No surprise here.  Denison is picked as the pre-season favorite to win the conference title.  They did lose Colaco, but Sundgren returns and he can carry any lineup.  They lost some pitching depth too, as only 1 pitcher with more than 1 start last year returns - Rettig.  He is good one, but including graduation and transfers it looks like around 280 IP from last year are not returning.  Denison is a program that re-loads and has talent waiting for their turn, but they may be tested this year.

https://northcoast.org/news/2026/2/10/denison-earns-top-spot-in-baseball-preseason-coaches-poll.aspx

Thank you for posting this!  It saves me from scouring the schedule. 

Agree about OWU.  When I played against them in the 90's they were always tough and were in competition for the conference title every year.  Even as recently as 2016 they went to Regionals.  Since then, it has been in decline.  I thought they were going to have a good year this year, but they can't seem to get anybody out (allow 9 runs a game) and they don't have very much pop in their lineup (5 HR total).  That is not a good combination for success.  I really hope that Mott and his staff can turn it around in the next couple of years. The NCAC is more fun with a competitive OWU.

Wooster is back on top of the NCAC standings, just like days of old.  However, they have yet to play the 2nd and 3rd place teams.  They play Denison this weekend Wabash next week.  Some things may be sorted out, or it may get more complicated, if Swick and the Scots don't win most of those 4 games. 

One thing is for sure, 3 teams have pretty much been eliminated from the Conference Tourney - DePauw, Ohio Wesleyan, and Oberlin have struggled this year.

I was wondering where they would end up when I heard the announcement.  It's crazy that they dropped 2 divisions.  I thought they would automatically give W&J some serious competition as the Presidents have dominated this conference for years.  I then checked St. Francis' website and they do not have a baseball team. 

With Conference play starting this weekend it will be interesting to see which teams separate themselves.  Wooster has been on a good roll and they play OWU this weekend at home so the possibility is there for a good roll.  OWU has some guys that can hit, its just a matter of if their pitchers will be effective against the Scots.

Other matchups are Hiram @ Wabash, Kenyon @ Denison, Wittenberg @ Depaul, and Oberlin plays a non-conference game against Allegheny on Sunday. Looking forward to see how the games go.

BIG win by Denison yesterday 11-3 over Endicott.  They have turned in a great record on a ridiculously hard schedule, with wins over national-type programs Endicott, Cortland, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Johns Hopkins, and Christopher Newport.  They will should walk through the conference.  If Deegan does not make the World Series this year, I think he will be severely disappointed.

Wittenberg seems strong again this year, but not sure who else will be competitive with them as only Wittenberg and Wabash have winning records at this point.  It may turn out to be a dogfight for the last couple of spots in the conference tourney though!

Quote from: BobcatQB on March 06, 2025, 09:01:04 AM

Quote from: Dr. Acula on March 05, 2025, 09:57:15 PM4 straight for the Streaks now.  4-1.  Musky is 7-0 but I've learned from recent years not to buy too much into their early success.  Especially when you look at the schedule.  Surprising?  Cap being just under .500 although their schedule also not great on the wins side.  Berg dropped to 2-5 today.  They're really struggling hitting so far barely hitting .200 as a team and other than Matusak not great pitching either.  Ott has awaken the bats the last couple games to improve to 2-4.  Granted, playing OWU tends to help your bats.  As someone old enough to remember when OWU was a top 10 national team the prolonged subpar play is odd. 

I watched the Otterbein - OWU game and it was competitive (4-1 through 7)until the relief pitching for OWU imploded in the 8th inning, where they gave up 7 runs.  The starting pitching for OWU has been pretty good so far this season, with each starter only giving up 2 ER.  The bats are having a slow start, they can't seem to put up many runs.  With a good cast of returning players I think they will be around .500 again this year but they need to starting putting up some Ws or the hole will be too big to dig out of.

Craddock is out as the College of Wooster head coach.  Story here.  https://www.woosterathletics.com/sports/bsb/2022-23/releases/20230531sit64v

They do not give a reason.  Wooster was only 3 runs short from going back to the College World Series in 2022, losing to the eventual runner up Salisbury.  Definitely think this year was a blip.  Pretty sure there were some injuries to key players as well. 

It is so awesome that Ohio has 2 teams in the World Series.  It shows the quality of baseball in this state.  Would have had 3 if Wooster had any pitching left in the 3rd game.  Nationally, I think everyone is looking to see a Eastern Conn vs. Marietta final, but I think BW has the lineup to pull off the upset.  Looking forward to see what plays out.

I agree, the Scots are tough to figure out.  They have some dynamic players on offense and can put up a lot of runs.  It's the pitching that has been the question all year.  A couple of them stepped up in their four game win streak in regionals.  Hope that they can get good pitching against Salisbury and give themselves a shot at going back to the World Series.

All four Ohio teams (2 OAC and 2 NCAC) are still alive as of Monday morning.  Congrats to Marietta and BW for making the Super-Regionals.  Denison needs 1 more win over a tough Salisbury team and Wooster needs to win 2 over Bethel today.  Would be awesome to see all 4 continue!

To borrow the golf terminology, Wednesday could be "moving day" in the conference standings:

Denison 12-2
Wittenberg 11-3
Kenyon 10-4
Wooster 9-5
Allegheny 8-6
Depauw 8-6

Denison has Oberlin tomorrow so they should sweep and stay atop the standings, and play Wabash this weekend.  It s a good bet that they stay the #1 seed for the tournament.  The next four teams, play each other.  Wooster travels to Witt and Kenyon travels to Allegheny.   All four of these teams are in control of their own destiny.  Depauw plays rival Wabash and cannot afford another loss or they may be out of contention. 

Wooster prevailed in the matchup with CWRU, winning 8-6 in a back and forth contest.  For those interested, Faxon did not start, but pitched one inning in relief, in what looked like a planned bullpen game.

Big Northeast Ohio matchup today with CWRU playing Wooster.  Based on when he last pitched, it appears that Former Fighting Scot Evan Faxon will be on the hill today against his alma mater.  It is always an interesting matchup but that should put a little extra spark into the game.  The win would look good on either team's resume.  CWRU (15-13) has played the most difficult schedule in the country, but a .500 record may not be enough to get into the postseason.  Wooster (13-8) has stubbed their toe a couple of times and need to get on some sort of winning streak if they don't want to put all of their post-season hopes on winning the NCAC tournament.