2022 MIAA Baseball

[Randy]

Southern beats Western 13-5. Rogers is losing to Northwest 10-5 in the bottom of the 8th so unless Rogers can come back Southern will be #6 and Rogers #7.

[Randy]

Northwest outscores Rogers 11-0 in the final 4 innings for a 13-5 win. The matchups for next weekend are:

#8 Emporia at #1 CentralMO
#7 Rogers at #2 Northeastern
#6 Southern at #3 Pitt
#5 Washburn at #4 CentralOK

[Randy]

Only 1 sweep in week 10. It was no surprise that CentralMO(Hays) swept the team they had a 24 game lead on when the weekend started. 2-1 series wins for CentralOK(Emporia), Southern(Western), Northeastern(Newman), Rogers(Northwest) & Pitt(Washburn)

The CentralMO/Hays series had 23 homers and 82 runs scored. 2 of the games were spreads so the Mules batted in 24 innings. They scored in all but 3 of those innings, the 6th inning of each game.

Brennen van Breusegen was 0/2 with 2 walks in the finale ending his hitting streak at 30 games. That's 1 more than Erik Webb's streak from last year but 2 short of Brayden Whitney's UCM & MIAA record 32 games.

The weekend started and ended with a 3-way tie for the final spot in the MIAA tournament. All 3 lost the first 2 and won the 3rd game so Emporia plays on because they won the series against the other 2. This is the first time we have had a tie for the last spot in years.

I don't mind tiebreakers to decide #2/#3 or #6/#7 but I hate tiebreakers to decide who gets in. I know it's probably not practical but I would love to see Newman play Northwest with the winner playing Emporia for the final spot.

POS SCHOOL         W-L     %    GB    OPP%   Overall
 1  CentralMO     30-3   90.9   0.0  (50.0)   37-6
 2  Northeastern  22-11  66.7   8.0  (50.0)   34-14
    Pitt          22-11  66.7   8.0  (50.0)   29-18
 4  CentralOK     20-13  60.6  10.0  (50.0)   29-19
 5  Washburn      19-14  57.6  11.0  (50.0)   29-18
 6  Southern      17-16  51.5  13.0  (50.0)   28-21
    Rogers        17-16  51.5  13.0  (50.0)   26-23
 8  Newman        13-20  39.4  17.0  (50.0)   23-23
    Emporia       13-20  39.4  17.0  (50.0)   21-29
    Northwest     13-20  39.4  17.0  (50.0)   19-27
11  Western        9-24  27.3  21.0  (50.0)   13-32
12  Hays           3-30   9.1  27.0  (50.0)    4-41

Note:  The OPP% is conference games only.
       Non-conference games against conference opponents are not included.
       If no games are cancelled, everyone will finish at 50%.

[Randy]

All MIAA team is out.
https://themiaa.com/news/2022/5/5/mi...iaa-teams.aspx

Last year the Mules finished 30-3 in the MIAA, won the league by 7 games and had 7 players make 1st team MIAA. This year the Mules finished 30-3 in the MIAA, won the league by 8 games and had 3 players make 1st team MIAA. That probably explains why Coach Crooks was COY this year and not last. Last year the Mules were loaded and what happened was expected. This year's Mules returned only 26% of the plate appearances from last season and only 38% of the innings pitched.

[Randy]

The Mules won their series with Emporia in 2 games that were very different. In the first game Emporia's Jered Kengott was the tough luck loser allowing 2 runs on 5 hits while pitching a complete game. The Mules starter, Colin Jones, allowed 1 run in his 5 innings and 3 relievers allowed only 1 hit in 4 innings. Ethan Peterson (4-0) got the win in relief and Brady Gavin recorded his 6th save in the 2-1 victory.

The Mules had 18 hits in the second game in route to a 15-5, 7 inning spread win. One thing that was the same in both games is the Mule starter allowed all the runs in both games. The starter, Max Abramovich, allowed 5 runs, 2 earned according to box score (more on that later) on 6 hits in 3-1/3 innings while 2 relievers allowed no hits or runs in 3-2/3 innings of relief. Tyler Kotsis (4-0) got the win in relief. The Mules had a total of 18 hits and 8 of the 9 Mule batters had at least 1 hit.

Washburn also won their series vs CentralOK with a 2-0 sweep. The Bod's never trailed in game 1 and scored 2 in the top of the 9th to break a 5-5 tie and won 7-5. John Cross (2-1) entered the game for Washburn in the bottom of the 8th with 2 on and 1 out. The first batter he faced got a hit to drive in both inherited runners but he retired the next 5 batters (4 by strikeout) to get the win.

In the 2nd game CentralOK scored first in the bottom of the 2nd but Washburn took the lead for good in the top of the 3rd. 6 Washburn pitchers allowed only 4 hits and 2 runs (1 earned). Braden Babcock (1-0) got the win pitching 4-2/3 innings of relief and Dalton Huggins retired all 6 batters in the 8th & 9th for his 4th save.

The series loss means the host of the MIAA Championship won't be playing for the second straight season as Southern fell in the first round last year. It also happened to Lindenwood back in 2016 when the Lions finished 9th and didn't qualify for the 8 team double elimination tournament.

Northeastern got the best starting pitching of the weekend in their sweep of Rogers. In the first game Lee Callison (4-2) allowed 2 runs (1 earned) in 6 innings for the win in the 10-4 game. Brock Reller hit his MIAA record 25th home run of the season surpassing Bennett Oliver, who hit 24 for the Mules in 2016.

Northeastern never trailed in the 5-2 win in game 2. Jonathan Smithey (7-2) allowed 1 run in 7 innings for the win and Jake Bigham got the final 3 outs for his 6th save. Reller added another homer and his MIAA record is now at 26.

The only series to go 3 games was Southern @ Pitt. In the first game Southern's Logan VanWey had the best start of the weekend tossing 8 shutout innings and striking out 10 in the 6-0 win.

Southern scored the first 4 runs in game 2 thanks mostly to 2 home runs by Drew Davis and lead 4-0 after 3-1/2 innings. Pitt scored the final 8 runs of the game and won 8-4. Braeden Hinton hit 2 home runs for the Gorillas and Zach Nagel (4-1) tossed the final 5 innings allowing no runs for the win.

Anyone who follows MIAA baseball knows Al Ortolani Field can often be a launching pad and it certainly was in game 3. The game had 9 home runs, 4 by Southern and 5 by Pitt. 3 of Pitt's home runs were hit by Jordan Maxson, who drove in 9 runs in the 17-13 win for the Gorillas. The teams were tied at 5 after 3 innings. Southern scored the next 8 runs and Pitt answered with the final 12. Pitt's Jordan Mendenhall (4-1) tossed the final 4-2/3 innings without allowing a run for the win.

The schedule for this week in Edmond has CentralMO vs Washburn @ noon on Thursday followed by Northeastern vs Pitt @ 4pm. The 2 winners play @ 11am on Friday followed by the 2 losers @ 3pm. In the 3rd game of the day the 11am loser plays the 3pm winner @ 7pm. The championship game is scheduled for noon on Saturday followed by the "if" game if needed.

Edit - I originally intended to go into detail as to why I thought 4 of the runs charged to Abramovich should have been earned instead of the 2 he was charged. And also why I don't think any of the 4 runs charged to an Emporia reliever (Meek) should have been earned but thought better of it. I doubt anyone wants to read the nitpicking of a baseball scorekeeping nerd.

[Randy]

This week's regional rankings are out.
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseba...ional-rankings

The Central Region is:

Rank  School             D2    Region
  1   Central Mo.       39-6    39-8
  2   Augustana (SD)    39-8-1  33-6
  3   Southern Ark.     38-11   38-11
  4   Henderson St.     35-13   35-13
  5   Minnesota St.     35-7    29-5
  6   Northeastern St.  36-14   33-13
  7   Pittsburg St.     31-19   31-19
  8   Washburn          31-18   30-15
  9   St. Cloud St.     36-11   31-9
 10   Ouachita Baptist  29-20   29-20

All 4 MIAA teams playing this week are in the top 8. The GAC is finished with SoArk winning the auto bid. The Muleriders were already ranked so the NSIC is the only conference where an unranked team could win an auto bid.

[Randy]

[Randy]

The was only 1 home run hit in the 2nd game, Northeastern's Tucker Dunlap hit a 2 run homer to tie the game at 4 in the bottom of the 4th. The River Hawks would add 3 runs in the 7th on a 2 RBI double and an RBI ground out to beat Pitt 7-4. Cohen Bell (4-0) got the win in relief and Jake Bigham recorded the final 3 outs (2 by strikeout) for his 7th save.

Northeastern plays Washburn @ 11am and Pitt plays CentralMO @ 3pm. The Pitt/CentralMO winner plays the Northeastern/Washburn loser @ 7pm.

[Randy]

Washburn wins game 3 by a score of 8-5 and is now in the driver's seat for their first ever MIAA baseball championship (regular season or tournament). Northeastern will have to come through the loser's bracket to get first ever MIAA championship. The big blow came in the bottom of the 5th. After Washburn had tied the game at 3, a 2 out intentional walk brought Quinn Waterbury to the plate with runners on 1st & 2nd. Waterbury hit a home run and Bod's never trailed again. Braden Babcock (2-0) got the win in relief for the Bods and Dalton Huggins recorded the final 6 outs for his 5th save.

Washburn plays tonight's 7pm winner tomorrow at noon. Northeastern plays at 7pm against the CentralMO/Pitt winner.

[Randy]

Game 4 was closer than the 15-4 final would lead you to believe. Pitt committed 3 errors that lead to 10 unearned Mule runs. The Mules scored 4 in the 1st after 2 outs and an error and 2 more in the second after 2 outs and an error. The Mules scored their first earned run in the 3rd and lead 7-3 until the 9th. The Mules scored 4 runs before the 2 out error and 4 more after in the 9th. Pitt got outstanding relief from Tanner Lane, 6 shutout innings allowing 5 hits. The Mules also got 6 shutout relief innings with only 3 hits from game winner, Connor Wolf (4-1). The game featured 4 home runs, 2 in the 9th by the Mules and 2 in the 1st by Pitt.

The Mules play Northeastern in a few minutes.

[Randy]

Game 5 is the first spread of the tournament as the Mules walked it off in the bottom 7th, 12-2. The game featured 4 home runs, 2 by each team. The 2 solo shots were the only runs allowed by Mule starter Grayson Senn (2-0), who pitched 6 innings with 8 strikeouts and no walks. 1 of those solo shots was the MIAA record 27th by Brock Reller. The Mules out hit the River Hawks 14-7 with 8 of the 9 Mules getting at least 1 hit (and the 9th walked twice) led by 4 hits by John Prudhom.

The Mules play Washburn tomorrow at noon with the "if" game to follow if needed.

[Randy]

It took around 4:45 & 10 innings but there will be a game #7. The Mules trailed 12-6 after 6 innings but scored 1 in the 7th & 6 in the 8th to take 13-12 lead. Washburn scored in the bottom of the 9th to force extra innings. 4 walks (1 intentional) and a ground rule double resulted in 3 runs for the Mules who held on to win 16-13. Closer Brady Gavin (4-1) threw the last 4 innings for the win.

Washburn used 9 pitchers and the Mules 6. All 6 pitchers allowed at least 1 run with Gavin, who only allowed 1 run in 4 innings, being the only pitcher to hold the Bod scoreless in an inning.

The Bods out hit the Mules 17-12 and out homered them 3-2. Both Mule home runs were hit by John Prudhom, his 18th & 19th of the season. The big hits for the Mules were a 2 rbi single by Garrett Pennington followed by a 2 rbi double by Sam Tatum to give the Mules the lead in the 8th and Isaiah Pani hit the ground rule double to put the game away in the 10th.

Game 7 starts in a few minutes.

[Randy]

I had to leave in the bottom of the 3rd in game 7 to go to my granddaughter's graduation. I figured I'd watch the rest of the game "on demand" on the MIAA Network but there is only one broadcast from the tournament that is not available, yesterdays. I listened while we drove so I knew that Jacob Merithew (2-0) had pitched at least 5 innings for only the 2nd time in 10 starts. I found out that just like the other time, his first start of the season against Davenport, he was the winning pitcher. He struckout a career high 9 batters and left with 1 out in the 6th and an 8-4 lead. The Mules held on to win 10-5 and their 4th consecutive MIAA tournament title.

The 10 runs is the fewest scored by the Mules in any of the 5 games. Their 9 hits were also the fewest of the tournament but Washburn helped them out by walking 10 batters. Isaiah Pani hit his 3rd home run of the tournament and drove in his 10th, 11th & 12th runs. He was also 10/20 for the tournament and was named MVP. John Prudhom was 10/21 with 4 homers and 9 rbi for the tournament and Garrett Pennington had at least 1 hit in each game to extended his hitting steak to 19 games.

The Mules should be the #1 seed in the regional since #2 Augi finished 2nd in the NSIC tournament. The question is how far will #5 Mankato move up since they were undefeated in the tournament. 8 of the top 9 teams in the regional, all but Pitt, won at least 1 game this week. The big question is will a 1-1 record against non ranked teams and an 0-1 record against ranked teams move St Cloud past Pitt, who was 0-2 against ranked teams. I don't think there is any doubt Washburn, last week's #8 is safe.

[Randy]

Well I was wrong about Pitt/St Cloud.

@ Warrensburg
#1 CentralMO vs #8 Ouachita
#4 Mankato vs #5 Augi

@ Magnolia
#2 SoArk vs #7 Washburn
#3 Henderson vs #6 Northeastern

[Brandon]

Why do some regions have byes while others do not?