BB: Top Teams in West Region

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity goes down 6-2 in the first game of a DH at Southwestern.  First game I have seen in person and they did not field well, which ended up costing them any chance at a win.  3 official errors plus a balk resulted in most of the Southwestern runs.   Only six hits for Trinity against a Pirate pitcher (Chris Webber, CG win, now 2-3) with a 5+ ERA.   Whatever Webber was doing, he was getting the Trinity batters to hit a lot of high popups. 

Starter Michael Bentz (2-1) got the loss, allowing the only Southwestern earned run of the day (plus 2 unearned) in 3 2/3 innings.     The Pirates were very disciplined at the plate, striking out only three times, and outhit Trinity 10-6. 

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity loses the second game 9-7.  They led 3-0 before starter Zach Speer (who had a no-hitter through four; 0-2) tired, allowing 1 run in the bottom of the fifth and four in the sixth before being relieved.   Southwestern would put six runs on the board in that inning as Trinity went through a total of four pitchers before retiring the side.   The Tigers' furious attempt at a comeback in the top of the ninth (which they entered trailing 9-3) ended with the winning run at the plate with two out before a harmless groundout to 1B. 

[BamColt]

Concordia sweeps Schriener in Austin today. Pitching staff gave up two runs all weekend. Shutout in game 1 and 3.

[Whatagame]

What's up with the 7 inning games in the SCAC?  I saw that game 1 of Trinity/Southwestern, a conference game, was a 7 inning game.  Then I noticed that there were more of the short games played during the season?

[108 Stitches]

On double headers they do a 7-9 due to travel/time constraints.

[dp643]

Trinity deserved to lose this double header against a very mediocre Southwestern team. Why in the world would you throw your 2 best pitchers in a mid week game when you have a conference double header 3 days later? Trinity is good, but their pitching staff isnt that deep. Kudos to Southwestern.

[tigerfan_2001]

Trinity deserved to lose this double header against a very mediocre Southwestern team. Why in the world would you throw your 2 best pitchers in a mid week game when you have a conference double header 3 days later? Trinity is good, but their pitching staff isnt that deep. Kudos to Southwestern.

That is how coach Scannell has always done it. He plays to win every game and has always thrown top arms mid week. This time it backfired. In years past, he had the offense to cover and this year, right now, they dont.

[Ralph Turner]

Trinity deserved to lose this double header against a very mediocre Southwestern team. Why in the world would you throw your 2 best pitchers in a mid week game when you have a conference double header 3 days later? Trinity is good, but their pitching staff isnt that deep. Kudos to Southwestern.

Let me offer my opinion on managing the pitching staff the way that he did.

Going into the HSU game, TU had 1 in-region loss.  The HSU games counted as much in the eyes of the post-season selection committee as did Southwestern.  TU had not played the weekend before, so the arms were up for the rotation. He could use the pitchers in the sequence that he did.  Most of us think that HSU was the harder opponent, and TU has quite a lead on the second place SCAC-West Team for the #1 division seed, anyway. Taking care of business will get Trinity the #1 SCAC-West seed.

I thought that Coach Scannell made a wise decision.

[Jack Parkman]

Trinity deserved to lose this double header against a very mediocre Southwestern team. Why in the world would you throw your 2 best pitchers in a mid week game when you have a conference double header 3 days later? Trinity is good, but their pitching staff isnt that deep. Kudos to Southwestern.

Thank you for saying this first so I didn't have to.  I think it is totally irresponsible to throw your #1 and #2 in a mid-week series when you have conference coming up.  I am not here to start a bitching session but "that is how Scannell has always done it" could be a reason Trinity has never been past a regional.

[108 Stitches]

Jack I have to disagree with you and agree with Ralph. Trinity has the SCAC #1 West seed wrapped up. To get through the SCAC tournament and the Regionals they HAVE TO develop their bullpen and get a good #3 & #4 established, and they also have to hit more consistently and execute their offense. Without this they will not move on. They lost the first game completely on errors, nothing more. They lost game two to lackadaisical play, and the bullpen. They were playing very well prior to being ranked number one and after this they have lost their edge. This was a wake up call for the team. 

[infielddad]

Trinity deserved to lose this double header against a very mediocre Southwestern team. Why in the world would you throw your 2 best pitchers in a mid week game when you have a conference double header 3 days later? Trinity is good, but their pitching staff isnt that deep. Kudos to Southwestern.

Thank you for saying this first so I didn't have to.  I think it is totally irresponsible to throw your #1 and #2 in a mid-week series when you have conference coming up.  I am not here to start a bitching session but "that is how Scannell has always done it" could be a reason Trinity has never been past a regional.

This discussion about the HSU games and yesterday is why baseball can be so interesting.
TU was facing a staff with a combined ERA over 6.00.
The starters for SU had ERA's of over 6.00 and 7.00 for the season.
Trinity gets a total of 14 hits in the DH, gives up 4 unearned runs, and before the 9th inning rally in game 2, they scored just 5 runs in 15 innings.
HSU was  the stronger of the opponents this week.
TU is going to need better pitching after the top 2 and they need to hit better/score more runs.
Yesterday's games, in my view, are not one dimensional losses.  Pitching, hitting and defense didn't get the job done.
If that happened in Abilene, they lose 2 also.
In my view, these are games TU must win...they cannot pitch Klimesh and Lucero every inning.
Next week they have TLU and Hendrix so the same pitching decisions will need to be made.
Those choices are easier and subject to a lot less 2nd guessing when hitting and defense are getting the job done.

[motorman]

I guess I argue the compressed schedule, or lack there of, is somewhat irrelevant concerning the recruitment and development of players on a roster that can come into games and throw 5 to 6 quality innings, and a bullpen that can support the starter.

I pose a larger question.  I believe that D3 Baseball possibly lacks the "brand" that it might have in the East, Northeast and Mid West, which leads to fewer skilled players from the area playing D3.  Thoughts?

I think that the East, Northeast and Midwest teams have less competition at the D-2 and NJCAA levels for talent than we have in the South and West, especially.  I believe that "D-2 and quality "NJCAA/D-1or D2" talent "falls" to D-3 up north.

Three high quality baseball conferences are the NJAC, the Little East and the WIAC. Those state schools have quality programs. It is probably harder for a northern D-2 school to have a quality baseball program than any other sport.  So talent that doesn't get a (partial baseball) scholarship down south, paying partial out-of-state tuition, can stay in Wisconsin, New Jersey or Connecticut and play great ball.   The season warms up in March thru May with collegiate ball, and they just play thru the summer in the wooden bat leagues.

Baseball is "king" in the south and southwest and west.

LC State does the same thing up in Idaho. Their roster has about 5 kids who came straight from high school. The rest are Cali JC kids and DI defectors. Playing in the NWC in other sports I would agree with the sentiment that D3 just isn't something a lot of kids consider when those DI and DII scholarships don't come. It's as much an issue of "culture" as anything else (like a few have already mentioned).

I don't know about this though. It's not like kids back east are turning down D-I programs to play D-III with any regularity. At least they aren't in Ohio. In Wisconsin the best players often play D-III because there's only one D-I program in the state. But I'm sure it doesn't take much imagination to realize that the talent pool for baseball there is much different. Minnesota has a couple of scholarship programs but not many. And really good players from the northern states go to southern schools all the time.

Every area has its disadvantages. You either overcome them or you don't.

I am not so sure about that.  If you asked around the D-III clubhouses on Ohio, you could probably find 2-3 players on each of the 21 D-III schools in the state who turned down a partial scholarship down south to play ball closer to home.  it doesn't take many players to make the difference in a team. 

Really good players do go down south.  At the D-III level, we are looking at a D-1 bench rider who will get 10-15% partial scholarship for minimal playing time, versus being an everyday player star in DIII.

Ralph, I know of no one here in Ohio turning down a partial scholarship down south to stay here and play at a D-3. My son was All Ohio and in the top 100 of the Buckeye Scout list for Ohio and never even got a phone call from a D-1 program. After he had committed to play for Matt Palm at Heidelberg, 2 MAC schools, Toledo and Akron wanted him to walk on, but he declined since he had given his word. He ended up getting hurt in Dec his freshman year and would have been written off by any D-1 but is now in the starting rotation at the Berg as a sophomore. I am especially glad he didn't go to Akron since the head coach resigned after what would have been my son's freshman year, no incoming coach is going to put any credence in his departed predecessor's walk ons.

[Jack Parkman]

Jack I have to disagree with you and agree with Ralph. Trinity has the SCAC #1 West seed wrapped up. To get through the SCAC tournament and the Regionals they HAVE TO develop their bullpen and get a good #3 & #4 established, and they also have to hit more consistently and execute their offense. Without this they will not move on. They lost the first game completely on errors, nothing more. They lost game two to lackadaisical play, and the bullpen. They were playing very well prior to being ranked number one and after this they have lost their edge. This was a wake up call for the team.

We can agree to disagree.  I am not trying to argue but I honestly do not get your logic on a few points-

1. How does Trinity have the #1 seed wrapped up???  A 2-game lead doesn't mean a whole lot right now and ask the SCAC about Hendrix back in '08 or '09.

2. I never mentioned one word about not developing a #3 and #4 starter, what I did say is that you need to throw your #1 and #2 in a conference series no matter what.  Trinity could lose every single non-conference game and win the SCAC and they go to a Regional.  I don't get the thought process of sacrificing your top guys against a non-conference team and throwing your #3 and #4 (which is developing them) in conference (and by this I mean starting them over your 1 and 2.  Obviously there will always be a need for a 3rd or 4th starter in conference).  Whats the difference of throwing your 3 and 4 and 'pen agaist HSU?  Either way those guys are getting work in.

I have been around this game long enough to have seen coaches outsmart themselves.  All too often there will be a coach who decides to throw a 3 or 4 in game 1 of a Regional our conference tourney (while they are the #1 seed) and it blows up in their face when they face the other #1.  If that happens, you are left to battle from the losers bracket where you have no margin of error.  Spin it any way you want but if you polish a turd, it's still a turd.

One serious question I have is why Millsaps isn't listed in the West standings?

[Ron Boerger]

Millsaps is in the South Region, Jack.

[Jack Parkman]

Millsaps is in the South Region, Jack.

I realize they are in the south but I am also an idiot and didn't see them as an SCAC East team.  The D3 page has them in the SCAC West but I was looking at the SCAC home page, which has them correctly listed in the SCAC East.  I am a little slow this morning.