Patriots and Tornados get titles in ASC

By Ralph Turner for D3baseball.com

American Southwest Conference (ASC):  2011 was another wild and crazy year for the ASC.  Top 25 teams, a 20-game win streak to start the season, another hotly-contested race for the fourth conference tourney bid in the ASC-West and All-American performances were the dominant stories this season.  Second seed Texas-Dallas hosted the conference finals, where Concordia-Texas pitched some gems to earn the Pool A bid.

ASC East

ASC-East Regular season champion:  Texas-Tyler
ASC-East Position Player of the Year:  Justin Marks, Louisiana College
ASC-East Pitcher of the Year: Chad Sherman, Texas-Tyler
ASC-East Newcomer of the Year: Garrett Methvin, LeTourneau
ASC-East Freshman of the Year: Cole Prejean, Louisiana College
ASC-East Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year: Ryan Yezak, East Texas Baptist

Texas-Tyler's Chad Sherman was a D3baseball.com All-American in 2011. Texas-Tyler athletics photo

East Division Tri-Coaching Staffs of the Year:
LeTourneau (Robin Harriss, Aaron Gentry);
Louisiana College (Mike Byrnes, Matt Byrnes, James Halle, Andrew Shelton);
Texas-Tyler (Paul Wyczawski, Josh Dickerson, Paige Hodges)

Texas-Tyler (33-8; 14-4): A favorable divisional schedule and a 3-game sweep of Texas Lutheran in the crossover series allowed Texas-Tyler to move out to a 22-0 record and a No 3 ranking in the D3baseball.com Top 25 in the fourth week. First year head coach Paul Wyczawski’s Patriots won their 5th straight East Division title to earn the #1 seed and host McMurry in opening round. McMurry beat the Patriots 6-4 (13) and 5-4 to eliminate Texas-Tyler from the ASC tourney. The Patriots in-region won-loss percentage helped earn a Pool C (at large) bid to the NCAA Regional in Abilene, TX.  The Patriots drew ultimate NCAA runner-up Chapman in the first round and lost to the Chapman All-American sophomore RHP Brian Rauh, 7-0.  In the second game, Texas-Tyler lost to Linfield, 6-3. Chad Sherman RHP (W-L 8-1; ERA 1.49; 72.2 IP; 57K; BAA .210.) was named third team D3baseball.com All-American.

Texas-Dallas (29-19, 11-7): Texas-Dallas held the tie-breakers among the tri-runners-up in the ASC-East. With McMurry’s elimination of Texas-Tyler, the Comets hosted the ASC Tourney Finals. An interesting fact about the ASC Tourney semi-finals was that all four visitors won on opening day. Texas-Dallas swept Louisiana College 1-0, 6-0 on the last day of the regular season to lock in the #2 seed.

Louisiana College athletics photo

Louisiana College (26-17; 11-7): Louisiana College (#3 ASC-East seed) was led by third team All-American Justin Marks (BA .340, 55 RBIs, FLD% .990). It was the Wildcats sixth appearance in the ASC Post-season tourney in 7 years. The Widlcats beat Concordia-Texas 3-1 in the first game, but lost the doubleheader on Saturday to bow out of the tourney.

Mississippi College (24-18; 11-7): Mississippi College was the ASC-East #4 seed, but the Choctaws season will be long remembered for the most improbable Game #3 in ASC-Tourney semi-finals against Hardin-Simmons. After completing the first day sweep by the visitors in the 2011 semi-finals on day one, a 14-12 win in 10 innings, the Choctaws lost 8-6 in game two. Game three went 14 innings for the Hardin-Simmons win, 12-11. More later about that game. Early season pitching woes hurt the Choctaws, but head coach Brian Owens’ team finished strong by going 9-3 in the last 12 games of division play.

East Texas Baptist (14-26, 7-11) got off to a slow start but finished with 4 wins in the last five games including winning the Texas-Dallas series. The Fred Jacoby Sportsmanship Award went to 1B senior Ryan Yezak (BA .373, 57 Hits, 36 RBIs, FA .993). The good news for Tiger fans is that they return 4 pitchers who started 35 of 38 games in 2011.

LeTourneau (19-21, 7-11): LeTourneau began the season by splitting 4-game set in mid February with the Whitworth Pirates from Spokane, WA in Longview. Head coach Robin Harriss and assistant Aaron Gentry and improved the ASC-East record 7-11 from 2-16 in 2010 to earn the “Tri-coaching staff of the year” honors  In fact, the Yellow Jackets went 4-5 against the trio of division runners-up which should bring optimism for the 2012 season.The player to watch in 2012 should be Garrett Methvin (LHP/1B) who batted .372 and had a won loss record of 5-3 and ERA 2.40.

Ozarks (8-32, 2-16): Ozarks fell upon hard times this season. Two seasons out from their most recent appearance in the ASC tourney, the Eagles had a front-loaded schedule that saw them play Berry, Millsaps, Simpson (IAAC), Texas Lutheran, Concordia-Texas, Texas-Dallas and Texas-Tyler. The bright spot was winning the mythical Arkansas D-III State Championship by defeating Hendrix 3 games to 1.

ASC-West

Regular season co-champions: Hardin-Simmons, Concordia-Texas
ASC-West Position Player of the Year: Collin Janssen, Concordia-Texas
ASC-West Pitcher of the Year: Colin Butschek, Concordia-Texas
West Division Newcomer of the Year: James Simmons, Hardin-Simmons
West Division Freshman of the Year: Cody Jarboe, Hardin-Simmons
West Division Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year: Josh Fredrick, Mary Hardin-Baylor
West Division Coaching Staff of the Year: Hardin-Simmons (Steve Coleman and Brad Holcomb)

Brian Weeks set the hits record for Hardin-Simmons in 2011. Hardin-Simmons athletics photo

Hardin-Simmons (31-14, 15-6): The Cowboys  earned the #1 seed in the ASC-West by beating Concordia-Texas in Austin. Led by D3baseball.com second team All-American Troy Tarrant (BA .411, 69 Hits, 51 RBI), the Cowboys started strong and won 6 of the 7 division series. Coaches Steve Coleman and Brad Holcomb brought in a strong battery with RHP James Simmons and catcher Cody Jarboe. The most memorable, albeit inelegant,  game of the season may be game three of the ASC tourney semi-finals with Mississippi College. Hardin-Simmons scored three in the bottom of the 9th to tie at 6-6. The teams scored none in the 10th, one in the 11th, 2 in the 12th, 2 in the 13th. HHardin-Simmons' Troy Tarrant finally plated the winning run in Jay Hiller with a double to left field to pull out the 12-11 win to move to the ASC tourney finals. 

Concordia-Texas (32-17, 15-6): Concordia-Texas returned to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2002 by winning the ASC tournament. Led by both the ASC-West Player and Pitcher of the Year, the Tornados went to Arizona in February and lost to Linfield 17-4. In the rematch, former Texas Ranger/Atlanta Brave Concordia-Texas head coach Tommy Boggs beat former New York Yankee Linfield head coach Scott Brosius 5-2 in the NCAA West Regional first round, 5-2. The Tornados were eventually eliminated by Chapman.

Texas Lutheran (24-19,13-8): Texas-Lutheran was the pre-season favorite to win the West. Led by junior RHP Brad Orosey (W-L  4-1; GS 11; ERA 2.60; 72.2 IP, BAA .229) pitched gallantly, but could not get the decisions to match the quality of pitching he showed. As with all of the other visitors, Texas Lutheran beat Texas-Dallas in the ASC Semi-final opener, but lost the series on the second day.

McMurry (17-27, 11-10): A young McMurry team started out slowly against competition including NCAA Finalist Chapman, and 10 games against ASC tourney foes. To show the parity that is the ASC-West, the difference in McMurry’s season and the War Hawks earning the #4 seed was winning the series at 5th place Howard Payne, 2 games to 1, in early April. Coach John Byington brought the team around to knock off Texas-Tyler in Tyler in the ASC Tourney semi-finals.

Howard Payne (15-20, 10-11): Howard Payne almost returned the ASC tournament. Had the Yellow Jackets won the McMurry series, they would have clinched the fourth spot on the ASC West. Led by junior Jordan Hammontree (.375, 48 hits) and senior Taylor Zambreski (.357, 45 hits) and freshman Corey Howie (4-1, ERA 1.56, and 2 saves) the Yellow Jackets finished strong with a 3-game sweep over Schreiner.

Mary Hardin-Baylor has removed the Interim tag from head coach Derek Dunaway, giving Dunaway the job on a full-time basis. Mary Hardin Baylor athletics photo

Mary Hardin-Baylor (19-20, 9-12): The Crusaders started strong, playing Texas-Tyler tough in the opening weekend, and earning a road series win over #15 Mississippi College.  UMHB had the hard road series this year and were swept by McMurry and Concordia-Texas but took the Texas Lutheran series 2-1 in interim head Coach Derek Dunaway’s inaugural season. Coach Dunaway was awarded the head coaching job after a fine season and should build on the season’s successes. Catching McMurry, Texas Lutheran and Concordia-Texas at home next season will be much more favorable division schedule.

Sul Ross State (14-21, 7-14): Sul Ross State showed a strong early season with winning 5 games of 6 from LeTourneau and Loiusiana College. The highlight of the season may have been when the Lobos bounced back from a sweep at the hands of Howard Payne to sweep the series in Seguin from Texas Lutheran, a feat that is unprecedented in the collective memory of both teams’ fans. The “watch list” should include first team All-ASC sophomore 3B Brennyn Smith (BA .417 63 hits, 32 RBI’s).

Schreiner (8-29, 4-17): Shcreiner can look at the high points of the season an build on the knowledge that they are within striking distance of the strong clubs in this part of the country. The Mountaineers took the McMurry series in late March and then came back in late April to beat Trinity 8-7 in a mid-week game for both teams, First team All-ASC Sophomore catcher Chase Valdez had a stellar year (BA .398, 53 hits, 35 RBIs, .973 FA) and is also on the 2012 watch list.