BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

tigerfan_2001 · March 03, 2010, 08:13:06 AM

After a terrible weekend, TU bounces back with a much needed win against TLU. Klimesh goes the distance again, striking out 10, walking 3, and giving up 3 hits. Hopefully TU can carry this into the weekend series at Southwestern. I wonder when Klimesh is going to start to get innings on the weekend?

frank_ezelle · March 03, 2010, 12:23:22 PM

Several SCAC teams get recognized in Week 1 of the D3.baseball.com top 25. Keep in mind that this is week 1 where 15 of the top 25 teams are tied with a 0-0 record, so the voting is a mix of what has happened and what is expected to happen. There are no SCAC teams in the top 25, but here are the ones receiving votes and where that vote total ranks them:

27th--Millsaps (64 points)
31st--Rhodes (34 points)
32nd--Birmingham Southern (31 points)
37th--Trinity (16 points)

For the record, the two Millsaps losses to NCAA teams came to MS College, ranked 25th with 74 points, and Huntingdon, a team that received 5 points. Also, the Millsaps at MS College game scheduled for last night was postponed. No makeup date has been announced.

BATR441 · March 03, 2010, 02:06:34 PM

O.U. Has SOOOOO much talent outside of the pitching they really need someone on the pitching staff to step up, and I belive a few of them will, Key is going to be how the coaching staff utilizes what they have available to them and not completely burn out, or not have someone ready to come off the bench if needed. This offense is ligit and could be what carries them to a conference tournament opportunity

tigerfan_2001 · March 05, 2010, 08:45:19 AM

TU travels to Southwestern this weekend. SU looked much like Hendrix did last weekend, desperate, on a losing streak. Lets hope the results are different and TU remembers how to hit, pitch, catch, and throw.

frank_ezelle · March 05, 2010, 09:44:43 AM

SU was a very error prone team when Millsaps played a series there a couple of weeks ago. I believe they made 9 errors in one game, only a few more than the Majors made that day. If SU doesn't shore up that defense, then it is hard to see them winning a game against Trinity.

Millsaps hosts Austin for two games this weekend. I believe the temps will be in the lower 60's for both games--that will be a pleasant change. I don't know if the records back me up on this, but it seems like Austin has been the most difficult SCAC team on the Millsaps schedule over the last several years. Millsaps will need to play very good baseball all around to go 2-0 this weekend.

frank_ezelle · March 06, 2010, 08:28:27 PM

Austin's big bats made the trip to Jackson as the 'Roos pounded out 4 HRs in the opening game of the 2-game series. It was a lot of run production, but not enough as Millsaps got at least one hit from every starter en route to a 14-9 victory Saturday afternoon.

The key to the game was Boomer Hudson holding Austin to no runs and one hit over the final 4 2/3 innings. Millsaps did get one dinger as Jules Roussel continues his quest to have people ask "Hunter who?". He still has a ways to go before people forget about Hunter Owen, but Jules was 4 for 5 with two doubles to go along with the roundtripper, and he drove in 3 and scored 3 more.

Here's a link to the Millsaps story and box score:
http://www.gomajors.com/news/2010/3/6/BB_0306104742.aspx

frank_ezelle · March 06, 2010, 10:58:48 PM

Wanted to make note of a great day for the SCAC. There were conference games which obvious had to produce an SCAC loss (Millsaps beat Austin in a single game, Trinity beat SW in a DH, and Centre and Sewanee split), but against non-conference foes the SCAC went 9-1 Saturday. Not too shabby.

You can see the teams played and the scores at this link:

http://www.scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/schedule

Ron Boerger · March 07, 2010, 09:02:35 AM

Saw the first of the TU DH at Southwestern yesterday - junior Noah Solomon was impressive on the mound, allowing only three hits in five innings of work as the Tigers punched out 19 hits in rolling to a 16-3 win in the seven inning opener.

The second game was a back-and-forth affair, but Trinity pulled away with four runs in the top of the eighth to secure a 14-9 win in the nightcap (afternoon-cap?) . Both teams had 16 hits.

frank_ezelle · March 07, 2010, 06:07:13 PM

Millsaps freshman 3B/1B/P Wes Perkins came into today's game with a respectable .320 batting average, a number built on 15 singles and 1 double. So exactly who would have expected 3 HRs from Wes, the last being a 3-run shot to right in the bottom of the 8th that gave Millsaps a 21-11 victory over Austin?

I haven't seen the box score from the game, but I remember Millsaps getting HRs from Will Hawkins, Josh Ordeneaux, and Tyler Berry. Austin had 3 or 4 as well on a nice spring like day, but one without much of a breeze helping the hitters.

It's nice to see the Millsaps bats come alive this weekend and it was much needed. There's something about playing Millsaps that seems to turn the 'Roos into the 1927 NY Yankees. If you're a fan who likes a lot of scoring and balls sailing out of the park, then Twenty Field on the Millsaps campus was the place to be this past weekend.

Update: Here's the link to the box score. Austin only had 2 HRs so it was 6 total for the game:

http://gomajors.com/custompages/Baseball/10Baseball/stats/mcb10-14.htm

frank_ezelle · March 08, 2010, 08:05:14 AM

With the two softball league type scores in Jackson this weekend, it would be very easy to overlook a potential pitcher of the week performance by Boomer Hudson of Millsaps. He was remarkable both days.

On Saturday he entered the game with one out in the 5th. At that point Austin had 9 runs on 10 hits and a runner on first base. Over the final 4.2 innings Austin had 1 hit, no runs, and Boomer retired the last 10 men he faced with 4 swinging strikeouts and 1 strikeout on a taken pitch.

Sunday was a shorter outing but also highly impressive. Boomer came in with 1 out in the 8th, Millsaps leading 16-11, but Austin had the bases loaded. The first batter hit a weak fly to right that wasn't deep enough to score the runner and the second batter struck out swinging. Millsaps then scored 5 in the bottom of the 8th to win the game 21-11.

So look at the numbers. On a weekend when hitting was the norm, as in Millsaps scoring 35 runs on 33 hits in 17 innings, Austin College had 20 runs on 25 hits during the 11.2 non-Boomer innings and 0 runs and 1 hit during Boomer's 5.1 innings of relief. If that's not enough to win the SCAC Pitcher of the Week then it's unlikely that a reliever will win the award this season.

tigerfan_2001 · March 08, 2010, 09:26:08 AM

TU won three games, all in different fashion. Can't wait for the weekend series with Millsaps...should be a good one!

Bob_Lotts · March 10, 2010, 11:27:44 AM

OU won a slugfest against ACC last night 12-10. OU is now 10-3.

But they have been hit pretty hard with the injury bug. Senior Brenden Pilger has a broken hand and is out, not sure how long but I can guess maybe the whole season. He was having a SCAC Player of the Year type of season before he got hurt. .470, 4 HR, 16 R, 15 RBI, 10-10 SB in 9 games. Last night FR. RF Nick Manai who is having a great campaign (.350, 1HR, 12 R, 11 RBI) had to leave the game after crashing into the fence. He left the game and went to the ER. It looked like he was pretty beat up with blood on his jersey. They will have to regroup and find some guys who can fill the voids.

infielddad · March 11, 2010, 11:23:19 AM

Are there any hitters, anywhere, having better seasons, putting up better numbers, and being more consistent in their production from game to game than Trinity's middle of the order guys, Evan Jones and Kyle Felix? These guys are terrific hitters and not just at the DIII level.

Trinity is almost 1/2 way through the season in terms of games played and each has monstrous numbers, which I feel will continue the second half of the season:

Player AVG GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB HBP

Evan Jones.......... .509 16-16 57 17 29 5 1 5 26 51 .895 17 0 5
Kyle Felix.......... .476 17-17 82 29 39 11 1 4 30 64 .780 1 3

Ron Boerger · March 11, 2010, 01:06:40 PM

Here are all the SCAC players batting .425 or better:

Player AVG GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB HBP SO SB-ATT

Evan Jones, TU............. .509 16-16 57 17 29 5 1 5 26 17 0 5 2-2
J.J. Rizzo, OU............. .500 11-11 46 15 23 5 1 2 15 2 2 4 2-2
Kyle Felix, TU............. .476 17-17 82 29 39 11 1 4 30 1 3 1 3-3
Brandon Ricco, BSC......... .464 14-14 56 18 26 6 1 1 17 8 3 4 6-6
Drew Leachman, BSC......... .458 14-14 59 23 27 5 3 1 22 9 1 7 8-9
Jake Mills, MC............. .455 15-14 55 15 25 6 0 1 18 4 4 4 0-0
Andy White, AC............. .453 16-16 64 16 29 7 0 1 12 6 0 5 5-5
Bruce Maxwell, BSC......... .431 14-14 58 20 25 5 1 5 25 11 0 8 0-0
Taylor Hoffman, DU......... .429 9-9 35 8 15 2 0 1 5 2 0 7 5-5

Leaders in other batting stats:

Batting avg
-----------
1. Evan Jones, TU............. .509
2. J.J. Rizzo, OU............. .500
3. Kyle Felix, TU............. .476
4. Brandon Ricco, BSC......... .464
5. Drew Leachman, BSC......... .458

Slugging pct
------------
1. Evan Jones, TU............. .895
2. Bruce Maxwell, BSC......... .810
3. J.J. Rizzo, OU............. .783
4. Kyle Felix, TU............. .780
5. B.Higginboth, BSC.......... .765

On base pct
-----------
1. Evan Jones, TU............. .590
2. Brandon Ricco, BSC......... .544
3. Josh Whitaker, BSC......... .536
4. Nick Pappas, TU............ .530
5. Sam Hill, BSC.............. .521

Runs scored
-----------
1. Kyle Felix, TU............. 29
2. Drew Leachman, BSC......... 23
Jonathan Hall, TU.......... 23
4. Josh Ordeneaux, MC......... 22
5. Nick Pappas, TU............ 21

Hits
----
1. Kyle Felix, TU............. 39
2. Andy White, AC............. 29
Evan Jones, TU............. 29
4. Drew Leachman, BSC......... 27
5. 2 tied at.................. 26

Runs batted in
--------------
1. Kyle Felix, TU............. 30
2. Evan Jones, TU............. 26
3. Bruce Maxwell, BSC......... 25
4. Drew Leachman, BSC......... 22
Nick Pappas, TU............ 22

Doubles
-------
1. Kyle Felix, TU............. 11
2. Sam Hill, BSC.............. 8
3. Andy White, AC............. 7
4. 3 tied at.................. 6

Triples
-------
1. Drew Leachman, BSC......... 3
J.D. Hulse, BSC............ 3
3. Aaron Bowen, HC............ 2
Nick Pappas, TU............ 2
5. 25 tied at................. 1

Home runs
---------
1. Dylan Early, TU............ 5
Evan Jones, TU............. 5
Bruce Maxwell, BSC......... 5
4. 6 tied at.................. 4

Total bases
-----------
1. Kyle Felix, TU............. 64
2. Evan Jones, TU............. 51
3. Bruce Maxwell, BSC......... 47
Nick Pappas, TU............ 47
5. Sam Hill, BSC.............. 44

Walks
-----
1. Evan Jones, TU............. 17
Kyle Belski, SU............ 17
3. Travis Perkins, RC......... 16
4. 3 tied at.................. 13

frank_ezelle · March 11, 2010, 08:28:49 PM

Jones and Felix have proven for several years that they are great hitters and it sounds like teams can't pitch around them because the Trinity lineup is loaded with big hitters this year.

As for Millsaps and their hitters, they have started to show more power at the plate now that the weather has warmed up. This has been the coldest beginning to a season that I can remember and it has made it difficult to get a good read on the Millsaps hitting as a whole. Based on last weekend, the first decent weather I remember for a Jackson game, Millsaps looks like they have a fair amount of power, but that was just one series. Maybe we'll learn more this weekend.

I see that the forecast for Saturday is a high of 62 and a wind out of the west of 15 to 25 mph. That's blowing in towards the visitor's dugout and it will often shift just a little and really help balls hit to right field. I suspect that 20 foot fence in right is going to be cleared a few times during this two game series. It should be two great games and a real challenge for both pitching staffs.