[SuperJon]

Winthrop is the pick to repeat in the Big South conference. The Eagles look to return to the postseason for the third consecutive season. They got the decision over Coastal Carolina and Liberty - the second and third selections.

Liberty and Winthrop led all schools with six players on the thirty-man All-Big South team. High Point followed with four players while Coastal Carolina had three.

Stories to Watch
No more Panthers: With Birmingham Southern now out of the picture after three successful seasons, someone needs to emerge as third team to challenge Winthrop and Coastal Carolina. Liberty, UNC-Asheville, High Point, and VMI all have their eye on the top echelon of the conference. Who will fill the vacancy?

Which Coastal shows?: Two seasons ago they were on top of the world as a #1 seeded mid-major at Regional time. Last year the Chanticleers plummetted back to Earth. Can Gary Gilmore's squad retake their place at the top of the Big South?

How good is the league?: Is this league going to slide into a league where only one team can get an at-large bid? The bottom of the conference has to improve just as much as the top for the conference strength to get people's attention. How the Big South's teams fare in non-conference action will be remembered in May.

Road to the Title
March 16-18 UNC-Asheville at Liberty
March 30- April 1 UNC-Asheville at Winthrop
April 27-29 Liberty at Coastal Carolina
May 11-13 Winthrop at Liberty
May 11-13 Coastal Carolina at UNC-Asheville
May 18-20 Coastal Carolina at Winthrop *
* Big South series of the year

The List

Toughest non-conference schedules
1. Coastal Carolina: Coastal hosts three early-season tournaments involving teams like Virginia, Elon, and Old Dominion. They have road series at Nebraska and Troy along with many tough midweek games.

2. Winthrop: Has a series at UCLA and a tournament in Waco where they face Mississippi State, San Francisco, and Baylor. Other non-conference foes include Georgia, Clemson, Texas, Creighton, Wake Forest, College of Charleston, and North Carolina.

3. Liberty: The Flames visit East Carolina for three games before facing South Carolina, Richmond, and The Citadel in the Citadel Shootout. There are also series with Manhattan and Arizona.

Best Offenses
1. Winthrop
2. Liberty
3. VMI

Best Pitching
1. Winthrop
2. Liberty
3. Coastal Carolina

Best Facility
Winthrop

Best Prospects
1. Alex Wilson, Winthrop, RHP, SO ( draft-eligible '08)
2. Eammon Portice, RHP, High Point, JR
3. Tommy Lentz, Winthrop OF, SR

Top Newcomers
1. Kevin Nolan, Winthrop, 3B, FR
2. Eric Godsy, Coastal Carolina, SS, FR
3. Billy Froehlich, Winthrop, OF, JR

http://sebaseball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=630841

[SuperJon]

Projected Order of Finish

1 Winthrop
2 Coastal Carolina
3 Liberty
4 UNC-Asheville
5 High Point
6 VMI
7 Radford
8 Charleston Southern

[SuperJon]

All-Conference Team

First Team
1B Aaron Grijalva, LU
2B Adam Vrable, CC
3B Jeff Cowan, HP
SS Chris Carrara, WU
C John Whited, UNCA
OF Tommy Lentz, WU OF
OF Justin Fyle, CSU OF
OF Kevin Mattison, UNCA
DH Chris Norwood, HP
UT John Mariotti, CC
SP Alex Wilson, WU
SP Eammon Portice, HP
SP Trey Barham, VMI
SP Ryan Page, LU
RP Tim John, LU

Second Team

1B Elliott Arrington, UNCA
2B Phil Carey, WU
3B Kevin Nolan, WU
SS Patrick Gaillard, LU
C Keith Stewart, CSU
P.K. Keller, LU
Wes Brundridge, CSU
OF Billy Froehlich, WU
1B Robert Crumpler, VMI
OF Clint Reed, VMI
SP Travis Smink, VMI
SP Matt Christie, HP
SP Michael Solbach, LU
SP Andy DeLaGarza, CC
RP Jonathan Settle, WU

[PAmedic]

My feeling is that we're underrated here- but thats no problem.

good for the guys to feel they have something to prove. And they will.

WU is always very tough- great program down there.

(can't believe I just typed that- see WEF? I can be polite )

[PAmedic]

and we're pretty well represented on the all-conf teams!

nice job guys

[Fumblerooskies]

Three should be just about right...
...I think the Big South has UNCA too high with LU at four or five.

Coastal was very young last year and took some lumps. I look for them to give Winthrop a run for its money this year on the diamond.

[ATrain]

We're 5th in the Big South poll...WU, CCU and then HPU and UNCA tied for third, followed by us. I think 3 is a good spot for us as well. Hopefully this will be the year the Big South sends 3 teams to the NCAAs. Its a shame that Birmingham-Southern dropped everything down...couldn't they have left baseball and softball at DI?

[sitemdown77]

A-Train....sorry to say my man, but there is no way the big south will send 3 teams. With a strong team in Birm. southern dropping out there's no possible way. The voters just wont see it as a strong enough conference unless 3 teams go like 45 wins with a tough schedule. Two is very probable like usual though. Im telling ya know though the conference won't be easy this year. High Point has Portice who was sitting 93 in the 10th inning at big south last year, and now its his big draft year. Also UNCA has some good sticks back along w/Deratt who looks unbelievable at the end of last year and in the tournament. My call on the sleeper to get into the tourney though is Charleston Southern....coach is good solid coach who came from Michigan State and from Fla. Gators and is gonna do good things there in his 3rd year on the job and just put a whole staff together. All this being said, we have some very very good talent on our team and there is no reason we shouldn't be in the top 3....... as long as arms stay healthy.........

[PAmedic]

....... as long as arms stay healthy.........

that sounds familiar

[sitemdown77]

haha, as long as they dont run 130 pitches first 2 wknds of the season......and wasted by half way through...

[A.G.]

Who was responsible for that? I don't believe Tomlin was in charge of in-game pitching decisions last year.

[Fumblerooskies]

Pitch counts are generally atrocious at all levels of college ball...
...watch the Regionals and CWS and see how many pitches guys throw, and...
...how many come back on short rest.

Is it right? Nope...
...but coaches are paid to win and athletes sometimes are simply looked at as assets that can be used as the coach's whim...
...especially with baseball and pitchers.

Now...
...its not all on the coaches. The athletes, too, are such great competitors and "want the ball." A pitcher for VMI, who was in his final summer of Legion, pitching in the Legion World Series...
...was having arm problems but still convinced his coach he could get some outs...
...and blew his arm out on the mound. Poof! Now done for the year for VMI.

[knobodywest]

The team that will out pitch, out field, out hit, and out coach the others teams will be the tourny winner, that could potentially be any team in the big south. Pre-season rankings mean nothing, its all up to Coach Royer and the other coaches now, they have the talent to win.

[krh44]

I am pleasantly surprised by the 3rd place prediction considering WU & CCU are the only two in front of us and they both have been strong the last few years. Hopefully the pitching will stay healthy.

[sitemdown77]

Fumblerooskie.......actaully, that is not what happened. That was the paper story. The kid was commited to VMI. VMI's coach had talked to him and said it was hurtin b/c of prior injury....the player told his coach he was shut down b/c his arm hurt very bad. The coach agreed....once they got in a tight ball game, the coach came out to make a change and pointed to his player....the player could have stood on the field and refused and made everyone look like a fool, but b/c of the position his coach put him in he went, 2nd pitch......POW....

[sitemdown77]

also....all the scenarios you gave where at the END of the year.....which I agree are up there through all colleges.....

[Hold My Own]

When it comes to this subject, I'm takin Sit'em's word for it....seems like he has a good grasp on it all

[Fumblerooskies]

Fumblerooskie.......actaully, that is not what happened. That was the paper story. The kid was commited to VMI. VMI's coach had talked to him and said it was hurtin b/c of prior injury....the player told his coach he was shut down b/c his arm hurt very bad. The coach agreed....once they got in a tight ball game, the coach came out to make a change and pointed to his player....the player could have stood on the field and refused and made everyone look like a fool, but b/c of the position his coach put him in he went, 2nd pitch......POW....

Are we talking about the same player? He was freshman pitcher on last year's VMI team, and hurt the arm at at ALWS...
...he was pitched for Post 186 all summer.
http://www.vmikeydets.com/article.asp?articleid=80038

Now...
...I had heard his arm was hurting out there, and he did try to suck it up and pitch...
...was described to me exactly was you said. We could be talking about the exact same thing. My point was, these guys WANT to pitch...
...in fact, the game 2 starter, Duty, also a VMI guy, threw 140 pitches. I think Edwards went with a CG in game one out there.

[Fumblerooskies]

When it comes to this subject, I'm takin Sit'em's word for it....seems like he has a good grasp on it all

A kid from MANHATTAN college last year, early on...
...first game...
...had close to a 150 pitch outing in beating Tulane.

I agree, that it usually happens later in the season, though.

http://www.sportssystems.com/manhattan/ ... m#GAME.NCA

[sitemdown77]

yea, same kid.....i talked to him, and the VMI coach about it. They shut him down after the CG, then coach came and put him in that spot in 7th or 8th of some game, and 2nd pitch he throw it blew.....VMI coach was peeved as you can imagine......

[sitemdown77]

and I agree with you that these guys want to pitch......they are 18-22 years, of course they are gonna want to. Players competitive juices are flowing and they can't see past the moment and who cares if my arm hurts. Coaches need to be the one with the sense and have a feel for it. For every 2 coaches who do good by kids and dont screw em up (there are plenty, i've seen em) there's one who does run em into the ground. Im not saying its not there fumble, just saying its wrong. There's still young men have some dumb wreckless abandon in em.

[Fumblerooskies]

So...
...we were describing the same thing in two different ways.

Oh, this was the game I was thinking about with Manhattan...
http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/sto ... 06acb.html
142 pitches.
9th CG.

[sitemdown77]

Is it right? Nope...
...but coaches are paid to win and athletes sometimes are simply looked at as assets that can be used as the coach's whim...
...especially with baseball and pitchers.

Now...
...its not all on the coaches. The athletes, too, are such great competitors and "want the ball." A pitcher for VMI, who was in his final summer of Legion, pitching in the Legion World Series...
...was having arm problems but still convinced his coach he could get some outs...
...and blew his arm out on the mound. Poof! Now done for the year for VMI.

yea, only difference is i blame the coach for the ALWS incident.....you said in your first post that the player wanted to pitch so bad.....but just a little detail. Also I just hope our program is above the player "being used at the coach's whim", b/c winning CAN ABSOLUTELY be done without it. I've seen it in many programs!! and before proto gets on here and tries to rip into me. Im not sayin we do or don't PROTO, just saying hope we're above it.