BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Bob_Lotts]

Austin wins SCAC Championship!?!?!?

Is it possible to get three in the NCAA? Who goes in Millsaps or Rhodes?

[Spence]

Does either? Rhodes was only 5th in the region and I doubt they changed too many minds with how they did on Day 2 of the tournament. It probably depends on what else happens in conference tourneys to come.

[Just_Some_Guy]

Honestly, I think Millsaps is the stronger team. I just don't feel like Rhodes has enough depth on the bump to be successful in a tournament format.

[DPU3619]

It seems that Jim Dixon disagrees with you, Guy. 

He says Rhodes has a Pool C chance in the Daily Dose from Friday.

http://www.d3sports.com/dailydose/2007/04/27/claering-the-bases

Yeah, it's spelled wrong, but the link is right.

[frank_ezelle]

The thinking at Millsaps is that the season is most likely over and I think the same holds true for Rhodes which is a shame for both teams.  The shame is that both of them fall victim in great degree to the poor records of the teams they beat.

Rhodes and Millsaps both were 1-0 vs Illinois Wesleyan, a team ranked 4th in the Central and not too long ago IW had a 15-0 record in their conference.  Rhodes and Millsaps both went 1-1 with Emory, the top team in the South.  Rhodes was 1-0 vs. Washington, the 3rd team in the Central (DePauw split with Washington 1-1).  Rhodes was 1-0 vs. Methodist, the 4th team in the South.  Millsaps went 2-1 with NAIA #10 team Belhaven.

There are enough quality wins there to show that both are very good teams.  Then you look at how Millsaps and Rhodes did against Trinity, Austin, and Southwestern and you have to figure that thoses teams are fairly good.  But, those teams all have losing records and that's a killer for someone like Millsaps that is playing all 16 conference games against teams under .500 and Rhodes is playing 12 of 16.  (You can read more about how the Quality of Win index works by going to #3 at this link:  
http://www.d3baseball.com/faq/category/NCAA+Tournament ).

Maybe it's the switch over to the 4-game weekends and teams are losing more mid-week games because they don't have the pitching for the weekday games or because they are having to use the early season to develop more pitchers and therefore they are losing more non-conference games.  I don't know the answer but I hope the 4-game weekends, which are really good at preparing a team for the NCAA Tournament, don't end up creating overall poorer records among SCAC teams and therefore make it harder for the conference to get an at-large bid.

[frank_ezelle]

It seems that Jim Dixon disagrees with you, Guy. 

He says Rhodes has a Pool C chance in the Daily Dose from Friday.

http://www.d3sports.com/dailydose/2007/04/27/claering-the-bases

Yeah, it's spelled wrong, but the link is right.

It should be pointed out that Rhodes went 1-2 since this article was written.  They were already on the borderline with a #5 ranking in the South and this may knock them out--it's the reality that you had better be ranked really high before the SCAC Tournament because you will either come out of the Tournament with the automatic bid or 2 additional losses.

[Spence]

But that's true of any tournament, and there are a bunch of them left.

I agree that Rhodes and/or Millsaps has a chance, just don't think they both do, or that either of them is a really great bet to get one.

[Ralph Turner]

I ran the in-region record on Austin College.

With their 5-1 record in the SCAC tourney, they go from a QOWI 10/11;2/3 team (10 or 11 points for a win; 2-3 for a loss) to a 12/13;4/5 team.

That does help anyone who has played Austin College, e.g., McMurry (1-0) , Rhodes (0-1) and Millsaps (2-4).

[historymajor]

I think that if EITHER Millsaps, or Rhodes had won the SCAC tourney, the OTHER would have had a shot at a bid.  The FACT that NEITHER won, probably eliminates BOTH.

[Baseball_fan]

Well congrats to Austin for winning the SCAC, I didnt see any of the games, but looked at the stats online, and they all seemed to be good games.

It would have certainly been nice to see someone from the East win it, but Austin certainly had a great weekend it seems.  It will be interesting to see if Millsaps and/or Rhodes can get an at-large bid for regionals, as they have both certainly put together great seasons as well.

Now that SCAC games are over, what does everyone think the All-SCAC team will look like?  From Sewanne I think John Davis must be considered.  He hit .409 for the year with 4 HR's and only struck out 7 times in 115 AB's.  I know his fielding was a little off, but hitting wise he did just fine.  Tom Willis could also perhaps get a consideration.

My Opinion:
SCAC Player of the Year: Hunter Owen (Millsaps)
SCAC Pitcher of the Year: Robert Flanagan (Rhodes College)

Owen has had a great year, hitting .404 with 11 HR's, which is why I put him ahead of maybe Daniel Vanaman from Rhodes who is hitting .422 but with only 4 HR's.  He also has alot more stolen bases and alot fewer errors and a few more RBI's, but I think either one could get it.  Am I leaving anyone out here?

Flanagan was the SCAC pitcher of the year last year, and I think he deserves it again.  With a 12-1 record and a 2.49 ERA he certainly has made a case for it.  His 100 strikeouts are also quite impressive and he has thrown almost 100 Innings.  I dont know of anyone else that can really make a better case for it, but this is obviously just my opinion.  What does everyone think?

[Ralph Turner]

Coach of the Year:  Austin College's Carl Iwasaki

[Baseball_fan]

I agree that he could be up for this award, what are the requirements to get this award? Must one win the SCAC?  I think last year that Jeff Cleathnes should have won.  I read that Rhodes was the most improved team in 2006 for DIII.  I am just curious as to what the criteria is that people look for when naming this award?

[Bob_Lotts]

You make a great point about about 4 game weekends. It is hurting the overall records of the SCAC teams.
Only three teams had over a .500 winning percentage...That hurts the entire SCAC.

I follow OU and I know after playing Rhodes 4-times, they played Heidelberg on Tuesday (leading the OAC), Heidelberg again on Wednesday then Franklin and Marshall on Wednesday night. They also play Emory three times in mid-week games, LAGrange three times, and Piedmont twice.  They usually face Emory's 1 or 2 and they throw their #5 and 6. I'm sure every team in the SCAC goes through the same thing.


Carl Iwasaki is the run away winner of COTY..no doubt. That team was 2-36, 4 years ago! What a great job. Jeff Cleanthes would get it almost any other year.

Hunter Owen wins the Player of the Year and Flanagan is back-to-back pitcher of the year...

[BigJim]

Nick Vera for player of the year.
.419 avg; .772 slg; .534 ob
The reason for fewer runs and RBIs is the rest of the team could not get on base or move him around.  I believe 6 of his 8 knocks were solo shots.

[Doc Nelson]

Does anyone have anything specific to report about the prospects for Millsaps and/or Rhodes receiving a bid to the NCAA regional?  In particular, has anyone calculated the Quality of Win Indices for our teams and their likely competitors for bids?

BTW, if you have a minute, check out blog entries "The Art of Chatter" and "The Prose of Livestat" at http://seriousplaythebook.com