BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[HeadingForHome]

Oglethorpe opened up the season yesterday  and split a double header with Maryville. (yes Super Bowl Sunday...freaking rain)

Game 1:  The Petrels battled back from 0-4 in the second inning to win 8-7 on a walk off 3 run home run by the Senior Outfielder Pilger.   That home run was actually his  3rd home run of the GAME!  I pretty sure he ended up with 7 RBIs.  Thats the first time I have ever actually been at a game where someone has hit 3 home runs so that was fun.

Game 2:  The Petrels started off hot gaining a 8-1 advantage after the 2nd inning but then went as cold as you could be and gave up 15 unanswered runs. 

Oglethorpe's defense was pretty sloppy for both games.  I just hope that they will put it all together in these next coming games... 

Look forward to watching some more baseball this weekend as Oglethorpe plays Emory 3 times (Friday-Sunday).

[frank_ezelle]

That's quite a change of momentum in game 2.  The Emory series will be the opener for Emory, a team that has fallen off some since getting to the finals of the D3 World Series a few years ago.  It will be interesting to see if Emory can bounce back to the nationally ranked level that was once the norm.

Millsaps has Huntingdon on the schedule for tomorrow and then starts SCAC play this weekend, hosting Hendrix in a 3 game series.  That seemed to be really early in the season for conference play, but I checked last year's schedule and Millsaps hosted Hendrix on Feb. 14 and 15 last season.  With 8 weekends needed to complete the SCAC West schedule, I guess play needs to start this early.

So far it has been a mixed bag of results for the SCAC.  You can see the schedule and results so far at this link:

http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2009-10/schedule

[nvnorthpaw]

Soon after shoveling heaps of snow off the diamond, Hendrix traveled down to a warmer (slightly) U. of Dallas and swept the first series of the year for the Warriors.  Forgerson picked up where he left off, homering for his third straight game dating back to the West regional tournament.  Look for big things from both Forgerson and previous first team All-SCAC selection Eric Mathis.  With those two big bats and plenty of guys who can scrap their way on base, the offense will not be an issue.  Only one arm has departed (Gnat) and the rest should be well rested.  A freshman is in the three slot and shut down U. of Dallas this past weekend to secure his first collegiate win.  Smoyer, Suydam, and Keine are all returning with their spot in the rotation and all but one member of the bullpen is back.  The Hendrix club lost only one starter and three other players to graduation last spring; look for a very competitive program yet again. 

I also find it very intriguing that Hendrix has received absolutely no love in the preseason predictions, polls, and other hoopla.  This team cruised its way through the SCAC Tournament, returns all but one starter, yet is hardly considered in the SCAC preseason release?  Can someone please explain this logic..?  Good luck to the SCAC 2010!!  TGIBS!

[frank_ezelle]

Well, let's keep in mind that not every voter keeps up with Hendrix as closely as you do.  Also, while Hendrix had a great tournament run last year, it wasn't a great year record wise (22-23 with a 10-10 SCAC record).  Plus, it was only one year and preseason voters tend to look for a pattern of success of a longer stretch. 

There's no doubt that the coaches and players around the SCAC are aware of the huge strides recently made by the Hendrix baseball program.  If the weather cooperates and Millsaps and Hendrix do play three this weekend, I'm expecting 3 very close games.  Every series is going to be tough and it will be hard for any team to match the 15-5 conference record posted by Millsaps last season.

[BBallFanHC]

2 starters, lets not forget about a certain All-Tournament Catcher   Hendrix had a very good run to close the year but the record and history put them exactly where they belong in the preseason rankings. They finished third in the West 2009 season and they will most likely finish there again this year. As long as they just get in the tournament!
Am looking forward to a visit to Jackson this weekend as Hendrix will be playing both baseball and basketball. Reminds me again of the 2nd lost starter
Hope for lots of sun to melt the 4 inches of snow still on the ground in Conway.

[frank_ezelle]

The forecast calls for some odd weather in Jackson over the next few days.  Might have several inches of snow Thursday night and Friday, and then the forecast shows sunny and 55 on Saturday.  It seems like the weather will be okay for the games on Saturday and now we have to see if the Hendrix team can get from Conway to Jackson.

I was on the Hendrix website and saw their baseball preview.  While they have 20 returning players, it was a little surprising to see that they only have 3 freshmen.  Makes me wonder if they have a roster limit and just didn't have room to recruit any more freshmen.  Here's the link to that Hendrix preview:

http://www.hendrix.edu/Athletics/news.aspx?id=45736

[Ralph Turner]

We SCAC "lookers-on" also see that the SCAC tourney can let a hot team slip in.

Hednrix had a great run in 2009.

Ausitn College did the same in 2007.

http://scacsports.com/sports/bsb/2006-07/stats/confstat.htm

There are too many good quality baseball players in this part of the country for one to see one schools or another break ahead of the pack.

What this may mean for Hendrix is that they are always on everyone's watch list.

Trinity--solid
Millsaps -- always tough
Austin College-  Coach Iwasaki will play anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Southwestern -- has had a tougher last half decade from their power days in the early 2000's.

The SCAC-West is now as balanced a division as any conference in the country.  It makes for brutal in-region records, where a solid team cannot get any national love, but I think that the SCAC-West and the ASC are building reputations of very competitive leagues.

[Ralph Turner]

The forecast calls for some odd weather in Jackson over the next few days.  Might have several inches of snow Thursday night and Friday, and then the forecast shows sunny and 55 on Saturday.  It seems like the weather will be okay for the games on Saturday and now we have to see if the Hendrix team can get from Conway to Jackson.

I was on the Hendrix website and saw their baseball preview.  While they have 20 returning players, it was a little surprising to see that they only have 3 freshmen.  Makes me wonder if they have a roster limit and just didn't have room to recruit any more freshmen.  Here's the link to that Hendrix preview:

http://www.hendrix.edu/Athletics/news.aspx?id=45736

I would hope that HX is developing a great JV program.

[JimiBall]

I was on the Hendrix website and saw their baseball preview.  While they have 20 returning players, it was a little surprising to see that they only have 3 freshmen.  Makes me wonder if they have a roster limit and just didn't have room to recruit any more freshmen.  Here's the link to that Hendrix preview:
http://www.hendrix.edu/Athletics/news.aspx?id=45736

I would hope that HX is developing a great JV program.

A couple observations
1. You may remember that Hendrix was not that good for a while.  The '09 title has made it easier, but these freshmen were recruited in what we hopefully will refer to as the dark days.
2. HC has a large sophomore class.
3. It looks as though the class of '14 will have both quantity and quality.
4. Y'all are gonna be in a lot of trouble.

No JV program yet, just a good team and coaches, plenty of playing time and fingers crossed for the injury bug to stay away.

[infielddad]

Trinity played its best game of the young season.  Today they beat a quality UMHB squad 7-0.  Evan Jones and Kyle Felix are pounding the ball.  Their freshman shortstop is a player.
Today, Ben Klimesh showed he may have overcome his freshman wildness.
Klimesh is 88-91 with a good breaking ball.  Would not be surprised if this isn't is best college start even though he was terrific last year against Notre Dame.
The Tigers are hitting.
Their starting pitching has been good.  If they get more quality from the balance of the pitching staff, their starting freshman will continue to improve.  Jones and Felix are just going to be tough outs all year.
While it is still early, this could well be the best team Coach Scannell has had at TU, and he has had some good ones.

[frank_ezelle]

Got up in the middle of the night (old people do that often) and saw the last two posts.  Two quick comments:

1)  Regarding Hendrix, JimiBall makes my point with #1 and #2.  Hendrix recruited a great class of freshmen for the 2009 season even when Hendrix was in the dark years and then only add 3 players after showing a ray of hope.  Yes, I see his point that this year's freshman class was recruited before the SCAC and NCAA Tournaments, but last year's freshman class was recruited when times were far bleaker.  The dropoff in recruits totals is odd and it made me wonder if there was a "rest of the story".

2)  Ben Klimesh played on the same New York summer league team as Aaron Williams of Millsaps.  I kept an eye on that team's stats and Klimesh had a good year in a league with a lot of D1 players.  I actually looked through the stories about the fall intrasquad games for his name and couldn't find it.  Then I looked in the Tigers' season preview and couldn't find mention of his name.  His good start this year isn't a surprise to me--I'm more surprised to find that he is still on the team after no mention up until now.  I suspect he is going to continue to have a great season.

[frank_ezelle]

An update on the forecast for Jackson this weekend.  About 12 hours ago the forecast said 55 degrees and sunny for Jackson this Saturday.  Now the forcast from the same source (Yahoo weather) shows a high of 39 on Saturday with snow in the morning.

Why does anyone actually believe that the weather scientists can accurately predict anything 5-day, 10-day, or decades into the future, when they make such dramatic forecast swings regarding events of the next 2 or 3 days?

[historymajor]

Heck, Al Gore thought he could predict it ten years out!

[svbbcoach]

Al Gore still thinks he knows the weather 10 years out!

As far as Hendrix 2009-10 Freshman class, I heard it was more a matter of economics. Last year was a devastating year financially overall and there was an unanticipated late raise in tuition that cost a few new recruits and a few transfer students. Hence the 10% reduction in games this season. I am sure Hendrix will have a sizable incoming 20010-11 class next year to bolster the 2008-09 class. This situation exposes Hendrix potential weakness of lack of depth later in the season. A healthy season can also help this matter! Looking back, it is amazing the number of successful freshman starters Hendrix has had the past 4 years during the building of last year's team. You can't yet discount the few incoming freshman as LHP Tyler Keever allowed only 3 hits for the win in his debut. Don't be surprised as there are a few players that may have multiple roles throughout the season.

[svbbcoach]

Regarding the upcoming Milsaps-Hendrix series this weekend,

1. Will there be an available live video feed available for all 3 games?

2. Is there an archive of Milsaps live videos from the Ozarks series?

Thanks!