BB: SCAC: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Ralph Turner]

McM had a win and a loss and dropped from 33 to 38.
CTX went 1-1 and dropped from 25 to 26.
TUTX rose from 15 to 11.

[Ron Boerger]

Unless McMurry can pull a rabbit (or two) out of their hat, Concordia is headed for the championship round, leading 7-3 after seven complete.  Perhaps most importantly for the Tornadoes' championship hopes, they have so far gotten a complete game from their starter, Rowdy Hoadley, who has only allowed five hits while striking out eight in those seven innings.

[Ralph Turner]

The SCAC has its tourney earlier than many so McM will need to follow the bubble.

[Ron Boerger]

Rabbits were pulled, 7-7 heading to tenth!

[Ralph Turner]

They needed a 3rd rabbit!

To recall a classic line from American literature about the Mudville Nine...

...mighty Casey has struck out.

[Riley Zayas]

That was a terrific game. SCAC Tournament has been awesome the last two days. Credit to Concordia for weathering the storm and immediately responding in the Top of the 10th. Now we'll see if they can get past Trinity and force another game tomorrow!

McMurry's season isn't necessarily over, but man, it'll be a long week for them watching the rest of the conference tournaments play out. Warhawks will obviously be squarely on the bubble, and have to hope for a max of 2-3 bid thieves, based on the way things look right now.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity gets their third one-run win to capture the school's final SCAC Championship in an unexpected pitchers' duel, 2-1 over a very game Concordia squad. 

Gavin Voth for the Tornadoes and Jack Briese for the Tigers got the starts and held their opponents scoreless through the first four innings, though Concordia threatened early with runners at second and third with two out in the second before Briese caught Riley looking for the final out.  The Tornadoes again put two runners on in the fourth with two out but again could not get a crucial two out hit.  Trinity had a runner on second with two outs in the first, and two on and two out in the second for their only threats of the first four innings.  Things started to change in the fifth when the Tornadoes again had runners on second and third, this time after one out and an error by the shortstop.  Will Taylor relived Briese after he allowed a single to start the inning and was able to induce a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat.  Trinity then got to Voth in their half of the fifth, with a walk and a double to put runners at second and third with one out when a sac fly from Woodward scored the game's first run.  After hitting the next batter, Voth was relieved by Jake Runnells who struck out Nick Lazarra to end the inning. 

Concordia would yet again have two runners on with two outs in the top of the sixth without being able to plate a run, but in the seventh finally scored after leadoff batter Zack Seigrest drew a walk, was sacrified first to second and then to third, and Eric Garcia at last plated a tying run with his two-out single.  Trinity would get a single, a walk, and a sac to get runners to second and third with one out in their half at which point Chase North relieved Runnels and forces a strikeout and a fly out to harmlessly retire the side.  After a quiet top of the eighth, Lazarra drew a walk to open the bottom half, was sacrificed to second, and after game 1 and 2 hero Will Baker flied out, Kai Tinker's double brought in what would be the game-winning run.  Will Hellings relieved Taylor, gave up a single to Seigrist to open the top of the ninth, but Mattias Rytting, inserted as a defensive sub at catcher, caught Seigrist stealing and the remaining Tornado batters were quickly extinguished.

Once again, Trinity was outhit in a game they won, this time by a 7-4 margin.  Decent chance they move into the top ten in NPI after another quality win against Concordia, but may be asking to much to see them move into the top eight.

[DickWhitman]

First conference upset, NPI 129 Huntingdon wins the CCS.

BTW, which conference is Trinity heading to?

[Ron Boerger]

First conference upset, NPI 129 Huntingdon wins the CCS.

BTW, which conference is Trinity heading to?

The SAA.  Most of the SAA members were part of the SCAC before splitting off in 2011, so it'll be a renewal of some old rivalries.  Only Berry is "new" though they've seen each other in football and occasionally in the post-season. 

Southwestern is also coming along, same applies to them. 

[Ralph Turner]

That was a terrific game. SCAC Tournament has been awesome the last two days. Credit to Concordia for weathering the storm and immediately responding in the Top of the 10th. Now we'll see if they can get past Trinity and force another game tomorrow!

McMurry's season isn't necessarily over, but man, it'll be a long week for them watching the rest of the conference tournaments play out. Warhawks will obviously be squarely on the bubble, and have to hope for a max of 2-3 bid thieves, based on the way things look right now.

We will see how many places the War Hawks fall by going 1-2 in a conference tourney when the data are published tonight. The SCAC was one of the first conferences to have its tourney. There will likely be similar falls in the big gaggle of Pool C bids, from about #20 to about #45 as listed on 04/30/2025. Whose goose is cooked will be determined next Sunday night.
I am guardedly optimiistic for Coach Lee.

[Ralph Turner]

First conference upset, NPI 129 Huntingdon wins the CCS.

BTW, which conference is Trinity heading to?

And ugly losses were inflicted upon Belhaven and Maryville.

[Ralph Turner]

McM only fell to #38.
I think they are safe but may get flown to southern Calif.
The SCAC will get 2 Pool C's.

[Ron Boerger]

Ralph, I see McM at 42.  Make sure you pull down to get games through 5/4.

The top ten from the region after the weekend:

8. La Verne (31-7) - 61.066 (was 8)
10. Trinity* (36-7) - 60.174 (was 11)
20. CMS (30-10) - 58.510 (was 20)
25. CTX (33-9) - 57.950 (was 26)
38. Redlands (26-13) - 57.016 (was 41)
39. Pomona-Pitzer (27-13) - 56.981 (was 40)
41. ETBU* (27-12) - 56.839 (was 46)
42. McMurry (32-11) - 56.792 (was 38)
48. CLU (27-13) - 56.478 (was 56)
98. Whitworth (17-11) - 53.913 (was 110)

* - Pool A clinched

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph, I see McM at 42.  Make sure you pull down to get games through 5/4.

The top ten from the region after the weekend:

8. La Verne (31-7) - 61.066 (was 8)
10. Trinity* (36-7) - 60.174 (was 11)
20. CMS (30-10) - 58.510 (was 20)
25. CTX (33-9) - 57.950 (was 26)
38. Redlands (26-13) - 57.016 (was 41)
39. Pomona-Pitzer (27-13) - 56.981 (was 40)
41. ETBU* (27-12) - 56.839 (was 46)
42. McMurry (32-11) - 56.792 (was 38)
48. CLU (27-13) - 56.478 (was 56)
98. Whitworth (17-11) - 53.913 (was 110)

* - Pool A clinched

Thanks for the correction.

ETBU does not hurt them. However CLU now becomes a "bubble-buster".

By going 1-2 in the conference tourney, they dropped roughly 9 slots.
The SCIAC has 5 teams on that list. It will be interesting to see how that tourney plays out.

I will run the full 23 tonight.

[Ron Boerger]

It would certainly not hurt McM to see Redlands lose in the SCIAC play-in game (see below), or PP two and BBQ - and they don't need CLU (the other play-in game participant) to go on a run.

The 2025 SCIAC Baseball Tournament will begin with the inaugural #4 vs. #5 seed First Round game on Wednesday, May 7 followed by the double-elimination tournament from Thursday, May 8 through the final on Saturday, May 10 (Sunday if necessary).

Wednesday
#4 California Lutheran hosting #5 Redlands, 3 p.m.

Thursday
#2 Pomona-Pitzer hosting #3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 3 p.m

It's not listed on the championship website but you'd think that #1 La Verne gets the CLU-Redlands winner.