BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Krakatoa]

Great performance by Oates against AU....and they still have Bronson to get through.

I see SW also took it to Millsaps in a big way.

[infielddad]

I am more than willing to show my bias for Brian Oates.
What a wonderful effort in a huge game to start this series.
Equally great to see the Trinity freshman starting to produce as the season progresses.
With Stosh Hoover and Evan Jones having carried the team offensively to allow the freshman to gain experience, this team can be very tough when it counts.
But, with all that said, tonight is about Brian Oates.  Terrific pitcher who has worked so very, very hard.  I sure hope this can continue for Brian from now to sometime in May.

[frank_ezelle]

I took photos at the Millsaps vs LaGrange game on February 8th and the game against the Ozarks on February 9th.  Since that time Millsaps has been on the road a lot.  When they have been in town, I've missed their games because I was working on photos for other sports.  Consequently, I had not seen Millsaps play a full baseball game in about 6 weeks until Friday afternoon.  What I saw today was rather stunning.  I don't believe I've ever seen a Millsaps baseball team look so dispirited and it was a far cry from the team that I saw during the opening weekend of the season.

LET ME STRESS THAT MAKING A JUDGEMENT BASED ON ONE GAME IS A RISKY AND OFTEN INACCURATE THING TO DO.  LET ME ALSO STRESS THAT I STILL HAVE FAITH IN THE TALENT OF THIS TEAM AND I SUPPORT THEM 100%.  I put that all in caps because during decades of coaching and years on this message board, I've learned that people take an honest observation as a negative attack.  In my honest opinion, something was wrong Friday that ran far deeper than Millsaps not being able to stop the Southwestern scoring or the Millsaps inability to put runs on the board.

I would not be surprised if I'm 100% wrong, but Friday afternoon Milllsaps looked like a team that wasn't having fun.  They looked like a team that had lost their passion.  To be honest, in many ways they didn't look like a team.  Maybe that's a little harsh, maybe not.  Sometimes things change gradually and it is hard to see the magnitude of the changes when you are close to the situation.  In my case, I've only seen the opening weekend and yesterday and seeing the full change all at once was eye opening.

If I had to guess (stressing once again that I would not be surprised if I'm 100% wrong), I would say that the natural disorder of this season has worn down the entire team from the coaches all the way down.  In 2007 there was a starting lineup set in stone that only changed because of injury.  In 2006 it was the same thing except for the catcher's position.  In those two seasons, the starters generally performed at a level where no one questioned their role in the starting lineup.  In 2008 it is the exact opposite with change being the norm instead of the exception.  The starting lineup has changed often, the batting order has changed often, and even now it doesn't seem like there is a clearcut group that has won the starting roles.

Most people on this message board have played and/or coached quite a bit of sports.  In my personal experience, I found:
1) It was easier to cheer for my teammates when it was obvious that they should be starting over me (which was quite often the case).  When I thought I had a shot at the starting position, it was much more difficult to encourage my teammates to play well, knowing that their playing well would keep me on the bench.
2)  When I did start, it was much easier to play well when I didn't feel like my starting position was in jepardy if I played a poor couple of games.
3)  When I coached, I found that team unity was much better when I didn't have a bench full of guys who thought they should be starters and I was coaching sports like basketball and soccer where the subs got to play.  In baseball, the starters usually get all the innings.

I'm not sure if anyone will take the time to read such a long post.  Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill.  Maybe Saturday I'll see a Millsaps team that is alive, passionate, and dominating.  I just know that I saw the exact opposite Friday afternoon and I can only guess at the reasons.  IF the deep down root of the problem comes back to lack of team unity and lack of support for teammates, then it will be a very long second half of the season.  That's just one person's opinion based on limited input, but what I saw yesterday was a far cry from typical Millsaps baseball.

[historymajor]

A little stressed out, aren't you, Frank?  I am confident that Coach Page will get the Majors back on track and will be there to make the SCAC playoffs interesting as usual!

Saturday and Sunday's weekend series between AC and TU WILL be available (thanks to extra help provided by the AC IT department)

VIDEO/AUDIO: https://secure.stretchinternet.com/wlive.php?user=trinity&id=33577
Audio only (hi-speed): http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu-sports-ch1-96kb.m3u
Audio only (dial-up): http://stream.krtu.org:9000/krtu_sports-ch1-36kb.m3u

[infielddad]

Looks like Trinity freshman are growing up.
Today, Evan Bronson gave up 6 hits in the opener and Trinity beat Austin College 12-0.  Kyle Felix, a freshman, had a big day with a homer and 4 RBI's to back Bronson.
In the nightcap, Trinity pounded out 20 hits in a 14-6 win.
Evan Jones had another huge night going 3-5 with 3 RBI's.
Kevin Calbick had 4 hits, 3 RBI's and 2 runs scored and Felix had another 4 RBI's.
Sometimes those early season 1 run losses like the ones against HSU and Concordia can define a season.
On the other hand, for some teams, it can motivate them.  When you combine that with leadership of the type that can come from Oates and Hoover, you can end up with a team playing  very good baseball when it counts.
Let's hope it  continues.

[frank_ezelle]

A little stressed out, aren't you, Frank?  I am confident that Coach Page will get the Majors back on track and will be there to make the SCAC playoffs interesting as usual!

I have learned in both football and basketball this season that you have to bend over backwards on this message board to clarify some posts.  Even then, there are people who will lift half a sentence and claim that I was saying the exact opposite of what I wrote.

With Millsaps this year, when things are clicking the team is good and at times it is very good.  That is obvious by their record and by some of the teams they have beaten.  Are they as good as last year after losing 5 multi-year starters from the lineup?  Not yet and that's to be expected.  That's not a criticism of the current team, but an acknowledgement of the talent of those 5 key starters from last year's team (plus they lost Brent Buffa from the starting rotation).

Last year Millsaps had 10 guys who started at least 10 games and all of them had an OBP of .400 or higher and as a team Millsaps had an .447 OBP.  Based on the stats through Friday, this year only 4 of 9 guys with 10 starts have an OBP over .400 and the team has an overall .385 OBP.  I do believe that the current players are better hitters than what we are seeing, certainly better than being 10th out of 11 SCAC teams in batting average, and Millsaps will be very dangerous if the bats heat up at the right time.  We all know that hitting can be contagious and sometimes lack of hitting can be contagious.  I remember at the beginning of the season the players were talking about how well the team was hitting the ball in the preseason, so I have to believe the potential is there to hit well.

But lack of hitting is not what caught my attention Friday night.  During the game Friday I remembered something told to me a couple of years ago by the father of one of last year's non-starting seniors.  It was fairly obvious a couple of years ago that Taylor Jones was never going to be a starter for Millsaps, not with the guys in his class who were already starting ahead of him.  Prior to his junior season, Taylor's dad had a heart-to-heart talk with his son, wanting to be sure that Taylor wasn't sticking with the baseball team just to please his dad.  The gist of Taylor's reply was that he knew he would never start, but this was his group of close friends at Millsaps and he wanted to be a part of the team and he wanted to do whatever he could to help the team win. 

Taylor's attitude personified what I've seen from the entire Millsaps team over the last few seasons and it seemed to be missing Friday night.  I was roving between tennis, softball and baseball Saturday so I didn't see all of the baseball, but I thought the team showed a lot more life and unity on Saturday.  I know this is much easier said than done, but I believe that if the Millsaps players compete like heck for the starting jobs during practice and then 100% support whoever happens to start on game day, then Millsaps has just as good a shot as any to win the SCAC Championship and return to the NCAA Tournament.  Unlike the hitting fundamentals, I'm not sure if the coaches have much control over that.

[historymajor]

Frank, I'm excited to be watching Trinity's pitching solidify and the young position players step up.  If this keeps up, Millington should be a real showcase of great talent.  Bring your JUGS guns!

[historymajor]

What a crazy weekend!  Trinity dominates AC 4-0 (40-8 runs) and SW takes 3 of 4 from Millsaps (27-17 runs).  I guess that's why they play the games!

[Krakatoa]

One would hope that Trinity might now crack the Top 25........or at least get some votes which, shockingly, they have not received at all the past couple weeks.

[frank_ezelle]

I have to give a lot of credit to the Southwestern pitchers this weekend.  Millsaps got some good pitching performances during the series but inconsistent hitting and some fielding lapses were a problem all weekend.

Despite losing 2 of 3 on Saturday and Sunday, I actually came away from those two days feeling much more positive about the team.  It might turn out that Friday's game was that dark hour before the dawn, that low point that you have to hit before things start to come together.  The team definitely looked like a unified team this afternoon and they just didn't get the hitting they needed to win the game.  At the start of the weekend, I was far more concerned about the unity than the hitting.

For Millsaps, the task is now very simple.  There will be no at large berth to the NCAA and a West division championship is virtually impossible.  That makes the Hendrix series next week a must win situation in order to get into the crossover games.  If they get over that hurdle, then they know that all teams will start back at 0-0 when SCAC Divisional play begins.  I believe Austin was a 17-22 team heading into the Divisional weekend last year, and they finished the year as the SCAC Champions.  Millsaps certainly has the potential to follow that same path this season. 

I saw some things Sunday that make me think Millsaps will rebound in April.  That doesn't guarantee an SCAC Championship, but I think they'll get back in the mix as one of the teams with a decent shot at the crown.  It looks like April will be a very interesting month for SCAC baseball.

[infielddad]

Frank,
A few observations:
Jim Page is a very, very good college coach.  He is very much toward the top of the coaches in college baseball, from DI to DIII.
He is also a great motivator.  His players play very hard. They are tenacious and reflect his demeanor in almost every game.
With that said, it is very hard to do what Austin College did last year.
Playing well and at a high level heading into post-season play in the SCAC's usually determines the outcome, now that Jim Mallon isn't coaching.  That guy was amazing in getting his team to peak.  In my view,  there is much more talent in the SCAC now and it just seems unusual that over 3 game series, talent will not be the deciding factor, especially when the talent includes pitching and  hitting.
But, the games are still won on the field and post season berths can create tension that is hard to measure.
To me, the real factor being overlooked is the coaching.  The SCAC has some veteran coaches who do their job very well.  They know how to prepare their kids and they know how to prepare for the opponents. 
Coaching as much as players could make some differences as this season concludes.  Proven results of the type achieved by Coach Page and Coach Scannell still makes a difference.

[frank_ezelle]

infielddad, those are some very good points.  Admittedly it is very hard to do what Austin did last year, but I think we all know that it is just flat out hard to win the SCAC Championship period.  It is actually harder now than it was in the days before the divisional weekend.

Look at last year.  Austin used the pitching of Chermak, Rushing, Stevens and some relief from Frost in winning 2 out of 3 from Centre.  Then those same guys got a week of rest before coming back to do the same thing in 3 straight wins at the SCAC Tournament.  Did they have anyone who could have pitched a 4th game in a weekend--we don't know because unlike previous SCAC Tournaments, they didn't have to play a 4th game in order to win the SCAC.

Compare that to the 2006 SCAC Tournament.  Millsaps beat DePauw on Thursday, Rhodes on Friday, lost to Trinity on Saturday, beat DePauw that evening, then beat Trinity on Sunday and the league declared co-champions because of the time factor and the brutal weather.  Very few teams had the pitching to get through such a tournament, even if they stayed in the winner's bracket and only had to play 4 games.  With the new setup, a team with 2 good starters and some timely hitting is a threat to win the whole thing, and a lot of SCAC teams could fall into that category. 

The bottom line is that talent does win a baseball series, but talent becomes less of a factor as the series gets shorter.  Anything can happen in a 3 game series as we saw last year.  Trinity came into the crossover with a losing record, got 10-run ruled by Rhodes in game one, then stunned Rhodes with a 9-0 win in game 2, before losing a close 5-2 game in the finals.  Austin had to go three games to beat a woeful Centre team.  DePauw lost two 1-run games to Southwestern and Millsaps avoided a third game by scoring in the top of the 9th to take an 8-7 victory over a 10-32 Oglethorpe team.  If a team gets to divisional play, then they have a decent shot to get to the SCAC Tournament.  If they get to the SCAC Tournament, then they have a decent shot to get hot and win the whole thing.  Last year that was bad news for Millsaps and this year it should provide extra motivation for working hard to peak at the right time.

[Lou_Brown]

Anything can happen in the Divisional Playoff and SCAC Champsionships...you just have to get there and play ball. With no home field advantage and really no true advantage to being a higher seed everyone has a shot of winning the title. I think that's why the two weekends make it so interesting. You are only going to see the best pitchers on each team. Yes, some teams (Trinity) have better top pitchers but I'll tell you the kid from Sewanee (Bartelski) sp? can go out and beat anyone in the SCAC. If Sewanee can get into the tournament  he can win his game and hope for someone else to step up...bang into the SCAC Championship Round at a current record of 4-17.  That's why you play the games...

[infielddad]

Little doubt that you have to play the games.
But when they are played, history back to 2002 says one of the teams with the best regular season results almost always win.
When looked at in that context, what Austin College did last season is very much the singular exception.  Of course, it is that exception that gives every team hope and optimism the same can happen this year.
But, usually, it doesn't.

[frank_ezelle]

Little doubt that you have to play the games.
But when they are played, history back to 2002 says one of the teams with the best regular season results almost always win.
When looked at in that context, what Austin College did last season is very much the singular exception.  Of course, it is that exception that gives every team hope and optimism the same can happen this year.
But, usually, it doesn't.

That's exactly my point about how the new system opens up championship possibilities for more teams.  Prior to 2007, you had to win 4 minimum in a weekend to win the title and it was going to be one of the stronger teams that had the pitching or the hitting to do that.  Austin College winning over Rhodes and Millsaps last year, teams with much better records, was made easier by the breakdown of the SCAC Tournament from one big weekend to two more manageable weekends.

Don't get me wrong on this--at the moment Trinity would be one of the big favorites to win the SCAC crown, just as Rhodes and Millsaps were favorites last year.  I just think that Trinity would be more of a favorite if the SCAC still was using the old format.