BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[108 Stitches]

Well that did not work out so well. Rhodes is up 6 to 2 through 6.

Typical Millsaps / TU grinder. Klimesh was a master. Two times he had runners on 3rd/2nd with no outs and got out of it.  Other than that he was in control of the game. Wind blowing in has a tendency to hurt TU as a number of hard hit balls hung up in the wind.

[Ron Boerger]

Rhodes sent HX to the loser's bracket, but they did the same thing last year and made it to the championship game.  Interesting strategy,

BSC spotted UD a 2-0 lead early but came back to win 6-4.   Blake Stevens (6-2) pitched seven innings to get the win, allowing four hits and three runs (two earned).   Michael Schweiss (3-5) took the loss, allowing six runs in four innings (four earned; seven hits).  Chris Schierhorn pitched four innings of scoreless relief, limiting B-SC to two hits.  UD was largely unable to take advantage of four Panther errors. 

Tomorrow's games:
3E Millsaps (0-1) vs 2W Hendrix (0-1), noon;  loser eliminated
1W Trinity (1-0) vs 3W UDallas (0-1),  3:30 pm
2E Rhodes (1-0) vs 1E Birmingham-Southern (1-0), 7:00 pm

[108 Stitches]

I think it is a huge mistake to not go after your first game with your best with the teams that are here. Even though Millsaps was "only" the 3 seed they are very capable and can beat anyone, same with Dallas, and both gave TU and BSC good games. They are now in a win or go home state.

I don't know about last year's teams but this year anyone can beat anyone IMO.

Took in some historic BBQ in downtown Memphis tonight, got some southern hospitality, & see the AAA Redbirds play. My son also got to say hi to a friend of his on the Redbirds pitching staff.

I think a lot of folks are going to miss the "old" SCAC east/west tournament in the future. This is something special and I am glad I got to participate in it this last year.

[Ron Boerger]

HX loses to Millsaps 6-2.  Strategy fail.

[infielddad]

Dallas is giving Trinity a big time battle, and probably a lot of rapid heart beats with the fans.
Leading 8-6 heading into the 9th, TU got a rally started and were down 8-7, one out, the tying run at 2nd, and Muscarello at bat.
Dallas chose to intentionally walk Muscarello and put the lead run on first.
Pappas made that a tough choice even tougher. He  doubled to drive in 2.
Trinity in the lead for the first time, 9-8, heading to the bottom of the 9th.
Dallas has really been good offensively so this one is not over.

[dahlby]

Strong comeback win in 11 for TU over UD.
Excellent announcer for Trinity on webcast.

[infielddad]

Trinity barely scrapes by, winning 10-9 in 11 innings.
Two teams from the West are the first eliminated.
Trinity plays tomorrow at Noon against the winner of BSC-Rhodes, the final game tonight.
TU will be digging deep into the pitching staff for that one.

[Whatagame]

I'm interested in this tourney because the winner will match up against the NWC winner in Oregon.  Regarding TU pitching (and possibly their opponent as well), the reports are they have great young arms that have not thrown many innings.  My bet is one or two of those guys are going to get their shot this weekend, and young hungry pitchers with talent have a way of rising up to the challenge.

Plus, there's no conference scouting report on them, so their stuff is an "unknown."

[108 Stitches]

That game was typical of what I have witnessed by this TU team this year. They may not be the most talented team Trinity has ever fielded, but they have the heart of a lion and will never give up. If they can't beat you with pitching, it will be with their gloves, and if not that then with their bats, and if not then small ball, and this does not work they will just take you out back behind the dugout and beat you up.

The team leader - super senior Dom Robusto has this heart and I think has infused every kid on this team with it. This kid has had two broken backs over the years, and has been playing all season with a broken thumb. I hate to think where they would be without him.

Whatagame, Weston Haaf was the pitcher that stepped up today. Others will come out in the coming days, there are a lot of arms down there yet to be seen much. Coach probably pulled Bay a little too soon today, but got away with it. 

[Whatagame]

Let me ask you this, is Dominic Robusto of Italian descent?  Robusto is an outstanding last name for a middle-of-the-order hitter!

[Ron Boerger]

Tough to have to go up against B-SC today after three pitchers wemt 3+ innings yesterday to pull that game out against UD.   My guess is Trinity will start Tanner Barron (3-0, 10 app/4 starts, 3.16 ERA, 31 IP, .248 OBA) today, having to go extras and bring in Michael Bentz for three innings to close things out yesterday didn't help.  Bentz isn't normally a starter (twice in 17 appearances) but probably could have done the job today.    Josh Fink (3-1, 7 app/3 starts, 5.16) is another possibility but Barron has pitched well recently; 2-0, 11.0 IP, 11 H, 0 ER in last two starts since Ryan Lucero went down.     B-SC, though, hits a whole lot better than the two teams Tanner faced - so here's hoping the Tiger fielding gets back to the standard of earlier in the season.   Can't be giving the Panthers any unearned runs today - they score in bunches as it is. 

[Ron Boerger]

Barron is starting for Trinity.

Paul Caudill (1-0, 8 app/6 starts, 3.62 ERA, 27.1 IP, OBA unk but 28 H, 15BB, 17K) is starting for the Panthers.

[Ron Boerger]

B-SC defeats Trinity, 5-3.   Bruce Maxwell was 3-for-4 and scored twice but it was cleanup hitter Jon Walker doing the damage for the Panthers with 3 RBI, including a two-run HR in the first, which saw Southern stake themselves to an early 3-0 lead.   Caudill only went four innings (6H, 3ER) so the win went to Ralls Pennington (3.0 IP, 2H, 0 ER).   Tanner Barron gave up four runs (three earned) in six innings (5H, 6K, 4BB) to pick up the loss.

[108 Stitches]

Just got back from the game. Tanner left the ball up in the first inning and gave up three runs and after that he settled down and pitched a great game. Take away the first inning and TU outplayed BSC. BSC's 1-4 looked better than TU's, but their bottom half are not as strong.  I think TU's pitching and defense looks better, but Yance, who came in to close for BSC looked very good.  This puts BSC in the drivers seat for the conf title.

TU will play winner of Millsaps/Rhodes this evening.

[infielddad]

Well, now comes a very long wait.
Trinity is run ruled by Millsaps.
Their regular season is over. Great record at 34-10.
This gets to be a lot of anxious days and nothing can be done but watch, wait, and hope.
There cannot be tougher things in college baseball than lose the game with BSC and be back 1/2 hour later in a must win situation.
Millsaps is a very tough team, mentally. TU is the same. Both coaches teach that from last September.
TU has to hope 44 games showed they earned a place in Oregon.
From all we have seen, it sure does not seem there are 6 better teams in the West Region this year.
Still, this is a very anxious few weeks.
My personal view is TU will be better in a Regional because they have longer to adjust to the terrible loss of Lucero.
Hopefully, they get that chance.  I think they earned it.