Baseball Roscoe Nance

MEAC Baseball No Easy Out for Non-Conference Foes

MEAC Baseball No Easy Out for Non-Conference Foes

By Roscoe Nance

Playing out of conference this season for MEAC baseball teams hasn't meant being outclassed.

Conference members have acquitted themselves well in nonconference competition and while registering a number of impressive victories in the process. Five of the conference's seven baseball playing members (Bethune-Cookman, 14; Delaware State, 13; Norfolk State 12, and North Carolina A&T and Florida A&M 11 each) have double-digit nonconference wins. Their showing, coaches say, is an indication of the strides baseball in the conference has made.

 "From what I've seen in our conference, and I talk about it all the time with coaches, all the schools still committed to baseball are all better than what they were 11 years ago,'' Delaware State coach JP Blandin, in his 11th season as coach of the Hornets. "They are working hard to put out the best team they can. It's not just us. All up and down the conference teams are getting better.''

 "You see the records across the board...,'' Bethune-Cookman coach Mervyl Melendez says, "You're seeing better quality teams. Therefore the matchups are better against nonconference opponents.''

MEAC teams have nonconference victories against teams from the SEC, Big Ten, Big East, Mid-American, Ivy League, America East, Colonial, Sun Belt, Patriot League, Ohio Valley, Atlantic Sun and Great West conferences.

"That bodes well for the conference,'' Norfolk State coach Claudell Clark says. "It builds credibility.''

It also improves the conference's RPI, the measure of team quality used by the NCAA tournament selection committee. The higher a team's RPI, the better its chances of being selected for the NCAA Tournament even if it doesn't win its conference tournament championship, which carries an automatic qualification. RPI is also a factor in determining where teams are seeded in the NCAA Tournament.

 "(Defeating nonconference opponents) is important for that reason alone,'' Melendez says. "It helps everyone. You want to be in the top 50 (in RPI). That gives you a better chance to compete once you get into postseason play. If you're in the top 50, you're going to get strong consideration (for the 64-team field). ''

MEAC teams' victory total in nonconference play is just one sign of the progress the conference has made in baseball. The manner in which opposing coaches approach games against MEAC teams is just as telling. They don't always use their No. 1 pitchers, preferring to throw them in conference games, but they realize they can't afford to use pitchers at the bottom of the rotation either and expect to win.

 "It depends on when you're playing them,'' Blandin says, noting that teams are more likely to use their top pitchers in early season contests in preparation for their conference schedule.

 Many nonconference contests are scheduled for midweek with conference games on the weekend. Frequently teams will use their top pitchers in the midweek games if they didn't get a start the previous weekend.

 "The more adept we are at getting the pitching we need is key,'' Clark says. "A lot of times if pitching is similar, games can be close and can either way. We always swing the bat well enough. We need to have the pitching to get a chance to swing the bat.''

For that reason, Blandin says, "Generally we see the best guys available. I don't think anybody is going to take us lightly.''

Melendez, who led Bethune-Cookman to its second consecutive regular season conference championship with an 18-0 record, recalls a time when that wasn't the case. Teams would hold back their frontline pitchers against MEAC teams and were still able to win.

 "Not anymore,'' he says. "They don't hold back. They felt they looked at the name and said 'they're not very good.' The word is spreading. Not only us (but) other MEAC teams have beaten good teams. The word is spreading. They can't throw their No. 6 or No. 7 (pitchers).''

That change in strategy speaks to the respect other conferences have for MEAC baseball, which Melendez says is flattering but rather meaningless.

 "I'm not looking for compliments,'' he says. "I'm looking to beat anyone we face. I'm not looking for moral victories. If we lose playing well, hats off to our opponents. Our expectations are to beat the teams we play. Every single day, we want to beat them.''