BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

EttaFan1 · April 18, 2012, 02:46:50 PM

Beherend College was at the Mideast Regional two years ago. They were solid. Of course that was two years ago, too. They were upset last year by Altoona in the conference championship (who also came to Marietta). They are leading their league, and I think will be a reasonable test for the Raiders in a mid week contest which will probably not feature either teams Ace.

EttaFan1 · April 19, 2012, 07:59:32 AM

BW and Mount took two tough losses for teams who may be fighting for a pool C bid. In region losses like that do not help your cause if you are being considered for an at large birth. (Beherend may be close enough, proximity wise, to be considered "in region" for Mount Union).

I still think, if Marietta wins the tournament, one of these two will get a Pool C invite. I would be very suprised if they both did.

EttaFan1 · April 19, 2012, 01:22:03 PM

Saturday's (or with the weather forecast Sunday's) OAC matchups.

Best Matchup of the Weekend
'Berg (6-6, 17-14) @ Mount Union (9-3, 23-9). Not sure who has more pressure on them for this matchup. If 'Berg has any shot at the post seasn, they have to get hot quickly. I would say they need to win a minimum of 4 of their next six if not 5 to get in the OAC tournament. With JCU and Cap on the Princes schedule, this series looms very large. For Mount, the pressure is on to stay near the front of the pack. Not only that, they are also trying to make their pool C resume look as good as possible for the selection committee if they do not win the tournament. Losing two in region games can be bad news (especially on the heels of the Beherend Loss). This is the toughest test left for Mount Union. 'Berg can swing it, but Pitching has been sketchy this season. Mount has been better on the mound and can also swing the sticks. I predicted a split earlier this week, and I'm staying with that.

John Carroll (7-5,15-13) @ Marietta (11-1,24-4). Blaski and Gasser. Marietta has raised their team batting average 15-20 points in the last month. Top defensive team in the conference. JCU has one quality pitcher. JCU's offensive numbers are nothing which makes people sit back and say "wow!" either. Marietta sweeps two, and my bold go for the gusto prediction is at least ONE game will be a shutout.

Ohio Northern (4-7, 10-18) @ BW (8-4, 24-8). In thinking about "Pool C resume building." Two in region wins are important for BW. This is a scrappy Northern team who pitches OK, and hits well, but seems to let teams off the hook regularly with poor defense. BW wins two because they are that much better.

Otterbein (3-9, 16-16) @ Muskingum (7-5, 14-15) . Pressure series for Muskingum. They REALLY need a sweep over the cardinals. Unfortunately Otterbein will probably have their ace Rueter for at least one of them. Spadaro will probably get the nod in game one which would make for a pretty interesting pitching matchup. I see this as two pretty evenly matched teams, and predict a split for the Muskies.

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around, does it make a sound game of the week

Capital (1-10, 12-18) @ Wilmington (3-9, 6-19). Capital wins two.

Dr. Acula · April 19, 2012, 03:54:35 PM

Quote from: EttaFan1 on April 19, 2012, 07:59:32 AM
BW and Mount took two tough losses for teams who may be fighting for a pool C bid. In region losses like that do not help your cause if you are being considered for an at large birth. (Beherend may be close enough, proximity wise, to be considered "in region" for Mount Union).

I still think, if Marietta wins the tournament, one of these two will get a Pool C invite. I would be very suprised if they both did.

Yesterday was not pretty for MUC. I knew they'd skimp on the pitching a little, but their infield defense continues to be bad. And the offense took a bit to get going as the Behrend starter had a perfect game with 2 outs in the 4th. They'll need to play better Sat or they're going to get swept. Luckily they've shown a pattern of bouncing back quickly and playing well.

Dr. Acula · April 21, 2012, 10:53:44 AM

Berg @ MUC ppd to Sunday. Looks like based on the OAC site Ott/Musky and Cap/Wilm are as well. JCU @ Etta and ONU @ BW still on for today. Unfortunately no live stats at BW today because of the rain.

ettanut4life · April 21, 2012, 11:26:59 AM

Jcu at Marietta postponed until tomorrow

EttaFan1 · April 21, 2012, 10:58:45 PM

Bw spit the bit today getting a split with northern.

That could be a ver y costly loss.

Dr. Acula · April 22, 2012, 10:27:50 AM

Yeah, that definitely doesn't help BW. 9-5 with Etta coming to town. So basically likely 9-7 with Ott left and Reuter in game 1. They certainly could have positioned themselves better than they have. They're going to have some pressure on them that last weekend.

That loss further helps my Raiders though. Sitting at 9-3 currently w/ BW and JCU both having Etta in the next 7 days. If Mount can avoid the sweep today and against Musky they're the 2 seed.

Dr. Acula · April 22, 2012, 03:07:29 PM

Game 1 in the books. MUC wins 8-6. Minteer takes the loss. Carlino gets the win battling some control issues (5 BB, 4 HBP). Not his sharpest today it would appear, but he did his job and gave them 6.2 IP and a win. Most impressive thing of game 1 was holding Lizcano to 0-4 including ending the game with the tying run at 2nd.

Dr. Acula · April 22, 2012, 03:20:46 PM

Ott beats Musky 4-3 in game 1. Fish need to salvage a split.

Dr. Acula · April 22, 2012, 05:27:21 PM

Musky leads Ott 8-4 in the 8th.

JCU leads Etta 3-0 in the 4th.

Berg up 4-1 in the 7th.

Cap is going to sweep Wilm. 7-6 final and up 11-0 now in the 6th.

Dr. Acula · April 22, 2012, 06:06:50 PM

Uh oh...Ott came back and tied Musky at 8. They're in the 10th now. Fish really need to win this game.

JCU is really playing well recently. Drop game 1 3-2 in 10. Leas game 2 8-0 in the 6th. Looks like they're going to split w/ Etta.

Berg up 4-3 heading to the bottom of the 9th.

Cap just kicks the PAT...leads Wilm 21-0 now.

EttaFan1 · April 22, 2012, 06:18:14 PM

Well one of my predictions looks to be comIng true. A shut out. Just the wrong team being shut out. Marietta has its worst day of baseball in a long time. Hitting was awful. Pitching was awful in game two. Weather was the only thing worse than than what Marietta showed today.

Jcu played well today. They came to swing the bats and deserve credit for the victory.

Dr. Acula · April 22, 2012, 07:01:18 PM

Wow. Ott comes back and sweeps Musky, 10-8.

After today we no longer have any ties for the top 4 spots:

Etta 12-2
Mount 10-4
BW 9-5
JCU 8-6

Berg, Musky 7-7

EttaFan1 · April 23, 2012, 08:55:54 AM

Quote from: Dr. Acula on April 22, 2012, 07:01:18 PM
Wow. Ott comes back and sweeps Musky, 10-8.

After today we no longer have any ties for the top 4 spots:

Etta 12-2
Mount 10-4
BW 9-5
JCU 8-6

Berg, Musky 7-7

Etta 12-2 @BW, @Wilmington. Predicted finish: If the team who played Sunday shows up: 15-3, If the real Mtta team shows up, 16-2.

Mount Union 10-4, Wilmington, Muskingum: Predicted Finish: 14-4

BW 9-5, Marietta, Otterbein: Predicted Finish 11-7 (if they can split with Marietta, see above) - 10-8

JCU 8-6, @'Berg, @ Northern: Predicted Finish 11-7 (Split with 'Berg, although JCU is HOT right now).

'Berg 7-7, JCU, Capital: predicted Finish: 10-8.

Muskingum 7-7, ONU, @ Mount Union: Predicted Finish: 9-9