2024 Mid-American Conference Baseball Week 1 Recap

MAC Baseball has officially started! Fresh faces made an impact all over the diamond in week one.

Spring has officially started. Baseball has returned across America, at least in the southern half. Five teams are playing under a new manager and everyone wants a hot start to a short season (in baseball terms).

Some teams aren’t going to change much throughout the season and some will never stop evolving. Week one is the week when every manager tries new players, lineups and bullpen rotations to see what works. Hope springs eternal and it’s never more evident than in the first week.

Let’s get into week one!

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Week 1 Non-Conference Standings

After the first weekend of games, Ball State and Ohio are the only teams with a winning record. Akron and Western Michigan finished the weekend at 2-2 and both picked up at least one win against Big Ten opponents.

Ball State’s only loss came to nationally-ranked Iowa whose pitching shut down Ball State hitters. The Cardinals were held to two hits and struck out 15 times. Despite that loss, the Cardinal pitching staff was excellent all weekend long and led the MAC with a 2.50 ERA and 12.5 K/9. Their bullpen was even better at 1.96 ERA and carried more innings than the starters.

Ohio smashed their way to a 2-0 start against Lipscomb with a 15-7 win and a 8-2 win. They led the MAC in slugging percentage (.500), weighted on-base percentage (.403) and runs per game (8.67). The Bobcats held a lead in the finale but the bullpen broke down and gave up three runs in the bottom of the eighth.

Eastern Michigan finished the weekend but have a positive run differential. Their three losses were by a combined four runs and their game three win was by a 16-6 score. If they can get more consistent at the plate, they could be dangerous. The Eagle pitchers were very effective all weekend.

Obviously, this is very opponent-dependent. Miami is not the worst team in the MAC, they ran into an SEC team that made the national tournament last year. South Carolina will most likely be in the mix for a regional at the end of the year. MAC play starts in only three weeks and this first week’s silliness won’t matter.

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Kent State tops the Preseason Coaches Poll

Last Tuesday, the MAC released their annual preseason coaches poll for the upcoming season. It’s no surprise that Kent State was the highest vote-getter, followed by Ball State and Central Michigan. Western Michigan was fourth, Ohio fifth and Toledo sixth to complete the expanded post-season format.

That order is the same as the finishing order in 2023 with Miami just behind Toledo in seventh. The bottom three are Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois and Akron, each team under a new manager this season.

The coaches scout the other teams, of course, but those combined predictions are reductive. There shouldn’t be any argument about the top three. Kent State, Ball State and Central Michigan have the best rosters and add the best talent every year. Western Michigan being only a point behind Central Michigan is a bit surprising, but the Chippewas also have a new manager.

Ohio, Toledo and Miami are six points behind the Broncos and are within two points of each other. The coaches think it’s a toss-up between those three programs for the final two spots in the conference tournament.

The only spot that I have strong opinions about is Akron being picked last. With 12 points, ten coaches picked them last and one picked them tenth. Akron had their best season since reinstating the baseball team after announcing an interim on January 3rd, just before the season started. Now they have a manager with a real offseason under his belt and they still can’t avoid a last-place prediction. I’d be surprised for that to be the case.

Bowling Green is on their own terrible island at eighth. There isn’t a competitive advantage to being last like in professional sports, so it could be worse. They just need to find a way to break into the conversation for sixth.

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The MAC picks up four wins against the Big Ten

The MAC had a good weekend. There were eight games scheduled against Big Ten teams and the MAC team won four games. Western Michigan played four games against Michigan, Akron played Illinois twice and Ball State played Iowa and Michigan State. Splitting eight games might not sound like an achievement, but last year the MAC combined to go 6-33 against Big Ten opponents. Four wins in the opening weekend is huge.

Akron and Western Michigan got the first wins on the opening day of the season. Akron beat Illinois in their second game of the day 5-4 and Western Michigan finally shut the door on Michigan in 11 innings.

Max Bowman hit a walk-off home run for the Zips in the bottom of the 11th inning after he entered as a defensive replacement. His home run converted two excellent relief appearances by Sean Perkins and Jack Kelley into a win.

The Broncos needed three runs in the top of the 11th to secure their win. They scored one in the 10th, but couldn’t hold the lead and gave up two runs on a bases-loaded error in the 11th. The tying run was 90 feet away from home when the Broncos got their ground ball they needed to end the game with a 14-13 win.

Western Michigan almost gave away their second win over Michigan after jumping out to a 7-0 after two innings. Eventually, Michigan would take a 9-8 lead but a sacrifice fly by Josh Swinehart in the 9th tied it up. Cade Sullivan finished his 4 for 5 day with a two-run homer in the tenth and Turner Doran closed the door. He pitched four innings with only one walk and seven strikeouts.

On Sunday, Ball State and their pitching staff carved up the Michigan State Spartans and won 4-1. Merritt Beeker pitched five strong innings and Lucas Letsinger pitched three more shutout innings to effectively end the game.

This series is going to continue deep into the season with midweek matchups made convenient due to proximity. In the next week, there are two more games on the schedule. Ball State plays Illinois in South Carolina and Miami plays a ranked Indiana team. The MAC can match their 2023 season wins total over Big Ten opponents in the second week of the season.

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Quick Notes:

• Akron had a winning record after three games. A win against Illinois and Fordham had the Zips at 2-1 before playing the #1 ranked Wake Forest. Their starting pitching was an asset this weekend.
• Ball State looked like MAC favorites with three close wins in the opening weekend. Their pitching staff looks like the best in the MAC with only Kent State able to rival them.
• A bullpen collapse in game two prevents Bowling Green from winning a series against Middle Tennessee. The Falcons hit six home runs in three games and lead the MAC as a team.
• Central Michigan played a pair of Texas teams and couldn’t convert two close losses into wins. The Chippewas lost game four by walking five batters without recording an out in the ninth inning to push two runs across.
• Eastern Michigan had one outlier game of offensive production and it makes their offensive weekend stats look better than they are. Their pitchers were strong in every game which might be signs of real improvement for the Eagles.
• Kent State had an uncharacteristic weekend, but the bats will wake up for this team. It also is bad luck. Their pitchers led the MAC in WHIP but were sixth in ERA. That will even out over the season.
• Miami is probably excited to get out of South Carolina. It’s on to Middle Tennessee for the RedHawks. Miami’s starters got roughed up against the Gamecocks.
• Northern Illinois got ten run ruled twice in their first two games to open the season. They found their footing in the final game against Abilene Christian with a 14-7 win.
• Gideon Antle went off for the Bobcats and their bullpen allowed fewer runs than the starters despite giving up more walks than striking out batters. It’s not a sustainable formula, but it doesn’t have to be. It worked this weekend and the Bobcats have Campbell up next.
• Toledo won in extras in game one, then dropped the next two. Nothing went well for the Rockets. The offense scored five runs over the final two games and the starting pitchers lasted a combined 5.2 innings while giving up seven runs.
• The Broncos started the season 2-0 against Michigan with both wins coming in extra innings. They couldn’t scratch out one more and a series win, but the WMU season is off on the right foot.

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Notable Performances

Cade Sullivan for Western Michigan and Gideon Antle for Ohio put on hitting clinics this weekend. Each hitter had at least 10 hits and four extra-base hits. Max Bowman has a weekend cycle with two walks sprinkled in for Akron. Colin Summer starts the season off the right way with a good weekend for Northern Illinois.

Eric Chalus pitched a gem for Kent State in game two of their series with UNC Wilmington. One run allowed in five innings, four total base runners and nine strikeouts is a great first start for the season. Keegan Batka got the opening day start for Central Michigan but the bats couldn’t pick him up. He went seven innings without allowing a run and has a no-decision to show for it. Merritt Beeker didn’t go deep into the game in his Ball State debut, but 10 K’s in five innings pitched is a clean 18 K/9.

Tanner Knapp finished two games this weekend and picked up two saves. His teammate, Zach Kwasny also finished a win with 4.1 innings pitched of shutout ball for Ball State. If the Cardinals are going to pitch like they did this weekend all season, they might reappear at an NCAA Regional. Western Michigan’s Turner Doran was nearly perfect in his debut outing for the Broncos with four innings of relief work.

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Series Scores: