Riding a season-high four-game win streak, Ohio will host Central Michigan for a three-game series at Bob Wren Stadium this weekend.
Saturday will feature a doubleheader, with the first game starting at 1 p.m. and the second projected to start at 4:30 p.m. The teams will wrap up the series on Sunday; first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
After the first week of Mid-American Conference play, the Bobcats (15-12, 3-0 MAC) and the Chippewas (14-14, 3-0 MAC) sit atop their respective divisions as the only teams unbeaten in conference play.
Scouting Central Michigan
Central Michigan has an unsightly 6.19 team ERA, which ranks second-worst in the MAC, but Ohio coach Rob Smith isn’t willing to take that number at face value.
Smith said the Chippewas’ pitching stats, including a .303 opponent batting average (ninth in the MAC) and 13 triples allowed (11th), are deceiving because of some of the non-conference teams they’ve played.
He raises a fair point. Central Michigan has faced five teams with batting averages in the NCAA’s top 70: East Tennessee State, Georgetown, Michigan State, Central Florida and Michigan.
Offensively, Smith expects the Chippewas to use an "action-based" offense, using steals, bunts and hit-and-runs to generate scoring. The Bobcats will adjust their league-best defense, with a .983 fielding percentage, accordingly.
"We’ve gotta take the bunt away probably a bit more than normal, I know that," Smith said. "And you know you can’t walk or hit leadoff guys. You gotta force them to swing the bat and earn their way on."
Schedule change
Ohio and Central Michigan were initially supposed to play game one of their series Friday, but Smith made the choice Wednesday to push the game back to Saturday afternoon because of weather concerns.
The high in Athens on Friday was projected to be 48 degrees with a chance of light snow and rain in the morning and wind speeds ranging from 10-15 mph, according to Scalia Lab.
Smith said he talked to Central Michigan’s coach, Steve Jaksa, on Monday about the possibility of a schedule change. The decision was made two days later in order to give the Chippewas enough time to adjust their hotel and travel arrangements.
“Nobody likes doubleheaders,” Smith said. “But I would rather play two in good conditions than play games in miserable, cold, rainy, wet, windy types of scenarios, if I can avoid it.”
MAC shakeup
Buffalo announced Monday that it is reducing its number of athletic programs from 20 to 16, effective at the end of the spring 2017 season. Baseball is one of the programs that will be cut.
The news, which comes two seasons after Akron cut its baseball program, means the MAC will be down to 10 teams and will likely be restructured. The current format has a six-team West division and a five-team East division, including Ohio.
Smith said he will be on a conference call Monday to discuss schedule chances and the possibility of eliminating divisions.
“It’s unfortunate,” Smith said. “I feel terrible for Buffalo, their players and their coaches that that decision was made. You hate to see another Division I program get removed on the baseball side of things.”
The postseason format, which currently includes the league’s top eight teams, will almost certainly be adjusted. Smith said the MAC uses a “two-thirds model” for all sports, meaning two-thirds of the teams qualify for the conference tournament.
In a 10-team league, it’s possible that the number of postseason teams will be reduced from eight to six.
