BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[EttaFan1]

BW is in the "Others Receiving Votes" this week. 

Marietta has played 11 games against teams appearing in this weeks poll:

#22 Rowan (1-0)
#25 Washington and Jefferson (1-0)
ORV Piedmont (2-1)
ORV Montclair State (2-1)
ORV Rhodes College (3-0)

Mideast Teams in this weeks poll:

#1 Marietta
#11 DePauw (NCAC)
#14 Adrian (MIAA)
#25 Washington and Jefferson (PrAC)
ORV Baldwin Wallace
ORV Thomas More (PrAC)

[Dr. Acula]

Tuesday Matchups:

Marietta (9-1, 22-4) @ Otterbein (3-7, 16-14):  Blaski vs. Reuter two of the better pitchers in the conference going head to head?  It could make for a quick 7-ining tilt.  Otterbein has been struggling a lot lately.  Marietta is starting to fire on all cylinders.  I look for a Marietta sweep.

BW (7-3, 23-6) @ Heidelberg (5-5, 16-13).  "Must Sweep" is the name of the series for 'Berg.  Beating Pat Havens will be a major challenge for 'Berg.  I look for a split.

Mount Union (7-3, 21-8) @ Capital (1-8, 12-15)  though it isn't a "Must sweep" series for the Raiders, a sweep would certainly help their cause to stay in the hunt.  Capital is bringing up the rear in the conference.  Good teams find ways to beat weaker teams.  Capital just doesn't have the pitching.  Mount sweeps.

Muskingum (7-3, 14-13) @ JCU (5-5, 12-13).  JCU has been quietly hanging around.  Muskingum is in there by the skin of their teeth.  JCU is playing catchup to the others in the pack, and a loss hurts their chances.  I predict a split here.

Wilmington (3-7, 6-17) @ Northern (2-7, 8-18).  Northern should take two.

I'm going with:

Etta sweep.  Ott is done.  The JCU sweep was crushing.  Pios take 2.

BW and Berg split.  Never thought I'd say this, but Berg is just too inconsistent to pick them to sweep a solid team like BW.

Mount sweep.  Cap's pitching is bad.  MUC's offense seems to be decent.  And with Carlino and Murzynski going hopefully they get good pitching today.

Musky and JCU split.  I think Spagna will pitch today and I think Spadaro pitched the other day.  With Musky's hit or miss pitching I think JCU takes one here.

Wilm and ONU split.  We'll see if Wilm pulls the rug out from under me, but let's face it...ONU beat Cap and Ott once.  Wilm swept Ott and beat JCU.  I don't see a lot of difference in the quality of those wins.  Wilm's are better actually.  I'm going with the split I guess.

[Dr. Acula]

Havens leaves after 1.2 IP.  Berg leads 3-2.  Wonder if he got hurt?  He was pulled after giving up an RBI triple, but I can't imagine him having that short of a leash.  1 ER in 1.2 IP?  Seems odd.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount seems a little sloppy so far today.  1st and 3rd and nobody out and they don't score thanks to a pick off and the runner being thrown out at home on a ground ball.  Then 2 errors, a walk and a HBP allow Cap to score without a hit.  3-2 MUC leads after 3. 

Wilm and ONU tied 1-1 in the 4th.

JCU up on Musky 4-2 in the 4th.

[EttaFan1]

Havens leaves after 1.2 IP.  Berg leads 3-2.  Wonder if he got hurt?  He was pulled after giving up an RBI triple, but I can't imagine him having that short of a leash.  1 ER in 1.2 IP?  Seems odd.

Shocking indeed.  This is a vetran pitcher who is among the league leaders.  I wouldn't think he would get the hook for giving up a run on a triple.  But he also gave up a home run as well.  3 Hits allowed in eleven batters faced (triple and home run in that total). 

Berg cruising up 6-2 in the fifth.

BW loaded the bases with NO outs in the top of the sixth.  The #8 hitter strikes out looking and the #9 batter grounds into a double play to end the innng without producing.  Had a chance for a big inning and Nutthin'.  Minteer has been rock solid for the 'Berg against a heavy hitting BW club.

BW gets a leadoff Double, a ground out to short, and then a two run blast off the bat of Chontos to cut the lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh.  Then they get a two out double and follow it up with a single to get runners at the corners. Prior to the double there was a dropped foul ball which would have ended the game. Ouch. This is followed up by an RBI single and still Runners at the corners, 'Berg's lead is one.  This chases Ryan Minteer from the game.   Branham walks the bases loaded, and then walks in the tying run.  High Drama!

Berg Gets nothing in their half of the seventh.  FREE BASEBALL at Peacefull VALLEY!

BW gets two singles with one out, a passed ball advances the runners to 2nd and 3rd.  A SAC Fly and a single plates two more unearned runs for the Jackets who now lead 8-6.

WOW!  Elvin Williams gets a Walk Off 2 RBI double to win the game 9-8.  That is a huge win for Heidelberg and a difficult loss for BW at this point. 

[EttaFan1]

Marietta gets an unearned run off of Reuter in the first, an Aaron Hopper Home Run in the third, and a 2 RBI Double by Hopper, a safety squeeze bunt single by Brockmeier in the fifth to get out to a 5-0 lead. 

Otterbein was picked off the base paths TWICE in one inning (the third I think).  Blaski has been solid today in game 1 and has a lead with which to work.

Otterbein brings in Matt Frey in the Top of the 6th to Pitch for Rueter.  Sparkling numbers coming in....Got roughed up a bit today. 

Marietta gets three more in the seventh to push their lead to 8-0.  Blaski's day is done after 6 innings.  6 Hits No Runs, 6 K's and 2 Walks. 

And that is where game one ends.....8-0. 

[EttaFan1]

John Carroll is not going to down without a fight either as they take the first game from Muskingum 4-2. 

[Dr. Acula]

Mount downs Cap 7-2 in the opener.

ONU comes back to beat Wilm 5-2.

Big losses for Musky and BW.  The pressure is on them now.  Really need to split.

[EttaFan1]

Same can be said for 'Berg and JCU too. They need a sweep today to get back in the hunt for post season play....

A little pressure on Mount to not lose one they should win against a really bad team as well.

Most every game for the teams at the top are "pressure packed" to some degree. 

[mideastfan2]

With the shutout sweep today, the Etta Express now has TEN shutouts on the season.  Can't lose ball games if the other team can't score 

[Dr. Acula]

Mount handles their business and sweeps Cap.  7-2 and 8-3.  7 game OAC win streak for MUC now dating back to the nightcap of the BW DH.  Connor Mathis went 6 for 9 with 2 doubles and 2 triples.

[Dr. Acula]

BW claws out a 6-5 win to get the split.  But Musky can't get it done...JCU sweeps w/ a 2-1 win in the 9 inning affair.  Man, JCU has to be kicking themselves after splitting with Cap AND Wilm!

[Dr. Acula]

Current standings:

Marietta   11-1
Mount   9-3
BW   8-4
JCU   7-5
Musky   7-5
Berg   6-6
ONU   4-7
Wilm   3-9
Cap   1-10

[EttaFan1]

First of all, the league is greatly improved over a year ago. Last season it was 'berg and Marietta and the gap to the next 8 was huge. 

The gap between 1 and two may be a little bigger than last year but the gap between 2 and 6 is much closer.   The race for the last two spots is goIng to be tight.

Marietta. 
Remaining games:  JCU, @BW, @Wilmington.
Predicted finish: 6-0 or 5-1. Blaski and Gasser the rest of the way with no mid week sets. BW is the only team which has enough to pull the upset.
Predicted league record: 17-1 or 16-2.

Mount Union
Remaining games: 'berg, wilmington, muskingum.
Predicted finish: 5-1 or 6-0  I can see a scrappy 'berg team taking one. Muskingum is not that good and well Wilmington.
Predicted league record: 15-3, 14-4

BW.
Remaining games:  onu, Marietta, @Ott
Predicted finish: 4-2 or 5-1 if they can split with mtta.
Predicted league record. 12-6 maybe 13-5


Muskingum
Remaining games: Ott, @onu, @Mt Union
Predicted finish: 3-3 or 4-2. I can see them splitting with either Otterbein or northern. Reuter is a very good pitcher for Otterbein.
Predicted league record: 10-8

John Carroll
Remaining games: @marietta, @berg and @onu.
Predicted finish: 3-3. Split with Berg get swept by Marietta, sweep ONU
Predicted league record:10-8. They have a tie-breaker over muskingum.

Heidelberg:
Remaining games: @mount union, John carroll, capital.
Predicted finish: 3-3 they sweep capital, split with jcu get swept by mount union
Predicted league record: 9-9

Biggest Series remaining:
Marietta @ BW:  If BW wants to work there way to the two seed, it is a must split series with the Pioneers!
'Berg @ Mount Union:  This series is HUGE for both teams.  if 'Berg wants to be there at the end, they have to win at least one if not both.  Mount has to "keep pace." and it is the toughest team remaining on their slate.
'Berg @ JCU:  If 'Berg can work a sweep against John Carroll they may get that #4 spot. 
Muskingum @ Otterbein:  Otterbein is a possible spoiler for the Muskies chances.  Muskingum really needs to sweep the Cardinals to have a shot.


Predicted Tournament matchup:  4 jcu @ 1 Marietta, 3 BW @ 2 mount union.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount goes for a new school record 24th win today.  They're hosting Penn St. Behrend.  Who knows if they're any good.  They're 21-8 and in 1st place in the AMCC.  But the AMCC is also obviously not a very good conference.  They beat Musky 3 times this season, so I'm guessing they're pretty solid.  Should be a good non-conference game for the Raiders.