The American Collegiate Baseball Association

[StLee]

If history holds, I have to wait 35 years before LSU becomes a true national player!

[luckymann]

Here's hoping it won't be that long for them in the ACBA...

[ALB123]

Originally Posted by StLee

If history holds, I have to wait 35 years before LSU becomes a true national player!

Yeah. LSU won back to back National Championships when I was in college playing.

[luckymann]

Back again with all the action from Week 4 of the ACBA 1950 season, which saw a few bubbles burst and a few hopes restored.

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[luckymann]

Here are the top 25 ranked ACBA teams at the end of last weekend’s games.

Big movers this week included Navy (19th to 4th), Oregon (33rd to 6th), and Brigham Young (49th to 13th). Outside the Top 25, Kent State jumped 51 spots to 35th while Kansas State climbed into mid-table from way down in the nether regions. This week’s wooden-spooners are the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who fell from 90th.

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[ALB123]

Well, not a very good weekend for me...

Oklahoma State split against Wake Forest and also split against the Texas Longhorns this weekend, which is okay...but, gosh, the Golden Gophers...they've got problems. 18-year-old Freshman SP Jake Berg was in the zone on Thursday!

Jake has a nice set of skills. You don't post 15 Ks in D-1 college ball by accident. I'll be watching Jake as he develops...if he can put on some weight and gain strength, he might have a very interesting career in Minnesota. He throws six pitches, however, the only pitches worth talking about are his two different changeups. In 32.2 IP this season, Jake is sporting an impressive 1.93 ERA in four appearances. Even without much velocity on his fastball (83-85 mph), averaging over 8.0 IP per appearance says something...In time, I'm sure we'll find out just what that is.

[luckymann]

Week 5 of the 1950 ACBA season saw as many questions raised as answered. While the standings remain muddied, there’s no doubt that at the individual player level the cream has started rising to the top. And the importance of squad depth continues to be reinforced with each passing week.

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[luckymann]

Top 25 teams as at end of ACBA Season 1950, Week 5 (Record / Points / Previous week’s ranking)

The Illini retain top spot for the fourth straight week, although #2 Tulane continues to close the gap. Big movers this week include San Jose State (17th to 3rd) and Santa Barbara (47th to 19th). Outside the Top 25, Texas Tech soar from 85th to 43rd while among the chutes are Long Beach State (48th to 92nd) and former #4 Wazzu (down 41 spots to 65th). Bringing up the rear this week are the 6-14 Villanova Wildcats.

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[luckymann]

Week 6 of the 1950 ACBA season had a bit of everything, including a no-no and enough cycles to just about start one’s own Tour de France team.

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[luckymann]

Top 25 teams as at end of ACBA Season 1950, Week 6 (Record / Points / Previous week’s ranking)

The Illini made it five straight weeks atop the rankings, with Navy jumping from #6 to #2 thanks to a 4-0 week. Wazzu was one of the big movers this week, reversing its previous week's fall to just squeak into the Top 25, while Northern Colorado’s improvement from 70th to 27th was the biggest of all. Florida State were the major losers inside the top section, dropping from 4th to 14th, with Fullerton (29th to 57th), Georgia Tech (39th to 62nd), Purdue (46th to 68th), and Kansas State (60th to 81st) all having a rough time of it. This week it is the 6-18 Nebraska Cornhuskers bringing up the rear.

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[luckymann]

Week 7 of the 1950 ACBA season saw some teams come back to earth with a thud and others do their championship hopes no harm whatsoever.

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[luckymann]

Top 25 teams as at end of ACBA Season 1950, Week 7 (Record / Points / Previous week’s ranking)

The Illini still hold the #1 spot but a 2-2 week saw them give up ground, with less than one ratings point now separating the top 4 sides. Bradley and Hofstra both move into the top 5, with Tulane and Navy slipping back, although both remain in the top 10. Oregon State and Santa Barbara made strong moves this week, as did Kent State who sit just outside the official list having jumped 34 spots. Penn and Saint Louis also made big moves into the top half. Santa Clara had the biggest fall, dropping from 39th to 81st, and Nebraska is still stuck at the dreaded #100.

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[jasg224]

My very streaky Billikens still at .500, hopefully their remaining winning streaks are longer than the losing streaks.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by jasg224

My very streaky Billikens still at .500, hopefully their remaining winning streaks are longer than the losing streaks.

They aren't a bad side, but are dead last in HR and that's holding them back somewhat.

[luckymann]

Unsurprisingly, the Monday morning debriefs with President Alan Clark had become more cordial affairs as the Dutchmen had fashioned their 11-game win streak.

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[luckymann]

Week 8 of the 1950 ACBA season has come and gone, with games lost and won, and plenty of interesting titbits to be shared.

With two-thirds of the season still to be played out it is too early to consider it as their bubbles bursting, but a few of the prominent teams certainly had their wings clipped this week. Bradley, in particular, had a tough week. After losing both of their games against Hofstra to snap their 7-game win streak, the Braves dropped two more on the weekend to Notre Dame. The Dutchmen are indeed Flying at the moment, so those results weren’t that much of a surprise, especially with Adam Smith – who shut them out Thursday on 6 hits while fanning 12 – in such rare form. But losing both games to the Irish would not have been something they’d have considered, even if they were on the road.

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[luckymann]

Illinois retain the top ranking for the seventh straight week, but only by dint of a 12-2 Sunday win at Virginia that edged them past the Flying Dutchmen. The Georgia Bulldogs have surged into the top 25, jumping 30 spots after a 4-0 week. The biggest upward move, however, was North Carolina State. The Wolfpack soared 48 spots to sit at #32. Other strong movers included TCU, Iowa and Richmond. Headed in the wrong direction are the inconsistent Huskies (down 38 to 61), and teams such as North Carolina, USC, Indiana, Alabama and Arizona. The poor old Huskers seem to have a lock on the bottom slot. Despite a 2-2 week, they currently trail #99 Ole Miss by more than 2 ratings points.

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[luckymann]

Some absolutely cracking games during Week 9, and I’m back to tell you all about them and what else has been happening around the league.

The tone was set Thursday with a number of wild games and grandstand finishes. New Mexico State travelled to ORU with some good recent form including a strong sweep of Alabama the previous weekend, looking to extend their three-game win streak.

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[luckymann]

Illinois remain on top – and by some margin – after a dominant display through the week. If there was any doubt they are the real deal I think it’s gone now. They look the team to beat. Very little general change in the Top 10 apart from Hofstra, who fell from #2 to #12 after a disastrous road trip that saw them lose all four games by a combined score of 33-6 and cost them nearly 5 ratings points. San Jose State and Tulane also had ordinary weeks and lost ground as a result. Auburn snuck into the Top 20, while Northridge was the biggest climber of the week, jumping 31 places to sit at #23. Poor old Nebraska had another torrid week and are actually now in negative territory as far as ratings points are concerned.

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[luckymann]

A bit of a format change from this point on as writing the weekly review was simply taking too much time and slowing the rate at which the league was progressing. Now I’ll just be listing the top performances for each day of the week plus a few other points of interest. I'll start posting each week's entry in its entirety here for the casual follower of the league. For those wanting a deeper dive I’ll also be providing links for the post on my website and to the box scores for each day, as well as all players mentioned therein.

Thursday May 4, 1950

BOX SCORES

• Joe Paris (Bradley) NO-HITTER / 11 K @ Western Michigan.
• Joe Medwick (Ball State) 2 HR [7] / 6 RBI @ Villanova.
• Jase Brantmeier (Louisville) 6-hit shutout / 9 K v Penn.
• Cory Cadieux (Army) HR [5] / 5 RBI @ Purdue.
• Steve Cinquegrani (Ohio) 4-4 / 2B / 3B / 5 RBI @ Washington.
• Donte Fisher (Florida) 8 IP / 6 H / 0 ER / 11 K v New Mexico.
• Jon Garboski (Georgia Tech) 2 HR [8] / 3 RBI v Santa Clara.
• Logan Neely (Tulane) 4-6 / HR [6] / 6 RBI in 15-3 win v Texas.
• John Shaffer (Duke) 6-hit shutout / 10 K @ Rice.
• Elijah Fowler (San Diego State) 8 IP / 5 H / 0 ER / 10 K v Stetson.


Friday May 5, 1950

BOX SCORES

• Randy Reyes (Michigan State) 2 HR [15] / 6 RBI and Paul Esposito 8 IP / 3 H / 0 ER / 9 K in 10-1 win @ Oregon State, the Beavers’ first loss in 14 games.
• Jamie Knox (Michigan) 4-hit shutout / 1 K @ Virginia.
• Frank Moats (Villanova) 5-hit shutout v Ball State.
• Bobby Thomas (Duke) 2 HR [4] / 6 RBI and Kazim Toker HR [1] / 7 RBI as the Blue Devils thump Rice 21-4 to follow up a 6-0 shutout on Thursday.
• Mark Wells (San Jose State) 2 HR [8] / 5 RBI @ TCU.
• Jared Wolfe (Washington) HR [5] / 5 RBI and Dustin Oliver 9 IP / 3 H / 2 ER / 8 K v Ohio.
• Mike Rafferty (Houston) 6-hit shutout / 7 K @ NM State.
• Steve Garcia (Long Beach) 8 IP / 2 H / 0 ER / 4 K @ FSU, with Egyptian Healy fanning 18 for the hosts in a CG losing cause.
• Jeff Carter (Holy Cross) 7.1 IP / 8 H / 1 ER / 3 K + 4 RBI v Saint Louis.
• Al Simmons (BYU) 2B / HR [9] / 5 RBI as the Cougars pile on 12 in the 8th to win 16-5 v ORU. B.K. Jordan also goes deep [5] and drives in 4 for the hosts.

Navy completes away demolition of Purdue by a combined 23-5.

Home side wins 22 of 25 HML games, outscoring visitors 141-86.

Cal Poly SP Bobby Shirey suffers a torn labrum that will keep him out of the game for a year.


Saturday May 6, 1950

BOX SCORES

• Randy Taylor (Villanova) 2-hitter / 9 K in 13-0 whitewash v Cincinnati.
• Philip Palmer (Navy) 3-hit shutout / 13 K @ Cornell.
• Jeff DiFranco (Yale) 4-hit shutout / 7 K + 3-run HR [1] v Northern Colorado.
• Elijah Robinson (Alabama) 5-5 / 3-run HR [3] but BYU’s Matt Blubaugh 5-5 / 2 2B / 3B / 3 RBI and Mike Hedlund 3-4 / 2 2B / 5 RBI led the Cougars to an 8-5 home win.
• Randy Reyes (Michigan State) another 2-HR [17] game while knocking in 3 @ Iowa.
• Dylan Cobb (Illinois) 4-5 / 2B / 2 HR [7] / 6 RBI as the visiting #1 Illini pound Minnesota 19-4.
• Toad Ramsay (Kansas) 9 IP / 3 H / 1 ER / 19 K (leads HML with 167 in 94 IP) @ Wazzu.
• Jared Rowton (OSU) 6-hit shutout / 10 K v Texas.
• Sam Lambert (SD State) 4-4 / 2 HR [2] / 5 RBI v Long Beach.
• Addie Joss (Northridge) 8 IP / 7 H / 0 ER / 8 K v Clemson to give the Matadors 8 straight wins.


Baylor lose SP Guy Hecker for 3 months with a herniated disc in his back.

Vandy SP Eric Merrell’s season ends prematurely after he ruptures a tendon in his finger.


Sunday May 7, 1950

BOX SCORES

• Bryce Varnell (New Mexico) 3-hitter / 6 K and Nate Nix 2 HR [5] / 4 RBI @ UNLV.
• David Segarriza (GWU) 4-4 / 2B / HR [13] / 6 RBI @ Columbia as the Colonials demolish the Lions by a combined 31-5.
• Glenn Secker (Baylor) and Dan Kelly (FSU) each with a homer and 5 ribbies in a wild 17-12 home win for the Seminoles.
• Johnny Gorsica (Texas) 8 IP / 2 H / 1 ER / 10 K @ OSU.
• Logan Neely (Tulane) 4-5 / HR [7] / 3 RBI as the Green Wave flog the Tar Heels 17-4 in New Orleans. But it comes at a price as 1B Jody Ognibene has his hand fractured by a pitch and will be out for at least 6 weeks.
• Scott Stratton (Oregon State) 8.2 IP / 4 H / 0 ER / 7 K v UCLA.
• David Dube (LMU) 8 IP / 8 H / 0 ER / 9 K to give the Lions their second straight home shutout win over San Diego.
• Adrian Castro (Penn) 5-6 / 2B / RBI and Tim Hughes HR [4] / 5 RBI @ Harvard.
• Ethan Smith (Miami) 3-5 / 3B / HR [2] / 5 RBI as the Redhawks drop their second one-run game at home to rivals Ohio State, 12-11.
• Joe Walker (Hofstra) 4-6 / 2B / 3 RBI including walkoff game-winner as the Dutchman come back from 8-1 down v the Huskers to pinch it in 10, their second such escape of the week.


Billy Patton North Carolina sets a new consecutive hit streak mark by hitting in his 30th straight to surpass Oregon RF Pete Cooley’s 29. At the end of Week 10, it is still alive and sits at 31 games.

HML Player of the Week: Randy Reyes (Michigan State) .467 / 4 HR / 9 RBI.

JDL Player of the Week: Logan Neely (Tulane) .650 / 2 HR / 12 RBI.

FULL POST