BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[D3baseballdad]

This message board is great! I enjoy reading all the posts and appreciate the fact that the SCAC seems to be one of the conferences full of devoted fans that follow their teams day-in and day-out. It is incredible to see how busy this board is compared to many others.

I would like to make a few points if I may. First and foremost I wish to echo what I have read here in many other posts, this has been quite a season in the SCAC thus far. The predicted leaders are both in places other than atop their side of the SCAC. I think it speaks to the fact that the level of competition in the SCAC has increased.  That is a good thing for everyone in the conference.

I would also like to touch on something Frank has posted about. The spirit of a team is important and a coach's major role is to keep his team up and ready to play! That means keeping every member of the team inspired and not all coaches know how that is done but it is one of the greatest skills they can develop for it will pay off tremendously in the end. I would like to give one small example of this if I may. My son played in a travel football program in his pre-teens and before middle school. This team dominated their conference and always won in end of season trips to tournaments in Florida. The team had an end of year banquet and one of the coaches said something to the starters that stuck with me to this day. He said, "You gentlemen who started for us should thank those who were your backups. Those young men pushed you to be better and when you scrimmaged you played the second best team in the division for our second string was better than any other team you played on Saturdays!"  Coaches need to develop every player, starters and bench because you never know when someone will be hurt and your backup may have to play.

The next two weeks will be huge for everyone and it will be interesting to see who makes it to the crossover and from there to the championship. I have enjoyed following this season with all its ups and downs. My son has friends from his former high school team playing throughout Division III baseball and boards like this make it possible to keep track off all those teams!!

[infielddad]

Trinity, and all those freshman, with Evan Jones and Stosh Hoover leading the way, is just pounding the ball.  After scoring 40 runs in it's 4 game series with Austin College, they scored 24 runs on 25 hits today.  Defeated TLU 24-12 in a mid week game.
Felix had another 4 hit game, Jones 3 more hits and 5 RBI's, Kalbick(a freshman) had 2 hits and 5 RBI's, Jackson(a freshman) had 3 hits and 2 RBI's, and Early( yep, a freshman) had another 3 hits.
Jones is on the way to breaking school records, with at least 10 games left in the regular season.
Hitting can certainly be contagious.  But this sure seems like the deepest Trinity lineup since Coach Scannell arrived in San Antonio.  There are 9, or 12, very tough outs.

[Ralph Turner]

I think that there is a very fine line on the TU roster on the pitcher vs hitter equation.

We can see what Schreiner can do.  TU probably beats SU today, and HPU in two weeks.  The UMHB series will be instructive.

Trinity was shut down by the 4th McMurry starter until the 7th inning.  TU then got the win off a pitcher who only has 7.1 innings thru the 29 games season.  McMurry called in their "Friday starter" as the closer, but he could not shut down in time. (McMurry really needs a set-up man and a closer...like most D3 staffs do.)

I think that TU wins it all in the SCAC, and then comes to Abilene for the Sectional...(lots better than Chapman    ).

[LargeTuna21]

I think there is no question that Trinity has always done better against pitchers who throw hard fastballs and can run it up in the high 80s. The soft-tossing pitchers have historically given them lots of trouble.

However, even in the games this year where Trinity was "held down" by pitchers, they were still picking up lots of hits, just leaving guys in scoring position. This offense is not a fluke.

Now if they can get Bignall back and healthy by the time the playoffs roll around it would solidify a four man rotation of Bronson, Oates, Bignall and Poffenroth and Trinity could be looking at a very deep run.

[Just_Some_Guy]

Trinity, and all those freshman, with Evan Jones and Stosh Hoover leading the way, is just pounding the ball.  After scoring 40 runs in it's 4 game series with Austin College, they scored 24 runs on 25 hits today.  Defeated TLU 24-12 in a mid week game.
Felix had another 4 hit game, Jones 3 more hits and 5 RBI's, Kalbick(a freshman) had 2 hits and 5 RBI's, Jackson(a freshman) had 3 hits and 2 RBI's, and Early( yep, a freshman) had another 3 hits.
Jones is on the way to breaking school records, with at least 10 games left in the regular season.
Hitting can certainly be contagious.  But this sure seems like the deepest Trinity lineup since Coach Scannell arrived in San Antonio.  There are 9, or 12, very tough outs.

I'd argue that the 2004 Trinity team had a deeper lineup. I had a lengthy post discussing my rationale, but the boards timed out and I lost it, and I don't feel like typing it all up again. You'll have to take my word for it. I suspect you'd be a little biased towards that squad as well...

With the power in the middle of Armstrong, O'Connor and Tettleton. Baugaus and Madison setting the tone, Sowyrda prior to getting to bulky too swing it, a young Nick Vera, Verrios in the 8-9 hole, and not only that, but every last one of those them with the exeption of Findlay (and Mihalski if he was in the lineup) would swipe a bag as well.

Though, it's scary to think how good all those TU freshman hitters could be if they continue to mature at the plate over the next couple of years.

JSG

[infielddad]

J_S_G,
Boy, I hope you don't live close to the Mihalski's.   
The 2004 team, compared to this one at TU, had vastly more experience, especially when you consider Jason started for 4 years and Stosh is for all practical purposes, really in about his second full season of playing time.
The intangible difference of the 2004 team, in addition to two guys who played pro ball and plenty of talent beyond those two, was the fire, spirit, dedication and determination each one made in August of 2003 when they lost 'Schmos.
If this team can stay healthy and together for 2 years, they should have a clear chance to surpass 2004 offensively.

[historymajor]

Bill... I 'been watchin' the TIG's longer than you and I see better depth,,, pitching and hitting...  oh MY!

[Leadoff Man]

Big west region double header in San Antonio today between Mary Hardin Baylor and Trinity starting at 4.  If Trinity can pull off a sweep it should up their chance at a possible at large bid.

It will be interesting to see who each team decides to start on the mound.  UMHB has a conference series this weekend with Concordia I believe, and Trinity has 4 heated games against Millsaps starting Friday.

It might be an offensive explosion today!

[historymajor]

Leadoffman.... are you going to be there, or watching/listening to webcasts/following livestats???

[Leadoff Man]

I won't be there, but hopefully i'll be able to keep up with the video and livestats.  I will be in San Antonio this weekend for the Millsaps series though!

[historymajor]

Maybe you can help me arrange some interviews with former players and fans and some old "Millsaps rivalry stories".  Stop by and let's discuss!

[Lou_Brown]

The Petrels took down #18 Emory 5-4 tonight at OU...They led the entire way and played an outstanding game. Emory had the tying run on third and the go-ahead run at second with no outs in the ninth before the Petrels worked out of the jam with the Win. This is the second ranked team they have beaten this year, #5 Piedmont is the other. A nice win for a young team...

[Ralph Turner]

Great win for OU and that loss really stings Emory.

[frank_ezelle]

That is a great win for OU and it goes to show that there will be no easy matchups when the SCAC Crossover is played.  OU has the win over Emory, Piedmont and Rhodes and they could easily be the #4 in the East. 

On the other side of the SCAC, it looks like Millsaps and Austin will be #3 and #4 or vice versa, pairing them up with DePauw and Rhodes in the crossover.  That will be some very good baseball.

Millsaps is starting to come around with their pitchiing and their hitting--I'm not sure if that will show up with wins at Trinity if this Trinity team is truly one of the best teams they have had in years, but Millsaps is looking like a team that might very well end up playing their best ball of the season at just the right time.

[historymajor]

Frank, will you be in SAT this weekend?  If not, tune in... I'll give you a shout out!