2024 Mid-American Conference Baseball Week 13 Recap

The MAC Tournament field is set, but the seeding is not! Bowling Green is the top seed, and four teams could be the #2 seed.

Last year the MAC used a four-team format for the postseason and the field wasn’t set until the final weekend. If the format was the same this season, the field would still not be set. Only one team would be a lock and the other three would be uncertain with huge rivalry week series all over the MAC.

This year we have the six-team format and the field is locked with a week to go. Don’t get me wrong, the six-team format is going to make the tournament run longer and require deeper teams. That’s a good thing. More baseball is a good thing, but it did rob us of an insane final week of the season.

That being said, the season isn’t over and five teams have a lot to play for!

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Week 13 Conference Standings

As mentioned at the top, the MAC Tournament field is officially set.

The top six cannot change at this point, and the only thing left is to establish the seeding. Western Michigan beat Northern Illinois twice, the seventh-ranked team, and dropped the barrier for entry to 15 wins. Kent State swept Akron and got wins 14, 15 and 16 to set the field.

Bowling Green also has the top seed locked up after another series win. It wasn’t the smoothest series for the Falcons, but they got the job done and have no pressure on the final week of the season. The rivalry series against Toledo is for pride only, which is more than enough when those programs take the field.

Miami dropped to the sixth seed after beating Ohio only once in their rivalry series. I think the important part of the weekend was completed after their first win and earning their place in the MAC Tournament, but losing a series to Ohio stings.

Toledo was pulled into a tie for third place with Kent State and Ball State during their non-conference week at Notre Dame. Kent State’s sweep of Akron gives them their best chance at staying out of the sixth seed, but they need to get through Ball State. Ball State took two games from CMU and looks like a tournament-ready team.

The predicted week for locking up the tournament came to fruition.

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Scenarios for MAC Tournament seeds and a Week 14 preview

The easy one at the top is Bowling Green. They have locked the top seed with 21 conference wins in 27 games. Their run scoring is off the charts and the run prevention is second in the MAC. They have earned that top seed and all of its benefits, which includes getting the lowest seed after the first two games.

The second seed is wide open. The only team that cannot be the second seed is Miami. They are done at 17 wins and that is where WMU is right now. WMU swept Miami and holds the tiebreaker, plus Kent State or Ball State has to get an 18th win. The Broncos are the favorite for the spot and would take it with a sweep over Central Michigan. Nineteen wins is almost a guarantee but the Cardinals could jump them if they sweep the Flashes.

Toledo, Ball State and Kent State can each get to 19 wins, not all at the same time. Ball State and Kent State play in the Series of the Week and a win for one is a loss for the other. Toledo has a tall order against Bowling Green but holds the tiebreaker if they finish tied with either Ball State or Kent State. Ball State took two of three from WMU earlier in the season and would jump the Broncos in the event of a tie. Kent State and Toledo would need to beat Western Michigan’s record outright to finish ahead of them.

Miami is done at 17 wins and holds tiebreakers over Toledo and Kent State. They could max out their seeding at fourth if the weekend breaks the right way.

This is a lot to digest, but the tiebreaker situations are in there. I predict Bowling Green to take two from Toledo, WMU to win their series against CMU but not sweep and Ball State to win two games over Kent State. The final standings would look like this:

#1 BG 23-7
#2 WMU 19-11
#3 Ball St 18-12
#4 Miami 17-13
#5 Toledo 17-13
#6 Kent St 17-13

Those predictions are the favorites winning their series, not exactly spicy, but believable. The real fun begins in two weeks!

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Quick Notes:

• Kent State at Akron: Kent State swept Akron and it wasn’t easy. The Flashes recovered from trailing 8-2 after seven innings with a pair of four-run innings to get the win. Game two needed an 8th-inning two-run homer from Kyle Jackson to earn a one-run win and the finale was a one-run game until the Flashes scored six runs in the top of the ninth. Kent State needed those wins to guarantee a spot in the MAC Tournament.
• Central Michigan at Ball State: Merritt Beeker and Keegan Johnson dominated the first two games of the series for Ball State. Beeker struck out 13 in seven innings and Johnson 10 in six innings. The Chippewas scored eight runs in the third inning of game three and that was it for the series. Ball State has two aces ready for the postseason, which is about as good as any other team.
• Bowling Green at Eastern Michigan: Drew Jones finished a big day for Eastern Michigan with a walk-off, two-RBI double in game one. The 10-9 win was all they would get. Bowling Green cruised in game two to a 7-1 win behind reliever Kade Arn throwing 45 pitches in four innings of work. Nic Good didn’t make it out of the first inning for Bowling Green in game three but they recovered to get an 8-6 win.
• Ohio at Miami: Rivalry weekends get weird. Miami needed these wins and could only get one, walking off the first game 4-3. Alex Finney and AJ Rausch each drive in four runs for Ohio in game two on the way to a 14-5 win. The rubber match was Miami’s to lose with a 10-3 lead heading into the seventh, and Ohio delivered an eight-run eighth inning to take the series.
• Northern Illinois at Western Michigan: Northern Illinois was looking for a series win on Sunday after Adam Brouwer pitched seven solid innings in Kalamazoo. Eric Erato hit a three-run homer run that made the game 4-3 and the Huskies held on. Western Michigan shut them down and held NIU to two hits in the final game. By the end of it, WMU had won 15-5, 8-0 and lost a one-run game. They were very close to a sweep.
• Toledo at Notre Dame: Toledo wins the final game 5-2, all runs scoring on home runs. Garret Pike hits four home runs in the series but Notre Dame was able to limit base runners to limit the damage done by the dingers. Toledo gets ready for Bowling Green this week.

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Notable Performances

Merritt Beeker and Keegan Johnson are #1 and #5 in the MAC in strikeouts this season with 105 and 71 respectively. They each have one more regular season start and at least one in the postseason. They dominated their games against Central Michigan and have the Cardinals feeling good about their starting pitching headed into the MAC Tournament. Jared Schaeffer was a tough-luck loser for Akron. He pitched deep into the game and racked up the strikeouts but his defense couldn’t help him out.

Peyton Cariaco pitched three perfect innings for Kent State and earned three saves. That one weekend vaulted him to a tie for the MAC lead in saves at five on the year. Hayden Berg didn’t get the saves and gave up a walk, but his three innings for Western Michigan were great.

The MAC outfielders continue to lead the way offensively. Part of it is just math. There are at least 50% more of those players relative to two corner infielders, two middle infielders and one catcher. Garret Pike hit four home runs in six hits. He’s hit 20 this year and is tied with Zach MacDonald for the MAC lead.

Jackson Kitchen hit a cycle for Western Michigan and added two more home runs during the week. He drove in 9 runs in total and Decker Scheffler drove in eight. They will all be playing in the MAC Tournament and need to deliver for their teams to get to the NCAA Regionals.

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Series Scores: