BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[BobcatQB]

Mount beat Monmouth 12-6 earlier today.  Ickes set the tone with a 3-run homer in the 1st.  Freshman catcher Daniel Tomes made the start and went 2-5 with 2 RBI and threw out the only attempted base stealer.  Lehman was 4-5, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI.  Mount is playing RHIT currently trailing 1-0 in the 5th.  I like that the way the opposition schedules have fallen Mount has faced all three opponents' #1 SP.  That's good for them.

BW dropped their opener 6-1 to Witt today.  Looking at the box score it does not look like the Jackets got much going with the bats.

Etta convincingly beat #11 CNU yesterday 9-1.  They dropped a tough one to #9 Lynchburg today 4-3.  I was listening to the latter game and the Lynchburg SP was dealing the first few innings.  Of note to me was that freshman C Will Loftus hit 3 hole in both of those games.  Freshman OF Cam Russell hit 5th today. 

Yeah, lots of holes to fill.  Brewer will give freshman opportunities to play.

[Dr. Acula]

BW must have been pissed about losing to Witt.  They drummed Hope 22-3 today.  Hope then got Berg and dropped that one also, 6-2.

Looking at OAC scores pulled me down a rabbit hole that ended with "Man, it's sad what's happened to the La Roche program."  Cap swept Chatham over the weekend.  When I was checking the scores tonight Chatham was beating La Roche 16-4.  I'll reiterate that Capital swept Chatham. 

[BobcatQB]

BW must have been pissed about losing to Witt.  They drummed Hope 22-3 today.  Hope then got Berg and dropped that one also, 6-2.

Looking at OAC scores pulled me down a rabbit hole that ended with "Man, it's sad what's happened to the La Roche program."  Cap swept Chatham over the weekend.  When I was checking the scores tonight Chatham was beating La Roche 16-4.  I'll reiterate that Capital swept Chatham. 

Shows you the talents of Coach Rowe.  LaRoche hasn't been the same since he left.

[OACPitcheroftheyear2023]

JCU heading down to Russmatt invitational this weekend. Should be an interesting season for the Streaks after a down year last year but there is a lot to like from this squad.

Offensively the team is in a good spot returning 4 .300+ bats in infielders Persichetti, Mayle, and Harmon with Daugenti (.406) holding down Centerfield. The infield remains untouched from a year ago with Persichetti and Mayle on the left side, Harmon at 1B, and Funderberg and Haracz sharing time at 2B. DH/3B Jack Beiter also adds some depth and has a power bat. We lost a veteran and great team leader behind the plate in Lamere so will be interesting to see whether Bach or one of the 6 new freshman catchers will inherit those innings. Surely there has to be some talent waiting there, right?!

Besides Daugenti in the outfield, there is some older names that look to make themselves permanent solutions in the corner outfield positions. Fritenger and Connolly immediately come to mind both with good bats who hit around .280 last spring and can swing with some power situationally. Balfour, Suvak, and a handful of new faces also will surely see some playing time as well. Interested to see who sticks in the long run.

Pitching was the issue last year regressing from a 4.89 era in 2023 to a 7.23 in 2024. Also a whip over 1.5 in the long run is not going to produce winning baseball. The good news is that the staff was extremely young last year with only 2 expirienced arms, both lefties, Higley and Darrow. I would expect Freeman and Miller to be the 1,2 weekend punch but Baskerville, Simon and Rinehart should have all taken a step forward and should look to eat a lot of the innings this spring as well. Also lefty sub pitcher Owen Gerba comes off a great summer and should make AB's uncomfortable for batters this year.

Overall the team is in a great spot, with the two biggest areas to improve upon from last year being run production and pitching. I think this squad has what it takes to make it back to the postseason and has a ton of upside. I guess only time will tell. Don't sleep on the streaks in 2025

[Dr. Acula]

Thank god you're around because for eternity JCU baseball has been a complete mystery on here.  Honestly, I can't recall a Streak baseball poster ever.  Sadly once the OG Etta posters dropped off years ago I spend a lot of time posting into the void LOL.  I never cared because I follow it and watch the games because I enjoy it.  Posting here is just the end result.  Happy to have you and BobcatsQB around to at least maybe be able to banter a little!

[OACPitcheroftheyear2023]

Thank god you're around because for eternity JCU baseball has been a complete mystery on here.  Honestly, I can't recall a Streak baseball poster ever.  Sadly once the OG Etta posters dropped off years ago I spend a lot of time posting into the void LOL.  I never cared because I follow it and watch the games because I enjoy it.  Posting here is just the end result.  Happy to have you and BobcatsQB around to at least maybe be able to banter a little!

Haha my roommate and I would read your posts all the time when I was at JCU so there wasn't a lot of back and forth but you had consistent readers! Now that I've moved on, I figured this is a fun was to stay in touch with what happens around the OAC. I refuse to let the D3 boards die.

[Dr. Acula]

Mount dropped a tough one at W&J 5-4.  They had bases loaded down 5-3 with 1 out so they had a shot at it.  Biggest positive today was the guy I was curious to see how he bounced back from being injured last year, SP Anthony Warner, was very good.  6 IP, 1 R against a solid Prez lineup.  Excited as a fan and happy for Warner that he's hopefully healthy.  He was a big recruiting win out of HS so I hope he stays healthy. 

Freshman C Tome started again today.  He was 2-4, 2 doubles.  As a Mount fan this is noteworthy since they brought back two 5th yr catchers who split all the games last yr.  They must really like this kid.

[BobcatQB]

Muskingum won in 11 innings, 5-1 over Westminster in the PAC.  Muskie pitchers struck out 17 hitters. Freshman starter Jake Valentine gave up 5 hits in 6 innings w/ 7 k's..two of those hits were in the 6th which led to the run.  Muskies couldn't get moving offensively.  Nathan Schultz again picked up a W in 3 innings of relief w/ 8 K's..currently leads the OAC w/ 2 Wins, 13 K's and .000 ERA.

[BobcatQB]

Sorry, Gavin Schultz.

[Dr. Acula]

Jake Valentine from Cambridge HS.  I assume that is Trent's brother?  How many Valentine kids could be running around Cambridge HS?

[BobcatQB]

Jake Valentine from Cambridge HS.  I assume that is Trent's brother?  How many Valentine kids could be running around Cambridge HS?

Haha, yes.  Jake is the youngest of four boys that filled the lineup card for a long time.

Finally getting into March and everyone is on the schedule this weekend.  Now let's get some sunshine!

[Dr. Acula]

Looking at the schedule every OAC team except Cap plays this weekend starting off with Otterbein hosting Calvin in Lancaster today I'm assuming at Beaver.  Once the FL trips are starting is when it's awesome.  Games everyday!

[OACPitcheroftheyear2023]

Streaks are hot! JCU off to a great start down in Florida. Starting pitching from Corll and Rinehart was solid. Same to be said for Freeman who punched out 9 in 4.1 innings. Frankly, just left him in way too long and if a change is made sooner, we're probably 4-0. So be it, still early. Good to see veterans playing like veterans and some of the younger guys getting their chances early stepping up to the challenge. Love this start

[Dr. Acula]

4 straight for the Streaks now.  4-1.  Musky is 7-0 but I've learned from recent years not to buy too much into their early success.  Especially when you look at the schedule.  Surprising?  Cap being just under .500 although their schedule also not great on the wins side.  Berg dropped to 2-5 today.  They're really struggling hitting so far barely hitting .200 as a team and other than Matusak not great pitching either.  Ott has awaken the bats the last couple games to improve to 2-4.  Granted, playing OWU tends to help your bats.  As someone old enough to remember when OWU was a top 10 national team the prolonged subpar play is odd. 

[BobcatQB]

4 straight for the Streaks now.  4-1.  Musky is 7-0 but I've learned from recent years not to buy too much into their early success.  Especially when you look at the schedule.  Surprising?  Cap being just under .500 although their schedule also not great on the wins side.  Berg dropped to 2-5 today.  They're really struggling hitting so far barely hitting .200 as a team and other than Matusak not great pitching either.  Ott has awaken the bats the last couple games to improve to 2-4.  Granted, playing OWU tends to help your bats.  As someone old enough to remember when OWU was a top 10 national team the prolonged subpar play is odd. 

OWU won 20 games last year for the first time in a while and has a good amount of players returning..but you're right, been a while.

Muskingum has enough talent to complete this year and make the OAC tourney if the pitching can hold up.  Yes, schedule has been very weak to start but they have a lot of returners from back to back 20 win seasons..though schedule hasn't been great last several years either.  I believe this is Krupar's best team.  He has definitely made an impact.