BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

[narch]

Of course it's going to be different just based on the distance between the two schools alone.

c'mon...really

check the driving distances for these regional games against good opponents which the monarchs have played on the road in the last 3 yrs:
va beach, va - 240 miles
bridgewater, va - 334 miles
lynchburg, va - 206 miles
demorest, ga - 335 miles
atlanta, ga - 376 miles
lagrange, ga - 437 miles
montgomery, al - 531 miles
ashland, va - 232 miles
stevenson, md - 375 miles

now check how far these prospective su opponents are from Winchester:
stevenson, md - 95 miles
fredericksburg, va - 81 miles
lynchburg, va - 166 miles
va beach, va - 238 miles
york, pa - 114 miles
salisbury, md - 195 miles
baltimore, md - 95 miles

there are PLENTY of good opponents for the hornets to play within 200 miles, or so...each of the above monarch opponents are 240+ miles away...give the "location" excuse a break 'cause it's a load of hooey...the su coaching staff wants to schedule wins and you said it yourself...

It's most likely a proven fact that there are more competitive baseball teams further south and unfortunately, Shenandoah is the northern most school in the USAS.

edited with mileage information per mapquest

[D-BAT]

Of course it's going to be different just based on the distance between the two schools alone.

c'mon...really

check the driving distances for these regional games against good opponents which the monarchs have played on the road in the last 3 yrs:
va beach, va
bridgewater, va
lynchburg, va
demorest, ga
atlanta, ga
lagrange, ga
montgomery, al
ashland, va
stevenson, md

now check how far these prospective su opponents are from Winchester:
stevenson, md
fredericksburg, va
lynchburg, va
va beach, va
york, pa
salisbury, md
baltimore, md

there are PLENTY of good opponents for the hornets to play within 200 miles, or so…each of the above monarch opponents are 240+ miles away…give the “location” excuse a break ‘cause it’s a load of hooey…the su coaching staff wants to schedule wins and you said it yourself…

It's most likely a proven fact that there are more competitive baseball teams further south and unfortunately, Shenandoah is the northern most school in the USAS.

So are you telling me that the other USA-South coaches are intentionally not trying to put their team into a position to be selected for an at-large bid if they do not win the USA-South Conference Tourney?

Now that is just down right asinine!


 

[narch]

So are you telling me that the other USA-South coaches are intentionally not trying to put their team into a position to be selected for an at-large bid if they do not win the USA-South Conference Tourney?

no...i'm telling you that teams like mu, cnu, fc, ncwc, lynchburg, bridgewater, salisbury, piedmont, lagrange, rhodes, emory, huntingdon, york, mary washington, etc. don't shy away from playing each other, even though they realize a win will be difficult...and then they HOPE that the selection committee will reward them for playing games against good teams...more often than not, those teams have been rewarded

Now that is just down right asinine!

hmm...let me get this straight...tom austin has a career record of 953-395-9 (.706 win %) playing in one of the best conferences in the country and against all-comers in non-conference competition, has NEVER had a losing season, has 28 straight seasons of 25 or more wins (with 29 being a strong possibility), has 13 conference championships, 20 ncaa tournament appearances, six south region titles...and you're questioning his ability to put together a schedule (by calling his scheduling philosophy asinine)? really? and in that same statement you're questioning the coaching staff at ncwc, cnu and most of the rest of the conference?  really?

enjoy the success that su has had over the past few years, but please, spare me the hyperbole  about the su win-loss record (see below) until they step out and play south region teams of consequence (which are all well within reasonable driving distance, as i have proven) on a regular basis...

Over the last two years, SU has gone 71-17 overall. Guess Methodist, NCW, and CNU can't say that, although all are very good programs. That's winning at a .806 clip.

To date SU baseball is 71-17 the last 2 seasons.  Now the argument can be made that we play a weak schedule, this is the agreement that I will get with that comment; then let me give you something else to think about.  We are roughly 212 miles away from the closets conference team.

My feelings on the naysayers....whe you have SU's record and are ranked nationally...come back and talk!!!!

[Boysofsummer21]

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.

[CrashDavisD3]

From a outside observer....

                          Win% OWP  OOWP    SOS
Shenandoah 25-6 .806   .527   .527      .527

[Veritas]

Actually Brinkman had as much rest as Yocum.  Brinkman pitched at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, then again at 12:00 on Sunday. I call that three days rest and it about exactly was.

Yokum pitched early afternoon on Thursday and came back out at 4:00 on Sunday....  Of course, perhaps he threw fewer pitches

almost a 100 pitches less actually.

[LTBB1971]

Possible at large bids:

                     OVERALL                     IN-REGION
CNU                23-14                            19-13
Methodist       24-11                            20-10
NCWC             17-19                            14-10       
Salisbury         24-8                              16-7   
York                20-12                             15-11
Lynchburg      20-14-1                          17-13
VWC               22-13                             18-12
HSC                22-8-1                            20-8

Just really tough to tell.   Methodist, Hampden Sydney and CNU with most in region wins.                     

[Richard of Funchester]

SU was back in action today at Bridgeforth.  They weather was perfect for baseball in the valley and the SU bats did not disappoint.  SU had 17 hits and 4 homers on the day with 2 coming from freshman Keaton Neeb, and one from Kevin Brashears, his 14 of the season which is now 1 behind the single season record at SU.  This is pretty impressive coming from the leadoff spot.  Kevin is also just one total base, and one hit behind being the single season leader in these categories as well.  The most impressive home run was from Scott Van Dusseldorp, as it was grand slam that busts the game wide open for the Hornets.  Not to mention it got Scott out of his slump over the weekend.  With that home run Scott is now the all time leader in homers for a career at SU (29) passes Geoff Williams.  This is impressive in the fact that its 4 years of hard work to get to this point; it's equally as impressive that Geoff was passed.  I was a student at SU when Geoff and Jeremy Schutt were the Bash Brothers setting all of these records.  Schutt went on to hit .506 that season on his way to First Team All American and Brashears could pass his marks of home runs, hits and total bases in a season if he continues to do what he has currently done this season. 

Tomorrow is Senior Day for SU baseball.  For me this is a day for the seniors to show off what they have accomplished.  And over the last couple of days everyone has shown off the records, or lack there of for SU.  As an alumni I remember when SU had 17, let me repeat that 17 guys on their roster.  When these seniors were looking at colleges, no one had any idea that SU would be what it is today.  These seniors have made SU what it is today.  They bought into the system and followed the game plan and have been successful, strength of schedule or not they have competed everyday and got better, and as a coach sometimes that's all you can ask for.  These teams, both last years and this current team will go down as the bench mark for SU baseball, they will one day be apart of the SU Hall of Fame.  So I say congrats to the Scott for setting the record today and to all of the seniors for making SU baseball what it has become.  For the underclassmen, you now have a reputation to keep up.  I know with Anderson leading the ship you will be just fine.

GO HORNETS!!

[narch]

From a outside observer....

                         Win% OWP  OOWP    SOS
Shenandoah 25-6 .806   .527   .527      .527

those numbers include conference games...we were talking solely about non-conference schedules...owp for 24 non-conference games is .454

[CrashDavisD3]

Well the committee looks at SOS for In-Region games for Pool C berths not just out of conference games. The USAC Conference Champion gets the AQ Pool A bid so it dont matter what the SOS is in conference or out of conference. Since Shenandoah won the conference by winning conference tournmanent on the field I don't really understand the concern for their out of conference opponents SOS. For this year it don't matter.....They did their job and won it on the field to get to the regional and not via committee.

[Diamond King]

SU was back in action today at Bridgeforth.  They weather was perfect for baseball in the valley and the SU bats did not disappoint.  SU had 17 hits and 4 homers on the day with 2 coming from freshman Keaton Neeb, and one from Kevin Brashears, his 14 of the season which is now 1 behind the single season record at SU.  This is pretty impressive coming from the leadoff spot.  Kevin is also just one total base, and one hit behind being the single season leader in these categories as well.  The most impressive home run was from Scott Van Dusseldorp, as it was grand slam that busts the game wide open for the Hornets.  Not to mention it got Scott out of his slump over the weekend.  With that home run Scott is now the all time leader in homers for a career at SU (29) passes Geoff Williams.  This is impressive in the fact that its 4 years of hard work to get to this point; it’s equally as impressive that Geoff was passed.  I was a student at SU when Geoff and Jeremy Schutt were the Bash Brothers setting all of these records.  Schutt went on to hit .506 that season on his way to First Team All American and Brashears could pass his marks of home runs, hits and total bases in a season if he continues to do what he has currently done this season. 

Tomorrow is Senior Day for SU baseball.  For me this is a day for the seniors to show off what they have accomplished.  And over the last couple of days everyone has shown off the records, or lack there of for SU.  As an alumni I remember when SU had 17, let me repeat that 17 guys on their roster.  When these seniors were looking at colleges, no one had any idea that SU would be what it is today.  These seniors have made SU what it is today.  They bought into the system and followed the game plan and have been successful, strength of schedule or not they have competed everyday and got better, and as a coach sometimes that’s all you can ask for.  These teams, both last years and this current team will go down as the bench mark for SU baseball, they will one day be apart of the SU Hall of Fame.  So I say congrats to the Scott for setting the record today and to all of the seniors for making SU baseball what it has become.  For the underclassmen, you now have a reputation to keep up.  I know with Anderson leading the ship you will be just fine.

GO HORNETS!!

Does Musa know you're stealing his reports ?

I loved watching the "17" play. They layed the foundation .

I say we put some of these baseballers in the SU HOF now (if they're not already in there). Rename the Bridge after Coach K, while you're at it !!!!!

[SUbaseballfan]

Well the committee looks at SOS for In-Region games for Pool C berths not just out of conference games. The USAC Conference Champion gets the AQ Pool A bid so it dont matter what the SOS is in conference or out of conference. Since Shenandoah won the conferece by winning conference tournmanent on the field I dont really understand the concern for their out of conference opponents SOS. For this year it dont matter.....They did their job and won it on the field to get to the regional and not via committee.

Thank you CrashDavisD3!!!

[vabaseball]

Well the committee looks at SOS for In-Region games for Pool C berths not just out of conference games. The USAC Conference Champion gets the AQ Pool A bid so it dont matter what the SOS is in conference or out of conference. Since Shenandoah won the conference by winning conference tournmanent on the field I don't really understand the concern for their out of conference opponents SOS. For this year it don't matter.....They did their job and won it on the field to get to the regional and not via committee.

Really, the discussion wasn't about whether Shenandoah had rightfully earned a spot in the tournament.  Obviously, they did.  And last year they clearly were qualifed for the Pool C bid as well.  The discussion was about whether or not Shenandoah is clearly superior to say, Methodist. 

There is a reason Shenandoah leads the nation in wins (I read that in one of their news releases).  They frequently play weak teams, beat up on them tremendously, and leave their starters in for up to six at-bats while breaking school records in runs scored in a game.  There are teams in the USA South who have pulled their starters by the bottom of the SECOND inning in similar blowouts.  Also teams in the USA South scheduling tough opponents more often than weak opponents....

That was the discussion essentially (except for the part I threw in for the heck of it)....

[narch]

I don't really understand the concern for their out of conference opponents SOS.

crash...perhaps reading the portion of the post i've quoted below again will allow you to understand the conversation more completely - i understand the selection process pretty well...i didn't question su's inclusion in the regional last year and i clearly won't question their inclusion this year - however, when su fans want to brag about the overall record over the last 2 seasons (and subsequently compare that record with other conference teams), i think it is appropriate to point out the scheduling nuances and disparities - furthermore, when su fans (or anyone else) uses location as an excuse for scheduling weak opponents, i think it is appropriate to point out that there is plenty of strong competition within close proximity - when you insert yourself in a conversation (which is cool...it is an internet message board, afterall), it is important to have a full understanding of what is being discussed

enjoy the success that su has had over the past few years, but please, spare me the hyperbole  about the su win-loss record (see below) until they step out and play south region teams of consequence (which are all well within reasonable driving distance, as i have proven) on a regular basis...

Over the last two years, SU has gone 71-17 overall. Guess Methodist, NCW, and CNU can't say that, although all are very good programs. That's winning at a .806 clip.

To date SU baseball is 71-17 the last 2 seasons.  Now the argument can be made that we play a weak schedule, this is the agreement that I will get with that comment; then let me give you something else to think about.  We are roughly 212 miles away from the closets conference team.

My feelings on the naysayers....whe you have SU's record and are ranked nationally...come back and talk!!!!

[narch]

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