Old Dominion Series

The MAC is a very tough baseball conference. Several very good teams. Gonna be a tough season.

You speak the truth on a very tough road ahead. This team has competitors, but still needs to find itself a bit to consistently perform at a high level. Defensive needs to tighten up, they need to find some more timely hits, and they need more of the young pitchers to emerge as game 3 and 4 guys (these 4 game MAC series are stupid). 

As far as the Fishers area pitchers are concerned, most of Hamilton County thinks it is too good for BSU, so those kids are really hard to get. In addition, a lot of them want to get away from home. Also, don't forget most everyone in the league had far superior facilities and commitment to baseball (Miami, Kent, and CMU topping that list) than us just a few short years ago (and our budget, from what I hear, is still bottom third of the MAC). And this staff does draw talent - Jameson from Greenfield was a first rounder, Nicolas was a second rounder, and McDermott is projected 1st to 4th rounds right now. Baker has also been a very solid college pitcher.

ODU was the best team we have faced by far despite playing Arizona, Kentucky, and even Bradley. We just made too many errors and did not get timely hits or that series could have very easily been flipped. The margin for error in winning is slim. Having coached HS baseball I can tell you it is a weird game to coach and not as cut and dried as other sports. 

This team will be in the hunt if timely hits start to come. Some guys who have hit well in the past are either struggling or hitting it right at people right now - that's baseball. With that in mind, what they did at AZ, UK, and Bradley was nothing short of a miracle and speaks to the grit of this program. I know the defense will come around, and I suspect the pitching depth will develop too. BTW, I read where we bussed to Virginia because of budget issues. Also, keep in mind this weekend marks our first home games. I will be very interested to see how the WMU series goes. 

Of course BSU recruits Hamilton County. But there are plenty of Hamilton County families that think they are better than BSU - I know that from firsthand conversations with them. As for those two - you'd have to ask them. Why didn't we get them but we get a stud from Greenfield and Ohio and two Michigan state pitchers of the year? Should those kids have gone to EMU, CMU, or WMU? Maybe. I'm sure the staff wishes they had those two pitchers, but I'm sure Ohio U wished they had Nicolas and CMU wished they had Baker. Recruiting 18 year olds and their parents has to be a goofy business. I have seen it from being in coaching, and sometimes the decisions that are made are head scratchers. I do think the whole deal of wanting to get away from home is a factor for many kids. Baseball is also weird with the timing and % of partial scholarships. We had a kid that BSU wanted really badly, but he got higher % scholarship offers from other mid-majors because they had the "cap space" that year, so to speak.

My point was that historically we've had some of the worst facilities in the MAC by a mile, and coaches and kids remember that, and may not even visit. Miami facilities are still considerably better than ours - they have a true stadium feel and indoor cages and locker rooms right at the field. As usual, BSU went cheap at the last minute with several features of both ballparks. Nice facilities, yes, but not something that blows you away as a recruit.