BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[motorman]

I also think anyone from a school with a rec league football program like Marietta's, where they annual question is are we going to beat Wilmington to avoid another winless season, shouldn't be denigrating anybody else's student athletes.

And if this was a football board, you'd have a great point. But...it's not.

Don't know if you would recognize a point if you sat on it. My point had nothing to do with football, just used it as an example. It was about respecting your opponent and not calling them a rec league team, especially since the OAC records Berg came close to matching were set by Marietta against a LaRoche team that was essentially an intermural team after the real baseball team quit.

To your argument about Mount playing regional runner up, that's about the only regional caliber team they did play (I know they played Penn State Behrend too, how did those turn out?), and it was 2 league games, not the pressure of a tournament. Doubt they win the OAC tournament if Otterbein hadn't done the dirty work for them and knocked out the mighty Pios.

[Spence]

I covered the La Roche game. No one gained any satisfaction from how that went or thought it indicative of anything. Also, no one would have given a crap if you had broken the records from that game. Those aren't records about which anyone cares much at all.

The one thing I remember Coach being happy about after that game: his team played errorless ball.

It's nice to see La Roche become a respectable program. Just goes to show there's no such thing as a lost cause.

[EttaFan1]

Does anyone want to use a game against a team like Northland, Olivet, Mount Aloycious, Trine, or Iowa Weslyan as a measure of their team's quality? 

I think most of the coaches, and I as a fan, would rather use games against Case, Manchester, Wooster, W&J or Webster as a barometer of the caliber of their team. 

I doubt many football teams look at what happened in their games against Marietta College and based on those results say to themselves, "Hey, I think we are on par with Mount Union after that one." 

'Berg's schedule is about to get much more challenging.  In their next nine games, they have: three games with Manchester, another tilt with Adrian (who happens to be 2-3, but is still the big dog in the MIAA), two with Case, a dh with BW, a game with OWU.  At this point in the season those teams are a combined 26-11.  As an outsider, that stretch is going to be more reprsentative of how good 'Berg is than their first 10 games, where their opponents are a combined 27-38.  I'm not sure that the .369 BA and .502 Slg percentage is going to hold through that stretch, more importantly, can the 5.13 ERA and .305 OppBA and dreadful .940 fielding pct. improve against some of the better competition they will face this season?

[Spence]

Marietta's Christian Herstine no-hits Montclair State in the revenge matchup, 8-0. So that's an adequate response to the first loss. 3 hits, struck out 9.

Assume Byers goes against Smith against Webster.

[EttaFan1]

Marietta's Christian Herstine no-hits Montclair State in the revenge matchup, 8-0. So that's an adequate response to the first loss. 3 hits walks, struck out 9.

Assume Byers goes against Smith against Webster.

Walks...not hits...

And yes Byers is up next against Webster.

Marietta just announced they have picked up a game against Wheaton(Mass) tomorrow at 11:00

[Spence]

Marietta's Christian Herstine no-hits Montclair State in the revenge matchup, 8-0. So that's an adequate response to the first loss. 3 hits walks, struck out 9.

Assume Byers goes against Smith against Webster.

Walks...not hits...

And yes Byers is up next against Webster.

Marietta just announced they have picked up a game against Wheaton(Mass) tomorrow at 11:00

Yes, of course...thanks...blerg.

Webster being pretty stingy so far.

[Dr. Acula]

As expected, Mount's 3 game set with St. John's this weekend is cancelled.  Too bad.  SJU was 8-1 last time I looked albeit not against great competition either.  Still would have been a nice series though.   

[motorman]

Berg's games vs Manchester are going to be played in Westfield, IN just north of Indy on turf fields. Supposed to be close to 60 there tomorrow. Hope they represent as well against the regional champs as they did last year. Especially since going 8-2 in FL with 6 of those games against 2013 regional qualifiers is so unimpressive to the lords of the OAC down south.

[Spence]

10 a.m. DH after a 6:45 night game? Jeez. Why not play a 5:00 DH, then the 1 p.m. the next day and leave town at the same time?

Those are going to be some tired kids Saturday afternoon.

[Spence]

As expected, Mount's 3 game set with St. John's this weekend is cancelled.  Too bad.  SJU was 8-1 last time I looked albeit not against great competition either.  Still would have been a nice series though.   

YOu just about could have gone there. Snow is pretty much gone.

[motorman]

10 a.m. DH after a 6:45 night game? Jeez. Why not play a 5:00 DH, then the 1 p.m. the next day and leave town at the same time?

Those are going to be some tired kids Saturday afternoon.

Manchester is still in class, they can't miss last day of class before break. Thought they would play Sat and Sun, but guess this is the better option.

[Dr. Acula]

As expected, Mount's 3 game set with St. John's this weekend is cancelled.  Too bad.  SJU was 8-1 last time I looked albeit not against great competition either.  Still would have been a nice series though.   

YOu just about could have gone there. Snow is pretty much gone.

It looks like they're playing a DH against Walsh Sat.  Location?  West Mifflin, PA.  HS has an all turf field.  I'm sure the large number of western PA players' parents are excited for a short drive. 

[Spence]

10 a.m. DH after a 6:45 night game? Jeez. Why not play a 5:00 DH, then the 1 p.m. the next day and leave town at the same time?

Those are going to be some tired kids Saturday afternoon.

Manchester is still in class, they can't miss last day of class before break. Thought they would play Sat and Sun, but guess this is the better option.

Oh like they're not going to miss class the rest of the year? Please.

Shouldn't have many guys with afternoon classes during the spring anyway.

[Spence]

As expected, Mount's 3 game set with St. John's this weekend is cancelled.  Too bad.  SJU was 8-1 last time I looked albeit not against great competition either.  Still would have been a nice series though.   

YOu just about could have gone there. Snow is pretty much gone.

It looks like they're playing a DH against Walsh Sat.  Location?  West Mifflin, PA.  HS has an all turf field.  I'm sure the large number of western PA players' parents are excited for a short drive.

The weather must be worse these days because there used to be more games played, even up north, and no turf fields and yet it usually worked out.

At this point, it seems like purism be damned, if you can afford a turf field it's probably worth it.

[EttaFan1]

SO after falling behind 4-0, Marietta gets three in the bottom of the 8th and one in the ninth to force extra innings. Marietta left runners at third base in both the 8th and 9th.  Webster gets a run in the 10th and Marietta can't get a clutch hit to bring in a runner in scoring position in the bottom half.  Webster wins 5-4. 

Byers was "roughed up" a little (causing his own difficulties at times).  Hit the first batter of the game who came in to score.  He gave up three runs.  Freshman Jim Luyster pitched well in relief.  Manchester scored their fourth run on a strike three wild pitch with two outs.   

Motorman, I hope 'Berg represents well against Manchester.  It is good for the OAC when there are many strong teams.  I stand by my comments though.  These next nine games will tell all of us more about Heidelberg than their first 10.  8-2 is a great start for any team, and nothing I said is disparaging that fact.  Whether some of those games were against 2013 regional participants or not, the fact is the comined record of those teams is 11 games below .500, and the strength of the next 10 is much better.  The numbers simply don't lie.