BB: SCIAC: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Ralph Turner]

The SCIAC has now won two of the last three championships.

Congratulations Chapman players and fans,
As well as all SCIAC followers.

West region continues to dominate World Series!!
As Gray Fox noted, SCIAC has won two of the last three!!

Let's remember that Chapman beat Whitman 3-2 on an unearned run (error on the pitcher) in the bottom of the 9th in Game 5.

Talking about balance in the West Region, Whitman was not even ranked!

[Jack Parkman]

Congrats to Chapman. The Panthers came so close, so many times in the previous decade.

They now have their Walnut and Bronze.

Don't forget, Chapman won it all in 2003 which was in the middles of their insane streak of teams that were as good as I have ever seen at the d3 level.

[Ralph Turner]

Congrats to Chapman. The Panthers came so close, so many times in the previous decade.

They now have their Walnut and Bronze.

Don't forget, Chapman won it all in 2003 which was in the middles of their insane streak of teams that were as good as I have ever seen at the d3 level.

Thanks. After I had posted that, I wanted to revise it.  That whole mid-decade of Chapman teams were incredible.

[D O.C.]

But, then, none could outdo their 1968 National Champs.

[Ralph Turner]

But, then, none could outdo their 1968 National Champs.

1968 was an entirely different brand of ball.

You had large numbers of players going to the NFL and NBA from NAIA schools.

The "majors" were the PAC-8, the Big 8, the Big 10, the 8 in the SWC which would admit U of Houston in the fall of 1968, the ACC with 8 schools, the SEC with only 10 or 11 schools and the 5 big schools in the East competing for the Lambert and a half dozen independents, Notre Dame, Tulane, Ga Tech, Army, Navy. How many are in D-1 FBS now?

You did not have restrictions on the number of scholarships you could give.

Title IX? What is Title IX?

[MIFDad]

FALL BALL HAS BEGUN   

That is all I have to say.

[SoCal OG]

FALL BALL HAS BEGUN   

That is all I have to say.

YES!!  Cant wait for the season to pick up again.  Looking forward to a strong SCIAC season and hopefully some new challengers to Chapman.

[MIFDad]

FALL BALL HAS BEGUN   

That is all I have to say.

YES!!  Cant wait for the season to pick up again.  Looking forward to a strong SCIAC season and hopefully some new challengers to Chapman.

Agree 100%, but Chapman should be tough this year.  From a quick look at their roster, it looks like most of their offensive production is returning.  Pitching-wise, all three of the starters graduated, but there's plenty of talent behind them. We'll see if they are ready to step up.

[SoCal OG]

FALL BALL HAS BEGUN   

That is all I have to say.

YES!!  Cant wait for the season to pick up again.  Looking forward to a strong SCIAC season and hopefully some new challengers to Chapman.

Agree 100%, but Chapman should be tough this year.  From a quick look at their roster, it looks like most of their offensive production is returning.  Pitching-wise, all three of the starters graduated, but there's plenty of talent behind them. We'll see if they are ready to step up.

My son told me this weekend one of his teammates has a friend at Chapman.  He said they had 40 freshman players come out for the team.  6 of them made it.  Pretty interesting if true...good chance they are exaggerating but maybe someone with ties to Chapman can confirm or not. 

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Gotta look deeper than numbers. How many were recruited.  Maybe those 6 were recruited and the rest were true walkons.
I imagine schools like Chapman when they are having success, have guys show up in the fall that the coach did not recruit. Many of those are "cut" at tryouts. Some are kept on through fall.

[MIFDad]

D3 baseball preview is out.  SCIAC coaches' poll is also out:

2020 Preseason Poll
1. Chapman (7) - 79 points
2. Occidental (2) - 65 points
3. La Verne - 61 points
4. Cal Lutheran - 58 points
5. CMS - 43 points
6. Pomona-Pitzer - 40 points
7. Redlands - 29 points
8. Whittier - 21 points
9. Caltech - 9 points

Surprises?  2nd place and 2 first place votes for Oxy over La Verne maybe a bit, especially the 1st place votes.  Do coaches vote for their own teams?  But Oxy starts every Friday league game with a legit arm who is a pre-season All-American, so maybe it's not  so surprising.

[SoCal OG]

Looking forward to seeing some baseball this weekend!  Feels like its been forever.

[Teddy_Ballgame]

Not surprisingly, Cal Lu and Chapman have come out of the gates hot. Both teams are 7-0 overall with wins over UTD and Whitman. Overall, the conference us 28-18 in noncon so far, with the rest of the pack hovering in the .500 area. With 2 of the last 3 national championships (from those 2 squads) and the way this conference has played in non-conference the last couple years, I expect the SCIAC to be in the running for multiple postseason bids.

From what I've seen and heard of Pomona-Pitzer in practices, exhibitions, and the alumni game, they're going to be a team that relies on its arms. Ryan Long is a stud who throws ched and is likely going to follow in David Colvin's footsteps pitching in the Cape this summer. And they've got way more arms in the high 80's- low 90's than I can ever remember. I think the driveline stuff they've been doing has really been paying dividends.

I'm more worried about their sticks. Brian Knapp was one of the best bats in the west last year before getting hurt. Unfortunately, he hurt his wrist in a preseason tune up and hasn't been able to play so far. I don't know the exact prognosis, but he leaves a big hole in a lineup that's only slugging .393 through their first 4 games.

This team does have a wealth of senior experience, though, and a good overall culture. This is the kind of team that I think can improve a lot through the season, and hopefully can play its way into the SCIAC tournament. The lack of pitching depth that has been the achilles heel of some of the best PP teams of the past 20 years shouldn't be an issue. But they'll need their bats to help get them to a place where they can take advantage of it.

Looking forward to another fun year in the SCIAC.

[Jack Parkman]

SCIAC play getting under way for everyone but Oxy.  Good games all around on Friday with some good pitching in the low-scoring games.

Speaking of Oxy....they lose a tough one to Whitworth, who looks to be the team to beat in the NWC so far.  Oxy led 2-1 with 2 out and nobody on in the 9th, but Whitworth comes back to score 3 and take this one.  I am no SID, but the garbage that comes from the OXY recaps is pretty bad.  The recap for this game basically says the umpire blew a call in the 9th and that's why they lost. The blown call might be true, it is way too close to call from a camera in CF, but you can't put stuff like that on paper.  Also, mentioning the home run by Whitworth barely clearing the fence just seems like sour grapes. You have to expect plenty of HR's on routine pop flys in that little league park Oxy plays in.  Maybe I read too much into it, but I can't imagine the Oxy administration being too happy with this type of reporting representing their school.  Need OxyBob to chime in on this one.

Not sure if tomorrows games will be played, but I am sure there will be more good matchups.

[OxyBob]

Need OxyBob to chime in on this one.

I did not watch the game or the play in question, so I don't have an opinion. On the other hand, I am certain it was a bad call and a travesty of justice and cost Oxy a sure win.

For those of us who can't attend the games, I think it's great when SIDs post recaps. Yeah, they may have a partisan spin, but so what?

I once made the mistake of giving my unsolicited critique of a game recap. Take it from me, it's not a good idea.

OxyBob