BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

Lou_Brown · March 11, 2009, 08:14:22 PM

Last word on the Trinity coach topic and I'll stay with on the field topics...

Frank, I was not reffering to you. You are not part of "those" posters....I enjoy your insightful posts about Millsaps baseball. In my humble opinion I think the Majors baseball program is the class of the SCAC. Good baseball, class kids, class coach and they win the right way. Not saying others teams don't have good kids or classy coaches but Millsaps has been doing this way for over two decades.

Congrats to Hunter Owen, best hitter I've seen in my short time following SCAC baseball.

frank_ezelle · March 11, 2009, 09:51:52 PM

Lou, I appreciate those kind words about the Millsaps program. I know from being around them that it's a great program with great coaches and players, but it's always nice to hear someone else say the same. And I know that Millsaps isn't unique in this aspect in the SCAC--it's a league filled with quality coaches and quality student-athletes.

On to baseball action, Millsaps won a game today that 9 times out of 10 they probably should have lost. Will Hawkins hit a lead off home run in the top of the 12th and Aaron Williams pitched 4 innings of relief to get the 9-8 win for the Majors. Millsaps was out hit 17 to 6, and 4 of the Millsaps hits came in the first 3 innings when they scored 8 runs.

When you look at the Millsaps schedule and results (http://www.gomajors.com/schedule.aspx?path=baseball), you see that they have played a fairly competitive schedule. Their only loss was by a 5-4 margin to Hendrix, so you could argue that they are only a play or two away from being undefeated. Or, you could look at their 4 games that were 1-run wins and say that they are only a few plays away from having a good record, but not great.

Personally, I think Millsaps is the type of team that will be very good until they start thinking that they are very good. Their success is in the details, in doing all of the small things right. We've all been around sports enough to know that when success comes, there is a temptation to start thinking you are good enough to shortcut on the details, the very things that brought about that success. I guess that's why it's often easier to climb to the top than it is to stay on top.

It should be a very interesting two game set in Texas this weekend. Trinity's game tonight was postponed till Thursday at noon which would give them a DH with D1 Illinois State at noon and Wabash in the evening. Obviously the San Antonio weather is going to be a huge factor over the next few days--it should be interesting.

(Link to Huntingdon-Millsaps box score: http://www.huntingdon.edu/athletics/mens_athletics/baseball/box_scores/2009/3_11_09_mc )

scacbaseballfan · March 12, 2009, 12:33:11 AM

My apologies to those who were offended in during these last several posts. I believe we are all entitled to our own opinion, and from this point on I will focus any of my posts to strictly on field news. Mr. Armstrong, although we are in complete disagreement, I respect that fact that you support your coach and defend him at all costs. Baseball is a competitive game, and bad feelings are inevitable at one point or another.

frank_ezelle · March 12, 2009, 12:31:08 PM

The Trinity game with Wabash this evening has been cancelled. The game that is suppose to start at noon CST against Illinois State University is still on but the forecast isn't great. Friday's forecast is also poor and then the weather improves over the weekend. Here's the link to the Trinity video site just in case they play at noon:

http://atwsportscast.com/Colleges/Players/Trinity%20University.htm

tiger_fan2000 · March 13, 2009, 10:23:15 AM

Trinity v Wabash is rained out completely. They are working on the field today to try and get it ready for tomorrow's game against Millsaps. If Sats game if rained out, they will try and play 2 on Sunday.

frank_ezelle · March 13, 2009, 01:02:40 PM

Did I see somewhere that this is the first significant stretch of rain in San Antonio in 17 months? What a bummer for the teams involved in the Irish Classic.

If the Millsaps games get pushed back to a Sunday DH, then the starting time becomes a factor if Trinity does get in the game with Notre Dame. Millsaps has a 600 mile bus ride back to Jackson after the games and I'm sure they'll want to start the DH as early as possible Sunday while it would seem that Trinity would like a later start if they are playing a game Saturday night.

Ron Boerger · March 13, 2009, 04:19:28 PM

Quote from: frank_ezelle on March 13, 2009, 01:02:40 PM
Did I see somewhere that this is the first significant stretch of rain in San Antonio in 17 months? What a bummer for the teams involved in the Irish Classic.

If the Millsaps games get pushed back to a Sunday DH, then the starting time becomes a factor if Trinity does get in the game with Notre Dame. Millsaps has a 600 mile bus ride back to Jackson after the games and I'm sure they'll want to start the DH as early as possible Sunday while it would seem that Trinity would like a later start if they are playing a game Saturday night.

Yep, it's been real dry. The 3" we got in Austin is more than the total since September.

Most of the rain has headed east. Hopefully things will dry out enough so the important (conference) games aren't impacted.

Lou_Brown · March 14, 2009, 08:25:52 AM

Unfortuanantly, some important (conference) games are getting the rain that has headed east. I saw Birmingham and Sewanee got their series in, even though I bet Sewanee wishes it had rained...I'm not so sure about Rhodes/DePauw and Oglethorpe/Centre....

frank_ezelle · March 14, 2009, 10:09:29 AM

I've been keeping an eye on the Birmingham Southern scores and it seems like they are going to be a big factor in the East, at least as far as the standings go. By the time they become eligible to go to the SCAC Tournament, it appears that they will be a force to be reckoned with.

There's nothing on the Trinity website at the moment about the status of today's game with Millsaps. I hope they can get that game in because it would be better for both Millsaps and Trinity. Millsaps doesn't need to play a DH tomorrow and get such a late departure from San Antonio, and Trinity doesn't need to play till late in the night and then turn around and play a DH about 12 hours later.

There's been a lot of discussion on the board about the pitching selections by Trinity for this weekend. At the moment I believe that both teams have all of their main starters available for this weekend. I imagine Aaron Williams will be the Sunday starter for Millsaps since he went 4 innings on Wednesday. As for Trinity, there's been a lot of speculation about who Bronson will pitch against, but Mike Panozzo actually has better numbers at this point and I wouldn't be surprised if Trinity gave Noah Solomon a start. Trinity will have plenty of arms available for these two games, especially since the Wabash game was cancelled. It should be a good weekend of baseball.

frank_ezelle · March 14, 2009, 04:47:55 PM

Millsaps wins today 10-0 behind 6 shutout innings by Tait Hendrix. Millsaps had 14 hits and I believe Hunter Owen had 4 rbi's.

Also saw that Rhodes won the first game of a DH against DePauw by a 1-0 margin. The two teams are in the top of the 4th now with Rhodes leading 4-3.

The Trinity game against Notre Dame is still on for tonight as rain appears to have moved out of the San Antonio area. No idea if Bronson will pitch tonight or start tomorrows game to try and even the series.

Jack Parkman · March 14, 2009, 05:03:00 PM

I say throw your best vs. Notre Dame. Trinity's season is a wash right now and it would be tough to get crushed tonight while having your best guy waiting for tomorrow. Just my opinion.

Jack Parkman · March 14, 2009, 08:06:59 PM

Yikes! Trinity starting a Freshman that is 0-4 with a 10 ERA. Welcome to college buddy.

Edit at 7:08 pm- I am eating my words right now as the kid has thrown 3 scoreless innings and has not given up a hit.

Ron Boerger · March 14, 2009, 11:27:07 PM

Trinity took an 8-5 lead after six and one half, now trail 11-8 in the bottom of the eight with Notre Dame still at bat.

frank_ezelle · March 14, 2009, 11:46:31 PM

Notre Dame ended up winning 11-8. I had problems with the Trinity webcast around the 8th inning so I switched over to the ND webcast. The announcers said on at least two occasions that Trinity is better than some D1 teams that are on the ND schedule. The specifically mentioned Grambling and Chicago State and Valpo...... (you know the school I thinking of and can't spell). They also said that if Trinity was playing in the Big East conference they would definitely wins some games.

They can pretty close to beating a Big East team tonight!

Lou_Brown · March 15, 2009, 10:58:02 AM

The Centre/Oglethorpe series has been completely washed out due to rain. It has been raining non-stop in Atlanta since late Friday night and they are calling for rain through Monday afternoon. Not sure what the SCAC protocol is for rain outs but it would be a shame if these two teams do not play this season.

Oh well...no baseball this weekend for the Petrels...