BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

[D-BAT]

SU has their annual fall scrimmage with Potomac State this Saturday at 12noon in Winchester at Bridgeforth field.  It'll be interesting to see how the incoming freshman produce since it was stated they have a pretty talented group of newcomers.

[LTBB1971]

NCWC is pretty much done with their falls scrimmages and are going into their weight room / running phase.  Competition for playing time is wide open as team has tons of new faces and looks to be rebuilding again.  Coach Long always seem to bring in a very strong recruiting class, so although young I would not count out the Bishops from making noise at the top of the USA SOUTH.  Pitching will be the key as with so many new faces, the offense usually takes longer to gell together than do the pitchers.

[rolln2]

Some good updates on the fall season for some of the teams.  Now we still need to hear from the rest of the conference.  Come on AU, FC, MU, and GC.  Also how did SU look in their scrimmage on saturday?

[southernball8]

Piedmont played their fall game last night and looked very good. Sweept division 2 North Georgia. A lot of good young talent should be a fun year.

[rolln2]

What do you guys think about Piedmont coming into the conference?

I think it will make an already strong USAS conference even stronger.  Piedmont and the coaching staff are already familiar w/ the USAS as they play a lot of the conference each year.

[NoVa Baseball]

I think the addition of the southern teams will definitely make this an even tougher baseball conference - not only are they good programs, but the drive is bound to make home field even more of an advantage in coming years.  The Captains have a southern swing in their 2012 schedule which should give them a taste for what is coming. 

25 SAT BLACKBURN   DEMOREST, GA 1:00
26 SUN PIEDMONT   DEMOREST, GA 4:00
27 MON ADRIAN   DEMOREST, GA TBA

I also hear that the conference is going to a three-game format after next season (no doubt to justify the long drives). 

Don't think the CNU jump to the CAC is that likely to happen anytime soon.  Football drives the conference alignment decisions and the addition of the southern schools makes the USA South a better football conference.  While I completely agree with posts stating that CNU will have a ridiculous travel schedule after next season, I suspect the three game format will help solve that somewhat.  The real travel will be done by the southern teams joining the conference.  They won't have to go to Shenandoah, but the CNU, Ferrum, Averett trips ain't picnics.  My guess is they will try to line up an ODAC game at the front or back of their VA conference games to help fill their schedules and justify the travel. 

To echo the earlier request from Rolln2 - Aren't there any SU or GC or MU or AC or FC fans out there willing to give us a download on your teams?  Throw us a bone here - we've heard more from the team that isn't even part of the conference yet than we have from you guys!

[D-BAT]

I also hear that the conference is going to a three-game format after next season (no doubt to justify the long drives). 

Anything public on this or just hearsay? 

[LTBB1971]

Would be nice to see when NCWC comes out with a 2012 roster...

[D-BAT]

Word on the street in Winchester is that SU will have 3 starters who can touch 90 or a little better this spring.

[Boysofsummer21]

D-Bat wow 3 at or above 90 sounds like SU is poised for another run. Thanks for the update.

[rolln2]

Word on the street in Winchester is that SU will have 3 starters who can touch 90 or a little better this spring.

That sounds nice to talk about, but I have never seen mph alone win games for a pitcher. Besides, I think most of the hitters in the conference prefer mph over good location and change of speed. But I also say that if they do that is pretty rare for most D3 teams.

[NoVa Baseball]

Agree with Rollin2 on the mph thing.   I think many teams out there have a kid that can throw a ball through a wall sitting on the bench because he can't throw it for a strike, or it has no movement and it winds up beyond the fence too often.  Most coaches hold on to these guys hoping they can teach them some control - at least enough to make them a middle reliever or closer.  Sometimes it works, most of the time they remain Nuke LaLoosh (before he met Crash Davis). 

Not saying that SU arms fall into that category - they could have corralled 3 starters with that velocity.  D-Bat - how about some more detail about these three arms?  Are they new to the team?  How is SU filling the holes left by Brashears and Van Sickler?

[CrashDavisD3]

Word on the street in Winchester is that SU will have 3 starters who can touch 90 or a little better this spring.

That sounds nice to talk about, but I have never seen mph alone win games for a pitcher. Besides, I think most of the hitters in the conference prefer mph over good location and change of speed. But I also say that if they do that is pretty rare for most D3 teams.

Hitting over 90MPH is so overrated. Pitchers that can hit their spots. Change speeds and locations are much more effective.  Few D3 pitchers can consistently stay and 90MPH despite all the hype I have heard. At the end of the year it would be nice to see what the ERA's are for these pitchers and  their K's per inning along with opposing batter average to see if they can really PITCH or just throw hard with gun on them.

[BBFan62]

Word on the street in Winchester is that SU will have 3 starters who can touch 90 or a little better this spring.

That sounds nice to talk about, but I have never seen mph alone win games for a pitcher. Besides, I think most of the hitters in the conference prefer mph over good location and change of speed. But I also say that if they do that is pretty rare for most D3 teams.

Hitting over 90MPH is so overrated. Pitchers that can hit their spots. Change speeds and locations are much more effective.  Few D3 pitchers can consistently stay and 90MPH despite all the hype I have heard. At the end of the year it would be nice to see what the ERA's are for these pitchers and  their K's per inning along with opposing batter average to see if they can really PITCH or just throw hard with gun on them.

Well said CDD3. Throwing 90 versus pitching 90 will bring vastly different results. My son played with and against Scott Firth (Clemson) since they were 13. Firth threw 91 as a Junior in high school (saw it on the gun myself) while my son threw 84. Another player (just transfered to Illinois Wesleyan from a Juco) once told me he'd rather face Firth than my son. I was surprised to hear this and ask how that could be. He told me Scott threw hard but, at the time, only had a fastball and curve, whereas my son throws 5 different pitches. He said it was simple - you knew what was coming versus my son, who'll throw any of his pitches in any count, so it was harder to sit on a pitch. Command and cpntrol will beat pure speed.
Still, if the school does have 3 guys who can throw that hard, it'll be something worth watching.

[southernball8]

I agree that 90 is way overrated if you can't spot it up. They threw a guy first game of regionals against Piedmont that threw hard and was a transfer from a D-1 and we saw where that got them. Piedmont's ace was consistently 82-84 and spotted very well and shut them down. My question is why are they at a D-3 throwing 90?