BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

EttaFan1 · May 05, 2016, 10:35:06 PM

Cap could still be in the mix if they sweep jcu. The crusaders and polar bears split and are now both 7-9. Two jcu losses put them at 9-9, a point at which chaos could possibly come into play.

Dr. Acula · May 06, 2016, 03:12:23 PM

BW takes the opener in Berea 8-0. Mount had a shot as they trailed just 2-0 in the bottom of the 7th, but the wheels came off in a 6 run inning for the Jackets aided by 5 Raider errors in the frame. You're not going to overcome 6 errors in the field and 1-14 hitting with runners on against a good team.

Dr. Acula · May 07, 2016, 06:50:14 PM

I believe Ott is hosting the OAC tourney with ONU sweeping Etta today. BW can also finish 14-4 but they were swept by Ott. The Jackets could end up a loss to Wilm away from hosting.

Dr. Acula · May 09, 2016, 03:04:46 PM

With the Raiders' season over I must say I'm sad to see this group of seniors go. Weber has been a huge bonus behind the plate these last two seasons. He hit .393 and drove in 73 runs in 70 games. That's fantastic for anyone, let alone your catcher. He's probably going to be 1st team All-OAC again this year and go down as the 2nd best catcher ever at Mount. That's a heck of a career.

EttaFan1 · May 10, 2016, 08:21:26 AM

The OAC is likely (almost definitely) going to be a one team bid for the NCAA post season. I don't think Otterbein has enough SOS (ranked 202, their last second attempt at improvement was marginal) to warrant an at large bid, they would be squarely "on the bubble" if they didn't win the conference tourney. Marietta blew what slim chances they had as a pool C by dropping two games to ONU (and a game to capital, and so on and so forth).

Kind of surprising to me, actually. I thought BW and JCU would be much better than they were. Both had a strong group of returning players. Otterbein was a bit of a surprise to me to win the regular season title. They were kind of a wild card for that fourth playoff spot in my eyes along with Northern. But they did enough to get the job done. After such amazing seasons for the OAC the past few years, this year didn't live up to the expectations that I had for any of the teams (including my own favorite team).

Dr. Acula · May 10, 2016, 10:07:25 AM

About the only positive thing is that the OAC tournament should be exciting. Any of them can win it. Having it at Fishbaugh as opposed to Schaly will make it even more interesting too. Fishbaugh is definitely not as pitcher friendly.

EttaFan1 · May 11, 2016, 11:48:59 AM

Last time I went (tried to go to) a game at Otterbein was in like 1992 or 93, and the game was moved to Delaware because the grass on Otterbein's field died. So they played at OWU instead.

Bishopleftiesdad · May 11, 2016, 02:09:01 PM

has the OAC always been at the top seed or has it ever been at a neutral site?

Dr. Acula · May 11, 2016, 03:14:04 PM

It's been at the top seed as long as I can remember. The OAC has been pretty constant with the full round robin regular season DH, top 4 make the conference tourney, top seed hosts the tourney, tourney is double elimination. About the only thing they've tinkered with over the years is whether the regular season DH's are two 9 inning games, a 7 and a 9, two 7's, etc.

Bishopleftiesdad · May 11, 2016, 04:14:37 PM

That is what I thought. As you know that woudl be tough to do in the NCAC as they are not a round robin league, so that is why they do the neutral site.

Dr. Acula · May 12, 2016, 12:12:20 PM

The other bad thing about Ott...no audio and evidently still no live stats. I tried to follow when Mount played there, but the live stats were still unchanged from when Ott hosted Etta 4/13. Yeah well, guess what? Still that way today. Nothing like not having live stats working for a month and also during the OAC tournament.

Bishopleftiesdad · May 12, 2016, 12:51:48 PM

Yikes, that is not good. How can you be host and not have live stats working.

Dr. Acula · May 12, 2016, 03:24:25 PM

Ott takes game 1 over JCU 9-2. Kemer went the distance for the Cards allowing 5 hits and striking out 11.

EttaFan1 · May 13, 2016, 08:17:04 AM

Marietta nips BW 1-0 behind a 9IP performance from Herstine. He allowed 2 hits and struck out 10. Game time for the winners has been pushed back to 10:00 this morning (instead of 9:30).

Zimmerman pitched for BW and went the whole way for the jackets. He allowed 7 hits and just the lone earned run. I don't have his strike out numbers from that one handy.

Dr. Acula · May 13, 2016, 10:06:51 AM

Some really good pitching yesterday. 3 of the 4 starters threw CG's and those guys gave up 3 total runs. Good time for a gem from Herstine too. I think those two guys are the two best starting pitchers in the OAC this year so that would have been a fun game to watch.

I would say BW should take care of JCU today because it definitely seems like BW is the better team, but JCU has Lapaglia going I'm sure so that could make things very interesting. Ott and Etta both have their entire staff rested and ready outside of one guy so either one should be in good shape even if they're forced into a 2nd game today.