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We're only six months away. What's everyone's take on the OVC this year? Last year was filled with parody, upsets, pitching showcases, and offensive outbursts. We should see more of the same this season.

Gallia Academy: won the OVC in its inaugural season. Return some young pieces but lose the best catcher in the conference with Sipple. I anticipate a repeat this season for Blue.

Ironton: Great hitting team last year, return key guys with Carrico and Morris. Pitching will be a major factor.

Portsmouth: Offense was never a problem, if the Trojans can find pitching depth they can finish in the top half.

Fairland: A young team that overachieved last season. Beelen has the Dragons program trending back in the right direction.

Chesapeake: Fairly young team last year with not much pitchng. Middle of the pack team if they can't find any depth.

Coal Grove: Rutherford and McKnight return, probably the two best players in the conference. The Hornets caught fire late and made a run for Chilli. A lot of returning talent this year.

South Point: The Pointers were one of the most inconsistent teams last season. Woodard will be difficult to replace but SP has some depth to work with.

Rock Hill: Competed with small ball and grind it out baseball last year. Losing McFann and Schob are big losses. Will probably finish in the bottom half again.

My prediction:
1. Gallia Academy
2. Coal Grove
3. Fairland
4. Ironton
5. Portsmouth
6. Chesapeake
7. South Point
8. Rock Hill

!. South Point
2. Ironton
3. Coal Grove
4. Gallia
5. Portsmouth
6. Rock Hill
7. Chesapeake
8. Fairland

1. Gallia
2. Coal Grove
3. South Point
4. Rock Hill
5. Portsmouth
6. Ironton
7. Chesapeake
8. Fairland

Coal Grove-Rutherford and McKnight provide a tough 1-2 punch on the hill, if they can score enough runs they'll be tough to beat.
South Point- Return 6 starters off a roller coaster season, but key note they did beat Gallia twice so the talent is there. Return top 3 out of 4 pitchers.
Gallia Academy- Lose 7-8 starters, but have a very solid program and Faro being a year older is going to be even tougher.
Rock Hill- Everyone is a year older from the 5 starting freshman last year, have a solid Freshman group coming in as well. Rock Hill is on the rise.
Ironton- Started hot and finished ice cold last year. Return quite a bit but have to be consistent to compete.
Portsmouth- With Williams on the hill they'll be pretty good, but losing DeLotell is a big blow. They do hit well which will keep them in games.
Chesapeake- Lose a ton off a team that overachieved imo. Well coached so they'll compete but not enough pitching to dictate an upper half season.
Fairland- Lose arguably the best player in the conference in Damron along with a couple others. Fell apart at the end of the year. Not much pitching.

bbn77 wrote:We're only six months away. What's everyone's take on the OVC this year? Last year was filled with parody, upsets, pitching showcases, and offensive outbursts. We should see more of the same this season.

Gallia Academy: won the OVC in its inaugural season. Return some young pieces but lose the best catcher in the conference with Sipple. I anticipate a repeat this season for Blue.

Ironton: Great hitting team last year, return key guys with Carrico and Morris. Pitching will be a major factor.

Portsmouth: Offense was never a problem, if the Trojans can find pitching depth they can finish in the top half.

Fairland: A young team that overachieved last season. Beelen has the Dragons program trending back in the right direction.

Chesapeake: Fairly young team last year with not much pitchng. Middle of the pack team if they can't find any depth.

Coal Grove: Rutherford and McKnight return, probably the two best players in the conference. The Hornets caught fire late and made a run for Chilli. A lot of returning talent this year.

South Point: The Pointers were one of the most inconsistent teams last season. Woodard will be difficult to replace but SP has some depth to work with.

Rock Hill: Competed with small ball and grind it out baseball last year. Losing McFann and Schob are big losses. Will probably finish in the bottom half again.

My prediction:
1. Gallia Academy
2. Coal Grove
3. Fairland
4. Ironton
5. Portsmouth
6. Chesapeake
7. South Point
8. Rock Hill

Sipple did not catch the majority of the games for the Devils last year. It was another senior who caught most of the games. Without a doubt losing the experience last years seniors had will hurt. I see some young guys having big roles to fill. It will be tough to replace experience.

hope the Trojans have an improved defense, some games last season we had oppurtunities but they fell, along with the baseball with miscues in the field, improvement would add a few wins to the ole w column

LetsGoPSU wrote:hope the Trojans have an improved defense, some games last season we had oppurtunities but they fell, along with the baseball with miscues in the field, improvement would add a few wins to the ole w column

Agreed. Portsmouth got into too many shootouts last year. They can be a solid team if they learn to play clean baseball

Championship07 wrote:Coal Grove-Rutherford and McKnight provide a tough 1-2 punch on the hill, if they can score enough runs they'll be tough to beat.
South Point- Return 6 starters off a roller coaster season, but key note they did beat Gallia twice so the talent is there. Return top 3 out of 4 pitchers.
Gallia Academy- Lose 7-8 starters, but have a very solid program and Faro being a year older is going to be even tougher.
Rock Hill- Everyone is a year older from the 5 starting freshman last year, have a solid Freshman group coming in as well. Rock Hill is on the rise.
Ironton- Started hot and finished ice cold last year. Return quite a bit but have to be consistent to compete.
Portsmouth- With Williams on the hill they'll be pretty good, but losing DeLotell is a big blow. They do hit well which will keep them in games.
Chesapeake- Lose a ton off a team that overachieved imo. Well coached so they'll compete but not enough pitching to dictate an upper half season.
Fairland- Lose arguably the best player in the conference in Damron along with a couple others. Fell apart at the end of the year. Not much pitching.

I agree except for the fact that Chesapeake overachieved. Went 10-13

This should be the groves year. Pitching = success! If they can play anything that resembles defense they should win.

Grove definitely brings a lot back. McKnight, Rutherford, Angelo, Jeb Jones, Jacob Clark and more. All but one returning starter

With the pitch count and days of rest coming into to effect it should make it interesting on how teams use their pitchers.

Does anyone have schedules out yet?

Schedules?

TTT

bbn77 wrote:Does anyone have schedules out yet?

most of the team's schedules are under their school name on seop

Coal Grove
South Point
GA
Ironton
Portsmouth
Rock Hill
Fairland
Chespeake

GOOD LUCK TO THE IRONTON FIGHTING TIGERS.

4/4/17 Chesapeake @ Rock Hill: Chesapeake-4 Rock Hill-3

4/5/17 Rock Hill over South Point 15-0 Game played @ The Hill

Rock Hill goes to 4-1 on the season.

Anyone have standings or conference records?

Big couple of weeks for the conference race.