CSNbbs

Well, here it is.

A brief refresh for everyone on the post-COVID changes for the league.

- 24 game conference schedule
- conference tournament will remain at 8 teams.
- two divisions of 6. East will consist of FAU, FIU, WKU, ODU, Marshall, and Charlotte. West will consist of USM, UAB, MTSU, LaTech, Rice, and UTSA. It's unknown how seedings will work for the conference tourney and if they will be split by divisions
- each team will play every team in their division and their closest team twice. Presumably, the pairings are as follows: FAU-FIU, Charlotte-ODU, Marshall-WKU, USM-LaTech, UAB-MTSU, and Rice-UTSA
- each team will play two crossover opponents from the opposite division
- league play will begin on March 26th. This is one week later than usual. The final week of the regular season will serve as a bye weekend. Teams have the option to play a non-conference series that weekend or take the week off and rest up for the tourney
- the conference tournament has been moved to Ruston on the campus of Louisiana Tech. This marks the first time since 2016 that the tourney is on a campus and the first time since 2013 that it has left the state of Mississippi. The tourney will go to Hattiesburg in 2022 and Houston in 2023.

Here's the 2021 scheduling sheet. Robert Woodard from Charlotte leaked a few of their series and those have been added. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

The draft ended on Thursday. Logan Allen (FIU) and Trei Cruz (Rice) were taken. 2 C-USA players have signed free agent deals, per D1. Francisco Urbaez (FAU) to the Reds and Jose Garcia (FIU) to the Red Sox.

https://d1baseball.com/prospects/2020-co...s-tracker/

A few high-profile prep players are seemingly headed to play in C-USA. OF Slade Wilks, a USM commit, went undrafted. He's one of the top 30 prospects that went undrafted, per MLB Pipeline and was #111 overall. INF Steven Ondina (FIU) and 2B Gino Groover (Charlotte) were also top 200 prospects per MLB Pipeline and went undrafted. OF Mario Zabala, an FIU signee, has been ranked highly by various sites and went undrafted.

C-USA teams have hit the transfer portal this summer. Rice added INF Hal Hughes from LSU and SS Connor Walsh from Ole Miss. Hughes was a starter for LSU last season and Walsh was a highly-rated prospect coming out of HS in 2019. FIU has added RHP Garrett Rukes from Alabama and and INF Austin James from Missouri.

I like doing the Divisions because of travel. Plus as a UTSA alum living in Houston I will enjoy 2 series vs Rice.

Any info on which USM seniors may come back? Granted all schools could play the "if he returns" game but for USM it would be huge to get back any of these seniors: Walker Powell (co-#1 starter), Matthew Guidry (2B, batted 3rd, 2nd in avg, tied for team lead in HR) and/or Hunter Stanley (closer).

On a side note I did see where outfielder Hunter LeBlanc transferred about 20 minutes north of Hattiesburg to Jones Junior College. Their coach is a former USM player and then baseball ops guy. Over the last 10 years Jones JC has been in the top 10 in JuCo rankings probably every year with a couple World Series appearances as well as has been a good pipeline for USM and La Tech.

I know for us it's only Urbaez (free agent), Carter (injured, didn't play), Asnes (2.1 ip), & Concannon (10 ab) not returning. As of right now, anyway.

And, with the shortened draft, we’ve probably got some of our most highly-touted HS recruits coming in with Schanuel and Pendleton. Y'all know we usually farm the Florida JUCO system like crazy, so it'll be interesting to see who gets playing time with such a large roster.

Under the circumstances, there will be so much talent in the league next season.

[/i]TUCSON, Ariz. – A pair of outstanding starts to the 2020 season led to Charlotte baseball's Dominic Pilolli and David McCabe earning Freshmen All-American honors from Collegiate Baseball. The duo accounts for half of the selections from Conference USA and marks the fourth time in program history at-least two players have received the honor.

clt says the future is bright in Charlotte

(06-15-2020 10:02 AM)usm99 Wrote: [ -> ]Any info on which USM seniors may come back? Granted all schools could play the "if he returns" game but for USM it would be huge to get back any of these seniors: Walker Powell (co-#1 starter), Matthew Guidry (2B, batted 3rd, 2nd in avg, tied for team lead in HR) and/or Hunter Stanley (closer).

On a side note I did see where outfielder Hunter LeBlanc transferred about 20 minutes north of Hattiesburg to Jones Junior College. Their coach is a former USM player and then baseball ops guy. Over the last 10 years Jones JC has been in the top 10 in JuCo rankings probably every year with a couple World Series appearances as well as has been a good pipeline for USM and La Tech.

Stanley announced last night that he'll be back.

Some news on MTSU's schedule.

https://www.murfreesboropost.com/sports/...30e50.html

Home: LaTech, Rice, UAB, FIU
Away: USM, UAB, UTSA, WKU

They're playing Marshall in the final weekend but it won't count toward the standings. Figured some teams would try this.

(06-29-2020 11:54 PM)BeagleUSM Wrote: [ -> ]Some news on MTSU's schedule.

https://www.murfreesboropost.com/sports/...30e50.html

Home: LaTech, Rice, UAB, FIU
Away: USM, UAB, UTSA, WKU

They're playing Marshall in the final weekend but it won't count toward the standings. Figured some teams would try this.

Any chance in your opinion that USM and UAB would do that? I imagine it will be difficult to find an OOC opponent the last weekend of the season. I realize we are in all likelihood playing them as a CUSA series already but since we are playing La Tech twice why not another school.

(06-14-2020 10:43 PM)BeagleUSM Wrote: [ -> ]Well, here it is.

A brief refresh for everyone on the post-COVID changes for the league.

- 24 game conference schedule
- conference tournament will remain at 8 teams.
- two divisions of 6. East will consist of FAU, FIU, WKU, ODU, Marshall, and Charlotte. West will consist of USM, UAB, MTSU, LaTech, Rice, and UTSA. It's unknown how seedings will work for the conference tourney and if they will be split by divisions
- each team will play every team in their division and their closest team twice. Presumably, the pairings are as follows: FAU-FIU, Charlotte-ODU, Marshall-WKU, USM-LaTech, UAB-MTSU, and Rice-UTSA
- each team will play two crossover opponents from the opposite division
- league play will begin on March 26th. This is one week later than usual. The final week of the regular season will serve as a bye weekend. Teams have the option to play a non-conference series that weekend or take the week off and rest up for the tourney
- the conference tournament has been moved to Ruston on the campus of Louisiana Tech. This marks the first time since 2016 that the tourney is on a campus and the first time since 2013 that it has left the state of Mississippi. The tourney will go to Hattiesburg in 2022 and Houston in 2023.

Here's the 2021 scheduling sheet. Robert Woodard from Charlotte leaked a few of their series and those have been added. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

The draft ended on Thursday. Logan Allen (FIU) and Trei Cruz (Rice) were taken. 2 C-USA players have signed free agent deals, per D1. Francisco Urbaez (FAU) to the Reds and Jose Garcia (FIU) to the Red Sox.

https://d1baseball.com/prospects/2020-co...s-tracker/

A few high-profile prep players are seemingly headed to play in C-USA. OF Slade Wilks, a USM commit, went undrafted. He's one of the top 30 prospects that went undrafted, per MLB Pipeline and was #111 overall. INF Steven Ondina (FIU) and 2B Gino Groover (Charlotte) were also top 200 prospects per MLB Pipeline and went undrafted. OF Mario Zabala, an FIU signee, has been ranked highly by various sites and went undrafted.

C-USA teams have hit the transfer portal this summer. Rice added INF Hal Hughes from LSU and SS Connor Walsh from Ole Miss. Hughes was a starter for LSU last season and Walsh was a highly-rated prospect coming out of HS in 2019. FIU has added RHP Garrett Rukes from Alabama and and INF Austin James from Missouri.

I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we will categorically not be playing baseball in 8 months time. Carry on.

I believe we will be, especially with the projections of a December/January vaccine.

(06-30-2020 03:57 PM)EagNBran Wrote: [ -> ]I believe we will be, especially with the projections of a December/January vaccine.

The anti-vaxxers will doom us all.

clt says no minor league baseball in 2020.

(06-30-2020 10:13 AM)usm99 Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-29-2020 11:54 PM)BeagleUSM Wrote: [ -> ]Some news on MTSU's schedule.

https://www.murfreesboropost.com/sports/...30e50.html

Home: LaTech, Rice, UAB, FIU
Away: USM, UAB, UTSA, WKU

They're playing Marshall in the final weekend but it won't count toward the standings. Figured some teams would try this.

Any chance in your opinion that USM and UAB would do that? I imagine it will be difficult to find an OOC opponent the last weekend of the season. I realize we are in all likelihood playing them as a CUSA series already but since we are playing La Tech twice why not another school.

Seems possible. But as of now, Berry is looking for a non-con that weekend.

http://collegebaseballinsider.com/2021-open-dates/

(06-30-2020 05:42 PM)FAU Connoisseur! Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-30-2020 03:57 PM)EagNBran Wrote: [ -> ]I believe we will be, especially with the projections of a December/January vaccine.

The anti-vaxxers will doom us all.

Big Pharma is set to spend nearly $10B in marketing this year alone, so of course they are going to rush out a "cure" as soon as possible.

With how much of my tax dollars have gone to fund their vaccine research, I'm not happy at the projected $3,000 price tag on it. That junk should be cheap for how much the people have already given.

clt says the unt fans need to participate in this chat page

3 C-USA signees in the top 70. Including two in the top 25.

https://www.perfectgame.org/rankings/Pla...gyear=2020

Top freshmen for 2021 ranked by Perfect Game. Couple C-USA guys highly ranked.

https://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/Vie...icle=18714

3) Mario Zabala, FIU
5) Slade Wilks, Southern Miss
39) Steven Ondina, FIU
61) Nolan Schanuel, FAU
111) Caleb Pendleton, FAU
118) Kenneth Lavari, Old Dominion
161) Dante Giradi, FIU
213) Jalen DeBose, FAU
282) Adrian Figueroa, FIU
436) Hurston Waldrep, Southern Miss
452) Darryl Buggs, UAB
456) Lujames Groover III, Charlotte
462) Turner Stepp, WKU
467) Michael Latulas, Southern Miss
472) Alexander Hughes, Charlotte

The folks in Ruston are pretty fired up about this upcoming baseball season. We have a lot coming back and two highly recruited kids coming to the program soon. Not to mention a brand new stadium that has been prepped to accommodate a regional if we are ever so lucky. I think both the fans and the administration are going all in on baseball from here on out.

D1 had a recent feature on the Niners pitching staff spending the summer at P3 in St Louis.

https://d1baseball.com/featured/charlott...velopment/


Here are some nuggets that were tweeted out from the D1 article if you don't have a sub:

– The @CharlotteBSB 3 pitching staff has seen major gains this fall after sending 18 pitchers to train at an out-of-state private facility in the summer — part of a bold year-round pitching development plan. #D1Baseball

–Robert Woodard started implementing his bold vision for player development from day one of his tenure as @CharlotteBSB’s head coach. And that’s not just a figure of speech.

–“I just always try to look at things from the lens of, if I was an 18-year-old kid who’s a pitcher, the way P3 and Driveline train pitchers — that’s what I would want to be doing.” ?????? ???????

– Charlotte’s pitching staff has seen major gains this fall after sending 18 pitchers to train at the P3 facility in St. Louis — part of a bold year-round pitching development plan.

– --“When I watched, 8 pitchers saw action, and all of them touched 91+. That doesn’t mean they’re finished products — there were plenty of deep counts, and Woodard acknowledged that there’s a lot of work to be done in terms of refining command & pitchability”

– Bryce McGowan has the best stuff of them all. A year ago at this time, he sat 90-92 and topped out at 94 with his FB. On Saturday, he attacked the zone at 94-95 for 2 innings and topped out at 96, flashing an above-average spin rate up to 2400 rpm.

– “@CharlotteBSB is hitting the JUCO ranks hard, an effort spearheaded by recruiting coordinator @coachbick42, whose connections in the Midwest have already proven fruitful.”

– “Woodard also thinks [@WSCCbaseball] transfer Dillion Phillips could factor into the rotation mix; he sat 90-92 and bumped 93 from a high slot, mixing in a solid 79-81 slider with tight spin (up to 2605 rpm) and flashing a promising changeup at 80-82.”

–For many [@CharlotteBSB] pitchers, the new training regimen was a revelation…

– “As soon as I started cleaning up my movement patterns & moving more efficiently, I started to see jumps in my velocity, and I started feeling better the day after.” - McGowan

– “It’s special man,” Head Coach Robert Woodard said. “We have a blast every day we come into the offices; there are no days we don’t. I’m hopeful that our players can feel that energy when we get on the field."