BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

frank_ezelle · April 22, 2007, 02:48:49 PM

I think Vera did score on the double play ball and the final score was 5-2 instead of the 5-1 shown by live stat. The announcers said the runner scored and Rhodes was probably glad to give up the run for the two outs. Then in the top of the 9th they said that Trinity needed 3 runs.

Congratulations to Rhodes on getting to the SCAC Tournament. One thing that both Millsaps and Rhodes would do well to remember is that it is a 4-team tournament with all teams capable of beating all of the other teams (regardless of which team gets that 4th spot). One interesting factor is that I would think that the SCAC is in good shape to get 2 teams in the NCAA Tournament--the tournament winner and one at-large. I don't know who will get left out if the tournament winner isn't Rhodes or Millsaps--that might be determined by the results next week.

frank_ezelle · April 22, 2007, 03:00:51 PM

Spence, this is just my guess. I would imagine that the brackets were already set up prior to this weekend based on the seeds from regular season play. My guess would be that the SCAC Tournament would be:

Winner of 1W vs. 4E plays Winner of 2E vs. 3W

Winner of 1E vs 4W plays Winner of 2W vs 3E

If that's the case, then it would be Millsaps vs. Southwestern and Rhodes vs. the winner of today's game between Austin and Centre. While this makes sense to me, the SCAC Tournament website says that the #1 seed plays the #4 seed Friday at 1:00 and the #2 seed plays the #3 seed at 4:30 which doesn't make my guess look very good.

The only problem with the tournament bracket is how do you determine the seeds? How can you pick a #1 and #2 seed between Millsaps and Rhodes?

Spence · April 22, 2007, 03:02:39 PM

Exactly. The only way I can think of would be conference record, but there are obvious problems with that as well.

It's the wording on the site that has me wondering.

frank_ezelle · April 22, 2007, 04:16:08 PM

Spence, here's another potential answer. Dwayne Hanberry is helping with the webcast of the Austin-Centre game (Austin up 7-0 in the bottom of the 4th). He didn't go into great detail on the seeding but he said that they would get the seedings done and posted tomorrow. I heard something about a conference call with the coaches so maybe they reseed the teams based on the opinion of the SCAC coaches.

If things stay as they are in this last game, I think the only advantage of being the 1st seed is playing the first game on Friday and therefore getting a little more rest for the next game but that's a minor advantage. Austin finished 9-6 in the SCAC and Southwestern finished 9-7 with Southwestern winning the head-to-head 3 games to 1.

Spence · April 22, 2007, 04:41:24 PM

Well, Southwestern's at home. I think that would be the biggest difference. I really was just curious though. I actually thought about seeding it but figured they wouldn't do that. Would love to be a fly on the wall when *that* is going on lol...Rhodes has a better record and a win over Millsaps, but probably most would say they've played an inferior schedule. That coudl get to be an interesting discussion lol.

Doc Nelson · April 22, 2007, 04:52:54 PM

How many of those who post on the SCAC board knew how to spell Catalanotto at the start of the season, or even at the modway point of the season. ChrisCat (and remember, he's Rhodes's No. 3 pitcher) shut down a fine Trinity team on four hits today, adding another complete game to his earlier nine-inning effort against Centre. His best pitch is the ground ball to shortstop John Robert Bizzell, who had eight assists and four putouts today.

A couple other things bear mentioning that LiveStat isn't able to capture. One is how thoroughly Drew Hubbard and Richard Hurd owned every inch of USA Stadium's expansive center and left fields today. The other is how good the Lynx are at hitting the ball to the opposite field. One would never guess from a scattergram of Rhodes' hits that there's not a single lefthanded hitter in the lineup.

historymajor · April 22, 2007, 05:05:24 PM

Austin College Roos capture the 4th qualifying spot for next weekend's show-down in Georgetown, TX. They run-ruled Centre 12-2.... A fine pitching complete game from Clint Rushing....

Millsaps
Rhodes
Southwestern
Austin

Doc Nelson · April 22, 2007, 06:08:12 PM

I guess it's going to be Millsaps v. Austin (#1 seed v. #4 seed) at 1:00 on Friday and Rhodes v. Southwestern (#2 seed v. #3 seed) at 4:30, although there's certainly an argument to be made for seeding Rhodes No. 1, given their 35-8 record and their victory over Millsaps in the one game the two teams played.

historymajor · April 22, 2007, 09:12:30 PM

Seeding TBD according to SCAC Assoc Commissioner Dwayne Hanberry..... stay tuned

frank_ezelle · April 23, 2007, 08:31:33 AM

Quote from: Doc Nelson on April 22, 2007, 06:08:12 PM
I guess it's going to be Millsaps v. Austin (#1 seed v. #4 seed) at 1:00 on Friday and Rhodes v. Southwestern (#2 seed v. #3 seed) at 4:30, although there's certainly an argument to be made for seeding Rhodes No. 1, given their 35-8 record and their victory over Millsaps in the one game the two teams played.

As I mentioned earlier, I don't think the seeding really matters. Millsaps split the series with Austin 2-2 at home and beat Southwestern 3-1 on the road but that's old news now. Austin finished a half game ahead of Southwestern by virture of one less loss but Southwestern took 3 of 4 from Austin.

The real key will be how much pitching do you have if you happen to lose a game? You can win the tournament with 3 straight wins, otherwise you have to win 4 out of 5 (someone may want to double check me on this). The first round losers have to come back and win 2 games on Saturday and then win 2 games on Sunday. The loser of the winner's bracket final has a tougher road--they have to come back with less rest and win their second game on Saturday and then win a doubleheader on Sunday.

To be honest, the SCAC needs to change the schedule that is currently listed. The winner's bracket final should be the first game played on Saturday so the loser of that game gets more rest than the team that wins the loser's bracket game. Not that it makes too much difference--lose in the first round and you play 4 more games in about 28 hours or lose in the second round and you end up with 4 games in about 25 hours. I'm glad that Millsaps has 5 solid starting pitchers but I hope they find a way to win 3 straight. I'm also glad that they probably have done enough to get an at-large bid because winning this tournament is far from a given for any of the four teams.

frank_ezelle · April 23, 2007, 10:20:55 AM

An interesting tidbit for Rhodes and Millsaps fans. Both of those teams beat Illinois Wesleyan back in March and Illinois Wesleyan is now leading their conference with a 15-0 record (22-8 overall). IW just won 3 straight games this weekend from #26 Carthage.

I don't think it helps improve the all important South Region ranking for Rhodes or Millsaps but it is nice to beat a team and then see them go on to win their conference.

frank_ezelle · April 23, 2007, 11:57:12 AM

Another tidbit while waiting on the seedings. On April 11th Millsaps won a road game at Louisiana College by a 20-4 score. This past weekend UT-Tyler took their 35-0 record to Louisiana College and lost 9-2 in the first game of the weekend series. UT-Tyler did come back and win the final 2 games 6-3 and 1-0 to complete a 37-1 season.

Admittedly LC used a pitch by committe against Millsaps but it is still something to wonder about when a team can lose by 16 and then turn around 10 days later and convincingly beat a UT-Tyler team that is supposedly one of the top 2 or 3 teams in D3 (they are in their last provisional year and therefore ineligible for the NCAA Tournament).

consultant · April 23, 2007, 01:53:33 PM

That LC vs. UT-Tyler series is just the latest in a long littany of examples of how the game of baseball works. For all intents and purposes, on any given day, any team can beat another team. That is why multiple game series help decide the pecking order in baseball.

Looking back 37 and 38 games ago, the day before Rhodes defeated Millsaps, Rhodes lost to Hendrix. Pit Hendrix and Rhodes together right now. Rhodes wins the series for sure.

I submit that the cross over this past weekend led to the SCAC having its best four baseball teams slugging it out for conference supremacy. The better teams won the their respective series. This weekend should be exciting.

scaccommish · April 23, 2007, 02:31:43 PM

as promised on broadcast yesterday, seeding for SCAC Baseball Championships now posted on SCAC website.

And after my debut on the Austin/Centre game yesterday, I have a newfound respect for people who do play-by-play for a living.

consultant · April 23, 2007, 03:14:36 PM

The seedings are out:

#1 Rhodes vs. # 4 Southwestern
#2 Millsaps vs. # 3 Austin College

A coin flip determined the #1 seed. I suppose that the conference will have to follow this method of determining # 1 seeds for the conference tournament if the top seed from the west and the top seed from the east make the SCAC championships. Moreover, seedings in general may call for coin flips in the future. Imagine the scenario of the # 3 and #4 seeds out of the east and west advancing to the tourney.