BB: ASC: American Southwest Conference

[swbaseball3]

Yesterday, Chris Green continued to impress by hitting a Grand Slam in the 5th inning to help carry TLU to a 9-5 non-conference win.  Logan Hull started and had a workman like day.  Knokleby continues to hit a ton going 2-for-2.  I believe he's hitting .463 on the season.  TLU has 5 players hitting above .390 and that would be 6 if you count McGill who is tearing the cover off the ball.

Love to hear the thoughts on this weekend's series versus HPU.

[Just_Some_Guy]

Looking forward to McMurry vs. UMHB and UTD vs. Mississippi College. I think both of those series will provide solid insight into how the ASC my shake down this year.

As for TLU vs. HPU. I think TLU would have to be disappointed with anything other than a series sweep on the road. I love that with the exception of Lucero (who has been swinging it just fine), most of the Bulldogs who swing and miss a lot (Miller, Femath, etc.) are finding a way to get on base via BB/HBP as well. After Orosey you never know what you'll get on the mound so I'm interested to watch this staff as the season progresses. If Madden, Hull and few others continue throwing pretty well it will be interesting to see if the rotation stays the same throughout the year.

JSG

[dbat]

I can't agree with you more JSG.  If TLU doesn't sweep at home this weekend count that as a bummer.  If they want to dominate the west they need to sweep these games that must be swept.  As for Hull I am so glad to see he is doing well again.  Man, when he first came to the ASC he was dominant!  Pitched nine wonderful innings in the conference tournament championship game as a freshman with a ton of moxy.  He seemed to be inside of his own head to much these past couple of seasons, so hopefully he has found that control and swagger he once had.  Steinert is a great relief pitcher and I think he should have stayed in that roll.

[swbaseball3]

DBat, in my opinion, you are absolutely correct about Steinert.  He is pretty darn good 1-time through the line-up.  The second time, things seem to happen.  So, as a relief guy, he's tough.  I'm betting that he is working on that and if he solves that in his head, he can be dominant as a starter.

As for the swinging and missing comment...very observant.  The one thing that tends to jump out is with the exception of Knokleby, Wheaton and Green, TLU strikes out a lot.  I love Lucero, BTW, but look at his K's.  It's the weirdest thing.  The kid kills the baseball but he K's fairly often.  I have told many a person, he swings it like Will Clark/Rafael Palmero.  Absolutely beautiful swing.  Oh, back to the K's...the players you're thinking about K/W ratio is 5-to-3.  5 K's for every three walks.  BA between those guys is .350.  Money Ball in motion!!

My prediction is like yours...TLU in a sweep.  They will have to fight for one of the games but I am sure but the home field will be the determing factor. 

[Just_Some_Guy]

Scores so far:

Texas Lutheran 7 - Howard Payne 3
UMHB 8 - McMurry 0
Schreiner 6 - Hardin Simmons 1
Concordia 6 - Sul Ross 5
Sul Ross 15 - Concordia 2
UTD 7 - Mississippi College 4
Miss Coll 10 - UTD 6
UT Tyler 4 - Ozarks 0

JSG

[Ralph Turner]

http://www.cruathletics.com/news/2010/3/19/BB_0319102811.aspx?path=baseball

McMurry 12 UMHB 9 (10) in the nightcap.

[swbaseball3]

Scores so far:

Texas Lutheran 7 - Howard Payne 3
UMHB 8 - McMurry 0
Schreiner 6 - Hardin Simmons 1
Concordia 6 - Sul Ross 5
Sul Ross 15 - Concordia 2
UTD 7 - Mississippi College 4
Miss Coll 10 - UTD 6
UT Tyler 4 - Ozarks 0

JSG

Is anyone other than me looking at the scores that Sul Ross is putting up and just wondering..."What the heck are those guys eating?"  Certainly, they have a loss every now and again but they seem to come back with 15 runs!  Impressive.

[Ralph Turner]

Scores so far:

Texas Lutheran 7 - Howard Payne 3
UMHB 8 - McMurry 0
Schreiner 6 - Hardin Simmons 1
Concordia 6 - Sul Ross 5
Sul Ross 15 - Concordia 2
UTD 7 - Mississippi College 4
Miss Coll 10 - UTD 6
UT Tyler 4 - Ozarks 0

JSG

Is anyone other than me looking at the scores that Sul Ross is putting up and just wondering..."What the heck are those guys eating?"  Certainly, they have a loss every now and again but they seem to come back with 15 runs!  Impressive.

Carranza and Nathan Molina are the pitchers for SRSU that have caught my eye.

I am not predicting that SRSU can catch to TLU, but as weak as the ASC-West pitching is this year, SRSU just might have the arms to come in second in the West and host a playoff game.

That is a long road trip for someone in the playoffs, and in a three game series against the ASC East #3, the Lobos might pull it off and win the first round series.

[swbaseball3]

Before the year started, I was speaking to some friends about the West.  I pretty much said the same thing.  TLU certainly lost talent with  Harvey and Macklin but everyone else lost more.  UTT lost their entire pitching staff (for all intents), McM, HSU and UTD lost key players.  The point being is it's tough to replace that many key players across the division.

I agree with the Sul Ross comment.  It appears that they have enough offense to not get swept.  If they don't lose "winnable" games, they could go 2-1 against most teams in the west.

If TLU takes care of business, sweeps the series they should sweep, Sul Ross won't catch them.  But, I wouldn't want to go to Alpine for a series late in the year!  Ugh.

[Dawgsdad]

First Game of the doubleheader is complete in Seguin.

HPU 5 TLU 21... Just tuned in so don't know the details yet...

[Dawgsdad]

Before the year started, I was speaking to some friends about the West.  I pretty much said the same thing.  TLU certainly lost talent with  Harvey and Macklin but everyone else lost more.  UTT lost their entire pitching staff (for all intents), McM, HSU and UTD lost key players.  The point being is it's tough to replace that many key players across the division.

I agree with the Sul Ross comment.  It appears that they have enough offense to not get swept.  If they don't lose "winnable" games, they could go 2-1 against most teams in the west.

If TLU takes care of business, sweeps the series they should sweep, Sul Ross won't catch them.  But, I wouldn't want to go to Alpine for a series late in the year!  Ugh.

Not to take anything away from Harvey and Macklin but could it be that TLU has matured more than other teams year over year, hence there consistency year over year?  This to me, makes me think that Burnett and staff have a way of positioning and maturing the underclassmen in an effort to minimize the impact of lost talent of the likes of Harvey, Macklin, Farr, and others.

One example of what I'm thinking about is Sul Ross - although they seem to be putting up tall numbers, they seem to be inconsistent in the end. I think they did the same thing last year as well, which makes me consider the inconsistency of their squad overall.  It will be interesting to watch to see how consistent both squads are throughout the remainder of the season... Just some thoughts.

[Voorhees]

From what I gathered on UMHB's website, McM gave away a 6-0 to lose the series. Plenty of unearned runs allowed by both teams it appears in the UMHB's 8-7 win. McM allowed 5 runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.

[Ralph Turner]

From what I gathered on UMHB's website, McM gave away a 6-0 to lose the series. Plenty of unearned runs allowed by both teams it appears in the UMHB's 8-7 win. McM allowed 5 runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.

Yes, our defense killed us today.  We wasted a good start by Zack Hewitt, the sophomore RHP from Abilene.

This is the season that we play TLU, UMHB, CTX and SRSU on the road.  Losing a series like that on the road really hurts.

[dbat]

TLU never gets big names, but seems to get the kids with big hearts and a ton of potential.  They have a way of molding players into great role players, or using that player in the perfect role to help the team in just the right way.  Look at last years steals compared to this years so far.  Last year TLU had a ton of speed in my opinion.  They returned 4 1/2 starting position players including Miller that DH'ed and played last year.  This year they aren't putting up near the numbers as they were last year in steals.  This to me is a sign that the coaches use the talent of the kids to adapt their style of ball while keeping them playing program ball.  Burnett had a great tutor in Coach Bill Miller to learn under.

On the note of Sul Ross, I think they have potential, but they are not used to success.  I can agree with Ralph that they are playing a lot better this year and could make a run at it in the middle of the season.  Think about this, if it comes down to it  CTX, UMHB, TLU, and McMurry have all been in that pressure spot of having to win and be in, or win the series to win the west.  I just think that two of these teams will end of passing SRS.  I could see them maybe getting in to the 4 spot, but thats its for me.

[BigTex]

I agree with you dbat.....Sul Ross is doing good but not use to success as much as the teams you mentioned. McMurry had an eye opening experience this weekend when they lose a game that they were ahead 6 to 0 pretty much halfway thru it. In order for them to be successful the team as whole is going to just have to play the game and the freshman are going to have to step up better. You cant use the excuse of being a young and inexperienced team now because you halfway thru the season and have had plenty of chances to grow up. Dakota Smith and Zach Hewitt have made good starts the past couple of weeks but the defense lets em down or the offense cant hit. I hope to see them sweep Shreiner because it is one of the series you should sweep. Going to be an interesting rest of the way for them.