BB: SCIAC: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Tom Brady]

Eagle-  I am sure Cal Lu would love nothing more than to get back to the days of dominating the SCIAC and D-III west coast baseball, but I think they were much more dominant in the 90's.........http://www.clusports.com/pages/history/baseball_history.php

I think they will do what it takes to get through the SCIAC but not too sure how they would do on the national scene (if the series vs. Chapman is any indication, it will be a short trip to the post-season)

SCIAC baseball will probably never produce a legit national contender with all of the JC/NAIA/D-II schools around.  I know everyone that does not live in So Cal does not like that explination, but those who do know its a legit reason.

I am sorry for this one Eagle, but there is no way OXY will battle for a SCIAC title.  If they do, I will come on here and praise OXY until next season.

[Browneagle64]

Hahahah, and just when i was still feeling confident that my Tigers will produce better results this year in the SCIAC, my hopes get shot down.
I have No worries WT. Just like Chicago Cub fans out there, i have the same hope for the men in orange and black this year and hope to see a bigger step in reaching for that SCIAC crown. Like any sport, anything can happen on any given day. (i.e. CMS just lost a close game to the biggest boys out in the west, losing to chapman 4-3......)

Cal Lu will do fine. Your right about the decent and good teams out here that always produce a big time contender. However, i am optimistic that the Cal Lu's, La Verne's, Oxy's, & Redlands will put togther teams that will get them to that stage.

[BigPoppa]

SCIAC baseball will probably never produce a legit national contender with all of the JC/NAIA/D-II schools around.  I know everyone that does not live in So Cal does not like that explination, but those who do know its a legit reason.

I am sorry for this one Eagle, but there is no way OXY will battle for a SCIAC title.  If they do, I will come on here and praise OXY until next season.

The only SoCal D3 school that can effectively recruit players in the region is Chapman. I lost many players to them while coaching at an NAIA school. Most of the top level players in this area go to JCs in order to get drafted after one year. I even know of many players who turned down Cal-State Fullerton, USC, Long Beach State, etc... to play for a JC and get a jump start on pro-ball. The recruiting competition here is crazy.

I also agree on OXY... I love you enthusiasm, but OXY will not fare well in the SCIAC. They do not have the pitching to compete in their band box of a ball park. I have seen numerous routine fly balls land well beyond the left field wall there and many more bounce off the roof of the buildings in the outfield.

[utilitycat17]

BigPoppa, I'm sure you are right when you say you lost recruits to Chapman while at an NAIA school. However when you talk about the D1, D2, and JC players you are really talking about a different calibre of player altogether.  Chapman does not usually lose players to D1 schools, because they do not pursue those types of players typically.  Sometimes they may put some effort into a player they know they might not get, but typically they know what type of player they are looking for.  The type of player Chapman might look for is a diamond in the rough.  Someone who may have been overlooked for some reason.  However, ultimately they have built their program on developing the players they do get.  The best example of this would be Devon Drag.  When he first showed up at Chapman he was an overweight pitcher who didn't throw very hard.  With a lot of hard work from him and an environment that allowed him to succeed he has become the player that his is today.  I don't think what Chapman does is all that revolutionary really.  They have built a powerful program by developing their own players.  I personally believe that any of the SCIAC schools could do the same with the right coaching staff.  I honestly thought that a couple of years ago Pomona had done just that.  They looked like they had built a program that would last for many years, however when their coach moved on so did the good fortunes of the program.  I don't think it is unreasonable to believe that another of the SCIAC schools couldn't do the same at some point in the future. 

[Browneagle64]

Apparently, my tigers didn't take their game against the U. of British Columbia to seriously (exhibition game) or the UofB was used to played in cold weather like So. Cal is currently experiencing. I only hope that the Men in orange and Black bounce back and get ready for their first SCIAC test aginst a struggling La Verne Team. I'll be catching Saturday's double header and hope to provide some insight about both teams within the next week. I do hope that the tigers show of their pitching come saturday.

[RFB]

Redlands beat NAIA #8 Cal Baptist 3-2. Nice win for the Dawgs.

[Browneagle64]

Great job to the Dawgs on their recent win.

I'm still not convenced if they are in full champion mode after just winning close games that could have gone the other way. Yet, i still understand that they are still in their openning week. If they don't catch up, expect Cal Lu to jump to the top of the SCIAC along with the Tigers from the Rock.

[pomonaalum]

Well, Cal Lu's return to domination of the SCIAC looks to have hit a bit of a roadblock of this weekend, losing 2 of 3 to Pomona-Pitzer.  Looks like the Kingsmen won the opener in Thousand Oaks, then got swept in the DH on Saturday.  PP had a decent year last year, and looks to have a bit of young talent around...

[Sabretooth Tiger]

It looks like the Tigers got swept by the Leopards this weekend.  Per La Verne's website:

02-23-2007 -  LaVerne prevails 6-5
02-24-2007 -  LaVerne takes the doubleheader winning 15-2 and 7-4

[Tom Brady]

Not a good way to start a run at a SCIAC title for Cal Lu.  Is this team any good or not???  They beat some good teams and have lost 4 games to very good teams (Chapman 3, George Fox 1) but to lose to Pomona twice???!!!  Well thats just not gonna get it done.  Nice start for LaVerne.  Maybe they are better than advertised.  Sorry Eagle, tough weekend for your Tigers.

[BigPoppa]

Friday's matchup between Chapman and Redlands suddenly looks very appealing.

As of right now, they appear to be the class of the Southern California D3 Baseball teams. I would expect that Drag will throw Friday against Redlands and not Thursday against La Sierra.

[Browneagle64]

Congrats to the Leo's on their tough win on friday and taking the series away from my tigers on Saturday. Also congrats to the hens

As i expected, friday's game was going to be a test between a struggling leo team and a warm Oxy team. Looking at the box scores and stats, i was pleased to learn that Oxy's pitching staff did a fine job for 9 innings but couldn't save the game when they gave up a costly homer. That was the blow to the heart.

As for saturday, i witnessed an Oxy team that feel asleep on me during the 4th and-6th inning; giving up multiple runs and not good defense. I blamed the weird weather for a while, but only found out that the boys in Orange and black probably were dazed and confused after losing such a close game the previous day. For now, i only that they review film, stats, critiscm, and all other things so that they can pull themselves out of this funk and come away with big victories against the poets this fri. and sat. In Saying that I assure you that my tigers will be back in full form and better prepared for this weeks match up. Look for better pitching this time around.

Btw, what happend to the Kingsmen is by far another weird result. I had them down as sweeping a young hen team. However, the might chicken nugget prevailed against the ever so popular kingmens. This should be corrected or else they SCIAC will be open for just about anyone.

Hey, BP. Don't count on the dawgs taking the series this week. I'll put them down for one good win against the dawgs, but eventually will lose the other games. Don't get me wrong about wanting a sciac team to win, but the panthers are wel lprepared to pull off close games and have the pitching and power to help them do so. Expect to see drag play a good starting game against UOR on friday.

[Tom Brady]

BP- I agree that the matchup with Chapman and Redlands looks pretty good right now but I am not sure about Redlands just yet.  Of their 6 wins, 4 of them are against Cal Tech and Whitman (who have a combined 0-15 record).  Dont get me wrong, I realize Redlands beat Cal Baptist last week with their #1 going and probably CBU's 4 or 5, but again, I am not taking away from the win.  I hope Redlands can represent the SCIAC better that Whittier and Cal Lu did vs. Chapman.

Eagle-  Looks like a tough loss for your boys on friday.  Tough to come back from that kind of loss and I think it showed on saturday.  OXY is improving every week and I look for them to make a little noise this year, but they are obviously taking a step in the right direction for the years to come.

[Browneagle64]

W.T-- I am still confident that they will be back in full form ad full stride come friday against Whitter. I just hope that the pitching staff and the bats start to click a bit more. The Players just need to look at the games one at a time. If they follow this for this week, they will do just fine against whitter

[Browneagle64]

Congratulations to the Stags on a good start of the season.
Wow, CMS is slowly creeping up on us in the SCIAC and in their non-league results. Awesome job the stags on taking away two games from the Poets this past weekend. From the looks of it, CMS is out on a mission in 07 to spoil some dreams. Heres what they have done so far against good teams and decent teams:
SAT Feb. 10 CAL STATE EAST BAY (2) 5-3, 8-7              Wins (2-1
FRI Feb. 16 PACIFIC UNIVERSITY 8-7 (10) 3-1
SAT Feb. 17 PACIFIC UNIVERSITY (2) 4-9, 3-14 3-3
TUE Feb. 20 Chapman University 3-4 3-4
FRI Feb. 23 *WHITTIER 6-8 3-5,0-1
SAT Feb. 24 *Whittier (2) 9-7 (10), 5-3 5-5,2-1