BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity (3-1) pounded out 20 hits in their home opener tonight, defeating Schreiner (4-4) 13-1.  Ryan Lucero gave up one run and five hits in five innings to move to 2-0.   Relievers Kyle Bogese (6K, 3 IP) and William Wells combined for four innings of no-hit relief.  Kevin Francke was 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and a double to pace the Tiger offensive attack. 

[108 Stitches]

TU took care of business like they should have. Nothing much to take away from this game except they beat a team they should beat, and Scannell got some quality innings from the flame thrower Bogese. (been clocked up to 97) If he can continue to work in the strike zone he has a chance to get some quality innings and really bolster rotation that is already pretty strong. (even with the loss of Fink, not really sure on his status)

[Jack Parkman]

Does the SCAC still have an automatic bid to the post-season?

[108 Stitches]

Yes they do Jack.

TU took 2 of 3 from Austin this weekend. They lost game 1 to a junkballer and could not get their bats going. They got down in the first and ran out of runway. (7 inning game) TU seems to struggle against junkballers.

Box
AC 4-6-0
TU 2-3-1

In game two they jumped on AC with 3 in the first and never looked back. AC did turn a triple play on a LD hit and run with two on. In a scene reminiscent of little league, they looked silly on the basepath's with a runner "tagging up" on a ball to the fence and the batter runner over running him. Both runners were out. Wonder who brought snack after the game to the little tikes....

In game three AC jumped on TU and held the lead until the bottom of the 7th when TU picked up 4.

Box
AC 5-7-1
TU 7-12-3

Overall TU made too many base running mistakes in the series and is not playing the kind of defense required for a championship caliber team IMO. Pitching was also just OK, with the exception of Bentz who settled down game 3 and got the win.   

Austin looked pretty defensively and scored 4, 4 and 5 runs vs TU, they don't have the power of TU offensively but looked competitive. They are better than their record.

[Jack Parkman]

Yes they do Jack.

Thanks.  I was curious because of the loss to Austin, who will likely end up with 10 wins or less.  I thought the loss could be pretty damaging on any at-large chances but I guess that won't be an issue.

I have always been critical of coaches not throwing their top arms in a conference series and I am going to do so again.  Why in the world would Trinity not throw their #1 guy in a conference series and waste him on a mid-week game.  I know this is how it's "always been done" at Trinity but it backfires all too often.  Having the AQ will help them if they continue to make these types of decisions.  Just my thoughs from the bleachers.

[108 Stitches]

Your point is well taken. Actually their number 1 went short innings on Tuesday and then pitched today, but I am not sure why they did not go with another pitcher on Tuesday. I think Austin is going to win more than 10,  but  you could be right as they have a tough schedule. They were solid defensively, could hit, not so much for power, and their pitching was decent, not great, but it will keep them in games.

TU has a really easy path this year to the Regional since their conference is adding teams, but are not there yet. Their real competitor in conference is Centenary and they are not eligible and the rest of the teams appear weak.

I agree with you however as I think they need to really lean on the others in their staff and get them ready for the tournament if they want to make a run through it. They are deep but need to develop them.

[CrashDavisD3]

Trinity will most likely get the Pool A AQ bid for SCAC so it really dont matter what they do.

BUT

Trinity has been good enough to get to the West Regional the last several years but not good enough to make it to Appleton...

[Ron Boerger]

Unless I'm mistaken Centenary still has a couple of their D1 scholly athletes left ... P Cole Thompson for one.

Trinity is committing errors by the boatload this year...23 in ten games and 11 slready by Muscarello, who had 13 all last season.  That is worrysome for sure. 

[Jack Parkman]

Your point is well taken. Actually their number 1 went short innings on Tuesday and then pitched today, but I am not sure why they did not go with another pitcher on Tuesday. I think Austin is going to win more than 10,  but  you could be right as they have a tough schedule. They were solid defensively, could hit, not so much for power, and their pitching was decent, not great, but it will keep them in games.

TU has a really easy path this year to the Regional since their conference is adding teams, but are not there yet. Their real competitor in conference is Centenary and they are not eligible and the rest of the teams appear weak.

I agree with you however as I think they need to really lean on the others in their staff and get them ready for the tournament if they want to make a run through it. They are deep but need to develop them.

Honestly, I didn't even know they played again today and were able to throw Lucero.  I guess that makes sense to throw him on 4 days rest but I still think you throw your #1 in the first game of a series.

I could be wrong about Austin but dropping 4 to Oxy in pretty convincing fashion spells trouble.  I fully expect Trinity to be playing in May but they need to get over the hump and win a regional.  I honestly think they will be playing Linfield for a trip to Appleton.

[infielddad]

I am looking at this from a distance and box scores plus some ancient experience.
At this point, based on the losses to Austin and Chapman, and scuffling some in all 3 games with Austin,  I am not very certain about Trinity.  They  have the level of talent to be playing that last game to get to Appleton.  My early assessment is their success by the end of the season will end up being measured by 3 factors:
1.) What type of leadership they get over the course of the season from their seniors and those who have been there;
2.)  The extent to which they get far better defensively by the end of April;
3.) How much improvement they get by the end of April from the 6-7 very talented freshman who are getting plenty of early season AB's and innings.
Quite often, #1 and #3 work in tandem.  The seniors need to literally put the team on their back during the early season while the freshman adjust, make mistakes, grow, get better and become far more confident so they execute in nearly every situation by April.  I sort of expect Coach Scannell to challenge his younger players early in the conference series just as he did against Austin.

[CrashDavisD3]

I am looking at this from a distance and box scores plus some ancient experience.
At this point, based on the losses to Austin and Chapman, and scuffling some in all 3 games with Austin,  I am not very certain about Trinity.  They  have the level of talent to be playing that last game to get to Appleton.  My early assessment is their success by the end of the season will end up being measured by 3 factors:
1.) What type of leadership they get over the course of the season from their seniors and those who have been there;
2.)  The extent to which they get far better defensively by the end of April;
3.) How much improvement they get by the end of April from the 6-7 very talented freshman who are getting plenty of early season AB's and innings.
Quite often, #1 and #3 work in tandem.  The seniors need to literally put the team on their back during the early season while the freshman adjust, make mistakes, grow, get better and become far more confident so they execute in nearly every situation by April.  I sort of expect Coach Scannell to challenge his younger players early in the conference series just as he did against Austin.

Trinity from prior years plays well enough to get to the regional as a Pool A bid but has not been able to get to the next level and win the regional and get to Appleton.

[infielddad]

Thanks Crash.  I am "painfully" aware of how many times Trinity has come up one game short on the trip to Appleton.
On the other hand, I have some satisfaction that our son helped get them to that game the first two times and set a standard that a successful season is measured by, at least,  playing in that game.  One can always look back and, for instance, believe they make it in 2012 if Lucero does not get hurt and could not pitch. One thing Coach Scannell teaches is to not make excuses...so I won't.
Using the Austin series as a benchmark, I feel this team has to improve in a number of areas to get to Appleton, with some of that coming on the shoulders of the seniors and a lot of it riding on the improvement of a lot of talented freshman.

[CrashDavisD3]

Thanks Crash.  I am "painfully" aware of how many times Trinity has come up one game short on the trip to Appleton.
On the other hand, I have some satisfaction that our son helped get them to that game the first two times and set a standard that a successful season is measured by, at least,  playing in that game.  One can always look back and, for instance, believe they make it in 2012 if Lucero does not get hurt and could not pitch. One thing Coach Scannell teaches is to not make excuses...so I won't.
Using the Austin series as a benchmark, I feel this team has to improve in a number of areas to get to Appleton, with some of that coming on the shoulders of the seniors and a lot of it riding on the improvement of a lot of talented freshman.

Trinity teams are always well coached, pitch well, hit well and are very tough to beat. Not making excuses but injuries, bad weather at a regional, long trips to the regional, and long break before the regional has not helped either. But teams find ways to overcome.

I remember at team in 2009 lost their 2 time #1 AA pitcher and starting catcher during the regular season and still found a way to get to Appleton and 1 win away from playing on the last day in Appleton.

In 2011 another team lost the 3 time AA pitcher in Game 1 in Appleton but some how were 1 win away from a National Championship.

[infielddad]

I have absolutely no problem with the concept of "no excuses." That is why I am not making any.
My point is, based on the Austin series,whether  there is too much optimism for this team at this stage in the season.

[108 Stitches]

Baseball is a funny game. Only 8 get to Appleton, and TU has been 9,10,11,12,.... whatever you want to call the teams that lose the last game of the Regionals and not make it.  Not many teams get that far consistently, which makes it consistently a great program, only a handful are at this level year in and year out. Because of this they are consistently one of the best, not THE best one of them.

To this year:

From what I have seen this team can really swing it, as good or probably better than any team they have had. That said a junk ball pitcher held them to 3 hits last weekend. The same thing happened in Oregon last year, you have to learn to punish easy pitching and TU has not developed the patience for this for some reason. This is one thing that must be fixed this year. They MUST learn to tear apart easy pitching. They should have knocked the cxxx out of one of the Whitworth pitchers and they did not. +1 for him -10 for TU. (they moved on the TU did not)

The second thing is errors. Championship teams can not make the errors at the rate they are making right now.

Third is developing the rest of the pitching staff. For some reason Scannell seems to run out his top three a lot and if he is going to get to the next level the rest of the staff has to bear some of the burden during the season and reap the rewards come Regionals.

That at and $2.05 will buy you a cup of coffee!