BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

[rolln2]

Well most of the teams in the USAS open up this weekend. With that said Conference play is only a week away. The first weekend shows Averett/Maryville, Ferrum/CNU, Piedmont/Greensboro, Methodist/LaGrange, and NCW has the first bye.  Any predictions on how the first conference series will turn out? Should be some highly contested series.

I posted this last week and have not seen any predictions for the first conference weekend. Anyone out there care to make some predictions. Ok I will start w/ my predictions. I see AU over Maryville 2 gms to 1, CNU wins series vs FC 2-1, GU wins series vs PC 2-1, and MU bests LC 2-1.

[Boysofsummer21]

Rollin - Glad that you stepped out to make some predictions! Would say your odds to be correct are 2-1. I think ther could be a couple of sweeps this weekend - Maybe Averett and maybe CNU. Do you think GU will take 2 from Peidmont? I think that would really hurt Peidmont right out the gate.

[narch]

Well most of the teams in the USAS open up this weekend. With that said Conference play is only a week away. The first weekend shows Averett/Maryville, Ferrum/CNU, Piedmont/Greensboro, Methodist/LaGrange, and NCW has the first bye.  Any predictions on how the first conference series will turn out? Should be some highly contested series.

i'll give this a shot...
AU over M'ville 2-1
CNU over FC 3-0
PC over GC 2-1
MU over LC 2-1

[USASfan]

Tough day for NCW as they drop one to HS. Bats were once again silent at NCW could only strike for 2 on 8 hits RBIs from 2B Jake Alexander who had 2 hits and 1B Will Beasley who's RBI single was his only hit of the game. Pitching was horrific. Can't leave the ball up and expect good results. NCW must figure it out and quickly. Lets hope it's not another "Long" year for the Bishops.

[rolln2]

Looks like Hampden-Sydney took out its' frustration of losing three straight games to USAS opponents on NCW. Wow a 13-2 loss is tough. Whats' up w/ the Bishops losing 3 straight to the ODAC and sitting at 0-3 to start 2013. If they are going to play like this it will be a long season in the USAS.

[PNeal7]

CNU took two from Ferrum on the day, including scoring 8 runs in the bottom of the 9th to climb out of a 7-0 hole in the 2nd game of the day. Austin Chrismon goes 7 IP, striking out 8 and allowing 0 runs, to lead CNU to a 3-0 victory in the 1st game.

[narch]

mu avoids the sweep, getting a 7-5 sunday win...3 close games this weekend with  mu losing 4-2, 5-4 in 10 and winning 7-5

[Boysofsummer21]

Well after 1 weekend of conference play I think everyone is looking at our news members saying they are stronger than we expected with all 3 going 2-1 in their first set of conference games. Also CNU takes 3 from Ferrum and from what I hear the last 2 where heart breakers. Everyone I talked to said that Ferrum's starting pitching was very good all weekend long and did their jobs very well. So ferrum will regroup and I don't think I want to be their next oppenent as they will probably be ready to take it out on someone. So now really looking forward to next weekend when Maryville rolls into CNU, Lagrange goes to Averett and Ferrum has Greensboro. Should be a good one.

[LTBB1971]

rolln2,
NCWC is playing real young.  They took 2 of 3 from a real bad EHU team in which they should have swept.  Hitting has been almost nonexistent with the exeptions of 2B Jake Alexander and LF James Johnson.  I believe at one point 1-4 batters were all freshamn.  Still missing 1B JJ Rodriguez, C Tyler Clark and OF Stephen Machin in the lineup.  2B Brad Guengerich broke his hand on opening day, so that will put a damper on the infield, now being forced to play a FR at SS.  Up next is Div II St. Andrews...not going to be pretty.

[rolln2]

Well the first conference weekend has come to close.  My picks were off w/ Maryville going 2-1 over Averett, and Methodist losing 2-1 to LaGrange. I also failed on the Piedmont/Greensboro series as Piedmont won it 2-1. I didn't see CNU sweeping Ferrum either.  So with all of that said.  I definitely need to stay away from Las Vegas. So far it looks like the cold weather has the bats a little quiet and the pitching doing well.  Next weekend should bring about another good set of series in the USAS.

[PNeal7]

CNU advances to 5-0 beating EMU 15-6. Preson Grissom had 4 hits on the day, with Justin Weaver and Billy Steel each adding 3 RBI on the day.

[USASfan]

NCW game against DII St. Andrews has been cancelled. The word is C Tyler Clark has Mono and will not be able to play till later in the season. What is NCW to do without his bat in the lineup first conference weekend. 2B/SS Jake Alexander has to have a big weekend and some help from 1B Beasley who's bat has been quiet for a 2nd Team performer. LF Johnson looks to be hitting well. What can we expect from the Bishops?

[LTBB1971]

Without C Clark's bat in the lineup, there will be no protection for 2B Alexander.  Need to get 2B Ciuffetelli, 1B JJ Rodriguez, OF Machin and C Koenrgay's bats back in the lineup and OF J. Johnson has to hit higher than 7th in the lineup for the Bishops to have a chance this weekend.

My best guess is NCWC will send Beasley, Pleasant and Brooks on the mound with Swartout ready to close.  That's very, very solid...just depends if they can hit.   MU got off to a bad start in the Conference last weekend and I expect them to be looking to sweep the Bishops.  In addition, last 2-3 years they have had our number in the regular season and tournament play.

[narch]

i'm interested to see what mu does going forward with the pitching staff...ayers has struggled a bit in his 2 starts, going just 8 innings and sporting an early season 6.75 era...he's got the stuff to be better than that, and i expect he will be, but i'm not sure he's a true #1 as his starts to this point would indicate (and i'm not sure the monarchs have a true #1) - inman has been good, giving mu 14 1/3 innings in his two starts and giving up just 4 er (2.51 era)...he's gone 7 and 7.1 innings in his two outings, and he's given the monarchs a chance to win in both - i was surprised to see thigpen start this weekend vs. lagrange (he had a solid 6 inninng outing giving up just 2 er's) - i had heard he was going to pitch some out of the pen this year, but it appears he may be a weekend starter

judge has been terrific in long relief in the early going, with 7 innings over 2 games and giving up just 1 hit...does he get a weekend start, or is he too valuable as a long guy? coach austin loves those long guys that can throw 3 to 5 weekend innnings and get a mid-week start - is that the role judge plays? might ayers and judge flip-flop those roles at some point?

the only ones hitting right so far are chris power (.474, 4 rbi, 5 sb), kirby (.455, 2 rbi, 2 sb) and nalls (.316, 3 rbi) - younger has 6 rbi on the season, but thigpen is still at .200 - when the bats get going, it will take some of the pressure off the pitching, but i like to see that the arms are throwing well early...the defense needs to step up, though...too many errors, even for this early in the season - the monarchs have made 13 errors in 5 games and given up 8 unearned runs...

should be a fun weekend - while i'd like a sweep, i predict a 2-1 mu weekend win, with one of those games being low-scoring and the other being an offensive outburst

[LTBB1971]

I am going to disagree with narch and say MU WILL sweep this weekend.  If Bishops take 1 max, it will be because we kept the score low and won 2-1 or 3-2  NCWC has comitted 12 errors in 6 games...too many!!!  Saturday should be interesting.