Casual,

Love IT! As much as I follow OU and like that team they would need A LOT of breaks this weekend to pull off the Championship. I think they can win a game or two but Trinity and Millsaps have more depth, better pitching and the experience to take home the crown. But let's hope your right!!!!!! Look foward to watching the games online. Good luck everyone.

Ok, I'll go first. Here is my bracket and predictions:

Trinity over OU -- TU too much for OU to handle, close game until late.
Millsaps over Rhodes -- This game is nip and tuck, but Chandler wears down late. MC gets to RC pen.
DePauw over Austin -- DePauw gets a W here, but very, very close.

Trinity over Austin (Austin Eliminated) -- Same story, TU too much for Austin. Tough seeding for AC.
Millsaps over DePauw -- Millsaps bats come alive.
OU over Rhodes (Rhodes Eliminated) -- First upset of tourny.

Trinity over Millsaps -- TU draws first blood.
OU over DePauw (DePauw Eliminated) -- OU plays spolier again.
Millsaps over OU (OU Eliminated) -- Millsaps overcomes some poor defense, OU runs out of pitching and MC outslugs OU.

Millsaps over Trinity -- MC bats continue to stay hot.
Trinity over Millsaps (Millsaps Eliminated) -- I have to think at some point in the tournament MC defense will cost them a game. TU wins the crown.

Trinity SCAC Champions

Watching that series this weekend between OU/BSC was eye opening. OU is a very good club. They lack pitching depth but defensivley and offensivley thay are very solid. But BSC came out and just was flat out better in all three phases. I want to back up what Batr441 said about BSC. They are offensively and defensively the most complete D3 team I have seen. I would love to see them in this tournament face off against the likes of Trinity and/or Millsaps. 1-9 they are the best offense club I've ever seen. They ALL have power, speed and athleticism. They grind out AB's and make you work for every out. They very rarely swing and miss and getting a strikeout is very tough. The biggest thing is they wear down pitchers throughout the game and series. Also, they are fantastic on the base paths. Going 1st to 3rd and they are always taking the extra base.

They are a very solid defensive ballclub. OU actually has less errors this season than BSC but the difference is BSC's range all over the field. Their outfield play was flawless.

Pitching is probably their weakness,( if you want to call it that) but they lead the SCAC in pitching too.

BSC, if eligible, is a World Series team. I've seen some great Emory teams in the past and this BSC would run them into the ground. No disrepect to Millsaps or Trinity, they are both very, very good, but I think BSC would be very tough to beat in this tournament .

Alas, BSC is not at the tourney. So....Any predictions out there???

Frank,

The East is up for grabs. You have it a bit wrong with the current standings, OU is in first right now by virtue of taking 2 out of 3 from DePauw. They would be the #1 seed if the season ended today...but with BSC coming to town it will be tough  to hold on to the top spot. It is interesting that if all three schools end up with the same record what would be the seeding?

OU has the tiebreaker over DPU
DPU has it over Rhodes
Rhodes has it over OU

Honestly, there are so many scenerios here anything can happen.

OU wins twice at Centre today to clinch a tournament spot. Hopefully box scores are posted soon.

Good W for the Petrels today at Emory. They are now 2-0 vs. Emory with both victories coming on Emory's home field. OU heads to Centre this weekend in another big SCAC weekend.

The losing streak continues in Atlanta for the Petrels...after starting 10-3 they have now dropped 9 straight with a 3-1 and 5- 4 loss at Greensboro. Injuries continue to mount for this team that is in a deep downward spiral. The boxscores from yesterday do not resemble anything from the first 13 games of the season. The offense is just not able to sustain any rallies or bunch hits together. They have to figure out something quick as DePauw comes calling this weekend.

Frank,

Here is the assestment on OU. Injuries, injuries, injuries and some inconsistent pitching. The injury bug has hit them very hard during the 7-game losing streak. They were 10-3 and they lost a couple of key players and they continue to go down. Pilger #2 hitter and CF is done for the year with a broken hand. Check out his numbers before he got hurt. He was the run producer in that lineup. #6 hitter Manai FR RF went down with a right hand injury and they haven't won since he went down. They have a completly revamped OF including their starting 1B playing LF. This past weekend at Rhodes they lost their starting catcher for 2 of the 3 games, who also is the #5 hitter. Rizzo couldn't play third on Sunday with a dislocated shoulder and their starting SS had a ankle injury.

So, you take out the #2 hitter who was hitting .470 and was leading the SCAC in HR before he got hurt, the #5 hitter who is hitting .340 and has thrown out 31% of bases stealers and take out the #6 hitter who was hitting .355 you are left with a weakened lineup. Throw in some inconsistent pitching, BAM, 7-game skid. For a team just starting to get good, they dont have a ton of depth. I realize injuries are part of the game but when you lose 3 of your top players it is tough on any team. Eventually they will get there but losing one third of your lineup is tough to replace at this level.


Of course this past weekend it didn't help that SS Cornwell went 1 for the series and 3B Rizzo went 1 for the series. Just not enough offense right now to sustain rallys. A trademark of this team early was their ability to score in bunches...I still think this team will make a serious run, some of these guys will get healthy and when they put their healthy players back in that lineup they can beat anyone. They have some solid arms, but they are just young and inexperienced.

OU won a slugfest against ACC last night 12-10. OU is now 10-3.

But they have been hit pretty hard with the injury bug. Senior Brenden Pilger has a broken hand and is out, not sure how long but I can guess maybe the whole season. He was having a SCAC Player of the Year type of season before he got hurt. .470, 4 HR, 16 R, 15 RBI, 10-10 SB in 9 games. Last night FR. RF Nick Manai who is having a great campaign (.350, 1HR, 12 R, 11 RBI) had to leave the game after crashing into the fence. He left the game and went to the ER. It looked like he was pretty beat up with blood on his jersey. They will have to regroup and find some guys who can fill the voids.

Oglethorpe won a pitchers duel in Atlanta today 4-1 versus Johnson & Wales. Matt Cornwell threw a complete game striking out 16 and allowing just 4 hits. The Petrel offense was held in check today for the first time all season... JJ Rizzo led the offense going 2-4 with a HR and a double.

Oglethorpe went crazy at the plate again today this time versus Washington & Lee. OU was down 7-4 early but put up 10 unanswered runs en route to a 14-7 final. Another solid win versus a south region opponent. Brendan Pilger went 4-4 with 4 runs, JJ Rizzo was 4-5 with 2 RBI and FY Nick Manai had 3 hits and 3 RBI's.

The two teams face each other again Monday at 4pm.

Word out of the SCAC is that the 10% reduction has been tabled and will not go into effect in 2011. The Presidents apparently received so much blow back from the student-athletes they had no option but to table it. The SA's at the SCAC schools wrote letters and had petitions signed voicing their displeasure. So, any school that has a 10% reduction in games it is a self imposed reduction, not a SCAC mandate.

3 umps or 2 umps...honestly it doesn't make a difference. Teams play nonconference with 2-man crews, and some of those games are just as important in regional rankings as SCAC games.

Personally I think postseason awards should be voted for before the 'postseason' starts....the problem is the East and West will never see each other play....Maybe create separate teams. All SCAC East Team and an All SCAC West team. Instead of two at each position cut it to 1 each and just let the East vote for the east and the west for the west. Just a thought.

And....how was Hunter Owen the only player from the SCAC on the D3baseball team!!!! and on the 3rd team for no less. Your telling me the South region player of the year is only on the 3rd team??? 

Where is the ALLSCAC team?? Seems like it should already be out...

You make a great point about about 4 game weekends. It is hurting the overall records of the SCAC teams.
Only three teams had over a .500 winning percentage...That hurts the entire SCAC.

I follow OU and I know after playing Rhodes 4-times, they played Heidelberg on Tuesday (leading the OAC), Heidelberg again on Wednesday then Franklin and Marshall on Wednesday night. They also play Emory three times in mid-week games, LAGrange three times, and Piedmont twice.  They usually face Emory's 1 or 2 and they throw their #5 and 6. I'm sure every team in the SCAC goes through the same thing.


Carl Iwasaki is the run away winner of COTY..no doubt. That team was 2-36, 4 years ago! What a great job. Jeff Cleanthes would get it almost any other year.

Hunter Owen wins the Player of the Year and Flanagan is back-to-back pitcher of the year...