BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

Bishopleftiesdad · March 25, 2016, 09:00:24 AM

Quote from: Dr. Acula on March 25, 2016, 07:47:10 AM
Etta at Mount has been pushed back from today to tomorrow. Mount's DH at OWU tomorrow PPD indefinitely. I don't know about NE Ohio but it poured in Columbus yesterday evening so I'm unsure about tomorrow either.

It is always a challenge when scheduling an OAC team especially near the beginning of OAC league play. The OAC has a rule, and I would not have them change it, that requires OAC teams to play a missed conference game, on the next available date. This happens to OWU quite often with Weekend games against OAC teams. A Friday OAC conference DH gets canceled and and then OWU loses an opponent for Saturday.
It is a good rule, and it beats what some other conferences do. But it has to be tough for the non-conference opponent who has to find a replacement or forgo the game.

Dr. Acula · March 26, 2016, 04:21:00 PM

Etta plates a run in the top of the 9th to take the opener 6-5 over Mount. It was Herstine against Clarke. Both threw decently. I was a little surprised Mount hit Herstine around a little (13 or 14 hits I think WMOA said).

Dr. Acula · March 26, 2016, 04:25:58 PM

Forgot to mention that Berg and Cap split yesterday. I'm guessing if you told Grice he'd beat Berg 6-0 when Manner starts he'd jump on that.

Dr. Acula · March 26, 2016, 06:32:18 PM

Game 2 in Alliance seems to be ugly. Etta has 3 errors leading to 3 unearned for Mount. Mount has outdone them though with 5 errors leading to 11 unearned runs for the Pios. It's 18-8. Mount's undoing was an 8 run 5th for Etta which featured 7 unearned runs. Mary was roughed up allowing 6 hits to the 7 batters faced in the inning. Petrucci has been killing Mount all day today.

It's a tough pill to swallow when you put up 30 hits in a DH against Etta's 1 and 2 and come away with nothing. Clean up the pitching and move on to Berg. Need at least a split there.

Dr. Acula · March 28, 2016, 08:49:04 PM

Interesting opening weekend in the OAC.

Berg and Cap kicked things off with their split. That Wellman kid completely shut down Berg, but they aren't alone. He's been really good so far this year. Grice has some guys over in Bexley. Definitely looks like he has enough to make things interesting this year.

The remainder of the slate was sweep city. As I mentioned Etta swept Mount. They just found a way to win game 1 and then the wheels came off for Mount in game 2. Perhaps a little emotional let down after game 1. Etta just takes care of business as usual. I listened to both games. I definitely don't think Etta is going to run away with the OAC, but they're the favorite IMO.

ONU sent a bit of a message sweeping Ott fairly easily in Westerville. Time will tell if ONU is that good or if Ott is not. My hunch is a little of both, but more so the latter. Of late I've started wondering about Ott's OOC because it seems like they have a nice record and then kind of twist in the wind in conference play.

Musky held serve against Wilm although that opener was a little closer than Thompson would have liked I'm sure. Regardless, you need to sweep the Quakers and they did. End of story.

I commented earlier about BW's offense, but JCU seems to be struggling to score lately also. Maddern and Lapaglia are a strong 1-2, but I'm not sure they're enough to carry them alone. Zimmerman improved to 4-1 for BW going 8, 2 earned and 11 K's. He goes from being an All-Conference middle infielder to adding "Arguably best pitcher in the OAC" to his resume now. Pretty impressive stuff.

Bishopleftiesdad · March 28, 2016, 11:01:57 PM

I agree with you on Ott. I have seen them up close and personal, and they have some good players. I really like Kent and Hutchison. Sam Severance will do well also. Same thing happened last year, they play a weaker schedule in Florida and pile up some wins. People start talking abot them, then they come back, and one of their first games is against OWU. I saw both games, last year and this year, and I was not impressed.

Dr. Acula · March 30, 2016, 06:04:37 PM

Mount got drummed by OWU yesterday 14-2, but bounced back to beat Thiel today 16-9. Pitching was a little shaky both days, but the offense was clicking pretty good today at least. Good news for Mount was the return of SS Mitchell Lake today for his first action since day 4 in FL.

mideastfan2 · March 31, 2016, 12:32:24 PM

big news for the Marietta alumni....

Matt DeSalvo (Marietta, 2003) will be inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame, as part of the 2016 class. Matt becomes the first DIII Pitcher to ever be inducted, and only the fourth overall DIII person inducted. He joins his former coach Don Schaly, Tim Jorgensen from Oshkosh, and former ECSU coach Bill Holowaty.

I played with Matt, and as a Marietta alum, we couldn't be more proud. He was a great player, teammate, and representative for Marietta for many years.

http://pioneers.marietta.edu/news/2016/3/31/matt-desalvo-02-named-to-2016-national-college-baseball-hall-of-fame-class.aspx

Dr. Acula · April 01, 2016, 08:26:57 AM

DeSalvo was the most dominant D3 pitcher I played against or have ever seen for that matter. It looked like he was throwing a golf ball. The sick part was those Etta teams also had the the best position player in OAC history too in Coakley. That's not a bad nucleus.

Dr. Acula · April 02, 2016, 10:12:12 AM

Mount at Berg was pushed back to Sunday.

Now pushed back to Monday.

Dr. Acula · April 03, 2016, 04:55:41 PM

Cap beat Wilm 20-0 in game 1 today. Good grief.

Dr. Acula · April 04, 2016, 04:26:20 PM

Berg rides a strong outing from Manner to a 4-1 win in game 1 today. Mount @ Berg is the only action today with Ott/BW being PPD again.

Dr. Acula · April 05, 2016, 08:20:05 AM

Berg wins game 2 by a 9-4 score. Mount is digging themselves a hole at 0-4 with ONU up next.

Dr. Acula · April 05, 2016, 11:41:19 AM

Etta is receiving 11 votes this week. No one else garnered a top 25 vote. Aside from Wilm, I wouldn't be surprised by anyone beating anyone this year. It's going to be very interesting.

Dr. Acula · April 10, 2016, 07:52:19 PM

Etta beats BW 5-4 then drops the 2nd half of the DH 10-0. On one hand if I'm BW I'm happy to get away from the river with a split anytime. On the other hand I gave up 4 unearned runs in game 1 so I can't help but pine for that sweep that I needed.

On another note, I'd be curious to hear how the Etta guys on here think their pitching staff is shaping up. As an outsider I'm not sold. It's one of the main reasons I think this season is going to be wide open.

Not sure what the rest of the schedule is doing, but Mount has already postponed ONU again. It's now pushed to Tuesday.