BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ralph Turner]

Speaking of control problems, and having cruised around many, many college ball team stats pages (all levels), I have to say I'm somewhat surprised by the failry high percentage of pitchers who would appear to have serious control issues (# walks very near # IP).  Being that I'm sure the picthing coaches have been working with the pitchers all fall and winter, what can we attribute wildness to when the season rolls around?  Shouldn't all pitchers have found reasonable control after five and a half months of preparation?  I know the answer is 'not necessarily', but wanted to get some discussion going on this as, obviously, 'depth of staff' has almost everything to do with reasonable control from 5-7 pitchers.......

I wonder if the problem in D3 in Texas is that the "better" pitchers have been taken by the scholarship Juco programs.  What we have a more offensively capable players who can pitch.

Just a thought...

[frank_ezelle]

Another thought is the metal bats in college ball.  Knowing that a mistake that gets too much of the plate is going to get clobbered, maybe pitchers err on the side of caution and they pitch a little wider, higher and lower than they would if the hitters were up there with wood bats.

That's just a theory and I would combine it with Ralph's theory.  In high school there are a lot of kids who can just throw the ball past most pitchers.  I'm sure there are many pitchers in the SCAC who fell in that category.  However, only the top high school pitchers have enough stuff to just throw it by college hitters and those are the kids who get some sort of scholarship.  That leaves D3 with a lot of guys who have to develop more control than their high school years because the D3 hitters can hit the stuff that most high schoolers couldn't.

That's just my guess and I'd be interested to hear what others had to say.  I think Millsaps received 10 walks in their game against LaGrange last weekend and I see plenty of games where they get numbers that high.  I doubt that these pitchers issued so many walks during their high school years.

[Lou_Brown]

"I think Millsaps received 10 walks in their game against LaGrange last weekend and I see plenty of games where they get numbers that high.  I doubt that these pitchers issued so many walks during their high school years."

Or even against other D3 teams!

I agree with the statement about high school pitchers. They don't learn to actually pitch. Also, most HS teams use 3 pitchers a season almost exclusively, sometimes 4. Roles are not developed, learning how to warm up in the pen before entering is not properly exlplained. How many times do you see a guy head to the pen during an inning and he throws from the windup?!?!? If you are going to enter the game during an inning 9 times out 10 its going to be from the stretch. Coaches spend so much time on fielding groundballs, taking bating practice and working on 1st and 3rds they forget about a simply thing of just warming up.

[jekelish]

Austin College swept their double header with NAIA William Jewell last night...in the first game, speaking of developing more pitchers, 1st Team All-SCAC 2nd baseman Matt Finke threw a complete game in a 3-2 win.  I wasn't at the game, but very surprised to hear that one.

Of note - last year William Jewell absolutely crushed AC in a pair of jayvee games, so the two wins this year might be an indication of the continued improvement for the 'Roos.

Chermak still has not thrown yet this year.  My guess is he'll get his first action this weekend vs. Ozarks...

[frank_ezelle]

I also see that Piedmont squeeked by Oglethorpe 5-4 yesterday.  Oglethorpe takes to the field this afternoon at 2:00 Eastern against Reinhardt.

[FlightofthePetrel]

Squeak by is right.  Piedmont scored 3 runs in the 7th to take a 5-4 lead.  Here's a breakdown of how that happened (to the best of my memory).  First 2 batters a retired... 3rd guy battles and gets a hit then steals second.  Next guy walks... next guy gets hit by pitch (starting pitcher removed) Walk in a run and then a double.

Oglethorpe came up in the 9th and freshman Cliff Cross lined a pitch that hit off the yellow on the wall for a double (6 more inches and we would have gone extras).  3rd string catcher Lofhlm pinch runs  .  Pinch hitter comes up and lines a ball that hits off the second basemen and goes into shallow right field... Lofhlm is sent home and is out by 5 or 6 steps...  COULD have been 1st and 3rd no outs... instead we lose 5-4.  TOUGH, TOUGH game for OU to lose as they were up for the majority of the game. 

Hopefully these young Petrels will rebound against a tough Rhinehardt team this afternoon.

[BATR441]

Bad loss for the starting pitcher he threw a good game and deserved a win, maybe next time.

[BATR441]

Well Im new too posting to this board but have been reading it for a while now, and the few previous post's regarding pitching control has caught my attention, having gone to the 1st 4 games of OU ( first real D-III experience)  the thing that I have seen is that the pitchers know full well that the hitters can hit and unless your popping 90+( havent seen any of that as of yet) then you arent going to throw it by them, so they tend to throw away from contact, I know it is early in the season but I would think there would be more confidence in the defense, and of course I could be wrong about my entire theory.

By the way this is a really great board that has enlightened me considerably about the SCAC and the teams that play within.

[Leadoff Man]

quick scheduling note...

Trinity games against Concordia this weekend have been moved due to severe weather.  They are planning on 2 games in Austin Sunday and then a single game in San Antonio Monday.  I don't know the times yet...

[consultant]

Millsaps knocks off # 5 Emory 5-1 this afternoon in Atlanta.  The Majors improve to 5-0 on the year and are off to a great start!  Millsaps and Emory will play tomorrow afternoon to conclude a two-game set.

[frank_ezelle]

Millsaps has now won 6 of 7 games with Emory going back to the 2005 season.  Freshman Aaron Williams followed up his 5 inning, 1 hit performance against #28 Rhodes with a 7 inning, 2 hit performance against #5 Emory. 

Millsaps bunched 4 hits in the top of the 2nd, including 3 doubles, to score 4 runs.  The two teams are scheduled to play at 1:00 Eastern tomorrow but the game might be moved up to noon Eastern because of weather.  Here's a link to the live stats:

http://www.go.emory.edu/LiveStats/Base/xlive.htm

[frank_ezelle]

The Millsaps game with Emory this Sunday has been moved up to 10:30 ET because of weather conditions.  The game will be broadcast by Millsaps. 

Listen live link:  http://www.espnradio1240.com/

[Lou_Brown]

Very impressed with #21 Aaron Williams from Millsaps..he got stronger as the game went along. Emory looks like a completely different team then last year. When you lose your top two all everything pitchers that will do it. Just didn't have that same Emory arrogance to them...

[frank_ezelle]

Emory beats Millsaps 4-1 this afternoon.  The Millsaps run was the only earned run of the game as Emory used several Millsaps errors to get 4 unearned runs.  It was a pitcher's weekend in Atlanta with the two teams combining for 6 runs and 10 hits yesterday and 5 runs and 11 hits today.

Travis Bogue had his second impressive outing of the season despite picking up the loss, going 6.1 innings and giving up 5 hits and 3 unearned runs.  Getting a split on your first road trip of the season against the preseason #5 team isn't bad and I'm sure that facing that level of pitching this early in the season will help both teams.

[frank_ezelle]

Rhodes won their home opener Saturday with a 4-3 win over Huntingdon.  Holt got the win and Flanagan got the save.  The two teams play again today.

Story for yesterday:  http://www.rhodeslynx.com/news/baseball/2008/2/16/Lynx%20Win%20Home%20Opener.asp

Live links for 1:00 game Sunday:  http://livestats.internetconsult.com/rhodes/baseball/