BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

[narch]

Methodist got the timely hits and VWC did not.  Congrats to Methodist.

timely hits = winning baseball

[narch]

au beats ferrum and su beats mu (4-0)...the monarchs got 2 hit

box score

[NCWC]

NCWC takes one from CNU...the conf. records are crazy right now

[narch]

NCWC takes one from CNU...the conf. records are crazy right now

sweet...now if the monarchs & capts can win on saturday, the monarchs get the #1 seed (mu would hold the tie-break if it's a 3 way tie with au, mu and cnu)

go monarchs! go capts!

a 5 way tie for first with one to play in a 7 team league...crazy is right

[D-BAT]

Thursday, April 12
Game 1 # 7 Greensboro vs. # 6 Shenandoah 9:30 a.m.

Game 2 # 4 Averett vs. # 3 N.C. Wesleyan 1:00 p.m.

Game 3 # 5 Christopher Newport vs. # 2 Ferrum 4:30 p.m.

Game 4 Winner of Game # 1 vs. # 1 Methodist 8:00 p.m.


Friday, April 13
Game 5 Winner of Game # 2 vs. Winner of Game # 3 9:00 a.m.

Game 6 Loser of Game # 1 vs. Loser of Game # 2 12:00 p.m. @
Graham H.S.

Game 7 Loser of Game # 3 vs. Loser of Game # 4 12:30 p.m.

Game 8 Winner of Game # 6 vs. Winner of Game # 7 4:00 p.m.


Saturday, April 14
Game 9 Winner of Game #4 vs. Winner of Game #5 12:00 p.m.

Game 10 Loser of Game #5 vs. Winner of Game #8 3:30 p.m.

Game 11 Winner of Game #10 vs. Loser of Game #9 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 15
Game 12 Winner of Game #9 vs. Winner of Game # 11 12:00 p.m.

Game 13 same teams as Game #12 (if necessary) 4:00 p.m.

[Spence]

Wild last day in Dixie!

Ferrum beat Averett 12-4, throwing up 8 runs in the first 3 innings and benefitting from homestanding Averett's 7 errors.

Danville native Brett Thomas went 3-for-5 with a HR and 3 RBIs to lead Ferrum.

NC Wesleyan extended CNU's losing streak to 5 games with a 6-1 win.

Methodist got 2 in the 8th and 7 in the 9th to take an 11-4 win from Shenandoah after trailing by 2 runs after 7. Shenandoah used 8 pitchers for naught in the effort, 7 after the 5th.

Methodist has a big advantage in the format. they play the winner of Shen/GBoro in the final game of Day 1 and if they win, won't play on Day 2 at all. Still, every team should have the pitching to potentially get through the first couple days.

Btw, is CNU's Kyle Baumann injured? Does anyone know. He started and threw like 1 inning against Methodist and hasn't thrown since.

If Baumann's OK and can be the #2 starter, I really like CNU to give Methodist all they want. If he can't, I still think CNU could do well, but isn't as dangerous as if he were. If Methodist gets to the final in good shape, I'm not sure anyone will have the pitching to win 2 from them if CNU doesn't have Baumann. Ferrum will probably slug their way deep into the tournament but don't see them having quite enough to win it. NCWC has a really good #2 starter but their #1's been having trouble getting wins; Averett is just the opposite.

[narch]

another regular season championship for mu and tom austin...a great "rebuilding" season after losing their top 3 pitchers from last year and then losing their opening day starter after opening day...not many teams could lose the top 4 pitchers from a conference championship team and repeat the next year...especially in a conference this tough - the entire pitching staff, especially toth, kelly, bisplinghoff and geisinger really stepped up for the monarchs, and toth has now thrown 2 straight complete games even though he hasn't had his best stuff...those are big at this juncture

the monarchs have now won 5 of the last 7 regular season championships...but they've only won 1 conference tournament as the #1 seed (and that was in 1996)...i hope they can break the trend - i like their pitching depth if kelly can get back on track - as the regular season has shown, though, this tournament is completely up for grabs...any of the 7 teams have a legit shot to win this thing...should be fun!

[Spence]

Agreed...wish I could be there.

Methodist is a class program, always has been. Wish they and Marietta could play a neutral site game or something at some point.

Maybe Piedmont will extend their current trend of inviting teams there early in the season and have a sort of invitational where teams come to play Piedmont, but also other clubs in an extended weekend round robin type deal. Marietta did that with Bridgewater this year (only it was only a 3 game weekend for Marietta -- Sat and Sun), it would be great to see more good games between the two sides of the South region, as well as from teams heading back north there. Good facility, pretty good weather, neutral site, hopefully a similar number of games to create an even playing field.

[George Foster]

Thursday, April 12
Game 1 # 7 Greensboro vs. # 6 Shenandoah 9:30 a.m.

Game 2 # 4 Averett vs. # 3 N.C. Wesleyan 1:00 p.m.

Game 3 # 5 Christopher Newport vs. # 2 Ferrum 4:30 p.m.

Game 4 Winner of Game # 1 vs. # 1 Methodist 8:00 p.m.


Friday, April 13
Game 5 Winner of Game # 2 vs. Winner of Game # 3 9:00 a.m.

Game 6 Loser of Game # 1 vs. Loser of Game # 2 12:00 p.m. @
Graham H.S.

Game 7 Loser of Game # 3 vs. Loser of Game # 4 12:30 p.m.

Game 8 Winner of Game # 6 vs. Winner of Game # 7 4:00 p.m.


Saturday, April 14
Game 9 Winner of Game #4 vs. Winner of Game #5 12:00 p.m.

Game 10 Loser of Game #5 vs. Winner of Game #8 3:30 p.m.

Game 11 Winner of Game #10 vs. Loser of Game #9 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 15
Game 12 Winner of Game #9 vs. Winner of Game # 11 12:00 p.m.

Game 13 same teams as Game #12 (if necessary) 4:00 p.m.

Is this official?......or???

[Jim Dixon]

Thursday, April 12
Game 1 # 7 Greensboro vs. # 6 Shenandoah 9:30 a.m.

Game 2 # 4 Averett vs. # 3 N.C. Wesleyan 1:00 p.m.

Game 3 # 5 Christopher Newport vs. # 2 Ferrum 4:30 p.m.

Game 4 Winner of Game # 1 vs. # 1 Methodist 8:00 p.m.


Friday, April 13
Game 5 Winner of Game # 2 vs. Winner of Game # 3 9:00 a.m.

Game 6 Loser of Game # 1 vs. Loser of Game # 2 12:00 p.m. @
Graham H.S.

Game 7 Loser of Game # 3 vs. Loser of Game # 4 12:30 p.m.

Game 8 Winner of Game # 6 vs. Winner of Game # 7 4:00 p.m.


Saturday, April 14
Game 9 Winner of Game #4 vs. Winner of Game #5 12:00 p.m.

Game 10 Loser of Game #5 vs. Winner of Game #8 3:30 p.m.

Game 11 Winner of Game #10 vs. Loser of Game #9 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 15
Game 12 Winner of Game #9 vs. Winner of Game # 11 12:00 p.m.

Game 13 same teams as Game #12 (if necessary) 4:00 p.m.

Is this official?......or???

yes and at  at Burlington, N.C. (Burlington Stadium)

[Spence]

Tidbit about Burlington Athletic Stadium.

It's a classic WWII era stadium that was originally the home of the Danville Leafs. The Danville Leafs didn't play in Burlington, you say? Correct.

When the Giants headed west, that spelled the beginning of the end of the Leafs, which closed up shop in 1958. The city of Burlington bought the stadium, tore it down, and rebuilt it in its entirety where it currently sits in Burlington. Of course there have been some updates (aluminum seating). I can't imagine there are too many stadiums that are 60+ years old that aren't where they were originally built!

It's also got some of the best concession options anywhere, though not sure all of those will be available for this. Cheerwine, Sundrop, BBQ of course.

For any media types that might be headed there that don't usually go, the press box is fairly small and on top of the roof lol. If you get a thunderstorm, be forewarned...it is not watertight haha! I thought I was going to blow off the darned thing and die on impact somewhere between the pitcher's mound and first-base line one night. Honestly, if you don't need immediate Internet connectivity, I'd sit on field level. It's covered and you're close to the action.

I really can't think of a better place to have this tournament. I'm jealous of anyone that is there because I can't be. Just a great old ballpark for what should be a great tournament.

[NCWC]

Is there a three way tie for first ( reg. season champs)? Or does the tiebreaker come down to has the most school officials involved in the USAS and NCAA?  Runs for or runs against?  Anyone know?

[Spence]

Yep, most school officials on committees it is.

Of course not.

They all went 1-1 against each other, so I'm guessing Methodist got it based on record against Christopher Newport and Averett (3-1 vs. 2-2 for the other teams).

I don't know how they would have differentiated between Ferrum and NCWC. They both had the same combined record against CNU and Averett, as well Shenandoah and Greensboro. So it could be that they broke the Averett/CNU tie, and then Ferrum got it based on their win over Averett, where NCWC got swept by AU.

If that's not it...I have no idea what it is.

[D-BAT]

Is there a three way tie for first ( reg. season champs)? Or does the tiebreaker come down to has the most school officials involved in the USAS and NCAA?  Runs for or runs against?  Anyone know?

It's Head to Head, then it's won/loss record vs. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th ... so on ...

[George Foster]

Tidbit about Burlington Athletic Stadium.

It's a classic WWII era stadium that was originally the home of the Danville Leafs. The Danville Leafs didn't play in Burlington, you say? Correct.

When the Giants headed west, that spelled the beginning of the end of the Leafs, which closed up shop in 1958. The city of Burlington bought the stadium, tore it down, and rebuilt it in its entirety where it currently sits in Burlington. Of course there have been some updates (aluminum seating). I can't imagine there are too many stadiums that are 60+ years old that aren't where they were originally built!

It's also got some of the best concession options anywhere, though not sure all of those will be available for this. Cheerwine, Sundrop, BBQ of course.

For any media types that might be headed there that don't usually go, the press box is fairly small and on top of the roof lol. If you get a thunderstorm, be forewarned...it is not watertight haha! I thought I was going to blow off the darned thing and die on impact somewhere between the pitcher's mound and first-base line one night. Honestly, if you don't need immediate Internet connectivity, I'd sit on field level. It's covered and you're close to the action.

I really can't think of a better place to have this tournament. I'm jealous of anyone that is there because I can't be. Just a great old ballpark for what should be a great tournament.

Yeah an old ballpark, with 1 inch rusty nails hanging out of some of the signs in the outfield. It's nice but the Tourney would be better if held at Elon. I'm sure that would be a problem with Elon still playing and all but I'm just saying that field isn't that great.