BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[ettaexpress]

Not even close to a clue on that.

[Dr. Acula]

Preseason poll is out.

#13 Etta
#20 BW
ORV (#31) Berg

Initially I thought that was a little low for BW, but they did lose 20 games last year.  They accomplished a ton and have a lot back, but they were by no means dominant from start to finish.  Toss them in the top 20 as a reward for their great run and let them earn their way up or down from there.  Seems fair to me.

Also of interest regionally, CWRU checked in at #15.  The NCAC, on the other hand, did not garner a single vote.  Sounds like the OAC in the preseason hoops poll!

[ettaexpress]

BW should be very good. They went 6-7 against Berg, JCU, Marietta and ONU with 0 of those games coming on their home field. They outplayed St. Thomas but lost a one-run game that can only be described as "that's baseball". Four of their losses were to scholarship programs (notice they're not playing any of those this year).

They'll need to find a couple more pitchers, but that's pretty much everyone at this time of year.

Though Marietta is pretty much the favorite every year until there's a reason they shouldn't be, it would be reasonable to expect BW to win the conference based on the schedule turning back toward them, and how they finished last year.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount has their 2015 roster posted.  65 kids in total including 24 freshmen this year.  Pretty standard split between classes:

10 - Sr
15 - Jr
16 - So
24 - Fr

Hopefully some of the youngsters can play because there are spots to be won this year. 

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Dr. So 64 is typical? That seems like a lot. Or is it that they are trying to rebuild?

[Dr. Acula]

That's not far off from where they normally are.  I'd say they're usually anywhere from 55-65.  There are some OAC programs like Berg that are typically smaller (40ish) while others like Mount and BW are typically larger (50+).

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Thanks, I knew BW was usually pretty big. I think harrisons first class had close to 50 freshman in the fall. OWU has gone as high as 45, total , or somewhere  there abouts.

[108 Stitches]

Holy Canolie - 64 players!

Wow, I guess looking at the roster break down vs years there is quite a bit of roster self regulating.

How do they manage a practice?

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Ott is another one they have 55 players on the roster. I have not done the breakdown.

http://www.otterbeincardinals.com/roster.aspx?path=baseball

I have no problems with big rosters. That information is out there for any potential recruit. Any incomming Freshman should be aware that no matter what they think they heard from the coach, they need to be ready to compete. The best will play.

[Pops33]

During the recruiting process, my son was told by a college coach that some schools give their athletic departments a directive to carry larger rosters in order to increase the enrollment at the school.  This applies to all sports, not just baseball.  I am not saying that all schools with larger rosters fall into this category, but more than a few do. 

[Dr. Acula]

I can only speak to Mount, but they do not cut anyone.  If kids are willing to put in the time they'll never discourage you from being on the team.  That being said, you may not get the reps or coaching attention the expected varsity team gets.  It's really more of a burden on the coaches' time than anything if they end up doing split JV/Varsity practices.   

[motorman]

One good thing about the way Berg does it is everyone is on the same program. They all do the same fund raising and they all go on the Florida trip. I know Mount doesn't take everybody to FL. My son was hurt Freshman year and couldn't throw at all and he went to Florida.

[Dr. Acula]

Definitely not...Mount takes more like half the team to FL.  Probably around 30 guys I'd guess.

[ettaexpress]

One good thing about the way Berg does it is everyone is on the same program. They all do the same fund raising and they all go on the Florida trip. I know Mount doesn't take everybody to FL. My son was hurt Freshman year and couldn't throw at all and he went to Florida.

I could easily be wrong, but it seems like maybe this has changed with the coaching change? Heidelberg definitely has more people on the roster than last year, and some of them are not assigned a number.

It looks like Marietta has a smaller roster than pretty much all the teams mentioned here so far. I count 38 on their roster page.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Kyle Lindquist has been promoted to full time assistant and Michael Mulvey is a new Volunteer assistant at Denison. I only post it here because Kyle and Michael are Marietta Alumi.

http://denisonbigred.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/releases/20141104no7brj


Starting to look like Marietta North. I would wish them well bu you know, I am a Bishop fan.