2015 West Regional - Tyler, TX

[BamColt]

Couldnt be happier for Trinity, well deserved. Especially the pitching coach Smith. His pitching coach would be proud right now.

[108 Stitches]

Coming up for air here in Tyler and thought I would add a few comments regarding the West Regional:

Congrats to the Trinity players and the coaching staff for a job well done. Finally getting the monkey off Coach Scannell's back regarding not making it to Appleton (as well as for all of the other great players who have come through the program). No better way to do this than soundly beating Haddeland and Linfield not once -  but twice. Trinity was clearly the best team there - led with great pitching and defense and some timely hitting and scrappy AB's. We saw this team's talent last fall when they went toe to toe with OU and it was frustrating to watch the team at times this season knowing its talent. In retrospect the best thing that happened to this them was losing the conference game and having to come back through the loser bracket there. They are peaking at the right time and will be a formable opponent, in some ways it is built for a CWS with how deep the pitching staff is.

I can't say enough about LaVerne and how scrappy that team was. They don't have the size of a typical Regional team, but they can they play! Congrats to them on a fine showing and representing the SCIAC well. Millsaps was what you would expect from a Millsaps team, good size, speed and they can hit, and of course well coached. I did not see UTT nor Whitworth, but saw UTT early in the season and they were solid, but without a big ace pitcher and that clearly hurt them. Linfield was good, but nothing like the CWS championship team from two years ago. They are young and it is a credit to their coaching staff (and hard work from the players) to get them to yet another Regional championship game. I wish I could say the same  things about some of their fans, they were arrogant and obnoxious and personally I could not be happier sending them back to the PNW with the tail between their legs.  Good riddance.

The Tyler location was perfect for a Regional, great facility, lots of hotels and restaurants, (Stanley's BBQ!!!)  and it was well run by the baseball program. The weather was dicey but they did a great job of working in all of the games, as well as preparing the field for play. Job well done by the UTT program.

The Tigers are off and will represent the West well in Appleton. They're not done.  Go TIGERS!

[infielddad]

Couldnt be happier for Trinity, well deserved. Especially the pitching coach Smith. His pitching coach would be proud right now.

BamColt, I wish I could applaud this thought multiple times. Thank you for remembering Coach Meccage and all he did for Dave and so many members of those teams.  Got to think he is already waiting in Appleton spending the next few days with #12, both with very proud smiles.

[D O.C.]

Get 'er done, Trinity.

Watching the air go out of the LINFIELD game Saturday was a little deflating ( ) but you could see Trinity finally standing up and stretching.

Way to claw all season 'CATS.

[CAK72B]

I think everyone would agree that this was long overdue for Coach Scannell. This year was very interesting year for the Tigers this year. It started with having to replace arguably 2 of the best players in Trinity history (Hirschberg and Muscarello). It got to a point halfway through the season where this Trinity team was 4th in the conference standings and having guys fighting in the dugout during games. All of a sudden it seemed to finally click with their back facing the wall in the first game of the conference tournament against TLU down 1 in the 8th and figuring out a way to win the ballgame. Watching the Trinity program for over 10 years now most people I think would agree that this team may not have been the most talented (2013, 2010, some of the early 2000s) but this team figured out a way to get it done. I believe that this will go down as one of Scannell's best coaching jobs and maybe due to the fact he had to do more coaching this year than previous ones.

One fact I think that was different for this team than others was the fact they really didn't have a set rotation all year so about 5 or 6 guys got a decent amount of starts where as previous teams seemed to only have about 3 or 4 guys get a majority of the starts. Maybe this is a strategy that Trinitt will implement more in the future.

A second thing I noticed is if you look at the regional winners since 2011. Chapman won on a dirt field at McMurry. 2012-2014 were won by NWC teams on turf fields. This year Trinity wins on a dirt field in Tyler. Ironic that the teams winning the regionals are playing on surfaces that they are more accustomed to. Thought it was an interesting observation.

[CrashDavisD3]

I think everyone would agree that this was long overdue for Coach Scannell. This year was very interesting year for the Tigers this year. It started with having to replace arguably 2 of the best players in Trinity history (Hirschberg and Muscarello). It got to a point halfway through the season where this Trinity team was 4th in the conference standings and having guys fighting in the dugout during games. All of a sudden it seemed to finally click with their back facing the wall in the first game of the conference tournament against TLU down 1 in the 8th and figuring out a way to win the ballgame. Watching the Trinity program for over 10 years now most people I think would agree that this team may not have been the most talented (2013, 2010, some of the early 2000s) but this team figured out a way to get it done. I believe that this will go down as one of Scannell's best coaching jobs and maybe due to the fact he had to do more coaching this year than previous ones.

One fact I think that was different for this team than others was the fact they really didn't have a set rotation all year so about 5 or 6 guys got a decent amount of starts where as previous teams seemed to only have about 3 or 4 guys get a majority of the starts. Maybe this is a strategy that Trinitt will implement more in the future.

A second thing I noticed is if you look at the regional winners since 2011. Chapman won on a dirt field at McMurry. 2012-2014 were won by NWC teams on turf fields. This year Trinity wins on a dirt field in Tyler. Ironic that the teams winning the regionals are playing on surfaces that they are more accustomed to. Thought it was an interesting observation.

Congrats to Trinity. A great program every year. I wish them well in Appleton.

[BamColt]

NCAA flew us from Austin to Chicago and bused us up to Appleton, such a beautiful area.
Furguson Jenkins was the guest speaker who kicked things off. These kids will have a blast.

[Ron Boerger]

Probably cheaper to get last minute tix to Chicago than Milwaukee (or Green Bay).

Sure wish I could get up there this week, but half of my team already took Friday off, so I'm stuck here.    Airfares are surprisingly inexpensive given the timeframe (~$450 from SAT to ORD on Delta).

[Ralph Turner]

...

A second thing I noticed is if you look at the regional winners since 2011. Chapman won on a dirt field at McMurry. 2012-2014 were won by NWC teams on turf fields. This year Trinity wins on a dirt field in Tyler. Ironic that the teams winning the regionals are playing on surfaces that they are more accustomed to. Thought it was an interesting observation.

+1!  Great Observation!

[Whatagame]

...

A second thing I noticed is if you look at the regional winners since 2011. Chapman won on a dirt field at McMurry. 2012-2014 were won by NWC teams on turf fields. This year Trinity wins on a dirt field in Tyler. Ironic that the teams winning the regionals are playing on surfaces that they are more accustomed to. Thought it was an interesting observation.

+1!  Great Observation!

Interesting, but, when Whitworth won in 2012, they played on an all natural grass surface at home.  They did not upgrade to turf until 2014.  The only turf fields in the NWC, prior to 2014 season, were PLU and Linfield.  Now there are three.

[Ralph Turner]

...

A second thing I noticed is if you look at the regional winners since 2011. Chapman won on a dirt field at McMurry. 2012-2014 were won by NWC teams on turf fields. This year Trinity wins on a dirt field in Tyler. Ironic that the teams winning the regionals are playing on surfaces that they are more accustomed to. Thought it was an interesting observation.

+1!  Great Observation!

Interesting, but, when Whitworth won in 2012, they played on an all natural grass surface at home.  They did not upgrade to turf until 2014.  The only turf fields in the NWC, prior to 2014 season, were PLU and Linfield.  Now there are three.

Thanks for the clarification.

[108 Stitches]

I certainly understand that due to weather teams have to go to all turf fields to get games in during the season, but IMO championship games should be played on grass and dirt. There is no question, (IMO) that the "real" surface is more difficult and I saw fielding "errors" over the weekend because of the  inability of infielders to adapt to the surface.  I do not like the homogenized fields as infielders can get away with sub par skills on the turf fields, but they get exposed on a natural surface. 

[Westside]

I certainly understand that due to weather teams have to go to all turf fields to get games in during the season, but IMO championship games should be played on grass and dirt. There is no question, (IMO) that the "real" surface is more difficult and I saw fielding "errors" over the weekend because of the  inability of infielders to adapt to the surface.  I do not like the homogenized fields as infielders can get away with sub par skills on the turf fields, but they get exposed on a natural surface.

That makes sense when you get to a professional or D1 level, because all of the fields are extremely nice and taken care of... but at this level, every single dirt and grass field is different. It is such an advantage to the team that plays on their own field if it is dirt and grass. I would rather have a field that equalizes the teams instead of giving teams advantages.

[CAK72B]

I mean it's always going to be an imperfect system. Teams with better defensive infielders would have an advantage on the dirt fields where teams without it would benefit from hiding a weakness on turf fields, which I would classify as an "advantage" since it helps a subpar fielding team. I also agree with 108s observation that this regional seemed like there were more unearned runs and errors than more recent ones. Stats may prove otherwise since I haven't looked them up. However I don't think it's fair to say a team has an advantage since they play on a dirt and grass field since that's the surface the game was designed to be played on. With weather playing a factor in some regions it's make sense to have the turf field but a game played on turf I believe is a way different game than one played on dirt/grass.

[Jack Parkman]

Another thing from the West Regional was the fact that there were 0 HR's hit.  I don't think many West teams rely on a lot of power but the balls would hit the grass and stop, not allowing them to get to the wall for extra bases.  The weather and field conditions really helped the pitching out a lot but I do feel like the most complete team there was Trinity.  I also think Trinity has a very legit shot at creating some noise up in Appleton.