BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

JCU shuts out BW 5-0 in game 1.  Aukerman goes 7.2 shutout IP to improve to 8-0 in another stellar start for JCU.

[ADL70]

Streaks beat Etta. Either Etta or BW has to beat them twice to win the auto. CWRU's chances just got a bit dimmer. Denison is holding serve in NCAC.

Update Northern eliminates BW. It's up to Etta to help the Spartans

[Dr. Acula]

Congrats to JCU.  I'm guessing there are a lot of potential pool C teams none too happy with the OAC this weekend.  I'm sure everyone was counting on the OAC grabbing one bid from pool C, but this is obviously worst case for bubble teams.

[Dr. Acula]

The OAC doing well so far.  BW and Etta both in the driver's seat as the winners bracket team in their regional.  Denison and Adrian need to beat them twice, respectively tomorrow.  JCU lost their 5 game series at aurora 3-0 but they were right in every game against the host who is now 42-4.  Excellent season for the Streaks.  They acquitted themselves very well this weekend.

[Dr. Acula]

BW beats #1 Johns Hopkins earlier 6-3 to force a winner-take-all game starting shortly.  Winner advances to the championship series beginning tomorrow.

[Pat Coleman]

Best showing for Baldwin Wallace at the D-III World Series to date. They're fun to watch.

[Dr. Acula]

Best showing for Baldwin Wallace at the D-III World Series to date. They're fun to watch.

As long as Harrison is there they always should be.  They can always swing it and put up runs.  Fantastic season for BW.  Those seniors should be proud of the foundation they've laid for that program.

We're spoiled in the OAC.  BW has now established themselves as a WS caliber program joining Etta in that tier.  JCU had a great season and went toe to toe with an top 5 Aurora team in their regional.  ONU went 12-6 in conference including 3-3 against the top 3.  Mount split with all 3 of the NCAA teams.  Ott is always good.  There's just so much quality baseball in the conference right now it's really exciting as a fan. 

[Dr. Acula]

Bad news for JCU, good news for the rest of us...Olsavsky signed with the Braves so he's not coming back for his senior year.  Kid is a stud.  Glad he's getting a shot.

[Dr. Acula]

It's not even the end of February and we've already had some interesting results.

Congrats to BW who is #1 in the latest D3 poll.  They had started off at #3 but beat previous #1 JHU in Baltimore over the weekend.  Their lone loss was in extra innings to current #24 Arcadia in a weekend split.  BW has played a tough OOC slate so far.  They beat W&J in their opener.  I watched some of a couple of their games and they just seem to reload with the bats.  Mally Kilbane transferred over from Grove City after raking there for 2 years and slid right into the #3 spot in the lineup. 

On the flip side is Etta who has dropped from #8 to #20 this week thanks to an 0-4 start.  But there's a huge asterisk next to their record given the brutal schedule they've played early.  Etta has lost one-run games to #2 Salisbury, #5 Lynchburg and #17 Cortland.  Their other result was a 5-1 loss to #15 CNU.  Seems pretty clear Etta is very good again this year.

Barry Craddock is off to a rough start at Wilm.  The Quakers have been outscored 70-17 in an 0-6 start.  I watched a little of their game against Piedmont and didn't recognize many names.

Mount is out of the gate 4-1 including a win over previously ranked Ithaca on Sunday.  They dropped the 2nd game that day to Case 4-3 over at W&J.  I watched all or parts of all 5 games.  It seems like many teams at this point they're trying to figure out roles and new players around their strong nucleus that returned.  They've had several freshmen play already which is always fun as a fan.  I also noticed former BW 3B Chris Viamonte is playing for Mount this season.  He's hit well early on to go with his well known glove at 3B.

Things will really start to take off the end of this week with BW, Berg, Etta, JCU, Ott, Mount, Musky all getting going down south.

[Dr. Acula]

Opening weekend in OAC play.  3 of the DH are now on Sunday I'm assuming due to expected weather.  Here are the match ups including the current SoS ranking nationally since OOC schedules vary widely.

Berg (12-4, #102) at Cap (6-10, #151)  Cap is giving up north of 8 runs per game.  Berg is scoring just below 8 runs per game and leads the conference with 17 homers and 58 XBH.  Throw in that Cap notched 2 wins against a branch school and Berg should sweep this. 

BW (13-3, #68) at ONU (6-8, #158)  BW has been by their standards middle of the road offensively so far.  But they lead the OAC by more than half a run with a team ERA of 2.94.  ONU is middle of the pack with both the bats and pitching.  Feels like a BW sweep.   

Etta (8-8, #33) at Mount (12-4, #83)  Probably the best match up this weekend.  Etta is battle tested already with a schedule that I was honestly surprised was only #33.  These teams' offensive stats are very, very similar.  Etta has had better pitching so far, but Mount's work horses have thrown well so far.  Split in Alliance.

Ott (12-5, #71) at JCU (5-9, #141)  JCU is struggling on the mound (7.40 ERA, 1.79 WHIP) which is a terrible recipe with Ott coming to town.  The Cards are hitting a scorching .345 as a team and leading the OAC at over 10 runs per game.  They're also tied for first with 58 XBH.  This should be a sweep for Ott, but their pitching makes me a little nervous.

Musky (9-7, #202) at Wilm (2-12, #98)  Musky is the second best offense so far albeit against the weakest opponents.  They have 59 SB which is tops in the OAC by a wide margin.  Wilm will not help their SoS, but Musky should score in bunches.  The Fish have given up an alarming 25 bombs in 16 games as a staff so clearly you're never out of the game against them.  The problem for the Quakers is they are dead last in hitting (.266 team BA).  Musky sweeps on the road.

[Dr. Acula]

Had to wait for Ott to sweep JCU yesterday, but I was pretty close.  Mount sweeping Etta was my only miss.  And those were two battles in Alliance.  Mount won the opener 1-0 and then plated 3 in the bottom of the 8th in the 2nd game to win 6-5.  Breeden was dominant for Mount in game 1 tossing a 5-hit CG shutout with 9 K's.  Neither team got much going with the bats for most of the day.  Mount had an uncharacteristic 5 errors in game 2 which helped the Pios some.

BW moved up to #2 in today's top 25 poll.  Ott and Mount were ORV this week.

[Dr. Acula]

Things we know at this point in the OAC season:

1. BW is the best team and it's not particularly close this year.  Their bats are not typical recent BW bats, but they're good.  And they have the best pitching in the conference.

2. Ott can mash.  I felt bad for whatever unlucky souls had to face the Cards with their #3 and 4 on the mound.  That's a recipe for a couple TD's being hung.  Their DH against BW is the best matchup tomorrow. 

3. Mount navigated their brutal opening conference schedule at 4-4.  Etta, Berg, Ott, BW to start off.  More importantly, they swept Etta and Ott which my come in handy for tie breakers in what will end being the standard log jam for the last spot or two in the OAC tourney.  Breeden and Hansen have been incredible on the mound all season which gives them a chance against anyone. 

4. Cap and Wilm are just not competitive again this year.  They've got a lot of work to do, especially Craddock.  Hopefully he is playing a bunch of young guys this year to get them experience.

[Dr. Acula]

And of course I jinx Mount with my comments.  They suffer an absolutely crippling split at Wilm after being held in check by a freshman pitcher with an ERA hovering close to 9.00.  This comes on the heels of a less-than-ideal split at home against 5-9 JCU earlier in the week.  Need to regroup because ONU and Musky are going to be battles.

[Dr. Acula]

Congrats to Mount HC Paul Hesse on his 600th win today against Wooster.  I believe he's now the 6th(?) OAC ever to win 600 games.  Good coach, great person.  Absolutely the type of man you'd want your son to play for.  His players are family and have been for decades.

[J3FB2BB]

Will be interesting to see the final two spots in OAC tourney. Whoever gets last two spots after BW and OTT will need to win title to make playoffs (like JCU last year). Otterbein could get at large if BW wins tourney but they will also need to win it if BW doesn't because there will probably only be two teams from OAC and BW is likely secure.