BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[infielddad]

Frank,
You know Coach Page better than I do and I know Coach Scannell better.
I don't think either one likes this one bit.
Whether you play or root for TU or Millsaps, you have felt burned by the NCAA selection process.  The only way to remove that possibility is to play and to win.
If you don't play or you lose, you leave your chances at risk and the SCAC doesn't have a good history there.
I think we are looking at this differently when it comes to Pool C.  I think that if TU does not win the SCAC, not playing this weekend hurts them for a Pool C.
I am also well aware of the history of the West #1 and the SCAC tournament results.
What I believe at this point is the stakes for the SCAC tournament just went up.  I would be very surprised if any SCAC teams gets a Pool C with this weekend washed out. That becomes even more true if Linfield beats Chapman one more game this weekend.
I sure don't mean to create an argument. I can understand why you posted what you did. We are looking at this two different ways I think in terms of whether being the #1 in the West is good at the SCAC's and the Pool C.
Too many negative as opposed to positive results for the West #1 over the past 8-9 years I guess to leave me with a comfortable feeling.

[frank_ezelle]

Infielddad, I think we all agree that both teams wanted to play this series as is evident by the attempt to find an alternative field for the series.  At this point, teams can only look ahead to the SCAC Tournament--and speaking of which, Centre beat DePauw this afternoon 3-2.  I'm going by memory here, a very risky thing to do, but I think a sweep by Centre puts them ahead of DePauw and into the Tournament. 

DePauw and Centre should have started the second game of their DH already.  There are no live stats and DePauw sports is covering a bicycle race at DePauw this afternoon.  OU and BSC are in the bottom of the 6th with BSC leading 6-4 and OU has two men on base.

And for those who are interested, the SCAC West leading Millsaps softball team won their first game at Hendrix 8-0 and with no outs in the top of the second, Millsaps is leading the 2nd game 14-0. 

[frank_ezelle]

DePauw and OU both dropped to 7-6 after losing the first game of a DH today.  Rhodes started the day at 6-6 so if they won the first game at Sewanee there would be a 3 way tie for first (excluding BSC of course). 

I found live stats on the Rhodes site and they are ahead 8-5 in the bottom of the 7th inning of the 2nd game, but I have found no score on the first game.  At this point it looks like Rhodes, DePauw, and OU are all very equal, with BSC being considerably better than those three and Sewanee being considerably worse.  That leaves Centre as just below the middle-of-the-pack for now, but they will make the SCAC Tournament with a sweep of DePauw.

The second DePauw-Centre game should have started 2 hours ago.  I bet that's some intense baseball going on in Kentucky.

[frank_ezelle]

A quick SCAC East update.  DePauw won game 2 today 9-5 so Centre has been eliminated.  OU looks like they are going to fall hard again to BSC, trailing 15-1 and coming to bat in the bottom of the 7th.

DePauw and Rhodes are now 8-6.  If they stay tied then DePauw has that tiebreaker.  It's possible for OU to win tomorrow and Rhodes and DePauw to both lose.  That would create the 3 way tie at 8-7 each and Rhodes would win that tiebreaker. 

The series results between these 3 teams ended up:

Rhodes over OU by 3-0
DePauw over Rhodes by 2-1
OU over DePauw by 2-1

[frank_ezelle]

It posts like the following from one of the national threads that Trinity/SCAC fans don't want to see:

#1 seed Salisbury U. eliminated from the CAC tourney by 5th seed U of Mary Washington!

Mary Washington, (undefeated), plays #3 seed Wesley (one loss), tomorrow @ Salibury Baseball Field for the title.

There's a good chance that Salisbury will be high in the South Regional ranking and will be a Pool C team this season.

[svbbcoach]

Does anyone know why TU and Millsaps are not playing today? The radar looks good. Hendrix got in all 9 yesterday at Southwestern.

[tigerfan_2001]

Does anyone know why TU and Millsaps are not playing today? The radar looks good. Hendrix got in all 9 yesterday at Southwestern.

Coach Scannell and Coach Page made the call to not drive 12 hours with a better than good chance of getting rained out.  The TU field received over 2 inches of rain since Thursday and that field does not drain properly, as left field drains towards home plate.  Looking at the radar, the sun could be out in San Antonio and there might be a chance of getting a game in late today, but that would be late and I dont think either coach wanted to drive all that way and spend all that money for one game.  This is JMO, though....

[frank_ezelle]

BSC sweeped OU this weekend dropping OU to the 3rd seed in the East.  That's gives us a definite opening game with Trinity and OU matching up. 

Rhodes is in a close one with Sewanee today, something like 7-6 in the 5th, and I have no idea on the DePauw-Centre game.  If Rhodes loses then Millsaps will be playing DePauw since DePauw won 2 of 3 from Rhodes.  If Rhodes wins AND DePauw loses, then Millsaps will open with Rhodes.

At least that's the way it appears to me.

[frank_ezelle]

DePauw won 10-0 today so they will be the #1 seed in the East.  That makes the matchups Trinity vs Oglethorpe--Millsaps vs Rhodes--Austin vs DePauw for round 1.

Millsaps and Rhodes have played twice with each winning as the home team.  It wasn't exactly #1 starter vs. #1 starter in those games so I don't know if those games mean a whole lot in trying to predict this Thursday's game.

[frank_ezelle]

Does anyone know why TU and Millsaps are not playing today? The radar looks good. Hendrix got in all 9 yesterday at Southwestern.

I heard something interesting this evening.  The Millsaps team actually did get on a bus Saturday and headed for San Antonio.  If the weather had allowed it, the teams were going to play a DH on Sunday, but Millsaps turned around before they had even left Mississippi because the prospects of getting in the games looked so poor.

One thing that some of you have already thought about is that this does leave Millsaps and Trinity with the option of scheduling games after the SCAC Tournament.  Rhodes did that in 2007 I believe, but ended up splitting those games and therefore didn't improve their regional ranking.

[tigerfan_2001]

Does anyone know why TU and Millsaps are not playing today? The radar looks good. Hendrix got in all 9 yesterday at Southwestern.

I heard something interesting this evening.  The Millsaps team actually did get on a bus Saturday and headed for San Antonio.  If the weather had allowed it, the teams were going to play a DH on Sunday, but Millsaps turned around before they had even left Mississippi because the prospects of getting in the games looked so poor.

One thing that some of you have already thought about is that this does leave Millsaps and Trinity with the option of scheduling games after the SCAC Tournament.  Rhodes did that in 2007 I believe, but ended up splitting those games and therefore didn't improve their regional ranking.

That is true.  If either coach thought there was a chance to play today, they would have come.  San Antonio got over an inch of rain yesterday, with an already saturated field, meant it wasn't likely.  Could they have played today, possibly.  I imagine if either TU or Millsaps wins the tourney, they will try and schedule some games before the regional.  Who know, looking forward to a good weekend of baseball.

It is very possible that TU and Millsaps will play a 2 out of 3 series anyways.....

[svbbcoach]

I assume having all pitchers fully rested for the tournament cant hurt their chances. Not to mention the possibility of learning something about the opposition by not playing 3 games going into what should/could be 2 or 3 games against each other. Had this been last weekend, I cant believe that everything would have been done to get the games in. The East should feel very slighted. When it smells like fish....

[frank_ezelle]

Actually, I would think most coaches would prefer to go into the tournament with pitchers who had stayed on rotation instead of guys who haven't pitched in a game for almost two weeks.  Even if a coach was thinking about resting players for the SCAC Tournament, he would want his pitchers to throw 4 or 5 innings of a real game to stay sharp.

The same logic holds true for the hitters.  Maybe Millsaps played some intrasquad games and maybe Trinity was able to get in a gym or on the turf intramural field, but that's not the same as game action. 

Think about it and you'll realize that when teams get in playoff situations there is often more worry about the rust of having to sit while the other teams are playing.  While I don't think the OU and Rhodes coaches have given it much of a thought, they might see it as being to their advantage that Millsaps and Trinity will come into the tournament without having played this past weekend.

It's hard to smell anything fishy when not playing hurt more than help both Millsaps and Trinity.

[infielddad]

I assume having all pitchers fully rested for the tournament cant hurt their chances. Not to mention the possibility of learning something about the opposition by not playing 3 games going into what should/could be 2 or 3 games against each other. Had this been last weekend, I cant believe that everything would have been done to get the games in. The East should feel very slighted. When it smells like fish....

Coach, what are you suggesting?  Are you suggesting Coach Page and Coach Scannell are lacking in integrity.  Are you suggesting teams get better by not playing?  Page and Scannell would disagree.
Are you suggesting you "learn" something about your opposition by not playing them?  How can that be?
If you ever spend time with Jim Page and Tim Scannell you learn one thing: You don't back down from any challenge and take an easy way out.  If you do, you don't play for them.
To create something like your post out of whole cloth and cast it in the direction of the integrity of the two most competitive and successful baseball coaches in the SCAC seems like a poor choice.  Maybe this was just a poor choice in your words.  I hope so.

[tigerfan_2001]

I assume having all pitchers fully rested for the tournament cant hurt their chances. Not to mention the possibility of learning something about the opposition by not playing 3 games going into what should/could be 2 or 3 games against each other. Had this been last weekend, I cant believe that everything would have been done to get the games in. The East should feel very slighted. When it smells like fish....

Interesting thought....if the coaches wanted rested pitching, why would they play 2 games during the week before the three game series with eachother.  In addition to two game, Coach Page moved his meaningless game with Bellhaven from Tuesday to Thursday.  I dont think there is anything fishy going on.....and am a little insulted that you would insinuate that.