BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

Dr. Acula · April 22, 2021, 11:48:12 AM

Interestingly Sturgill is no longer listed as a coach, but Grice is still listed as HC. My assumption was that Grice had left, but there could be any number of reasons why Sturgill was acting HC. Regardless, this is a disaster for the remainder of this season. I honestly don't even know what your options are at this point. I feel bad for the players, especially the seniors.

Dr. Acula · April 25, 2021, 12:16:58 PM

Wilm swept JCU yesterday including winning the second game 17-4.

Welcome to 2021!

Dr. Acula · April 26, 2021, 12:21:11 PM

Mount takes all 4 games from Cap with the finale being Hesse's 500th victory at Mount. He's one of six coaches in OAC history to win 500 games. He gets a lot of ribbing from current and former players for some of his coaching methods, but no one questions if Hesse is a good man. He is. He cares about his players.

On the Cap front, I was listening to the games yesterday and Scott Manahan was mentioned as the coach. Unless there is another one running around town coaching baseball, Scott Manahan is the retired long-time HC of Bishop Watterson HS in Columbus. You cannot ask for a better option in this scenario. Manahan was an outstanding HS coach and only retired a couple years ago so he's not out of touch.

Dr. Acula · May 09, 2021, 12:15:52 PM

I wonder when the last time was that Ott has lost 9 straight? They've had a rough season (7-17) which is very uncommon for a program that's nearly always pushing for a top 4 spot. On the flip side, ONU has won 8 straight and with Mount sweeping BW yesterday the Bears passed BW for 3rd place currently.

The race for 4th place is going to be tight. BW is up 1 game on Berg currently. BW has 2 with Mount left then 4 with Musky. Berg has 2 with Etta then 4 with Wilm. Berg definitely has the tougher path, but they split with Etta yesterday and the game they lost they lost in 11 innings so they're playing well right now.

rockinandyr · May 13, 2021, 02:43:44 PM

OAC changed the tournament format this year...

Day 1:
#6 at #3 (single game)
#5 at #4 (single game)

Day 2:
Lowest remaining seed at #1 (single game)
Highest remaining seed at #2 (single game)

Day 3:
Remaining teams at higher seed (DH)

Day 4 (if necessary):
Remaining teams at higher seed (winner take all game)

Dr. Acula · May 20, 2021, 10:37:47 AM

Welcome aboard, rockinandyr. +k to get you going.

I'm kind of split on that format. On one hand, I think with as deep as the OAC is with quality teams you almost need 6 teams in. Plus it rewards the top 2 seeds for a strong regular season. But on the other hand when you only take 4 it makes even making the OAC tourney a big deal. Making the conference tourney in a lot of conferences isn't big. In the OAC making it means you are legit.

In the end I think I like the 6 team format and yesterday proved the point with the 5 and 6 seeds both winning. I think Etta will dispatch JCU today, but Berg and Mount will be a battle.

Pops33 · May 21, 2021, 01:19:09 PM

I am not a fan of the single game elimination style tournament when the NCAA has had a double elimination bracket for as long as I can remember. Both Mount and Marietta proved that they were the best two teams in the league this year and they made the finals so it worked out. In a single game, one pitcher can get hot and dominate a better team. The double elimination format forces a team to have the depth that the postseason regularly requires. I understand this year is different and am glad the OAC included 6 teams, just wish I liked the format better. Definitely happy that the championship is best of 3.

Jim Dixon · May 23, 2021, 05:53:40 PM

I expect them to scrape it next year

Quote from: Pops33 on May 21, 2021, 01:19:09 PM
I am not a fan of the single game elimination style tournament when the NCAA has had a double elimination bracket for as long as I can remember. Both Mount and Marietta proved that they were the best two teams in the league this year and they made the finals so it worked out. In a single game, one pitcher can get hot and dominate a better team. The double elimination format forces a team to have the depth that the postseason regularly requires. I understand this year is different and am glad the OAC included 6 teams, just wish I liked the format better. Definitely happy that the championship is best of 3.

Dr. Acula · June 01, 2021, 09:43:32 AM

Mount Union had three of their four SP make All-OAC:

1st team: Gallant, Davis
2nd team: Sumler

I'm going to guess that has never happened in Mount history. Congrats to the entire staff on a great year.

Dr. Acula · August 17, 2021, 11:18:18 AM

Just saw that former Berg HC and current AD Matt Palm has been hired to be HC and Asst. AD at Findlay. Good to see Palm getting back in the dugout.

Dr. Acula · February 21, 2022, 02:13:14 PM

Well, the OAC officially got under way yesterday. BW picked up a very solid sweep over La Roche with convincing 12-3 and 11-2 wins. Mount dropped a pair at #17 W&J 4-3 and 8-5.

Dr. Acula · March 08, 2022, 09:26:35 AM

BW is off to a 7-0 start and in typical fashion for a Harrison squad they are beating the ball around. Averaging over 10 runs per game so far with their "worst" output being 6 runs. Ludwick is hitting .469 so far with Guggenheim right behind him at .462. They've had good starting pitching so far too so good signs for the Jackets early.

Dr. Acula · March 15, 2022, 12:32:31 PM

Good week for the OAC as Etta takes over #1 in this week's top 25. BW jumps from ORV to #17 this week on the strength of a 10-1 start as they continue to rake early. No other OAC team received a top 25 vote which, given our early season records, is not surprising.

Slightly surprising so far is the struggles for JCU (2-7) and ONU (2-6). Neither has been impressive.

As for my Raiders, 6-5 is not bad considering the massive struggles at the plate. A .240 team BA is not going to get it done in conference play. And as bad as that number sounds it's probably worse because Marlowe and Duliba are so far above it flirting with .400 that they're inflating it. Mazza must have been banged up as he missed some games and then played DH for a game before returning to CF so his bat will make a big difference once he's 100%. Luckily the pitching has been good again this year so that's keeping them afloat until the bats wake up. Gallant has been great his last 2 starts and Sumler has been their best pitcher. Davis has struggled so far, but once he locks in they've got 3 really good SP.

Dr. Acula · March 20, 2022, 07:50:58 PM

We're 1/3 of the way through the regular season and BW is hitting .371 as a team with no starter hitting below .345. They're slugging .607 with 72 XBH in 14 games including 20 homers. You look at their box scores and they just put up crooked numbers in multiple innings every game. We'll see how their pitching holds up in OAC play, but it's been good so far. The Jackets CLEARLY look like they're closer to Etta than they are to the rest of the OAC right now.

Dr. Acula · March 25, 2022, 02:27:18 PM

OAC opening weekend kicks off tomorrow!

JCU @ Musky: Definitely surprised to say this, but I think Musky is the favorite here. A road split for JCU would be a good result IMO. There is no program more difficult to gauge year to year than Musky.

BW @ Wilm: Wilm has a winning record which pre-Tony would have been incredible this late in the year. They're definitely competitive and they seem to have a few legit sticks. But BW is loaded offensively and I just don't think Wilm has the arms to keep them in check. I won't say I'd be "ONU at Etta" shocked with a split here, but I think BW is too deep for the Quakers pitchers right now.

Cap @ Ott: I hate that this is the opening DH for these two. I want rivals playing later into the schedule. Ott should sweep so Cap is in the same boat as JCU here...a road split is a win. Cap has already shown better competitiveness than last year, but I don't think they're quite up to the Cards level yet. Ott doesn't seem to have any dominant pitching so far so Cap has a chance though.

ONU @ Etta: I would be shocked if ONU even has a chance to win either game after a few innings. The Pios just hung 31 on La Roche yesterday. Sabatine has been shaky so far, but they hit way too well 1-9 and have too many other arms to drop one to the Bears. Mathews hasn't allowed a run in 20.0 IP so he's been lights out. With him throwing multiple IP and dominating it gives me Andy Lowe vibes for anyone who's been following since those great Berg teams.

Berg @ Mount: I'm biased, but I think this is the key DH of the weekend. Not necessarily because I think either of these teams is going to contend with Etta, but I think both teams are going to be in the mix for the OAC tourney and neither team has given us any real indicators of where they're gonna shake out in that fight. A sweep by either would be a big result. Good news for Mount is that in their midweek game this week we saw the return of 100% Mazza. He went 3-4, 3B, HR, 3 RBI, 3 R from his leadoff spot.

My gut is...JCU/Musky split, Ott sweeps, BW sweeps, Etta sweeps, Berg/Mount split.