BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

[narch]

the monarchs win two today vs. cnu...the first in dramatic fashion and the second with a dominating performance by denning, striking out 14 - a sweep sure would be nice, boys...go get 'em

game story

game one box...nice pitching duel between moreland and brandt

game 2 box...clearly denning's best game as a monarch

[cnufan]

Narch-
   Were you there in the ninth when MC tied it? I heard something about the CNU catcher wasnt at the plate for the play on the tying run. Just curious if you saw it.

[narch]

the monarchs finish off the sweep in 12 innings today...i love 3 game series when you win all 3

game story

box score

there were a couple of guys who had a TOUGH day at the office...robinson and corbin were a combined 0-13...ouch

cates pitched well in relief, goin 2 2/3 hitless for the w

goose...didn't make the games this weekend...it was my little girl's 3rd b-day

[cnufan]

I believe everyone loves three-games series when their team wins all three!!

Happy Birthday lil narch!!

Hope she had a great weekend.

[narch]

i think you can pencil in ncwc as the regular season champs...i don't see them dropping more than one game to su, and they would need to lose 2 games for gc to have a chance (with a sweep of su) since they own the tiebreaker with gc - ncwc owns the tie-break and a 3 game lead in the win column vs. ferrum, so fc would have to win one more game than ncwc to win the title (which probably means winning out) - mc might have the easiest path since they have su and au left...it's POSSIBLE to sweep those six games, though unlikely...and they own the tie break

interesting season!

[narch]

a little recap of some earlier conversations - this was re: the best offensive player in the usasac

brent justice from gc is off to a nice start...

Narch - I'm going to say Jenkins from SU based off of what I read. Based off last year I'm going to say Corbin from CNU. Based off what I've seen this year I'm going to say Thomas from FC.

here is jenkins line for his 12 conference games:
.423, 10 r, 2 2b, 2 3b, 5 rbi, 3-5 sb

here is thomas' line for his  12 games:
.358, 12 r, 6 2b, 2 hr, 13 rbi, 6-6 sb

here is justice's line for his 15 games:
.317, 21 r, 4 2b, 4 rbi, 11-14 sb

here is the guy i think is the leader at this point:
pat burgess, gc...in 15 games
.333, 17 r, 5 2b, 5 hr, 20 rbi, 0-0 sb

honorable mention is the monarchs steve cornelius, who is putting up nice numbers after being pressed into 1b duty (he was a pitcher previously)...in 12 games
.429, 11 r, 2 2b, 1 3b, 18 rbi, 2-4 sb

and chris pecora, ncwc...in 15 games
.383, 16 r, 2 2b, 3 3b, 2 hr, 16 rbi, 12-12 sb

[narch]

ok, let's review the pre-season pitcher of the year nominees

rice, ncwc - 4-1, 2.20 era, 5 cg, 1 sho, 38 k, 45 ip
ryan cooper, fc - 1-2, 4.50 era, 1 cg, 18 k, 24 ip
andrew keever, gc - 3-1, 4.59 era, 16k, 33.1 ip
kenny moreland, cnu - 2-1, 2.64 era, 40 k, 30.2 ip
ryan brandt, mc - 1-2, 5.79 era, 21 k, 25 ip

rice has just one competitor for this award, if you ask me, but it's not much competition...teammate kyle robertson who is:
4-1, 2.41, 1 cg, 17 k, 37.1 ip

moreland has an outside shot, but he's going to have to be special in his last 2 conference starts, if you ask me...those 5 cg in 5 starts for rice are pretty impressive

brandt, cooper and keever have all been disappointments this season, but cooper and brandt still have a couple of conference starts to turn things around a bit...i'll still take brandt in a big game 8 days a week, but rice is nice, too

[narch]

monarchs get a nice non-conference win vs. vwc today - vwc started their #3 starter, the monarchs had sholar take the hill for his second collegiate start and 3rd collegiate appearance - he pitched well through 3, but gave up 3 runs in 3.1 innings - then kelly, varnell, denning and brandt all pitched in relief...not a bad strategy in a mid-week game to get those guys on the hill for an inning or 2 - mc is now 16-11 and has won 5 straight and 8 of 9...not bad for a team that was 8-10 just a few weeks ago - big series vs. averett this weekend - a sweep keeps the monarchs in contention for the #1 seed...go monarchs

fayetteville observer game story/story about the lights on shelley field

[narch]

updating some results from today...the monarchs won game one vs. averett today...game 2 is tied 2-2 and will be finished on sunday - fc and cnu split with cooper getting the w in relief in game one and the captains winning big in game 2 - gc and su split

brandt pitched solid...gave up 12 hits, but only 1 er, got the wind, and more importantly, pitched 8 innings - keever got rocked, giving up 7 er in 3 ip - moreland pitched 8 solid innings, giving up just 4 er's, but got the loss - cooper pitched 2 2/3 giving up 4 hits and no er in relief to get the win - looks like denning pitched solidly, in game 2 for the monarchs as they had a 2-1 lead going into the 8th...not sure how long he lasted, but either way, the worst he did was give up 2 er in 8 ip

here are the up-to-date conference standings, sorted by losses with sunday match ups:

ncwc, 10-5 (non-conf)
mc, 8-5 (au, 2)
fc, 8-6 (cnu)
gc, 10-7 (su)
cnu, 6-8 (fc)
su, 6-8 (gc)
au, 2-11 (mc, 2)

if the monarchs can squeak out 2 wins on sunday, it will put a lot of pressure on the bishops to sweep a very solid cnu team, especially knowing that they have to be one game better than the monarchs because of the tie-break situation - go monarchs!

for what it's worth, the monarch softball team swept gc today and fc and cnu split, meaning the 8th ranked monarchs have most likely clinched the regular season title (they still have ferrum left and fc will need to sweep mc to win the title, assuming they win the rest of their conference games) - mc women's tennis beat cnu today, most likely clinching that conference championship, as well

[wincinsider]

The seedings get more interesting as Shenandoah takes 2 of 3 from Greensboro.

Greensboro is just about as busch league as they come.  Last year during the Conference tourney, they had a kid going thru the post game greeting yelling profanity to the SU players  with a chicken around his neck.

The SU coach addressed the Greensboro coach and he said he could not control the kid, Sutton ?  if I recall correctly.

Today, a Greensboro player was trying to beat out an infield hit but was throw out at 1st base BUT when he went thru the bag ... he slapped the SU player in the head while knocking off the SU 1st baseman's hat.

Congrats to Coach Anderson is running a 1st class program that was a dog and pony show in previous years.

Folks, SU baseball is a program that cannot be overlooked.

Regards !

[wincinsider]

As for OFFENSIVE players in the running ... you must add SU's RYAN ANDERSON

[wincinsider]

Here's Anderson's line ...

Individual Batting            g     avg     ab      r      h     rbi     2b     3b     hr     bb
ANDERSON, Ryan SUB     30     .431     123     29   53      48     10      4         1       7
JENKINS, David SUB        30        .417    127     38     53     22     6     3     1     7

[narch]

welcome aboard, wincinsider - if your comments are true, they certainly don't speak well for gc

the monarchs got 2 w's vs. au today - varnell picked up both wins - he pitched 1.2 hitless innings in the suspended game with 3 k's, then got the start in game 3, going 6 strong and giving up just 4 hits and 2 er to go with 4 k's...not a bad days work - 2 wins, 7.2 ip, 4 h, 2er, 7 k's

one more weekend to determine the #1 seed and regular season championship - the bishops have to win one more than the monarchs to get that #1 seed, but ferrum has an outside shot, especially since they are playing averett...i expect the panthers to sweep the cougars, and if the monarchs AND bishops lose 2, you've got a 3 way co-championship - i think the monarchs would win that tie break by virtue of a 4-2 record vs. ncwc and ferrum - ncwc has a 3-3 record (swept ferrum, swept by mc) - fc has a 2-4 record (2-1 vs. mc, 0-3 vs. ncwc) - if fc and mc finish in a first place tie, the panthers hold the tie break, but they would need to sweep au AND have su to take at least 2 at shelley field AND have ncwc swept by cnu - i'm liking the monarchs chances, but they have to get things done against su and hope that cnu can take at least one from ncwc...i'd prefer no tie-break scenarios coming into play - gc's only hope is that mc and ncwc BOTH get swept and that fc loses 2...i think they would win the tie-break vs. mc and ncwc in a 3 way scenario (4-2 record, vs. 3-3 for mc, vs. 2-4 for ncwc)...i don't think they would win a 4 way tie (i think ncwc would...both ncwc and gc have a 5-4 record in the gc/mc/fc/ncwc series, but ncwc won 2 of 3 vs. gc)

current standings:
mc, 10-5 (vs. su)
ncwc, 10-5 (@cnu)
gc, 10-8 (finished)
fc, 8-7 (vs. au)
su, 7-8 (@mc)
cnu, 7-8 (vs. ncwc)
au, 2-13 (@ fc)

[wincinsider]

It is true, I witnessed myself. 

I know it's a long shot ... but everyone BUT Averett could finish at 10-8 in the conference, now would not that be something

The USA-South needs to rethink their 3 game sets, they are beating up on each way to much ... it only hurts the USA-South teams chances at an at-large bid. 

The USA-South needs to goto just 2 game sets.  A 12 game conference schedule is enough.

[narch]

Here's Anderson's line ...

Individual Batting            g     avg     ab      r      h     rbi     2b     3b     hr     bb
ANDERSON, Ryan SUB     30     .431     123     29   53      48     10      4         1       7
JENKINS, David SUB        30        .417    127     38     53     22     6     3     1     7

anderson's numbers go down quite a bit in conference games (which is all that should count for a conference award, in my opinion...who cares what a guy did against psa, emu, gettysburg, or e-town...those teams aren't very good, so i would EXPECT a guy to light up that pitching

here are andersons numbers in conference games through saturday (the usasac doesn't have today's stats up yet)

.345, 8 r, 2 2b, 1 3b, 14 rbi, .785 ops (on base + slugging %), 5-5 sb (14 gm)

here are the in conference stats for some of the others that i think are leaders:
jenkins, su - .410, 12 r, 2 2b, 2 3b, 5 rbi, .939 ops, 5-7 sb (14 gm)
cornelius, mc - .424, 13 r, 3 2b, 1 3b, 19 rbi, .985 ops, 2-4 sb (13 gm)
burgess, gc - .319, 17 r, 5 2b, 5 hr, 24 rbi, .979 ops (17 gm)

sorry, but your boy anderson just doesn't stack up in the games that really matter...burgess is going to win offensive poty, hands down, but i think cornelius deserves some recognition (of course, i'm a bit biased )

i'm with you on the three game sets...not only are we beating each other up, but we're playing 3 9-inning games...i think the odac plays a 9 and a 7,  if i'm not mistaken - when we match up with an odac team mid week (these are the majority of the non-conference, in-region games played by the usasac), our pitching is DEPLETED...they've only had to throw 16 innings on the weekend vs. 27 for usasac teams