Rust Belt Baseball is best represented by the Horizon League with six teams in the five states. Wright State, University of Illinois Chicago and Milwaukee entered the League in 1994; the other three baseball schools, Youngstown State (2001), Valparaiso (2007) and Oakland (2013) gradually came on board in the twenty-first century.
Wicked weather has played havoc with the League’s schedule; five teams have lost games due to cold or snow. Youngstown State hasn’t played a game since February 15th when they were swept by Jacksonville State, Milwaukee had a series with Louisville cancelled, UIC lost out on three games with Vanderbilt, Valparaiso and Belmont was cancelled and Oakland had three games with Evansville eliminated.
There is a clear division in the League between the top three and bottom three teams measured in wins/ losses and statistically.
Horizon League Standings
Milwaukee 5-3
Wright State 5-4
UIC 2-4-1
Valparaiso 1-6
Youngstown State 0-3
Oakland 0-8
Milwaukee has a team slash of .303/.412/.395; Wright State has 8 home runs with a team slugging percentage of .428 and UIC boasts a team on base percentage of .415.
The Panthers (3.24), Raiders (3.89) and Flames (5.08) line up the same way in team ERA.
Wright State’s Ryan Fucci is off to a tremendous start, he has 17 hits and 15 RBI in nine games. Fucci’s slash of .500/1.118/.538 includes 5, doubles; 2 triples and 4 home runs.
Sam Koenig (.444/.704/.583) from Milwaukee and UIC’s Jeff Boehm (.435/.913/.606) are having excellent starts as well.
The Horizon League has a conference RPI of .4898 with a rank of 14/32. Number 40 Wright State has the best RPI in the league.
Horizon League Schedule
Milwaukee (5-3) at Missouri (3)
Wright State (5-4) hosts Buffalo, Missouri State (2), Dayton and Xavier (2)
UIC (2-4-1) faces Siena (3) and Chicago State
Valparaiso (1-6) faces USC Upstate (3) and James Madison
Youngstown State (0-3) faces Indiana State (3) and Radford (2)
Oakland (0-8) at Southern Mississippi (3)
Rust Belt Schedule
Illinois (9-2-1) at Oklahoma State (3)
Michigan (7-5) faces UMBC, Toledo, Coastal Carolina and Akron
Ohio State (5-4) at Western Kentucky (3) and Fort Wayne
Indiana (4-4) faces Villanova, Dartmouth, Saint Joseph’s and Ball State
Purdue (4-7) at Oklahoma (3)
Michigan State (3-6) faces Toledo, Akron, UMBC, Coastal Carolina and Clemson
Northwestern (1-9) faces Ball State, Dartmouth and Georgetown (2)
Eastern Michigan (2-5) at Georgia State (3)
Central Michigan (8-4) at Wichita State (3)
Western Michigan (5-4) at Florida Gulf Coast (3) and Georgetown
Northern Illinois (5-5) at Southern Illinois (3)
Ball State (5-5) faces Northwester, Dartmouth and Indiana
Toledo (2-4) faces Michigan State, Michigan, UMBC, Coastal Carolina and UNC-Wilmington
Bowling Green (3-3) at Campbell (3)
Miami (2-5) at South Carolina (3)
Ohio (6-3) at Norfolk State (4)
Akron (5-4) faces Coastal Carolina, Michigan State and Michigan
Kent State (5-4) at Liberty (3)
Bradley (7-2) at Quinnipiac (2) and Belmont
Illinois State (4-5) faces Saint Joseph’s, Georgetown, Bucknell, Florida Atlantic and Bowling Green
Southern Illinois (1-10) faces Northern Illinois (3), Belmont and Austin Peay
Evansville (4-2) hosts Western Illinois (4) and Belmont
Indiana State (3-6) hosts Youngstown State (3), Austin Peay and Central Michigan
Fort Wayne (8-3) faces Butler (3), Ohio State and Northern Kentucky
Western Illinois (0-6) faces Evansville (4)
Eastern Illinois (0-6) faces Austin Peay (3) and Saint Louis
Southern Illinois Edwardsville (0-8) faces Jacksonville State (3) and Missouri
Butler (1-9) faces Fort Wayne (3), Bowling Green and Long Island
Xavier (4-6) faces Auburn (3) and Wright State (2)
Cincinnati faces Niagara (3) and Kentucky
Dayton faces Missouri State, Buffalo (2), Wright State and Northern Kentucky
Notre Dame (10-1) faces Georgia Tech (3) and Savannah State
Chicago State (2-6) faces California (3), Illinois and UIC
