Covering Your Bases

It's been a longer gap than normal, so let's get caught up on what we have to SHOUT about today...

The BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP has arrived! That's right--play begins this afternoon from the minor league park in Danville, VA (Liberty University is the host school). The Tuesday "A-B" games will eliminate two of the four lowest seeds right out of the gate, with the highest four seeds waiting on the winners to join them in the double-elimination phase of the tournament that starts Wednesday morning. If it seems confusing, get your hands on a bracket (available here) to sort it out.

Game A has #6 Radford facing #7 Charleston Southern.

Game B has #5 High Point against #8 UNC Asheville.

For Wednesday, Game 1 (11am) has #1 Coastal Carolina--the regular season champions (pictured)--taking on the lowest surviving seed from the Tuesday games.

Game 2 (3pm) has #2 Liberty--the host team--playing the highest surviving seed of Tuesday's competition.

The third game of the day for Wednesday sees #3 VMI and #4 Winthrop go head-to-head.

From there it's three more games on Thursday and three on Friday to set up the concluding Saturday with one or two games (as needed) to determine the 2008 Big South Conference Baseball Champion.

And yes, each and every game can be seen on The Big South EDGE--order the tournament by the day or get the full event for one affordable price! The Baseball Championship games are the only events left on the 2007-08 streaming schedule.

Meanwhile...

Winthrop defeated Liberty to win the softball title last week, earning a spot in the NCAA and the loaded Knoxville Regional: Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Louisville--and the Lady Eagles got K-O'd in K-ville for the second year in a row.

17 of 18 Big South Champs have been crowned, with Liberty holding 8, Coastal and Winthrop each with 3, and one each for Radford, High Point, and Charleston Southern. That leaves just VMI and UNCA without a crown for the season and only one remaining to fight for now...of the two, VMI would seemingly have the better chance, coming from the 3-seed slot while UNCA would need to climb from the disadvantageous 8-seed position. The Keydets have never owned a Big South Championship in any sport, so they're trying to reverse a significant trend.

What do you think about the last championship of the year?

Vote your selection in the Big South SHOUT poll, running through Saturday!

Another SHOUT coming your way soon...

Anything but "Soft"

This morning's post comes to you from the press box at Winthrop University's Terry Field, where I'm perched up high right now, watching Charleston Southern and Liberty play the first elimination game of this tournament.

Yes, it's the Big South Conference Softball Championship--and I have to tell you, this is really good stuff. "Softball" may conjur up images of the company picnic for some folks, but if you have had only limited contact with the collegiate game before now, give it a chance (you can watch every game of the tourney on The Big South EDGE--or if you're anywhere near Rock Hill, SC, drop on in for some fun right here).

The competition has been impressive. On day one, Birmingham-Southern, playing as an associate member of the Conference only for softball this season, notched a win in the morning's opening game (BSC 2-1 over Liberty, Panthers star pitcher Bethney Reynoldson pictured)--only to drop a close one to the top-seeded host team in the afternoon (Winthrop 3-2 over BSC, WU outfielder and Big South Player of the Year Lisa Kingsmore pictured). Also on the first day of games, Coastal began with a victory (CCU 3-1 over CSU, Lady Chants home run hitter Verity Long-Droppert pictured)--then fell at the hands of the second seed in a hard-fought ballgame (Radford 5-3 over CCU, Highlanders pitcher and Big South Pitcher of the Year Ashley Taylor pictured).

Those results set the stage for the Friday slate of games--with five contests scheduled before this day of competition is done! LU/CSU is in the second inning as I type this entry, BSC/CCU is next, and each of those games will knock one team out of the running in this double-elimination tournament. The 3pm game should be a doozie, as Winthrop and Radford square off. Those squads have been the elite of the Conference this season--the All-Conference team consists of ONLY WU/RU players! One of them has to take a loss in the afternoon game, and that team will play Friday's nightcap against the winner of the early evening game (itself a battle between the winners of the day's first two contests, with the loser getting knocked out). Once all those games have been decided, we'll have two teams left standing. They will meet Saturday to decide (in either one or two games as needed) who earns this season's Big South Conference Championship. That's a lot to keep up with--which is what brackets are for.

I mentioned the games are being video streamed (like every championship this season except golf)--and I'm calling the play-by-play for all the games not involving Liberty. LU has radio coverage for the Flames' match-ups, so Vincent Briedis has the call for those games (great job Vince!). Nic Bowman from the Conference staff has joined me to provide some color commentary on our broadcasts (and to keep my voice from giving out with so many games in such a short span). Getting the two of us in the booth leads to a few laughs, so you may want to check it out for a chuckle while you watch the ballgames.

When the competition wraps up this weekend, that will leave only baseball with Conference games remaining for 2007-08. The baseball championship games will run May 20-24 in Danville, VA.

Well, gotta go--time to get ready for the next game!!!

Radford Announcement

Here's a quick breaking news tidbit for you...Radford is holding a news conference at 1pm today (Wed., 5/7) to announce the school's new women's basketball coach. The announcement will be streamed live on The Big South Edge--click here to get the link for the stream.

Big South Quick Hits...

***In our last post, we discussed the NFL Draft...of course we all know that's not the only way the pro teams build their rosters. As soon as the draft is over, it's free agent time--and three Big South players signed free agent deals with the hopes of latching on with a team. The players: Coastal Carolina's Mike Tolbert (FB, Chargers) and Liberty teammates Vince Redd (LB, Patriots) and Stephen Sene (OL, Rams). Good luck to one and all!

***This week featured a parade of coaches through the Big South's Charlotte offices--time for the annual meetings of the basketball coaches! The coaches all spent an afternoon (men's coaches on Wednesday, women's on Thursday) to discuss a variety of rules, policies, and ideas on how to keep hoops in the Big South growing and improving in the seasons to come. Meetings come with the territory--it can't all be fun and games...

***Some folks hear that May has arrived and run through thoughts of horse racing, auto racing, and playoffs in basketball or hockey, but for the Big South it's more like the "Big Finish": playing three days of games to crown a softball champion, holding five days of games to decide the baseball champion, and ending the month with the Conference Board of Administrators meetings (more planning, rules, policies, etc.)--culminating in the Hall of Fame Dinner to induct this year's class. Busy times!

***More great Big South baseball and softball this weekend--enjoy the games!!!

Do you feel a DRAFT...

...or is it just me?

Congratulations to two Big South football players who made the big leap to the pro ranks with this weekend's NFL Draft:

Jerome Simpson, Coastal Carolina WR, 2nd round (46th overall), Cincinnati Bengals,

& Brian Johnston, Gardner-Webb DE, 7th round (210th overall), Kansas City Chiefs.

Simpson has been electric his entire CCU career, with the ability to seemingly catch anything in his zip code. His selecton on day one of the draft weekend made him the second Big South Conference player ever taken in the draft--joining his former Chanticleers teammate Tyler Thigpen (CCU QB taken in the 7th round of the 2007 draft by the Vikings, Thigpen spent the 2007 season with the Kansas City Chiefs). Simpson climbed up the draft board thanks to impressive numbers at the NFL combine and went from "sleeper" selection to second-rounder! He should have room with the Bengals, who have become lighter at the receiver position due to releasing Chris Henry and playing a high-dollar staring contest with Pro Bowler Chad Johnson. Cincinnati grabbed one more WR in the 3rd round as insurance (Florida's Andre Caldwell), but Simpson is expected to have a great shot at significant playing time in his rookie season.

Johnston has played like a force of nature for the Runnin' Bulldogs on his way to All-American status two years running in the FCS (2007 consensus 1st team, 2006 2nd team A.P.). He joins a Kansas City squad lean at defensive end (only three on the roster--including Johnston), and therefore stands a good shot at getting plenty of downs to demonstrate his pass-rushing abilities. The Chiefs definitely saw the draft as a way to improve their defensive front, taking LSU's Glenn Dorsey with the fifth overall pick, but don't overlook the contribution GWU's star defender can make on that squad!

Some of you may be thinking--surely there have been more Big South players taken...well, yes and no. Liberty has had three players drafted in the last 20 years, for example, but not as a Big South football team at the time. Strictly speaking, this year's draft makes it three players taken from active/current Big South schools by NFL squads. If you're a real draft-crazed list person, you will LOVE what they did at USA Today: a database of all the picks for the last two decades, which you can break down by college, conference, NFL team, state, position, round, and more. And if you're looking for the stories from the National Football League itself, look no further than this link to the draft coverage.

By the way, that baseball series we talked about last time? Coastal took two out of three at VMI over the weekend to take the lead in the Big South "pennant race."

That's all for now...more SHOUT-outs on the way soon...

Big South "Pennant Racing"

If you've been paying attention to the Big South baseball standings lately, you know what a big weekend this is already--if not, here's the deal:

Coastal Carolina is 10-2 / 34-8,
VMI is 10-5 / 21-20,

and the Chanticleers and Keydets have a three-game series running today through Sunday.

With less than four weeks until the Conference Championship, the series will give one school a leg up--seeding is based strictly on the number of Big South wins. They have ten wins apiece coming in, but the winner of the series will be the first-place team coming out.

Friday's game is not being video streamed, but the weekend games are--check them out on The Big South Edge!

Meanwhile, the race in softball is not currently as close as the baseball chase--Winthrop holds first place at 11-1, with Radford sitting at second but well back at 7-2. Fewer games remain to decide that order: the tournament will be played May 8-10 (at Winthrop).

As for life in the Conference Office, not only are all the appropriate arrangements being handled for the remaining events of the current calendar, but attention is increasingly directed to plans, meetings, and publications for next year--the wheel keeps spinning!

COMMENT CONTEST ?!?! We are hoping more folks start reading SHOUT--and we'd also like to see some more comments from our readers. So here's the deal--enter a printable comment to this blog post and we'll send you your choice of a past Conference media guide, basketball tournament program, fan guide, or autographed photo of any Big South staff member! All rare prizes of little to no market value--what more could you ask for? Post now!

Championship Swing

Have you seen the rapid-fire awarding of Big South Championships over the past week?

It all started with Charleston Southern winning the 2008 Women's Golf Championship last week (CSU's first Conference crown this year)...

...then came four champions in one day--each won on the same campus! Winthrop hosted the championship tournament for tennis and the championship meet for outdoor track (both for men and women), so it was a busy weekend in Rock Hill:

Women's Tennis--Winthrop

Men's Tennis--Radford

Women's Outdoor Track & Field--Coastal Carolina

Men's Outdoor Track & Field--Liberty

Coming into today, that gave the Big South five different champions in a row--a streak broken with the 2008 Men's Golf Championship and first-place finisher Coastal Carolina.

Let's review...that's 16 of the 18 Big South Conference Championships awarded (with softball and baseball to complete the cycle in May). Of those 16, Liberty has won EIGHT, followed by three for Coastal, two for Winthrop, and one each for High Point, Radford, and Charleston Southern. Only VMI and UNC Asheville have yet to capture a title for themselves this academic/athletic calendar.

(Note from Mark B.: the original post lacked the team photos due to some Blogger upload error messages, but we were able to get them up the next day--thanks for your patience!)

Keep on reading SHOUT for more fun stories and don't forget to check out BigSouthSports.com for all your breaking Conference News!

Tennis Anyone?

Pardon the title cliche, but I'm at the Big South Conference Men's & Women's Tennis Championships and I couldn't help it.

I've been in the press box tower at the center of the Winthrop University Memorial Courts all day yesterday and today, overseeing--and voicing--the video streaming for The EDGE on BigSouthSports.com. I'll be back to do it all again for the finals on Saturday...hopefully the weather will smile on us here in Rock Hill (SC). We have had two picture-perfect days but the forecast has rain lurking for tomorrow. ***SCHEDULE NOTE: men's and women's matches will both begin at 9am on Saturday, a move precipitated by the potential precipitation!***

It's a really interesting week at the athletic complex here, with the men's and women's tournaments being played out at the 12-court tennis layout near the Winthrop Coliseum, and the New Balance Outdoor Track & Field Championships being staged a short distance away at Winthrop's track. Add in the tennis banquet on Wednesday night (which I emceed, fun stuff). Insert a pat on the back for Winthrop here for being able to host and handle so many championship events this year--men's soccer, tennis (m/w), outdoor track (m/w), and softball (next month), plus a first-round men's basketball game (adding in the banquets, programs, and assorted extras that go along with those events)...that's quite a year for the WU athletics department!

So let's talk tennis for a minute. On the men's side, top seed Radford got a first round bye and won in the second round to make it into the finals. The number one team advancing is naturally not surprising, but seeing they will play the 6-seed may raise an eyebrow or two. Host team Winthrop surprised the 3-seed (Charleston Southern) Thursday and the 2-seed Friday to enter the final (with a key to both wins coming from victories in the #3 slot for doubles--after going winless from the #3 position all season). If the Eagles can win it all, they would do so by beating # 3-2-1 in succession. Of course, the Highlanders have no intention of seeing that happen, so the stage is set for a fascinating final: the top seed vs. the host school.

The women's side started the same way, with top seed Winthrop earning a first round bye and winning once to make it into the finals...which in turn gives the Eagles a shot at two titles on the same day. Winthrop will face 3-seed Coastal Carolina, after CCU pulled off the amazing one-two punch of beating Liberty's previously undefeated first flight players in singles and doubles! That means the women's final is another installment in the classic Winthrop-Coastal rivalry.

Meanwhile, over at the track, Jon Hart of Liberty has been smashing records with his hammer (throw) and the competition has been fierce across the board--with one more day of finals to go in before the champions are crowned. Liberty's men and Coastal's women had the lead after Thursday's events.

While we've been staging track-and-tennis-palooza here, elsewhere in South Carolina the Big South Golf Championships are also happening...the women's title has already been claimed by Charleston Southern and the men's title is coming up in the next few days.

So catch your breath...whew...softball and baseball championships will be in May. The lineup just keeps on rolling in the Big South!

By the way, among the special events to watch for this weekend (in addition to these championships and the regular baseball and softball line-up): VMI lacrosse is on The Edge!

More to come--thanks for reading SHOUT!