BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ron Boerger]

Frank, wonder if it has something to do with the weather forecast.  My wife is up in central OK for the weekend and they suddenly put a near-blizzard in the forecast for tomorrow.    You'd think it would head over to Arkansas next. 

[frank_ezelle]

Millsaps takes the first game 6-3.  Aaron Williams had a 6-1 lead with 2 outs in the 7th, but gave up a 2-run HR and then a bloop double, so Boomer Hudson came in and got the last out and the save.

Game 2 starts around 3:50.

[frank_ezelle]

Frank, wonder if it has something to do with the weather forecast.  My wife is up in central OK for the weekend and they suddenly put a near-blizzard in the forecast for tomorrow.    You'd think it would head over to Arkansas next. 

Apparently rain is in the forecast for Saturday, but I think it might be late enough in the day that a game started at noon could be completed.  There's a chance of snow flurries Saturday night, and then only a high of 47 on Sunday with maybe more rain. 

Since this is the Spring Break week, playing on Friday isn't that big a deal except that both Millsaps and Hendrix played on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Millsaps went with a pitch-by-committee on Wednesday, so I think they are in good shape with Blake Boleware, Jake Mills, Shelby Robertson, and Boomer Hudson available for the next two games.

[frank_ezelle]

In addition to the above mentioned pitchers, Millsaps also has freshman Carson Goldsmith available and he is getting the start today.  He has pitched in 4 games for a total of 4.1 innings with no runs allowed.  He did allow a triple to the first batter, but he is working with a 4-0 lead as the first 6 Millsaps batters got hits, including a long bomb by Jules Roussel, his 5th HR of the season.

[svbbcoach]

Todays Hendrix Milsaps finale will begin earlier than scheduled.They are trying to beat the storm and also get Milsaps back on the road home ahead of the storm. I believe it will be an 11:30am start. The final from yesterday's 2nd game was 19-9 (8 innings). An amazing 35 combined hits between both teams with over a dozen of those "found a hole" fly balls. Just one of those days. Today may be a 1-0 game! Love the game of Baseball!

[Ron Boerger]

So I see the 2nd Millsaps-Hendrix game ended via ten-run rule.  Let me ask a question about that rule - is it only for nine inning games, or do the coaches both have to agree?  A couple of weekends ago Trinity was up 13-2 on Southwestern in the top of the fifth, 15-2 after the top of the sixth, 16-2 after the top of the seventh, but the game continued until SW got their final AB in the seventh.

[RSSmith]

So I see the 2nd Millsaps-Hendrix game ended via ten-run rule.  Let me ask a question about that rule - is it only for nine inning games, or do the coaches both have to agree?  A couple of weekends ago Trinity was up 13-2 on Southwestern in the top of the fifth, 15-2 after the top of the sixth, 16-2 after the top of the seventh, but the game continued until SW got their final AB in the seventh.

The RussMatt mercy rule (as I understand it) applies after 5 innings and 2 hours when there is a game scheduled to follow the blowout.  Otherwise it applies after 7 innings, if the coaches and umpires have agreed to it during ground rules.

[frank_ezelle]

Lots of 10-run games today with Millsaps getting 3 if you count the 14-0 and 15-3 wins the softball team had over Trinity.  

--Rhodes swept a DH against OU, winning 4-2 and 16-4 in a 7 inning game.  Haven't we seen this story line before with OU coming out strong and then hitting a big losing streak?  Rhodes moves to 16-6 with the wins.
--Sewanee got in on the big scores with a 23-2 win over SUNY Cobleskill.  I believe this puts Sewanee at 4-4 for their Florida trip.
--DePauw took a bite out of Birmingham with a 6-1 win in the first game of a DH.  Second game should be over by about now, but I don't have a score.
--Centre eked out a 7-6 win over Miami-Hamilton today and Trinity scored big again in winning 14-9 over Dallas.

And that's your wrapup of baseball in the SCAC this Saturday.

[frank_ezelle]

Wow, the 10-run bashings continue.  Southwestern tops Austin 17-1 in the first game of a DH.  Admittedly, I'm listening to C-Span this afternoon rather than keeping up with SCAC baseball.  They just reported that Bart Stupak has finally given in to the pressure or squeezed out all that he could get and now he'll vote yes.  If that's true, then the bill will pass.  I'm just pointing out that reality, not trying to start a debate on the pros and cons of the bill.

[frank_ezelle]

Since the Pirates from Southwestern have no one posting here, let me give them a shoutout for an outstanding performance when they had their backs to the wall.  Coming into today's DH with Austin, Southwestern was 2-9 and facing the possibility of falling 2.5 games behind Hendrix for 4th place and a SCAC Tournament spot. 

They responded with a 17-1 victory in game 1 and then scored 7 runs combined in the 7th and 8th innings for a come from behind 10-9 victory in game 2.  That gives Southwestern a 4-9 record, just a half game behind Hendrix (4-8) and 1.5 games behind Austin (5-7).

In the SCAC East, Rhodes completed their sweep of Oglethorpe to take the early lead, and BSC came back to take 2 out of 3 from DePauw to pull even with Centre for 2nd place.  And in the only non-conference game of the day, Trinity took two from Dallas.

[Bob_Lotts]

Frank,

Here is the assestment on OU. Injuries, injuries, injuries and some inconsistent pitching. The injury bug has hit them very hard during the 7-game losing streak. They were 10-3 and they lost a couple of key players and they continue to go down. Pilger #2 hitter and CF is done for the year with a broken hand. Check out his numbers before he got hurt. He was the run producer in that lineup. #6 hitter Manai FR RF went down with a right hand injury and they haven't won since he went down. They have a completly revamped OF including their starting 1B playing LF. This past weekend at Rhodes they lost their starting catcher for 2 of the 3 games, who also is the #5 hitter. Rizzo couldn't play third on Sunday with a dislocated shoulder and their starting SS had a ankle injury.

So, you take out the #2 hitter who was hitting .470 and was leading the SCAC in HR before he got hurt, the #5 hitter who is hitting .340 and has thrown out 31% of bases stealers and take out the #6 hitter who was hitting .355 you are left with a weakened lineup. Throw in some inconsistent pitching, BAM, 7-game skid. For a team just starting to get good, they dont have a ton of depth. I realize injuries are part of the game but when you lose 3 of your top players it is tough on any team. Eventually they will get there but losing one third of your lineup is tough to replace at this level.


Of course this past weekend it didn't help that SS Cornwell went 1 for the series and 3B Rizzo went 1 for the series. Just not enough offense right now to sustain rallys. A trademark of this team early was their ability to score in bunches...I still think this team will make a serious run, some of these guys will get healthy and when they put their healthy players back in that lineup they can beat anyone. They have some solid arms, but they are just young and inexperienced.

[tigerfan_2001]

Since the Pirates from Southwestern have no one posting here, let me give them a shoutout for an outstanding performance when they had their backs to the wall.  Coming into today's DH with Austin, Southwestern was 2-9 and facing the possibility of falling 2.5 games behind Hendrix for 4th place and a SCAC Tournament spot. 

They responded with a 17-1 victory in game 1 and then scored 7 runs combined in the 7th and 8th innings for a come from behind 10-9 victory in game 2.  That gives Southwestern a 4-9 record, just a half game behind Hendrix (4-8) and 1.5 games behind Austin (5-7).

In the SCAC East, Rhodes completed their sweep of Oglethorpe to take the early lead, and BSC came back to take 2 out of 3 from DePauw to pull even with Centre for 2nd place.  And in the only non-conference game of the day, Trinity took two from Dallas.

Frank--

I think only the top 3 make the tournament, unless they changed that rule from years past.....Huge Series coming up for TU as Hendrix comes to town...beating the Tigers in 7 of the last 9. 

[frank_ezelle]

tigerfan_2001:  You are 100% right that last year it was only 3 from each group of made the tournament--which makes the wins by Southwestern more important.  A sweep by Austin would have put Austin in 3rd at 7-5 and Southwestern in 5th at 2-11.  The wins by Southwestern were huge for them and for Hendrix.

Bob_Lotts:  Thanks for that update.  Injuries are always a part of sports but it sounds like OU has had more than their fair share.

[infielddad]

tigerfan,
Hopefully I am being paranoid and "old" in my thinking, but before TU plays Hendrix, they have tomorrow's trip for the DH with McMurry and HSU.
That is a long, tough trip.  Some  times it impacts the team for the rest of the season.
I won't forget 2003 when one of TU's very best teams lost both those games and never was able to get back to their level of play, even at the SCAC's.
In 2004, they swept those two schools in the DH and perhaps over-performed with a very young team.
Hopefully, this team will forget history and play and pitch well tomorrow, and keep the bats hot, and use that for a springboard into the weekend.

[437baseballfan]

Going through the SCAC stats and noticing that Rhodes is leading the conference in ERA with .5 run differential between them and #2.  Go Lynx!