BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

MUC sweeps Wilm. 11-10 and 7-0.

Musky finished off BW 10-0 to complete the sweep.

[bballfanatic1984]

By the looks of what Dr. Acula posted it looks like BW is going to have to wake their bats up if the want to be in the OAC tourney ... Musky congrats on the sweep on the road

[lhpdiggy]

BW will be OK w/ the bats, tough one at the yard today though, and the scores reflect it. 

In the operner Musky's Patterson and BW's Fredericks each faced 3 over the minumum and both pitched great games.  In the 2nd game, Musky's Fryer did extremely well, and BW's Jaskowak after giving up 3 earned, settled down and pitched well.  The rest is history. 

Whiteman's was injured in the 2nd game, pulling up between 2nd and 3rd w/ what appeared to be a severe hamstring pull.  He was on the floor at 3rd for quite sometime, and walked off limping.  Hope all is Ok w/ him.

Intersesting day in the OAC.  It is going to fun to be a part of it again this season!

[JK]

Cap and JCU split today. 

Cap won the opener 8-6 as catcher Zach Byers went 2-3 with 2 RBI and 2b Steve Veenstra went 2-4 with an RBI.  Josh Belknap picked up the win in relief going 2 and 2/3 and giving up only 2 runs.  Cap scored all 8 of their runs in the 5th and Belknap made the lead stand up.  JCU's catcher Chris Cairo went 3-4 with 2 RBI for the Streaks.

JCU took the second game 18-6 as Cairo went 4-5 with 4 RBI, 1b Tom Hickey also went 4-5 with 4 RBI, and 3b Brian Benander went 2-5 but scored 5 runs.  JCU's Chris Koller got the win on the hill to go to 5-0 on the season.  Cap 1b Ian Smith went 4-6 with an RBI and Veenstra went 2-5 with an RBI for Cap.  Justin Stegman took the loss for the Crusaders.

Next up for Cap is Hiram tomorrow.

[a spectator]

Congrats to Marietta on a sweep of #3 Heidelberg yesterday in Tiffin. 

[Dr. Acula]

Wanted to give some comments on the MUC/Wilm DH now that I had a chance to read the game stories and box scores...

I'm worried and excited about game 1.  I'm worried because Mariotti struggled a little bit again and seemed to be having issues with his control.  He walked 5 in 2.2 innings yesterday including 4 straight in the 1st.  Luckily he's also extrememly talented so he's got strikeout stuff that gets him out of jams.  I'm very excited because the Raiders trailed 10-3 going into the top of the 6th.  They scored 7 and tied it on Slaybaugh's Grand Slam that inning, then took the lead on Knott's HR in the 8th.  That was each guy's 4th HR of the season. 

Boy is Joe Irwin throwing well for MUC right now.  He threw a CG shutout in game 2 and had his 2nd consecutive start not allowing a run.  Lewis for Wilmington had a very solid start as well (6.1 inn, 2 ER) in a game that featured all of one extra base hit combined.         

[Dr. Acula]

For the sake of conversation, here are the team batting averages as of this morning:

MUC  .379
Berg  .354
Musky  .338
Cap  .336
ONU  .317
JCU  .310
BW  .305
Etta  .295
Ott  .286
Wilm  .266

[Dr. Acula]

And here are the team ERA's...

Ott 2.38
Musky  3.22
JCU  3.57
Berg  3.78
Etta  4.86
MUC  5.81
Wilm  6.40
ONU  6.98
BW  7.12
Cap  8.59

I'm impressed by Musky's pitching numbers across the board.  Excellent opp BA, total runs allowed, etc.  I think that's the surprise so far to me.  Only time will tell if they can keep it up.

[fundamentalswin]

The win in game one of MUC/Wilmington was blessing and curse at the same time.  The win is great MUC gets off to a great start and eventually moves to 2-0 in the conference but the curse is more worry some.  Knowing the staff there nothing is going to change in philosophy because the results were a win.  The problem stems from the entire approach.  The team has a great depth of quality arms but you would never know that from the box scores because the depth isnt utilized.  Certain people get more opportunities than others plain and simple instead of things being earned and there being a living breathing bullpen fueled by competition thus establishing a pecking order in those roles from the closer on down to the long reliever.  Couple that with an expectation of the starters finishing the game instead of getting as many quality outs as you can and utilizing depth.  The problems with Mariotti are mental but are compounded because there is very little teaching of pitching by the coaching staff and thus when someone struggles there is not support system.  For him to get on the right track he has to trust his stuff again and pound the strike zone on a consistent basis with multiple pitches

[Dr. Acula]

That's not what I wanted to hear fundamentalswin!  But sadly, as a former MUC baseball player myself I know all too well what you're referring to.  That's what I meant in my post the other day regarding the starting rotation being set in stone.  If guys aren't answering the bell you need to give other guys a shot. 

[Gramps]

Jusy like like last year, the Berg has lost the Conference openers to Marietta.  After the loses last year, the Berg went on to a 13-1 run in the next 14 games, and this years team is potentially a better team than last years.  It will be up to the team leaders to inspire their team mates to play up to that potential.

As to yesterdays game one, J. Wentworth and W. Brechun had 2 hits each, and Travis McClarney racked up the first HR of his collegiate career.  Good going "T-MAC".

In game two, J. Wentworth had 3 hits, 1 run, and 1 RBI, while T. McClarney had 2 hits.  But the hit of the day, was Derek Andrzejczak's, pronounced (Andrej - chak), GRAND SLAM in the 3rd inning. Great job, Derek.

     Next game: Denison at Granville  -  Tues. 3/24  -  4:00PM

     GO BERG!!!

[JK]

Cap beat Hiram today to even their record at 9-9.

[Gramps]

Some thoughts on my visit to Peaceful Valley last week.  They are continuing with the renovations with the addition of 102 stadium seats.  I hear that bleachers will be added behind each section of seats.
Also, a new scoreboard was partially completed behind right center field. Have not heard when it will be completed.  Will add updates as they are being done.

[OAC baseball fan 3]

Curious what everyone thinks of this weekends games...

LOTS of OAC matchups! 

Let me know!

[bballfanatic1984]

Marietta will sweep Cap
Heidelberg will sweep Musky
ONU will split with MUC
BW will split with JCU
Otterbein will probably sweep Wilmington*


*havent seen Otterbein in OAC play yet so not too sure