Bearkats Are Tournament Bound
by Cheval John
There’s always a first time for everything.
For the Sam Houston State (SHSU) Bearkat baseball team, it couldn’t come at a better time.
After coming up short in the Southland Conference (SLC) Baseball Post-Season Tournament in the semifinals against eventual champion, University Of Texas-Arlington, they received an at-large bid to the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
It will be the seventh time that the Bearkats will participate in the tournament in their 26 years of competition at the NCAA Division I level.
The last six appearances were results of winning post-season tournaments in the Gulf Star Conference (1987) and SLC (1996, 2007, 2008, 2009).
The latter did not hold a post-season tournament until 1992.
The Bearkats, under first year head coach David Pierce, compiled an overall record of 38-20 and an SLC record of 24-9.
In the process, they won the SLC regular season title for the first time since 1989.
Everything went right for them this past season as their Rate Percentage Index (RPI) was 49th in the country.
The NCAA baseball selection committee uses this formula to choose who would get one of the 34 at-large bids for the tournaments.
The rest of the slots are filled with teams that have won either their respective conference regular season titles or post-season titles.
The majority of the bids goes to teams who are members these conferences depending on if they have a winning record and a higher RPI: Big Ten, Pacific 12 (PAC 12), Southeastern Conference (SEC), Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 12, and the Big East.
Teams from a mid-major conferences like the Southland Conference have an opportunity to get in if they have won their respective post-season tournament because their RPI is normally low in the rankings.
The Bearkats, however, was ranked 49th in RPI because of competition against top ranked RPI teams like Baylor (#4), Texas A&M (#8), Rice (#11), Dallas Baptist (#22) and San Diego (#28).
They also won the majority of their conference series that included three straight weekend sweeps that began with last year’s defending SLC regular season and post-season champs Texas State.
Their only series loss would come against, you guess it, UTA.
The Kats have come a long way this year because with three returning starters and a new head coach, they were projected to finish sixth in the SLC and now they are heading to the NCAA tournament.
The Bearkats begin tournament play on Friday at 1 p.m. against the University of Arkansas in the Houston regional hosted by Rice University.
Here is a video of the reaction of the Bearkat Baseball Players receiving the news of their at-large bid.
Winds of Change
by Cheval John
With the 2012 Southland Conference (SLC) Baseball Tournament winding down this weekend in San Marcos, one could wonder what the future holds for the conference.
Almost two years ago, Texas State University-San Marcos (TXST), University of Texas-Arlington (UTA) and University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) informed SLC Commissioner Tom Burnett that they were departing the conference effective July 1.
Though their destination was the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in the beginning, each university had second thoughts because they did not know if the conference was going to be there in the future.
Suddenly, UTSA changed their minds and said that they will join Conference USA on July 1.
UTA followed their lead and will leave for the Sun Belt Conference on July 1.
TXST on the other hand will keep their commitment to the WAC on July 1.
The twist to all of this is that they will be a member for only a year before joining the Sun Belt in 2014.
The irony in all of this is that they left a solid conference, like the SLC for a conference that probably will not be there in the future and that put them in a situation in which they had to scramble to be in a conference before July 1.
Commissioner Burnett was not rattled by their decision as he immediately sought for replacements.
After the delegation visited Oral Roberts (ORU) and Houston Baptist University early last year, the commissioner made a formal invitation to both the universities to join the conference and both gladly accepted.
ORU will join effective July 1 of this year to compete in all sports except football because they don’t have a football team while Houston Baptist joining the following year.
In the process, they have fielded a football team that will begin athletic competition in 2014.
ORU have been dominant in the Summit League over the years as their basketball team have made a couple of appearances in the NCAA basketball tournament.
The acquisitions of both those schools increases the possibility of future expansion for the Southland Conference.
In addition, both schools will not have to travel as far as New York for in- conference competition because members of the SLC are within an driving distance between 3-8 hours of each other.
That alone will save the athletics department money while the other three schools that left will now have to expand their budget to accomodate to their travels because of distance of each school in both the Sun Belt and Conference USA.
In the end, the SLC got the last laugh.
Poetic Justice
by Cheval John
It’s official, Chelsea F.C are the 2011-12 UEFA Champions.
What was supposed to have been a down year became the most remarkable turnaround in sports history.
At the UEFA finals in Munich, they defeated Bayern Munich in penalty kicks by the score of 4-3, in front of their own fans.
For Bayern Munich, this was a home game that happened to be the second biggest game in soccer history.
The turnaround began in March when they named Roberto Di Matteo as their interim head coach and things started to go for them.
What’s more remarkable about this is that they defeated Barcelona in an away game to make it to the final.
The reason why I mentioned this is because three years ago, the same Barcelona team, who were the eventual champion, went to Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea, defeated them in aggregate goals when the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
Many people remember that game as contreversial because they were calls in the game that could have gone Chelsea’s way, but didn’t.
One instance, with Chelsea leading 1-0, Michael Ballack shot the ball toward the goal inside the penalty box and a defender, purposely stuck his hand in the air to prevent the shot.
In soccer, you cannot use your hands and if you are caught doing it when in the penalty area, then a penalty shot is awarded.
The referee saw it, but did not award the penalty shot, keeping Barcelona hopes alive.
They would take advantage of that opportunity in stoppage time when Andres Iniesta blasted a shot that went past goalie, Petr Cech that gave them the needed goal to tie the game and win the match in aggregate to move on in the final.
Chelsea had an opportunity at redemption last April when they faced Barcelona in the second leg of the semifinals at Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona, Spain.
With Barcelona leading the match 2-1 and the aggregate tied at 2-2, Fernando Torres, who was wide open at mid-field, received the pass and went the distance, made a great move on goalie Victor Valdes, and scored the decisive goal in a wide opened net to break the hearts of the Barcelona faithful.
Chelsea showed perseverance and grace when things didn’t go their way and proved to the world that good things come to those who wait and in the end, they got their “poetic justice.”
Rice Gets Revenge On The Bearkats
by Cheval John
Earlier in the season, the Sam Houston State Bearkats went to the home field of Rice Owls and defeated them by the score of 2-1.
With the rematch here at SHSU, the Bearkats were looking to sweep the season series against the Owls and make a case to the Selection Committee for an at-large bid in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, just in case they didn’t win the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament next week.
The Bearkats (34-17), who clinched the SLC regular season title on Sunday, did not accomplished the task as the Owls got their revenge and defeat the Bearkats by the score of 5-0.
“There’s a chance our RPI will get better after playing this game,” head coach David Pierce said. “We benefit tremendously if we win, but I don’t think it hurts our chances at all.”
The Owls (37-13) was looking to strike in the top of the first when Michael Fuda hit a lined single to left field that would have scored Ford Stainback from second. who led the game off with a walk.
However, Stainback was thrown out at home to avoid any damage.
It remained scoreless for two more innings before the Owls finally broke through in the top of the fourth inning when Perrott rip a single past third baseman Kevin Miller and shortstop Corey Toups that scored J. T. Chargois from third to make it 1-0.
The Bearkats had an opportunity to tie it in the bottom of the fourth when Miller hit a single to left field, but was picked off at first to extinguished the rally.
The Owls exploited that mistake and opened up the flood gates starting with Stringer’s two-out, two run single in the top of the sixth inning to tack on to their lead to 3-0.
They added two more runs in the top of the eight inning to increase their lead to 5-0.
The Bearkats best chance came in the bottom of the eight when Greg Olson led off with a single to right field.
Toups was hit by a pitch with one out to add more base runners. Colt Atwood followed with a walk to load the bases.
However, reliever Tyler Duffey strike out Plucheck and got Miller to fly out to end the threat.
Starting pitcher Andrew Benak went 7 2/3 innings and got his seventh win of the season while Dickson suffered his fourth loss of the season.
The Bearkats will finish the regular season on the road when they face the University of Central Arkansas this weekend.
Remembering Our Heroes
by Cheval John
People hear this advice in many forms, “Be thankful for what you have,” even if things are not going your way.
The advice rings true because of the sacrifice that soldiers make on a daily basis to preserve our freedom.
Have you ever thought of what would happen if they decided, “I am not going to serve in the army, navy, marines, etc. but I am going to pursue what I want to be happy.
Then we would not have the freedom to do what we take for granted, like choosing what to watch, were to go to school, were to worship, etc.
They made up their minds to serve our country.
Some were assigned in war zones to make sure that no threat would come on the shores of the United States.
But, some would not return to see their love ones as they pay the ultimate price to preserve our freedoms.
And for those who were wounded, they would have to go through rehabilitation in order to get back to health.
They even go through therapy because they have recurring nightmares of the battles that they went through and have to live with for the rest of their lives.
So, on this memorial day and frankly, everyday, lets remember those who gave their lives for our freedom and to thank those who are currently serving in the arm forces.
That is what we can truly be thankful for.
Here is a video from God Divine of a soldier receiving a warm welcome from her golden retriever after a tour of duty from Afghanistan on this link: http://www.godvine.com/Mommy-and-Doggy-Reunite-After-a-Year-Apart-343.html
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