BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

frank_ezelle · April 09, 2009, 02:34:46 PM

The obvious difference in the two divisions is the weather. It would be impossible for the SCAC East to play the 8 weekends of games played by the West this year, and is there anything gained by forcing the SCAC West teams to play the format being used in the East?

I would be curious to know what the tiebreaker will be if OU and Centre are tied for the third spot in the SCAC Tournament--would the teams go to a one-game playoff or would they look at results against the other teams? I'm sure such a situation is covered in the rules.

tiger_fan2000 · April 09, 2009, 02:55:32 PM

Last years 4 game format might have worked. I am not really sure why they went away from that. Why does the SCAC championship happen when it does? Why can't the tournament be pushed back a weekend or two? That would definitely help the winner be more game ready for the Regionals. That would also help the east teams get in more games with the weather. Finals at Trinity begin May 5. Why not have the SCAC tournament the weekend before that? That would give teams one more weekend of play, might help more with the weather. That might make too much sense and be too logical for the SCAC.

frank_ezelle · April 10, 2009, 05:39:53 AM

Tiger_fan, I understand where you are coming from because I was coming from the same spot when I first joined the message board. Over the years I've questioned some of the things done within the SCAC and over the years I've come to understand that there's usually a good reason for things that seem strange. The league and the schools seem to do a really good job of trying to find the balance between what seems logical when you factor in athletics, education, costs, etc, and try to come up with a viable plan.

That doesn't mean that I don't question things from time to time, like the decision to play the women's basketball games after the men this year which hurt the women's teams, or this amazingly shortsighted idea to cut SCAC Tournaments to just a 4 team affair next year--I'm still hoping that will be reverse before it ever goes into actions.

Getting back to baseball, I see that BSC won over Rhodes last night by a 6-1 score. That drops Rhodes to 5-5. Let's drop BSC (ineligible) and Sewanee (2-7 and unlikely to win 5 of 6) out of the conversation, and that leaves 4 teams in a tight race for 3 spots:

DePauw (5-4) with 3 home games with Centre and 3 home games with OU remaining.
Rhodes (5-5) with 2 road games at BSC and 3 home games with Sewanee remaining.
Centre (3-3) with 3 road games at DePauw and 3 home games with BSC remaining.
Oglethorpe (2-4) with 3 road games at Sewanee and 3 at DePauw remaining.

That's tight. On the West side, the race is just as tight for the last 2 spots with:

Millsaps (13-4) with 3 home games with Trinity.
Southwestern (8-6) with 3 at Trinity and 3 hosting Hendrix
Trinity (7-7) with 3 hosting SW and 3 at Millsaps
Hendrix (7-8) with 2 hosting Austin and 3 at Southwestern
Austin (4-14) with no hope of the Tournament and that surprises me--they are a better team than what their record shows.

It's going to be a very exciting last 2 weeks and I hope the fans come out to support their teams. And now I need to go out and meet a friend at the jogging track--the only reason I'm up so early when I have the day off.

nvnorthpaw · April 10, 2009, 05:02:49 PM

We're a little over two hours until game time here in Conway and it looks to be a cold! night for baseball. Fortunately however, the race to Jackson, MS should keep things interesting. It looks like Trinity is leading Southwestern in SA right now by a score of 8-0 in the bottom half of the sixth. If the tigers can hold on in TX, that would place Southwestern and Trinity in a two-way tie for second in the West at 8-7. Hendrix currently is sitting at 7-8 but pulling out a win tonight against Austin would advance them to 8-8. Now, Hendrix holds the tie-breaker with Trinity (3-2 series advantage) and is down 2-0 in the series with Southwestern as they dropped two close games earlier this season. Depending on how things go the rest of the weekend (will trinity take all three from southwestern?? will Hendrix take 1, 2?), things are really going to be fun next weekend as Southwestern hosts Hendrix for a three game set to end the regular season! I personally predict that Hendrix will take two from Austin this weekend, and two of three from Southwestern next weekend, thus placing HC at 11-9. If Trinity can take 2 this weekend and one from Millsaps next weekend, that would put Trinity at 10-10. By my predictions/thoughts/wishes southwestern takes one from trinity and one from Hendrix, that puts them at 10-10. All in all, this puts HC in 2nd place!!!! when is the last time that happened? Anybody else have any predictions on who will take the last two spots to Jackson, MS??

infielddad · April 10, 2009, 05:18:54 PM

Evan Bronson throws a 3 hitter, Kyle Felix goes 4-4 with a HR and 3 RBI's, Evan Jones goes 3-4 with 2 doubles, 1 RBI and one run scored and Trinity pounds out 15 hits and wins the 7 inning part of the DH by the score of 10-0.
They need to play them one game at a time...like that has never been said before.

frank_ezelle · April 10, 2009, 07:28:10 PM

It is going to be an interesting 2 weeks of baseball on both sides of the SCAC.

The Millsaps games with Emory this weekend are important for both teams. For Emory, two wins over Millsaps would have gone a long way towards a Pool B bid, but now they'll have to play for the split as Millsaps won the opener 6-3.

Maybe these games aren't equally as important for Millsaps but they are important. A win tomorrow would come close to sewing up an at-large bid. It would keep Millsaps in good position for a #1 seed at a regional as long as Millsaps doesn't falter too much against Trinity or at the SCAC Tournament. And in general, it gives the team the experience of going up a high quality team, the kind of team they will face from here on out in 2009.

nvnorthpaw · April 10, 2009, 08:00:52 PM

I agree with you on that notion, Millsaps' games are very important as far as gaining a possible at large bid should they not win the conference title. It looks as if Trinity will complete the sweep of Southwestern today as they are leading 6-0 in the 8th inning. Here in Conway, AR Suydam and Chermak are in a pitchers dual; 0-0 in the bottom of the fourth. Hendrix currently has runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out!

tiger_fan2000 · April 11, 2009, 10:21:54 AM

With the Hendrix loss, I believe that if Trinity wins today they will secure a birth into the tournament. With a win today, worst case Trinity could fall to would be 10-10.

HC is 7-9 right now, lets say they win today to go to 8-9.
SU with a loss today, would be 8-9.

Those two match up next weekend in a 3 game series and no matter what happens, TU will be in the tournament.

I hope we get the same type of determination today that we saw in the Tigers yesterday. That was fun baseball to watch.

nvnorthpaw · April 11, 2009, 01:30:24 PM

Beautiful day here in Conway for game 2 of the series with Austin College. Just an interesting note that should not surprise anyone...these are the current SCAC-West standings with corresponding team ERA, FLD %, AVG, and HR hit. This just goes out to prove pitching and defense DO win championships..

Team ERA FLD % AVG HR

Millsaps 4.77 .966 .314 40
Trinity 5.70 .957 .320 33
Southwestern 6.44 .943 .298 16
Hendrix 7.30 .958 .285 24
Austin 7.52 .948 .290 18

nvnorthpaw · April 11, 2009, 02:32:26 PM

Which two of the three teams fighting for the last two spots will achieve their goal and which will be left out?

nvnorthpaw · April 11, 2009, 04:38:59 PM

The Warriors took one from Austin College 12-7 on senior day here in Conway. Daniel Ward, one of the four seniors(Matt Giza, David Foley, Wheeler Gnat, Ward) honored today was 4-5 with 2 2R-HR, 5 RBI, 4 Runs. He is now sitting at 192 career hits! Hopefully he reaches the 200 plateau with 4 games left in the regular season.

ILVBB · April 11, 2009, 05:57:08 PM

With Trinity sweeping Soutwestern this weekend and Hendrix spliting with Austin, Trinity is in and the last spot will be the winner of next weekends series between Hendrix and Southwestern.

I would like to see Hendrix make it; they have come so far in the last two years, it would be good for their program and the conference (this in no way is a slight against Southwestern).

tiger_fan2000 · April 11, 2009, 06:57:08 PM

TU wins a great game, 1-0 in 10 innings. Tiger Pitchers Mike Hunter and Mike Panozzo combine to only give up 1 hit in the 10 innings. With the win, TU secures a birth in the tournament. What a series this was and what a series next weekend will be.

frank_ezelle · April 11, 2009, 08:04:51 PM

Trinity certainly came up big this weekend with a sweep that puts them into the SCAC Tournament. Millsaps is a lock at #1, Trinity is a lock to be in the tournament at either #2 or #3, and the winner of the Southwestern at Hendrix series will be the third representative. As important as the Trinity at Millsaps series might be to both of those teams, the key series in the West will be the one in Conway.

The East is still a mess with one series rained out and the leader of the division ineligible to go to the SCAC Tournament. My gut feeling is that the three teams from the West will be stronger as a group than the three teams from the East, but it seems like the gap is closing a little. That's especially true regarding whoever ends up being the #3 seed in the East. That's going to be a good team and no pushover for the #1 in the West.

frank_ezelle · April 11, 2009, 08:25:45 PM

An interesting look at two guys who are having great years with many similar numbers and very different styles:

Player ERA W-L APP GS CG SHO/CBO SV IP H R ER BB SO

Daniel Sarisky...... 2.62 5-0 12 3 0 0/0 2 34.1 27 13 10 13 59

Boomer Hudson... 0.93 5-0 12 0 0 0/1 1 38.2 27 11 4 9 31

As you know if you've been reading this message board, Sarisky plays at Oglethorpe and throws in the mid-90's. I talked to a couple of Emory guys who said 94, but whatever the number, he obviously is faster than most in D3 ball.

Boomer pitches for Millsaps and is coming off a medical redshirt after pitching about 2 innings in the 2007 season. He uses a funky, junky delivery that is somewhere in the sidearm/submarine style. It obviously works even if it's not as impressive as a mid-90's fastball.