BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[nvnorthpaw]

Are there any Hendrix fans on the board?  I know they got some rain this week, but how much?  I think they are currently getting some, but it is supposed to move out late tonight and be windy.  How does the field drain? 

this is a crucial series this weekend as whomever wins 2 games will have the tie breaker.  Both Hendrix and Trinity have key games in the future, but this series could go a long way in determining who makes the Tournament.  Two wins by Trinity and that gives them some breathing room.  A sweep would be great, but winning 2 would be awesome as it would separate the two teams by 4 in the loss column. 

The field at HC drains fairly well as far as I know.  There were some pretty heavy rains that came last night, but it has dried out a bit throughout the day.  Unfortunately it seems as though a storm is currently setting in as I type this, hopefully it doesn't effect the status of tomorrows games. 

[nvnorthpaw]

Hendrix took two of three from Trinity this weekend!

[Gus Sinski]

 Good weekend on several fronts for Hendrix. The Warriors took their season series with Trinity, something that I'm not sure has ever happened.

Here's the rundown:

* Sunny skies with the occasional cold breeze greeted both teams Sunday, and it was a welcome change from the overcast brrrrrrrrr fest that marked Saturday's DH. It was especially nice to not have any five-minute monsoons, like the one that hit late in the second game Saturday.

* Wheeler Gnat struck out six Tigers in three innings of relief to save Sunday's 9-7 victory, with three Ks in the ninth inning.

* It's time to tip the ol' green cap to Dave Keine, who has found the game-to-game consistency that has previously eluded him. Six strong innings against a Trinity lineup that has been playing with a lot of confidence the past two weeks.

* Speaking of...the "old" Evan Bronson was on hand for Trinity Saturday. He may have struggled earlier in the season, but he did a fine job keeping the Tigers in the game Saturday. Hendrix's lineup was just too potent (thus ends the first time the above has been said in the history of the Interwebs.)

* A friend with way more intelligence and knowledge of the program than poor old yours truly pointed out today that both Daniel Ward and Jeff Forgerson have broken Hendrix's previous single-season home run mark...with at least seven games left in the season. Given its baseball history, being a record-holder at Hendrix is sorta like being the richest man in post-communist Russia, but the Warriors do have a bit of history when it comes to power numbers (Wes Holland, Chris Black, Andy Kucek, etc.)

* I'm not a fan of arguments on who should be the Player of the Year, but I would like to humbly submit that Daniel Ward should be part of the discussion. If nothing else, no elite player in this conference has persevered through more out-and-out misery than that kid.

* ibid re: R.J. Thomas as Coach of the Year.

* Speaking of coaching, congrats to hitting coach Jay Mattox, who got his first collegiate victory as the day's acting head coach. Given his generous nature, I'm quite sure Jay will lend half of that victory to assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Neil Groat.

* Speaking of head coaches, join me in welcoming Sophie Thomas to the world. I'm sure dad didn't mind missing the game a bit under the circumstances, and must be thrilled that his little one got a Warrior victory.

[frank_ezelle]

Millsaps wins 2 over Austin today.  In what must be somewhat of an oddity in baseball, Drew Maddox won the first game in relief and then won the second game as a starter.  Tait Hendrix was suppose to start the second game but he tweaked something in his back during a pinch hit role late in the first game, so Drew started the second game and went 5 of the 7 innings (since the first game went into extra innings, the second game reverted to a 7-inning game).

This puts Millsaps at 12 wins and by my calculations it clinches a SCAC tournament spot for them.  Austin can't get to 12 wins and Hendrix can only get to 12 wins and Millsaps holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over them.  It is just my guess that the head-to-head is the first tiebreaker since it seems to be for every sport in the SCAC.  If you are guaranteed to be ahead of two teams, then you are guaranteed a spot in the tournament.

[BATR441]

Not taking anything away from BSC, they are a very good team top to bottom, but OU played very uninspired ball this weekend. OU showed they could hit the cream of the crop ( pitching stats) BSC but you  have to play a full 9 innings both offense and defense, you can't strand 11 runners and expect to be succesfull against a team like BSC.

Maybe the 9 game winning streak had something to do with it but hopefully this weekend will be a wakeup call for OU.

[spring bruce09]

Well I'm new to the board so I thought I'd chime in,

I'm not sure I would say OU played uninspired ball this past weekend at BSC, just maybe a little sloppy. BSC is a solid team throughout and OU played right with them in all 3 games...the difference was just OU made a few more mistakes and as BATR said, you can't make mistakes against good teams like BSC. From what I have seen of the OU program in the past, this year is a huge step forward and I believe they will compete for the East division this year and for the next few to come.

Daniel Sarisky was filthy Saturday and has been dominant as the closer (he legitimately hit 95 mph on Saturday at BSC multiple times). Andy Farrey should be getting talked about more as he is hitting .430 and has one of the best pure lefty swings I've ever seen. JJ Rizzo has been raking (.400 BA) and playing great defense, Andrew Llano is over .350 and is a clutch hitter. Mark Hoban, who transferred from Piedmont, is 5-1, and their new side-arming setup man Spencer Kennedy has been lights out since dropping down.

Tommorow should be very interesting as the Petrels get the opportunity to take on Division I Georgia State. No matter what the result is, it should be a great experience for the players to play a team at that level. Im pretty sure they will be pitching by committee, seeing as they have a big series this weekend with Rhodes. It should be a lot of fun tomorrow and this weekend against Rhodes! 

[infielddad]

95mph???
Are you sure...95mph???
That is faster than 95% of the guys in DI.
That is probably faster than 90% of the pitchers in Milb and MLB.
In 3 years of watching Milb, I only saw one guy at 95..but he was 97 to 100, when he wasn't 101mph.

[spring bruce09]

Believe me I was shocked when I heard 95 mph too but both BSC's and OU's guns had him consistently from 90 to 93 and he hit 95 five different times on both guns

[frank_ezelle]

I remember an article years ago in a track magazine about a guy (maybe Jim Hines) who had set the world indoor record in the 50-yard dash.  They broke the race down into segments--the first 10 yards obviously being the slowest and the last 10 the fastest.  At the 40 yard mark, he was at something like 4.18 seconds.  I can't remember exactly, but the point was that the best short sprinter in the world with the advantage of starting blocks, etc, had a time that was only about .1 of a second faster in the 40 than what some high schoolers supposedly run.  That doesn't compute.

Sometimes sports numbers are extremely exact and sometimes they are more of a descriptive nature.  It sounds like OU has a closer with a lot of heat.  Exactly how hot might depend on the speed gun being used, but it must be fairly hot since Sarisky has 39 K's in 24.2 innings. 

The bigger point is that OU did play a very competitive series at BSC this past weekend and BSC is playing very well.  The SCAC East as a whole has taken a huge step up this year and that's good for the league.  In the West we just had Hendrix win their 2009 series with Trinity 3 games to 2.  Will the equivalent happen in the East with OU winning the 2009 series against Rhodes?  It should be an interesting battle to watch.

[FlightofthePetrel]

I've only seen The Petrels play a few times this year... but I can help validate that Sarisky can absolutely throw the heat.  Not sure if it's 95 mph, I don't have the eye of a MLB scout, but that's the word from those on the team.

Also after a relief appearance a week or so ago when he had something like 8 strikeouts in 4 innings I heard a parent fromt he opposing team comment that he had the best stuff he'd seen all year and by far threw the "fastest" that he's seen at this level.

But don't take our word for it.  Ask your son after he faces him and see what he thinks as that balls blows by 

[Lou_Brown]

I've seen Sarisky pitch a few times this year and I've seen the speed guns as well. The night I saw him he was 90-93 and hit 94 twice. There is no doubt this kid can throw the ball that hard. He is only a sophomore and has outstanding mechanics.

[infielddad]

I've only seen The Petrels play a few times this year... but I can help validate that Sarisky can absolutely throw the heat.  Not sure if it's 95 mph, I don't have the eye of a MLB scout, but that's the word from those on the team.

Also after a relief appearance a week or so ago when he had something like 8 strikeouts in 4 innings I heard a parent fromt he opposing team comment that he had the best stuff he'd seen all year and by far threw the "fastest" that he's seen at this level.

But don't take our word for it.  Ask your son after he faces him and see what he thinks as that balls blows by 

Thanks for the input from those who have seen Oglethorpe and this young man.  Personally, I love hearing the SCAC is attracting this type of talent.
My hope is they are able to keep this type of talent.  The new DI transfer/sit out rule should sure help. Iknow from experience that before the new DI transfer rule, a talent of that type would get considerable transfer interest.
flight, my son won't be facing him as an injury ended his career.  But, during the time he was playing, he had plenty of AB's off Homer Bailey.
On a night in Lansing, MI, the gun showed Homer throwing 101mph and that didn't "blow by him." In fact, when 101mph gets turned around, even with wood, it goes out with a lot more velocity. There are hitters who love those challenges.
As I posted earlier, one of the fun days I have had this college baseball season was watching Evan Bronson vs Hunter Owen.
Certainly, a pitcher throwing 90-94 in the SCAC's with good command and a breaking ball is likely to over match many hitters.  I don't think that would be true of guys like Owen, Jones, Pennington and some others.
But, all of that said, those would be match ups that would be very fun to watch.  Hopefully, they will happen at the SCAC's and a lot more will be written.

[BATR441]

Well I'm new to the board so I thought I'd chime in,

I'm not sure I would say OU played uninspired ball this past weekend at BSC, just maybe a little sloppy. BSC is a solid team throughout and OU played right with them in all 3 games...the difference was just OU made a few more mistakes and as BATR said, you can't make mistakes against good teams like BSC. From what I have seen of the OU program in the past, this year is a huge step forward and I believe they will compete for the East division this year and for the next few to come.

Daniel Sarisky was filthy Saturday and has been dominant as the closer (he legitimately hit 95 mph on Saturday at BSC multiple times). Andy Farrey should be getting talked about more as he is hitting .430 and has one of the best pure lefty swings I've ever seen. JJ Rizzo has been raking (.400 BA) and playing great defense, Andrew Llano is over .350 and is a clutch hitter. Mark Hoban, who transferred from Piedmont, is 5-1, and their new side-arming setup man Spencer Kennedy has been lights out since dropping down.

Tommorow should be very interesting as the Petrels get the opportunity to take on Division I Georgia State. No matter what the result is, it should be a great experience for the players to play a team at that level. Im pretty sure they will be pitching by committee, seeing as they have a big series this weekend with Rhodes. It should be a lot of fun tomorrow and this weekend against Rhodes! 

Please don't misunderstand, when I say "uninspired" I don't mean they didn't play competitivley, they just let some good opportunities slip away (29 LOB) across 3 games comes to mind.And yes there are several positives to this team from top to bottom, the freshman have stepped up when called upon, the upperclassmen are getting it done, and the experience is showing through, finding good pitching from Cornwell, and kennedy is huge, Tuttle is showing signs of promise, and overall the team is playing well, In my humble opinion they just need to belive!

As far as competing for the East this year, well, they have shown that they should, but..... having BSC as a non issue for this season helps. Missing the series with Centre probably hurt more then helped as this would have given them an opportunity to get a few Conf. games under there belt prior to facing what I belive to be the power of the East.

I have been following the OU team last year and this year and it is good to just have something to talk about this season.

[BATR441]

OH! and by the way Sarisky is the real deal, make no mistake about it.

[frank_ezelle]

I was watching Millsaps play Belhaven yesterday and Belhaven brought in a guy who supposedly was throwing about 90 or in the 90's.  I think he got one out while allowing 3 or 4 runs.  Meanwhile, Boomer Hudson of Millsaps was shutting down a high scoring Belhaven offense with his sidearm/submarine pitch that will never impress anyone with its speed.

Boomer got the win to go to 4-0 on the season and he continued to keep his ERA under 1.00--it just goes to show that there's more than one way to be the real deal.