2024 Mid-American Conference Baseball Week 3 Recap

Akron beats a ranked Duke team, but the schedule was otherwise a gauntlet for MAC teams.

The Week 3 schedule looked difficult before the week started and it did not disappoint. The conference combined to post a 13-27 record and six of the 13 wins were by one or two runs. The margins were tight for everyone, except Miami.

There were bright spots like Ball State starting to look like Ball State, Kent State winning their weekend series, Miami sweeping Oakland and— the brightest of all— Akron taking a game from Duke. All of the games matter but the non-conference series are tune-ups for MAC play on the horizon.

Who’s looking good before conference play?

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Week 3 Non-Conference Standings

Ball State bats took off this week, with the Cardinals winning three of their four games while averaging 7.50 runs. They had a seven-run inning in their midweek matchup that earned the win and a six-run seventh inning in Game 2 over the weekend. Maybe they still have some consistency issues to work out, but for now, the big inning is working.

Western Michigan held the top spot a week ago, but a weekend in South Carolina against major conference opponents knocked them out. Florida State is a good, undefeated team in the second-best conference in the nation. There isn’t any shame in taking a loss in that game, and there isn’t any in losing to Michigan State or Illinois either. The Big Ten teams already lost to MAC teams and Western didn’t exactly play them close. The First Pitch Invitational was a disappointing weekend for the Broncos.

Miami posted football scores in their sweep of Oakland and got their run differential back to even after a poor opening weekend against South Carolina. The RedHawks scored 46 runs in three games and their starting pitchers had the third-best ERA in the MAC. Maybe they’ve found their stride just in time for conference play.

On the other side of things, Central Michigan and Kent State are on the wrong side of the table. Kent State won their weekend series but failed to split their midweek series with Troy, blowing a 10-4 lead in the second game. They got two quick outs in the bottom of the ninth, and had the Trojans down to their final strike twice. They ended up giving up four runs to lose.

Central Michigan got beat up by Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The offense only put five runs on the board in the three-game series and the pitchers found bats when they found the strikezone. The Chippewas and the Flashes play each other to open conference play this weekend, but it still might be a couple of weeks before we know if either (or both) are the MAC favorites they usually are.

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Akron beats #12 Duke in Game 2

Before games started, the schedule for Week 3 was more difficult than in past weeks. The combined record was the worst of the three weeks so far, the lowest runs scored per game and the highest league ERA.

Despite that, the obvious highlight was Akron’s win over #12 Duke on Saturday. The Zips gave the Blue Devils their first loss of the season and played well all weekend. Dawson Tourney started the second game, scattering six hits and two runs across four innings of work. He also struck out six Blue Devils and walked none.

Sean Perkins took over on the bump in the fifth, gave up a hit and retired the next ten hitters. Perkins’s five innings of relief was the key to this game for the Zips. His two-seam fastball was running all over the place and keeping hitters off balance.

Designated hitter Max Bowman got the offense started with a leadoff single in the sixth. The Zips were down 2-1 and immediately started playing for a run. Sam Seeker dropped down a bunt with two strikes to move Bowman to second and a passed ball moved him to third. A walk to Andrew Horvath put runners on the corners and a sacrifice bunt tied the game. Nicky Sackett got the bunt down and Duke tried to cut down the runner at the plate but were late. Fisher Pyatt hit a double down the right-field line to score another run and take the lead.

The fourth and final run was scored on a Charlie Rhee sacrifice fly. After that, it was all up to Perkins and the defense and they delivered. The lead got razor-thin when Devin Obee hit a home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth for Duke, but three batters later, the game was over and Akron had their win over a ranked ACC opponent in the books.

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Quick Notes:

• Akron has been on a solid upward trajectory since the program has come back. Last year they were a much better team than the previous season and it didn’t show up in the standings. This season the Zips could frustrate some teams.
• Ball State looked like the MAC favorite finding ways to win this week. Their offense was explosive and the pitching was great for three of their four games. Merritt Beeker had a great debut for the Cardinals but has struggled as the day-three starter since.
• Bowling Green ran into a buzzsaw named the Tennessee Volunteers this weekend. None of the games went a full nine innings.
• Central Michigan also played a 2023 NCAA Tournament Regional host and got swept. CMU batters struggled and managed a max of four runs, they also struck out 18 times in that game.
• Eastern Michigan took the opening contest against Houston Christian behind a near-complete game by Bobby Jones and then lost the three remaining games of the series. They were competitive, but Eastern kept giving their opponents chances and they paid the price.
• Kent State probably should have swept their weekend series, but they couldn’t get the bats going in Game 3. Jacksonville State scored three runs in the first and that was too much for the Flashes.
• Miami dominated their series with Oakland and the whole team contributed. The batters drove in at least eight runs in each game and when the starting pitching struggled, the bullpen picked up the slack. It is easier to pitch when there is a 14-run cushion.
• Northern Illinois had a weird weekend. No pitcher escaped untouched in their first game, with catcher Colin Summerhill driving in all five runs. They lost their second-game on a bases-loaded hit by pitch in the bottom of the seventh in a contest where they walked 12 total Cincinnati hitters. They did, however, manage to win the third game of the series thanks in large part to Cooper Cohn hitting a three-run bomb. They lost their fourth game due to a lack of pitching.
• Ohio needed a win in Game 3 to win the series with Illinois-Chicago but couldn’t buy a hit. They walked once and struck out once but had only seven hits to show for it. That’s a lot of balls in play.
• Toledo’s offense struggled again against Southeast Missouri State. Their pitchers had an off weekend too which made matters worse. The offense did score ten runs in their game four win, but before that game, they were being outscored 8-31.
• Western Michigan had a golden opportunity to beat Illinois but couldn’t get a runner home from third base with one out in the ninth of a tie game. Florida State and Michigan State were hit machines and the Broncos couldn’t keep up.

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Notable Performances

Unsurprisingly, the Akron relief pitchers have found their way onto this list. Josiah Ross’s performance in game one gets overlooked due to the offense not being much of a factor, but three innings of shutout work against a ranked team is awesome, regardless of circumstance.

Sean Perkins is the hero of Game 2 and got the win. He protected a two-run lead for four of his five innings pitched. Akron might have a back end that MAC teams are not going to have any fun dealing with.

Ball State’s Lucas Letsinger appeared twice and rescued a game against Southern Indiana that was getting off the rails for a win. He also settled down a back-and-forth game against Jacksonville and got the save. Sometimes relief painting stat lines can be weird. The few hits can allow inherited runners to score on a different pitcher’s stat line, but that’s not the case with Letsinger. He was clean all weekend.

Miami’s offense showed up in a huge way and three hitters got their way onto the Team of the Week. Ryland Zaborowski, Ryan Novak and Zach MacDonald were all over the bases and drove in 23 combined runs. The only thing they didn’t do was steal bases, but going 24-37 with 12 extra-base hits makes stolen bases not necessary. MacDonald has been on this list twice in three weeks and is a bat that everyone in the MAC is going to get to know.

At this point, the catcher spot is Colin Summerhills until further notice. He hit another three home runs for a MAC-leading season total of seven. Seven home runs is good for fifth in the nation. He’s fifth in qualified hitters in wOBA and fourth in OPS in the MAC, which is insane for a catcher. Compared to the other catchers in the MAC, the next best in quality stats is Dom Kibler from Kent State with 12 plate appearances while catching. Greg Budig is having a great season as the starting catcher for Western Michigan but unfortunately for him, his slugging percentage is only 0.690 while catching. Summerhill’s is 1.161 and with seven home runs, he could go 0-21 and it would still be 0.692.

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Week 4: Conference Games Start

Finally, conference play starts. I think the MAC is one of the earlier conferences to start their conference games, the Big Ten doesn’t start until March 22, but I’m excited for games that are going to mean something later in the year.

Weather is always a factor in the early part of the MAC season, it is early March in the Midwest. It’s not uncommon to see some snow during these games.

With eleven teams in play, one is on a non-conference weekend and this week it’s Western Michigan. The Broncos head back to Greenville, South Carolina for the First Pitch Invitational II. They’ll play Michigan State again, VCU and Western Carolina before heading back to the mitten.

The week is headlined by two critical matchups: Bowling Green at Miami and Central Michigan at Kent State. Bowling Green and Miami is a huge series for two teams looking to break into the postseason. Both will be in the mix and the opening series will put one team in front of the other.

Central Michigan and Kent State are both struggling and looking forward to conference play. Unfortunately, we might not be able to tell much if the series is as close as expected. There should be good, high-level baseball played in Kent, but no matter what happens, there are nine other series to play in the MAC schedule for both teams.

The Toledo and Akron series feels like a toss-up. Toledo is traditionally better but they’ve struggled to score and their pitching has been either excellent or bad. Akron is improving without question but are they ready to make a big jump up the standings this season?

Eastern Michigan at Ball State and NIU at Ohio have the home teams favored but baseball is weird. One big inning can flip a game and a series.

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Series Scores: