BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

frank_ezelle · February 02, 2008, 06:47:03 PM

Dallas takes both ends of the DH with Hendrix, winning the second game 6-1. The teams are schedule to play again tomorrow (single game I think).

Lou_Brown · February 03, 2008, 11:12:26 PM

Looks like a typical SCAC Sunday game as Hendrix lost its third game to Dallas...18-12. Hendrix held a 12-8 lead and gave up 10 runs in the bottom of the 8th. Both teams combined for 26 hits, 6 errors and 30 runs...not to mention the pitchers combined to walk 18 guys!

Maybe the schedule is incorrect but it looks like Hendrix plays a lot of February games!

ffb · February 04, 2008, 07:58:23 AM

Any other scrimmages this past weekend?
Scores, leading hitters, pitching? Updates out there?
Thanks

frank_ezelle · February 04, 2008, 03:49:04 PM

I saw a few innings of a Millsaps team scrimmage on Saturday. In the scrimmage that had Hunter Abrams at short instead of third and Hunter Owens was in center instead of right. I have no idea if that's the way things will start out this year--I guess we'll see on Friday.

Hunter Owen hit a long home run--no big surprise there--and I've heard that the hitting looks pretty good at the moment. Millsaps opens Friday with LaGrange and it looks like all the games this weekend will be carried on the internet. That would be:

LaGrange--Friday--3 PM (Central)
U. of the Ozarks--Saturday--11:30 AM
Rhodes--Sunday--2:30 PM

The first coach's show is in about 2 hours, starting at 5 pm Central time today. Click on the "Listen Live" at the following link to hear the games and the coach's show:

http://www.espnradio1240.com/

Lou_Brown · February 04, 2008, 03:57:05 PM

I wonder what it must feel like to face those Millsaps hitters in intrasquad games?? I mean, I know other pitchers hate facing them but if your trying to win a spot in the rotation and you have to face Owens and Co. in practice...geez.

frank_ezelle · February 04, 2008, 06:51:16 PM

Lou, I'm listening to the Coach's show and they have been interviewing the players. A couple of the older players said they have never seen a Millsaps team hitting the ball so hard in spring practice. Considering some of the lineups that they have had over the last few years, that's saying a lot. It sounds like Millsaps might have a lineup that isn't quite as fast but has more power than the team from the past couple of years.

I should get out to the Friday and Saturday game this weekend, but I'll be taking photos of basketball when Millsaps and Rhodes play on Sunday--that will be the third game of the weekend for each team and I'll be interested in the pitching assignments for that game.

Lou_Brown · February 04, 2008, 09:49:39 PM

Wow, that is really saying something considering the offensive output of the last few years. I do believe they will really miss Crawford and Hadley setting the table for the big guys. And I'm not sure if Abrams can give them what Carter did defensively and offensively. He has some pretty big shoes to fill.

I wonder how Coach Page would pitch his own guys??

I always said intrasquad games keep coaches up at night. If the offensive pounds the ball around you worry about your pitching staff, if your pitching staff dominates you worry about your hitters. No win situation.

frank_ezelle · February 05, 2008, 10:12:28 PM

A D3Baseball.com story that should make Rhodes fans happy:

http://www.d3baseball.com/notables/2008/02/05/All+Rhodes+lead+to+Appleton

FlightofthePetrel · February 06, 2008, 10:25:40 PM

Oglethorpe gets pounded against Lagrange in their season opener 13-2. The fielding woes continue as OU commited 6 errors... could be another long season but I bet these youngins right the ship rather quickly.

Lou_Brown · February 07, 2008, 12:10:12 AM

A very ugly loss for the Petrels tonight. 6 errors, 10+ walks and they could only muster 6 hits.....I know this team is young but they looked bad on defense, and on the mound. LaGrange has a very solid lineup 1-9 but I wasn't overly impressed with the pitching.

frank_ezelle · February 07, 2008, 08:39:18 AM

Hendrix also lost since the weekend, falling to U. of the Ozarks 15-7, which puts Hendrix at 0-4 and the SCAC has now opened up with an 0-5 record.

It's interesting that LaGrange and Ozarks will be back in action against SCAC teams this Friday at Millsaps. Rhodes takes on the Ozarks at 11:30 Central followed by Millsaps and LaGrange at 3:00. Rhodes and Millsaps will swap opponents for a single game on Saturday and then Rhodes and Millsaps will meet on Sunday.

I also see that Hendrix will probably move to 0-7 this weekend as they take on Texas-Tyler for 3 games. Texas-Tyler lost one game in 2007, their last year of probation. I'm not picking on Hendrix here, but this gets back to the Hendrix record makes a difference to Millsaps, Trinity and the other SCAC teams on their schedule because it can get to the point where winning over a team pulls down your rankings in the regional. I would love to see Hendrix win all three games this weekend, but it doesn't seem real likely.

infielddad · February 07, 2008, 11:44:29 AM

Quote from: Lou_Brown on February 04, 2008, 09:49:39 PM
Wow, that is really saying something considering the offensive output of the last few years. I do believe they will really miss Crawford and Hadley setting the table for the big guys. And I'm not sure if Abrams can give them what Carter did defensively and offensively. He has some pretty big shoes to fill.

I wonder how Coach Page would pitch his own guys??

I always said intrasquad games keep coaches up at night. If the offensive pounds the ball around you worry about your pitching staff, if your pitching staff dominates you worry about your hitters. No win situation.

Lou, because Coach Page does such a great job with his hitters, it seems like it doesn't matter who they had last year. But he was spoiled in a way having Crawford and Hadley at the top of his order for 4 years.
One of the better pitchers in the SCAC over the past 10 years described pitching against Millsaps as pitching against a lot of DI hitters, many of whom happened to be playing at the DIII level.
Because most of the Millsaps guys are right on top of plate and aggressive, it takes a different approach, and perhaps talent level, to have some consistency to get them out.
The most successful I saw over the period from 2001 to 2004 was a pitcher who threw 86-87, stayed inside on their hands and down, threw a hard slider and a very good change. Since his ERA was around 1.09, one year, he got everyone out. But he proved you have to pitch inside and down to keep them from getting extended and to keep them from dominating the outside part of the plate. Being able to throw a hard slider away, once you got them looking inside was also important. Having the 3rd pitch change took away some of their aggressiveness.
You also needed to have terrific control to keep hitters like Crawford, and before him K.K. Aldridge off base and the pitcher out of the stretch.
Other than things like that, you hope your offense brought their hitting shoes.

Just_Some_Guy · February 07, 2008, 02:25:30 PM

Any predictions for the Trinity/Concordia series this weekend?

JSG

infielddad · February 07, 2008, 02:30:41 PM

JSG,
Trinity-Concordia is the following weekend, 2/15-2/17.
Either that or my son is travelling to Tx. for nothing?

The fact Concordia will have played 5 games should provide them a significant edge.
The major test for Trinity will be run production. They graduated a number of players and last year they just didn't hit and score runs as they had in the past.
Seems like Coach Scannell must have a number of younger position players who will be challenged from the very first inning. From the Fall World Series summary on their website, they are loaded with pitching, both in terms of quality and depth. Runs will be the issue.

Just_Some_Guy · February 07, 2008, 03:07:57 PM

Quote from: infielddad on February 07, 2008, 02:30:41 PM
JSG,
Trinity-Concordia is the following weekend, 2/15-2/17.
Either that or my son is travelling to Tx. for nothing?
The fact Concordia will have played 5 games should provide them a significant edge.
The major test for Trinity will be run production. They graduated a number of players and last year they just didn't hit and score runs as they had in the past.
Seems like Coach Scannell must have a number of younger position players who will be challenged from the very first inning. From the Fall World Series summary on their website, they are loaded with pitching, both in terms of quality and depth. Runs will be the issue.

My mistake on the dates.

Yeah, I think runs will definitely be an issue for TU. Also, Hoover is pretty solid defensively, but I'm interested to see what else they have in terms of infield defense. I know last year a lot of those really good pitchers didn't necessarily live up to expectations. I had a couple of people mention
that they got discouraged when there were errors behind them and stopped throwing ground balls, worked too deep, and as a result ended up
having control problems, etc. last year. I don't know if that's evident in the stats or not.

Thanks for the correction on the games.

JSG