DH with Austin, Southwestern was 2-9 and facing the possibility of falling 2.5 games behind Hendrix for 4th place and a SCAC Tournament spot.
They responded with a 17-1 victory in game 1 and then scored 7 runs combined in the 7th and 8th innings for a come from behind 10-9 victory in game 2. That gives Southwestern a 4-9 record, just a half game behind Hendrix (4-8) and 1.5 games behind Austin (5-7).
In the SCAC East, Rhodes completed their sweep of Oglethorpe to take the early lead, and BSC came back to take 2 out of 3 from DePauw to pull even with Centre for 2nd place. And in the only non-conference game of the day, Trinity took two from Dallas.
Frank,
Here is the assestment on OU. Injuries, injuries, injuries and some inconsistent pitching. The injury bug has hit them very hard during the 7-game losing streak. They were 10-3 and they lost a couple of key players and they continue to go down. Pilger #2 hitter and CF is done for the year with a broken hand. Check out his numbers before he got hurt. He was the run producer in that lineup. #6 hitter Manai FR RF went down with a right hand injury and they haven't won since he went down. They have a completly revamped OF including their starting 1B playing LF. This past weekend at Rhodes they lost their starting catcher for 2 of the 3 games, who also is the #5 hitter. Rizzo couldn't play third on Sunday with a dislocated shoulder and their starting SS had a ankle injury.
So, you take out the #2 hitter who was hitting .470 and was leading the SCAC in HR before he got hurt, the #5 hitter who is hitting .340 and has thrown out 31% of bases stealers and take out the #6 hitter who was hitting .355 you are left with a weakened lineup. Throw in some inconsistent pitching, BAM, 7-game skid. For a team just starting to get good, they dont have a ton of depth. I realize injuries are part of the game but when you lose 3 of your top players it is tough on any team. Eventually they will get there but losing one third of your lineup is tough to replace at this level.
Of course this past weekend it didn't help that SS Cornwell went 1 for the series and 3B Rizzo went 1 for the series. Just not enough offense right now to sustain rallys. A trademark of this team early was their ability to score in bunches...I still think this team will make a serious run, some of these guys will get healthy and when they put their healthy players back in that lineup they can beat anyone. They have some solid arms, but they are just young and inexperienced.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 21, 2010, 10:09:39 PM
Since the Pirates from Southwestern have no one posting here, let me give them a shoutout for an outstanding performance when they had their backs to the wall. Coming into today's DH with Austin, Southwestern was 2-9 and facing the possibility of falling 2.5 games behind Hendrix for 4th place and a SCAC Tournament spot.
They responded with a 17-1 victory in game 1 and then scored 7 runs combined in the 7th and 8th innings for a come from behind 10-9 victory in game 2. That gives Southwestern a 4-9 record, just a half game behind Hendrix (4-8) and 1.5 games behind Austin (5-7).
In the SCAC East, Rhodes completed their sweep of Oglethorpe to take the early lead, and BSC came back to take 2 out of 3 from DePauw to pull even with Centre for 2nd place. And in the only non-conference game of the day, Trinity took two from Dallas.
Frank--
I think only the top 3 make the tournament, unless they changed that rule from years past.....Huge Series coming up for TU as Hendrix comes to town...beating the Tigers in 7 of the last 9.
tigerfan_2001: You are 100% right that last year it was only 3 from each group of made the tournament--which makes the wins by Southwestern more important. A sweep by Austin would have put Austin in 3rd at 7-5 and Southwestern in 5th at 2-11. The wins by Southwestern were huge for them and for Hendrix.
Bob_Lotts: Thanks for that update. Injuries are always a part of sports but it sounds like OU has had more than their fair share.
tigerfan,
Hopefully I am being paranoid and "old" in my thinking, but before TU plays Hendrix, they have tomorrow's trip for the DH with McMurry and HSU.
That is a long, tough trip. Some times it impacts the team for the rest of the season.
I won't forget 2003 when one of TU's very best teams lost both those games and never was able to get back to their level of play, even at the SCAC's.
In 2004, they swept those two schools in the DH and perhaps over-performed with a very young team.
Hopefully, this team will forget history and play and pitch well tomorrow, and keep the bats hot, and use that for a springboard into the weekend.
Going through the SCAC stats and noticing that Rhodes is leading the conference in ERA with .5 run differential between them and #2. Go Lynx!
You'll find SCAC discussion (http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=4180.0) in the multi-region board (http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?board=1542.0). Come on over, we'll be happy to have some Rhodes chatter.
Makes for a tough ten days .. three games over the weekend, long bus trip to Abilene for a pair on Tuesday, then back to town for the set with Hendrix. Klimesh/Panozzo/Fink got starts this weekend, that leaves Solomon for one game Tuesday and ??? for the second.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on March 22, 2010, 03:53:28 PM
Makes for a tough ten days .. three games over the weekend, long bus trip to Abilene for a pair on Tuesday, then back to town for the set with Hendrix. Klimesh/Panozzo/Fink got starts this weekend, that leaves Solomon for one game Tuesday and ??? for the second.
Very suprised to see Fink get the start on Sunday....but even more suprised he went 5+. That could be huge for TU if he gets going. They need another starter as it appears they will use Lucero out of the pen.
infielddad--I hope the trip to Abilene goes well....I know Coach Scannell loves the trip.
According to live stats, Andrew Larson (0-0, 3.38, 8.0 IP in 8 appearances) will get his first start for Trinity versus McMurry.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on March 23, 2010, 12:51:10 PM
According to live stats, Andrew Larson (0-0, 3.38, 8.0 IP in 8 appearances) will get his first start for Trinity versus McMurry.
following that up....No Jonathan Hall at short, Paillet getting a start in LF, no Calbick and no
KYLE FELIX. I wonder if this is discipline or sickness. Either way, going to be an interesting game.....
Trinity is up 5-0. Looks like a sloppy game for McMurry so far.
Andrew Lawson is a senior that was converted into a pitcher last year. In the past he's seen playing time at all of the infield spots.
There's no telling if the change in lineup is for discipline, sickness, or rest. This trip to Abilene is always an adventure.
Now 5-3 and Solomon has replaced Lawson with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the fourth.
Make that 6-5 after a wild pitch and a single.
6-5 now McMurry......TU gives up 6 straights hits
I know that a couple of the kids are dealing with minor injuries and medical issues. I suspect that they are getting rest to insure that they are ready for the weekend. I would also assume that Calbick will be on the bump sometime today.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 02:17:36 PM
6-5 now McMurry......TU gives up 6 straights hits
scratch that....8-5 now with 8 straight hits
Solomon faced only 3 batters all got hits and threw 2 wild pitches. That can't be a good sign.
Quote from: ILVBB on March 23, 2010, 02:29:39 PM
Solomon faced only 3 batters all got hits and threw 2 wild pitches. That can't be a good sign.
finally get out of it.....7 runs in the inning on 8 hits...TU now trails 9-5. I bet Coach Scannell is going ballistic right about now....
Quote from: ILVBB on March 23, 2010, 02:29:39 PM
Solomon faced only 3 batters all got hits and threw 2 wild pitches. That can't be a good sign.
... and now you gotta wonder who's going to start the second game.
Midweek game, with a second game latter, big weekend series for both teams; I suspect that there will be quite a few more runs scored before this game is decided.
You say that, so of course Lucero retires six straight batters on 13 total pitches and Trinity also does a three-and-out in their half of the sixth. :D 9-7 McM top of the seventh with a new P coming in for the Indians.
Don't listen to me; my kids don't, my wife doesn't (the dog does) :o.
Is that 10-7 McMurry in the bottom of the 7th?
(I think that my work Internet line is not allowing the pop-ups from Sidearm Stats. My delayed lunch half hour is conveniently occurring now.)
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 23, 2010, 03:20:02 PM
Is that 10-7 McMurry in the bottom of the 7th?
(I think that my work Internet line is not allowing the pop-ups from Sidearm Stats. My delayed lunch half hour is conveniently occurring now.)
you are correct.....McM has runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out in the bottom of the 7th....
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 23, 2010, 03:20:02 PM
Is that 10-7 McMurry in the bottom of the 7th?
(I think that my work Internet line is not allowing the pop-ups from Sidearm Stats. My delayed lunch half hour is conveniently occurring now.)
Yep.
Looks like Lucero's run out of gas, walked the first batter on four pitches and two wild pitches in the inning. Does eventually escape. Another new P for McM.
Top of the 8th now 10-7 McM.
Another new P for McM as Jones walks, Pappas gets a single, and Clements a double to close it to 10-9 and nobody out.
Quote from: ILVBB on March 23, 2010, 03:28:14 PM
Top of the 8th now 10-7 McM.
10-10 now..0 out, runner on 2nd. McM throws another sac bunt away.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:35:08 PM
Quote from: ILVBB on March 23, 2010, 03:28:14 PM
Top of the 8th now 10-7 McM.
10-10 now..0 out, runner on 2nd. McM throws another sac bunt away.
McMurry's fielding is just killing them, the whole season long! >:(
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 23, 2010, 03:39:48 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:35:08 PM
Quote from: ILVBB on March 23, 2010, 03:28:14 PM
Top of the 8th now 10-7 McM.
10-10 now..0 out, runner on 2nd. McM throws another sac bunt away.
McMurry's fielding is just killing them, the whole season long! >:(
McM gets out of it with no more damage. TU couldn't get a bunt down, struck out, then two ground outs.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:41:50 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 23, 2010, 03:39:48 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:35:08 PM
Quote from: ILVBB on March 23, 2010, 03:28:14 PM
Top of the 8th now 10-7 McM.
10-10 now..0 out, runner on 2nd. McM throws another sac bunt away.
McMurry's fielding is just killing them, the whole season long! >:(
McM gets out of it with no more damage. TU couldn't get a bunt down, struck out, then two ground outs.
Fond memories of high school biology. Mr Stone would let us bring our transistor radios to listen to the World Series games, back when they played in the afternoon in early October.
Red Sox and the Cardinals 1967.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:41:50 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 23, 2010, 03:39:48 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:35:08 PM
Quote from: ILVBB on March 23, 2010, 03:28:14 PM
Top of the 8th now 10-7 McM.
10-10 now..0 out, runner on 2nd. McM throws another sac bunt away.
McMurry's fielding is just killing them, the whole season long! >:(
McM gets out of it with no more damage. TU couldn't get a bunt down, struck out, then two ground outs.
bases loaded, 10-10 for McM. Panozzo now pitching for TU. 1 out
McM gets an IF single, scores a run. 11-10 McM going into the top of 9. Heart of Order up for TU.....2-3-4
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:54:49 PM
McM gets an IF single, scores a run. 11-10 McM going into the top of 9. Heart of Order up for TU.....2-3-4
Who's pitching for McM? Semchenko?
Final 11-10?
If so, who can figure Texas baseball!
TU is good but we so many really good teams down here that we beat ourselves stupid and cannot get any separation to garner national acclaim!
TU might even earn the SCAC title.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 23, 2010, 03:57:05 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:54:49 PM
McM gets an IF single, scores a run. 11-10 McM going into the top of 9. Heart of Order up for TU.....2-3-4
Who's ptiching for McM? Semchenko?
Cory Davis
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:57:45 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 23, 2010, 03:57:05 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:54:49 PM
McM gets an IF single, scores a run. 11-10 McM going into the top of 9. Heart of Order up for TU.....2-3-4
Who's ptiching for McM? Semchenko?
Cory Davis
McM wins 11-10. Pappas strikes out for the 3rd time in the game, leaving a runner at 2nd.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 04:02:44 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:57:45 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 23, 2010, 03:57:05 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 23, 2010, 03:54:49 PM
McM gets an IF single, scores a run. 11-10 McM going into the top of 9. Heart of Order up for TU.....2-3-4
Who's ptiching for McM? Semchenko?
Cory Davis
McM wins 11-10. Pappas strikes out for the 3rd time in the game, leaving a runner at 2nd.
Wow! That was midweek pitching by committee!
Thanks for the updates! +1!
TU leads HSU 13-8 in the 7th.....had a big lead but have slowly let it whittle away. Coach Scannell now brings in Panozzo for the 2nd time today.....hopefully he can put out the fire.
The losing streak continues in Atlanta for the Petrels...after starting 10-3 they have now dropped 9 straight with a 3-1 and 5- 4 loss at Greensboro. Injuries continue to mount for this team that is in a deep downward spiral. The boxscores from yesterday do not resemble anything from the first 13 games of the season. The offense is just not able to sustain any rallies or bunch hits together. They have to figure out something quick as DePauw comes calling this weekend.
Yes, we are hurting badly. Backup catcher has now been injured too. With a big series against Depauw coming up and our starters still hurt, it might be tough. But, the pitching is looking better. Just need the bats to start going.
Frank, I have a question. How many teams from each division go to the playoffs this year...AND, is BSU eligible this year?
Quote from: Bob_Lotts on March 22, 2010, 10:49:08 AM
Frank,
Here is the assestment on OU. Injuries, injuries, injuries and some inconsistent pitching. The injury bug has hit them very hard during the 7-game losing streak. They were 10-3 and they lost a couple of key players and they continue to go down. Pilger #2 hitter and CF is done for the year with a broken hand. Check out his numbers before he got hurt. He was the run producer in that lineup. #6 hitter Manai FR RF went down with a right hand injury and they haven't won since he went down. They have a completly revamped OF including their starting 1B playing LF. This past weekend at Rhodes they lost their starting catcher for 2 of the 3 games, who also is the #5 hitter. Rizzo couldn't play third on Sunday with a dislocated shoulder and their starting SS had a ankle injury.
So, you take out the #2 hitter who was hitting .470 and was leading the SCAC in HR before he got hurt, the #5 hitter who is hitting .340 and has thrown out 31% of bases stealers and take out the #6 hitter who was hitting .355 you are left with a weakened lineup. Throw in some inconsistent pitching, BAM, 7-game skid. For a team just starting to get good, they dont have a ton of depth. I realize injuries are part of the game but when you lose 3 of your top players it is tough on any team. Eventually they will get there but losing one third of your lineup is tough to replace at this level.
Of course this past weekend it didn't help that SS Cornwell went 1 for the series and 3B Rizzo went 1 for the series. Just not enough offense right now to sustain rallys. A trademark of this team early was their ability to score in bunches...I still think this team will make a serious run, some of these guys will get healthy and when they put their healthy players back in that lineup they can beat anyone. They have some solid arms, but they are just young and inexperienced.
I just talked to Jeff Debaldo. Top 3 teams from each division go, with BSU still not eligible this year or next either.
Well....after a mid-week split, the Tigers host Hendrix for a 3 game weekend. Hard to believe what happened last time they played. Hendrix is 4-8 in conference and one of those wins was an 11 run comback in the final 3 innings to beat TU in Conway. I wonder what TU team will show up today......
TU needs a sweep to stay in contention for an at-large bid and to keep pace with the Majors for the top spot in conference. Hard to talk about a sweep though when you have lost 7 of 9 to the team you are playing. I hope the tigers can come out with a little fire today.
This is the first really big day of SCAC play. I believe there are 5 SCAC doubleheaders on the slat. Millsaps is at Austin, a team that always seems to hit the Millsaps pitching extremely well. Maybe someone can sneak in the Austin locker room before the game and steal all of those wristbands they wear with the hitting codes.
I'm heading out for a tennis match and then the only two women's lacrosse games that will be played on campus this spring. Hopefully I'll get back in time to catch a little of the last Millsaps baseball game.
Entering the top of the seventh, Hendrix is on top of Trinity 9-1.
Millsaps was up 6-0 on Austin after 6 and a half innings and Austin scored 7 in the bottom of the 7th to win 7-6. To be honest, I'm glad I was at Millsaps for tennis, lacrosse and a couple of other things so I didn't actually see/hear the comeback.
I believe the last 4 runs by Austin were unearned. Giving teams extra outs has been a real problem for Millsaps all year and this is another game where an error came back to haunt them.
Quote from: nvnorthpaw on March 27, 2010, 04:09:40 PM
Entering the top of the seventh, Hendrix is on top of Trinity 9-1.
Hendrix wins the first, 9-2; Trinity (behind 8 innings by Klimesh) takes the second 7-5.
Jules Roussel hits his 3rd HR of the game in the top of the 10th to give Millsaps a 18-16 lead, Millsaps commits errors 6 and 7 in the bottom of the 10th to give Austin a 19-18 win.
At this point, Millsaps has two clear goals for the next month. One, hold on and make the SCAC Tournament. That's not a given, especially if Austin completes the sweep tomorrow. And number two, continue to develop these young pitchers over the next month and hopefully shore up the defense because those two things will have to be done for Millsaps to have any realistic chance of winning the SCAC Tournament.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 27, 2010, 09:37:21 PM
Jules Roussel hits his 3rd HR of the game in the top of the 10th to give Millsaps a 18-16 lead, Millsaps commits errors 6 and 7 in the bottom of the 10th to give Austin a 19-18 win.
At this point, Millsaps has two clear goals for the next month. One, hold on and make the SCAC Tournament. That's not a given, especially if Austin completes the sweep tomorrow. And number two, continue to develop these young pitchers over the next month and hopefully shore up the defense because those two things will have to be done for Millsaps to have any realistic chance of winning the SCAC Tournament.
I'd like to clarify my post from yesterday which was quickly made while editing tennis photos.
Teams like Millsaps, Trinity, Rhodes, etc, have in past years put up records that are worthy of consideration for an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The 2006 team which was ranked #1 in the South and the 2009 team which was ranked #1 in the nation at one point were teams that went to the NCAA Tournament on an at-large bid.
With the two losses yesterday, plus the two losses that would come for anyone not winning the SCAC Tournament, it is almost a certainty that Millsaps will not get an at-large bid this season. That's bad news, but it does have the silver lining that the next 4 weeks can be totally about preparing for the SCAC Tournament and not worrying about keeping alive hopes of an at-large bid.
Clearly, fielding is a problem. Millsaps was last in the SCAC in fielding prior to yesterday's games and I believed they added 9 errors yesterday with unearned runs being the game winners. It makes me wonder if Ryan Zemke starting in left yesterday evening was really about Josh Ordeneaux returning to the infield in the future.
Clearly, pitching depth is a problem. This freshman class looks loaded with pitchers and the future looks bright. Millsaps just needs that bright future to arrive in late April and not in 2011. Outside of needing to win one or two more SCAC games, Millsaps really doesn't have any must win games on the schedule until the SCAC Tournament. It might make things easier for developing the newcomers and not overworking the veterans.
So, my post yesterday was really about the closing of the at-large opportunity which makes the SCAC AQ the only path Millsaps has to the NCAA Tournament. The next four weeks are now about getting qualified for the SCAC Tournament and then improving the things that are going to be needed to win a 6-team tournament.
Trinity run-rules Hendrix, 12-2, in eight behind seven strong innings (4 hits allowed, 1 BB, 2 ER) by Michael Panozzo.
Oglethorpe takes two of three from Depauw this weekend. It could have easily been 3-3 too. Lost that game 8-7 but led for most of it. Getting some players back has really helped. The team seems to have refound their identity and are getting some nice pitching performances while the bats are heating up at the same time. This Eastern division is going to be interesting the rest of the way.
SCAC West shaping up to be interesting.....
With AC sweeping Millsaps this weekend and TU taking 2 of 3 from Hendrix, the top 3 teams are within 1 game of eachother. Both the majors and tigers have 9 wins and AC has 8. Hendrix has only 5 and Southwestern with 4. A huge 3 game series coming up for the 'Roos this weekend as they travel to Hendrix. By my math, if Ausitn college beat Hendrix once, they can do no worse than tie with Hendrix and will have the tie-breaker since they would have won the season series. Here is to a good weekend of baseball....
While I don't think any team has technically clinched a spot in the West, the Austin sweep of Millsaps plus Trinity taking two of three from Hendrix greatly increased the probability that the three teams from the SCAC West will be Austin, Trinity and Millsaps. For that to change, either Hendrix or Southwestern would have to win just about every game and one of the current top 3 would have to lose just about every game. A possibility, but not a probability.
While I hate to say it, you have to give Austin credit for this weekend. Last week I was writing about giving Southwestern credit for coming back on Austin and keeping their hopes alive. This week Austin did the same to Millsaps, winning the DH on Saturday with 7 runs and 3 runs in the bottom half of the last inning to come from behind for victories. I have a longer post about Austin and Millsaps, something from the first time these teams met, and I might get to that later when I have more time.
For Millsaps, now is the time to regroup and not the time to panic. It is two weeks and five games before the next SCAC games, a 3 game series with SW at Millsaps. It's a nice break of games that the team would like to win, but doesn't have to win. A nice stretch where the team can iron out some of the problems that cropped up in Sherman, TX.
After watching games this weekend and seeing the results both in Sherman and San Antonio; it is clear to me that teams have adjusted to what they say the first time through. It may be in how players are defensed or the approach that pitchers take with certain batters; change is occuring.
How it continues to occur and the success that teams find as they continue to make adjustments will have a far greater impact than what occured the 1st half of the season.
But then again; I may be nuts? ;D
So how would Millsaps respond to a 4-game losing streak including being swept 3-0 at Austin this past weekend? How about with a 19-7 victory over 10th ranked MS College in a game ended after the top of the 7th. (MS College is currently 10th in the D3baseball poll and 4th in the coaches poll.)
The webcast was video only and I started watching in the top of the third with Millsaps leading 6-4. MS College had a runner on 2nd and no outs (maybe a runner on 1st as well). John Marshall Pemberton was just finishing his warmup pitches. Here's what I saw from that point on:
---John Marshall, a junior who got somewhat lost in the shuffle early in the season, had one of the best pitching performances of the season considering the competition. He allowed a 2-run homer in the 6th and was tagged for a run in the top of the 7th while going 4.2 innings. Boomer Hudson came in and got the last out to end the game via the 10-run rule.
---Jason Riggins, a junior, was rewarded with the DH spot after going 3 for 5 (2 doubles) in his first start of the season last Sunday. He responded with a 2-run homer and 3-run triple in the at-bats that I saw.
---Tyler Berry, the current offensive player of the week, got another home run to raise his total to at least 9.
---And last but not least, camerman Stephen Gates did a great job of keeping the viewers aware of the count, score, etc, throughout the game. I'm sure he would rather be healthy and out on the field, but we certainly appreciate the job he does on the camera.
It was a very good and much needed victory for the Majors.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 30, 2010, 09:39:25 PM
So how would Millsaps respond to a 4-game losing streak including being swept 3-0 at Austin this past weekend? How about with a 19-7 victory over 10th ranked MS College in a game ended after the top of the 7th. (MS College is currently 10th in the D3baseball poll and 4th in the coaches poll.)
The webcast was video only and I started watching in the top of the third with Millsaps leading 6-4. MS College had a runner on 2nd and no outs (maybe a runner on 1st as well). John Marshall Pemberton was just finishing his warmup pitches. Here's what I saw from that point on:
---John Marshall, a junior who got somewhat lost in the shuffle early in the season, had one of the best pitching performances of the season considering the competition. He allowed a 2-run homer in the 6th and was tagged for a run in the top of the 7th while going 4.2 innings. Boomer Hudson came in and got the last out to end the game via the 10-run rule.
---Jason Riggins, a junior, was rewarded with the DH spot after going 3 for 5 (2 doubles) in his first start of the season last Sunday. He responded with a 2-run homer and 3-run triple in the at-bats that I saw.
---Tyler Berry, the current offensive player of the week, got another home run to raise his total to at least 9.
---And last but not least, camerman Stephen Gates did a great job of keeping the viewers aware of the count, score, etc, throughout the game. I'm sure he would rather be healthy and out on the field, but we certainly appreciate the job he does on the camera.
It was a very good and much needed victory for the Majors.
Who pitched for Mississippi College?
Good question Ralph. With it being a video only game, I really have no clue on who MS College used in the game. It was an important game for MS College from the standpoint of ranking and keeping pace with Belhaven for the Maloney Trophy, but I recognize that both teams might have been going with less than their top 3. I'll keep an eye out for a box score this evening and post it if I find one before going to bed.
Chris may post something before I get through with this post since I see he is logged on the board. Here is a link to the Millsaps story and it has a link to the box score:
http://www.gomajors.com/news/2010/3/30/BB_0330104817.aspx
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 30, 2010, 10:17:12 PM
Who pitched for Mississippi College?
Craig Mackay started, Preston Necaise, Bubba Davis and Daniel Cowart relieved. Mackay has been a weekend starter most of the year after Brandon Martin went down but struggled for the second straight start after getting one out against UTD last weekend. Necaise and Davis haven't had a lot of work this year but have both pitched well. Cowart has been great all year but we were already buried when he came in, and he wasn't bad to be honest.
I'll say this about Millsaps, they barreled about everything they swung at. Mackay actually beat them earlier this year with a good start but they roughed him up pretty good tonight. I'm sure they were embarrassed after last weekend, and got after it tonight. MC had given up 47 earned runs in 196 innings, and gave up 18 earned runs tonight in six innings. We swung it well, but just couldn't slow them down at all. Humbling is probably the best way to describe tonight's game for the Choctaws.
Quote from: Chris Brooks on March 30, 2010, 10:53:19 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 30, 2010, 10:17:12 PM
Who pitched for Mississippi College?
Craig Mackay started, Preston Necaise, Bubba Davis and Daniel Cowart relieved. Mackay has been a weekend starter most of the year after Brandon Martin went down but struggled for the second straight start after getting one out against UTD last weekend. Necaise and Davis haven't had a lot of work this year but have both pitched well. Cowart has been great all year but we were already buried when he came in, and he wasn't bad to be honest.
I'll say this about Millsaps, they barreled about everything they swung at. Mackay actually beat them earlier this year with a good start but they roughed him up pretty good tonight. I'm sure they were embarrassed after last weekend, and got after it tonight. MC had given up 47 earned runs in 196 innings, and gave up 18 earned runs tonight in six innings. We swung it well, but just couldn't slow them down at all. Humbling is probably the best way to describe tonight's game for the Choctaws.
We don't get much info from the sweeps of Schreiner (on the road) and Concordia (in Clinton) about how good Mississippi College is.
The UTT games (winning series at SRSU 2-1, winning the HSU series in Tyler 2-1, losing 2 each to TLU and UMHB) make me think that UTT has not put it together yet.
I am trying to figure if Mississippi College has the pitching depth to go far in the tourney. Pitching has been the weakness of the ASC in the NCAA's.
Millsaps will webcast their DH with LaGrange today and the single game tomorrow:
Starting time for Friday's DH is 1:00 Central time and approximately 4:00. The singe game on Saturday starts at 11:00.
Link for webcast: http://atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm (it really does take about 45 seconds for the video to start)
Link for live stats: http://home.lagrange.edu/athletics/stats/Baseball/live/xlive.htm
Link for LaGrange stats: http://home.lagrange.edu/athletics/stats/Baseball/teamcume.htm
Link for Millsaps stats: http://gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/10Baseball/stats/teamcume.htm
Am I correct that a loss this evening would eliminate Hendrix from any shot at the SCAC Tournament? Hendrix is currently 5-10 in the SCAC and are holding a 7-3 lead over Austin after 6 this evening.
If Hendrix loses: (1) They can't catch Trinity who will be 10-10 at the very worst; (2) they could only tie Millsaps and Austin who could do no worse than 9-11 if Austin wins tonight--and Millsaps and Austin would have the tiebreaker over Hendrix.
Southwestern is now at 4-10 after losing to Trinity today so they are on life support when it comes to making the SCAC Tournament. They just about have to go 6-0 which would mean winning tomorrow at Trinity, sweeping Millsaps 3-0 in Jackson, and then winning 2 at home over Hendrix.
Regarding the Austin at Hendrix series, I see that today's game was halted after 6 innings due to heavy rains. The teams will complete game 1 tomorrow, and then follow that up with a 7 inning/9 inning DH.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 02, 2010, 09:50:19 PM
Am I correct that a loss this evening would eliminate Hendrix from any shot at the SCAC Tournament? Hendrix is currently 5-10 in the SCAC and are holding a 7-3 lead over Austin after 6 this evening.
If Hendrix loses: (1) They can't catch Trinity who will be 10-10 at the very worst; (2) they could only tie Millsaps and Austin who could do no worse than 9-11 if Austin wins tonight--and Millsaps and Austin would have the tiebreaker over Hendrix.
Southwestern is now at 4-10 after losing to Trinity today so they are on life support when it comes to making the SCAC Tournament. They just about have to go 6-0 which would mean winning tomorrow at Trinity, sweeping Millsaps 3-0 in Jackson, and then winning 2 at home over Hendrix.
That is how I read it as well.......
Going to be interesting to see if Hendrix can win 3 games in one day, with the game from last night being finished today.
It's Saturday morning so there's time for me to give my viewpoint on the state of Millsaps baseball at the moment. It's a little long, but what else in new for one of my posts:
Coach Page got thrown out in the top of the 9th of yesterday's second game with Millsaps trailing 7-2. Was he trying to rally the troops or was he really highly irritated over the ump's strike zone? Maybe it was one of those things, but I don't think so. I think he exploded Friday because Millsaps had only registered 7 runs and 13 hits in 17 innings, numbers that look puny compared to the 19 runs and 17 hits Millsaps hammered out against MS College in 6 innings Tuesday night.
I'm going to take a stab at something, just my opinion and certainly one that could be 100% wrong. It isn't a criticism, just an observation. I think Coach Page is frustrated because this team is too nice. Again, my opinion and it might be 100% wrong. There's nothing wrong with nice, I consider it a positive and valuable trait, but sometimes it helps to mix in a bit of nasty.
My thoughts go back to the team of 2006. The 8 players who started almost every game were: Hunter Abrams, Garner Wetzel, Luke Morrow, Justin Carter, Jason Hadley, John Pacillo, Derrik Boland, and Nick Crawford. What a lineup of talent--and yet, that team had a .338 BA and .476 SLG% which is great, but not better than the current .336 BA and .508 SLG%. That tells me that the 2010 team has what it takes at the plate to be on par with what might have been the best team in Millsaps history.
As for pitching, it would be hard for any team to match the 2006 duo of John Fox and Todd Kindler who combined for a 19-3 record on a team that finished 37-13. Still, neither won the SCAC Pitcher of the Year and their ERA's were 3.83 and 3.45, so it's not like the current staff doesn't have guys capable of replicating those types of performances. As a team the 2006 staff had a 4.07 ERA compared to the current 6.07, a decided advantage, but maybe one that should be expected with so many freshmen getting thrown into the mix from the very start this season.
So when it comes to hitting and pitching, the 2010 team isn't really so different from the team of 2006 that came so very close to making the World Series. Admittedly, the 2006 team performed much better defensively and that's something the Millsaps team has to improve on in April in preparation for the post season. I believe progress is being made in that area.
Hitting, pitching, and fielding--the 2006 team has an edge in 2 out of the 3 over the 2010 team. However, that's not the big difference I see between the two teams. The 2006 team had guys who really hated to lose. Now all athletes hate to lose, but I'm talking about REALLY hating to lose. Maybe that explains why the worse losing streak they had in 2006 was 2-games, once to Illinois Wesleyan and then the two games they lost in the championship games at regionals. By the way, those 4 losses were by a total of 6 runs.
All year my prediction has been that Millsaps would find a higher gear in the second half of the season. My thought was that the game with MS College was that moment. Based on the lethargic performance at the plate Friday, it appears that the MS College game was not that moment. Maybe Millsaps will rebound today and this will be the moment. At some point this Millsaps team has to get a little more of a chip on their shoulder. At some point a few of these freshmen pitchers are going to have to find that little bit of nasty that Aaron Williams brought to Millsaps for his freshman year.
I still have high hopes for this 2010 team. Maybe I'm just a hopeless optimist, but my gut feeling is that the 2010 Majors are very close to bumping up to a higher level of play. It's April and every game becomes important from here on out. Today's game with LaGrange might not have any value regarding SCAC standings or winning an at-large berth, but it is important. I'm hoping that we'll see the Millsaps team that took the field this past Tuesday and that today's game will be the start of a great stretch run for the 2010 season. Time is running out to find that higher gear.
Millsaps didn't exactly come out on fire today, trailing 3-0 going into the top of the 7th against LaGrange. That's when things got interesting:
---Millsaps used 6 hits in the top of the 7th to take a 4-3 lead.
---That looked good for an inning, but then Millsaps gave up 5 in the bottom of the 8th to fall behind 8-4 with only 3 outs remaining. It was a situation where a team certainly could have given up and started thinking about the bus ride home.
---Millsaps got it rolling in the top of the 9th, with just about everyone getting in on the act as the Majors plated 11 on 11 hits for a 15-8 lead. That turned out to be the final score.
It's the kind of game that can be a turning point in a season--just as the game with MS College could have been. I guess we'll see when Huntingdon comes to town this Tuesday and Southwestern visits next weekend for a 3-game series.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 03, 2010, 03:50:26 PM
Millsaps didn't exactly come out on fire today, trailing 3-0 going into the top of the 7th against LaGrange. That's when things got interesting:
---Millsaps used 6 hits in the top of the 7th to take a 4-3 lead.
---That looked good for an inning, but then Millsaps gave up 5 in the bottom of the 8th to fall behind 8-4 with only 3 outs remaining. It was a situation where a team certainly could have given up and started thinking about the bus ride home.
---Millsaps got it rolling in the top of the 9th, with just about everyone getting in on the act as the Majors plated 11 on 11 hits for a 15-8 lead. That turned out to be the final score.
It's the kind of game that can be a turning point in a season--just as the game with MS College could have been. I guess we'll see when Huntingdon comes to town this Tuesday and Southwestern visits next weekend for a 3-game series.
Valuable win for the Majors.
VERY interesting and important game going on right now between Austin and Hendrix. Hendrix has won the first two and is now 7-10 in the SCAC. Austin has dropped to 8-9. The winner of this final game will hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the other.
Here's what's left for these two teams after today: Hendrix goes to Southwestern for 2 and Austin hosts Trinity for 2. SO, if Hendrix wins today they earn the tiebreaker over Austin and are one game back tied with Austin with the 'Roos having the tougher finish. OF COURSE, if Austin wins today then Hendrix is mathmatically eliminated, but I think this is a do or die game for both teams.
At the moment, Austin is leading 5-3 with Hendrix batting in the bottom of the 5th. Here's a link that should bring up the live stats for the game:
http://livestats.prestosports.com/hendrix/bsb/?e=8v594ag3svd4rkj2
looking at the box score and watching online, TU banged the ball again. After scoring 18 yesterday, the scored 19 today. Difference was the on the mound, with Klimesh going 6 strong innings. The Tigers will need him to continue that if they want to accomplish some of their goals this season.
Austin up 10-5 in the 8th against Hendrix...if this holds true, the West side of the tournament is set.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 03, 2010, 07:32:34 PM
looking at the box score and watching online, TU banged the ball again. After scoring 18 yesterday, the scored 19 today. Difference was the on the mound, with Klimesh going 6 strong innings. The Tigers will need him to continue that if they want to accomplish some of their goals this season.
Austin up 10-5 in the 8th against Hendrix...if this holds true, the West side of the tournament is set.
Austin holds on and so the west is set for the tourney....just need the seeding.
Austin won over Hendrix 10-6 so the West is almost set. If Southwestern wins out and Millsaps loses out, then Southwestern ties Millsaps and has the tiebreaker.
Trinity is obviously in and Austin holds the tiebreaker over Hendrix, Millsaps and Southwestern so it seems like they are in even if they lose twice to Trinity.
The East side is only halfway through their schedule so everyone is still in the hunt. It's a little odd to see DePauw as one of the teams that wouldn't make the tournament if the season ended today. The Tigers lost to Rhodes today and will be in some trouble if they lose both ends of tomorrow's DH with Rhodes.
Link to standings:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/standings-division
The Trinity baseball team got a 3+ minute feature on one of the local TV stations (http://www.woai.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=815389) ... for one of the training methods the pitching staff is using. Fun stuff.
That may be the longest story I can ever remember an SA station doing on any TU athletics.
Ron,
Thank you very much for posting the link.
If you have tried even a few/small amount of pilates work, the core strengthening is hard and painful, actually really hard and painful. That core work plus the flexibility do make a lot of sense..but it didn't look like the Coaches were participants!
So, after this past weekend, if I read the numbers correctly, Hendrix needs to win their last 2 and Millsaps needs to lose all 6 of their remaining conference games for Hendrix to get to the tournament.
In my view this is just further evidence that the work done year in and year out by Coach Page and his staff and Coach Scannell and his staff is pretty darn solid.
Coach Cleanthes at Rhodes seems to be heading their program in that direction, also. Staying at or near the top year in and year out can sometimes get taken for granted.
It should not. Those staffs work very, very hard year round.
One of the greatest moments I've seen in Millsaps sporting history.
Millsaps took an 19-18 victory over Huntingdon College in 11 innings this evening. It wasn't a game of any great importance, it certainly wasn't the best played game of baseball you'll ever see, but what a fantastic final play.
Huntingdon had taken an 18-17 lead in the top of the 11th on a long HR to center. Millsaps came to bat in the bottom of the 11th and the first three batters produced two outs and a walk to Carson Goldsmith. That brought up rarely used junior Drew Respess for his 4th at bat of the season as well as the 4th at bat of his Millsaps career.
Drew, that seldom used player who is always the one pumping up his teammates and getting the noise started in the dugout, worked the count to 3-2. A full count, two outs, the winning run at the plate in the form of a great guy who rarely gets the chance to contribute on the field. A two run walkoff homer would be too unbelievable even for Hollywood, but that's exactly what happen tonight.
A great moment for a great guy. I hate that I saw it on the webcast and not in person with my camera recording it all, but I don't think that Drew or his teammates will need photos to remember the amazing ending to tonight's game. What a fantastic finish.
Frank:
Thanks for the story; I am sure that he and his family will speak of tonight with abundant joy for some time to come. In my book; it is stories like this that make college baseball so important to so many.
While I wasn't at the game to take photos of Drew Respess' home run and the celebration that followed, I did think to grab a camera and film the PC monitor during the post game interviews. It's about 10 minutes and I think it's worth a listen. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z5WU6PL5iM
Good W for the Petrels today at Emory. They are now 2-0 vs. Emory with both victories coming on Emory's home field. OU heads to Centre this weekend in another big SCAC weekend.
As we all should know, the baseball polls are interesting but what's really important are the NCAA Regional rankings. At least that's what is important when it comes to receiving an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. Where does your team stand at this point? Here are the last published South regional rankings from 2009 (the very last ranking is never released by the NCAA) and a link to the last 2009 published rankings:
South Region
1. Salisbury 36-6 29-6
2. Millsaps 32-8 29-7
3. Shenandoah 33-8 27-7
4. North Carolina Wesleyan 27-19 25-15
5. Christopher Newport 24-11-2 20-11-1
http://www.d3sports.com/dailydose/category/ncaa/regional-rankings/
I'll write more later, but now I've gotten into that area of the message box where the message box keeps displaying the text that is above what I'm trying to type. Very annoying. I'll do a post as a word document and then copy and paste that into a followup post.
Here's a second link that you'll need to go with that regional ranking. It's a thread from the messageboard that starts off with which teams made it into the 2009 NCAA Tournament:
http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=6415.0
What I really need to find is a link to which teams made it to the 2009 tournament as a Pool C (at-large) team. Ralph, Pat, Ron or someone--do you have a link to something like that so a person could compare the regional rankings with a list of the teams that actually got an at-large bid?
If anyone will have something like that, it'll be Ralph.
Two weeks until the first regional rankings for 2010, or three?
The Following is a post that was made last year about the teams in the tournament and I believe the teams I've change to bold font were the Pool C teams. It may be a little early to talk about these things, but I'm thinking that a few SCAC teams might still have an at-large shot, but they really need to finish strong. Maybe even Millsaps has a shot if they finish 8-0 or 7-1 in the D3 games left and then pick up 3 wins in the SCAC Tournament (maybe even 6-2 considering the strength of the remaining Millsaps schedule: Southwestern(3 games), Rhodes(1), Trinity(3), and MS College(1).)
Well shoot--I can't get down to the lower portion of the post to highlight and bold any selections. The Pool C teams seem to be: Marietta (29-15), Millsaps (32-8), Wisconson Whitewater (26-17), Southern Me. (35-7), WPI (28-11), Kean (34-9), Montclair St. (26-17), Cal Lutheran (31-9), Shenandoah (28-6), Christopher Newport (24-11-2), Rensselaer (31-9), St Thomas (31-10), and St. Norbert (23-13).
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INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division III Baseball Committee has announced the 54 teams that will compete in the 2009 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
Six teams will compete at five first-round sites; eight teams will compete at three first-round sites. All first rounds will use a double-elimination format. Thirty-five conference champions qualified automatically.
Winners of the eight first-round tournaments will qualify for the double-elimination championship at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin, May 22-26.
DATES/SITES/SEEDINGS:
May 13-17
Hosted by Adrian College, Adrian, Michigan
1. Heidelberg (36-7)
2. Wooster (35-8)
3. Marietta (29-15)
4. Adrian (31-9)
5. Concordia Chicago (33-13)
6. Rose-Hulman (31-12)
Hosted by Augustana College (Illinois), Moline, Illinois
1. Carthage (32-6)
2. Millsaps (32-8)
3. Wis.-Whitewater (26-17)
4. Washington-St. Louis (25-10)
5. Wartburg (27-18)
6. Fontbonne (25-17)
Hosted by Eastern Connecticut State University, Mansfield, Connecticut
1. Eastern Conn. St. (35-6)
2. Southern Me. (35-7)
3. Trinity (CT) (29-5)
4. WPI (28-11)
5. Suffolk (30-9)
6. Westfield St. (23-15)
7. Husson (31-12)
8. Babson (21-15)
Hosted by Kean University, Lakewood, New Jersey
1. Kean (34-9)
2. Keystone (37-4)
3. Montclair St. (26-17)
4. Penn St.-Behrend (31-11)
5. TCNJ (24-16-1)
6. Elizabethtown (27-13)
7. Alvernia (26-15)
8. Penn St.-Berks (21-20-1)
Hosted by Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon
1. Pomona-Pitzer (35-5)
2. Texas-Tyler (38-10)
3. Cal Lutheran 31-9)
4. George Fox (33-9)
5. Chapman (26-14)
6. Hendrix 22-21)
Hosted by Salisbury University, Salisbury, Maryland
1. Salisbury (37-6)
2. Shenandoah (28-6)
3. N.C. Wesleyan (27-19)
4. Christopher Newport (24-11-2)
5. Wash. & Jeff. (33-12)
6. York (PA) (27-14)
7. Johns Hopkins (24-14)
8. Wash. & Lee (22-13)
Hosted by Skyline Conference and Stat University of New York at Farmingdale, Farmingdale, New York
1. Cortland St. (30-12)
2. Ithaca (29-8)
3. Rensselaer (31-9)
4. Farmingdale St. (26-13)
5. Western New Eng. (29-15)
6. Clarkson (21-19)
Hosted by University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
1. St. Olaf (29-12)
2. St. Thomas (31-10)
3. St. Scholastica (35-5)
4. St. Norbert (23-13)
5. Wis.-Stevens Point (29-14)
6. Beloit (28-7)
First-round matchups for the championship site will be as follows:
Augustana (IL) regional winner vs. Adrian regional winner
Kean regional winner vs. Eastern Conn. St. regional winner
Salisbury regional winner vs. Skyline/Farmingdale St. regional winner
Linfield regional winner vs. Wis.-Oshkosh regional winner
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 08, 2010, 08:45:02 AM
Here's a second link that you'll need to go with that regional ranking. It's a thread from the messageboard that starts off with which teams made it into the 2009 NCAA Tournament:
http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=6415.0
What I really need to find is a link to which teams made it to the 2009 tournament as a Pool C (at-large) team. Ralph, Pat, Ron or someone--do you have a link to something like that so a person could compare the regional rankings with a list of the teams that actually got an at-large bid?
http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2009/04/28/2009+Playoff+Central.html (http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2009/04/28/2009+Playoff+Central.html)
OshDude--That's the page I was trying to find with no success. Thanks for the link.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 08, 2010, 11:02:44 AM
If anyone will have something like that, it'll be Ralph.
Two weeks until the first regional rankings for 2010, or three?
April 29th. ;)
Dr. Ralph,,, you gonna see the TU-AC series this weekend in Sherman??? It'll be webcast!
Quote from: historymajor on April 09, 2010, 09:52:56 PM
Dr. Ralph,,, you gonna see the TU-AC series this weekend in Sherman??? It'll be webcast!
I will be watching the McMurry webcast of the Horrid Pain DH in Abilene and following the ASC-West.
McMurry is 1 game out of first.
Millsaps wins two over Southwestern to officially qualify for the SCAC Tournament. The first game was an odd one with the score being 2-2 going into the top of the 7th (in a game scheduled for 7). Southwestern scored 3 to take a 5-2 lead and Millsaps came back with a combination of hits, walks and hbp to score 4 and take the victory. I believe the last 3 Millsaps batters got on by hbp, walk and walk.
In the second game which just ended Southwestern turned a big Millsaps lead into a close game. I believe the final was 16-13. Most of my time today was spent at softball (Millsaps and Austin split a pair), so I don't have much in the way of details on the baseball.
I see that Trinity won at Austin so the Tigers are really keeping their at-large option in good shape, and Rhodes lost 2 at home to Birmingham which really hurts the at-large possibilities for the Lynxs.
OU wins twice at Centre today to clinch a tournament spot. Hopefully box scores are posted soon.
Ben Klimesh moves to 6-0 after picking up the win at Austin, 8-2. He allowed seven hits and two runs in eight innings of work, striking out six.
Trinity is pounding, just pounding the ball.
19-3 over Austin today. They are doing this without Kyle Felix and Evan Jones has stepped up big time to carry the offense..
Evan Jones has been amazing.
3-3 today with 2 doubles and 1 HR along with 6 more RBI's.
I believe this is the 6th straight game in which Evan has hit a HR.
Over 30 games into the season and he is hitting almost .500.
On another positive, TU got what looks like a good start from Noah Solomon. If returns to 2009 form, he, Klimesh and Panozzo make them very deep and very tough, especially when you are scoring over 11 runs per game.
It would be hard to imagine Millsaps going to Trinity and winning 3 games for the outright SCAC West Championship. It's going to take quite an effort to win 2 out of 3 and tie Trinity for the title.
Millsaps did get good starting pitching from Aaron Williams, Shelby Robertson, and Wes Perkins this past weekend. Other pitchers are coming around and maybe things will all fall into place by this weekend or next. Millsaps is most definitely a dangerous team in any game or two game series. Things get a little more iffy when it's a three game series or a six team tournament, but that's true for a lot of teams.
One big plus is that the team is scoring a lot lately with 122 runs over the last 10 games. Jason Riggins has certainly added some pop to the lineup since getting his first start 9 games ago. In 43 at bats on the season, Jason has 4 doubles, 3 triples, 5 home runs, and 23 rbi. It has been a remarkable stretch of games and it seems like Tyler Berry has basically matched those numbers as well.*
This weekend's series with Trinity should be a great one. Millsaps plays Belhaven Tuesday and Rhodes Wednesday. The pitching choices for those games will be interesting and I suspect Millsaps will need a lot of runs to win these mid-week games. While the chances of an at-large berth might not be great for Millsaps, the game with Rhodes is obviously the most important since Belhaven is an NAIA team.
*I did want to acknowledge the tremendous job Evan Jones is doing at Trinity this season, putting up similar numbers over the entire season. The numbers over the first 32 games are amazing: 117 at bats, .487 BA, .586 OB%, 9 doubles, 2 triples, 12 home runs, and a .906 slugging percentage. It might be a good idea to walk him every time even though Trinity has plenty of great hitters behind Evan in the lineup.
Should be a great series this weekend, Frank. With the way both teams are pounding out hits and scoring, both need great efforts from their pitching along with good fielding to win.
Trinity has a couple of mid-week singles against ASC foes Schreiner (5-27/3-12, 8th ASC West; Tuesday, Kerrville) and Texas Lutheran (24-9/10-5, 2nd ASC West; Wednesday, SA). The Tigers beat each team earlier in the season.
Infielddad, what's the story on Kyle Felix?
Ron--It seems to me that both Millsaps and Trinity would prefer to have their mid-week games flip-flopped. That's especially true for Trinity which has a much better shot at receiving an at-large bid if needed. With Millsaps, winning the Wednesday NCAA game is the more important than the NAIA game on Tuesday, and with Trinity, winning the Wednesday game with Texas Lutheran will be the most difficult of their two games.
Does either team use a pitcher Wednesday that they expect to use over the weekend? If not, then Rhodes and Texas Lutheran are going to be tough teams to beat--though admittedly those teams will be saving pitchers for the weekend as well.
For those who are interested, here's the situation in the SCAC East. The schedule has the following 3-game series:
DePauw (7-5) at Centre (4-8)
Oglethorpe (7-5) hosting Birmingham Southern (11-1)
Rhodes (6-6) at Sewanee (1-11)
Pending a Centre sweep of DePauw, it looks like DePauw, Oglethorpe, and Rhodes are going to the SCAC Tournament. The question is who will win the East:
--DePauw is in first and needs to win 2 out of 3 at Centre. Two wins would put them at 9-6 and they hold the tiebreaker over Rhodes.
--OU is going to have trouble getting to 9 wins which means that they seem the most likely to end up as the 3rd seed in the SCAC East.
--Rhodes is probably going to 9-6 considering that Sewanee is on an 11-game losing streak during which they have given up 16+ runs per game (64 scored by DePauw last week).
My guess is that the SCAC East seeding will end up being DePauw, Rhodes and Oglethorpe.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 12, 2010, 02:12:22 PM
Should be a great series this weekend, Frank. With the way both teams are pounding out hits and scoring, both need great efforts from their pitching along with good fielding to win.
Trinity has a couple of mid-week singles against ASC foes Schreiner (5-27/3-12, 8th ASC West; Tuesday, Kerrville) and Texas Lutheran (24-9/10-5, 2nd ASC West; Wednesday, SA). The Tigers beat each team earlier in the season.
Infielddad, what's the story on Kyle Felix?
Felix broke a bone in his arm during the Hendrix Series. Not sure how long he is out. TU has a history of going with weekend guys for mid week games. I wonder if that will be the case this week with Millsaps coming to town. You have to think, with only 7 losses on the season, if TU can win 4, then even if they lose the tourney they would still be in the discussion for an at-large bid, having only 10 losses.
An unusual scheduling change for Millsaps with tonight's scheduled game against Belhaven being moved to Thursday. Unless there are further changes, that means a game with Rhodes Wednesday evening, a 6pm game with Belhaven on Thursday, a 600 mile bus trip on Friday, and then the DH at Trinity Saturday followed by a single game on Sunday. Those are going to be some tired players when the bus pulls into Jackson sometime Monday morning.
Obviously there is a reason behind this scheduling change but it is unfortunate. Nine innings of pitching on a Tuesday game isn't really a factor for the weekend series that follows. Nine innings of pitching on a Thursday against a very good NAIA team is a bit of a problem. But, it's not like the game could be rescheduled for next week prior to the SCAC Tournament and I've never known of Millsaps having an official game after the SCAC Tournament, so as the coaches love to say, it is what it is.
Frank,
The East is up for grabs. You have it a bit wrong with the current standings, OU is in first right now by virtue of taking 2 out of 3 from DePauw. They would be the #1 seed if the season ended today...but with BSC coming to town it will be tough to hold on to the top spot. It is interesting that if all three schools end up with the same record what would be the seeding?
OU has the tiebreaker over DPU
DPU has it over Rhodes
Rhodes has it over OU
Honestly, there are so many scenerios here anything can happen.
Thanks for that clarification. While OU is currently the #1 seed, it seems like they are the most likely to end up as the #3 seed IF all the games get played this weekend. We all know how rainouts and an uneven number of games played can become a factor in the final standings.
When it comes to tournament seeding, being #1 doesn't seem to be any better than being #3. It seems like the more important thing is pitching matchups and it seems like everyone has a good #1 starter to open the tournament. It truly is a tournament where any team can win as proven by Hendrix last year.
By the way, being the #3 East isn't all bad since the #1 West and #3 East have the best draw when it comes to time slots and the winner of that game getting to play a first round loser for their second game. Here's a link to the brackets:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/2010championships/2010_SCAC_Baseball_Bracket.pdf
That's a tough road (literally) for Millsaps to hoe, Frank, but knowing your coaching staff they will no doubt turn it into a rallying cry for the weekend.
Something else you said got me wondering - why is it that SCAC teams do not seem to schedule anyone after the championship? The lack of activity between the tourney and the NCAAs, while a blessing in allowing minor injuries to heal, IMO means whomever represents the SCAC ends up a little rusty when they start playing again.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 13, 2010, 12:46:06 PM
That's a tough road (literally) for Millsaps to hoe, Frank, but knowing your coaching staff they will no doubt turn it into a rallying cry for the weekend.
Something else you said got me wondering - why is it that SCAC teams do not seem to schedule anyone after the championship? The lack of activity between the tourney and the NCAAs, while a blessing in allowing minor injuries to heal, IMO means whomever represents the SCAC ends up a little rusty when they start playing again.
I just wish the SCAC would push back the conf tourney. It would allow the East division to get in more games, etc.
A quick note on the POTW honors this week. Congratulations to Wes Perkins of Millsaps for winning the pitcher-of-the-week honor. Jason Riggins of Millsaps looked like a clearcut winner for hitter of the week considering the following:
8 for 18 = .444
2 doubles, 2 triples, 4 home runs = 26 total bases = 1.444 slugging %
8 runs scored, 12 runs driven in
HOWEVER, sometimes it is all about timing and Evan Jones was also putting up incredible numbers this week. While I would have really liked having Jason win the honor, it's hard to argue against the numbers Evan put up--it would have been a good week for co-winners. Here's a cut and paste on Evan's week from the SCAC website:
EVAN JONES OF TRINITY UNIVERSITY, a 6-3, 225-pound senior first baseman from Hillsborough, Calif., has been named the SCAC Offensive Baseball Player-of-the-Week for games played Monday, April 5 through Sunday, April 11.
In three games, Jones hit a blistering 8-for-13 at the plate for a .615 batting average while driving in 15 runs, hitting three homeruns and scoring six runs on the week. He also hit two doubles and one triple during the week.
He also posted a 1.615 slugging percentage to go along with an on base percentage of .625 to tally a 2.240 OPS (on base plus slugging) percentage. Jones homered in all three games during the week and also tallied multi-hit games in each game.
For the week, Jones posted a .625 batting average (5-for-8) against SCAC competition. He also added four runs, nine RBI, and two homeruns in two league games.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 13, 2010, 12:46:06 PM
That's a tough road (literally) for Millsaps to hoe, Frank, but knowing your coaching staff they will no doubt turn it into a rallying cry for the weekend.
Something else you said got me wondering - why is it that SCAC teams do not seem to schedule anyone after the championship? The lack of activity between the tourney and the NCAAs, while a blessing in allowing minor injuries to heal, IMO means whomever represents the SCAC ends up a little rusty when they start playing again.
It's really not practical to play after April since there are no teams close by that are still playing. Plus, you either have to play when kids are taking exams or keep kids on campus after school has ended. Having kids play after school has ended it fine if you are in the NCAA Tournament, but that's no guarantee. If you want to play the full slate of allowed games then just about the only practical way to accomplish that year after year is to schedule all the games prior to the SCAC Tournament. IMO.
I received an email this evening from an eagle-eye SCAC fan. They pointed out that there's an error on the SCAC Baseball Tournament site in that the games listed on the tournament webpage don't match up with the games on the printable bracket.
For example, the tournament webpage shows the noon game on Thursday as 1E vs. 3W. On the printable bracket the noon game on Thursday is shown as 1W vs. 3E.
I suspect that the printable bracket is the correct schedule and that the noon game on Thursday is 1W vs. 3E. I'm guessing this because in 2009 it was the 1E that had the more favorable noon game which gives a team more rest and the possibility of playing a 1st round loser in the second game. It seems unlikely that the SCAC would give the top-seeded East team this advantage two years in a row.
Trinity (27-7) is playing at Texas Lutheran (24-9) this afternoon in a game that started at 2. The Trinity video link isn't working but Texas Lutheran is doing a webcast. That link is:
http://www.stretchinternet.com/flash/player/palliate.php?event=tlu&pass=16650062
The Trinity bats aren't cooling off any. The first 6 batters have reached base safely and Trinity leads 5-0 with no outs in the top of the 1st and Texas Lutheran going to the bullpen.
Thanks, Frank. Live stats for those who can't listen:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/tlu/baseball/index.htm
TU 7, TLU 0 with TLU just coming up in the bottom of the 1st. Ryan Lucero (3-1, 4.08) on the mound for Trinity so at this point it looks like Panozzo, Klimesh, and Solomon will all be available for the Millsaps series.
Thanks for that link, Ron.
Here's an interesting fun fact for the Trinity series. It's almost a certainty that Aaron Williams will start for Millsaps to open the series and it won't be a surprise if Klimesh starts for Trinity. Did you know that these two pitchers were teammates this past summer on a team in New York?
Funny how small of a world it is sometimes, isn't it?
The TU feed is up now: http://www.sportsnation360.com/schools/webcast/Trinity-University
Trinity's up 11-0 with TLU coming to bat in the bottom of the fourth. The TLU live stats aren't all that live today. :D
Final, 12-1. 15 hits for Trinity, 6 for TLU. Lucero goes six innings and allows no earned runs (the one run came after an error and a balk).
A bad day for the SCAC East as the current top three all fell today. Emory topped OU 8-6, Wabash edged DePauw 8-7, and Millsaps won a home game over Rhodes 10-3 (I think that was the score).
A few quick thoughts on Millsaps tonight:
---Boomer Hudson and John Marshall Pemberton pitched 8 great innings tonight. Those two are going to be counted on heavily over the next couple of weekends and it seems like they are both peaking at the right time. Elliot Varney pitched a scoreless 9th as well. I know the Millsaps coach expect a lot from him in the future. It would be nice if that future success starts over the rest of this season.
---When All-American Garner Wetzel graduated, sophomore Hunter Owen erased the question marks about that hole in the lineup by putting up the same basic numbers. Now sophomore Jules Roussel is doing the same as Hunter's replacement.
Last year Hunter ended up with a .387 BA, 13 HR, 52 rbi, .755 slugging, .531 OB%, and 15 SB. Coming into tonight's game Jules was at .385, 8 HR, 40 rbi, .701 slugging, .538 OB%, and 11 SB. Those numbers will go up as Jules went 4 for 5 and had his 9th HR in tonight's game. Millsaps has really gotten some incredible production from that rightfield spot over the last 6 years.
Millsaps lost to Belhaven tonight in a game that was meaningless for all practical purposes. Naturally Coach Page wasn't happy that Millsaps lost 12-0 in a game call after 7 innings and that's understandable. But, it's hard to get up for an NAIA game that is sandwiched between the Rhodes game and the Trinity series.
Speaking of the Millsaps-Trinity series, it apparently won't be at Trinity. Maybe at Austin, or Houston, or anywhere that a dry field can be found, but apparently the forecast is for heavy rains and a wet field in San Antonio this weekend. Coach Page said that the team might get on the bus tomorrow at noon without a known destination.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 15, 2010, 10:34:50 PM
Millsaps lost to Belhaven tonight in a game that was meaningless for all practical purposes. Naturally Coach Page wasn't happy that Millsaps lost 12-0 in a game call after 7 innings and that's understandable. But, it's hard to get up for an NAIA game that is sandwiched between the Rhodes game and the Trinity series.
Speaking of the Millsaps-Trinity series, it apparently won't be at Trinity. Maybe at Austin, or Houston, or anywhere that a dry field can be found, but apparently the forecast is for heavy rains and a wet field in San Antonio this weekend. Coach Page said that the team might get on the bus tomorrow at noon without a known destination.
I wonder if the astros are in town?? That would be fun.
Def. not Austin - raining as much there as it is in SA.
Dallas might work, low chance of rain here this weekend. Would be nice if they'd play the games here, I might be able to watch one of them. ;)
This ought to be interesting; this weekend is senior weekend at Trinity. Family and friends of many of the players (most coming from out of state) are heading to SA tommorrow. I am doubtful that with a function paid for and with everyone traveling that they can "stray" to far from SA.
Quote from: ILVBB on April 16, 2010, 12:01:36 AM
This ought to be interesting; this weekend is senior weekend at Trinity. Family and friends of many of the players (most coming from out of state) are heading to SA tommorrow. I am doubtful that with a function paid for and with everyone traveling that they can "stray" to far from SA.
Is there a high school field that has astroturf, at least on the infield?
Since I don't travel to the away games, it never dawned on me about the travel plans of parents and fans OR the fact that this would be senior weekend at Trinity. All I know about the situation is what was said by Coach Page in the postgame interview last night at about 8:30 Central time.
While I'll be checking the Millsaps website for information, it seems logical that someone will hear about the new location prior to anything being posted on the Trinity of Millsaps website. If you do hear something, maybe you could post it here. If you do hear something and don't have a user account on the message board, you can email me at frankezelle@yahoo.com and I'll post it.
It sounds like both coaches want to get the games played and hopefully a workable solution will be found.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 16, 2010, 12:23:32 AM
Quote from: ILVBB on April 16, 2010, 12:01:36 AM
This ought to be interesting; this weekend is senior weekend at Trinity. Family and friends of many of the players (most coming from out of state) are heading to SA tommorrow. I am doubtful that with a function paid for and with everyone traveling that they can "stray" to far from SA.
Is there a high school field that has astroturf, at least on the infield?
That's a good question, wish I knew the answer. The closest ballfield I *know* has turf is at UT in Austin. The minor league facility in SA is natural.
I did some checking; UT-Austin plays Saturday, but is gone Sunday. Concordia has a turf field but they are at home this weekend. The two minor league teams (San Antonio and Round Rock) are both home this weekend. The only turf field in South Texas that is not being used is at Rice (Houston).
The question is who is the turface supplier for San Antonio?
Here's a cut and paste from the "Breaking News" section on the Trinity athletic website:
"Saturday's games with Millsaps are postponed. A decision on playing games this weekend will be made as soon as possible."
I've been told the Millsaps players were on the bus and ready to head to Trinity today when it was decided to cancel the Saturday games. This situation reminds me of a golf tournament on a rainy weekend. Obviously every golfer wants to win a tournament played over the full 72 holes, but when playing the 4th round is in doubt, it sure is nice to be the guy in the clubhouse with a 1 stroke lead.
This weekend was what a sports fans wants to see, the top two teams meeting head-to-head in the last series of the season to decide a championship. It's going to be a real shame if Trinity wins the SCAC West championship without having to leave the dorm and Millsaps spends the weekend in Jackson without a chance to earn the crown.
That would definitely be a shame, Frank. Millsaps deserves a chance to play for te regular season title.
That said, as an observer who has only seen TU and MC versus Austin College, I'll be shocked if anyone beats Trinity this year. I just don't know how you compete with those bats. Not to take anything away from a very good Millsaps team, but Trinity has to be the favorite whether or not the teams play this weekend.
I'm heading to the tourney next week so I'm excited to see how it all shakes out.
Jekelish--The play of Trinity for the entire season has earned them the right to be the favorite whenever one is talking about SCAC action. That doesn't mean they have the SCAC Tournament wrapped up, and I don't have to point any further than the 2009 Millsaps team to make my point. Everyone will be an underdog next weekend at the tournament, with Trinity just being less of an underdog than everyone else.
As for what would have happened this weekend under sunny skies in San Antonio? There's no way to know. What I do know is that Aaron Williams for Millsaps is certainly on the short list when it comes to picking the SCAC Pitcher of the Year and he has done very well against Trinity in his last 3 starts.
This year at Millsaps, Aaron held Trinity to 4 hits and 1 run in a 12-2 victory. Last year Aaron was the winning pitcher in a 14-4 win in Jackson giving up 7 hits and 4 runs, and he lost 3-2 to Trinity in that epic pitcher's dual with Evan Bronson. While Trinity is dangerous no matter who they face, I gave Millsaps a decent chance to win the first game this weekend. If that had happened, then the idea of Millsaps winning one of the next two wasn't so far-fetched.
So I'm not saying Millsaps would have won 2 out of 3, just that Millsaps winning 2 out of 3 wouldn't have been a shocking result. I've been told that there's still a possibility of a DH on Sunday. That's a lot of driving for one day of baseball, but the Millsaps players deserve a fair shake at winning the West title.
just looking at the radar this morning, there is a nice yellow and green blob that has parked itself over San Antonio. I have my doubts that Coach Scannell tells Coach Page to get in a bus for the long drive with the real possibility that the games get canceled. I would love to see them play, but I dont think it happens.-----
just read in the TU site the games have been cancelled and will not be made up. What a shame....
Good news for Trinity in several ways. Naturally, this gives them the SCAC West Championship for 2010. Then they get the favored draw in the SCAC Tournament as the W1. And finally, I'm not sure if winning home games over Millsaps would really help their regional rankings, and the weather has taken away the possibility of losing to Millsaps which would really hurt their at-large chance.
While I honestly do think the Trinity players and coaches wanted to play this series, they can't be too disappointed that the rains came in and ended the regular season early.
If you want a silver lining for this situation, then it might be that the SCAC gets two teams into the NCAA if Trinity doesn't take the AQ. I'd love to see the SCAC have two NCAA representatives this year, and naturally I'd like that to be Millsaps with the AQ and Trinity with an at-large.
I wouldnt be so quick to assume Trinity (TX) has a pool C bid lined up. You remember what happened to Texas Tyler in 2008.
They were 35-7 going into the ASC tournament. Lost 2 of 3, and got left out of the tournament at 36-9 because the committee didnt think they could put them in the tournament over the teams that beat them in the last 3 games.
They were left out at 36-9. Trinity would be around 30-9 if they lost the SCAC tournament with a 26-8 regional record. Don't rule out their exclusion. Mark my words, if they lose the tournament, its totally up in the air.
You have to figure these Pool C teams are ahead of Trinity just in the West. And the NWC and SCIAC 2nd place teams could very well finish with a better record than Trinity, because they can win out and still be a pool c team due to no conference tournament. Trinity will lose 2 more games to be in this discussion.
Mississippi Col. 27-6 (23-3)
Redlands 27-4 (22-3)* Only one will be a pool c contender
Pomona Pitzer 25-7 (23-5)*
Linfield 23-8 (21-5)
Quote from: d3baseballnut on April 17, 2010, 01:04:01 PM
I wouldnt be so quick to assume Trinity (TX) has a pool C bid lined up. You remember what happened to Texas Tyler in 2008.
They were 35-7 going into the ASC tournament. Lost 2 of 3, and got left out of the tournament at 36-9 because the committee didnt think they could put them in the tournament over the teams that beat them in the last 3 games.
They were left out at 36-9. Trinity would be around 30-9 if they lost the SCAC tournament with a 26-8 regional record. Don't rule out their exclusion. Mark my words, if they lose the tournament, its totally up in the air.
You have to figure these Pool C teams are ahead of Trinity just in the West. And the NWC and SCIAC 2nd place teams could very well finish with a better record than Trinity, because they can win out and still be a pool c team due to no conference tournament. Trinity will lose 2 more games to be in this discussion.
Mississippi Col. 27-6 (23-3)
Redlands 27-4 (22-3)* Only one will be a pool c contender
Pomona Pitzer 25-7 (23-5)*
Linfield 23-8 (21-5)
Trinity really needed these games for their regional rankings. Not assuming anything, but going 2-3 and entering the tourney at 30-8 is much better than going in at 28-7. The west has some teams with good records. I have spoken with some of the players and they really wanted to play Millsaps this weekend. On to the SCAC.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 17, 2010, 12:40:04 PM
While I honestly do think the Trinity players and coaches wanted to play this series, they can't be too disappointed that the rains came in and ended the regular season early.
Frank,
Next time you speak with Coach Page ask him his view of whether Coach Scannell would rather play or not and whether he would be disappointed.
Coach Scannell believes in competition, he believes and teaches his players that you get better by competing and giving 100% every time you do, and winning/losing isn't the biggest deal as long as you compete. He isn't too much different than Coach Page on those aspects.
Do you think Coach Page would not be too disappointed if the situations were reversed? I think he would be disappointed.
Coaches and players alike love this rivalry and what is does for their teams heading into the Tournament. Trinity and Millsaps players and coaches look forward to this year end set of games year in and year out.
Just my view but I doubt any one is likely happy with this result.
Year in a year out this is the best baseball rivalry in the SCAC with games played at a high level physically and emotionally.
infielddad--Would I be asking Coach Page to simply verify what I said in the sentence you quoted, namely that "I honestly do think the Trinity players and coaches wanted to play this series"? Your post seems to confirm my comment while suggesting that I get someone to set me straight on how Coach Scannell feels.
When I say that they can't be "too disappointed", that also indicates a level of disappointment, but Trinity has the silver lining of the rainout locking in an SCAC Championship and the best slot in the SCAC Tournament. Compare that to the disappointment of the Millsaps team who missed out on the opportunity to gain those things by winning two out of three this weekend.
It's a matter of degrees. You agree with me that the Trinity coaches and players are disappointed that these games were cancelled, but it seems like they would be even more disappointed if they were the team sitting one game out of first. That just seems like a logical observation.
Frank,
You know Coach Page better than I do and I know Coach Scannell better.
I don't think either one likes this one bit.
Whether you play or root for TU or Millsaps, you have felt burned by the NCAA selection process. The only way to remove that possibility is to play and to win.
If you don't play or you lose, you leave your chances at risk and the SCAC doesn't have a good history there.
I think we are looking at this differently when it comes to Pool C. I think that if TU does not win the SCAC, not playing this weekend hurts them for a Pool C.
I am also well aware of the history of the West #1 and the SCAC tournament results.
What I believe at this point is the stakes for the SCAC tournament just went up. I would be very surprised if any SCAC teams gets a Pool C with this weekend washed out. That becomes even more true if Linfield beats Chapman one more game this weekend.
I sure don't mean to create an argument. I can understand why you posted what you did. We are looking at this two different ways I think in terms of whether being the #1 in the West is good at the SCAC's and the Pool C.
Too many negative as opposed to positive results for the West #1 over the past 8-9 years I guess to leave me with a comfortable feeling. ;)
Infielddad, I think we all agree that both teams wanted to play this series as is evident by the attempt to find an alternative field for the series. At this point, teams can only look ahead to the SCAC Tournament--and speaking of which, Centre beat DePauw this afternoon 3-2. I'm going by memory here, a very risky thing to do, but I think a sweep by Centre puts them ahead of DePauw and into the Tournament.
DePauw and Centre should have started the second game of their DH already. There are no live stats and DePauw sports is covering a bicycle race at DePauw this afternoon. OU and BSC are in the bottom of the 6th with BSC leading 6-4 and OU has two men on base.
And for those who are interested, the SCAC West leading Millsaps softball team won their first game at Hendrix 8-0 and with no outs in the top of the second, Millsaps is leading the 2nd game 14-0.
DePauw and OU both dropped to 7-6 after losing the first game of a DH today. Rhodes started the day at 6-6 so if they won the first game at Sewanee there would be a 3 way tie for first (excluding BSC of course).
I found live stats on the Rhodes site and they are ahead 8-5 in the bottom of the 7th inning of the 2nd game, but I have found no score on the first game. At this point it looks like Rhodes, DePauw, and OU are all very equal, with BSC being considerably better than those three and Sewanee being considerably worse. That leaves Centre as just below the middle-of-the-pack for now, but they will make the SCAC Tournament with a sweep of DePauw.
The second DePauw-Centre game should have started 2 hours ago. I bet that's some intense baseball going on in Kentucky.
A quick SCAC East update. DePauw won game 2 today 9-5 so Centre has been eliminated. OU looks like they are going to fall hard again to BSC, trailing 15-1 and coming to bat in the bottom of the 7th.
DePauw and Rhodes are now 8-6. If they stay tied then DePauw has that tiebreaker. It's possible for OU to win tomorrow and Rhodes and DePauw to both lose. That would create the 3 way tie at 8-7 each and Rhodes would win that tiebreaker.
The series results between these 3 teams ended up:
Rhodes over OU by 3-0
DePauw over Rhodes by 2-1
OU over DePauw by 2-1
It posts like the following from one of the national threads that Trinity/SCAC fans don't want to see:
#1 seed Salisbury U. eliminated from the CAC tourney by 5th seed U of Mary Washington!
Mary Washington, (undefeated), plays #3 seed Wesley (one loss), tomorrow @ Salibury Baseball Field for the title.
There's a good chance that Salisbury will be high in the South Regional ranking and will be a Pool C team this season.
Does anyone know why TU and Millsaps are not playing today? The radar looks good. Hendrix got in all 9 yesterday at Southwestern.
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 18, 2010, 10:17:55 AM
Does anyone know why TU and Millsaps are not playing today? The radar looks good. Hendrix got in all 9 yesterday at Southwestern.
Coach Scannell and Coach Page made the call to not drive 12 hours with a better than good chance of getting rained out. The TU field received over 2 inches of rain since Thursday and that field does not drain properly, as left field drains towards home plate. Looking at the radar, the sun could be out in San Antonio and there might be a chance of getting a game in late today, but that would be late and I dont think either coach wanted to drive all that way and spend all that money for one game. This is JMO, though....
BSC sweeped OU this weekend dropping OU to the 3rd seed in the East. That's gives us a definite opening game with Trinity and OU matching up.
Rhodes is in a close one with Sewanee today, something like 7-6 in the 5th, and I have no idea on the DePauw-Centre game. If Rhodes loses then Millsaps will be playing DePauw since DePauw won 2 of 3 from Rhodes. If Rhodes wins AND DePauw loses, then Millsaps will open with Rhodes.
At least that's the way it appears to me.
DePauw won 10-0 today so they will be the #1 seed in the East. That makes the matchups Trinity vs Oglethorpe--Millsaps vs Rhodes--Austin vs DePauw for round 1.
Millsaps and Rhodes have played twice with each winning as the home team. It wasn't exactly #1 starter vs. #1 starter in those games so I don't know if those games mean a whole lot in trying to predict this Thursday's game.
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 18, 2010, 10:17:55 AM
Does anyone know why TU and Millsaps are not playing today? The radar looks good. Hendrix got in all 9 yesterday at Southwestern.
I heard something interesting this evening. The Millsaps team actually did get on a bus Saturday and headed for San Antonio. If the weather had allowed it, the teams were going to play a DH on Sunday, but Millsaps turned around before they had even left Mississippi because the prospects of getting in the games looked so poor.
One thing that some of you have already thought about is that this does leave Millsaps and Trinity with the option of scheduling games after the SCAC Tournament. Rhodes did that in 2007 I believe, but ended up splitting those games and therefore didn't improve their regional ranking.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 18, 2010, 09:40:55 PM
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 18, 2010, 10:17:55 AM
Does anyone know why TU and Millsaps are not playing today? The radar looks good. Hendrix got in all 9 yesterday at Southwestern.
I heard something interesting this evening. The Millsaps team actually did get on a bus Saturday and headed for San Antonio. If the weather had allowed it, the teams were going to play a DH on Sunday, but Millsaps turned around before they had even left Mississippi because the prospects of getting in the games looked so poor.
One thing that some of you have already thought about is that this does leave Millsaps and Trinity with the option of scheduling games after the SCAC Tournament. Rhodes did that in 2007 I believe, but ended up splitting those games and therefore didn't improve their regional ranking.
That is true. If either coach thought there was a chance to play today, they would have come. San Antonio got over an inch of rain yesterday, with an already saturated field, meant it wasn't likely. Could they have played today, possibly. I imagine if either TU or Millsaps wins the tourney, they will try and schedule some games before the regional. Who know, looking forward to a good weekend of baseball.
It is very possible that TU and Millsaps will play a 2 out of 3 series anyways.....
I assume having all pitchers fully rested for the tournament cant hurt their chances. Not to mention the possibility of learning something about the opposition by not playing 3 games going into what should/could be 2 or 3 games against each other. Had this been last weekend, I cant believe that everything would have been done to get the games in. The East should feel very slighted. When it smells like fish....
Actually, I would think most coaches would prefer to go into the tournament with pitchers who had stayed on rotation instead of guys who haven't pitched in a game for almost two weeks. Even if a coach was thinking about resting players for the SCAC Tournament, he would want his pitchers to throw 4 or 5 innings of a real game to stay sharp.
The same logic holds true for the hitters. Maybe Millsaps played some intrasquad games and maybe Trinity was able to get in a gym or on the turf intramural field, but that's not the same as game action.
Think about it and you'll realize that when teams get in playoff situations there is often more worry about the rust of having to sit while the other teams are playing. While I don't think the OU and Rhodes coaches have given it much of a thought, they might see it as being to their advantage that Millsaps and Trinity will come into the tournament without having played this past weekend.
It's hard to smell anything fishy when not playing hurt more than help both Millsaps and Trinity.
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 19, 2010, 12:21:32 AM
I assume having all pitchers fully rested for the tournament cant hurt their chances. Not to mention the possibility of learning something about the opposition by not playing 3 games going into what should/could be 2 or 3 games against each other. Had this been last weekend, I cant believe that everything would have been done to get the games in. The East should feel very slighted. When it smells like fish....
Coach, what are you suggesting? Are you suggesting Coach Page and Coach Scannell are lacking in integrity. Are you suggesting teams get better by not playing? Page and Scannell would disagree.
Are you suggesting you "learn" something about your opposition by not playing them? How can that be?
If you ever spend time with Jim Page and Tim Scannell you learn one thing: You don't back down from any challenge and take an easy way out. If you do, you don't play for them.
To create something like your post out of whole cloth and cast it in the direction of the integrity of the two most competitive and successful baseball coaches in the SCAC seems like a poor choice. Maybe this was just a poor choice in your words. I hope so.
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 19, 2010, 12:21:32 AM
I assume having all pitchers fully rested for the tournament cant hurt their chances. Not to mention the possibility of learning something about the opposition by not playing 3 games going into what should/could be 2 or 3 games against each other. Had this been last weekend, I cant believe that everything would have been done to get the games in. The East should feel very slighted. When it smells like fish....
Interesting thought....if the coaches wanted rested pitching, why would they play 2 games during the week before the three game series with eachother. In addition to two game, Coach Page moved his meaningless game with Bellhaven from Tuesday to Thursday. I dont think there is anything fishy going on.....and am a little insulted that you would insinuate that.
Wow it is nice to only have to decide how long to get the hotel reservations for the weekend and not about 2 teams not playing each other. WEATHER controls the schedules not the coaches, OU would have loved to played Centere last year, and most of us feel we would have been able to squeek into the tournament if we had played them, but weather controlled that situation as well. I want to wish all the teams good luck this weekend, but I will say this, if BSC was eligable, in my humble opinion, there would be little to discuss, Granted OU lost 2 of the 3 games primarly on lack of pitching but BSC is a dynamic offensive squad. It will be a very good for the SCAC when they become eligable.
Interesting thoughts on BSC.
If they are that much better than every other team, as you project, the likelihood is everyone else gets better and the SCAC gets better. In the West, other than Southwestern, every program has gotten progressively better over the past 7-8 years and Southwestern can still compete.
There are no easy weekends in the SCAC West.
Whatever makes the SCAC better, more competitive and on a higher level nationally is a good thing, in my view.
With that said, I would not concede BSC is better offensively than Trinity this year and I never concede any team is better than Millsaps, so long as Jim Page is their coach.
Evan Jones and Kyle Felix are as good as any 3-4 hitters in the DIII baseball and and better than more than a few programs some levels above DIII. You don't score over 11 runs per game against the SCAC West and ASC programs Trinity has been playing and not have tremendous offense 1-9 and guys coming off the bench.
Watching that series this weekend between OU/BSC was eye opening. OU is a very good club. They lack pitching depth but defensivley and offensivley thay are very solid. But BSC came out and just was flat out better in all three phases. I want to back up what Batr441 said about BSC. They are offensively and defensively the most complete D3 team I have seen. I would love to see them in this tournament face off against the likes of Trinity and/or Millsaps. 1-9 they are the best offense club I've ever seen. They ALL have power, speed and athleticism. They grind out AB's and make you work for every out. They very rarely swing and miss and getting a strikeout is very tough. The biggest thing is they wear down pitchers throughout the game and series. Also, they are fantastic on the base paths. Going 1st to 3rd and they are always taking the extra base.
They are a very solid defensive ballclub. OU actually has less errors this season than BSC but the difference is BSC's range all over the field. Their outfield play was flawless.
Pitching is probably their weakness,( if you want to call it that) but they lead the SCAC in pitching too.
BSC, if eligible, is a World Series team. I've seen some great Emory teams in the past and this BSC would run them into the ground. No disrepect to Millsaps or Trinity, they are both very, very good, but I think BSC would be very tough to beat in this tournament .
Alas, BSC is not at the tourney. So....Any predictions out there???
Interesting stuff about BSU. Thank you for the input and ability to discuss.
It seems to me it is difficult to get a sense where they fit since they don't play the SCAC West, ever and the SCAC West has a solid, not great, but very solid record in Regional play.
I don't think the 2004 and 2006 TU teams are nearly as good offensively as this one.
However, each of those teams reached the Championship game of the West Region. The 2004 team lost to the CWS champ, George Fox, and that really was because Fox had the best pitcher in DIII baseball, a 7th round pick who worked far more innings than Coach Scannell would permit with his #1, the other 1st team All American pitcher that year.
The same can be said of their games against the West Coast power, Chapman, which always does well in Appleton.
The point is not to say BSU is not good. You don't get to be 34-4 without being plenty good. I guess one question is would they have the same record playing 5 games each against the SCAC West???
The point is to say even if they are a CWS team, Millsaps and Trinity history shows they compete well with CWS teams in Regional play, and this TU team is the best they have had, in my view, at any time since Coach Scannell arrived...and we still need to make sure Coach Page and his Millsaps guys are in the equation just because they are Millsaps, coached by Jim Page and to my knowledge his teams have been at or near the top every year since 2000.
I looked at the roster for BSC (not BSU, infielddad). One senior, 17 juniors, 7 sophs, 8 frosh. That team is going to be one handful next year when they are finally eligible for a SCAC championship. A 4.44 team ERA is nothing to sneeze at, even if they aren't playing the heavy hitters in the West, and with virtually the whole team with another year under their collective belts, they'll be dangerous. It'll give Coaches Scannell and Page yet another challenge to deal with. ;)
Ron,
Great stuff except my boondoggle on the BSC part.
One thing I know about Coaches Page and Scannell is they are competitive.
I think the same is true of the staff at Austin College and Hendrix.
If BSC is that good, then everyone has work to do and those coaches are not afraid of that.
Some of this might be beyond what Coach Scannell can do.
There is little doubt the increasing academic selectivity at TU is impacting the success of most all of their team sports. They are good in football, but not as good.
Maybe the biggest changes are being seen in mens' and womens' basketball.
Coach Scannell has very talented players every year who are great students but still cannot be admitted with the emphasis the prior President placed on academic standards and their almost rigid application.
With a new President, I have heard he has a greater interest in sports and is interested in facility and overall upgrades.
The TU baseball staff might need that, and more, from what is being posted about BSC. Wow!!
from the SCAC 2010 Archives of Baseball records:
Here is a list of offensive records for the SCAC Tournament..
Millington (Baseball USA) is a "big" park... what records are likely to fall ???
Batting Average (Min. 15 At Bats)
.706 (12-17) - Jason Geringer, DePauw (2001)
Slugging Pct. (Min. 15 At Bats)
1.200 (18 TB in 15 AB) - Garner Wetzel, Millsaps (2005)
Total Bases
23
Will Hawkins, Millsaps (2008) Hunter Owen, Millsaps (2008)
At bats
29
Kenneth Sharp, Trinity (2000)
Hits
12
Jason Geringer, DePauw (2001) Ben Graham, Southwestern (2001) Bryan Jones, Southwestern (2001) Evan Jones, Trinity (2009)
Hunter Owen, Millsaps (2008)
Doubles
5 Will Hawkins, Millsaps (2008)
Triples
2 Tim Ernst, Oglethorpe (2004)
Home Runs
4 Jeff Gabbert, Southwestern (2002) Doug Grigar, Trinity (1999)
Runs Driven In
11 Jeff Claydon, Trinity (2009)
Runs Scored
12 Garner Wetzel, Millsaps (2006)
Stolen Bases
6 Justin Weiner, DePauw (2009)
Walks
7 Matt Gelotti, Southwestern (1999)
Clearly BSC would be one of the favorites in the SCAC Tournament, maybe a co-favorite with Trinity because both teams are so explosive--especially once the opposing teams gets past their top one or two pitchers.
It's interesting in my mind that the OU series would be used as an example of the near unbeatable nature of BSC. Looking at the scores, the games seem like a mismatch, but look closer.
Game 1 was a BSC 6-4 lead after 6 innings and then BSC won the 7th inning 10-1 for a final score of 16-5. Game 2 was simply a blowout. Game 3 had OU leading 6-5 after 8 innings and then BSC won the 9th inning 6-0 for a 11-6 victory.
Now just suppose that OU still had the fireballing relief pitcher from last season. All of a sudden game 1 is tight and maybe game 3 is a victory. All of a sudden this is a fairly even series if OU just had that one player back from last season. That's something to think about.
And another point I'd like to mention will be in a second post because I've gotten into that jumpy area of the message box.
I was looking at the common opponents between BSC and Millsaps and BSC has the better record. No surprise there since BSC is such a veteran team and Millsaps is basically in a rebuilding year. Still, there are some games that make me wonder.
BSC is 0-1 against MS College and Millsaps is 1-1. BSC is 2-1 with Huntingdon and Millsaps is 1-1 with the Hawks. BSC is 1-1 with LaGrange, Millsaps is 2-1. BSC is 3-0 against Rhodes and Millsaps is 1-1 (BSC outscored Rhodes by a total of 6 runs in that series). So against these common opponents BSC is 6-3 and Millsaps is 5-4. Not too much of a difference.
Just for fun, suppose you had a conference where the other 4 teams were MS College, Huntingdon, LaGrange, and Rhodes? That's a tough schedule, but is it that much tougher than Millsaps having to play Trinity, Austin, Hendrix and Southwestern? Just another one of those thoughts which makes you wonder if BSC would be closer to 13-7 or 14-6 playing in the SCAC West.
No doubt they are a very good team and with all those juniors this year they should be great next season. It's just kind of hard to say that this year they are absolutely the cream of the crop in the SCAC.
alldone,
that is pretty neat stuff.
What surprises me is Matt Gelotti, probably the best hitter in DIII history, not just SCAC but all of DIII only has one tournament record...walks.
Boy, there are some very good players on that list...along with a couple who had 4 days they will probably never forget.
Quote from: infielddad on April 19, 2010, 09:44:53 AM
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 19, 2010, 12:21:32 AM
I assume having all pitchers fully rested for the tournament cant hurt their chances. Not to mention the possibility of learning something about the opposition by not playing 3 games going into what should/could be 2 or 3 games against each other. Had this been last weekend, I cant believe that everything would have been done to get the games in. The East should feel very slighted. When it smells like fish....
Coach, what are you suggesting? Are you suggesting Coach Page and Coach Scannell are lacking in integrity. Are you suggesting teams get better by not playing? Page and Scannell would disagree.
Are you suggesting you "learn" something about your opposition by not playing them? How can that be?
If you ever spend time with Jim Page and Tim Scannell you learn one thing: You don't back down from any challenge and take an easy way out. If you do, you don't play for them.
To create something like your post out of whole cloth and cast it in the direction of the integrity of the two most competitive and successful baseball coaches in the SCAC seems like a poor choice. Maybe this was just a poor choice in your words. I hope so.
It appears that something about the situation makes some folks VERY sensitive. I have the utmost respect and would never question the integrity of Coach Page. I don't know Coach Scannell well at all, but obviously he is one of the best in the SCAC. You will be hard pressed to get anyone to believe that if the Tournament was not this weekend or if one of the teams was not playing next weekend, those games would have been played on Sunday and Monday. My suggestion pertaining to "learning something" has to do with coaching adjustments made playing each other the 2nd time around and then again the 3rd time during the tournament. I am sure that both Coaches Scannell and Page did not feel that their integrity was in question by a "nobody" like me. I have been around the game a long time and seen my share of mutually beneficial agreements made for various reasons. Everything posted here that does not praise someone is not an attempt to crucify them. But by the reactions posted, I am not that far off!
Coach, if you know Jim Page, give him a call and ask him. Don't post on a message board.
Do you know anything about the budget in each school and how tight it is to travel and have 0 games. Frowned upon. Did you not believe tigerfan on his comments about the drainage for the field at TU? He knows!
Second issue, TU is heading into finals so they are not going to tolerate playing Monday and missing classes, going to class on Tuesday and then missing the next 3 days for the SCAC's. It is just not tolerated, not an option. Those guys get back Sunday night(hopefully) and start finals right away.
Look, I recognize you placed kids at Hendrix. Everyone on this board was gracious last year and gave those coaches and players all the kudo's for what they did. Seems odd to contrast how the board was 52 weeks ago for players including yours and now to be reading this stuff.
Your post sounds either very ill informed on what is demanded of a student in the SCAC's, ill informed on budget shortfalls, or something else.
What you have posted and built into a subtle attack on two top coaches is really too bad. Clearly you felt you want to subtly get in a jab on each coach.
Too bad.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 19, 2010, 10:01:42 PM
Clearly BSC would be one of the favorites in the SCAC Tournament, maybe a co-favorite with Trinity because both teams are so explosive--especially once the opposing teams gets past their top one or two pitchers.
It's interesting in my mind that the OU series would be used as an example of the near unbeatable nature of BSC. Looking at the scores, the games seem like a mismatch, but look closer.
Game 1 was a BSC 6-4 lead after 6 innings and then BSC won the 7th inning 10-1 for a final score of 16-5. Game 2 was simply a blowout. Game 3 had OU leading 6-5 after 8 innings and then BSC won the 9th inning 6-0 for a 11-6 victory.
Now just suppose that OU still had the fireballing relief pitcher from last season. All of a sudden game 1 is tight and maybe game 3 is a victory. All of a sudden this is a fairly even series if OU just had that one player back from last season. That's something to think about.
And another point I'd like to mention will be in a second post because I've gotten into that jumpy area of the message box.
It appears by the stats and records that BSU is a clear cut above the rest of the East for whatever reason. It doesn't make sense to me why the East and West don't play each other. Rather than travel 2 weekends to each location, it would make more sense playing each team in your division 3 times and each team in the opposite division 2 times. Beginning the season with the East teams traveling to the southern or West teams that have better weather early in the season. This would truly make the tournament more of a true playoff with everyone having some scouting reports. It would also give credence to 1 team having a vastly superior conference record. Without the tournament, the East and West SCAC are completely different conferences/leagues. I am sure there are reasons why this does not happen and I am not trying to disrespect anyone or question anyone's integrity. Seems silly that each post appears to need that disclaimer anymore!
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 19, 2010, 11:33:48 PM
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 19, 2010, 10:01:42 PM
Clearly BSC would be one of the favorites in the SCAC Tournament, maybe a co-favorite with Trinity because both teams are so explosive--especially once the opposing teams gets past their top one or two pitchers.
It's interesting in my mind that the OU series would be used as an example of the near unbeatable nature of BSC. Looking at the scores, the games seem like a mismatch, but look closer.
Game 1 was a BSC 6-4 lead after 6 innings and then BSC won the 7th inning 10-1 for a final score of 16-5. Game 2 was simply a blowout. Game 3 had OU leading 6-5 after 8 innings and then BSC won the 9th inning 6-0 for a 11-6 victory.
Now just suppose that OU still had the fireballing relief pitcher from last season. All of a sudden game 1 is tight and maybe game 3 is a victory. All of a sudden this is a fairly even series if OU just had that one player back from last season. That's something to think about.
And another point I'd like to mention will be in a second post because I've gotten into that jumpy area of the message box.
It appears by the stats and records that BSU is a clear cut above the rest of the East for whatever reason. It doesn't make sense to me why the East and West don't play each other. Rather than travel 2 weekends to each location, it would make more sense playing each team in your division 3 times and each team in the opposite division 2 times. Beginning the season with the East teams traveling to the southern or West teams that have better weather early in the season. This would truly make the tournament more of a true playoff with everyone having some scouting reports. It would also give credence to 1 team having a vastly superior conference record. Without the tournament, the East and West SCAC are completely different conferences/leagues. I am sure there are reasons why this does not happen and I am not trying to disrespect anyone or question anyone's integrity. Seems silly that each post appears to need that disclaimer anymore!
Simple answer: budget/money. They cannot afford that level of travel for baseball.
Quote from: infielddad on April 19, 2010, 11:36:07 PM
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 19, 2010, 11:33:48 PM
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 19, 2010, 10:01:42 PM
Clearly BSC would be one of the favorites in the SCAC Tournament, maybe a co-favorite with Trinity because both teams are so explosive--especially once the opposing teams gets past their top one or two pitchers.
It's interesting in my mind that the OU series would be used as an example of the near unbeatable nature of BSC. Looking at the scores, the games seem like a mismatch, but look closer.
Game 1 was a BSC 6-4 lead after 6 innings and then BSC won the 7th inning 10-1 for a final score of 16-5. Game 2 was simply a blowout. Game 3 had OU leading 6-5 after 8 innings and then BSC won the 9th inning 6-0 for a 11-6 victory.
Now just suppose that OU still had the fireballing relief pitcher from last season. All of a sudden game 1 is tight and maybe game 3 is a victory. All of a sudden this is a fairly even series if OU just had that one player back from last season. That's something to think about.
And another point I'd like to mention will be in a second post because I've gotten into that jumpy area of the message box.
It appears by the stats and records that BSU is a clear cut above the rest of the East for whatever reason. It doesn't make sense to me why the East and West don't play each other. Rather than travel 2 weekends to each location, it would make more sense playing each team in your division 3 times and each team in the opposite division 2 times. Beginning the season with the East teams traveling to the southern or West teams that have better weather early in the season. This would truly make the tournament more of a true playoff with everyone having some scouting reports. It would also give credence to 1 team having a vastly superior conference record. Without the tournament, the East and West SCAC are completely different conferences/leagues. I am sure there are reasons why this does not happen and I am not trying to disrespect anyone or question anyone's integrity. Seems silly that each post appears to need that disclaimer anymore!
Simple answer: budget/money. They cannot afford that level of travel for baseball.
Bus rental costs this month? About $3 per mile. Round trip from Jackson to San Antonio 1216 miles. $3648 for bus costs alone.
Quote from: infielddad on April 19, 2010, 11:31:00 PM
Coach, if you know Jim Page, give him a call and ask him. Don't post on a message board.
Do you know anything about the budget in each school and how tight it is to travel and have 0 games. Frowned upon. Did you not believe tigerfan on his comments about the drainage for the field at TU? He knows!
Second issue, TU is heading into finals so they are not going to tolerate playing Monday and missing classes, going to class on Tuesday and then missing the next 3 days for the SCAC's. It is just not tolerated, not an option. Those guys get back Sunday night(hopefully) and start finals right away.
Look, I recognize you placed kids at Hendrix. Everyone on this board was gracious last year and gave those coaches and players all the kudo's for what they did. Seems odd to contrast how the board was 52 weeks ago for players including yours and now to be reading this stuff.
Your post sounds either very ill informed on what is demanded of a student in the SCAC's, ill informed on budget shortfalls, or something else.
What you have posted and built into a subtle attack on two top coaches is really too bad. Clearly you felt you want to subtly get in a jab on each coach.
Too bad.
I falsely assumed that the meaning of my post was in no way questioning integrity or throwing jabs. Pointing out observations and offering thought provoking conversations should be the purpose of the message board in addition to recognizing players, coaches and teams for their accomplishments. In the unlikely event that either coach feels offended by my observations and opinions, I apologize. I do however also assume that both coaches are intelligent enough to understand the written words and observations posted here are not personal attacks. It is a bit entertaining watching the reactions to any post that is not warm and fuzzy. Provoking thought through words is a great mental exercise!
Great that you find all of this amusing.
Why apologize to the coaches when you have posted to question their integrity.
Funny, how things turn.
Last year a reporter for the Conway paper wanted an opposing coach to comment on the Hendrix team, players and coaches.
He called Coach Scannell because Tim's team had been beaten in the Championship game but also had been so helpful to their coaches on how to improve their program, including having Coach Groat come to the Stanford Camp to assess talent and recruit. Coach Scannell happily provided that reporter feedback and absolutely raved about Daniel Ward and the difference he made.
Coach Scannell did that the way Coach Page and Coach Mallon of Southwestern did for our son on his baseball journey and dream of playing professionally.
I guess if you find all this amusing, that is clearly your choice to sit and smile while you post.
I happen to know the difference these coaches make in the lives of many of these players and also know the opportunities they provide and memories they facilitate.
Very special stuff. You bet I will defend them.
Hope you continue to find all of this enjoyable.
Quote from: infielddad on April 19, 2010, 11:36:07 PM
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 19, 2010, 11:33:48 PM
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 19, 2010, 10:01:42 PM
Clearly BSC would be one of the favorites in the SCAC Tournament, maybe a co-favorite with Trinity because both teams are so explosive--especially once the opposing teams gets past their top one or two pitchers.
It's interesting in my mind that the OU series would be used as an example of the near unbeatable nature of BSC. Looking at the scores, the games seem like a mismatch, but look closer.
Game 1 was a BSC 6-4 lead after 6 innings and then BSC won the 7th inning 10-1 for a final score of 16-5. Game 2 was simply a blowout. Game 3 had OU leading 6-5 after 8 innings and then BSC won the 9th inning 6-0 for a 11-6 victory.
Now just suppose that OU still had the fireballing relief pitcher from last season. All of a sudden game 1 is tight and maybe game 3 is a victory. All of a sudden this is a fairly even series if OU just had that one player back from last season. That's something to think about.
And another point I'd like to mention will be in a second post because I've gotten into that jumpy area of the message box.
It appears by the stats and records that BSU is a clear cut above the rest of the East for whatever reason. It doesn't make sense to me why the East and West don't play each other. Rather than travel 2 weekends to each location, it would make more sense playing each team in your division 3 times and each team in the opposite division 2 times. Beginning the season with the East teams traveling to the southern or West teams that have better weather early in the season. This would truly make the tournament more of a true playoff with everyone having some scouting reports. It would also give credence to 1 team having a vastly superior conference record. Without the tournament, the East and West SCAC are completely different conferences/leagues. I am sure there are reasons why this does not happen and I am not trying to disrespect anyone or question anyone's integrity. Seems silly that each post appears to need that disclaimer anymore!
Simple answer: budget/money. They cannot afford that level of travel for baseball.
Maybe I am missing something. There are 10 weekends in the season. If 9 of those were Conference weekends, that would be no more than 5 road trips. No additional travel. Not to mention that at least 1 of the schools in the East is 4 or so hours closer to Hendrix than the closest West team. I have not done the geographical layout of the entire conference or analysis of each team but until Colorado gets involved in baseball, this doesn't appear to be outlandish. Once again, simply an observation and no decisions on these matters occur from this message board.
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 20, 2010, 12:15:43 AM
Quote from: infielddad on April 19, 2010, 11:36:07 PM
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 19, 2010, 11:33:48 PM
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 19, 2010, 10:01:42 PM
Clearly BSC would be one of the favorites in the SCAC Tournament, maybe a co-favorite with Trinity because both teams are so explosive--especially once the opposing teams gets past their top one or two pitchers.
It's interesting in my mind that the OU series would be used as an example of the near unbeatable nature of BSC. Looking at the scores, the games seem like a mismatch, but look closer.
Game 1 was a BSC 6-4 lead after 6 innings and then BSC won the 7th inning 10-1 for a final score of 16-5. Game 2 was simply a blowout. Game 3 had OU leading 6-5 after 8 innings and then BSC won the 9th inning 6-0 for a 11-6 victory.
Now just suppose that OU still had the fireballing relief pitcher from last season. All of a sudden game 1 is tight and maybe game 3 is a victory. All of a sudden this is a fairly even series if OU just had that one player back from last season. That's something to think about.
And another point I'd like to mention will be in a second post because I've gotten into that jumpy area of the message box.
It appears by the stats and records that BSU is a clear cut above the rest of the East for whatever reason. It doesn't make sense to me why the East and West don't play each other. Rather than travel 2 weekends to each location, it would make more sense playing each team in your division 3 times and each team in the opposite division 2 times. Beginning the season with the East teams traveling to the southern or West teams that have better weather early in the season. This would truly make the tournament more of a true playoff with everyone having some scouting reports. It would also give credence to 1 team having a vastly superior conference record. Without the tournament, the East and West SCAC are completely different conferences/leagues. I am sure there are reasons why this does not happen and I am not trying to disrespect anyone or question anyone's integrity. Seems silly that each post appears to need that disclaimer anymore!
Simple answer: budget/money. They cannot afford that level of travel for baseball.
Maybe I am missing something. There are 10 weekends in the season. If 9 of those were Conference weekends, that would be no more than 5 road trips. No additional travel. Not to mention that at least 1 of the schools in the East is 4 or so hours closer to Hendrix than the closest West team. I have not done the geographical layout of the entire conference or analysis of each team but until Colorado gets involved in baseball, this doesn't appear to be outlandish. Once again, simply an observation and no decisions on these matters occur from this message board.
Flying 25 players from SAT to get to Greencastle Indiana, at a time budgets are being cut, the schedule will be 36 next year with a possibility the SCAC's will be 4 teams??? Worse yet if they get there and the games cannot be played due to weather???
Well, last week and the games played and not played are over so maybe we can move on to this week.
In their possible last regular season game, pending scheduling games after the SCAC Tournament, Millsaps plays at MS College tonight. I suspect Millsaps will be totally focused after being shutout last Thursday by Belhaven and then rained out last weekend. Naturally the problem is what to do about pitching and I won't be surprised if Millsaps goes with a big "pitch by committee" approach to get everyone a few outs of pitching before opening tournament play.
The tricky part is balancing the need to prepare for the tournament while playing a game where a victory is really needed to keep slim at-large hopes alive. Let's hope the bats are booming. The game starts at 6:00 Central. The Millsaps site shows just live stats available this evening at http://www.gomajors.com/ .
The MS College websites indicates that live stats and live audio are available for the game: http://www.gochoctaws.com/
The Millsaps at MS College game has Millsaps up 3-0 after 3 innings. Millsaps going with a pitch by committee approach and so far they have pitched Aaron Williams, John Marshall Pemberton, and Shelby Robertson. Don't know if anyone will get more than an inning of work tonight.
MS College obviously would really like a win tonight to help their at-large possibilities. They are going with Chris Ferriss this evening who seems to be their #2 starter. It's the top of the 4th and MC doesn't have anyone warming up so apparently they are going with Ferriss just as you would on a weekend game.
(Now going to the bottom of the 4th, still 3-0, and Robertson is getting another inning after only throwing 7 pitches in the 3rd.)
From an at-large standpoint, this game was probably bigger to MS College than to Millsaps. Millsaps had a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the 8th and brought in a freshman infielder for his first outing of the season. MS College got 3 that innings to close the gap to 6-5 and then they scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th on a sqeeze bunt plus two error play for the victory.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 20, 2010, 09:44:53 PM
From an at-large standpoint, this game was probably bigger to MS College than to Millsaps. Millsaps had a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the 8th and brought in a freshman infielder for his first outing of the season. MS College got 3 that innings to close the gap to 6-5 and then they scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th on a sqeeze bunt plus two error play for the victory.
No question the game was bigger for MS College considering Millsaps has the SCAC Tourney in a couple days. No Millsaps pitcher threw more than 22 pitches. It ended up good and bad for Millsaps. The early guys didn't have to pace going hard for a few batters and all were very sharp, but the best arms threw early.
That was really the only way Millsaps could approach it with the rainout last weekend and SCAC Tourney upcoming, but the first 3-4 arms were sharp tonight. If they pitch like that in the tournament, they'll be tough to beat.
For MS College, Ferriss has been a weekend starter most of the year and has had a solid year. He's one of four starters and didn't throw last weekend, so he was available in a big game. That was a good start for him tonight going 8 innings against a very good hitting team.
Chris, there's no doubt that Millsaps had to go with a pitch by committee last night and it's good news that the main pitchers did well. It was just surprising that one of the pitch by committee members was Will Elmore, a freshman who had not pitched this season, coming into the game in the 8th with Millsaps leading 6-2. When I heard that on the webcast, my first thought was the 4th quarter of the 2008 MC-Millsaps football game. Unfortunately, the results were the same with the 3 runs in the 8th really setting the stage for the victory.
Personally, I would have preferred to see Will Elmore pitch 3 or 4 innings in Monday's JV game against Belhaven and then maybe have him play third last night while Will Hawkins pitched the 8th, but that's just the perspective from a fan's point of view. I'm not sure if Millsaps had any at-large prospects to lose last night, but now it seems fairly certain that they only have one route to the NCAA Tournament. The first step will be to regain some momentum by getting a victory over Rhodes this Thursday.
Ok, I'll go first. Here is my bracket and predictions:
Trinity over OU -- TU too much for OU to handle, close game until late.
Millsaps over Rhodes -- This game is nip and tuck, but Chandler wears down late. MC gets to RC pen.
DePauw over Austin -- DePauw gets a W here, but very, very close.
Trinity over Austin (Austin Eliminated) -- Same story, TU too much for Austin. Tough seeding for AC.
Millsaps over DePauw -- Millsaps bats come alive.
OU over Rhodes (Rhodes Eliminated) -- First upset of tourny.
Trinity over Millsaps -- TU draws first blood.
OU over DePauw (DePauw Eliminated) -- OU plays spolier again.
Millsaps over OU (OU Eliminated) -- Millsaps overcomes some poor defense, OU runs out of pitching and MC outslugs OU.
Millsaps over Trinity -- MC bats continue to stay hot.
Trinity over Millsaps (Millsaps Eliminated) -- I have to think at some point in the tournament MC defense will cost them a game. TU wins the crown.
Trinity SCAC Champions
Millsaps needed some work for its starters because of the TU cancelation.
What it showed is that very few teams in this part of the country have a 4th starter. That is what hurts us at regionals, not to mention nationals.
Thanks for the projection, Bob.
BSC will not be eligible for the SCAC tournament til 2012. Although they will not be eligible next season for the SCAC, they will be eligible for the NCAA.
They are a very good team. I agree with Frank we were in both of those games he mentioned. Daniel Sarisky would have made a huge difference if he were still around. OU has a good team and could possibly surprise some people.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 19, 2010, 06:47:52 PM
I looked at the roster for BSC (not BSU, infielddad). One senior, 17 juniors, 7 sophs, 8 frosh. That team is going to be one handful next year when they are finally eligible for a SCAC championship. A 4.44 team ERA is nothing to sneeze at, even if they aren't playing the heavy hitters in the West, and with virtually the whole team with another year under their collective belts, they'll be dangerous. It'll give Coaches Scannell and Page yet another challenge to deal with. ;)
I predict OU to pull a Hendrix this year and steam roll their way through the tournament.
OU over Trinity...convincingly
Millsaps over Rhodes....1 or 2 run close game
DePauw over Austin....Shaky pitching by Austin
OU over Austin (Austin Eliminated)....in extras after Austin ties it in the 9th
Millsaps over DePauw...Ten Run Rule
Trinity over Rhodes (Rhodes Eliminated)...Evan Jones goes nuts at the plate for at least 6 RBIs
OU over Millsaps...pitchers duel that ultimately is decided by a couple costly errors
Trinity over DePauw....Trinity comes back in the late innings
Trinity over Millsaps (Millsaps eliminated)....Trinity holds on in a slugfest
OU over Trinity (Trinity Eliminated)...boring game. OU takes lead early and never gives it up. Final 8-4.
OU SCAC Champions!
Correct me if my bracket isn't correct. I tried to go off what Bob_Lotts did.
Casual,
Love IT! As much as I follow OU and like that team they would need A LOT of breaks this weekend to pull off the Championship. I think they can win a game or two but Trinity and Millsaps have more depth, better pitching and the experience to take home the crown. But let's hope your right!!!!!! Look foward to watching the games online. Good luck everyone.
Well lets see.... if TU is looking forward to Sunday this 1st game prediction by casual could come about but....... hey Get to the tournament and anything can happen. And as far as BSC goes I will tell you this that squad would compete against many smaller D-I programs at least the ones I am familiar with in Georgia, yes OU was in 2 of those games to the end but they also kept it close against Georgia State last season but ended up giving up 5 runs in the end to get busted up pretty good. This game takes a lot of talent but it also take a lot of heart to stay in it when your down, to hold on to it when you go ahead, and finish. The loss' to BSC still had some positives attached to them you just have to see them and understand them.
I'm not ready to jump on the OU wagon with the most recent ones to post, but it would be a mistake for anyone to overlook OU. As I pointed out in a post a few days back about BSC, OU's starting pitching did a good job against a powerhouse BSC team for 2 out of the 3 games. I suspect that every team has a #1 starter who has the potential to shut down any team in the tournament. However, it seems more likely to me that Trinity's starter has more potential to shutdown OU than the OU starter will have of shutting down Trinity. I think the tigers score big late if not early and cruise through this game.
On the Millsaps vs. Rhodes game, naturally I'm picking Millsaps. As I've said before, Aaron Williams is as good as any starting pitcher in the SCAC and he has been pitching well of late. He did get in one solid inning against MC, but that's all he has pitched in 12 days. Will that help or hurt? I think it will help, especially if he needs to come back and pitch on Sunday. Millsaps hasn't hit the ball very well during the last two games, facing really good pitchers from Belhaven and MC, but they have a dangerous lineup and I hope that everyone will be seeing the ball well all weekend.
With DePauw and Austin, I'll pick DePauw for one main reason. The Tigers are 10-11 away from home this year and Austin is 4-11 on the road.
One last note: It looks like a beautiful day in Memphis today but there may be rain on the weekend. The possibility of rain adding an extra day to the tournament might be a factor in helping any team that lacks a little depth in pitching.
WoW--Trinity goes with seldom used Joshua Fink to start the game. He has 1 start, 9 games totalling 13.1 innings, and a 6.75 era. Obviously not worried about needing their best to beat OU, but usually a Thursday starter can come back and pitch on Sunday so I'm not so sure if you gain a lot with this gamble.
Fink ended up getting 2 outs but issued 2 walks, hit a batter, and gave up a double. So far OU only has 1 run, but the bases are loaded and Michael Hunt has come in to pitch.
This question of not starting your ace has come up before on the board. I've wavered on it and maybe it depends on the situation, but all in all I think it's too risky for several reasons:
---You are telling your team that the opponent is one that can be beaten with less than your best. Sometimes that leads to some overconfidence.
---You give the other team something to rally around, this idea that you can beat them with a seldom used starter.
--If it doesn't work, then all of a sudden you are playing an important game from behind.
OU only gets 2 in the inning but the third out came with the bases loaded. Trinity was just a gapper away from being down 5-0.
OU starts Mark Hoban, their pitcher with the most innings and starts but he only has a 3-4 record and 7.13 era. Hoban did have a couple of good outings this year, in particular a nice win against DePauw on March 28.
Evan Jones just hit a double to make it a 2-1 game. Is there much question that Jones is going to be the offensive player of the year this season. If that's the case, it would end a 5 year streak by Millsaps players: Garner Wetzel in 2005 and 2006--Hunter Owen in 2007 and 2008--Will Hawkins in 2009.
Looking like a barn-burner so far, Trinity's up 4-3 in the bottom of the 2nd. Jackson just tripled.
In regards to Jones being the offensive player of the year, wouldn't Bruce Maxwell from BSC deserve some consideration too? All his numbers are right there with Evan but his BA is 50 points less...
Regarding Evans, it's hard to ignore a .480 batting average along with all of the power. But also, if I were a coach voting, I would factor in Evans previous great seasons as a tiebreaker of sorts if I thought there was a tie. While Evans numbers this year are surprisingly good, they are that big a leap over numbers that he has put up in the past.
On the 1st game today, Trinity is pounding the ball and has 7 runs after 3 innings. The problem is that OU has 5 and Trinity is now on their 3rd pitcher in the top of the 4th. Trinity should be cruising with their 7 runs, but now they look like they are in for a long day, especially if OU can find someone in the bullpen who can slow down the TU assault just a little.
I think we are finding out why Evan should be the SCAC player of the year.
In the bottom of the 7th, he came up with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd, with Trinity leading 10-7. First base open.
Even on LiveStats it seemed pretty clear cut...give him 4 and take 1st.
Nope, pitched to Evan and he is now 4-5 after singling to drive in Trinity's 11th run. Score in the bottom of the 7th is 11-7 with 29 hits already between the 2 teams.
11-7 Trinity is the final.
All 9 in the Trinity lineup had at least a hit. Trinity also stole 7 bases. You have to question the pitching decisions though, starting Fink and then burning through 3 other arms.
OU had their fair share of hits too and with 3 errors on each side there were alot of baserunners in the game.
Trinity is playing to win the tournament.. Remember UTTyler in 08.. The at large bid scenario is very very unlikely.
To maximize chances for tournament success, they had to out slug their opponent today.
These arms are still left... top four inning eaters... and the best of the staff..
Michael Panozzo..... 3.46 6-2 12 7 1 0/0 1 52.0
Ben Klimesh......... 4.55 6-0 10 9 2 1/0 0 59.1
Noah Solomon........ 5.62 4-2 10 8 0 0/0 0 40.0
--------------
Ryan Lucero......... 3.37 4-1 14 2 0 0/0 0 34.2
solomon on friday
klimesh on saturday
How many of you folks are in town for the tournament this weekend? This is my first time to USA Stadium, and it's a nice setup. I had no idea the field was so big...there's a LOT of room in the outfield. The Trinity/Oglethorpe game showed that 1) you need speedy outfielders here, and 2) there will be many, many doubles and triples and not many homers, IMO.
Trinity rolled the dice with their game 1 pitching choices ... good thing the bats were still working. :)
No stats anywhere but Millsaps crushes Rhodes 13-5.
DPU is up 3-1 on Austin in the sixth.
After the Trinity game this afternoon, I thought I heard Coach Scannell say that Panozzo wont be available this weekend. Anyone know why?
Final DPU 3-2 over AC
Tomorrow is set:
Rhodes and OU play at noon in an elimination game.
Austin plays Trinity at 3:30 in the winner's bracket game that is half and half in that Austin could be eliminated, Trinity with a loss would only go to the loser's bracket.
Millsaps and DePauw play at 7:30 or how ever late it is for the first pitch. It would seem like DePauw would go with Elliott Ross who is 8-1 with an 2.58 era, but Ross only has 5 starts on the year.
Heck of a game between AC and DU tonight. Aside from that first inning, Tyler Steed just about completely shut DePauw down the rest of the night. Can't say enough about how well he pitched tonight (and he had some spectacular defensively plays behind him, most notably by Phillip Gonzales and Sean Muder in the outfield).
On the flipside, the Tigers pitchers were pretty damn good tonight as well, obviously. Would have liked to see a little different turnout, but c'est la vie.
Thought I was going to pull an all-nighter editing tennis photos but that did work out. When you get to the point of trying to catch 1.5 seconds of eyes closed time whenever you save a photo, it time to get in bed.
However, being an old person, I woke up in the middle of the night and came downstairs to check the computer (and get something to drink). Was pleased to see the SCAC baseball awards are out. Can't argue too much about the main awards and thought the Millsaps honorees were good ones. Here are the Millsaps All-SCAC players:
Tyler Berry--catcher (by the way there are multiple honorees at every position)
Will Hawkins--3rd base
Jules Roussel and Josh Ordeneaux--outfield
Jake Miles--Designated Hitter
Aaron Williams and Boomer Hudson--pitcher
Jeremy Aliff made honorable mention
Complete list: http://static.psbin.com/p/z/0fl6c6is4x9au9/2010allscacbaseball.pdf
I need to get back to bed but here's a quick post on common opponents between DePauw and Millsaps. This makes you think it will be a very competitive game, and with DePauw having the SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year in waiting, Millsaps will have to continue to stay hot at the plate:
Illinois Wesleyan: DePauw (2-0) and Millsaps (2-0)
LaGrange: DePauw (1-0) and Millsaps (2-1)
Piedmont: DePauw (1-1) and Millsaps (2-0)
Rhodes: DePauw (2-1) and Millsaps (2-1)
Austin: DePauw (1-0) and Millsaps (2-3)
Day 1 Recap--Not much of a surprise in the results with both #1's winning and I think most people picked Millsaps over Rhodes.
Game 1: Trinity 11--Oglethorpe 7: The biggest surprise of Day 1 came when Trinity turned in their lineup card. Personally, I thought it was a little too risky to go with a seldom used starter and it made the game very winable for OU. Keep in mind that OU was a single away from a 4-0 lead in the top of the 1st. Keep in mind that OU had 14 hits, left 11 on base, and hit into 3 rally killing double plays. HOWEVER, Trinity won and they rested their top pitchers, so all's well that ends well.
Game 2: Millsaps 13--Rhodes 5: Millsaps got 18 hits despite the fact that Jules Roussel and Tyler Berry combined for 0 for 8. Jules and Tyler will get their hits, and if the rest of the lineup pounds out 18 hits per game then Millsaps will be tough to beat. This is a big park and not a lot of balls will be hit over the fence, so the run scoring teams are going to be the ones who string together a bunch of hits in an inning. Something tells me that the teams playing on the final day are going to be the ones who are getting the most production out of the 6 through 9 hitters.
Game 3: DePauw 3--Austin 2: DePauw combined 3 of their hits with a walk in the bottom of the 1st inning to score 3 runs. Who would have guessed then that it would be all the runs DePauw would score or that it would be enough runs? It would be easy to overlook DePauw as a potential champion given the lack of success by the SCAC East in the past and DePauw's 22-15 record. My guess is that they have the pitching needed to be a serious contender and if Saturday is a rain out and they can pitch their top guys twice, then watch out for the Tigers from the north. It's going to be real interesting to see how Millsaps hits in today's game, especially if they are going up against the pitcher of the year.
Feel good story in the SCAC
Chris Walden... All SCAC
Chris allows the coaches to "coach" and he took advantage of every opportunity
early in the season at the plate and he simply could not be left off the lineup card as the
season progressed.
Kudos to Chris !!!
So why is there only a first-team all-SCAC (with as many as four selections per position) and honorable mention? A second team would seem called for ... is it due to the fact that coaches simply don't have a chance to see opposing players given the size of the conference and teams not playing each other?
After talking with some players, The word is that Panozzo hurt his elbow. He hasn't thrown in 3 weeks and won't throw in the tournament. Knowing this, it looks like this was the reasoning behind the suprise start by Fink. Playing the way TU did, they essentially had Panozzo pitch yesterday. Today we shoul see Solomon of Klimmesh. Hope the weather stays away and the Tu bats stay hot.
Preview for Day 2:
Noon--OU vs Rhodes--This season Rhodes hosted the 3-game series with Oglethorpe and Rhodes won all three. Rhodes has the better overall record and they are playing near home. You've got to think that Rhodes will move on today even though Oglethorpe really swung the bats well yesterday.
3:30--Austin vs Trinity--Here's the deal. With a win last night Austin would have played Millsaps today, a team they seem to hit extremely well and a team they beat 3 out of 5 times this season. BUT, that 3-2 loss to DePauw means they have to play a Trinity team that scored 66 runs in 5 straight victories over the 'Roos. It would be a shocker for Austin to win this game and I expect the Tigers to score more than the 11 they had in the opening game.
7:00--Millsaps vs DePauw--Here's the weather forecast for Memphis this evening: Thunderstorms likely, especially this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low 67F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. This ballgame should be a great game with DePauw the likely winner in a low scoring game and Millsaps the likely winner of a high scoring game. My fear is that the weather will end up winning and these two teams will suddenly get placed in a situatlon of getting less rest than the teams they oppose.
By the way, here's the Memphis forecast for Saturday: Variable clouds with strong thunderstorms. Damaging winds, large hail, and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 72F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Rainfall may reach one inch.
The radar is starting to light up to the SW. Game 1 looks ok, but games 2 and 3 are starting to look like they might be impacted.
Yeah, the sky is looking decidedly ominous here in Millington.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 23, 2010, 09:51:25 AM
After talking with some players, The word is that Panozzo hurt his elbow. He hasn't thrown in 3 weeks and won't throw in the tournament. Knowing this, it looks like this was the reasoning behind the suprise start by Fink. Playing the way TU did, they essentially had Panozzo pitch yesterday. Today we shoul see Solomon of Klimmesh. Hope the weather stays away and the Tu bats stay hot.
Coach Scannell confirmed that Panozzo will not play in the tourney on an interview for the SCAC blog. It also sounds like Felix is out:
http://static.psbin.com/e/p/fjm3mebt97uewv/TimScannell-DayOneSCAC.mp3
Some big changes are coming to today's schedule due to the weather.
Austin College and Trinity will take the field almost immediately after the Rhodes/Oglethorpe game finishes, and the Millsaps/DePauw game has been moved up to 3 PM and will be played at Rhodes in order to try to beat the severe weather headed this way.
Glad they have moved the Millsaps-DePauw game up to 3:00. Looking at the webcast of the Rhodes-Oglethorpe game, it doesn't look like the kind of sky that will hold off all afternoon and evening.
Rhodes is up 5-1 right now with OU batting in the top of the 5th.
Now 5-3 Rhodes after seven.
Rhodes has blown it wide open in the bottom of the 8th with four more runs, finally chasing starter Cornwell (who has been batting for himself and will remain at DH). 9-3 Lynx with two outs, one on, Kennedy going to the mound for OU.
EDIT: Rhodes 9, OU 4, FINAL. OU is eliminated.
Millsaps and DePauw have started. DePauw radio WGRE is carrying the game. Just search on wgre and you'll find the station. Hobbs Donovan pitching for DePauw (I think I got the name right) and Shelby Robertson starts for Millsaps.
DePauw went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first. The announcer says that it is a beautiful day right now.
Austin-Trinity will start at 3:30. Live stats here: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/livestats/xlive.htm
Noah Solomon (4-2; 5.62, 40 IP in 10 app) is starting for Trinity;
Christian Curtis (1-1, 6.08, 26.2 IP in 15 app) gets only his second start for Austin.
With 2 hbp in the game today, Millsaps has move their single season record to 99. Who will be the one to take the 100th pitch?
Trinity is up 5-2 with one out and two on in the top of the second after Nick Pappas doubles in two runs.
Pitching duel between DPU and Millsaps, 1-0 Majors with Millsaps to bat in the bottom of the fourth. (live stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/rhodes/baseball/index.htm)
I'm heading to see the Spurs take on the Mavs, would someone be good enough to post some score updates?
Trinity ahead 7-2 with runners on 2nd/3rd and one out in the top of the 3rd.
Austin just made another pitching change...3rd pitcher so far.
Oops, Early singled, making it 9-2. Trinity has 9 runs on 9 hits and is still hitting in the 3rd.
Trinity up 11-2 heading to the bottom of 3.
Millsaps up 4-2 in the bottom of the 5th, Millsaps at bat.
Millsaps lead has been whittled to 4-3 at the end of 6.
Trinity leads 11-3 in the top of the 4th.
Austin just brought in Chermak, their 4th pitcher today.
It's starting to look like Millsaps might not score much for the rest of the game as 7 of the last 9 batters have struck out. Shelby Robertson has done a good job, but I hope we don't go with him about two batters too long and give up the lead. My gut feeling is that it is going to be very important to keep DePauw from getting the lead.
DePauw gets the first runner on in the top of the 7th. Would love to see a DP right now.
Austin College put together 2 singles, a wild pitch and an error for 2 unearned in the 4th to make it 11-5. Now with 1 out, they have a single and a double. Runners at 2nd and 3rd and things are getting tighter.
Solomon is out.
Frank, the DePauw pitcher seems to be effective. Not sure I have ever seen a Millsaps inning of 3 K's looking. How do you do a backwards K on the keyboard????
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 23, 2010, 05:48:30 PM
It's starting to look like Millsaps might not score much for the rest of the game as 7 of the last 9 batters have struck out. Shelby Robertson has done a good job, but I hope we don't go with him about two batters too long and give up the lead. My gut feeling is that it is going to be very important to keep DePauw from getting the lead.
DePauw gets the first runner on in the top of the 7th. Would love to see a DP right now.
Be careful what you wish for. Reliever came in but DePauw got a couple of hits and now has a 6-4 lead with a runner on second. Millsaps will have to wake up the bats but they still have 3 innings--now we have rain starting.
thx infielddad, keep 'em coming!
Trinity now has a freshman on the mound who has 2.2 innings all year. Of course Coach Scannell has some reputation for this. TU started an unknown freshman in the 2004 Regional Championship game against George Fox and he went 5 innings and was terrific. The next year Brock Hewitt was the SCAC pitcher of the year.
Let's hope Coach Scannell has that same history going for him today.
Score now11-7 going in to the top of the 5th as 2 wild pitches and the error and timely Austin College hitting has made this a ball game again.
Time for the bats to make a statement, big statement.
Nothing for TU in the top of the 5th. 11-7 heading to the bottom.
Depauw now up 7-4 heading to the bottom of the 7th.
All of a sudden the Trinity/Austin game is a pitcher's duel.
Still 11-7 heading to the top of the 6th.
Millsaps just scored a run to make it 7-5 in the bottom of the 7th.
The Depauw pitcher has 10k's but also has given up 10 hits.
Just as I was going to say his pitch count must be way up there, they have taken him out with 2 outs in the 7th.
Dominic Robusto is playing baseball like it is a track meet. 3-4 today along with his huge game yesterday. Trinity now on the move, up 13-7 and still batting.
Depauw just got triple and has a runner at 3rd leading off the top of 8.
Trinity scored 3 in the top of the 6th and lead 14-7.
DePauw is up 8-5 with a runner at 2nd and no outs in the top of the 8th. Millsaps just brought Will Hawkins to the mound to pitch.
Depauw now leads 9-5 heading into Millsaps last AB in the top of the 9th.
They have really done a great job with the bats, totaling 16 hits.
Austin has scored one and it is now 14-8 with 2 outs in the bottom 6.
Chris Walden from Trinity just homered and they are now up 17-9 in the top of 7.
Depauw up 9-5 in the bottom of the 9th(sorry for my mistake on the last post. Will Hawkins has a lead off single.
I don't know how he does this but Coach Scannell going to freshman Michael Bentz looks like a genius move. Bentz throws 2.2 all season.
Today, he has gone 3.2 giving up just 3 hits and 2 runs.
TU up 17-9 after 7.
That team is a hitting and run scoring machine, but may need to keep pounding for another couple of innings today.
Trinity and Austin College just got delayed by lightning.
TU is up 17-9 in the bottom 8. Austin has runners at 1st and 2nd and no outs and TU just brought in Andrew Lawson to pitch. Boy did they get some valuable and good innings from Michael Bentz!!!
What a surprise, Millsaps is battling in the 9th and has scored one. It is 9-6 with 2 outs and 2 on base.
Millsaps has the based loaded, 2 outs, their 9 hitter at the plate down 9-6.
Just a little tension.
Pinch hitter grounds out and DePauw wins 9-6.
Ron, hope I did okay and gave you enough detail.
Enjoy the Spurs game!
U were great, infielddad. Thanx!!
The day basically went as expected by myself and probably most of you:
---Rhodes had beaten OU three times this season and they did it again. Only one of the four games between these teams was a blowout, and maybe OU wins two out of four or three out of four if all the games had been played in Georgia, but they weren't. Rhodes will be looking to avenge the opening round loss to Millsaps in the next round.
---My early prediction that Trinity would score more in the second game than in the first wasn't going out on a limb very far since Trinity averages 11-12 runs per game. What they did today is what they will need to do with DePauw in the next game--score lots of runs early. Trinity has saved their ace for tomorrow's game and that will be a big advantage if the game is played tomorrow. The advantage lessens some if the next games are on Sunday because the Thursday pitchers will be available for work on Sunday and that helps DePauw more than it helps Trinity.
---With Millsaps and DePauw, Millsaps just didn't get enough runs early. Not much more to add to that. Millsaps isn't out of this thing, especially if the tournament gets extended by a day. It's just a matter of winning a doubleheader on back to back days. Not easy, but not impossible.
Frank,
Your posts and insights on each game and team situation are terrific.
Thanks for keeping everyone updated and providing lots of information to consider.
Weather does not look good at all for baseball tomorrow.
infielddad--thanks for the compliment. There may or may not be baseball in Memphis today but there will be plenty of baseball on my computer in Jackson. I looked last night and there are still over 2,000 baseball photos to go through before I can start burning the DVDs for the Millsaps team. The majority will be deleted, but all of the rest will get edited in some way or another. That mind numbing job goes easier while listening to DP call a SCAC game--but for the sake of the Majors pitching staff I'm sort of hoping for a rainout today. I can understand that all of you paying hotel bills in Memphis might feel differently.
I must say that the Trinity Tigers are looking good. I believe yesterday was their 11th straight win--nothing like getting hot at the most critical point of the season!!! While the Millsaps lineup has shown tremendous firepower at times, the Trinity lineup seems more consistent at producing big scores game after game. That's going to make them tough to beat.
The championship path for Millsaps is fairly clear, just not fairly easy. My guess is that Wes Perkins starts against Rhodes and Wes did a good job in his last start against Southwestern (SCAC Pitcher of the week). If they beat Rhodes, then maybe the path actually isn't so clear, especially if Saturday is rained out. I know this is risky and something that some idiot fan out there would second guess (oh wait, I'm the second guessing idiot fan), but my gut feeling is to go with a pitch by committee for the second game on the third day. That gives the Majors a more rested Aaron Williams and Shelby Robertson on championship day.
It's that fine line of decision making between trying to win one particular game while also giving a team the best chance of winning the championship. We saw that on full display on day one with the Trinity pitching decision. Naturally any pitching decision would have to wait until you knew the opponent and had a good idea of who they are planning to pitch, but I think the best way to win three is with Aaron and Shelby in the last two games. Of course, right now it's all about beating Rhodes.
Updated weather forecast looks much better beginning about 3pm.
If that is right, it would seem some baseball will be played today.
Checking pitching it looks like it will be Ben Klimesh and the Trinity hitters going against DePauw led by the SCAC pitcher of the year, Elliott Ross.
An ERA under 3 against a team scoring over 11 runs per game.
Could be a terrific game.
Supposing they can start about 3, them my guess is that they would get in the Trinity vs DePauw game, then the Millsaps vs Rhodes game today.
Then tomorrow then would go with the game scheduled for Saturday night with the winner playing the undefeated team. If a second championship game is needed then it could be played on Monday. That's not ideal and maybe the powers that be will opt for the third game scheduled for today being played even if it starts at 10 pm.
Lots of ifs and lots of difficult decisions that are bound to make someone unhappy. Rain mixed with baseball tournaments has a way of complicating things.
Looking at the radar it looks like there's one last line of storms that could clear the area in about an hour. Hopefully the field will drain pretty rapidly once they do.
Sat Apr. 24 vs. DePauw @ Millington, Tenn. SCAC Tournament 6-0 mid 6 two pickoffs by Klimesh
Jones' 13th hr and rbi single, Robusto 2 rbi triple
Preview Live stats Video (http://preview%20live%20stats%20video)
Interesting strategy by DPU going with Mike Peterson (1-7, 6.75) today rather than Elliott Ross. He's just left with one out in the top of the sixth after allowing six earned runs plus a runner on third.
Joseph Wojda enters and retires the side.
The TU bats stay hot and Klimesh tosses a complete game gem!!!
Rhodes run rules Millsaps, 11-1 in seven, and just underway against DPU. The winner is going to be one tired team come tomorrow. Looks like Ross is being held for tomorrow, a great gamble if the Tigers can get the W tonight, but you're still in position of having to played one more game by not using him today. EDIT: then again, the way Klimesh pitched, maybe it wouldn't have made any difference.
Andy Manson (5.62, 2-0, 32.0 IP in 16 app [1 start]) gets the start for DPU, Andy Meier (9.0, 0-0, 1.0 IP in 1 app). Oh, now maybe we know why DPU's keeping Ross in the pen for tomorrow.
Live stats here: http://www.sidearmstats.com/rhodes/baseball/index.htm
DPU gets a run in the first, another in the bottom of the second and with two out it's 2-0. One hit for the Lynx in the first two innings.
Lynx tie it up in the top of the fourth. Amazingly good pitching for both sides given that both teams are digging around the bottle of the barrel to find arms - nine total hits (4 DPU 5 Lynx).
spoke too soon, DPU puts together a rally in the bottom half of the inning and it's now 5-2. Will be very surprised if Rhodes can pull this out. Starting pitchers still in for both sides.
I didn't stay up for the last game. As Ron pointed out, both Rhodes and DePauw went with guys who definitely would not be considered aces, yet both pitched great games and there were a combined total of 24 strikeouts during the game. Do you think the ump might have increased the strike zone just a little with the game starting at 10:15 PM?
One thing about the tournament is that it has played true to form with Trinity and DePauw getting to the finals. Either should represent the SCAC well, but naturally I'll be pulling for the SCAC West team to take the title. They seem to have the pieces needed to make a big run in the NCAA.
Looks like a nice day in Tennessee for Title Day. Good luck to the Tigers.....
Seriously, I hope both teams play well. I wish I were there, but Derrel Palmer is a great substitute.
Hendrix will be a strong contender next year. The Warriors were responsible for 3 of the 4 SCAC losses that Trinity suffered this year, including a comeback from 10 runs down in the 7th inning. Just couldn't put enough of those good games together to make the tournament.
Thanks to all of you posting additional information on the games. Seems like a lot of coaches earning their keep with good line-up decisions.
Millsaps should come back strong as well in the 2011 season. The only seniors on this year's team are catcher Tyler Berry, starting pitcher Shelby Robertson, and reliever Andrew Fleming.
This really was a rebuilding year for Millsaps and I kept hoping that the project would come in ahead of schedule with all of the pieces falling in place in early April. Half the field positions were manned by new players and a couple of spots were filled by veterans changing positions. Only three pitchers with significant innings returned from 2009. This was one of those years where it would take everything falling into place just right in order to repeat the success of 2009, and unfortunately reality set in as it usually does.
This was particular true on the mound where injuries and inexperience took their toll. There seems to be a lot of pitching talent in this year's Millsaps freshman class, but in my years of following SCAC baseball I haven't seen a lot of pitchers who have come in and dominated right from the start. Hopefully this group of freshmen will grow into pitching stars of the future.
Good luck to whoever represents the SCAC in the NCAA this year. At 12 I'll have my eye mostly on the softball tournament where Millsaps is the undefeated team with Southwestern being the team that needs to win two this afternoon. There's still a chance to get one of the Millsaps diamond teams into the NCAA Tournament.
Should be a good day 4 championship - with Ross up for DPU Trinity has their work cut out for them to keep it from going to a second winner-takes-all game.
Frank,
Whoever takes over for Tyler Berry at catcher will have some large shoes to fill. He was a real competitor and an animal at blocking pitches. Not to mention starting every game for Millsaps. He took a beating behind the plate in the three games in Conway and still went 3-4, 4 rbi, a home run and double in the last game.
Made me wonder if Coach Page provided an ice bath seat on the bus.
Quote from: JimiBall on April 25, 2010, 12:09:44 PM
Frank,
Whoever takes over for Tyler Berry at catcher will have some large shoes to fill. He was a real competitor and an animal at blocking pitches. Not to mention starting every game for Millsaps. He took a beating behind the plate in the three games in Conway and still went 3-4, 4 rbi, a home run and double in the last game.
Made me wonder if Coach Page provided an ice bath seat on the bus.
Amen to that observation. I believe Tyler caught all but one inning this season. He came out of an extra inning game when he just couldn't go any longer. His value to the team would have been tremendous if he had been a .250 hitter with 3 home runs, but he was a leader at the plate as well in several categories.
Millsaps has had some real stars graduate in recent years. All were difficult to replace, but because of the position played and the numbers at the plate, replacing Tyler might be the most difficult replacement to find.
DePauw got a run in the bottom of the first and that's all the scoring through six. Elliot Ross has only allowed four hits and has thrown five strikeouts after putting down the leadoff batter in the sixth for Trinity. Ryan Lucero is doing admirably for Trinity, allowing only six hits with five K's. Neither team has allowed a walk.
Trinity finally chases Ross after scoring two in the bottom of the eighth to take a 3-1 lead. Lucero hits the first batter in the ninth and is relieved by Klimesh (! after pitching nine yesterday !).
Klimesh retires three straight and Trinity is your SCAC baseball champion!
A great performance Ryan Lucero (3-1) today, providing eight quality innings and scattering nine hits, racking up 7 K's, and allowing only one run and no walks. Lucero lowers his ERA to somewhere around 2.96 in just his third start of the season (15th appearance - 42.2 IP to date). Elliot Ross allowed only eight hits in 7 1/3rd, of which Johnathan Hall had two - a solo home run and a single which knocked in the game winning run in the eighth.
(El Tea Gray--re: Trinity Tigers 2010 SCAC Baseball Champions)
There were a lot of Trinity fans (including myself) that expected this SCAC Championship result since the Tigers vs. Tiger Alumni Game in 32 degree weather in early, early spring. Now on to the West Regional, and then IMHO to the DIII Championship Tournament.
:)
Question: There are now 23 days until the start of the West Regional; will/should the Tigers try to schedule some additional opponents for games (there were several regular season games rained-out) to avoid "just playing themselves" for 3+ weeks?
;)
Quote from: etg on April 25, 2010, 05:24:23 PM
(El Tea Gray--re: Trinity Tigers 2010 SCAC Baseball Champions)
There were a lot of Trinity fans (including myself) that expected this SCAC Championship result since the Tigers vs. Tiger Alumni Game in 32 degree weather in early, early spring. Now on to the West Regional, and then IMHO to the DIII Championship Tournament.
:)
Question: There are now 23 days until the start of the West Regional; will/should the Tigers try to schedule some additional opponents for games (there were several regular season games rained-out) to avoid "just playing themselves" for 3+ weeks?
;)
Schreiner and Concordia have one date left that they can play to make the 40-game season. Sul Ross has five dates left.
I think that Trinity has 5 vacant dates.
It would be cool if TU could line up a game or two with one of the local D2 schools (UIW, St. Mary's, or even St Edwards). Probably don't want to play a team you might see in Oregon or one that will impact your regional records, SOS, and the like, negatively.
Due to the possibility of a 7 team bracket in the West (if things stay true to form and teams aren't shipped out of region) with Trinity, Chapman, 2 SCIAC schools, 2 NWC, and an ASC team, you want to avoid being seeded either 4th or 5th, or else you will have to play two games on day one (One against the #1 one seed). Not really fair, but that's how I believe that bracket works.
Congratulations to both DePauw and Trinity for a terrific tournament.
I read Coach Scannell's comments about Elliott Ross and you can see from his results against one of the best hitting teams anywhere that he knows how to pitch.
TU had guys step up big time. Without Felix and Panozzo and with Noah Solomon struggling, what a job they did. From the freshman, Hall, Bentz and Lucero, to the senior, Evan Jones, they did what Coach Scannell teaches: compete.
My sense is TU has to use this time to get healthy, especially Panozzo and Felix. With those two, the emergence of Lucero, and the dominance of Klimesh, they can provide the depth and quality that is needed in Linfield.
Not sure how he does it, but Coach Scannell gets his guys ready to play and compete during this layoff. They have been sharp every time they get to the Regional and played/competed pretty darn well.
Congrats to TU and the Coaches: Scannell, Bunch, Smith, Vera and Fregosi. Terrific job that began last year when they recruited a group of freshman who played big and made quite a difference.
All SCAC Tournament ream posted.
Robusto breaks "Triples" record, Klimesh ties "ERA" record
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/releases/all_tournament_team
It is a shame Lucero didnt make all tourney......his stats certainly deserved it.
"It is a shame Lucero didnt make all tourney......his stats certainly deserved it."
I was surprised that none of the top three Trinity pitchers made the season All-Conference team. I'm not sure who I would kick off the list, but combined they were 18-3 with a mid-3 ERA and more than 150 IP.
Quote from: JimiBall on April 29, 2010, 03:24:53 PM
"It is a shame Lucero didnt make all tourney......his stats certainly deserved it."
I was surprised that none of the top three Trinity pitchers made the season All-Conference team. I'm not sure who I would kick off the list, but combined they were 18-3 with a mid-3 ERA and more than 150 IP.
I think that had to do with the fact that only conference stats are used. Klimesh went 3-0 against ASC teams and then wasnt used very much during those weekends.
Trinity is only #5 in the first west regional rankings (http://www.d3sports.com/dailydose/category/ncaa/regional-rankings/). As you will see the West is stacked. Millsaps, after going 1-2 at the SCAC championships, is ranked #3 in the South ...
Some of the teams ranked above Trinity should lose between now and the tourney, which could result in higher rankings and thus better seedings at the West Regional (should that be where they go which seems likely from what people are saying on the West Regional board).
It's an interesting weekend in the South Region. Here are this week's rankings:
South Region In-Region Record Overall Record
1. Shenandoah 26-7 34-8
2. Mary Washington 19-9 24-10
3. Millsaps 23-12 25-15
4. Methodist 23-10 27-11
5. LaGrange 24-16 26-17
6. York (Pa.) 23-12 23-12
I believe that Shenandoah and Mary Washington are already in, leaving Millsaps currently as the highest ranking Pool C team in the South. Methodist and York both have 4 games this weekend, including 2 head-to-head. Their other games are with Piedmont in a 3 day round robin going on in Ashville, NC.
Friday, Piedmont played 2 games, losing first to York and then having to come back and play a rested Methodist team. With 11 runs over the last two innings, Piedmont helped out Millsaps with a 13-8 victory over Methodist. Saturday, there was no rest for the weary as Piedmont played York again to start off the day, with York again taking the win. Now Piedmont has turned around and are playing Methodist once again as the tired team playing the rested team. Piedmont leads 2-1 after 2.5 but one wonders where they will find the pitching to complete 4 games in 30 hours.
Later this evening York and Methodist will play and these two teams will play a single game tomorrow. As a Millsaps fan, the ideal thing would be for Piedmont to beat Methodist today and then have Methodist beat York two times. That would put both Methodist and York at 2-2 for the weekend and it's hard to see them moving ahead of Millsaps with a .500 week.
Piedmont dropped 3 out of 4 to York and Methodist. That makes things tight for Millsaps to hold on to the #3 spot in the South. York has gone 2-0 with their wins over Piedmont and Methodist has gone 1-1.
Not that it matters since my hoping can't change reality, but I'm hoping for York and Methodist to split their games tonight and tomorrow. Methodist shouldn't move up after a 2-2 weekend but they might if they go 3-1 with two wins over York. York shouldn't move from 6 to 3 with a 3-1 weekend, but they might if they go 4-0 with two wins over Methodist and a good Piedmont team.
Of course, there's no guarantee that being the top Pool C in a region gets a team an at-large bid. It's just that the South Region will probably only get 1 at the most, and I'd like Millsaps to be in that prime spot.
Methodist-York live stats this evening:
http://www.mumonarchs.com/custompages/xlive/xlive.htm
QuoteI think that had to do with the fact that only conference stats are used. Klimesh went 3-0 against ASC teams and then wasnt used very much during those weekends.
Just an FYI... all stats are used, not just conference stats.
I'm keeping an eye on the York-Methodist live stats while doing other things on the computer. As mentioned yesterday, it seems to me that Methodist beating York is the best result for Millsaps regarding the regional rankings and a Pool C bid.
York had a 6-5 lead after 4 and has just put up one in the top of the 5th. I'll post a final score at the end of the game. The link for live stats on the game is:
http://www.mumonarchs.com/custompages/xlive/xlive.htm
(UPDATE: That one run in the 5th has become 5 with York still batting. York now leads 11-5 and it seems unlikely to me that Methodist will pull this one out.)
York went on to beat Methodist 18-6 today. A great weekend for York as they beat Piedmont twice and Methodist twice. How far up in the South ranking will they move with a 4-0 weekend? It would seem like they would jump from #6 in the South to higher than Methodist, which was #4 in the last ranking (LaGrange was the #5 team).
Will York leapfrog Millsaps for that #3 spot and claim the position of the highest ranked C Pool team in the South. Hard to say, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Frank,
While I agree it would be nice to see Millsaps in the postseason, I would say their odds are about a 1 in 10,000 chance. We've seen better Millsaps teams in the past get left out, and with a 25-15 record (23-12 in region) this season, there is no way they get in. It was a good rebuilding year with a very young infield.
As far as quality wins too, there are only two that I see. One over Mississippi College, who I think is in either way, and another over Trinity who is already in.
http://d3baseball.com/notables/2010/04/21/7316/strength-of-schedule-ratings.html (http://d3baseball.com/notables/2010/04/21/7316/strength-of-schedule-ratings.html)
To be honest, I wouldn't get too involved in watching other regional games, it will just bum you out more and give you a headache trying to figure out all the different scenarios.
I think that one South Region team earns a Pool C bid.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 02, 2010, 11:32:33 PM
I think that one South Region team earns a Pool C bid.
I agree with Ralph that only one South Region team gets a Pool C which is why I was keeping up with the results of Methodist and York this weekend. While I'll agree with INS_Major that we've seen better Millsaps teams in the past get left out, particularily the 2007 team, I would have to disagree on the 1 in 10,000 odds. Also, one would have to consider the two wins over LaGrange as quality since that team is ranked 5th in the South.
The mysteries of NCAA Regional Rankings are many to me, but York with a 23-12 regional record was ranked 6th in the last poll behind a 5th place LaGrange team that was 24-16 in the region. That tells me something about the quality of the York schedule compared to LaGrange, at least in the formula for the regional rankings. York has now won 4 or 5 straight games since the last ranking and they may actually leapfrog into 3rd, but they still have two home games left with a good Ferrum team.
We still have a ways to go before we know if Millsaps will be that highest ranking team in the South Region when it comes to Pool C bids.
York moves to third, Millsaps drops to fourth in latest regional ranking:
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/050610aaj.html
Ferrum leads at York 8-0 after 5 innings:
http://livestats.prestosports.com/york/bsb/?e=5dgy9sttfafsx2mf
(UPDATE: Now 12-2 with York batting in the bottom of the 7th)
Ferrum does beat York today with the final score being 17-7. The two teams play again tomorrow. Won't really know what this means for the South Region Rankings until the next ranking comes out on May 13.
Now that I have figured out how the tournament works; I am surprised that Coach Page and Scannell aren't pushing for the west to handle their round robin the same as the SCAC east. Granted there is one more team; but having to only play each team three times provides far more flexibility to schedule teams with winning records.
This year having to play the west teams 5 times when three of them have losing records only hurts a teams SOS. Either the conference needs to get better or coaches may want to look at changing the formula for in conference play.
Quote from: ILVBB on May 07, 2010, 01:10:14 AM
Now that I have figured out how the tournament works; I am surprised that Coach Page and Scannell aren't pushing for the west to handle their round robin the same as the SCAC east. Granted there is one more team; but having to only play each team three times provides far more flexibility to schedule teams with winning records.
This year having to play the west teams 5 times when three of them have losing records only hurts a teams SOS. Either the conference needs to get better or coaches may want to look at changing the formula for in conference play.
In this part of the country, those extra games are against the ASC, which does a very good job of beating itself into a ".500" pulp.
The ASC is into its two crossover and 7 weekend series schedules by first weekend in March/last weekend in February. Those weekend series may not allow any of the 15 ASC teams to compete against the SCAC on those weekends. Then where do Trinity, Southwestern and AC go for games? :-\
I'm back on the Ferrum vs York watch once again. Here's the way I see the situation--York had a great week and jumped from 6th in the South to 3rd. A big jump, but not surprising. Did they move up 3 place plus give themselves enough cushion that they can go 0-2 this week and still hold on to the 3rd spot? That would be a little surprising to me.
We know that York lost to Ferrum yesterday. By the way, what's surprising is that even though he had a rested staff, the York coach went with a pitch by committee: starter goes 4 innings and then a new pitcher to start each of the next 5 innings. That's very odd to me unless he knows that York is in regardless of the outcome of these games.
Anyway, today's game is in the bottom of the 6th and Ferrum is up 5-2. The Ferrum starter has a 2.42 era and a 4-0 record so he might hold on to the lead until passing the ball to a reliever, most likely the guy with the second best era on the team at 3.00. Will Millsaps move back to 3rd in the South if Ferrum wins this game. I don't know, but I'd sure like to find out.
Live Stats: http://livestats.prestosports.com/york/bsb/?e=dbg2oybi9mru9hx9
Ferrum scores two in the top of the 10th and takes a 7-5 victory over York. This 0-2 record since the last regional ranking doesn't necessarily mean that Millsaps will move back up to third, but it makes things very interesting.
York is now 28-14 in the region, Millsaps is 23-12. LaGrange and Methodist are at 5 and 6 in the South and their regular season play has completed. It seems unlikely that anyone is going to do enough to jump into the rankings all the way to #3, so it seems like the top at-large candidate in the South will be York or Millsaps--and I personally don't think that both will get a bid.
Frank how soon before the final selection . Is there any other teams that can affect the out come of the south pool C bids ?
I don't swear by the accuracy of my statements, but here's what I think is correct:
--Salisbury U. of Maryland has a great record and a DH against #1 ranked John Hopkins tomorrow. If Salisbury wins those two games, they certainly could go to the top of the South Region Pool C hopeful list. You can see more of this discussion here:
http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=5821.495
--I believe the at-large bids are announced on May 16 with the regionals starting on May 19. For those on the bubble like Millsaps, that means bringing kids back to campus to practice without knowing if there will be a NCAA bid. In 2007 the Millsaps team came back to school to practice and then got shutout in the at-large process. I'm sure it happens at several schools each year.
--For more info on the process, the selection criteria, etc, take at look at the Pool C thread under the national topics. There's a lot of good information and opinions to be found there.
Salisbury (SOS .534, WP .719)
Millsaps (SOS .532, WP .647)
Methodist (SOS .532, WP .631)
York (SOS .521, WP .667)
Do you think these will be the final #'s
Millsaps gets left out ... probably on the board when the last pool C was selected.
South Regional
1. Shenandoah (34-8)
2. Salisbury (27-11)
3. Mary Washington (26-12)
4. York (Pa.) (28-14)
5. LaGrange (26-17)
6. Bridgewater (Va.) (23-18-1)
Lots of upsets in conference tourneys meant some teams that were favored to get A's instead ended up getting C's, and that certainly impacted Millsaps.
Over in the West, Trinity gets the #6 (and last) seed with a 32-7 record. Losing those two games to freakin' Hendrix really hurt - especially the one where they almost run-ruled them before Hendrix came back. Their relatively poor SOS condemned them to a six seed even though they have the best winning percentage of any of the teams in the region. I still can't understand how Pomona Pitzer gets a three seed - while they have a edge on Trinity and Mississippi College from an SOS perspective, they lose out on overall record, record against regionally ranked teams, and in-region record.
Ironically, even had Trinity played Millsaps and gone 1-2, the bump to SOS might have resulted in a better seed. Such is the overemphasis the NCAA places on SOS above all else. Trinity will likely start Klimesh in the game against Chapman and hope to pull off the upset.
West Region
1. Chapman (30-9)
2. Linfield (30-10)
3. Pomona-Pitzer (29-9)
4. Texas-Tyler (35-10)
5. Mississippi College (36-9)
6. Trinity (Texas) (32-7)
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 17, 2010, 09:38:54 AM
Millsaps gets left out ... probably on the board when the last pool C was selected.
South Regional
1. Shenandoah (34-8)
2. Salisbury (27-11)
3. Mary Washington (26-12)
4. York (Pa.) (28-14)
5. LaGrange (26-17)
6. Bridgewater (Va.) (23-18-1)
Lots of upsets in conference tourneys meant some teams that were favored to get A's instead ended up getting C's, and that certainly impacted Millsaps.
Over in the West, Trinity gets the #6 (and last) seed with a 32-7 record. Losing those two games to freakin' Hendrix really hurt - especially the one where they almost run-ruled them before Hendrix came back. Their relatively poor SOS condemned them to a six seed even though they have the best winning percentage of any of the teams in the region. I still can't understand how Pomona Pitzer gets a three seed - while they have a edge on Trinity and Mississippi College from an SOS perspective, they lose out on overall record, record against regionally ranked teams, and in-region record.
Ironically, even had Trinity played Millsaps and gone 1-2, the bump to SOS might have resulted in a better seed. Such is the overemphasis the NCAA places on SOS above all else. Trinity will likely start Klimesh in the game against Chapman and hope to pull off the upset.
West Region
1. Chapman (30-9)
2. Linfield (30-10)
3. Pomona-Pitzer (29-9)
4. Texas-Tyler (35-10)
5. Mississippi College (36-9)
6. Trinity (Texas) (32-7)
Ron--I dont think the SOS is calculated that way. Once you play a team, you get their record, no matter how many times you play them. If TU would have lost to them, that would have helped Millsaps record, which in turn would have helped SOS. I like Klimesh against Chapman. They have some studs on the mound, but Klimesh is as good as anyone at this level. I just hope the TU bats remain hot....
That isn't true. You get their record once for each time you play them.
The handbook is poorly written. The fact that our SOS numbers nearly mirror the SOS numbers from the NCAA show that this is the correct interpretation.
Quote from: Pat Coleman on May 17, 2010, 11:32:33 AM
That isn't true. You get their record once for each time you play them.
The handbook is poorly written. The fact that our SOS numbers nearly mirror the SOS numbers from the NCAA show that this is the correct interpretation.
Thanks for the clarification, Pat. That makes sense, but when you're talkin' about the NCAA, sometimes sense gets thrown out the window. ;)
Common sense; NCAA - now that is an Oxymoron. It is my understanding that the NCAA in all their wisdom booked Trinity to fly out of Austin (real bright when SAT is 5 minutes from campus). Nothing like getting up at 3AM to drive to school, to get on a bus, drive for an hour, check in for a 6 hour flight, get on a bus, drive an hour and a half to Mcminnville, practice, go to the hotel and then have to play the first game against a very tough Chapman.
Common sense; NCAA - not in our lifetime. :'(
No doubt the flight from AUS + bus cost less than a flight from SAT. That's all the NCAA cares about.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 17, 2010, 07:51:27 PM
No doubt the flight from AUS + bus cost less than a flight from SAT. That's all the NCAA cares about.
lets hope TU shows up with a little chip on their shoulder.....after finding out that the NCAA chartered a flight for UTT and Miss Coll together.....Tyler, Jackson, Portland....nice and easy
Not like they flew them out of Houston, people. Relax.
Quote from: ILVBB on May 17, 2010, 06:55:12 PM
Common sense; NCAA - now that is an Oxymoron. It is my understanding that the NCAA in all their wisdom booked Trinity to fly out of Austin (real bright when SAT is 5 minutes from campus). Nothing like getting up at 3AM to drive to school, to get on a bus, drive for an hour, check in for a 6 hour flight, get on a bus, drive an hour and a half to Mcminnville, practice, go to the hotel and then have to play the first game against a very tough Chapman.
Common sense; NCAA - not in our lifetime. :'(
Just about as much sense as playing in the cold and rain. NCAA does not use logic it's decisions...reminds of politicians in Washington.
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 18, 2010, 12:19:53 PM
Quote from: ILVBB on May 17, 2010, 06:55:12 PM
Common sense; NCAA - now that is an Oxymoron. It is my understanding that the NCAA in all their wisdom booked Trinity to fly out of Austin (real bright when SAT is 5 minutes from campus). Nothing like getting up at 3AM to drive to school, to get on a bus, drive for an hour, check in for a 6 hour flight, get on a bus, drive an hour and a half to Mcminnville, practice, go to the hotel and then have to play the first game against a very tough Chapman.
Common sense; NCAA - not in our lifetime. :'(
Just about as much sense as playing in the cold and rain. NCAA does not use logic it's decisions...reminds of politicians in Washington.
what do you mean Crash....it is going to be wonderful weather in Oregon, the place that only the host team can easily get to.....wonderful weather, if you are from Alaska.....
Well, the cluster that was Trinity's post season ended quickly.... Kind of like accounting ... first in, first out... after sitting on ther 'hands' for 23 days, the TU Tigers were bused to Austin, flown (with a stop) to Portland and got to practice at a middle school in McMinnville.... UTT and MC were flown on a charter,,,, 23 days to pre-buy airline tickets with a 21 day advance purchase and NO,,, the NCAA waits til the last minute and flys TU out of Austin... Whisky Tango Foxtrot???? When did they qualify???
Not to take anything away from Linfield who I'm sure is a terrific club, but it makes it a whole lot easier when you play the regional tournament at home. They should have never decided that a perennial Top 25 team should host a regional. The facilities are really nice at Linfield I know, but can you imagine how UT-Tyler would play if Regionals were at their home park? Linfield played very well and deserves a spot in the championsip, but I think things might have been easier for them.
Any team will have a "home field" advantage; that is just the way it is. However, when the NCAA creates such a disadvantage for the other teams then you question the wisdom of providing a home field advantage.
The people at Linfield were terrific; they did their best, however their best in my book was not good enough and it wasn't their fault.
The west as a region doesn't make sense in the first place; the logistics makes it impossible for real regional competition both in season and post season. Then you put the NCAA in charge their ability to spend as little as possible on D3 you have a formula for failure.
With teams in 3 time zones; having a regional in the NW doesn't make sense. Add to it bad weather; horrible planning by the NCAA and you have a formula that clearly favors the home team. In my mind I can't imagine the NCAA awarding Linfield the regional when they have to bus teams an hour each way to and from hotels. Then you add in the logistics of 3 teams having to travel half way across the country and then the term "home field advantage" takes on a new meaning.
Given the nature of the west region it is time that the NCAA start looking to a neutral site somewhere between the teams on the west coast and the teams in Texas/Mississippi.
Quote from: ILVBB on May 23, 2010, 12:57:24 PM
Given the nature of the west region it is time that the NCAA start looking to a neutral site somewhere between the teams on the west coast and the teams in Texas/Mississippi.
I know McMurry hosted a couple years ago. But, Mississippi College and Millsaps can't host because of the state flag. I was told that UT-Tyler hasn't gotten a regional because they don't have an enclosed press box. I'm not familiar with SCAC facilities, but McMurry has a great place. Concordia is building a facility that will rival any in the nation. Those are probably the two best ASC options.
Quote from: Chris Brooks on May 23, 2010, 10:39:55 PM
Quote from: ILVBB on May 23, 2010, 12:57:24 PM
Given the nature of the west region it is time that the NCAA start looking to a neutral site somewhere between the teams on the west coast and the teams in Texas/Mississippi.
I know McMurry hosted a couple years ago. But, Mississippi College and Millsaps can't host because of the state flag. I was told that UT-Tyler hasn't gotten a regional because they don't have an enclosed press box. I'm not familiar with SCAC facilities, but McMurry has a great place. Concordia is building a facility that will rival any in the nation. Those are probably the two best ASC options.
Concordia may want to work the kinks out of the park in the next 2 years and then bid to host in 2013-14.
Quote from: ILVBB on May 23, 2010, 12:57:24 PM
Any team will have a "home field" advantage; that is just the way it is. However, when the NCAA creates such a disadvantage for the other teams then you question the wisdom of providing a home field advantage.
The people at Linfield were terrific; they did their best, however their best in my book was not good enough and it wasn't their fault.
The west as a region doesn't make sense in the first place; the logistics makes it impossible for real regional competition both in season and post season. Then you put the NCAA in charge their ability to spend as little as possible on D3 you have a formula for failure.
With teams in 3 time zones; having a regional in the NW doesn't make sense. Add to it bad weather; horrible planning by the NCAA and you have a formula that clearly favors the home team. In my mind I can't imagine the NCAA awarding Linfield the regional when they have to bus teams an hour each way to and from hotels. Then you add in the logistics of 3 teams having to travel half way across the country and then the term "home field advantage" takes on a new meaning.
Given the nature of the west region it is time that the NCAA start looking to a neutral site somewhere between the teams on the west coast and the teams in Texas/Mississippi.
Linfield was a great host, great team that deserved to win, with great staff running the tournament.
In 2009 great weather but
in 2010 horrible, miserable, cold, windy rain with many games played in rain that would normally would have games stopped in most places. Also I am not sure of how many team stayed outside of McMinnville but some were 45 minutes to 1 hour away. Travel arrangements also caused many teams to travel times taking twice the amount of time to get there to save money would be my guess. These factors
subtracted from a great event.
This was a disservice to the city since money was spent outside the city by team and fans instead in McMinnville due to the distances where the teams/fans stayed.
A site that would be a great future site could be Cal Lutheran in SoCal if they added lights. Concordia-Texas is also a possible future site, along with McMurray who hosted in 2008 and was rained out from hosting in 2007. Chapman in SoCal has also hosted numerous times in the past. Weather is too big a factor to consider the Northwest in the future when sites which have better weather should be used.
Alsp Trinity had too long of layoff from their last game until their first game in the Regional. This is major scheduling flaw....
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 26, 2010, 11:27:57 PM
This did a disservice to the city since money was spent outside the city by team and fans.
Crash,
The issue isn't being fair or doing a disservice to the City.
The issue is being fair to each team.
The NCAA has total control of the travel and lodging and chose to house teams up to an hour away by all credible reports.
There is no NCAA excuse that is acceptable. When you combine that with travel issues and teams not even practicing on the Regional field before playing the first games, the issues are obvious.
Tirnity's schedule is under Trinity's control. If they want to hold one of the 40 dates for a post-SCAC tourney game, then they can do that. That is a common practice in the USA South and Capital AC.
Shenandoah's last game was Stevenson on April 22nd.
Trinity's last game was April 25th in the conference final.
Speaking for Millsaps, it's really not practical to talk about playing games after the SCAC Tournament. The week following the tournament was exam week at Millsaps so that's out for games. That means you would be keeping players on campus after school has ended to play regular season games that might very well be meaningless if you aren't the SCAC AQ or a potential NCAA at-large team.
Even if you wanted to keep the players on campus after the end of the school year, who would you play? Most potential opponents are in conference playoffs like the ASC teams, or they have concluded their season. Plus, my understanding is that there's a 15 week limit on the length of the regular season, so playing games two weeks after the SCAC Tournament would mean going into the season with two less weeks of practice, or being two weeks behind all of your early season opponents if you start playing games in late February.
The reality is that a long layoff in unavoidable and the SCAC West teams just have to deal with it the best they can. There's really no practical solution available to the schools or the NCAA to avoid that situation.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 27, 2010, 02:16:54 AM
Speaking for Millsaps, it's really not practical to talk about playing games after the SCAC Tournament. The week following the tournament was exam week at Millsaps so that's out for games. That means you would be keeping players on campus after school has ended to play regular season games that might very well be meaningless if you aren't the SCAC AQ or a potential NCAA at-large team.
Even if you wanted to keep the players on campus after the end of the school year, who would you play? Most potential opponents are in conference playoffs like the ASC teams, or they have concluded their season. Plus, my understanding is that there's a 15 week limit on the length of the regular season, so playing games two weeks after the SCAC Tournament would mean going into the season with two less weeks of practice, or being two weeks behind all of your early season opponents if you start playing games in late February.
The reality is that a long layoff in unavoidable and the SCAC West teams just have to deal with it the best they can. There's really no practical solution available to the schools or the NCAA to avoid that situation.
As far as Finals go I know for a fact a team has taken their finals in Hotel, at the field, on the bus etc after teams return.....since there were not on campus for Finals. Not sure how other schools handle this. Also the SCAC tourney could be held later in the year a week before selection day or the weekend of selection day like other conferences do.
Crash, you know more about this than me so let me ask you a question. These conferences that hold tournaments on the last weekend, are they made up of schools that are already 2-3 weeks into summer vacation? The Millsaps exams were over at the end of April, or maybe the first day or two of May. Graduation ceremonies were held May 11. I can't imagine the SCAC scheduling a tournament that would come so late after school has already ended.
Obviously, the NCAA can't move the baseball playoffs to any time sooner, and just as obviously, it's not practical for the SCAC to move their tournament to later. As stated in an earlier post, that's just the reality of the situation and teams like Millsaps and Trinity have to make that adjustment.
Let me add that personally, I think the break has some advantages to go along with the disadvantages. Players with nagging injuries get a few weeks to let those injuries heal. Players are through with classes and exams so they aren't dealing with those responsibilities while trying to play baseball. To quote a million and one coaches, "it is what it is" and SCAC teams just have to deal with it and turn a potential negative into a positive.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on May 27, 2010, 03:58:46 AM
Crash, you know more about this than me so let me ask you a question. These conferences that hold tournaments on the last weekend, are they made up of schools that are already 2-3 weeks into summer vacation? The Millsaps exams were over at the end of April, or maybe the first day or two of May. Graduation ceremonies were held May 11. I can't imagine the SCAC scheduling a tournament that would come so late after school has already ended.
Obviously, the NCAA can't move the baseball playoffs to any time sooner, and just as obviously, it's not practical for the SCAC to move their tournament to later. As stated in an earlier post, that's just the reality of the situation and teams like Millsaps and Trinity have to make that adjustment.
Let me add that personally, I think the break has some advantages to go along with the disadvantages. Players with nagging injuries get a few weeks to let those injuries heal. Players are through with classes and exams so they aren't dealing with those responsibilities while trying to play baseball. To quote a million and one coaches, "it is what it is" and SCAC teams just have to deal with it and turn a potential negative into a positive.
I am not sure how other schools handle this but I know of a school the past 5 years missed finals, seniors missed graduation ceremonies and players had to move out of the on campus dorms before they left and school was out while the team was on the road during the Regionals and World Series. Several players had to take finals at hotels, at the field or on their return in June after school was out since some instructors would not allow them taken while the player/student was not on campus. A large number of schools have conference tourneys the weekend before or selection weekend and would be in a better position to provide informaiton.
When they play the SCAC tournament, in my view, is a bit of a red herring when you look historically at the performance of Trinity and Millsaps in the Regionals. While I don't know how, Coach Scannell and Coach Page have each had their teams ready to play and compete. The fact that TU reached the championship games in 2004, 06, and 08 and Millsaps was only a few innings away from the CWS in 2007(???Frank, is that the right year) shows the coaches know how to use that time to prepare their players.
What is the issue this year, in my view, wasn't whether Trinity was ready to play.
It was leaving SAT at 3am(so the players were up even before then), taking a bus to Austin, flying to Portland, the bus from there and not being able to even practice at the field on Tuesday. They then have bus rides up to 2 hours to get to and from the field.
Coach Scannell will never make an excuse. He believes you mentally challenge yourself and block out every distraction. His players competed. They got too many runners to 3B and left them there.
With all this said, it seems pretty difficult to advocate Linfield not having to spend all day Tuesday from 3am traveling by bus, by air, by bus, being able to be on their field, not having to bus 2 hours to and from each game and the like, was dealt same hand and provided an equal base from which to compete in the Regional.
Linfield still had to perform on the field.
They did and won.
There just was nothing equal about what occurred off the field beginning last Tuesday morning at 3am.
Linfield did not cause what occurred off the field.
That is an NCAA issue for sure.
There are really two issues relative to regional performance.
This year; the NCAA dealt Trinity's hand off the bottom of the deck. Their travel was stupid. 3am at Trinity, on the bus for an hour and a half to Austin, travel to Denver to change planes to Portland, on the bus to Lake Oswego, into the hotel, change for practice, to the field for an hour+ practice; then back on the bus where the bus driver took a two hour detour to show the boys Salem, the state Capital and Willamette College; arriving back at the hotel at 5:30 pm. The next morning they were up at 8am on the bus at 8:30 to go to a middle school for batting practice in the pouring rain. It poured solid through their pre-game and the first few innings until the game was halted the game. At this point the damage was done; mentally the kids were toast; in talking with them they believed that they had been screwed by the NCAA.
On a recurring basis; the SCAC schedule makes it nearly impossible to compete with other teams. To finish your season take nearly 4-weeks off from competition and then to come back and play your best is not going to happen. This year was made worse by playing only 4 games over the last five weeks (rainout against Millsaps) "Friendly" practice is not the same as competition. Throw in all the other things that kids are facing; finals, graduation, moving out of dorms and the mind is not in a "competitive mode."
This year Trinity had 5 unused regular season dates to schedule games during that 4-week period. In that they had never done it before, I was not surprised that they did not do it this year. If a school is committed to winning, they will do whatever they can to reach their goals; the SCAC calendar has become a convenient excuse for programs that are unwilling to do what is needed to compete for a national championship.
Not sure I agree with you ILVBB on the need to be playing games and the impact of the time from the SCAC's, based on the experience in 2002 and 2004.
Of course I recognize all teams are different.
In 2002, that team played the best game they played all year in the 1st game of the Regionals in Georgetown. They were relaxed, confident, and executed perfectly in every way. Had the terrible tragedy with the death Coach Meccage not unfolded during the night following that game, I have little doubt they would have played in Appleton that year.
In 2004, at Chapman, they again played well in the first game(didn't pitch well at the start) and throughout that tournament. No one team was better than them.
One pitcher, Scott Hyde, a 7th rounder of the Mets, and his 19 or so innings, was the sole difference in that Regional.
Again, every team is different. Perhaps scheduling games after graduation and the end of the school year would have made a difference this year if indeed the team lost focus and their mind was not in a "competitive mode."
You are clearly closer to this years team and their mind set.
I can only speak from what we experienced.
As I said, the teams I have referenced felt they were very well prepared, relaxed and ready to play and compete. In part, they reported each practice/scrimmage was at a high intensity/competitive level. No one let down. Everyone kept their eye on the goal and even those not traveling gave 110%. Because they felt the team scrimmages were at a very high level, it got them into a frame of mind that the quality of play of their teammates was as good, if not better, than they would see in the Regional.
Sounds like it may have been different this year, from your report.
I'm going with infielddad on the issue about the long break between the SCAC Tournament and the NCAA Regionals. While it is a difficult thing to deal with for the coaches, keeping a team sharp through 4 weeks without a game, both Trinity and Millsaps have managed to do quite well once they have started regional play. It was in 2006 that Millsaps totally dominated their first three games at regionals and were well on their way to cruising through the championship game when relief pitching let them down.
And look, even though Hendrix and Trinity both went 0-2 at the West regionals in the last 2 years, it's not like they weren't right there and not too far from winning all 4 of those games. Trinity went up against Chapman and their super pitcher and lost by 1 run and then lost an extra inning game to a very good MS College team. In 2009, Hendrix lost 8-3 to Pomona-Pitzer when one terrible half inning in the field led to 5 unearned runs. Then they fell 5-3 to Texas-Tyler when T-T came back for the victory with a 5-run 8th inning.
I do think the biggest problem for the SCAC teams is with the travel. The NCAA regional draws aren't announced till late Sunday or early Monday, and then the SCAC teams always have to go into hectic mode to travel by air to the tournament site for a Wednesday game. That's always going to be a disadvantage when compared to the teams that host or only have a half day bus ride, but it's just a reality of the situation. This year, that reality was far worse than normal for the Trinity team and certainly didn't help their chances of winning the West Regional.
I agree with ILVBB all the way! I was there!
Quote from: ILVBB on May 27, 2010, 12:51:58 PM
There are really two issues relative to regional performance.
This year; the NCAA dealt Trinity's hand off the bottom of the deck. Their travel was stupid. 3am at Trinity, on the bus for an hour and a half to Austin, travel to Denver to change planes to Portland, on the bus to Lake Oswego, into the hotel, change for practice, to the field for an hour+ practice; then back on the bus where the bus driver took a two hour detour to show the boys Salem, the state Capital and Willamette College; arriving back at the hotel at 5:30 pm. The next morning they were up at 8am on the bus at 8:30 to go to a middle school for batting practice in the pouring rain. It poured solid through their pre-game and the first few innings until the game was halted the game. At this point the damage was done; mentally the kids were toast; in talking with them they believed that they had been screwed by the NCAA.
On a recurring basis; the SCAC schedule makes it nearly impossible to compete with other teams. To finish your season take nearly 4-weeks off from competition and then to come back and play your best is not going to happen. This year was made worse by playing only 4 games over the last five weeks (rainout against Millsaps) "Friendly" practice is not the same as competition. Throw in all the other things that kids are facing; finals, graduation, moving out of dorms and the mind is not in a "competitive mode."
This year Trinity had 5 unused regular season dates to schedule games during that 4-week period. In that they had never done it before, I was not surprised that they did not do it this year. If a school is committed to winning, they will do whatever they can to reach their goals; the SCAC calendar has become a convenient excuse for programs that are unwilling to do what is needed to compete for a national championship.
I understand the argument. Shenandoah had the same length of time off and made it to Appleton.
An honest question...
Who were they going to play with those 5 dates? Which opponents? Which days? What locations? Who had unused dates at the end of their seasons who would want to play Trinity?
Congrats to all of these student athletes! Interesting to note that all of these players have at least one more year to play. Also, BSC has a ton of guys on this list.
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/releases/abca_all_region
(El Tea Gray---re: Trinity Tigers Baseball 2010)
D3baseball.com Final 2010 Poll Trinity (TX)--------#20
2011 Prediction: Top 5 (IMHO)
:)
TU's Ryan Lucero (6.1 IP, 0 ER, 3 H) picked up Pitcher-of-the-Week honors in the Florida Collegiate Summer League (http://floridaleague.com/PressRoom/RecentNews/tabid/116/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/35/Week-1-in-the-Florida-League.aspx).
Just read that Coach Iwasaki from Austin College is leaving to take the head coaching position at Northern Colorado.
Never met him but everything I heard said he is very well respected.
Quote from: infielddad on August 04, 2010, 10:04:36 PM
Just read that Coach Iwasaki from Austin College is leaving to take the head coaching position at Northern Colorado.
Never met him but everything I heard said he is very well respected.
Here's the release: http://bit.ly/bOVoTM
(El Tea Gray---re: Trinity Tiger Scoring for 2010 season.)
The Trinity Tigers led the national DIII baseball scoring stats (runs-per-game) for the 2010 season with an average of 11.2 RPG.
:)
Quote from: Ron Boerger on August 05, 2010, 11:41:53 AM
Quote from: infielddad on August 04, 2010, 10:04:36 PM
Just read that Coach Iwasaki from Austin College is leaving to take the head coaching position at Northern Colorado.
Never met him but everything I heard said he is very well respected.
Here's the release: http://bit.ly/bOVoTM
I wish success to Coach Iwasaki. Particularly since my summer visitor this and last year is in his starting outfield.
D3baseball.com just released their "2000's All-Decade Team" with Hunter Owen of Millsaps being named as one of the 2nd team outfielders. He appears to be the only SCAC player on the list:
http://www.d3baseball.com/awards/all-decade-2000s.pdf
I guess it's too early to talk about baseball news and there's not much I could contribute about Millsaps. Their roster should be about the same as last season with the big losses to graduation being catcher Tyler Berry and pitcher Shelby Robertson. The offense should be strong for the 2011 season and the key will be improving on the fielding (.926 in 2010) and era (6.45). If the pitching comes around, Millsaps will be a strong candidate to return to the NCAA Tournament.
Anything to report from 'fall-ball'? Anybody tried those new BBCOR bats? Any comments?
Don't have any information on Fall Ball or anything like that.
I did see, though, that BSC is traveling to open the season at Trinity on 2/4, 2/5 and 2/6.
Based on 2010, that projects to be one of the very best opening weekends in all of DIII baseball.
Quote from: infielddad on November 02, 2010, 05:10:50 PM
Don't have any information on Fall Ball or anything like that.
I did see, though, that BSC is traveling to open the season at Trinity on 2/4, 2/5 and 2/6.
Based on 2010, that projects to be one of the very best opening weekends in all of DIII baseball.
Nothing like finding out who you are right out of the gate! Birm-Southern could be a massive cog in the machine this year.
Are they post-season eligible in 2011?
I believe BSC has one more year based on this NCAA statement:
"Meeting June 22-23 in Indianapolis, the Division III Membership Committee also agreed to move the following four institutions to the final year of provisional membership:
* Franciscan University Steubenville (Steubenville, Ohio)
* Geneva College (Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania)
* St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn, New York)
* Birmingham-Southern College (Birmingham, Alabama)
If those institutions successfully complete year four of the provisional/reclassifying process, they could be accepted as active Division III members for the 2011-12 academic year."
Trinity should be very good again and a challenge for anyone. They lost a big bat in the middle of the order but are expecting Kyle Felix to be fully healthy again.
While I don't know who actually ended up on campus, the last information was they were expecting some really good new talent in the Fall. Of course, every freshman recruit needs to adjust and perform but they usually get some very good ones at Trinity who do both.
Just a comment on the travel discussions relative to the NCAA tournament . . . it was just a shame that the NCAA would need to force a team like Trinity or Mississippi College to travel all the way to Oregon to play in a regional that was stacked with 6 of the best teams in the entire country! I think all these West Region teams were nationally ranked. Trinity or Mississippi College probably would have won any other regional last year had they been allowed to play in a region close to home or at least their same time zone! The NCAA needs to balance this out, not only for logistical reasons, but for competitive balance. They do it for basketball - why not baseball? If they claim it is for travel or expense reasons, just read the trip details outlined in the post by ILVBB. How did that travel make any sense when there are regionals that are so much closer?
Quote from: El Hombre on November 03, 2010, 11:15:47 PM
Just a comment on the travel discussions relative to the NCAA tournament . . . it was just a shame that the NCAA would need to force a team like Trinity or Mississippi College to travel all the way to Oregon to play in a regional that was stacked with 6 of the best teams in the entire country! I think all these West Region teams were nationally ranked. Trinity or Mississippi College probably would have won any other regional last year had they been allowed to play in a region close to home or at least their same time zone! The NCAA needs to balance this out, not only for logistical reasons, but for competitive balance. They do it for basketball - why not baseball? If they claim it is for travel or expense reasons, just read the trip details outlined in the post by ILVBB. How did that travel make any sense when there are regionals that are so much closer?
Division III is philosophically aligned in the regions. Competition is regionally based.
Baseball is strong in this part of the country. The same arguments are held on the Men's Basketball boards where the
Top 8 (http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/09/week13.htm) in the last regular season D3hoops.com Poll were all in one of four 15-team brackets for the 2009 tourney.
Unfortunately for Trinity, they will have to fly to any venue other than San Antonio, Georgetown or Abilene. There are no other fields in this part of Texas that can host a Regional to my knowledge.
The NCAA tries to eliminate anything over 500 miles in getting teams into regional berths. For us in the West Bracket, of which we have about 40 teams of the 360 that play baseball, we will always have teams that will need to fly. Almost everyone else in the country can be bussed to a regional.
(El Tea Gray--re: BBCOR bats, "wood-equivalent" at Trinity Tiger's Fall World Series.)
With the new 2011 NCAA rule (all divisions) requiring the use of BBCOR bats (wood-equivalent), there will no longer be the familiar "ping" sound around college baseball fields; instead the new sound will be "thwack" with shorter fly balls and slower rollers. Defensively both outfielders and infielders will have a learning curve. The net effect IMHO will be that the college game will shift to be more of a Pitcher's Game. The teams with the larger and more accomplished pitching staffs will in time dominate (even more than they are able to now). Comments?
:) GO TIGERS :)
Agreed.
The old saying goes,
you can't be too blonde, too rich, or have too much pitching.
Two comments on prior posts..
Could Concordia-Texas with the new turf field with lights host a Regional ?
ASC, SCAC teams would be closer than going to CA, or OR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsgQMrndWU8
BBCOR bats will mean faster games, weak ground balls, and flyballs not homeruns, triples, doubles. Expect team batting averages to drop about 40 to 50 points and combined total runs scored in games to drop in half. Games will be done in 2 to 2 1/2 hours max.
Crash,
I love your posting on the BBCOR issue.
Having a son who was a pretty good D3 hitter, who also did well in Milb and Summer leagues and is now the hitting coach for a DI program, we have talked about this issue at some length.
I also watched his team's last 2 Fall ball games.
Knowing that hitting is as much mental, the approach of the hitter and coaching staff is important.
As I learned from our son, adjusting from aluminum to wood for Summer ball took some time.
Adjusting from D3 to 90 to 93 in Milb took some time.
What I also realized watching Fall games is the sound varied depending on where I sat.
Our son's view is that teams that truly relied on power will be impacted.
Hitters that drive the ball and square the ball with wood will adjust and be fine. Gap hitters/doubles hitters who adjust will also be just fine.
Clearly the games will be impacted because the exit speeds will be so different.
If you go to the Cape, NECBL, CPL, Northwoods, etc., what you see is players who struggle with wood when the season begins. Pitchers can dominate.
By the middle of the season, good hitters adjust and their averages can sky rocket.
Hitters with long swings or who don't adjust still struggle.
Will BBCOR make great pitchers out of good ones? I just don't believe that.
Will BBCOR make poor to mediocre hitters out of good/great ones? I don't buy that either.
What some coaches reported is that hitters got better and better as Fall ball progressed. They were much better and more aggressive on day 45 of Fall ball than on day 1. By February, they should be that much better.
Are the days of the thin wall rebound off the fist HR's over. For sure.
Will the game be different? Yes.
Personally, I don't think it will be the game you saw in the Fall just like I don't believe it will be the game we all watched last Spring.
I, for one, am looking forward to it. I am not one buying all the stuff I read from some of the DI coaches who have contracts paying them from the bat companies.
(El Tea Gray-- re: Trinity Tiger pitching for 2011 season.)
Ralph, I totally agree with your comment on college pitching (can't have too much; I would not be a good judge about the blonde or money issues). The Tigers have 20 pitchers returning from the 2010 team; with the 9 or 10 they should pick up this fall, Trinity could suit-up almost 30 pitchers (they probably won't) for the 2011 season. IMHO with a staff like that the Tigers should be ok even with the presence of BBCOR bats; maybe even much better than expected.
:)
I agree the great hitters will adjust but most teams have 1/2 great hitters and then the rest. So power numbers will go down dramatically. Singles/line drive hitters will do well. Others will struggle and become better as they adjust but don't expect the double digit scores like the DIII Championship series produce. Look at the batter averages in the Cape Cod and other wood bat leagues to give a good indications of batting averages
BUT remember most of these players were the top players in their programs playing in wood bat summer leagues. How will the 6,7,8,9 slot guys hit in 2011 ?
http://paws.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats-new/NCAA-stats.html
CrashDavisD3, that's an interesting article about metal vs wood bats. Not really mentioned in the article is how the growth in popularity of college baseball might have changed the numbers as well. Think of what a minor sport college baseball was in the 1970's and compare it to the big time programs of today. Plus, we have bigger, stronger players in baseball today because of an increased emphasis on weight training. Also, one has to consider the rise of year round select youth teams, the changes in bonus money being giving to the top high school pitchers, and a lot of other factors when considering the fluctuation of batting averages and home runs over the last few decades.
All that being said, there's no doubt that the metal bats have changed the game tremendously and the change to BBCOR bats will also change the game quite a bit. When it comes to the question about pitching staffs, I actually think this change will be far more helpful to the teams with limited pitching staffs, not larger pitching staffs. It should mean that starters last more innings before hitting a high pitch count, maybe one or two less pitchers needed per game. And it also seems like this change will benefit the control pitchers far more than the power pitchers.
Personally, I think I'm glad they are making this change. Millsaps scored 15 or more runs in 11 games last year, including two 19-18 games. That's just too out of whack from what baseball should be. It's time to get back to a better balance between pitching and hitting.
With the season opening up in 10 days, does anyone have any scouting reports on SCAC teams or any feedback on how teams are adjusting to the new bats? Millsaps opens up play on the weekend of February 4-6 with a 4-team round robin including Rhodes, Berry College, and the U. of the Ozarks. League play gets started for the Majors the following weekend when they host Hendrix for 2 games.
Millsaps returns almost everyone in the field and the hitting should be very solid. They will have some big shoes to fill behind the plate after the graduation of Tyler Berry. My guess is that the key to the team will be the strength of the sophomore pitchers. A lot of freshmen pitchers showed great promise last year, now the question is how much of that promise will be converted into performance.
Don't look now, but the 2011 SCAC Baseball season has snuck up on us. Hendrix is scheduled to play the U. of the Ozarks tomorrow at 1:00.
I know it doesn't feel like baseball season and it is hard for those who write about the sports to get to baseball while in the heart of the basketball season. Those preseason writeups and rosters are probably coming this week for most teams. Hendrix already has their 2011 preview posted and here's a link:
http://www.hendrix.edu/athletics/news.aspx?id=50948&sid=22030
Hendrix falls to U. of the Ozarks 4-2 this afternoon. While one game doesn't mean much in the discussion about the new bats, this was definitely a game lacking in power.
Hendrix had 7 singles and a double. Their 27 outs broke down as 15 grounders, 5 K's, 1 caught stealing, and 6 flies to the outfield.
Despite the win, the U. of the Ozarks offense was more anemic: 4 singles and a double, 12 grounders, 8 K's, 2 fly outs, 1 caught stealing, and one other out that I couldn't find in the box score.
Trinity is the overwhelming pick to win the SCAC title this season:
http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/releases/2011baseballpoof.pdf
The SCAC started off with some low scoring games, Hendrix losing 4-2, Southwestern winning 3-2, and Rhodes losing 3-1. Those might not have been the first 3 games completed, but they were the first scores I saw posted.
Since then the scores have jumped: BSC beating Schreiner 13-10 and Trinity 10-9; Trinity beating Schreiner 10-9; and Concordia took a 10-2 win over SW to even that series. Does that mean the talk of a power dropoff with the new bats was much ado about nothing?
It's too early to tell, but a lot of runs doesn't always mean a lot of extra base hits. Trinity and BSC combined for 24 hits--20 singles, 3 doubles and a HR. Can you imagine just 4 extra base hits between these two last year? Of the 19 runs scored, 3 were earned. BSC committed 3 errors, Trinity booted the ball 7 times.
On the other hand, Trinity and Schreiner only combined for 17 hits, but that included 7 doubles, 2 triples and a HR. The majority of the hits were for extra bases. Maybe the connecting element between these two games is that this game had 7 errors and only 7 earned runs. While outstanding fielding has always been a key to success, it certainly looks like it will be even more important this year.
Millsaps and Rhodes play this morning at 11. It's possible that the game will be webcast. If so, it will be at this link: http://atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm
Millsaps starts off the season with two wins, scoring 4 in the bottom of the 11th to trump the 3-spot put up by Rhodes for a 12-11 victory. Then they followed that up with an 18-8 pounding of the U. of the Ozarks:
http://www.gomajors.com/news/2011/2/6/BB_0206114943.aspx
I haven't seen the box score for the games, but the Rhodes game was one where both teams made a considerable number of errors. My gut feeling is that the new bats will lead to more grounders and small ball, and that's going to lead to more errors than we've seen in the past.
Trinity popped BSC by a count of 10-2 yesterday. Ben Klimesh, who took a no-hitter into the sixth, allowed one earned run in seven innings and Michael Panozzo pitched two innings of shutout ball. Jonathan Hall went 4-4 with a home run and 4 RBI, Christian Muscarello had two doubles and a triple as the Tigers outhit the visitors 15-5.
Millsaps and Trinity open up the SCAC with wins over Hendrix and Austin respectively. The game at Millsaps was dominated by pitching as the Majors won by a scant 3-1 score. Aaron Williams went 7 for Millsaps, allowing one run, and Jason Riggins came in and pitched 2 scoreless innings for the save.
The Trinity game had a little more pop, with the homestanding Tigers getting an 8-4 victory. Elsewhere in the SCAC, OU and Rhodes are still looking for their first win after each fell by 10 runs today. OU gave up 17 hits in falling at Emory, and Rhodes had a nasty home opener, losing 18-8 to Huntingdon. The only other game on the slate is Maryville at Birmingham Southern, a game that has just gotten underway.
All of these teams matchup again tomorrow, with Rhodes and Huntingdon playing a DH and all the others playing a single game.
A better day for SCAC baseball as Rhodes and Oglethorpe pick up their first wins of the season. Rhodes topped Huntingdon 6-3 and Oglethorpe picked up a 7-5 victory over Emory. Don't have any score on the second Rhodes game or the game between BSC and Maryville.
Don't know how Trinity and Austin are doing--live stats aren't up for this game. Millsaps and Hendrix are tied 3-3 with Millsaps coming up with their 1-2-3 hitters coming up in the bottom of the 9th.
Millsaps and Hendrix going to extra innings at 3-3. Trinity leads Austin after 7 and I believe the score is 13-8.
They must be hitting the ball much better in San Antonio than in Jackson. There's hardly been a well hit ball in the Millsaps game.
Millsaps wins 4-3 when Kevin Wall scored from second on a bunt. It was a sacrifice to move the runner from 2nd to 3rd, but Kevin never stopped running and beat the throw home by the first baseman.
Don't know if anyone out there was listening (or if anyone is even on this board other than Ron), but I've had a terrible time with the Millsaps webcast so far. The video freezes most of the time. The audio is better, but it is constantly pausing for several seconds and then picking back up. I'm constantly having to refresh the page to get caught up to live action.
Anyone else having these problems? I greatly appreciate Millsaps and the announcers for providing this service, but I probably won't bother trying to listen to future games. And BTW, I have a new computer and the fastest DSL service offered by BellSouth. There have been no problems with receiving downloads to my computer, so I think the problem is with Millsaps sending out the webcast.
Pretty stiff breeze out of the south may have accounted for some of balls hit out of the park in SA today, Frank. Kyle Felix had a nice day with 7 RBI (3-4) including a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh after AC had tied things up in the top half of the inning.
Frank,
I watched most of the Millsaps/Hendrix games this weekend and I experienced very few interruptions in the broadcast.
Thanks Cubs Win--if others are getting the webcast okay then it must be something on my end.
I have the fastest DSL offered by BellSouth and I tried rebooting the modem, rebooting the computer, closing every other window, but still I never got more than 15 seconds of uninterrupted video and never more than about 30 seconds of uninterrupted audio. It has happened exactly the same on all three games that I've tried to watch.
I'll investigate more on my settings. My fear is that I'll have to go back to the ancient days of waiting for the story and box score to relive the game.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on February 13, 2011, 09:23:28 PM
Pretty stiff breeze out of the south may have accounted for some of balls hit out of the park in SA today, Frank. Kyle Felix had a nice day with 7 RBI (3-4) including a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh after AC had tied things up in the top half of the inning.
The wind helped, but TU had 17 hits, with 12 singles. SCAC baseball is up and running for the Western division.
Frank, are you using a wired, or wi-fi connection to you Bell South DSL? I have found that wi-fi can come and go when watching a webcast,,, a cat-5/6 connection is always the best bet.
Having seen 3 games so far, not really so sure the bats are going to play that big a role. Our game 1 saw 3 HR
only 1 in game 2 but a handful of DBL's in both 2 and 3.
OU hitting was non existant at best, in games 1 and 2, but came around a little in game 3 most positive about game 3 was the come back.
OU usually comes out of the gate fast and then hits a bit of a skid maybe the slower than usual start is a good thing for us.
I have seen a lot of movement of position players and am somewhat surprised by this, as it looked as though the defense was in pretty good shape and pretty easy to set up for this season.
As usual, pitching is going to be an issue and utilization of the talent could be a question mark. Some coaches make up there minds and are right to the bitter end win or lose.
at any rate good luck to all in the season and hopefully we will see you in Tennessee, BSC is still not eligable don't ya know?
Quote from: historymajor on February 14, 2011, 12:28:02 PM
Frank, are you using a wired, or wi-fi connection to you Bell South DSL? I have found that wi-fi can come and go when watching a webcast,,, a cat-5/6 connection is always the best bet.
I'm using a land line and never have problems with anything else like watching HD videos or other webcasts. Next game, which is Tuesday night against MS College, I'll fool with the settings on the ATW Sportscast website. There is a option for "Connection Speed" and my setting has been the recommended "Detect Connection Speed". I'll try picking my own connection speed or some of the other options and maybe I can find a way to fix the problem.
Trinity is knocking the ball over the field again today, up 13-3 at Mary Hardin Baylor in the top of the 8th. They have 17 hits with freshman, Nicholas Iacovello having 4 and Senior Kyle Felix standing at 2-5 with another HR, and 4 other starters also having 2 hits apiece.
Klimesh has given up 6 hits and struck out 9, through 7 full.
Trinity is certainly living up to that preseason #1 ranking in the SCAC. It's good for every team in the conference when an SCAC team wins a non-conference game, so go Tigers and 'Roos and Petrels and Pirates and Panthers. And of course, go Majors as they take on MS College this evening. The video link for the 6 o'clock Millsaps game is: http://atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm
Also congratulations to Aaron Williams of Millsaps on winning this week's pitching award and Jonathan Hall of Trinity for winning the offense award. It's not surprising that Millsaps and Trinity also shared the awards in the first week with Will Hawkins and Ben Klimesh taking the honors.
Tuesday in the SCAC--a very good day:
BSC beat LaGrange 10-0 this afternoon
OU is up 4-0 over Piedmont with OU still batting in the bottom of the 2nd
Austin fell 5-4 to Arlington Baptist--if that's an NAIA team then it doesn't factor in for the NCAA D3 ratings.
Southwestern is beating Howard Payne 12-0 going into the top of the 7th.
Trinity wins over Mary Hardin Baylor 16-5.
any Millsaps updates?
Arlington Baptist College is a member of the Association of Christian College Athletics. (ACCA)
Millsaps wins this Tuesday evening 8-7 over MS College. That moves the Majors to 5-0 in a start where they are finding a way to win rather than dominating their opponents. While a stretch like this won't last for an entire season, it is something that keeps the potential for a great season alive.
Millsaps story: http://www.gomajors.com/news/2011/2/15/BB_0215111953.aspx
Here's the MS College link to the story and box score: http://www.gochoctaws.com/news/2011/2/15/BB_0215112902.aspx
With 14 hits and 11 walks, MS College got 25 runners on base and 18 were stranded over the 9 innings. Millsaps did a far more effecient job of scoring runs with their 9 hits, 5 walks and 3 hbp (Jules Roussel picked up all of these--he has now been hit 7 times in 5 games).
Millsaps started the game with a freshman making his first college appearance and they used 7 pitchers. Not necessarily a pitch by committee approach, but I do think they were trying to get some pitchers a little action prior to the 3 game series at Southwestern this weekend.
At 5-0, Millsaps is off to a great start, but they will probably have to pick it up a little this weekend in order to take 2 out of 3 at Georgetown or to have any hopes of picking up a sweep. With the veteran team that they have, I think they'll have a good shot at doing well on the road this season.
I think it bodes very well for the Majors season as they are winning with little offensive production. They will hit the ball, but it is great to know you can win when the Offense isn't clicking.
I wonder what Millsap's record is in one run games the past few years. It has to be outstanding.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on February 16, 2011, 10:56:30 AM
I think it bodes very well for the Majors season as they are winning with little offensive production. They will hit the ball, but it is great to know you can win when the Offense isn't clicking.
I wonder what Millsap's record is in one run games the past few years. It has to be outstanding.
found it, since 2007, they are 20-13 in 1 run games. i would have thought it was much higher, they just find ways to win
Was curious what the weather would be like in Georgetown, TX this weekend--it looks like the Majors will get to play in some decently warm weather, something of a rarity compared to the last month of practice and games.
Yahoo's weather reports often have some oddities to them. The current Georgetown report at this link ( http://weather.yahoo.com/united-states/texas/georgetown-2409678/ ) says that Friday night and Saturday morning will have "Areas of fog with some patchy freezing drizzle late. Low 58F". Can you have freezing drizzle when it is almost 60 degrees? That's freaky weather.
Freezing drizzle or not, when the teams hit the field there will be a lot of seniors in each dugout and both teams will have high hopes of getting into the NCAA Tournament. Southwestern's pitching staff in particular is an area full of senior talent: http://southwesternpirates.com/sports/m-basebl/2010-11/releases/20110126tf9kvi
With Millsaps, this will be the first 3 game weekend so it will be interesting to see who comes out as the third starter. Last year as a freshman, Wes Perkins won the pitcher-of-the-week after holding Southwestern to 1 run in 6 innings for a victory. I wonder if the Majors will use Wes on the mound this year now that he has taken over as the starting catcher. If not Wes, then maybe last year's hitting surprise Jason Riggins will become this year's pitching surprise--he has only given up 1 earned run in 10 innings this season. It will be an interesting weekend for the Majors and clearly an important weekend regarding the SCAC West race--but aren't all weekends important when it comes to that highly competitive division?
Frank, do you have any Idea what is happening with the Millsaps Video for this coming weekend games. Missed MC game on video down here on the Bayou. How will this weekend be telecast? As for as Wes Perkins behind the plate that is his normal position coming out of Dutchtown High in La. It is always good for a coach to have a extra pitcher available if he is needed when the time comes. Wes has always been able to go back and forth as needed. But from what I have seen so for at the games I have been able to attend there have been a lot of young pitchers stepping up and doing a good job along with the junior and senior Pitchers allowing Wes to get back in the groove behind the plate. Riggins has been outstanding on the hill along with many others.
I knew that Wes was a catcher coming out of high school and that his stints at 3rd base and 1st last year were due to the presence of Tyler Berry behind the plate and the need to include Wes' bat in the lineup. If possible, I suspect the coaches would prefer to keep Wes as a catcher only.
On this weekend, I believe Southwestern does do a webcast of the games but it is a paid subscription deal. If memory serves me right, a person can sign up for something like 1 month for about $10. While free is better, I guess $3-4 per game beats the cost of driving to Georgetown and paying for gas, good and hotel bills. I do believe that live stats are also available for free.
Maybe you know the status of Blake Boleware this season--I hope that is spelled correctly. He looks like he could be or will be a tremendous pitcher for Millsaps, but he hasn't pitched yet this season. Is that an injury and if so, any word on when he'll be back in action? He and Elliot look like they could be a great duo for the next 3 years.
A slugfest in Alpine as Trinity takes the first of three from Sul Ross, 16-10. Kyle Felix was 5-5 with 2 HR, Kevin Calbick 5-7. Thanks to @fastbatbb for the tweet with info.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on February 18, 2011, 11:39:35 PM
A slugfest in Alpine as Trinity takes the first of three from Sul Ross, 16-10. Kyle Felix was 5-5 with 2 HR, Kevin Calbick 5-7. Thanks to @fastbatbb for the tweet with info.
Was the wind blowing out at Kokernot?
Quote from: Ralph Turner on February 19, 2011, 12:05:54 AM
Was the wind blowing out at Kokernot?
I dunno, Ralph, but with 34 hits including 10 doubles (7 TU), a triple (SR), and 4 HR (all TU) - something was going on. TU starter Ryan Lucero gave up 4 runs in 1 1/3rd (4 hits, 4 walks)and had to be relieved by Noah Solomon, who picked up the W by allowing 4 in 5 2/3rds. On the other hand, Sul Ross' starter, Fry, took the loss after allowing 4 runs in only 2/3rds of an inning.
The bright side for Trinity (other than rapping out 19 hits) was that they didn't have any errors for the first time all season.
What a disappointment that Southwestern isn't proving live stats on the baseball games this afternoon. I spent the morning taking photos at a 2-year old's birthday party, then at noon I spent time at the funeral of the first cousin in my generation to pass away. A tiring and somber day that had me looking forward to checking in on the Majors.
Maybe they will try to do the live stats for the second game.
All tied up at 3-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh here in Sherman between AC and Hendrix. Hendrix led 3-0 heading into the sixth but AC had a two out rally to tie things up. Both starters are still in the game (Smoyer and Steed).
Extras here in Sherman. Heading into the top of the ninth, still square at 3-3 and both starters are still in the game.
Hendrix has played well this season without having anything to show for it in the "W" column. Their 0-4 record has been with final scores of 4-2, 6-2, 3-1, and 4-3 in 11 innings. The pitching just hasn't gotten any run support.
I see that this game is now going to the top of the 9th with Hendrix and Austin still tied up at 3-3.
HX gets five runs in the top of the tenth to clinch their first win of the year, 8-3!
A much calmer day in Alpine where Mike Panozzo pitches a complete game shutout in a 3-0 victory over Sul Ross. Kyle Felix gets his third HR in two days, a two run shot. Thanks again to @fastbatbb for the tweet with the results.
Live stats is working for the second game of Millsaps at Southwestern. Millsaps is up 2-1 with SW coming to bat in the bottom of the 3rd. No results have been posted for the first game.
Live stats: http://www.southwestern.edu/athletics/stats/xlive.htm
Things are beginning to look a little familiar in Sherman...
Hendrix led 3-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, and the 'Roos have now plated one following a Warriors error (same as in game one). No outs, two runners on and in scoring position in a 3-1 game...
The live stats appear to be down at Southwestern as it has shown a 2-1 score in the middle of the third for at least 45 minutes.
According to the schedule and results page at Southwestern, Millsaps won the first game 13-3 and Southwestern is leading the second game 4-2 in the bottom of the 6th. The link to that page is: http://southwesternpirates.com/sports/m-basebl/2010-11/Schedule
Current results for today:
Sewanee 1 LaGrange 11 Final
DePauw 6 Maryville (Tenn.) 0 Final
Urbana Centre 2:00 PM Video
Sewanee 6 LaGrange 10 Final
Millsaps 13 Southwestern (Tex.) 3 Final
Hendrix 8 Austin 3 Final - 10 innings
Mississippi Col. 11 Rhodes 1 Final
DePauw 0 Maryville (Tenn.) 3 Final
Lynchburg Birmingham Southern 2:00 PM
@ Demorest, GA
Trinity (Tex.) 3 Sul Ross St. 0
Urbana Centre 5:00 PM Video
Hendrix 3 Austin 0 Bot 6 Live stats
Millsaps 2 Southwestern (Tex.) 4 Bottom 6
Heading into the top of the seventh and Hendrix leads 3-2. Austin College got their third out with runners on second and third in the sixth.
AC's starter (Burke) is still in, but Hendrix is on their fourth pitcher.
Millsaps has tied the score at 4-4 and it is now the bottom of the 8th.
You know, as annoying as it is that there are no live stats or free webcasts of this game, isn't it amazing that we can follow these games so often in real time. I read a post a year or two ago about what a change the internet has brought to D3 sports. The writer, a former D3 baseball player, wrote about discovering 2-3 months after the fact that his former team had won the national championship. This was at a time when there was no internet, therefore no websites or emails, and he found out about the championship when the quarterly alumni magazine came out.
My how times have changed.
Millsaps has taken a 5-4 lead with the game now going to the bottom of the 10th.
Millsaps sweeps the DH with a 5-4 win in 10 innings. Winning a road series is always good in the SCAC--if Millsaps is able to get the sweep tomorrow that would be a very nice plus.
Boxscores from Millsaps vs Southwestern games:
Game 1: http://southwesternpirates.com/sports/m-basebl/2010-11/files/0219subb.htm
Jeremy Aliff, Jules Roussel, Will Hawkins, and Jake Mills with homers. Aliff, Mills and Kevin Walls each had 3 rbi. Aaron Williams got the complete game victory.
Game 2: http://southwesternpirates.com/sports/m-basebl/2010-11/files/0219bb2.htm
Jules Roussel, Jake Mills and Ryan Zemke each with 3 hits. Box score says Varney got the win but the winning pitcher was Jason Riggins who pitched 5.1 scoreless innings to finish out the game.
Finally decided to pay for a month subscription to CTVT so I could get the video of the Millsaps at Southwestern game. Made the move because the live stats are once again down at Southwestern.
The video feed is just video. There is audio--two guys muttering in the press box, but they are just carrying on a conversation. Since there is a mic that works in the pressbox, would it be so hard to have someone at least announce the score at the end of each half inning? As a Millsaps fan, it's only going to be annoying to me for this one game, but if I was a Southwestern fan I'd be real disappointed by Southwestern failing to provide something so simple.
I can tell that Jake Mills is pitching for the Majors and I've seen each team score once. Beyond that, paying for the video has been wasted money.
Update from Georgetown--I have absolutely no idea of the score. Seems fairly low scoring. I've seen Millsaps score once again, but I haven't been watching non-stop so there's no way to know if anyone else has scored. I've been hoping that the stadium announcer would give a score, but so far no such luck.
Someone from Southwestern just hit a home run--don't know the name of the player.
Sul Ross video (http://atwsport-atw11.wm.llnwd.net/atwsport_atw11) has a Word doc up (really) that says it's Trinity 10, Sul Ross 7, bottom of the fifth. SR just loaded the bases and TU is making a pitching change - Matthew Tyndall, a 6'3" frosh.
Edit: Tyndall must have gotten out of the jam because the Word doc now says top of the sixth, same score.
Edit 2: Now 17-7 TU in the top of the eighth.
Will Hawkins just drove in 3 runs with a double and then scored from 2nd on an infield out. Those 4 runs have led to a pitching change. I think Millsaps is ahead but don't know for sure--at this point I would love for Southwestern to post a word document with some information.
The scoreboard at Southwestern is unreadable in the webcast--no surprise there, but I can tell that it is now going to the bottom of the 9th. Is Millsaps ahead or is the game tied. No way to know. Based on the way the last couple of innings have been played, I believe the game is tied. At most, Millsaps would be up by 1.
With the game tied and two outs in the bottom of the 9th, a throwing error, wild pitch and single gives Southwestern the run they need for the victory.
Disappointing that Millsaps scored 4 runs in the top of the 6th or 7th and then gave up about 4 runs in the bottom of the inning, and then allowing an unearned run when one out away from extra innings. This was a good opportunity for a sweep.
Final in Alpine: Trinity 19, Sul Ross 8 as the Lobos get a run with two out in the 9th. Tyndall pitched the final 3 1/3rd innings for Trinity, who pounded out 20 hits today. Ben Klimesh improves to 3-0 on the young season.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on February 20, 2011, 05:05:11 PM
Final in Alpine: Trinity 19, Sul Ross 8 as the Lobos get a run with two out in the 9th. Tyndall pitched the final 3 1/3rd innings for Trinity, who pounded out 20 hits today. Ben Klimesh improves to 3-0 on the young season.
will be interesting to see what happens. Klimesh couldn't get out of the 5th. Left with the bases loaded. I wonder if they will award Tindall with the win?
I've been looking at the Millsaps schedule and they are facing a very stern test this weekend. They have 4 games in less than 48 hours, playing Piedmont twice and Adrian (Michigan) twice--and the scheduling of the games certainly isn't in the favor of the Majors.
My guess is that the team will travel the 460 miles to Piedmont on Friday, getting there in time for a 7:00 start. On Saturday they play Adrian at 2:00 followed by Piedmont at 6:00, and then they finish up with Adrian at noon on Sunday.
Piedmont doesn't play Adrian until Sunday evening and Monday, so Millsaps will probably see the two senior pitchers who are on Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's 2011 "Players to Watch List". Adrian has 5 players on that list ( http://www.adrianbulldogs.com/sports/m-basebl/2010-11/releases/players_to_watch_2011 ). As for the Piedmont games, they come after a long bus ride and against a more rested team on Saturday. It's going to be a very good test for Millsaps.
Personally, I'd be glad with a 2-2 weekend as long as the wins are against Piedmont. It's those South Region games that are the key and I suspect that Millsaps will go all out to win those games even if it means a pitch by committee against Adrian. Actually, a couple of pitch by committee games this early in the season might be a very good thing, especially against a team from outside of the South.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on February 21, 2011, 08:14:28 PM
will be interesting to see what happens. Klimesh couldn't get out of the 5th. Left with the bases loaded. I wonder if they will award Tindall with the win?
Right you are, tigerfan. Klimesh couldn't get the W because he didn't go five. The box (http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/stats/bb09.htm) has Tindall with the W.
Edited to fix the quote issues.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on February 21, 2011, 11:04:27 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on February 21, 2011, 08:14:28 PM
Quote from: Ron B
/quote]will be interesting to see what happens. Klimesh couldn't get out of the 5th. Left with the bases loaded. I wonder if they will award Tindall with the win?
Right you are, tigerfan. Klimesh couldn't get the W because he didn't go five. The box (http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/stats/bb09.htm) has Tindall with the W.
maybe the will decdie that Klimesh should have gotten the win, because he could have kept pitching. who knows.....interesting to read Tindalls box score. he seemed to have pitched the best of any of the trinity pitchers.
Hendrix comes to town this weekend, which seems to always be a test for Trinity.
Austin College finally managed to break through for a win in the first game of their doubleheader against Bates today by a 9-7 margin. The 'Roos scored 5 in the first and led 9-5 but three errors in the 6th enabled to cut it to a two run game, and Bates loaded the bases with only one out in the top of the 7th. However, Andy White made a great stop at short and Scooter Merritt made a nice turn at second to get the game saving (and game ending) double play.
Second game is coming up.
I'm going to take in the second game of the DH between Trinity and Hendrix tomorrow afternoon. Should be a beautiful day for a ballgame in SA!
Should be an interesting series. Hendrix has pitched well to start the season and only given up 23 runs in 7 games. Trinity is slugging the ball like they are still using last year's bats. Personally, I think the odds are 50-50 or better that Trinity will win all three, but as was mentioned in an earlier post, Hendrix seems to save their best for Trinity.
For Hendrix to be a thorn in the paw of the Tigers this weekend, I believe they are going to have to find a way to score 6 or more runs in a game. In the 7 games this season, Hendrix has only scored more than 4 runs on one occasion. In the other 6 games they have only plated 15 runs total. With Trinity having scored 15 runs or more in 4 of their last 5 games, maybe I should change the odds of a Trinity sweep to something like 75% or better.
As if playing 4 games in less than 48 hours wasn't tough enough on a pitching staff, Millsaps started off the weekend with a 14 inning game this evening. To add insult to injury, they lost to Piedmont 2-1. There's no box score or story posted, so that's all I know this evening.
Millsaps has posted a story and box score for yesterday's game (see links below). I wrote earlier that it was a 14 inning game and actually it was an unlucky 13 innings.
It surprised me that freshman Brandon Robinson got the start in the South Region game--I thought those starts would go to Williams and Varney. Robinson pitched well, giving up only 2 hits in 3.2 innings, but walked 4 straight with 2 outs in the 4th to give Piedmont their only run in regulation. Jason Riggins then dropped his ERA from miniscule to microscopic, pitching 6.1 scoreless innings (ERA is now 0.42 after 21.2 innings). Will Elmore pitched well but took the loss in giving up the 1 run in 2.1 innings.
At this point in time, Hawkins and Roussel continue to hit the ball well, getting 3 hits each last night for over half of the Millsaps hits, but the remainer of the team is off to a fairly slow start with the new bats. I'm sure that will change and hopefully it will change in a hurry. Maybe people think I'm obsessed with keeping hopes alive for an at-large berth, but I've seen how hard it is for a team to win the SCAC Tournament so keeping at-large hopes alive is important right from the start.
Right now the Majors have what amounts to 4 regional losses (when you include the 2 that would occur in the SCAC Tournament for all teams needing an at-large berth). While the games with Adrian College today and tomorrow are important, the Majors really need to win the 6 o'clock game with Piedmont this evening.
Box score: http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/11Baseball/mcb11-09.htm
Story: http://www.gomajors.com/news/2011/2/25/BB_0225111431.aspx
For anyone who is interested, the season preview for the Adrian College team that Millsaps will be playing today and tomorrow. Sounds like they are excited about having a big year in 2011:
http://www.adrianbulldogs.com/sports/m-basebl/2010-11/releases/2011022563z6r5
Austin College and Southwestern are underway in Sherman, playing one game today and one tomorrow. Top of the first, two outs, two on for Southwestern.
livestats.austincollege.edu (http://livestats.austincollege.edu)
Bit of a delay here in Sherman. Southwestern had to replace Brantley early due to what appeared to be some shoulder soreness, and the Pirates new pitching has been warming up for 10-15 minutes now.
There's been some real solid defense played by both the 'Roos and the Pirates so far. Andy White just made a terrific stop deep in the hole and gunned the runner at first.
Gotta love a pitcher's duel!
EDIT: And of course as soon as I post that, there's an error to keep the top of the fourth going.
Final from Sherman: Austin College 4, Southwestern 3
Southwestern led 3-0 heading into the bottom of the 7th, but Austin College plated four runs in that inning to earn the comeback win.
Millsaps wins 5-3 against Adrian College. With Adrian being a 2010 NCAA Tournament team and one with high hopes for this season, that's a good win. It's not in region, but it will help if Adrian is ranked in their region at the end of the year.
No detail about the game--I saw the score on the Adrian website. Millsaps should be playing Piedmont starting in just a few minutes. No webcast or live stats are available.
Trinity sweeps a DH from Hendrix today. We weren't there for the first game, which Trinity won 10-2 in seven innings. Ben Klimesh improved to 4-0 and allowed only four hits and one earned run in pitching a complete game. Nick Pappas went 3-4 with 4 RBI, Kyle Felix had three doubles in as many at bats as the Tigers had 15 hits overall. Teddy Smoyer (0-2) absorbed the loss after allowing seven runs and 11 hits in five innings.
The second game could have been a much closer affair than the final 8-5 score had not the Warriors committed a couple of baserunning errors. Trinity starter Ryan Lucero (2-1) allowed 11 hits in 5 1/3rd innings, but picked off a leadoff Hendrix runner off second in the 2nd inning. Kyle Felix picked a runner off first base to end the fifth - and with a runner at second, there was no real reason for the Hendrix player to be so far off first. Noah Soloman replaced Lucero in the sixth and went the rest of the way, allowing only two hits and no earned runs to pick up his first save of the season. Hendrix actually outhit Trinity 13-11, but Trinity got a five spot in the bottom of the third, keyed by a bases-loaded double from Jonathan Hall which scored three runs. Nick Pappas hit a solo shot in the fourth, his third of the season. Hendrix starter Nick Richardson (1-1) picked up the loss, allowing seven earned runs in 4 2/3rds.
Trinity does continue to commit errors; one in the first led to one of Hendrix' two runs, and three errors in the second resulted to two more runs.
Millsaps loses to Piedmont 8-2 Saturday evening. In a nutshell, Piedmont pitchers dominated Millsaps hitters this weekend.
Box score: http://www.piedmontlions.com/custompages/baseball/2011_stats/pcm11.htm
Piedmont story: http://www.piedmontlions.com/news/2011/2/26/02_26_11_base.aspx?path=baseball
Despite being outhit 14-5, Trinity pulls a rabbit out of their hat with a comeback victory against Hendrix. Trailing 7-4 going into the bottom of the 7th, the Tigers score three in the bottom of the inning, holds Hendrix scoreless the rest of the way, and wins the day with a sac fly in the bottom of the ninth. Today it was Hendrix who couldn't hold onto the ball, with four errors contributing towards three unearned Tiger runs (including two errors and two unearned in the bottom of the seventh after two outs had been recorded).
Michael Bentz retired the only Warrior batter he faced in the top of the ninth and was awarded the win, his first decision of the season. Gabe Levin (0-1) walked the first Tiger batter in the ninth and was charged with the loss.
My hat is off (now that I'm away from the bright sunshine) to Trinity for the sweep this weekend. The Tigers have a seriously good team that can rake the ball. They were locked in Saturday. Kyle Felix is the real deal with a bat in his hand.
The Warriors played well enough to give me lots of hope that we will grab back the broom in Conway a month from now. Our freshmen are settling in and contributing on the mound, in the field and at the plate. And our fielding will be better, especially since we don't have to dig the ball out of the snow anymore.
The Trinity-Millsaps series in a couple weeks should be fun, but I wont be surprised if each of them has a tough time this weekend. <insert cliche here>
I was impressed to see Trinity win the game on Sunday. They dont win many that way. If anything, they are usually on the Hendrix side of that game. IF TU finds ways to win games without pounding the baseball, like they did on Sunday, they could be special.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 01, 2011, 09:48:13 AM
I was impressed to see Trinity win the game on Sunday. They dont win many that way. If anything, they are usually on the Hendrix side of that game. IF TU finds ways to win games without pounding the baseball, like they did on Sunday, they could be special.
Trinity wins another "real" college baseball game 7-4 last night. TU got a good start from Michael Bentz, going 6 and giving up 2 runs. The bats came alive in the 7th, scoring 4 runs and another in the 8th. Klimesh came on in relief to pitch the last 2.2, getting the win. He struck out 7, the other out was recorded when Kyle Felix threw a runner out to end an inning. TU needs innings on the mound by guys like Bentz if they want to do something in the conference tournament......
... and they need to cut back on the mistakes. UMHB did most of their damage in the top of the seventh (when Bentz was chased) thanks to two wild pitches, a fielding error, and a throwing error on a pickoff attempt.
Once again, though, TU was able to do some damage with two outs; this time, three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Hopefully that trend continues. :)
Trinity wins a pair from an overmatched NCCAA Dallas Christian squad, 5-2 and (in 7) 15-2.
In the opener, Ryan Lucero went deep into the eighth inning, allowing 1 earned run and 7 hits in 7 2/3 to improve to 3-1. Matthew Tyndall relived Lucero, walked the first two batters he faced (forcing in the run charged against Lucero) before retiring the last four batters he faced. The Trinity bats were quiet in the first game - Kyle Felix was 2 for 4 with a double and drove in two runs, as the Tigers could only muster seven hits.
The second game was a different story as TU erupted for 15 runs on 11 hits. Nick Pappas hit his fourth home run of the year and drove in three runs; Dominick Robusto was 2-of-2 and drove in four. Noah Solomon went five innings to move to 2-0, allowing two hits, one earned run and striking out six. Josh Fink struck out four in his two innings and allowed only one single before striking out the side in the seventh. The 13th straight win moves the Tigers to 14-1.
Trinity will make the short drive to Georgetown for two single games at Southwestern, 2pm Saturday and 1pm Sunday. Panozzo and Klimesh should be the starters for those two games.
The Austin vs Millsaps DH had already be switched to a single game this evening at 6 and a DH tomorrow because of rain in Jackson. At just past noon it started raining fairly hard and there's really not much relief in sight. It's going to be very hard to get all 3 games played this weekend.
After 6, Trinity 4, Southwestern 3. Both starters still in with only 8 total hits on a very windy day.
SU gets the win, 6-4, as Matt Stuart goes the distance, scattering 4 hits in his first start.
Austin and Millsaps have cancelled any plans to play today. Are now scheduled to play a DH starting at 11 on Sunday.
Going to be interesting to see how Trinity's pitching unfolds tomorrow ... nearly everyone who didn't pitch yesterday saw some time on the mound, including presumptive Sunday starter Ben Klimesh, who threw maybe 12 pitches and gave up two hits to the three batters he faced.
Southwestern's Matt Stuart had appeared in three games earlier this season, throwing a total of 11 innings. He did a fine job today, holding the top half of the Trinity order to a single hit while striking out six and walking four. Trinity pitching issued what must be a season-high 9 walks. Four of the Pirates' six runs came with two outs.
It's cold and windy in Jackson, but the rain seems to be gone and the overcast sky is suppose to turn sunny later in the day. Austin and Millsaps are scheduled to play a DH starting at 11 this morning. My guess is that the games will be webcast, but at this point it is probably safe to say that nothing is a certainty.
Millsaps athletic website (the baseball cancelled story is currently referring to the Saturday game and not the Sunday games): http://www.gomajors.com/index.aspx
Link for webcast (if they have one): http://atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm
Millsaps wins first game 2-1 vs Austin. Both pitchers went the complete 7-inning game with Aaron Williams taking the win. I don't have a box score, but I believe Austin had 7 hits and Millsaps 4 in a game that featured very few hard hit balls. Will Hawkins had 2 of the Millsaps hits and scored both runs.
The webcasters were talking about Will during the game. They said several players told them that Will would have 7 or 8 HRs already if he was using last year's bats (he has 2 so far in 2011). I'm trying to think of a rule change in any sport that has had such an immediate impact and can't come up with anything.
Second game should start around 1:30.
Oglethorpe and Sewanee had their entire series rained out this weekend which was supposed to be held at Sewanee. Not sure if there is a makeup planned. But, I think this is twice now in three years OU has lost a complete series due to weather.
I wonder how many games have been lost at Sewanee over the years. I remember the SCAC title game between Millsaps/Trinity was cancelled a few years back also. Maybe time to think about playing games off campus and not on the mountain??
Anyway, this is probably a tough break for OU if they can't make these up. I haven't posted much about them this year, yet...but I think they are a team a bit snake bitten early this year. They have not put everything together but They have played some good baseball against some good teams but only few wins to show for it.
A different story in Georgetown today as Trinity gets back on track with 13 hits in a 10-5 win. It was a pitcher's duel early with SU's (and SCAC POTW) Chris Churchwell having the early edge thanks to a Cray Betts solo shot to left in the second and another run in the third. Trinity got one back in the six, but the seventh inning was the key. Churchwell was let down by Pirate fielding, as two consecutive errors led to two unearned Tiger runs, and he was pulled after the next batter, Kyle Felix, plated a third run with a base hit. Nick Pappas and Chris Muscarello each knocked a run to give Trinity a 6-2 lead. The Tigers would add two more runs in each of the eighth and ninth innings. SU scored three times in the bottom of the ninth against Matthew Tyndall, but it was too little, too late.
Ben Klimesh (6-0) earned the win with seven innings of five-hit ball (and two runs) before giving way to Tyndall in the eighth. Churchwell (2-1) picked up the loss despite only allowing two earned runs in his six innings.
Millsaps gets the DH sweep with a 9-3 win in the second game. Jason Riggins got the start and the win with Will Elmore pitching shutout ball over the last 2 innings of the games. The scoreboard showed Millsaps with 11 hits and no errors, Austin with 7 hits and 2 errors.
My guess is that the series in Austin will now be switched to a 3-game series in order to make up the game that was rained out this weekend.
Story and box scores are now up for the Millsaps games. Will Hawkins went 4 for 7 on the day with 3 runs scored, 2 rbi, and 6 stolen bases. Aaron Williams and Jason Riggins gave Millsaps two outstanding performances on the mound:
Story: http://www.gomajors.com/news/2011/3/6/BB_0306115118.aspx
Game 1 box score: http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/11Baseball/mcb11-14.htm
Game 2 box score: http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/11Baseball/mcb11-15.htm
Hendrix has a chance this week to strike a blow for the SCAC against top-ten, undefeated Texas-Tyler. They'll play single games in Conway tonight at 6PM Central (Monday) and tomorrow at 5. Live stats (and pricey video): http://livestats.prestosports.com/hendrix/
Actually, I also thought the video was pricy when Millsaps went to Southwestern to play, but the $9.99 for one month isn't bad because it includes all the teams that use CTVT for their webcasts. For example, this week you can watch baseball games at Hendrix, Centre, Rhodes and Southwestern. Austin College also was using this service for basketball so maybe they are webcasting their baseball as well.
One problem is that some schools provide video with no audio except for what you might pickup from the PA announcer or people talking in the press box. Southwestern has no announcer, and I think that's the case with Centre as well. Don't know if they use announcers at Rhodes or Hendrix.
Word out of Petrel camp is they will play Sewanee in a DH on Tuesday March 22nd at Oglethorpe starting at 5pm. Two things 1) The games are now in Atlanta, which assuming is becasue of the lights 2) They will be mid-week before both teams play SCAC games 4 days later....
The Petrels will host Hampden-Sydney tomorrow at Coolray Field, home of the AAA Braves. The field is the exact dimensions as Turner field, which is a big park for MLB standards, let alone college. Should be a good experience for the teams.
Hendrix up early on UT-T, 4-2 after three.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on March 07, 2011, 08:04:46 PM
Hendrix up early on UT-T, 4-2 after three.
UT-Tyler wins 7-6.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 07, 2011, 06:06:29 PM
Austin College also was using this service for basketball so maybe they are webcasting their baseball as well.
Frank - just an FYI, for right now Austin College is only live streaming football and basketball. Baseball might get added later on down the road, but for now it's just live stats.
Trinity improves to 16-2 with an easy 12-4 win over DeSales University (3-2). The Tigers scored in each of the first six innings. Ryan Lucero struck out seven, allowed four hits and no earned runs in 5 2/3rds to secure his fourth win. Jonathan Hall was 2-2 with a triple and also drew two walks. The teams play another game tomorrow.
Petrels walk-off Bates College 10-9. It was more like Maine weather than Atlanta weather, but the southern team pulled it out with 3 runs in the 9th. Brendan Pilger is starting to heat up and getting back to the player he was last season before he broke his hand. Good win versus a very good Bates team.
Not the prettiest game but Trinity (17-2) gets past DeSales (3-3) 8-4 last night. Continuing a recent trend, the Tigers erupted for 7 runs early but then the bats went silent pretty much the rest of the way asKyle Felix' 2-run shot in the top of the second, his sixth HR, was Trinity's last hit until Kevin Jackson's RBI single with two out in the top of the eighth. DeSales pitchers notched ten strikeouts on the evening as DeSales outslugged Trinity 10-7.
Michael Panozzo (4-0) got the win, allowing 3 runs in 5-1/3. Noah Soloman pitched two innings, allowing one hit and getting out of a one out, bases loaded mess he inherited in the top of the sixth. Joshua Fink pitched 1-2/3 and got his first save.
Big series coming up in SA this weekend as the ever-dangerous gentlemen from Millsaps come to town for single games Saturday and Sunday.
Millsaps 2, Trinity 1 mid 8. Majors lead despite only 2 hits. TU w runners @ 1st .and 3rd and no outs.
2-2 after 8. Majors 6-7-8 up in 9th.
Majors manufacture 2 runs on 1 hit to take 4-2 lead.
2 run shot by Felix ties it. To the tenth.
Hawkins solo shot gives Majors 5-4 lead. Majors now up 7-4, no outs.
8-4 as the bottom of the order continues to pound it.
Millsaps puts 8 on the board in the top of the tenth and get a big win, 12-4. What a waste of a great outing by Ben Klimesh, who only gave up 2 hits and struck out 12 in 7 1/3. Klimesh was charged with two runs. Aaron Williams had a good outing for the Majors, allowing 7 hits and striking out seven himself in giving up only two runs, but Trinity could not get that key hit and stranded gobs of runners early.
A clutch pitching performance by two of the best SCAC pitchers. Clutch hitting by two of the best SCAC hitters. And a game that where the outcome really came down to one play here or there despite the deceptive 12-4 score.
Coming into this game, Millsaps was definitely the team that needed a win the most. At 17-2 prior to today, Trinity was rolling in every phase of the game and certainly deserved their high ranking. With an 11-5 record after starting out 7-0, Millsaps came into this game reeling just a bit and an 0-2 weekend in San Antonio would have been a difficult blow.
Tomorrow's game will be interesting with the two aces on the sideline. Lucero started last Wednesday's game for Trinity and I would expect him to start tomorrow. Millsaps seems likely to go with Elliot Varney or possibly Brandon Robinson. Outside of Klimesh and Williams, I suspect this is a game where everyone is available and we might see quite a string of pitchers if both teams get the bats going.
Saturday was a fairly decent day for the SCAC with a 4-2 record against outside competition:
---DePauw won 10-3 against Manchester and later in the day took a 9-1 win over Alma.
---Centre silenced the Hanover bats with wins of 5-0 and 4-1.
---Rhodes fell 3-2 in a neutral site game with Heidelberg (game was in Port Charlotte, FL)
---Sewanee also lost at a neutral site, falling 7-3 to Drew (game played in Lakeland, FL)
In league play we know that Millsaps got the win over Trinity. The only other league action was a split between visiting Southwestern and Hendrix. Hendrix took the opener 5-4 and Southwestern even the series with a 10-8 win in the second game.
While the SCAC East hasn't started league play yet, the SCAC West is starting to separate a little as we near the midway mark. Millsaps holds a slight lead over Trinity with a 7-1 mark vs 6-2. Southwestern is a half game up on Hendrix at 4-5 compared to 4-6. Austin, a team that looked pretty good to me against Millsaps, is struggling right now with a 1-8 record in the conference.
There are 7 games on tap for today and you can find all the links and info at the link below. DePauw already has their work cut out for them as they have fallen behind 9-0 with Manchester still batting in the top of the 2nd. Here's that link:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/schedule
Totally different picture in San Antonio today as Trinity gets an easy 10-0 win in seven. Noah Soloman (3-0) goes the entire way for the Tigers, allowing three hits and striking out nine. Nick Pappas was 2-for-2 with a double, a triple, scored twice and knocked in two. Will Hawkins had two hits and two stolen bases for the Majors. Elliot Varney (1-2) started for Millsaps and picked up the loss, allowing three runs in 2 and 1/3 innings.
Considering how well Trinity is playing and how poorly Millsaps has been hitting, a split in San Antonio was a very good result for Millsaps.
Millsaps has two games with Illinois Wesleyan this week plus they host their Spring Break baseball camp. Maybe being around all the kids and having fun with the camp will be the key to some of the guys relaxing at the plate. There's still a lot of the season left to play, and a lot of potential upside with this Millsaps team.
Frank, while Millsaps may have had problems getting hits this weekend (with the exception of that tenth inning - LOL), I was very impressed by their heady play on the base paths. Your coaches and team play a very smart game. That's probably nothing new, but it was the first chance I had to see them in person.
Ron,
In my view, Jim Page of Millsaps is one of the best coaches in college baseball, not just DIII baseball. We got to see that way too many times! ;D
Coach Scannell is right there with him.
Trinity/Millsaps games are played at an intensity level up there with the best in college baseball. Little doubt where that intensity level originates in each dugout.
Trinity exploded for its 19th win of the year tonight against visiting Cardinal Stirich (4-5), 23-3. Ryan Lucero improves to 5-1, pitching six full innings and allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out seven. Nick Pappas was 2-for-3 with three walks and two stolen bases, driving in five runs including a three run HR. Kyle Felix was 3-for-4 including two doubles, drove in three runs, stole three bases, and scored four times. Dylan Early added a home run and a triple, driving in three runs. Jacob Lark (0-2) picked up the loss for the Wolves after allowing six earned runs in four innings of work. Tiger pitchers struck out 13 in the win.
A tougher matchup is likely tomorrow as Trinity makes the short drive out I-10 to take on Texas Lutheran (12-8, 3-0 ASC) in a single game. Oddly enough the Bulldogs, who are on a four game winning streak, have so far played better on the road (8-0) than at home (4-8).
Millsaps celebrated their entry into the top-25 with a 15-4 victory over #11 and defending national champion Illinois Wesleyan. Obviously the 18 hits in the 7 inning game were great to see for any Millsaps fan and quite a few players who have been struggling lately.
IW is on a road trip to start their season and this drops them to 4-1. It isn't really fair to compare tems that are at different points during the season, but IW did beat MS College 7-5 earlier on Tuesday and their staff was rested coming into the day. Rested, but just not many innings pitched this season.
The two teams play again today at 5 Central time. That game will be webcast, a link that can be found at the Millsaps athletic page. And here's a story and box score from yesterday's game:
Story: http://www.gomajors.com/news/2011/3/15/BB_0315112206.aspx
Box score: http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/11Baseball/mcb11-19.htm
The 'tougher matchup' yielded a 6-2 loss for Trinity at Texas Lutheran, as the Bulldogs manage to score six despite being held to four hits on the day. Michael Panozzo (3-1) Matthew Tyndall (0-1) gets the loss, allowing 4 earned (two hits, one walk) and being pulled with the bases loaded (after, among other things, two hit batsmen, a walk, and an error by 3B) and one out in the fourth. For TLU, Nick Jones will get the W in relief, pitching four complete innings of shutout ball from the fifth inning.
The highlight for Trinity was Kyle Felix's RBI double in the third to break the school record in that category. That hit was the only extra base hit of the day for the Tigers, who were held to a total of six.
Edit: TLU live stats had wrong starting pitcher for TU
Millsaps takes an 8-5 win over Illinois Wesleyan this even to get the 2 game sweep. I only saw the last at bat for both teams so don't have much in the way of details from the game. Millsaps did have 12 hits and Jules Roussel and Will Hawkins had back-to-back HR's that added some cushion in a 6-5 game.
Millsaps next plays a 3 game series at Hendrix. This games will be webcast by both schools--but the Millsaps webcast is free so tune in to James Hill and the Majors starting at noon on Saturday.
Millsaps at Hendrix DH is scheduled to start at 1 this afternoon. It will be interesting to see if the Millsaps bats stay hot after a good 2-game performance against Illinois Wesleyan.
Millsaps webcast can be found at this link:
http://atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm
OU COMES FROM BEHIND TO BEAT #3 UW- STEVENS POINT PETRELS SITTING ON A 5 GAME WINNING STREAK.This team has, just maybe figured out a few things, they are getting contributions from the entire roster.Pitching has been better than good. Another tough match up tomorrow as they face Washington and Jefferson, then a long bus ride home and a double header against Suwanee on Tuesday, and then Wed. face Selma, 2 days off and then we get Centere for the weekend. Hope the pitching can hold up to 10 games in 9 days.
Austin College breaks something like a five-game losing streak with a 6-2 win in the first game of a DH against Trinity - no details available. Trinity up 5-3 in the top of the fourth in the second. All the AC runs in the second game (so far) are unearned.
Millsaps narrowly avoids a sweep at Hendrix. Down 2-1 going into the 9th, Millsaps got the bases loaded with 2 outs, then scored on a balk which also took away the force play at 2nd. Next batter hit a ball to short, there was an error on the play to first, and Millsaps took the lead. Later scored two more runs for a 5-2 lead.
Hendrix scored 2 and had runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs. A difficult ball was hit to Leonard at short, one where throwing out a runner at first would have been unlikely, but he was able to go to second for a close play that ended the game.
Game two pretty much summed up the season for Austin College...competitive throughout, but some badly timed mistakes and the bats now and then going quiet have just killed them. I cannot stress enough how much their 4-14 record is NOT indicative of the ability of the players on this team.
Tyler Steed was pretty much dominant in game one. He only needed 79 pitches to earn a complete game win. Actually, if any one player is indicative of how the season has gone for AC, it's Steed. Always good enough to get the win, but just hasn't had any of the luck. He's been outstanding all year, and this was just his first win of the season.
Trinity wins the rubber game today, 5-3. Chris Walden gets his first decision of the season in relief, entering in the sixth inning and holding the 'Roos to two hits over the remaining four innings. Walden inherited a bases loaded, no out situation and held AC to a single run on a infield sac. For the third straight game in the series, the 'Roos scored more unearned than earned runs. Trinity pitchers only gave up three earned runs this weekend ... errors yielded nine. Kevin Calbick was 2-of-3 with HR and a triple for the Tigers. Tyler Applequist had 2 RBI for AC. Christain Curtis (1-3) picked up the loss, allowing five runs, all earned, in six and 2/3.
Oglethorpe gets off to a 2-0 start in SCAC play with two nail bitters against Sewanee and also run their win streak to 8 games. Matt Cornwell continues to show why he might be one of the toughest competitors in the league. He pitched 3 innings in game 1 picking up the save and pitched the final inning in game 2 to pick up his 5th save of the year. Of course he also started at SS both games. That makes 4 saves in the last 4 games. Also, I found out yesterday that he was struk by a line drive in the face while pitching Sunday and didn't miss a beat, in fact after laying on the ground for a minute or two he got up to strike out the final batter vs. Washington and Jefferson.
I will also mention that Sewanee has a good team this year. Both starting pitchers were very solid and that lineup can hit! My prediction is they will not be pushover in the East, they will win their fair share of games in SCAC play.
Petrels going for 9 in a row today vs. Selma University.
Suwanee much tougher than expected, possible a bit of fatigue setting in for the Petrels, Sam looked very good as did the relievers. Hoban struggled a bit but kept us in it, a few of the typical hitters are struggling right now but the good thing is that others are stepping up and filling the gaps, if the offense all starts clicking at once these guys can compete with anyone.
Trinity's recent struggles (2-3 in last five) continued last night with a 2-1 loss to visiting Hardin-Simmons. Four HSU pitchers combined on an eight hitter and allowed only one hit after the fourth. Joshua Fink (0-1) picked up the loss despite allowing only two hits in four innings of relief. Troy Tennant's solo shot in the sixth was the difference, and made a winner of middle reliever Sam Walker (4-1), who pitched a perfect fifth inning. The Cowboys improve to 18-5 while the Tigers fall to 20-6.
Next up for Trinity are two weekend games at Hendrix.
Nice win for the Cowboys. That was a mid-week game for both teams and the deep pitching staff came thru with the win for the Cowboys.
Season stats -- HSU (http://www.hsuathletics.com/sports/m-basebl/2010-11/files/teamcume.htm)
Will Hawkins had 4 hits last night in the Millsaps 11-3 win over LaGrange. This gives Will 200 hits for his career, making him the 28th SCAC player to reach that milestone. His perfect 4 for 4 night included 3 runs scored, 3 rbi, a double, a stolen base (his 18th), and a walk.
This was a nice win over a LaGrange team that now stands at 16-8 on the season, and a great followup to the midweek 12-2 victory at Huntingdon (15-7). As you can see from the story and box score (links below), Will had plenty of offensive help from the middle of the lineup last night. Jules Roussel had 4 hits and 4 runs and 2 rbi and a stolen base, Jake Mills had 2 hits and 3 rbi and a run scored, and Josh Ordeaneaux had 2 hits and 3 rbi and stole a base. It looks like some of the Millsaps bats are waking up at just the right time.
Elliot Varney backed up that offense with a strong 7 inning start, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits. Varney is a sophomore with a huge upside and it was good to see him go 7 good innings against a quality team. An injury (hit by a line drive) sidelined him for a couple of weeks this year, but maybe he will peak into a dominating pitcher right around the time of the SCAC Tournament.
Box score: http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/11Baseball/mcb11-25.htm
Story: http://www.gomajors.com/news/2011/3/25/BB_0325112849.aspx
I should have mentioned that the LaGrange at Millsaps single game today has been moved up to 2 pm because of the higher chance of rain later in the afternoon. That game can be heard and seen at this link:
http://atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Millsaps%20College.htm
Trinity bats were as cold as the weather (44 & wet) as Hendrix rolls to a 5-0 victory today. Kyle Felix's double was one of only three hits for the Tigers, and Ben Klimesh (6.2IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 9 K, 2BB) lost his first game of the year. The Warriors' Teddy Smoyer went the entire way to even his record at 2-2, and Colin Radack was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and a home run to lead Hendrix at the plate.
The rest of the SCAC is thankful that the SCAC Tournament isn't in Conway--Hendrix is hard to beat on their home field (now 8-3 at home, 4-8 on the road).
Millsaps won another single game with LaGrange today and I believe the score was 12-7. Aaron Williams got the win, Will Elmore pitched in relief. I remember a Jules Roussel based loaded triple late that game Millsaps a nice cushion after LaGrange had started chipping away at the Millsaps lead.
The two teams play the final game of the series tomorrow at noon Sunday. Link to that video can be found on the SCAC schedule page: http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/schedule
Hendrix pulls it off again sweeping the 2 game set against Trinity coming from 4 runs down in the 7th to win 9-8. Now if Trinity can get back on track next weekend and do Hendrix a solid by sweeping Southwestern...
Trinity gets the bats going again with a pair of wins against Southwestern - and with Millsaps' loss in the second game at Austin tonight retakes the lead in the SCAC West.
In the first game, Ben Klimesh (8-1) goes the distance, allowing five hits and one earned run while striking out nine in seven innings of a 6-3 win. Kyle Felix, Nick Pappas, and Kevin Jackson each had two hits. Chris Churchwell (5.1 IP, 6 R/4 ER, 8 hits) fell to 3-4 with the loss.
The second game was close early but 17 hits propelled the Tigers to an 11-5 victory. Light-hitting Dylan Early went 4-4 from the 9-hole with 4 RBI and Christian Muscarello was 3-of-5 with his first home run of the season. Starter Josh Fink (1-2) picked up his first win of the year, allowing four earned runs in six innings. Matt Stuart (2-2), who got the win the first time he faced Trinity, picked up the loss after allowing six runs (four earned) in 5.1 innings.
Southwestern's two losses put them very close to elimination regarding the SCAC Tournament and a loss today would put them right on the edge of elimination, especially if Millsaps rebounds for a Sunday win at Austin.
Trinity at 11-5 has basically clinched a spot since 4th place Southwestern is 6-9. Even if these teams both finished at 11-9, Trinity would have the head-to-head tiebreaker. Southwestern has a much better chance of catching Hendrix (9-7) or Millsaps (9-5), especially since their last 4 games are against those two teams, but a loss today would really shrink SW's margin of error.
With Millsaps and Trinity having a 3-game series next weekend, they both will still control their destiny for 1st place in the SCAC West regardless of the outcomes today, but both would help their chances considerably with a win today. Millsaps would have definitely help their case yesterday if they had held on to the 10-9 lead provided by Josh Ordeneaux's grand slam in the top of the 8th, but Austin scored 2 in the bottom of the inning to eventually get the 11-9 victory. Here's a link to the Millsaps story on yesterday's doubleheader at Austin College:
http://www.gomajors.com/news/2011/4/2/BB_0402111353.aspx
Here's the good news for Millsaps--Austin has already been eliminated from the SCAC Tournament. It doesn't matter how poor a season Austin College is having, they seem to have Millsaps' number every year and I'm glad that Millsaps won't have to see then in the SCAC Tournament.
Millsaps is playing as the home team today because the 3rd game of the series in Jackson was rained out, and Austin leads 7-0 with Millsaps batting in the bottom of the 2nd. Still plenty of time to get back in the game IF the Millsaps pitching staff can hold down the Austin hitters.
Trinity trotted out Ryan Murphy for his first start of the year today. Murphy was wild and had to be removed with only one out. He was relieved by Matthew Tindall, who had to be pulled with two outs in the second. The result was an 8-1 lead for Southwestern going into the bottom of the second, but the Tigers scored in every inning but the eighth to take a come-from-behind 14-8 victory over the Pirates.
Michael Bentz stopped the bleeding with two out in the second and shut down the Pirates the rest of the way - 7.1 IP, 0 R, 7H, 7K, 1BB, by far his best and longest outing of the season - to get the win in relief, evening his record at 2-2. Aaron Garza (1-2) picked up the loss. It was a sloppy game with the teams combining for 11 errors (7 from Southwestern) - leading to three unearned Southwestern and five unearned Trinity runs.
Kevin Jackson was 3-of-5 with 2 RBI for Trinity, who also got home runs from Kyle Felix (his 8th) and Dylan Early (his 2nd). Nick Ashford was 5-for-5 for Southwestern with two RBI.
Trinity finished up their home season last night with an 8-5 win over McMurry. The schedule has been very friendly so far, but they'll play on the road the rest of the season starting with this weekend's important set of three games at Millsaps - the last regular season conference games for TU. Next week will see the team head to Kerrville for a single at Schreiner, then up to Dallas for one game at Dallas Christan and two at future SCAC foe UDallas.
As for last night's game, Tanner Barron got his first start of the year and pitched well for three innings as Trinity got out to 4-0 lead. He ran into trouble in the fourth and was replaced by Noah Solomon (4-1), who went 4.2 and picked up the win. McMurry got to within 4-3 (mid 4) and 5-4 (mid 5) before TU pulled away. Kyle Felix had his second home run in as many days; Dominick Robusto went 3-of-4. Starter Chris Maldonado (1-1) yielded four runs in three innings and was charged with the loss.
According to a tweet from 'fastbatbb', Trinity 2b Nicholas Iacovella underwent hand surgery yesterday. No details but there is at least some hope that he will be back in time for the tourney.
Trinity clinches the SCAC West with two wins today at Millsaps. In the first game, a seven inning affair, the Tigers jumped out to a 9-0 lead after five before the Majors chased starter (and eventual winner) Michael Bentz (3-2) with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Joshua Fink relived Bentz and held the Majors to one earned run the rest of the way. Kyle Felix was 4-for-4 with 2 home runs. Aaron Williams (5-2) yielded six runs in three innings and picked up the loss.
The second game was all Trinity as the visitors scored ten runs in the first six and eased to a 10-1 lead. Starter Michael Panozzo went four innings, allowed one run on five hits, Chris Walden provided three innings of hitless relief, and home runs by Nick Pappas (6th HR), Will Donnan (a grand slam, his first HR), and Patrick Frasier (1st HR) resulted in eight runs. Panozzo was credited with the win to go to 4-0. Millsaps starter Will Elmore allowed eight runs (three earned) in 4.2 and fell to 2-3 on the season.
Ben Klimesh (8-1, 3.08) or Ryan Lucero (5-1, 3.55) are available to start for Trinity tomorrow.
The maddeningly inconsistent season continues for Trinity with a 8-7 loss at Schreiner (8-22). Clayton Freimuth started, gave up three runs and had to be pulled with 2 outs in the opening stanza. He got the loss (1-1), but his relief, Tanner Barron, also had to be pulled with one out in the second after allowing 4 runs (2 earned). This time, the Tigers were unable to come back from a 7-0 deficit.
Friday's game at Dallas Christian has been cancelled. TU will finish up the regular season with two at UDallas on Saturday and Sunday.
Just arrived in Millington. Weather looks sketchy for the entire week. Warm and humid today with winds picking up!
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 18, 2011, 09:37:46 PM
Just arrived in Millington. Weather looks sketchy for the entire week. Warm and humid today with winds picking up!
With the way Trinity is playing, I wouldnt mind the entire tournament getting rained out. I think they get the bid because they have the best record in conference.
Just kidding....kind of.
It has been quite on the board the last couple of weeks...maybe the calm before the SCAC Tourny Storm?
Anyways, time for some predictions. Last year OU was, wink, wink...a sleeper pick. I think that changes this year.
Day 1:
Rhodes over Hendrix: This should be a fun one to watch, but I think Rhodes has a ton of experience and all those close games this season will help them out this weekend.
DePauw over Millsaps: DePauw once again is hitting their stride at the right time. They have 3 solid pitchers and enough bats to win this thing.
Trinity over OU: Tigers just too much for the Petrels in this one.
Day 2:
Hendrix over Millsaps: Millsaps is the first team eliminated this year.
OU over Rhodes: The 3 game series in Atlanta was as close as it gets with 3 one-run games...no difference here as OU stays alive with a narrow victory.
Trinity over Depauw: Rematch of last years title game, Texas Tigers continue to march.
Day 3:
DePauw over Rhodes: Rhodes swept the season series, but DePauw gets the last laugh here. Rhodes is eliminated.
Hendrix over OU: Hendrix starts to get the mojo going and wins this one in a battle of 3 seeds.
Trinity over Depauw: Trinity beats DePauw for the second straight day to eliminate the Indiana Tigers.
Day 4:
Hendrix wins game one to force the winner takes all game. Trinity finally gets over the Hendrix hump and wins the 2011 SCAC title.
Trinity is definitely the overwhelming favorite even though this is the year the 1W gets put at a disadvantage because of the schedule. The top seeds should have the first two games on Thursday with the 2nd seeds having the disadvantage of the late game. Not that I'm complaining since Millsaps is a 2nd seed. It would have actually been better for Millsaps to be the 3rd seed, but I think Hendrix felt the same way about being the 3rd seed based on their pitching rotation in the season finale.
My guess is that Trinity will save Klimesh instead of pitching him against OU. Three reasons for that thinking: (1) They have some other outstanding starters; (2) OU doesn't have a starting pitcher with an era under 5.00 so Trinity should score runs; (3) and that's the approach Trinity used in 2010.
Based on the stats, the other two games should be toss-ups. Rhodes and Hendrix are side by side in both the hitting and the pitching. Likewise with Millsaps and DePauw. I'll go with the two West teams in these games, partially because I'm biased towards the West, but also because I believe the teams in the West had tougher challenges throughout the season.
For example, while the Millsaps team was probably disappointed with their 24-16 record, it did include 20 tough conference games along with 2 games with Rhodes, 2 games with Adrian (20-6), 1 with BSC, 2 with Ill Wesleyan (16-8), 3 with MS College (20-14), 2 with Piedmont (24-13), 2 with Huntingdon (19-13), 3 with LaGrange (18-18), and 2 with NAIA Belhaven (36-14). When you look at the competition, 24-16 isn't too shabby (for the record, the 40th game was against the Ozarks and they are currently 7-28).
But everyone is now back to 0-0. It will be an interesting tournament and hopefully the weather won't be too big a factor.
When you look at this tournament from a distance (ie no horse in the race) it represents the essence of D3 baseball. Anything can and does happen. The reality is once a team gets by the first round, the tournament really begins. Those with pitching a defense can an will hang with the best of teams.
Franks point about being battle tested is true. In spite of Millsaps record, I think they have played the toughest schedule. Trinity as it has in recent years can be very potent offensively. However, in this tournament format all they need to do is run into a pitcher that "doesn't fit their eye" and you are in the losers bracket.
It is hard to tell with the conference format (west teams play each other 5 times vs 3 times in the east) how strong each team really is within the confernece. Because of where some of the teams are geographically you have to measure their ability within their geography. I hope this changes next year when Depauw bows out.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 19, 2011, 08:27:32 PM
Trinity is definitely the overwhelming favorite even though this is the year the 1W gets put at a disadvantage because of the schedule. The top seeds should have the first two games on Thursday with the 2nd seeds having the disadvantage of the late game. Not that I'm complaining since Millsaps is a 2nd seed. It would have actually been better for Millsaps to be the 3rd seed, but I think Hendrix felt the same way about being the 3rd seed based on their pitching rotation in the season finale.
My guess is that Trinity will save Klimesh instead of pitching him against OU. Three reasons for that thinking: (1) They have some other outstanding starters; (2) OU doesn't have a starting pitcher with an era under 5.00 so Trinity should score runs; (3) and that's the approach Trinity used in 2010.
Based on the stats, the other two games should be toss-ups. Rhodes and Hendrix are side by side in both the hitting and the pitching. Likewise with Millsaps and DePauw. I'll go with the two West teams in these games, partially because I'm biased towards the West, but also because I believe the teams in the West had tougher challenges throughout the season.
For example, while the Millsaps team was probably disappointed with their 24-16 record, it did include 20 tough conference games along with 2 games with Rhodes, 2 games with Adrian (20-6), 1 with BSC, 2 with Ill Wesleyan (16-8), 3 with MS College (20-14), 2 with Piedmont (24-13), 2 with Huntingdon (19-13), 3 with LaGrange (18-18), and 2 with NAIA Belhaven (36-14). When you look at the competition, 24-16 isn't too shabby (for the record, the 40th game was against the Ozarks and they are currently 7-28).
But everyone is now back to 0-0. It will be an interesting tournament and hopefully the weather won't be too big a factor.
who knows on trinity pitching. i wouldn't say they can count on anything. Klimesh had to be pulled in the 2nd last week after walking 5 in 1+ innings. That is why you play the game.....
Day 1 of the SCAC championship:
1E Rhodes squeezes by 3W Hendrix, 5-4 as the Lynx scored all their runs in the bottom of the third. Austin Carden (4-6) went the distance for Rhodes.
2E DePauw handled 2W Millsaps 7-2. The eighth inning was the key for the Tigers as they scored six. Hobs Donovan (5-4) scattered four hits in a complete game for DPU, who got the W despite committing five errors. Jason Riggins was assessed the loss, his first of the year (5-1).
1W Trinity had no difficulty with 3E Oglethorpe, winning 10-1. Franklin Bay and Jonathan Hall combined for five K's in two innings of relief. Michael Panozzo (5-0) went seven to get the win as Kyle Felix and Kevin Calbick both went yard.
Tomorrow's schedule:
noon 3W Hendrix (0-1) v 2W Millsaps (0-1) (Elimination)
330p 1E Rhodes (1-0) v 3E Oglethorpe (0-1)
700p 2E DePauw (1-0) v 1W Trinity (1-0)
(5000th post)
Ron, thank you for that post and the 4,999 that came before. As noted in your post, Millsaps and Hendrix were both done in by one poor inning with Hendrix giving up 5 of 5 runs in the third and Millsaps giving up 6 of 7 runs in the 8th.
I'm afraid it was a story that Millsaps fans are use to this season. A great performance on the mound gets little run support at the plate (and as noted, the run production was low despite 5 errors from the opposition). An error on a routine grounder to start the 8th opens the door for a big inning. It certainly isn't a pattern due to any lack of trying by the players, but it is a pattern that been with the team this season.
I'm not sure if Millsaps has the pitching to get out of the loser's bracket and win this thing--not many teams have that depth--but all they can do now is try to win tomorrow and then see what the future brings. Obviously the same situation applies to Hendrix as well.
The All-Conference selections were announced this morning, congratulations to those that were selected. However, the announcement either inferred or pointed out that voting for the player of the year followed an east versus west perspective. I bring this up not to criticize the voting but to make a point as to what is happening not only in the SCAC but in baseball.
The east/west format in SCAC baseball is now 5-years old. During that time my son came and went; over his four years he never played 4 of the SCAC teams and only visited two of the campuses on the other side of the conference.
Everyone knows why this is done; to save money. But you have to ask is it really a conference anymore? The only time that teams really compete against each other is at the conference tournament and then it is generally the same 6-8 teams.
It is my understanding that with DePauw leaving and Dallas joining, the conference will be reconfigured with Millsaps moving to the east. Again, a move that is understandable from a conference financial prospective. It is sad that financial limitations will change a terrific rivalry that has existed between Trinity and Millsaps.
I would really like to see a couple of weekends during the season where 3-4 teams, from both east and west, get together at a host school and play a couple of games. To have an east and west where teams don't compete keeps the conference from being a true conference. It would be nice to have a record which reflects conference games, not just east/west games.
Again, congratulations to those selected All-Conference! I will continue to watch the tournament as it unfolds via the video link (Great Job to those broadcasting the event)!
Trade Berry for Colorado College, and you can save even more money.
For those that gave up watching, Rhodes vs Oglthorpe is still going in the top of the 19th tied 7-7. The most bizarre plays and umpire calls imaginable! Bases loaded no outs and 1 out at least 3 times in the last few innings. Trinity and DePauw have been waiting to start their 7pm game. It is now 10:15pm. Now bottom of 18 still tied at 7.
Quote from: svbbcoach on April 22, 2011, 11:15:45 PM
For those that gave up watching, Rhodes vs Oglthorpe is still going in the top of the 19th tied 7-7. The most bizarre plays and umpire calls imaginable! Bases loaded no outs and 1 out at least 3 times in the last few innings. Trinity and DePauw have been waiting to start their 7pm game. It is now 10:15pm. Now bottom of 18 still tied at 7.
That's amazing. Looks like it is now going to the 21st--I wonder how many people have tuned in--I'm good for the innings in the 20's, may nod off if it gets into the 30's.
Rhodes won in the 21st inning. The broadcasters said that it was the longest game in D3 history (somehow I question that). It looks like the Trinity/Depauw game will start just before midnight. The winner will have to turn around and play again at noon Saturday.
Yawn!
Sorry for no posts yesterday afternoon; it was our 16th anniversary and I had other things on my mind. ;)
When the schedule was posted, I thought it was pretty tough that the undefeated game 6 winner would have to turn around and play game 7 .... and with Oglethorpe losing that will indeed be the case for Trinity, who defeated DPU 7-4 in the wee hours of the morning. They have moved game 7 to a 1pm start but not much else they can do to allow the possibility of two games tomorrow.
Noah Solomon (5-2) got the win for TU, allowing all four DPU runs in six innings. Chris Waldren, Ben Klimesh (!, but not the first time he's provided short relief), and Franklin Bay each pitched an inning in the win. Bay earned the save, entering the game in the top of the ninth with two on and no out before getting a K and inducing the next batter to hit into a DP. Jackson and Pappas had home runs, as did DPU's Zach Galyean. Elliot Ross (6.2 IP, 9H, 6 ER) took the loss for DePauw.
Today's schedule:
1:00 PM: 1E Rhodes (2-0) v. 1W Trinity (2-0); winner to championship
4:30 PM: 3W Hendrix (1-1) v. 2E DePauw (1-1); loser eliminated
8:00 PM: 1:00 PM loser v. 4:30 PM winner; winner to championship, loser eliminated
As always at this stage of a championship, will be interesting to see who Trinity and Rhodes put on the mound. Trinity would seem to be in good shape with both Klimesh (9-2, 3.41) and Lucero (5-1, 3.55) available; Rhodes only has one pitcher remaining with over 4 starts, Jackson Baker (3-2, 7.30). Jacob Long (0-0, 4.26) has four starts in six appearances but no decisions; Andrew Meier (2-0, 5.25) has 3 starts in nine appearances. Rhodes will also be hurt by their star reliever, all-SCAC Hunter Chandler (4-2, 1.55, 21 app) being unavailable. He pitched nearly 11 innings in relief last night, facing 50 batters. Oglethorpe also had a reliever, Cory Leff, throw more than nine innings in that game.
Quote from: ILVBB on April 23, 2011, 12:32:07 AM
Rhodes won in the 21st inning. The broadcasters said that it was the longest game in D3 history (somehow I question that). It looks like the Trinity/Depauw game will start just before midnight. The winner will have to turn around and play again at noon Saturday.
There's no entry in the NCAA record book that says "longest game" but there is one that is "Most Putouts, team" and that has several teams tied at 51. I saw no game listed anywhere in the D-III record book that was longer than 17 innings.
I tweeted to them last night late in the game that it seemed like a record to me.
According to the feature story on D3Baseball.com (http://d3baseball.com/notables/2011/04/21-innings), Rhodes' Chandler threw 153 pitches last night. That's pretty amazing, especially considering in his 20 previous appearances he'd only had about 48 IP (less than three innings/appearance).
Trinity is up 4-2 with one out in the top of the sixth, but starter Michael Bentz is laboring having allowed a walk, two singles, and a bit batsman. Ryan Lucero has just entered with runners at first and second.
Lynx starter Jackson Baker, he of the 7.30 ERA, has held the Tigers to just three hits. Two walks in the second combined with a hit and a sac accounted for three TU's 4 runs.
With Millsaps so quickly out of the hunt for the AQ, I'll admit that my interest in the tournament has waned. However, I think Trinity is the team that would best represent the SCAC in the NCAA Tournament and that's who I would prefer to see as the winner this weekend.
Of course, Trinity is the only team in the field with any chance for an at-large berth, so maybe an upset winner would get two SCAC teams into the NCAA's, but I think two losses this weekend would leave TU on the bubble at best.
Frank, with Trinity's late-season swoon (0-3 the last week of regular season play) I don't think they have much of a chance for a Pool C. 32-13 sounds pretty iffy and there's not a lot of quality wins in that 32.
Lucero held the Lynx to one hit the rest of the way, and with the Trinity bats being understandably out of sync, it's a good thing. Bentz gets the W, Lucero the save, and Jackson Baker the complete game loss despite pitching what had to be one of his best outings of the year - 8 IP, 3 H, 4ER, 9K, 3 BB. One 'bad' inning cost him the W today. The only extra base hit for either team today came from Rhodes' Lynden Pindling, a two-out double in the seventh which was the only hit Lucero gave up.
Pretty clear that Trinity will start Klimesh tomorrow. For now, time for the Tigers to get a well-deserved good dinner and good night's sleep.
(El Tea Gray--re: Are the Trinity Tigers rabid about this SCAC Baseball Championship?)
Ron,
The Tigers must be "rabid or something" about this SCAC Baseball Tournament Championship; Michael Bentz having "bitten" a Rhodes batsman (your post #5005). All kidding aside, you have done a great job as usual in covering this and many other SCAC Tournaments on Post Patterns. Congratulations, as well as, on your 5000th post; here are hopes for many, many more posts for you.
P.S. Cannot wait for 2011 Trinity Football; hope you feel the same. Saint Nick (Nyk) should be back for his second season for the Tigers (this time ?? as the starter).
:)
Hendrix handles DPU 8-1 (It think) and is facing Rhodes in a rematch of game 1 to see who will advance to tomorrow's championship round.
Starter for Rhodes is Jacob Long (0-0, 4.26, 4 GS/6 App, 19 IP, .303 OBA)
The Warriors will respond with Teddy Smoyer (2-2, 2.52, 8 GS/10 App, 50.1 IP, .242 OBA)
From those stats it would appear advantage Hendrix, but that's why they play the games.
And yes, etg, along with all Trinity fans I am hoping for better things on the football field in 2011.
It'll be Hendrix v Trinity for the championship after the Warriors get an easy win over Rhodes, 7-2. Smoyer gets a complete game win, allowing four hits. Rhodes committed four errors in the loss. Jeff Forgerson was 3-4 with a dinger to lead Hendrix.
After two complete, Trinity 7, Hendrix 0. Ben Klimesh started for Trinity and has allowed 2H, 1BB, and 2K so far. Will Harris started for the Warriors and allowed alll seven Tiger runs. He was removed in favor of Jordan Suydam with two out in the second.
Nick Pappas is 2-2 with 4 RBI in early going, and Will Donnan has the other 3 RBI on a hit and a sac fly.
EDIT: Trinity adds two in the top of the fourth; it's now 9-0 after four as the Warriors went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning. Donnan added another RBI to his total with a two-out double. This came after Christian Muscarello singled in Kevin Calbick, who started the rally with a two-out double of his own. Klimesh now up to 4K and has allowed 3 hits.
Trinity wins the SCAC with today's 9-1 victory. Ben Klimesh (10-2) scattered eight hits in the complete game, notched ten strikeouts (101 for the year) while allowing one run and four walks. Nick Pappas was 4-for-5 with 4 RBI and Will Donnan went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI. Jacob Perschke led the Warriors with a 2-for-3 performance from the plate and scored Hendrix' only run. Will Harris fell to 1-5 after allowing 7 runs in 1.2 innings. Hendrix dropped to 8-4 all-time in SCAC conference play.
Trinity and Birmingham Southern College were clearly the top two programs in the SCAC this year, and with BSC ineligible for postseason play, the SCAC has their strongest possible contender going on to the NCAA Tournamen. Good luck to the Tigers and hopefully the travel situation won't be as disadvantageous as it was last year.
Quote from: frank_ezelle on April 24, 2011, 05:31:04 PM
Trinity and Birmingham Southern College were clearly the top two programs in the SCAC this year, and with BSC ineligible for postseason play, the SCAC has their strongest possible contender going on to the NCAA Tournamen. Good luck to the Tigers and hopefully the travel situation won't be as disadvantageous as it was last year.
It won't be. Trinity makes the trip to Abilene almost every season. McMurry's Driggers Field is well known to most Trinity veterans.
Excellent--glad to hear the West Region isn't being held in the distant Northwest this year.
For the last 5+ years, Trinity has visited McMurray, including the 2008 regional. For some reason (I think it fits their eye) they have always hit very well. In that this team wins when they hit, let's hope that history repeats itself. Since 2007, in games played at McMurray, including the regional, they have averaged more than 11 hits per game. McMurry is a field that favors teams that hit the ball hard.
LOL, there is a certain amount of similarity between what I posted and what's currently shown on the SCAC summary of this game, (http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/2011championships/game10) to wit:
"Ben Klimesh (10-2) scattered eight hits in the complete game, as the SCAC Co-Pitcher of the Year notched 10 strikeouts while allowing one run and four walks. He became just the eighth player in Trinity history to reach 100+ strikeouts (101) in a single season with his Easter Sunday performance. Junior outfielder Nick Pappas was 4-for-5 with four runs driven in and senior first baseman Will Donnan also drove in four while going 3-for-4 at the plate.
First-year third baseman Jacob Perschke led the Warriors with a 2-for-3 performance and scored Hendrix' only run. First-year pitcher Will Harris fell to 1-5 after allowing seven runs in 1.2 innings."
I guess there's only so many ways to summarize a game in a few sentences. ;) Expect a more complete writeup from our friends at the SCAC front office later tonight.
Here's the all-tourney team. As you might expect, Trinity dominates the list. Glad to see Hunter Chandler was honored, too:
Pos. Name, School Tournament Stats
C Kyle Felix, Trinity .333 (5-15) – 2 2B, 3 RBI, 4R, .667 SLG%, .353 OB%, 1.020 OPS
1B Will Donnan, Trinity .455 (5-11) – 1 2B, 5 RBI, 1R, .545 SLG%, .417 OB%, .962 OPS
2B Clark Sims, Hendrix .412 (7-17) – 2 RBI, 7R, 5BB .412 SLG%, .600 OB%, 1.012 OPS
SS Christian Muscarello, Trinity .417 (5-12) – 1 2B, 1 RBI, 4R, .500 SLG%, .533 OB%, 1.033 OPS
3B Jacob Perschke, Hendrix .368 (7-19) – 5 RBI, 5R, 3BB, .368 SLG%, .455 OB%, .823 OPS
OF Kevin Calbick, Trinity .462 (6-13) – 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 5R, .769 SLG%, .563 OB%, 1.332 OPS
OF Zach Galyean, DePauw .444 (4-9) – 1 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3R, 1.222 SLG%, .444 OB%, 1.666 OPS
OF Jeff Pope, Oglethorpe .417 (5-12) – 1 RBI, 1R, 2BB, 2 SB, .417 SLG%, .467 OB%, .884 OPS
DH Nick Pappas, Trinity .357 (5-14) – 3 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 4R, .786 SLG%, .375 OB%, 1.161 OPS
P Ben Klimesh, Trinity 1-0 – 10.0 IP, 1 ER, 0.90 ERA, 1S, 11 K, .222 Opp BA, 1.50 WHIP
P Hunter Chandler, Rhodes 0-0 – 10.2 IP, 1 ER, 0.84 ERA, 4 K, .220 Opp BA, 1.41 WHIP
full SCAC release: http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/releases/11bsb_all_tourney_team.pdf
Trinity truly has top tier DIII talent in this senior class and just about everyone below.
Despite the obvious struggles in other programs, which certainly isn't because they don't have top coaches who are working very hard, Coach Scannell and his staff have seemingly elevated the baseball program to a very high level.
It isn't high enough,however, until they compete in Appleton.
With all that said, just like about every SCAC champion, Trinity has a player who stepped up from relative obscurity and made a difference.
Kevin Clements had key AB's and RBI's against both DePauw and Rhodes. While he battled for playing time as the season progressed, with Trinity having 2 terrific freshman middle infielders, Clements really stepped up in the SCAC. I love seeing stuff like that and thought those big time contributions could use some recognition.
Something a little different: Red Sox P Josh Beckett interview where he talks about his off-season workouts at Trinity: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/04/15/beckett-opens-up-on-youth-off-season-workouts/
Congratulations to the SCAC baseball Student-Athletes named to the Capital One Academic District Team.
First Team
Hunter Chandler, Rhodes, 3.97 GPA, 1.48 ERA
Sam Hill, BirmSou, 3.67 GPA, .392 BA
Nick Pappas, Trinity, 3.51 GPA, .356 BA
Second Team
Josh Conlee, Milsaps, 3.50 GPA, 5.31 GPA
Nice to see the hard work they put in be rewarded.
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/releases/academic_all_district
The Southern Collegiate Athletic Confernece announced today an initiative to aid the victims of the April tornadoes that devastated parts of Alabama and Georgia. SCAC t-shirt and DVD for your help. Find out more here - http://tinyurl.com/3op96cn (http://tinyurl.com/3op96cn)
From The DePauw: Centre, Sewanee, Rhodes, Hendrix considering leaving the SCAC after 2012: http://bit.ly/iDFiVn
Wow, you can have
either like-minded institutions,
or savings on travel costs!
Somebody is getting a reality-check!
What are the travel savings achieved by cutting lacrosse?
The wierd thing, Ralph, are the comments which say one of the reasons the schools are considering this is because of the possible advent of divisional play, purpose of which is to reduce travel costs ... and time away from school.
This from the athletics director at Hendrix:
A main reason why the four schools might leave, according to Powell, is the SCAC's discussions about splitting the conference into divisions.
"We have different relations with those schools in the west, in Texas, and the East," Powell said. "We want to keep playing those folks, if you think about a league, you think about if the schools who have similar philosophies and similar size. I've been here nine-and-a-half years, and I have enjoyed dealing with a lot of the folks in the league."
So you tell me. If Hendrix goes to the ASC, guess what, they're going to have to deal with divisional play. Where else would they go?
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 15, 2011, 06:49:48 PM
The wierd thing, Ralph, are the comments which say one of the reasons the schools are considering this is because of the possible advent of divisional play, purpose of which is to reduce travel costs ... and time away from school.
This from the athletics director at Hendrix:
A main reason why the four schools might leave, according to Powell, is the SCAC's discussions about splitting the conference into divisions.
"We have different relations with those schools in the west, in Texas, and the East," Powell said. "We want to keep playing those folks, if you think about a league, you think about if the schools who have similar philosophies and similar size. I've been here nine-and-a-half years, and I have enjoyed dealing with a lot of the folks in the league."
So you tell me. If Hendrix goes to the ASC, guess what, they're going to have to deal with divisional play. Where else would they go?
It makes no sense. Hendrix can play all of the schools in the ASC that they can schedule! You have to find 25 basketball games and 40 baseball games to fill your schedule.
I don't think that they want to be playing Arkansas Baptist, Ecclesia, Philander Smith, Lynn and U of Ozarks anymore than they are now.
Or, do they want to reconsider cutting the schedule by 10%?
Cutting Colorado College makes more sense than anything from an expense perspective.
How about a new SCAC West?
Hendrix-UOzarks
Mississippi College -Millsaps
Trinity - Southwestern
UDallas -Austin College
Can those schools live with Mississippi College and UOzarks?
How about a new SCAC-East?
Centre -
Georgetown KYRhodes - Sewanee
Birmingham Southern -
HuntingdonOglethrope -
Berry
FTA...
QuoteWhile the reasons behind the four schools' considerations may not become clear until after the June 7 presidents' meeting, geographic distance and the cost of travel could be factors in the discussions.
"I know that as the conference talks about expanding, we have concerns about a sprawling conference," Saxton said. "So a lot of travel and time out of class, cost of travel, a lot of concerns comes from that."
Danny Powell, executive director of athletics at Hendrix, conveyed similar sentiments.
"As an athletic director, you are just looking for a schedule to play and if it's cost effective and a good experience for your students," Powell said. "People are just looking at what's best long-term for their school, and I think that's what we're doing."
Factors such as the cost of transportation also played into DePauw's decision to leave the SCAC for the NCAC.
"There isn't a school in the country that isn't looking at how they can cut the travel cost in the interest of sustainability and also just from a financial standpoint," said Page Cotton, director of athletics.
A main reason why the four schools might leave, according to Powell, is the SCAC's discussions about splitting the conference into divisions.
"We have different relations with those schools in the west, in Texas, and the East," Powell said. "We want to keep playing those folks, if you think about a league, you think about if the schools who have similar philosophies and similar size. I've been here nine-and-a-half years, and I have enjoyed dealing with a lot of the folks in the league."
Creating divisions would eliminate match ups in the regular season and, according to Cotton, some schools favor divisional competition while others want to play everyone in the conference.
No matter the reasons, if the four schools do decide to leave the conference, it will put a halt on the splitting of the conference into two divisions. If the decision is made final, the conference will have lost five teams in two years. After gaining the Dallas, the conference will be left with eight teams.
Brian Chafin, director of athletics and recreation at Centre, said other current member institutions of the conference are evaluating their role and membership.
"There has been discussion throughout the entire conference of looking at other options for all schools for the year of 2012-2013," he said.
I don't know much, but Page Cotton seems more of an SCAC name than NCAC. Great name anywhere, BTW.
LOL Oshdude. +1.
So there are two different takes here.
One is the "the SCAC is too big and takes too much time away from our students,"
The other is "we don't want to suffer divisional play, we want to play everyone in the conference."
Unless you are in a small (eight team to get Pool A bids), geographically compact conference, these two are mutually exclusive.
Do the gang of four go off, try to recruit a few other area schools (maybe MC, LC, and Centenary from the ASC, pick off someone else) and form the Central Compact Southern Conference? Or is it just a ploy by the four schools mentioned to tell the rest of the SCAC powers-that-be to quit throwing invitations around? The other conference possibilities for these four (ASC, USA South, David Collinge even suggests an expanded NCAC) would fail both of the salient points brought up in the article.
If this is a protest by the non-Texas teams about having to travel west, then who would the West teams invite to join in a "new" conference?
The geography of the SCAC is goofy. For sports which only require a few contests it can be managed. But you start traveling 30 baskeball players (men & women) and 25 baseball players with as many games it starts getting very expensive.
It is my understanding that SCAC presidents felt that having schools with similar academic profile playing in a single conference. However, there are real trade-offs when money and time away from school interfere with what trustees are harping at them (i.e. the bottom line).
With divisional play the SCAC has really become a 2 conference "Conference." My son over a 4-year career never visited most of the schools on the other side. Frankly; if the SCAC went away and the Texas/Miss schools joined the ASC (which won't happen) I think competitiveness, academics and cost control would all be well served.
Can the SCAC presidents live with this new 8-team conference?
Millsaps/Miss College
Hendrix/Ozarks
LaCollege/Centenary
ETBU/LeTU.
The football schools will need to find a home, but it appears that affiliation would be possible to make an AQ.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 16, 2011, 09:05:04 PM
Can the SCAC presidents live with this new 8-team conference?
Millsaps/Miss College
Hendrix/Ozarks
LaCollege/Centenary
ETBU/LeTU.
The football schools will need to find a home, but it appears that affiliation would be possible to make an AQ.
Another question to ask: are the SCAC presidents willing to kick out six perfectly good schools (assuming the other four leave on their own) not to mention totally change the rationale behind the conference? Seems just a bit unrealistic ... essentially you're asking six of the eight to not only leave but approve forcing themselves out.
They'd be better off disbanding the conference altogether and creating the Southern Short Travel Conference.
Those "northern" tier schools are the link between the east and the west. You wonder what is going on in the minds of the "Break-out 4".
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 16, 2011, 09:29:44 PM
Those "northern" tier schools are the link between the east and the west. You wonder what is going on in the minds of the "Break-out 4".
They've got a plan. You don't have four schools all suddenly say "hey, it's time to leave a conference we've been in for decades" without something concrete in the works.
Ron - I think you may be onto something. The rumor mill has it that the SCAC as we know it won't exist. If that is the case; maybe there is a "plan."
Quote from: ILVBB on May 20, 2011, 01:27:00 PM
Ron - I think you may be onto something. The rumor mill has it that the SCAC as we know it won't exist. If that is the case; maybe there is a "plan."
All I know is that Trinity in the ASC West would make that the most fearsome division/conference in the country in my mind. We can pretend Southwestern is still good. Speaking of, is there any reason why they shouldn't be?
If you're Schreiner you have an excuse, if you're Southwestern, I'm not sure you do.
JSG
Until a Texas school can actually win this freaking regional, I don't think any conglomeration of teams from the state are going to be 'fearsome' on the national level. Would it be fun to watch? You bet, but every year it's run up against the West Coast pitching buzzsaw and go home early.
Gee, Ralph. Still think Birmingham Southern and the SCAC will be BFF? Remember you dismissing out of hand my thought that Birmingham Southern would be a fit in the USA South.
SCAC is done. Only a matter of time now. Only choices appear to be inviting schools that don't fit their academic profile at all.
ASC should invite the Texas schools currently in the SCAC and then split into two AQ leagues like the MAC split into Commonwealth and Freedom.
That leaves Oglethorpe, Birmingham Southern and Millsaps. Millsaps probably goes ASC and it probably represents an overall travel improvement if organized well. Oglethorpe and Birmingham Southern...less clear.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 20, 2011, 11:23:46 PM
Until a Texas school can actually win this freaking regional, I don't think any conglomeration of teams from the state are going to be 'fearsome' on the national level. Would it be fun to watch? You bet, but every year it's run up against the West Coast pitching buzzsaw and go home early.
Can't make 7 errors like CTX did either.
Having played baseball recently for Trinity and having friends on other teams there, the SCAC is an entirely different experience depending on which sport you play. I know I didn't play against every school, and only went to half the campuses. Also, there's just something "off" about the geography of it, it's too haphazard. I realize that university presidents have desires for aligning academic interests, etc and the facts remain that there just aren't as many D3 schools in the "west", but long term I think Trinity's best athletic interests lie beyond the SCAC in some other conference. Be it one that already exists, or a new one that has yet to be formed.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 20, 2011, 11:23:46 PM
Until a Texas school can actually win this freaking regional, I don't think any conglomeration of teams from the state are going to be 'fearsome' on the national level. Would it be fun to watch? You bet, but every year it's run up against the West Coast pitching buzzsaw and go home early.
Ron,
From someone looking at this from a distance, in general, I would agree. However, your observation about"national" approval is important, I think.
As was discussed elsewhere, a pitcher like Rauh likely doesn't play DIII in Texas. Pitching is pivotal in a Regional.
Candidly, what I see in Texas is a lot of very good talent, but it is dispersed widely amongst many highly competitive programs and schools.
Trinity cannot attract enough players in Texas when academics and baseball are combined. What is happening in their football/basketball programs are pretty solid examples of that, I think.
The article Ralph posted about McMurry and the reasons for the change to DII also seems to apply. Many players and parents are looking for instant gratification. They want a quality baseball experience and to be on the field.
In my view, there are a number of Texas DIII's in the ASC and SCAC which provide both.
Using the "instant gratification" aspect, a player can look at a school like Trinity and see both academic and talent issues that might cause them to look elsewhere.. but still have a number of options for a very good baseball program and solid academics. There are a number of choices.
On the other hand, the NWL and SCIAC have very good talent, but that talent is concentrated in a very few programs.
Linfield, PLU and George Fox consistently in the NWL and PP, Redlands, occasionally Cal Lu, LaVerne. Redlands in the SCIAC and then Chapman as an independent. But honestly, the talent in Southern CA. is mostly concentrated in 3-4 programs each year. Those programs have the huge SoCal talent base to scour and find many quality players.
When one looks at Texas, there are TLU, Trinity, HSU, McMurry, UTT, UTD, Dallas, Concordia and then Hendrix, Rhodes, Millsaps and others are also recruiting Texas for their players.
Personally, I believe the quality of competitive play in Texas is terrific because the talent is so widely dispersed. I have little doubt that if it were not, and were more concentrated, Wisconsin would be more regularly achievable.
To my thinking, there is the additional issue that the West Region is made up of 5-6 teams ranked in the top 30, as has happened the last several years and more than a few regions have 1 or none similarly ranked.
Taking nothing away from those who earn the right to play there following the procedures which apply in DIII, but Appleton isn't always the 8 best teams.
Appleton isn't Omaha. The process by which teams get placed in a region to get there is one important reason.
Writing about talent being spread around...SOCAL has the 8 SCIAC teams plus Chapman, it has USC, UCLA, UCIrvine, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Riverside, USD, San Diego State, UCSD to name a few. Also a full conference of NAIA teams including, Concordia, Biola, The Masters, Pt Loma, Cal State San Marcos, USD, and San Diego State. Then add in the rest of the D2 programs throughout the area. Oh, and let's not forget all of the JC's. Probably 30 or so in the area. I would say that the talent is diluted. The driving distance between these schools would not even demand an overnight stay.
Regarding quality of student (grades), the mix of schools involved is across the board. If a student is below average and a good athlete, they will have a full doorstep of recruiters, like-wise for the scholar athlete. Competition is fierce, to put it mildly. SCIAC schools are not allowed to recruit off campus.
PS- I would be iinterested in reading some comments from other areas.
Another factor to consider is the number of good athletes that get recruited to play another sport that they also played iin high school, and have dropped out of playing a conventional sport.
Just my observation.
Quote from: dahlby on May 25, 2011, 03:13:00 PM
Writing about talent being spread around...SOCAL has the 8 SCIAC teams plus Chapman, it has USC, UCLA, UCIrvine, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Riverside, USD, San Diego State, UCSD to name a few. Also a full conference of NAIA teams including, Concordia, Biola, The Masters, Pt Loma, Cal State San Marcos, USD, and San Diego State. Then add in the rest of the D2 programs throughout the area. Oh, and let's not forget all of the JC's. Probably 30 or so in the area. I would say that the talent is diluted. The driving distance between these schools would not even demand an overnight stay.
dahlby,
I have absolutely no disagreement with most of what you have posted in this paragraph.
Rather, I completely agree with most all of it, except the "talent" is diluted conclusion. Maybe we are comparing "diluted" in a California sense vs diluted in a Texas sense.
While I don't have comparative numbers, I would venture a guess that Texas has more total programs at the DI, DII and NAIA and JC levels than CA.
But that really isn't my point.
My point is CA., for the number of openings each year in its colleges at all levels, has an overabundance of talented players for the slots which open.
Texas on the other hand, has a lot of talent, but not nearly the surplus, for scholarship slots open each year in college baseball. It is even more complex in Texas because many of their JC programs are scholarships schools which we know does not exist in CA.
What I am offering isn't a singular belief and it certainly isn't offered to try and lower the quality of achievement at schools like Chapman, Redlands, Linfield, George Fox and the like. I don't doubt that coaches at a school like Chapman work very hard to find players like Rauh and others. But they don't have far to look and they sure have plenty of supply when it comes to looking.
Every year I talk with coaches who come to the Stanford All Star camp. Plenty of them are DIII coaches. They are there to identify DI caliber players who fall through the cracks in CA. Plenty of coaches at that Camp, and the number is around 80 or so, will confirm the above. They find the DI players who might slip because of the limited openings in CA. and recruit the heck out of them once they know the NLI time passed, the player didn't sign, and they can confirm DIII has now become a viable option.
infielddad:
I agree with you. We were going the same direction, just different roads.
Plus K for the explanation.
My sources say:
SCAC: Trinity, Southwestern, Austin, Dallas, Colorado (And some schools that will be annouced soon)
Other conference...possibly called the CAC (which is the old name of the SCAC)
Centre, Sewanee, Rhodes, BSC, Oglethorpe, Millsaps, Hendrix, Berry
You would think they would add 2 more schools for football.
Come on over to the SCAC football board, Lou, and anyone else who wants to discuss this topic. That's where the largest discussion seems to be happening.
+1 for your sources. :)
Any current news on the realignment or potential new schools?
No news on the new SCAC, but wanted to share that former Austin College standout shortstop Andy White is playing for the Normal CornBelters of the Independent League, and last night went 2-for-5 and is going to be starting at short the rest of the season. Great news for Andy, who is still pursuing the dream of getting an invite to spring training next year.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on August 24, 2011, 03:45:14 PM
Any current news on the realignment or potential new schools?
Take a look at the d3sports site for some information on the new conference name for the Break away schools:
http://www.d3sports.com/notables/2011/08/new-southern-conference-picks-a-name
Thanks don't really care what the programs are doing once they leave, ;). Interested in who may be coming in...
We have one more season of the SCAC as we know it now.
This has been a great board, so come back in January!
I guess I don't need to wait until January. Centenary is joining SCAC, which looks like the first to start to fill out the conference after next year. On the surface looks like a nice add.
http://www.scacsports.com/news/centenary_joins_scac
In 2012 What part of the SCAC is part of the West Region for Baseball ?
I believe there is no change this year. Changes come next year. Last years standings below.
http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/standings-division
Quote from: 108 Stitches on September 28, 2011, 10:08:34 PM
I believe there is no change this year. Changes come next year. Last years standings below.
http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/standings-division
Thanks.
The last few years Trinity, TX and Hendrix have made it to the West Regional. So 2012 we will continue to see a SCAC member for baseball in the West Regional.
CDD3,
I am all for an SCAC team competing in the West Regional, especially an SCAC West division team, with the AQ spot, not a Pool C.
However, since the divisions for 2012 are the same as 2011, and many may pick BSC over TU or Millsaps, at least in the pre-season, having BSC as the AQ would place them out of the West Region as would having Millsaps earn the AQ spot.
Quote from: infielddad on September 29, 2011, 01:28:04 PM
CDD3,
I am all for an SCAC team competing in the West Regional, especially an SCAC West division team, with the AQ spot, not a Pool C.
However, since the divisions for 2012 are the same as 2011, and many may pick BSC over TU or Millsaps, at least in the pre-season, having BSC as the AQ would place them out of the West Region as would having Millsaps earn the AQ spot.
Not all teams in the SCAC are in the West Region. These are the teams from 2011
West Region Teams
School Location Conference Austin Sherman, TX SCAC
Hendrix Conway, AR SCAC
Southwestern Georgetown, TX SCAC
Trinity (Texas) San Antonio, TX SCAC
See list of West Region Teams at this Link
http://d3baseball.com/teams/region/west
I completely agree with you on the divisions for 2012..
I was addressing this comment:
"So 2012 we will continue to see a SCAC member for baseball in the West Regional."
Are you forecasting that either Trinity or Hendrix will win the SCAC tournament and AQ?
If a team like BSC or Millsaps(from the West) wins the SCAC, they would likely head to the South regional and an SCAC 2nd berth from the West could only be in the West Regional as a Pool C.
Trinity really lost a lot of high quality players. Of course they have quality returning and Coach Scannell is as good at there is at recruiting freshman who can play and compete at a high level.
My guess is that come January, BSC and Millsaps will be the pre-season favorites, which was the "kiss" of failure until the recent string of Trinity success at the SCAC's.
Quote from: infielddad on September 29, 2011, 05:14:27 PM
I completely agree with you on the divisions for 2012..
I was addressing this comment:
"So 2012 we will continue to see a SCAC member for baseball in the West Regional."
Are you forecasting that either Trinity or Hendrix will win the SCAC tournament and AQ?
If a team like BSC or Millsaps(from the West) wins the SCAC, they would likely head to the South regional and an SCAC 2nd berth from the West could only be in the West Regional as a Pool C.
Trinity really lost a lot of high quality players. Of course they have quality returning and Coach Scannell is as good at there is at recruiting freshman who can play and compete at a high level.
My guess is that come January, BSC and Millsaps will be the pre-season favorites, which was the "kiss" of failure until the recent string of Trinity success at the SCAC's.
Would BSC or Millsaps be sent to the West Region as Pool A or Pool C.
Both are not teams in the West Region. Both are South Region Teams. Would they both not go to the South Regional
The West Regional playoffs has not had a team from another region sent to the West Region. If it has it would have to more than 6 years ago if ever. In recent history a West Region team was sent to another Regional and 2 West Region teams won their regional playoffs and went to Appleton, WI for the National Championship Round
Would BSC or Millsaps be sent to the West Region as Pool A or Pool C.
Highly unlikely; the travel requirements of bringing any team west makes it cost ineffective (but not imposible however).
Would BSC or Millsaps be sent to the West Region as Pool A or Pool C.
CDD3, I would agree with ILVBB about the economic aspects.
I think it is equally unlikely from a competitive aspect.
For the past several years, the West Region has been overloaded with talented/ranked teams. I believe there have been at least 2-3 years where every team in the West Region was ranked in the top 30 entering post-season play. As a result, the norm has been either to send a West Region team elsewhere or a very good team goes home and does not qualify for a Pool C.
Just for clarification...Millsaps is not in the SCAC West in 2012. They have moved to the SCAC East to replace DePauw.
Please remember UDallas
Quote from: CDD3 on September 29, 2011, 05:05:57 PM
Quote from: infielddad on September 29, 2011, 01:28:04 PM
CDD3,
I am all for an SCAC team competing in the West Regional, especially an SCAC West division team, with the AQ spot, not a Pool C.
However, since the divisions for 2012 are the same as 2011, and many may pick BSC over TU or Millsaps, at least in the pre-season, having BSC as the AQ would place them out of the West Region as would having Millsaps earn the AQ spot.
Not all teams in the SCAC are in the West Region. These are the teams from 2011
West Region Teams
School Location Conference
Austin Sherman, TX SCAC
Hendrix Conway, AR SCAC
Southwestern Georgetown, TX SCAC
Trinity (Texas) San Antonio, TX SCAC
UDallas, Irving, TX SCAC
See list of West Region Teams at this Link
http://d3baseball.com/teams/region/west
Quote from: ILVBB on September 29, 2011, 08:42:50 PM
Would BSC or Millsaps be sent to the West Region as Pool A or Pool C.
Highly unlikely; the travel requirements of bringing any team west makes it cost ineffective (but not imposible however).
Mississippi College was flown west to Linfield, but once a team needs to fly to a venue, then it can be flown anywhere.
I believe (correct me if I am wrong) that Mississippi was a west region school. The original question was if BSC or Millsaps would be sent to a west region. The are both southern region schools.
Given the cost of flying the NCAA really only flys teams that must. It is inevitable that at least 3 teams will need to fly to a west region (until the change the alignment, which I think is a year away).
My point was addressed to the question of flying a Millsaps or BSC which I thought was highly unlikely because of cost.
Quote from: ILVBB on October 24, 2011, 10:17:12 PM
I believe (correct me if I am wrong) that Mississippi was a west region school. The original question was if BSC or Millsaps would be sent to a west region. The are both southern region schools.
Given the cost of flying the NCAA really only flys teams that must. It is inevitable that at least 3 teams will need to fly to a west region (until the change the alignment, which I think is a year away).
My point was addressed to the question of flying a Millsaps or BSC which I thought was highly unlikely because of cost.
True. +1!
The South Region can always use extra teams to fill the bracket.
With strong baseball programs, including Trinity moving back to Pool B in 2013, there will be another Pool B team in the West Region.
And to think that we thought Pool B was going away in the West Region with Chapman and UDallas joining conferences...
Ralph,
I don't want to seem too dense, but won't Trinity (or whoever wins the "new" SCAC) in 2013 still be pool A?
Assuming of course they add one more member to get to 7. IE they have Centenary now which gets them to 6.
I am new to the whole scene here but so maybe I am missing something.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on October 26, 2011, 06:58:04 PM
Ralph,
I don't want to seem too dense, but won't Trinity (or whoever wins the "new" SCAC) in 2013 still be pool A?
Assuming of course they add one more member to get to 7. IE they have Centenary now which gets them to 6.
I am new to the whole scene here but so maybe I am missing something.
Great question,
I think that SCAC may keep their bid if they have 4 core members (TU, SU, AC and UD) playing ball in 2013 and possibly 2014.
Centenary is not a full member until 2014-15. I think that the conference may have until July 2014 to keep the AQ.
By then, I think that they need two more full members, because Colorado College does not sponsor D-III women's soccer and baseball and softball.
It is my understanding that they are looking at add enough additional schools to solidify the conference and to keep their AQ. Football looks to be problematic...at least for Trinity anyway.
I am not sure if it makes any difference but CC does have a womens soccer program. No baseball or softball.
CC's woman's soccer is D1 to offset their hockey program for title 9 compliance.
Tigers Prepare for Fall World Series Battle
San Antonio, TX- The Tigers will wrap-up their competitive fall season with the annual Maroon-White Fall World Series, starting Thursday, November 9th. The showdown will pit the Tigers against one another in a two team, best-of-five series to determine who has off-season "bragging rights".
The Maroon Squad is led by 2-time All-West Region Outfielder Nick Pappas (Sr., Los Angeles, Ca/Loyola) and Utility Superstar Jonathan Hall (Jr., Kenilworth, IL/New Trier). The Maroon Teams pitching staff is highlighted by Junior LHP Ryan Lucero (Aurora, CO/Grandview) and RHP Franklin Bay (Jr., Houston, TX/Strake Jesuit). Freshman Zack Speer (Houston, TX/Episcopal) will also be starting for the Maroon Team, making his FWS debut for the Tigers.
The White Team is anchored up the middle by SCAC Freshman of the Year Christian Muscarello (So., Tucson, AZ/Catalina Foothills), as well as 2B Nick Iacovella (So., Tampa, FL/Jesuit). White will also feature OF newcomers Pat Hirschberg (So., Parker, CO/Chaparral HS/ University of Nebraska) and Nick Griffith (Fr., Ventura, CA/Ventura). On the mound, the White Squad will be highlighted by the reigning SCAC Pitcher of the Year, Ben Klimesh (Sr., Willamette, IL/New Trier) as well as RHP Michael Bentz (Jr., Houston, TX/Memorial).
First pitch of the weekend will be 4pm on Thursday, followed by 5pm Friday, a Doubleheader Saturday starting at 2pm, and concluding Sunday at 1pm. Fans are welcome to come to the games and admission is free.
ROSTERS:
MAROON:
Name Class State WHITE: Class State
C-Kelly Woodruff Jr. GA C- Chris Bianchi SO CA
C-Beau Attyah So. CA C-Pat Frasier Jr. TX
1B-Jon Hall Jr. IL 1B- Will Donnas Jr. TX
2B-Kevin Clements Jr. CA 2B- Nick Iacovella So. FL
SS-Andres Leyva Fr. CA SS-Christian Muscarello So. AZ.
3B-Kevin Franke Jr. CA 3B-Jules Cronk So. OK
OF-Nick Pappas Sr. IL OF- Pat Hirschberg So. CO
OF-Ryan Schweers So. TX OF-Nick Griffith Fr. CA
OF-Dom Robusto Sr. CA OF-Shane Daykin Fr. MI
UTIL-Tim Stanton Sr. WA UTIL-George Geiger Fr. DC
STARTING PITCHERS:
MAROON: WHITE:
RHP Franklin Bay Jr. TX RHP Michael Bentz Jr. TX
RHP Tanner Barron Jr. TX RHP Ben Klimesh Sr. IL
LHP Ryan Lucero Jr. CO LHP Matt Abrahams So. TX
RHP Zack Speer Fr. TX RHP Nick Griffith Fr. CA
RHP Carter Lauck So. TX LHP Chris Garagiola Fr. AZ
RHP Weston Haaf Sr. TX RHP William Wells So. TX
RHP Brandon Spriggs Sr. TX RHP Alex Herz Jr. CO
PITCHING SCHEDULE:
Game 1: Thursday, November 10, 2011. 4pm
Bay vs. Bentz
Game 2: Friday, November 11, 2011. 5pm Start
Klimesh vs. Barron
Game 3/4: Saturday, November 12, 2011. 2pm start (Doubleheader)
Lucero v Abrahams
Griffith v Speer
Game 5: Sunday, November 13, 2011. 1pm start.
Lauck vs. Garagiola
Any report on the Fall WS in San Antonio? Not many seniors on that roster.
Any prognosticators ready to take a early stab at the 2012 SCAC favorites?
I did not get to any of the games so this is second hand. The Maroon team won, but I have not seen anything posted as far as the details yet. My son tells me "this Trinity team can rake", which is interesting since they lost some big bats last year. They have a transfer and some pretty good looking freshmen that are going to contribute according to my son.
I asked him how it compared to last years team and he said he had no idea. Pitching should be solid with two solid starters in place, another one TBD from the returning crew and possibly a freshmen stepping up. Scannell knows how to recruit and seems to bring in freshmen who contribute right away so they will be competitive. They will be playing Chapman at home for a three game series so this weekend will probably determine how good or not they will be.
Millsaps moves to the Eastern division, so my guess is that Trinity will win the west and run into a Millsaps or Birmingham Southern a buzz saw in Memphis. Probably two of those three teams will move on to the regional.
I am new to the SCAC so this pretty much a wild a$$ guess. Your thoughts?
Quote from: 108 Stitches on November 17, 2011, 01:06:17 PM
I did not get to any of the games so this is second hand. The Maroon team won, but I have not seen anything posted as far as the details yet. My son tells me "this Trinity team can rake", which is interesting since they lost some big bats last year. They have a transfer and some pretty good looking freshmen that are going to contribute according to my son.
I asked him how it compared to last years team and he said he had no idea. Pitching should be solid with two solid starters in place, another one TBD from the returning crew and possibly a freshmen stepping up. Scannell knows how to recruit and seems to bring in freshmen who contribute right away so they will be competitive. They will be playing Chapman at home for a three game series so this weekend will probably determine how good or not they will be.
Millsaps moves to the Eastern division, so my guess is that Trinity will win the west and run into a Millsaps or Birmingham Southern a buzz saw in Memphis. Probably two of those three teams will move on to the regional.
I am new to the SCAC so this pretty much a wild a$$ guess. Your thoughts?
I was happy to see the post, as I work my way around the boards because this time of the year is soo boring! At least you guys are having discussions. Most of the other areas are silent.
When I saw someone mention Jon Hall, I went to the Trinity site and sure enough it was the same Jonathan Hall I remember. My son (now playing out East) played against Hall since they were 9 years old in travel ball as well as Colt, Legion and then played against him (and Klimesh) in high school, as New Trier was in our conference. New Trier won our state 4A championship their senior year. I was planning a business trip to San Antonio in January but will now wait until February so I can cacth a game or 2 while I am there.
It is a small baseball world.
Their official schedule is not out yet but unofficially they will be home on Feb 4/5, away in Austin at Concordia the 11/12th. They have a mid week series against Centenary the 14/15th. (These will be a good game as Centenary is dropping down to DIII next year and will be in the SCAC.) Then they are away. Another great series will be against Chapman on March 2,3,4th. All these games are up on the other teams sites so I am pretty sure they are accurate.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on November 17, 2011, 06:32:13 PM
It is a small baseball world.
Their official schedule is not out yet but unofficially they will be home on Feb 4/5, away in Austin at Concordia the 11/12th. They have a mid week series against Centenary the 14/15th. (These will be a good game as Centenary is dropping down to DIII next year and will be in the SCAC.) Then they are away. Another great series will be against Chapman on March 2,3,4th. All these games are up on the other teams sites so I am pretty sure they are accurate.
108 stitches - Thanks! Actually, I'll ignore the bitter Chicago area winter as long as I can because I'd love to catch the Chapman series, hoping that Rauh would pitch. After reading about him tha past 2 years, I'd love to see him pitch. I never did hear anything else about what happened to him at the D3 WS when he left the game early due to, I think, elbow pain. Yep, that would be the series to attend! I just don't know if I can stay put that long!
Welcome the the boards, 108.
Centenary is actually in year-2 of the 4-year move to D-III. They are in the ASC this season, before their move to the SCAC.
Thanks Ralph looking forward to talking baseball.
RE: Centenary, I saw that they were in the ASC this year. Last year they were D1 if I am not mistaken. I will go back and look at the press release, but for some reason I remember reading that they would be eligible for the tournament next year, but I may be wrong. I took a quick look at their schedule and I see that they have a three midweek games scheduled against Trinity. I would imagine they lost some kids who transferred, due to the move, but I would think they would be a solid competitor this year.
BBfan: I will be at the Chapman games, if you come we could put a face to a "name".
Quote from: 108 Stitches on November 18, 2011, 10:48:22 AM
Thanks Ralph looking forward to talking baseball.
RE: Centenary, I saw that they were in the ASC this year. Last year they were D1 if I am not mistaken. I will go back and look at the press release, but for some reason I remember reading that they would be eligible for the tournament next year, but I may be wrong. I took a quick look at their schedule and I see that they have a three midweek games scheduled against Trinity. I would imagine they lost some kids who transferred, due to the move, but I would think they would be a solid competitor this year.
BBfan: I will be at the Chapman games, if you come we could put a face to a "name".
108 stitches - I'll do my best to be there!
Whatever Centenary can do in the SCAC in 2012-13 is for the SCAC to decide. Their games will count as in-region contests, nor will they eligible for the NCAA tourney. Centenary games are not counting in the ASC standings this season.
I went back to the press release and looked at it and I cut some of it out at pasted it below. At least in the press release it looks like they will be eligible for the NCAA tournament. I am no means knowledgeable in this stuff but at least according to their release they will be eligible.
---------------------------------
"The move to SCAC is about optimizing the experience of our student-athletes," said Centenary College president David Rowe. "One of the great advantages of the move is the ability of our athletes to compete in post-season play next year and be immediately eligible for conference awards and records. This is something not available to us in our current conference because of our reclassifying status."
Centenary College will become the sixth member of the SCAC in 2012-13 as it joins fellow Associated Colleges of the South institutions Trinity University and Southwestern University as well as Austin College, Colorado College and the University of Dallas.
Might "post season play" refer to the SCAC tournament and not the NCAA tournament?
Quote from: 108 Stitches on November 21, 2011, 12:46:45 PM
I went back to the press release and looked at it and I cut some of it out at pasted it below. At least in the press release it looks like they will be eligible for the NCAA tournament. I am no means knowledgeable in this stuff but at least according to their release they will be eligible.
---------------------------------
"The move to SCAC is about optimizing the experience of our student-athletes," said Centenary College president David Rowe. "One of the great advantages of the move is the ability of our athletes to compete in post-season play next year and be immediately eligible for conference awards and records. This is something not available to us in our current conference because of our reclassifying status."
Centenary College will become the sixth member of the SCAC in 2012-13 as it joins fellow Associated Colleges of the South institutions Trinity University and Southwestern University as well as Austin College, Colorado College and the University of Dallas.
I do not believe Centenary College is NOT eligible for NCAA post season play for the National Championship.
Institutions must successfully complete year four of the provisional/reclassifying process, before they can be accepted as active Division III members. This why Birmingham Southern has not been eligible for post season in baseball. In 2011 Birmingham-Southern, in its fourth year of provisional membership in Division III, was not eligible for NCAA postseason play. In 2012 it will be.
Quote from: CDD3 on November 21, 2011, 02:36:47 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on November 21, 2011, 12:46:45 PM
I went back to the press release and looked at it and I cut some of it out at pasted it below. At least in the press release it looks like they will be eligible for the NCAA tournament. I am no means knowledgeable in this stuff but at least according to their release they will be eligible.
---------------------------------
"The move to SCAC is about optimizing the experience of our student-athletes," said Centenary College president David Rowe. "One of the great advantages of the move is the ability of our athletes to compete in post-season play next year and be immediately eligible for conference awards and records. This is something not available to us in our current conference because of our reclassifying status."
Centenary College will become the sixth member of the SCAC in 2012-13 as it joins fellow Associated Colleges of the South institutions Trinity University and Southwestern University as well as Austin College, Colorado College and the University of Dallas.
I do not believe Centenary College is NOT eligible for NCAA post season play for the National Championship.
Institutions must successfully complete year four of the provisional/reclassifying process, before they can be accepted as active Division III members. This why Birmingham Southern has not been eligible for post season in baseball. In 2011 Birmingham-Southern, in its fourth year of provisional membership in Division III, was not eligible for NCAA postseason play. In 2012 it will be.
Sorry CDD3 but I am confused. The double negative means they are eligible? Was that what you intended?
No, Centenary is not eligible for the NCAA post season tournament until they finish the provisional period, in July 2014. They will be voted to full membership at that time, if they have completed the requirements to re-classify.
Game against them shall be considered as in region beginning in 2012-13.
I am firmly convinced of this and welcome a correction of my statements.
Quote from: Bishopleftiesdad on November 21, 2011, 04:06:44 PM
Quote from: CDD3 on November 21, 2011, 02:36:47 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on November 21, 2011, 12:46:45 PM
I went back to the press release and looked at it and I cut some of it out at pasted it below. At least in the press release it looks like they will be eligible for the NCAA tournament. I am no means knowledgeable in this stuff but at least according to their release they will be eligible.
---------------------------------
"The move to SCAC is about optimizing the experience of our student-athletes," said Centenary College president David Rowe. "One of the great advantages of the move is the ability of our athletes to compete in post-season play next year and be immediately eligible for conference awards and records. This is something not available to us in our current conference because of our reclassifying status."
Centenary College will become the sixth member of the SCAC in 2012-13 as it joins fellow Associated Colleges of the South institutions Trinity University and Southwestern University as well as Austin College, Colorado College and the University of Dallas.
I do not believe Centenary College is NOT eligible for NCAA post season play for the National Championship.
Institutions must successfully complete year four of the provisional/reclassifying process, before they can be accepted as active Division III members. This why Birmingham Southern has not been eligible for post season in baseball. In 2011 Birmingham-Southern, in its fourth year of provisional membership in Division III, was not eligible for NCAA postseason play. In 2012 it will be.
Sorry CDD3 but I am confused. The double negative means they are eligible? Was that what you intended?
Yep another mistake by the 50+ plus guy. Brain and eyes dont work like they used to
QuoteYep another mistake by the 50+ plus guy. Brain and eyes dont work like they used to.
Don't worry scc3 in a few months I will be right up there with ya.
I understand the SCAC this year with the East and West orientation with Millsaps going to the East and Univ Dallas coming into their West slot. As I understand it for 2013 it will be Trinity, S.Western, Austin, ColoradoC , Univ Dallas, and Centenary, however CC does not have a baseball program. So this gives them 5 teams for 2013 as of now. How long do they have to get to 6 teams to keep their AQ? Also any news on who the new adds might be?
Quote from: 108 Stitches on December 06, 2011, 12:19:01 PM
I understand the SCAC this year with the East and West orientation with Millsaps going to the East and Univ Dallas coming into their West slot. As I understand it for 2013 it will be Trinity, S.Western, Austin, ColoradoC , Univ Dallas, and Centenary, however CC does not have a baseball program. So this gives them 5 teams for 2013 as of now. How long do they have to get to 6 teams to keep their AQ? Also any news on who the new adds might be?
I believe that they have 2 years (roughly til July 31, 2014) to find 2 more affiliates.
Centenary technically does not count in 2013 or probably 2014. They will need to have 7 full NCAA members, including at least 4 full members and 3 more affiliates to get to 7.
Trinity released their schedule today:
Chapman coming in for a 3 game series as well as Centenary for a mid-week 3 gamer.
Date Opponent Notes Result Time/Status
Sat Feb. 4 Schreiner 1:00 PM
Schreiner 4:00 PM
Sun Feb. 5 Schreiner 1:00 PM
Fri Feb. 10 Howard Payne 1:00 PM
Sat Feb. 11 Louisiana Col. 1:00 PM
at Concordia (TX) 7:00 PM
Tue Feb. 14 Centenary (La.) 4:00 PM
Centenary (La.) 7:00 PM
Wed Feb. 15 Centenary (La.) 12:00 PM
Sat Feb. 18 Hendrix * 1:00 PM
Sun Feb. 19 Hendrix * 1:00 PM
Tue Feb. 21 at Mary Hardin-Baylor 3:00 PM
Sat Feb. 25 at Dallas * 1:00 PM
Sun Feb. 26 at Dallas * 1:00 PM
Fri Mar. 2 Chapman 9:00 PM
Sat Mar. 3 Chapman 3:00 PM
Sun Mar. 4 Chapman 2:00 PM
Tue Mar. 6 Cardinal Stritch 7:00 PM
Thu Mar. 8 DeSales 7:00 PM
Sat Mar. 10 Southwestern (Tex.) 1:00 PM
Sun Mar. 11 Southwestern (Tex.) 1:00 PM
Sat Mar. 17 at Austin * 1:00 PM
Sun Mar. 18 at Austin * 1:00 PM
Sat Mar. 24 Dallas 1:00 PM
Dallas * 4:00 PM
Sun Mar. 25 Dallas * 1:00 PM
Tue Mar. 27 Mary Hardin-Baylor 7:00 PM
Tue Apr. 3 at Hardin-Simmons 1:00 PM
at Hardin-Simmons 4:00 PM
Sat Apr. 7 at Southwestern (Tex.) 1:00 PM
at Southwestern (Tex.) 4:00 PM
Sun Apr. 8 at Southwestern (Tex.) 1:00 PM
Tue Apr. 10 Texas Lutheran 7:00 PM
Sat Apr. 14 at Hendrix * 1:00 PM
at Hendrix * 4:00 PM
Sun Apr. 15 at Hendrix * 1:00 PM
Tue Apr. 17 at Schreiner 1:00 PM
Sat Apr. 21 Austin * 1:00 PM
Austin * 4:00 PM
Sun Apr. 22 Austin * 1:00 PM
Conf tournament April 25-29th
2012 SCAC Schedule Link (http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/schedule)
Started a new thread for 2012. Last season as we know it for the SCAC.
OK I thought I would kick off something for the SCAC baseball for 2012 and I am going to start with series that will give us an idea on what the SCAC is going to look like this year.
First up TU at Dallas Feb 25/26
Early look at both teams against two potentially strong teams in the West and see how they look after both loosing some key Sr's. Have they backfilled and where are their weaknesses.
March 2-3 Chapman at TU.
Powerhouse West program coming into TU. Going to say a lot about both teams that potentially may face each other in the West regtional.
March 7th
Bsouthern @ Millsaps
Midweek tease on how the SCAC East might turn out. Can Millsaps step up the BS?
March 22th. Rhodes @ B. Southern
Can Rhodes program step up to challenge the SCAC East power for 2012?
March 24/25 Dallas at TU
Will likely decide SCAC West.
April 21-22
Millsaps @ B. Southern.
Potentially the deciding weekend in the SCAC East.
I am sure I have missed some things and programs, but after a quick look at the schedules to start the discussion. Looks like the story lines will be 1) can Dallas step up and challenge TU in the West 2) Can Millsaps challenge BS in the East. 3) Can Rhodes move into one of the upper echelon programs in the SCAC East (and new conference in 2013)
Quote from: 108 Stitches on January 22, 2012, 12:19:34 PM
Started a new thread for 2012. Last season as we know it for the SCAC.
OK I thought I would kick off something for the SCAC baseball for 2012 and I am going to start with series that will give us an idea on what the SCAC is going to look like this year.
First up TU at Dallas Feb 25/26
Early look at both teams against two potentially strong teams in the West and see how they look after both loosing some key Sr's. Have they backfilled and where are their weaknesses.
March 2-3 Chapman at TU.
Powerhouse West program coming into TU. Going to say a lot about both teams that potentially may face each other in the West regtional.
March 7th
Bsouthern @ Millsaps
Midweek tease on how the SCAC East might turn out. Can Millsaps step up the BS?
March 22th. Rhodes @ B. Southern
Can Rhodes program step up to challenge the SCAC East power for 2012?
March 24/25 Dallas at TU
Will likely decide SCAC West.
April 21-22
Millsaps @ B. Southern.
Potentially the deciding weekend in the SCAC East.
I am sure I have missed some things and programs, but after a quick look at the schedules to start the discussion. Looks like the story lines will be 1) can Dallas step up and challenge TU in the West 2) Can Millsaps challenge BS in the East. 3) Can Rhodes move into one of the upper echelon programs in the SCAC East (and new conference in 2013)
Is Birmingham Southern finally eligible for post-season play in 2012? Would they be in the South Regional?
If so, and they play up to their expectations, the South Regional will likely become very competitive at season's end, with Birmingham Southern battling it out with potential teams like CNU, Shenandoah, Salisbury, Piedmont, etc.
They are eligible. Not sure if they go South or West. I am thinking they might like to go north..... but, well that's not happening...
Schreiner joins SCAC.
Completes what is needed to keep the automatic bid.
http://scacsports.com/news/schreiner_joins_scac
Also in preseseason poll Birmingham-Southern and Trinity named in top 25.
http://www.d3baseball.com/top25/2012/2012week-0
Trinity selected in coaches poll to win SCAC.
http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/preseason_poll
Details.
http://static.psbin.com/q/k/90jse47fvwrqu2/2012baseballpoof.pdf
I find it interesting that Rhodes and Millsaps were projected to finish ahead of Birmingham-Southern as neither is ranked in the D3 preseason poll. I think Rhodes has a chance to step up this year, Millsaps always has a strong program. I also think that U of Dallas may surprise a few people this year in the SCAC.
SCAC West Team Previews and information
(including 2013 teams)
I am new to the SCAC so my comments are only based on what I have read and heard from a few others....so take this accordingly. Based on the lack of posting in this section of the D3baseball I am probably talking to myself, but that has not stopped me before, so here goes.
First impressions.
BSC is going to be one hellava team next year if they are ranked by D3baseball with only two Sr's and 15 freshmen. I have heard they are supposed to be good but the coaching poll has them at third in the eastern. Coaches seem to be at odds with the D3baseball brain trust. What am I missing?
Will Rhodes step up this year? Seems like they are a team on the rise, but can they establish themselves as an elite team? Based on the coaches' poll, some think they will this year. Their roster looks like a nice blend of players based on class. Great looking field at least from the Internet pictures.
I have been told Millsaps always produces competitive teams. This year may well depend on how the 11 Jr's developed over the summer. Can they step it up this year or is next year their year?
Last year the University of Dallas took the series from a number of competitive teams and I was told their pitching looked very good. Now that they are in the conference it will be interesting to see if they can continue with this success facing the top pitchers in the conference as opposed to facing non-conference pitching. They will be one team to watch IMO.
Hendrix returns a good part of their team from last year and will be looking to improve enough to challenge for the Western Division. Will the pitching match the hitting and will the team come together to take on Trinity ?
Trinity has a strong balanced team deep in pitching and position players and should be favored to win the SCAC again, but will their team come together and perform? Will they be able to take the next step and break though to Appleton?. The three games with Chapman in early March might give some indication to this.
For Sewanee, Southwestern, Austin College and Oglethorpe.....hope springs eternal.
Side stories. Centenary comes into the SCAC next year, and opens against Hendrix and plays a midweek three game series vs Trinity so we will get a little bit of a preview to next year in these 6 early season games.
Team sites, information and previews.
Austin College
Team site.
http://www.austincollege.edu/athletics/baseball/
Birmingham-Southern
News and information on team.
http://www.bscsports.net/sports/bsb/2011-12/news
University of Dallas
Post season review.
http://www.udallasathletics.com/sports/bsb/2010-11/releases/2011_Baseball_Season_Recap
Hendrix
Season preview
http://www.hendrix.edu/athletics/news.aspx?id=58009&sid=22030
Millsaps
News and information
http://gomajors.com/index.aspx?path=baseball&tab=baseball
Olgethorpe
Baseball site and news
http://www.gopetrels.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/news
Rhodes
Baseball site and news
http://www.rhodeslynx.com/index.aspx?path=baseball
Southwestern
Preview
http://southwesternpirates.com/sports/m-basebl/2011-12/releases/20120126ea1r04
Sewanee
Baseball site and news
http://sewaneetigers.com/index.aspx?path=baseball&
Trinity University
Season Preview
http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/preview-recap
Centenary
(2013)
Blog on the bump with Cole Thompson.
http://www.gocentenary.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=89607&SPID=10692&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205367243&DB_OEM_ID=17900
Schreiner
(2013)
Team site
http://athletics.schreiner.edu/baseball/default.htm
SCAC week one recap.
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/week_one_recap
Millsaps gives up 3 in the top of the 9th, scores 4 in the bottom of the 9th for an 8-7 victory over Belhaven University (5-2), the #15 team in the NAIA rankings. Millsaps used 8 pitchers, most of those pitchers are new to the team this year.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on November 18, 2011, 10:48:22 AM
Thanks Ralph looking forward to talking baseball.
RE: Centenary, I saw that they were in the ASC this year. Last year they were D1 if I am not mistaken. I will go back and look at the press release, but for some reason I remember reading that they would be eligible for the tournament next year, but I may be wrong. I took a quick look at their schedule and I see that they have a three midweek games scheduled against Trinity. I would imagine they lost some kids who transferred, due to the move, but I would think they would be a solid competitor this year.
BBfan: I will be at the Chapman games, if you come we could put a face to a "name".
108Stitches - I will be at the Trinity-Chapman games of 3/1 & 3/2. I have a business trip and decided to stay and see the 2 games. I'll be the guy in the UR baseball shirt.
Will come find you. Going to be quite a crowd I think.
Second straight shutout today for the Trinity pitching staff as Ben Klimesh held Louisiana College to five hits, one walk, and recorded 13 K's in a nine-inning, 1-0 complete game. Yesterday saw Josh Fink hold Howard Payne to a single hit in eight innings as the Tigers won, 7-0, over Howard Payne. Fink allowed one walk and had nine strikeouts.
Trinity (4-0) and host Concordia (5-0) hook up tonight at 7pm in Austin. Too bad it's so dang cold here today, I hope nobody pulls a muscle tonight.
Millsaps went to 2-0 Friday night with an 11-3 win over the Ozarks. A freshman from Houston got the start and pitched 5 scoreless innings. A lot of newcomers have gotten a turn on the mound so far and they look like a promising group--too early to tell how they will do over the long haul. Wes Perkins is back as the starting catcher.
Millsaps has freshmen starters at 3rd and short and they remind me a lot of Will Hawkins and Hunter Abrams. Hopefully they will put up stats equal to those two over the next 4 years. Kevin Wall is out with an injury so the second base spot might rotate between several players for now. Andrew Evans is starting at 1st and is off to a good start with 5 rbi and 2 extra base hits.
Drew Leonard, last year's shortstop has moved to center and Jules Roussel returns in right. Left field might be a manned by committee situation to start off the season. In general, I see the Millsaps team as one with a lot of potential this year but one that has a lot of new pieces. One thing that will be very different is that Millsaps doesn't start conference play until March 22nd since they are now in the SCAC East. This might be a perfect year for such a late start of conference play.
This TV guy for Trinity is great. He just pulled out the line "I think that's...yep, thats a polar bear chasing a penguin down the right field line." Heck of a pitchers duel too.
It is early in the season; but you have to be impressed with Trinity's starting pitching. Three games over two days, 24 innings, 32 K's - 5 BB and 2 earned runs. Tonight they played in an igloo.
Conditions this weekend were very challenging, cold and windy. The CTX night had 34deg temps and 20MPH winds blowing in from LF, making it challenging for everyone and keeping the scores down. The Louisiana Col and Concordia vs Trinity games were two very good games with both ending with the tying run at third. Pitching for all three teams looked very good for so early in the season. It was a shame someone had to lose either of those games
Ben Klimesh SCAC pitcher of the week. Absolutely dominant 0.56 ERA, 16IP with 26 SO.
http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/02-13-12_klimesh_scac
Hopefully the coaches for TU and Chapman can schedule a Rau vs Klimesh game. Will be special!!
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 14, 2012, 12:20:19 PM
Ben Klimesh SCAC pitcher of the week. Absolutely dominant 0.56 ERA, 16IP with 26 SO.
http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/02-13-12_klimesh_scac
Hopefully the coaches for TU and Chapman can schedule a Rau vs Klimesh game. Will be special!!
Rauh vs Kilmesh could be a great regional preview.
The depth of Trinity on the mound will receive a huge challenge today and tomorrow.
After 3 tough games on Saturday and Sunday, they come back with a DH and single game tomorrow against what looks like a quality team from Centenary.
Quality innings by what could be 2 very good freshman for Trinity could add the depth which, too often, has been the issue in post season Regional competition. The weekend outing by Joshua Fink was also a big plus. Fink is 90 plus but had battled arm and control issues. One walk in 8 innings was a great start.
To back up BigPoppa, I would expect more than a few scouts and perhaps some cross checkers would attend a match up of Rauh and Klimesh.
Quote from: BigPoppa on February 14, 2012, 12:57:12 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 14, 2012, 12:20:19 PM
Ben Klimesh SCAC pitcher of the week. Absolutely dominant 0.56 ERA, 16IP with 26 SO.
http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/02-13-12_klimesh_scac (http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/02-13-12_klimesh_scac)
Hopefully the coaches for TU and Chapman can schedule a Rau vs Klimesh game. Will be special!!
Rauh vs Kilmesh could be a great regional preview. 8-)
Rauh is 2-0 0.64 ERA 14 IP 12 SO .120 O/BA
Klimesh is 2-0 0.56 ERA 16 IP 26 SO .182 O/BA
Trinity had a very tough DH yesterday.
Needed a walk off HR in each game to beat Centenary 6-4 in the 7 inning and 10-8 in extra innings in the nightcap. Centenary scored 4 in the top of the 9th to force extra innings in the 2nd game.
3rd game of the series is this afternoon and then Hendrix this weekend.
(El Tea Gray--re: Trinity Tiger Baseball starts 2012 Season 7-1)
I saw all three of the Trinity vs. Centenary games and IMHO hitting and pitching is way ahead of at least the past five seasons thru the first 8 games for Trinity.
Guess what? The Centenary starting lineup is loaded with Jr. and Sr. level players; these guys are from D1 Summit League Baseball and are really tough.
The fact that the Tigers won 2 out of 3 games in this series really says something about their team strength. Prediction: Trinity wins 2 of 3, maybe all 3 vs.Chapman.
:)
I also saw the three Cent/TU games. The Cent 2-3-4-5 hitters are absolute beasts, and as good as any DIII college anywhere IMO, and probably a lot of D1 schools. The Trinity team is very deep and won these games on their bull pen that had not seen a lot of innings. The two games were going into the W column for two freshmen pitchers until the back end of the pen gave the games back. (not at all being critical of the pen as the Gents have some huge bats....actually Klimesh gave up a late inning HR for the tie in one game)
It just shows how deep this pitching staff is when you 1-2-3 guys essentially threw an inning for their midweek bullpens for these games and the back end of the staff did all of the work.
It is going to be very tough getting innings on this team, but games like these will benifit this squad going into their league tournament and hopefully the regionals. Batting wise they are tough 1-9. Going to be a fun team to watch.
The SCAC just became a tougher and better baseball conference with the announcement that Texas Lutheran is joining.
I think this is a very nice addition geographically and the quality of competition, and it appears to assure the SCAC keeps its AQ in baseball.
Trinity takes two from Hendrix today, 7-2 (seven innings, scheduled) and 10-0 (seven innings, ten run rule or agreement to end early as game was scheduled for nine).
Ben Klimesh (4-0) goes the distance in the first game, allowing two earned and three hits while striking out nine and walking three. Kevin Clements had his second home run of the season and Kelly Woodruff, his first. Geoff Lomax (1-2) went the entire way for Hendrix, giving up only six hits but allowing seven earned runs.
Ryan Lucero (3-0) also went the distance in recording his first career shutout, holding the Warriors to three hits and striking out four. Christian Muscarello was two-of-three with his third HR of the year and five RBI. Thomas Weber (0-2) took the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) in two innings.
Millsaps takes three over the weekend in Ozarks. Simpson, Westminster, University of Ozarks
From an early read, it looks like the West will end up being Dallas and Trinity. We will find out how good Dallas is over the weekend when Trinity comes to town. Trinity's team is shaping up to be pretty formidable having faced some pretty good teams and coming through with a 9-1 record. Different from past years they have a very deep pitching staff. In addition they have excellent fielding and they can hit the ball. The biggest problem they have will be getting the bullpen some innings prior to the tournament as at least the number 1 & 2 starters are pitching great and are completing games. With as many arms as they have it will be difficult to spread the innings around. It looks like Dallas can hit, but it will be interesting to see what type of numbers they can put up when facing two of the best starters in the SCAC.
In the East, it looks too early to really know how the teams will shape up. Millsap and Rhodes look like they are playing pretty good ball and BSC looks like they are not quite playing up to their potential. It will likely be a dogfight between those three teams for the two spots from the East in the SCAC tournament, but we won't know how good Sewanee is until they face BSC in March.
Right now Trinity looks like the top team in the West Region at this time. Top yeams in SCIAC and NWC conferences have lost games to non ranked teams. Trinity/Chapman games in March will be a test to see how good Chapman and Trinity are and if they will meet up in the West Regional again.
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on February 20, 2012, 04:42:21 PM
Right now Trinity looks like the top team in the West Region at this time. Top yeams in SCIAC and NWC conferences have lost games to non ranked teams. Trinity/Chapman games in March will be a test to see how good Chapman and Trinity are and if they will meet up in the West Regional again.
I agree with 108 ... the series with UDallas is going to tell us a lot. If memory serves, UD beat Trinity last year just before the playoffs started (was it one or two ... it was two per the Trinity web site). UD has put at least nine runs on the board in six of their eight games. The only games they've struggled in were the three out in Alpine vs. Sul Ross (2-10). I do assume 108 means "SCAC West" ... not willing to write off any of the west coast teams this early in the season.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on February 20, 2012, 05:02:16 PM
I do assume 108 means "SCAC West" ... not willing to write off any of the west coast teams this early in the season.
I was Ron; it would be a bit presumptuous to think in the whole Wild West...just a bit early for that. Since I was in the SCAC forum I kind of assumed....
UofDallas did take the series from TU last year and they were highlighting their success (in all their series) in their preseason or postseason outlook. (don't remember where I saw it) They look like they have been hitting the ball pretty well, but I don't think they have seen the likes of Klimesh or Lucero. I did not see them last year, but someone told me that had some pretty strong arms. I am sure it will be a great two games and I will be watching. (via internet at least)
Trinity comes from behind to beat UMHB 5-3.
Belton, Texas - Trinity's baseball team erased a 2-0 deficit to defeat the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor 5-3 on Tuesday evening.
The Tigers improved to 10-1 this season with the win, which was the fifth consecutive victory over the Crusaders. Trinity has swept the two-game regular season series each of the past two seasons, while UMHB's last wins came when the team swept two games from the Tigers in 2009.
Trinity fell behind in the bottom of the first, after UMHB turned a leadoff walk and two stolen bases into an easy scoring chance. The Crusaders then added another run in the fourth to take the 2-0 lead, and the Tigers had just two hits through the first five innings of the game.
In the sixth, Nick Pappas finally got Trinity on the board with a leadoff home run, and the Tigers scored at least once in every inning after that. Trinity took the lead with a two-run seventh that featured a leadoff single, and a bases-loaded bunt single that tied the game.
After Trinity plated another run in the eighth, Mary Hardin-Baylor struck back with a leadoff homer of its own in the bottom of the inning, cutting the lead to 4-3, and chasing Trinity starter Josh Fink out of the game. The Tigers added an insurance run in the ninth, but reliever Michael Bentz struck out the side in the ninth to shut the door.
Fink improved to 3-0 on the year, giving up three runs on four hits in seven-plus innings, striking out seven batters. Bentz earned his second save of the season by allowing just one hit over the final two innings, striking out five batters
First thing is first: The SCAC takes the top three teams from each division to the tournament. In the West Trinity, Dallas and Hendrix look to be the top three teams. Klimesh and Lucero are the best 1-2 punch in the league and that offense is scary. Hendrix plays with a different kind of passion and they will always be in games. What has happened to SW? They were once a powerhouse in this conference. Austin is rebuilding with a new coach so give them a couple of years. Hendrix has to be the most excited about Millsaps leaving the West, as it gives them a clear path to the tourny.
In the East, the addition of Millsaps and BSC becoming eligible has evened the strength of the conference. I think Rhodes and Millsaps are the clear favorites, and maybe I'm the only person who thinks BSC will be down this year. Yes, they return Maxwell and Meier but you don't replace guys like Leachman, Hulse, Ricco, and Malcolm right away. Looking at their box scores it seems teams simply will not pitch to Maxwell in any big situation. And as talented as their pitching is, its not as easy to pitch when games are close as compared to the last few years when the offense would blast teams. Rhodes is strong, very strong...deep on the mound as any team not name Trinity. Millsaps is going to be tough as usual. Sewanee, Centre and OU round out the group. I can see one of them pushing BSC for that third spot in the east...
So...Trinity, Dallas, Hendrix and Rhodes, Millsaps, BSC at the tourny.
Give me Trinity vs. Rhodes on Sunday with the Tigers getting the trophy and the AQ. I think Trinity goes deep this year and gets to Appleton.
Rhodes hasn't had to go deep into their bullpen yet this year due to the seven inning games they have been playing. The third day of their series have been pretty ugly. Carden and Baker will be bulldogs in the first two games of a series though. Rhodes plays a 4 game set in ATL and LaGrange starting Friday, so we will see how deep their pitching is.
Surprised that Centre got beat pretty good in their opening series. I thought their pitching would be better. Looks like Millsaps have found more bats, although they were stymied at Huntingdon this week.
UofDallas has issues with their web casting, but Trinity will be web casting it so you can link in from their site this weekend. They must have a satilite or WiFi feed. Should be a good couple of games.
Emory beats Rhodes 12-5 yesterday. Both teams are now 5-2:
http://www.emoryathletics.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/20120224mvj8gc
Millsaps is also at Emory this weekend and is scheduled to play York University at 11 (I think that is Eastern time). The game can be seen at this link:
http://go.emory.edu/Webcasts/BaseWebcast.html
I have read Rhodes is 5-2, but they are now 5-3.
Baker walked a ton of guys yesterday and Rhodes kicked it around. Saw the first baseman was injured early in the game. Looked bad. He left the field immediately. It looked like he may have got hit in the face with the ball. It was tough to tell watching the free webcast Emory does. Their announcer does a pretty good job, but the shot through the backstop is tough to focus on. Maybe today will be better at LaGrange for the Lynx.
Saw Birm. South. got a win 3-2 I believe yesterday.
Outlook on West SCAC gets a lot clearer after this weekend with Trinity at UofDallas today and tomorrow.
Trinity spanks Dallas 12-1 in a 7-inning mercy game today. Klimesh K's 14 in 7 innings. The Tigers had 15 hits in the shortened game.
Dallas just learned what it is to face a top ranked team. In a show of lack of sportsmanship they chose to not allow the Tigers to have the field last night as is customary in and did not shake hands after the game.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 25, 2012, 04:39:57 PM
Trinity spanks Dallas 12-1 in a 7-inning mercy game today. Klimesh K's 14 in 7 innings. The Tigers had 15 hits in the shortened game.
Dallas just learned what it is to face a top ranked team. In a show of lack of sportsmanship they chose to not allow the Tigers to have the field last night as is customary in and did not shake hands after the game.
They won't shake hands until the final game of the series. Couldn't tell you about practice last night though.
My bad, just going off the announcers comments.
Here's hoping Lucero can have similar success tomorrow. Really good to see the Trinity break out the bats on the road today.
Trinity beats Dalls 5-0 on another fine pitching performance. Lucero goest the distance 12K's, 2 hits, 1error by TU with 8 hits. Dallas has 3 errors. Trinity got 3 in first and 2 in second and Michael Schweis came in and did a good job of shutting down the Trinity offsense for the rest of the game. Hard wind coming in from center that kept a couple of balls in that probably would have gone out, but nonetheless a good game.
Dallas is going to be a good league opponent for many years and these two teams should be playing many close games.
Trinity plays 3 against Chapman starting on Friday, should be a great series. Trinity is playing about as good as any team in the country right now.
Millsaps takes 3 more over weekend , York ,Lagrange, Emory.
Saw Rhodes gets #1 Marietta next week end. The Lynx will see some really, really good pitching then!
It looks like Millsaps is ready for SCAC east conference play right now.
Millsaps is playing well but they have new starters at every position except catcher and rightfield, and the pitching staff is mostly new guys as well. This is a perfect year for them to start league play in late March when they have had time to gel a bit.
Must say that the Trinity start has been impressive and it should be a heck of a series against Chapman this weekend. The pitching staff has 117 K's in 99 innings with a 2.73 ERA and opponent's batting average of .212--those are numbers that few teams will be able to top.
It does not surprise me one bit that Millsaps is playing good ball. Coach Page always gets the most out of his teams. Trinity is going to miss the Millsaps rivalry and I hope after this year the two programs arrange OOC games. I fully expect another battle between them and Trinity in the SCAC tournament. I know BSC is ranked higher in the preseason, but would not be surprised if Millsaps has the number 1 seeding on the Eastern side come SCAC tournament time.
Trinity potentially has plenty of additional arms that have not got many innings since the starters have been so solid. The relief crew earned the 2 of 3 from Centenary, and they had the best hitting line up Trinity has seen so far this season. The challenge will be for the coaching staff to get some of those arms some work prior to the tournament. The other encouraging stat is that they only 6 errors in 13 games.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 27, 2012, 12:41:24 AM
It does not surprise me one bit that Millsaps is playing good ball. Coach Page always gets the most out of his teams. Trinity is going to miss the Millsaps rivalry and I hope after this year the two programs arrange OOC games. I fully expect another battle between them and Trinity in the SCAC tournament. I know BSC is ranked higher in the preseason, but would not be surprised if Millsaps has the number 1 seeding on the Eastern side come SCAC tournament time.
Trinity potentially has plenty of additional arms that have not got many innings since the starters have been so solid. The relief crew earned the 2 of 3 from Centenary, and they had the best hitting line up Trinity has seen so far this season. The challenge will be for the coaching staff to get some of those arms some work prior to the tournament. The other encouraging stat is that they only 6 errors in 13 games.
I am sooooooo looking forward to seeing the Trinity-Chapman games Friday night & Saturday morning. That's why I planned my business trip to San Antonio for this week. My sons team does not start play until 3/11 at the UAA tournament in Florida. It will be a test for us because, unlike years past, we do not have any games prior to the trip. All of the other teams have started, so we'll see how the guys respond.
I am hoping Milsaps still has their webcast, because I was able to watch last year when they played IWU. My son played with 3 of the guys on IWU and this year, they (IWU) picked up a transfer from a CC, who played against us in high school.
Southwestern University Mourns the Loss of a Legend
GEORGETOWN, Texas - Southwestern University mourns the passing of baseball coaching legend, Coach Jim Mallon. Mallon, 67, passed away Sunday afternoon following complications from heart surgery. Services for Coach Mallon will be held on the campus of Southwestern University at Rockwell Field on Saturday, March 3 at 2pm. There will be a reception with light refreshments immediately following the service in the Robertson Center.
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/mallon (http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/mallon)
RIP, Coach Mallon.
Ryan Lucero is the SCAC pitcher of the week. He's now 4-0 (4 CG), 0.64 ERA, with 31 K and an .124 OBA.
Hendrix' Collin Radack is the SCAC offensive player of the week: .526 batting average, 10 H, 7 R, 10 RBI, 2 3B, 1 HR as Hendrix went 4-0 during the week.
My condolences to the Mallon family and Southwestern baseball.
Could Millsaps be the team out of the Eastern division? They are looking pretty good for a young team and it looks like BSC is struggling a bit.
Centenary is a beast, Centenary is a beast, can't say it enough. Too bad they won't be eligible this year, I have not looked at their roster but if some of those bats are back next year, look out!
My family and I will miss Coach Mallon... "old-school" (at it's best). RIP old friend!
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 29, 2012, 06:49:30 PM
My condolences to the Mallon family and Southwestern baseball.
Could Millsaps be the team out of the Eastern division? They are looking pretty good for a young team and it looks like BSC is struggling a bit.
Centenary is a beast, Centenary is a beast, can't say it enough. Too bad they won't be eligible this year, I have not looked at their roster but if some of those bats are back next year, look out!
With Coach Page you can never rule Millsaps out. I too hope that they and Trinity will find a way to keep playing after this season.
Centenary I think has two more seasons after this before they can be officially D3. '10-'11 was their last D1 year, this their first year of transition into D3. Will be interesting to see how they progress; like Birmingham-Southern, the transition from D1 whould leave them will facilities superior to many D3 campuses.
Quote from: historymajor on March 01, 2012, 10:20:29 AM
My family and I will miss Coach Mallon... "old-school" (at it's best). RIP old friend!
Wonderful! I think Coach Mallon would smile at historymajor's comments...and know what a compliment it is, especially considering the source. What do you think Bob???
What a wonderful baseball coach on the field, and unique person off the field. He might not have been fully appreciated for all he did off the field, because those efforts were not unusual...just Coach Mallon.
What he did in 2002 to support the TU team, coaches, families with the death of Coach Meccage, while always in the background, reflect, so well, his values.
Was at the TU-UMHB playoff game last night watching the Chapman game on live stats ... ouch. Hoping for a better outcome today.
Well at least Rhodes held Marietta to 11 runs in their first game ::) They are probably happy Marietta left town. Looks like Centre may be getting some good pitching now.
Trinity gets two one-run wins over Chapman after getting destroyed in the game Friday night. Even got two runs (three including an unearned) off of Rauh in the game today to take it to extra innings where they won it in the bottom of the tenth.
Rauh is undefeated for his career (24-0) according to a stat one of the Chapman folk posted. He came out at the top of the tenth and was not responsible for the losing run.
While the Trinity/Chapman series got all the attention this weekend, I see that Millsaps quietly destroyed a pretty good Piedmont team and is rising to the top of the SCAC East. Will be interesting to see how things play out as they move into league play.
A lot of people are very high on Piedmont this year, but I am not one of them. I think they are seeing what playing with a target on your back is like.
BigPoppa: Obviosuly, only time will tell, but I can't disagree with you more about Piedmont. They are very deep on the hill including two top of the line starters (Caleb/Caldwell) and an All American closer (Cook). Check out the schduele they have played and will play. 9-2 vs. Millsaps, Emory, CNU and Adrian, et all. They are not playing any slouches in there...they have Marietta coming up and then will dive into conference play. Now I will agree that the conference is weak this year but they don't back away from anyone.
I see that UDallas, after dropping two to Trinity, has gone 2-2 since with one loss each to Southwestern (5-12) and LeTourneau (5-8). Schweiss picked up the loss vs Southwestern, allowing four runs (three earned) in 5 and one-third.
Millsaps played in a spring break weekend at Piedmont College and won the 2 games that really mattered. The opening game was against Montclair State of the Mid-Atlantic Region, and while I'm sure Millsaps wanted to win, they couldn't afford to burn up a lot of pitching with 2 South Region opponents coming up. Montclair won that game Saturday game 14-7.
Millsaps came back on Sunday to beat 15th ranked Piedmont 11-2 and today they beat Methodist 10-1. That puts the Millsaps record at 10-4 with 7 games left before starting conference play in 3 weeks. It still feels very odd to play over half of the schedule before starting conference play.
One interesting stat--in 14 games Millsaps has 1 home run. That's quite a change after years of guys like Garner Wetzel, Hunter Owens, and Will Hawkins putting up double-digit totals. While the Millsaps starting lineup would never be mistaken for the Bronx Bombers, this kind of power outage is stunning. Even so, Millsaps has scored 120 runs in 14 games and 10 or more runs in half of their games, so they are finding other ways to get their runs.
Has anyone heard the format for the SAA baseball race in 2013?
Fri single 9 inning game; Saturday 7/9 DH?
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 06, 2012, 10:37:59 PM
Has anyone heard the format for the SAA baseball race in 2013?
Fri single 9 inning game; Saturday 7/9 DH?
Why would that be?
Not seeing many votes for the SCAC Teams in the Rankings this week . I do see that Trinity moved up rightfully so. Thought maybe Millsaps would have also moved with a two out of three weekend beating a ranked team that moved right on up.
Word is SAA conference schedule will be all nine inning games and left up to the coaches to when they will play their games over the course of the weekend. The teams I've heard from are all playing single games from Friday-Sunday.
Friday - 9
Saturday - 9
Sunday- 9
I agree with Hangm. Although Trinity got a lot of attention last weekend vs Chapman, Millsaps has quietly moved to the top of the SCAC East, where everyone was talking about BSC preseason. It would not surprise me one bit to see a SCAC conference game on Sunday being Trinity vs Millsaps.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 07, 2012, 12:50:40 AM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 06, 2012, 10:37:59 PM
Has anyone heard the format for the SAA baseball race in 2013?
Fri single 9 inning game; Saturday 7/9 DH?
Why would that be?
I was postulating. That is the format that the ASC uses. With the travel distances involved, it makes sense for the athletes to leave on Thursday afternoon, spend Thursday night and Friday night and drive home on Saturday if the games don't get postponed until Sunday.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 07, 2012, 11:22:42 AM
I agree with Hangm. Although Trinity got a lot of attention last weekend vs Chapman, Millsaps has quietly moved to the top of the SCAC East, where everyone was talking about BSC preseason. It would not surprise me one bit to see a SCAC conference game on Sunday being Trinity vs Millsaps.
Always seems to take a week or two for teams not on the radar to show up in the poll. Coach Page has 'em goin' again.
BSC at Millsaps tonight should give us an early look into the battle for the Eastern Div.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 07, 2012, 12:00:08 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 07, 2012, 12:50:40 AM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 06, 2012, 10:37:59 PM
Has anyone heard the format for the SAA baseball race in 2013?
Fri single 9 inning game; Saturday 7/9 DH?
Why would that be?
I was postulating. That is the format that the ASC uses. With the travel distances involved, it makes sense for the athletes to leave on Thursday afternoon, spend Thursday night and Friday night and drive home on Saturday if the games don't get postponed until Sunday.
I doubt TU is going to want its atheltes missing two days of school.....
So the conference formed on the basis of cost containment, localized geography, and less missed class time has added football affilates in Chicago and St Louis and now apparently 4 day road trips for baseball. Go figure.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 07, 2012, 03:23:39 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 07, 2012, 12:00:08 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 07, 2012, 12:50:40 AM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 06, 2012, 10:37:59 PM
Has anyone heard the format for the SAA baseball race in 2013?
Fri single 9 inning game; Saturday 7/9 DH?
Why would that be?
I was postulating. That is the format that the ASC uses. With the travel distances involved, it makes sense for the athletes to leave on Thursday afternoon, spend Thursday night and Friday night and drive home on Saturday if the games don't get postponed until Sunday.
I doubt TU is going to want its atheltes missing two days of school.....
Respectfully, the question was directed that the eastern half of the board.
I do have a serious question for the members of this board.
What is the current travel format for Trinity playing at Hendrix?
When do you leave San Antonio? When do you arrive in Conway? How to you travel? Bus all the way?
How does Rhodes handle the Oglethorpe series?
Quote from: Bmo on March 07, 2012, 04:16:33 PM
So the conference formed on the basis of cost containment, localized geography, and less missed class time has added football affilates in Chicago and St Louis and now apparently 4 day road trips for baseball. Go figure.
Raise your hand if you think those were the only (or even primary) reasons for the split.
Anyone?
Hello?
Bueller??
To answer Ralph's question I looked at the Trinity site and they play two games on Sat, and a single game on Sunday. I am pretty sure they will be traveling by bus, which is about a 10HR trip. So they will likely leave early Friday morning, get in an afternoon practice Friday night, games on weekend, back on bus Sunday. Gives the student-athletes ample time to catch up on homework. ;D
The split was stupid IMO, and it hurts the Eastern schools much more than the Western schools, as they are already have in place what is needed to keep their AQ's in everything except football and this will get worked out in the next year.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 07, 2012, 05:18:08 PM
To answer Ralph's question I looked at the Trinity site and they play two games on Sat, and a single game on Sunday. I am pretty sure they will be traveling by bus, which is about a 10HR trip. So they will likely leave early Friday morning, get in an afternoon practice Friday night, games on weekend, back on bus Sunday. Gives the student-athletes ample time to catch up on homework. ;D
The split was stupid IMO, and it hurts the Eastern schools much more than the Western schools, as they are already have in place what is needed to keep their AQ's in everything except football and this will get worked out in the next year.
The SAA will have the AQ in all pertinent sports by 2014-15.
Just popped in and saw that BSC spanked Millsaps 10-5. 16 hits, sounds like a statement game.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 07, 2012, 04:28:32 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 07, 2012, 03:23:39 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 07, 2012, 12:00:08 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 07, 2012, 12:50:40 AM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on March 06, 2012, 10:37:59 PM
Has anyone heard the format for the SAA baseball race in 2013?
Fri single 9 inning game; Saturday 7/9 DH?
Why would that be?
I was postulating. That is the format that the ASC uses. With the travel distances involved, it makes sense for the athletes to leave on Thursday afternoon, spend Thursday night and Friday night and drive home on Saturday if the games don't get postponed until Sunday.
I doubt TU is going to want its atheltes missing two days of school.....
Respectfully, the question was directed that the eastern half of the board.
I do have a serious question for the members of this board.
What is the current travel format for Trinity playing at Hendrix?
When do you leave San Antonio? When do you arrive in Conway? How to you travel? Bus all the way?
How does Rhodes handle the Oglethorpe series?
Ralph--
My apologies...For whatever reason, I read that as the SCAC and though you were talking about the new SCAC that included TU...not the new conference being formed. I made that assumption because the ASC now does Friday/Sat games instead of Sat/Sun games.
Front just pushed through Austin is going to make for a much colder (and possibly wet) evening for Trinity's game tonight with DeSales. It's not there yet but has just pushed through Boerne, should arrive around gametime or shortly thereafter.
With 15-20 MPH winds from the north you won't see many HRs to left field!
Nice observation Ron! Trinity lost 5-0 in a very flat game for the Tigers. Mostly due to not getting enough hits, but a few base running mistakes hurt them, and of course the wind howling in from left center. 2-3 balls that would have been extra base hits or HR's were knocked down by the wind. Live by the sword – die by the sword. The team only had two hits. The young announcer (Harrison Graham-an injured player who is a hoot) summed it up pretty well. " They are not playing a bad game just not a game with any emotion or fire" Probably a good game for them to lose to get rid of that sense of invulnerability and a wake up call for them to get back at it this weekend for a conference series against Southwestern.
With the forecast being what it is, there may not be a series ... 80% chance of rain today in SA, 70% tonight, 90% tomorrow, 80% Saturday night. Only a 40% chance Sunday, but hard to imagine the field will be playable if the expected heavy rain materializes.
So far the rain has stayed north of SA (which is good, the lakes up there need it badly), but that's expected to change as the day wears on.
To 108Stiches: The split was very necessary because schools out East were tired of flying to Texas/Colorado twice a year. In baseball, how was the SCAC ever a real conference when when teams never played each other? How many times did Centre and Southwestern play in baseball in the 20 years of SCAC play? How about Oglethorpe and Hendrix? You can count the times on one hand...over 20 YEARS! The new alignment for the old SCAC east allows them to play 21 conference games, instead of 15 and they get to play every team every year. Now from a monetary issue it washes out for baseball or maybe costs those schools a bit more. But for the rest of the sports like football, basketball, soccer the will save money by eliminating ALL flights.
Quote from: Bob_Lotts on March 09, 2012, 11:24:54 AM
To 108Stiches: The split was very necessary because schools out East were tired of flying to Texas/Colorado twice a year. In baseball, how was the SCAC ever a real conference when when teams never played each other? How many times did Centre and Southwestern play in baseball in the 20 years of SCAC play? How about Oglethorpe and Hendrix? You can count the times on one hand...over 20 YEARS! The new alignment for the old SCAC east allows them to play 21 conference games, instead of 15 and they get to play every team every year. Now from a monetary issue it washes out for baseball or maybe costs those schools a bit more. But for the rest of the sports like football, basketball, soccer the will save money by eliminating ALL flights.
Bob, by your reference to eliminating "ALL flights," are you suggesting, for instance, that Hendrix and Millsaps will be on the bus to get to get their teams to St. Louis and Chicago in football? Washington U and U of Chicago are both affiliated for football, I believe.
When we get to baseball, a few years back, when Hendrix was the SCAC tournament, posters on this board readily admitted the competitive level created by Coach Scannell and Coach Page drove Hendrix to improve the program, which was near the bottom of all D3 in the early/mid 2000's and in total disarray.
Coach Cleanthes expressed similar sentiments as he became entrenched at Rhodes.
In my view, the split conference worked quite well in baseball. Schools like Sewanee and Centre likely would never have made the tournament had it been the top 6 teams with a full schedule for baseball. The split conference gave every school the chance to compete toward the SCAC tournament, even when the schools chose not to provide that level of commitment and support to improve the quality of the team.
This isn't going to change...but when the SAA added Washington University and the University of Chicago, it showed travel and expense and the impact on the student may have been the reason offered which clearly appears to be nothing more than an "excuse" in my opinion.
Quote from: BigPoppa on March 05, 2012, 11:04:44 AM
A lot of people are very high on Piedmont this year, but I am not one of them. I think they are seeing what playing with a target on your back is like.
We'll see how the rest of the series plays out, but the win over Marietta had to sway you a bit, right?
http://trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/index
Saturday's game between Trinity and Southwestern has been cancelled. The two teams will attempt to play a doubleheader tomorrow (Sunday, 03/11), beginning at 3:00 p.m.
I am going to hold off on my 1st place vote until Sunday eve to see how everyone does and to see if Trinity can bounce back from a lackadaisical performance on Thursday. Trinity has a couple of injuries, but good teams keep winning in spite of them and they need to get a little more consistent in their offense to be number 1.
Trinity improves to 16-3 (5-0 SCAC) with a 5-1 win over visiting Southwestern (6-13, 2-3- SCAC) in seven innings.
Ben Klimesh (7-0) got the win, allowing only two hits (back-to-back doubles in the fourth), striking out 15, and walking none. Christian Muscarello was 2-for-3 with 2 RBI. Chris Webber (1-2) went the entire way for Southwestern, allowing nine hits, striking out five, allowing no walks but four earned runs. The Pirates committed five errors to Trinity's one.
There will be another game starting at 6:00pm.
They started at 5pm instead of 6. Lucero got the start and after a Nick Pappas grand slam (and Will Donnan plating two with one of his own two batters later) Trinity leads 9-0 going into the top of the fifth.
Quote from: infielddad on March 09, 2012, 11:52:34 AM
Quote from: Bob_Lotts on March 09, 2012, 11:24:54 AM
To 108Stiches: The split was very necessary because schools out East were tired of flying to Texas/Colorado twice a year. In baseball, how was the SCAC ever a real conference when when teams never played each other? How many times did Centre and Southwestern play in baseball in the 20 years of SCAC play? How about Oglethorpe and Hendrix? You can count the times on one hand...over 20 YEARS! The new alignment for the old SCAC east allows them to play 21 conference games, instead of 15 and they get to play every team every year. Now from a monetary issue it washes out for baseball or maybe costs those schools a bit more. But for the rest of the sports like football, basketball, soccer the will save money by eliminating ALL flights.
Bob, by your reference to eliminating "ALL flights," are you suggesting, for instance, that Hendrix and Millsaps will be on the bus to get to get their teams to St. Louis and Chicago in football? Washington U and U of Chicago are both affiliated for football, I believe.
When we get to baseball, a few years back, when Hendrix was the SCAC tournament, posters on this board readily admitted the competitive level created by Coach Scannell and Coach Page drove Hendrix to improve the program, which was near the bottom of all D3 in the early/mid 2000's and in total disarray.
Coach Cleanthes expressed similar sentiments as he became entrenched at Rhodes.
In my view, the split conference worked quite well in baseball. Schools like Sewanee and Centre likely would never have made the tournament had it been the top 6 teams with a full schedule for baseball. The split conference gave every school the chance to compete toward the SCAC tournament, even when the schools chose not to provide that level of commitment and support to improve the quality of the team.
This isn't going to change...but when the SAA added Washington University and the University of Chicago, it showed travel and expense and the impact on the student may have been the reason offered which clearly appears to be nothing more than an "excuse" in my opinion.
Half of the issue with WashU and UChicago was trying to get something more than an 8-game schedule. There are lots of open dates in there that are not easily filled once conferences start round robin play about week #3 (for a 9-10 team conference) or week #5 for a 7 or 8-team conference.
Respectfully, please give me a mock 10-game SAA football schedule without Chicago and Wash U. There just isn't anyone in that part of the country that matches the mission-and-vision component of the SAA.
It is either flying back to Texas for home-and-home games or scheduling your nearby NAIA school.
Huntingdon would love to fill the open dates. Better yet, Huntingdon would love to join the SAA!
Trinity got their mojo back with a solid performance on Sunday. They clearly have the best team in the West and should cruise into the SCAC tournament with the number 1 seed from this side of the bracket, Hendrix and Dallas look to duke it out for the 2 and 3 seed spots, but Southwestern could get on a roll.
The East is just getting started, but BSC looks like they are getting it together and justify their early ranking. Millsaps and Rhodes have struggled a bit lately. (not sure losing to Marietta is considered struggling, but the scores did not look close) Will be interesting to see how things start to fall into place in the East the next couple of weeks.
As far as the realignment, I am hoping the UofDallas can continue to develop into a strong program, Centenary can field a solid D3 team and Southwestern can get back to where they have been in the past, and TLU usually fields a strong team, so with these programs and Trinity the SCAC can develop into a pretty strong tight geographic conference. I am hoping there are enough games available for some good home/away OOC games like TU has with Chapman. A similar series with Millsaps or another strong team would be perfect for TU.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 07, 2012, 05:18:08 PM
To answer Ralph's question I looked at the Trinity site and they play two games on Sat, and a single game on Sunday. I am pretty sure they will be traveling by bus, which is about a 10HR trip. So they will likely leave early Friday morning, get in an afternoon practice Friday night, games on weekend, back on bus Sunday. Gives the student-athletes ample time to catch up on homework. ;D
The split was stupid IMO, and it hurts the Eastern schools much more than the Western schools, as they are already have in place what is needed to keep their AQ's in everything except football and this will get worked out in the next year.
stupid or not it's done and I (even though this is our last year) am happy to see it, while the SCAC is a great conference it really was like 2 separate conferences I mean East never saw West until tournament time and then it was 4, until the decrease to 3, teams facing each other. JUST STUPID IN AND OF ITSELF!
Quote from: Ricky Nelson on March 09, 2012, 10:55:09 PM
Quote from: BigPoppa on March 05, 2012, 11:04:44 AM
A lot of people are very high on Piedmont this year, but I am not one of them. I think they are seeing what playing with a target on your back is like.
We'll see how the rest of the series plays out, but the win over Marietta had to sway you a bit, right?
DIFFERNCE between last years Piedmont and this year "They don't beat themselves" and they never say die even when they lose a lead.
Klimesh Named SCAC Pitcher of the Week
San Antonio - Trinity senior right-hander Ben Klimesh has been named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season.
Klimesh also earned the honor in the second week of the season, after pitching a shutout against Louisiana College.
This week featured another masterful performance by Klimesh, who sparked the Tigers to a doubleheader sweep of Southwestern on Sunday.
Klimesh struck out a career-high 15 batters in the complete-game victory over the Pirates, allowing one run on just two hits. His 15 strikeouts came in just seven innings of work, and he did not allow a walk. It marks the fourth time this season that Klimesh has struck out 13 or more batters in a game.
His performance on Sunday moved Klimesh up to third on Trinity's career list for strikeouts, and he is nearing 300 for his career. He is also just 24 strikeouts from becoming the first player in school history to reach 100 strikeouts in more than one season.
For the season, Klimesh leads Trinity with a 7-0 record, striking out 76 batters in just 47 innings of work. He has yielded eight earned runs in seven appearances, posting an ERA of 1.53 this season. Opponents are hitting .160 against Klimesh this year.
Trinity beats Austin College 7-1, to go to 18-3 on the season. While not the prettiest game TU gets the W. Klimesh gets 8th win with 14K's. Game was a lot closer than the score indicated as Trinity did not score until the 6th and was behind 0-1 from the 2nd inning on. Austin junk ball pitchers kept Trinity hitters off balance until the 6th where they scored 3 runs, on no balls hit out of the infield batting around and left the bases loaded. They left the bases loaded to end the inning three times. Austin started 3-4 freshmen and while they may struggle this year they will be better for it in the coming years. Also unusual for Austin- they had 8 LH hitters in the lineup. 7-10-0 for Trinity, 1-5-2 for Austin. Second game of the series tomorrow.
Trinity beat Austin College 4-1 on a very quick 2 hr game. There was no video feed, but it looked like Lucero was shoving it and getting quick GB outs. 4-11-1 for Trinity, 1-5-1 for Austin. WP Lucero. LP Tew. Save – Bentz. Trinity goes to 19-3, 8-0. Austin 4-15, 1-7.
The one run for Austin was unearned and came in the ninth after Lucero had left the game. If my calculations are correct, Lucero is now 6-0 with an 0.92 ERA and an OBA of .149.
Trinity moves to #1 in this week's d3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25. (http://www.d3baseball.com/top25/2012/2012week-4) No other SCAC teams are in the top 25; B-SC got a single vote.
Also receiving votes: Rhodes 16, Birmingham-Southern 1. Pretty good showing!
Off the TU website.
Trinity Game vs. TLU Cancelled
The Tiger baseball game at Texas Lutheran, scheduled for March 20, has been cancelled. The teams will attempt to schedule a makeup date.
There have been thunderstroms and tornado warnings in the area.
TLU's website says: Texas Lutheran's Tuesday baseball game with Trinity University has been cancelled due to wet field conditions. The game originally was scheduled for a 2 p.m. start today at TLU's Katt-Isbel Field.
The game will be re-scheduled. A make-up date has yet to be announced.
Seguin probably got around 2" overnight, so I could see them not wanting to play on the field today.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on March 20, 2012, 03:39:44 PM
TLU's website says: Texas Lutheran's Tuesday baseball game with Trinity University has been cancelled due to wet field conditions. The game originally was scheduled for a 2 p.m. start today at TLU's Katt-Isbel Field.
The game will be re-scheduled. A make-up date has yet to be announced.
Seguin probably got around 2" overnight, so I could see them not wanting to play on the field today.
Does a Regional-bound Trinity hold this 40th regular season game until after the ASC/SCAC tourneys? It helps break the "lull".
Would TLU use this as chance for Orosey to get one last start and a win to burnish his career records? Would TLU need this game as a possible chance to get a Pool C bid?
I'm hoping they might resched after the SCAC championships, Ralph, we'll see.
The SCAC tournament has been moved back a week this year from it's traditional 3rd week in April slot, so that reduces some of the down time before the regional. Seems like a reschedule post tournament would be less attractive if both schools are Pool A going in the tournament. But then again, maybe just getting on the field trumps any possible additional familiarity with a known regional foe.
Slightly off topic, but I think the ASC is lock for one pool c with the possibility of receiving an additional one. It's still early, but no Pool C candidate has really asserted itself in either the NWC or SCIAC this year. Could be interesting this year as there may be some 12-15 loss teams still in the running.
Quote from: Bmo on March 21, 2012, 09:36:22 AM
The SCAC tournament has been moved back a week this year from it's traditional 3rd week in April slot, so that reduces some of the down time before the regional. Seems like a reschedule post tournament would be less attractive if both schools are Pool A going in the tournament. But then again, maybe just getting on the field trumps any possible additional familiarity with a known regional foe.
Slightly off topic, but I think the ASC is lock for one pool c with the possibility of receiving an additional one. It's still early, but no Pool C candidate has really asserted itself in either the NWC or SCIAC this year. Could be interesting this year as there may be some 12-15 loss teams still in the running.
Pool C's are not picked regionally but nationally. There is a possibility the West will not even get a Pool C. A pool C could come another region and flown into the West. West have 4 Pool A's. SCAC, ASC, SCIAC, NWC. The last 2 spots could be filled by Pool C's in the region or Pool B or C's from outside the region.
That's true. I guess the scenario with the ASC that could make things interesting would be two ASC teams go into the round of 4 tournament with less than 10 regional losses, and neither of them winning the Pool A. But the more I look at it, that seems unlikely without two teams getting very hot, very quick. A pool c from a different region in the West is very likely.
Decent story on Trinity's Klimesh and Lucero (though it was only in one of the SA Express-News neighborhood papers):
http://www.mysanantonio.com/community/north_central/news/article/Sports-Kilmesh-Lucero-are-key-in-Tigers-title-3421418.php
Crash:
There are only 3 pool A's from the west. The SCAC is only a west team IF a west team wins the SCAC tournament. About 1/2 the teams in the SCAC are south region teams. It is conceivable that there would only be 3 pool A from the west with the remainder of the regional being made up of teams which are not west teams.
Dogs days of mid season league play are here. Time for teams to step up and separate themselves.
BSC has quietly rung up 10 straight wins as they roll into the meat of their league schedule. If they keep this going they will set themselves up for the expected battle with Trinity at the SCAC tournament. Will Hendrix, Millsaps or Rhodes spoil the party?
Trinity chases Dallas' Michael Schweiss with seven runs in the bottom of the fourth (helped by two errors and a couple of unearned runs with two-out). Tigers lead 8-1 going into the fifth; Ben Klimesh has allowed 5 hits for Trinity.
EDIT: 9-1 going to the bottom of the sixth. 9 K's for Klimesh.
Trinity took a pair from UofDallas and they looked like a number 1 team, for most of the day. (see below for the exceptions) They took the first game 9-1, Klimesh did not have his best stuff but it did not matter and they cruised to an easy victory with good hitting and outstanding defense. They kept the pressure on and when Dallas made a couple of mistakes they really made them pay.
In game 2, and looking to the future Coach Scannell started a promising freshmen and the team was up 8-3 through 5. They went to the bullpen that had not thrown much this year, and they almost gave it back. Some timely hits and a couple of throwing errors by a pitcher who was out all last year, and Dallas tied it up in the 7th. Christian Muscarello, as he has often done this year, bailed them out with his 6th home run in the bottom of the 8th and Michael Bentz took care of the rest and got the win.
It was a good day for the Tigers who dominated the way they should, and when the momentum was going the other way late in the game, they took control and went on for the win. A number of the pitchers who had not thrown much got some needed work in, and most importantly I liked their approach at the plate, much much better than previous outings. Defense was also outstanding, with a number of great plays.
I imagine Lucero will get the start tomorrow.
Lucero did get the start, gave up a home run that was apparently *just* fair in the first ... Trinity chased UD starter Andrew Bossert with two runs in the first, one each in the second and third, all with two outs. 4-1 going to the top of the fourth.
EDIT: Two more Trinity runs with two out in the bottom of the sixth extend the lead to 7-1. The HR is the only hit allowed so far by Lucero. UD pitchers have hit five or six TU batters in this game.
The HR and double that Lucero allowed to Thornton yesterday were only the 2nd and 3rd extra base hits that he has allowed this season. In 166.1 career innings, Lucy has only allowed 19 extra base hits, a staggeringly low 12% of his total hits allowed.
Having a guy like this as your Sunday starter is a huge boon for Trinity, and it's a demoralizing reality for any opponent to have to start a Saturday against Klimesh and conclude a weekend by facing an equally effective pitcher in Lucero.
Ron I am responding to a post over in the ASC thread.
Trinity beat UMHB soundly last night 9-3. Scannell went to pitcher by committee to get some other guys work. Barron started, relieved by Bay (who got the W). A little "mid week pen" work for Klimesh and then Bogese. I think it was a sound strategy to get some more innings for the other pitchers the team will need later in the season. UMHB was up 3-0 until the bottom of the 4th with TU tied it and pulled away scoring runs in the 5th 6th and 7th. Daniels the UMHB starter did a good job keeping the Tigers off balance until they finally figured him out in the 4th. TU did what good teams do and made UMHB pay for a couple of errors, one in the 5th and 6th which gave them the lead, and momentum. TU has a rare weekend off and gets back at it on Tuesday with a double header at Hardin-Simmons.
Should be a good series to watch in Memphis this weekend as Birm. South. travels up to Rhodes.
Since going to the 3 game conference schedule, the best Rhodes could muster the last three years is 1-2 record at best for the weekend.
This year Birm. South. is batting 30 pts. higher and their team ERA is better by about 1.30. And Maxwell is crushing the ball.
Rhodes has gotten some really good starting pitching this year as Carden and Baker have lengthened out their outings and have been pitching really well.
The first couple of games may be decided by who kicks the ball around the least. Birm. South. looks to be winning statistically in this category too.
Birm. South. had their 13 game winning streak broken last night by Emory.
Rhodes got back on track vs. Hendrix after going 2-1 at Centre.
Rhodes needs to win this series to have a chance at first it looks like.
I saw Millsaps went 2-1 at Oglethorpe this past weekend, so the dog fight for first is on in the East.
I don't think any team would want to finish third and have to play Trinity to start the SCAC tourney.
Dang it, 108, I was typing this as your reply got posted. :D
QuoteTrinity was held in check for a few innings last night but after trailing 3-0 came back strong in a 9-3 win against UMHB. Tanner Barron got the start but after giving up two runs in the top of the fourth was relieved by Franklin Bay, who pitched 2 1/3rd innings of no-hit ball to get his first win of the season. Ben Klimesh pitched a couple of innings in relief, allowing one hit and striking out four, and Kyle Bogese faced the minimum in the ninth to secure the team's 23rd win. Next up is a DH in Abilene against Hardin-Simmons, a team that has had a very up-and-down season can be dangerous nonetheless.
Great minds, eh?
I was looking at the latest NCAA stats this morning. Hendrix is all over the offensive charts (.337 BA, 8.5 runs/game, .478 SP, 50 HBP among other stats) and the series in Arkansas in a couple of weeks should be very entertaining. B-SC has a pitching staff with a better ERA than Trinity (barely) and a guy in Bruce Maxwell that is hitting .551, a slugging percentage just over 1, and has already received 31 walks. The two schools don't play in the regular season, but if they meet up in the conference championships, it could be a battle of epic proportions.
I agree with the above posts. Hendrix is going to be a challenge for Trinity, first tough away series.... looking at their schedule maybe for the season. (other than the first early weekend at CTX)
BSC is shaping into the team that many thought they would be, but fell down a bit, and is now playing well. It would not surprise anyone to see TU and BSC battle for the SCAC crown. A few other very good teams that will have a say in this, so this is not a foregone conclusion by any means. I would not want to face either one of these teams as a first round opponent.
Trinity does not have any position players that really stand out statistically like last year. They really play as a team and are pretty sound up and down the line up. They just grind away at pitchers until they finally figure them out. They also score a lot of runs with two outs, which can be very demoralizing for an opponent. Even when they are down they just keep coming at you. They are very sound defensively and even when they do make a mistake their pitching is so good it usually does not hurt them too much. A perfect example of this was last night; both teams made two errors and it cost UMHB three runs and none for TU.
BSC's Maxwell named "hitter of the week" by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association; see http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/maxwell_ncbwa_potw_week4
.667 (10-15) with five doubles, two HR and eight RBI; 21 total bases, and a 1.267 slugging percentage; .792 OBP; 2.059 OPS.
Totally obscene.
KABB (San Antonio FOX TV affiliate) did a story on Trinity last week - here's the video:
http://bit.ly/H4f0SE
Interesting that Coach Scannell says this is among his "least talented" teams, with the exception of the pitching staff. At the end of this story they say they'll followup with a story on Klimesh and Lucero; as soon as they post it, I'll include it here.
Trinity splits a DH in Abilene, falling 3-2 in the opener on a bases-loaded, walkoff single in the bottom of the seventh. Ben Klimesh (9-1) picked up his first loss of the season as Trinity could only scratch out four hits.
The roles were reversed in the second game as it was Ryan Lucero (8-0) holding the Cowboys to four hits in a 5-1 complete game win. The Tigers only had eight hits themselves, but Nick Pappas delivered in the clutch with two hits and three RBI.
There'll be a new #1 team next week :-[ though #2 Marietta is currently down v Mt Union, 5-3.
Turns out #2 and #5 lost yesterday, too, so we'll see about the rankings. Meanwhile:
@SCAC Sports Congrats to Millsaps baseball coach Jim Page on becoming 20th active DIII coach w/ 600 career wins & 36th all-time to do so
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 04, 2012, 10:50:16 PM
Turns out #2 and #5 lost yesterday, too, so we'll see about the rankings. Meanwhile:
@SCAC Sports Congrats to Millsaps baseball coach Jim Page on becoming 20th active DIII coach w/ 600 career wins & 36th all-time to do so
Story on the Millsaps game and Coach Page's 600th win: http://gomajors.com/news/2012/4/4/BB_0404125214.aspx
Three Trinity errors and a balk result in five unearned runs and Southwestern gets the upset in the first game of a DH, 6-2. Pirates outhit the Tigers 10-6. Michael Bentz (2-1) gets the loss for Trinity, allowing 3 runs (1 earned) in 3 2/3; Chris Webber improves to 2-3 with his best effort of the year, going all the way for Southwestern.
Trinity loses the second game 9-7. They led 3-0 before starter Zach Speer (who had a no-hitter through four; 0-2) tired, allowing 1 run in the bottom of the fifth and four in the sixth before being relieved. Southwestern would put six runs on the board in that inning as Trinity went through a total of four pitchers before retiring the side. The Tigers' furious attempt at a comeback in the top of the ninth (which they entered trailing 9-3) ended with the winning run at the plate with two out before a harmless groundout to 1B.
Southwestern starter Matt Stuart lasted until the ninth, allowing six hits and six earned runs in picking up his second win in ten total decisions.
The upcoming series at Hendrix just took on a whole new dimension.
Ben Klimesh goes seven innings and Trinity gets an eight-inning, 10-0 run-rule victory today at Southwestern.
Trinity has another game with the bats getting the job done.
TU beats TLU 13-5, getting 16 hits in the process.
They don't use Klimesh, and bring in Lucero for the last out.
Jules Cronk who had a big day on Saturday and 2 HR's tonight.
The weekend at Hendrix will be huge.
Trinity has the pitching set up.
It looks like the bats are heading the right direction, and all the things they didn't do last week they did against a very good team...mid week!
Live stats for this weekend's Trinity @ Hendrix games: http://livestats.prestosports.com/hendrix/
Video too, but not free.
Free video from the TU side at:
http://www.tigerbaseballonline.com/PC_and_Mac.html
Just got a cryptic email from a parent.
Trinity won game 1 vs Schreiner 16-4.
No other information.
For the life of me I can't understand why Schreiner has not joined the modern world of electronics.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 17, 2012, 06:00:07 PM
Just got a cryptic email from a parent.
Trinity won game 1 vs Schreiner 16-4.
No other information.
For the life of me I can't understand why Schreiner has not joined the modern world of electronics.
Well, Schreiner is moving to a conference near you... ;)
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 17, 2012, 06:08:03 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 17, 2012, 06:00:07 PM
Just got a cryptic email from a parent.
Trinity won game 1 vs Schreiner 16-4.
No other information.
For the life of me I can't understand why Schreiner has not joined the modern world of electronics.
Well, Schreiner is moving to a conference near you... ;)
THAT has to be the funniest post in a while...and accurate. Not sure whether to ;D or :'(
TU usually takes their video broadcast set up on the road, and I am not sure why it did not travel with them today....Oh well I am getting the report done our board was expecting...
Ooops another update just popped in my inbox while I was typing this. TU 14 - Schr 3 - middle 6.
Schreiner baseball diamond is situated in an orientaion that makes wireless impossible and 4G non-existent. I imagine that was the reason.
Quote from: historymajor on April 17, 2012, 07:26:21 PM
Schreiner baseball diamond is situated in an orientaion that makes wireless impossible and 4G non-existent. I imagine that was the reason.
Maybe not, but you don't need a lot of cellular bandwidth to do live stats, and Schreiner needs to get with the program there.
Trinity's Nick Pappas was 8-for-9 yesterday against Schreiner (5 R, 3 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B) in joining the career 200 hit club.
http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/pappas_200_hits
SCAC tournament schedule came out today.
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/2012championships/index
One thing I will not miss about the 'old' SCAC is not being able to attend conference championships. USA Stadium is a nice venue but there's no way for the casual fan to attend unless they are located in the area. I wonder if the SCAC will give any thought to going back to the old "Spring Sports Festival" model where the championships rotated around the schools each year? Probably not, but it will be interesting to see what happens next year.
With the season-ending injury to Ryan Lucero, Birmingham-Southern (31-7, 15-1 SCAC [!]) has to assume the favorite's role for the championship - they would have been a co-favorite even without it. That's not to say Trinity can't overcome them, but it's going to be an uphill battle and they'll need efforts like yesterday's six shutout innings from Tyler Barron. Historical foe Millsaps in the first game will make the choice of starting pitcher interesting - Ben Klimesh has historically been able to provide a few innings of relief after a start after a couple of days, but do you hold him for a potential game against BS-C? Not starting your best pitcher, especially against a crafty team like Millsaps, could end up dumping you in the losers bracket which is the last place a team with a short starting rotation wants to be...
As an aside, I bumped into Trinity AD Bob King on the way out of the game yesterday and he says they're raising funds to upgrade the baseball facility, potentially setting the stage for them to submit bids to host future NCAA regionals (the latter is my speculation). No idea of timeframe or scope other than the upgrade will be done in the same footprint as the current field.
How much did the seep at the hands of Austin hert Trinity's Pool C chances?
Ron, from what I understand Trinity has all of the plans drawn up and approved for a redo on the field and they are out looking for matching funds. This would allow them to host a regional, and depending on what happens I guess a SCAC playoff. From what I understand the location will be the same, which is ideal for a field since it is right in the middle of the campus. The school has put a ton of money into upgrading all of the sports and teaching facilities and the baseball is one of the last to be redone.
I am not sure what will happen when the new SCAC conference fires up next year, but I am pretty sure they will not be going to Millington for a tournament.
I have no idea what they will do regarding pitching, but you have to win that first game otherwise you have to come through loser-bracket-hell, which most teams could not accomplish, so I would imagine Klimesh would at least be part of the first game, whether he starts and get pulled early or is held in reserve will remain to be seen. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a coach hold back his ace for a future game and get burned.
I would agree with you regarding BSC/TU. But I think it would be a mistake for either of those programs to look beyond the game in front of them as they will be playing some solid squads.
Quote from: Jack Parkman on April 23, 2012, 10:25:22 AM
How much did the seep at the hands of Austin hert Trinity's Pool C chances?
it certainly didnt help. TU is 29-6 in region right now. If they are a Pool C, they will have at least two more losses. The west is going to be an interesting region to begin with, with a lot of conferences being down. I dont think the NWC or SCIAC get a pool C bid. So, you have the NWC A, SCIAC A, ASC A for sure going to the west. If Birmingham Southern win the SCAC, they are a South regional team that could bus to Millington. If Concordia does not win the ASC tourney, they will have at least 10 in region losses. If neither CUA or TU win their tourney, it will be a tough decision for the committee to make.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 23, 2012, 10:36:11 AM
Quote from: Jack Parkman on April 23, 2012, 10:25:22 AM
How much did the seep at the hands of Austin hert Trinity's Pool C chances?
it certainly didnt help. TU is 29-6 in region right now. If they are a Pool C, they will have at least two more losses. The west is going to be an interesting region to begin with, with a lot of conferences being down. I dont think the NWC or SCIAC get a pool C bid. So, you have the NWC A, SCIAC A, ASC A for sure going to the west. If Birmingham Southern win the SCAC, they are a South regional team that could bus to Millington. If Concordia does not win the ASC tourney, they will have at least 10 in region losses. If neither CUA or TU win their tourney, it will be a tough decision for the committee to make.
Plus there's no guarantee that the committee's going to look hard for a West Region Pool C to fill out the West Regional, since they're going to have to fly someone in anyway they have the freedom to look for the best available team.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 23, 2012, 10:36:11 AM
Quote from: Jack Parkman on April 23, 2012, 10:25:22 AM
How much did the seep at the hands of Austin hert Trinity's Pool C chances?
it certainly didnt help. TU is 29-6 in region right now. If they are a Pool C, they will have at least two more losses. The west is going to be an interesting region to begin with, with a lot of conferences being down. I dont think the NWC or SCIAC get a pool C bid. So, you have the NWC A, SCIAC A, ASC A for sure going to the west. If Birmingham Southern win the SCAC, they are a South regional team that could bus to Millington. If Concordia does not win the ASC tourney, they will have at least 10 in region losses. If neither CUA or TU win their tourney, it will be a tough decision for the committee to make.
Agreed on the fact that the Pool C's might be a little interesting this year. Maybe someone could shed some light on this but since they never release final Regional rankings, who is to say the NCAA doesnt add a Pool C in the West that might not be the top choice just to save a flight from another region? PLU is on the outside looking in right now but if they sweep Pacific and get the Pool A, doesn't Pacific deserve a shot (Pool C) with their record? I know people don't want to think this is really how it is done but could it be a way to save $$$$?
Quote from: Jack Parkman on April 23, 2012, 11:52:51 AM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 23, 2012, 10:36:11 AM
Quote from: Jack Parkman on April 23, 2012, 10:25:22 AM
How much did the seep at the hands of Austin hert Trinity's Pool C chances?
it certainly didnt help. TU is 29-6 in region right now. If they are a Pool C, they will have at least two more losses. The west is going to be an interesting region to begin with, with a lot of conferences being down. I dont think the NWC or SCIAC get a pool C bid. So, you have the NWC A, SCIAC A, ASC A for sure going to the west. If Birmingham Southern win the SCAC, they are a South regional team that could bus to Millington. If Concordia does not win the ASC tourney, they will have at least 10 in region losses. If neither CUA or TU win their tourney, it will be a tough decision for the committee to make.
Agreed on the fact that the Pool C's might be a little interesting this year. Maybe someone could shed some light on this but since they never release final Regional rankings, who is to say the NCAA doesnt add a Pool C in the West that might not be the top choice just to save a flight from another region? PLU is on the outside looking in right now but if they sweep Pacific and get the Pool A, doesn't Pacific deserve a shot (Pool C) with their record? I know people don't want to think this is really how it is done but could it be a way to save $$$$?
If they get swept, their in-region record would be 18-8. As of last week, their SOS wasn't very high either. I dont know if they would be more deserving that TU or CUA, if either doesn't win their tourney.
Jack:
The only way the NCAA saves money on flights would be a Pool C out of the NWest. However, I can see them taking a team that can say fly out of Chicago to Portland rather than either SoCal or Texas because the frequency and volume of flights will make it cheaper and easier.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 23, 2012, 12:03:56 PM
Quote from: Jack Parkman on April 23, 2012, 11:52:51 AM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 23, 2012, 10:36:11 AM
Quote from: Jack Parkman on April 23, 2012, 10:25:22 AM
How much did the seep at the hands of Austin hert Trinity's Pool C chances?
it certainly didnt help. TU is 29-6 in region right now. If they are a Pool C, they will have at least two more losses. The west is going to be an interesting region to begin with, with a lot of conferences being down. I dont think the NWC or SCIAC get a pool C bid. So, you have the NWC A, SCIAC A, ASC A for sure going to the west. If Birmingham Southern win the SCAC, they are a South regional team that could bus to Millington. If Concordia does not win the ASC tourney, they will have at least 10 in region losses. If neither CUA or TU win their tourney, it will be a tough decision for the committee to make.
Agreed on the fact that the Pool C's might be a little interesting this year. Maybe someone could shed some light on this but since they never release final Regional rankings, who is to say the NCAA doesnt add a Pool C in the West that might not be the top choice just to save a flight from another region? PLU is on the outside looking in right now but if they sweep Pacific and get the Pool A, doesn't Pacific deserve a shot (Pool C) with their record? I know people don't want to think this is really how it is done but could it be a way to save $$$$?
If they get swept, their in-region record would be 18-8. As of last week, their SOS wasn't very high either. I dont know if they would be more deserving that TU or CUA, if either doesn't win their tourney.
Oh yeah, I didn't really take that into consideration. I didn't mean to imply they were more deserving, just wondering if they would be looked at closely since they are in the Pac NW which would save a grip of $$$ for the NCAA.
ILVBB- is there much of a difference in flying from Chicago than LAX? Seems odd to me but who knows.
Jack:
LAX is shorter by about an hour; however, the number of flights and the cost is likely a push. Throw in cities like Minneapolis, Columbus, etc, the NCAA will have far more options. Given the lack of sterling records, it may be the year that at least one and potentially two teams get imported to the west.
Quote from: Jack Parkman on April 23, 2012, 11:52:51 AM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 23, 2012, 10:36:11 AM
Quote from: Jack Parkman on April 23, 2012, 10:25:22 AM
How much did the seep at the hands of Austin hert Trinity's Pool C chances?
it certainly didnt help. TU is 29-6 in region right now. If they are a Pool C, they will have at least two more losses. The west is going to be an interesting region to begin with, with a lot of conferences being down. I dont think the NWC or SCIAC get a pool C bid. So, you have the NWC A, SCIAC A, ASC A for sure going to the west. If Birmingham Southern win the SCAC, they are a South regional team that could bus to Millington. If Concordia does not win the ASC tourney, they will have at least 10 in region losses. If neither CUA or TU win their tourney, it will be a tough decision for the committee to make.
Agreed on the fact that the Pool C's might be a little interesting this year. Maybe someone could shed some light on this but since they never release final Regional rankings, who is to say the NCAA doesnt add a Pool C in the West that might not be the top choice just to save a flight from another region? PLU is on the outside looking in right now but if they sweep Pacific and get the Pool A, doesn't Pacific deserve a shot (Pool C) with their record? I know people don't want to think this is really how it is done but could it be a way to save $$$$?
Anthony Holman said in a Q&A earlier this year that he's considering publication of the final rankings.
Last season the committee created a national bracket with more flights than were necessary in order to maintain competitive balance.
The national selection chair will talk about bracketing and flight considerations in this Wednesday's Around the Nation. Holman also touched on the subjects of bracketing and flights in earlier columns.
http://d3baseball.com/columns/around-the-nation/index (http://d3baseball.com/columns/around-the-nation/index)
The Holman Q&A spans the first two weeks of columns. National selection chair Gregg Kaye's Q&A started last week and will conclude this week.
Tournament starts tomorrow and the SCAC board goes quiet???
Unlike past years where the 3rd place team from the East might allow the 1st place West team to get by without using their #1 pitcher, I sure cannot see that happening this year.
Little doubt in my mind that Coach Page would like nothing better than to beat TU.
He will have his players prepared.
I would expect game one tomorrow will be played at a very high intensity. Seems to me Trinity has no choice but to start Klimesh and, in my view, they don't even think past tomorrow. Millsaps-Trinity is as good as it gets and I expect the same tomorrow.
I have followed the SCAC's for a lot of years and this looks like the best and most competitive 6 teams in all those years. While, for me, University of Dallas being there might be a big surprise, the other 5 teams are close enough that any of them could be on top and dog piling on Sunday.
Quote from: infielddad on April 25, 2012, 08:32:29 PM
Tournament starts tomorrow and the SCAC board goes quiet???
Unlike past years where the 3rd place team from the East might allow the 1st place West team to get by without using their #1 pitcher, I sure cannot see that happening this year.
Little doubt in my mind that Coach Page would like nothing better than to beat TU.
He will have his players prepared.
I would expect game one tomorrow will be played at a very high intensity. Seems to me Trinity has no choice but to start Klimesh and, in my view, they don't even think past tomorrow. Millsaps-Trinity is as good as it gets and I expect the same tomorrow.
I have followed the SCAC's for a lot of years and this looks like the best and most competitive 6 teams in all those years. While, for me, University of Dallas being there might be a big surprise, the other 5 teams are close enough that any of them could be on top and dog piling on Sunday.
IFDad, I agree, I thought everyone was over on the National Topic board, but not much there either.
BSU pitching is really strong and of course they have the big bat in Maxwell. I know he has been pitched around all year and still leads the country in a bunch of offensive categories. They will be tough to beat.
Millsaps looks a little thin on pitching but their No. 1 Edwards is as good as anyone in the SCAC, so the battle with Klimesh (I assume) should be a good one. I have been trying to read between the lines, but is Lucero out?
I remember last year when Smoyer was supposedly done, but pitched a 9 inning gem to knock Rhodes out of the tourney the day after their 21 inning marathon.
Rhodes has really good starting two, with Baker pitching great games in past tournaments. Plus lead off hitter Perkins has regained his form after a tough year last year.
And I believe Dallas has won their last nine out of ten?
I listened to the Coach's interviews on the SCAC website, and agree with Cleanthes, anybody can win this one this year. And I don't believe that is coach talk.
I would like to thank Millsaps broadcasting crew for doing the free video again. I look forward to watching a lot of ball the next few days.
Good luck to all teams!
I see BSU winning the SCAC tourney to get Pool A bid and Trinity getting a Pool C bid
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 25, 2012, 09:53:07 PM
I see BSU winning the SCAC tourney to get Pool A bid and Trinity getting a Pool C bid
Crash -
That is my prediction as well. BSU would head to the the South Region and Trinity to the West.
I am heading out to the airport for my redeye and will be there with bells on for the TU and Millsaps game.
Wind is blowing in so I understand there will be very few HR's tomorrow. (if it holds up) This will likely hold down the scoring.
I can't imagine Scannell going with anyone but Klimesh.
Klimesh is out for the season. TU has plenty of arms it will be important for them to get going offensively and not make mistakes.
Since 108 is traveling, I feel okay saying he meant Lucero is out, and Klimesh will start against Millsaps.
One thing about the 6 team SCAC tournament this year, the winner of TU-Millsaps has an advantage. That winner comes back Friday to play the loser of BSC-Dallas, while the other 2 winners play each other.
It is an advantage, potentially, for only one game but when you need 4 wins, one game with any advantage can be important, if a team takes advantage and plays with urgency.
108/Infielddad were spot on. Ben improves to 12-2 with a three-hit, eight K complete game gem, leading Trinity to a 2-1 victory over Millsaps. Will Edwards (8-3) takes the tough loss, allowing only eight hits and two runs in eight innings. Millsaps' only run was unearned. Kevin Clements had a solo HR for the Tigers.
Interesting .. Hendrix saving their better pitchers for later games as Nino Tutino (2-2, 12 APP/6 GS, 5.59 ERA) gets the start. Hits first two batters, walks third, somehow gets out of the inning unscathed.
Well that did not work out so well. Rhodes is up 6 to 2 through 6.
Typical Millsaps / TU grinder. Klimesh was a master. Two times he had runners on 3rd/2nd with no outs and got out of it. Other than that he was in control of the game. Wind blowing in has a tendency to hurt TU as a number of hard hit balls hung up in the wind.
Rhodes sent HX to the loser's bracket, but they did the same thing last year and made it to the championship game. Interesting strategy,
BSC spotted UD a 2-0 lead early but came back to win 6-4. Blake Stevens (6-2) pitched seven innings to get the win, allowing four hits and three runs (two earned). Michael Schweiss (3-5) took the loss, allowing six runs in four innings (four earned; seven hits). Chris Schierhorn pitched four innings of scoreless relief, limiting B-SC to two hits. UD was largely unable to take advantage of four Panther errors.
Tomorrow's games:
3E Millsaps (0-1) vs 2W Hendrix (0-1), noon; loser eliminated
1W Trinity (1-0) vs 3W UDallas (0-1), 3:30 pm
2E Rhodes (1-0) vs 1E Birmingham-Southern (1-0), 7:00 pm
I think it is a huge mistake to not go after your first game with your best with the teams that are here. Even though Millsaps was "only" the 3 seed they are very capable and can beat anyone, same with Dallas, and both gave TU and BSC good games. They are now in a win or go home state.
I don't know about last year's teams but this year anyone can beat anyone IMO.
Took in some historic BBQ in downtown Memphis tonight, got some southern hospitality, & see the AAA Redbirds play. My son also got to say hi to a friend of his on the Redbirds pitching staff.
I think a lot of folks are going to miss the "old" SCAC east/west tournament in the future. This is something special and I am glad I got to participate in it this last year.
HX loses to Millsaps 6-2. Strategy fail.
Dallas is giving Trinity a big time battle, and probably a lot of rapid heart beats with the fans.
Leading 8-6 heading into the 9th, TU got a rally started and were down 8-7, one out, the tying run at 2nd, and Muscarello at bat.
Dallas chose to intentionally walk Muscarello and put the lead run on first.
Pappas made that a tough choice even tougher. He doubled to drive in 2.
Trinity in the lead for the first time, 9-8, heading to the bottom of the 9th.
Dallas has really been good offensively so this one is not over.
Strong comeback win in 11 for TU over UD.
Excellent announcer for Trinity on webcast.
Trinity barely scrapes by, winning 10-9 in 11 innings.
Two teams from the West are the first eliminated.
Trinity plays tomorrow at Noon against the winner of BSC-Rhodes, the final game tonight.
TU will be digging deep into the pitching staff for that one.
I'm interested in this tourney because the winner will match up against the NWC winner in Oregon. Regarding TU pitching (and possibly their opponent as well), the reports are they have great young arms that have not thrown many innings. My bet is one or two of those guys are going to get their shot this weekend, and young hungry pitchers with talent have a way of rising up to the challenge.
Plus, there's no conference scouting report on them, so their stuff is an "unknown."
That game was typical of what I have witnessed by this TU team this year. They may not be the most talented team Trinity has ever fielded, but they have the heart of a lion and will never give up. If they can't beat you with pitching, it will be with their gloves, and if not that then with their bats, and if not then small ball, and this does not work they will just take you out back behind the dugout and beat you up.
The team leader - super senior Dom Robusto has this heart and I think has infused every kid on this team with it. This kid has had two broken backs over the years, and has been playing all season with a broken thumb. I hate to think where they would be without him.
Whatagame, Weston Haaf was the pitcher that stepped up today. Others will come out in the coming days, there are a lot of arms down there yet to be seen much. Coach probably pulled Bay a little too soon today, but got away with it.
Let me ask you this, is Dominic Robusto of Italian descent? Robusto is an outstanding last name for a middle-of-the-order hitter!
Tough to have to go up against B-SC today after three pitchers wemt 3+ innings yesterday to pull that game out against UD. My guess is Trinity will start Tanner Barron (3-0, 10 app/4 starts, 3.16 ERA, 31 IP, .248 OBA) today, having to go extras and bring in Michael Bentz for three innings to close things out yesterday didn't help. Bentz isn't normally a starter (twice in 17 appearances) but probably could have done the job today. Josh Fink (3-1, 7 app/3 starts, 5.16) is another possibility but Barron has pitched well recently; 2-0, 11.0 IP, 11 H, 0 ER in last two starts since Ryan Lucero went down. B-SC, though, hits a whole lot better than the two teams Tanner faced - so here's hoping the Tiger fielding gets back to the standard of earlier in the season. Can't be giving the Panthers any unearned runs today - they score in bunches as it is.
Barron is starting for Trinity.
Paul Caudill (1-0, 8 app/6 starts, 3.62 ERA, 27.1 IP, OBA unk but 28 H, 15BB, 17K) is starting for the Panthers.
B-SC defeats Trinity, 5-3. Bruce Maxwell was 3-for-4 and scored twice but it was cleanup hitter Jon Walker doing the damage for the Panthers with 3 RBI, including a two-run HR in the first, which saw Southern stake themselves to an early 3-0 lead. Caudill only went four innings (6H, 3ER) so the win went to Ralls Pennington (3.0 IP, 2H, 0 ER). Tanner Barron gave up four runs (three earned) in six innings (5H, 6K, 4BB) to pick up the loss.
Just got back from the game. Tanner left the ball up in the first inning and gave up three runs and after that he settled down and pitched a great game. Take away the first inning and TU outplayed BSC. BSC's 1-4 looked better than TU's, but their bottom half are not as strong. I think TU's pitching and defense looks better, but Yance, who came in to close for BSC looked very good. This puts BSC in the drivers seat for the conf title.
TU will play winner of Millsaps/Rhodes this evening.
Well, now comes a very long wait.
Trinity is run ruled by Millsaps.
Their regular season is over. Great record at 34-10.
This gets to be a lot of anxious days and nothing can be done but watch, wait, and hope.
There cannot be tougher things in college baseball than lose the game with BSC and be back 1/2 hour later in a must win situation.
Millsaps is a very tough team, mentally. TU is the same. Both coaches teach that from last September.
TU has to hope 44 games showed they earned a place in Oregon.
From all we have seen, it sure does not seem there are 6 better teams in the West Region this year.
Still, this is a very anxious few weeks.
My personal view is TU will be better in a Regional because they have longer to adjust to the terrible loss of Lucero.
Hopefully, they get that chance. I think they earned it.
Quote from: infielddad on April 28, 2012, 10:38:19 PM
Well, now comes a very long wait.
Trinity is run ruled by Millsaps.
Their regular season is over. Great record at 34-10.
This gets to be a lot of anxious days and nothing can be done but watch, wait, and hope.
There cannot be tougher things in college baseball than lose the game with BSC and be back 1/2 hour later in a must win situation.
Millsaps is a very tough team, mentally. TU is the same. Both coaches teach that from last September.
TU has to hope 44 games showed they earned a place in Oregon.
From all we have seen, it sure does not seem there are 6 better teams in the West Region this year.
Still, this is a very anxious few weeks.
My personal view is TU will be better in a Regional because they have longer to adjust to the terrible loss of Lucero.
Hopefully, they get that chance. I think they earned it.
The good thing is that it looks like Whitworth, instead of Pacific, will be the Pool A bid in the NWC.
CTX did TU a favor by failing to sweep LaCollege. The extra in-region loss might hurt too much.
UTD blew its chances
I won't be surprised if Wes Perkins starts a game for Millsaps today. He closed for 2 innings against Belhaven College late in the season to preserve a victory and he won a SCAC pitcher of the week award his freshman year. Millsaps used position players Doucet and Shumaker to start games 2 and 3 and they only had 4 starts between them coming into the tournament.
Wow BSC!
I heard Rhodes' Coach Cleanthes say in his final interview they have a good nucleus of young hitters coming back next year.
If you want to see a good nucleus of young ballplayers look at BSC's crew.
Good luck with that new SAA thing.
Looks like everyone will be looking up at BSC for a long while.
Congrats to them in the World Series.
Good program, good facilities.
Quote from: infielddad on April 28, 2012, 10:38:19 PM
Well, now comes a very long wait.
Trinity is run ruled by Millsaps.
Their regular season is over. Great record at 34-10.
This gets to be a lot of anxious days and nothing can be done but watch, wait, and hope.
There cannot be tougher things in college baseball than lose the game with BSC and be back 1/2 hour later in a must win situation.
Millsaps is a very tough team, mentally. TU is the same. Both coaches teach that from last September.
TU has to hope 44 games showed they earned a place in Oregon.
From all we have seen, it sure does not seem there are 6 better teams in the West Region this year.
Still, this is a very anxious few weeks.
My personal view is TU will be better in a Regional because they have longer to adjust to the terrible loss of Lucero.
Hopefully, they get that chance. I think they earned it.
I am working on a tag line for the 2012 season.
My first thought is similar to
"
Spahn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Spahn#.22Pray_for_rain.22) and Sain
and pray for rain."
from the 1948 Boston Braves.
Let's hope Trinity can find someone to go with Klimesh.
I was encouraged with the Trinity pitching overall. Their issues IMO are more about untimely errors and the 3-4-5 hitters getting back on track. The top and bottom half looked better than most of the teams I saw, but their big bats were struggling. In the BSC game, BSC's 5 of the 8 hits came from two batters and TU should have been all over their starter, but could not string enough hits together and they left way too many base runners on base. Take away the shaky first inning and TU easily beats BSC, even with poor hitting.
TU issues are not about pitching. Trust me many DIII teams would love to have some of those arms. The freshmen who lost the Millsaps game was pitching just fine, it was errors that knocked him out. In the first inning TU had runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs and did not score, if he gets some early run support and it could have been a completely different game. Take away the errors and he gives up 1 ER.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 29, 2012, 07:49:48 PM
Quote from: infielddad on April 28, 2012, 10:38:19 PM
Well, now comes a very long wait.
Trinity is run ruled by Millsaps.
Their regular season is over. Great record at 34-10.
This gets to be a lot of anxious days and nothing can be done but watch, wait, and hope.
There cannot be tougher things in college baseball than lose the game with BSC and be back 1/2 hour later in a must win situation.
Millsaps is a very tough team, mentally. TU is the same. Both coaches teach that from last September.
TU has to hope 44 games showed they earned a place in Oregon.
From all we have seen, it sure does not seem there are 6 better teams in the West Region this year.
Still, this is a very anxious few weeks.
My personal view is TU will be better in a Regional because they have longer to adjust to the terrible loss of Lucero.
Hopefully, they get that chance. I think they earned it.
I am working on a tag line for the 2012 season.
My first thought is similar to
"Spahn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Spahn#.22Pray_for_rain.22) and Sain
and pray for rain."
from the 1948 Boston Braves.
Let's hope Trinity can find someone to go with Klimesh.
I used a version of that tagline for Trinity in a column this year (http://www.d3baseball.com/columns/around-the-nation/2012/ATN_March28).
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 29, 2012, 12:46:27 PM
Quote from: infielddad on April 28, 2012, 10:38:19 PM
Well, now comes a very long wait.
Trinity is run ruled by Millsaps.
Their regular season is over. Great record at 34-10.
This gets to be a lot of anxious days and nothing can be done but watch, wait, and hope.
There cannot be tougher things in college baseball than lose the game with BSC and be back 1/2 hour later in a must win situation.
Millsaps is a very tough team, mentally. TU is the same. Both coaches teach that from last September.
TU has to hope 44 games showed they earned a place in Oregon.
From all we have seen, it sure does not seem there are 6 better teams in the West Region this year.
Still, this is a very anxious few weeks.
My personal view is TU will be better in a Regional because they have longer to adjust to the terrible loss of Lucero.
Hopefully, they get that chance. I think they earned it.
The good thing is that it looks like Whitworth, instead of Pacific, will be the Pool A bid in the NWC.
CTX did TU a favor by failing to sweep LaCollege. The extra in-region loss might hurt too much.
UTD blew its chances.
And Pacific swept PacLU on Sunday, so TU may be the highest regionally ranked non-Pool A when the rankings come out on
May 11th, when all of the West Region dust has settled.
I see it as follows not seeded order below
Pool C SCAC - Trinity TX
Pool A SCIAC - La Verne
Pool A ASC - TBD
Pool A NWC - Whitworth
Pool C ASC - TBD
Pool C TBD - TBD(Not from West Region)
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on May 02, 2012, 02:37:44 AM
I see it as follows not seeded order below
Pool C SCAC - Trinity TX
Pool A SCIAC - La Verne
Pool A ASC - TBD
Pool A NWC - Whitworth
Pool C ASC - TBD
Pool C TBD - TBD(Not from West Region)
Hard to disagree with that. WHO flies into the west is the big question right now. I still see it as a Midwest or Central team. Moving the Central to Tennessee means that many of the usual suspects in the Central will have to be flown to the Central or be shipped into the Midwest, which is oddly closer than the "HOME" regional. Either the Central moves one of its qualifiers (CCIW, IIAC, MWC) to the West or the Medwest will be overloaded with teams for its regional... which necessitates a moving of one of the Midwest teams west to Oregon. Who that may be is still being debated. Could Stevens Point grab a Pool C and fly west? How about North Park if they earn the CCIW's Pool A (as they seem to be nowhere in the regional rankings as of now). In 2003, St. Norbert was sent west to Orange, CA so the history is there for it to happen.I watched every game in person in that regional and blown away by George Fox's run that year. "Ride the arm of Scott Hyde to a title."
I wonder if PacLu wins out this weekend do they significantly increase their chances to be included in the Regional?
With the discussions about how the committee looks are regional play do they do enough to be included vs flying someone from out of the region in?
Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 05, 2012, 01:02:49 PM
I wonder if PacLu wins out this weekend do they significantly increase their chances to be included in the Regional?
With the discussions about how the committee looks are regional play do they do enough to be included vs flying someone from out of the region in?
Stitches -
My prediction is that they would not. They already lost yesterday and as a result, their RPI rating dropped them below Pacific in the West Region (and only .001 ahead of Texas-Tyler). Even if they win today, they would not climb higher than Pacific. And in the head-to-head matchup, I believe that Pacific beat Pac Lu 2 out of 3 this season. Therefore, I think Pacific would have a better claim to that spot than Pac Lu.
What are the chances that BSC and TU will both get through? As the pitching staffs of all remaining get depleted it may be a depth issue.
Quote from: historymajor on May 18, 2012, 02:06:54 PM
What are the chances that BSC and TU will both get through? As the pitching staffs of all remaining get depleted it may be a depth issue.
Probably not as good as they were 2 hours ago.
Scoring question...
Is the Trinity run in the top of the 9th a Pop Foul to first base and a stolen base?
Can you get a SAC fly on a foul out?
(I have forgotten.)
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 19, 2012, 05:11:54 PM
Scoring question...
Is the Trinity run in the top of the 9th a Pop Foul to first base and a stolen base?
Can you get a SAC fly on a foul out?
(I have forgotten.)
Still a sac fly.
Jim Shelton has stepped down at Southwestern.
http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2012/05/southwestern-coach-steps-down
Bruce Maxwell of Birmingham-Southern was chosen in the second round (62nd overall) by the Oakland A's. I wonder if this is the earliest a D3 player has ever been selected.
Quote from: mr_b on June 05, 2012, 01:21:09 PM
Bruce Maxwell of Birmingham-Southern was chosen in the second round (62nd overall) by the Oakland A's. I wonder if this is the earliest a D3 player has ever been selected.
No. Jarrod Washburn was taken with the first pick of the second round by the Angels in 1995. Not sure if there were any first rounders.
Quote from: BigPoppa on June 05, 2012, 01:23:30 PM
Quote from: mr_b on June 05, 2012, 01:21:09 PM
Bruce Maxwell of Birmingham-Southern was chosen in the second round (62nd overall) by the Oakland A's. I wonder if this is the earliest a D3 player has ever been selected.
No. Jarrod Washburn was taken with the first pick of the second round by the Angels in 1995. Not sure if there were any first rounders.
Thanks for following up on that. I didn't know Washburn was taken that high. Maxwell had a monster season.
Quote from: mr_b on June 05, 2012, 01:26:18 PM
Quote from: BigPoppa on June 05, 2012, 01:23:30 PM
Quote from: mr_b on June 05, 2012, 01:21:09 PM
Bruce Maxwell of Birmingham-Southern was chosen in the second round (62nd overall) by the Oakland A's. I wonder if this is the earliest a D3 player has ever been selected.
No. Jarrod Washburn was taken with the first pick of the second round by the Angels in 1995. Not sure if there were any first rounders.
Thanks for following up on that. I didn't know Washburn was taken that high. Maxwell had a monster season.
We (Carthage) had the pleasure of facing Washburn (Oshkosh) at draft time in 1995 at the opening game of the world series... not a fun day for us. Couple that with the three other all-Americans that '95 team had and it was a long day for us.
Quote from: BigPoppa on June 05, 2012, 01:23:30 PM
Quote from: mr_b on June 05, 2012, 01:21:09 PM
Bruce Maxwell of Birmingham-Southern was chosen in the second round (62nd overall) by the Oakland A's. I wonder if this is the earliest a D3 player has ever been selected.
No. Jarrod Washburn was taken with the first pick of the second round by the Angels in 1995. Not sure if there were any first rounders.
The D3 write-up (http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2012/06/draft-day2) notes that Billy Wagner was taken in the first round, 12th overall.
The SAA guys all hope Maxwell signs ;D
I'm going to brag on my assistants who hustled, tracked down and interviewed both Bruce Maxwell of Birmingham-Southern and Ben Klimesh of Trinity within hours of their selections today in the 2012 MLB Draft. Links to stories and interviews below:
(Maxwell) http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/maxwell_drafted (http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/maxwell_drafted)
(Klimesh) http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/klimesh_drafted (http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/releases/klimesh_drafted)
I know we were the first people to interview Maxwell; I'm pretty sure we were the first with Klimesh as well. Great day for the SCAC today!
Great stuff commish.
Another interview with Ben Klimesh (although the writer, for unknown reasons, placed him in the NCAC rather than the SCAC): http://chicago.sbnation.com/chicago-cubs/2012/6/7/3070617/2012-mlb-draft-ben-klimesh-reds-15th-round-interview
Quote from: Ron Boerger on June 08, 2012, 12:53:57 PM
Another interview with Ben Klimesh (although the writer, for unknown reasons, placed him in the NCAC rather than the SCAC): http://chicago.sbnation.com/chicago-cubs/2012/6/7/3070617/2012-mlb-draft-ben-klimesh-reds-15th-round-interview
Ehh, the animus by the guys on the north side of Chicago may be such that they do not even want to mention something with the letters "S-o-u-t-h"-ern Collegiate Athletic Conference. ;)
Quick take on Klimesh from minorleaguebaseball.com's team-by-team Central Division draft review (http://www.minorleagueball.com/2012/6/9/3075095/2012-mlb-draft-national-league-central-division-commentary-analysis):
Sleeper: Ben Klimesh (RHP, Trinity University, 15th round) blew past Division III competition with slightly above average stuff and is a good value in this spot.
Remember that "slightly above average" is relative to a lot of guys that got scholarships to play ball.
I have been watching summer ball for a couple of weeks now, and granted some of the guys are still playing in the CWS, but after seeing Ben pitch and a 2nd & 7th rounder last week, I would not say that Ben has "slightly above average stuff". I also saw a few minor league games (AAA) this year and would say that Ben has "above average stuff." His FB and slider are both above average, but he will need to work on a third pitch to compete effectively at the next level. Scannell has said that this year he would have been a number 1 or 2 in virtually any program in the country regardless of level. His work ethic and mental toughness are both "plus" which seperate many players at the next level. Will be interesting to see how he progresses.
Ben Klimesh has been sent by the Reds to the Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer Rookie League. He's made at least two appearances so far, allowing one hit and picking up a save in 1.2 innings total. Stats: http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=621238
A tip of the hat to Ricky Nelson who dug this info up.
Edit: Entered with one out and two on in the seventh, pitched another 1 1/3rd last night, giving up one hit, one walk, and recorded his first strikeout. Credited with a hold.
Update on "Bennett" Klimesh (http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=621238): 0-0, 5 APP, 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4K, .222 OBA, 1.80 ERA. 1 save, 1 hold.
Billings apparently has 20 pitchers (no kidding) and it looks like they are trying Ben out primarily in middle relief so far. I have a relative up that way that I could normally call but he's out hiking the Appalachian Trail right now.
Quote from: mr_b on June 05, 2012, 02:15:15 PM
Quote from: BigPoppa on June 05, 2012, 01:23:30 PM
Quote from: mr_b on June 05, 2012, 01:21:09 PM
Bruce Maxwell of Birmingham-Southern was chosen in the second round (62nd overall) by the Oakland A's. I wonder if this is the earliest a D3 player has ever been selected.
No. Jarrod Washburn was taken with the first pick of the second round by the Angels in 1995. Not sure if there were any first rounders.
The D3 write-up (http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2012/06/draft-day2) notes that Billy Wagner was taken in the first round, 12th overall.
I think Terry Mulholland was a first round choice as well.
It's possible that Maxwell is the earliest position player drafted out of D-III though.
Maxwell absolutely destroyed rookie league pitching (11-for-21 [.586] with a 1.33 OPS) but is off to a slow start in short-season A ball (3-for-20 [.156], .411 OPS). Hope he gets it turned around soon.
Maxwell was/is the best hitter I have seen in DIII baseball, and is in my top ten for any level of collge baseball.
He will likely figure it out, but as he moves up in levels the mental aspect become more important than the physical, which is very hard to predict. He is a "mini bonus baby" so they will give him more rope than a late round DIII pick and I am looking forward to watching him and a couple of other players that I saw this year move up through the MiLB system.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on July 04, 2012, 01:11:59 PM
Maxwell absolutely destroyed rookie league pitching (11-for-21 [.586] with a 1.33 OPS) but is off to a slow start in short-season A ball (3-for-20 [.156], .411 OPS). Hope he gets it turned around soon.
Well, he didn't belong in rookie ball, that's for sure. Short-A is generally more college guys, so it might take a little adjustment. The NYP is definitely a different brand of ball but he is 3-for-his-last-8 since Ron's post.
Could not agree more that Maxwell getting out of the AZL and to the NY/PENN league is important in his being challenged, making adjustments and developing.
He will not only see many of the top picks in this year's draft, he will be seeing many of the top Latin prospects who were in extended Spring Training. A very different game in the jump from the AZL to the NY/PENN in terms of speed, talent and execution.
While the sample size is pretty small, he is having less success with RHP to this point.
What we can't see in his stats is the additional work defensively and what is happening to develop/enhance his catching skills/calling and controlling a game aspects.
In a sense, his head might be spinning somewhat from 2 moves in a short period of time as well as the adjustments he needs to make off the field in terms of living quarters, travel and the like which can be a pretty big challenge in a league as spread out as the NY/PENN.
In my view, this is where D3 players from the SCAC can actually have an advantage in the early stages of Milb. They are used bus travel and long trips, along with doing so many things themselves and being accountable for getting them done.
Quote from: Pat Coleman on July 06, 2012, 12:44:25 AM
Quote from: Ron Boerger on July 04, 2012, 01:11:59 PM
Maxwell absolutely destroyed rookie league pitching (11-for-21 [.586] with a 1.33 OPS) but is off to a slow start in short-season A ball (3-for-20 [.156], .411 OPS). Hope he gets it turned around soon.
Well, he didn't belong in rookie ball, that's for sure. Short-A is generally more college guys, so it might take a little adjustment. The NYP is definitely a different brand of ball but he is 3-for-his-last-8 since Ron's post.
Meant to post this link before. I'll piggyback here. List of notable picks and where they were assigned:
http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120612&content_id=33176378&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb (http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120612&content_id=33176378&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb)
Southwestern names new head coach, RJ Thomas, until today HC at Hendrix. He did a great job with the Warrior program and I imagine he'll have the Pirates back to their usual high level of play before too long.
http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2012-13/releases/southwestern_hires_thomas
Quote from: Ron Boerger on July 25, 2012, 07:09:44 PM
Southwestern names new head coach, RJ Thomas, until today HC at Hendrix. He did a great job with the Warrior program and I imagine he'll have the Pirates back to their usual high level of play before too long.
http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2012-13/releases/southwestern_hires_thomas
Seems surprising to an outsider, but this also seems to be a very, very good hire for Southwestern.
I have been told there are some rumblings of regret, at least within the baseball part of the new SAA.
My immediate thought is this move and hire might be some reflection on the SCAC and on the SAA? Could be completely off base too.
Coach Thomas built Hendrix by recruiting Nationally, to an extent.
Over the past 12 years, I would guess the number of Southwestern players from outside Texas might be counted on one hand. I wonder whether Coach Thomas will continue his prior approach and bring some new and National visibility to Southwestern.
I think Ron has it right..this hire suggests Southwestern probably will become a factor again in SCAC baseball and the strength of SCAC baseball took another step up.
Great hire for Southwestern. Will be good for the program, and the conference. It can only help pressure all programs to step up their game. With Trinity, SWestern, UofD, Centenary, and TLU all having solid programs it should be fun to watch and will put pressure on Schreiner and Austin College to step up their game.
Apropos of nothing, but with the changes in membership, the SCAC should be solely in the West Region in the upcoming season.
I AM READY FOR SOME BASEBALL!!!!! Are the TU Tigers ready???? At large and charging!
Former Southwestern coach Jim Shelton has popped up as an academic counselor for the University of Texas athletic program:
http://www.texassports.com/acad-services/acadserv-staff.html
Anybody know what format the conference tournament will follow in 2013?
Good question Thunder.
Given that there will be 5 eligible teams in conf this year it would make sense to take the 4 top teams ranked 1- 4 and play a two loss bracket. This conf champion would have to play 3-5 games depending on if they come through the loser side or not.
The conf championships will be at Southwestern this year and I believe they have lights so they could get it done in a long weekend.
Teams should be firing up practices next weekend and we are less than one month away from first games!!!
Moving this board to the West, since the remaining SCAC teams are all in this region.
Trinity's roster went up today. 52 on the roster, 26 Freshmen with 13 Seniors....They almost ran out of numbers :)
http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2012-13/roster
Quote from: 108 Stitches on January 28, 2013, 10:28:08 PM
Trinity's roster went up today. 52 on the roster, 26 Freshmen with 13 Seniors....They almost ran out of numbers :)
http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2012-13/roster
WHY? Less than 30 will ever get on the other side of the white lines
They have a JV team this season, or so I've heard.
They do Ron.
They have a large group of Seniors and Juniors who will be graduating over the next two years so they are preparing for these departures now. I have heard they have a couple of freshmen pitchers and position players who will contribute this year and they plan on developing the rest either on the JV team and in summer leagues so they can replace these departures with seasoned players. I think they only brought in 5 last year (I think 3 are still on the roster) and this years recruiting class will likely be small also- so overall it will balance out. Playing time is going to be tough this year but it should make the team very competitive, and deep should they get injuries.
Good start to the season in CA ... Trinity over Chapman 7-1 with Ryan Lucero taking a no-hitter into the eighth.
http://trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2012-13/releases/01-31-13_bb_chap
Chapman's only run was unearned, coming after two consecutive one-out errors in the eighth. That was about the only negative on the day; Trinity had four errors in all. Christian Muscarello hit the first home run of the 2013 season, a two-run dinger in the ninth. Second game of the series is today at 6pm PST. Live stats were not working yesterday, will hope for better today.
They are supposed to have the webcast going tonight, but not really sure. The Chapman website indicated that it would be available tonight.
Trinity dominated this game and looks very formidable, big strong, fast, with a balanced lineup of power/speed/LH/RH hitters. Freshmen also contributed on offense and pitching. How far TU goes will likely depend on how the number 2-4 starting pitchers look this year, as well as their pen, but they have two more Sr starters going the next two games. Only negative were the errors.
Chapman is talented but very young and you could see it in their approach at the plate. Granted Lucero had a lot to do with it, but he is not close to being at his prime yet, and you could see that the freshmen had many poor at bats in terms of their approach. I am sure the Chapman coach will use this series to motivate his team and they will only get better. They should be very good next year, but this year will depend on how fast they learn and develop. Their physical development will just take time and you can see the size/power differences between a older vs younger team, that said if they just play within their capabilities they will develop into a competitive team IMO.
Chapman pitcher Hanks was a little shell shocked in the first inning, but settled down after this and he got stronger as the game went on and did a good job of shutting down a very powerful TU offense. He held them in check in innings 2-5 and got out of the 6th with only one run with the help of the Chapman CF's great throw to the plate to tag out a TU runner. He should be a solid starter for them this year.
It will be interesting to see how the next two Chapman pitchers do, as the TU team will punish anyone who leaves balls over the middle of the plate. Also of interest will be how sharp the next two TU starters look.
I asked about the stream feed last night and was told that tonight's game will be streamed with audio.
Trinity hit and pitched well. Trinity pitchers only gave up 1 run and only 2 hits and no hits thru 7 innings.
Chapman did not hit or pitch well last night . Chapman is a very young team and will get better with each game with only 1 senior on the roster. A lot of unknowns with Chapman's pitching at this time but expect them to get much better as the season progresses.
Trinity did had have 4 errors but did turn 2 double plays.
Chapman played error free baseball and had some very good defensive plays. Chapman outfielders threw out runners runs at home and third for Chapman and the Chapman's catcher threw out a Trinity runner stealing and made a good tag at the plate. Also some nice defensive plays in the infield and outfield for Chapman. Chapman also stole 3 bases. Chapman looks like they are much stronger defensively that last year. They new position players at 3rd, SS, 2B, C and RF this year.
Oxy will be at Austin for double headers on Saturday and Sunday. The weather looks good. :)
Trinity gets another strong pitching performance from a starter - Tanner Barron went eight innings, striking out 13 and giving up only four hits and two walks in a 7-1 win over Chapman. Trinity put up runs in the top of the first four innings, keyed by Will Donnan's two run homer with two out in the top of the second - in fact, of their seven runs on the evening, six scored with two outs. Jonathan Hall added a solo shot in the top of the sixth to close out the Tiger scoring.
The final game in the series will be tomorrow today at noon Pacific.
This TU team is what I expected it to be, a BEAST!. They have speed and power, they are as big and strong as many D1 teams and I would not want to pitch to that line up....LOL on that visual....You may keep that line up down for a few innings, but they will make a pitcher pay for mistakes. Hall hit a ball to CF that still has not come down yet...at a field that they say no one hits it out to CF.
They were solid defensively making some great plays, Francke is an absolute vacuum cleaner over at third. Fink goes today, the third Sr starter in a pitching squad that has 2-3 more solid starters waiting in the wings, plus a Sr closer that shortens up the game by 1-2 innings.
Granted Chapman is a young team, but this TU team will roll over you if you don't come prepared to do battle.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 02, 2013, 12:08:51 PM
This TU team is what I expected it to be, a BEAST!. They have speed and power, they are as big and strong as many D1 teams and I would not want to pitch to that line up....LOL on that visual....You may keep that line up down for a few innings, but they will make a pitcher pay for mistakes. Hall hit a ball to CF that still has not come down yet...at a field that they say no one hits it out to CF.
They were solid defensively making some great plays, Francke is an absolute vacuum cleaner over at third. Fink goes today, the third Sr starter in a pitching squad that has 2-3 more solid starters waiting in the wings, plus a Sr closer that shortens up the game by 1-2 innings.
Granted Chapman is a young team, but this TU team will roll over you if you don't come prepared to do battle.
So glad to see Hall back in there. I was at the game last year when he injured his shoulder. Wishing the best for TU, Nick, & Hall!
A very different story today as Chapman punishes the Tigers 11-1. None of the TU pitchers were effective (starter Josh Fink only lasted into the second), giving up 14 hits, the fielders committed three more errors, and the only run Trinity scored was unearned. Braden Riddle went seven innings for Chapman, allowing six hits and striking out eight.
Good to get the first two wins but I'm sure the guys didn't want to end the trip on that note. They've got ten days until their next game, a single at home versus Schreiner.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 02, 2013, 12:08:51 PM
This TU team is what I expected it to be, a BEAST!. They have speed and power, they are as big and strong as many D1 teams and I would not want to pitch to that line up....LOL on that visual....You may keep that line up down for a few innings, but they will make a pitcher pay for mistakes. Hall hit a ball to CF that still has not come down yet...at a field that they say no one hits it out to CF.
They were solid defensively making some great plays, Francke is an absolute vacuum cleaner over at third. Fink goes today, the third Sr starter in a pitching squad that has 2-3 more solid starters waiting in the wings, plus a Sr closer that shortens up the game by 1-2 innings.
Granted Chapman is a young team, but this TU team will roll over you if you don't come prepared to do battle.
One area Trinity, TX needs to improve is defense. 7 errors over 3 games. Also losing 11-1 to a very young Chapman team with no returning pitching may not make it a top 25 team. Chapman's freshman pitcher only game up 1 run over 7 innings. I fully expected Trinity to sweep Chapman.
Agree with the errors, TU can not win playing the way they did today, very very sloppy. Fink went out with an injury in the second and TU worked through many of their freshmen pitchers to get a look at them in game situations and Chapman did a good job of capitalizing on TU's sloppy play behind them, plus their inexperience. A couple of the top TU prospects had some really good stuff IMO and I think learned their first lesson of pitching in college - you can't throw fastballs by good college hitters and need to change speeds while throwing strikes. They also gave up some hits when they were way ahead in the count and needed to a better job of locating pitches, again part of the development process.
Riddle did a nice job of keeping the TU batters off balance and Chapman has likely found one piece of their pitching puzzle. Tip your hit to him, nice job.
TU did play a lot of freshmen both in the field and on the mound which Scannell does early in the season, some did well and some did not, but that is part of the maturing and development process, he is a master at developing talent so you can't argue with success.
TU did not even bring a number of their more experienced players on the trip as well as played some freshmen over some older players likely to see what they had, IMO a couple of plays at home would likely would have resulted in outs with different arms in the OF. Some of the AB's for TU, both for the freshmen and upper classmen were very poor and they got away from what they were doing earlier in the series. They will go back and work on it which will make them an even better team.
I agree with Crash TU should have swept Chapman, they should not feel good about taking 2 of 3. They are a still a top 5 team IMO, but just shows they have some work to do. I also stick with my assertion that Chapman will be very dangerous later in the season. They are young and will make mistakes that young teams make, their AB's will get better and they will figure out their pitching. They are pretty solid defensively and if they get their pitching in order they will be in any game they play.
Trinity (3-1) pounded out 20 hits in their home opener tonight, defeating Schreiner (4-4) 13-1. Ryan Lucero gave up one run and five hits in five innings to move to 2-0. Relievers Kyle Bogese (6K, 3 IP) and William Wells combined for four innings of no-hit relief. Kevin Francke was 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and a double to pace the Tiger offensive attack.
TU took care of business like they should have. Nothing much to take away from this game except they beat a team they should beat, and Scannell got some quality innings from the flame thrower Bogese. (been clocked up to 97) If he can continue to work in the strike zone he has a chance to get some quality innings and really bolster rotation that is already pretty strong. (even with the loss of Fink, not really sure on his status)
Does the SCAC still have an automatic bid to the post-season?
Yes they do Jack.
TU took 2 of 3 from Austin this weekend. They lost game 1 to a junkballer and could not get their bats going. They got down in the first and ran out of runway. (7 inning game) TU seems to struggle against junkballers.
Box
AC 4-6-0
TU 2-3-1
In game two they jumped on AC with 3 in the first and never looked back. AC did turn a triple play on a LD hit and run with two on. In a scene reminiscent of little league, they looked silly on the basepath's with a runner "tagging up" on a ball to the fence and the batter runner over running him. Both runners were out. Wonder who brought snack after the game to the little tikes....
In game three AC jumped on TU and held the lead until the bottom of the 7th when TU picked up 4.
Box
AC 5-7-1
TU 7-12-3
Overall TU made too many base running mistakes in the series and is not playing the kind of defense required for a championship caliber team IMO. Pitching was also just OK, with the exception of Bentz who settled down game 3 and got the win.
Austin looked pretty defensively and scored 4, 4 and 5 runs vs TU, they don't have the power of TU offensively but looked competitive. They are better than their record.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 24, 2013, 06:03:46 PM
Yes they do Jack.
Thanks. I was curious because of the loss to Austin, who will likely end up with 10 wins or less. I thought the loss could be pretty damaging on any at-large chances but I guess that won't be an issue.
I have always been critical of coaches not throwing their top arms in a conference series and I am going to do so again. Why in the world would Trinity not throw their #1 guy in a conference series and waste him on a mid-week game. I know this is how it's "always been done" at Trinity but it backfires all too often. Having the AQ will help them if they continue to make these types of decisions. Just my thoughs from the bleachers.
Your point is well taken. Actually their number 1 went short innings on Tuesday and then pitched today, but I am not sure why they did not go with another pitcher on Tuesday. I think Austin is going to win more than 10, but you could be right as they have a tough schedule. They were solid defensively, could hit, not so much for power, and their pitching was decent, not great, but it will keep them in games.
TU has a really easy path this year to the Regional since their conference is adding teams, but are not there yet. Their real competitor in conference is Centenary and they are not eligible and the rest of the teams appear weak.
I agree with you however as I think they need to really lean on the others in their staff and get them ready for the tournament if they want to make a run through it. They are deep but need to develop them.
Trinity will most likely get the Pool A AQ bid for SCAC so it really dont matter what they do.
BUT
Trinity has been good enough to get to the West Regional the last several years but not good enough to make it to Appleton...
Unless I'm mistaken Centenary still has a couple of their D1 scholly athletes left ... P Cole Thompson for one.
Trinity is committing errors by the boatload this year...23 in ten games and 11 slready by Muscarello, who had 13 all last season. That is worrysome for sure.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 24, 2013, 11:18:05 PM
Your point is well taken. Actually their number 1 went short innings on Tuesday and then pitched today, but I am not sure why they did not go with another pitcher on Tuesday. I think Austin is going to win more than 10, but you could be right as they have a tough schedule. They were solid defensively, could hit, not so much for power, and their pitching was decent, not great, but it will keep them in games.
TU has a really easy path this year to the Regional since their conference is adding teams, but are not there yet. Their real competitor in conference is Centenary and they are not eligible and the rest of the teams appear weak.
I agree with you however as I think they need to really lean on the others in their staff and get them ready for the tournament if they want to make a run through it. They are deep but need to develop them.
Honestly, I didn't even know they played again today and were able to throw Lucero. I guess that makes sense to throw him on 4 days rest but I still think you throw your #1 in the first game of a series.
I could be wrong about Austin but dropping 4 to Oxy in pretty convincing fashion spells trouble. I fully expect Trinity to be playing in May but they need to get over the hump and win a regional. I honestly think they will be playing Linfield for a trip to Appleton.
I am looking at this from a distance and box scores plus some ancient experience. ;D
At this point, based on the losses to Austin and Chapman, and scuffling some in all 3 games with Austin, I am not very certain about Trinity. They have the level of talent to be playing that last game to get to Appleton. My early assessment is their success by the end of the season will end up being measured by 3 factors:
1.) What type of leadership they get over the course of the season from their seniors and those who have been there;
2.) The extent to which they get far better defensively by the end of April;
3.) How much improvement they get by the end of April from the 6-7 very talented freshman who are getting plenty of early season AB's and innings.
Quite often, #1 and #3 work in tandem. The seniors need to literally put the team on their back during the early season while the freshman adjust, make mistakes, grow, get better and become far more confident so they execute in nearly every situation by April. I sort of expect Coach Scannell to challenge his younger players early in the conference series just as he did against Austin.
Quote from: infielddad on February 26, 2013, 01:05:53 PM
I am looking at this from a distance and box scores plus some ancient experience. ;D
At this point, based on the losses to Austin and Chapman, and scuffling some in all 3 games with Austin, I am not very certain about Trinity. They have the level of talent to be playing that last game to get to Appleton. My early assessment is their success by the end of the season will end up being measured by 3 factors:
1.) What type of leadership they get over the course of the season from their seniors and those who have been there;
2.) The extent to which they get far better defensively by the end of April;
3.) How much improvement they get by the end of April from the 6-7 very talented freshman who are getting plenty of early season AB's and innings.
Quite often, #1 and #3 work in tandem. The seniors need to literally put the team on their back during the early season while the freshman adjust, make mistakes, grow, get better and become far more confident so they execute in nearly every situation by April. I sort of expect Coach Scannell to challenge his younger players early in the conference series just as he did against Austin.
Trinity from prior years plays well enough to get to the regional as a Pool A bid but has not been able to get to the next level and win the regional and get to Appleton.
Thanks Crash. I am "painfully" aware of how many times Trinity has come up one game short on the trip to Appleton. :'(
On the other hand, I have some satisfaction that our son helped get them to that game the first two times and set a standard that a successful season is measured by, at least, playing in that game. One can always look back and, for instance, believe they make it in 2012 if Lucero does not get hurt and could not pitch. One thing Coach Scannell teaches is to not make excuses...so I won't.
Using the Austin series as a benchmark, I feel this team has to improve in a number of areas to get to Appleton, with some of that coming on the shoulders of the seniors and a lot of it riding on the improvement of a lot of talented freshman.
Quote from: infielddad on February 26, 2013, 02:19:42 PM
Thanks Crash. I am "painfully" aware of how many times Trinity has come up one game short on the trip to Appleton. :'(
On the other hand, I have some satisfaction that our son helped get them to that game the first two times and set a standard that a successful season is measured by, at least, playing in that game. One can always look back and, for instance, believe they make it in 2012 if Lucero does not get hurt and could not pitch. One thing Coach Scannell teaches is to not make excuses...so I won't.
Using the Austin series as a benchmark, I feel this team has to improve in a number of areas to get to Appleton, with some of that coming on the shoulders of the seniors and a lot of it riding on the improvement of a lot of talented freshman.
Trinity teams are always well coached, pitch well, hit well and are very tough to beat. Not making excuses but injuries, bad weather at a regional, long trips to the regional, and long break before the regional has not helped either. But teams find ways to overcome.
I remember at team in 2009 lost their 2 time #1 AA pitcher and starting catcher during the regular season and still found a way to get to Appleton and 1 win away from playing on the last day in Appleton.
In 2011 another team lost the 3 time AA pitcher in Game 1 in Appleton but some how were 1 win away from a National Championship.
I have absolutely no problem with the concept of "no excuses." That is why I am not making any.
My point is, based on the Austin series,whether there is too much optimism for this team at this stage in the season.
Baseball is a funny game. Only 8 get to Appleton, and TU has been 9,10,11,12,.... whatever you want to call the teams that lose the last game of the Regionals and not make it. Not many teams get that far consistently, which makes it consistently a great program, only a handful are at this level year in and year out. Because of this they are consistently one of the best, not THE best one of them.
To this year:
From what I have seen this team can really swing it, as good or probably better than any team they have had. That said a junk ball pitcher held them to 3 hits last weekend. The same thing happened in Oregon last year, you have to learn to punish easy pitching and TU has not developed the patience for this for some reason. This is one thing that must be fixed this year. They MUST learn to tear apart easy pitching. They should have knocked the cxxx out of one of the Whitworth pitchers and they did not. +1 for him -10 for TU. (they moved on the TU did not)
The second thing is errors. Championship teams can not make the errors at the rate they are making right now.
Third is developing the rest of the pitching staff. For some reason Scannell seems to run out his top three a lot and if he is going to get to the next level the rest of the staff has to bear some of the burden during the season and reap the rewards come Regionals.
That at and $2.05 will buy you a cup of coffee!
Good discussion, lots of hand-wringing about an 8 - 2 team though. One thing I don't necessarily agree with is the verbiage of "easy" pitching. Some guys may not throw hard, etc., but if they were easy pitchers, they would not be starting for good teams.
I know as non-players we sit in the stands and see guys like this and think, "our guys should be killing this guy." I've thought it as well, so I'm not meaning to be snarky.
Ansett went 8 - 4 for Whitworth last season, started 12 games and threw over 80 innings, and the Northwest Conference had/s more than a few dudes on multiple teams that can swing the sticks. Let's just say "crafty winner" or something like that.
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on February 26, 2013, 05:46:18 PM
Quote from: infielddad on February 26, 2013, 02:19:42 PM
Thanks Crash. I am "painfully" aware of how many times Trinity has come up one game short on the trip to Appleton. :'(
On the other hand, I have some satisfaction that our son helped get them to that game the first two times and set a standard that a successful season is measured by, at least, playing in that game. One can always look back and, for instance, believe they make it in 2012 if Lucero does not get hurt and could not pitch. One thing Coach Scannell teaches is to not make excuses...so I won't.
Using the Austin series as a benchmark, I feel this team has to improve in a number of areas to get to Appleton, with some of that coming on the shoulders of the seniors and a lot of it riding on the improvement of a lot of talented freshman.
Trinity teams are always well coached, pitch well, hit well and are very tough to beat. Not making excuses but injuries, bad weather at a regional, long trips to the regional, and long break before the regional has not helped either. But teams find ways to overcome.
I remember at team in 2009 lost their 2 time #1 AA pitcher and starting catcher during the regular season and still found a way to get to Appleton and 1 win away from playing on the last day in Appleton.
In 2011 another team lost the 3 time AA pitcher in Game 1 in Appleton but some how were 1 win away from a National Championship.
In 2002 another team lost the D-III career record holder for wins and strikeouts after 4 starts in the season and made it to the championship game.
Is all this necessary?
In 2002, at the West Regional, Trinity lost their Assistant Coach. He passed away during the night following their first round win and move into the winners bracket. The team woke up, got on the bus for the 10am first game, only to learn of the death. When they arrived at the field around 9am, they were given the option to forfeit or play the game, delayed by one hour to 11am.
They played. Lost 5-2. Came back at night and beat Pomona-Pitzer who had two of the very best hitters in DIII that year.
Our son's roommate threw an absolute gem against P-P, giving up only a 3 run HR to Jase Turner. Our son had a bunch of hits and RBI's.
I have never been more in awe of a group of players and coaches in my life.
As a parent, Appleton never meant as much after that night.
Quote from: Whatagame on February 26, 2013, 07:26:34 PM
Good discussion, lots of hand-wringing about an 8 - 2 team though.
Good point, thanks for the perspective.....
But you have to admit it drives you nuts to see 215lb beasts at the plate wrapping themselves around a 78MPH fastball...inning....after...inning...after....inning...
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 26, 2013, 10:57:52 PM
Quote from: Whatagame on February 26, 2013, 07:26:34 PM
Good discussion, lots of hand-wringing about an 8 - 2 team though.
Good point, thanks for the perspective.....
But you have to admit it drives you nuts to see 215lb beasts at the plate wrapping themselves around a 78MPH fastball...inning....after...inning...after....inning...
Amen, but we don't stand in the batter's box, there's gotta be some magic to that slow, wafting baseball. Best of luck to TU this season!
Here is an interesting look at how individuals impact a team's performance. The following analysis is not based on individual stats, but compares team performance with individual players in and out of the lineup. This is an objective analysis using actual data from every game played by Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference teams this season. Based on this comprehensive analysis, the following players are making the most positive impact on their respective team:
Austin: ALEN MICHAEL in the lineup correlates to improving Austin scoring rate by 0.2ppg and decreasing opponents scoring rate by 11.2ppg - a net gain of 11.5ppg compared to when MICHAEL is out of the lineup. JORDAN HANCOCK (9.1ppg) also makes a strong positive impact.
Centenary (La.): not enough data available
Colorado College: IAN REWOLDT on the court correlates to improving Colorado College scoring rate by 8.6ppg and decreasing opponents scoring rate by 7.9ppg - a net gain of 16.5ppg compared to when REWOLDT is on the bench. CHRIS LESNANSKY (15.3ppg), JAKE TRAMUTOLO (10.8ppg) and RYAN MILNE (8.3ppg) also make a strong positive impact.
Southwestern: MICHAEL CANTU court presence correlates to increasing Southwestern scoring rate by 8.0ppg and decreasing opponents scoring rate by 0.2ppg - a net gain of 8.2ppg compared to when CANTU is off the floor. SEAN MYERS (7.4ppg) and CHASE KOCHER (6.4ppg) also make a strong positive impact.
Trinity: not enough data available
University of Dallas: DREW ASSINESI on the floor correlates to reducing University of Dallas scoring rate by 17.5ppg and decreasing opponents scoring rate by 30.2ppg - a net gain of 12.8ppg compared to when ASSINESI is off the floor.
On the lighter side, focusing on secondary goals (team stats other than the primary objective - outscoring opponents). Following are players making the most positive impact in these areas:
Team scoring: having SEAN MYERS on the floor correlates to Southwestern increasing its scoring rate by 11.8 ppg compared to when MYERS is on the bench.
Opponent scoring: having DREW ASSINESI on the floor correlates to University of Dallas decreasing opposition scoring rate by 30.2 ppg compared to when ASSINESI is on the bench.
Team field goal percentage: having SEAN MYERS on the floor correlates to Southwestern increasing its field goal percentage rate by 5.9 percentage points compared to when MYERS is on the bench. MICHAEL CANTU-Southwestern (5.5) also makes a strong positive impact.
Opponent field goal percentage: having ALEN MICHAEL on the floor correlates to Austin decreasing opposition field goal percentage rate by 5.9 percentage points compared to when MICHAEL is on the bench.
Team made field goals: having SEAN MYERS on the floor correlates to Southwestern increasing its made field goals rate by 3.7 per game compared to when MYERS is on the bench.
Opponent made field goals: having DREW ASSINESI on the floor correlates to University of Dallas decreasing opposition made field goals rate by 8.2 per game compared to when ASSINESI is on the bench.
Team offensive rebounds: having ALEN MICHAEL on the floor correlates to Austin increasing its offensive rebounds rate by 4.7 per game compared to when MICHAEL is on the bench.
Opponent offensive rebounds: having CHRIS LESNANSKY on the floor correlates to Colorado College decreasing opposition offensive rebounds rate by 4.8 per game compared to when LESNANSKY is on the bench.
Team turnovers: having DREW ASSINESI on the floor correlates to University of Dallas decreasing its turnovers rate by 8.2 per game compared to when ASSINESI is on the bench.
Opponent turnovers: having DREW ASSINESI on the floor correlates to University of Dallas increasing opposition turnovers rate by 2.8 per game compared to when ASSINESI is on the bench.
Team steals: having DREW ASSINESI on the floor correlates to University of Dallas increasing its steals rate by 2.7 per game compared to when ASSINESI is on the bench.
Team assists: having MICHAEL CANTU on the floor correlates to Southwestern increasing its assists rate by 2.1 per game compared to when CANTU is on the bench.
Team defensive rebounds: having IAN REWOLDT on the floor correlates to Colorado College increasing its defensive rebounds rate by 5.6 per game compared to when REWOLDT is on the bench.
DMJSports,
This would be a great post on the basketball board. :-[
My apologies Gray Fox, thanks for pointing it out. :-[
Quote from: Gray Fox on February 27, 2013, 12:36:25 PM
DMJSports,
This would be a great post on the basketball board. :-[
I was just reading along thinking this was going to be some interesting analysis and then I read that a player had a net impact of 11.5ppg and I was very confused w/ respect to baseball. Ha!
JSG
Quote from: Just_Some_Guy on February 27, 2013, 01:44:57 PM
Quote from: Gray Fox on February 27, 2013, 12:36:25 PM
DMJSports,
This would be a great post on the basketball board. :-[
I was just reading along thinking this was going to be some interesting analysis and then I read that a player had a net impact of 11.5ppg and I was very confused w/ respect to baseball. Ha!
JSG
PPG = Popups Per Game or Pitches per Game :D :D :D :D :D
SCAC baseball 2013 - With the conference being so small after so many teams left, do they still get a Pool A bid or do they move into Pool B bids
If they do Why? Only 5 teams and I believe only 4 are eligible for post season? Can someone educate me, since I dont know
Good fortune....cookie.
It is only a transition year as more teams come in the following years. I certainly don't know the rules, but the AQ stays with a qualified conference, which the SCAC is.
On the opposite side of the equation, think about a team like Birmingham Southern who finally becomes eligible and has to wait for the SAA A.Q. for two years.
As they say life if not fair.
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on February 28, 2013, 09:47:09 PM
SCAC baseball 2013 - With the conference being so small after so many teams left, do they still get a Pool A bid or do they move into Pool B bids
If they do Why? Only 5 teams and I believe only 4 are eligible for post season? Can someone educate me, since I dont know
As I remember a conference in the midst of a reorganization has two years to get back to the minimum number of teams (7 I think) for an AQ. As long as there are at least four core members participating in a sport the conference gets to keep the AQ it had previously earned. As you mention, Centenary is still provisional D3 so not eligible for any post-season play until they complete that transition.
The SAA, as a brand new conference, has to wait two years before any AQs will be granted by the NCAA, again based on them having the minimum number of participants in each sport.
BSC and the SAA teams will be evaluated in Pool B. The NCAA allocates one bid in Pool B for every # of schools as determined by the access ratio (# of school in Pool A conferences divided by # of Pool A conferences.)
Lordy, Southwestern continues to struggle through 2013 with another run-rule game today, losing 15-2 to Trinity to drop to 1-16. The first two games were more competitive, 4-0 and 6-1. I didn't expect Coach Thomas to totally turn things around in his first season but their performance to date still comes as a shock. This is the fifth loss by ten or more runs for the Pirates this season.
Trinity playing in a 5 team conference with only 4 teams eligible for a POOL A SCAC bid. With Southwestern in the conference and Centenary not eligible in 2013. Trinity is competing with 3 teams for AQ Pool A bid..
While ASC is in 14 team conference and gets a single Pool A bid.
I just love the NCAA's logic !!
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on March 03, 2013, 06:08:33 PM
Trinity playing in a 5 team conference with only 4 teams eligible for a POOL A SCAC bid. With Southwestern in the conference and Centenary not eligible in 2013. Trinity is competing with 3 teams for AQ Pool A bid..
While ASC is in 14 team conference and gets a single Pool A bid.
I just love the NCAA's logic !!
You have to have 7 full members to have a Pool A bid (in every sport that offers a team championship).
The SCAC was a 12 team conference until 7 teams pulled out and are adding an 8th. (SAA)
In the late 1990's, then ASC Commissioner, the late Fred Jacoby, told the ASC Presidents that you always want to have at least 10 teams in the conference to handle changes in the "Mission/Vision" of a member-institution like University of Dallas, Austin College, Centenary, McMurry, Mississippi College, Texas Lutheran and Schreiner. Through all of those changes the ASC has maintained its Pool A bid, and never was quite large enough to split into 2 conferences to get a second Pool A bid, (kinda like the MAC Commonwealth and Freedom.)
In the meanwhile, the SCAC has lost its Pool A in football, and I cannot anticipate when it will have a Pool A in football again. I congratulate the SCAC presidents and Commissioner, Dwayne Hanberry, and their managing the challenges that they faced and "stealing" TLU and Schreiner from the ASC. (I don't consider stealing Centenary a challenge, because the long term plan of Centenary's move to D-III was to join the SCAC.)
The SCAC will be an 7-team baseball conference, and hold its Pool A bid by fall 2014.
The ASC will be an 11-team conference by 2014. I do not see any other migration in or out of the ASC.
:)
Ralph, are there any other programs in the area that have a similar academic/athletic profile that the SCAC might pick up? How about picking up Lousiana College to give that area another anchor program?
Seems to me the SCAC would help itself by picking up one more program just for insurance. The ASC is not going to get to 14 so maybe one more program might balance the two in terms of number of schools.
Curious what the thinking is.
Hardin-Simmons would IMO be the best fit for the SCAC (academically and athletically), but they don't seem to be interested in moving. Concordia might be another option but again they seem happy where they are.
Don't see LC as an option, to be honest.
Ron is right.
I also thought that LeTU would be a good addition and would be more competitive against most of the SCAC than most of the ASC.
They would make a good travel partner for Centenary,
Centenary/ LeTU
Austin / UDallas
Southwestern/ Schreiner/ Trinity / TLU -- any combination to make two pairs.
Colorado College is just out on an island of its own.
Who is better?
Cententary(13-4)
Trinity-Texas(16-4)
Likely decided in the SCAC conf tourney. Centenary will be very tough in that tourney as this will be as far as they can go so they will fight to the death...
Since Centenary swept the 2 game series at Trinity, they have gone 3-5, including being swept by U of Dallas most recently.
Trinity has gone 9-0, including tough midweek wins, with well pitched games, against TLU, Concordia and a 3-1, 4 hitter, today, against HSU. Lucero followed by Alig, and Speer seem very capable, based on recent starts. As I posted several weeks back, the season is all about getting better because this is the time when the quality of play and pitching is the most important. Beginning Thursday, with everyone 0-0, those last 8-9 games might not be all that crucial, but experience usually shows it is tougher to turn things a different direction than it is to maintain good momentum.
Just watched Speer overmatch Howard-Simmons tonight. The big soph is really coming into his own.
Speer 7-0 1.52
Lucero 8-1 2.37 (27-3 career)
Alig 4-1 3.00
That starting trio, 5-6 solid arms in the pen, a healthy Jon Hall to anchor the line-up, and a defense that has played much better, is encouraging for Trinity fans as they head into the SCAC tourney.
That first game against Dallas and Bossert should be dynamite.
Can Tigers (33-7) absorb a hiccup and still get a Pool C?
Quote
Can Tigers (33-7) absorb a hiccup and still get a Pool C?
I don't think so as the SCIAC and NWC will likely have stronger teams. Frankly if they can't at least get 2nd place in the SCAC tournament do they deserve it?
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 22, 2013, 11:10:08 PM
Quote
Can Tigers (33-7) absorb a hiccup and still get a Pool C?
I don't think so as the SCIAC and NWC will likely have stronger teams. Frankly if they can't at least get 2nd place in the SCAC tournament do they deserve it?
They have to finish 1/2 in the SCAC Tourney...If not look at their SOS if they dont get a Pool C bid. 30+ wins does not mean you will get a Pool C bid as teams have found out in recent years. Win Pool A bid and you have nothing to whine about. Pool C bids can disappear quickly.
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on March 14, 2013, 07:07:05 PM
Who is better?
Cententary(13-4)
Trinity-Texas(16-4)
Having watched both teams this year (and I realize I am way late to answer this question, being more than a month after it was posted), I'd put Centenary ahead of Trinity. Jamari James and Tyler Clakley are just physical specimens. They should be playing linebacker somewhere. They don't look like your typical D3 athletes, they seriously look like they should be playing in the NFL. Add in the talent around those guys, and yes, Centenary is just a really, really good team.
Trinity is obviously also very good, and has top line pitching, but if I were a betting man I'd put my money on Centenary to win the SCAC title this year.
Man, poor Southwestern. They were put out of their misery on their home field tonight in the first game of the SCAC championships, 4-3. Fittingly enough for the way the season has gone, they lost after loading the bases in the bottom of the ninth (walk, walk, hit batsman) and the winning run scored on an error in the infield.
Surely RJ Thomas didn't expect to have a 30-game winner his first year after coming from Hendrix, but 3-37, 0-19 SCAC? Yowza. Austin goes up against Centenary tomorrow.
Thomas will get that program going in the right direction, it takes a couple of years. Recruiting is everything.
Turns out they're not done, it's a double elimination tourney. SW gets the Trinity-UD loser tomorrow.
Hear what you're saying, 108; it's just hard to believe anyone could go 0-fer in the SCAC.
Trinity is up 5-0 in bottom of first with no outs. Boussard (sp?) has left the game without getting an out.
Update: Trinity batted around and after 1 it is 6-0 TU.
Pretty surprising, Boussard supposedly had very good numbers coming into this game.
Trinity now up 21-1 (no typo) after six. Tigers have set the conference championship record for hits in a single game, 26, replacing a decade-old standard set by Southwestern in a nine-inning effort. Kind of surprised they sent out Lucero as the starter today.
Ron,
Dallas has been a pretty competitive team beating Centenary a couple of times and Boussard had very good numbers so I actually expected a low scoring close game and thought Dallas had a chance to upset TU......Obviously after the first inning that was not going to happen.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 26, 2013, 03:09:53 PM
Ron,
Dallas has been a pretty competitive team beating Centenary a couple of times and Boussard had very good numbers so I actually expected a low scoring close game and thought Dallas had a chance to upset TU......Obviously after the first inning that was not going to happen.
To add to the above which I agree with, Dallas was the biggest threat to Trinity in terms the of the Pool A bid. Dallas will now have to play two more games before they play the loser of Trinity v Centenary/Austin tomorrow so they'll be on game 4 where Trinity, even if they lose, will only be on game 3. If Trinity wins the likely match up with Centenary tomorrow, there's a good chance they don't end up playing another team in the tournament that could qualify for the Pool A.
Just funny how some teams match up better against different teams. TU now 6-0 against UD, most of them comfortable wins, 1-4 against Centenary while UD is 3-2 against the Gents and the margin in the two losses (as well as the three wins - LOL) being one run.
Centenary is up 14-3 through 5. Wonder what the over/under will be for the TU/Centenary game? 40!
The video coverage and commentary by the SCAC is excellent.
What's the max bet on that? I'll take under for whatever it is.
Centenary and Trinity tied bottom 10 at 3-3. 1 out runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out for TU in the bottom and now under lightening delay. Good game vs two solid teams, well pitched, TU out hitting Cent 11-7 but two costly errors are the difference in the game. Game will resume when weather passes.
Trinity wins in bottom of 11th, 4-3. Cent 3-8-0, TU 4-13-2. Very hard fought game with both teams putting runners in scoring position the last few innings. Big home run with 2 out in bottom of 9th by Chris Bianchi to tie up the game.
Centenary will likely come though the winners bracket for a rematch tomorrow, however they will have to get through another game late tonight after the losers bracket plays next.
Does this clinch a regional berth for Trinity? Or do they have to win the tournament to get an automatic?
If Centenary wins tonight, it clinches the SCAC pool A as the Gents aren't eligible for the NCAAs yet.
Bianchi's game-saving HR in the bottom of the ninth was not only his first HR of the year but only his fourth RBI all season.
Actually it does, they can do no worse than second. Like I have posted in the past they have the easiest path of any team I can think of unless there is another team in a weak conference without a conference tournament. This puts Linfield and Trinity into the West. It should help their seeding also.
Wait.... I just saw Ron's post have to look at the bracket...
Just checked the bracket, Ron is correct if Centenary comes through then they will be no worse than second. I would expect for Centenary to handle an expected U of Dallas, but Dallas has beat them 2 of 3 so baseball is a funny game, you never know.
If Centenary wins the tournament, then TU gets the pool A bid being the highest seeded team after Centenary. If Centenary wins the late game, Trinity is going to a reginal no matter the result tomorrow.
Centenary won easily in the nightcap (14-0) as Arcemont went the distance allowing only three hits. So Trinity has clinched the playoff bid.
Imagine that the Gents will start Cole Thompson today (5-1, 4.44, .285 OBP) and Trinity will start Zach Speer (7-0, 1.52, .211 OBP)
Here's the video feed for the Trinity vs Centenary game(s) today. http://sportsgram.net/live.php
The Gents threw basically every pitcher on the staff at Trinity during today's game but after the Tigers chased starter Cole Thompson in the first (after an unearned run and two consecutive hit batters) Trinity won the SCAC championship with an easy 9-3 victory. Zach Speer scattered six hits over eight innings, striking out five and giving up one run to move to 8-0. It was 9-1 going into the bottom of the ninth; Centenary's two-out rally plated two but ultimately fell well short.
Trinity beats Centenary in convincing fashion 9-3, Soph Zack Speer dominates Centenary going 8 innings 6 hits 1 run. TU gave up two meaningless runs in the bottom of the 9th, in a close game they would have likely just left Speers in to finish it. Speers was pretty much in control all day and I think had less than 100 pitches after 8.
Gives TU good momentum going into Regionals with strong pitching, defense, and offense clicking. Should also help their seeding in the tournament.
Congratulations to Centenary who has an outstanding team, they got a bad break today with Sr starter Cole Thompson going out in the first inning after apparently injuring his leg slipping, going after a bunt.
Next year Centenary will be post season eligible and should he a great rival to TU, TLU and the rest of the SCAC. Congrats to all of the well deserving Gents seniors, I am sure they are disappointed but fielded one of the better teams in DIII this year and should be very proud of their achievements.
Congrats to Trinity's trio for being named Academic All-District 1st team: Bentz, Clements, Hirschberg.
Well done, and well-deserved!
http://www.cosida.com/media/documents/2013/5/2013_CO_Baseball_Acad_All_District.pdf
I just heard that our friend Bob Edwards (known to us as HistoryMajor) passed away over the weekend. Bob loved Trinity sports and was involved from the days his son competed to his work in establishing the internet broadcast program.
Bob was a good friend that will be missed by the families that he has touched over the years.
Very sad news. Any further information (e.g. obituary, services) would be appreciated, ILVBB.
Requiescat in pace, Historymajor. We didn't always agree but there was never any doubt as to your passion for and support of Tiger Athletics.
Found Bob's obituary in today's Dallas Morning News. Private services will be held tomorrow.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dallasmorningnews/obituary.aspx?n=robert-william-edwards&pid=168004340
Trinity has posted this tribute to the late Bob Edwards (http://trinitytigers.com/legends/Bob_Edwards).
I picked up a few of the Trinity fall world series games last weekend. The team is very very deep at every position and there are some outstanding players that may not get much field time this year. Many would likely start on any other team. Offensively the team should be stronger than last year, which really prevented them to move to the CWS IMO. it is too early to tell on defense. saw some great plays and others not so much. Pitching is also very deep, I think the number one and two starters are pretty much set, beyond this it will be a battle, but they easily have 4-5 starters in the mix plus a very deep bullpen. I saw pro scouts coming and going so there are likely a few draft picks in the group. While nothing is cast in stone as far as the season, plus injures, etc, the real challenge for this team will be if it has enough to get past Linfield in the West Regionals. The potential is certainly there, will have to see how they all develop.
I believe they open the season with Chapman again this year @ home. I heard a few tidbits on their schedule and it appears to be much tougher than last years, but we will see once it is posted.
Most of Trinity's schedule is now up. Starts one week later also.
Much better than last year as far as toughness. Out of the gate, UTTyler, x2Chapman, x3@Millsaps. Then into league play; CTX, @ Hendrix for 3 mid-season break. About as tough a schedule they could make given travel considerations. Away games at Hendrix and Millsaps.
http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/schedule
Quote from: 108 Stitches on December 03, 2013, 09:11:30 AM
Most of Trinity's schedule is now up. Starts one week later also.
Much better than last year as far as toughness. Out of the gate, UTTyler, x2Chapman, x3@Millsaps. Then into league play; CTX, @ Hendrix for 3 mid-season break. About as tough a schedule they could make given travel considerations. Away games at Hendrix and Millsaps.
http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/schedule
I hope that Chapman and UT-Tyler are playing. That will help both teams.
Great scheduling kudos if they are!
No! It is Chapman at TLU on Friday! Great job! That helps with the SOS of both teams!
UT-Tyler plays TLU on the opening weekend.
Looks like Chapman is playing TLU the day TU/UTT play and then TLU and UTT play each other. Good way for all of the programs to start off the season.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on December 05, 2013, 12:16:39 PM
Looks like Chapman is playing TLU the day TU/UTT play and then TLU and UTT play each other. Good way for all aof the programs to start off the season.
Chapman plays TLU on Feb 4th then play 3 with Trinity Feb 7-9 all in Texas. Will find out if Chapman is back or a just a continuation of the 2012 and 2013 seasons. New Head Coach, returning pitching coach and loss of one senior for Chapman.
SCAC Media week with recorded interviews with the SCAC coaches.
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/releases/media_days_14
WOW!!! Trinity leads 5-3 heading to the 9th with UT-Tyler. 4 batters later is is 5-4, no outs and bases loaded.
Trinity wins 5-4 with a triple play. Yikes. So far, Trinity pitching is awfully solid. Hitting needs to come around, sometime by Friday of next week when Millsaps will be a major challenge on the road.
Quote from: infielddad on February 09, 2014, 08:36:18 PM
WOW!!! Trinity leads 5-3 heading to the 9th with UT-Tyler. 4 batters later is is 5-4, no outs and bases loaded.
Trinity wins 5-4 with a triple play. Yikes. So far, Trinity pitching is awfully solid. Hitting needs to come around, sometime by Friday of next week when Millsaps will be a major challenge on the road.
The game I watched online ended 5-3 with a double play to end it. The Trinity website say 5-3 as well.
I had checked Live Stats just following the game. it still shows 5-4 and the triple play?
http://trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Baseball/livestats/xlive.htm
Oh well, Trinity wins and heads to a big series with Millsaps.
Interesting piece of trivia someone pointed out to me. In the opening game of the season Trinity did not have one player from Texas in the starting lineup. That changed during the weekend, but just shows the impact National recruiting has on some programs and in particular Trinity.
Coach Scannell was very humble in his SCAC Media days interview giving credit to the University but he and his coaches go out and find the kids and of course having a University with National prominence helps seal the deal.
10 on the field for the day were from:
4 - AZ
2- CA
2- CO
1- VA
1- Canada
When our son played, Coach Mallon of Southwestern built a program with nearly 100% of his players from Texas. He had really good players.
The current roster suggests Coach Thomas is doing something similar to what he did at Hendrix and reaching at least into California for recruiting. When Coach Thomas won the SCAC, he credited Coach Scannell with upgrading the quality of the play required to compete but also being very generous in sharing how Trinity had been successful, especially through the Stanford All-Star camp.
One of the funniest stories I ever heard was from Coach Page. Millsaps started sending a coach to the Stanford Camp, but did not seem to have the results which were hoped. Coach Page laughingly shared that if it did not change, his assistant would be recruiting the Vermont All-Star camp next Summer.
There is certainly enough talent in Texas, and I have not really gone through the numbers, but I know that there are more qualified and competitive baseball players in California than there are slots for them. Most programs are D1, with a couple of DII and NAIA, anyway they end up playing all over the country. I am sure it is the same way in Arizona. Trinity has been able to tap into those borderline D1 players and develop them.
I just checked the TLU roster and only two were non Texans and they appear to have a very competitive team, likely will move into the top 20 this week after last weeks performance.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 11, 2014, 06:12:44 PM
There is certainly enough talent in Texas
Yup, even old SCAC member Rhodes recruits HEAVILY from Texas. just look their rosters from the past 4-5 years
Just checked and Trinity is up 8-1 on Millsaps, in the 8th I think. The Game Central site is HORRIBLE, updates every inning or two, why programs can't seem to get video and scoring right in this day and age is beyond me.
I know Millsaps is redoing their bleachers and box so maybe they will get video in as part of the upgrade.
Trinity takes 2 of 3 from Millsaps. Sounds like it was quite a battle in the last game today.
Trinity goes up 2-0, then 2-1, Millsap goes up 5-2, Trinity comes back 5-5, Millsaps goes up 6-5, then goes up 9-5, Trinity makes it, 9-7, then Millsaps goes up 10-7, Trinity ties it up top of 9 10-10, stays knotted in the 10th and TU goes up 13-10 in 11 and holds on for the win.
Text from someone there said Millsaps best team TU has seen this season and one of the best hitting teams he has seen in D3 ball.
Great continuation of rivalry between these two teams. Great way for both of them to get ready for their conferences. 10 hour bus ride home for TU will be a little easier. Great job by both coaches for keeping these teams playing.
Having pitched against Millsaps in the past couple seasons, I can tell you that all they do is hit. And a lot of it. Always looked forward to the challenge of trying to shut down their offense
Quote from: LynxCat39 on February 16, 2014, 05:36:42 PM
Having pitched against Millsaps in the past couple seasons, I can tell you that all they do is hit. And a lot of it. Always looked forward to the challenge of trying to shut down their offense
Coach Page is one of the very best in all of college baseball, not just D3, in his approach and teaching hitting. A few years back he was asked to do a major presentation for the ABCA annual convention on... hitting. He was asked by one of the best D1 coaches to do the presentation.
I am not sure Coach Scannell and Coach Bunch are not right there with him at this point. It is great to see them back competing again. Both teams benefit and not just on the field. Winning 2-3 from MIllsaps and having to battle a team which is among the best at battling and playing pressure baseball should make Trinity a much better team.
LynxCat, our son's roommate was an All-American pitcher at Trinity. His perspective was like yours when it came to Millsaps. He described them as a bunch of D1 hitters who just didn't have the size, strength or whatever, but they could hit.
TU survives Southwestern 8 - 7.
Another last inning comeback, scored 3 top of 9.
Good news, never give up and lots of bats.
Bad news. Still looking for number 3 starter.
Lots of baseball left but think this could be a recurring theme....
Order is restored in the Universe. After a very disconcerting first game TU clobbers SWU - as they should have.
I watched some of the games on video and while I am still concerned about TU pitching development the umpiring was probably the worst I have seen in college for quite some time. The announcers kept saying over and over, (for both teams) "where did that miss" SWU catcher threw down to third once on a "strike out" once. Good pitchers work the corners and this ump would have none of it. Pitchers on both teams could be seen shaking their heads. You make mediocre pitching throw it over the middle to teams like TU and this is the result. Shame on you Mr Umpire go back to Ump school.
I am not sure how this works, but the weekend series for TU vs Centenary is non league.
SCAC won't likely shake out until April when TLU and TU match up. Dallas looks like they are fielding a competitive squad and should be in the mix, I think a usually very competitive Centenary has a rebuilding year.
TU should win 2 of 3 and will likely sweep.
TLU at Shreiner which will only tell us if TLU can sweep the teams they should.
TLU and Dallas in two weeks which should be revealing for both teams.
Hi 108,
The SCAC has been doing these "non-conference conference" games in football too, though it surprises me to see the baseball teams doing it with as many teams as are either already in the region or willing to travel to get some early-season play in with snow on the ground back home. The TU-SW series just completed was also "non-conference conference."
TLU is taking on a spoiler role in many sports now (besides baseball, they won football and have the #1 seed for the upcoming SCAC women's tourney). More good teams in the conference will only be the tide that raises all ships.
Don't get it. ::)
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 23, 2014, 08:33:30 PM
Don't get it. ::)
The non-conference conference games are necessary because the ASC will have 33 conference games this year. There are no other teams for the SCAC teams to play.
Let's see what happens next year. Where McMurry lands may determine how many ASC-SCAC games will be played.
Caught the first few innings of the nonconf Centenary-Trinity tilt last night, won by Trinity 8-1. Starting P Ryan Gray looked good, throwing some heat with good motion on the ball. 7.1 IP, 5 H, 8K.
Was there also. Gray looked like he is shaping into their much needed #3 starter. Actually the game was very close 1-0 through 6 and then 3-0 when Gray was relieved in the 8th.
Centenary is nowhere near the team they were last year as far as size and strength, they are young and will get better over the season and into next year. Well coached squad. Their starter, Tromba pitched a very good game through 6 and kept TU off balance, I think he had not given up a hit through 3. He started to tire and this is when TU jumped on them.
It actually was 3-0 when Gray was relieved and CU had runners on first and second so it could have easily been a much tighter game. The difference is that TU has a pen full of relievers who can come in and throw 90+ and it makes it difficult to come back against them late in the game.
There is a trend I am seeing where the games are tight until the starting pitcher get tired and the other teams don't seem to have the arms or adjust to the pitching mid game to compete with TU. This of course will be different later in the season and in Regionals where all of the teams will have deeper pens.
Two more on tap for today.
Centenary is a very young team that could develop over the season. They have a couple of pitchers that could make them dangerous later in the season in a given game, however they have a lot to work on. Very sloppy defensively as well as basic base running mistakes. This team is nothing like the past couple of years as far as size and power. What they should take away from this weekend is that for a bunch of innings they were competitive, fix the mistakes and they can compete. They have some nice young arms that just need some time, one funny observation of the pitching staff, you have to have long hair mullet to pitch for them. LOL
Trinity is starting to shape into a championship level team - not there yet but there are signs. They are sick in depth everywhere. Guys keep coming off the bench and making huge contributions, and they are rock solid defensively. The bull pen keeps rolling out pitchers, 3 of the 4 arms that came out of the bullpen this weekend were serious 90+ throwers. (2 of them had not even pitched yet this season) If they keep developing they should have the depth needed to get through a tough tournament. I think the challenge will be to get enough innings so they are ready come tournament time.
IMO this team has the chance to be the best they have fielded in three years, not the best at the start, but at the end.
Another fine effort today for Ryan Gray who went eight innings, allowing only two hits and one earned run while striking out 14 (!) in a 9-1 victory at Austin College.
Trinity takes the DH from Austin, 3-2 and 9-3. Congrats to Coach Tim Scannell, who today won his 500th in his career (500-199; 212-82 SCAC).
Predictions for this weekend games:
TLU takes 2 of 3 from Austin. Austin can play tough for a game or two.
UofDallas 2 of 3 from Centenary.
Trinity sweeps Southwestern.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 13, 2014, 11:50:15 PM
Predictions for this weekend games:
TLU takes 2 of 3 from Austin. Austin can play tough for a game or two.
UofDallas 2 of 3 from Centenary.
Trinity sweeps Southwestern.
TLU took double header today. Single game tomorrow weather permitting.
Trinity pounded SWestern in game 1.
Anybody catch the dust up between the Trinity coach and the Southwestern coach in the 8th inning of second game on Saturday? I tuned in online just as it started up and was wondering what started it. They were nose to nose at home plate going at it like nobodies business. I was waiting for someone to start swinging at any second. I checked the archive video and the game stops in the 4th inning and starts back up as the kids are shaking hands at the end of the game.
the SW coach was probably just congratulating Scannel on his 500th win.
I was there, it was one of the more exciting college games I have been to. Quick summary the umpires let it get out of control but this is what I understand happened.
First game Friday night SW hits 4 or 5 batters. (Just background) TU takes the bases and mercy's SW.
Game Sat morning the TU staff ace was not having one of his best games and hits a SW batter, who stares him down all the way to first. Apparently there is some chirping going on with this player during the game between the two teams after this.
In the 7th (7 inning game) Trinity's closer throws a 94MPH FB behind this kid.
Game ends.
Next game.
TU gets a double and then a HR scoring two.
TU's best hitter, Hirschberg comes up and promptly gets hit. Big ruckus and everyone knows what is going on but the umps, who do not warn the teams. ??? (BTW he causes a throwing error and steals second immediately) More fun in the stands and TU bench chirping. He then gets double in home and the TU bench is all over the SW pitcher.
Things settle down but benches are still going after each other pretty loud. Since TU is up they are just ruthless on the SW pitcher.
Top 6th SW batter gets hit. (grazes his jersey, but really just an inside pitch that cut a bit) More chirping from SW side.
Bottom 6th TU gets a runner on, he steals 2nd, and then the SS makes an error on a batted ball and the ball kicks away from him and the TU runner heads for home, SS gets to ball and throws to catcher who comes up the line catches the ball and the TU runner just crashes in to him sending him flying, runner called out, thrown out of game and the benches clear with the umpires and coaches trying to keep the kids apart.
Next inning apparently someone on the TU coaching side saw the SW coach give the signal to hit the TU batter and sure enough he gets hit. This is when Scannel went berserk and was on the field nose to nose with the SW coach.
Anyway it was a wild one, actually kind of fun to watch, glad no one got hurt however. Umpires should have warned both benches early and this probably would not have happened or as been as crazy.
Video archive is all messed up. Friday night game is actually the last game and skipped the middle of the game. The second and third game are all mixed together.
Tues game vs UMHB should be a good one.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 16, 2014, 06:54:58 PM
Video archive is all messed up. Friday night game is actually the last game and skipped the middle of the game. The second and third game are all mixed together.
Tues game vs UMHB should be a good one.
The games seem to be in the correct order but apparently they removed the incidents in questions because all the video from the 4th inning on is missing and it goes straight to shaking hands at the end of the game. Sounds like an entertaining game though.
16 Trinity batters hit by a pitch in 6 games will get any team a little fired up.
Just got back from the Trinity/Dallas game. Trinity pulled out the win from what started as a sloppy game and then turned into a very hard fought clean baseball game. Very fun to watch.
My takeaways:
Dallas is a young team that is going to keep getting better. They are much better team today than then probably were 4 weeks ago, and are better than their record. They are a very very well coached team. They are still making mistakes that young teams make, however they will be dangerous in the SCAC playoff's. They should be very proud of this weekend's performance, knocking off the number 1 team this morning (not for long, but who cares..until May) and coming close this afternoon.
Trinity is going through the mid season doldrums. They are a bit flat and look tired at some positions. Last year they lost to teams about this time that they should not have and this year they have so much talent and fight in them that they overcome this. They will lose some more games this year but I don't see them loosing 2 or 3 games they should not have. This team has a fight to it and never seems to give up. They still are working through pitching, but they are very very deep.
My pick for SCAC playoff are:
Trinity
TLU
Dallas
Centenary
Trinity has a very tough schedule this week. CTX away Tuesday and then an away series at Hendrix who are always always tough at home. They should be thrilled with a 3-1 performance, but could easily go 2-2 if they don't clean up their fielding.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on March 17, 2014, 04:41:14 PM
16 Trinity batters hit by a pitch in 6 games will get any team a little fired up.
That's about average for Heidelberg! :) Of course, they do everything but try to get hit.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 23, 2014, 11:09:44 PM
Just got back from the Trinity/Dallas game. Trinity pulled out the win from what started as a sloppy game and then turned into a very hard fought clean baseball game. Very fun to watch.
My takeaways:
Dallas is a young team that is going to keep getting better. They are much better team today than then probably were 4 weeks ago, and are better than their record. They are a very very well coached team. They are still making mistakes that young teams make, however they will be dangerous in the SCAC playoff's. They should be very proud of this weekend's performance, knocking off the number 1 team this morning (not for long, but who cares..until May) and coming close this afternoon.
Trinity is going through the mid season doldrums. They are a bit flat and look tired at some positions. Last year they lost to teams about this time that they should not have and this year they have so much talent and fight in them that they overcome this. They will lose some more games this year but I don't see them loosing 2 or 3 games they should not have. This team has a fight to it and never seems to give up. They still are working through pitching, but they are very very deep.
My pick for SCAC playoff are:
Trinity
TLU
Dallas
Centenary
Trinity has a very tough schedule this week. CTX away Tuesday and then an away series at Hendrix who are always always tough at home. They should be thrilled with a 3-1 performance, but could easily go 2-2 if they don't clean up their fielding.
Good feedback,108. I think all of Dallas' games against TLU were one-run jobs and TLU went 2-1 against them, too.
Will be interesting to see who starts against CTX tomorrow.
What happened with Gray, 108?
DP643 - It was a cold windy day with the wind blowing in so conditions were tough. The defense kicked the ball around (including a throwing error by him) and then 3 BB in 1.2 innings was not going to get it done (walked leadoff in both innings) in what was expected to be a tough day to score runs. He has great stuff and will be back out there, just one of those days when the stars did not align.
Flores came in and pounded the zone with FB down, (0 BB) which is what you need to do in those type of conditions, as no balls were going to get hit out. Everything in the air was knocked down and caught. In those conditions, you just have to make a team earn everything.
The game Dallas won was off a hung CB grand slam (after an E....all unearned. ::)) and they seemed to have a more difficult time with FB vs LH breaking stuff. Actually Dallas lost the game because of a leadoff walk and HBP in the 8th.
Here is my predictions on how the conference will end:
Trinity 15-3
TLU 13-5
Cent 11-7
Dallas 8-10
SW 6-12
Schr 5-13
Austin 5-13
One of the SA television stations did a story on TU ... before last weekend's series, but I just saw it:
http://www.foxsanantonio.com/sports/features/maximum-sports/stories/theyre-grrreat-trinity-baseball-off-record-start-332.shtml
Predictions for the upcoming weekend:
TLU sweeps Southwestern
Dallas takes 2 of 3 from Austin College
Centenary sweeps Schreiner
Trinity sweeps Hendrix (non-conference)
Comments, thoughts, Trinity haters?
I don't expect Trinity to sweep Hendrix, this is a deep rivalry that goes back many years and it is a very difficult place to play so I would estimate 2 of 3. While I was typing this I looked at their schedule and they swept Millsaps last weekend so I am pretty sure TU will not sweep.
Centenary defeats Schreiner
Southwestern defeats TLU in 13 innings
This will make the Centenary/TLU series in Seguin next weekend much more interesting, IMO
Trinity starts their 3 game series with Hendrix tomorrow
Dallas and Austin College begin their 3 game series tomorrow
Interesting baseball taking place in the SCAC today!
Southwestern appears to be poised to take 2 of 3 from Texas Lutheran
Centenary will take 2 of 3 from Schreiner
Trinity lost game 1 of the series to Hendrix
Dallas beats Austin College in walk-off fashion in game 1 of their series
Predictions for the weekend:
TU @ Schreiner TU - 3 Shr- 0
Cent @ TLU TLU - 2 Cent - 1
UofD @ Chapman UoD -1 Chap - 2
SW @ Austin SW - 2 Aust 1
TU could drop one to Shreiner if they play like they did a Hendrix
Cent could take 2 from TLU if they continue to develop and TLU does not bring their A game
SW vs Austin - Austin can play at home and SW is a young team and well coached.
Love that UofD is going to Chapman, good for the program.
Trinity is about to a mercy with Schreiner for the third game.
Next weekend is about who will host the SCAC conf tournament.
If Trinity wins 2 of 3 the next two weekends they will host. TLU has to at least win 2 of 3 to have a chance to host it. I have not looked at what has to happen for the 3/4 seeds but I predict UofD and Centenary.
Will be a good weekend next week.
Looks like the SCAC should be settled this weekend. Both TU and TLU have great starting pitching and should be great series. Speer Walker and Gray vs Snider and Aleman should be epic battles. Pen will be difference IMO
Certainly will go a long way towards resolving things, but Trinity still has three games at Centenary while TLU closes with a home series with Schreiner.
If Trinity (11-1 SCAC) wins 2 of 3 or better they'll clinch the regular-season championship (would have a three game lead and tie breaker with three to play).
If TLU (9-3 SCAC) wins 2 of 3 they'd still be a game back with three to play and would need help from Centenary. A sweep would put the Bulldogs a game up and it would be Trinity needing help from a much more unlikely source.
Will be the most meaningful set of 3 games for both teams this season, which will make them intense and a lot of fun. Love that TLU is in the SCAC now. Even though UofD, SWU are not quite at TLU and Trinity's levels yet, I see clear signs of all of those programs getting better. Centenary is young this year and will be good next year. Even though UofD lost three games at Chapman it is huge for that program to get out and play nationally recognized programs. This conference will continue to get more competitive over the next couple of years.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 07, 2014, 09:26:44 AM
Certainly will go a long way towards resolving things, but Trinity still has three games at Centenary while TLU closes with a home series with Schreiner.
If Trinity (11-1 SCAC) wins 2 of 3 or better they'll clinch the regular-season championship (would have a three game lead and tie breaker with three to play).
If TLU (9-3 SCAC) wins 2 of 3 they'd still be a game back with three to play and would need help from Centenary. A sweep would put the Bulldogs a game up and it would be Trinity needing help from a much more unlikely source.
wonder what happens if Trinity takes 2-3 from TLU, giving TLU 5 losses, Trinity 2 losses. Lets say Trinity then gets swept by Centenary and TLU sweeps Schreiner, now Trinity, TLU, Centenary have 5 losses. Wonder what the tie breaker is in that case
Would have to be head-to-head, which TU would have in that scenario (even tho I find it hard to believe that TU would drop three at Centenary).
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 07, 2014, 12:32:22 PM
Would have to be head-to-head, which TU would have in that scenario (even tho I find it hard to believe that TU would drop three at Centenary).
If you were to compare just the series between the 3 teams:
TLU would be 4-2 in that situation. (3-0 v Cent, 1-2 v TU)
Trinity would 2-4. (2-1 v TLU, 0-3 v Cent)
Cent would be 3-3. (0-3 v TLU, 3-0 v Cent)
ah, true. Hadn't considered Centenary being in the mix but if they win all three this week against Austin and the three against Trinity that could happen, couldn't it? +1 for you.
A lot of things can happen in college baseball but considering the last time TU and Cent played the scores were 8-1,10-0,4-2 a sweep is not likely by Cent, they have a very young team and will be much better come the end of the season, but they just don't have the pitching depth. I expect a 2 of 3 win in both series by TU, but the way things have gone so far in Texas this year, who knows. The TLU series should be intense.
This definitely isn't the Centenary team of last year. I agree that they will have much more experience next year. Their 3 man rotation is solid, but after that the bullpen is a coin flip no matter who they roll out (see box score from game 3 @ TLU if you are skeptical). They are definitely a dangerous team come tournament time due to having 3 solid starters, but the inconsistency in the lineup and bullpen make them very suspect (losses to Southwestern and Schreiner).
Quick stat check for the Trinity vs TU series:
TLU Trinity
Team BA 0.289 0.320
SLG 0.374 0.456
Batters over 0.300 4 7
Team HR's 8 21
Team ERA 3.02 2.41
3 Staters ERA 1.07,1.57,2.61 1.93,2.01,2.08
The bull pen ERA for TLU drops off quite a bit.
My keys to the game:
For TLU to take 2 of 3 they have to ride their starters deep into the games.
TLU can not walk anyone as they could get hurt with Trinity's power.
For Trinity they have to be patient and work the count and get to TLU's bull pen.
Another semi key statistic is that TLU fields .975 and TU fields .969
While both are good, TLU really thrives on throwing strikes and letting the defense work. It will be interesting to see how this approach works against a very good offense like TU.
Good stuff, 108. I'd add that both teams need to keep errors and unearned runs down.
| . | TLU | TU |
| Fielding percentage | .975 | .969 |
| Errors | 28 | 36 |
| Passed Balls | 5 | 12 |
| Wild Pitches | 34 | 28 |
| Hit by Pitches (thrown) | 42 | 31 |
| Walks (allowed) | 106 | 128 |
TLU has played 32 games, Trinity 31 so the raw numbers are pretty valid comparisons.
Edit: Have no idea where I got the walk numbers originally - maybe I transposed the WP numbers. That's what happens when you do stuff while trying to pay attention to a teleconference.
Ron, I am not sure where you got the walk numbers but TU has 128/38 total/conf. (265 innings) Of the 128 total 29 are from one of the wilder pitchers who won't likely throw this weekend.
TLU has 106 in 271 innings, but they don't show conf numbers.
Now I am a bit confused looking at the pens, TU has 4 starters and ~81 innings from the pen.
The TLU numbers I posted were their top three ERA's it looks like the other two starters have ERA's of 2.7 and 4.11, so it looks like they might be shuffling things a bit. I doubt they would put a pitcher out against TU with a 4.11 ERA.
Don't know them that well, so we will see who takes the mound for them.
SCAC_fan: They better throw strikes because if they walk anyone they will get burned by the long ball at the TU field! (providing wind not blowing in)
While Trinity and TLU duke it out for the top two seeds for the SCAC probably of more interest is who will be the 3 and 4 seed. I also have a question regarding the format.
Are there only going to be 4 teams or will they take 5 like last year and have a "play in game" for the 4/5 seeds?
If they only take 4 it could be really interesting as Centenary, Southwestern and UofD all have a chance to get in depending on what happens. Curious if someone knows the format.
I have heard from an AD within the SCAC that it is a 4 team, double-elimination tournament
With that said, as long as Centenary wins 2 of 6 against Austin College and Trinity they are in. I foresee them going 3-3, and in the occurrence of a tie in the standings with Dallas or Southwestern, Centenary holds the tiebreaker over both teams
OK then for the 4th seed it will come down to the SW and Dallas and their series at the end of the season. That will also be an intense set of games for both of those programs. (I assume that Dallas with either sweep Schreiner or at least take 2/3 this weekend)
Trinity took the first TLU game 4-0 in a pretty clean game. Bogeese was very shaky and worked out of jams in all three innings he pitched and Trent Rape came in in the third and shut TLU down. Snider for TLU pitched a pretty good game just made a couple of mistake pitches and got hurt, he gave up 10 hits but they were not really strung together other than a HR with a runner on and a mistake 0-2 pitch for a double that scored 2.
TLU is a very big strong and good looking baseball team and both the infield and OF made some outstanding plays. I have not seen all of the teams TU has played but put them up there with Chapman, with stronger offensive, and probably a little less pitching, (if Snider was their number 1), but we will see more today. Trinity overall is a better team, but TLU could easily take a game or two from them if they don't come prepared to play. Middle part of TU order seems to be coming back out of their doldrums.
Late Add: Today's game is a strike out breast cancer fundraiser, the Trinity players will have pink jersey's all fans are encouraged to wear pink and pink T shirts jersey replicas are for sale and all proceeds going to several women cancer funds.
Trinity swept TLU, 5-2 and 9-3 today. The main difference between the two teams IMO was pitching. TLU is a very good defensive and offensive team, but just does not have the pitching staff that Trinity does.
108 I agree TLU is a very good hitting team with solid D. Difference was Rape and Speers who set the tone. Is Rape new and where has he been? Zack I know has been nails for two plus years. Hoping tigers rolling at right time after Hendricks fiasco a few weeks back
Sportsfan,
Rape is a JC transfer. There are so many guys down in the pen that have not seen much mound time it is amazing. Most of these kids would be starters on most teams in the country. I watched a freshmen throw a pen at the end of the game to get some work in and he was better than every kid I saw from TLU in the game, seriously good looking kid. I would say that the bull pen pitchers are better than the starters just watching them...... so I just went and checked the stats.
I took a quick look and the starters have an ERA of ~2.6 and the pen has an ERA of ~1.8, which is typically reversed. Good news is that there are even more kids you have not seen that could be available come Regionals, the bad news is that there are a couple of shaky guys getting the ball to start the game. ( shaky is a relative term on this team)
Middle of the order is back in gear and three games with no errors and some very good defensive plays so I would characterize the Hendrix trip as an anomaly.
That TLU team is a seriously good looking team, just does not have the pitching.
Where and when is the SCAC tournament?
SCAC baseball championships now held at the regular season champ's home field, so in San Antonio May 2-4.
TU has gotten extended innings from their pen quite a few times this season, again this weekend with the lengthy stints from Rape and yesterday from Lauck. Having the starters out so early is a bit of a concern.
So looking at the standings it looks like the following are should be in the tournament.
Trinity
TLU
Centenary
It looks like the final spot in the conf championship will be determined next weekend with Dallas @ SW'n. (Dallas is currently down 7-1 vs Schreiner) Both should be coming in to the game at 7-8 so best of 3 takes the final spot.
Seeding won't be determined until all of the games are played, although it will likely be:
Trinity (given)
TLU (if they sweep Schreiner)
Centenary (even if they drop 3 to Trinity, as long as SW or Dallas does not sweep...not sure about tie breaker)
SW or Dallas.
Love it that SW is back in the hunt! Great to see the program headed in the right direction.
don't see how TU doesn't win the SCAC. They have dominant starting pitching led by Speer/Gray/Walker with a great pen lead by Turner/Flores/Rape/Tindall...it appears that the Hendrix weekend helped this team get things in order...time will tell.
TLU is done as far as a at large bid, loosing to Schreiner yesterday. ::)
They will have to win the SCAC for any chance to go to Mc Minville.
UofD and SWern series should be a fun one this weekend for the final spot in the SCAC tournament. Both teams are pretty evenly matched IMO.
Trinity wins in 12, 4-2. Don't know details but an ejection and a bench clearing. Sounds like fun. Too darn bad that Centenary is in the dark ages without a video feed.
Southwestern beat UofD 3-2 in what looked like a great game. They need 1 win to get into SCAC tournament.
TU didn't waste any time today, scoring 4 runs in the first on their way to winning 12-3 in 7.
Southwestern is in the SCAC championships with an 11-3 win over UD. Good to see them come back after last year's disaster. 12-26 doesn't sound like much but it is a whole lot better than 3-38.
Trinity took 2 of 3 @ Centenary. Lost last game 4-5. SCAC tournament set, TU vs SWern at 1:00PM May 2 with TLU vs Centenary. the second game. Both Centenary and SWern have improved a lot during the season so TU and TLU better bring their A games.
TU should win the tournament, BUT it is college baseball so you never know. I am concerned about Trinity's starting pitching that has been less than stellar the past few outings, I have to wonder why more bullpen arms have not been used more. Last game starter gave up 10 hits in 5 innings. That is not going to get it done in a Regional.
I took a look at conference only stats and the starters have an ERA ~2.4 and if you take the top 9 arms they have an ERA of ~1.2. TU has plenty of arms but not sure why the pen is not being used more?
SCAC Conference Championship website is here:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/releases/championships_release
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 20, 2014, 07:34:39 PM
SCAC Conference Championship website is here:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/releases/championships_release
No baseball games for 11 days for SCAC teams. Not a recipe for keeping everything sharp and ready for playoff baseball. Maybe why Trinity has not advanced to the DIII NCAA Championship tournament,
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 21, 2014, 07:26:48 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 20, 2014, 07:34:39 PM
SCAC Conference Championship website is here:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/releases/championships_release
No baseball games for 11 days for SCAC teams. Not a recipe for keeping everything sharp and ready for playoff baseball. Maybe why Trinity has not advanced to the DIII NCAA Championship tournament,
the tourney is actually a week later than normal, meaning it will be a week closer to the regional. If trinity wins the scac, maybe the shorter layoff will help come regional time.
how will Trinity look to stack up their pitching for the SCAC tournament? I would think Walker, Gray, Speer, but who knows what Scannell will do?
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 21, 2014, 08:49:03 PM
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 21, 2014, 07:26:48 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 20, 2014, 07:34:39 PM
SCAC Conference Championship website is here:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/releases/championships_release
No baseball games for 11 days for SCAC teams. Not a recipe for keeping everything sharp and ready for playoff baseball. Maybe why Trinity has not advanced to the DIII NCAA Championship tournament,
the tourney is actually a week later than normal, meaning it will be a week closer to the regional. If trinity wins the scac, maybe the shorter layoff will help come regional time.
No baseball games for almost 2 weeks and then SCAC Championship games then another week off. That is too many days off IMO to be sharp for the regionals.
You have to go with your best and keep winning each game in front of you,so likely Speer but they will probably look at stats and RH/LH then make a decision.
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 21, 2014, 10:01:43 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 21, 2014, 08:49:03 PM
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 21, 2014, 07:26:48 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 20, 2014, 07:34:39 PM
SCAC Conference Championship website is here:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/releases/championships_release
No baseball games for 11 days for SCAC teams. Not a recipe for keeping everything sharp and ready for playoff baseball. Maybe why Trinity has not advanced to the DIII NCAA Championship tournament,
the tourney is actually a week later than normal, meaning it will be a week closer to the regional. If trinity wins the scac, maybe the shorter layoff will help come regional time.
No baseball games for almost 2 weeks and then SCAC Championship games then another week off. That is too many days off IMO to be sharp for the regionals.
well....until this year, it was play the conf tourney the last weekend of april and then sit almost 3 weeks and play a regional. who knows....the ideal way would be play games every weekend up the the week before the regional. However, that wouldn't happen bc there would be no teams to play against.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 22, 2014, 08:10:16 AM
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 21, 2014, 10:01:43 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 21, 2014, 08:49:03 PM
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 21, 2014, 07:26:48 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 20, 2014, 07:34:39 PM
SCAC Conference Championship website is here:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/releases/championships_release
No baseball games for 11 days for SCAC teams. Not a recipe for keeping everything sharp and ready for playoff baseball. Maybe why Trinity has not advanced to the DIII NCAA Championship tournament,
the tourney is actually a week later than normal, meaning it will be a week closer to the regional. If trinity wins the scac, maybe the shorter layoff will help come regional time.
No baseball games for almost 2 weeks and then SCAC Championship games then another week off. That is too many days off IMO to be sharp for the regionals.
well....until this year, it was play the conf tourney the last weekend of april and then sit almost 3 weeks and play a regional. who knows....the ideal way would be play games every weekend up the the week before the regional. However, that wouldn't happen bc there would be no teams to play against.
SCAC is schedule now is an improvement over prior years but still is less than ideal or normal. Does teams in DIII football or basketball schedule the same way for SCAC teams. I don't think so. Just a very weird schedule for baseball to me. Hard to win a regional with this type of schedule IMO but maybe 2014 is the break thru year...But they need to go thru Linfield to finally make the trip to Appleton from Trinity
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 22, 2014, 08:30:38 AM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 22, 2014, 08:10:16 AM
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 21, 2014, 10:01:43 PM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 21, 2014, 08:49:03 PM
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 21, 2014, 07:26:48 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 20, 2014, 07:34:39 PM
SCAC Conference Championship website is here:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/releases/championships_release
No baseball games for 11 days for SCAC teams. Not a recipe for keeping everything sharp and ready for playoff baseball. Maybe why Trinity has not advanced to the DIII NCAA Championship tournament,
the tourney is actually a week later than normal, meaning it will be a week closer to the regional. If trinity wins the scac, maybe the shorter layoff will help come regional time.
No baseball games for almost 2 weeks and then SCAC Championship games then another week off. That is too many days off IMO to be sharp for the regionals.
well....until this year, it was play the conf tourney the last weekend of april and then sit almost 3 weeks and play a regional. who knows....the ideal way would be play games every weekend up the the week before the regional. However, that wouldn't happen bc there would be no teams to play against.
SCAC is schedule now is an improvement over prior years but still is less than ideal or normal. Does teams in DIII football or basketball schedule the same way for SCAC teams. I don't think so. Just a very weird schedule for baseball to me. Hard to win a regional with this type of schedule IMO but maybe 2014 is the break thru year...But they need to go thru Linfield to finally make the trip to Appleton from Trinity
baseball is the only sport that deals with this because of semester exams. stupid, but it is what it is. other schools deal with it, but the SCAC chooses not to
Could a school decide to schedule some games after the tourney with out of conference opponents or is that a No, No for the conference?
Quote from: Bishopleftiesdad on April 22, 2014, 11:06:59 AM
Could a school decide to schedule some games after the tourney with out of conference opponents or is that a No, No for the conference?
the problem is location of teams. For Texas, there are two conferences, the ASC and SCAC. The ASC always finished up after the SCAC does, but that still doesnt leave any teams for a SCAC team to play. No team wants to play after their conf tourney is over, at least no one in the SW does. Trinity has even tried to get games with non-D3 schools in the area, even JUCO's in Texas and no one wants games during that time of year. Most are full.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 22, 2014, 12:05:26 PM
Quote from: Bishopleftiesdad on April 22, 2014, 11:06:59 AM
Could a school decide to schedule some games after the tourney with out of conference opponents or is that a No, No for the conference?
the problem is location of teams. For Texas, there are two conferences, the ASC and SCAC. The ASC always finished up after the SCAC does, but that still doesnt leave any teams for a SCAC team to play. No team wants to play after their conf tourney is over, at least no one in the SW does. Trinity has even tried to get games with non-D3 schools in the area, even JUCO's in Texas and no one wants games during that time of year. Most are full.
Thanks +1
I personally know final exams being taken at hotels, in the stands at the stadium, even in the dugout before games for one West Coach team that used to make frequent trips to Regional's and Appleton. Academics were taken seriously too. Players have become Doctor's, Lawyers, Physical Therapist, Trainers, Law Enforcement Officers, Teachers etc....
As you said the SCAC schools do no favors to the baseball teams with their scheduling.
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 22, 2014, 12:39:37 PM
I personally know final exams being taken at hotels, in the stands at the stadium, even in the dugout before games for one West Coach team that used to make frequent trips to Regional's and Appleton. Academics were taken seriously too. Players have become Doctor's, Lawyers, Physical Therapist, Trainers, Law Enforcement Officers, Teachers etc....
As you said the SCAC schools do no favors to the baseball teams with their scheduling.
Just because it happens doesn't mean it's a good thing. Sure baseball players will often be able to be successful despite having to take exams under difficult circumstances. That speaks to the determination and intelligence of the players more than anything, but doesn't justify throwing additional obstacles in their way that the rest of the student body doesn't have to deal with. I think the SCAC is doing good by their athletes in not trying to interfere with finals. It's too bad that it means that their teams are a tad less prepared for the regionals, obviously, but avoiding interference with finals is as good a reason for that as any. Good on them.
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 22, 2014, 12:39:37 PM
I personally know final exams being taken at hotels, in the stands at the stadium, even in the dugout before games for one West Coach team that used to make frequent trips to Regional's and Appleton. Academics were taken seriously too. Players have become Doctor's, Lawyers, Physical Therapist, Trainers, Law Enforcement Officers, Teachers etc....
As you said the SCAC schools do no favors to the baseball teams with their scheduling.
Agreed....I am sure any coach would love to keep playing right up to the regional. Problem is, those higher up the University say no. I dont think TU has ever used that as an excuse for not getting past a regional, but it doesn't help
This year the scheduling is much better. They have a full week off after the Conf tournament and then two days for travel and then the Regional. They will likely have full inter-squad scrimmages like they have done in the past but it has been for 3 weeks, which is too long. School will be out so they can just focus on baseball however.
Crash, I would love to say that this is the year they break through, but frankly I doubt it, Linfield just looks too good, at least from down here in Texas. TU has the talent, and it could happen, but the cards are stacked against them. (and everyone else for that matter!) I also question their starting pitching, frankly there seems like there is more talent in the bull pen so I am not sure what is going on pitching wise.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 22, 2014, 02:46:52 PM
This year the scheduling is much better. They have a full week off after the Conf tournament and then two days for travel and then the Regional. They will likely have full inter-squad scrimmages like they have done in the past but it has been for 3 weeks, which is too long. School will be out so they can just focus on baseball however.
Gotta make it there first ;D
Its too bad that not all schools are on the same schedule. Some are completely done with school by the time the regional starts and some are still in it weeks later. There was nothing better than not having to worry about classes and doing nothing but play ball.
Even in the West with good weather the schedule and breaks away from the field differ great from the different conferences.
Look at the schedules of the ASC, NWC, SCIAC and SCAC.
NWC - has on Conference Tournament
SCIAC has a conference tournament but a different format than the ASC and SCAC.
SCAC has huge gaps in it's schedule in the last 30 days of their season.
ASC and SCAC have similar conference tournaments.
It would be great that the entire West region was a similar format for schedule, tournaments and any gaps in the schedule to put all teams on a more even starting point going into the regional games. A little more consistent among the conferences would be beneficial to players, students and teams IMO.
what is going on in San Antonio with Trinity? losing games that they should be winning and not using their entire pen? Noticed that they have not thrown their closers since mid year and the starters are struggling. Are they injured? Looks like Bogese has really struggled and same with Walker and Gray recently. not the way to win a regional
Quote from: sportsfan on April 23, 2014, 08:17:27 AM
what is going on in San Antonio with Trinity? losing games that they should be winning and not using their entire pen? Noticed that they have not thrown their closers since mid year and the starters are struggling. Are they injured? Looks like Bogese has really struggled and same with Walker and Gray recently. not the way to win a regional
they have to get there first.
not sure Trinity can get there. I know that the SCAC is down this year but the lack of timely hitting and lack of using all pitchers is just mind blowing. Once you get by Speer there is huge drop off. They have a few pitchers with ERA of 0.00; where are they in these games?
I agree, there is no reason they should have lost that game. (errors aside) This is probably the 4th game they have lost this year due to poor bullpen management, not a good way to roll into the SCAC tournament. They have two guys down there that should be automatic 8th and 9th inning relievers and neither has pitched much. Seriously it should be game over after the 7th.
Well....trinity has a 50% chance of the Pool a bid right now. Either they can win the tourney or Centenary can win the tourney, giving trinity the pool a bid. It will be interesting to see who starts game 1 vs southwestern next Friday.
Trinity needs to win the Pool A bid or they could be staying home with their 30 win season. Ask Pac Lu about winning 30 games in the season and not going to the regionals.
Quote from: CrashDavisD3 on April 23, 2014, 08:25:01 PM
Trinity needs to win the Pool A bid or they could be staying home with their 30 win season. Ask Pac Lu about winning 30 games in the season and not going to the regionals.
agreed...they arent getting a Pool C. However, they can win the tourney or have Centenary win it and Trinity will receive the Pool A bid
....ahhh TLU might have something to say about this.
I am still flabbergasted about Trinity's bull pen management, (or lack of) over the past 6 weeks. I just don't get it.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 23, 2014, 09:28:19 PM
....ahhh TLU might have something to say about this.
I am still flabbergasted about Trinity's bull pen management, (or lack of) over the past 6 weeks. I just don't get it.
not discounting TLU or Southwestern by any means, but the fact that Trinity is the top seed means they get the Pool A bid if Centenary were to win the tournament. Getting a Pool A bid from 2 of the 4 teams winning the tourney is better than having to win it yourself.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 23, 2014, 10:06:16 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 23, 2014, 09:28:19 PM
....ahhh TLU might have something to say about this.
I am still flabbergasted about Trinity's bull pen management, (or lack of) over the past 6 weeks. I just don't get it.
not discounting TLU or Southwestern by any means, but the fact that Trinity is the top seed means they get the Pool A bid if Centenary were to win the tournament. Getting a Pool A bid from 2 of the 4 teams winning the tourney is better than having to win it yourself.
If any of the other three teams makes it to the finals against Centenary they get the automatic bid. ::)
Quote from: bzzboyz on April 24, 2014, 09:09:01 AM
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on April 23, 2014, 10:06:16 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 23, 2014, 09:28:19 PM
....ahhh TLU might have something to say about this.
I am still flabbergasted about Trinity's bull pen management, (or lack of) over the past 6 weeks. I just don't get it.
not discounting TLU or Southwestern by any means, but the fact that Trinity is the top seed means they get the Pool A bid if Centenary were to win the tournament. Getting a Pool A bid from 2 of the 4 teams winning the tourney is better than having to win it yourself.
dont think that is how it works. If Centenary were to win the tournament, the Pool A bid would go to the top seed of the regular season, no matter how the tournament ended. At least, that was how it was last year. Cent was the top seed, Trinity being the #2 seed. If Cent would have played Dallas for the conference championship and Cent won, Trinity would have received the Pool A bid since they were the highest seeded (non-Centenary) team.
If any of the other three teams makes it to the finals against Centenary they get the automatic bid. ::)
You are correct. I forgot.
Quote from: bzzboyz on April 24, 2014, 10:12:30 AM
You are correct. I forgot.
no worries. will Centenary be eligible next year?
I believe they are. They are a young team and should be much better next year.
The good news for Trinity is (like most teams) they play much better at home (16-1) than on the road (14-7).
The bad news is that, should they qualify, the Regionals are not at home. :(
....and Linfield is.
Anyone that makes it to the Regional has a chance to win it! Just gotta get hot at the right time.
Also, 75% of Linfield's losses have been at home! :D
Here is the 2014 SCAC Baseball Championship Preview (http://www.scacsports.com/tournament/spring/baseball/14championships/championship_preview) to be held at Trinity. Schedule:
Friday -
G1: SW @ Trinity, 1:00pm
G2: TLU v Centenary, 4:30pm
Saturday:
G3: Semifinal winners, noon
G4: Semifinal losers, 3:30pm
G5: Winner G4 vs Loser G3, 7:00pm
Sunday:
G6: Winner G5 v Winner G3, noon
G7: Winner G5 v Winner G3, 3:30pm (only if G5 winner wins G6)
Bring your sunblock and hats ... it's gonna be sunny and hot in SA this weekend. 81 on Friday, 91 Saturday/Sunday.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 01, 2014, 11:06:44 AM
Bring your sunblock and hats ... it's gonna be sunny and hot in SA this weekend. 81 on Friday, 91 Saturday/Sunday.
Are you kidding? That early spring weather in central Texas. Let's play ball ;D
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 24, 2014, 11:45:22 AM
....and Linfield is.
Linfield can get beat in a regional at home. See 2009.
Alrighty group, time to predict the SCAC tournament.
First, predict the the winners of (Trinity vs. Southwestern) and (TLU vs. Centenary).
Then, predict the winner of the winner's bracket game.
Finally, predict the championship matchup, and the winner.
I am going go to go with:
Day 1 winners: Trinity & Centenary
Winners Bracket champ: Trinity
Finals: Trinity over TLU
Trinity is up 3-1 on Southwestern after five. Trent Rape got the start for the Tigers and has given up five hits. He's also, surprisingly, batting eighth. Pirates starter Jason Stading has only given up three hits but was hurt early by an error and a wild pitch which contributed to two of Trinity's runs.
Both teams are playing rusty with three errors from Trinity and two by Southwestern.
Trinity appears to not be pitching, hitting or playing anywhere near where they need to be.
Then, with the tying and going ahead runners at 2B and 3B and no outs, Kevin Flores enters in relief and strikes out the side. TU up 3-2 in the bottom of 8, but this one is not over.
Trinity can be thankful the dude representing the tying run tried to stretch a two-out single into a double and got thrown out by Hirschberg. Four errors (including a throwing error on what could have been the game-ending DP), three wild pitches, and not much offense - will need better play the rest of the way. You're not going to get four runs on six hits very often.
Quick update: Cent/LTU locked at 2-2 bottom 6.
I caught the last 3 innings of the TU/SW game. Just one of those games that you want to thank your stars that you win and move on. Trinity is not playing championship baseball, poor hitting, errors and poor bullpen management all add up to a game close game. SW'rn came ready to play and Trinity did not. Rape pitched a nice game but they left him in too long IMO.
I like what is happening with SCAC baseball, TLU is solid and with SW, and Cent are both young teams and are going to be very very competitive in the next couple of years. Heck if Trinity does not get their act together they could lose this tournament.
http://www.scacsports.com/bracket/2013-14/baseball/bracket
Trinity tried to give away a 7 0 lead in the 8th inning and holds off to win 8 7 bottom 9 after pen squandered lead Don't understand what trinity does with their arms. They pull Speer after leadoff error in the 8th inning. He was lights out and dominated today. I believe big righty is 17-1 last 2 years with era sub 2.00. Trinity pen bad today
Trinity most definitely tried to snag defeat from the jaws of victory. They were looking like they were rounding into a championship team with some timely hitting and solid pitching and defense though 7 and then the wheels came off. Umpires did not help either, but what a fiasco the last two innings were. Poor bullpen performance and bullpen management, plus errors just about did them in. They can not make these kinds of errors in the Regional against Regional quality teams, the team has the talent but time will tell if they can get all pieces working for the Regional. Speer looked about as good as I have seen him, really solid.
Looks like Centenary will play TLU tonight for the championship game vs Trinity tomorrow. (up 15-2 bottom 7)
As an outsider just viewing from the periphery, I'm not sure what I'm missing regarding all the criticism of the Trinity coaching staff's bullpen management. Looking at the stats, in the last two games, the pitchers they've called out of the pen look like the four guys with the most relief innings over the course of the season (20, 21, 13, and 32 IP) and these guys have really solid BAA, a pretty key stat for a reliever, of .159, .218, .133 and .183. Plus one guy had an ERA of 0.00 over 13 innings. The 54 walks over 85 IP between these guys is high, but it seems like this group is super solid, and the coach is just going with his horses?
Some guys just had a bad day, it happens, but overall it seems like the bully is not a problem.
It looks to me like errors in the field are the problem, but just get to the regional, clean that up, and anything can happen.
As expected TLU comes back through the looser bracket to meet Trinity for the championship game this afternoon at 12:00.
Should be a good game, TLU can swing it, not sure who will be on the bump for either team, but TLU only played one more game so should be in decent shape pitching wise.
Today we saw Tiger baseball. Griffith was lights out replacing Gray. Big bats and good defense will take them far Speer Rape Walker Gray Griffith Turner Flores are monsters on the hill. Not a senior in that group. Scary
Nick Griffith: season prior to today's game: 6 APP, 5.1 IP, 7H, 1 ER. Longest appearance: 1.1 innings vs Concordia.
Today's relief appearance: 1 APP, 6.2 IP, 4H, 0 ER. Yes, he threw more innings today than he did all season.
Does anyone know the story on this young man? He apparently started the season as an outfielder and started there the first four games, struggled at the plate, then two weeks later made his first short relief appearance of the year vs Centenary. He had good velocity and pitch control today, surprisingly so for someone who hadn't even put in two innings once this year. Started a couple of games two years ago (but only 13.2 IP in 5 appearances), then played intermittently last season but did not pitch.
What a difference between the Trinity team we saw late in the game yesterday and the one we saw play a complete game today. When they play defense like that they can compete with anyone.
believe Nick is a junior at Trinity. Believe only Nick and Speer are part of that class and maybe Rape...for some reason the Trinity junior class is small but loaded with arms
Griffith is a true two way, pitched some as a freshmen and also played OF, decided not to pitch last year and got crowded out with a talented OF and played sparingly hitting around 0.300, came back this year as a two way, earned the starting DH and broke his finger (LH) and switched to only pitching since he could not swing a bat effectively. Sits at 90-92, Tindall and him (beside Bogese) probably have the best "stuff" on the team.
Congrats to Trevor Keele of Dallas for being named the hitter of the year in SCAC; truly deserved. That kid can flat out hit (400 hitter) and it is great for the SCAC that he has another year left. Dallas is an up and coming team. Congrats to Zack Speer of Trinity being named the pitcher of the year. Kid at TLU Snider had a great year but Speer is 17-1 the last two years with ERA under 1.80 and threw a gem Saturday. Speer also comes back next year. Go Tigers and do the SCAC proud in Regionals
I was a bit surprised the conference doesn't name a tournament MVP (Pat Hirschberg would have been my choice FWIW). With only four teams participating I can see why you wouldn't name an all-tournament team but the lack of a tourney MVP seems unusual.
think the conference will announce an all conference and so agree Pat is truly deserving. Trinity is a young team with only seniors at CF, SS and C but clearly Pat is the stud
Here is the web link to the tournament with final interviews, stats, pictures, etc.
http://scacsports.com/tournament/spring/baseball/14championships/game_six
They don't have the final game stats up yet, I imagine they will go up later today. I have not looked at the TLU roster to see how many seniors they have, but that team can hit, if they have many of these kids coming back they will be a force next year. The difference between them and Trinity was pitching a defense (at least in the last game)
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 05, 2014, 09:39:47 AM
I was a bit surprised the conference doesn't name a tournament MVP (Pat Hirschberg would have been my choice FWIW). With only four teams participating I can see why you wouldn't name an all-tournament team but the lack of a tourney MVP seems unusual.
While Herschberg is a beast and deserving, IMO this team would be lost without Sr catcher Chris Bianchi, without him they go nowhere, he is a rock back there and has a gun, he has also not had much relief all season, they have others who could step in and do a decent job in center, without Chris this team is toast. I believe he threw out two steal attempts in the championship game and completely shut down the TLU running game. That IMO really changes the approach of the pitchers and has a huge impact on the game. TLU hit into 3 double plays behind Griffith, so even if a runner gets on the pitchers just keep going after the batters get a GB and walk off the mound. To me that is the team MVP as it completely changes the game.
Good call 108 and you are very accurate. Trinity has always had the stud at the front of the rotation..ie. Klimish, Lucero and now Speer but Chris is in fact the glue; congrats to Chris. TU has a young staff with only 2 seniors getting partial roles this year. Bogese and Lauck pitch every now and then but they are a young staff that will be loaded again next year. I believe TU gave up 9 runs in 6 regional games last year but fell short. Hopefully this is the year that the Tigers put it all together.
108, agreed, and I was telling my brother on Saturday what a difference Bianchi has made behind the plate this year. TU will miss him next year.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 05, 2014, 10:17:36 AM
Here is the web link to the tournament with final interviews, stats, pictures, etc.
http://scacsports.com/tournament/spring/baseball/14championships/game_six
They don't have the final game stats up yet, I imagine they will go up later today. I have not looked at the TLU roster to see how many seniors they have, but that team can hit, if they have many of these kids coming back they will be a force next year. The difference between them and Trinity was pitching a defense (at least in the last game)
TLU regular starting seniors are left (Carollo and Windell), right (DeBlanc), 2nd (Briscoe) 1st (Kanas) and both catchers (Hill and Brachman) and two starting pitchers (McGriiff and Snider) and a closer (Capdau). There were a total of 15 seniors on this years team. They'll have a lot of holes to fill. On the plus side the third baseman Bohrman who had a grand slam against Centenary and the 3 run double in the 9th of the first game against TU is only a sophomore. Genussa who's started in center since he was a freshman is a junior. The starting SS Jacobs is also a junior. Jr. DH Bohrman will probably get most of the time a 1st next year. But yes, pitching is going to be an issue. Apparently some Juco kids may be coming in and also some pretty strong incoming freshman from the Houston area.
Genussa can flat out hit! Love Jacobs, very solid and made some outstanding plays. One of the better hitting teams TU has seen, just did not have the pitching depth. They had a great season and should be very happy with their performance to get to the SCAC championship game. I am sure they are disappointed not getting to the Regional this year but still a great start to a new conference.
Next year in the SCAC I expect a step up in the level of competition as both South Western and Centenary have young teams and will be very competitive. Dallas always fields a strong squad but was down a bit this year.
SCAC announces all tournament team. Congrats to all.
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/releases/all_tournament_team
Danny Brauckman, Texas Lutheran
Derek Kanas, Texas Lutheran
Taylor Reed, Centenary
Zach Jacobs, Texas Lutheran
Keaton Bohrmann, Texas Lutheran
Pat Hirschberg, Trinity*
Austin Singer, Trinity
Tony Gennusa, Texas Lutheran
Preston LeJeune, Centenary
Zack Speer, Trinity*
Nick Griffith, Trinity
Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 04, 2014, 10:28:27 PM
Griffith is a true two way, pitched some as a freshmen and also played OF, decided not to pitch last year and got crowded out with a talented OF and played sparingly hitting around 0.300, came back this year as a two way, earned the starting DH and broke his finger (LH) and switched to only pitching since he could not swing a bat effectively. Sits at 90-92, Tindall and him (beside Bogese) probably have the best "stuff" on the team.
Good recap. He played SoCal high school and travel ball, so I have some awareness of Griffith. It's good to hear that he did well when the opportunity came his way.
It is interesting to note the number of schools participating in the 2014 regionals that made up the SCAC not too long ago. You don't have to go back to far to see all of these as part of the SCAC.
Rose-Hulman
DePauw
Rhodes
Birmingham-Southern
Trinity
Rose-Hulman in particular being selected for the playoffs in a number of sports boggles. They were always the plucky little underdogs in the SCAC. DPU and BSC were always quality baseball programs.
It is interesting to note the number of schools participating in the 2014 regionals that made up the SCAC not too long ago. You don't have to go back to far to see all of these as part of the SCAC.
Rose-Hulman to the Heartland CAC
DePauw to the North Coast AC
Rhodes to the Southern Athletic Association
Birmingham-Southern to the Southern Athletic Association
Trinity remained in the SCAC
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 13, 2014, 07:35:47 PM
It is interesting to note the number of schools participating in the 2014 regionals that made up the SCAC not too long ago. You don't have to go back to far to see all of these as part of the SCAC.
Rose-Hulman to the Heartland CAC
DePauw to the North Coast AC
Rhodes to the Southern Athletic Association
Birmingham-Southern to the Southern Athletic Association
Trinity remained in the SCAC
And never once did anyone mention it as a power conference that received multiple bids. I can only remember trinity and southwestern once and trinity and milsaps once getting bids in the same year in the 2000's.
Respectfully, I never considered the SCAC a Power Conference. An upper echelon conference like the ASC, yes, but Power no. DPU and RHIT were in good position to have success in their new homes.
I don't think that the SCAC has had more than one or two teams get to the World Series in the 21st century. They SCAC probably has at least 7 of its 8 members in the Top 150. There is breadth and balance.
And let's not forget Millsaps who was a World Series participant last year
Quote from: CAK72B on May 14, 2014, 06:24:14 PM
And let's not forget Millsaps who was a World Series participant last year
+1! Thanks.
Congratulations to Trinity on another outstanding season. It did not end like they would have preferred, but not many programs have had it's success with 5 straight Regional appearances. Best of luck to the graduating seniors, you have been part of special program. The team returns a strong core group of position players and pitchers to make another run at Appleton next year.
Looks like Ben Klimesh is having a nice start to the season as a long reliever in high A ball.
ERA: 1.17 with a 0.182 BA
Quote from: Texas Leaguer on May 13, 2014, 11:48:54 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 13, 2014, 07:35:47 PM
It is interesting to note the number of schools participating in the 2014 regionals that made up the SCAC not too long ago. You don't have to go back to far to see all of these as part of the SCAC.
Rose-Hulman to the Heartland CAC
DePauw to the North Coast AC
Rhodes to the Southern Athletic Association
Birmingham-Southern to the Southern Athletic Association
Trinity remained in the SCAC
And never once did anyone mention it as a power conference that received multiple bids. I can only remember trinity and southwestern once and trinity and milsaps once getting bids in the same year in the 2000's.
Because there was never anything like this when they were actually in the SCAC.
Maybe more than anything it shows those schools made the right move going to new leagues. The SCAC was a geographic mess.
Quote from: ILVBB on May 13, 2014, 10:57:46 AM
It is interesting to note the number of schools participating in the 2014 regionals that made up the SCAC not too long ago. You don't have to go back to far to see all of these as part of the SCAC.
Rose-Hulman
DePauw
Rhodes
Birmingham-Southern
Trinity
I must give attribution to ILVBB for his noticing this fact first. I did not recognize that I did not copy the post "correctly" the first time. +1!
Quote from: ILVBB on May 13, 2014, 10:57:46 AM
It is interesting to note the number of schools participating in the 2014 regionals that made up the SCAC not too long ago. You don't have to go back to far to see all of these as part of the SCAC.
Rose-Hulman
DePauw
Rhodes
Birmingham-Southern
Trinity
If these schools were in the same conference, I doubt that the number of teams making it this year would be the same. One can think that Rhodes, BSC, and Trinity would have made the regionals and with Rose-Hulman or Depauw winning, would have made this a 4 team playoff conference.
Either way - an accomplishment for sure.
Not sure where he will start, but according to this Trinity release, Kyle Bogese has signed a free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies organization.
http://trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2013-14/releases/140623_Bogese_Phillies
This has not yet been confirmed on the Phuture Phillies log (http://phuturephillies.com/transaction-log/).
A shout-out to former TLU player Daren Willman who has created some interesting baseball websites.
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/Techie-s-website-hits-cool-factor-out-of-the-5587377.php
And still no mention of Bogese on the Phuture Phillies transaction log ???
He was in the MLB transaction data base.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/transactions/#month=6&year=2014&team_id=143
He has been assigned to their Rookie SS team in the GCL.
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=469
Per a tweet from Zach Fregosi, former TU SS Christian Muscarello has signed with the St. Louis Cardinals organization.
Thia a little late but Austin has a new coach.
http://www.d3baseball.com/seasons/2014/contrib/20140826em4wmv
From a tweet from Zack Fregosi:
November 7th, the Trinity University Tigers will take on the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Ok.
This will be a fundraiser/awareness game, if you would like to get involved in donation, please DM or email zfregosi@trinity.edu
From what I understand it is a breast cancer fundraising event.
For anyone wondering about the connection, Sooners coach Pete Hughes' first head coaching gig was at Trinity (1997-98). After he took Trinity from 19-19 to 33-11 during his two year stint, Boston College came calling and he's been coaching in the D1 ranks ever since.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on October 28, 2014, 12:09:27 PM
For anyone wondering about the connection, Sooners coach Pete Hughes' first head coaching gig was at Trinity (1997-98). After he took Trinity from 19-19 to 33-11 during his two year stint, Boston College came calling and he's been coaching in the D1 ranks ever since.
+1 for that tidbit.
Updated SCAC / TU baseball news:
Former Trinity pitcher Ben Klimesh is pitching in the Arizona Fall League and is holding his own against some of the best young players in MiLB. Congrats to Ben; if he continues to do well he will likely get an invite to the Reds MLB spring training camp.
More on the TU/OU baseball scrimmage and the "Save 2nd Base" breast cancer fundraiser.
http://trinitytigers.com/newsletter/2014/october_saac?utm_source=Our+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=583c25f465-Tiger_Pride_October_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_00cfaca66d-583c25f465-160459609
http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=750383&SPID=127257&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=209692488
TU "Fall World Series" starts Nov 14-16th for those in the area who might want to stop by.
Ben Klimesh pitched in the Arizona Fall League All-Star game. He pitched 2/3rds giving up one hit and one K. Congrats to Ben!
how is Klimesh doing and will he make the Reds this year? How is TU this year? looks like they lost some key players but not many arms.
I am a reds fan. I doubt he makes the reds this year. But he is still doing very well. Since he went to the Arizona Fall League, they consider him a balid prospect. I am not sure if he projects as a starter or reliever.
I am thinking that Klimesh will get an invite to the MLB camp but who knows. Likely will have another year in the minors before he has a chance for the MLB 40 man, but I don't really follow the Reds and know what their pipeline looks like.
As far as TU, they lost SS, CF and C; which are all up the middle and critical to their success. They always have a pipeline of talent so they should be OK as far as replacing those three, the rest of the starters are returners, but you don't really replace a Hirshberg very easily. They probably have the deepest and most talented pitching staff I have seen in 4 years, it will be interesting to see who emerges as the 4-5 starters. Their pitching will keep them in every game and if the defense is solid then they can win on pitching and defense alone. They should be a Regional team again this year and their pitching staff has the potential to be one of the best in D3, but it is early to really know.
Southwestern should be greatly improved as well as Centenary. TLU lost a lot of talent.
Your timing on your post is good as I just checked and the SCAC media week is this week so we should learn something from the coaches on what their outlook is.
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/releases/spring_media_days_15
Bishop:
I went to several AZ Fall games. Klimesh is being used exclusively in short relief. Except for the AZ Fall All-star game he was used principally as a closer. I spoke with Ben during his stay in AZ and he didn't expect (he didn't know yet) to be invited to the MLB camp. He is very happy with his role and his progress.
It was interesting to see the changes that the Reds have made to his pitching motion; it is much more deceptive then when he was in college. His velocity was 92-94 with his splitter (at 88-91) being his out pitch.
Just checked the SCAC site and they shuffled the order a bit. TLU Head Coach Greg Burnett was up today.
They graduated 14 Sr's, and return 8, and only three of their pitchers have pitched in a Varsity game. Very young team, and how they look at the beginning and end will likely be completely different as they develop. I would estimate they they will finish middle of the pack in the SCAC this year, depending on how their freshmen develop.
Schreiner, Southwestern, and Trinity coaches are up for tomorrow.
Sounds good. Always nice to have pitchers for the bull pen. I am interested to see how far he progresses this year. If he gets to triple A I will be checking the schedule for when the Bats come to town.
The SCAC had their media week this week and interviewed all of the head coaches. It is always interesting to hear them to get their take unfiltered on their teams. You also get a perspective on their coaching style. I don't know if other conferences do this but I really like it. For those interested they are here:
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/releases/spring_media_days_15
Based on what I heard I have the top four as:
1. TU
2. SWestern
3. UofDallas
4. TLU
5. Centenary
6. Austin College
7. Schreiner
Clearly TU is the top team by a pretty good gap, but I think SWestern, TLU and Centenary have some good building blocks in place for the future. The UofDallas coach seems very inexperienced, but they may surprise some teams as it sounds like they have a solid group of returners.
I think SWestern, TLU and Centenary are all very young and will develop over the year and I see them being very competitive toward the end of the season and certainly next year. SWestern looks like they will continue to develop and become a very competitive program, which they were some time ago, they could be a tough team come the SCAC playoff's.
It all starts next weekend!
2015 SCAC Baseball Media Guide just released - includes preseason Predicted Order of finish (as selected by the head coaches):
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/releases/2015_media_guide (http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/releases/2015_media_guide)
Thanks! Really nice, the SCAC has their media stuff together.
Quote from: scaccommish on January 30, 2015, 04:52:02 PM
2015 SCAC Baseball Media Guide just released - includes preseason Predicted Order of finish (as selected by the head coaches):
http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/releases/2015_media_guide (http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/releases/2015_media_guide)
Nice media guide! Congratulations!
Former TU catcher Chris Bianchi signs with the Dodgers, that makes three from last year's team who have signed professional contracts.
TLU Splits taking 1 from Louisiana college and dropping 1 to UTT.
Dallas squeeks by Hardin-Simmons
Centenary drops 1 to ETBU
Schreiner gets killed by Birmingham Southern
Southwestern takes one from CTX (my sleeper team for the conference)
Trinity takes care of business vs LeTU
Up for the weekend
TLU vs LeTU
Cent vs ETBU
Trinity vs Louis. Col.
Trinity vs UTT
SW double header vs CTX
Dal vx Carleton Col x2
Austin vs Arlington Baptist
TLU vs LeTU should be close, LeTU has the edge
Trinity sweeps, but could drop 1 if it runs into a good pitcher
SW splits
Dal and Austin ??
TLU went 2-2, losing 2 to UTT.
SWest took 2 of 3 from CTX
Cent lost 3 to ETBU
Dallas went 3-1
Trinity went 1-2
Austin went 2-1
Schreiner lost 3
Looks like the SCAC will be much more competitive this year TLU, SWest and Trinity all look competitive. Trinity should have their starting SS and CF back this week, although they out hit UTT 11-5, they did not get them at the right times, you can't get 11 hits and only score 2 runs. Pitching is still a bit shaky for TU in spots, but should come around, there is no question the new ball really carries on warm days, the LC game had 4 HR's, 2 triples, and 3 doubles. The LC game could have gone either way, but TU just could not come back in time after going down by 4 early.
SWest vs Fountbonne,
vs Wheaton
vs Washington
I have no idea on the other teams so I am going to punt.
TLU vs Hardin-Simmons 2-1
Centenary idle
Austin vs Castleton & Rust
I have no idea on the other teams, but probably does not matter in the SCAC universe
Schreiner vs Whitworth 1-3
Trinity vs Dallas 2-1
Two wins for Trinity today Two great pitching performances by Speer and Rape Tindall super and TU goes for sweep tomorrow. If TU gets pitching like this sky is limit
Looking over the scores this weekend the SCAC is going to end up: Trinity..... TLU - SWestern..... TBD. In this order with the gaps.
I am not sure what happened to TLU, but they are a young team and you expect stumbles from young teams. SWestern will be dangerous come the end of the year IMO, and TLU and them are probably pretty close, but Trinity is a team with national potential, but has yet to live up to it IMO. Dallas or Centenary will probably be the 4th team.
Trinity almost gave up the first game to a very average Dallas team once you get past their first pitcher and top 3-4 hitters. (who are very good) Trinity is playing very average baseball given their talent IMO.They made way to many mistakes on the base paths, poor offensive execution, below average pitching given their ability, and while on the books you don't see errors, I sense a laziness in their approach defensively. I watch for little things like OFers covering for overthrows, defensive positioning, etc, and while you can get by with poor execution against mediocre teams, these things are what make a difference in a close championship 3-2 game vs top flight competition. At least right now I don't see this in the Trinity team. They will probably only lose 5-7 more games this season given their schedule but this will be the challenge for this team. How do you improve and prepare for top flight teams when your schedule (because of location) does not allow for this? They have to focus on the little things and execute regardless of their competition. This team probably has the best chance to break through the Regional to the CWS I have seen in 4 years, but time will tell if they execute. My 2 cents.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 23, 2015, 08:59:31 PM
Looking over the scores this weekend the SCAC is going to end up: Trinity..... TLU - SWestern..... TBD. In this order with the gaps.
I am not sure what happened to TLU, but they are a young team and you expect stumbles from young teams. SWestern will be dangerous come the end of the year IMO, and TLU and them are probably pretty close, but Trinity is a team with national potential, but has yet to live up to it IMO. Dallas or Centenary will probably be the 4th team.
Trinity almost gave up the first game to a very average Dallas team once you get past their first pitcher and top 3-4 hitters. (who are very good) Trinity is playing very average baseball given their talent IMO.They made way to many mistakes on the base paths, poor offensive execution, below average pitching given their ability, and while on the books you don't see errors, I sense a laziness in their approach defensively. I watch for little things like OFers covering for overthrows, defensive positioning, etc, and while you can get by with poor execution against mediocre teams, these things are what make a difference in a close championship 3-2 game vs top flight competition. At least right now I don't see this in the Trinity team. They will probably only lose 5-7 more games this season given their schedule but this will be the challenge for this team. How do you improve and prepare for top flight teams when your schedule (because of location) does not allow for this? They have to focus on the little things and execute regardless of their competition. This team probably has the best chance to break through the Regional to the CWS I have seen in 4 years, but time will tell if they execute. My 2 cents.
What about this team is different than the past couple of Trinity teams who were able to get to the final day of regionals but was not able to break through?
CAK, I think the difference in this years Trinity team are: 1) Pitching depth. While they did not need to bring out all of the arms this weekend, they have more arms than ever in the past that could carry the team deeper in the Regionals. They pitched 7 guys against OU in the fall, and every one of them was competitive against quality D1 hitters. I think 5 of the 7 were in the 90's with two sitting above 90. The fourth pitcher out of the pen made three very good Dallas hitters look completely over matched,(peaked at 94) and they had other guys in the pen who never saw the field with the same potential. The question is can they develop them during the season to peak at regionals?
2) Defense. The middle and third base infield probably has the most athletic infield I have seen in 4 years, and the OF has more speed than probably ever as a group. This will be critical come regionals. 3) As ILVBB pointed out they don't have a huge bat in the middle of the lineup, but 1-9 they have the potential to execute. Can they? Time will tell. They had 13 hits against UTT and lost, this can not happen come regionals they have to learn to execute on offense. Can they? Time will tell. In the end, pitching and defense with timely hitting win close games, I think they will have the pitching and defense, not sure about the timely hitting.
I am a bit curious how much anyone can tell less than 10 games into a season, especially when the West Region appears like it may not have many, if any, teams which distinguish themselves from everyone else, assuming that can be done less than 10 games into a season.
One item not addressed but Coach Scannell seemed very high about in the SCAC pre-season interview was leadership. Seems to me that little should be drawn from the first conference series when we consider there are 30 games to play where leadership and maturity through the depth of the roster makes an awfully big difference, or not. Solid leadership and some freshman and sophomores starting to hit their stride changes an awful lot in measuring whether a team "loses it" around the middle of the season of makes the run from games 25-40, to the SCAC's and into the Regional. Unless some team in the West region makes a huge statement and separates themselves, this very veteran team seems like it has all the tangibles. The question which seems pretty early to guess at by anyone is the intangibles.
Huge shout out for ex Trinity Super Sr pitcher Clayton Freimuth @ Frostburg State who threw a no hitter over the weekend. Congrats to Clayton!
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 25, 2015, 11:36:37 AM
Huge shout out for ex Trinity Super Sr pitcher Clayton Freimuth @ Frostburg State who threw a no hitter over the weekend. Congrats to Clayton!
Very cool. Just another example of how deep and talented the Tigers' pitching staff has been over the years. A guy with less than 2 IP last season (I assume it was not an injury issue due to his lack of innings over his entire career at TU) transfers and tosses a no hitter with 14 K's for his new team.
It is hard to draw too many conclusions from last weekend for the SCAC due to the weather.
Dallas/Schreiner - Cancelled
SWest/Austin - Cancelled
TLU/Cent - Split
Trinity - 1-0 vs Northern NAIA Cardinal Stritch
Notable would be the TLU split, Trinity pitching is starting to shape up. Tindall is probably the most dominate pitcher in D3 ball that no one knows about. He is making hitters look silly. 0.00 ERA in 8 innings with 13K's and a 0.111 BA against. His FB is running up to 95 with a sick slider that he is now able to throw for strikes. Once Griffith hits his stride it will be a 6 inning game for Trinity with teams facing 91-93 then 92-95 both throwing strikes on multiple pitches and working corners.
Next weekend should give us some additional data points.
Cent @ Austin - Cent should sweep
TLU @ SWest - This is probably the most interesting series for the weekend and will give a view on who might be the number 2/3 seed behind Trinity for the SCAC tournament.
Dallas @ ETBU - good test for Dallas, they probably go 1-2
Trinity @ Schreiner - Yawn Trinity Sweep, but should allow them to continue to work their arms into shape, and work some other kids into the lineup.
Trinity beat DeSales 4-3 on Thursday eve. Cold but dry game, and a bit ugly. TU only had 4 hits but made them count. Speers gave up 9 hits but only 2 ER's. Not really hit hard, just a bunch of squibbers. Griffith shut down a threat in the 6th, leaving runners at 2&3rd, and then cruised through the 8th and Tindall closed it out, again striking out the side in the 9th. Conditions probably had something to do with the 3 TU errors. TU needed to be more patient with junk ball pitching, but their pitching carried them through.
Trinity threw a combined no hitter today vs Schreiner. Ryan Gray went 7, and three others finished it up. I will say it is a bit unconventional with 12 walks and 1 earned run. Not sure how you throw a no hitter and give up an earned run other than 4 walks.
http://trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/releases/150308_bb_schu
TU swept Schreiner, as they should have, however Schreiner is a much improved team over last year. Nice to see the progress there.
Elsewhere in the SCAC; TLU took 2/3 from SW, UD was swept by ETBU, Cent took two from Austin and the other games were cancelled.
For the coming weekend and the kickoff of the SCAC conference play:
SWern: In Tucson for the tournament. Solid games vs MHB, CLU, St Thomas, & Wesleyan. Good plan for developing the team prior to their first conference games.
Trinity@home vs Cent: Should sweep
TLU@home vs Austin: Should sweep.
Schreiner@home vs Dallas: 2-1 could go either way, but likely Dallas 2-1
I couldn't help but notice Trinity was playing Our Lady of the Lake this evening, which naturally brings forth memories of this classic exchange from one of the 20th century cinema's highest achievements......
King Arthur: I am your king.
Peasant Woman: Well, I didn't vote for you.
King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.
Peasant Woman: Well, how'd you become king, then?
[Angelic music plays... ]
King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king.
Dennis the Peasant: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis the Peasant: You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
Arthur: Shut up
Dennis the Peasant: I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!
Arthur: [grabs Dennis] Shut up! Will you shut up?!
Dennis: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!
Arthur: [shakes Dennis] Shut up!
Dennis: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I'm being repressed!
Arthur: Bloody Peasant!
Dennis: Ooh, what a giveaway!
The SCAC appears to be getting very competitive.
SW looks like they are having a good trip to Tucson, beating CLU handily 13-0, as well as St. Thomas 13-7. They have a couple more games and then are at Dallas next weekend. They have been my surprise team since the beginning of the season and are living up to what I thought they could do. They lost 2/3 to TLU but should at least make the SCAC tournament and could upset anyone there.
Centenary snuck out a win from Trinity in the last game of the series. Centenary is a better team than their record and will continue to develop, they are a couple of pitchers short of being a very good team. Trinity controlled the game but lost it at the end with some errors, and a crazy pinball play where the ball hit an umpire, however they will not be able to make up for sloppy play come playoffs and if they make it Regionals. They also seem incapable of bunting late in the game to set up a single run - which amazes me. On the positive side their bats are starting to come around. Their pitching continues to develop nicely and come playoffs they should have a very formidable pitching staff.
Dallas took 2/3 from Schreiner. Basically any team can throw out a solid pitcher in the first game of a series and pull out a win and it looks like what Schreiner did.
TLU took 2/3 from Austin, the surprise was they lost to Austin in the final game.
Upcoming:
Big series with Trinity at TLU.
Trinity should win 2/3 but it will be a very competitive three games and will have a big impact in SCAC tournament seeding. Looks like the midweek Trinity/CTX game was moved due to weather.
Centenary at Schreiner
Centenary could sweep, but Schreiner has some pitching and could sneak one game.
Austin has a couple of non league games.
SWern at Dallas
SW 2/3 but could sweep. Again Dallas has couple of good pitchers and could sneak a game.
SCAC tournament will likely be:
Trinity
TLU
SWestern
Centenary
Seeding will likely be above but TLU and Trinity could swap, SWestern could move up to 2 if TLU or Trinity falters any.
Weather is going to create havoc on schedules this weekend. Looks like games will be pushed back to Sat.Sunday and possibly Monday.
Fri/Sat look like total washouts for a good deal of TX/LA. AC is playing in OK; they might be, well, OK.
Trinity/TLU games washed out. I believe they are going to try to get them in Sunday/Monday.
Centenary took two from Schreiner.
Trinity pitching seems to have fallen off a bit, went to the game last night and TLU knocked them around pretty good.
Should be interesting who pulls ahead as it looks to be a horse race between the Bulldogs and Tigers.
The TLU game(s) were a disaster for TU. Pitching was fine actually - it is the strength of the team. They gave up 4 earned runs in the first two games. Speers had 5 errors and two other balls hit over the head of fielders that should have been caught that went for "hits" by the third inning. Nobody can recover from that, actually I just checked the book, he only gave up 1 earned run. They brought in some of the younger arms that looked good but made mistakes that young pitchers sometimes make. This freshmen LHP Framton is going to be special, really great stuff, live arm, same with Soph Nelson, also really good stuff, I am actually shocked how deep this staff is, given their top relievers never saw the field. However......
That was the most uninspired play I have seen from Trinity in 4 years. If I was a position player at TU I would be taking a hard look in the mirror and make the decision that when I step on the field. Am going to compete 110% or go do something else. It was pathetic. Where is a Dom Robusto when you need him?
It definitely seems likes the errors have been the issue. I mean you can have the best pitching in the world but if the defense can't make the routine play then it really does not matter.
CAK,
At least for this team IMO, it goes beyond "errors", from what I have seen.
For me it is about competing and wanting to be the best you can be EVERY time you step between the lines, actually on EVERY pitch. If you compete and lose then that is OK, as it is not about winning; winning is just the result of competing. (of course with talent) By competing you attack the ball, you are focused on the situation at hand, and when you do this you create opportunities, for you and all of your teammates. This team has a bunch of great "players" (actually some very talented) however I am not sure how many competitors there are on this team - actually more importantly warriors, and I have seen NONE of those guys yet. Dom Robusto was not a great player, but he was a warrior; he got more out of his talent than any player I have seen there in four years. On this team there is so much unfulfilled talent it makes me sick to my stomach.
I see players yakking with fans in the stands when they are on deck instead of being focused on what pitches are being thrown in a given count, I see lackadaisical effort running out ground balls, i see goofing around and not paying attention when they are on offense, - be in the game be for crying out loud or go home and let someone else be in the game!!! I see poor execution on offense, when it is time to hit a GB to the right side DO IT, (particularly then there is a hole the size of the grand canyon!!!) when you have to get a bunt down DO IT, if you can't than go out and practice until you can, if you can't then I am sure Scannell can find someone who can.
When we get on base we make stupid mental errors - be aggressive, but not stupid. This is not a power hitting team so act like one and execute and make the most of the opportunities. They won't have to score too many runs the pitching on this team will keep them in nearly every game.
On defense attack the ball, don't be on your heels, like some in the infield are. Be focused on every pitch, If you make an error on defense, so what - keep attacking the ball. I NEVER see OFers moving based on the batter size and the count, (except when a coach moves them) they look like little leaguers not really in the game checking out the bees flying around the daisy's in the OF grass.
This team are not Tigers - they are a bunch of Kittens. I think the fans should start to MEOWing to them from the stands, here... kitty.... kitty.... kitty. Better yet maybe we should bring juice boxes to them and snack after the game and pat them on the head and say "nice try you'll catch the ball next time".
I could care less if this team loses the next 10 games, it is just the way were are doing it right now that irritates me. I probably should not post this but I am going to any way for Dom Robusto, and the other TIGER's who have played in this proud program, they can't be a very happy bunch right now if they have watched too many games this year.
OK I am off the box now.
Trinity kills H-S last night, 19-4. 13 runs in the first two innings. Where was that last weekend? Maybe they woke up?
Big series for this weekend
Trinity @ SW - I am not sure here my gut says TU 2 of 3 but this team is an enigma. They could sweep or lose 3 and neither one would surprise me. Should be a hard fought series, SW is a team on the rise.
TLU @ Dallas - TLU should sweep but I think Dallas steals one game. TLU pitching is not that deep.
Cent @ Austin - Cent should sweep
Schreiner @ McMurry - Does not matter
Trinity looked spooked as TLU the usual selves were jumping up and down acting like maniacs.
I was glad I was able to get out there and catch these two teams play each other. I agree defense killed the Tigers that night, it was beyond bad in that game.
Quote from: BamColt on March 26, 2015, 02:41:20 PM
TLU the usual selves were jumping up and down acting like maniacs.
Can you explain what that means?
Crickets. ;)
Does anyone around Trinity seem to think an issue on the team could be the lack of Senior Leadership from the position player side. It looks like in the past there has been a big amount, with Hirschberg and Muscarello last year, about 5 or 6 seniors that got significant time in 2013, and then 108's favorite Robusto in 2012. Just quickly looked at the roster and it seems there really is not any Senior position players. Just a thought?
Crickets ;) The only thing missing is the drunk student section in left field when Miller was there.
Great atmosphere but the team should act like they have been there before.
Quote from: BamColt on March 30, 2015, 12:41:46 PM
Crickets ;) The only thing missing is the drunk student section in left field when Miller was there.
Great atmosphere but the team should act like they have been there before.
I'll take the way they act over fist fights in the dugout.
Quote from: bzzboyz on March 30, 2015, 06:53:35 PM
Quote from: BamColt on March 30, 2015, 12:41:46 PM
Crickets ;) The only thing missing is the drunk student section in left field when Miller was there.
Great atmosphere but the team should act like they have been there before.
I'll take the way they act over fist fights in the dugout.
Wow!! Please, do tell more!!
Quote from: Whatagame on March 30, 2015, 07:07:34 PM
Quote from: bzzboyz on March 30, 2015, 06:53:35 PM
Quote from: BamColt on March 30, 2015, 12:41:46 PM
Crickets ;) The only thing missing is the drunk student section in left field when Miller was there.
Great atmosphere but the team should act like they have been there before.
I'll take the way they act over fist fights in the dugout.
Wow!! Please, do tell more!!
Sorry, I figured everyone knew. In game 2 against TLU there was a fight in the Trinity dugout between two players. I'm not sure of names but I'm sure 108 stitches knows which ones hey were. There's definitely something going on with that team that has them heading in the wrong direction.
Here is my take on how the conference will turn out:
Trinity
Current: 4-5
Projected: 12-6
Rest of conf: 8-1 (Schreiner, Austin, Dallas)
Southwestern
Current: 5-1
Projected: 14—4
If they go 1-2 vs TLU then 13-5
3 - Austin
2-1 - TLU
2-1 - Cent
2-1 - Dallas
TLU
Current: 8-2
Projected: 13-5
If they go 2-1 vs SW then 14-4
2 - Schreiner
1-2 - SW
2-1 - Cent
Centenary
7-2
Projected: 11-7
2-1
1-2
1-2
Projected seeding finish
1. SW
2. TLU
3. Trinity
4. Centenary
It basically boils down to the TLU/SW weekend. (as long as the teams hold on the other games) Whoever takes the SW/TLU series will have the conf tournament
In the end I still believe Trinity wins the conf tournament as they are starting to play much better and have much deeper pitching, but it will be an interesting weekend.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 03, 2015, 11:38:37 AM
Here is my take on how the conference will turn out:
Southwestern
Current: 5-1
Projected: 14—4
If they go 1-2 vs TLU then 13-5
3 - Austin
2-1 - TLU
2-1 - Cent
2-1 - Dallas
Well there's one down. ;)
So much for my predictions....it IS the Wild Wild West this year.
Good thing I can go back to my day job reading Tarot cards.
The top 4 in the SCAC won't change but at this point I have no idea on the finish, who would of thought that SW could take 2/3 from Trinity and then lose 2/3 from Austin?
I think TLU has the advantage but Centenary, TLU and SW face each other so if TLU can win the last three series they should host the conference, but based on my performance this week who knows.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 06, 2015, 12:21:37 AM
So much for my predictions....it IS the Wild Wild West this year.
Good thing I can go back to my day job reading Tarot cards.
The top 4 in the SCAC won't change but at this point I have no idea on the finish, who would of thought that SW could take 2/3 from Trinity and then lose 2/3 from Austin?
I think TLU has the advantage but Centenary, TLU and SW face each other so if TLU can win the last three series they should host the conference, but based on my performance this week who knows.
The top three all play against each other; so combined they will have 9 more losses.
Trinity sitting at 4-5 in conf, has Dallas, Schreiner and Austin.
Austin sitting at 3-6 in conf, has Schreiner, Dallas and Trinity
Lots of series left to go, but the Trinity-Austin series could be the one deciding #4 seed. But, as 108 states: almost anything can happen in the next 3 weeks! For an outside observer, it makes for very interesting baseball!
Don't you love the balance in the conference. Makes for lots of excitement down the stretch.
Conference Standing Now:
TLU 10-2
Cent 10-2
SW 06-3
TU 04-5
Austin 03-6
Dallas 02-10
Sch 01-8
This weekend (baring bad weather which if forecast in the Dallas area)
SW@ TLU
TLU takes 2 of 3
Austin @ Schreiner
Austin takes 2 of 3
Trinity @ Dallas
Trinity sweeps
Centenary @ Louisiana Col
Split 2-2: but non-conference
Post weekend conference standings
TLU 12-3
Cent 10-2
SW 07-5
TU 07-5
Austin 05-7
Dallas 02-13
Sch 02-10
Based on my past performance I would not put too much in my predictions, but something to talk about at least.....
I am was pretty close with my predictions for the weekend. Time to go buy a lottery ticket. ;)
Trinity swept Dallas, more like crushed - at least on Sat both games run ruled short to 7 innings. Today it was only 5-0.
Austin takes 2/3 from Schreiner.
Cent Split 2-2 non- conference.
TLU took 2 from SW the last game rained delayed at 5 innings; SW up 2-0 in the 5th. TBD on resumption of game. My guess is only if it effects SCAC standings.
SCAC is now at. (ignore website they have Cent games this weekend as league)
TLU 12-2
Cent 10-2
TU 07-5
SW 06-5
Austin 05-7
Sch 02-10
Dallas 02-13
Some interesting scenarios, probably for the first time in program history TLU will be routing for SW, at least for 3 games, as they would like to have the conference tournament at home so want SW to beat Cent, and I am sure they do not want to face Trinity as a four seed so they probably would like them to win out and move up to the 2 or 3 seed, however...
What we know:
Cent and TLU are assured either the 1 or 2 seed. (actually Cent could drop to 3)
The home field will likely be determined during the last series of conference play, however TLU has the inside track as they only have Centenary left and a make up to complete an in progress game with SW.
SW holds their fate for the at least the 4th seed if they win 2/3 the next two series. If they do this they will end up 10-7. (plus game to finish with TLU) If they lose 2/3 they could be in trouble as they would be 8-9. (plus the TLU game not completed) and Austin could overtake them.
Austin must sweep Dallas (possible) so going into the Trinity series they could be 8-7. If they could take 2 of 3 from Trinity they could end up 10-8. (not likely) This is a best case scenario for them however they will likely not make the tournament, BUT SW has to play better than they have the past two weeks, they still have a shot, which is probably the first time for them in years. Congrats to them for staying relevant.
Trinity should keep on winning. If they sweep Schreiner (very possible) they will be 10-5 going into the final series and are assured at least a 4 seed. If they go 2/3 the rest of the way. (possible) they will end up 11-7. More than likely they will be 12-6 or 13-5. They could move up to the 2 seed but this does not really matter as 2 plays 3 in the conf tournament. Trinity really needs to run the table to have a shot at an at large invite should they not win the SCAC.
My predictions are:
TLU 14-4 host SCAC (go 2-1 vs Cent and lose SW game)
Cent 13-5 (2/1 & 1/2)
Trinity 12-6 (3/0 and 1/2)
SW 10-8 (1/2 & 2/1) (plus they complete TLU game and win otherwise 9-8)
Austin 8-10
The TLU/SW game is supposed to be completed Wednesday at 7;00PM, Play will resume in the top of the fifth with Southwestern leading 2-0. The Pirates are at the plate with the bases loaded and one out. TLU is in a off week so they have the time.
Texas Lutheran 13-2
Centenary 10-2
Trinity 7-5
Southwestern 6-6
Austin 5-7
Schreiner 2-10
Dallas 2-13
Maybe 108 stitches can check my math but this is what I come up with as far as who can win the regular season. TLU wins one of three against Centenary if Centenary doesn't sweep Southwestern and they win the regular season. Centenary and Trinity win out last 6 games then Trinity wins on head to head vs. Centenary. Only Centenary wins out and they win on head to head vs. TLU. Am I missing anything? I'm not even going to try and figure out the 4 and 5 spot but since Austin finishes with Trinity and Southwestern finishes with Schreiner, I'm giving the edge for the 4 spot to Southwestern ;)
You are correct bzzboyz, TLU more or less wrapped up the SCAC hosting by sweeping SW, I watched a little bit of the game, nice comeback by them last night. Cent would have to sweep SW and then take 2 of 3 from TLU to host the conf tournament which is not likely.
Cent or Trinity will end up being 2 or 3 seed; which in the format does not matter other than being a home team for the first game. SW should secure the 4 seed HOWEVER if they continue to play the way they have the last two weekends it is possible they could lose the 4 seed to Austin, but given that Austin has to play Trinity in the final conf series this is not likely to happen, but hey its baseball so you never know.
Most likely first round playoff games will be:
TLU vs SW
Trinity vs Cent
Once you get to conf games all it takes is a hot pitcher and anyone of them could win game 1. I would favor Trinity due to their pitching depth, but the offense will have to show up, which has been off and on for them this season. TLU has clearly improved during the year and deserves credit for taking the key series when they had to, its a bit premature but congrats to them.
TLU has a nice facility and field and San Antonio is close by so hopefully they wrap it up.
I will say this that the conference is getting tougher and it is nice to see the competition now instead of Trinity rolling over everyone.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 16, 2015, 11:37:21 AM
You are correct bzzboyz, TLU more or less wrapped up the SCAC hosting by sweeping SW, I watched a little bit of the game, nice comeback by them last night. Cent would have to sweep SW and then take 2 of 3 from TLU to host the conf tournament which is not likely.
Cent or Trinity will end up being 2 or 3 seed; which in the format does not matter other than being a home team for the first game. SW should secure the 4 seed HOWEVER if they continue to play the way they have the last two weekends it is possible they could lose the 4 seed to Austin, but given that Austin has to play Trinity in the final conf series this is not likely to happen, but hey its baseball so you never know.
Most likely first round playoff games will be:
TLU vs SW
Trinity vs Cent
Once you get to conf games all it takes is a hot pitcher and anyone of them could win game 1. I would favor Trinity due to their pitching depth, but the offense will have to show up, which has been off and on for them this season. TLU has clearly improved during the year and deserves credit for taking the key series when they had to, its a bit premature but congrats to them.
TLU has a nice facility and field and San Antonio is close by so hopefully they wrap it up.
108,
Trinity is 4-5 against the probable SCAC tournament teams. They scored 54 runs in those game and gave up 50 runs. I know they played these games earlier in the season and obviously things have changed since then. Are you not worried about the pitching also since averaging 6 runs scored a game should probably produce better a better record than that. It seems like the pitchers better show up also. The pitchers are filled with seniors it's their time to take over in a lose and your done situation.
CAK72B,
I could see how you might think that, just looking at the conf stats but, Trinity has been working through and juggling their pitching during the season to find one or two dominant pitchers who can go toe to toe with anyone in a tournament situation. If you listen to Scannell's pre-season interview he talked about this, they have a deep staff but they needed to find "the guy". It has also taken some time but "those guys" are now emerging. Also as a side note, they also don't necessarily pitch their "number 1" in conference play since their tougher games tend to be mid-week or other non-conference games.
Right now they have three pitchers who have the ability to shut down an opponent in a given outing. Gray who has been absolutely dominant after a shaky start early in the season, I would put him up there with Cameron Cox, (CTX) who is the best pitcher I have seen this year. Gray has pitched 37 innings and has 51K's and batters are hitting 0.130 against him, if he does not walk anyone - then teams don't score. Rape is also right there with him, and they are now grooming Tindall as a starter. Behind those three they have Speer and Walker, who will always keep the team in a game. This gives them 5 starting pitchers, (two lefty's and three RH's) who would likely be the number one on any other team in the conference. Griffith moves into the closer role and Turner into the set up and you basically have a D1 staff on a D3 team. I don't think any other team in the West comes close to this staff.
But as we all know you have to perform as a complete team come playoffs and this team has lacked that fire I have seen on the teams the past few years. We will soon see what happens.
The second game between AC and UD today probably sealed in the top 4 seeds. It would have been a little bit of a stretch for AC to overtake Southwestern given AC has Trinity and Southwestern has Schreiner next weekend, but if the 'Roos had managed to sweep UD they'd at least have put themselves in position to be able to take the 4 seed by stealing a win at Trinity. As it stands, they now need to win the last game against UD and then take 2 of 3 at Trinity just to get to 9-9. Taking 1 of 3 could still sneak them in, but they'll need a lot of help from Southwestern dropping some games they probably shouldn't.
AC and UD's last game has been moved to Monday night due to excessive rain in Sherman tonight, by the way.
TLU and Cent will have to play this weekend to determine who gets to host the SCAC tournament.
TLU: 13-2
Cent: 12-3
Whoever wins 2 -3 hosts the tournament as they are slit in their previous two meetings and one game was cancelled. Should be a great weekend for both teams.
Trinity could move up into second place, but the only advantage would be to be Home for first game of playoffs.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 17, 2015, 11:33:45 AM
...and you basically have a D1 staff on a D3 team. I don't think any other team in the West comes close to this staff.
Great D3 staff, without question, but bolded is it a bit aggressive, No?
Quote from: Just_Some_Guy on April 20, 2015, 01:16:08 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 17, 2015, 11:33:45 AM
...and you basically have a D1 staff on a D3 team. I don't think any other team in the West comes close to this staff.
Great D3 staff, without question, but bolded is it a bit aggressive, No?
Probably, but at least in makeup and depth. They probably would compete in a mid-major D1 conference, certainly not in a top 50 program. Granted it was only one game but they were toe to toe with OU in the fall, I think they lost 7-5. Really does not matter, what matters is how they pitch the rest of the season.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 20, 2015, 03:45:29 PM
Quote from: Just_Some_Guy on April 20, 2015, 01:16:08 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 17, 2015, 11:33:45 AM
...and you basically have a D1 staff on a D3 team. I don't think any other team in the West comes close to this staff.
Great D3 staff, without question, but bolded is it a bit aggressive, No?
Probably, but at least in makeup and depth. They probably would compete in a mid-major D1 conference, certainly not in a top 50 program. Granted it was only one game but they were toe to toe with OU in the fall, I think they lost 7-5. Really does not matter, what matters is how they pitch the rest of the season.
Well it looks as if the Trinity team is still trying to figure it out as that "D1" pitching staff got shelled yesterday in a 12-4 loss to McMurry. The team has a ton of talent but I'm just waiting for them to go on their run and for the first time all year put everything together.
Quote from: CAK72B on April 22, 2015, 10:01:07 AM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 20, 2015, 03:45:29 PM
Quote from: Just_Some_Guy on April 20, 2015, 01:16:08 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 17, 2015, 11:33:45 AM
...and you basically have a D1 staff on a D3 team. I don't think any other team in the West comes close to this staff.
Great D3 staff, without question, but bolded is it a bit aggressive, No?
Probably, but at least in makeup and depth. They probably would compete in a mid-major D1 conference, certainly not in a top 50 program. Granted it was only one game but they were toe to toe with OU in the fall, I think they lost 7-5. Really does not matter, what matters is how they pitch the rest of the season.
Well it looks as if the Trinity team is still trying to figure it out as that "D1" pitching staff got shelled yesterday in a 12-4 loss to McMurry. The team has a ton of talent but I'm just waiting for them to go on their run and for the first time all year put everything together.
That may be but McMurry is still transitioning back to D3, so I am not sure the games count. Is it possible Scannel was actually trying to figure some stuff out in a meaningless game? Looks like they went with pitcher by committee. It is disappointing to see Walker gave up 5 ER in 2 innings pitched.
Quote from: Bishopleftiesdad on April 22, 2015, 10:50:37 AM
Quote from: CAK72B on April 22, 2015, 10:01:07 AM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 20, 2015, 03:45:29 PM
Quote from: Just_Some_Guy on April 20, 2015, 01:16:08 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 17, 2015, 11:33:45 AM
...and you basically have a D1 staff on a D3 team. I don't think any other team in the West comes close to this staff.
Great D3 staff, without question, but bolded is it a bit aggressive, No?
Probably, but at least in makeup and depth. They probably would compete in a mid-major D1 conference, certainly not in a top 50 program. Granted it was only one game but they were toe to toe with OU in the fall, I think they lost 7-5. Really does not matter, what matters is how they pitch the rest of the season.
Well it looks as if the Trinity team is still trying to figure it out as that "D1" pitching staff got shelled yesterday in a 12-4 loss to McMurry. The team has a ton of talent but I'm just waiting for them to go on their run and for the first time all year put everything together.
That may be but McMurry is still transitioning back to D3, so I am not sure the games count. Is it possible Scannel was actually trying to figure some stuff out in a meaningless game? Looks like they went with pitcher by committee. It is disappointing to see Walker gave up 5 ER in 2 innings pitched.
Well based on the pitchers he used it seems all but 1 will be key guys that will get innings down the stretch so it is a little disappointing. And yes I do not think the game counts but its more about the performance this late in the season.
I saw some of the McMurry/TU game via video feed, Walker is a soft throwing lefty and was just leaving the ball up, he is normally effective vs a strong fastball hitting team when he is hitting his spots, and I really don't know the McMurry lineup profile, I have no doubt that he will be used against a power team if TU moves on to the Regionals. Overall not a great pitching performance though, particularly this late in the season, but it was a just one of those games that you toss out and move on. TU did have 13 hits which was a good sign. It is a tough game to bus 5 hours for a midweek game, play it, and then come home.
The unpredictability continues in the West and SCAC as Centenary took two from TLU at TLU to pick up the number one seed in the SCAC and host the tournament next weekend. Cent will play SW in game one and TLU will face Trinity in game 2. Trinity should be the favorite, but the way the West is going this year who knows.
Trinity knocked Austin out of a playoff spot with a two solid pitching performances with Tindall and Gray one hitting Austin in game 1 for a 1-0 win and Rape and Griffith for the second game 9-1. Game 1 was the type of game Trinity has to play to move on where it was a close game but they were in control these are the type of games that will be played in the conf tournament and Regionals where pitching and defense dominates.
Both teams finish off the weekend today.
McMurry (29-9) is very strong this year. They have gone 2-4 against NAIA Wayland Baptist and 1-2 against D-2 Angelo State.
They are 15-2 against a representative D-3 schedule & play a DH against UTD today.
Just noticed the playoff section says the SCAC will hold theirs at Trinity ... should be updated to say that Centenary is hosting this year.
Very impressive performance by the Gents against TLU this weekend. Will be interesting to see if the momentum continues this weekend.
Conf tournament link is here:
http://scacsports.com/tournament/spring/baseball/index
The SCAC always does a great job during the tournaments with coverage and interviews.
SCAC stats:
2015 SCAC Baseball
SCAC Leaders Summary as of Apr 27, 2015
(All games)
TEAM BATTING G Avg AB R H 2B 3B HR BB SO SB-ATT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trinity............. 39 .320 1348 286 432 87 9 28 137 187 64-81
Texas Lutheran...... 37 .302 1285 268 388 76 17 13 128 176 42-56
Centenary........... 37 .288 1226 201 353 51 7 8 99 173 41-67
Southwestern........ 39 .285 1324 245 377 67 13 17 115 260 119-164
Austin College...... 29 .258 944 115 244 32 4 3 89 183 23-35
Dallas.............. 36 .242 1151 151 279 38 6 8 110 212 26-39
Schreiner........... 38 .233 1180 129 275 37 12 4 128 276 22-30
Totals.............. 127 .278 8458 1395 2348 388 68 81 806 1467 337-472
TEAM PITCHING G ERA W L Sv IP H R ER BB SO
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trinity............. 39 3.12 28 11 10 332.0 275 149 115 118 342
Austin College...... 29 3.49 8 21 1 239.2 288 154 93 72 141
Texas Lutheran...... 37 3.82 25 12 6 316.0 289 164 134 114 238
Centenary........... 37 3.86 22 15 11 314.2 342 190 135 117 263
Southwestern........ 39 5.20 19 20 7 339.0 340 252 196 196 207
Dallas.............. 36 6.52 10 26 4 291.1 399 250 211 134 200
Schreiner........... 38 7.23 7 31 5 307.2 429 318 247 148 162
Totals.............. 127 4.76 119 136 44 2140.1 2362 1477 1131 899 1553
TEAM FIELDING G PO A E Pct DP PB SBA-ATT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Texas Lutheran...... 37 948 332 52 .961 19 10 43-53
Trinity............. 39 996 423 58 .961 28 19 38-57
Centenary........... 37 944 396 66 .953 25 11 27-43
Dallas.............. 36 874 357 67 .948 25 19 66-80
Schreiner........... 38 923 348 71 .947 24 14 74-92
Southwestern........ 39 1017 426 81 .947 37 12 54-77
Austin College...... 29 719 310 69 .937 19 21 32-53
Totals.............. 127 6421 2592 464 .951 177 106 334-455
SCAC tournament preview:
http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/releases/scac_tourney_preview
First round games Friday afternoon:
Cent vs SW:
Cent has been playing much better the last 1/2 of the season and SW has been struggling, however they will come ready to play. I have to go with Cent as their pitching looks much better.
TLU vs Trinity
TLU has struggled the last two weeks and Trinity appears to be shaping into post season form; advantage Trinity, so I have to go with Trinity.
All games should be close and within a couple of runs as teams will be throwing their aces. Lose the first game and it is a long battle back through the losing bracket. Weather should be perfect for baseball.
Weather This Weekend, May 1 Next Weekend >
Friday
May 1
Plenty of sunshine
81° Lo 52°
RealFeel® 86° / Lo 53°
more
Saturday
May 2
Sunny
81° Lo 55°
RealFeel® 89° / Lo 54°
more
Hope you're right, 108; interestingly both TLU and TU are 10-8 in road games this season (though this will be a neutral-site game).
Not sure what last "two" weeks you're referring to with TLU. Yes, they got spanked last week but they were off the week before and swept SW the week before that. It's a waste of time to try and predict this tournament. Any of them can take it.
Centenary answered the "can they maintain their recent hot play" in the affirmative with a 10-0 run-rule win over Southwestern.
While it is a run rule, it was not a test. I've been watching them play and SW gave up about 4 weeks ago. They backed into the 4th spot. Wish Austin had been a little better because they would have loved to been there.
Trinity gets to TLU ace Aaron Aleman late, scoring three runs (two earned) in the last two innings to take a 3-1 win. The Bulldogs got a couple of hits off of Ryan Gray in the bottom of the ninth, and had the winning run at the plate with one out, but could not scratch out a hit against reliever Teddy Turner.
Southwestern cared enough to knock TLU out of the tourney, holding the Bulldogs to 4 hits in a 3-2 win. They await the Centenary-Trinity loser in another elimination game tomorrow.
TLU was eliminated on Friday with, first with a loss to Trinity, which they led 1-0 through 7, game was tied in the 8th and then Wolf hit a monster HR at a place where very few balls go out. Aleman (TLU) pitched a great game but tired at bit at the end when Trinity was finally able to score some runs, Gray from Trinity was also impressive, a bit shaky in the first two innings and then settled down and was dominant. I am sure having to go straight into the next game after a loss like this was not easy as SW had the time to regroup after their run ruled loss. TLU lost to SW 3-2 in the second game.
Centenary and Trinity play in the first game with SW waiting in the loser bracket. I would expect more low scoring competitive games today, as Cent field is really big which requires good OF defense and GB and line drives to score.
Congrats to Trinity and Centenary for making it to Championship Sunday.
Good luck to the player(s) that I know
For those wanting updates the SCAC does an outstanding job in their media department, other conferences should take note:
http://www.scacsports.com/tournament/spring/baseball/index
Cent and Trinity are in the final game with Trinity having to win two for the SCAC crown.
My take so far.
It shows how important, it is to develop your team during the season and what really matters is how you are playing going into the playoffs. TLU was swept the previous week and dug themselves into a hole having to face Trinity in the first game instead of hosting the tournament facing the 4th seed. They played well most of the season but tapered off at the end and this really hurt them as they are a very good team. Cent on the other hand struggled a bit early but developed some promising freshmen and they are are much better team at the end than when they started the season. They came in with some momentum and it has paid off for them, pounding SW early and sneaking out a 10 inning game vs Trinity. SW continues to impress me, they seem to compete on energy and grit as they just don't have the talent of some of the other teams, but that does not seem to matter as they have shown they can beat anyone. A great building season for that program. What I like the most is that the conference is getting much more competitive.
The games are playing out as expected with a hit here or there or a crucial mistake makes all of the difference in a game.
Trinity's strength continues to be its pitching and they have plenty of arms left even though they have played one more game than Centenary. Centenary needs to win game one, or the advantage shifts to Trinity in game 2. Trinity's nemesis continues to be being able to score, or more importantly take advantage of runners in scoring position, they had many opportunities the past couple of days and just can't seem to get a key hit and break a game open, some base running blunders contributed to this.
Should be a great day for baseball, sunny low 80's and sheehe stadium is an excellent venue.
http://www.gocentenary.com/baseball/facility/
Trinity takes one from Centenary, 6-4, dealing Taylor Henry (6.0 IP, 2 ER) his second loss of the season. Teddy Turner picked up the win with 4 2/3 innings without a hit allowed, relieving Matt Tindall who only allowed three hits but gave up three earned runs in his 4 1/3rd inning. On to game two, where everyone will be scrambling from the bullpen.
Centenary will send Jake McFarland (5-2, 2.77) to the mound. Trinity will counter with Mike Walker (5-3, 4.01).
Expected McFarland in the previous game, to be honest. Not having Henry available for relief this time around could be a key for the Gents; then again, both of Trinity's best relievers (Turner and Tindall) won't be available, either. Nick Griffith pitched three-plus yesterday.
I was half right, anyway.
Mike Walker went seven strong innings, allowing four hits, but Centenary went through seven different pitchers as the Tigers run ruled them, 10-0 in seven. Brody Fehmel and Nick Jewett were a combined 6-for-8 with 4 RBI (3 by Fehmel) from the bottom two spots in the order as Trinity wins two on the final day to be the first team since 1995 to do that in the SCAC tourney.
Centenary starter McFarland didn't make it out of the second inning, allowing three hits, two walks, and four runs in an inning and a third.
Wow, taking three straight elimination games is quite an accomplishment. Trinity could be considered a favorite in the West regional?
Don't know if that's enough to make them a favorite, but with the way the region is shaking out so far (with Whitworth, another #3 seed in their conference, and La Verne, a #4), it certainly looks wide open. The ASC champion, most likely UT-Tyler or Concordia (TX), might be considered the favorite at this point.
PLU and Linfield getting thrown into the Pool C mix could have an impact on Pool C chances for the ASC runner-up, too. UTT and CTX really need to make it to the championship; an early exit could cost a bid.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 04, 2015, 09:09:15 AM
Don't know if that's enough to make them a favorite, but with the way the region is shaking out so far (with Whitworth, another #3 seed in their conference, and La Verne, a #4), it certainly looks wide open. The ASC champion, most likely UT-Tyler or Concordia (TX), might be considered the favorite at this point.
PLU and Linfield getting thrown into the Pool C mix could have an impact on Pool C chances for the ASC runner-up, too. UTT and CTX really need to make it to the championship; an early exit could cost a bid.
Ron, I agree with your assessment... which, based on my history, means the opposite will happen.
This reminds me of the West Regional from 2012 where Linfield was left out and Trinity (TX) was the favorite coming into it. Interesting that Whitworth was the surprise team to win that year with a bunch of freshman. Now they are back as Seniors hoping to get back to the World Series.
Quote from: CAK72B on May 04, 2015, 11:11:45 AM
This reminds me of the West Regional from 2012 where Linfield was left out and Trinity (TX) was the favorite coming into it. Interesting that Whitworth was the surprise team to win that year with a bunch of freshman. Now they are back as Seniors hoping to get back to the World Series.
concordia was the top seed that year, so not sure how Trinity was the favorite
Trinity did beat CTX in the regular season that year...but it was more of pointing out that many people that year would have expected Trinity to get by Whitworth.
Quote from: CAK72B on May 04, 2015, 12:45:32 PM
Trinity did beat CTX in the regular season that year...but it was more of pointing out that many people that year would have expected Trinity to get by Whitworth.
it will be interested to see how everyone gets seeded...since the three teams in were not part of the last regional rankings.
Quote from: CAK72B on May 04, 2015, 12:45:32 PM
Trinity did beat CTX in the regular season that year...but it was more of pointing out that many people that year would have expected Trinity to get by Whitworth.
I agree with you with that one, but that year Trinity was very thin on pitching, it basically was Lucero and Klimesh who threw 180 innings between them, and Bentz the pen/closer. They had other guys but they were very thin compared to now. Those innings are now spread out on 5 starters compared to back then. Klimesh came back on short rest. Anyway Whitworth got hot and that carried them through.
Quote from: tigerfan_2001 on May 04, 2015, 03:08:25 PM
Quote from: CAK72B on May 04, 2015, 12:45:32 PM
Trinity did beat CTX in the regular season that year...but it was more of pointing out that many people that year would have expected Trinity to get by Whitworth.
it will be interested to see how everyone gets seeded...since the three teams in were not part of the last regional rankings.
I think it depends on who wins the ASC title but I'll give it a whirl. *This could change in a big way if someone other than UTT or CTX wins the ASC
1. UTT or CTX
2. PLU
3. UTT or CTX
4. Whitworth
5. Trinity
6. La Verne
Trinity is finally playing the way they are capable of, and it comes at the right time. They are pitching and fielding like a championship team and both were outstanding during the conf tournament. They are making routine plays like they should, and both the OF and Infield made some spectacular plays over the weekend that were game changing. The offense is also starting to hit, and while they still left too many baserunners stranded, they are having much better AB's and are scoring runs against top flight pitchers.
When they lost their second game to Centenary I actually thought it would be good for the team long term (as long as they made it through.....) as it would force them to play more games that required complete focus and execution offensively and defensively as well as getting all of their pitchers work in stressful conditions. Little did I know that this had not been done in 20 years! They came from behind in 4 of the 5 games over the weekend and there is nothing better in building confidence when you play games where it is "win or go home" and this really gets amplified when you are down late in a game This is really going to help them play with confidence come Regionals.
They have 5 legitimate starters with Grey, Tindall, Rape, Walker and Speer - all of them capable of throwing complete games, plus two guys at the back end of the rotation that can shut down a team. Grey has stepped up and is a legitimate ace that can go toe to toe with any pitcher they will face in game 1 of the Regionals. Turner and Griffith pitched 9 innings over the weekend and did not give up a hit. Turner closed out the first game with the tying run on and Griffith came in the second game with runners on second and third with no outs and got two K's and a pop up to get out of the inning. They ended up losing that game, but it had nothing to do with the pitching. Either can close, both have big game experience and are fearless, and both can stretch out to 6 innings if they have to.
They have to tighten up a couple of areas - one is base running and I am sure the pitchers will be doing a lot of PFP the next 10 days.
I don't think you can put labels on teams as "favorites" in Regionals as all teams there can beat any team on any day, but the 2015 Tigers will be a formable opponent in Tyler.
So what will Trinity do between now and when regional's start? Practice, inter-squad games is my guess. They have already played 45 games so even if they could find someone willing to play they don't have any additional games.
Quote from: Bishopleftiesdad on May 05, 2015, 03:56:15 PM
So what will Trinity do between now and when regional's start? Practice, inter-squad games is my guess. They have already played 45 games so even if they could find someone willing to play they don't have any additional games.
Ha ha, there was a conversation about this same topic a few years ago on this board, so I'll give the same suggestion I did back then....Toga - Toga - Toga - Toga!!!!
Quote from: Whatagame on May 05, 2015, 05:30:19 PM
Quote from: Bishopleftiesdad on May 05, 2015, 03:56:15 PM
So what will Trinity do between now and when regional's start? Practice, inter-squad games is my guess. They have already played 45 games so even if they could find someone willing to play they don't have any additional games.
Ha ha, there was a conversation about this same topic a few years ago on this board, so I'll give the same suggestion I did back then....Toga - Toga - Toga - Toga!!!!
Pssht.. they do that between now and the regionals and continue it during the regionals!! I remember the 2012 Regional in McMinnville and hearing from friends about Linfield girls bringing Trinity players they met at bars back to their places at night after games. Baseball all day and party all night. 8-)
That's right, always play hard, day and night!
BLD, they have finals this week so practice will be in between tests etc. They only have a week off now, it used to be they were off for 2-1/2 weeks or more and had to hang around campus when everyone else was gone and play inter squads, but now the schedule is much tighter so they should not lose the edge like they had in the past. As soon as finals are over they will head to Tyler to practice....and maybe chase UTT girls, as they say every thing is better in Texas. :o
I remember the year we won the Regional in Southwestern (2002) it seemed we had a month off until things started in Fox Cities/Appleton.
Congratulations, Trinity, on an incredible finish to a record-setting season. In your first-ever appearance in the championships you were thisclose to making it all the way to the final round. 300+ teams would love to be were you are today. I couldn't be prouder!
Congrats to Trinity for an outstanding year. Props to the senior class of pitchers led by Speer and Tindall. The junior class. Will get them back next year
Trinity is in a pretty good spot next year. Replacing Tindall, Speer, and Rape in the rotation is the main issue as Gray and Walker are really the only ones who have seen significant time starting games. Also replacing Griffith in the pen since Turner is the only one with a big sample size of experience there as well. Every starter from this WS team comes back which is something that will be their biggest strength next year and will all of them being seniors...(literally all 9 of them). They will easily be the favorite to win the West Region next year.
Quote from: CAK72B on May 27, 2015, 02:26:51 AM
Trinity is in a pretty good spot next year. Replacing Tindall, Speer, and Rape in the rotation is the main issue as Gray and Walker are really the only ones who have seen significant time starting games. Also replacing Griffith in the pen since Turner is the only one with a big sample size of experience there as well. Every starter from this WS team comes back which is something that will be their biggest strength next year and will all of them being seniors...(literally all 9 of them). They will easily be the favorite to win the West Region next year.
Freimuth was a diamond with few innings before transferring. It is not improbable that there is a pitcher ready to step up with an All-Region/All-American year.
Trinity is in really good shape for next year, all position starters are back, plus some really really good young guys that will fill in should injuries (actually when) they come up.
Pitching will develop during the year but they took a couple of the young guys to the CWS and got them some innings which is huge when they get to conf/regionals/significant games. There are Freshmen who look really really good but had no chance to get any innings due to the Sr laden pitching staff and there is a lot of talent in the program. There are some potential all american arms that no one has seen yet. Their pitching program is so good (Coach Smith' program is better than a lot of D1 schools IMO) and they have the depth so they can develop them if a player buys in and puts in the work even if they are not playing a lot.
It will be an interesting team to watch to see if they have the lackadaisical approach as they did early and then it seem like the switch turned on when they lost the conf game and had no choice but to win or go home. Hopefully TLU, Centenary and SWern build on their successful season and will provide serious competition, this team really played up and down to who they were playing. Having the ASC have so many conf games is a problem. Hopefully they can get some more Millsaps, Hendrix games in like they did two years ago. Also the Chapman series What happened there?
There are some excellent teams in the West and it is more than presumptuous to be crowning anyone a favorite when the season just ended.
Looking at some early schedules, it looks like there will be a pretty good slate of DIII baseball happening in Texas on the 2nd week of February. The upper crust of the SAA, NWC, SCIAC, ASC, and SCAC will all participate in tournaments in Tyler, Central Texas, and DFW. In no particular order, looks like Chapman, Emory, Birmingham Southern, Rhodes, George Fox, Whitworth, Hendrix, Pomona, Cal Lutheran, and Centenary make the trek to Texas from out of state.
Really hoping the weather holds and this starts a precedent. Lots of high quality match-ups between highly ranked West and South region team.
Congrats to UDallas on winning the Sul Ross series. The Crusaders took Sunday's game, 11-10 to get the best 2-of-3.
SCAC media day(s) interviews of coaches are here if anyone wants insight into some of the programs.
http://scacsports.com/news/scac_spring_media_days_16
See that Trinity dropped their opener in a tight ballgame with Birmingham Southern. Loved Coach Scannell's comments on the game. Deja vu all over again from last year?
"It was a tight ball game," said Head Coach Tim Scannell. "We were mentally not prepared to play live competition. Our guys were probably a little too focused on what they did last year and did not understand it's a whole new year. We didn't pitch very well and we hit poorly. They hopefully understand that what someone says about you doesn't necessarily make you a good team. You have to earn it. They will have to understand that although they were good last year, it's a whole new year."
Interesting opening week for SCAC teams. It is still way early, but a couple of observations.
Centenary seems like they are the real deal this year again. They took Trinity to the final game of the SCAC Championships and it looks like they have not missed a beat. They started earlier than some of the other teams and are 6-1, loosing only to No 7 BS. They should get some votes in the the top 25 ballots.
TLU beat No. 7 BS, so even with only three games played they have shown they can play with the best.
Not sure what to make of SWestern at 1-6, but they traveled to the South Region and played some quality teams.
Trinity went 2 of 3 loosing a close game to No 7 BS. They will overpower a lot of teams offensively, but their long term fate rests in the hands of how their pitching staff develops during the year. They are a regional team, but not sure about pitching getting them through to the CWS again this year.
Dallas looks bad as does Austin.
Weekend predictions (don't have time to look at mid week games)
Texas Dallas @ Trinity TU takes 2 of 3
Austin @ SW NM Who knows, who cares
HSU @ TLU TLU takes 2 of 3
UofD @ LeT Splits 1 - 1
Cent @ SWestern Early match up to see what both teams are made of SW is tough at home but Cent takes 2 of 3.
Good to be talking baseball again.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 15, 2016, 09:46:20 PM
Interesting opening week for SCAC teams. It is still way early, but a couple of observations.
Centenary seems like they are the real deal this year again. They took Trinity to the final game of the SCAC Championships and it looks like they have not missed a beat. They started earlier than some of the other teams and are 6-1, loosing only to No 7 BS. They should get some votes in the the top 25 ballots.
TLU beat No. 7 BS, so even with only three games played they have shown they can play with the best.
Not sure what to make of SWestern at 1-6, but they traveled to the South Region and played some quality teams.
Trinity went 2 of 3 loosing a close game to No 7 BS. They will overpower a lot of teams offensively, but their long term fate rests in the hands of how their pitching staff develops during the year. They are a regional team, but not sure about pitching getting them through to the CWS again this year.
Dallas looks bad as does Austin.
Weekend predictions (don't have time to look at mid week games)
Texas Dallas @ Trinity TU takes 2 of 3
Austin @ SW NM Who knows, who cares
HSU @ TLU TLU takes 2 of 3
UofD @ LeT Splits 1 - 1
Cent @ SWestern Early match up to see what both teams are made of SW is tough at home but Cent takes 2 of 3.
Good to be talking baseball again.
I saw UTD play 2 games this past weekend and this series will be pretty interesting. UTD has a very fast lineup and they are very patient at the dish and get the pitch they want and they punish it. I know Trinity has a very good #1 but I don't know much about their pitching after that. I think this should be a pretty good series.
I am very familiar with their Assistant coach, Sean West. What you describe of the hitters at UTD was very similar to the approach while he was at Denison. He recruited my son to pitch for the Settlers, in the Great Lakes League.
They have a good one, in West. I am not sure why Denison, did not renew him. New coach wanted his guys I guess. I believe UTD has a good guy there and hope they hold onto him. At least until he gets an opportunity to be a head coach some where.
Quote from: Jack Parkman on February 16, 2016, 11:01:25 AM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 15, 2016, 09:46:20 PM
Interesting opening week for SCAC teams. It is still way early, but a couple of observations.
Centenary seems like they are the real deal this year again. They took Trinity to the final game of the SCAC Championships and it looks like they have not missed a beat. They started earlier than some of the other teams and are 6-1, loosing only to No 7 BS. They should get some votes in the the top 25 ballots.
TLU beat No. 7 BS, so even with only three games played they have shown they can play with the best.
Not sure what to make of SWestern at 1-6, but they traveled to the South Region and played some quality teams.
Trinity went 2 of 3 loosing a close game to No 7 BS. They will overpower a lot of teams offensively, but their long term fate rests in the hands of how their pitching staff develops during the year. They are a regional team, but not sure about pitching getting them through to the CWS again this year.
Dallas looks bad as does Austin.
Weekend predictions (don't have time to look at mid week games)
Texas Dallas @ Trinity TU takes 2 of 3
Austin @ SW NM Who knows, who cares
HSU @ TLU TLU takes 2 of 3
UofD @ LeT Splits 1 - 1
Cent @ SWestern Early match up to see what both teams are made of SW is tough at home but Cent takes 2 of 3.
Good to be talking baseball again.
I saw UTD play 2 games this past weekend and this series will be pretty interesting. UTD has a very fast lineup and they are very patient at the dish and get the pitch they want and they punish it. I know Trinity has a very good #1 but I don't know much about their pitching after that. I think this should be a pretty good series.
The Trinity-UT Dallas game was played at very high intensity level. Clearly, Trinity is the big target this year and it isn't completely clear if they have adjusted to that mindset. With that said, they can be really good, offensively. As good as UT Dallas is, the ball has a very different sound coming off the TU bats, for the most part. They are powerful, athletic and with good speed 1-9 in the line up
The HR was one of the longest anyone could remember clearing the oaks beyond the left field fence.
This team has a ways to go and cannot be giving up free base runners at the clip the pitching is doing so far. Tate was really good though and Gray was darn tough in keeping runners he put on going station to station, only.
Had a fun night being back for the first time in many years with our son. Threw out the first ball with him.
Let's just say I kept it "down" in the zone!
Awesome IFD. Congrats to you and your son. I watched some of the game on the video feed and thought the same thing. I have to admit it totally boggles my mind why a program like Trinity can not get a video announcer, particularly on opening day after going to the CWS. They had the same thing last year and had some excuses why they lost one at the last minute. This is a shame.
It looks like Tate is emerging as one of the new pitchers that will have to develop during the year. My son also made the trek down to SA from Austin at the last minute. We were talking about the teams and he thought he needed to be there so he packed up and left and was at the game also.
Trinity's fate this year will be how their pitching develops, as well as keeping up the intensity and not reliving last year. Enjoy the weekend in SA! (+ have a Margarita for me at La Fonda!)
Trinity swept a very good UTD team, although it sometimes was not pretty. A couple of new pitchers are emerging, which is a good thing, but a 4.59 ERA is not going to get it done. Trinity's offense will carry them for awhile but again this team's long term success will be how the pitching staff develops. Look what happened to CLU a couple of years back when they came into the regional with the leading offense in D3 ball. If I recall they were a one -two- BBQ. I just read their summary and coach Scannell summed it up pretty well.
"UTD is a really good team," said Head Coach Tim Scannell. "They are senior-laden like we are, so you saw two teams really fight and compete. I think the difference came down to the fact we had some big home runs that gave us a lead in games, and allowed us to make some pitching changes. Baseball always runs through pitching. Unless we clean it up and pound the zone, we are going to have a long year. We have to get way better on the mound. Games are taking forever, and we are losing the tempo of the game. It seems like we are getting to a 3-2 count on every batter. The guys who had success, Nelson, Tate, and Hoffman...those guys pound the zone early and the game takes on a rhythm where we can make defensive plays. We swung the bats all weekend. I thought Wolf was huge. I thought he found his swing, and he is a great player. Without Wolf, we don't go anywhere, so I was proud of his swings."
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 21, 2016, 11:25:27 AM
Look what happened to CLU a couple of years back when they came into the regional with the leading offense in D3 ball. If I recall they were a one -two- BBQ.
I think you are talking about 2013 and you are right, they got shut down pretty good. Scoring 5 runs in 3 games isn't going to win a lot of games.
Got to watch a little of the live stream from yesterday's 2nd TU-UTD game. If you're so inclined, check out the play by the Trinity shortstop at about the 33:30 mark from that game. You don't see that very often at this level..
Quote from: Bmo on February 21, 2016, 02:11:00 PM
Got to watch a little of the live stream from yesterday's 2nd TU-UTD game. If you're so inclined, check out the play by the Trinity shortstop at about the 33:30 mark from that game. You don't see that very often at this level..
Bmo, the Trinity shortstop, Connor Moore is good, really good. The Dallas hitter clearly was thinking hit getting out of the box and did not realize Moore backhanded the ball deep in the hole. As a result, the runner rounded 1B rather than running through the bag and was stunned when he realized what happened.
The TU 3B is also really good and made huge double play driving to his right over the bag to snag a well hit ball with runners on 1st and 2nd.
While I have not seen the overall stats, it would not surprise me if UT Dallas did not have far more baserunners. They left a ton on base and especially at 2B and 3B.
Nelson, who closed the 2nd game on Saturday was the real thing. I would doubt there are many better in D3 in terms of what he showed for 1 inning with 3Ks.
He was 88-91, everything down, ahead in each count and used a very hard breaking ball with equally good command.
Trinity has arms but their starters cannot continue to give up so many "free" baserunners, to pitch from the stretch and with so many 3-2 counts.
Good teams will hurt them, eventually and the offense won't always be able to score enough runs.
Clearly the coaching staff wants them to pitch to contact. With the quality and speed of their defense that message seems like the right one.
This can be a really good team on the mound, in the field, with the bats and with speed and depth, but they are not one yet. I still think they need to appreciate every opponent sees them as the team to beat and, mentally, Trinity might not see each opponent quite the same way.
Quote from: infielddad on February 22, 2016, 12:37:50 PM
I still think they need to appreciate every opponent sees them as the team to beat and, mentally, Trinity might not see each opponent quite the same way.
This is exactly the problem with the team last year. I think they had to lose in the SCAC chanpionships to realize that one more loss and they were going home. With that said they lost a lot of Sr pitching last year that had lots of experience. They have some quality arms that just need the opportunity to pitch in real life - pressure situations to develop the confidence to throw the ball over the plate and let their defense (which is proven to be very good) to do their jobs. I think we will see a lot of high scoring games early and hopefully the pitching staff matures during the season and is ready come the conference tournament and (hopefully) beyond.
My predictions for next weekend.
We are going to find out real soon if AC 6-1 is because they have turned the corner or if they just played bad teams. We are also going to find out if SW just played outstanding teams and their 2-8 record is because of this. I don't think we are going to learn much about the rest of the teams as it looks like it will shape up to be TLU, Trinity, Cent and TBD for the conf tournament and TBD may not matter all that much.
Here we go:
AC at Trinity. Trinity sweeps. Reality comes home to AC
Sch at Cent. Cent sweeps
TLU at Dallas TLU sweeps
SW vs CTX CTX takes 2 of 3 but never count out SWern. We will find out what SW is all about. Although they lost 2/3 to Cent the games appeared to be competitive.
Trinity crushed CTX on Tuesday and it really does not mean much (we know they can hit) other than Trinity looks like if found another potential starting pitcher and a Freshmen reliever.
Sometimes I feel like posting in the SCAC thread is like peeing in my wetsuit, I feel all warm and comfortable and nobody notices... With that done on for this week:
It is clear, even now early in the season, that the SCAC trophy will run through San Antonio. Good news is that there are great Margaritas, BBQ, and the River Walk, the bad news is teams teams will have to play Trinity at home. As far as the group, Centenary and Trinity really look like the quality teams early in the season, but Dallas had a great weekend last week so they might be the surprise team of the SCAC. There is a ton of baseball left and as Trinity proved last year it is not how you play early in the season, at the end is what counts.
For this week.
Trinity @ TLU Trinity could sweep but I think TLU will sneak out a game, their tough at home. Trinity wins 2 of 3
Centenary off. Cent clobbered TT last night, but Tyler had a Freshmen starting so I don't put too much into this game.
Dallas at Austin Can Dallas keep it rolling and sweep. I don't think so but Dallas takes 2 of 3.
SWern @ Schreiner SW should sweep but I still can not figure them out so far this year.
OK back to work.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 03, 2016, 07:25:44 PM
Sometimes I feel like posting in the SCAC thread is like peeing in my wetsuit, I feel all warm and comfortable and nobody notices... With that done on for this week:
Remind me never to buy a wet suit from you.
Congrats to Andrew Waters for all the recognition of his super week.
Jim D. ;D
Thanks for reminding us about Andrew. WOW is all I can say. From your site: "0.833 (10-12) in the three games against Austin, collecting four doubles, two triples, and two home runs among his 10 hits. He also scored six runs and added eight RBI, posting an astronomical 2.000"
Last year when Trinity went up to play OU, I went to the game and he was literally the best player on the field for both teams. Even Pete Hughes said that. At the start of the game OU had their 6'5" flame thrower who was sitting 95 topped at 98, and I thought oh boy were in trouble. Andrew leads off by roping a line drive right back up the middle to start the game and I think he set the tone for the whole team. "OK we can compete with these guys". Anyway well deserved and lets hope he keeps it up.
Caught the tail end of the Trinity vs Lady of the Lake (NAI) game. Trinty won 3-2 in 10 with WO HR by Wolf. They got good performance from two freshmen who each went 5 and only gave up 1 ER between them against what is usually a very good LotL NAI team. Could be a hopeful sign in SA. (for you waterlogged, good call) I bet those two kids won't be sleeping much tonight with the adrenaline from their first big test. Love to see Freshmen come through in these mid week games. Congrats to Hussian and Cubley!
Here I sit in my wetsuit again, but here are the predictions for the weekend.
Austin @ Centenary CU sweeps (at least they should)
Schreiner @ TLU Normally I would say TLU sweeps but Schreiner is looking stronger this year TLU still take 2 of 3. Schreiner looks like the surprise team of the league so far.
Dallas @ HSU Don't know and does anyone care?
SW @ Trinity Trinity should sweep but their No 1 is looking a bit shaky so SW might sneak a game. Trinity is also playing something like 7 games in 7 days so their pitching may be stretched
All for now.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 10, 2016, 12:41:11 PM
Here I sit in my wetsuit again, but here are the predictions for the weekend.
Austin @ Centenary CU sweeps (at least they should)
Schreiner @ TLU Normally I would say TLU sweeps but Schreiner is looking stronger this year TLU still take 2 of 3. Schreiner looks like the surprise team of the league so far.
Dallas @ HSU Don't know and does anyone care?
SW @ Trinity Trinity should sweep but their No 1 is looking a bit shaky so SW might sneak a game. Trinity is also playing something like 7 games in 7 days so their pitching may be stretched
All for now.
Just so you don't have to wet your wetsuit, I'll bite.
Austin @ CentenaryI don't think there's any question that Centenary is the superior team at all facets of the game, but they slipped once against against both Southwestern and Schreiner so I'll go out on a limb and say Austin swindles a game -- perhaps with sophomore Josh Lewis on the bump, especially if he squares off against Novak who has good stuff, but hasn't always commanded the zone this year. That said, the Roos have to play better defense: Melton, Tarbox and Dudley have been pretty sloppy in the field. For the Gentleman, Schimpf has been an on base machine, but they really need true freshman, Cameron Guin, to get going in the middle of that lineup.
Schreiner @ TLU Schreiner has found a way to steal one from virtually everyone (except Sul Ross) so far, and Allen/Gonalez/Hammack have been competitive on the mound, but I'm going to venture that the Bulldogs find a way to sweep to open conference play. TLU's Malinovsky has been great and if Baylor/Rimko can get them to the later innings, the bullpen features at least 3 solid arms (and that's not even counting FR Murrell who's also thrown well against good competition.) Jury still out on this TLU team for me. I know they don't want to be 7-7, but they've played a solid schedule. If they don't melt down at UMHB and instead take 2 of 3 from Dallas, you're looking at a strong 9-5 team so...
Dallas @ HSU With the exception of SP Hammonds and RP Marshall, and their series win against TLU, this team has been pretty bad.
And when did Hardin Simmons get so bad? Coleman used to roll out one of the best ASC West teams year in and year out.
HSU's got 4 solid bats at the top of their lineup, but their pitching has been average at best and they've been unable to find a 3rd starter. Complete toss up for me. I guess I'll go with momentum, and since HSU has won 5 in a row, I'll predict they take 2 of 3 from Dallas.
SW @ TrinityCates is solid at the top of that Pirate lineup, but I just don't think they score enough or pitch well enough to steal a game from TU. I'm going to predict that SW coming to town is just what Gray needs to get back on track and that Tigers sweep the series and outscore SW by 20 across the 3 game set. Scannell may look to let some of his young arms get some work if they get way up, but they're not likely to take the hand off the throttle in the first week of conference play.
JSG
JSC, +1
One of the more thoughtful and informative posts I've seen in a while in the West.
Trinity took DeSales apart at the seams last night. It was interesting they threw Gray, probably for a couple of reasons, to keep him on his normal throwing schedule, plus to take some pressure off and work on some things, which appeared to work.
Thanks that wet suit was getting a bit itchy...
Quote from: Just_Some_Guy on March 11, 2016, 05:09:45 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 10, 2016, 12:41:11 PM
Here I sit in my wetsuit again, but here are the predictions for the weekend.
Austin @ Centenary CU sweeps (at least they should)
Schreiner @ TLU Normally I would say TLU sweeps but Schreiner is looking stronger this year TLU still take 2 of 3. Schreiner looks like the surprise team of the league so far.
Dallas @ HSU Don't know and does anyone care?
SW @ Trinity Trinity should sweep but their No 1 is looking a bit shaky so SW might sneak a game. Trinity is also playing something like 7 games in 7 days so their pitching may be stretched
All for now.
Just so you don't have to wet your wetsuit, I'll bite.
Austin @ Centenary
I don't think there's any question that Centenary is the superior team at all facets of the game, but they slipped once against against both Southwestern and Schreiner so I'll go out on a limb and say Austin swindles a game -- perhaps with sophomore Josh Lewis on the bump, especially if he squares off against Novak who has good stuff, but hasn't always commanded the zone this year. That said, the Roos have to play better defense: Melton, Tarbox and Dudley have been pretty sloppy in the field. For the Gentleman, Schimpf has been an on base machine, but they really need true freshman, Cameron Guin, to get going in the middle of that lineup.
Or Novak will read this and decide, instead, to throw a complete game, 3H, shut out. Can't stop that stache. Excellent performance.
Austin's Josh Lewis went 7 IP, 12 H, 4 ER... certainly not a bad performance against a good Centenary team. Both Melton and Tarbox booted one.
For the Gentelman, Schimpf banged out 2 more hits and Guin got going with a pair of singles as well.
JSG
Thanks for the +1 108.
Austin @ Centenary
Centenary sweeps the series without giving up a run the entire weekend.
I mentioned Novak's performance (against Austin's Josh Lewis) in a previous post, but Jackie Allen (3-0, 1.91 ERA) and Kaleb Kirk (4-2, 2.19 ERA) were equally as good both throwing at least 7 IP of shutout baseball.
For Austin College, SS Austin Dudley had a nice weekend going 5-8 at the plate, but he didn't get much help from his friends.
I mentioned their INF having to clean up the errors to win, but Melton/Tarbox combined for another 5 errors this weekend. In fairness, it looks like both guys may be playing out of position, but with neither swinging it very well... it might be time to give other guys a shot.
For the Gentleman, Schimpf and Zapata have been their leaders at the plate, and both guys continued their success. Schimpf went 9-14 raising his average to .431. Did I mention his OBP was .565? Zapata went 5-13 with 6 RBIs. I also mentioned the importance of FR Guin getting going in the middle. He went 6-11 this weekend raising his average from .217 to .281. RF Dakota Brown also chipped in a nice 5-11 weekend.
If I'm Trinity, I'm not sleeping on this Centenary team.
Schreiner @ TLU
Texas Lutheran sweeps.
The 1st game was an extra inning affair that the Bulldogs won in the 13th (after answering Schreiner in the 11th).
The game featured great bullpen performance from Schreiner's Derek Gonzales (3.1 IP, 0 ER) and also, TLU's Derek Cantu who also threw 3.1 IP and surrendered no earned runs.
FR Dylan Murrell snagged the win in the 1st game and closed out the 3rd for his first save of the year. Bulldog relievers pitched 8.2 innings without giving up an ER this weekend. Sophomore Aaron Milone has been fantastic.
SR 2B/3B Alejandro Gutierrez powered the offensive going 8-14 and raising his average to .380. In the absence of starting 1B, Justin Law, JR Sami Resendez and SR UTIL Lincoln Baylor also did some nice work at the plate. Baylor's, in particular, after throwing 8.1 innings in Saturday's affair.
Connor Ver Schuur and Marco Carreon led Schreiner's offense, each going 3-11 on the weekend. Gonzales, who threw 3.1 innings on Saturday, came back for 5 more (1 ER) in relief on Sunday.
Dallas @ HSU
Dallas continues to struggle on the bump (6.18 team ERA).
If not a misprint, starting OF, Luciano Villanueva, threw a solid 6 IP in his first start of the season. Not sure where SP Ryan Hammonds (who'd been pretty good) was this weekend.
SS Rene Vargas was 6-11 at the plate against the Cru.
SW @ Trinity
Trinity takes 2 of 3 from the Pirates. SP Troy Nelson (3-0, 1.82 ERA) was pretty dominant in Game 1. 2B Serkowski had two doubles and drove in 5 runs in the win.
Game 2 was closely contested. Both starting pitchers gave up 4 runs, but the TU bullpen was better. JR Chris Tate (0.52 ERA) pitched 3 scoreless innings for the save.
Southwestern edged the Tigers in game 3 behind a tremendous pitching performance from FR Tyler Polasek in only his second start of the season. He only surrended 3 hits to a Tiger team hitting .323 on the season. His opposition, Teddy Turner, pitched a CG only giving up 3ER w/ 8 K's, but the effort wasn't enough.
Will Cates (4-11, 3 Runs) and Ethan Luna (6-10, 4 RBI) paced the Pirate offense for the weekend.
JSG you are rocking it!
I watched some of the Trinity / SW and I love it when Freshmen come in and have an impact! I am guessing Polasek is moving into the weekend rotation, nicely done! When he gets back up to Georgetown he better be buying beers for his OF. (We all know Freshmen don't drink. [wink wink]) The SW outfield, particularly Cates continues to amaze me with their play. Just shows you you can take regular season records and throw them out the window. Trinity had a couple of chances to break the game open and Polasek came through. I think we will be reading about him in the SCAC for the next couple of years. Turner pitched a great game also but was a couple of misplay's away from the win. (sun) Overall a good game.
I agree with JSG on Centenary, they are going to be tough when conference tournament time comes. In addition they probably have a sour taste from last year getting knocked out of their first Regional appearance by losing two to Trinity.
Two SCAC pitchers make D3 baseball team of the week, pretty impressive for one 7 team conference. Congrats to both:
SP Holden Novak, Sr., Centenary (La.)
Novak tossed his second complete game of the season, tossing only 101 pitches of which 73 which were strikes. He retired the side in order in 5-of-9 innings and only allowed one Austin base runner past second base. With another 10 strikeout performance, he now leads the league in wins (four) and is second in strikeouts (34).
SP Tyler Polasek, Fr., Southwestern (Tex.)
Polasek picked up his first collegiate win on Sunday to help Southwestern salvage a three-game set at fourth-ranked Trinity (Texas). Polasek hurled seven shutout innings and limited the SCAC's top offensive squad to only three hits, all of which were singles. The Pearland, Texas, native also fanned three batters before handing the ball over to the bullpen.
108, your commentary is read and very much appreciated. I'm not nearly as knowledgeable about baseball as you are and haven't been able to do much with TUBB/SCAC baseball this season other than live vicariously through your posts. Thanks (and +1s) to both you and JSG for the detailed information you post here.
108 did you get a chance to see the TU vs. Denison Game. If so I would be interested in your opinion.
BLD I watched some of it on the video feed while I was doing some work stuff online. I did not see the first or the last inning, but my take is that the game was much closer than the final score, as Denison was right with Trinity through 7 innings. Trinity started one of their younger pitchers who never made it out of the first inning and Denison made him pay with 4 runs. The Denison starter Walsh looked really solid when I watched him. It looks like he might have struggled also in the first but settled in nicely. I thought he had some giddy up on his FB and had good breaking stuff and did a good job of keeping a very formidable TU line up off balance. I started the game when TU was down 4-2 in the second and thought "hmmm this could be interesting" TU kept chipping away and tied it in the 5th and went up by one in the 6th and it impressed me that they can back in the 7th and tied it back up. I had to leave and did not see the barrage of 8 runs in the 8th, but my impression was that Dennison looks like a pretty solid team and should be a contender in their conference. Like I said the final score does not indicate that how close the game was and I think the Denison team looks pretty solid. They beat TLU in the previous game and they will be playing some solid teams in their trip through Texas.
Thanks 108,
This is one of OWU's rivals every year. It makes it better when both teams are good. Looks like Denison is better than expected.
OK here we go for the "108 wet suit of the week" predictions for the coming weekend.
First a big shout out to Centenary who broke through into the D3 baseball top 25. Well deserved. Also a big shout out to Senior pitcher Holden Novak of the Gents and freshman pitcher Tyler Polasek of Southwestern, both have been named to the D3baseball.com Team of the Week. (I love it when Freshmen do that!...well most of the time) The Tigers moved up to number 2 and my response is "so what" clearly the objective for this team is to get back to Appleton, and National rankings mean nothing in March.
For this coming week:
Centenary @ Schreiner Normally this would be a "yawn" Centenary 3-0, which it probably will be, but Schreiner is improving and if the Gents don't take are of business they could drop one.
TLU @ Austin College TLU should sweep. Yawn.
Dallas @ Trinity Trinity should sweep, if not there will be a lot of margaritas drank in San Antonio. Come to think of it even if they do, the parents will still be hitting La Fonda or La Fogata, Man I miss those places!
Southwestern has a big break in their schedule.
A couple of observations are that Trinity young pitching is starting to shape up, it may not happen this weekend, but if the trend keeps continuing some of the young arms could move some of the "old arms" out of the weekend rotation. This is a good sign for Trinity. TLU is starting to round into shape up and Centenary is continuing to develop and the big series is the week after next vs Trinity, which could well decide who hosts the conference tournament.
Cheers
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 16, 2016, 10:42:48 PM
A couple of observations are that Trinity young pitching is starting to shape up, it may not happen this weekend, but if the trend keeps continuing some of the young arms could move some of the "old arms" out of the weekend rotation. This is a good sign for Trinity. TLU is starting to round into shape up and Centenary is continuing to develop and the big series is the week after next vs Trinity, which could well decide who hosts the conference tournament.
Cheers
Interesting take re: TU pitching staff. I actually think it's unlikely you'll see any of the young arms emerge as weekend rotation guys.
It seems to me that Scannell and Smith like to find their horses and ride them. I would venture that some combo of Nelson, Turner, Gray and Walker remain their weekend guys, with Tate/Hoffmann/Cubley being the primary guys out of the pen. Hussian has been solid in limited innings and Lonnecker might get another shot (long relief during the week). All of those, with the exception of Tate, are true freshman, but doubt, at this point in the season, you see any of them over take 'the big 4.'
Last year, they rode the same 4 SP with Turner/Griffith shoring up the back end and Walker working weekday duty.
2014 featured 4 primary guys throughout the year (and a lot of bullpen depth).
If you go back to 2013, SR Barron started giving way to FR Alig who emerged throughout the season. BTW, Did Alig transfer after his FR year?
Mostly, what I learned via this research is that I'm pretty upset that Turner changed his name on the roster from Theodore to Teddy. The SCAC needs a solid ball player named Theodore.
JSG, actually last year they moved Tindall up during the season from the closer to a starter and Turner/Griffith filled this role, and you are correct about the rest, but this was a very seasoned pitching staff.
Many times the more difficult games for Trinity are the mid week games so they are great training grounds for their younger staff. Nelson emerged this year from this role and actually has been the best pitcher so far overall and I can see him pitching in "must win" games later in the season if he continues doing what he is doing. The good news for the program is that the younger/other guys are looking better than some of the older guys, which is great thing. Gray has always been a slow starter and should be pretty formidable later in the season and both Turner and Walker have pitched in big games. I see Walker as more of a "strategic starter" and they have thrown him against big powerful fastball hitting teams who have trouble with soft crafty lefty type pitchers. Walker actually has a tendency to "pitch to bats" against less talented teams. I also noticed that Flores pitched for the first time this year which could be a huge addition for them as he was great as a Freshmen and went down last year and is coming back from TJ surgery, if he gets healthy then he has the potential to be another lock down end of game or long relief guy. There lots of baseball left but realistically they only have two tough weekend series left vs Cent and TLU, the tougher games are all midweek. Their pitching is coming around so they are looking better than 6 weeks ago that is for sure.
Wet suit roundup for this week.
Trinity is now ranked number one in the country but based on how they are playing probably not for long. Don't get me wrong they are a great team - just not playing at #1 level at the moment. They shuffled the pitching last week like I expected with Nelson going game 1, Gray 2 and Turner 3. It's all hands on deck after that. Should be the same for this weekend, but there is a slight chance Turner moves up to number 2, but not likely as the coaching staff likes to mix up arm angles and sides.
Probably the biggest match up for the whole West Region is this weekend in Schreveport with #12 Centenary hosting #1 Trinity. Win or lose it's Friday night is beer and crawdads in the parking lot at Crawfish Tyme!
It could go either way but Trinity is still tough and should take 2 of 3, however if they play like last weekend then Cent could conceivably take 2 from the Tigers.
TLU is off.
Schreiner @ SWestern : This used to be a sweep series, but SU is playing much better and SW so-so. SW takes 2 of 3
Austin @ Dallas: Both teams are not that good but Dallas is the worser of the two, so Austin takes 2 of 3
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 23, 2016, 11:08:22 AM
Wet suit roundup for this week.
Trinity is now ranked number one in the country but based on how they are playing probably not for long. Don't get me wrong they are a great team - just not playing at #1 level at the moment. They shuffled the pitching last week like I expected with Nelson going game 1, Gray 2 and Turner 3. It's all hands on deck after that. Should be the same for this weekend, but there is a slight chance Turner moves up to number 2, but not likely as the coaching staff likes to mix up arm angles and sides.
Probably the biggest match up for the whole West Region is this weekend in Schreveport with #12 Centenary hosting #1 Trinity. Win or lose it's Friday night is beer and crawdads in the parking lot at Crawfish Tyme!
It could go either way but Trinity is still tough and should take 2 of 3, however if they play like last weekend then Cent could conceivably take 2 from the Tigers.
TLU is off.
Schreiner @ SWestern : This used to be a sweep series, but SU is playing much better and SW so-so. SW takes 2 of 3
Austin @ Dallas: Both teams are not that good but Dallas is the worser of the two, so Austin takes 2 of 3
#1 Trinity at #12 Centenary
A Number 1 team wins 2 of 3
on the road at a ranked rival.
Winning 1 out of 3 keeps them close to the top.
Being swept raises huge doubts.
Shreveport Times story on the weekend: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/sports/college/2016/03/26/centenary-struggles-find-positives-series-sweep/82310626/
Thanks Ron. I did not see the first part of game one and by the time I got online they seemed like they had given up. From a positive point of view some of their younger pitchers got the opportunity to see what its like to compete with a CWS caliber team. Anything can happen in conference play, and they will likely not be the 4 seed so they can conceivably be prepared to face the Tigers again. Lots of baseball left in the season for them.
OK here we go for the "108 wet suit of the week" predictions for the coming weekend.
Centenary recovered from a dismal weekend and beat LeTU in a come from behind win, which is a good sign given how badly they were trounced last weekend by Trinity.
For this coming week:
Dallas @ TLU: TLU sweeps, however with all league play Dallas may steal a game. Dallas is looking a little bit stronger lately.
Trinity @Schreiner: Normally this is a hands down sweep, but Schreiner has something going on this year and could steal a game if Trinity is not focused
SW @ Austin: SW takes 2 of 3. Boy the SW program has really dropped off this year. Not sure what is going on there, but they have taken a big step backward.
ETBU @ Cent: Non league Don't really know ETBU, but looks like Cent should take 2 of 3
Trinity juggled their pitching last week quite a bit and will probably continue to do so through the end of the season to get the staff ready for Regionals. Conf tournament teams look like Trinity, TLU, Cent and TBD. SW or Dallas could take the last spot depending on how they play the next three weeks.
Cheers
Five hours since the start of game 1 and not a peep out of Schreiner re the games today with Trinity. All they have is a pay-to-watch video link, no live stats, not a tweet to be seen anywhere.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 02, 2016, 05:59:53 PM
Five hours since the start of game 1 and not a peep out of Schreiner re the games today with Trinity. All they have is a pay-to-watch video link, no live stats, not a tweet to be seen anywhere.
Thanks to the folks at @Trinity_Sports who told me 11-1 TU first game, 15-2 (bot 9th) second. No other details yet available.
I just checked and saw that Trinity dropped today's game to Schreiner 2-1, considering the two games yesterday that is a big shock. Kolby Kitchens for SU threw a complete game, gave up 10 hits but only one ER, congrats to him. Trinity had two errors and one cost them a run. Still not very good showing for the number 1 team in the country. (maybe not for long)
Is it a misprint or does Trinity's Andrew Waters actually have zero walks/hit by pitch on the whole season? That seems absolutely crazy. 87 at bats... I mean, he is hitting over .400 but that is wild.
Gets his money worth!
Looks like Trinity's focus was back to normal Monday in Abilene, with a 7-0 win at McMurry and a 21-hit 16-4 laugher at a decent Hardin-Simmons squad (now 16-11). Waters was 4-5 in the second game and Butler had two home runs. In the first, Michael Walker improved to 5-0 with a complete game gem in which the War Hawks were limited to six hits, all singles.
TLU @ Trinity : Trinity takes 2 of 3
Southwestern @ Centenary Centenary takes 2 of 3
Schreiner @ Dallas Dallas takes 2 of 3
Austin none conference vs Dallas Christian ???
TLU has not faced Trinity, Centenary, and SWestern in conference play yet so they need to take 2 of 3 from Trinity to realistically hold onto the top seed and host the SCAC tournament. Teams really don't want to have to play Trinity in the first round and home field really can help some teams plus it's tough to beat Trinity at home. If Centenary wants to get an at large bid (assuming they don't win the SCAC) then they need to sweep SWern. Big implications in the West this weekend.
Enjoy the games Ron!
Wow - what an ugly first game today between TLU and Trinity (unless you're a TLU fan, of course). Bulldogs jumped all over Teddy Turner, chasing him in the second, Tigers booted the ball all over the infield, and the guys couldn't dig out of the early hole in a 15-5 loss. Second game started the same way, with TLU for the third straight game scoring three runs in the top of the first on Ryan Gray, but Andrew Waters' grand slam out of the nine hole in the second totally changed the momentum as Trinity salvaged one game 12-4.
Looks like the SCAC championship will be held in Seguin this year.
Well obviously there will be a new number 1 in the country next week. I can not remember a Trinity team ever getting run rulled in a game. It has probably happened but not that I can remember. Loosing two close games is one thing, but the way this happened is an embarrassment to the players and the program. I hope the 15 Sr's take this a a way to motivate themselves and their teammates the rest of this season. Wow.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 09, 2016, 11:59:07 PM
Well obviously there will be a new number 1 in the country next week. I can not remember a Trinity team ever getting run rulled in a game. It has probably happened but not that I can remember. Loosing two close games is one thing, but the way this happened is an embarrassment to the players and the program. I hope the 15 Sr's take this a a way to motivate themselves and their teammates the rest of this season. Wow.
Even though my son is not playing there anymore I'm still a TLU fan and love to see how well they are playing. That being said 108 stitches, TLU took 2 of 3 in the regular season last year as well from Trinity and the season turned out Ok in the end. I want to see the Bulldogs follow it up when it counts this year.
I have always appreciated the way TLU plays the game. I would love to see two SCAC teams in the regional this year. This is just another wake up call for Trinity, which seems to need them for some reason. A friend of mine sent me a picture of Coach Scannell after this weekend.
(https://www.d3boards.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages-cdn.moviepilot.com%2Fimage%2Fupload%2Fc_fill%2Ch_518%2Cw_1000%2Ft_mp_quality%2F10030707_2-mind-blown-best-head-explosions-in-horror-jpeg-66972.jpg&hash=13d48fdf81fcfeac02d5c5265a3dc3bac1d835ea)
Couple of observations/questions re: TLU vs. Trinity:
- TLU has handled their business since SCAC play started. One of the keys to winning a conference is sweeping the bottom teams. Thus far, they've done that.
- 2 of 3 from Trinity in San Antonio is impressive.
- In all three games, TLU jumped out to an early lead on good pitchers. Was the zone tight? Did TLU come to swing it? Were Nelson/Turner less polished than usual? Did they get more flustered after sloppy defense behind them?
- TU's Serkowski made 4 errors. He'd made 4 on the year prior to this series.
- In tournament play, TLU is going to need starting pitching beyond Malinovsky. Baylor is a competitor, but struggles to go deep w/o substantial run support. I'd be nervous rolling Rimko out there against Gray or Walker from TU or Kirk from Centenary in the 3rd game of the SCAC tourney. Never mind the depth needed to survive a regional.
- Take previous bullet with a grain of salt. Baylor is the *only senior* throwing any innings and he and Cantu are the only upper classmen. I'd love to see the % of innings coming from underclassmen.
- TLU has to be pleased with the way they're swinging the bats. Frick is the only starter not hitting .300+ and he's an OBP machine.
JSG
TLU was damn impressive and they were not intimidated at all by Trinity. In my 10 plus years of seeing Trinity play i don't remember them ever being run ruled and at home no less. Trinity seems to be lacking the shutdown pitcher(s) that they had the last few years. Those pitchers were not afraid of the big game challenge and if the Tigers want to return to Appleton the arms must step up as the hitting is second to none.
Good thing TLU/Centenary is Fri/Sat and not Sat/Sun ... lot of rain supposed to move in starting Saturday night.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 15, 2016, 12:39:49 PM
Good thing TLU/Centenary is Fri/Sat and not Sat/Sun ... lot of rain supposed to move in starting Saturday night.
From the TLU website:
"Due to increasing chances for rain this weekend, Texas Lutheran Baseball is moving up its conference series with Centenary to a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader Friday and a noon single game on Saturday."
Centenary 7 - Texas Lutheran 5 (10 innings FINAL)
TLU rallied for 2 in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings.
I think Milone will be the LP, but he pitched well in relief. After a 1 out single in the top of the 10th, Milone gave way to Waller (0.61 ERA) who walked the first batter he faced and hit the next batter. He gave way to Drgac who threw a wild pitch (1 run) and drew a ground out (second run) to give Centenary a 7-5 lead.
TLU started the bottom of the 10th with a BB and a 1B from the bottom of the order, but Centenary's Kirk, in his first relief appearance of the year, was able to work out of it for the win.
JSG
Friday Games:
Centenary 7 vs. TLU 5
TLU 12 vs. Centenary 1
After the game one loss (see above), SR. Lincoln Baylor put the Bulldogs on his back for 9 innings of 4 hit, 1 ER baseball and the middle of the order (3 through 6) went 12-16 with 6 RBIs.
Southwestern 11 vs. Dallas 4
Dallas 2 vs. Southwestern 0
In game 1, Will Preston moved to 4-1 on the season. He got a lot of offensive support. Catcher Colby Schmidt was 3-5 and Will Cates did Will Cates things going 2-6 w/ 2 extra base hits and 2 runs scored. Truthfully, nearly all of the Pirates got in on the action.
In game 2, the Pirates had no answer for for SR Luciano Villanueva who threw a complete game shut out with 9K's and only surrendered 2 hits. Pretty good for an outfielder by trade. I believe he had 1 inning pitched until mid-March when he started against Hardin-Simmons. He, and 5'5 William Marshall (who also lettered in band in HS) have been arguably their best pitchers.
Austin 10 vs. Schreiner 1
Schreiner 7 vs. Austin 3
This is Schreiner's last week of SCAC play. Both of these teams are out of the hunt.
By my math, Trinity and TLU are in the tournament. And Centenary will be at least 2 games ahead of the team in 5th.
This Southwestern vs. Dallas game today is big for both teams.
Had to create an account just to let 108 Stitches and the other contributors in the SCAC thread that I am a long time lurker, but greatly enjoy the posts! Keep up the Weekly Wetsuit and posts, because I am sure there are others similar to me that constantly read but just don't post. Your insights are greatly appreciated.
Welcome SCAC, I will get back to it later in the week, but the SCAC tournament is pretty much set with TLU, Trinity, Cent, and SWestern. It is technically possible for Trinity and Cent to swap but that won't have much effect on the overall brackets. TLU got a huge advantage not being the two seed.
Wetsuit wrap up for the week. Most of the SCAC drama is over with until the tournament. In theory there can be some switching around but unless the unthinkable improbable happens the tournament will be at TLU and seeded like.
TLU
Trinity
Centenary
SWestern
It is a huge advantage for TLU in not having the face Centenary in game 1. TLU plays better at home also so this should help them a lot. Trinity should be the favorite to win the SCAC but their pitching has been inconsistent of late. They have enough arms to get through the loser bracket, but Centenary and TLU are both capable of winning it all. I think this is the first time in a while that three nationally ranked teams will play the SCAC tournament, a real complement to the coaches and players in the league. Nicely done.
For the last weekend:
TLU @ SWestern: TLU could sweep, but SWern will likely win 1
Trinity @ Austin Break out the brooms
Cent @ Dallas Cent should sweep but Dallas could take 1
Schriener vs Hardin-Simmons and it does not matter. Sch is done after this.
TLU 1-0 win over Southwestern tonight for SCAC regular season title. Redshirt Freshman Nathan Malinovsky (W, 8-1) threw a complete game 4 hitter.
Talk about stumbling across the finish line. Both TLU and Centenary lose 2 of 3 this weekend coming into the Conference tournament, which TLU hosts based on holding the tie breaker vs Trinity. I believe Cent has the two seed since they beat SWern 2/3 in conf play, who finished strong for the 4 seed. Any team other than Trinity has to win the Conf tournament to make it to the Regional at this point. As PLU showed in the NWest it's not how you play during the season, only at the end if you are in your conf tournament. Nice finish for SWern who TLU is now aware of what to look for in game 1. I think this is one of the more closely matched Conf tournaments in some time so there should be some excellent games in Seguin starting on Friday.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 24, 2016, 09:39:29 PM
Talk about stumbling across the finish line. Both TLU and Centenary lose 2 of 3 this weekend coming into the Conference tournament, which TLU hosts based on holding the tie breaker vs Trinity. I believe Cent has the two seed since they beat SWern 2/3 in conf play, who finished strong for the 4 seed. Any team other than Trinity has to win the Conf tournament to make it to the Regional at this point. As PLU showed in the NWest it's not how you play during the season, only at the end if you are in your conf tournament. Nice finish for SWern who TLU is now aware of what to look for in game 1. I think this is one of the more closely matched Conf tournaments in some time so there should be some excellent games in Seguin starting on Friday.
This years stumble is much better than last years face plant. ;)
SW got a win in 10 tonight against UT-Tyler. Better not sleep on the Pirates this year.
Weather will likely impact today's games, but as long as the field drains they should be able to get them in as the rain this time of year tends to be of the "dump for 20 minutes" variety.
SW @ TLU 1:00pm
Centenary vs. Trinity 4:30pm
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 29, 2016, 09:14:23 AM
Weather will likely impact today's games, but as long as the field drains they should be able to get them in as the rain this time of year tends to be of the "dump for 20 minutes" variety.
SW @ TLU 1:00pm
Centenary vs. Trinity 4:30pm
Pretty interested to see how Burnett, at TLU, plays this.
You're the #1 seed and the host, but based on your overall body of work you *have to* win the SCAC tourney.
You know that TU staff probably has more depth and that Malinovsky (8-1) probably has the best chance to beat them.
Ordinarily I'm a big fan of the 1 game at a time, win this one to get to the next one approach, but in this scenario with TU/Centenary looming, I think I'd give the ball to Senior (the only SR P on the staff) Lincoln Baylor and tell him to go avenge last week's loss. (Baylor has already beaten TU once this year, but he's also given up 10 ER in 12.2 innings of work.)
JSG
Just checked in and there is a nice video feed with professional broadcaster.
http://goo.gl/0CMDyR
TLU did go with Malinovsky in game 1.
...and they won 3-1. So probably a good thing as you don't want to lose game 1 as it is a long road back and there is certainly no guarantee Trinity wins game 1. Cent is going with Kirk and Trinity Turner.
Trinity beats Centenary in one of the more bizarre games, I have seen including a 7-5-4-1-5 triple play by Centenary.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Centenary 0 0 2 3 0 3 0 0 0 8 12 3
Trinity 1 0 0 1 5 0 2 0 0 9 10 2
Keven Flores comes in and restores some order for Trinity and strikes out 6 in the last two innings and get's his first save of the season.
TLU vs Trinity at 12:00 tomorrow for the first game Cent and SW for the first elimination game.
Is there a youtube of the triple play?
Today's games pushed back due to this morning's monsoon, I guess
- Trinity @ TLU 3:00pm
- SW v Centenary 6:30pm
Sunday
- Loser TU/TLU vs winner SW/Centenary noon
- Championship #1 3:30
Monday (if needed)
- Championship #2 TBA
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 30, 2016, 02:46:02 PM
Is there a youtube of the triple play?
It might be on the TLU website under recordings.
Trinity beat TLU 5-2 with Walker going the distance for Trinity. Complete different game from yesterday from Trinity.
Trinity went up 1 in the 4th by a HR by Jewett. TLU came back with two in the bottom of the frame, and Trinity scored 4 in the top of the 5th and that was it for scoring. TLU had chances and just could not get runs across. Both teams left 10 runners on base.
TLU plays winner of SW/Cent game today tomorrow and Trinity goes to champion ship game tomorrow. Shhhh I hear Oxy and CLU fans cheering but please keep it down, people may be napping. Personally I really would like to see TLU in the Regional as they deserve it.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 30, 2016, 02:46:02 PM
Is there a youtube of the triple play?
It was a triple play after an appeal play on a runner who left early. So, it was a flyout to left field. Trinity tried to tag up from third and score. The throw was cut off and they got the runner at second base, who wandered off the bag too far. Then, Centenary appealed to third and Serkowski was called out for leaving early. But it all goes in as a triple play.
Unless something very odd happens it will be Southwestern facing TLU in tomorrow's elimination game at noon. Going to be some tired Pirates who head to the top of the ninth leading 15-7.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 30, 2016, 06:54:53 PM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 30, 2016, 02:46:02 PM
Is there a youtube of the triple play?
It might be on the TLU website under recordings.
Trinity beat TLU 5-2 with Walker going the distance for Trinity. Complete different game from yesterday from Trinity.
Trinity went up 1 in the 4th by a HR by Jewett. TLU came back with two in the bottom of the frame, and Trinity scored 4 in the top of the 5th and that was it for scoring. TLU had chances and just could not get runs across. Both teams left 10 runners on base.
TLU plays winner of SW/Cent game today tomorrow and Trinity goes to champion ship game tomorrow. Shhhh I hear Oxy and CLU fans cheering but please keep it down, people may be napping. Personally I really would like to see TLU in the Regional as they deserve it.
The Pirates disagree.
SW up 12-2 after 5.
JSG - I am thinking that the Pirates did just that and the Pirates just blew TLU's chance for a Regional and run rulled them 16 - 2!
It will be Trinity vs SWern this afternoon for the first game of the SCAC Championship. If Trinity wins they take the SCAC title and if SW wins they play again tomorrow. SW is getting hot at the right time and W/L records mean nothing at this point in time. If Trinity does not pitch well it could be a long afternoon for them.
Ryan Gray for Trinity (6-3, 53.1 IP, 11 G/8 GS, 3.38 ERA, 50K, 25 BB, .255 OBA)
Joe McCormick for SW (1-1, 29.1 IP, 15 G/1 GS, 5.83 2.15 ERA, 19 K, 14 BB, .250 OBA)
Trinity up 1-0, at bat in bottom half of third.
4-0 going to the fourth after a Butler SAC and a HR by Jewett scoring two.
Same score after fourive.
Trinity just won the SCAC 8 - 3 over SW. Ryan Gray went 7 and gave up only 1 hit in the 7th for a HR, but other than a couple of walks ahead of the HR behind it pitched a great game.
That leaves open some more slots for at large bids for others, including TLU, which might be dicey given they did not make it to the championship game.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on May 01, 2016, 07:01:07 PM
Trinity just won the SCAC 8 - 3 over SW. Ryan Gray went 7 and gave up only 1 hit in the 7th for a HR, but other than a couple of walks ahead of the HR behind it pitched a great game.
That leaves open some more slots for at large bids for others, including TLU, which might be dicey given they did not make it to the championship game.
It will be interesting to see how the SCIAC and the ASC finish the season, but I've venture that TLU's 3 recent losses to a sub .500 Southwestern team and their two late February losses to the University of Dallas will be tough to overcome. That said, they has a really great conference season and finished the year 3-4 against a very, very good Trinity team. Not to mention a valuable win against Birmingham Southern. I don't think they will leap frog Whitworth, but if someone other than Oxy or Cal Lutheran wins the SCIAC tournament, they might have an outside shot.
JSG
It's good to see Southwestern getting some of their mojo back. Back in the day they and Trinity had some epic battles in the SCAC championships, and the Pirates have a 4-3 lead overall there. You knew with RJ Thomas coming over from Hendrix that the program would turn around before too long. Will Cates will be a big loss, but other than he and Colton Shea just about all of their position players come back. The only losses on the mound will be yesterday's spot starter, Joe McCormack, perhaps their best reliever, and two other relief guys, Matt Litz and Joseph Koch - so that is a hole they'll need to address. With the momentum they built late in the year it will be an interesting team to watch next year.
I agree with JSG and Ron, SW will continue to get better and the school has an excellent academic reputation and the location is perfect for students who want a smaller school/college town experience as well as a quality baseball program. I think TLU only loses a few Sr's also. The SCAC landscape will be much more level next year (not that having 3 nationally ranked teams out of 7 is too shabby) as Trinity loses their whole starting lineup and several very good pitchers, I think they have 17 seniors graduating, which is unprecedented. They have a lot of talent in the wings, but you don't replace the whole lineup and compete at the level they have been the past two years out of the gate.
Congrats to Trinity, who should be the number 1 seed in the West and having Ryan Gray back in form really helps solidify their pitching and they will need him for any serious run in the West Regional.
A shout out to all of the graduating Sr's in the SCAC, and in particular the 17 graduating Sr's from Trinity who get to walk with their classmates for the first time in many years as they have always been at Regionals when graduation was happening at Trinity. Congrats guys and go get um at the Regionals!
Congrats Trinity
Congratulations Trinity.
It was fun to watch the series.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on June 01, 2016, 01:26:17 PM
Congratulations Trinity.
It was fun to watch the series.
I bet! Thanks for your twitter summaries, Ralph :)
One of the local TV stations (KSAT) interviewed Coach Scannell, Drew Butler, and Jeremy Wolf upon their return to town.
http://www.ksat.com/sports/instant-replay/instant-replay-interviews-trinity-baseball_
D3 Baseball finally named Tim Scannell coach of the year.
http://d3baseball.com/awards/all-americans/d3baseball-allamericans-2016 (http://d3baseball.com/awards/all-americans/d3baseball-allamericans-2016)
ILVBB,
Thanks for the note. Don't you think they could have found a better picture of Scannell? Come on D3 guys! I also find it hard to fathom why Andrew Waters was not mentioned somewhere in the list of players. I have not looked at any of the advanced statistics but a 0.423 OBP with 4BB the whole year is staggering to say the least. His BABIP must be through the roof. (I get that this is usually used for pitchers but his numbers are pretty crazy) Regardless congrats to all of the players mentioned. Well deserved.
Scannell had to be the CoTY, after all he only had one All-America player (and an honorable mention) with which to win the national championship on a 9-0 run in the NCAAs ;-)
Quote from: 108 Stitches on June 09, 2016, 07:10:19 PM
ILVBB,
Thanks for the note. Don't you think they could have found a better picture of Scannell? Come on D3 guys! I also find it hard to fathom why Andrew Waters was not mentioned somewhere in the list of players. I have not looked at any of the advanced statistics but a 0.423 OBP with 4BB the whole year is staggering to say the least. His BABIP must be through the roof. (I get that this is usually used for pitchers but his numbers are pretty crazy) Regardless congrats to all of the players mentioned. Well deserved.
A better photo will appear. Just have to look in the archive. Naming Scannell coach of the year sorta fell through the cracks and should have been done a week ago.
Coach Scannell today was named Skip Bertman National Coach of the Year by the College Baseball Hall of Fame. It's the first time a D3 coach has received the honor.
http://www.collegebaseballhall.org/news/article.jsp?content_id=187301106
Pre-season All-American Nathan Malinovsky is off to a rough start.
http://tlubulldogs.com/boxscore.aspx?path=baseball&id=4802
http://www.hsuathletics.com/sports/m-basebl/2016-17/boxscores/20170210_qu0y.xml
Quote from: Ralph Turner on February 10, 2017, 06:20:29 PM
Pre-season All-American Nathan Malinovsky is off to a rough start.
http://tlubulldogs.com/boxscore.aspx?path=baseball&id=4802
http://www.hsuathletics.com/sports/m-basebl/2016-17/boxscores/20170210_qu0y.xml
You an say that again. It is like every hitter is up to their best when he is pitching.
I haven't posted here on the SCAC ... well ... because... there has not been a lot to report on - just yet.
At this point the SCAC teams look mediocre at best. Centenary's record on the surface looks impressive but when you see who they have played it is pretty hard to get excited about them... just yet. I watched some of the SWestern / Trinity games yesterday and while Trinity has some promising young pitchers, they are just that ...promising. Clearly this is a transition year for Trinity, loosing the complete team on the field is a daunting task and they look like it. Lots of errors and limited offense, however there are some really good looking freshmen so, while they still could win the SCAC, they should not be considered the favorite, first time in as long as I have followed them. Next year however... well that's next year.
Centenary on the surface looks strong, but lets see how they do when they play TLU, SWern, and Trinity. TLU appears to be the best team in the league at this point as they have played some decent teams and seem to be competitive, even in games they lose. I would put them as the favorite for the SCAC at this point. Austin and Schreiner.. well their Austin and Schreiner, not much else to say other than I like the fact that Schreiner is travelling and getting some experience outside of Texas. Good for the program, players and coaches - great decision IMO.
At this point my guess the SCAC conference tournament seeding will finish up like:
TLU
Centenary
Trinity
SWestern
There is a ton of baseball to be played and while TLU looks the best so far, all four teams are well coached so between now and the conference tournament a lot can happen, and as we all know once the tournament starts anything can happen. I only see one team coming out of the SCAC to the Western Regionals.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 14, 2017, 01:03:29 PM
I haven't posted here on the SCAC ... well ... because... there has not been a lot to report on - just yet.
At this point the SCAC teams look mediocre at best. Centenary's record on the surface looks impressive but when you see who they have played it is pretty hard to get excited about them... just yet. I watched some of the SWestern / Trinity games yesterday and while Trinity has some promising young pitchers, they are just that ...promising. Clearly this is a transition year for Trinity, loosing the complete team on the field is a daunting task and they look like it. Lots of errors and limited offense, however there are some really good looking freshmen so, while they still could win the SCAC, they should not be considered the favorite, first time in as long as I have followed them. Next year however... well that's next year.
Centenary on the surface looks strong, but lets see how they do when they play TLU, SWern, and Trinity. TLU appears to be the best team in the league at this point as they have played some decent teams and seem to be competitive, even in games they lose. I would put them as the favorite for the SCAC at this point. Austin and Schreiner.. well their Austin and Schreiner, not much else to say other than I like the fact that Schreiner is travelling and getting some experience outside of Texas. Good for the program, players and coaches - great decision IMO.
At this point my guess the SCAC conference tournament seeding will finish up like:
TLU
Centenary
Trinity
SWestern
There is a ton of baseball to be played and while TLU looks the best so far, all four teams are well coached so between now and the conference tournament a lot can happen, and as we all know once the tournament starts anything can happen. I only see one team coming out of the SCAC to the Western Regionals.
This is an awful way to lose a ballgame.
https://twitter.com/SUPiratesBB/status/841477046245163009
Quote from: Jack Parkman on March 14, 2017, 03:06:24 PM
This is an awful way to lose a ballgame.
https://twitter.com/SUPiratesBB/status/841477046245163009
Has to be in my top 3. I think an extra inning wild pitch on the intentional walk is worse, and ending the game on an abandonment of first base was the worse. Both ended seasons and must haunt the players even today.
Jack....It's even worse than this.....bottom 9 the Trinity right fielder dropped an easily catchable fly ball that would have ended the game in regulation TU 7 SW 5, runs scores, tie runs goes to third, two pitches later ...wild pitch and game is tied.... I turned it off after this as I already knew what was going to happen. ::) ::)
Hey he is a freshmen and freshmen do stuff like that. I saw my son make the same exact play in a conference tournament as a freshmen...
I know he feels bad but he should have never been in that position in the first place. You can't win too many games making 5 errors.
Scannell will have them ready for the conf tournament but both Centenary and TLU have been knocked out by Trinity so many times they are going to be looking for blood against a weaker Trinity this year.
SCAC Strength of Schedule (as of March 21)
D3baseball.com
71 Schreiner
81 Texas Lutheran
95 Southwestern
131 Centenary
173 Dallas
174 Trinity
289 Austin College
Massey
26 Schreiner
27 Texas Lutheran
31 Trinity
51 Southwestern
55 Dallas
140 Austin College
166 Centenary
Boyd's World
21 Schreiner
29 Trinity
34 Texas Lutheran
36 Dallas
60 Southwestern
103 Austin College
137 Centenary
Somethings wrong with this data, too much variation between them.
Last night Centenary solidified its position as top team in SCAC with win over TT. Big test in 2-1/2 weeks with Centenary vs TLU series.
Trinity players receive their championship rings. I apologize that there is not a direct link to the video so you have to scroll down to March 25 for the video. I would skip the intros and the ring handout but it is worth listening to Coach Scannell's talk about what it takes to field a championship team. Worth the time.
https://www.facebook.com/TrinityUniversity/
So the SCAC should start to get interesting beginning this weekend.
First Trinity beat TLU last night 3-2 in a non-league game at TLU. Trinity was coming off an "off" weekend where they got their CWS rings and only scrimmaged so they went with two pitchers and TLU was coming off a weekend series with Austin College so they went with "pitch by committee". Not a lot of hitting from both teams and it looked more like a tournament game.
Big weekend for Centenary as they come into Trinity. It will be interesting to see how Centenary handles a tough weekend series away and also if the Trinity squad is developing after playing about 1/2 of their schedule. Scannell has a way of getting his team ready for the second half, but I think Centenary will take 2 of 3. TLU should sweep Schreiner and SWern should take 2/3 from Dallas.
This will set up the big match-up for next week of TLU vs Centenary for likely the top seed in the conference tournament. Centenary really needs to lock the top seed up as they don't want to have to face Trinity in their first game.
Well now the SCAC just got a little more interestnglyer...
Trinity beats Centenary 2-0 in opening game of the series sending a message that it is not how you play in the first half that matters, its how you play in the second half.
First time I have seen the new Trinity network webcast. Very nice. Why more college programs don't see that this is a Uuugh recruiting advantage is beyond me.
Nicely done TU announcers!
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 31, 2017, 10:57:44 PM
Well now the SCAC just got a little more interestnglyer...
Trinity beats Centenary 2-0 in opening game of the series sending a message that it is not how you play in the first half that matters, its how you play in the second half.
First time I have seen the new Trinity network webcast. Very nice. Why more college programs don't see that this is a Uuugh recruiting advantage is beyond me.
Nicely done TU announcers!
I caught the top of the 9th and you are absolutely right about the broadcast. Massive improvement from their old system and one of the announcers even had an accent! Big win for Trinity.
Kaboom...
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/D8EQPx-ptKk/maxresdefault.jpg)
Here is a picture of Centenary's plans for a Regional appearance after this weekend...
Trinity took 2 of 3 over the weekend - and even worse - run ruled Centenary in the final game today. It was likely a long trip on the bus back to Shreveport for the Gents tonight.
Big series next weekend for Centenary/TLU as the top two teams in the SCAC face each other in Shreveport. It is really a must win series for each program as Trinity will likely be the three seed and neither program wants to face Trinity in their opening game of the conference tournament.
Trinity certainly sent a message this week to both programs that the path to a Regional from the SCAC still runs through San Antonio until someone changes it.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 01, 2017, 10:57:32 PM
Kaboom...
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/D8EQPx-ptKk/maxresdefault.jpg)
Here is a picture of Centenary's plans for a Regional appearance after this weekend...
Trinity took 2 of 3 over the weekend - and even worse - run ruled Centenary in the final game today. It was likely a long trip on the bus back to Shreveport for the Gents tonight.
Big series next weekend for Centenary/TLU as the top two teams in the SCAC face each other in Shreveport. It is really a must win series for each program as Trinity will likely be the three seed and neither program wants to face Trinity in their opening game of the conference tournament.
Trinity certainly sent a message this week to both programs that the path to a Regional from the SCAC still runs through San Antonio until someone changes it.
Not saying it's likely, but remember what happened after TLU run ruled Trinity in SA last season ;)
The last week was encouraging for TU - hope the trend continues.
Mr Boerger, I drank beer with with Trinity 2016. I knew Trinity 2016. Trinity 2016 was a friend of mine. Mr Centenary 2017, you're no Trinity 2016.
(or 2015 for that matter)
...but I get the point.
The real issue for TLU and Centenary is to not have to face Trinity in their first game in the SCAC championship. TU may not out hit a lot of teams but they have more than a couple arms who, and maybe some more with additional experience, who will be able to shut a team down. Both TLU and Centenary are fine teams and well coached, but I don't think either has the pitching depth to come through the looser bracket loosing the first game of the SCAC.
I still think Centenary is the favorite for the SCAC conf representative, but this will be a lot clearer after next weekend.
+1, 108. And I'm no Mr. :)
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 02, 2017, 07:21:45 PM
Mr Boerger, I drank beer with with Trinity 2016. I knew Trinity 2016. Trinity 2016 was a friend of mine. Mr Centenary 2017, you're no Trinity 2016.
(or 2015 for that matter)
...but I get the point.
The real issue for TLU and Centenary is to not have to face Trinity in their first game in the SCAC championship. TU may not out hit a lot of teams but they have more than a couple arms who, and maybe some more with additional experience, who will be able to shut a team down. Both TLU and Centenary are fine teams and well coached, but I don't think either has the pitching depth to come through the looser bracket loosing the first game of the SCAC.
I still think Centenary is the favorite for the SCAC conf representative, but this will be a lot clearer after next weekend.
The early part of the Gent's season has been suspect (this is why a late entry into the Top 25) and good pitching is exposing what might not be a truly great hitting team.
... who is that behind me.
(https://www.d3boards.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-uxXot2-B4IE%2FUS_oQMs4C8I%2FAAAAAAAAADM%2FooqqjQmTS7A%2Fs1600%2Fstalker_1466885a.jpg&hash=d99e75f00fb58d866dee12c0b14d81de39cf1f86)
Centenary and TLU
After losing the first game of the TLU series 11-0 Centenary holds serve twice and on Saturday to solidify their spot atop the SCAC. Both TLU and Centenary face SWern so if TLU goes 2-1 all Centenary has to do is finish up 1-2 against them and they will hold top seed in the SCAC tournament. There still are two critical series to be played but it looks like the SCAC will end up looking like:
1. Centenary
2. TLU
3. Trinity
4. SWern
A top 10 team should not lose a game 11-0 so I expect Centenary to drop in the national standings, however the only thing that matters is for them to come up in Regional rankings when they come out and of course to win the SCAC tournament, which will be a tough battle. Both TLU and Trinity have shown they can beat Centenary so it is shaping up to be a tough tournament for whoever comes out of the SCAC.
TLU's Malinkowsky was "ON" for Centenary. He gave up only 5 hits.
Kaleb Kirk gave up only 4 runs until the Bulldogs chased him in the 7th.
I think that the critical factor about the SCAC is its balance. This will be a fun tourney to watch.
The SCAC tournament is almost set with Centenary locking in the top seed. League standings are:
Centenary 15-3
TLU 11-4
Trinity 9-6
SW 7-8
Austin Col. 6-9
Next weekend TLU is home against SWern, and Trinity is home against Austin College.
Technically it is possible for the bottom three seeds to get juggled, but I expect TLU to go 2-1 vs SW, but it is possible for it to flop to 1-2. (not likely) and Trinity should go 2-1 vs Austin and could easily sweep. It is technically feasible for Trinity to sweep and TLU to get swept and lose the second seed and it is also technically possible for Austin to sweep Trinity and if TLU sweeps SWern they could lose the fourth seed. None of this is going to happen so we will likely end up with the top four seeds being the way they are. Once the field is set I will have some commentary.
OK the SCAC conf is set with seeding below and some relevant statistics for the teams.
| Team | Team ERA | Best PL ERA | # PL ERA under 3.0 | Team Bat Ave | # PL hit over .300 | Top Hitter | Fielding | Conf Record |
| Centenary | 3.17 | 2.39 | 3 | 0.348 | 8 | 0.418 | 0.979 | 15-3 |
| TLU | 4.39 | 2.73 | 2 | 0.300 | 7 | 0.359 | 0.956 | 12-6 |
| Trinity | 3.58 | 1.01 | 6 | 0.296 | 5 | 0.397 | 0.951 | 12-6 |
| Swern | 4.97 | 2.63 | 1 | 0.292 | 4 | 0.371 | 0.948 | 9-9 |
Overall you can see that Centenary should win the tournament for the first time, as they have the best ERA, hitting and defense and they should have enough pitching to get through the tournament; however they need to stay in the winners side otherwise Trinity has the pitching depth to give them some problems. TLU faded at the end and I don't think they have the depth for a deep tournament run. Trinity has the pitching to give anyone problems, but overall they don't have the balance offensively/defensively to get through the tournament IMO.
...but this is playoff baseball and anything can happen.
My predictions for first round games.
1. Centenary over SW
2. Trinity over TLU
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 24, 2017, 03:30:28 PM
OK the SCAC conf is set with seeding below and some relevant statistics for the teams.
| Team | Team ERA | Best PL ERA | # PL ERA under 3.0 | Team Bat Ave | # PL hit over .300 | Top Hitter | Fielding | Conf Record |
| Centenary | 3.17 | 2.39 | 3 | 0.348 | 8 | 0.418 | 0.979 | 15-3 |
| TLU | 4.39 | 2.73 | 2 | 0.300 | 7 | 0.359 | 0.956 | 12-6 |
| Trinity | 3.58 | 1.01 | 6 | 0.296 | 5 | 0.397 | 0.951 | 12-6 |
| Swern | 4.97 | 2.63 | 1 | 0.292 | 4 | 0.371 | 0.948 | 9-9 |
Overall you can see that Centenary should win the tournament for the first time, as they have the best ERA, hitting and defense and they should have enough pitching to get through the tournament; however they need to stay in the winners side otherwise Trinity has the pitching depth to give them some problems. TLU faded at the end and I don't think they have the depth for a deep tournament run. Trinity has the pitching to give anyone problems, but overall they don't have the balance offensively/defensively to get through the tournament IMO.
...but this is playoff baseball and anything can happen.
My predictions for first round games.
1. Centenary over SW
2. Trinity over TLU
I saw they moved the Tourney to Grand Prairie, TX this year and will play at Air Hogs stadium. Great ballpark with plenty of hotels and restaurants in the area. I am curious as to why they decided to move it there instead of playing on campus. Anyone know why?
Someone posted that earlier in the season. I am not sure why other than they wanted a neutral place for the tournament and maybe give the players a more exciting experience. The one thing that looks concerning is that I don't see a video feed. Sometimes they don't put it up until they have worked out the details but this would be a huge bummer for all of the teams if they don't have a video feed.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 24, 2017, 09:29:06 PM
The one thing that looks concerning is that I don't see a video feed. Sometimes they don't put it up until they have worked out the details but this would be a huge bummer for all of the teams if they don't have a video feed.
I pinged Commissioner Hanberry this morning, who said "[t]he SCAC Baseball Tournament will be live streamed free of charge through SportsGram. www.sportsgram.net"
Centenary beat SWern 6-4 in a very well played game, with some really good defensive plays from both teams. The webcast is quite good with two announcers and three camera's. Field is all turf.
Trinity vs TLU up at 4:30CT.
Trinity dominated TLU and wins 11-2.
Trinity faces Centenary which should be a good game and TLU faces SWern in an elimination game.
It will be a color coded Saturday, the Burgundy game followed by the Yellow/Black game.
Centenary (winner) faces Trinity in the SCAC championship game today at 12:00CDT
Quick summary of games:
Fri. 28
Centenary (La.) 6 Southwestern 4
Texas Lutheran 2 Trinity 11
Sat. 29
Centenary 5 Trinity (Tex.) 3
Texas Lutheran 3 Southwestern 4 TLU eliminated
Southwestern 3 Trinity 4 SWU eliminated
Sun. 30 Centenary vs Trinity 12:00 PM CDT
if necessary game 3:30PM
All of the games were well played and competitive (except for the Trinity/TLU game)
I was really impressed with how prepared and tough the SWU Pirates were. All of their games were hard fought and tight. Congrats to their coaches for getting the team prepared as well as the players.
Pitching performance of Sat had to be Chris Tate of Trinity who pitched the final 6-2/3 innings and was dominant with 11K's four hits and one unearned run. He basically put the team on his back (in spite of two critical errors) and put the Tigers in the championship game.
IMO Centenary has to win the first game today if they want to win their first championship or the advantage will shift to Trinity with their pitching depth. This was exactly the situation two years ago when Trinity made their first trip to the CWS after coming through the loser bracket at the SCAC championship defeating Centenary twice on championship day.
I really like the location selection as well as the video feed and announcers. The only thing lacking is a SCAC recap of the games and I really miss the post game interviews. This is something they need to re-start IMO.
Live feed here:
http://sportsgram.net/live.php
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 30, 2017, 12:10:39 PM
Centenary (winner) faces Trinity in the SCAC championship game today at 12:00CDT
Quick summary of games:
Fri. 28
Centenary (La.) 6 Southwestern 4
Texas Lutheran 2 Trinity 11
Sat. 29
Centenary 5 Trinity (Tex.) 3
Texas Lutheran 3 Southwestern 4 TLU eliminated
Southwestern 3 Trinity 4 SWU eliminated
Sun. 30 Centenary vs Trinity 12:00 PM CDT
if necessary game 3:30PM
All of the games were well played and competitive (except for the Trinity/TLU game)
I was really impressed with how prepared and tough the SWU Pirates were. All of their games were hard fought and tight. Congrats to their coaches for getting the team prepared as well as the players.
Pitching performance of Sat had to be Chris Tate of Trinity who pitched the final 6-2/3 innings and was dominant with 11K's four hits and one unearned run. He basically put the team on his back (in spite of two critical errors) and put the Tigers in the championship game.
IMO Centenary has to win the first game today if they want to win their first championship or the advantage will shift to Trinity with their pitching depth. This was exactly the situation two years ago when Trinity made their first trip to the CWS after coming through the loser bracket at the SCAC championship defeating Centenary twice on championship day.
I really like the location selection as well as the video feed and announcers. The only thing lacking is a SCAC recap of the games and I really miss the post game interviews. This is something they need to re-start IMO.
Live feed here:
http://sportsgram.net/live.php
The location is great and is where the D2 World Series is being held this year.
Trinity just took game one in dramatic fashion winning 10-9 in regulation.
Trinity went up 8-2 and gave the game away with sloppy play in the 8th and then came back and scored 2 to retake the lead and close it out in the 9th.
Final game with winner take all for SCAC championship in one hour or so.
Advantage has to go to Trinity in how they were so far ahead, gave up the game and then came back in the 9th and stole the game from Centenary. Should be a wild game with both teams now into their bullpens and windy conditions are favoring a high scoring game.
...well now so much for the pitching depth theory. Cent leading Trinity 11 - 1 bottom 5.
A big congratulations to Centenary who win the SCAC for the first time and will represent the league at the Western Regionals. It really has been a great program the last 5 years and they finally break out of Trinity's shadow. Congrats to them and all of the players who have come before them who have built this proud program up. They beat Trinity convincingly in the championship game 13-3.
Go Gents!
Former Trinity bench Coach JC Bunch takes over SWern baseball program.
http://www.southwesternpirates.com/sports/m-basebl/2016-17/releases/20170713lc4z0e
I guess this means Trinity is looking for a new bench coach and recruiting coordinator. Maybe someone can talk Coach Fregosi out of "retirement".
Quote from: 108 Stitches on July 20, 2017, 12:13:58 PM
Former Trinity bench Coach JC Bunch takes over SWern baseball program.
http://www.southwesternpirates.com/sports/m-basebl/2016-17/releases/20170713lc4z0e
I guess this means Trinity is looking for a new bench coach and recruiting coordinator. Maybe someone can talk Coach Fregosi out of "retirement".
I missed the news that Coach Thomas had left SW last month to take an assistant role at D-I Richmond. Coach Bunch will no doubt keep the Bucs on the upward track Thomas had led the team on the last few years.
The SCAC released its preseason poll today (http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2017-18/releases/predicted_order_of_finish_spark) and Centenary is the consensus to repeat as conference champion, receiving 5 first-place votes to Trinity's 2. The Gents return an awful lot of the talent that saw them in the postseason for the first time in program history last year - six starting position players, including SCAC PoTY Chris Zapata, and the entire starting pitching lineup, including SCAC Pitcher of the year Matthew Devillier.
St Thomas of Houston has announced it has been approved for Exploratory Membership for D-3 in 2018-19. If accepted, then it would have a 4-year process to full membership.
They plan to add baseball in 2019-20, Provisional year 1. That would give the SCAC 8 baseball members.
https://www.stthom.edu/News/Press-Releases/University-of-St-Thomas-Announces-NCAA-Division-III-Exploratory-Membership.aqf?Content_ID=110665&0=0
Can you imagine how strong UST-TX could be building a D-3 program in baseball strong Houston?
Quote from: Ralph Turner on February 14, 2018, 08:37:02 PM
St Thomas of Houston has announced it has been approved for Exploratory Membership for D-3 in 2018-19. If accepted, then it would have a 4-year process to full membership.
They plan to add baseball in 2019-20, Provisional year 1. That would give the SCAC 8 baseball members.
https://www.stthom.edu/News/Press-Releases/University-of-St-Thomas-Announces-NCAA-Division-III-Exploratory-Membership.aqf?Content_ID=110665&0=0
Can you imagine how strong UST-TX could be building a D-3 program in baseball strong Houston?
That would be great as I live about 10 miles from campus.
Certainly would have a large pool of talent to draw from. I know Trinity typically has quite a few Houston area players on the team so there will some additional competition for talent. I don't know anything about the academics of St Thomas but Trinity is typically ranked right behind Rice in academics in the state. It will be great to have an even number of teams to balance out the SCAC schedules.
UST's admission standards are mid-pack SCAC, trailing Colorado College, Trinity, Southwestern, and UDallas, roughly the same as Centenary (and that's a rough overall order). ~1800 students, ACT 21-26, New SAT 1070-1250/Reading 27-32. Tuition is on the "lower" end at $33K/year but you would really need to look at net tuition after aid to make a comparison.
Looks like there will be a dog fight at the top of the SCAC this year with TLU @9-0, Centenary @ 6-2, and Trinity seemingly back to their formidable self at 5-0. Another interesting take is Schreiner @ 4-7 and teams thinking they have an easy spot in their schedule with them will have to think twice. It's really early and I have not looked at the other conferences yet but if this continues its not unreasonable to see two teams coming out of the SCAC to the West Regional this year.
I saw parts of a couple of the Trinity games this weekend and they remind me a bit of the 2015 CWS runner up with a nice combination of power arms and power bats. Centenary is still the favorite until proven otherwise but TLU and Trinity both look pretty impressive in the first part of the season.
Current West Region winning percentages by conference: SCIAC=.585; SCAC=.581; ASC=.543; NWC=.462. Early on, the SCIAC looks like it could be a strong conference. Their pre-league non-conference winning percentage this year was .639. Whitworth(NWC) had nice weekend in Texas losing to Trinity but beating Tyler and Centenary. So, who knows what is to come out of the Northwest once the season warms up for those guys. It is early we will see how all of this plays out for the Region.
Centenary and Tyler locked up in a close one today in the 7th.
Centenary scored four runs in the ninth to defeat Tyler 4-2. Tough weekend for the Patriots, losing all three (to quality opponents) at home.
I'm going to interested to see what JC Bunch has done with the crew at Southwestern, and the first indication will come this weekend when they play a non-conference trio at home - weather permitting - against his former Trinity team. The program had already started a turnaround under previous coach Thomas which had stalled around .500 the last couple of seasons. This year's roster is young (only four seniors and five juniors after losing nine seniors to graduation) but I can see things improving in Georgetown as he brings his guys into the program.
JC Bunch's homecoming to Trinity is not starting out so well. SW down 0 - 8 in the top of 3rd.
This is the first time I have seen the new Trinity broadcast network and I have to say it is better than many D1 programs, I suggest you check it out. Hi-Def with four camera's that switch views with quality broadcasters. (I think students) Setting a standard for D3 baseball webcasting.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 16, 2018, 08:02:05 PM
JC Bunch's homecoming to Trinity is not starting out so well. SW down 0 - 8 in the top of 3rd.
This is the first time I have seen the new Trinity broadcast network and I have to say it is better than many D1 programs, I suggest you check it out. Hi-Def with four camera's that switch views with quality broadcasters. (I think students) Setting a standard for D3 baseball webcasting.
It is a great broadcast that puts most to shame. You even get a British accent from one of the commentators.
Early results in from the SCAC weekend.
Trinity is absolutely pummeling Southwestern. 11-1 gm1, 6-2, gm2 and are up 12-0 top 5 gm 3.
TLU has split games so far with Schreiner, gm 3 coming up. Schreiner is no longer a sweep in the SCAC which is nice to see, they are 10-11 on the season.
Centenary beat Dallas gm1 7-5 and 15-1 gm2, gm3 coming up.
JC Bunch was welcomed back to Trinity last week with a sweep and this...
(https://gallery.mailchimp.com/5b129feb0a2dad0310b1a6f55/images/7a88e7cd-f9c1-49cd-aa60-d3ee9f5c7b7c.jpg)
Big series in the SCAC this weekend with Centenary going to TLU. Series is at TLU so I would give an edge to them, but it could go either way.
Trinity beat CTX on Tuesday 3-2 in 11 innings and they are home vs Sull Ross after an extended period of playing on the road.
Tigers trailed most of the night against Sul Ross until the bottom of the seventh, when the Lobos issued six walks, uncorked four wild pitches (of ten on the evening), and committed two errors. 8 mostly unearned runs crossed the plate as a result and Trinity ended up with a 14-5 win.
Second game between the two tonight before Trinity again hits the road for a conference set at Schreiner with a DH tomorrow and the rubber game on Sunday.
AC has 2 series remaining: Centenary and TLU. They are 6-6 in the conference standings. They won the series against Southwestern
Southwestern has the TLU series remaining this weekend and are 6-9.
It seems to me that AC has the slight edge in this battle for the 4th slot in the post-season tourney.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 17, 2018, 09:23:02 AM
AC has 2 series remaining: Centenary and TLU. They are 6-6 in the conference standings. They won the series against Southwestern
Southwestern has the TLU series remaining this weekend and are 6-9.
It seems to me that AC has the slight edge in this battle for the 4th slot in the post-season tourney.
All AC has to do is win 1 of 3 from TLU and they are in. Southwestern is "in the clubhouse" at 7-11.
Trinity and Centenary split yesterday's double header setting up a "winner takes all" game today for the regular season SCAC title and top seed in next weeks tournament. Trinity played a very sloppy first game 1 and lost and came from behind and took game 2 in 13 innings.
Coach Scannell and a player were ejected by an extremely unprofessional ump who told Scannell when he came out to argue a horrible call something like "get off the field xxs hole I was BBQing in my back yard an hour ago and would just as soon be there now" Of course Scannell blew a cork with that...apparently the ump was called in at the last minute because one of the other umps was injured getting ready for the game.
Needless to say Centenary and Trinity games are always fun as they have built a great rivalry. Should be a fun game to watch online if anyone has interest.
SCAC 2018 Championship website is now up.
http://scacsports.com/tournament/spring/baseball/18championships/index
TLU gets a Bases Loaded full count walk-off base on balls win, 3-2 over Southwestern in Game 3 to move to the championship tomorrow.
Centenary and TUTX are next in the elimination bracket.
TLU wins their first SCAC championship!
I did not realize it was their first. They will represent the SCAC well in the Regional.
https://tlubulldogs.com/news/2018/5/6/tlu-baseball-wins-first-scac-championship.aspx
Congrats to TLU on their runner-up finish in their first-ever visit to the D3 CWS. You made the SCAC proud!
Fun fact: NCAA champion Oregon State's pitcher Bryce Fehmel (who was 10-1 with an 3.19 ERA this season) is now the second member of his family to be on a championship team. His older brother Brody was a senior OF on the Trinity squad that won the 2016 D3 championship.
But MAN I have to feel for Arkansas and the kids that couldn't make the play on a fairly routine foul ball that would have clinched the championship for the Hogs in the second game.
Happy New Year to DIII baseball fans.
Wow, what a start for Trinity this year. First series Cortland 3, then BSC 3, mid-week MHB, then Endicott 3, Babson 3, Rochester 3, then midweek Millikin. So much for Regional rankings; it will be interesting to see how all of this plays out at the end of the baseball year.
https://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/bsb/2018-19/schedule
According to their schedule - 33 home games should help!
Quote from: Lets Play Two on January 09, 2019, 05:10:34 PM
According to their schedule - 33 home games should help!
I count 8.
At UMHB and at McMurry.
3-game series on the road at UDallas and at Austin College. The other 4 SCAC series are home.
You can't get a better schedule than that.
Correct! 32 home games is a tremendous advantage so there will be no excuses coming out of San Antonio this year! Their road games are against teams that were a combined 53-104 last season. Look for Trinity to be playing well into the month of May in 2019!
TLU #3, Trinity #4 in d3baseball's preseason Top 25 poll. (https://www.d3baseball.com/top25/2019/2019Top25-week-0)
108, where are you? Figured you'd have an update for us on the two wins against Cortland, then again maybe you are too smart to watch ballgames when it's 40 and wet ... ;)
TLU also off to a great start with a dominating offensive performance over the weekend.
I had lots of friends at the game but could not make it this year. I watched some of it on the video feed and love their new three camera webcast, quality announcers. Top shelf. Cortland is a young team but look very talented and I would expect them to be in the mix later in the season. Trinity has the talent to make another run this year with better pitching and a more seasoned team. Not as much depth as previous teams so as long as injuries don't happen they should again be a favorite coming out of the West. Pretty special seeing TLU, and Trinity ranked in top 10.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 12, 2019, 01:06:43 PM
I had lots of friends at the game but could not make it this year. I watched some of it on the video feed and love their new three camera webcast, quality announcers. Top shelf. Cortland is a young team but look very talented and I would expect them to be in the mix later in the season. Trinity has the talent to make another run this year with better pitching and a more seasoned team. Not as much depth as previous teams so as long as injuries don't happen they should again be a favorite coming out of the West. Pretty special seeing TLU, and Trinity ranked in top 10.
I would love to see the NCAA split up the West region teams in the Supers after how successful the West has been over the past 10 years....but we all know how the bean counters operate. I think the West is absolutely stacked this year, especially in TX.
Quote from: Jack Parkman on February 12, 2019, 01:26:18 PM
Quote from: 108 Stitches on February 12, 2019, 01:06:43 PM
I had lots of friends at the game but could not make it this year. I watched some of it on the video feed and love their new three camera webcast, quality announcers. Top shelf. Cortland is a young team but look very talented and I would expect them to be in the mix later in the season. Trinity has the talent to make another run this year with better pitching and a more seasoned team. Not as much depth as previous teams so as long as injuries don't happen they should again be a favorite coming out of the West. Pretty special seeing TLU, and Trinity ranked in top 10.
I would love to see the NCAA split up the West region teams in the Supers after how successful the West has been over the past 10 years....but we all know how the bean counters operate. I think the West is absolutely stacked this year, especially in TX.
It should be possible to spit the west teams into three regionals depending on how the NCAA wants to split the field. With no experience in super regionals, out outlook is murky indeed.
And next year, possibly another region? Aren't there something like 390 D3 schools playing baseball? (E
dit: according to the NCAA there were 389 schools which participated in D3 baseball in 2018).
I posted this elsewhere but it may be of interest here:
DIII Championships Committee supports regional realignmenthttps://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/diii-championships-committee-supports-regional-realignment
Besides aligning schools to reflect growth and changes in participation, this proposal could also increase the number of regions in some sports, reducing the number of schools in a region:
QuoteThe new model seeks to have roughly 40 teams in each region. Sports that have 40-149 sponsors would have two regions; sports sponsored by 150-374 schools would have five to eight regions; and sports with 375 or more sponsors would have nine to 10 regions. In tennis, additional review will take place to determine the appropriate number of regions given that selections for the individual portion of the tournament are dependent on the alignment.
In most instances, the total number of regions in each sport would increase by two, three or four. The changes will require that some national committees expand to account for new regional representatives on those committees. Also, some conferences would be moved from their current regions.
Trinity's new #1 d3baseball.com ranking gets its stiffest test of the season so far when they face #8 TLU this weekend for a three-game set. TLU P Nathan Malinovsky has been unexpectedly human in the early going (2-2, 5.24 ERA, largely due to a 1 1/3 inning stint against UT Dallas where he gave up 7 ER) but I fully expect him to turn it up a notch when the teams face off in San Antonio.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on March 19, 2019, 11:12:01 AM
Trinity's new #1 d3baseball.com ranking gets its stiffest test of the season so far when they face #8 TLU this weekend for a three-game set. TLU P Nathan Malinovsky has been unexpectedly human in the early going (2-2, 5.24 ERA, largely due to a 1 1/3 inning stint against UT Dallas where he gave up 7 ER) but I fully expect him to turn it up a notch when the teams face off in San Antonio.
#1 hosting #8/
I think that TU must win the series to maintain its top spot.
TU is 15-3, going 2-1 vs #21 Babson, 2-1 vs #23 B-SC, and 2-0 vs #25 Cortland St.
They are 2-1 versus Endicott, currently not receiving votes, but always a contender in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.
I will not be surprised to see all 4 teams in the playoffs, come May.
My pro forma for the SCAC is that to earn the #1 seed, you have to take 2 of 3 against the other 3 teams that will make the tourney and sweep the other 3 series. That will give you a record of 15-3. It would be hard to go 16-2 and still earn the #1 seed.
That being the case, TLU just let one slip away. UDallas plays small ball to win in the bottom of the 12th, leadoff single, bunted to second and then RBI single. Final U Dallas 4-3.
UDallas just got a hard-earned win toward slot #4 in the post-season tourney.
TLU still has the tie-breaker against Trinity but the Bulldogs lost their cushion.
Trinity wins a wild one over HSU, 13-12, with a two out walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the tenth after giving up four runs in the top half of the inning (none earned).
If they are going to make any noise in the post-season, the Tigers have got to get a handle on their fielding. Yesterday they committed six errors and only two of the Cowboys' 12 runs were earned. Thought they had turned a corner with only 2 errors combined in the series against Centenary (after six in the prior two losses to UChicago and TLU), too. They're averaging nearly 2 errors a game; prior to last night, that put them 158th in fielding percentage (.955) and would drop to around 200th if last night's results were included (.951).
EDIT: Here's video of the walk-off (https://youtu.be/AGooLnDBeS8?t=26) (with some excited student announcers).
Don't look know, but he's baaack:
https://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/potw/2018-19/pitcher_week_9
QuoteNATHAN MALINOVSKY OF TEXAS LUTHERAN, a senior right-hander from New Braunfels, Texas, has been named the SCAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week for games played from Monday, April 1 through Sunday, April 7.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 12, 2019, 10:50:28 AM
Don't look know, but he's baaack:
https://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/potw/2018-19/pitcher_week_9
QuoteNATHAN MALINOVSKY OF TEXAS LUTHERAN, a senior right-hander from New Braunfels, Texas, has been named the SCAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week for games played from Monday, April 1 through Sunday, April 7.
He is back on long rest. He will need to prove he can comeback after three days rest if a title is to be earned. Lucky for him, super regionals gives him full rest for both weekends.
Gave up 5 ER to Centenary today in the first 3.0 IP but shut them down in the rest of a CG win (8-5).
Quote from: Ron Boerger on April 14, 2019, 10:11:20 PM
Gave up 5 ER to Centenary today in the first 3.0 IP but shut them down in the rest of a CG win (8-5).
TLU seems to have the offense to keep any pitcher close.
Final score from Kerrville.
Schreiner 7 TLU 6 (21, yes twenty-one, innings)
https://www.d3baseball.com/seasons/2019/boxscores/20190427_3tw6.xml
I'm at a loss to understand how the starter for TLU got the L.
Got to hand it to Schreiner this year, a very small school beating nationally ranked TLU and almost beating nationally ranked Trinity last week. Congrats to them.
With TLU's 11-3 win over Schreiner today, the seeds for the SCAC tourney should be set:
1. TLU 14-4 (on h2h tiebreaker)
2. Trinity 14-4
3. Centenary 10-8 (on h2h tiebreaker)
4. Southwestern
FWIW, Centenary's (571) even smaller than Schreiner (743).
Pretty ugly weather in the metroplex this week, 80% chance of rain tomorrow will make getting the two opening games of the SCAC championships challenging. Good thing the facility in Decatur is turf and not grass. Weekend should be fine, tho.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 02, 2019, 10:08:29 AM
Pretty ugly weather in the metroplex this week, 80% chance of rain tomorrow will make getting the two opening games of the SCAC championships challenging. Good thing the facility in Decatur is turf and not grass. Weekend should be fine, tho.
Decatur? I believe the tourney is at The Depot in Cleburne.
https://www.scacsports.com/tournament/spring/baseball/19championships/index
LOL I was looking at the Cleburne Depot website and subbed in Decatur for reasons I can't fathom. Same comments still apply about the surface and the weather.
Good grief ...
TLU in the championship tomorrow with a 2-0, four-hit gem over Trinity in the early game;
Southwestern held off a furious Centenary rally 11-10 in the first elimination game and are about to play Trinity for the right to match up against TLU tomorrow (late start won't help either team, was supposed to start at 7 but the earlier game went long as you might expect with 21 runs scored).
Luke Richards is pitching for SW, making his first start of the season (1-0, 4 APP, 7.0 IP, 9 K, 5.14 ERA). Not sure who will get the start for Trinity - wait, it's Holden Nix, 5.0 IP, 7.20 ERA. 3 APP and 2 (obviously short) starts.
Despite being held to six hits, Trinity gets past Southwestern 4-2 thanks in no small part to seven shutout innings from Ian Hussien (5-2) in relief of a struggling Nix who had loaded the bases with none out in the third.
But that said, the Tigers find themselves in a difficult situation today with all their starters having thrown non-trivial innings the last two days. The bats will have to come alive for them to have any chance against a TLU team that has a very fresh bullpen (in two games, starting pitchers have thrown 16.1 of the 18 available innings).
Trinity somehow finds enough pitching to win two against TLU and wins the SCAC tournament.
First game: TU received 8 strong innings from their starter, first-year Arjun Thakar (8.0 IP, 3 ER, 9H in only his third start of the season [2-1, 2.64 in 30.2 IP]) as the team pounded out 18 hits in a 9-3 win. Dalys Binder and Jack Wisniewski were both 3-5 with Wisniewski driving in three runs. In the second (a.k.a. "pitch by committee") game, after TLU had taken their first lead of the game after scoring on a wild pitch in the top of the eighth, Dalys Binder delivered with one-out double in the bottom half which scored two, and Trinity held on to win 6-5. Game 1 starter Jeff Lonnecker got his second W of the weekend in late relief, recording the last 1.1 innings.
In their three "must win" games, Trinity committed a total of one error.
The team now waits a week to see if the NCAA will award playoff hosting duties. TLU should receive a pool C and whichever team wins the ASC (Howard Payne, LeTourneau, or favored and regionally ranked Concordia) is in driving distance.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 06, 2019, 08:34:14 AM
Trinity somehow finds enough pitching to win two against TLU and wins the SCAC tournament.
Of course, if the idea is to have enough pitching developed by Tourney time, then you have accomplished that goal.
Trinity announced this year's Hall of Fame class, and among the recipients is former baseball and football standout Bo Edwards '00, '01, who owns five school baseball records to this day. It's a shame that dad Bob, aka historymajor who was a constant presence on these boards, isn't still with us to beam during his induction later this year. RIP, historymajor.
Here is Bob's voice, just after the TD, saying "No way! No way!" in the PAWS production of the Miracle in Mississippi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHbzQoXuxdU
RIP Bob! You had a great family.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on June 13, 2019, 02:14:09 AM
Here is Bob's voice, just after the TD, saying "No way! No way!" in the PAWS production of the Miracle in Mississippi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHbzQoXuxdU
RIP Bob! You had a great family.
Ralph, I originally thought it was Bob (sounds like him) but according to the official TU hagiography (https://150.trinity.edu/memories/mississippi-miracle) ;) of the event it was Shawn Thompson. But Bob was there, was one of those responsible for getting the video to ESPN, and the rest is history.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on June 13, 2019, 08:52:12 AM
Quote from: Ralph Turner on June 13, 2019, 02:14:09 AM
Here is Bob's voice, just after the TD, saying "No way! No way!" in the PAWS production of the Miracle in Mississippi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHbzQoXuxdU
RIP Bob! You had a great family.
Ralph, I originally thought it was Bob (sounds like him) but according to the official TU hagiography (https://150.trinity.edu/memories/mississippi-miracle) ;) of the event it was Shawn Thompson. But Bob was there, was one of those responsible for getting the video to ESPN, and the rest is history.
Thanks! Yes it sounded just like him.
The season is still months away, but today's announcement of yet another school leaving the Capital Athletic Conference (https://www.d3sports.com/notables/2019/12/st-marys-md-leaving-cac-as-well) (leaving only three members in 2021) makes me even more proud of the job the SCAC office did pulling this league out of the funeral pyres after the now-SAA schools split the conference nearly a decade ago. Take a bow, Commissioner Dwayne Hanberry (who I believe had been offered the same position with the SAA but made the tough choice to remain with what was then a five-member conference).
Quote from: Ron Boerger on December 12, 2019, 03:44:08 PM
The season is still months away, but today's announcement of yet another school leaving the Capital Athletic Conference (https://www.d3sports.com/notables/2019/12/st-marys-md-leaving-cac-as-well) (leaving only three members in 2021) makes me even more proud of the job the SCAC office did pulling this league out of the funeral pyres after the now-SAA schools split the conference nearly a decade ago. Take a bow, Commissioner Dwayne Hanberry (who I believe had been offered the same position with the SAA but made the tough choice to remain with what was then a five-member conference).
Absolutely!
In my wildest dreams, if Commissioner Hanberry could have convinced two more schools (Schreiner?, Centenary?, Colorado College?, even U Dallas?) to resume football, then I would have let a football-playing Concordia Texas move to the SCAC so we could have 2 Pool A conferences in Texas. (Of course, I would have wanted a 10-year agreement that the ASC and SCAC have a rotating schedule of 2 mandatory inter-conference games each year, for scheduling purposes.)
Some SCAC teams off to a great start:
Trinity ran their record to 7-0 with a sweep of Endicott, co-favorite in the Commonwealth Coast Conference preseason poll (who were playing their first games of the season). So far the line on Trinity is good starting pitching but relief pitching has been giving up some runs late.
Centenary has been putting runs on the board in batches, batting .315 and averaging over 8 runs per game in their 7-1 start.
Dallas, too, is off to a fast 7-1 start, batting .320 and and averaging over 8 1/2 runs per game.
All teams in the SCAC are at .500 or above, a combined 26 games over .500
https://www.d3baseball.com/conf/SCAC/2020/standings
Trinity is going to on-line instruction on March 23 and all athletic programs will terminate for the semester on that date.
The SCAC has cancelled all athletic events as of Monday.
https://www.scacsports.com/news/covid19_update
A couple of players from Richmond (D1, Atlantic 10 conference) have announced they are transferring to Trinity: IF Brian Schaub (https://twitter.com/BSchaub44/status/1271469701516926979) and LHP Garrett Aylor (https://twitter.com/garrettaylor08/status/1262063619103240193). Aylor (https://richmondspiders.com/sports/baseball/roster/garrett-aylor/3720), who announced his transfer in May, is a Austin Westlake product; Schaub, (https://richmondspiders.com/sports/baseball/roster/brian-schaub/3738) who announced last week, is from La Salle College High in Hatfield, PA. The two were roommates at Richmond and both have three years remaining eligibility.
As anounced in the southern Forum UST has hired a new Assitant coach. He is very familiar in Houston
http://www.ustcelts.com/article/1452.php
Quite a few CC and college transfers on that roster.
http://www.ustcelts.com/roster/0/13.php
Quote from: Bishopleftiesdad on January 13, 2021, 02:57:30 PM
Quite a few CC and college transfers on that roster.
http://www.ustcelts.com/roster/0/13.php
If you look at his roster last year he did the same thing. Not typical SCAC behavior to be sure.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on January 13, 2021, 05:28:10 PM
Quote from: Bishopleftiesdad on January 13, 2021, 02:57:30 PM
Quite a few CC and college transfers on that roster.
http://www.ustcelts.com/roster/0/13.php
If you look at his roster last year he did the same thing. Not typical SCAC behavior to be sure.
Yeah, definately not typical SCAC. However there are not a lot of dropdowns there. Most of the schools (excluding the CC'S) are D3 and NAIA. I did see one dropdown at least from Texas Southern, however I did not check out all the schools.
SCAC preseason poll (https://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2020-21/releases/PreseasonPoll) is out:
1. Trinity (7) - 62 points (out of 64, meaning Scannell voted his own team 3rd)
2. TLU (1) - 56
3. Centenary - 42
4. Southwestern University - 41
5. University of Dallas - 30
6t Schreiner University - 21
6t University of St. Thomas - 21
8. Austin College - 13
Austin kicks off the season with a DH against Ozarks on Saturday. PLAY BALL!
Man, this has been a long month. Most of the schools in TX were impacted in one way or another by last week's prolonged cold spell which disrupted power and then water across a wide part of the state. Austin (city, not school) set all kinds of records including longest duration of freezing or below temperatures, record lows, record low highs, and longest period of time with at least 1" of snow on the ground (by two days). Similar conditions led to the SCAC calling off all competitions last week but things are looking much better (from a temperature perspective; there are still millions without water) and Trinity will finally kick their season off today against Howard Payne this evening, followed by four games with Southwestern split home/away this weekend. SCAC conference play kicks in mid-March.
Trinity improves to 5-0 on the young season with a 19-3 run-rule shellacking of Southwestern. Brian Schaub continued his hot hand at the plate with 4 RBIs including a bases-loaded double with two outs in the bottom of the third when the outcome was still in doubt. In five games he is batting .545 with 8 RBI, 2 HR, and a 1.182 slugging percentage in 11 official at-bats. He's also drawn 8 walks and been HBP 4 times for an outstanding .783 on-base percentage. Rafe Chaumette is also having a fine early season, batting .500 with 6 RBI from the leadoff position.
Trinity now heads out of town for basically the entire month of March, doing the ASC West starting with a single game Tuesday at HSU, followed by visits to McMurry, Sul Ross (3), and Concordia (2) before a conference set at TLU (3). The road trip ends with a single at UMHB and three SCAC games at St. Thomas. The Tigers' next home game will be March 30th against Concordia.
After last night's Sul Ross victory over Trinity, today's game, originallly scheduled for 1pm, was pushed to this evening due to strong winds which took the roof off the Kokernot Field batting cages. See that here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMX1JkOl7vR/?igshid=ij7ok45v2enn
What a wild, wild day in the SCAC. Southwestern sweeps Centenary, Dallas beats TLU, and Schreiner beats Trinity. Add in there were multiple walk-offs around the conference (Southwestern and UD each had walk-offs, and Austin College beat St. Thomas with a walk-off homer in game two), and it's one of the craziest days in the conference I can recall.
Texas Lutheran survives a gallant effort by Trinity, who after defeating Southwestern 13-9 around 1AM yesterday morning came out of the loser's bracket and forced not only a second, winner-take-all game on Sunday, but managed to push it to extra innings before falling 16-15. The winning run scored thanks to a three-base throwing error in the top of the tenth after Trinity tied it in the bottom of the ninth thanks in no small part to a three-base fielding error. TLU's Blade Strzelczyk allowed no hits in two innings of relief to pick up the W; in 9 appearances in short relief (11 innings) this season he has yet to allow a run.
Rafe Chaumette, who hit .406 for Trinity last season, has transferred to Boston College for his final year of collegiate ball. His absence will be keenly felt (four-time first-team All-SCAC) but I wish him the best with this opportunity!
https://mobile.twitter.com/bradleysmart15/status/1430189980534591491
Here's hoping that the Willamette/ETBU/Centenary series is not rained out this weekend in Shreveport.
Tyler schools are closed tomorrow, but I bet that it warms up reasonably quickly for that series to go on.
Big games this weekend. 3 game series at TUTX. TLU comes to town.
My first impression is that TLU will try to find their #3 starter.
Centenary takes two of three from Trinity and earns the SCAC title for the second time in program history.
In the openers, #1 Trinity defeated #4 St Thomas 11-6 and #3 Centenary squeezed past #2 TLU 2-1 as SCAC pitcher-of-the-year Tyler Herrera went to 7-0 allowing only the one run in 8 1/3. Centenary then earned a spot in the championship final with a 12-8 win over Trinity that wasn't that close (12-4 going to B9) as the Gents used five pitchers over the last three innings to hold off the Tigers.
In the consolation bracket, St. Thomas dealt TLU their second one-run loss thanks a two-out single in the top of the ninth from Cameron McClure which brought home the winning run after Leo Galvan tied the game up with a one-out double which plated Noah Martinez. That earned a rematch with Trinity who got their best effort from the mound during the championships, as Jack Martinez had nine strikeouts while allowing only a single hit (and a run) in 7 2/3rds in an 11-1 run-rule victory.
In Sunday's championships, Trinity would win the first game as Luke Pfieffer and Harrison Durow split the nine innings and runs allowed in a 6-4 win. The depleted Tiger pitching lineup could not hold for the second game as it took three pitchers to get out of the first inning in a 10-5 win by the Gents which clinched the tourney title. Zach Clark picked up his first win of the season as he and three counterparts held Trinity to six hits and none after the sixth inning (take a bow, Hank Bennett, who earned his second save of the year in those three innings).
Now the question is does Trinity earn a pool C bid with losing two of three (edit: to Centenary) this weekend? Would help if Centenary gets in the regional rankings but 27-16 may not get them there. 3 wins over Trinity and one win against ETBU balance out with two losses to La Verne, three to Trinity, and one to ETBU as the only RRO opponents on their schedule.
Trinity is in but despite being shown as the higher seed is being sent to UT-Dallas for the 'regional' round. Edit: the school didn't submit a bid to host.
Centenary LA gave up 4 unearned runs and lost 7-3. Tyler Herrera took his 1st loss of the season.
Trinity won the first game, 7-4 over UTD.
Quote from: Ralph Turner on May 20, 2022, 04:45:11 PM
Centenary LA gave up 4 unearned runs and lost 7-3. Tyler Herrera took his 1st loss of the season.
Trinity won the first game, 7-4 over UTD.
Trinity turned four double plays. UTD hung in there pretty well despite their starter, Dylan Hugley, having to come out for injury after 2 2/3. Imagine Carter Cochrane (6-3, 3.58) takes the mound for the Comets today.
Centenary dropped their second to LaGrange, 9-7, and is danger of going three-and-teehee (?) if they don't win today.
Centenary got out to an early 5-0 lead after 2 1/2 but gave up 13 unanswered runs and could not rally from that hole, falling 14-9 to end their season at 27-19.
Trinity bashed 21 hits in an 18-13 slugfest to win the second game of their series, but the Comets are doing all the slugging in Game 3 leading 25-4 with Trinity just trying to get three outs so the game will be run-ruled after five. UT-D shelled the Trinity starter who recorded no outs and gave up five hits. His successor got out of the inning with only two runs allowed but got shelled in the second, again recording no outs and also being assessed another five runs. Getting a game in tomorrow given the weather forecast could be challenging.
And run-ruled it was, final 25-5.
Oh, you have to be kidding, they're still playing. 27-5 after six.
Congrats Trinity.
The final scores in the UTD-TUTX series:
7-4
18-13
9-32
21-13.
...need to find some pitching...
TU's been winning by outslugging people all year. (5.81 ERA to opponents' 9.21 prior to today). Joseph Chavana (10-1, 3.76) was a short reliever until April, since making him a starter he's 7-0 making it to at least the seventh inning in all his starts with his ERA dropping by almost two full runs in that span. After that it's a crap shoot. Luke Pfeiffer (0-0, 13.0 IP, .178 OBA, 2.08 ERA in 7 appearances) gave them some excellent short relief but hasn't gotten into a game since throwing 4 2/3 against Centenary on May 8th.
Trinity's bats stay hot this weekend and it's two-and-BBQ for Birmingham-Southern who fall 9-8 (Friday) and 14-8 (today) at home to end their season. In the deciding game, B-SC had tied it at 8 in their half of the 7th when Joel Thomas relieved yesterday's winning pitcher, Harrison Durow, inheriting runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out. A fielder's choice forced the runner at third out at home, a pop fly preserved the tie, and Ezra Gore would bring home the winning run with a two out single the next inning while Thomas would throw another two hitless innings to pick up his third win. The Tigers would score five insurance runs in the final stanza.
(edit: grammar)
After Rafe Chaumette used his extra COVID year at Boston College last season, several others will also be taking their talents to Division I this season:
3B/1B MJ Metz (.382 BA, 12 HR, .992 Fld %) - Duke, where he will also seek a MBA. Metz led Trinity in BA, RS, RBI, 2B last season.
LHP Samuel Conte (15 APP/12 S, 4-3, 4.27 ERA, .237 OBA) - Charlotte
RHP Corey Cater (14 APP/6 S, 3-4, 7.31 ERA, .289 OBA) - Kansas State
It also appears that Brian Schaub, who transferred from Richmond to Trinity for the 2020-21 season and led the team in HRs the last two years, will be playing next year at D1 Bryant University per his Twitter headline (no explicit announcement).
Looks like a rebuilding year upcoming for the Tigers, who at least will have a spanking new facility to play in after the old one was totally torn down in the offseason.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on August 23, 2022, 05:16:48 PM
After Rafe Chaumette used his extra COVID year at Boston College last season, several others will also be taking their talents to Division I this season:
3B/1B MJ Metz (.382 BA, 12 HR, .992 Fld %) - Duke, where he will also seek a MBA. Metz led Trinity in BA, RS, RBI, 2B last season.
LHP Samuel Conte (15 APP/12 S, 4-3, 4.27 ERA, .237 OBA) - Charlotte
RHP Corey Cater (14 APP/6 S, 3-4, 7.31 ERA, .289 OBA) - Kansas State
It also appears that Brian Schaub, who transferred from Richmond to Trinity for the 2020-21 season and led the team in HRs the last two years, will be playing next year at D1 Bryant University per his Twitter headline (no explicit announcement).
Looks like a rebuilding year upcoming for the Tigers, who at least will have a spanking new facility to play in after the old one was totally torn down in the offseason.
Any links to info about the new park? Would love to see what they are doing.
Oddly there is very little officially being reported (and nothing on the TU athletics site), here is a tweet from the supporter Twitter account showing the construction. They've taken out the field, I do hope they're not going to turf.
https://twitter.com/trinityufastbat/status/1561480803900878848
Confirmed that Schaub has transferred to Bryant per the team's 2022-23 roster (https://www.bryantbulldogs.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/roster).
Quote from: Ron Boerger on August 24, 2022, 11:34:35 PM
Oddly there is very little officially being reported (and nothing on the TU athletics site), here is a tweet from the supporter Twitter account showing the construction. They've taken out the field, I do hope they're not going to turf.
https://twitter.com/trinityufastbat/status/1561480803900878848
Thanks, Ron. Will be interested to see how it all turns out.
Quote from: Jack Parkman on August 29, 2022, 07:20:09 PM
Quote from: Ron Boerger on August 24, 2022, 11:34:35 PM
Oddly there is very little officially being reported (and nothing on the TU athletics site), here is a tweet from the supporter Twitter account showing the construction. They've taken out the field, I do hope they're not going to turf.
https://twitter.com/trinityufastbat/status/1561480803900878848
Thanks, Ron. Will be interested to see how it all turns out.
Jack, here's a story from the student paper that talks about the upgrades, which are supposed to be done by the end of October (seems like a lot to expect in six weeks based on what I saw last weekend): https://trinitonian.com/2022/09/08/baseball-and-softball-set-to-receive-new-playing-surfaces/
It is going to be turf. Certainly will be easier to maintain but I'll miss the grass which they usually did a fine job of keeping in shape. First significant update to the facility in *30* years.
I'm not surprised they are going with turf. Low maintenance and less schedule shuffling. The University of Tampa is doing the same thing right now and should be a huge upgrade.
Looks like it's almost done.
https://twitter.com/trinitytigersb2/status/1590177673900593153?s=46&t=vtwq3VWqd8F7ZGTchegIfQ
ESPN + is Fun for D3 to D1 transfers. Saw Mj Metz go 3-4 with an HR for Duke. Brian Schaub go 2-3 while tearing up a HP 3b. Sam Conti was the first pitcher off the bench for CLT. Ethan Sund doing his best against TxST.
Quote from: Bmo on February 17, 2023, 09:07:29 PM
ESPN + is Fun for D3 to D1 transfers. Saw Mj Metz go 3-4 with an HR for Duke. Brian Schaub go 2-3 while tearing up a HP 3b. Sam Conti was the first pitcher off the bench for CLT. Ethan Sund doing his best against TxST.
Man, Trinity could really use some of that hitting this year, too.
After 5 games, all of which he has started at Duke, MJ Metz is batting .615 with 8 hits, 8 runs, and 6 walks. He has an OPS of 1.827 and a 1.077 slugging percentage. Most of those numbers lead the 3-2 Blue Devils. While it's a small sample size and the numbers will come down, it's a damned impressive start for someone making the transition from D3 to D1.
And he was second-team all-SCAC (third-team d3baseball.com all-region) last season.
Interesting announcement today; Trinity and Southwestern will be joining the SAA in 2015. Effectively, this is the "old SCAC" with Berry and without Austin. It was a little over 10-years ago that the SAA schools broke off from the Texas schools to form the SAA. My recall was the SAA schools did not like all the travel to Texas. I wonder what changed?
Quote from: ILVBB on March 09, 2023, 06:41:41 PM
Interesting announcement today; Trinity and Southwestern will be joining the SAA in 2015. Effectively, this is the "old SCAC" with Berry and without Austin. It was a little over 10-years ago that the SAA schools broke off from the Texas schools to form the SAA. My recall was the SAA schools did not like all the travel to Texas. I wonder what changed?
Birmingham-Southern may close its doors by fall 2023.
Quote from: ILVBB on March 09, 2023, 06:41:41 PM
Interesting announcement today; Trinity and Southwestern will be joining the SAA in 2015. Effectively, this is the "old SCAC" with Berry and without Austin. It was a little over 10-years ago that the SAA schools broke off from the Texas schools to form the SAA. My recall was the SAA schools did not like all the travel to Texas. I wonder what changed?
There were more western schools, for one thing, and the conference kept adding them: besides the three you list, Colorado College (2006) and University of Dallas (2011). Besides the travel there were rumblings (confirmed only by a statement from Hendrix's then-president) that at least some the schools the SCAC kept adding didn't meet the standards of the eastern schools. And Pat and Dave have asserted that Trinity's dominance of the President's Trophy (after DePauw left) was a factor. Trinity has won the all-sports award every year since the split and 11 of the other 18 years since '93-94 with only DePauw interrupting that string.
With two schools 100 miles apart, any given sport will only have to fly to TX once every year - except football, the most expensive, every other year. Trinity and Southwestern's academics are well within SAA ranges and both are now classified as "National" liberal arts colleges as are most of the SAA. And the dominance? I guess we'll see.
Ron, etal:
This is interesting and may be OK for Trinity and SWern, but what happens to all of the other SCAC schools? Do they join up with the ASC or ?
This will be a big blow from a competitive point of view for TLU and Centenary.
Travel to SW and Trinity may not be an burden on the SAA schools for 1x per year, but for Trinity and SWrn they will have to travel to the SAA schools at least 3-4 times per year. All of those trips will be at least 10 hour bus rides each way unless sports financing has changed they will not be flying the baseball team.
Overall it should be positive for competition for Trinity and SWern and likely more interesting for the student-athletes and if BSC stays solvent (and even if not) the conference championship will be much more difficult, which will be a positive thing.
Will the conference championship move back to Memphis or ?
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 11, 2023, 10:44:33 AM
Ron, etal:
This is interesting and may be OK for Trinity and SWern, but what happens to all of the other SCAC schools? Do they join up with the ASC or ?
This will be a big blow from a competitive point of view for TLU and Centenary.
Travel to SW and Trinity may not be an burden on the SAA schools for 1x per year, but for Trinity and SWrn they will have to travel to the SAA schools at least 3-4 times per year. All of those trips will be at least 10 hour bus rides each way unless sports financing has changed they will not be flying the baseball team.
Overall it should be positive for competition for Trinity and SWern and likely more interesting for the student-athletes and if BSC stays solvent (and even if not) the conference championship will be much more difficult, which will be a positive thing.
Will the conference championship move back to Memphis or ?
I see no reason for the SCAC to align with the ASC, unless Colorado College now views the SCAC as not meeting the "Mission and Vision" criteria. But, that does not affect baseball. McMurry keeps them at 7 teams.
But where do they go? Colorado College has scholarship Men's Hockey and Women's Soccer. They may find it easier to go D-2 than to travel to Texas.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on March 11, 2023, 10:44:33 AM
Ron, etal:
This is interesting and may be OK for Trinity and SWern, but what happens to all of the other SCAC schools? Do they join up with the ASC or ?
This will be a big blow from a competitive point of view for TLU and Centenary.
Travel to SW and Trinity may not be an burden on the SAA schools for 1x per year, but for Trinity and SWrn they will have to travel to the SAA schools at least 3-4 times per year. All of those trips will be at least 10 hour bus rides each way unless sports financing has changed they will not be flying the baseball team.
Overall it should be positive for competition for Trinity and SWern and likely more interesting for the student-athletes and if BSC stays solvent (and even if not) the conference championship will be much more difficult, which will be a positive thing.
Will the conference championship move back to Memphis or ?
My belief (and this are only my thoughts, not based on any kind of inside information, not that I ever have any) is that Trinity's new President Beasley, and Bob King, the AD, don't sign off if the teams have to get on a bus consistently for SAA play. My God, the school still has over $1.7 billion in the endowment even after what the stock market did in the 12 months ending last June, they can afford flights. Now, Southwestern, with less than a quarter of that endowment, is another story but it still would be a surprise if they subjected their SA's to a bunch of 12-16 hour bus trips. But I said this on another board, both schools used to do the travel thing before the SAA split off so I imagine there's still some institutional knowledge that will help both make it work in 2025.
The current SAA model for championships seems to be that they are held at the site of the regular season champion (with first rounds at the better of the two schools), and I have a hard time believing all the SAA presidents want to end up going to San Antonio all the time (if Trinity continues to be as successful in the SAA as they are the SCAC) so it would not surprise me to see them go to a model like the SCAC where locations are picked out in advance each year so that travel plans can be made sooner. They won't centralize all of them which would be incredibly unfair to everyone not in easy distance of a centralized site.
As far as the ASC and SCAC there are enough schools left in both to limp along without the other even after all of this comes to pass, assuming all the schools survive in a very challenging socioeconomic environment. Where they really need each other is in football - since there are many schools not playing that sport - where the SCAC's statement on Twitter a couple days ago was along the lines of "we hope Schreiner comes on line in 2025 and TLU returns by 2026." If I'm Lyon (one of the four that are supposed to start SCAC competition in 2024) I'm keeping my options open. Maybe the ASC talks McMurry into coming back (after all, they did a U-turn on going D-2, this would be *much* easier) and now it's the ASC with six and the SCAC with four if Lyon changes their destination around 2025 or 2026.
And I agree with Ralph, CC has always been this weird hybrid with their D1/D3 split and now their peers are leaving the conference they've been a part of for nearly 20 years. I don't know if the NCAA would let them keep their grandfathered split if they wanted to go D2, tho (which may be why they've stayed where they are). It would be just as easy for them to move to the SCIAC or NWC as to remain in the SCAC. They will have the largest endowment in the SCAC (by far, somewhere around $800-$850M) once Trinity and Southwestern leave.
Dallas Baptist U has D-1 baseball in Conference USA. I do not recognize a D-1 Women's sport for DBU.
https://dbupatriots.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule/2022 That link will let you "walk around" the Sports web site at DBU.
My thought about Lyon is that they would be more competitive in the UMAC, which lost Finlandia. Westminster and Greenville (SLIAC) are already affiliates in the UMAC.
I remember my son's senior year playing baseball at Trinity (before the founding of the SAA). During the last four weeks of their season, they made three trips right before finals. They traveled to Conway (Hendrix) and Jackson (Millsaps) on back-to-back weekends, both 15-hour bus rides. Then two weeks later they flew to Memphis (Millington) for the conference championship. My son shared with me that it had an adverse impact on his schoolwork and grades.
When the SAA was created and the SCAC "scrambled" to reconstitute itself; I thought it was great for the kid's education and likely meant more financial resources for the baseball program (less travel).
Joining the SAA for Trinity and Southwestern is going to be very expensive. The closest schools for the two Texas teams are Millsaps and Hendrix, both of which are 15+ hour bus trips. To get to any of the other SAA schools you have to commit to flying. This will require a huge increase in budget. It will also likely force the programs to limit "participation" to a travel squad of say 25 players for baseball. This is a fundamental change from how these programs have operated for the past 10 years.
Now take this increased cost and apply it across all the sports that these schools sponsor. You could be looking at an increased travel budget for each school that could approach $300K-$500K per year.
I really liked the competition in the "old SCAC", however, will the kids get a better experience, and will the Texas schools benefit from committing to compete against schools that really can not be reached via weekend bus trips?
I really don't see this being good for the students and the universities; someone please explain it to me.
After getting a seven inning 10-0 run-rule win against Austin yesterday which featured a complete game 11 strikeout, one-hit effort from Joseph Chavana, Trinity gets another seven inning 10-0 run-rule win today which featured a complete-game no hitter with nine Ks from Jackson Teer. A two-out walk in the second inning by Asher Thompson was the only thing preventing Teer from recording a perfect game, as Thompson was the Roos' only baserunner.
The Trinity loss to McMurry in mid-week looked like a "pitch-by-committee" affair with the McMurry committee better than the "non-Harrison Durow" TU committee.
However, losing the series at TLU is more significant.
I think that Centenary is my dark horse, but the conference tourney should be a great one.
Trinity drops out of the top 25 for the first time that I can remember in the past 10 years.
Quote from: 108 Stitches on April 05, 2023, 12:49:28 PM
Trinity drops out of the top 25 for the first time that I can remember in the past 10 years.
Too much of last year's talent playing D1 ball this season. :(
MJ Metz has homered in 5 straight games for Duke. Somehow, he was only 2nd team all-conference in the SCAC last year.
Quote from: Bmo on April 28, 2023, 10:05:18 PM
MJ Metz has homered in 5 straight games for Duke. Somehow, he was only 2nd team all-conference in the SCAC last year.
Not only that but most have been to deep center field.
#2 seeded Trinity gets a 5-2 win yesterday over #3 Centenary on the back of SCAC Pitcher of the Year Jackson Teer (6 IP, 5 hits, 1 ER, 6Ks to move to 9-1 on the season) and followed that up with a near run-rule 10-1 demolition of top seeded TLU behind a similar performance (5.2 IP, 5H, 1 ER, 4K to move to 6-1) from their #2 starter Cade McGahan and will await the winner of TLU and Southwestern/Centenary winner (4-4 after three) in the championship tomorrow. Jack Peterson, batting out of the 9-hole, put the icing on the cake in today's game with a three-run shot, only his second of the season, with two out in the eighth to make it 8-1.
Trinity, absent from the latest regional rankings, must win the SCAC championship to qualify for the NCAAs.
TLU got out to a quick start yesterday against Centenary leading 4-0 early in the second inning, but the game was suspended due to rain, forcing the Bulldogs to return this morning and burn another pitcher. TLU eventually defeated Centenary 12-6 behind six and a third innings from Brendan Beard, who held the Gents to two earned runs after entering the game today.
In the championship against Trinity, TLU got out to quick 2-0 and 3-2 leads, and were tied 4-4 after three before the Tigers broke through the depleted TLU pitching staff in a 13-6 victory. Harrison Durow got the start and the win, allowing four runs (two earned) in six innings.
TLU coach Rick Heines announced his resignation (https://tlubulldogs.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/releases/20230509hznrnw) today. The 2023 SCAC coach-of-the-year recorded an 87-43 record leading the program the last three seasons. No reason other than wanting "to seek new challenges elsewhere" was given; Heines spent a total of eleven years on the staff.
Quote from: Bmo on May 19, 2023, 04:18:24 PM
Looks like there is no functional video stream for Trinity - Pacific. In this day and age, that seems like a bare minimum regional hosting requirement.
Go to https://goetbutigers.com/watch/?Live=1904&type=Live
I had to use an incognito browser to get it working. Trinity 4-0 top 4.
Make it 6-0, still nobody out, runners 2nd and 3rd.
8-0 going to bottom of the inning.
Pacific comes all the way back, 9-9 and had bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the ninth but with the count 2-2 a third strike is called on a time violation.
In the top of the tenth TU loads the bases with two outs, and with the count 3-2 Christian Holloway, 0-5 on the day, cranks a grand slam to left field (https://twitter.com/josh_moczygemba/status/1659693230219481088?s=46&t=oc0mz4VWUxBymGSQktvcSw) and the Tigers escape, 13-10.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 19, 2023, 08:08:13 PM
Pacific comes all the way back, 9-9 and had bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the ninth but with the count 2-2 a third strike is called on a time violation.
In the top of the tenth TU loads the bases with two outs, and with the count 3-2 Christian Holloway, 0-5 on the day, cranks a grand slam to left field (https://twitter.com/josh_moczygemba/status/1659693230219481088?s=46&t=oc0mz4VWUxBymGSQktvcSw) and the Tigers escape, 13-10.
Even worse for Pacific, they had bases loaded with nobody out in the 9th. They are going to be kicking themselves unless they go on a run.
Pacific went 2-and-'cue, losing 8-1 to CLU in the opening elimination game.
Trinity held an early lead but ETBU feasted on TU pitching after that in a 9-4 win, advancing to the championship round where they only need to win 1 of 2.
In the day's final elimination game, Trinity holds a 4-0 lead on CLU after four innings.
Trinity went on to defeat CLU 11-2, thanks in no small part nearly six innings of scoreless three hit ball from sophomore Jack Briese, making the first start of his career after having pitched only 15 2/3 innings in 8 previous appearances this season. Joseph Chavana (3-4, 3.05 ERA) is likely the starter in the 11AM game despite having thrown 1 2/3 in short relief on Friday as Trinity will have to take a pitch by committee approach coming out of the loser's bracket.
It'll come down to a best 2 of 3 between Trinity and ETBU as the San Antonio Tigers win 8-6 after sprinting to a 6-0 lead through 5. ETBU would score 3 times in the bottom of the 6th and 7th before Trinity put the winning runs on the board in their half of the 8th. The home team would put two on in the ninth but were unable to push anyone across.
Trinity came up just short as ETBU scored twice in the bottom of the eighth in a 2-1 victory.
Trinity may not have made it to the CWS, but one of their former players still has a chance at a natty this year. MJ Metz, who graduated last year, took advantage of his COVID eligibility while continuing his education at Duke and not only made the team but became a starter at first base. He injured his ACL in the ACC championships, but as DH in the Conway SC regionals hit four home runs and was named Most Outstanding Player of the All-Tournament team. Not too shabby for last year's third-team D3baseball.com/ABCA all-regional player. After a torrid start to the season, Metz cooled off but is hitting .290 for the year with 17 HR and 48 RBI.
Unranked Duke plays favored #11 Virginia in the super regionals after defeating favored #9 Coastal Carolina 12-3 (https://goduke.com/news/2023/6/5/baseball-feeling-super-duke-clinches-third-super-regional-in-program-history.aspx) in yesterday's winner-take-all regional final. If they can pull off the upset Metz could find himself in a CWS for the second straight year; I wonder when the last time a player went from the D3 to the D1 CWS in the span of a year.
Trinity has lost two pitchers for the upcoming season :'(
SP Harrison Durow (3.35 ERA, 3-3 in 17 app/5 starts, 48.1 IP, 0.274 OBA, 64K) who would have been a rising senior, signed with the Milwaukee Brewers in August (https://trinitytigers.com/news/2023/8/8/BB_HD_Signed.aspx).
Reliever Jack Martinez (2.12 ERA, 6-0 in 20 app/1 start, 51.0 IP, 0.163 OBA, 81K), a rising junior, transferred to D1 UL-Lafayette (https://twitter.com/nicholasmilo/status/1714431842944700571).
Quote from: Ron Boerger on October 18, 2023, 09:08:01 PM
Trinity has lost two pitchers for the upcoming season :'(
SP Harrison Durow (3.35 ERA, 3-3 in 17 app/5 starts, 48.1 IP, 0.274 OBA, 64K) who would have been a rising senior, signed with the Milwaukee Brewers in August (https://trinitytigers.com/news/2023/8/8/BB_HD_Signed.aspx).
Reliever Jack Martinez (2.12 ERA, 6-0 in 20 app/1 start, 51.0 IP, 0.163 OBA, 81K), a rising junior, transferred to D1 UL-Lafayette (https://twitter.com/nicholasmilo/status/1714431842944700571).
Back in the day, it reminded me of following the old Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs and seeing Don Kessinger or Joe Niekro get called up to the Major Leagues (the Cubs).
Trinity has posted their 2024 schedule (https://trinitytigers.com/sports/baseball/schedule); as is typical, teams from the colder parts of the country are making early season pilgrimages down South while their fields are frozen. The schedule opens with four games each against Babson (24-18 in 2023) and UW-Whitewater (30-13) as part of a 12-game homestand before a visit March 12th to Marshall for the first of a away-and-home series with ETBU.
If Trinity can win one more game this season (32) than last, the final win would represent the 800th in HC Tim Scannell's career.
Definitely a storyline I'll be watching! Trinity has the makings of being a national contender this season.
As a side note, former Trinity right-hander Jack Martinez is Louisiana's ace in the starting rotation this year. Transferred in from Trinity after two really solid years in San Antonio. He's going to be Louisiana's Friday night starter and threw 5 IP with 1 hit allowed and 1 walk against Wright State on Friday.
According to a story in today's Trinitonian student newspaper (https://trinitonian.com/2024/02/22/tiger-baseball-is-back-again/), in addition to Martinez and Durow, the Tigers also lost SP Cade McGahan (6-3 in 14 app/12 starts, 2.47 ERA), and Scannell is quoted as saying "I think we're devastated by the three key losses that we had, and I think probably the most unheralded of them is Cade McGahan", and Scannell further "expressed concern for his bullpen, which lost its two most reliable arms from last season." Maybe win #800 will have to wait until next season; Scannell is also trying to find more offense.
The article doesn't mention what happened with McGahan, listed as a junior last season, and I wasn't able to find any breadcrumbs indicating he transferred to another program.
...and then today happened.
Holy cow!
Quote from: D3Navy on February 24, 2024, 08:49:48 PM...and then today happened.
Holy cow!
This would be Trinity giving up 9 runs to Babson in the top of the 7th to trail 14-5, then scoring ten runs themselves in the bottom of the 8th, capped off by a Cristian Holloway grand slam in a 15-14 win.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on February 24, 2024, 09:24:13 PMQuote from: D3Navy on February 24, 2024, 08:49:48 PM...and then today happened.
Holy cow!
This would be Trinity giving up 9 runs to Babson in the top of the 7th to trail 14-5, then scoring ten runs themselves in the bottom of the 8th, capped off by a Cristian Holloway grand slam in a 15-14 win.
And today, TU up 16-0 in the 6th. Let's hope this offensive display is lasting!
A day after dropping a 21-2 decision to UW-Whitewater in the opening game of a DH, Trinity's Jackson Teer threw a four-hit, 9-1 complete-game decision (https://trinitytigers.com/news/2024/3/2/bsb_uww4.aspx) in which he had a SCAC-record 20 strikeouts. That's 34 Ks and 1 earned run in 16 IP so far this season.
The 20 Ks tie the school record, set back in scholarship days by Jimmy Wingate in 1965. The school's record during the D3 era (as well as the former SCAC record) was 18 by Mike Frost in 2004.
Trinity reliever Jonathan Newman ran his record to 5-0 (with one save) yesterday, closing out a 5-4 win over UMHB with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief allowing one hit, one walk, and striking out two. He lowered his ERA on the season to 0.29 in 31 IP in 14 games, quite the improvement over last season where he posted an ERA of nearly six in ten appearances.
Trinity, which improved to 28-9, needs four more wins this season for HC Tim Scannell to record his 800th win in his 26th season at the helm.
Trinity loses D3baseball.com pitcher of the year Jackson Teer to D1 Texas State.
https://x.com/Jacksonteer1/status/1806015648436289764
Quote from: Ron Boerger on June 26, 2024, 03:43:31 PMTrinity loses D3baseball.com pitcher of the year Jackson Teer to D1 Texas State.
https://x.com/Jacksonteer1/status/1806015648436289764
Damn.
And according to a Xitter post listing D3->D1 baseball transfers, Trinity will lose its other quality starter, Joseph Chavana, to Xavier as a grad transfer. This was announced by Xavier way back in April but I missed it.
https://x.com/xavierbase/status/1775259668199129154
Quote from: Ron Boerger on July 05, 2024, 12:13:52 PMAnd according to a Xitter post listing D3->D1 baseball transfers, Trinity will lose its other quality starter, Joseph Chavana, to Xavier as a grad transfer. This was announced by Xavier way back in April but I missed it.
https://x.com/xavierbase/status/1775259668199129154
Ugh.
The latest variation on this depressing theme: Trinity utility player Korson Hastings (0.237 BA/0.400 OB%) will play his COVID year at UT-Dallas. His dad says "Korson's plan is to work for a masters in finance while continuing to play ball. He will redshirt the spring of '25 (as UT-D is transitioning to D2) and complete his final year of play in '26."
Seems odd that you can take a year of COVID eligibility after redshirting, but maybe the transfer/D2 rules allow that.
Looks like it will be a long year in Sherman as Trinity puts 56 runs on the 'Roos in opening weekend, sweeping the series 10-2, 27-4, 19-8 (8 inn - RR).
McMurry is 5-1. They took the Concordia Tx series 2-1. In opening weekend, they swept Huntingdon, Rhodes and Lagrange. Coach Lee is hoping to make the 4-team playoff.
Trinity gets a 5-2 win in the first game of the weekend set against a very good (11-3) McMurry team to improve to 10-1 early in the season. Have to admit they are exceeding my expectations given their losses on the mound entering the year.
Early returns are mixed for those transfers. Jackson Teer is 0-2 with a 7.45 ERA in his three starts at Texas State; Joseph Chavana is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in three starts and one relief (credited with the win in a one inning appearance) at Xavier.
TU won game 2 with McM, 5-1.
TUTx swept McM, 5-2, 5-1 & 6-5.
TUTx scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th in Sunday's game on 4 hits a BB & a catcher's interference. McM needed at least 1 win for Pool C consideration. TUTx looks like a lock for the postseason.
Trinity has an infielder named Tinker (Kai Tinker). He should be playing shortstop not third base. We probably need to talk to Coach Scannell about that.
Trinity finally figured out SUNY Cortland over the weekend after dropping the initial games on in the series 3-11 and 5-8. Yesterday saw the Tigers out to a 9-4 lead only to have the Red Dragons tie it up with 4 in the top of the seventh and an unearned run off a throwing error in the eighth. In their half of the inning the Tigers got four runs, with the eventual winning run in the 13-9 win being scored by the aforementioned Kai Tinker. Today, in their ninth game in ten days, Trinity trotted out Jace Clay who went 7 1/3rd innings in a comfortable 7-2 victory. The only Red Dragon to figure out Clay was DH Marc Stockhausen, who hit solo shots in his first two appearances at the plate to give the visitors their only runs on the day. Mr. Tinker (2-4) had the only multi-hit effort for Trinity (edit) in the second game. Surprisingly, the two Red Dragon victories last week were the first in program history against Trinity (now 2-6).
With three losses in the six games this week, I'd expect Trinity to drop out of the top 15 and end up in the high teens. Maybe lower, don't really know what else happened since last week.