2024 Mid-American Conference Baseball Week 9 Recap

Don’t look now, but the Cardinals are on a run!

It was sweeps week in the MAC in Week 9… No, not the television sweeps week that I’ve never really understood, but rather, three of the five MAC conference series were sweeps!

Maybe the results were predictable, but baseball is weird. Akron beat Duke once, currently ranked seventh in the nation, and they have also beaten one MAC team in 15 attempts.

Baseball games aren’t always won by the teams that make the best contact, or make the best pitches. It can certainly help, but there is too much random chance in a game or even a series of baseball. That makes the three sweeps even more impressive. The margin of victory was greater than whatever chaos the baseball gods wanted to create.

What do those sweeps mean for the standings?

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Week 9 Conference Standings

The tiers in the MAC are still fluid, but it’s starting to take shape. The top tier is Bowling Green all alone and still unbeaten. Last weekend they took three from Central Michigan and continued their domination of the MAC schedule. Bowling Green’s remaining schedule is five MAC series, four against teams with winning records.

Western Michigan and Toledo occupy the second tier, each multiple games ahead of the cut line. The Broncos swept Miami with excellent work on the mound. The starters pitched a 3.52 team ERA and led in innings, which contributed to an easy load for the bullpen. They produced a 1.93 ERA and a WHIP under 1.00. Toledo took two of three from Kent State behind a consistent effort from the hitters. They scored 12, 11 and 12 runs in their three games and Kent State had to explode for 18 runs to scratch out a win.

Let’s pause for a second and recognize these three teams for being the top three at this point in the season. Before the season started no one outside these teams had them in the top three. Bowling Green and Toledo missed the cut for the MAC Tournament a year ago and WMU was the fourth seed. They each made key additions to overcome significant losses, especially for Toledo, and returners have progressed. Central Michigan, Ball State and Kent State haven’t been themselves this year, but that has nothing to do with how Bowling Green, Toledo and Western Michigan have handled their business.

Speaking of Ball State, they are on a charge up the standings. Their season started by losing two of three to Eastern Michigan and being swept by Bowling Green. Since the 1-5 start the Cardinals are 9-3. They are now in the fourth spot, two games behind Toledo and aren’t a team anyone wants to see in an elimination game.

Kent State and Eastern Michigan are tied for fifth after each dropped two games in their respective series. The Eagles lost twice to a struggling Ohio team after their bats went cold in the second and third games.

Northern Illinois and Miami are the only teams within a series of the cut line, but they need to get hot and find a difference-maker for them. The Huskies run prevention is pretty good, but they need to be excellent or the bats need to fire up. They didn’t have a MAC opponent last weekend, but they are back at it this weekend at home versus Kent State.

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Quick Notes:

• Akron at Ball State: The Cardinals swept the Zips convincingly. The closest game was the first one, but it still saw Akron held to one run on six hits. Merritt Beeker was effectively wild with eight strikeouts, three walks and two hit batters in 5.1 innings pitched. Ball State hit seven home runs in game two and three more in game three. Catcher Hunter Dobbins hit a home run in each game.
• Central Michigan at Bowling Green: Bowling Green also swept and their method of building leads was to put up a crooked number early. They scored four runs in the third inning of game one and the bottom of the first in games two and three. It wasn’t in cruise control after the big innings but it did shift the pressure to the Central Michigan side. Game three was a wild 18-17 win in the 11th inning. BG needed three runs in the bottom of the ninth to get to extra innings after CMU scored five in the top of the inning.
• Ohio at Eastern Michigan: The Bobcats upset the Eagles and take two of three on the road. The teams split the Saturday doubleheader, and starting pitcher Blake Gaskey carved up the Eagles in 7.2 innings of work on Sunday. Gideon Antle hit a three-run bomb in the second inning to cap off a five-run inning, but Nick Chittum didn’t leave the game for Eastern Michigan until the sixth when he gave up two more runs.
• Kent State at Toledo: Garret Pike is scorching hot. He went 5-5 with three home runs in the opening game of the series and collected two more singles in game three. I’m surprised they pitched to him at all after the first game. Kent State was effectively shut down by Grant Umberger in game one but scored seven runs on nine hits in game two and 18 runs on 20 hits in game three.
• Miami at Western Michigan: The Broncos are on a seven-game winning streak after another sweep, this time the Miami RedHawks. Brady Miller and Hayden Berg didn’t give up a run in game one and the hitters combined for 30 total hits in the next two games. Add in ten walks for the Bronco hitters and it’s no surprise they scored 25 runs.
• Northern Illinois: The Huskies had an in-state week with a midweek win over Eastern Illinois and then were swept by the Illinois Fighting Illini. They had to hold on to the win on Tuesday, but Colin Summerhill went off with two more home runs to drive in six critical runs.

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Notable Performances

Hunter Dobbins was retired twice this week in 13 plate appearances. He drove in ten runs on his eight hits and six of them were for extra bases. He homered in every game and twice in game two and one of his two outs was a sacrifice fly.

The catcher position was hot this week, but catchers usually split time at another position or designated hitter to keep the catching load manageable. Dobbins caught all three games this weekend, but a MAC Team of the Week regular, Colin Summerhill, spent time at DH and in the outfield. All told he gets the extra hitter position after mashing opposing pitchers for six home runs this week! That vaults him back into the MAC lead with 15 total this year. His season stats are impressive as a whole. The .266 batting average is a little low, but his OPS is over 1.000 with almost as many walks as strikeouts. Maybe he needs to be a little more aggressive with two strikes— he was caught looking on 18 of 26 strikeouts— but I wouldn’t mess with an approach that leads the MAC in home runs.

The three outfielders didn’t give away any at-bats last week and each of them had hits in more than half of their at-bats. Nick Dardas was a ball magnet for Central Michigan and was hit by the pitch in five trips to the plate. A painful weekend no matter how many pads and shields he wears.

Brady Miller and Grant Umberger didn’t give up a run in their winning starts and Blake Gaskey only gave up two as he pitched into the eighth inning. Umberger got half of his hits from strikeouts in a really impressive start against a Kent State lineup that can click and score a bunch of runs. Ask Youngstown State about that.

The Western Michigan bullpen had a great weekend with manageable loads, and their studs picked up the bulk of the work. Hayden Berg finished Brady Miller’s start in game one for the save and got another in a midweek win against Michigan (Side note: WMU is 3-2 vs Michigan this year). DJ Thompson only allowed three batters to reach base in 4.1 innings of work and Isaiah Seidel was the steady hand that picked up a win in each appearance last week.

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A look ahead to Week 10:

Ball State heads to Kalamazoo for their three-game series with Western Michigan in the series of the week. Western Michigan has been the slightly stronger team statistically, but Ball State isn’t far behind in games against the MAC. The Broncos lead in staff ERA and WHIP, and when broken down into starters and bullpen they are first and second respectively. Ball State struggles on the bump but can slug their way to wins if the other team gives them the chance.

The Broncos are a high on-base percentage unit, second in the MAC, and play conservatively once runners are on. They’re middle of the pack in stolen bases against MAC teams and lead the MAC in sac bunts. It works for them, but advanced analytics would tell you giving away outs is a poor choice in most situations.

Kent State and Northern Illinois could swap places in the standings if Kent State doesn’t come to DeKalb prepared. It seems unlikely based on past results but Northern Illinois could pull the upset in this one.

Miami wants to be back in the top six desperately and will have to earn it this week against Toledo, at Toledo. The Rockets are a balanced team across the board and the RedHawks have an incredible bullpen. Miami is going to need to get runs however they can and hand leads to the bullpen at every opportunity.

Bowling Green hosts Ohio and Akron heads to Eastern Michigan to finish out the MAC play this weekend. Central Michigan is the odd team out and heads to Orlando, Florida to play against Big 12’s UCF.

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Series Scores: