BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

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

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Dr. Acula

#2880
Mount is trying to GIVE away this sweep at Cap.  Scored a pair to go up 7-5 in the 11th, but they're not doing very well closing it out right now.

HUGE back to back strikeouts with the bases loaded in a 7-7 game by Ceriani.  Showed some mettle right there.

The highs...the lows.  Raiders lose on a walk off single in the 12th after a walk, balk, E5 sequence put the winning run on 3rd with 1 down.  The only consistent thing is that they're always inconsistent. 

Dr. Acula

Quote from: motorman on April 16, 2016, 06:31:25 PM
Ouch, that might hurt. Wilmington gets their 1st conference win in game 2 vs BW 6-5

That's a big loss when it drops you 2 games behind Etta.  With a split at Etta in the back pocket already, BW would have been in a good position if they'd stayed a game back in solo 2nd.  Of course, the way this year is going BW will get swept by someone random to get pushed back into the pack anyway. 

EttaFan1

Some thoughts on the season thus far. 

I'm amazed that BW and JCU are playing sub .500 baseball on the season.  I expected them to be far better than that this year. 

I'm equally surprised that Capital is 6 games above .500 on the season.  I would not have guessed that either.  Wellman, their top arm did not pitch a single inning in their 42 games in 4 day stretch.  He has terrific numbers and it will be interesting to see if he throws on Tuesday here in Marietta. 

Otterbein is a modest surprise.  They were kind of an unknown coming into the season, for me at least.  They have had a really good year thus far. 

Muskingum is also a modest surprise.  It seems like Capital, Muskingum are two programs where the expectations are not particularly high.  The fact they are 15-12 on the year, and in the thick of the race (of course 9 of the 10 are in the thick of the race). 

Northern is a modest surprise.  I thought they would be better than what they are currently showing. 

I didn't have lofty expectations for Mount this year.  And I was one of a few who felt Heidelberg would be down significantly from what they had been given what they had lost to graduation and transfer.  Neither of their results are surprising to me at this point in the season. 

Someone had asked if the Marietta people thought they had the pitching to be competitive in a playoff situation.  Perhaps.  Herstine has been pretty good.  The bullpen combo of Antill and Stover has been outstanding most of the time (a few lapses here and there, but overall VERY STRONG).  Crowl has struggled early, but had an outstanding outing in Tiffin, and his previous outing was pretty good until late in the game.  Nieberding is improved, but he is a guy that once they get to the third or fourth time through the order, he isn't as effective.  They are missing one key part of their rotation, Lutrell.  He was expected to be their #4 guy, and he has yet to pitch an inning this season.  There is hope that he may get back and contribute, but that is a bit of an unknown outside the walls of the team.  If he can get back and can throw quality innings, I think it could boost the staff to the point where they could be competitive in the regionals, if they make it. 

Unfortunately this year looks like there is only going to be one team from the OAC in the NCAA tournament.  There is an outside chance that Marietta could be worthy of an at large birth.  They need to finish strong, win the regular season OAC title, and win a couple of the remaining non conference games, and they would have a pretty good resume.  Currently they have played the 2nd toughest schedule (according to the SOS page on D3baseball.com).  That number will take a hit on Saturday when they play Wilmington.  I wouldn't plan on the at large birth though. 



mideastfan2

updated standings....

MARIETTA   9-3   
OTTERBEIN   8-4   
JOHN CARROLL   8-4   
BALDWIN WALLACE   8-4   
CAPITAL   6-6   
MUSKINGUM   5-5   
OHIO NORTHERN   5-7   
MOUNT UNION   4-6   
HEIDELBERG   4-8   
WILMINGTON   1-11   

Dr. Acula

Mount swept Musky today 5-4 and 13-5 to improve to 6-6.  I've given them some grief this year about consistency, but they're a blown save at Cap away from being on an 8 game winning streak.  7 of 8 is still very good and I'll gladly eat crow for as long as they keep it going.  Big test at Ott Saturday.  They need at least a split there since they're currently 2 games out of 4th (and 3rd and 2nd).

p.s.  Didn't think I'd say this, but that sweep by Berg is killing them.  Berg is down and as time goes on that's looking worse and worse.  Needed a split in Tiffin. 

Dr. Acula

Some interesting tidbits as I skim the stats during lunch...

1)  Mount's Scott Sherwood is leading the OAC in BA at .429 currently.  Right behind him is Cap's Logan Bastin at .426.  Why does that matter?  Because Bastin is already tops in the OAC in HR (7) and RBI (43).  And a guy slugging over .700 with only 6 strikeouts?  Sheesh.  When was the last time a Crusader was in the conversation for POY?

2)  Ott's rotation is statistically really good this year.  Kemer (4-0, 1.89), Prince (4-1, 2.11) and Mally (6-0, 2.54) have all been very good.  Kemer and Prince are also recording more than 1 K per IP.  I don't think anyone else has 3 starters that have been that good.  Vargo has been throwing pretty well for JCU so perhaps they'd be closest.     

3)  ONU only has 2 starters hitting over .300 currently.  That is not surprising given their struggles to score sometimes.  It seems the graduation losses to the lineup were a bit too much.

4)  I mentioned the slow start of Nieto for BW so it's only fair that I point out that he's been mashing lately.  He's hitting .471 with 9 XBH and 11 RBI during his current 8 game hitting streak.  He's also driven in at least 1 run in 10 straight.  That slump is definitely over.

5)  I was floored that Ott's Simmerman is 13 for 14 on SB.  Both the number and the success rate.  For anyone that hasn't seen him, Simmerman is Ott's big 1B.  Just never thought of him as a SB threat, but he's like a Hug type evidently.  Big, athletic kid.

Dr. Acula

Man, BW is absolutely burying Cap in game 1 today.  It's 16-0 after 7 with Zimmerman working on the shutout.  Nieto is still hot reaching base every time up so far (3-3, 2 BB).

motorman

Tournament field pretty close to set after yesterday. A 3 game gap with only 4 to play between 4th place and the rest of the field.

Seems only way OAC gets 2 teams to regionals is if someone upsets Marietta in the OAC Tournament. Otterbein's SOS is very weak which won't help them in national comparisons. Of course they've done very well against Marietta in the conference tournament in recent years.

EttaFan1

Pretty close is right.

Without diving deeply into tie break situations:  Marietta has clinched a spot in the tournament.  Otterbein and BW can clinch a spot with a win.

JCU has two tough series @MAR and vs. CAP. 

Must win 4 to get in. (and may still need help)
Capital has a series with ONU and at JCU. 
Northern has a series with Cap and hosts Marietta. 
Mount has a series with Wilmington and at BW
Muskingum has a series with BW and at Otterbein. 

Berg - I suppose there is a remote outside chance which involves stars aligning and multi way ties, etc.  But at the very least:  They would have to win all four of their games (Otterbein and Wilimington) hope JCU loses all four of theirs, and hope other teams get into a tie break situation, because in a two way tie with JCU, Berg is out.

Wilimington - was eliminated from playoff contention in early February. 


Dr. Acula

No OAC teams received a top 25 vote this week.  I wonder when was the last time that happened this deep into the season?

I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw Mount hung 17 on Allegheny yesterday...and lost.  It reminded me of when I was playing and our team ERA was a touchdown.  It's like the first Ott game Saturday.  Mount is up 10-6 heading into the bottom of the 7th.  Some teams would be pretty confident up 4 with 9 outs to go.  I saw that and thought "Oh crap, we need to score a couple more in the 8th/9th."  Ott ended up winning it on a walk-off solo HR in the 9th, 11-10. 

Jim Dixon

Quote from: Dr. Acula on April 26, 2016, 09:54:34 AM
No OAC teams received a top 25 vote this week.  I wonder when was the last time that happened this deep into the season?

Marietta received some votes but starting with the week 7 poll, no Ohio teams at all in the Top 25 since the poll started

EttaFan1

So Marietta keeps pace in front of the pack.

If Marietta and otterbein tie, otterbein wins the tiebreak because of their sweep of bw. If Marietta, bw and otterbein tie, otter bein wins the tiebreak.

If Marietta and bw tie, Marietta has the tie breaker over bw, due to their split with otterbein.

Marietta has two games at Ada.  Otterbein has two games with musky. And bw has four games to play against mount and muskingum.

Mount is in the mix. They must win their last two at bw, and get some help from jcu losing their last two to capital. I think jcu would have the tiebreaker over mount Union.

Capital is in the  hunt. They have to win all four (which would also include jcu losing their last two, since they play)

Northern is in a similar position, have to win four (capital then Marietta) and hope for jcu losses.

Jcu needs to win both to be sure, but could be ok with one win.

The rest are likely out.

Tough spot for northern,  throw off against capital to save 1-2 for Marietta and lose, and your season is over.  Throw 1-2 against cap and match 3-4 vs Marietta's 1-2 and you are in an uphill fight.


mideastfan2

^^^^  updated standings to go along with the above post.

MAR   13-3   
OTT   12-4   
B-W   10-4   
JCU   9-7   
MUC   8-8   
CAP   6-8   
ONU   6-8   
MUS   6-8   
HEI   5-11   
WIL   1-15   

EttaFan1

Onu visits capital today with both teams needing a sweep to stay in the hunt for the post season.

mount Union plays at bw tomorrow needing a sweep to stay in the mix.


Two big series before the weekend slate which have playoff implications. Losses for either mount, onu or cap all but eliminate them from the top four. And even with sweeps, any will need cap to sweep jcu on Saturday.

Dr. Acula

I think Mount splits to end the season at a perfectly balanced 19-19, 9-9.