BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

Started by Ralph Turner, January 09, 2006, 11:38:52 PM

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hockeyfan77

#2790
I shouldn't  jinx us up here but I am going too!  lol   very little snow on the ground up here for mid Jan and we are missing out of the "blockbuster" that is going to miss us to out south....This winter kind of reminds me of 09-10 when all the snow hit south of us and USM even hosted a couple games in mid March  against St. Joseph's (L.I.) cause they had more snow then we did....Of course there is a wonderful trade off of it being 3 degrees with a feel like temp of -5 as I am typing this: Sometimes it's even to cold to snow!     Tough Schedule for a young USM team: pretty good recruiting class coming in and they will be thrown into the fire....Sorry for derailing the thread but there is very little talk on the New England region board....   

EttaFan1

No worries.  Just getting the itch for college baseball.  Unfortunately Marietta is in the path of the global killer winter storm...8-10" or so I guess is what they are saying.    Good 2+ in the last 90 minutes or so. 

A few years ago, I was driving by the football stadium and Coach Brewer had the team out doing some interesting conditioning.  They were shoveling the football field.  The  team lined up each with a shovel, and one guy would start across the width of the field as fast as he could and the next guy would go when he was about to the numbers and so on.  Then they would spring back across the field to get in line again. 

I guess he had a strong desire to practice outside in the next few days.

Dr. Acula

Checked out the preseason poll.  Berg (12), BW (19) and Etta (24) are all ranked.  To be honest I'm surprised that Berg is ranked that high.  With Manner graduated and Hendrixson transferring their pitching staff has some major question marks.  Those two were a combined 15-1 and threw almost 40% of the innings last year.  And there was a noticeable drop off after them. 

EttaFan1

Yeah, I doubt many people looked that deeply at what they lost (Manner, Hendrixson, Eric Monroe, Verde, and some other offensive power). 

Their pitching staff other than those two was a not very good.  I think they take a step back this year.

Bishopleftiesdad

Quote from: EttaFan1 on January 25, 2016, 11:40:29 AM
Yeah, I doubt many people looked that deeply at what they lost (Manner, Hendrixson, Eric Monroe, Verde, and some other offensive power). 

Their pitching staff other than those two was a not very good.  I think they take a step back this year.
I have to agree with Dr and Etta on this. OWU faced Heidelberg for a mid week game. And while OWU had a good offense last year, OWU absolutely crushed Heidelberg. And we did not face either Hendrixson or Manner.
Where did Hendrixson transfer to? 


Bishopleftiesdad

Quote from: Pops33 on January 26, 2016, 03:03:56 PM
Derek Hendrixson is now at Wright State.

http://www.wsuraiders.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=630815&SPID=92412&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=27000&ATCLID=210396691&Q_SEASON=2015

Do we know if he has to sit for a year? Maybe I am just noticing it more, but I am seeing more cases where d3 players move to a d1 and do not have to spend a year in residence.

EttaFan1

While I don't know for sure, It is my belief that the "sit for a year" rule only applies to D1 to D1 schools.  I think he will be eligible right away.

Bishopleftiesdad

I know it does not. This is a D1 requirement, If you come from a 4 year school you have to have a year in residence. Now there are exceptions in the rule book. And he may fall into one of those.

Dr. Acula

Mount has their 2016 roster posted.  The one thing I was wondering about, and it's been answered, is whether Sam Clarke would be back this year.  He will be so that's good news for the Raiders.  He only pitched 1 inning last year due to injury.  He was 7-2 with a 3.88 ERA the year before.  That gives Mount 2 strong guys at the front of the rotation with Toma (9-1, 2.86 ERA).

BaseballMom22

Berg may have the answer to some of their pitching issues. Looks like Adam Manner will be back. He red shirted freshman year with injury. On another note, Derek Hug was named preseason D3 POY by Baseball America. Both should give Berg a solid base to build on.

Dr. Acula

I just read the Mideast region preview.  I was a little surprised to be honest.  I don't think Berg is anything near a national title level team.  Truthfully, I don't think they're even the favorite to win the OAC.  But I also didn't think they'd be that good last year and they went deep into a regional so I'm not exactly Nostradamus. 

The other thing that surprised me was the mention of Cap as a potential sleeper.  That'd definitely be a surprise depending on your definition.  Surprise team to improve a few games over last year's OAC record?  I can see that for sure.  Surprise team to be in the hunt for the OAC tourney?  Not so much.  I like Grice.  I think he does a nice job.  I think if he was the HC at the other Columbus school he'd be pushing for conference tourney berths most years.  But he's the HC at Cap.  Cap doesn't support him (or sports) like most of his competitors.  The only person who does more with less is Thompson.

EttaFan1

Cap, like a lot of other OAC schools, is on the "show me" list.  Show me you can be consistently competitive for one of the top 4 spots.  Show me you can not only make the OAC tourney but be there on Saturday when it matters once in a while.  Until Cap shows that, I can't believe they will be a sleeper in a very good conference with a number of good teams at the top who have built solid rosters and deep programs.  Marietta, Berg, and now BW and JCU have shown where they have not just built a one time, one year thing.  They either have been consistently in the mix or are starting to be consistently in the mix.  They aren't that "one special class" driven programs right now. 

D3baseball wants to talk about Northern.  Sure they are building, but what was the last year they were in the OAC tournament  ?  When was the last time they were in back to back years?  They HAVE shown improvement, but that is a better pick for a "sleeper" pick than you think.  The last time ONU was in the OAC baseball tournament was 2000.  They were in each OAC tourney from 1995 through 2000.  But haven't been there since.  They could easily be a factor this year, but they haven't shown it yet.  (In fact Capital has been to the OAC tourney more recently than Northern's last appearance).

I've said before, and I agree with Dr. A.  Heidelberg will take a step backwards this year.  Manner is good.  But they leaned very heavily on Hendrixson last year.  You have to have more than 2 quality arms to win a 6+ team tourney, and more than 1 to win a 4 team tourney.  Unless there is significant improvement in the Berg pitching staff from a year ago, it is hard to reconcile D3baseball's prediction.  Hug is good.  But the guys around him in the batting order who graduated will impact the quality of pitches he sees (and unless the guys around him hit really well, Hug won't see much to hit) and the impact that he will have. 



 

Dr. Acula

Hendrixson's versatility was so critical to their success.  The fact that he was both the best starter and the closer is kind of crazy and most certainly not easily replaced.  In effect they're almost attempting to replace two stud pitchers with his departure.  They need Ankrom to take a major step forward in his development to shoulder some of that burden, but even then after him you have a lot of question marks and upperclassmen who haven't pitched particularly well.  Truth be told, the Berg staff reminds me of Mount's staff. 

Bishopleftiesdad

From what little I saw of Bergs staff last year they need some help. OWU played them last year in a mid week, and did well. The pitchers for berg were clearly getting frustrated. Ankrom started against us and only lasted 1.1 innings.
Out of the four pitchers we faced they only struck out 3 OWU batters. They gave up 17 er and 22 total.
Yes it was a mid week game but Ankrom did start it.
I am sure Berg will be chomping at the bit to get even.