BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

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

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Bishopleftiesdad

I agree completely. Like you said all else being equal I think the youngster gets the start. But he has to continue to win to get recruits.

I have had several talks with Harrison when he was recruiting my son and yes he is very good. He made my son feel very wanted. The school was not the right fit though. And for him, Harrison said he could see him pitching right away and that he could see him being an impact player. My son appreciated the words but wanted to go somewhere were he was forced to compete and be pushed by the other players. He was not sure he would get that his first year at BW. That and the school fit made him go in another direction.


motorman

Quote from: Bishopleftiesdad on November 28, 2012, 04:46:21 PMAs always I am sure Marietta will be number 1.

While Marietta may be considered the favorite until they start playing on the field, there should be no doubt they are less of a team this year. When you graduate 5 of your top 7 pitchers from a team whose overwhelming strength was pitching plus your Conference Player of the Year from your offense it would be a miracle if your team was as strong as last year.

It is comparable to Berg losing all the seniors they did the year before and still being ranked in the top 10. It was totally illogical. Mount and Heidelberg should be very, very competitive with Marietta this year and I would not be a bit surprised if either or both finish ahead of them in the final standings.

Dr. Acula

It's going to depend largely on what kind of talent they have in the fresh/soph classes.  They need some younger guys to step in.  They've got holes to fill.  With Hopper and Brockmeier anchoring the lineup I think they'll be okay offensively.  It's the pitching that's going to be dropping off.  That's not a knock, but rather a fact of life when you graduate multiple All-Americans at once.  You're not going to be the same team when the core of a back-to-back NC team graduates.

I'll be interested to see how Berg shakes out offensively.  That and health are the biggest questions.  Mount had a nice season with a bunch of young kids.  They have a few guys in the lineup I'd like to see some strides from as well.  They need to take the next step and win 30 games this year.  Plain and simple.   

EttaFan1

#1608
Pitching for the Pio's is a big question mark.  Mulvey was strong at times, and then had some struggles other times.  Langdon was a key reliever, but it will interesting to see if he can be one of the starters and work a lot of innings.  While it led to a lot of success the past two years, having the depth of pitching on staff limited the game time opportunities for the younger guys. 

Bascom, Gammel, Knittel, and Koehler (who looke as good as any I saw of the youngsters) will have to fill the voids.  These guys combined to throw a total of 13 innings, no starts and only 9 apperances over the course of the season.

Mulvey - 6-0, 2.18 ERA, 66 IP, OBA .237
Langdon - 1-1, 1.42 ERA, 31.2 IP, OBA .224
Brockmeier - 0-0, 5.51 ERA, 16.1 IP, OBA .305

Those are the top three returners from last years team on the mound.  Hardly a murderer's row of pitching. 

The Pioneers are definately in "rebuild/reload" mode this season after graduation losses from a year ago. 

Here is my prediction for the tourney qualifiers....

1.  Heidelberg - Coach Palm is a terrific coach, and I think he has the best pitching staff returning for 2013.  They seemed to shore up their defense last season when they inserted a freshman at Shortstop.  They will be in the upper tier offensively as well. 
2.  Marietta -  I think one of the things overlooked in 2013 is the loss of Coach Deegan to Dension.  I think he was a key component to the offensive and defensive success the past several years.  His ability to scout and prepare the guys will be missed.  However, there are plenty of young guys who can play.  And a very tough schedule will prepare them for the rigors of OAC play.
3.  Mount Union - They have a solid core.  Can they develop the pitching depth?  I was impressed with them when they came to Marietta during the regular season.  They struggled in the tournament thogh. 
4.  Just about anyone else.

BW not beingeligible for post season play due to NCAA violations opens up that fourth spot.  They will be a factor in the race to get there, though.  They swung the bats very well for most of last year, until they played tougher competition.  Their pitching, after Havens, was not the best.

The rest of the conference is/was pretty unimpressive and with BW out, anyone could take that last spot.  In fact I could see any of those top three hosting the tournament this year. 

Dr. Acula

Quote from: EttaFan1 on December 10, 2012, 01:06:53 PM
4.  Just about anyone else.

BW not beingeligible for post season play due to NCAA violations opens up that fourth spot. 

And you know what that means...JCU stumbles into that spot at .500 probably!  I kid, I kid (kinda).  But in all honesty if I was betting money my preseason top 4 would be the same....Berg, then Etta, then Mount, then BW.  I'd have to put JCU next because on paper Ott doesn't look like they're going to be good again this year.  Their pitching is suspect.  After that who knows.  I can NEVER get a gauge on Musky.     

EttaFan1

Looking at Marietta's Schedule: it is extremely difficult.

OWU, Wooster (Regional participant), Denison (twice), Montclair State, W&J (Regional Participant), Wheaton (National Runner up 2012), Webster (CWS Participant), Wheaton Ill, Huntingdon, Anderson, DePauw (Regional Participant), Frostburg State, Kenyon, and CWRU. 

Having been a loyal follower of the Pioneers for going on 20 years, this is schedule is as difficult as it has ever been.  I give a lot of credit to Coach Brewer who, since becoming the head coach, has strengthened the schedule year after year.  This is a solid slate of games, and the record may not be as "pretty" as it was in the past couple of years.  However, come May, this will be a battle tested team. 

'Berg's non conference is solid...

Denison, Moravian, Bluffton, Salem, Montclair State, Manchester (regional Runner up), Adrian (regional Participant), CWRU,  LaRoche (Regional participant), OWU, and Wittenberg. 

You build a stronger team when playing stronger competition.  Both Marietta and 'Berg do this regularly, and Matt Palm should also be commended for playing a strong slate.

Mount Union: 
2013 Schedule is not posted.

BW: 
Wabash, Mt. St. joseph, OWU, Dension,Wheaton ILL, Pitt-Bradford, Dayton (D-I), LaRoche (Regional particpant), Oberlin, Hiram. 

Other than Dayton and LaRoche, this is not particularly impressive.  They built a strong record last year against fairly weak competition.  Then they struggled when it came time to face the better teams. They faded at the end of the season and failed to make the OAC tourney.





Dr. Acula

Mount will probably do their Western PA thing and play Gheny/Thiel/Westminster/W&J.  They usually play Hiram too because they're pretty close.  I think they've removed Walsh.  That's too bad because they were a key "fill-in" team being close by.  Couple games get rained out and it's sunny a day you have no game later in the week?  Call Walsh and play them that day.  Maybe being DII now Walsh doesn't have the same flexibility as in the past though. 

Last year in FL they played TMC and then some ok to bad teams.  My assumption is that since they're going to the Russ Matt in FL again they'll probably have a similar slate. 

motorman

EttaFan,

The player Heidelberg put at SS when they moved Lizcano back to the outfield was SO Andrew Zenczak. They already had 2 Freshmen playing in the infield, 3B Steve Kisan and 1B Eric Monroe. Also, when you listed the Berg non conference opponents, you left off regional particapant Wooster.

Dr. Acula

Looks like Mount's FL schedule is as follows (2012 record):

Greensboro (22-14) x2
Franklin & Marshall (17-23) x2
Curry (18-24)
Transy (21-19)
Washington College (28-12)
Albion (19-23) x2
Hope (24-20) x2

Not exactly a murderer's row there.  Nothing that I'd dub a big time measuring stick game.  WC had the best record and did at least beat Johns Hopkins so I'll assume they're pretty solid.  The rest?  Not sure.  A lot of what appears to be pretty mediocre teams.  To me, just on paper, the cut off is 7-4.  8-3 or better?  Good job.  7-4?  Ehh.  6-5 or worse?  Not good at all, especially if you're shooting for 30 wins.  This is a schedule set up to win games without looking like you're playing a bunch of cupcakes.  They need to do that and win 8+ games.

p.s. The danger with a schedule like this is that you usually don't play .500 baseball without having at least some talent (especially hitting).  And that means that if Mount doesn't get a good start from somebody any of these teams can beat them. 

motorman

Dr. A,

One thing that jumped out at me last year about Mount's schedule is that every game in FL was only 7 innings. Virtually the only 9 inning games they played all year were the 2nd games of conference DHs. I think that showed in the OAC tournament. Berg was the total opposite. The only 7 inning games they played all year were the 1st games of conference DHs. Even when playing twice in one day in FL or playing a DH at Manchester, they played two 9 inning games. Although it was a strain early in the season when not all the pitching was healthy, it got some of the young guys innings they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. I really admired Coach Palm's desire to play as much baseball as possible.

EttaFan1

Motorman - Interesting point. Very interesting

I can remember a few years ago when the OAC went to two seven inning games instead of the 7/9 DH, Coach Schaly was not happy.  His logic: over the course of a season, it takes away 18 innings of baseball (9 games x 2 innings).  That is two full games of baseball over a league season!  thankfully, the OAC returned to the 7/9 format.

I would even like to see three or four game series on the weekends to "encourage" teams to develop deeper pitching.  Everyone's got a #1 guy, most teams have a pretty good #2, where the rubber meets the road is in that third(fourth, etc) game in as many days, when 1 and 2 are resting.  (see St. John Fisher last year....Two studs, nobody else in the rotation....They went home.  It wasn't for lack of offense either!)   

'Berg and Marietta share a common thread, they are building their teams for the ultimate prize each year.     

1.  Play the toughest schedule you can focusing on in region games (since that is a primary criteria for making the post season).
2.  Play as much baseball as you can....All 40, as many 9 inning games as possible, Etc. 

Dr. A, with that schedule, I would say they need to be 8-3 or better to consider it successful.  With the core they have returning, they should!


OshDude

This year UW-Whitewater will play its entire WIAC schedule in less than one month (April 3-28). That's 24 nines (yes, all nines), with travel, in the span of 26 days.

http://www.uwwsports.com/schedule.aspx?path=baseball&

The WIAC doesn't always send a team to Appleton, but I'm unaware of another D-III league that typically plays six nines a week.

Dr. Acula

Quote from: EttaFan1 on January 02, 2013, 04:52:07 PM
Motorman - Interesting point. Very interesting

I can remember a few years ago when the OAC went to two seven inning games instead of the 7/9 DH, Coach Schaly was not happy.  His logic: over the course of a season, it takes away 18 innings of baseball (9 games x 2 innings).  That is two full games of baseball over a league season!  thankfully, the OAC returned to the 7/9 format.

I would even like to see three or four game series on the weekends to "encourage" teams to develop deeper pitching.  Everyone's got a #1 guy, most teams have a pretty good #2, where the rubber meets the road is in that third(fourth, etc) game in as many days, when 1 and 2 are resting.  (see St. John Fisher last year....Two studs, nobody else in the rotation....They went home.  It wasn't for lack of offense either!)   

'Berg and Marietta share a common thread, they are building their teams for the ultimate prize each year.     

1.  Play the toughest schedule you can focusing on in region games (since that is a primary criteria for making the post season).
2.  Play as much baseball as you can....All 40, as many 9 inning games as possible, Etc. 

Dr. A, with that schedule, I would say they need to be 8-3 or better to consider it successful.  With the core they have returning, they should!

The other thing that Berg does (and I can't remember about Etta) is keep the roster size down.  So not only are they playing more innings they're also getting more reps in practice everyday.  Of course this is also DIII so I'm sure there are external influences "encouraging" a lot of the other programs to have bigger rosters (i.e. more tuition) but from a purely baseball standpoint I think that's also an advantage.

Dr. Acula

Quote from: Ricky Nelson on January 02, 2013, 09:06:05 PM
This year UW-Whitewater will play its entire WIAC schedule in less than one month (April 3-28). That's 24 nines (yes, all nines), with travel, in the span of 26 days.

http://www.uwwsports.com/schedule.aspx?path=baseball&

The WIAC doesn't always send a team to Appleton, but I'm unaware of another D-III league that typically plays six nines a week.

That's unbelievable.  They play a 4 game conference series every weekend and also a conference DH every Wednesday.  That's a MLB work load for your pitching staff!     

Dr. Acula

Quote from: EttaFan1 on January 02, 2013, 04:52:07 PM
I would even like to see three or four game series on the weekends to "encourage" teams to develop deeper pitching.  Everyone's got a #1 guy, most teams have a pretty good #2, where the rubber meets the road is in that third(fourth, etc) game in as many days, when 1 and 2 are resting.  (see St. John Fisher last year....Two studs, nobody else in the rotation....They went home.  It wasn't for lack of offense either!)   

I'd like to see them go to a single game on Friday and then a DH on Saturday.  That still leaves Sundays open for rain outs or OOC games.  The obvious issue is travel costs.  I'm not sure there would be the willingness to incur the additional cost to add that 3rd game to each OAC matchup.  The other issue is that currently we have mid-week OAC DH's.  How would those be handled to add the 3rd game?  It looks like the WIAC just makes you go twice.  They play 4 games on the weekend and you play the same team in a Wed DH back-to-back weeks (so you play everyone 4 times).