BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

frank_ezelle · February 10, 2009, 06:24:25 PM

Trinity falls at Texas Lutheran 7-3: http://www.tlu.edu/i/athletics/xlive.htm

It doesn't appear that Hendrix and Harding played their DH today.

LaGrange beats OU 10-5: http://home.lagrange.edu/athletics/stats/Baseball/live/xlive.htm

nvnorthpaw · February 10, 2009, 10:26:03 PM

The Hendrix-Harding doubleheader was postponed due to weather and a single game will be played at Harding this thursday at 1pm.

Lou_Brown · February 11, 2009, 08:45:50 AM

Kind if surprised by Trinity's 0-4 start....whats going on out there?

frank_ezelle · February 11, 2009, 09:16:12 AM

I realize that a message board needs more than one person making 90% of the posts about one school. The solution will be that I cut back or others chime in, and what we really need are more voices from the other schools.

A 5-0 start isn't reason to assume a national championship for Millsaps or even an SCAC West title. It is just enough games to give us a hint about what the 2009 Majors will be like and for the Millsaps fans reading and the diehard D3 baseball fans, here's what I've seen so far:

---The concern coming into the season was centered primarily on the pitching. Early season ERA's can be deceiving so I'm going to assume that Aaron Williams and Tait Hendrix will be solid starters for Millsaps--that was the thinking going into the season and it should prove to be true in the long run. The big question mark was about the rest of the starters.

From first impressions, I like JC transfer Shelby Robertson. He's a big guy who looked good against Rhodes in his first start. It was also good to see a new lefthander having a good outing with freshman Ryan Zemke getting a win in his first start. Piedmont had put up 18 and 22 runs in their previous games and Zemke held them to 1 run in 5.2 innings.

Boomer Hudson has been the surprise of the early season with his 2 wins matching his total number of innings pitched in 2007 (I think he was a medical redshirt in 2008). Drew Maddox hasn't been a surprise after his solid 2008 season. While Drew's numbers seem inflated if you look at the stats, he seems to be the guy who wants to be on the mound when the game is on the line. He seems to make the big pitch when the pressure is the highest.

Several other guys have seen action at critical times so far. It's too early to tell how they'll do over the course of the season, but they all seem willing to throw strikes and challenge the batters. I think they have the guys who will do well in midweek games this year and in weekend games over the rest of their career, but I'm not sure which 2 or 3 will emerge from the untested group of pitchers.

---Moving over to the offensive side, the big surprise is home runs by 7 different players in the first 5 games. Unlike the first half of last season, there seems to be an established pattern to the lineup. The situation in 2008 was unavoidable with so many field positions up for grab and so many players deserving of a shot, but it was also disruptive. This stability to start the season is a huge factor that shouldn't be discounted.

Maybe it's too early to say this and maybe this is an overreach, but this offense reminds me of the 2006 team. That was a great team that really had some bad luck on the last day of their season to fall just short of making the World Series. They were a team that could start and maintain a rally from any part of the lineup. It was just as likely to have a big inning when the #5 guy lead off the inning as when the #1 guy lead off the inning. It seems like the 2009 team is going to be the same way and that has been a factor in some of these early season come from behind victories.

---All in all, it's too early to make a solid prediction of what this season holds for Millsaps. I like what I've seen so far, both in the field and in the dugout. The baseball team at Millsaps has traditionally been the leader in togetherness and this group seems to be in that tradition. The only certainty at this moment is that they have done a good job so far of staying in position for a nice South Regional ranking at the end of the season--it's never too early to think about that and it's always nice to have an alternative path to the playoffs.

My gut feeling is that this team will be in the NCAA playoffs at the end of the year. If the starting pitching steps up and finds a couple of dominant performers like the 2006 team had, then I see this team with the potential to make a run at the World Series like the 2006 team did. That's a big if and it's a long season. Just don't be surprised if the Millsaps baseball team follows in the steps of the football team, just as the football team a few years ago was looking to follow in the footsteps of the baseball team.

historymajor · February 11, 2009, 09:33:59 AM

Frank,,, what can I say? My dad reminded me often, that "if you don't have anything nice (good) to say, don't say anything at all". Well you had plenty of good things to talk about Millsaps baseball, and as for me... well not so much,,, well not at all,,, about Trinity baseball. Looking forward to some good baseball ahead though!

BATR441 · February 11, 2009, 10:46:05 AM

I'll chime in, Lagrange-OU game was a pretty good game going into around the 5th when OU had one of those innings everyone wishes they could avoid. OU offense looked pretty decent and one can only hope as the season goes on they will get progressivley better. The season is early and this OU team looks a whole lot better (Mature) than last years team, how that will equate on the field is anyones guess.

Good luck to to all teams and of course I have high hopes of being at Jackson at the end.

infielddad · February 11, 2009, 11:28:10 AM

Quote from: historymajor on February 11, 2009, 09:33:59 AM
Frank,,, what can I say? My dad reminded me often, that "if you don't have anything nice (good) to say, don't say anything at all". Well you had plenty of good things to talk about Millsaps baseball, and as for me... well not so much,,, well not at all,,, about Trinity baseball. Looking forward to some good baseball ahead though!

Bob,
Well said!!!

frank_ezelle · February 11, 2009, 02:27:51 PM

Despite yesterday's forecast of thunderstorms and 80% chance of rain, it is a beautiful day in Jackson, MS. Millsaps plays Huntingdon today at ~~3:00~~ 3:30 Central time and the link for the webcast is in my signature below. For some reason, my company thinks I should occasionally work a full day so I'll be hit and miss on keeping up with the game.

Based on Aaron Williams being on a pitch count of 40 yesterday, I suspect Tait Hendrix will start and go a couple of inning and then maybe someone like Max Berry or just a general pitch by committee. A week ago I would have said that 5-1 would be great for this 6 games in 6 days. Now that they have gone 5-0, I'll be disappointed if they don't stretch it to 6-0.

Link to 10-page pregame writeup: http://www.gomajors.com/custompages/General/Binder1.pdf

Link to Southwestern live stats (they play Howard Payne at 3:00 Central): http://livestats.prestosports.com/southwestern/

frank_ezelle · February 11, 2009, 07:29:47 PM

Millsaps wins over Huntingdon 13-10 in a game that was tied 10-10 after 4 innings. Drew Maddox came in with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the 5th and got a strikeout to end the last real threat by Huntingdon. Drew gave up 2 hits over 5 innings for the win, with Tait Hendrix getting a strikeout to end the game.

Tony Malaschak had a home run and double to drive in 4 runs (I think that's right), becoming the 8th Millsaps player with a home run this season.

Ralph Turner · February 11, 2009, 07:37:01 PM

Quote from: frank_ezelle on February 11, 2009, 07:29:47 PM
Millsaps wins over Huntingdon 13-10 in a game that was tied 10-10 after 4 innings. Drew Maddox came in with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the 5th and got a strikeout to end the last real threat by Huntingdon. Drew gave up 2 hits over 5 innings for the win, with Tait Hendrix getting a strikeout to end the game.

Tony Malaschak had a home run and double to drive in 4 runs (I think that's right), becoming the 8th Millsaps player with a home run this season.

Good wins...

Lou_Brown · February 11, 2009, 08:00:35 PM

Talking to some folks who are around the OU program, they believe they have a team to compete this year in the East. Specifically they are solid in the infield especially at 3B and SS. They only have two seniors on the team one position guy and one pitcher. One freshmen will start (Adam Brazenas looking at the LaGrange box score) and a couple others may work their way into the lineup. Apparently their #1 is a transfer from a DII school in Georgia and their other starters have both been ALL SCAC performers...Offensively they should be better, 10 hits against LaGrange on tuesday.

Honestly in the past OU has played a very difficult schedule. 2008 saw them play Emory four times, piedmont twice, lagrange 3 times, Adrian, etc...

I hope to see them next week as the host the rawling southern classic.

richball · February 11, 2009, 08:20:16 PM

Question for the OU guys about their new #1 Sarisky from North Ga Coll & State. I see in 2007 he threw 12innings with a 6.75era and for the 2008 season he was not on the roster. Is he coming back from an arm injury, academics???

Lou_Brown · February 11, 2009, 09:05:27 PM

Richball...I can't answer your questions specifically. All I know is that north georgia is very good. Bumped from NAIA to DII a few years ago and they always have had good teams. Not sure how that applies to Sarisky...anyone else with some info??

frank_ezelle · February 11, 2009, 09:57:53 PM

It seems like the move away from 4-game weekend series will help teams like OU more than it will help the traditional powerhouses. If OU can find 2 good starting pitchers, and a few who can pitch well to close out the game, then they have a shot to win each of their SCAC series.

etg · February 11, 2009, 09:59:49 PM

(El Tea Gray--re: Trinity's 0-4 start!)

Lou, frank and history:
All the Trinity 0-4 start means to me is that the best regular season record that the Tigers can now have is 36-4. Count on a 30-win season and a SCAC championship; 0-4 start against Dallas, Tyler and Lutheran means nothing to me. I've been following Tiger Baseball since my freshman year (yes 1963) and have seen any number of bad starts that turned into great seasons (including Trinity's D-I days). Stay tuned.