BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

frank_ezelle · January 30, 2007, 08:36:20 AM

The last comment is a fairly good observation. Trinity and Millsaps were two evenly matched teams last season and that will probably be the case once again this season. Looking at the stats from last year, Millsaps was at the top of the league in just about all of the hitting categories with Trinity not far behind and the reverse was true when it came to pitching.

In regards to pitching, I firmly believe that Millsaps would have been in the World Series and in the top 10 last year if the SCAC had gone to the 4-game SCAC weekends in 2006. In 2006 they were one starter shy of what it takes to go through a regional tournament but it is hard to develop that extra starter with only 3 games on a weekend. Millsaps had the extra pitchers last year but they didn't have the available innings needed to get them experience.

I imagine the same was true at Trinity and I suspect that Millsaps and Trinity will be the two teams that gain the most by the extra weekend game. Millsaps has 14 games on the schedule between March 16 and April 1 with 12 of those games being conference games. We'll see just how deep the pitching staff is during that stretch of the season and how they might fare if they reach an NCAA Regional.

Ralph Turner · January 31, 2007, 10:00:24 PM

Frank, let me think out loud about your thoughts that the SCAC, and specifically Millsaps, does not develop pitchers in the 2006 format.

To contrast your Weekend double DH conference format, McM played a Friday 9-inning game and then a Saturday 7- and 9- inning DH. McMurry played a midweek game against another D3 or NAIA school. Here are the games started by their pitchers.

2006 McMurry Season Statistics The McMurry ace Craig Erickson only started 10 games in the 39 game regular season. The projected ace of the staff did not work out, so that is why there are no other starters getting close to 10 games. McMurry played 21 division games.

I reviewed the Millsaps stats and saw that it seemed like Kindler and Fox and no one else, until I looked at it more closely. Those 2 pitchers accounted for 31 of the total 50 starts, but only 13 for Fox and 12 for Kindler in the 40 regular season games.

You are making the case that those extra five starts are where Millsaps will find that 4th and 5th starter. Four of those starts would have occurred on those SCAC weekends in which you only played 2 games against your opponents. The Majors #3 and #4 starters only made 5 starts on the season.

That is interesting...

frank_ezelle · February 01, 2007, 08:26:42 AM

I don't want to give the impression that I disagree with anything the coaches did on the pitching last year because I would have done exactly the same. I would have pitched Fox and Kindler on every 2 and 3 game series. I would have also given them work during the week to keep them sharp and to win the majority of our South Regional games. You have to do well enough in the regular season to get into the NCAA Tournament so you go with your best.

The problem is that we would run out of starters at the time that we needed them most. In the SCAC Tournament last year we went with Fox and Kindler in opening wins. Then we tried a pitch by committed and Brad Mizerany made his first start of the season and we lost that game. Hollenbeck got us a win and then we were back to Fox for the first championship game. The second game was cancelled and co-champions were declared but I don't know who would have started that game.

At the Central Regional, it was Fox, Kindler and Hollenbeck getting Millsaps into the regional finals but then it was back to Fox and a pitch by committee in the two games where we needed to win to get to the World Series. I think Tait Hendrix, David Hutzel and Brandon Ingram could have all been fairly good as that 4th starter but we just didn't have much of an opportunity to start them last year or to give them the innings that they needed. We'll be forced to come up with a 4th starter this season and I think that will help in the long run.

Ralph Turner · February 01, 2007, 08:47:12 AM

Frank, no I don't think that I mis-construed your position. To win the 2006 title, I do the same thing.

frank_ezelle · February 01, 2007, 09:24:07 AM

Ralph, there's one more reason why I think this change helps Millsaps and Trinity more than most of the other schools. I think it those two schools have the depth to find a 4th starting pitcher and maybe some of the other schools will have trouble finding a quality starter for that 4th game.

Just as an example, Hendrix still has their 2006 roster posted and it shows 18 players with 7 pitchers. It would obviously be harder for a smaller team like that to come up with 4 starters for the SCAC weekends.

ILVBB · February 01, 2007, 03:30:50 PM

Now that teams will play a 4 game series, how does that effect what players travel? How many pitchers do you take on each road trip? Is there an impact on postion player development? Do you think there will be an impact on player retention?

BigPoppa · February 01, 2007, 03:33:35 PM

Quote from: ILVBB on February 01, 2007, 03:30:50 PM
Now that teams will play a 4 game series, how does that effect what players travel? How many pitchers do you take on each road trip? Is there an impact on postion player development? Do you think there will be an impact on player retention?

It means that teams will carry an extra pitcher or two and that position players that can play more than one spot are gold!

frank_ezelle · February 02, 2007, 12:54:26 PM

Millsaps got a mention in the local paper this morning. It's not much and the part on Millsaps is after the main story on Belhaven, but this is about as much as we ever get from the local paper.

The story is mostly about Belhaven College and the powerhouse team they have this year. Belhaven, Millsaps, and Mississippi College play a series of games each year and the team with the best record wins the "Cowboy Maloney" trophy. You play each team 3 times so the 3 games between Millsaps and Belhaven should be terrific matchups. MC is picked to finish the the upper level of their division this season and they were 29-16 last year so those games will also be very tough. Throw in a couple of games with Emory, East Texas Baptist, Huntingdon, LaGrange and Piedmont and Millsaps has a great non-conference schedule.

Here's the link the the story: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070202/SPORTS030105/702020338/1085&GID=ZNTb6KEANuBYS07dnB46sE/akQnOzJ10s971nMZ3o9Q%3D

BigPoppa · February 03, 2007, 05:48:21 PM

Quote from: historymajor on January 26, 2007, 10:27:36 AM
Yep, can't blame you for that! It should be a dandy! If you do, give me a report on Ryan Cavan,,,, he left TU after his great frosh year and transferred to Chapman....

Here is the link to Cavan's debut with Chapman last night. He had a pretty good start.

http://www1.chapman.edu/athletics/06-07/baseball/wc-cu.htm

frank_ezelle · February 04, 2007, 03:44:20 PM

BigPoppa--They changed that link by adding a "1" at the end:

http://www1.chapman.edu/athletics/06-07/baseball/wc-cu1.htm

BigPoppa · February 04, 2007, 05:59:06 PM

Thanks you. Chapman's Kurt Yacko moved from short to 3b to allow Cavan to play SS. Yack had a huge weekend with 7 or 8 hits, 2HRs, many RBIs and both a win and a save on the mound.

frank_ezelle · February 06, 2007, 08:07:08 PM

A Millsaps baseball preview has been posted on the Millsaps website:

http://www.millsaps.edu/athletic/baseball/07Preview.shtml

HeadingForHome · February 06, 2007, 10:25:25 PM

Oglethorpe defeated La Grange 10 - 7 today.

Oglethorpe was down 6 runs after the first two innings and came back to win.

This is interesting because La Grange plays Millsaps, Rhodes, Sewanne, and Centre this year and its good to see the SCAC start of right against La Grange.

frank_ezelle · February 08, 2007, 10:49:57 AM

I keep checking the SCAC website for the preseason coaches poll. It came out right about this time last year and teams have started playing so I expect it will come out sometime in the next few days. Anyone have a clue on when that will come out or does anyone want to make any predictions of what the coaches will have to say?

baseballsense · February 08, 2007, 11:31:37 AM

The SCAC seems to be off to a good start with Oglethorpe, Hendrix and Rhodes winning. It will be interesting to see if that keeps up this weekend with the rest of the conference opening.
As far as preseason polls
1. Millsaps (overall #1)
2. Trinity (overall #2)
3. Southwestern
4. Austin
5. Hendrix

1. Depauw (overall #3)
2. Rhodes
3. Sewanee
4. Oglethorpe
5. Centre

But that's just a guess.