BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[frank_ezelle]

Welcome BBallFanHC--I saw your post on the basketball board and forgot to say welcome when leaving a reply over there.

While it is early, we've already had one big win in SCAC baseball with the decision being make to have an 8-team tournament instead of just 4-teams.  Hendrix proved last year that there is enough depth in the SCAC for teams lower than #1 and #2 to win the tournament.  It's a lesson Austin had shown a few years earlier.

Millsaps has been having fall baseball practice but I've been too busy to stop by and watch.  It's not like I could tell much anyway.  One interesting baseball/non-baseball note is that Will Hawkins, the SCAC Offensive Player of the Year, is now the leading tackler on the Millsaps football team and tied for first in the SCAC with 9.9 tackles per game.  I asked Will if he was trying to add a SCAC Defensive Player of the Year award to go along with the baseball honor, and he said all he wants to do is win games.  He certainly has been a part of a lot of wins in his 2+ years at Millsaps.

[infielddad]

Only losing four seniors they seem to have the players to make another run at the title but who knows how they will respond to being in the discussion in the preseason for a change.

In my experience, it isn't always how many a team might lose, it is who they are.
For Hendrix, one very strong impression left with SCAC West opponents was from Daniel Ward.  Maybe outward impressions were not correct, but he was viewed as the mental glue and toughness that would not let Hendrix lose.
From what I know, both Millsaps and Trinity may have had better overall and deeper layers  of talent. 
Ward made the difference.
  He was the leader in making every Hendrix player a better player, a tougher player, and a player who realized he was playing for everyone else, not just himself. Outwardly, he was credited for creating an attitude and for getting everyone on that team to believe.
Leaders like Daniel Ward are not easily replaced.  You might replace their production on the field, but the intangibles off the field, in the dugout, on busrides, in practice, during lifting, in Fall Ball are not as easily subsumed.
Making baseball and playing in May "the" priority, to which every other player "buys in" is a very tough sell, at times.  From many years of watching and observing SCAC baseball, it is that mindset that often times is the difference at the end of the SCAC's.
Because of those types of intangibles, and how they vary from year to year, we probably will be discussing the top teams next April and talent, alone, won't account for the results.

[BBallFanHC]

Well good news to all Hendrix fans who agree with the previous post! Daniel Ward is a volunteer assistant coach for the Warriors! What an addition to an already stellar coaching staff!!!!

[infielddad]

Well good news to all Hendrix fans who agree with the previous post! Daniel Ward is a volunteer assistant coach for the Warriors! What an addition to an already stellar coaching staff!!!!

Bballfan, Maybe Daniel is the type of personality who can impact a team not only as a player but also as a coach.  Personally, I have not seen that in my years of observing.
It takes a leadership, internally, within those 25 to 30 players. The Hendrix team of 2010 needs its own identity and strength, as does each and every SCAC West team.
Much of my thinking on this topic comes from observing successes when they could least be expected, disappointments when they could be least expected, and from talking with Coach Page and Coach Scannell, both of whom I admire so very much.
Team dynamics are so amazing in college baseball.  Leadership is huge. Attitude means so much.  Unselfishness the same.
Having 25 players with the same level of committment and belief requires guidance from the coaching staff.  Ultimately, only the players buy in or "sell out."

[ILVBB]

Last weekend Trinity had their "Fall World Series" which I attended several, but not all the games. This will be a very good Trinity team this year. They have an excellent recruiting class with several players, both position and pitchers that will be impact players. The pitching staff is both very good and very deep. I saw at least 8 pitchers that toped out at 88-90 (they were not cruising at that speed). The hitting was consistent with what they have done the last 2-years.

I was amazed this weekend that they were able to roll out pitcher after pitcher that threw hard and threw strikes. And at the same time there was a core group of hitters that consistently hit the ball very hard.

As a parent, I am excited about what I saw and am looking forward to potentially an excellent season.

[frank_ezelle]

It is odd to be talking about baseball with the fall sports still going and basketball yet to come.  But, since the fall practice period is just ending, I'll give a shot at a very general outlook for Millsaps.

Let's start with the seniors they lost:  On the mound they lost Tait Hendrix and Drew Maddox.  They were a combined 14-3, with Tait being the primary lefthanded starter and Drew being whatever they needed.  In the field, they lost Hunter Owen in RF, Russ Boyd behind the plate, Billy Murphy at SS, and Hayes Brian who started 29 games in the outfield.  In addition to those main graduating players, second baseman Todd Barnthouse and leftfielder Tony Malaschack transferred.

So there's a lot of loss from last year's team which at one time was rated #1 in the nation, which means there is also a lot of opportunity for the returnees and newcomers in 2010.  And from what I've heard, there are a lot of talented newcomers that should be able to help right away and Millsaps always seems to have a junior or senior who have waited their turn and then responds with an outstanding season when given more opportunities to play.

Regarding the pitching, the main returnees for Millsaps will be Aaron Williams, Shelby Robertson, and Boomer Hudson.  That's a nice trio to build around and maybe one of the lesser used returning pitchers will burst on the scene this year like Boomer did last season.  I briefly saw some of the freshmen pitching a few intrasquad innings and several looked very good.  It seems like Millsaps will be solid on the mound this season.

With the returning field players, I gave Coach Page my suggestion about moving Will Hawkins to rightfield to keep the string of All-American rightfielders going.  He politely disregarded my suggestion, so it looks like Hawkins will be the only returning starter to the infield.  Murphy graduated, Barnthouse transferred, and Josh Ordeneaux is moving to the outfield (at least that seems to be the current plan).  My guess is that Tyler Berry will start behind the plate after splitting that role with Russ Boyd last year and Jeremy Aliff will be back out in centerfield as he has been the last two years.

So Millsaps needs a new starter at 2B, 3B, SS, RF and there are plenty of potential innings up for grabs on the mound.  From what I've seen, there are some talented guys ready to step in and fill those spots.  The only thing I fear is a repeat of 2008 when the competition for the available spots seemed to drain away the team unity.  The first half of that season didn't look like much fun for the players and I know it wasn't much fun for this photographer/fan.  Fortunately, it got much better in the second half of the season and Millsaps started playing some great baseball.

After reading the above, it would be natural to label this a rebuilding year for Millsaps.  Maybe it will be to a degree, especially when considering the lofty record and ranking of the 2009 team, but my gut feeling is that Millsaps is going to be really good.  Maybe not quite the power of the last few years with Hunter Owen out of the lineup, but possibly more speed, better defense, and if some of these freshmen are as good as advertised, more depth on the mound.  I'm looking forward to the 2010 baseball season in about 3-4 months.  In the meantime, there are plenty of other events to keep me occupied.

[PetrelBaseball]

10 Weeks until SCAC Baseball, the best time of year is yet to come. Coming off a strong fall, the Petrels look to build from their eight returning offensive starters and a starting staff that can be at the top of the conference. Another strong defensive unit will be put on the field for the Petrels as they are looking to put much more emphasis on the defensive side..Defense WINS championships.  On the mound, the Petrels are above average with depth, and if some freshman can step up, they will have a staff that throws strikes and will force the defense to make plays, which plays to the strength of the Petrels in their infield defense.  The Petrels are hoping to overcome a couple injuries and get their boys back by early February before the games start. How's everybody else looking?? GO PETRELS

[historymajor]

Well as Christmas approaches, I'm ready for some BASEBALL (D3 that is)!!!

We saw how well Robbie Long did @ DPU football last fall, has anybody heard what to expect from Jake Martin in baseball this spring?  Has anybody heard the details of Matt Walker's departure?

[frank_ezelle]

Collegiate Baseball has their preseason poll out and no SCAC team made the top-30 or were included in the 10 teams that received votes.  The list is in this thread under the national topics:

http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=6704.0

[ILVBB]

OK; where are the conference championships this year. Half of the SCAC teams have Millington as the site, the other half have listed Jackson. What is the deal?

[frank_ezelle]

Good question--for the record, Millsaps shows Millington as the site of the SCAC Championship. 

[ILVBB]

Yea; and Rhodes says it is in Jackson

[frank_ezelle]

Host teams haven't done very well in the SCAC postseason so maybe it is a case of wishful thinking for both teams.

On a different subject, I took the time this afternoon to put the Millsaps schedule on my office calendar.  When writing down all of the 2-game and 3-game series, it got me thinking about how a team doesn't really need a lot of pitching depth to be a contender in the SCAC.  It makes doing a preseason poll very difficult because the addition of just one star pitcher can make such a difference--certainly a much bigger difference than when the teams  were playing the 4-game weekends.

[scaccommish]

The 2010 SCAC Baseball Championship will be played at Millington. We were originally scheduled for Jackson, but a scheduling conflict forced us to move the event to Millington.

[PetrelBaseball]

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas. Baseball season is quickly approaching, and I know everyone is as excited as I am! Any predictions for this upcoming season for the East side of the SCAC? Does anyone have a team to look out for? I was thinking about key players for this years east side of the conference, would anybody like to share there key players?

Have a safe new year..the year of the Petrel is upon us