Wow, this thread has really taken off, in directions which reflect, so much, the diversity of experiences and perspectives which make the HSBBW so great. While I am certainly getting toward dinosaur level in terms of some baseball topics, when the OP talked about the 2 SCAC schools, it was clear for me that the quality of the education was a given for his son. In CA. the schools are called the fly-over schools. Substantively they offer an educational experience at a very high level but without the mystique of, say the NECSAC.
What our son's experience says for the OP is to look at the overall experience playing college baseball offers. It is not defined only on the baseball field or in the classroom.
Our son's former college coach wanted so badly to get him placed in the Cape, but not just for baseball. He wanted baseball to allow our son to experience New England and all it could offer. While the Cape was not achieved, the NECBL was along with experiences in Keene and Concord, NH, venues throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut,a Summer in Newport RI playing in one of the legendary baseball fields in our Country, coupled with days like a July 4th in Plymouth, Mass. From a baseball perspective, our family won't forget the D3 kid batting lead off 2 consecutive Summers against the projected #1 pitcher in the draft for Team USA and hitting line drives right back through the middle.
As CD said, our son is now a college assistant and grinding just as he did as a player. Was his BA in business administration a worthwhile investment, even a BA from a terrific school? It doesn't matter to me because the experience took him through an amazing journey painted against the landscape of our Country, brought him into relationships with so many great people who do so much to support the passion of our sons' for baseball, and allowed him to find his passion, part of which is baseball, part of which is teaching baseball and part of which is competing but not on the field.
Many Friday afternoons we get together with a large number of people to celebrate each other. Sometimes our son and his peers attend when their schedules permit. Our son's friends are wonderfully successful graduates of every Ivy, Stanford, etc and more than a few possess MBA's from those schools. They are involved in Facebook, Twitter and many start ups and some actually have done 2-3 quite successful start ups. When they are all together, the one coaching college baseball would not be obvious to anyone.
If I had asked the hypothetical of the OP when our son was a HS senior and had someone post this in response, I would have been completely incredulous and disbelieving. Experience showed me baseball and college offer incredible and unique life lessons and experiences. As parents, our lives are so much richer because of our son, his college coach, the real life perspectives of that coach and so many in baseball who touched our son, and baseball. Our very last family reunion with one grandparent from CA and 2 from Japan, together with my brother and our family happened in San Antonio, TX and occurred because of college and baseball. Real life perspectives.