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Well barring that the weather holds out UCA is scheduled to take on Delta St. for a 3 game series.

You never cease to amaze me.

UCA won game 1 of the 3 game series with Delta St. 8-7 off a Chris Davis walk off 2 run homerun in the bottom of the ninth!!

too bad they lost games 2 and 3 to Delta...3-1 and 5-1 respectively...

http://www.ucasports.com/sport.asp?action=news&sportid=7&article=1251

http://www.ucasports.com/sport.asp?action=news&sportid=7&article=1253

Looks like the pitching held up very well in this series and that all the games were close. I still have high hopes for the rest of the season from this bunch!

What was killing them all weekend was the fact that they left I think 28 runners on base in 3 games. Also whenever Andy Jackson pitches he never gets any run support. In his last 4 outings hes gotten a total of 4 runs. Hes not a bad pitcher its just when ever he pitches the bears are unable to score him any runs. Game one was as good a baseball game as I've ever seen. I heard game 2 was nothing to write home about as well as game 3. In game 3 the 4-9 hitters were a combined 2-16 with 3 walks, you aren't going to win very many ballgames when that happens. Things still look good for the bears even though they lost two games this weekend. They have shown that they are capable of putting alot of runs on the board and can hit and pitch with the best of them. They just need to get those timely hits with runners on base.

What they need to do is hit and pitch with the best of them at the same time.
It's almost as if there's some unwritten rule that if the pitcher is dealing, the batters have to take the day off. Likewise, if the pitcher is struggling, then it becomes the offense's duty to put up a mess of runs.

Out of 27 games and 17 victories, seven have been in convincing fashion. Of the 10 losses, six have come with allowing five runs or fewer.

Of those other four, only two were thorough beatdowns (6-0 to UNA and 8-1 to CBU).

So, basically, through 27 games the Bears have been in 25 of them. However, the opposition has been in a lot of them, too.

Now ... this is taking a decent chunk of the season, but still ... if you take away UCA's seven dominant victories, the Bears have been outscored 94-82 in the other 20 games. That's just over four runs per game scored and just under five allowed in going 10-10. Doesn't get much more even than that.

What this tells me is that the Bears have to do a better job of putting it all together on a consistent basis. They're very good -- they just don't play like it all the time. It's almost as if they're on the verge of really breaking out and being a force, but just keep getting tripped up.

so after 3 series we are 5-4 with the meat of the GSC schedule ahead of us, starting this week at OBU who is sitting 2nd in the West right now. Delta is the only team ahead of us in the standings that we do not face from here on out.

It would have been nice to sweep at least one of those other 2 series, CBU or HU, but it didnt happen, especially since the winning percentage will be off since we have played 3 more GSC games than OBU and Delta so far. That being said, I'm much happier with 2 out of 3 than losing the series.

I have a question about the offense of this squad...

Do they run a lot or have the capability to run to open up the offense more? Meaning do they start the runners, hit and run, bunt and run, squeeze, things of that nature to try to break it when they are struggling at times, or do they sit back and wait for the big innings and hope they happen?

king of the south is dead on. this team is under achieving due to a lack of consistency. Is the abscense of consistency due to lack of confidence and/or leadership? I dont know, but I do know its not due to lack of ability. The first game at Harding was a complete shellacking. Harding ran another average pitcher to the mound in game two and we did nothing offensively until the game was almost over and then put some hits together and won in the final frame. All right then, they proved to themselves that they can be whipped by this team that clearly lacks talent, so we were looking for the Bears to pick it up in game three on Sunday. Despite the Bears offensive woes, Harding was considerably worse off, hitting @ .220 with one bomb as a team coming into the series, with a single player over .300. Against totally average pitching, they did nothing on Sunday and lost a ballgame they should not have lost. Again.

Same story against Newman. Though Delta is clearly a more talented team than Harding or Newman, this UCA team could/should have taken two of three if not a sweep. Once the players understand that and believe it, things will change. They remind me of a little brother I knew who suffered beatings from his older brother well past the point where he had grown bigger and stronger.

Coach Clark runs an aggressive offense despite the fact that team speed is only average (maybe even low average). Not a lot of straight steals but plenty of runners starting with a swing or a bunt to cover, lots of delayed steal, double steal, small ball to move em over, etc. Nothing wrong with the game plan. Bear players have got to make it happen.

thanks sempt, I asked about the offensive philosophy because I havent gotten to watch a Coach Clark team but one time in person so far during his tenure and was curious to the style of ball he coached/preferred.

I am getting a pretty good idea about our team this season from King and sempt now. It sounds as if every game could be losable from a standpoint of attitudes or confidence no matter who we play from here on out unless something is changed or corrected from whatever source it needs to come from. Did I get a good read on that observation?

Every game is losable, but every game is just as winnable. It's maddening.

The talent, I think, is there. Maybe it's not though. Maybe it's just that they aren't seasoned enough to play at or near their highest level night-in, night-out. But when they're on they are a good team.

What I think is lacking, though, is "it". Whatever "it" may be. There doesn't seem to be much swagger or an overriding air of confidence. And, I don't profess to be some major expert on each of the players, but from my observation I haven't seen one guy who just takes command at all times - on the field or in the dugout.

Somebody who has been around the baseball team a little more than I might be able to verify/contradict that.

Anyway, I look at it as a positive thing that we're having this discussion on the team not playing to its potential while they sit nationally ranked and several games over .500.

Whether or not we're in the same boat a few weeks from now will say a lot.

You could not be more right. I do not think at anytime when I was at UCA the baseball team was ever ranked, and if they were, it wasn't for more than a week at a time. So this is really good thing to be discussing. I am more or less trying to get a feel for this team, since I never see them play. I have the opportunity to watch the football and basketball teams regularly enough to get a feel, but I'm not able to make as many baseball games as I would really like too. I hope that changes some day.

I do hope we can continue this conversation about a nationally ranked team for weeks to come. I remember when it was pretty big deal to make the conference tournament while I was at UCA, and now I am hoping they can get there this one last time since they have been once or twice since I got out of town.

King, Ive been around baseball a bunch and I've been around the Bears enough to know "It" is missing. May show up but its missing now. Good baseball teams, teams with confidence and swagger, beat the stink out of bad teams. When the Bears start doing that with more consistency than theyre doing it now, they'll win their share against the Delta's and SAU's of the world. I'm still betting these guys go to Millington.

And I also agree its a good thing that the Bears have a .600 plus winning percentage, are in and out of the national rankings, competing well in some games, all the while the concensus among the chatters here is that they are underachieving. If "it" shows up, look for them to go on a tear!

here is an article with no by line from this weekend's series, or more about how Sunday went down than anything.

This is another sign things have changed a bit, never when I was around were there mid-week articles much less with quotes about the baseball team or program...

http://www.thecabin.net/stories/032206/spo_0322060022.shtml