Where Chad and I have our area of expertise, Division III and I respectively, we can’t forget the middle child. Great baseball is played on the Division II level and while we’re figuring out how to cover it, the lack of coverage is irresponsible regardless and I apologize for that. Without further delay here is where we stand in DII Ohio baseball.
Ashland Eagles 6-4
The season hasn’t started as well as the Eagles and their backers would have thought. Entering the season ranked 7th by Collegiate Baseball, it’s been a season of ebb and flow for Ashland. The season opened with a 8-2 win over Bellamire before splitting the next day’s double-head, losing 6-4, winning 11-7.
The ups and downs would continue down in Florida where the Eagles currently are for the Russ-Matt Invitational. Spring break started on a high defeated Lock Haven 6-1 and Slippery Rock 16-3, before losing the next two. Slippery Rock would even the season series with an 8-5 win over Ashland with Missouri St. Louis also winning 8-2. That two game slide would end with a sweeping of a double-dip against SW Minnesota State 7-0, 10-7. Last night the Mavericks of Minnesota State defeated Coach Schlay’s team 6-0 to bring the squad to their current 6-4 mark.
The spring break continues with games against Florida Southern, tonight at 7. Two with Seton Hill tomorrow, a date with Concordia Minnesota Friday, and two more against a Minnesota school, this time a double-header with Duluth on Saturday before returning home. Ashland takes on Hillsdale next Wednesday in the home debut of the Eagles.
Findlay Oilers 3-6
Like their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference partner Ashland, the Findlay Oilers opened their season in Florida taking part in the Russ-Matt Invitational playing their opening nine games in Winter Haven, Florida.
A tough 2-4 loss to Lewis opened the 2010 season for the Oilers which was followed by a 0-3 loss to Mary College. Findlay would toppled the North Dakota institute in game two of their double-header, defeating Mary 10-1 for their first victory of the season. A twinbill with Maryville would yield another split, picking up the game one win 4-2, falling in the nightcap 9-5.
Three straight losses would ensue as Findlay fell to Lewis again 10-8, Florida Southern 10-6, and Gannon 3-9. In their second meeting with Gannon the Oilers won 16-1, to end their spring trip, and return to Ohio at 3-6.
Among regulars, Kyle Wilson leads the team with a .321 average including a double, and a triple, with four RBI. Ross Guisinger leads the team with two home runs, and 10 RBI, while Jason Reitenbach has been a terror on the bases, stealing seven in seven tries.
On the mound Aaron Geis has appeared in two games, making on start with a 1-0 record. In nine innings, Geis has a 2.00 ERA while striking out 12 against one walk. He also has the team’s only save to this point. Guisinger has been his own best friend, the slugger collected a win in his only appearance from the mound. A seven inning outing in which he allowed two runs, while striking out five, for a 2.57 ERA. Findlay has cumulative stats here.
Findlay plays their first game in Ohio when they travel up the road to take on Bowling Green. The home opener for the Oilers comes next Wednesday when they host Grand Valley State.
Lake Erie Storm 3-3
After having their opening weekend cancelled, LEC opened in a big way, grabbing a 15-11 10 inning win over host St. Andrews Presbyterian. Continuing on the road during their spring trip, last Monday the team fell to Pfeiffer 14-3.
The up and down swing continued in a two games with Barton, dropping game one 5-3, before rebounding with a 7-6 win. A 34-7 loss to the #2 team in the country, Mt. Olive would quickly be forgotten with last Saturday’s win at St. Augustine’s 11-2. The victory concluded their spring trip through North Carolina.
Lake Erie College will next play at Salem International, two games on each Saturday and Sunday. The first home game for the Green & White will be March 24th, when they host Alderson-Broaddus at Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio, the home of the Lake County Captains.
Through six games, Nick Lovick leads the team at the plate with his .474 average. Collecting nine hits in 15 at-bats, Lovick has driven in five runs while collecting two home runs. Brandon James and Mike Morgan are both above the .400 mark, each grabbing eight hits in 19 at-bats, for a .421 average. The pair has each drove in two runs. Morgan also has a save on the mound, as he has yet to allow a run in two innings. You can see where each Storm player stands through six games here.
Tiffin Dragons (3-12)
The Dragons are by far the clubhouse leader in games played with 15 already. Of course they also had nearly a three-week head start on the rest of Ohio’s programs.
The opening weekend of February saw Tiffin travel to West Georgia for a weekend set, the Dragons returned to Ohio 1-2, falling 8-11, 3-12, before winning a thriller 9-6 in 12 innings. Where as other teams have made a spring trip playing a game or two against an opponent to open their seasons, Tiffin has taken a DI approach, playing four weekend sets already.
The road would take them to Catawba College in North Carolina, where they would tangle with Slippery Rock for four. The Dragons would split the four game series, falling 5-1 and 7-2 on the bookends with wins of 6-3, and 5-4 in the middle, both in extra innings as game one went eight innings, with game two going nine.
From there the Dragons have gone on a bit of a slide. A trip to Southern Indiana would result in a three-game sweep, falling 5-0, 11-7, 15-11. Carson-Newman would not prove to be a more hospitable guest, taking three of their own from Tiffin, 17-15, 13-3, and 11-6.
Now entering their spring trip, Tiffin opened with a 13-6 loss to Valdosta State on their way to Florida Monday. Last night the Dragons fell to Flagerly 13-2 to give them their current 3-12 ledger.
The spring trip resumes today with a game at Florida Tech, and ends in Daytona Beach on Friday with single games against Jamestown and Bridgeport.
Through the 15 games, Colin Lowe is the team’s leading hitter, batting at a .327 clip collecting 18 hits in 55 at-bats. With 13 RBI Lowe is the team’s top run producer. Tiffin’s entire team stats are here.
Urbana Blue Knights 4-4
Urbana wraps up our tour around DII. For the Blue Knights the season has had two distinct halves. The DII independent opened the season with two double-headers at Hiwassee College. Urbana proved to be rude guests, taking all four games 15-4, 10-6, and 6-0, 11-1 to jump out to a fast 4-0.
During Urbana’s spring break trip in which they currently are on, the fortunes have not been too kind. At #8 Columbus State, the Blue Knights fell to the Georgia school 9-1 on Saturday, and 2-0, 4-3, in Sunday’s hard-fought two games. After a day off Urbana fell to 4-4 with their 9-3 loss to South Carolina-Aiken last night. Single games against Catawba today and tomorrow continues the spring trip. Which ends with games against Post University on tomorrow night and Pfeiffer on Friday.
In action next week Urbana travels to Kentucky State on Tuesday and Wittenberg on Wednesday. The first home game comes a week from Friday when they host Malone and Capital.
After eight games Zach Roll is the teams leading hitter with an even .400 average. On his 10 hits in 25 at-bats, two have been long balls, while adding 11 RBI to his season totals. Both marks pace the Blue Knights. Andrew Harrell is batting .321 with Owen Donelon coming in at .313 as regulars north of .300.
On the mound Urbana has been led by Dustin Lacy who has thrown two complete games and sports a 1-1 record with a 1.98 ERA. Wes Rehmert is 1-1 as well with a 2.45 ERA in his two start. Brandon Hamilton and Cody Lawhorn have started the remaining four games, two each. Hamilton is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA, while Lawhorn is 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA.
Filed under: Division II
As Chad has done with DIII I’ll frequently update the DII Message board nightly with recaps throughout the season. I’ll try to develop a similiar schedule week to week here shortly.