BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

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Marietta turned four double plays and allowed 1 runner past first base in a 3-1 first-game win over John Carroll.

TJ Knowlton with the win. Joe Litke homered.

[mideastfan]

- JCU comes from behind to defeat Marietta in game two 6-5, and salvage a split at home.
- OTT and HEID split to stay tied for first at the top of the league.
- Capital blows a big opportunity to pick up some ground today and gets swept by Mount.
- ONU splits with MUSK.
- BW splits with WILM.

Current OAC standings:

OTT 9-3
HEID 9-3
MAR 8-4
JCU 8-5
CAP 6-6
BW 5-7
MOUNT 5-7
ONU 4-8
WILM 4-7
MUSK 1-9

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Thanks...had to go away for the afternoon. Defense let down the Pio pitchers in Game 2. Missed a big opportunity to control their own destiny as a result. Now even if they were to sweep Heidelberg they need help to host the tournament. Big win for John Carroll though...beat Marietta at their own game...they got the bunts down, we couldn't field them. Then they got the clutch hit when it absolutely had to happen. Thibeault and his clubs battle hard and it showed today.

Capital apparently fired all their bullets over the past 6 days.

[mideastfan]

Marietta and Heidelberg split today.  Otterbein swept Mount Union.  Capital and John Carroll split today.

OAC standings:

OTT 11-3
HEID 10-4
MAR 11-5
JCU 9-6
CAP 7-7

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Yikes. We struggle for pitching in the 2nd game today and have two at Wooster tomorrow? Any chance for a miracle heal on Baumler by tomorrow? Oy.

The Wilmington loss is the one that's hurting us right now. Splitting with the others isn't bad and Otterbein still has to play JCU.

Good news is I believe we officially have a #3 pitcher now. Eschbaugh continues to do the job.

2 big ones tomorrow, probably against their top two. Tall order; great challenge for the guys.

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Marietta-Wooster underway. Brian Hesson (3IP, 0.00 ERA) for Marietta vs. Adam Samson is the pitching matchup.

Update: Wooster won game 1. It's 3-0 Wooster in Game 2. Trapuzzano vs. Van Voorhees.

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Btw, does anyone know why Marietta thought Wooster was throwing a right hander in Game 1? Chris Wharff said they changed the lineup from a LH-heavy one to RH-heavy at the last minute.

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Wooster completes the sweep, 7-3. Marietta took a chance and brought in a rusty Jason Baumler with two runners in scoring position in the fifth, down 3-2. Pat Christensen doubled on a 2-strike count.

Let's hope that means Baumler is starting to make his way back. From what Chris Wharff said, he may pitch against Baldwin-Wallace on Friday. Tough spot to try to come back though.

David Van Voorhees had thrown pretty well up to that point but with two walks in the inning, the staff went to their injury-plagued ace to try to get the third out.

A healthy Baumler down the stretch makes this a much better team, obviously, even though they'd still be down one starter. But he would give them a fairly established top 4 and Van Voorhees may have taken a step up beyond that today. I just hope people don't just look at the scores today and think Marietta can't compete and doesn't deserve Pool C consideration if it came to that. Anyone with a clue about baseball knows what a tough challenge this was. You're talking #8 and #7 against #1 and #2. I think the guys battled back well in game 2, where really one swing of the bat made the difference in the game.

Back at it Tuesday and Wednesday.

[mideastfan]

Otterbein got swept today at Ohio Northern to fall to a three way tie for first in the OAC at 11-5.  How in the world did this happen?

Otterbein 11-5
Heidelberg 11-5
Marietta 11-5
John Carroll 9-6
Capital 9-7
Baldwin-Wallace 8-8

Final OAC doublheaders coming up this Saturday:

OTT @ JCU
BW @ MAR
MUSK @ HEID
ONU @ CAP

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No gimmies this year in the OAC!

Unfortunately, unless OTT and HEID both lose again, this doesn't really help Marietta all that much. The exception is if

OTT, HEID and MAR all split head to head. Capital split with all three as well. Heidelberg should be in the driver's seat for ties with a sweep of John Carroll.

If all three teams sweep, Otterbein's sweep of B-W puts them first (both OTT and HEID swept John Carroll) with Heidelberg second, Marietta third.

If all three split, Heidelberg is first because of their sweep of JCU. Otterbein would be second with a sweep over Baldwin-Wallace, with Marietta third.

If all three somehow get swept, then John Carroll is the outright #1 seed with the possibility of a 4 way tie for 2nd if CAP swept ONU.

If Heidelberg and Marietta are tied for first, Heidelberg would win the tiebreaker because of the sweep of JCU.

If Heidelberg and Otterbein are tied at 13-5, Otterbein would win by a sweep of B-W. A tie at 12-6 would be Heidelberg's by way of the sweep of JCU.

If Marietta and Otterbein are tied for first, Otterbein wins the tie.

There's just one other exception to this, and that's if someone other than JCU, Cap or B-W finishes above 7th. OTT was the only team to sweep WILM, and the only team to lose to ONU. They all swept Mount Union. So if Marietta and Otterbein were both tied for first at 12-6 and Ohio Northern finished 6th, Marietta would host.

I don't think I missed anything, but feel free to reply if you figure out a scenario I missed.

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Big win for Marietta tonight, 4-1 over Washington & Jefferson. Nate Eschbaugh started and went 4, giving up one run and Tyler Penwell was very good in relief, getting the win. W&J ace Sam Mann was the hard-luck loser, giving up two unearned runs on his own throwing error. Ron Mitko gave up 2 runs in 3 innings of relief.

[tdubs]

Congrats to CAP on making the OAC tournament for the first time in a long time!

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1995 was it?

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Marietta and Thiel are underway: Van Voorhees for Marietta; the ace Wadowsky for Thiel.

This may be the first pitching matchup I've ever seen in which both pitchers say the hell with triskadekaphobia and wear #13.

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Thiel won, 7-3. Marietta threw three different guys and had 11 hits but couldn't convert into runs as efficiently.

Big win for Thiel, which is now very quietly 27-13.