BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[frank_ezelle]

Earlier I mentioned that Millsaps has a good slate of non-conference games that will prepare them for postseason play, assuming that things go well and they get that far. 

One team on the schedule for 3 games is Belhaven College, a local NAIA school.  Yesterday Belhaven went on the road for a game against Delta State, the 4th ranked team in Division 2.  Belhaven won 9-5 and they had a 9-1 lead going into the bottom of the 9th.

It should be real interesting to see how the Millsaps vs. Belhaven matchups turn out this season.  It might prove to be as tough as any competition that Millsaps will face all year.

[etg]

(El Tea Gray---re: Millsaps vs. Belhaven or Millsaps vs. Trinity)

Frank,
Don't bet that Belhaven will be the toughest series that Millsaps will play this year; I expect Trinity to win (at least) three out of four in Jackson this year.  Pitching, pitching, pitching. 

                                                                         

[Bob_Lotts]

Hopefully the SCAC preseaon poll will be out soon! SCACSid what's the word?

Here are my predictions:

West

1.Millsaps
2.Trinity
3.Southwestern
4.Austin
5.Hendrix

East

1.Rhodes
2.DePauw
3.Oglethorpe
4.Centre
5.Sewanee

Divisional Playoff:

Millsaps beats Centre 3-0
Rhodes beats Austin 3-0
DePauw beats Southwestern 2-1
Trinity beats Oglethorpe 2-1

SCAC Tournament: (I'm not sure how seeding will take place but here's a guess how'll they will finish)

1. Millsaps (NCAA AQ)
2. Trinity (NCAA at Large)
3. DePauw
4. Rhodes (Misses at large bid narrowly becacuse of weak schedule)


-BHL

Bob Henry Lotts

[frank_ezelle]

(El Tea Gray---re: Millsaps vs. Belhaven or Millsaps vs. Trinity)

Frank,
Don't bet that Belhaven will be the toughest series that Millsaps will play this year; I expect Trinity to win (at least) three out of four in Jackson this year.  Pitching, pitching, pitching. 

                                                                         

Let's see--Millsaps won 2 of 3 at Trinity last year, the teams were 1 and 1 at Millsaps and then 1 and 1 at the SCAC Tournament.  That means you believe Trinity has improved a lot or Millsaps has declined a lot.  Of course Millsaps did average 9 runs per game against Trinity last year so maybe you are implying that Trinity didn't have much pitching last year and this year will be better.

But I see the little smiley face thing so most likely is that you respect the talents of the Millsaps team just as I respect the talents of the Trinity players and you are ready for the season to start.  I'll agree with you that the series with Trinity is probably the toughest series on the schedule while the games with Belhaven might prove to be the toughest single games on the schedule. 

It's raining in Jackson, the high today is suppose to be 44, and the first pitch of the season is scheduled for 4 o'clock.  I don't know if they will try to play the game today or if they will push it back to a DH tomorrow.  Both games will be broadcast by the local ESPN radio station:  http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php.

The scheduled game times are 4:00 today and 1:00 on Saturday.

[scaccommish]

2007 SCAC Predicted Order of Finish is posted:

http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/07baseballpreview.htm

[Bmo]

Anybody know anything about Austin College?  On paper, their first baseman looks like the POY front runner.  Southwestern should be much improved if they can improve their defense up the middle.  I hate to see Trinity losing a couple of key transfers about as much as I hate to see Millsaps gaining a few key transfers    All in all I think the west is going to be a battle especially with the new format and the addition of AC.  Should be very tight, one through four, throughout the regular season.

[frank_ezelle]

Haven't heard any of the Trinity folks talking about losing any transfers but I guess you know more about their program.  Personally, I don't want to see Trinity get weaker because they do a good job of representing the SCAC--I would rather see Millsaps win by having them get better, not by having someone else get any weaker. 

I looked on the Trinity website for a baseball preview and there wasn't much of one but I did see this quote from the head coach.  He also sees the 4 game weekends as a plus because of the opportunity to develop a 4th starter:

"I am excited about our new conference format," reveals Trinity Head Coach Tim Scannell.  "We have tremendous challenges with the geographical locations of the schools in our league.  This new format allows us to play a four game series, which eliminates the old home and home format.  It will also help each school develop a fourth weekend starter which should provide more depth to the pitching staff come tournament time."

The rain has stopped in Jackson but it is still nasty outside.  As much as I'm ready for the season to start, it won't bother me if they push the game back to a DH tomorrow.

[Just_Some_Guy]

Anybody know anything about Austin College?  On paper, their first baseman looks like the POY front runner.  Southwestern should be much improved if they can improve their defense up the middle.  I hate to see Trinity losing a couple of key transfers about as much as I hate to see Millsaps gaining a few key transfers    All in all I think the west is going to be a battle especially with the new format and the addition of AC.  Should be very tight, one through four, throughout the regular season.

I feel like Austin College might finish the season ahead of Southwestern. They had a surprisingly good season in the ASC East last year after never really being in contention prior to last year. Schleizer 1B is definitely an impact player in the middle of the order, but they did lose Kelly, Shockley, Ferguson (Srs) and where did Dusek go?  Dusek (lead off until an injury) was a TOUGH out. His OBP% was .597 in his 19 starts before his injury.  They have all three main starters back in Frost, King and Rushing, but none are particularly over powering. Experience on the bump could definitely be beneficial though.  I'll go out on a limb and say they finish 3rd behind Trinity and Millsaps.

[frank_ezelle]

Big questions can't be answered by just one game but maybe the Millsaps opener provided some hints.  The big question marks for Millsaps are the replacing of pitchers John Fox and Todd Kindler and 1st team All-American outfielder Garner Wetzel. 

Meridian JC and Ole Miss transfer Travis Bogue lived up to his billing with 4 innings of shutout ball to get the win in a 15-1 victory over East Texas Baptist (game was shortened to 7 innings).  He allowed 2 hits, struck out 5, and only faced 12 batters thanks to a pickoff and a DP.  Washington U. transfer Brent Buffa followed with 2 innings of perfect ball in his first appearance for Millsaps.

Hunter Owens took over the right field spot and the 4th spot in the batting order.  He drove in 5 runs with 2 impressive home runs, one a towering fly ball and the other a hard hit liner, plus he made a nice defensive play in right. 

It should be pointed out that ETB is a very young team and many of their players were playing their first college game.  On the other hand, Andrew Cantrell was their starting pitcher and he was 9-2 as a freshman last year and he is the ASC East Division preseason player of the year.  In 3.1 innings he gave up 9 hits and 13 runs with 12 of those being earned.

The two teams play again at 1 today.  Broadcast can be heard at:  http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php

[frank_ezelle]

I forgot to add a link to the box score and the play-by-play.  Here it is:  http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/mc01.htm

[frank_ezelle]

Millsaps completed the 2-game sweep of East Texas Baptist with a 7-2 win Saturday afternoon.  Jay Hollenbeck gave up 1 unearned run in 5 innings for the win.  Hunter Abrams had a homerun and he held ETB scoreless in 2/3 innings of relief after coming in with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the 8th.

Here's the box score and play-by-play:  http://www.scac-online.org/baseball/mc02.htm

Millsaps plays Mississippi College this Tuesday and that game has been moved to Millsaps with the starting time set for 4:00, but that starting time is subject to change. 

And finally, Millsaps has a Baseball Coach's show this year on Monday nights at 8 PM.  The link for that is:  http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php

[Bob_Lotts]

Hey, how 'bout them Petrels!!! Beat an always good LaGrange team, then swept Maryville on Saturday. I haven't seen them play yet, but it looks like a bunch of freshmen are stepping up.

--BHL

[frank_ezelle]

I have photos posted from the opening game for Millsaps vs. East Texas Baptist.  The new faces that played a big key role in the game are starting pitcher Travis Bogue (#26), the second pitcher of the night Brent Buffa (#26), and Hunter Owen (#23) is the new right fielder.  Link to photos:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v283/Millsaps_Majors/Baseball%202006-07/

Once you get to this link you will have to click on the album for East Texas Baptist 02-09-07.  I should have photos from the Saturday game up tomorrow morning.

[frank_ezelle]

For those interested in radio broadcasts pertaining to Millsaps Baseball, there will be a baseball coaches show on tonight at 8 (central time) and the MS College vs. Millsaps baseball game will be broadcast on Tuesday at 6:00 with a pregame at 5:45.  The link to the broadcast is:  http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php

[FlightofthePetrel]

Bob,

The Petrels are looking pretty good this year, mostly due to Freshmen and transfers along with the few remaining starters from last year.  The young pitchers will get even better with confidence as they are led by  1 Jr.  1 So.  and 4 or 5 freshmen.  You can tell all players are used to winning as the came from behind against Lagrange won a 1-0 game against Maryville... taking advantage of an error to score the only run and then jumping on them early in the second game by scoring 5 in the first in route to the win.  I wouldn't be surprised to see these guys finish in the top 2 in the east.

p.s.  Bob- who are you?    private message me.