BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Pops33]

I am excited to see the kids play some ball again.  Anyone have any ideas who the favorites are?  I saw Collegiate Baseball has Heidelberg and Marietta in their top 15.  Who else are teams to watch? 

[Dr. Acula]

On paper Berg is probably the favorite, but that's largely based on 2019 performances.  They got a huge boost with key guys returning for a 5th year:

Jenkins (1st team All-OAC 3B)
Ochoa (1st team All-OAC C)
Smith (1st team All-OAC 2B)
Doran (Starting SS and leadoff hitter)

They also return DeVore who was their starting 1B and cleanup hitter in 2020 so their lineup is going to be dangerous.

Where the big uncertainty lies is with Etta.  They were very young in 2019.  Who knows how much better those kids are by now?  I think after those two it's probably BW and Ott.  That's purely a guess based on looking at the rosters.  For every team the other question is how much bigger/stronger and more ready to make an impact are the now sophomores who basically got no game action last year?  It's going to be fun because there are going to be a slew that emerge as even more of a surprise than normally.

[Dr. Acula]

I noticed that Dudley Taw is back for BW.  That's a big bat to add to their lineup.

[Pops33]

It seems like he has been there forever, the fifth year is huge.  Definitely a big bat!  Hope they have some pitching to go along with it.

[Dr. Acula]

OAC play opens up this weekend!  Home and away DH Sat/Sun each week.

Ott vs. Wilm
Berg vs. ONU
Mount vs. Musky
BW vs. JCU
Cap vs. Etta

My purple bias will have me following Mount the closest, but as an OAC fan the two that I'd be focused in on are Berg vs. ONU and definitely the cross town battle up in Cleveland.  There's so much uncertainty after essentially no season last year.  4 conference games in 2 days is really going to test the pitching staffs of every team.  If things don't go according to plan on Saturday things could get ugly in the late game Sunday.  It's like the old days of the NCAC.

[Dr. Acula]

Evidently these first 2 DH are not OAC games...except for Etta and Cap?  I don't know.  Those games are shown in the OAC standings.

ONU got a nice split with Berg today.  And they dropped the opener in 13 innings so they were neck and neck all day long today.  Tomorrow will be interesting.

Surprise of the day was probably JCU taking a pair from BW.  Honestly from year to year the two teams I always have the toughest time gauging are JCU and ONU.

Second biggest surprise was Wilm giving Ott some trouble in both games today.  Ott needed 4 in the bottom of the 8th to escape 5-2 in game 1.  Wilm trailed 4-3 in the 5th before losing 8-5 in the second game.  Hopefully that's a good sign for the Quakers. 

Good gravy did Etta take Cap to the wood shed.  16-1 and 13-2.  Unfortunately without the benefit of FL and other OOC games before today we really don't know what that means yet.  I mean, we knew Etta was better than Cap.  But is Etta really, really good?  Is Cap really bad?  Did Cap just have one of those days?  Who knows when we're talking about games 1 and 2 of the season.

Mount threw a pair of CG shutouts at Musky 10-0 and 8-0 thanks to Gallant and Davis.  They combined for 22 K, 2 BB and 6 H allowed.  Mazza was 5-7 w/ 2 2B, HR, 5 R, 4 RBI, 2 SB out of the leadoff spot.  For some reason Mount and Musky opted not to play again tomorrow.

[Dr. Acula]

Musky scrapped their Sunday DH with Mount due to COVID protocol.  Just saw on Twitter that both DH this weekend against Ott have also been canceled by Musky due to COVID protocol.  This mirroring the basketball season when JCU was hampered early on w/ COVID cancelations.

[Dr. Acula]

I think we can safely say Wilm is going to be competitive.  They fell to BW 3-2 and 11-7 yesterday.  And the 11-7 loss was a 9-7 game in the bottom of the 8th.  They're 1-5, but they are not the Quakers of old.  They're not being pushed around.  You better show up or they can beat you.

Etta drilled ONU yesterday 13-1 and 10-1.  They're red hot with the bats through 6 games and they've allowed 8 total runs.  They certainly look like the favorite early on, but Ott is off this weekend due to the COVID issues at Musky so we aren't getting to see them.

Even as a Mount homer I was surprised they went to Tiffin and beat Berg 8-0 and 16-4 yesterday.  Gallant was absolutely spectacular on the mound again with the CG shutout (9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 13 K, 1 BB).  He now has 5 H allowed in 16 IP with 24 K and 1 BB in his 2 starts.  That's just dominating.  Marlowe has got the start in the MIF the last 3 games and has responded by going 10-14.

[Dr. Acula]

Oddly the OAC has opted to change the DH's postponed yesterday to single games on their makeup date.  Not sure of the logic there.  Weekday DH's have been standard in the OAC for years so it's certainly not precedence.  Musky, already down 4 games from their COVID cancelled series with Ott, will now be down another game. 

As for my Raiders, they got a solid split with Ott.  If you would have told me they'd be sitting at 5-3 after opening with Berg and Ott I'm taking that all day long.  This past weekend could have gone badly if not for their incredible bottom of the 9th rally to win game 1 on a walk-off 8-7.  Down to their last strike (0-2 no less) with a runner on 1st down 7-5 they scrapped their way to loading the bases and Weaver smoked a 1-1 pitch to the oppo gap to clear the bases.  I couldn't stop smiling watching the dugout pour out and sprint to mob him at 2nd base.

Berg and BW split.  No surprise.
JCU and ONU split with game 3 going on now (JCU leading 7-5).
Musky swept Cap with game 3 tomorrow.
Etta swept Wilm and will complete the sweep once this third game ends (up 9-0).

I think at this point, even with a comparatively weak schedule to date, Etta looks to be the favorite.  I'd probably slot Ott next right now.

[Billy Brubaker]

The way Marietta has been putting runs on the board this year, it will be interesting to see how they do against JCU this weekend. Midea started the year strong, making a case as an early candidate for POY, but struggled in his next outing against ONU.

Baldwin Wallace & Otterbein should provide some fireworks as well. Both coming off hard fought splits last weekend against Berg & Mount, respectively.

[Dr. Acula]

The headline of the weekend has to be BW sweeping Ott.  That's massive for both teams.  BW sits alone in 2nd at 10-2 a full 2 games up on Mount (8-4).  Meanwhile Ott has dug themselves an early hole at 2-6.  The thing that right now looks like it could sting the Cards is that there is no makeup on their schedule for the series they had cancelled against Musky.  With all due respect to the Fish, if I'm Ott I want those 4 games.

I was curious to see how Etta would handle JCU.  The answer was pretty easily.  I didn't have any delusions that JCU was going to split the series, but I would have said 50/50 between Etta sweeping or taking 3 of 4.  They swept with little drama.

[Dr. Acula]

Etta takes 2 of 3 from BW to maintain a comfortable lead atop the standings at 16-2.  Mount overtakes 2nd at 14-6 taking 3 of 4 from JCU.  Osman threw his second straight CG shutout.  In his last three starts he's 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA.

The battle for the 4th spot is going to be intense.  The current standings for 4th through 8th:

ONU 10-9
Muskie  7-7-1
Berg 9-10-1
Ott 7-8
JCU 8-10-1

ONU has gone 8-1 dating back to their win against Mount in the series finale.

[Pops33]

The OAC is always a meat grinder, although Marietta seems to be navigating it pretty well.   Was Mount expected to be near the top of the OAC this year?  Lots of seniors at the top of the stat sheets, so this seems like the year for them.  With their last 8 games against BW and Marietta, Mount should have the opportunity to earn their spot.  Those will be interesting series to watch.

[Dr. Acula]

I don't know what's going on at Cap, but it seems pretty clear that something is.  I noticed on twitter about a week ago that a young guy tweeted that he was excited to be joining the Cap coaching staff.  I thought that was a little odd considering we're in the middle of the season, but otherwise didn't think much of it.

Then I see Cap asst. Jason Sturgill tweet yesterday "It's with a heavy heart...I officially resigned today as the acting head baseball coach/assistant coach and recruiting coordinator @Cap_Baseball. Will miss the players greatly but I have to stand up for my values."

If Sturgill was acting HC then Grice is already gone I guess?  And now Sturgill resigned?  This seems like a mess. 

[D3baseballparent]

When Marietta played Capital the second time, Capital only had one coach, Sturgill. At this point, parents are going to have to help out for the rest of the season. Looks like they will have to start over as a program next year.