BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Spence]

Biggest Concerns: 
Shortstop--The two returners who manned that spot most of the year last year struggled a lot on defense and even more so at the plate.  The two combined to commit 27 errors, and neither hit over .250.  It will be interesting to see if a freshman challenges either of the two returners for significant chances at short.
Catcher--I've had more than one person tell me that Winpiggler had a better arm than Alex did (and very few people were able to successfully run against Toth), but I've also heard, there are no plans to put Winpiggler behind the dish.  This is a very young, very inexperinced pitching staff.  Finding a catcher who can step in and handle that staff is going to be singificant. 
Pitching--Talk about youth and inexperience.  Byers and Finlan were starters as freshman.  Herstine looked good a few times, but was roughed up a few times too.  I imagine freshman are going to be counted on heavily for innings. 

Marietta opens their season on March 1,2 with 2 games against Anderson and 2 against Depauw.

I would add 3B to this. Gregorich was the best def 3B I've seen at Marietta in 20+ years. I have a very hard time believing his replacement will be as good in that area. What would be nice is if Hanahan could play 3B and Demko SS. That would be ideal, IMO. I think Demko will get better and if he ends up being the starter, that's not that bad. I think maybe we got a little spoiled by Tim Saunders, but Demko's numbers last year weren't all that different from Tim's first year as a starter. 3B is where I'm wondering if there will be anyone, or just hoping for a Justin Steranka-like good hitter/poor fielder to play there, much as I dislike that in general.

It could be that Winpigler has a strong arm but his pop time isnt' that good? One of Brew's specialties is working with catchers, and he's pretty much always had a good one, so I really don't worry too much about that. That and they recruited about 5 of them. I have my guess as to which one will win out, but the program hasn't traditionally been about spotlighting FR so I'll keep it under my hat for now.

Also think MC has at least one very good pitching prospect among the FR, and overall they and Case Western recruited most of the half dozen or so Ohio players that were on Perfect Game's all-region honorable mention (1st and 2nd team are all scholarship and mostly D-I). Not that PG is the beginning and end, but usually making that list is a pretty decent indication that you showed at least something as a prep. MC has definitely had guys come in and develop into stars that were well under that radar, though.

[Dr. Acula]

Less than 2 weeks away from Mount opening their season in FL.  Took a look at the schedule down there.  Again this year it looks like a decent, but not overly challenging slate.  They are playing 7 different teams none of which are ranked or receiving votes in the top 25 (nor did they in the final 2013 poll either).

Rose Hulman is usually pretty good, but they are coming off a rough season (15-24).  Other than them they have Aurora (IL) who seems to always have a good record (25-13 last year and better than that the couple yrs prior), but they rack up a ton of wins in that conference every year so I'm not sure if that means much at all.  Trine is decent usually too.  The others look average to not-so-good.  It definitely looks like a schedule they should win 8+ games against.

[EttaFan1]

Though the roster for Mount Union isn't particularly current, there are some interesting things to consider from last year, and here are some of my questions about the Raiders...

Pitching wins Championships: Do they have enough quality?--Carlino is a quality #1 guy.  He was 8-2 (if memory serves, one of the losses was in the regional), and put up decet numbers last year, 3.34 ERA, 70 IP, Opp Avg: .285, 1.47 WHIP (which includes HBP as a walk).  But after that, #2-the rest did not have particularly sparkling numbers.  Clarke, Murzynski and Bekelesky all have stats which will not make you sit up and take notice.  Murzinski's numbers in 2011 and 2012 (at least his ERA) were better as a freshman and sophomore than his Junior campaign.  I think this is a critical piece of the puzzle for Mount Union in 2014.  Pitching will be a key step to doing more than 2 and BBQ in a regional. 

Can Connor Mathis be a major factor again?  In other words was last year an abberation for him.  After being a contender for Player of the year honors in 2012, he kind of disappeared in 2013. 

Is 2014 the year, the Raiders show they are a real force in the Mid-east region or just another decent OAC team?  This is a team which is loaded with vetran talent.  They are returning a lot of experienced young men from a fairly successful season a year ago.  It looks to be a situation where the Mount faithful would be saying "This is our year." 

the conference schedule is "unkind."  They get Marietta at home, have to travel to John Carroll, BW, Otterbein, and Heidelberg.   So of the 5 "contenders," they get to play 4 on the road....Unkind is maybe a little understated...

the overall schedule is moderate  They play W&J, PSU-Beherend (two regional teams fom last year).  Allegheny, Wittenberg, Thiel, Hiram (really? an intrasquad scrimmage would be better), and Westminster after coming back from Florida .  (Games with St Vincent and Waynesburg in florida, the Raiders can sneak in the back door as the PrAC conference champs - just joking).  Sadly there are no games with teams like Wooster, Case Western, Ohio Wesleyan, or even LaRoche (who has been in the regional lately).  This sets up well for a good record, but depending on the criteria for regional selection, it may not be particularly helpful if the raiders are unable to win the Pool A Bid.

I still believe Mount Union is one of the three or four primary contenders for the regular season conference crown.  A lot of quality experience returns, and it is a senior laden team.  If the pitching depth improves, they could be hosting the OAC tourney come May.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Thanks for the Props for OWU, Etta. I was hoping that OWU and MU would play each other this year, but it looks like it was not meant to be. We do play Heidelberg, Marietta, Ohio Northern John Carroll, Muskingum and Capital. I had hoped we would trade Muskingum for Mount this year. 

[Dr. Acula]

My thoughts added in purple (of course).  Haha.

Though the roster for Mount Union isn't particularly current, there are some interesting things to consider from last year, and here are some of my questions about the Raiders...

Pitching wins Championships: Do they have enough quality?--Carlino is a quality #1 guy.  He was 8-2 (if memory serves, one of the losses was in the regional), and put up decet numbers last year, 3.34 ERA, 70 IP, Opp Avg: .285, 1.47 WHIP (which includes HBP as a walk).  But after that, #2-the rest did not have particularly sparkling numbers.  Clarke, Murzynski and Bekelesky all have stats which will not make you sit up and take notice.  Murzinski's numbers in 2011 and 2012 (at least his ERA) were better as a freshman and sophomore than his Junior campaign.  I think this is a critical piece of the puzzle for Mount Union in 2014.  Pitching will be a key step to doing more than 2 and BBQ in a regional. 

Clarke has to emerge as the #2.  His summer ended early due to an injury so hopefully he is healthy.  They need him to be.  I think Murzynski is better than he pitched last year, but banking on another season like 2012 is a lot.  I think he falls somewhere in between.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Ceriani in the 4 man rotation for conference play over Bekelsky.  Both guys can do both though which is nice.

Can Connor Mathis be a major factor again?  In other words was last year an abberation for him.  After being a contender for Player of the year honors in 2012, he kind of disappeared in 2013. 

Mathis played pretty well this summer in the NYCBL.  He hit around .340 in 120+ at bats.  As with Murzynski I think asking for 2012 Mathis is too much, but he's definitely much better than he played last year.


Is 2014 the year, the Raiders show they are a real force in the Mid-east region or just another decent OAC team?  This is a team which is loaded with vetran talent.  They are returning a lot of experienced young men from a fairly successful season a year ago.  It looks to be a situation where the Mount faithful would be saying "This is our year." 

I'm excited about 2014.  This team has talent and confidence.  But I also try to temper my optimism by remembering this team went 23-18 last year.  Not really overwhelming.  They came up big in the OAC tournament when it counted, that's for sure.  But I certainly don't think it's a given that they'll even MAKE the OAC tourney this year.  They aren't good enough to give away games in conference play.  I think it's just going to be too much of a log jam.


the conference schedule is "unkind."  They get Marietta at home, have to travel to John Carroll, BW, Otterbein, and Heidelberg.   So of the 5 "contenders," they get to play 4 on the road....Unkind is maybe a little understated...

the overall schedule is moderate  They play W&J, PSU-Beherend (two regional teams fom last year).  Allegheny, Wittenberg, Thiel, Hiram (really? an intrasquad scrimmage would be better), and Westminster after coming back from Florida .  (Games with St Vincent and Waynesburg in florida, the Raiders can sneak in the back door as the PrAC conference champs - just joking).  Sadly there are no games with teams like Wooster, Case Western, Ohio Wesleyan, or even LaRoche (who has been in the regional lately).  This sets up well for a good record, but depending on the criteria for regional selection, it may not be particularly helpful if the raiders are unable to win the Pool A Bid.

I don't love Hiram, but they play them every year.  Portage County isn't far so it's always going to be on the schedule.  The western PA teams will be too for the same reason.  The one that should be is Wooster.  That's probably only an hour drive so it should be added without question.  Ever since Walsh went DII that easy schedule filler went away.

I still believe Mount Union is one of the three or four primary contenders for the regular season conference crown.  A lot of quality experience returns, and it is a senior laden team.  If the pitching depth improves, they could be hosting the OAC tourney come May.

Agreed.  I think JCU is the favorite on paper.  After them I think Mount, Etta, BW and Berg are all capable with Ott being next.  The Cards just have a lot to replace in Meadows and Cydrus.  If their transfers work out they could jump right up there too though.  It's going to be a battle every DH this year.  Should be awesome though.

[Spence]

One thing we don't know in a lot of cases is how the change to a 9 inning first game is going to affect the balance of power.

I know Marietta feels the longer the game is, the more chance the better team has to win (and of course they think that's usually going to be them). They also have an ace that has clearly proven he can go 9 strong if asked. Carlino I don't think has ever done that. Doring for JCU has (against Marietta), but that was his only outing longer than 6 1/3. And honestly, I think those are the only three teams that have the pitching to win the league. B-W could but only if the stars align beyond Alioto -- I think Capadona could have a better year than last and Cichocki had very good numbers in limited action. Heidelberg has as few pitchers back as Marietta, but they don't have a Byers or a track record of practically always having and developing pitching like Marietta does. Also have no idea what thye have coming in, as their roster isn't updated. Marietta has several FR that at least on paper, seem like they can pitch.

Especially during the part of the season when there are midweek conference games, finding that guy that can either pitch between starts or be a relief workhorse could be the difference between winning the conference and well, not.

[EttaFan1]

Bullpens are going to be significant this year.  A year ago for the Pioneers that was not a strength, rather it was a weakness.  I think at times it forced the staff to stick with the starters longer than they should have (Mulvey had a couple of starts that went a few innings longer than they likely should have).  They had injuries and a number of relief guys quit during the year, and few failed to earn the confidence of the coaching staff to be used on a regular basis.   

Relief pitchers may be the unsung heroes of the OAC this year.  A closer who can throw an inning or two, along with a set up guy(s) who can throw the 7th & 8th in those games will be very important.   So many people want to point to the starting pitching for Marietta in 2011 and 2012, but the real key to that year was the bullpen of Langdon, Lewis and Linquist.  Those three guys were simply outstanding in both seasons!

I think one of the things I will be watching is how well the bullpens fair this year for the contenders in the OAC (as well as some of the teams in the region). 

[Dr. Acula]

Season starts tomorrow!  Good luck to JCU against Case in the opener.

Looking around the conference and everyone has their 2014 roster up...except Mount.  Most schools have had them up for weeks now.  Mount is unveiling theirs at Lake Myrtle #2 evidently. 

I couldn't help but notice Wilm has the smallest freshmen class (5) and the smallest roster (22).  The Quakers only have 3 kids listed as strictly pitchers.  When there are only 22 of you I guess everybody needs to play multiple positions though.  As always, it seems to be tough sledding down there.

BW only has 9 freshmen listed which surprised me a little.

Everyone else fell where you'd expect ranging from 13 to 19 new kids. 

[Dr. Acula]

JCU jumped out 4-1 in the 4th, but ended up losing to Case 8-7.

[Dr. Acula]

The OAC website doesn't even have the 2014 schedule up yet?  I'm beginning to think between the rosters and schedule I'm just too demanding or something.  I must be a high maintenance D3 baseball fan.  Thankfully we can count on this site for the composite schedule.  Thanks, Pat!

[Dr. Acula]

JCU splits with Allegheny today in WV.  12-6 Streaks then 12-2 Gators.

BW got knocked around in their opener by Shawnee St. 9-0 this morning too.  They went on to drop the nightcap against Concordia (MI) 5-4 as well.

[Dr. Acula]

Cap also lost 2-1 to Brandeis in their opener in FL today. 

[motorman]

One thing we don't know in a lot of cases is how the change to a 9 inning first game is going to affect the balance of power.

Heidelberg has as few pitchers back as Marietta, but they don't have a Byers or a track record of practically always having and developing pitching like Marietta does. Also have no idea what thye have coming in, as their roster isn't updated. Marietta has several FR that at least on paper, seem like they can pitch.

Especially during the part of the season when there are midweek conference games, finding that guy that can either pitch between starts or be a relief workhorse could be the difference between winning the conference and well, not.

Heidelberg's roster has been updated since Christmas. They should have a healthy Chris Thomas if he doesn't take another line drive off the hand this year. Zach O'Driscoll should be back after 2 injury plagued years to build on his solid freshman year. Adam Manner and Kyle Fluharty did good things last year and should be big for Berg this year along with several other freshmen who were thrown into the fire last year.

Berg lost Ethan Holt and Tyler Fruhwirth to graduation and Ryan Minteer transferred. Minteer and Fruhwirth both struggled badly last year and Holt was hurt as much as Thomas. Very few other D3 programs would have been able to end up at .500 as Berg did last year with those problems encountered with their top 4 pitchers. Hopefully it will pay dividends this year with all the experience freshmen like Fluharty, Sniezek and Huber got last year.

[Jim Dixon]

The OAC website doesn't even have the 2014 schedule up yet?  I'm beginning to think between the rosters and schedule I'm just too demanding or something.  I must be a high maintenance D3 baseball fan.  Thankfully we can count on this site for the composite schedule.  Thanks, Pat!

Our schedule is missing a game here and there but 99% should be there with any changes added as the season progresses.

[Dr. Acula]

Cap evens their record at 1-1 with a 16-4 win over SUNY Maritime.