Best Conference For Baseball - MIAA, NCAC, OAC?

[inglewoodjack]

My son is interested in playing D3 baseball.
Was wondering what is generally considered the best/worst conference among MIAA, NCAC, OAC.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

two of these conferences are pretty interchangeable. The OAC and the NCAC The OAC has Marietta then Heidelberg and Baldwin Wallace seems to be on the rise. NCAC has Wooster sitting at the top. Denison is improving. OWU was down last year but should be coming back.  The MIAA is mostly Adrian and not much else.
The OAC is probably considered the strongest, historically it has been the conference in the Mid-East that gets more than one team into the NCAA. NCAC would be the next. Wooster is historically strong on a National scale. The NCAC occasionally sends two teams.



What schools in particular are you interested in?

[Bishopleftiesdad]

InglewoodJack you have a PM.

Hopefully Dr. Acula will see this. He is very well informed on D3 baseball and can give you some useful info.

[Dr. Acula]

I think the OAC and NCAC are definitely better than the MIAA, but Adrian can hang with anyone (and they have great facilities).  My $0.02 on some schools:

Marietta (OAC):  You have to start here because they're the Gold Standard for D3 baseball.  The stadium, the national championship pennants flying high, the traditional NY Yankees style uniforms.  It just oozes tradition.  Seeing those pinstripes and interlocking "MC" still gets under my skin.

Wooster (NCAC):  Coach P is an institution at Wooster and in the Mideast region.  His numbers speak for themselves.  They are without question the most consistently relevant program in the NCAC.  They've had a couple great cracks at a national title, but haven't closed it yet.  Had a couple rough seasons of late, but they were good last year and certainly will be again.  Also adding turf to their field which is nice.

Adrian (MIAA):  For us non-MIAA folks this is probably the extent of our MIAA knowledge other than tracking scores.  Adrian regularly wins the MIAA and makes noise in the regional.  They're a legit national program with great facilities.  That field is top notch for D3, IMO.  Know nothing about the school academically.

Heidelberg (OAC):  They were awful when I played 10 yrs ago.  But Palm had them competitive by my senior year and they've improved every year peaking with a World Series appearance a couple years ago.  They came back down to Earth a little after that great senior class graduated, but they have talent and if they can keep it healthy they'll be very good again.  They're the model for every middling program.

The great thing about the NCAC and OAC is that beyond the elite programs there are numerous quality programs.  Programs that put it together not every year, but some years, and challenge for the conference.  It's an absolute dog fight to even make the conference tournament.  It really is fun.  But IMO you can't go wrong with any schools like Denison, DePauw, OWU, Allegheny in the NCAC or BW, John Carroll, Mount Union, Otterbein in the OAC.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

+1 Dr. very good analysis. Knew you would come through.

[ADL70]

CWRU is not in either conference, but plays teams in NCAC and OAC, and has made the tournament two of last three years.  Was regional runner up last season (MW), beating then #2 St. Thomas.  Ranked #21 in final poll.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

+1 ADL for reminding us about Case. I mentioned the PAC and the HCAC but forgot about Case. I believe you guys are on our schedule again, but I think it is another early game played in Chillicothe. I am waiting for the schedule to come out.

[ADL70]

Manchester has been the best HCAC team.

Not Chilly-cothe, but back-to-back, home and home DHs March 22 and 23.  CWRU's first games after the UAAs.

http://athletics.case.edu/sports/bsb/2013-14/schedule

[Dr. Acula]

CWRU is not in either conference, but plays teams in NCAC and OAC, and has made the tournament two of last three years.  Was regional runner up last season (MW), beating then #2 St. Thomas.  Ranked #21 in final poll.

Case is a great story. They were worse than Berg and, despite obvious hurdles in recruiting, they've put together a helluva run right now.  Englander does a great job. I expect them to be good as long as he's there. 

[inglewoodjack]

Thanks for the info.  My son is checking out some of the schools you mentioned.  He has contacted and met coaches at most of the schools he is interested in, sent them video, and is trying to get to camps where they can see him.  We are also doing campus visits to check out the academics, etc.  As far as recruiting goes, how will he know if schools are interested?  Will they contact him after camps?  Should he ask for honest evaluations of where he stands?  If they are interested and he "commits", how will he know for sure if he has a spot?  Are coaches straightforward, or do they play games with recruits?

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Some of your questions depend on when your son graduates. I do not believe coaches can contact him till the summer before his senior year.

As far as recruiting goes, how will he know if schools are interested?  Will they contact him after camps?

If they are interested, you will know, they will be in contact and set up school visits. My sons experience is that the schools that were most interested contacted him once a week.

Should he ask for honest evaluations of where he stands?

Yes, you do ot want to waste your time and energy on a school that is not interested.

If they are interested and he "commits", how will he know for sure if he has a spot?

Technically there is no commitment in D3. Some kids that commit never show up on campus. I believe most coaches will be honest and let you know were they see your son fitting in. I believe most of the schools in the conferences you mentioned will let a recruit knows where they stand. Ask a lot of questions and go see some games so you know the talent in the program. Then compare honestly to your sons ability.

Good luck.

ADL- Wow that is surprising. I expected a double header but not two. Should be fun. I look forward to getting up to CWRU's field.

[Dr. Acula]

To address the question regarding making sure the kid has a spot, I'm not familiar with any schools that have cuts.  Maybe the elite schools?  A lot of the schools do not have cuts at all.  If you enroll and want to play baseball, you are on the team.  This is a product of small schools wanting to keep enrollment up as much as anything.  The thing that needs to be clear though is that while there may be no cuts that basically means you can practice with the team.  When I was a freshman we had around 20 freshmen total start practice.  Only a handful of us were broken out with varsity.  Only 3 of us traveled with the varsity team to road games.  Schools with large rosters (50-60) almost always have JV teams though.  These teams usually play 15-20 games against other JV's and Community Colleges.

The great thing though is that kids who had no chance of playing freshmen year stuck with it, worked hard on JV, and earned playing time down the road.  That's the benefit of no cuts.  If you're willing to work you have the chance to do it.

Some programs like Heidelberg tend to keep their roster size a little smaller.  Palm really targets guys he wants and is relentless recruiting them.  Motorman would be able to shed some light on how many kids on their roster were not heavily recruited.  My guess is not many though. 

The bottomline is that there are truly many great options where a kid can go play competitive baseball, get a good education and really enjoy their college experience.  We're spoiled in Ohio.
 

[motorman]

I can tell you that if Coach Palm recruits you, he promises you will have a roster spot for 4 years. No promises of varsity playing time. Have seen kids stick with baseball 4 years and barely see time on varsity field. Berg has about 18 freshmen this year, maybe a few more than the past couple years. Varsity plays 10 games in Florida, JV plays around 5. Not all schools take entire team on spring trip, but Berg does. My son went as a freshman even knowing he was hurt and wouldn't pitch at all. Some schools have 30 or more freshmen, can be hard to stand out if you weren't one of their primary recruits.

[inglewoodjack]

Thanks for the perspective acula and motoman.  This is the type of info I am looking for.  Would love to hear the same about other programs.

[ADL70]

No cuts at CWRU either.

Only about ten recruits per year.

Twelve to fourteen games during spring southern trip (10 are conference games).