BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

[Diamond King]

crash, et al - if it helps, i'll put this more succinctly:

i think that if mu or cnu (and maybe ferrum and ncwc) played su's schedule over the last two seasons, they would have a win/loss record that looked very similar

Listen, narch. I think you have a misconception on how SU goes about scheduling.

Some regional powerhouses just don't want to play the Hornets anymore because there is a risk of losing. That might sound ridiculous to you, but I know this ....

Salisbury used to play SU every year. The Gulls haven't done it recently.

Johns Hopkins used to play SU every year. The future doctors have not been on the schedule for a couple years.

Mary Washington used to play SU every year. My understanding is Coach K and the MW coach had a falling out, thus no games against.

And don't think Anderson won't play Salisbury or Johns Hopkins. I think the call was THEIRS not to play the Hornets.

I don't think you'll find any SU team (good or gym-class level) making treks to Alabama or Georgia on a wim just to play a game. What needs to be understood here is SU is like an outpost compared to everyone else in the USA South. Ferrum and Averett are near each other. You guys have NCW as a natural rival and aren't all that far away from Greensboro, either. SU's rival is CNU, which is still a three/four-hour hike. SU had to make trips to NCW and Methodist this season (both before March 15) and also to Averett, all pretty long journeys. And then they had to mozy on down to Burlington to win the conference tournament (Had the most fans and quite a vocal bunch there, too). SU plays most every school in the ODAC (wherever those schools want to play) and a few in the Capital Conference. It gets these mediocre teams from New York, Penn, and NJ because those schools are in COLD CLIMATES and must open down south. Yes, most of those teams are not very good. Don't you think Coach K will drop St. Joe's/Long Island next season after setting a school-record with 35 runs against that bunch last month? Sometimes, you play who you can get.

It sounds like you're  (excuse the phrase borrowed from the youth) "Hatin'" a bit here. Share the wealth and pull for SU a little!

For the record, the baseball Hornets are the only university team I care about .

[vabaseball]

Sterling outing by Chitsaz for CNU.  8 innings, 1 run.  CNU defeats Salisbury 14-1.

Two senior pitchers get their first and last career at-bats during the last home game of the season. A nice touch.

[Catfishncwc]

Lets not proclaim SU to be a national power just yet.  To this date I have played in more College World Series (2) than the entire entire history of the SU program (1).  I think they have had a nice run the last couple of years and they are losing a lot of seniors next year so I think they will these two years will be hard for them to duplicate.  But they have had a real nice run the question is can they sustain it.  Lots of teams in the past decade have had some short term runs in the USA South so I think the odds are against them. 

[narch]

Some regional powerhouses just don't want to play the Hornets anymore because there is a risk of losing. That might sound ridiculous to you, but I know this ....

sorry, i'm just not buyin' it...i'm sure you've got your "sources" who are feeding you this information, but explain this to me - why would salisbury play 2 against cnu, 2 vs. ncwc and 2 vs. johns hopkins if they were afraid of losing games? hopkins has york and salisbury on their schedule, along with montclair and eastern connecticut as non-conference foes...mary washington has macon, bridgewater and ferrum as non-conference foes

based on the other teams on their schedule, none of these teams seem to be scared to play good teams, so i simply don't think your theory holds any water...all of these opponents are very solid programs that could easily steal a win and thus present a great deal of "risk of losing" (and, sorry, but most have a much longer history of winning baseball than the hornets)

if you prefer to think that i'm "hatin" on your team, feel free...i'm simply stating facts as i see them - you and others want to brag about the record, but don't want to face facts...su has run up that impressive record against a lot of inferior teams...8 of 25 non-conference games against teams with a winning record...a good team like su SHOULD win most of those games

[D-BAT]

Sterling outing by Chitsaz for CNU.  8 innings, 1 run.  CNU defeats Salisbury 14-1.

Two senior pitchers get their first and last career at-bats during the last home game of the season. A nice touch.

If CNU knocks off Salisbury again and if NCW can sweep them in a DH, then I think Salisbury will most likely have a more difficult time of getting an "at-large-bid" thus opening the door up for CNU and Methodist if both CNU and MU can win out!

I look for John Hopkins to sweep Salisbury.

Salisbury controls their own destiny with the following scheduled games left:

- CNU
- 2x NCW
- Frostburg
- 2x Neumann
- Montclair St.
- 2x John Hopkins


Also, looking at the post-conference schedules, looks like teams that have a legit shot of making the NCAA's need to start scheduling a few more games after the tourney vs. so many before the Conference Tourney.

Methodist last game is on May 2nd and Ferrum has their last game on May 7th.  CNU finishes up on April 24th and SU finished their schedule on April 22nd.

Regionals start on May 19th.

The USA-South needs to move their conference tourney to the last weekend in April if not 1st weekend in May vs the middle of April.

[Diamond King]

Some regional powerhouses just don't want to play the Hornets anymore because there is a risk of losing. That might sound ridiculous to you, but I know this ....

sorry, i'm just not buyin' it...i'm sure you've got your "sources" who are feeding you this information, but explain this to me - why would salisbury play 2 against cnu, 2 vs. ncwc and 2 vs. johns hopkins if they were afraid of losing games? hopkins has york and salisbury on their schedule, along with montclair and eastern connecticut as non-conference foes...mary washington has macon, bridgewater and ferrum as non-conference foes

based on the other teams on their schedule, none of these teams seem to be scared to play good teams, so i simply don't think your theory holds any water...all of these opponents are very solid programs that could easily steal a win and thus present a great deal of "risk of losing" (and, sorry, but most have a much longer history of winning baseball than the hornets)

if you prefer to think that i'm "hatin" on your team, feel free...i'm simply stating facts as i see them - you and others want to brag about the record, but don't want to face facts...su has run up that impressive record against a lot of inferior teams…8 of 25 non-conference games against teams with a winning record…a good team like su SHOULD win most of those games

OK, I guess it's going to be one of those "agree to disagree" deals.

But narch, I'm telling you, Salisbury and Hopkins are the ones avoiding playing SU. There's some facts for you.

If SU had not erased their all-time series records from their web site a few years back, then the fine print might knock you over when you see the Hornets played those two every stinking year!

Enjoy the "hatin."

[narch]

But narch, I'm telling you, Salisbury and Hopkins are the ones avoiding playing SU. There's some facts for you.

facts can be independently verified...what you are purporting is merely conjecture

[D-BAT]

USA-South Overall records and winning% as of April 23rd 10pm:

34-08 .810% ... SU
24-11 .686% ... MU
22-13 .629% ... FC
24-15 .615% ... CNU
25-17 .595% ... AU
17-19 .472% ... NCW
10-27 .270% ... GB

[narch]

the monarchs win game 1 of the dh vs. stevenson, 7-2...kelly pushes his record to 8-2 on the season - the are up 5-0 through 3 with willingham on the hill...one down, 6 to go...

[vabaseball]

CNU completely washed out after their promising win against Salisbury on Thursday. Dropped two today to York, 3-2 and 6-3.

[narch]

CNU completely washed out after their promising win against Salisbury on Thursday. Dropped two today to York, 3-2 and 6-3.

i appreciate the split with salisbury, but wish the capts. could have done the same today

the monarchs finish off stevenson in game 2, winning 8-0 behind a 2nd 7 inning cg - willingham gave up just 3 hits and had a no-hitter through 5 - the monarch arms have really stymied the dangerous stevenson bats through the first two games...

[D-BAT]

USA-South Overall records and winning% after April 24th games:

34-08 .810% ... SU
26-11 .703% ... MU
22-13 .629% ... FC
25-17 .595% ... AU
24-17 .585% ... CNU
17-19 .472% ... NCW
10-27 .270% ... GB

This might be a silly question, wonder what chance Ferrum would have for an at-large bid, if they won out?

[hokieone]

   I suspect 11 games in 9 days, and not winning some mid-season mid-week games, put my Captains in too big of a hole. You can't let yourself get in a position where you HAVE to win out as it's a funny game at times.   

     The Captains will be disappointed not to go to regionals, but this year's senior class had a very fine four year run, and the team returns 6 of 8 postion starters next year, so they should be in good shape. A couple key pitching recruits have gotten late D-1 offers, but CNU has a ton to offer and will bring in some arms. 

   The new CNU logo will debut sometime soon-I'm told the Captain will be fiercer than the twinkle toed Captain Chris. Nice.

[vabaseball]

I personally like the old "sails" for the Captains logo, but then I also prefer feathers in the W&M Tribe logo....  Anything but the Captain logo currently in use.  Agree, hokieone, that the seniors had nice four year careers.

As for the pitching recruits with late D1 offers, perhaps they will join the Captains as sophomores.  Certainly happened before.

[D-BAT]

Taking all the stuff out of the thought process here; I did a historical summary over the last 10 years (2001 - 2010).
I used conference records as they are consistent year to year.
School               W          L      # Seasons 500 or better
Methodist          89        52           9                   
CNU                  88        53          10
Ferrum              81        59            6
NC Wes             75        70            6
Shenandoah       57        84            2
Greensboro        56         81           4
Averett             50         91           4

With Shenandoah's 2 winning seasons coming in the last two years I would say that the practice of scheduling soft opponents comes from the need to have the wins to get considered for Regionals. This is a good practice based on that fact. I am wondering if Shenandoah is starting to build a solid program now because of better recruiting or if this is a benefit of current players on the team and it will end when they leave. Historicial you can not say that Shenandoah is one of the top USA South teams because they do not have the conference record to support it. Now with their current team, who by the way I say congrats you played really well in the tournament and will represent the USAS well, they are a quality group and this can do nothing but help in the future. But the coaches job is to coach/teach and position their team best as possible to get to their goals (regionals) and if you have to schedule games against the local high school that is what you do. So lets not say that Shenandoah is not scheduling soft teams, and there is no real excuse because all the other teams do travel against their opponents.

Did CNU's Harvell inherit a group of solid players in 2001?  Reason being, he was 98-36 during his first 3yrs and went to the World Series back to back in 2002 and 2003 for a overall .731 winning%.

Since 2004, the program is 172-113-2 for .599 winning% and overall since 2001 CNU is 270-149-2 for .641 winning clip.

Overall, under Harvell's tutelage since 2001, the Captain's have (1) regular season USA-South conference championship and (2) USA-South tournament championships.