BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[frank_ezelle]

The starting time on the Millsaps-MC game has been moved to 4:00.  I have a feeling that a lot of folks won't know about the new time and they'll show up just in time for the 9th inning.  The schedule on the MC and Millsaps websites still show 6:30 as the starting time.

[frank_ezelle]

Just got back from the Millsaps-Mississippi College game.  Millsaps won 16-1, giving Coach Jim Page his 400 victory.  I didn't get to the game until about the 6th and Millsaps was ahead 10-1 on the strength of two 5-run innings.  John Fox was pitching at the time but I don't know if he started the game.  He looked strong or else MC looked weak at the plate, maybe a combination of both.  Fox for followed by Tal Hendrix and Tal's younger brother Tait pitched the 9th.

If anyone wants to discredit the following as the delusions of a fan then go ahead.  The game was being played at Smith-Wills stadium, a minor league park designed for double-A ball.  It's 330 down the left field line and 400 to center with two levels of advertising signs and a scoreboard above those in left-center field.  In the 8th inning Garner Wetzel hit a ball over the scoreboard and the ball flight was more like a line drive than a fly ball.  For those familiar with the Millsaps field, the ball would have landed somewhere near the middle of the soccer field that is behind the leftcenter fence.  I don't know how far it actually went but it was hit harder than any thing I saw last season.  It definitely made it worthwhile to stick around for the final innings of a blowout game. 

[consultant]

Frank beat me to the board.....
Just heard about the Millsaps vs. MC game from assistant coach Cody McCain.  John Fox did start the game and gave up 1 run on 4 hits.  He gave up the one run and three of the hits in the first inning.  Fox's performance was a nice confidence booster after he gave up 10 runs in 2/3 of an inning this past Saturday.  Fox is a type of pitcher that is unhittable when throwing well.  Today was one of those days. 

Fox's pitching and Wetzel's homerun had scouts buzzing according to Coach McCain.  Wetzel posted 6 RBI on the afternoon, raising his RBI total to 13.  The Majors continue to swing hot bats......but their 19 runs per game average dipped a bit with only a 16 run outing today.   

[frank_ezelle]

Here's a brief writeup on the Millsaps game last night.  No stories or box scores have been posted on the first three game on the Millsaps website or reported to the SCAC.  Millsaps has home games with Hendrix this weekend but a fair amount of rain is in the forecast.  Here's the link:

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060215/SPORTS030105/602150342/0/SPORTS

[scaccommish]

Baseball stats w/box scores are now up-to-date on the SCAC site for all games played through last night.

[historymajor]

TU dropped a tough 4-3 decision at TLU yesterday.  Looks like making comebacks and holding a lead are skills yet to be mastered by the Tigers.

[frank_ezelle]

It shows the value of a guy like Joe Brown.  I'm going by recollection and not by a stat sheet, but it seems to me that he was tough on Millsaps and just about everyone else last year.

[etg]

History,

"Holding a lead" in this case would be defined as:  Bottom of the ninth, score tied 3-3, 2 outs, potential winning run on third base, first base is open, Tigers decide to pitch to Aaron Crais    True that Cannon the DH was up next, but with first base open "pitch to Aaron Crais"    (NOTE: Crais had already walked twice in the game, Cannon was 1-4 with a strikeout.)

Frank,

Absolutely, Joe Brown (The Wild Thing) could have changed the result of this game. How many times will this happen again this season 

[Dirty_South]

Wetzel is a man among boys, on another note I was was at the Emory/Washington&Lee game on tuesday and Emory has a lefty in the pen that transferred from TENNESSEE! He pitched in the college world series last year...Well, he only has one appearance: 2 Inn, 1 hit, 6 K's....by the way he's a senior and went to HS in Atlanta....very interesting. I remember a few years back their 3B transferred in from Baylor..he got drafted after his junior year and hit like .330 last year in his first pro summer...

[frank_ezelle]

I'm sure all of you reading this message board are planning to flock to Jackson for the weekend games vs. Hendrix.  The games have been moved up a day because of the cold, wet weather predicted for the weekend.  The new game times are:

Friday night:  6:30 PM (forecast is 42 degrees, 30% chance of rain)
Saturday afternoon:  1:00 PM (high for the day 43 degrees, 70% chance of rain)

[Dirty_South]

Hendrix beats Millsaps 6-4 in SCAC opener!!!!

Details???

[consultant]

Hendrix 6 - Millsaps 4   Final (10 innings)

Not sure of any details other than what the box score shows on the SCAC website.  Hendrix scored two runs in the top of the 10th and held Millsaps in check in the bottom half of the inning to claim the win. 

Millsaps surged to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but the bats went silent after that.   Hendrix tied the game with 3 runs in the 5th and took the lead on one run in the 6th.   Millsaps then tied the game with a run in the bottm of the 8th.

Hendrix committed 2 errors compared to Millsaps' 3. 

Both starting pitchers (Wooley for Hendrix (7 IP) and Kindler for Millsaps (5 IP)) allowed three earned runs. 

Of interest, the Hendrix win is the first win against Millsaps in at least 25 games.....that dates back to the 2001 season.  I can't find records before then on the SCAC site, so it could be more.  That's an amazing statistic of consecutive games won against one team. 

[frank_ezelle]

The Hendrix-Millsaps matchup was about pitching, weather and hitting, and to steal from Clint Eastwood, it was the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Pitching:  Millsaps got their 3 runs in the first with the benefit of several walks and I think a hit batter.  After that Wooley settled in and started finding the strike zone with some of the slowest pitches you'll ever see in college baseball.  I'm not saying it was as slow as Rip Sewell's famous ephus pitch from the 1940's, but it sure looked slower than BP pitching.  I don't know if it will be effective for an entire season but it had the hitter's offstride last night.  Reliever Daniel Ward used the same style during his 3 innings so maybe that's a hint of what the SCAC can expect from the Hendrix pitching staff this season.

For Millsaps, Todd Kindler was okay but he wasn't the dominating pitcher that he has been in the past.  Todd had a sore shoulder prior to the season and to my non-experienced eyes it just looked like he is a couple of weeks behind schedule.  Tal Hendrix looked great with 10 KO's in his 5 innings.  In the 2-run 10th he gave up 2 unearned runs and I'm don't think the ball was ever hit out of the infield. 

Weather:  It was nasty and the rest of the weekend looks like it will be worse.  The wind was blowing hard from first towards third and I'm sure that just made the big sweeping pitch from Wooley more effective since he is a left handed pitcher.  They might get a game in today but if not they will probably get it in on Sunday when the rain should be out of the way.

Hitting:  Almost non-existant from both teams.  There were 23 strikeouts in the game, 16 walks and only 13 hits.  There was no rhythm to the game and neither team hit the ball very solid, even on the putouts.  I remember very few balls actually getting out of the infield and only a handfull of hard hit balls.  I think the poor hitting from both sides is more a reflection of the pitching and the weather than a lack of talent by the hitters on both sides.

All in all, it would have been a nice game to win but it isn't the end of the world.  From an overall sports perspective, the bigger win last night was Millsaps over Hendrix in basketball but that's another topic for another board.

[historymajor]

I'm just glad that Trinity and Rhodes had the good sense to postpone this years ICEBOWL games at Memphis.  Nothing good can come out of a sub-freezing game.  Get it on when the sun is shining and the sky is clear.

[Dirty_South]

I just sat through the only 2 SCAC games on saturday at Oglethorpe...Light rain, a steady 10-15 mph wind and a 38 degree temp did not slow down any baseball in atlanta (well on this side of atlanta, as emory was washed out). The Petrels got their first win and had to earn it, they really have played decent baseball, better than their record shows. I think if  the team they played wasn't from the other side of the country they would have probably cancelled these games....but....it was entertaining to say the least...my first baseball game watched from my drivers seat in my car.