BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

Things I got right:  Ott sweeps Cap, JCU and Musky split.

Things I got wrong:  Everything else.

ONU somehow splits at Etta by winning the 2nd game 3-2 on the strength of a great start from Knapschaefer.  This is a head scratcher because ONU doesn't hit well (and didn't Saturday).  Knapschaefer was 0-3, but his numbers were good.  They threaded the needle and combined him and Truax (by far their other best arm so far) into a huge win.

Wilm splits with BW.  Wilm got a 6-2 win in the opener and was pretty much playing with house money.  I didn't think they could hold BW to runs in the first 3 innings let alone an entire game.

Mount sweeps Berg 4-2 and 7-1 riding their strong pitching.  Mount went into today leading the OAC in team ERA and this will only help.  Gallant and Sumler were strong and Osman closed out both games in nearly flawless fashion.

One item to note is that Mother Nature messing with the schedule opening weekend basically only hurts Mount.  Because of postponing I would be shocked if anyone besides Etta and ONU can throw their 1-2 starters on Saturday.  Well Etta plays Cap so that's not really an issue who either team starts that's going to impact the outcome.  For Mount going to ONU it could be.

[Dr. Acula]

Etta (3-1) sweeps Cap (0-4) by a combined 37-4 score.  No surprise there as Etta is clearly the best team and Cap is clearly the worst.

BW (3-1) sweeps Musky (1-3) relatively easily.  7-1 and 8-1.  Musky bounced back and took it out on OWU yesterday 16-2.

Ott (3-1) splits with Berg (1-3).  On paper this looks like a good split for Berg.

Mount (3-1) splits with ONU (2-2).  With that key split with Etta in their pocket ONU holds serve at home.  They also notched a nice win yesterday over a good Allegheny team.

JCU (3-1) sweeps Wilm (1-3).  Both of these games were high scoring and came down to the 9th inning.  Wilm came up short, but they are definitely going to cause some problems this year.

At this point all we seem to know for sure is that Etta is really, really good.  BW is really good.  Cap is bad.  Everyone else TBD.

[Dr. Acula]

Wilm has been competitive this season.  They're holding their own.  Etta beat them 17-4 and 29-1 today.  The second game the Pios scored 17 runs in the 6th inning.  They hit 3 bombs including TWO grand slams in the 6th inning.  Etta vs. BW is gonna be must see this year.

[Dr. Acula]

Standings going into the final 2 DH's:

Etta 13-1
BW  11-3
Ott  10-4
JCU  9-5
Mount  8-6
Wilm  6-8

Saturday is the long awaited showdown between BW and Etta in Berea.  BW put up 23 runs over the weekend against a pretty good Mount staff and then added a 25-1 win over Oberlin yesterday.  Etta is just cruising along at 31-3 though.

JCU has a one game edge on Mount for the 4 seed, but two big factors favor Mount.  First, they end with Cap and Musky (both 2-12) while JCU finishes with Ott and BW.  Second, Mount swept JCU giving them the tie breaker.

One question I have and do not see an answer for on the OAC website is if the 6 team tourney format is back this year.  If so that would put Wilm in a great position to make the tourney which would be fantastic for that program in their progression.

Last thought, it's been a rough year in Tiffin.  Berg is sitting at 4-10 and 12-20 overall.  When Mount swept them to open OAC play I thought that was going to be a good leg up, but that hasn't proved to be the case.

[joelmama]

Thank you for the commentary!

[rockinandyr]

If the softball tournament is any indication, they are going back to the 4 team format this year.

The championships page also have the tournament as a Thursday-Sunday at the #1 seed.

[D3baseballparent]

If the softball tournament is any indication, they are going back to the 4 team format this year.

The championships page also have the tournament as a Thursday-Sunday at the #1 seed.
Baseball is top 4 teams. Marietta guys talking about that on the radio Saturday.

[EttaFan1]

  Etta vs. BW is gonna be must see this year.

Game 1 was not a good watch. 

Game 2 was somewhat surprising.  a 2-0 pitcher's duel is not what I expected from this matchup.  BW's pitcher was outstanding. He had a no-hitter going into the 5th. 

Heading to the final weekend...

I think Marietta sweeps otterbein.
I think Mount sweeps Musky.
I think BW sweeps JCU.

That would leave
MC at 17-1
BW at 13-5
Mount at 12-6
Ott at 12-6

Mount and Ott split. Both would have been swept by Marietta in this scenario. Otterbein split with BW where Mount was swept.  This would likely give Otterbein the higher seed in the tie break (but I could be totally wrong).

Not sure how Mount ends up any higher than the 4 at this point.

[Dr. Acula]

I tried to come up with a scenario Sunday where Mount was not the 4 seed and all I could come up with was JCU sweeping BW.  Seems unlikely, but JCU can hit the ball some too so I suppose they have a puncher's chance.  I just don't think they have the pitching to pull it off. 

[Dr. Acula]

Otterbein definitely opened some eyes sweeping Etta on the road to end the regular season, but it didn't upset the OAC tourney seedings.

Thursday:
#4 Mount vs. #1 Etta
#3 BW vs. #2 Ott

I'm interested to see what Mount does on the mound.  In the regular season Davis and Sumler started against Etta.  They both started Saturday so both would be ready to go.  Gallant started on Sunday at Musky so he would be on 3 days rest.  I assume Valentine will get the ball for the Pios which will give Mount little margin for error.

As a fan I'm very interested in the Ott/BW game though.  The Cards are playing really well and BW has the lineup to make any game interesting.  That should be an entertaining game.

[Dr. Acula]

Thoughts from the weekend:

We ended up pretty much where we were 1/4 of the way through the season.  It was Etta (gap) BW (gap) Mount/Ott.  Etta is clearly a level above everyone else this year.

BW should make the tourney as a pool C.  I'm not sure they're built for a deep run this year.  The pitching has been too inconsistent beyond a couple guys.  Statistically they were 2nd in the OAC in ERA, but game-to-game they make me nervous.  They can hit the ball around the yard, but in a regional everyone is going to have some good pitching.  I hope they prove me wrong though.

Etta can make a run just because they hit (.386 team BA) and field (.979 team FP) so well.  They have multiple guys capable of getting red hot like Yenzi did over the weekend and just wrecking games.  If they have a chink in the armor it's pitching depth I guess.  Valentine is 12-1 and Matthews closing is the best pitcher in the OAC IMO, but beyond those two I'm not sure there are more dominant arms laying around.  But again, when you don't make errors and you can hit you can wear teams down over the course of the regional.

Congrats to Mount's Dwayne Sumler who ended the season at the top of the strikeout list in the OAC at 81 in 68.2 IP.  He took a no hitter into the 6th against Ott in the OAC tourney.  I think Sumler was a 4th year this year so hopefully he returns for another season.

[Dr. Acula]

As expected Etta will host their regional as the top seed.  Christopher Newport is the 2 seed and it looks like they were ranked #7 in their latest regional ranking.  They did beat Etta at the very beginning of the season FWIW.  Mt. Aloysius and Kalamazoo are the other 2 teams in the regional.  I can't see the Pios not winning this and moving on to the super regional.

BW is the 2 seed in their regional at Brockport.  Wheaton (MA) is the 1 seed and Brockport is the 3 seed.  Johnston & Wales is the 4 seed.  This isn't a bad draw for BW at all.  Wheaton and Brockport are good teams, but certainly not elite teams on paper.  BW has a legit shot at winning this regional which is all you can hope for as a pool C.

[Dr. Acula]

Great weekend for the OAC!  Etta and BW go a combined 6-0 in their respective regionals and advance to the super regionals.  We get at least another full weekend of OAC baseball.  On top of that, both coaches had career milestones.  Harrison picked up win #300 and Brewer won his 600th game.

On an overall note, technology is an awesome thing.  I'd have the scoreboard page up and just hop on a video feed when I saw a close game outside of the OAC games.  I was lucky enough to catch Wooster's walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th last night this way. 

[Ralph Turner]

Great weekend for the OAC!  Etta and BW go a combined 6-0 in their respective regionals and advance to the super regionals.  We get at least another full weekend of OAC baseball.  On top of that, both coaches had career milestones.  Harrison picked up win #300 and Brewer won his 600th game.

On an overall note, technology is an awesome thing.  I'd have the scoreboard page up and just hop on a video feed when I saw a close game outside of the OAC games.  I was lucky enough to catch Wooster's walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th last night this way.

Yes, Wooster's walk-off was something!

[Pops33]

All four Ohio teams (2 OAC and 2 NCAC) are still alive as of Monday morning.  Congrats to Marietta and BW for making the Super-Regionals.  Denison needs 1 more win over a tough Salisbury team and Wooster needs to win 2 over Bethel today.  Would be awesome to see all 4 continue!