BB: ASC: American Southwest Conference

[Ralph Turner]

This past Saturday. We lost a great soldier and former ASC college baseball player. Jay Sevier , a member of the 2002 World Series team and starting shortstop for Concordia. Jay collapsed while working out at his base in North Carolina, and couldnt be revived. He was training in the special forces to become a member of the green berets. He was scheduled to graduate in a few weeks after a final PT test. Funeral is this weekend in Austin, but I thought I would pass this along to alot of you who follow the ASC baseball programs.

Prayers to the Sevier family...

[dp643]

Lets get this board back up and running. Baseball season right around the corner!

[golden_dome]

I'll put up the season preview for Mississippi College later, but here is some basic preseason information.

Last year went 30-16. In the field, 3B Reid Prewitt and 2B Tim Bruss graduated. Everyone else returns. We lose the 5-hole and 8-hole hitters in the lineup. LF Bo Bell, CF Chase Herrin, RF Brannon Walls, 1B Andy Smith, SS Dakota Bodree, and C Jacob Daniel return. Those six guys collectively batted .361, 30 HR, 238 RBI, 70 2B, 86 SB. Should be a good lineup again.

Most of the pitching staff is gone, except for Tyler Seaman who is back. Seaman was First Team All-ASC and hopefully will build on that season and improve.

Newcomers
There are 18 new transfers including 12 pitchers. Potentially this is a very good group.

Pitchers, two transfers from DII Delta State (2004 National Champs) and also another MS JUCO who signed with Delta State in the Fall but decided on MC later. Several other talented MS JUCO guys. Was told from a velocity standpoint, there are two newcomers about like Tyler Seaman, who work 89-91. And 3-4 other guys slightly behind who could work 86-89. You don't know until games are live, but probably potentially as talented a staff as we've had in a while.

In the field, there are 3-4 guys who could contribute early. The new 3B is the MS JUCO transfer that signed with Delta State, and probably will be in the weekend rotation as well. We also picked up a very talented MS JUCO transfer outfielder and catcher.

Looking forward to the season getting started. Hopefully, we'll have a very good lineup again, and I'm anxious to see the guys on the mound.

[dp643]

Sounds like Mississippi is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Who do yall play in crossover this year?

[golden_dome]

Sounds like Mississippi is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Who do yall play in crossover this year?

We play Concordia at home and at Schreiner in our crossover games. I think we look pretty good on paper, but that really doesn't matter much. I'm anxious to get the season started, because we'll be tested early. Without looking at anyone else's schedule, I wouldn't be shocked if our first 11 games are about as tough as anyone in the country.

2/6      at Huntingdon (26-15)                       Montgomery, AL    
2/7      at Birmingham-Southern (28-11)          Montgomery, AL   
2/9       vs Belhaven (43-20)                          Clinton, MS 
2/13      at Piedmont (20-21)                         Demorest, GA   
2/13     at Sewanee (8-22)                           Demorest, GA
2/14     at Piedmont  (20-21)                         Demorest, GA   
2/16     at Millsaps    (34-10)                          Jackson, MS   
2/26     vs Concordia Texas (22-18)                 Clinton, MS
2/27     vs Concordia Texas (DH) (22-18)          Clinton, MS
3/2       vs Millsaps (34-10)                             Jackson, MS

Only Piedmont and Sewanee had losing records last year, and Piedmont won 34 games in 2008. Concordia will probably be very good.  Millsaps and Belhaven are as good as anyone on our schedule just about every year. Huntingdon and Birmingham Southern should be very good.

[dp643]

Congrats to the ASC Players on the d3baseball.com preseason All-American Teams.

http://d3baseball.com/all-american/preseason2010.pdf

1st Team
Brad Orosey P Texas Lutheran

2nd Team
Javier Arrieta SS SRSU
Joseph Villegas OF UMHB
BO Bell OF Mississippi College
Reagan Dixon DH Hardin-Simmons

[dbat]

Ill talk a little about TLU for this upcoming season.  The Bulldogs are only returning four starting position players and one DH from last years west division championship team.  Pitching wise they look like they are bringing back a few more guys than in the field.  Orosey the highlight of the pitching staff is returning, who has just been named to the pre season all american roster.  They are also returning a diamond in the rough senior Travis Staggs.  Staggs threw great last year and should be the number two for sure.  The bullpin looks like it will be held down again by Jeremiah Steinert who threw most of the innings out of the pin last year and did quite well at that.  Tom Hembree looks like he might have actually found his control over the summer in that NYCBL.  The couple of times I saw him throw last year he was very hit and miss with his location (Especially after turning into a submarine guy half way through the season.  Green and Femath look to hold down the middle again this year, while Nokelby will the in charge of the outfield.  A lot of people thought he was going to have a Derek David type season last year, not to knock him at all (he had a great year) but maybe this will eb the Derek David year.  From the looks of it they are going to have a huge hole behind the plate.  Siniff was no hitter, but did great in calling the games and keeping the ball infront.  I don't know who will start this year.  First will go to Childress who started of hot, but got cold as the year progressed.  Big hole at third that needs to be filled at third with Macklin and Gentry both gone.  I would assume that either Eaves or Wheaton will take over there both has hardly any experience in the line up.  Miller will most likely DH. Two outfield spots look to be filled by a JUCO transfer named Lucero which I know nothing about and a sophomore that had limited play time last year Harvey.

I think they will struggle with the schedule they have ahead of them!
2/6-7 Austin college (15-24)   (Sherman) Haven't really heard anything about Austin College in the past couple of years.  TLU went down there in '08 and came away with two.
2/12 Southwestern  (16-23)   (Georgetown) Newest rivalry with TLU.
2/13 Southwestern  (16-23)   (Seguin) TLU took both last year.
2/15 Brandeis?                       (Seguin)
Then it gets bad!
2/19-20 UT Tyler     (39-12)   (Tyler) Defeated them in the conference tournament last year in a dramatic comeback win. They would consider it a huge part of the season if they can take two
2/23 Trinity             (24-21)   (Seguin) Always play TLU HARD!
2/27-28 UT Dallas    (28-18)  (Dallas) wow two tough weekends back to back
3/2 Trinity               (24-21)   (San Antonio)
3/5-6 ETBU             (16-24)   (Seguin) In the past have played TLU hard and have quite a rivalry with them.

I am guessing that UT Dallas and ETBU are the cross over games and UT Tyler is a non conference, Burnett is trying to jump out of the blocks with hurdles right away. But if they can take two out of three from every weekend they will be a force to recon with then.

[dp643]

UMHB has a tough beginning to their schedule as well. They are playing in the Tyler classic the first weekend in February with 2 games vs UT Tyler and a game vs UT Dallas. Their crossovers are against Dallas and Louisiana College with games vs Southwestern and Trinity as well.

Some very good matchups early on this season to watch for.

[WLCALUM83]

Jonathan Miller (Concordia-TX) was traded from Florence (Frontier League) to the Laredo Broncos (United League) 1/11/10, per Frontier League transaction page.

[dbat]

Ok, well we got the pre season polls in. It looks likes they are predicting it to be TLU and UT Tyler again this year. 

2010 ASC PRESEASON BASEBALL POLL
[Voted on by ASC Head Coaches, Sports Information Directors and Media Members]

EAST DIVISION
    Team (first-place votes)    Points    2009 Record
1.    Texas-Tyler (8)    132    39-12, 14-4 ASC
2.    Mississippi College (10)    131    30-16, 14-4 ASC
3.    Texas-Dallas (3)    113    28-18, 12-6 ASC
4.    Ozarks    70    17-25, 9-9 ASC
5.    Louisiana College    65    18-22, 5-13 ASC
6.    East Texas Baptist    46    16-24, 4-14 ASC
7.    LeTourneau    31    14-22, 5-13 ASC

WEST DIVISION
    Team (first-place votes)    Points    2009 Record
1.    Texas Lutheran (13)    174    30-14, 16-5 ASC
2.    McMurry (4)    156    26-17, 14-7 ASC
3.    Hardin-Simmons (3)    143    25-18, 14-7 ASC
4.    Mary Hardin-Baylor (4)    142    22-17, 12-9 ASC
5.    Concordia Texas    97    22-18, 11-10 ASC
6.    Howard Payne    68    13-23, 6-15 ASC
7.    Schreiner    55    14-23, 7-14 ASC
8.    Sul Ross State    29    5-34, 4-17 ASC

Does this surprise anybody?  I would think that Mississippi would have gotten the nod in the East.  Looking at the first place votes people agreed with me. In the West TLU took the more first place votes than McMurry, HSU, and UMHB combined. 

[dp643]

UMHB beats SWAGU 8-6 on opening night.

http://www.cruathletics.com/news/2010/2/2/BB_0202104905.aspx?path=baseball

[dp643]

Ok, well we got the pre season polls in. It looks likes they are predicting it to be TLU and UT Tyler again this year. 

2010 ASC PRESEASON BASEBALL POLL
[Voted on by ASC Head Coaches, Sports Information Directors and Media Members]

EAST DIVISION
    Team (first-place votes)    Points    2009 Record
1.    Texas-Tyler (8)    132    39-12, 14-4 ASC
2.    Mississippi College (10)    131    30-16, 14-4 ASC
3.    Texas-Dallas (3)    113    28-18, 12-6 ASC
4.    Ozarks    70    17-25, 9-9 ASC
5.    Louisiana College    65    18-22, 5-13 ASC
6.    East Texas Baptist    46    16-24, 4-14 ASC
7.    LeTourneau    31    14-22, 5-13 ASC

WEST DIVISION
    Team (first-place votes)    Points    2009 Record
1.    Texas Lutheran (13)    174    30-14, 16-5 ASC
2.    McMurry (4)    156    26-17, 14-7 ASC
3.    Hardin-Simmons (3)    143    25-18, 14-7 ASC
4.    Mary Hardin-Baylor (4)    142    22-17, 12-9 ASC
5.    Concordia Texas    97    22-18, 11-10 ASC
6.    Howard Payne    68    13-23, 6-15 ASC
7.    Schreiner    55    14-23, 7-14 ASC
8.    Sul Ross State    29    5-34, 4-17 ASC

Does this surprise anybody?  I would think that Mississippi would have gotten the nod in the East.  Looking at the first place votes people agreed with me. In the West TLU took the more first place votes than McMurry, HSU, and UMHB combined. 

I am a little surprised at the fact TLU is the undisputed preseason number one. Macklin will be very tough to replace on the mound and in the middle of that lineup. Unless the bottom three have drastically improved, it will likely come down to a clustered top 5 of the standings in the west this year....just like the last few.

[BigPoppa]

That is why the ASC is such a fun conference to watch (and also why it struggles for national recognition). Teams beat the snot out of each other and never really get on a roll to move up the rankings.

[Ralph Turner]

That is why the ASC is such a fun conference to watch (and also why it struggles for national recognition). Teams beat the snot out of each other and never really get on a roll to move up the rankings.

Yeah, 2008 Regionals in Abilene...

McMurry, the ASC-West Quad-Champs, and winner of the ASC Tourney takes Regional Champion Chapman to extra innings, losing on a walkoff HR in the bottom of the 12th.

Six or seven other teams in the ASC who may have seen that game were thinking "woulda, shoulda, coulda" about how close they were to that Regional.

[dbat]

I really hope that the ASC pulls the monkey off their backs this year and gets back in the world series.  I don't know about yall, but there is just something about chapman that I don't like.  Now don't get me wrong they are an amazing team, but I don't like them. That is probably why i don't like them because they have been able to beat the ASC so many years now.  I sure hope this is the year that we can pull one off and make it to the big dance.