BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[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.

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.

I go to OSU games frequently and I still can't get used to the all turf thing. It just seems wrong. Haha. Guys playing baseball and leaving without a hint of dirt on them doesn't feel right.  But you're right, if the school can afford it a turf field seems like the best option.

[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.

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.

I'm not making this up. Heard it directly from Coach Palm and that's what Manchester told him.

[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.

I'm not making this up. Heard it directly from Coach Palm and that's what Manchester told him.

I'm just saying it doesn't make much sense. Isn't Manchester only like an hour from there?

[Dr. Acula]

So I looked at Mount's schedule to date.  None of the teams they've played thus far have a winning record.  Winning % of their schedule to date is below .300 (ouch).  Needless to say a DH against a 7-9 DII school should be by far their stiffest test yet.  Checked out the Walsh roster and saw a transfer from Etta (who I'd never heard of) and Berg (who I at least recognized the name).  Also noticed that Logan Bowles already left OSU to transfer home and is not having much success at Walsh so far (3 starts).

 

[Dr. Acula]

Sorry, I was being lazy...

Jake Palidar (Sr. OF from Wadsworth) is the Etta kid.

Alex Zander (So. P from Cuyahoga Hts.) is the Berg kid.

[Spence]

Sorry, I was being lazy...

Jake Palidar (Sr. OF from Wadsworth) is the Etta kid.

Alex Zander (So. P from Cuyahoga Hts.) is the Berg kid.

I think Palidar got maybe a few at-bats as a FR. He likely made the right call by transferring if playing time was the sole determinant, because the 2011 OF was Lo-hoooo-ded.

I don't think Mount's schedule is quite as bad as it looks. Aurora is not going to stay a .200 team. Rose-Hulman is probably a top tier team in the HCAC this year. It certainly isn't a fabulous schedule, but I think some of those wins are going to look better later in the year than they do now. Kind of like Salem State and Wooster for the teams in Port Charlotte...right now those teams' records don't look great, but I'm guessing they both end up with 25ish wins or more.

[Spence]

Marietta finished up the spring trip with a 4-0 win over New Paltz.

Brewer must have told them to hurry up because it only took 2:03, and Marietta pitchers threw just 87 pitches total.

Marietta's team ERA now is 1.81. Pretty amazing considering FR and SO have thrown 90% of the innings. This is looking like a team well ahead of schedule...or mine, at least.

[Dr. Acula]

Couple slugfests at Manchester.  Berg sweeps 15-9 and 11-9.  That's 11 straight W's for Palm's crew.  Every time I look at a box score I swear Hug has multiple hits.  That kid seems to be raking.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount has thrown their 3-4 starters in relief today and both have struggled some.  Carlino threw a lot of pitches, but was solid (5 IP, 1 ER, 4 K) in the game 1 start.  They were up 3-2 after 7, but the bullpen imploded a little in the 8th allowing 5 runs all charged to Ceriani, but with the assist from Bekelesky who allowed all 3 inherited runners to score when Ceriani departed.  Walsh won it 7-3 despite the Raiders out hitting them 11-9.  Offense sounded good early, but then couldn't get the clutch hit the latter half of the game. 

Game 2 Clarke gave up 2 R in 6 IP and got a lot of offensive help.  Murzynski really struggled with his control walking 5 and hitting a batter in 2 IP, but with a 12-2 lead it wasn't an issue today.  Mount cruises to the split 12-4.  Knott was 5-8 with a HR and a 2B on the day. 

[Spence]

The OAC looks to have about 8 teams playing or capable of playing pretty good baseball.

Doubleheader sweeps aren't going to come easy this year, especially on the road.

[motorman]

Berg offense look any more legit now Spence? 34 runs in 3 games against a top 20 team that went to Appleton last year. I think a Senior put to rest your erroneous assertion that a freshman was Berg's best pitcher too. 11Ks and 6 hits in the Friday game, Chris Thomas totally shut down the Manchester offense for the 2nd year in a row. Only hard hit ball by Manchester in a game with 30+ mph wind blowing out to right was the home run leading off the 4th. Also the only baserunner to get past 2nd base for Manchester. The sophomore duo of Fluharty and Huber struggled on the mound today after stellar outings to end the Florida trip, but the offense bailed them out.

You are right Dr A, Derek Hug has been hitting line drives all over the place, but today belonged to Trevor Oldham. 3 triples in 1 game tied an OAC record last accomplished in 1976. Berg speed is turning doubles into triples routinely. They had more triples in the 10 games in Florida than they had all of last season. And the track meet continued this weekend vs. Manchester. Oldham's first triple in today's 2nd game came after being hit by a pitch after pulling the bat back on an attempted bunt, only to have the boys in blue say he was still trying to bunt. Another came after Manchester dropped a foul pop that should have been caught.

[Spence]

Hrm i sense a little jealousy and rivalry there with regard to the young guy that did a very good job in his own right today. Hendrixson still has a lower ERA and has figured in more victories (2 wins and a save as a reliever).

I haven't had Manchester in my personal top 25 all year, even preseason. They lost a ton from last year, and Nieman is apparently hurt. I'm feeling pretty good about that conviction so far. Same for W&J. I have had Case Western ranked all year. I feel like I was right about all of those.

Little history lesson: Heidelberg was 10-3 at this time last year. Today's come-from-behind win is the only thing separating them from being in the same place as last year at this time. Only other difference is last year this series was all low scoring games.

Bottom line...not sure I'd book for mid-May in Marietta just yet.

OAC is going to be a battle this year. The way the scheduling breaks down for that is certainly interesting. There are 4 doubleheaders in 9 days in April, and the difference in scheduling difficulty over that time between teams is pretty significant. Some teams are going to be asked to play 4 straight road games in 3-4 days against contending teams. If a team can negotiate that (and possibly have an extra road series), they'll certainly have earned their place.

[motorman]

Little history lesson: Heidelberg was 10-3 at this time last year. Today's come-from-behind win is the only thing separating them from being in the same place as last year at this time. Only other difference is last year this series was all low scoring games.

Don't need the lesson, I was there to see it happen. A couple very big differences between this year and last. Berg has an offense this year, couldn't score runs last year. Second big difference is healthy pitching. At this point last year Berg lost their top 2 pitchers for more than a month.

[Spence]

Well, I made a table of the OAC schedule this year, but I can't get it to post. This board for some reason won't accept modern formats and it spit it back when I converted it to .doc.

Interesting to see the differences in schedule difficulty all in one chart. There are a couple of teams that really have their work cut out for them, and a couple that have no excuses at all.

It would make more sense to be able to see it haha.

[motorman]

Also Spence, absolutely no jealousy involved in my opinion of Berg's best pitcher. I was trying to point out the absurdity of someone who hasn't seen anyone from Berg throw a single pitch this year giving an opinion like that. I like what Hendrixson has done and hope all of the pitching staff has great success this year. I wouldn't venture an opinion of who Marietta's best pitcher is since I haven't seen any of them in person.

I do find it curious that after Heidelberg sweeps Manchester, we hear your opinion that they aren't that good. By your criteria, Marietta shouldn't be ranked either since they lost so much to graduation. Glad we have the D3.com poll to go by rather than your personal agenda.