Quote from: BobcatQB on May 30, 2025, 09:48:01 AMKean vs Endicott - Endicott
Messiah vs Johns Hopkins - JH
Rowan vs Denison - Denison
Trinity vs UW-Whitewater - Trinity

JH vs Denison for the title - JH

Well, that didn't work out.  #1 seed falls in two games and Denison lost last night.

Kean vs Endicott - Endicott
Messiah vs Johns Hopkins - JH
Rowan vs Denison - Denison
Trinity vs UW-Whitewater - Trinity

JH vs Denison for the title - JH

That 1B is tough..poor Melick from Muskingum odd man out.  .351/.429/.608, 7 HR, 44 RBI, 40 R, 7 SB, 90 total bases, .991 fielding...that deserves something in the region.  Especially when you consider that ABCA included 6 1B...two of which are from the same team.  I'm taking Melick over Thomas and Alonso for sure.

Lehman certainly finished his career on a high note..chance to be a 1st team region selection at UT.

Denison and Case still fighting for a shot at the WS.  I think Denison will make their first trip but I think JH is the eventual WS Champ in Babb's last trip.

If I didn't have a golf tourney this weekend, I'd be headed to Mount or Denison..I think both those regionals will be good.

Yes, they have to apply to host.  Rowan has hosted before..several higher seeds have, just weird.  Good for Mount though.  Grove City would never host, facilities wouldn't qualify.  Their new field probably would though..new turf for next year.  Surprised BW hosted last few years with no concession stand, lack of good streaming and tiny restrooms..similar to Mount.  Restrooms are nice but a mile away, streaming stinks and lack of concessions/parking.  I'm sure they will provide some type of food option like BW did w/ food trucks.

Mount Union gets to host..wow.  Might be Hesse's greatest achievement. I guess having his involvement at the national level paid off.

BW has been playing it's best ball and looks like they may have finally figured it out.  Again, on paper, it was always BW's tournament.  Far and away the best roster in the OAC.

Mount and ONU get a chance to keep playing.  Both teams can definitely win some games in the Regionals.

Quote from: Dr. Acula on May 06, 2025, 10:50:11 AMYeah, the Muskie PBP guy mentioned several times that the umps inconsistencies were getting them some jawing from both dugouts and you could hear the groans from the fans on the audio.

Mount used the pen as I expected.  Mayer was going to be first out of the pen if they needed multiple IP because he can go 4+.  When he's throwing strikes he's been dominant and his ability to get strikeouts lets him wiggle out of some jams.  He just didn't have his best command on Sunday.  In close games it's been Mayer and Phillips first up. 

One thing I was curious about was with the DH pushed to Sunday and the OAC tournament starting Thursday AM how did that impact the pitching decisions.  For example, did they not use Lehman in relief because they needed to make sure they had him at 100% to potentially start game 1 of the tourney?  Breeden wasn't throwing his best game with 2 BB and 3 HBP through 3 IP, but it was only 1-0 and he was pulled at 49 pitches.  Is he available to start on 3 day's rest on Thursday?  At 49 pitches I would think he is an option (although Lehman dominated JCU in his start there).

Wilm and Ott were only able to get in 1 of the 2 games.  The Quakers put up 7 runs in the last 3 innings to win 9-6.  The two teams wrap up tied at the bottom at 3-14 in OAC play.  What would the odds have been on a preseason parlay of:

1. BW doesn't finish in the top 2
2. Marietta finishes with a losing record
3. Otterbein finishes last in the OAC
4. Capital splits with the top 2 teams

Breeden will be fine for Thurs.  He was visibly shaken after that HR to Melick and couldn't find the zone.  Kept building with each ball he threw.

Biggest surprise was BW's lack of consistency, Otterbein's falling off the table and the offensive production from Mount Union.

Should be a great tournament.  Hard to pick against BW because of that roster but they have been so inconsistent all year.  Mount has the offense and pitching to seal the deal.  Nobody is talking about ONU and that pitching could be the difference. JCU is the odd team out..not enough there to win it all.

Quote from: Dr. Acula on May 04, 2025, 10:31:09 PMCongrats to Mount on the split and regular season title.  Kind of a strange day in New Concord.  Muskingum hangs on to win game 1 by an 8-7 score.  Mount had the bases loaded with nobody out in the 9th and was unable to score.  Oddly looking at the box score Breeden was given the loss.  I'm assuming that will be corrected.  He went 3 IP and left down 1-0.  Mount went up 5-1 a few innings later before Musky came back.  Breeden should not get the loss there.

Game 2 was shortened due to rain in the bottom of the 6th w Mount up 11-5.  I can assure you that the final score would not have been 11-5.  Mount was beating up the Muskingum pen so I'm pretty confident they would have won, but no way it would have ended 11-5.  Both teams were hitting well. 

I feel bad for Wilm and Ott playing out the string tomorrow in a battle for last place.  Cap split with Etta so Berg and Cap are clear of those two.

Surprising that they didn't use their best two relievers in game 2.  Wanted to give a SR some work maybe, I don't know.  Umpire didn't make any friends for sure.  Perfect curve ball for a strike 3 on the inside fooled Tsouras but wasn't called and walked instead of being the 3rd out.  Lehman then hit a 3 run bomb to take the lead in the 5th.  Ump got an earful from fans and coaches.  He was getting heat from both sides because of inconsistency but that one was not good.  Fooled him and Tsouras.

Quote from: Dr. Acula on April 29, 2025, 10:37:44 AMThat's a tough pill to swallow losing that many close games.  I say it every year, but it's true...the OAC is so competitive that making the conference tournament is an accomplishment.  That is not the case for a lot of conferences, but it definitely is for this one.  Krupar will be hitting the recruiting trail hard this summer now that he knows exactly what he thinks he needs to push them to the next step.

This year has been an anomaly with Etta and Ott being out of contention.  Even with JCU leaving those two will be back to normal sooner rather than later.  I was looking and at 3-13 currently Ott is having their worst season since Powell's first season in 2000 when they went 4-12 in OAC play.

Yeah, tough year for the Cards.  Was talking to a player I coached in HS who is out for the season for them and he said they have 3 other starters out for the season and 3/4 infielders were Freshman..you could tell.  Perebzak was the other.  He doesn't have the protection around him in the lineup so not putting up those crazy numbers this year.  He sat out game 1 because he got throw out of the previous game

Muskingum really needed Wilmington to win at least one against JCU.  Both were close but couldn't pull through.  Now the Muskies need to sweep Mount and BW needs to sweep JCU.  7 losses in the league and 5 of them by 1 run and 1 in extras by 2 runs.  That hurts.

Basically Muskingum needs to win the last 4 to give themselves a chance. BW needs to win all 4 to help since they own tiebreaker against Muskingum.  JCU needs to go 2-2, losing to BW twice..be great for them to go 1-3 but they aren't losing to Wilmington.  I assume tiebreaker after head-to-head is overall record.  Don't remember but I think that's it.

Updated NPI Rankings as of 4/20:

https://stats.ncaa.org/selection_rankings/nitty_gritties/44156?utf8=%E2%9C%93&commit=Submit

Quote from: Dr. Acula on April 20, 2025, 08:40:10 PMBig DH in Ada this weekend.  Cap storming back to shockingly split w ONU is not what I had on my bingo card.  Mount needs to do the conference a solid and not fall apart this weekend bc the conference tourney being hosted on a mediocre HS field in Ada isn't good for anyone.

Very true.  They are getting a new turf complex..I assume it will be ready for next year.

Tried to tell you that Cap isn't the same Cap.  Those dudes can hit.