BB: ASC: American Southwest Conference

[mcmguy19]

Well its good McMurry will now be able to give money out to these kids.  I don;t know how much it will be to start but who knows.  Its going to be hard to change conferences after being in the ASC for awhile.  You will have to get new rivals. 

To be honest I think its dumb, your football team might not ever win a game again, basketball and baseball will have a hard time for the first few years.  And for the other sports at MCM like Soccer god help their souls.......

[Ralph Turner]

Concordia dedicates its new field on February 4th.

I have not found a new picture of the field, and I cannot remember where I saw the specific details of the field and playing surface.

Is it completely a field-turf field?  Just asking...

Any CTX fans logged on for the season yet?

[indian4life]

Ralph,

I was down there for the McM CTX Basketball game and I went to check out the field....

The whole field with the exception of the mound is turf.
Nice what appeared to be padded walls on the outfield fence.
Chair back seats if I remember correctly behind home plate approx 150 or so (extreme rough guess).
Covered seating.

It will be a great place to watch a game and an interesting place to play as a player with that turf being everywhere

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph,

I was down there for the McM CTX Basketball game and I went to check out the field....

The whole field with the exception of the mound is turf.
Nice what appeared to be padded walls on the outfield fence.
Chair back seats if I remember correctly behind home plate approx 150 or so (extreme rough guess).
Covered seating.

It will be a great place to watch a game and an interesting place to play as a player with that turf being everywhere

Thanks for the report.  I think that they did not want to consider the effect of water shortages in Austin and keeping a healthy turf.

McMurry and many other places in Abilene use City of Abilene post-treatment water for its irrigation and campus watering.

[mcmguy19]

How hot will it be on that turf.... All the water they save is going to have to go back into the guy on the field from it being so HOT.... O well atleast it will be green all year round!!!!

[CrashDavisD3]

Ralph,

I was down there for the McM CTX Basketball game and I went to check out the field....

The whole field with the exception of the mound is turf.
Nice what appeared to be padded walls on the outfield fence.
Chair back seats if I remember correctly behind home plate approx 150 or so (extreme rough guess).
Covered seating.

It will be a great place to watch a game and an interesting place to play as a player with that turf being everywhere

Thanks for the report.  I think that they did not want to consider the effect of water shortages in Austin and keeping a healthy turf.

McMurry and many other places in Abilene use City of Abilene post-treatment water for its irrigation and campus watering.

Linfield is also a all turf field with only dirt for the pitching mound. Plays much different than grass and dirt. Bunts travel faster and ground balls stay down....Sliding has small black rubber pebbles flying everywhere. not impacted by rain but I bet it gets real hot on temps over 80. I wonder if Concordia will host a future Regional in their new place.

[DavidNichols]

2011 Mississippi College Baseball Media Guide Released.  http://gochoctaws.com/news/2011/1/31/MTRK_0131113115.aspx

[Ralph Turner]

Ouch!

Non-conference game...

Boxscore in the link below.

HSU 11, McMurry 5

[CrashDavisD3]

Chapman  @ McMurry for 3 games starting this friday

[TexasBB]

The move by McMurry to DIV II might start a trend. I expect that UTD and UTT will eventually make similar moves as the schools continue to expand. They may even move together. No current plans that I am aware of and the state budget crunch will delay any move but I would not be surpised that within the next 5 years they leave the ASC.

TexasBB

[dp643]

Whats going on with Mississippi College, TLU, Mcmurry, UMHB?

Orosey hasnt pitched but one inning. Any news there?

Is the ASC west way down this year?

[Ralph Turner]

The Chapman series showed how critical defense and small ball will be this year.

IMHO, Chapman is fundamentally one of the finest teams in the country.  I think that they beat McMurry on very small margins of quality that paid huge dividends.

In Game #1, McMurry was tied 1-1 when a throwing error on the front end of DP ball opened the doors for Chapman to score a 4-spot.

In Game #2, 2 unearned runs in the 2nd inning pushed the lead to 3-0.  Chapman scored all 6 runs in the first three innnings.  McMurry could not catch up and lost 6-3.

In Game #3, uinearned runs at the end of the game allowed Chapman to come from behind to win 6-5.

The West Coast observers have posted that Chapman pitching and defense, both good and bad, is the key to their record.

[CrashDavisD3]

The Chapman series showed how critical defense and small ball will be this year.

IMHO, Chapman is fundamentally one of the finest teams in the country.  I think that they beat McMurry on very small margins of quality that paid huge dividends.

In Game #1, McMurry was tied 1-1 when a throwing error on the front end of DP ball opened the doors for Chapman to score a 4-spot.

In Game #2, 2 unearned runs in the 2nd inning pushed the lead to 3-0.  Chapman scored all 6 runs in the first three innnings.  McMurry could not catch up and lost 6-3.

In Game #3, uinearned runs at the end of the game allowed Chapman to come from behind to win 6-5.

The West Coast observers have posted that Chapman pitching and defense, both good and bad, is the key to their record.

Chapman lack of good defense cost them 2 losses by 1 run. Bad pitching cost them the other 2 losses. If they can make the necessary adjustments with 5 new defensive starters and a new DH, Chapman has proved in the past they are capable of turning things around. A good measure will be their game with Pomona on Friday.

[dp643]

UMHB finally snaps a 12 game losing streak (back to 2003) to Mississippi College and sweeps the double header today to take 2 of 3 from Mississippi College.

Mississippi College is really missing out on Daniel Cowart's production from last year. I dont know whats wrong with him but coach Owens had a quick leash on him after he hit two batters in the 7th when the score was 4-4.

Glad to see UMHB finally win a few up in Clinton!

[Just_Some_Guy]

Whats going on with Mississippi College, TLU, Mcmurry, UMHB?

Orosey hasnt pitched but one inning. Any news there?

Is the ASC west way down this year?

TLU, McMurry and UMHB are all young teams.

TLU is bringing back about half their line-up & of those 5-6 only 2 were everyday starters. And Orosey is the only rotation guy back. (I believe he tweaked something in his first start of the season*.)

McM brought back a little bit more than TLU in their lineup, but both De Leon and Dibiasi are off to slow starts after being two of their better hitters last year. They lost their #1 & #2.

UMHB  might've lost more than any of the others you've mentioned at the plate. Villegas was a top 3 hitter in the ASC, and White was really a catalyst at the top of their lineup. They return about 3 consistent starters. They also lost their #1, but they've never been great on the mound anyway.

Miss lost some key sticks like Bell, Herrin, and Walls, but they seem to be filling the pipeline relatively well all things considered. They'll definitely miss a workhorse like Seaman on the mound, and Ferris wasn't bad either. Craig Mackay was pretty average last year, but he's started off well thus far. They'll need Cowart and Presscot to match last year's performance though - especially come tournament time when the depth of your staff is critical.

*I got no qualms about Burnett/Wallace bringing him back slowly though. Having watched the ASC tournament last year the kid was physically tired. They'll need him to get back to the tournament, but it might be nice to have less innings pitched on his arm when it rolls around.

I think the entire ASC has progressively gotten marginally weaker the last few years. I think more and more teams are reliant on 1-3 really talented players and there's a lot less depth to the rosters than their used to be. Is D3 losing guys to JUCOs? I don't know the answer.

JSG