BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

frank_ezelle · January 18, 2008, 08:09:31 AM

Thanks for that info, Lou.

Most of you have probably looked at the D3Baseball pre-season All-American team so you know the SCAC is well represented with 3 players. Hunter Owen of Millsaps was picked to repeat on the 1st team, Robert Flanagan of Rhodes was named to the 2nd team, and Daniel Vanaman of Rhodes was one of eight players named as honorable mention.

Three SCAC players out of 35 who made the list is a pretty good number. As mentioned in an earlier post, Rhodes and Millsaps are playing in less than a month with a game scheduled for 2:30, February 10th, at Millsaps.

ffb · January 18, 2008, 08:42:30 AM

If BSC's games count for the season and just say they do better than a team that gets to go to the tournament, wouldn't that be a disappointment to all the guys that worked hard at BSC? I understand that they are the new team that moved from D1 to D3 , but none of the players are from the D1 team. It just seems it would be disappointing to know that you are better than a team going to conference tournament. First , I realize they have to prove that, and I think they will looking at the talent and reading all the bios. Hopefully, they will play hard knowing this.

Lou_Brown · January 18, 2008, 11:37:53 AM

The players and coaches knew going into the next few seasons that they would not be eligible for the SCAC Tourney or NCAA play. Hopefully the players were well aware of this...as I'm sure they are. But if you knew ahead of time, I don't think you should be dissapointed. Nobody forced those kids to attend BSC. If they were interested in Championships, then they would have not picked BSC in the first place. I think it is commendable that they choose a fantastic school and are playing the game for the reasons they should be playing the game and will receive a degree from a fine institution.

I do think they will be a force to reckoned with a few years time...

frank_ezelle · January 25, 2008, 12:09:19 PM

No SCAC teams in the D3Baseball preseason Top 25 but Rhodes is close at #28. Millsaps is the only other SCAC team with votes, getting enough to come in at #40.

Any news from around the SCAC? I've been busy with basketball photos so I haven't seen the Millsaps team practice. It has been cold here (I expect no sympathy from the schools north of Jackson) so I'm sure that has hampered practices to some degree. The first game is two weeks from today and the matchup with Rhodes is just 16 days away.

I have heard that a freshman should be in the weekend rotation--he looked very good when I saw him pitch a few innings in the fall. I don't know much about the other newcomers. One "newcomer" is a player making a comeback. Ronnie Wheat, better known from his linebacking play in the fall, is back out for baseball. I don't know how he is doing but I was told that he is very fast--it brought up visions of Ronnie being used as a pinch runner and I pity the fool who is near second base on a close play if Ronnie is the runner.

While I miss the seniors from last year, I'm excited about seeing a lot of new faces in the mix this year. I hope those new faces include a lot of young stars because Millsaps will be losing another talented senior class at the end of the 2008 season.

Last thing--Mike Nelson, are you out there? I've checked your blog to see if their are any preseason reports on Rhodes but haven't seen anything unless you started in the last day or two. You've got a book to write--get that blog up and going so we can see how the SCAC favorites are doing.

SamuelAdams · January 25, 2008, 03:29:30 PM

I know this might upset Frank, but I feel Rhodes is the team to beat in the SCAC. A lot can be said of their top two on their pitching staff, and while I am not sure who they lost offensively, those two arms can carry them a long way this season.

Flanagan only lost 1 game last season, and Holt had a strong 9 wins himself with a 3 ERA.

Look forward to seeing how they play this season...

Ralph Turner · January 27, 2008, 03:29:36 PM

Op-Ed in the Austin American-Statesman online edition concerning the D-III-D-IV issue.

infielddad · January 27, 2008, 09:54:26 PM

Frank, your last sentence/comment is totally unnecessary. Sems like it is directed to one pitcher who happens to be a wonderful young man, with tons of talent. This isn't what I would expect from nearly everything else you have posted.

There isn't any reason for your jab. It takes away from all the constructive comments you have provided to make this a very informative section.

Leadoff Man · January 28, 2008, 08:26:12 AM

I don't think that Frank was intentionally meaning to jab at Trinity for their past injury issues, it is true that the team has seemed to have troublesome injury problems the past couple of years.

With that said, the update on Trinity is good. The team has been practicing extremely hard since they returned from winter break and everyone seems optimistic about the season and a chance for a fresh strat. Coach Scannell will definitely lead them in the right direction and then it will be interesting to see how the team plays together, with so many new faces on the roster. The pitching staff appears healthy and should be the team's strength this year. Ryan Hopkins is the only member of the staff gone from a year ago, and if Brian Oates can come back for a strong senior campaign then the pitching staff will have a very good chance to lead the program back to its dominant form.

The lineup should look alot different from last years, with 5 seniors departed. The whole outfield and third base will be occupied by fresh talent eager to experience SCAC competition.

I can't wait for the season to start and see how it all unfolds... Any news from other West teams?

infielddad · January 28, 2008, 07:00:36 PM

Frank,
I don't have any problem with the comments and opinions you have expressed on the Trinity program and it's players. I think you try very hard to be fair and that comes across in your posts.
This one just seemed out of character, to me. Maybe it is because I know how hard one of those pitchers has worked and how much I am cheering for him that impacted the context of the comment.
During the time my son played for Trinity, Millsaps three main pitchers had very serious arm problems. Even though the teams play each other at a very high level of intensity, there wasn't any one from Trinity who didn't want those guys to get well and who cheered when each did.
Don't stop posting because of me. Your comments are almost always terrific and on message board you certainly aren't going to please everyone all the time.

frank_ezelle · January 30, 2008, 08:58:06 AM

infieldddad--You'll see that I've gone back and deleted the post that somehow offended you. How it offended you is still a mystery to me, especially since you've seen enough of my posts to know that I would never take a jab at an SCAC athlete, such as gloating about their multiple injuries. Like I said, I'll refrain from anything Trinity from now on, probably on all boards, just to make sure there isn't a problem in the future.

Lou_Brown · January 30, 2008, 06:43:35 PM

Frank I'm with you...let's get back to some baseball. While we wait for the SCAC to release the predicted order of finish, here is my $.02.

East

Rhodes - Is it their year? Flanagan and Co. have been waiting for this year!
Depauw - They always seem to field the same team...Good pitching, good coaching, timely hitting.
Oglethorpe - Young and talented, very tough nc schedule...#5 Emory four times...
Centre - Lost Moore to graduation and lots of innings on the hill.
Sewanee - Need pitching and whole lot of everything
BSC - Talented group of freshmen.

WEST

Trinity - Top of line pitching (and healthy), new faces in the field
Millsaps - Underrated pitching staff, must replace key offensive guys
Austin - Return top hitters and arms from title squad in 07
Southwestern - Need to replace top hitter and pitcher
Hendrix - Word is... brought in some key transfers to put around surprising 07 group

I like Rhodes to take home the crown in 2008. Once again the West looks stronger than the East from top to bottom.

frank_ezelle · January 31, 2008, 08:28:13 AM

Lou, it's hard to find much to disagree with in your list. I think the West will be better than the East in general, but Rhodes has to be considered the top team in the SCAC until someone proves otherwise.

The West will be strong but every team has so many question marks. Since these are all strong programs, it is safe to assume that these question marks will be filled by solid replacements. It will be a most interesting year.

I watched Millsaps practice yesterday. Can't tell much from a practice except that they have plenty of players and they were working hard. Last year the weather was great in preseason, this year the weather has been poor. Ready or not, the opening game is scheduled for one week from tomorrow.

frank_ezelle · February 01, 2008, 08:11:48 AM

Baseball pre-season picks are out. Rhodes is the overwhelming overall pick and Eastern pick. Trinity gets the top spot in the West. See the results at:

http://www.scac-online.org/

frank_ezelle · February 02, 2008, 09:45:48 AM

It's hard to believe that the SCAC is opening up today, but Hendrix has a DH in Dallas and another game tomorrow. The scoreboard section of the SCAC page still has the 2007 games so I don't know if there are any other games this weekend. Millsaps opens next Friday (2/8).

frank_ezelle · February 02, 2008, 05:51:40 PM

SCAC gets off to an 0-1 start as Hendrix falls to U. of Dallas 3-0 in the opener. In the past I wouldn't really care, but now I realize that a Hendrix loss is bad for all the teams in the SCAC West. Maybe they can come back and win the remaining two games in the series.

Box score: http://www.udallas.edu/athletics/baseball/schedstats.cfm