BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

Chris Winpigler with a grand slam to blow it open in Game 2 in Wilmington. 9-0 in the 6th.

Heidelberg up 3-0 in the 4th. Scored 3 in the 2nd despite not getting the ball out of the infield. Looks like if Northern found some guys that can play defense, they might be a pretty good baseball team next year. Pitching has been good.

Yeah, I actually just looked earlier to see if any of their top starting pitchers are seniors.  Unfortunately they're a junior and 2 sophs.  ONU should be in every game next year with that pitching.   

[Spence]

If ONU gets a sweep, they're in the tournament, right? Because it's 3-3.

EDIT: Make it 7-3 ONU.

EDIT again: Forgot BW beat Marietta. Looks like the only way for ONU to be 4th is for there to be a 3 way tie.

[Spence]

And that's a final. Heidelberg now 3-4, 1-3 in the league of late. But that's better than last year when they closed 1-7, 1-3.

[Spence]

So, as is usually the case when I have economics homework (2 more class periods to go!), I'm procrastinating.

So I put together some stats for the teams that are still in the running for the conference tournament. But these are a little different. These are hitting stats in conference play, NOT counting games against Wilmington!

They also don't count hit by pitch even though some teams rely on that for offense because frankly, I don't care and I did the stats. I also didn't do SLG because I'm lazy and that's a longer formula than I wanted to put into excel. It's easy enough to see from the numbers what the effect would be.

Oddly, taking out Wilmington actually improved one team's batting average. Didn't expect that. Overall, it shows how close the top 3 teams are offensively, .06 separate them in OBP.

             BA    OBP  Batting       R     2B    3B    HR     BB    K
BW      .317/.422 183-for-578 115 38    3      4       61    80
Heide  .307/.425 173-for-563 126 22    3      4       66    84
MC      .305/.419 171-for-561 118 33    6      5       64    86
JCU     .271/.368 129-for-476 70   24    2      4       46    68
ONU    .259/.326 145-for-559 85   21    5      7       76    114

[EttaFan1]

So, as is usually the case when I have economics homework (2 more class periods to go!), I'm procrastinating.

So I put together some stats for the teams that are still in the running for the conference tournament. But these are a little different. These are hitting stats in conference play, NOT counting games against Wilmington!

They also don't count hit by pitch even though some teams rely on that for offense because frankly, I don't care and I did the stats. I also didn't do SLG because I'm lazy and that's a longer formula than I wanted to put into excel. It's easy enough to see from the numbers what the effect would be.

Oddly, taking out Wilmington actually improved one team's batting average. Didn't expect that. Overall, it shows how close the top 3 teams are offensively, .06 separate them in OBP.

             BA    OBP  Batting       R     2B    3B    HR     BB    K
BW      .317/.422 183-for-578 115 38    3      4       61    80
Heide  .307/.425 173-for-563 126 22    3      4       66    84
MC      .305/.419 171-for-561 118 33    6      5       64    86
JCU     .271/.368 129-for-476 70   24    2      4       46    68
ONU    .259/.326 145-for-559 85   21    5      7       76    114

Good bad or indifferent hbp counts in on base percentage as does reach on error-which are not commonly found in the numbers provided by most sources.

Berg leads the free world in hbp, by a big margin. If they were "average" in that category, how would that impact their obp?  Some would be hits, some would be walks some would be.

It is part of how they have had offensive success this year though.

[Spence]

Like I said, if someone else cares, have at it. I don't, I don't regard it as a legitimate offensive strategy to lean into a pitch and let it hit you and hope the ump doesn't call you back. 6 of the top 9 players in HBP in the OAC are from one team. They are obviously being coached to try to get hit by pitches. It's something the league should discuss in the offseason because it's a stain on the game.

Hits and walks are a matter of doing things right at the plate. HBP is not. As mentioned, I did the stats, so I did them based on what I thought was significant. If someone else cares about something else, well the math isn't difficult.

[Dr. Acula]

Bittersweet season for my Raiders this year.  Consider the following:

Their .706 winning percentage was the best in 40 years.  Unfortunately the 10-8 mark in OAC play was just not enough.  They simply didn't win any conference games that were "+1" games i.e. Games that give you a leg up on teams in the race. Like BW splitting with Etta. Or ONU yesterday.  Mount was 0-6 against the top 3. That can't happen especially when all three of them are reasonably beatable.  You have to scratch out a win or two there.  It's especially disappointing when 8...8!! of their starters are in the top 30 in the conference in hitting.

This senior class recorded the most career wins in school history, made an NCAA regional and won the first special award (Carlino) for the school in baseball.  They easily could have packed it in after that 1-7 start in OAC play, but to even my surprise they went 9-1 down the stretch with the lone loss being the split at BW.  I have to assume the seniors deserve a ton of credit for that too. Great fight shown to the end.  Makes me sad to see them go because it's always fun to root for kids like that.  They expected to win and they never quit.  I wish them well as they graduate and move on. 

[motorman]

Like I said, if someone else cares, have at it. I don't, I don't regard it as a legitimate offensive strategy to lean into a pitch and let it hit you and hope the ump doesn't call you back. 6 of the top 9 players in HBP in the OAC are from one team. They are obviously being coached to try to get hit by pitches. It's something the league should discuss in the offseason because it's a stain on the game.

Hits and walks are a matter of doing things right at the plate. HBP is not. As mentioned, I did the stats, so I did them based on what I thought was significant. If someone else cares about something else, well the math isn't difficult.

There have been 3 or 4 times this year that Heidelberg batters have moved into pitches and each time they have been kept at home plate instead of getting first base. This is someone showing their uninformed opinion based on their own personal bias. Berg batters are coached to stand their ground, not move into pitches. They do not have a right handed batter who hangs over the plate. The vast majority of their hit batters have come in the leg or body, kind of hard to hang those body parts over the plate. I am amazed at the coaches who do not know the rule that Spence so kindly posted that if a batter freezes in the batter's box and is hit by a pitch, he is to be awarded first base.

I lost a lot of respect for ONU's coach, a former major league player for the things he argued that should be obviously known by someone who has reached that level. The balk that allowed the first Berg run to score was the most blatant I've ever seen. On a day with 20mph winds and gusts reaching at least 40mph, the Berg hitter had dust blown into his face. He asked for time and was not given it because the pitcher had started his windup. When the pitcher saw the batter with a foot out of the box, he stopped his delivery just before releasing the pitch. There should have been no discussion at all.

Later, when ONU had bases loaded and 2 outs the runner going from 2nd to 3rd was hit by the batted ball for the 3rd out of the inning. After the last bounce, with the Berg SS in position to field the easy hop, the runner passed in front of the fielder and the ball changed directions 90 degrees to the right. It wasn't the wind, yet the coach had to come argue the call.

[mideastfan2]

^^^^ as a former player (@ Marietta) and now a high school coach in Texas, nothing bugs me more than a coach who argues just to argue. Every close call, or every questionable decision by an umpire that doesn't go their way, and they are out of the dugout to put on a show....nothing delays the game more, and it always drives me crazy.

[mideastfan2]

Must be one of those days in Marietta; I'm guessing the wind is blowing out and the boys brought out the boom sticks....the Etta Express has 4 home runs and counting on the day. We had our fair share of those back in the day 

Oac field is set...
Marietta
Heidelberg
John Carroll
Baldwin Wallace

[Spence]

Like I said, if someone else cares, have at it. I don't, I don't regard it as a legitimate offensive strategy to lean into a pitch and let it hit you and hope the ump doesn't call you back. 6 of the top 9 players in HBP in the OAC are from one team. They are obviously being coached to try to get hit by pitches. It's something the league should discuss in the offseason because it's a stain on the game.

Hits and walks are a matter of doing things right at the plate. HBP is not. As mentioned, I did the stats, so I did them based on what I thought was significant. If someone else cares about something else, well the math isn't difficult.

There have been 3 or 4 times this year that Heidelberg batters have moved into pitches and each time they have been kept at home plate instead of getting first base. This is someone showing their uninformed opinion based on their own personal bias.

Actually this proves my point exactly. I have never heard of a team for which that is a semi-regular appearance before now. I imagine for each time they've been brought back, there's 3-4 times where they should have. There is simply no way that that many HBPs above the average is a matter of happenstance. They are being coached to be hit by pitches. I watched St. Thomas in a doubleheader today and there was 1 HBP in 2 games, and that kid was hit in the head. Several other times guys could have been hit but got out of the way like good sportsmen.

Berg batters are coached to stand their ground, not move into pitches. They do not have a right handed batter who hangs over the plate. The vast majority of their hit batters have come in the leg or body, kind of hard to hang those body parts over the plate. I am amazed at the coaches who do not know the rule that Spence so kindly posted that if a batter freezes in the batter's box and is hit by a pitch, he is to be awarded first base.

This is false. The *ball* must also be completely in the batter's box.

I lost a lot of respect for ONU's coach, a former major league player for the things he argued that should be obviously known by someone who has reached that level. The balk that allowed the first Berg run to score was the most blatant I've ever seen. On a day with 20mph winds and gusts reaching at least 40mph, the Berg hitter had dust blown into his face. He asked for time and was not given it because the pitcher had started his windup. When the pitcher saw the batter with a foot out of the box, he stopped his delivery just before releasing the pitch. There should have been no discussion at all.

Later, when ONU had bases loaded and 2 outs the runner going from 2nd to 3rd was hit by the batted ball for the 3rd out of the inning. After the last bounce, with the Berg SS in position to field the easy hop, the runner passed in front of the fielder and the ball changed directions 90 degrees to the right. It wasn't the wind, yet the coach had to come argue the call.

I'm not inclined to have too much sympathy for someone complaining about complaining when that person has a kid coached by Matt Palm. Say whatever you want about that, I don't care; he cries about calls more than anyone.

[Spence]

^^^^ as a former player (@ Marietta) and now a high school coach in Texas, nothing bugs me more than a coach who argues just to argue. Every close call, or every questionable decision by an umpire that doesn't go their way, and they are out of the dugout to put on a show....nothing delays the game more, and it always drives me crazy.

The script got flipped at the game I saw today (Augsburg-St. Thomas). The Augsburg players were very loudly approving of their teammate at the plate taking a pitch that was called a high strike. You know "leave that up there, you don't want that" etc. The ump called time to tell them to knock it off (which I didn't think they did anything wrong), and then the coach comes walking down and ump is like "don't come down here"...coach keeps walking, batter walks slowly toward him...coach keeps walking, ump finally says something again and the coach says "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I want to talk to my player." Classic!

Both umps were pretty poor, IMO.

[Spence]

Bittersweet season for my Raiders this year.  Consider the following:

Their .706 winning percentage was the best in 40 years.  Unfortunately the 10-8 mark in OAC play was just not enough.  They simply didn't win any conference games that were "+1" games i.e. Games that give you a leg up on teams in the race. Like BW splitting with Etta. Or ONU yesterday.  Mount was 0-6 against the top 3. That can't happen especially when all three of them are reasonably beatable.  You have to scratch out a win or two there.  It's especially disappointing when 8...8!! of their starters are in the top 30 in the conference in hitting.

This senior class recorded the most career wins in school history, made an NCAA regional and won the first special award (Carlino) for the school in baseball.  They easily could have packed it in after that 1-7 start in OAC play, but to even my surprise they went 9-1 down the stretch with the lone loss being the split at BW.  I have to assume the seniors deserve a ton of credit for that too. Great fight shown to the end.  Makes me sad to see them go because it's always fun to root for kids like that.  They expected to win and they never quit.  I wish them well as they graduate and move on.

Just the wrong year to be in the OAC. The team with the best BA in conference play and the team with the best ERA in conference play are both out of the postseason.

Speaking of the postseason awards, the Rafeld Award should be interesting. The list of the best hitters overall barely resembles the best in league play. Hug and Mathis are the only two .400 hitters for the season (with 2.5 PA/team game) but neither is even at .350 in the conference. The only players in the top 10 in BA in both league play and overall is a DH (Hunter Handel of BW) and Evan Knott of Mount Union. Can a guy that doesn't play the field be player of the year?

6 of the top 10 overall in BA are from Mount Union and BW.

Marietta's Tyler Packanik has been one of the best in league play and is a strong defensive player, but wasn't in the lineup for 15 games or so. Mitch Geers has among the best power numbers in league play but got a bit of a slow start.

So yeah, really don't know what to do with all of this. I'd be half inclined to give it to Robberts from Muskingum, who has played several positions and hit the heck out of the ball all year.

The Tekulve Award should be much more straightforward -- if it's not Christian Herstine's, there ought to be an investigation.

[motorman]

Spence, you aren't even getting any support from the other Marietta people. Maybe you should take that as a hint. I really wish they would do some sort of intervention to make you see what a poor sport you are and what a bad reflection you are on the school. You have done NOTHING but run down every accomplishment by a fine group of young men from Heidelberg all year, starting in Florida with "they aren't facing other teams best pitchers." You haven't been to a single game yet you KNOW all there is to know about what has gone on in them.

[Spence]

Accomplishments? What accomplishments? The "choked away the top seed" trophy? The "scored 37 runs against some team no one's ever heard of from Minnesota" prize? The Academy Award for "best impersonation of the Leaning Tower of Pisa from inside a batter's box"? Jeez.

I bet I know what Palm's favorite church hymn is. "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms".

All I've done is give my honest opinion. I've held back a lot of factual info because I don't want to set you off even more than you already are (not that I'm sure how that's possible, but I'm sure it is). If you want me to go out of my way to try to make you look bad, believe me I can.