Is baseball the sport HBCU's need to put first


SUjagTILLiDIE

SUjagTILLiDIE

Well-Known Member
I know its not a big revenue producing sport but I think this is the sport we can have the most sucess in. Baseball unlike football doesn't take that much money to compete at the highest level.Also it is easier to recruit top notch black athletes because most high profile teams over look blacks. Realistically I can see a HBCU going to the College World Series and winning the championship. Look at how Southern has had 24 players drafted over the last three seasons. In my opinion Southern's 03 team could have won the whole thing if they would have had more pitching. I saw Lsu team that made it to the world series that year and Southern's team by far was the more talented team.
 
As a whole HBCUs need better pitching. The next largest area of concern is fielding. I think for a lot of HBCUs (especially mine right now) don't even try to be competitive. They just try to keep up with Title IX. I don't think we need to put baseball #1 on the list, solely based on a financial standpoint alone, but we need to be just as competitive in this sport as we are in our revenue sports. Wealthy alumni (particularly pro athletes) can give back in a big way to the university.
 

we are one of the top teams in the SWAC and we've only been offering ships for 2 years and the coaching staff is in their third year....it does not take much - especially if your in a hot area.

problem is though...the quality blacks are hard to find but when found, HBCUs are all over them but it comes down like you said to pitching and there aren't many blacks throwing nasty, 90 mph curves.

some folks have said that was the best HBCU team ever and you still saw the pitching depth outside the SWAC....unless Cador recruits more non-blacks, it's going to be hard to consistently break the mold when it comes to pitching...

Valley has basically sold its program out with whites but gets white athletes who are no better than black athletes.
 
the band fan said:
we are one of the top teams in the SWAC and we've only been offering ships for 2 years and the coaching staff is in their third year....it does not take much - especially if your in a hot area.

problem is though...the quality blacks are hard to find but when found, HBCUs are all over them but it comes down like you said to pitching and there aren't many blacks throwing nasty, 90 mph curves.

some folks have said that was the best HBCU team ever and you still saw the pitching depth outside the SWAC....unless Cador recruits more non-blacks, it's going to be hard to consistently break the mold when it comes to pitching...

Valley has basically sold its program out with whites but gets white athletes who are no better than black athletes.
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You didn't see the 03 team play. You should have saw them play. I swear our outfield that year could have won the swac 4x100. Our whole lineup except for the leadoff hitter could hit for power and all of them were very, very fast. All of our outfielders had cannons for arms. You don't know the feeling of having a school like LSU not wanting to reschedule a game, that was rained out in the 4th, because they knew they were going to lose. They played Loyola(Naia) instead. Or even better yet the feeling of having those country hicks in Hattesburg talking all that noise before the game and having their team held to 2 hits and beat on their own field during the regionals. Those are moments I will never forget every in my life.
 
I saw the 03 team play but when you got to Baylor....what happened? Southern Miss then turned the tables in game 3..pitching depth

like the guy on the other board said...that was the best HBCU team we'll see in quite some time....and they still had some holes
 
The only holes was pitching depth. Southern should have won the game against Baylor. SU had a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh when a error here, a walk here and a bad pitch there did them in. SU loaded the bases in the 8th and 9th but didn't score enough runs in the end. Against Southern Miss I think the team was dejected after the loss to Baylor and it showed . They knew the only chance they had to win the regional was to stay in the winners bracket.
 
again....pitcing depth...if that team didn't have the depth....it's going to be hard to even get close to that staff...and that staff was pretty good
 
The staff SU have know is a better staff. Coach Cador said it himself on Jaguar Journal. Now they have no one that can compare to Dewan Day but after him I will take the current staff. They are very deep.
 
Bayless? I don't know.....

Pena is consistent, Kirk I think might have the best stuff and Given is fine with run support.

the other staff had confidence but I could agree with you that they had a better hitting lineup to make life much easier.

This SU offense makes the pitchers work harder than ever
 
how could you not be confident when your team leads the NCAA in batting average and runs scored. Plus the swac is a much better overall conference now. Southern only had to worry about J-State back then. Now you have 2 teams in the west and Valley in the east to worry about.
 
I agree that pitching depth caught up with us in 2003. I believe even though Coach Cador is a veteran and excellent coach, he learned something from that experience. Life is a learning experience. The trick is capitalizing on those experiences. I believe that he has (learned more from the experience) and will (capitalize).
 
When you talk to your baseball players, ask them if they see pitchers throwing certain pitches they haven't seen before. There are a few illegal picthes that a lot of good picthers know how to throw. Some batters will not admit seeing these picthes because they are ashamed to say that they could not hit the ball.
 
MightyDog said:
When you talk to your baseball players, ask them if they see pitchers throwing certain pitches they haven't seen before. There are a few illegal picthes that a lot of good picthers know how to throw. Some batters will not admit seeing these picthes because they are ashamed to say that they could not hit the ball.
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This may have been true back in Negro League days..:lmao:

But back to the topic at hand, I don't see HBCUs becoming baseball powers. There are just too few quality black players for this to happen. Unlike other sports, baseball players have to be schooled in the finer points almsot from grade school. You can't just get by being a great athlete. Until they start targeting more black youths at an early age, the pool of players will never be deep enough. And you can forget about luring foriegn players. The majors grab these guys as young as age 16.
 
Baseball and softball are 2 of our top sports in the SWAC now. We are competitive with the best of them. There are 7 in the conference teams that can compete with anyone out there.

1 thing that helps baseball is the ability to transfer w/out sitting out a year. I
don't see that staying much longer since the "power" conferences are
gaining much revenue in this sport.

Pitching is a concern with our schools. Another issue is the interest in
the sport from our youngsters. Everyone wants to be on 'street ball'.
 
No. To be perfectly honest, the SWAC should put basketball first, cut the football coaches salaries and give it to the mens and womens basketball coaches salaries and recruiting budgets.
 

JSU/99 said:
This may have been true back in Negro League days..:lmao:

But back to the topic at hand, I don't see HBCUs becoming baseball powers. There are just too few quality black players for this to happen. Unlike other sports, baseball players have to be schooled in the finer points almsot from grade school. You can't just get by being a great athlete. Until they start targeting more black youths at an early age, the pool of players will never be deep enough. And you can forget about luring foriegn players. The majors grab these guys as young as age 16.
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You will be surprise at what you will find once you start paying attention.
 
Two major components that are advantages for non BCS member programs are the 11.4 scholarship limitation and the weather element involved in Southern and Western state programs versus Eastern and Midwestern state programs.
 
As much as I love baseball, In the SWAC, football, basketball and then baseball should be the priorities. The revenue in SWAC football is a no-brainer. I don't think the SWAC or the invidual universities have marketred themselves well enough to receive that block buster deal. How can you lead the NCAA in attendance and still don't have abundant national exposure?

For basketball, there is too much much $$$ to be gained by the universities for regional appearances in basketball. The athletes are plenty, all you need are better quality coaches. (Of course better marketing deals wouldn't require schools to pimp there teams for revenue.)

Baseball could be a revenue generator but not as much as the two other sports. (or at least not until you get more Rickie Weeks and Michael Woods). Baseball is still a top three sport in SWAC territory. These programs need more funding to support at least three full-time coaches and a respectible recruiting budget. I'm quite sure with the staff and recruiting options, baseball programs will improve and the recognition will continue to grow.
 
SUjagTILLiDIE said:
I know its not a big revenue producing sport but I think this is the sport we can have the most sucess in..
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I personally think that TRACK AND FIELD is the sport that the SWAC can have the most sucess.
 
You don?t need to throw a 90 mph fastball to be a great or effective pitcher, what you need is a full knowledge of your craft.

What I see as a problem for all hbcu pitchers is their lack of knowledge of their craft.

They need to learn how to pitch to hitters.

Examples: If a batter tends to over swing you need to have a good off speed pitch that moves (down preferably)

If he tends to under swing over power him with a good fast ball (not your best)

If you have a 0-2 count don't throw the ball over the plate you have two pitches to waste, make him swing at a bad pitch.

If he tends to pull the ball throw it on the outside

Develop the same motion with all his pitches

"NEVER" put his pitches in the same location to a batter
 
bluedog said:
You don?t need to throw a 90 mph fastball to be a great or effective pitcher, what you need is a full knowledge of your craft.

What I see as a problem for all hbcu pitchers is their lack of knowledge of their craft.

They need to learn how to pitch to hitters.

Examples: If a batter tends to over swing you need to have a good off speed pitch that moves (down preferably)

If he tends to under swing over power him with a good fast ball (not your best)

If you have a 0-2 count don't throw the ball over the plate you have two pitches to waste, make him swing at a bad pitch.

If he tends to pull the ball throw it on the outside

Develop the same motion with all his pitches

"NEVER" put his pitches in the same location to a batter
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If they can do all that, bluedog, they ain't going to nobody's college. But I do agree that our pitchers need to have better command and control of their pitches. I hate seeing an 0-2 pitch right over the heart of the plate. And as often as we play each other, scouting reports is a must. Pitchers should know what a guy can/can't hit, and what fields he hits to.
 
Robber said:
If they can do all that, bluedog, they ain't going to nobody's college. But I do agree that our pitchers need to have better command and control of their pitches. I hate seeing an 0-2 pitch right over the heart of the plate. And as often as we play each other, scouting reports is a must. Pitchers should know what a guy can/can't hit, and what fields he hits to.
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Well robber I knew all those things but I still played college ball and in the sugar cane league. :emlaugh: (yeah I know I?m dating myself), but I hadn?t perfected my skills at that point.

In college you don?t need to be perfect at it just knowledgably enough to stay ahead of the batters
 
Robber,

I agree. Side Note: I think as we get older we tend to over simplify how difficult it is to be mentally and physically average at most sports. If it was truly that simple more of us would be professional athletes or at least trade our present careers in to be successful coaches. I think it is just the nature of fans and why we love they game(s).
 
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