BB: USAC: USA South Athletic Conference

Started by narch, December 30, 2005, 10:58:27 PM

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narch

I'm going to give this a shot

Conference Site
USASAC Baseball

Conference Members
Averett
Christopher Newport
Ferrum
Greensboro
Methodist
NC Wesleyan
Shenandoah


other sites of interest:
Division 3 baseball site hosted by bridgewater and mantained by jim dixon it's a great resource, but has little news and many links to team pages that don't work - great historical statistics and great info on the d3 national championships
Collegiate Baseball News polls
Baseball America
NCAAsports.com baseball site

narch

Now that I've set up the topic, here is some old news on the incredible summer that returning pitcher of the year, Ryan Brandt had - the CPL is a very high level, wood-bat league made up primarily of scholarship players - some low-level d1 talent, some young high level talent (sec, acc, etc.), high level d2 and a scattering of d3 players - brandt was DOMINANT with a .71 era and an 8-2 record - if he didn't wear out his arm, i look for him to be a 1st team all-america for the monarchs this season

narch

#2
i posted the above poll to possibly get some chatter going before hoops get back in full swing

a few years ago the usasac switched to 3 game conference weekends instead of 2 game conference series - in my opinion, this has hurt the usasac teams nationally in 2 ways
1.) we're beating each other up more, because we're playing 6 more games against quality teams that are familiar with one another, giving the possible impression to outsiders that our teams aren't as good because of our w/l records
2.) we're depleting our pitching staff for mid-week non-conference tilts because we're using 4's and sometimes 5's if the coaching staff wants to hold out the 4 in case they are needed over the weekend - 3's used to pitch these games, giving usasac teams a better chance of winning

my evidence of a weakened national appreciation of usasac baseball
1.) mc wins 30 games last year, including a number of games against regionally and/or nationally ranked teams and drops 2 one-run games to ferrum in the conference tournament, yet stays home...travesty
2.) only one usasac team in the first pre-season top 45 (including orv), and that's ferrum at #9...the odac has 2 teams in the top 45

i'm not sure if other conferences use 3 game series, but i'm not a huge fan of it when you play in a conference as competetive as the usasac AND you play a very competetive regional schedule (as most usasac teams do)...thoughts?

woosterbooster

Just peeking in from the NCAC where a few years ago the ten-team conference went to two five-team divisions.  Now, the only conference games that count towards getting into the playoffs (top two from each division get in) are the in-division games, and we play four of them against each of the other four schools.  Back to back doubleheaders, Saturday and Sunday!

So, you need four starters for those games, weakening yourself tremendously for the mid-week contests.  The team that I follow, Wooster, generally plays about two mid-week games, and pitches by committee.  Usually the following weekends starters will work a couple of innings during the week; Saturday's scheduled starters pitching about two each on the prior Tuesday or Wednesday, Sunday's on Wednesday or Thursday.  Pretty hectic, and luckily Wooster has been very deep pitching-wise the last few years.

Ralph Turner

#4
The ASC is 2 eight-team divisions.  We play single games on Friday and Saturday DH's.  The mid-week games are against D2's and NAIA-1's and usually done by the 4th and 5th starter, usually a younger pitcher since the games do not count in conference or as in-region.  In 2005, we switched to an 8 team tourney, a best-of-3 at the top 2 seeds on the first weekend and the final 4 team tourney double elimination.

The format of the NCAA playoffs favors strong and deep pitching staffs.  That has been a weakness of the ASC teams.  We usually have 3 good pitchers, but the staffs trail off after that.  Those 4th and 5th starters are critical in even a 6-team Regional tourney.

I think that the USASAC benefits from it. 

Good conference web page, narch!  I am going to "borrow" some of your links and put them on another page! ;) :)

cnu85

#5
Nice article on Brandt.....Wasn't a CNU coach a coach with the Pilots last year?

cnu85

Narch,

I think in the short term the 3 game series hurts the conference for all the reasons you mention. In the long run it should help. Hopefully, the coaches will go out and recruit for stronger pitchers andmore of them. That will help the teams once they get into the NCAA. It may take awhile!!

narch

#7
another former monarch pitcher had a pretty nice summer last year, as well - blake maxwell, who led the usasac with 9 saves as a junior was drafted by the red sox and pitched pretty well for the lowell spinners - here is his line from last season - he was second among relievers in appearances, ip, k's, era and saves with 7 - lowell is a short season a team (kind of like rookie ball for college players) - maxwell was one of the youngest pitchers on the roster, though - in all, not a bad first season of pro ball

Olinemom

Quote from: narch on December 30, 2005, 10:58:27 PM
I'm going to give this a shot

Conference Site
USASAC Baseball

Conference Members
Averett
Christopher Newport
Ferrum
Greensboro
Methodist
NC Wesleyan
Shenandoah


other sites of interest:
Division 3 baseball site hosted by bridgewater and mantained by jim dixon it's a great resource, but has little news and many links to team pages that don't work - great historical statistics and great info on the d3 national championships
Collegiate Baseball News polls
Baseball America
NCAAsports.com baseball site


     Great, Narch.  I'll be reading to see what's going on here.  You've got some great teams in your conference.  One of my favorite coaches is in your conference.  Coach John H.of CNU.  And one of my favorite players, Garrett Robinson, plays there, too.!!!!!  And then there is Coach Kevin Anderson of Shendoah whom I adore!!!  and he has one of my favorite players as well at short stop ;D Rats, having a senior moment right now.  I can see his face.  I can hear his voice.  Oh this infuriates me.  . . .
     Gee, I work at BC and I don't know who Jim Dixon is. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  Maybe I'll ask Kid about this with all kinds of broken links and stuff.  That doesn't sound good.  Somebody should be doing a better job than that.
Brownies for Film Day--Now there's a Slogan I can live with!!!:)  Go EAGLES!

narch

olinemom - too much talk about the va schools for my blood, i'm a bit partial, though :)

don't worry about the broken links...that is to be expected when there are so many schools playing d3 baseball - i, for one, have really valued mr. dixon's work on that site over the years...it's a GREAT RESOURCE for d3 baseball fans - his coverage of the world series is the BEST - if you could combine that site with this site and add a little news, you'd have the PERFECT d3baseball site - as it is, this is pretty darn good - i like having a place to discuss baseball with other fans

p.s. - odac baseball is over-rated :)

Olinemom

Quote from: narch on January 17, 2006, 01:33:40 PM
olinemom - too much talk about the va schools for my blood, i'm a bit partial, though :)

don't worry about the broken links...that is to be expected when there are so many schools playing d3 baseball - i, for one, have really valued mr. dixon's work on that site over the years...it's a GREAT RESOURCE for d3 baseball fans - his coverage of the world series is the BEST - if you could combine that site with this site and add a little news, you'd have the PERFECT d3baseball site - as it is, this is pretty darn good - i like having a place to discuss baseball with other fans

p.s. - odac baseball is over-rated :)

I must agree that it's great to have this added dimension to discuss baseball.  So glad that they have added this!!  Would love news but the great Pat has said no. :(  And I know he works very hard to keep everything on this site going.  I used to live in NC where I taught at High Point but that was long ago.  I remember being at Regionals with Methodist at NC Weseleyan a while back.  I had just had carpal tunnel surgery, but I went to the tournament anyway.    And as to the Va teams.  They are the ones I know because they are the ones we play.  At least so far.
Brownies for Film Day--Now there's a Slogan I can live with!!!:)  Go EAGLES!

Ralph Turner

olinemom, I encourage you to post hyperlinks of newsworthy events from any media on the web you can access.

Just because Pat is not providing news doesn't mean that there is a "news-vacuum".  These message boards can allow us D3 fans the chance to post what we need to disseminate!

Have a good season and I am counting on the USAC and ODAC boards to be a couple of the best.

narch

#12
Quote from: Olinemom on January 17, 2006, 03:28:43 PM
Quote from: narch on January 17, 2006, 01:33:40 PM
p.s. - odac baseball is over-rated :)

I must agree...

i'm glad we see eye-to-eye on this subject :)

seriously, i enjoy your insight on the odac football board and look forward to hearing what you have to say about odac baseball, as well - hopefully, the monarchs can get what they should have gotten last year...a regional bid...and play one of those odac schools in a game that means something

narch

#13
ferrum picked as favorite in usasac pre-season baseball poll

thoughts?  for me, it looks about right, especially if you flip-flop 1 and 2  ;)

methodist pre-season poll release...note the early season match up between the monarchs and the panthers...should be fun!

Olinemom

Quote from: narch on January 17, 2006, 10:33:52 PM
Quote from: Olinemom on January 17, 2006, 03:28:43 PM
Quote from: narch on January 17, 2006, 01:33:40 PM
p.s. - odac baseball is over-rated :)

I must agree...

i'm glad we see eye-to-eye on this subject :)

seriously, i enjoy your insight on the odac football board and look forward to hearing what you have to say about odac baseball, as well - hopefully, the monarchs can get what they should have gotten last year...a regional bid...and play one of those odac schools in a game that means something

I love the selective quoting,  ;D!   I do love baseball (and ODAC in particular :)) as well.  I think that too often some very good teams get overlooked at regional time  Hopefully our teams (yours and mine) will put together some good spring campaigns.  I am superstitious about fall ball and don't watch it so I haven't seen any of the new guys.  I am looking forward to practice which begins next week.  It's our year to go down to Atlanta and Lagrange, but with Interterm galloping along, I haven't even looked at the schedule to see whom we are playing along the way.  Gotta do that, perhaps this weekend.  I've also got to take in some of my DI teams.  Promises to keep, you know how that is.  I'm going to be a busy person this spring.  I will definitely be in Durham for the TEAM USA baseball this summer.  You ought to have a peek at that.  It's a lot of fun!!  Back to the grind:(:(  I keep saying that and then not doing it.  sigh
Brownies for Film Day--Now there's a Slogan I can live with!!!:)  Go EAGLES!