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SOC baseball race heats up in final weeks By KRIS HENRY Playing baseball in the Southern Oregon Conference these days is more about surviving than conquering. Annually proclaimed by its coaches as a conference with no wink link, the bottom half of the SOC standings has confirmed that theory in recent weeks - further muddying an already cloudy playoff picture. "It seems like we're always coming down to the last couple weekends," Crater coach Chuck Dominiak says of the championship race, "and it seems like one of those teams near the bottom jumps up and bites a team near the top." That factor has played out the past two weeks in Grants Pass as the Cavemen (5-7 SOC) have sent title contenders Ashland (9-3 SOC) and Roseburg (8-4 SOC) home with a loss in the record book. The sixth of seven weekends of SOC play concludes today when Crater (7-3 SOC) takes on South Medford at Miles Field and North Medford (7-3 SOC) travels to Eagle Point. While the Panthers (2-8 SOC) and Eagles (1-9 SOC) haven't had the baseball seasons each would have preferred, both will certainly be heard from as the SOC title race winds down. Eagle Point also plays at Ashland next Saturday, while South plays host to Roseburg. And while South and Eagle Point would love to be a thorn in the playoff process, its unlikely either will be taken lightly over the course of the regular season's final four games. "Right now I'm just hoping we go in prepared for Eagle Point, and I think we will be," says North Medford coach Brett Wolfe, eschewing any talk of playoff positioning. "Eagle Point has knocked us off the last two years so that's all our focus. We're looking at where we need to be in that first game (today)." The viewpoint will be no different on the opposite bench. SOC BASEBALL PLAYOFF RACE Plus Minus Still To Go ASHLAND (9-3 SOC) 2-0 vs. Ros 1-1 vs. GP May 11: vs. EP 1-1 vs. Cra 1-1 vs. NM CRATER (7-3 SOC) 1-1 vs. Ash 0-2 vs. Ros Today: at SM May 11: vs. NM NORTH (7-3 SOC) 1-1 vs. Ash 0-2 vs. Ros Today: at EP May 11: at Cra ROSEBURG (8-4 SOC) 2-0 vs. Cra 0-2 vs. Ash May 11: at SM 2-0 vs. NM 1-1 vs. KU 1-1 vs. GP "Hopefully if you're not playing for the playoffs at this time then you're going out and playing for pride," says South coach Steve Antich, adding that recent wins by Grants Pass have offered further motivation. "That goes to show you never know what's going to happen. You take heart in that and know you have a chance on any given Saturday." Ashland took a big step toward securing its second straight SOC title with Friday's sweep of Klamath Union. Should form hold true today for Crater and North - and that's certainly not assured - three teams will enter the final weekend of the season in a dead heat for the SOC title. The Grizzlies have the upper-hand in that scenario since North Medford plays at Crater next Saturday, but tiebreakers are certain to be a part of the playoff picture. In the event of a two-way tie for a playoff spot, according to Crater Athletic Director Dan Speasl, head-to-head outcome is the initial tiebreaker. If the two teams split their conference doubleheader, then a state seeding game will be played prior to the cutoff date of May 15. Home site is determined by each team's head-to-head matchups with the remaining SOC squads in descending order from the final standings. If there is a three-way tie, the same priorities are used as in a two-way tie except two seeding games will be needed prior to the May 15 cutoff. The team determined to be the No. 1 seed - the team with the best record against the other two contenders - plays host to the winner of a matchup between the remaining two teams. Speasl, who is the SOC's baseball representative, says there are no formal guidelines set in the event of a four-way tie, although he expects it to play out the same as with three teams. In that case, the designated No. 1 seed will play host to the No. 4 and No. 2 will play host to No. 3. The winner of those games then face off to determine final seeding. Speasl says official guidelines for a four-way tie will be discussed at Wednesday's meeting of the SOC athletic directors. "As much as possible," he says, "we want everything to be played out on the field either by what happened during the regular season or in a playoff game." Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.