BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[EttaFan1]

Blaski was on his game today.  No Walks!  9 K' 3 hits in the shut out.  The pioneer bats showed up today in the opener, something they failed to do against Mount Union until it was way too late.  (Freshman Mitch Geers is giving the coaches a reason to keep him in the lineup right now!)

Cap did not have a runner reach second base in the game.

Game 2 coming up.  Gasser on the hill.

[Dr. Acula]

Final in Westerville was 5-1 Ott.  Reuter allows 0 ER in the win.  2 OAC starts.  2 CG wins.  1 R (0 ER).  Not bad.

Musky takes the opener at Berg 5-1.  CG, 0 ER, 8 K for Spadaro. 

JCU cut it to 3-2, but Wilm got a HUGE hit from starting pitcher Hunter Justus to clear the bases and make it 6-2 in the 7th.  That's the final.  6-2 Wilm. 

[EttaFan1]

JCU cut it to 3-2, but Wilm got a HUGE hit from starting pitcher Hunter Justus to clear the bases and make it 6-2 in the 7th.  That's the final.  6-2 Wilm.

That's gonna leave a mark!   

[Dr. Acula]

MUC secures the split w/ a 7-3 win over BW.  Murzynski was good again when they needed him to be (8 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 7 K).  Like I said, I'll take 3 splits on the road at Ott, Etta and BW to start the OAC play.  You definitely have held serve at the least with that.

ONU leads Ott 4-3 in the 5th.

[Dr. Acula]

JCU cut it to 3-2, but Wilm got a HUGE hit from starting pitcher Hunter Justus to clear the bases and make it 6-2 in the 7th.  That's the final.  6-2 Wilm.

That's gonna leave a mark!   

You can say that again.  As bad as the loss itself is the pressure that it puts on you going forward.  You absolutely can't slip up again.  Not when there are, what, 6 teams fighting for 3 spots?

[motorman]

Heidelberg lost to Muskingum 5-1 and 14-7. Tyler Fruhwirth loses the first game to fall to 4-2 allowing all 5 earned runs on 6 hits with 5 Ks and 3 BBs in 5 2/3 innings. Berg bats were pretty quiet with 6 different players having singles with no extra base hits. Pushed across the only run on a Lizcano SF in the 5th.

In the 2nd game Berg gloves were the problem as 5 of the 14 runs allowed were unearned due to 6 errors. Starter Chris Thomas falls to 2-3, only going 2 1/3 innings after allowing 7 runs, 5 earned on 7 hits with 1 K and 1 BB. Only real bright spot for Heidelberg was Ricky Lizcano's record breaking 3 run HR in the 5th inning which brought them to within 8-5. However the Muskies added 5 runs in the last 2 innings to put the game out of reach. Lizcano was 2 for 5 with the HR, a double and 4 RBIs. Eric Monroe was 2 for 4, Steve Kisan also was 2 for 4 and Jordan Martin 2 for 3. Alex Grove added a double.

[Dr. Acula]

ONU wins 9-6 to split with Ott.  Maybe the Bears are sneaky decent?  Played Etta pretty tough.  Beat Cap and split with Ott all on the road.  Certainly not a resume you write off thus far. 

Have to say I definitely didn't see the Musky sweep coming.  That's a big day for the Fish. 

[EttaFan1]

Mid week matchups....

MC (5-1, 17-4) @ MUSK (5-1, 11-11)  — Muskingum's surprsing sweep of 'Berg sets up an interesting matchup of the leagues co-leaders on Wednesday.  Look for Blaski and Gasser to get the starting nod on Wednesday.  I think Marietta takes two behind solid pitching and defense.  (I think the split with Mount Union was sort of a "wake up call" as well for the Pioneers).

JCU (3-3, 10-11) @ Mount (3-3, 17-8) — A bad loss by the streaks to Wilmington is not what you need when you are battling for one of those top four spots at the end of the year.  Mount Union needs a sweep to get into position for a post season birth.  I think they do it on Wednesday. 

CAP (1-4, 12-11)  @ BW (3-3, 18-6) — I don't think Cap had a baserunner advance past second against Marietta.  The Havens kid from BW has been rock solid so far.  Cap's pitching was not particularly impressive on Friday.  I look for BW to get two here.

OTT (3-3, 16-10) @ WILM (1-5, 4-15) — Just when you need two wins to move up in the standings you get to play the lowly Quakers.  Ott takes two.

'Berg (3-3, 14-11) @ ONU (2-3, 8-13)— As someone eluded to last week, Northern could be sneaky good.  'Berg's been hit and miss this year.  I think 'Berg takes two, but a split isn't out of the question, either.

If I had to predict the "top four" righ now, it would be...

1.  Marietta.
2-3.  BW or Mount
4-5 . 'Berg or Otterbein 

I think everyone else will be on the outside looking in come playoff time. 

[Dr. Acula]

That's a good point that w/ the games being last Fri. and then this Wed. everyone could throw their 1-2 again Wed. on regular rest. 

[EttaFan1]

Marietta posts a big in region won defeating Washington and Jefferson tonight 9-5. W&J is now 16-4.  They had some pretty gaudy offensive numbers cOming in too. Marietta's offense is picking up a little as of late as well.

[OnuAlumni25]

Im personally proud of the ONU guys who bounced back from a tough 5-1 loss where Price struck out 9 batters and ONU's errors came through again (4), and put up 5 in the 8th and 9th of the second game.  I think it will take time, but the new coach seems to have things going in the right direction. 

[Dr. Acula]

Marietta regains the #1 spot in the top 25 this week.  No other OAC squads are ranked or RV. 

[Dr. Acula]

JCU @ MUC ppd. until Thurs. due to weather.

[Dr. Acula]

Predictions:

Berg sweeps ONU
Etta sweeps Musky
Ott sweeps Wilm
JCU and Mount split
BW sweeps Cap

Really wanted to pick a Raiders sweep, but is there any way we get 5 sweeps?  There has to be at least one split, right? 

[EttaFan1]

Pioneers take game 1, 3-1 behind solid pitching from Austin Blaski.