BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Ralph Turner]

Hello, Ohio Athletic Conference baseball fans.

Sure, it is snowy and cold outside.

I know you just can't wait much longer.  The "Hot Stove League" is calling!   The highs in Texas have been in the low 80's.  A little early spring weather to warm that baseball blood!

I know the 'Etta Express is coming to Abilene, TX in March for the Key City Classic at beautiful Driggers Field against McMurry among other schools.

http://www.mcm.edu/sports/baseball/DriggersField.htm

Pat Coleman has allowed me to moderate the Message Boards for Baseball.

I am asking for volunteers to assist me in the effort.  There are plenty of D3Baseball fans, and some good D3Baseball websites.  But hopefully this will fill a void that many of have seen in our D3 community.

Please email me if you are interested.  You can look at the ASC, the ODAC, the NESCAC and the NCAC message boards for some ideas of what is happening in those conferences.

Play Ball!

[Tezbaseball]

Interesting site. You can see by where a MLB player went to school.

http://baseballreference.com/schools/

[BigPoppa]

Who are the region's top teams? Wooster is the obvious choice as they are #1 in the nation, but who follows them if they stumble?

Does Marietta still have it? What about Ohio Wesleyan, Anderson, Albion, Allegheny??? Talk to me. What's the 4-1-1?

[kdoggy]

Adrian College in the MIAA in Michigan has to be a top team in the region.  They went 27-16 last season, return their number one and two pitcher and seven starters from a team that finished fourth in the Mideast Regional.  They lost one outfielder and their catcher.  Wooster blew them out in round one, but AC defeated a pretty talented Millsaps team in round two, and got eliminated in round three by Manchester in 10 innings.

New president at Adrian and has announced he is spending a ton of cash in the next year.  Already building a 6.5 million dollar football stadium and a 1.1 million dollar baseball stadium isn't far behind.

My pick from Michigan is Adrian.  Look for them to be back in the Regionals this upcoming spring and actucally make some noise.

Very talented team that pitches well, plays great defense and hits enough.

[David Collinge]

You two sure look a lot alike...

[tdubs]

Where was this board 4 years ago?lol

[bodhi5]

Who are the region's top teams? Wooster is the obvious choice as they are #1 in the nation, but who follows them if they stumble?

Does Marietta still have it? What about Ohio Wesleyan, Anderson, Albion, Allegheny??? Talk to me. What's the 4-1-1?

Don't forget about the top HCAC teams when discussing the Mideast Region.  Manchester College has made the NCAA tourny three out of the last four seasons ('02, '04, '05) and winning the Mideast Regional Championship (at Wooster by the way) in 2004.  Franklin College looks to have another solid season in '06 as well.  Franklin won the HCAC regular season in '06, but fell to Manchester in the HCAC tournament and did not receive a Pool C bid to the NCAA tournament. 

[tdubs]

Who are the teams to beat this year?

[Ralph Turner]

McMurry 11, Marietta 1.

http://www.mcm.edu/sports/baseball/mcmmar.htm

McMurry moves to 12-4, Marietta 2-4.

This still has to be considered "spring training" for Marietta, which used 4 pitchers.

Marietta plays Southern Nazarene (NAIA) this afternoon and Hardin-Simmons tomorrow.

[woosterbooster]

Ralph, what level is Hardin-Simmons?  I remember as a kid in New York in the fifties reading the football scores on the back page of the Daily News and always seeing them getting pummelled by the bigger and better Texas schools.

[formerd3db]

Hope loses two to Ohio Wesleyan this past weekend on Sat down in Florida.  Good start for OWU, not so good for Hope.

[johnworms]

Ralph Turner,
       One of Coach Brewer's former players (Marc Thibeault) has gotten John Carroll off to a 10-2 start!

[Pat Coleman]

Ralph, what level is Hardin-Simmons?  I remember as a kid in New York in the fifties reading the football scores on the back page of the Daily News and always seeing them getting pummelled by the bigger and better Texas schools.

Hardin-Simmons is NCAA Division III.

[Ralph Turner]

Ralph, what level is Hardin-Simmons?  I remember as a kid in New York in the fifties reading the football scores on the back page of the Daily News and always seeing them getting pummelled by the bigger and better Texas schools.

Wooster Booster,

Sorry to get back to you so slowly.  Hardin-Simmons was major college in all sports until 1990.  They dropped football in about 1963 but continued to be what became Division I-AAA (major college, no football).  In about 1990, they adopted the non-scholarship model, joined the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association and added non-scholarship football.  The TIAA competed in NAIA-2, until the formation of the ASC in 1996 and the move to D3 as a conference.

HSU has a proud history in football.  They claim 2 HOF'ers, Bulldog Turner (no relation) and Head Coach in the 1950's Sammy Baugh.

[woosterbooster]

Wow.  That makes the first two coaches of the New York Jets (although they were the Titans back then) products of Hardin- Simmons.  Baugh, two years, 1960 and 1961, and Turner, 1962. That's pretty strange.