BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[frank_ezelle]

Maybe I wrote these down wrong,  but wasn't Trinity 6-7 against the ASC last year:  1-2 vs Concordia, 0-3 vs UMHB, 0-1 vs Hardin-Simmons, 1-0 vs Howard Payne, 2-0 vs Schriner, 1-1 vs TX Lutherian, and 1-0 vs McMurry.

But that would just be part of the story.  The problem SCAC teams had last year is that they were often pitching the bottom half of the rotation in non-SCAC games to either save or develop pitchers for the 4-game weekends or the top guys were on a pitch count in mid-week games.  That certainly was true for Millsaps and I suspect it was true for every SCAC team.  Considering that and the closeness of every ASC win over Trinity (Concordia won by 7-5 and 6-4; UMHB won by 6-5, 5-3, and 10-9; Hardin-Simmons won by 3-2, TX Lutherian won by 8-7--giving a run differential of 10 runs in these 7 victories), I don't read much in the Trinity record vs ASC teams.

More important would be the fact that when they went with their full staff on SCAC weekends, they were 12-4.  Also, they went 2-0 in the crossover playoff weekend and then they were able to win the SCAC Tournament.  But that was all against SCAC competition and some might think that's weak competiton.  Therefore, most important would be that when they had their full staff available, they made it to the West Regional finals and what kept them from the World Series was a narrow 10-9 loss to #1 Chapman and a just as narrow 4-3 loss to Chapman in the regional finals.

I just thought I point these things out to save the Trinity fans the trouble.

[Ralph Turner]

Maybe I wrote these down wrong,  but wasn't Trinity 6-7 against the ASC last year:  1-2 vs Concordia, 0-3 vs UMHB, 0-1 vs Hardin-Simmons, 1-0 vs Howard Payne, 2-0 vs Schriner, 1-1 vs TX Lutherian, and 1-0 vs McMurry.

But that would just be part of the story.  The problem SCAC teams had last year is that they were often pitching the bottom half of the rotation in non-SCAC games to either save or develop pitchers for the 4-game weekends or the top guys were on a pitch count in mid-week games.  That certainly was true for Millsaps and I suspect it was true for every SCAC team.  Considering that and the closeness of every ASC win over Trinity (Concordia won by 7-5 and 6-4; UMHB won by 6-5, 5-3, and 10-9; Hardin-Simmons won by 3-2, TX Lutherian won by 8-7--giving a run differential of 10 runs in these 7 victories), I don't read much in the Trinity record vs ASC teams.

More important would be the fact that when they went with their full staff on SCAC weekends, they were 12-4.  Also, they went 2-0 in the crossover playoff weekend and then they were able to win the SCAC Tournament.  But that was all against SCAC competition and some might think that's weak competiton.  Therefore, most important would be that when they had their full staff available, they made it to the West Regional finals and what kept them from the World Series was a narrow 10-9 loss to #1 Chapman and a just as narrow 4-3 loss to Chapman in the regional finals.

I just thought I point these things out to save the Trinity fans the trouble.

Boink!  Sorry for the imprecision.  TU was 3-6 versus the 4 ASC-West teams that made the ASC tourney.  (CTX, HSU, UMHB and McM).  A forward-looking coach knows that a win over Trinity might be a win over a regionally ranked opponent.  That is the way that I treat it!

But the ASC teams have the same problem that TU does.  We are in the middle of division play as well.  Those teams gain nothing by ruining their pitching staffs in a Trinity game on Wednesday and losing a divisional game on Saturday.

I think that we are saying the same thing and that you make the case for parity!

I know that games with TU, Southwestern and AC are always valuable games to win for ASC schools! 

(As for MissCollege and Millsaps or Hendrix and Ozarks, that is probably the same thing.)

[frank_ezelle]

You're right Ralph, we agree on the parity, etc, and there's no doubt that the ASC teams weren't using their full staff for those games as well.  I do think the move from 4 games in a weekend to either 2 or 3 games makes the SCAC teams tougher in mid-week.  Right now, the bigger problem for Coach Page has been finding enough work for his key pitchers, not trying to find pitchers for all the innings.

I want to go back and quickly address the issue of home and away games.  I'm going to have a few beers with friends at 5:30 so I had better post now instead of later.  Three SCAC teams have a 10 home and 10 away games, and there is a huge disparity in the home games between Trinity and Southwestern.  It seems like one of two things happened:  (1) Someone made a scheduling error and everyone decided to live with it; or (2) after the schedule was made, it had to be changed because some conflict came up.

I'm going to go Oliver Stone here and come up with a wild guess--and let me stress that I have no facts or private conversations to support this:

---What if all the teams did have 10 home and away games with the original schedule, and on this schedule Millsaps was playing 3 at Trinity and 2 at Southwestern, plus Trinity had the 3 home games with Southwestern.

---Then Trinity was offered the chance to play in the Notre Dame Tournament.  Well, they couldn't play 3 with Millsaps and play a night game on Saturday, so they asked to flip the home and away schedule with Millsaps. 

---That was fine with Coach Page if he could flip another series so Millsaps would still stay with 10 home, 10 away.

---For the other three teams, there wouldn't be a reason for them to switch with Millsaps because it would throw them off the 10 and 10 pattern.  With that being the case, maybe Trinity sweetened the pot by offering Southwestern the 3 games home series this year and again next year--and that's how Southwestern ended up with 12 home games this year.

Crazy? Maybe, but does anyone have a better theory?  How likely is it that the original schedule would have that inbalance and that it would not have been changed?  Somebody out there has to know the real story--log in and give us the scoop.

[etg]

(El Tea Gray--re: Frank's Schedule Theory)


Frank,
Are you sure that you didn't have those "few beers" at 4:30 this afternoon?

                                                       

d3baseball.com Poll week #1:

Millsaps #16  (11-1, wow!)
Trinity    #36  (even at 5-6, double wow?)

[tiger_fan2000]

You're right Ralph, we agree on the parity, etc, and there's no doubt that the ASC teams weren't using their full staff for those games as well.  I do think the move from 4 games in a weekend to either 2 or 3 games makes the SCAC teams tougher in mid-week.  Right now, the bigger problem for Coach Page has been finding enough work for his key pitchers, not trying to find pitchers for all the innings.

I want to go back and quickly address the issue of home and away games.  I'm going to have a few beers with friends at 5:30 so I had better post now instead of later.  Three SCAC teams have a 10 home and 10 away games, and there is a huge disparity in the home games between Trinity and Southwestern.  It seems like one of two things happened:  (1) Someone made a scheduling error and everyone decided to live with it; or (2) after the schedule was made, it had to be changed because some conflict came up.

I'm going to go Oliver Stone here and come up with a wild guess--and let me stress that I have no facts or private conversations to support this:

---What if all the teams did have 10 home and away games with the original schedule, and on this schedule Millsaps was playing 3 at Trinity and 2 at Southwestern, plus Trinity had the 3 home games with Southwestern.

---Then Trinity was offered the chance to play in the Notre Dame Tournament.  Well, they couldn't play 3 with Millsaps and play a night game on Saturday, so they asked to flip the home and away schedule with Millsaps. 

---That was fine with Coach Page if he could flip another series so Millsaps would still stay with 10 home, 10 away.

---For the other three teams, there wouldn't be a reason for them to switch with Millsaps because it would throw them off the 10 and 10 pattern.  With that being the case, maybe Trinity sweetened the pot by offering Southwestern the 3 games home series this year and again next year--and that's how Southwestern ended up with 12 home games this year.

Crazy? Maybe, but does anyone have a better theory?  How likely is it that the original schedule would have that inbalance and that it would not have been changed?  Somebody out there has to know the real story--log in and give us the scoop.

I dont know the reason why TU started with 8 home games, but I do know for a fact that it was scheduled that way before TU was asked to play in the Irish Classic. 

[Ralph Turner]

Here is the box score from last year's McMurry-Trinity game.

McM's starting pitcher was Cory Davis.  This was one of his 2 starts and 5 appearances last season.  (He pitched 14.2 innings with a 6.75 ERA.)  It looks like TU pitched by committee.  Those are definitely comparable challenges for both teams in their 3-game and 4-game divisional schedules.

http://athletics.mcm.edu/sports/baseball/2008/mcm-tu.htm

[frank_ezelle]

(El Tea Gray--re: Frank's Schedule Theory)


Frank,
Are you sure that you didn't have those "few beers" at 4:30 this afternoon?

                                                       

d3baseball.com Poll week #1:

Millsaps #16  (11-1, wow!)
Trinity    #36  (even at 5-6, double wow?)

That's pretty funny.  And lets all admit that Trinity getting votes at 5-6 is a head scratcher.

Now then, taking tiger_fan2000 at his word that Trinity was on an 8 home, 12 away alternating schedule before they were invited to the Irish Classic, can anyone give a good reason for this from either angle:  (1) Why would the league treat two teams different when they could have done a schedule that was equal, and (2) why would a Trinity accept such a schedule or do you think they were simply told "tough luck" by the league office?

[Ralph Turner]

(El Tea Gray--re: Frank's Schedule Theory)


Frank,
Are you sure that you didn't have those "few beers" at 4:30 this afternoon?

                                                       

d3baseball.com Poll week #1:

Millsaps #16  (11-1, wow!)
Trinity    #36  (even at 5-6, double wow?)

That's pretty funny.  And lets all admit that Trinity getting votes at 5-6 is a head scratcher.

Now then, taking tiger_fan2000 at his word that Trinity was on an 8 home, 12 away alternating schedule before they were invited to the Irish Classic, can anyone give a good reason for this from either angle:  (1) Why would the league treat two teams different when they could have done a schedule that was equal, and (2) why would a Trinity accept such a schedule or do you think they were simply told "tough luck" by the league office?

Trinity TX getting votes at 5-6?

The one last gasp hoping that the program ends up at 32-8.

[tiger_fan2000]

(El Tea Gray--re: Frank's Schedule Theory)


Frank,
Are you sure that you didn't have those "few beers" at 4:30 this afternoon?

                                                       

d3baseball.com Poll week #1:

Millsaps #16  (11-1, wow!)
Trinity    #36  (even at 5-6, double wow?)

That's pretty funny.  And lets all admit that Trinity getting votes at 5-6 is a head scratcher.

Now then, taking tiger_fan2000 at his word that Trinity was on an 8 home, 12 away alternating schedule before they were invited to the Irish Classic, can anyone give a good reason for this from either angle:  (1) Why would the league treat two teams different when they could have done a schedule that was equal, and (2) why would a Trinity accept such a schedule or do you think they were simply told "tough luck" by the league office?

Knowing and playing for Coach Scannell, I can guess that he looked at the schedule and thought, "Well, we have to win on the road in the tournament, so who cares we only have 8 home games."  He isnt one to sweat the small stuff.  Personally, I would have said something to someone and tried to get it fixed.  His only goal is to get the team ready to peak at the conf. tourney.  The tourney isnt at TU, neither is the regional, so he figures to let his team become very accustomed to playing on the road.  I think it goes back to the Notre Dame game and slating Bronson to pitch against Notre Dame, although Millsaps is in town.  He knows TU will need pitching besides Bronson to win a tournament, so lets go see what we have.

Again, just my thoughts......

[frank_ezelle]

Hmmm.  That last post left me at a loss for words and you all know the rarity of that.  You folks know Coach Scannell well and no one can argue with the success of the team, so I guess this is a method that works well for their program.

[tiger_fan2000]

Hmmm.  That last post left me at a loss for words and you all know the rarity of that.  You folks know Coach Scannell well and no one can argue with the success of the team, so I guess this is a method that works well for their program.

Coach Scannell has left numerous people at a loss words.......it is one of his gifts

[historymajor]

Ralph,,,  I can't think of anything to say.

[Lou_Brown]

I think I'll chime in on the Trinity topic:

First prioirty has to go to SCAC games, especially against your rival. I think the decision to pitch Bronosn vs. ND will depend on where they stand in the west heading into the weekend. But I don't know Coach Scannell, but obviously what he does in Texas has worked.

Last question: What does a win vs. ND really mean to a d3 program? I think a coach needs to answer this first. Would you rather have a win vs. ND and miss the SCAC tournament by 1 game or lose vs. ND and make the SCAC tournament by 1 game?

[tiger_fan2000]

I think I'll chime in on the Trinity topic:

First prioirty has to go to SCAC games, especially against your rival. I think the decision to pitch Bronosn vs. ND will depend on where they stand in the west heading into the weekend. But I don't know Coach Scannell, but obviously what he does in Texas has worked.

Last question: What does a win vs. ND really mean to a d3 program? I think a coach needs to answer this first. Would you rather have a win vs. ND and miss the SCAC tournament by 1 game or lose vs. ND and make the SCAC tournament by 1 game?

In X # of years, when Stosh Hoover is talking with his kids/grandkids about playing collegiate baseball......what story will he tell???

We got to play and beat Notre Dame......

or

We made the tournament by 1 game and then was promptly eliminated.......



I know, all it takes is getting into the tournament and catch fire and win it, then win a regional, etc.  If it comes down to Trinity missing the tournament by 1 game, then the chances of them winning the tournament are very slim.  That means that either the bats went flat or other starting pitching didnt emerge.  Either way, having it come down to one game isnt good and doesnt give them much of a chance to make it out of the conference tournament.  If that is the case, I think I would rather tell the first story above than the second.....

[frank_ezelle]

Okay, we've established the starting pitcher against Notre Dame and we've got Trinity as the winner--any word on the final score or is that something we going to have to wait on?

One thing we do know is that it's going to be a very interesting year and hopefully there'll be more who join in the chatter.  For example, it shouldn't be left to me to point out that LaGrange is now 7-4 with their losses coming from 4 SCAC teams--Millsaps, Rhodes, Sewanee, and Oglethorpe.  Is there any word on how things look at DePauw, Centre, Birmingham Southern, or Sewanee?  I'd like to know and I think the players and their parents might like some recognition.  Nothing would please me more than being drowned out by a flood on new participants. 

In the meantime, let me remind those who want to watch/listen to a little baseball tomorrow at work, the Millsaps-Emory game will be webcast at 11:00 Central time.  There's rain in the forecast for Friday and Saturday so times may change, but Saturday's LaGrange-Millsaps game at 2 and Sunday's Rhodes-Millsaps game at 2 will also be webcast.

The link for the webcast is in the signature section below.