BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

[Boysofsummer21]

And to bring a point to one of the issues I have right now with the current ranking system > Frostburg was not even 500 in their conference. Not sure who that works but hey...

[D-BAT]

An SOS of 180 vs 190 is so small that post-season tourney outcomes can change those numbers.   

.512 (SU) vs .509 (CNU) and changing daily!

I am very much informed of that as it changed from 180/190 to 175/184 from May 4th to 5th.   

[D-BAT]

Numbers as of May 6th at 12:52am:

109 Frostburg        23-13      .639   .5257 (124)   .5337    0.528

139 Bridgewater    32-6        .842   .5150 (161)   .5300    0.520

175 Shenandoah   24-10      .706   .5046 (199)   .5255    0.512

184 CNU                27-12-1   .688   .5091 (182)   .5095    0.509

[D-BAT]

Not good for SU and CNU as JHU (36-8) goes into Pool C now along with Kean (32-10) ...

BALTIMORE, Md. – Franklin & Marshall capped off a remarkable run through the Centennial Conference (CC) Tournament with a convincing 16-1 victory over sixth-ranked Johns Hopkins in game two of the championship round on Sunday, giving F&M its first CC title since 2006 and fourth overall. 

With the victory, the Diplomats (23-17) become the first four seed to win the CC Championship and earn the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Regionals, while the Blue Jays (36-8) must now wait until next Sunday's selection show to see if they receive an at-large berth. The regionals will take place from May 15-19 at a location to be determined.

Union, N.J. (5/4/13) – Ramapo College took advantage of two Cougar miscues with two outs in the ninth to rally past the top seed by the final of 6-5 Saturday evening in NJAC Tournament action.

With the win, Ramapo (28-13-1) advances to take on Rowan University in the NJAC Championship on Sunday at noon.  If the Roadrunners defeat Rowan, a winner take all game will take place immediately following the noon contest.

With the loss, Kean (32-10) is eliminated from the NJAC Tournament.  The Cougars have two regular season contests with York College (Pa.) and Farmingdale State College in the coming week and will have to earn a Pool C bid in order to move on to the NCAA Tournament.

[narch]

you can pencil kean in for a pool c bid...they were #1 in their region in the last rankings and their sos is currently 15th nationally...no way they are left out unless they lose their last two (and i'm not sure that leaves them out, as those are both solid opponents)

hopkins is probably in, as well, ranked #4 in their region in the last rankings and with a #92 sos...they are clearly in ahead of su or cnu and maybe even bc (current sos #142) in my opinion

shenandoah isn't even ranked regionally right now, so their chance of selection is zero...i doubt they will leap-frog frostburg with both teams (and most of their opponents) seasons being over...

...so, best case scenario, cnu is vying for one of 12 pool C bids...not gonna happen, my friends

[narch]

And to bring a point to one of the issues I have right now with the current ranking system > Frostburg was not even 500 in their conference. Not sure who that works but hey...

this is further illustration of how the 3 game weekends has hurt usasac teams with regional rankings - i'm willing to say that mu (who does not deserve to be regionally ranked) is better than frostburg (vs. common opponents, fsu was 4-4 while mu was 4-1), but the records (regional, overall, owp and oowp) make it appear that frostburg is better

to compare the two teams, look at their schedules and tell me which schedule you'd rather play...i bet most in the know would pick the frostburg schedule, yet their owp is ranked 125th nationally, while mu's is ranked 174th

if the usasac played 2 game weekends, i think each usasac team would have 3 to 5 more wins/fewer losses, and we wouldn't be talking about frostburg being regionally ranked

[D-BAT]

And to bring a point to one of the issues I have right now with the current ranking system > Frostburg was not even 500 in their conference. Not sure who that works but hey...

this is further illustration of how the 3 game weekends has hurt usasac teams with regional rankings - i'm willing to say that mu (who does not deserve to be regionally ranked) is better than frostburg (vs. common opponents, fsu was 4-4 while mu was 4-1), but the records (regional, overall, owp and oowp) make it appear that frostburg is better

to compare the two teams, look at their schedules and tell me which schedule you'd rather play...i bet most in the know would pick the frostburg schedule, yet their owp is ranked 125th nationally, while mu's is ranked 174th

if the usasac played 2 game weekends, i think each usasac team would have 3 to 5 more wins/fewer losses, and we wouldn't be talking about frostburg being regionally ranked

That's why USAS went to the 2-game sets a few years ago, but for someone reason, they went back to 3-game sets.  You are right, they are just beating up on each other and hurting their chances of getting 2 more teams into the NCAA's along with conference tourney winner with the automatic bid.

[narch]

That's why USAS went to the 2-game sets a few years ago, but for someone reason, they went back to 3-game sets.

if the usasac coaches use the 3 game weekends to their advantage, i think it can actually be helpful on a national level...we saw this weekend that pitching depth is huge...millsaps had enough depth to overcome a day 2 loss, win 2 on friday and win a regional championship on saturday

if usasac coaches start to emphasize recruiting/developing more quality pitching, those pitchers will be more "battle tested" because of the additional games against challenging conference foes (instead of games against some of the cupcakes that filled many non-conference schedules), and this can ultimately help the conference - it's easier said than done, but i'm hoping the monarchs make recruiting pitching depth the top priority - even though they are losing almost all of their power in thigpen, this is a scrappy offensive team that puts pressure on the opposing defense - if they can get quality pitching beyond inman to keep them in games, watch out...

[LTBB1971]

Just speaking for NCWC, I believe that is exactly what their train of thought was last off season when they loaded up with pitching.  Coming back for 2014, the Bishops are pretty set with SR Will Beasley, JR Hatteras Brooks and SO Ciro Norzagaray for the weekends conference series and SR Jackson Pleasant and SO Robert Mondoux for mid week starts.  NCWC looks like carried 16 pitchers in their varsity roster.

[rolln2]

Congrats to the six USAS players named to the South Region teams. Justin Weaver, Austin Chrismon, Ryan Fleischmann, Bryan Bierlein, Billy Steele from CNU, and Andrew Kirks from Averett.  Additional congrats to Austin Chrismon as he was named South Region Pitcher of the Year.

[USASfan]

Not sure how Steel made third team all region after only snagging honorable mention in the conference. Doesn't make sense. He wasn't even te best shortstop in the USA south

[PNeal7]

Who was then?

Alexander (NCWC) was 1st Team All-Conference, Dean (Maryville) was 2nd Team All-Conference, and Steele was Honorable Mention. Quite frankly, I would take both Steele and Dean over Alexander in my personal opinion. Steele was 2nd among the 3 of them in average, RBI's, and fielding percentage, while being 1st in On-Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage, HR's, 3B's, and tied for 1st in 2B's. Steele and Dean also tied for the least amount of strikeouts out of the 3.

Truth be told, all three had good years, but I'd prefer a SS who can drive the ball into the gaps and has a little bit of pop. Alexander had the lowest average of the 3, with the least amount of XBH's and RBI's.

I think you can easily make an argument for Steele being the best SS in the USAS. I'm not saying he is hands down, but he definetly should be considered in the conversation and can have a strong argument for him (especially when you examine his career numbers).

[USASfan]

Not taking anything away from the kid, excellent player. but honestly in my personal opinion I would rather have a guy that simply gets on base and hits over .300 which all did, however you need a glove to complement your bat. Alexander made 9 errors. Steele made 16 and Dean made 21. I would take Alexander no brainer.

As for career stats, I looked back at Alexander's numbers and freshman year was not good then it seems as if he only pitched somphmore year. Not 1 ab. Junior year les his team in BA and made all conference team (which Steele did not) then senior year leads his team in hits doubles RBI on-base, and gets first team all conference.

Steele came in as a freshman and has been on a tear ever since. I Hope he has a good senior year. Kid can play.

[PNeal7]

Agreed. All three all very good players and have great season this past year.

[Boysofsummer21]

So the 2013 ABCA All - Region teams for everyone is posted except South and West???