I agree; very competitive regional bracket.  Should be a lot of fun.  Good luck to ALL the teams, but especially to Lynchburg...   

Well, it doesn't matter now...Lynchburg captures the ODAC title beating Bridgewater 2-1 behind another complete game from Senior pitcher Robert Garrett (his second complete game of the tournament).  Lynchburg's pitching was dominant, giving up a total of 3 runs in 4 games in the ODAC tournament, with the starters pitching 34 of 36 innings.  The Hornet bats weren't as vocal as they have been all season, but they were vocal enough when it counted, and the Hornets win the ODAC in style, finishing the conference season with a 34-8 record and setting a Lynchburg school record for most wins in a season.

As for Bridgewater, I don't see how they get a pool C bid with 14 losses and not ranked in top 6 in the region.

Quote from: Boysofsummer21 on April 17, 2012, 12:28:28 PM
Bridgewater and Lynchburg played well against CNU or Shenandoah but beyond those teams they really don't have big W against anyone else on their schedule.

Actually, Lynchburg beat Birmingham Southern earlier in the season, and one of LC's losses was against Tufts (9-4) who isn't in the SR.  It's going to come down to the ODAC tournament for both LC and Bridgewater, but I agree that Bridgewater's only chance to make the SR is probably to win the ODAC tournament, while LC has a chance at an at-large bid without winning the tourney.

If you'll indulge an ODAC fan who lurks on your board a thought here...  I suspect SU will probably get an at-large as well, despite their regional losses to both Lynchburg (DH split) and Bridgewater in the course of about 1 1/2 weeks.  Their reputation for being a solid regional team playing in one of the toughest two conferences in the SR, along with consistent national recognition during the season, probably gets them in.

Congrats to the Captains, and us Lynchburg fans are looking forward to seeing you on the field this Wednesday and hopefully in a few weeks in the SR.

Quote from: forheavendial4999 on April 19, 2011, 12:50:48 PM

Right now your purely regional South region might look something like this:
CNU, Shenandoah, Piedmont, Methodist, Bridgewater, (Rhodes). This would be a great regional for Methodist to host. Did anyone from the "east" South submit a package to host? Millington has an excellent facility though. As it is, I doubt all of those teams end up in Millington.

Bridgewater, huh?  That's an interesting choice, since the ODAC tourney doesn't even start until tomorrow, and Bridgewater only finished in 1st in the regular season by one game.  They're not the lock that everyone seems to think (and weren't last year either, since they came out of the loser's bracket to win two in the ODAC finals last year).  It's anyone's guess who wins the ODAC this year, as each team in the tournament showed they can beat any of the other five this season...so don't count on the Eagles just yet...

LC looks pretty solid this year.  Good young team, with lots of production by their sophomore hitters and freshman pitchers.  Matt Morgan looks great as their #1 on the mound so far, and their 2-3-4-5-6 hitters (Palase, Shiflett, Colquhoun, Kenah and Del Buono) are all batting above .300 (Del Buono above .400) so far this season thru 15 games.  We'll be able to tell more getting into the hard of the conference schedule starting this weekend, but they look good so far -- although they need to cut down on the fielding errors!

Now, if we can just get the water to drain off the fields, perhaps we can get back to playing ball again...LC had games scheduled for every day this week except Thursday, but have only gotten Tuesday's game in because of all the rain and after-effects of the rain...

Well, I guess that shows what I know -- I only got one of my three picks right...

W&L 7, Bridgewater 2

Lynchburg 5, VWC 2

HSC 10, R-MC 4

So now it's Bridgewater vs. VWC tomorrow at 11am, loser goes home; W&L vs. R-MC at 3pm (R-MC goes home if they don't win); and LC vs. HSC at 7pm (with the winner in the catbird seat).  Another great full day of baseball setting up at Lynchburg City Stadium tomorrow...

Just one fan's opinion...

Bridgewater wins easily over W&L.  I watched BC in three games (all extra-inning...) against Lynchburg this year, and the BC boys can hit the ball, top to bottom.  They have a couple of strong starting arms too, so I'd expect BC to win this one early.

VWC vs. LC:  depends on which LC team shows up.  The Hornets have turned on the hitting machine in the last couple of weeks that was missing from many of their earlierin-the-season games.  However, this past weekend they lost a game to Emory & Henry, only to turn around the next day and pound out 21 hits and 14 runs against Bridgewater.  Having Breedlove back may be a big help, but he hasn't thrown competitively since the very beginning of the season and may not be at his best.  As for VWC, I saw them a few times this year, and Coach Booth has his usual team speed, aggressiveness and solid defense -- and having a power hitter like Marion on the roster doesn't hurt either.  And as good as LC has been playing lately, VWC has been playing even better -- they seem to be at the top of their game right now.  So LC will have to be at their best to beat VWC in this first game.

HSC vs. R-MC:  I agree that this is the game of the 1st round.  Hicks is definitely a stud, and if as expected that's who starts vs. HSC, then I'd expect R-MC to take this one.  The HSC bats have been very impressive this season, but in the game between these two earlier in the season that Hicks pitched, R-MC came out on top 18-6, with Hicks giving up 3 earned runs on 9 hits and striking out 6.  HSC seems to be a bit vulnerable lately, so I'm going with R-MC in a close game.

Looks like great weather for the tourney; see you all there!

Methodist over Lynchburg, 14-12 today at Lynchburg.  Real pitcher's duel -- MU had 14 runs on 18 hits, while LC had 12 runs on 17 hits...

Lynchburg's home opener, scheduled for today vs. Ferrum, is postponed; Fox Field still isn't playable (even though the guys spent several hours last Sunday, after practice, shoveling snow from the field...).  They'll play Guilford in their ODAC opener on Saturday in Greensboro, but the second half of the home-and-home vs. Guilford at LC on Sunday is in question due to field conditions...

Methodist 3, Lynchburg 2 in 10 innings today.  LC bats were cold and Monarch pitching was hot; 14 K's for the LC batters.  LC is now 2-2 vs. the USA South Conference.  And since there's still about a half foot of snow on Fox Field in Lynchburg, they may be spending even more time than planned in North Carolina over the next month...

Lynchburg at Methodist today at 4 in Fayetteville.  Should be a good early test for both teams...

Let's just hope we get to see some actual baseball being played "in the next couple of months"...

Lynchburg has gotten one game in, 5-1 win vs. Averett last week.  DH in Greensboro vs. Greensboro College scheduled for yesterday was moved to today; 1-2" of snow in Greensboro on Friday night.  The Lynchburg boys are really itching to get back on the field; Fox Field at LC still has inches of snow on it, and may not be playable for weeks...

Lynchburg and Greensboro are playing three this weekend in Greensboro; looks like the ODAC-USAC Challenge is not being rescheduled.  Bummer...

Ominous posting on Greensboro's website today:

"Additionally, The Pride is expecting changes on next weekend's USA South/ODAC Challenge scheduled for Richmond. Severe weather is predicted for Virginia."

Maybe they could move the ODAC-USAC Challenge to Connecticut...I hear they're not getting much snow/ice up there this winter...