BB: ASC: American Southwest Conference

[Ralph Turner]

TLU played very well today and in the second game, Madden comes up big after TLU was down 7-2.  Madden holds them to 1 run over the next 5 1/3 and gives TLU a chance to peck away.  Big HR's back-to-back from Femath and Nockleby and it was all TLU after that.

What a day around the conference!  What about UMHB!?!

Good luck to all next weekend.

Oh, to all of you who stood your ground on SR, you were right.],  They folded like a house of cards.  The TLU weekend must have been just a freak weekend.

Respectfully disagreeing, I think that SRSU had a great season.  The only break from form was Sully was letting HPU come to Alpine and win the series!  If they sweep HPU, they are still only 12-9 and 1 game out of the playoffs!

As balanced as we are in the West, you have to win the home series.  A sweep is gravy, on the road or at home, and a sweep is probably mandatory, if you are playing the #7 and #8 team in the conference!

Look at Sully's schedule.  That got no favors this year.

SU at home ... 3-0  (Who did not sweep Schreiner this year?  Everyone except McMurry and SRSU!)
CTX away.......1-2
HPU at home....1-2
TLU away........1-2
HSU away........1-2
McM at home....2-1
UMHB away......1-2
Total..............10-11

SRSU played three of the four playoff teams on the road!

[Ralph Turner]

TLU caught McMurry, HSU, SRSU and HPU at home this year.

They beat McMurry and HSU 2 games to 1.

TLU's Orosey beats UMHB's Ryan in game 1 of the series.  UMHB's Hopper holds off TLU in game 2.

If I apply my theory of predicted outcomes to the TLU schedule, i.e., sweeping #7 and #8 and home team winning the series when playing #2-#6, I predict TLU's record should be 14-7.  The sweep of CTX gives you the title and a 15-6 record.  IMHO, the CTX series and taking 2 of 3 from UMHB in Belton are the key to the season.  Congratulations to TLU for winning the series that you needed to win.

HSU  (13-8) should have gone 14-7. The loss in Kerrville is the variation from "form", but note it is hard to sweep a team on their home field.

UMHB (13-8) should have defended home field against TLU, having lost the series to the Bulldogs. UMHB also lost a game at Schreiner.  The retro-spectroscope suggests that UMHB should have finished 15-6 and been the West #1 seed!

McMurry's 13-8 is right on.

The ASC-West is just brutal!  Every game is a battle.  You may have a blowout in one game of the series, but you have to struggle in every game to win.  Sweeps were very rare this season.

Perhaps the Division's balance means that you cannot anticipate a sweep of a #7 or a #8 on the road.  Two out of three at a Schreiner and/or HPU is the best that most teams do!

[swbaseball3]

Ralph...harken back to notes from a few wqeeks back, it was me that was picking SR and virtually everyone else that was the oposition.  So, I take no offense.  My statement was simply that SR had been playing well and in my opinion well enough to be in the playoffs.  From that day on, they stumbled.  I was going to the Dark Side with the others.

As Brian Kelly said to the ND football team when he tool over, "You're a 6-6 football team.  That's what you are and that ain't good."

To SR, I guess the same can be said...they are a 9-12 baseball team.  That's what they are.  Me, I know they are better.  One has to wonder what happened.

[Ralph Turner]

So then if my scenario were to play out...McMurry could win 2 of 3 from HSU and still end up in 4th place?

Yeah, but we are City Champions!      

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph...harken back to notes from a few wqeeks back, it was me that was picking SR and virtually everyone else that was the oposition.  So, I take no offense.  My statement was simply that SR had been playing well and in my opinion well enough to be in the playoffs.  From that day on, they stumbled.  I was going to the Dark Side with the others.

As Brian Kelly said to the ND football team when he tool over, "You're a 6-6 football team.  That's what you are and that ain't good."

To SR, I guess the same can be said...they are a 9-12 baseball team.  That's what they are.  Me, I know they are better.  One has to wonder what happened.

Thanks for the response.

I have reviewed SRSU's season one more time.

They swept 2 of 3 at Ozarks.  Quality wins, but that now is not as impressive as we had thought.

They beat UTT 1 of 3 at home.  That follows with the theory that it is hard to sweep a series on the road in the ASC.

Then they swpt Schreiner at home.  That is what they neede to do, and that was when they were catching your attention and mine.

The series that hurt them most was losing 2 of 3 at home to HPU.

Aside from that, they "pretty much" followed the formula, and finished conference at 10-11. 

[dp643]

Sul Ross is improved defensively and offensively, but they will need some arms before they can make a serious playoff push.

I am real impressed by UMHB's 3 starters and how far they have come this season. For those of you who dont know they have a Freshman, Sophmore, and a Junior in the rotation and they have been very impressive in conference play.

In the last 9 games the pitchers have given up 18 runs. Thats pretty impressive. Only 3 ER given up in 3 games to Sul Ross in that time as well.

UMHB vs Mississippi College in the first round is going to be another fun matchup for the third year in a row.

[SandGnats]

TLU played very well today and in the second game, Madden comes up big after TLU was down 7-2.  Madden holds them to 1 run over the next 5 1/3 and gives TLU a chance to peck away.  Big HR's back-to-back from Femath and Nockleby and it was all TLU after that.

What a day around the conference!  What about UMHB!?!

Good luck to all next weekend.

Oh, to all of you who stood your ground on SR, you were right.],  They folded like a house of cards.  The TLU weekend must have been just a freak weekend.

Respectfully disagreeing, I think that SRSU had a great season.  The only break from form was Sully was letting HPU come to Alpine and win the series!  If they sweep HPU, they are still only 12-9 and 1 game out of the playoffs!

As balanced as we are in the West, you have to win the home series.  A sweep is gravy, on the road or at home, and a sweep is probably mandatory, if you are playing the #7 and #8 team in the conference!

Look at Sully's schedule.  That got no favors this year.

SU at home ... 3-0  (Who did not sweep Schreiner this year?  Everyone except McMurry and SRSU!)
CTX away.......1-2
HPU at home....1-2
TLU away........1-2
HSU away........1-2
McM at home....2-1
UMHB away......1-2
Total..............10-11

SRSU played three of the four playoff teams on the road!

And CTX.  They lost two of three to SU.

[swbaseball3]

The underlying message I keep hearing is that the ASC West is a tough road to hoe and getting a sweep is not an easy deal.  That is certainly evidenced by this year's season ending records.

You know what I think?  I think that teams ought to follow Shenandoah's rule and play 20 out of conference patsies and boost the record.  That way, you can finish 4th in your conference (2009), not win the conference chanpionship (2009) AND make the region tournament.

Crazy how the selection committe got snowed by that one!?!

[Ralph Turner]

The underlying message I keep hearing is that the ASC West is a tough road to hoe and getting a sweep is not an easy deal.  That is certainly evidenced by this year's season ending records.

You know what I think?  I think that teams ought to follow Shenandoah's rule and play 20 out of conference patsies and boost the record.  That way, you can finish 4th in your conference (2009), not win the conference chanpionship (2009) AND make the region tournament.

Crazy how the selection committe got snowed by that one!?!

The USA South changed their scheduling to permit that about 2 years ago.

We don't have anyone near us to play.  The SCAC starts division play about the same time that we do.

We need the 9 weekends to play the 7 conference series and the 2 crossover series.  That takes up 27 of the possible 40 dates.

Most coaches do play a mid-week game that takes up to 36 games.  Some of those may be D-III in-region.

We just need to be 2 separate conferences that have close working arrangements to fill dates.

[swbaseball3]

I've watched it happen the last two years at Shenandoah.  Maybe that's because I live 45 miles away.  BTW, check out Maine Presque Isle.  Shenandoah beats them 35-0 or something crazy like that.  Add that to Roanoke College and Eastern Mennonite...ugh.

Anyway, that hacks me off because Shenandoah would come to EITHER side of the ASC and finish 4th and not even make the championship as they would lose to whomever finished 1st in the ASC.

[Ralph Turner]

I've watched it happen the last two years at Shenandoah.  Maybe that's because I live 45 miles away.  BTW, check out Maine Presque Isle.  Shenandoah beats them 35-0 or something crazy like that.  Add that to Roanoke College and Eastern Mennonite...ugh.

Anyway, that hacks me off because Shenandoah would come to EITHER side of the ASC and finish 4th and not even make the championship as they would lose to whomever finished 1st in the ASC.

And who would get shipped to the West Regional!   

[TexasBB]

So Ralph, at the end of the day it appears the ASC will only get one invite. Call it a brutal schedule or call it a bunch of mediocre teams either way the result is the same.  I agree with you and that they need to split the conference so that at least 2 teams get invitations. The only other possibility is expanding the tournament to allow for more teams which unfortunetly is unlikely to occur any time soon. 

I am an east division fan and the east I must admit historically is not as ballanced. But there are good deserving teams in the east that over the years have won 25 plus games and even have been ranked in the DIII top 20 but have not received a bid.  The ASC has not fared well in the regionals with the teams that have made it. I am not sure anymore if our league is overrated or just underrepresented. Perhaps if more teams got in the chances would improve. I don't know but I sure am frustrated!!

[CrashDavisD3]

ASC gets short changed in the Regionals. Here are my views.

1) Base on the number teams in the ASC they should get 2 bids not one.
As mentioned before splitting the conference into 2 conferences could solve this issue. Conferences with less than 7 teams should not get AQ. Conferences with 7 to 12 should get 1 AQ and 13 and over 2 AQ based upon the ratios now 55 teams out of 359 this year(6.5 ratio)

2) The 2 rounds of playoffs I believe takes too much out of the teams before they even have played one regional game and could be a possible reason why they have not fared as well in recent regionals. One week instead of 2 weekends for a conference tourney with only 4 teams not 8.

I could be wrong with my statements but I throw this out for discussion purposes.

[d3baseballnut]

One reason that i know has hurt UTTyler in the past, is that when you have a conference tournament, you must add 2 losses to any pool C eligibale team from your conference. If you are in the SCIAC, Redlands can win their last 10 games and be a pool C team since there is no tournament.

I believe this is a real disadvantage, especially considering:

1. How close the races are - 2 losses will turn the tables in terms of committee selections

2. The ASC tournament is organized so possible pool c teams could pick up 3 losses, instead of 2, if they lose a game in the first round. Even Mississippi college is not a shoe-in. If they lose 3 games, they are suddenly at 10 losses. UTTyler was left out in 2008 at 36-9, and Curry was left out in 2009 at 34-7 (ridiculous).

You really need under 5 losses headed into conf. tourny time to really be a lock.

[TexasBB]

It is highly unlikely that we will have any team coming into the conference tournament with 5 or less losses given the schedule. UTT was accused of playing a patsy schedule a few years ago and have addded tougher opponents. The result is going to be a less impressive W-L ratio. So your damned if you do and damned if you don't. I like the idea of awarding 2 spots to conferences with 13 or more teams. Exspecially in the West where the teams are so spread out and you have to play non-division conference teams as your part of your "non-conference" schedule.