BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

[Catfishncwc]

NCWC completes the sweep of greensboro with a 6-4 win in the second game.

[coachmilburn]

SU (26-5) gets DH sweep of St. Joseph's, NY 15-3 and 12-3 in Winchester.

It was SU's 18th straight in non-conference victories.



Game 2 ... Ferrum is up 7 to 4 over Methodist going into bottom of the 4th.   Anyone know the result of Game 1 today in Ferrum ?

Link to LIVE stats ... http://www.sidearmstats.com/ferrum/baseball/

[A.G.]

12-11 Ferrum going into the 9th.

[coachmilburn]

Ferrum (12-12) gets a split with 12 to 11 win over Methodist (23-9).

R     H    E
11 - 16 - 0 ... Methodist
12 - 17 - 3 ... Ferrum



Updated USA-South Standings :

7-3 NCW
5-3 Methodist
4-4 SU
4-4 CNU
4-4 Averett
4-6 Ferrum
2-6 Greensboro

[narch]

the monarchs win game 1, 6-1 behind a nice game from bisplinghoff...8 ip, 3 h, 1 er (he did allow 7 walks)
box score

the panthers got out of the gates early scoring as tre britt didn't get an out and left the game after giving up 3 er...nobody else fared much better, but the mu bats almost won it for the monarchs...they led 11-10 after 7.5 innings, but gave up 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to lose the game...that's a big loss as it means the monarchs no longer control their destiny
box score

[hokieone]

At the risk of raising a dreaded subject, does anyone remember how the multiple team tie-breakers work?  A couple years ago, we had a similar mess heading into the last days...

USAS didn't change the tournament format so  being #1seed doesn't help a great deal, other than facing a team that has already played a game for their opener, but off-setting that a little is playing late night game after everyone else plays all day.   This one will be a shootout, however folks are seeded!

[coachmilburn]

SU and NCW will be playing a DH on Friday starting at 4pm with hopes to get both games in before the rains come.

[narch]

At the risk of raising a dreaded subject, does anyone remember how the multiple team tie-breakers work?  A couple years ago, we had a similar mess heading into the last days...

winning %
head-to-head
results vs. teams from top

ie:  if 3 teams have the same winning %, you would look at the h2h between the three...if all three had 2-2 records vs. each other, then you compare each of the three against each team from the top of the standings...

it will be difficult to have a 3 way tie this year as ncwc will most likely get their full 12 games in...

however, if cnu, su and averett were to sweep this weekend, they would be in a 3 way tie for first - in that case you would look at their records vs. each other - au would be 1-3, su would be 3-1 and cnu would be 2-2...so su would be the #1 seed, cnu the #2 seed, au the #3 seed, ncwc the #4 seed and mu the #5 seed, fc the #6 seed and gc the #7 seed

i don't think that cnu can get the #1 seed...if they sweep mu, they need su to sweep ncwc to force a tie break...that would make ncwc the #3 seed, and su would get the #1 seed by virtue of the su sweep of ncwc - the very series which would force a tie, would also break the tie

going into the weekend i think only ncwc, mu and su have a shot at the #1 seed, although i'm not totally sure what would happen if su, mu and au were to all finish 6-4 (which would make ncwc 7-5 and cnu 5-5) since mu and au didn't play...my guess is that mu would get the #1 seed as they would be 2-0 vs. su/au while su would be 2-2 vs mu/au and au would be 0-2 vs. mu/su...who knows

i hope the monarchs get a sweep and the bishops lose one...leaving my monarchs the #1 seed

[LTBB1971]

Thru 2/3 of the season gone, here is my favorites for First Team All Conference

1B - Greg Van Sickler (Shenandoah) -     .402, 5 HR, 47 RBI, 13 doubles, 4 triples
2B - Paul Jaglowski (Ferrum) -                 .415, 1 HR, 23 RBI, 21 R, 11 SB
SS - Brian Inghram (Methodist) -             .377, 7 HR, 46 RBI, 39 R, 23 BB, 13 SB
3B - Shawn Lovette (Methodist) -           .414, 4 HR, 28 RBI, 41 R, 12 doubles, 18 BB, 12 SB
C - Dustin Proctor (Methodist) -              .389, 10 HR, 37 RBI, 44 R, 11 doubles, 12 SB
OF - Kevin Brashers (Shenandoah) -      .378, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 51 R, 10 doubles, 10 SB
OF - Scott Lambert (Shenandoah) -       .429, 1 HR, 39 RBI, 41 R, 20 BB, 11 SB
OF - Luke Williford (NC Wesleyan) -       .373, 3 HR, 29 RBI, 31 R, 9 doubles, 23 SB
UTIL - Scott Van Dussel (Shenandoah)- .387, 8 HR, 36 RBI, 34 R, 9 doubles

SP - Max Knowles (NC Wesleyan) 5-1, 3.99 ERA, 47.1 INN, 44 HITS, 49 K's, OPP BA .243
SP - Josh Brinkman (CNU) 4-0, 3.10 ERA, 40.2 INN, 36 HITS, 33 K's, OPP BA .245

[coachmilburn]

SU moves to (27-5) with 12 to 2 win over EMU in Winchester this evening.

[vabaseball]

Shenandoah has a rock solid team this year but I still feel some of their stats are really skewed by some crazy lopsided games (Maine Presque Isle for one) -- especially those RBIs.  But Van Sickler had 6 rbis against Catholic and that's impressive. He also made a tremendous play at first in a game against CNU.

Anyway, Giarrizzi has been solid for CNU and comes out of centerfield to pitch in close games -- he's been dominating in that role.  Parker Neal is having a great year at 3rd. I would certainly give them first team consideration also.

[hokieone]

  Being a CNU fan, I'm biased but Giarizzi's numbers on the mound are nothing short of incredible, especially in a Conference  hitting like the USAS is this year:

14.2 innings
  4 hits
0.00 ERA
  27 K's
.085 OBA

  Not bad for a guy also hitting .375, with 30 runs scored. It's hard to argue defense as we all know stats can be misleading, but to the eyeball, I've not seen an outfielder that covers as much ground or that gets as good a jump on the ball as Giarizzi. 

  While I agree some of Shenandoah's numbers are skewed due to a healthy number of games against weak opponents, as a team they have been the surprise of the conference, they've played well, they've got solid talent, and I couldn't put up their numbers in Play Station.

   The USAS Tournament should be a sight to see. Literally any team could win it, as all year long it's been clear that if a team doesn't bring their A game against a conference opponent, trouble lurks.    Let's hope the weather, for once, cooperates.

[vabaseball]

Yep, any of the teams could win the USA South this year.  It's crazy....

[vabaseball]

I do think Shenandoah has alot of talent on the team.  But I am bothered by the roster size (50+ sometimes) and how much talent languishes on the bench.  I guess I should say "surprised" rather than "bothered."  I guess the players go to Shenandoah knowing the chances are slim they will ever see playing time.

[coachmilburn]

I do think Shenandoah has alot of talent on the team.  But I am bothered by the roster size (50+ sometimes) and how much talent languishes on the bench.  I guess I should say "surprised" rather than "bothered."  I guess the players go to Shenandoah knowing the chances are slim they will ever see playing time.

SU has a full-fledged JV program with a head coach for the JV team.  The have around 20 game schedule, so players are getting many opportunities to play baseball.  Splitting up the two programs this year is paying off with its dividends.