BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Bishopleftiesdad]

108 did you get a chance to see the TU vs. Denison Game. If so I would be interested in your opinion.

[108 Stitches]

BLD I watched some of it on the video feed while I was doing some work stuff online. I did not see the first or the last inning, but my take is that the game was much closer than the final score, as Denison was right with Trinity through 7 innings. Trinity started one of their younger pitchers who never made it out of the first inning and Denison made him pay with 4 runs. The Denison starter Walsh looked really solid when I watched him. It looks like he might have struggled also in the first but settled in nicely. I thought he had some giddy up on his FB and had good breaking stuff and did a good job of keeping a very formidable TU line up off balance. I started the game when TU was down 4-2 in the second and thought "hmmm this could be interesting" TU kept chipping away and tied it in the 5th and went up by one in the 6th and it impressed me that they can back in the 7th and tied it back up.  I had to leave and did not see the barrage of 8 runs in the 8th, but my impression was that Dennison looks like a pretty solid team and should be a contender in their conference. Like I said the final score does not indicate that how close the game was and I think the Denison team looks pretty solid. They beat TLU in the previous game and they will be playing some solid teams in their trip through Texas. 

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Thanks 108,
This is one of OWU's rivals every year. It makes it better when both teams are good. Looks like Denison is better than expected.

[108 Stitches]

OK here we go for the "108 wet suit of the week" predictions for the coming weekend.

First a big shout out to Centenary who broke through into the D3 baseball top 25. Well deserved. Also a big shout out to Senior pitcher Holden Novak of the Gents and freshman pitcher Tyler Polasek of Southwestern, both have been named to the D3baseball.com Team of the Week. (I love it when Freshmen do that!...well most of the time) The Tigers moved up to number 2 and my response is "so what" clearly the objective for this team is to get back to Appleton, and National rankings mean nothing in March.

For this coming week:

Centenary @ Schreiner     Normally this would be a "yawn" Centenary 3-0, which it probably will be, but Schreiner is improving and if the Gents don't take are of business they could drop one.
TLU @ Austin College       TLU should sweep. Yawn.
Dallas @ Trinity                 Trinity should sweep, if not there will be a lot of margaritas drank in San Antonio. Come to think of it even if they do, the parents will still be hitting La Fonda or La Fogata, Man I miss those places!
Southwestern has a big break in their schedule.

A couple of observations are that Trinity young pitching is starting to shape up, it may not happen this weekend, but if the trend keeps continuing some of the young arms could move some of the "old arms" out of the weekend rotation. This is a good sign for Trinity. TLU is starting to round into shape up and Centenary is continuing to develop and the big series is the week after next vs Trinity, which could well decide who hosts the conference tournament.

Cheers

[Just_Some_Guy]

A couple of observations are that Trinity young pitching is starting to shape up, it may not happen this weekend, but if the trend keeps continuing some of the young arms could move some of the "old arms" out of the weekend rotation. This is a good sign for Trinity. TLU is starting to round into shape up and Centenary is continuing to develop and the big series is the week after next vs Trinity, which could well decide who hosts the conference tournament.

Cheers

Interesting take re: TU pitching staff. I actually think it's unlikely you'll see any of the young arms emerge as weekend rotation guys.

It seems to me that Scannell and Smith like to find their horses and ride them. I would venture that some combo of Nelson, Turner, Gray and Walker remain their weekend guys, with Tate/Hoffmann/Cubley being the primary guys out of the pen. Hussian has been solid in limited innings and Lonnecker might get another shot (long relief during the week). All of those, with the exception of Tate, are true freshman, but doubt, at this point in the season, you see any of them over take 'the big 4.'

Last year, they rode the same 4 SP with Turner/Griffith shoring up the back end and Walker working weekday duty.

2014 featured 4 primary guys throughout the year (and a lot of bullpen depth).

If you go back to 2013, SR Barron started giving way to FR Alig who emerged throughout the season. BTW, Did Alig transfer after his FR year?

Mostly, what I learned via this research is that I'm pretty upset that Turner changed his name on the roster from Theodore to Teddy. The SCAC needs a solid ball player named Theodore.

[108 Stitches]

JSG, actually last year they moved Tindall up during the season from the closer to a starter and Turner/Griffith filled this role, and you are correct about the rest, but this was a very seasoned pitching staff.

Many times the more difficult games for Trinity are the mid week games so they are great training grounds for their younger staff. Nelson emerged this year from this role and actually has been the best pitcher so far overall and I can see him pitching  in "must win" games later in the season if he continues doing what he is doing. The good news for the program is that the younger/other guys are looking better than some of the older guys, which is great thing. Gray has always been a slow starter and should be pretty formidable later in the season and both Turner and Walker have pitched in big games. I see Walker as more of a "strategic starter" and they have thrown him against big powerful fastball hitting teams who have trouble with soft crafty lefty type pitchers. Walker actually has a tendency to "pitch to bats" against less talented teams. I also noticed that Flores pitched for the first time this year which could be a huge addition for them as he was great as a Freshmen and went down last year and is coming back from TJ surgery, if he gets healthy then he has the potential to be another lock down end of game or long relief guy. There lots of baseball left but realistically they only have two tough weekend series left vs Cent and TLU, the tougher games are all midweek.  Their pitching is coming around so they are looking better than 6 weeks ago that is for sure.

[108 Stitches]

Wet suit roundup for this week.

Trinity is now ranked number one in the country but based on how they are playing probably not for long. Don't get me wrong they are a great team - just not playing at #1 level at the moment. They shuffled the pitching last week like I expected with Nelson going game 1, Gray 2 and Turner 3. It's all hands on deck after that. Should be the same for this weekend, but there is a slight chance Turner moves up to number 2, but not likely as the coaching staff likes to mix up arm angles and sides.

Probably the biggest match up for the whole West Region is this weekend in Schreveport with #12 Centenary hosting #1 Trinity. Win or lose it's Friday night is beer and crawdads in the parking lot at Crawfish Tyme!

It could go either way but Trinity is still tough and should take 2 of 3, however if they play like last weekend then Cent could conceivably take 2 from the Tigers.

TLU is off.

Schreiner @ SWestern : This used to be a sweep series, but SU is playing much better and SW so-so. SW takes 2 of 3

Austin @ Dallas: Both teams are not that good but Dallas is the worser of the two, so Austin takes 2 of 3

[Ralph Turner]

Wet suit roundup for this week.

Trinity is now ranked number one in the country but based on how they are playing probably not for long. Don't get me wrong they are a great team - just not playing at #1 level at the moment. They shuffled the pitching last week like I expected with Nelson going game 1, Gray 2 and Turner 3. It's all hands on deck after that. Should be the same for this weekend, but there is a slight chance Turner moves up to number 2, but not likely as the coaching staff likes to mix up arm angles and sides.

Probably the biggest match up for the whole West Region is this weekend in Schreveport with #12 Centenary hosting #1 Trinity. Win or lose it's Friday night is beer and crawdads in the parking lot at Crawfish Tyme!

It could go either way but Trinity is still tough and should take 2 of 3, however if they play like last weekend then Cent could conceivably take 2 from the Tigers.

TLU is off.

Schreiner @ SWestern : This used to be a sweep series, but SU is playing much better and SW so-so. SW takes 2 of 3

Austin @ Dallas: Both teams are not that good but Dallas is the worser of the two, so Austin takes 2 of 3

#1 Trinity at #12 Centenary

A Number 1 team wins 2 of 3 on the road at a ranked rival.

Winning 1 out of 3 keeps them close to the top.

Being swept raises huge doubts.

[Ron Boerger]

Shreveport Times story on the weekend:  http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/sports/college/2016/03/26/centenary-struggles-find-positives-series-sweep/82310626/

[108 Stitches]

Thanks Ron. I did not see the first part of game one and by the time I got online they seemed like they had given up. From a positive point of view some of their younger pitchers got the opportunity to see what its like to compete with a CWS caliber team. Anything can happen in conference play, and they will likely not be the 4 seed so they can conceivably be prepared to face the Tigers again. Lots of baseball left in the season for them.

[108 Stitches]

OK here we go for the "108 wet suit of the week" predictions for the coming weekend.

Centenary recovered from a dismal weekend and beat LeTU in a come from behind win, which is a good sign given how badly they were trounced last weekend by Trinity.

For this coming week:

Dallas @ TLU:         TLU sweeps, however with all league play Dallas may steal a game. Dallas is looking a little bit stronger lately.
Trinity @Schreiner: Normally this is a hands down sweep, but Schreiner has something going on this year and could steal a game if Trinity is not focused
SW @ Austin:         SW takes 2 of 3. Boy the SW program has really dropped off this year. Not sure what is going on there, but they have taken a big step backward.
ETBU @ Cent:        Non league Don't really know ETBU, but looks like Cent should take 2 of 3

Trinity juggled their pitching last week quite a bit and will probably continue to do so through the end of the season to get the staff ready for Regionals. Conf tournament teams look like Trinity, TLU, Cent and TBD. SW or Dallas could take the last spot depending on how they play the next three weeks.

Cheers

[Ron Boerger]

Five hours since the start of game 1 and not a peep out of Schreiner re the games today with Trinity.   All they have is a pay-to-watch video link, no live stats, not a tweet to be seen anywhere.

[Ron Boerger]

Five hours since the start of game 1 and not a peep out of Schreiner re the games today with Trinity.   All they have is a pay-to-watch video link, no live stats, not a tweet to be seen anywhere.

Thanks to the folks at @Trinity_Sports who told me 11-1 TU first game, 15-2 (bot 9th) second.   No other details yet available. 

[108 Stitches]

I just checked and saw that Trinity dropped today's game to Schreiner 2-1, considering the two games yesterday that is a big shock. Kolby Kitchens for SU threw a complete game, gave up 10 hits but only one ER, congrats to him. Trinity had two errors and one cost them a run. Still not very good showing for the number 1 team in the country. (maybe not for long) 

[Westside]

Is it a misprint or does Trinity's Andrew Waters actually have zero walks/hit by pitch on the whole season? That seems absolutely crazy. 87 at bats... I mean, he is hitting over .400 but that is wild.