Marietta or Heidelberg

For me. If all those equal. Then I would say best chance to get on field. Plus Heidelberg is d2 so chance of athletic scholarships.marietta has a huge history of winning baseball. But ultimately for me it would be the best chance to compete for playing time

I think both are D3

Both are D3 and competitive programs. Marietta has a long history of being a D3 powerhouse, and you will have to be a pretty darn good player to make their roster year in and year out.  Everything is not always equal, I would ask where would be prefer to go if you take baseball out of the equation? What is the depth chart at his position look like, and does one of the coaching staff seem to have a plan for him?  Distance from home? Etc. Good luck, two good alternatives. 

Just checked, both are D3.  I second the notion to move opportunity to play to the front of the decision making criteria.

Opportunity to play is a big deal.   Ask each coach direct questions.  Be polite and respectful, but direct.   Don't listen for what you want to hear.  Listen for what you don't want to hear too. 

Where is your son from?   I know you're asking primarily about baseball......but also consider this.  What is he looking for in a "college experience"?   Both towns (Marietta and Tiffin) are roughly the same size...and the universities are almost identical in enrollment.  Tiffin also is the home to Tiffin University, a D2 school with a 5,000 student enrollment, so the "college town" atmosphere is definitely going to be felt more in Tiffin than in Marietta.  The two schools in Tiffin are roughly 2 miles apart.  Just something to consider.....

Didn't visit Marietta but looks like a nice river town. I loved the Heidelburg campus and the fact you can get an MBA free if you graduate in four years with at least at 3.0. My 2016 was accepted but really didn't care for it.  So, he's going somewhere else.

I agree playing time would factor in with everything else being equal.

Other factors to consider would be the position coach, their strength & conditioning program and their policy about summer baseball or summer internships.  Your son will spend the majority of his time with his position coach.  So, based on that fact you'll want him to feel comfortable with his philosophy and approach.  Coaches have different ideas about teaching & developing pitchers, hitters, etc.....  Does the position coach take a cookie cutter approach or does he take what your son has and try to make him better?  Also, philosophies on strength & conditioning vary considerably.  Again, understand their style of strength & conditioning and does it jibe with your son's thoughts on the subject.  Lastly, get a clear understanding of the coaches expectations & placement for summer baseball or summer internship work experience. 

JMO.  Good luck.

My son was recruited by both, He chose neither. Coach Palm at Heidelberg, has moved on to AD at the school and Coach Fitzgerald, stepped up to head coach. Heidelberg was not very good before Coach Palm, we will see if coach F. can keep up Palms level of success.  

At Heidelberg everyone travels with the team to spring break. Palm kept close track of grades and had a system in place for academics, that I believe Coach F is continuing. Heidelberg starts their winter practices at  6:00 am before school, until the weather warms up enough. 5 years ago those practices were still in the school gym. In my opinion Hiede has had a tough time developing pitchers. I know several very good pitchers, who went there, so they have had the pitching talent, I just think they have not always handled them the best, that they could. But they do a very nice job of developing hitters. The years they do well it is almost always due to their offense. Peaceful Valley field has had many upgrades and now is a very nice place to play. I always enjoy watching games there. 

Marietta starts their fall by having players in a HS fall league, that includes all the players on the team playing on teams with HS players from around the Marietta region. So their is some additional playing time that they get to participate in. (it is entirely legal as per the NCAA). They have nice facilities and the town really supports the baseball team. Don Schaley Stadium is showing it wear and could use some work. The field itself though is very nice. Coach Brewer has been there for quite a while now and is using the same system he learned from Coach Schaley when it comes to recruiting. Marietta Churns through assistants, but most of them are moving on to bigger and better things. Coach Deegan is a good example who has done a nice job with Denison. And Mott who has gone on to coach at Ohio Wesleyan. So do not go there for the assistants. 

Both Rosters, as all OAC schools, are pretty large, upwards of 40 rostered players or beyond. Playing time at both schools is a battle, because the number of players rostered. Both teams want to compete at the National level. (not that other schools in the region don't, but these two have had more success than others.) 

Marietta has a very interesting Engineering Degree and many ball players go there hoping to complete that degree, but few do. (same thing for the general student population, being an athlete just makes it more difficult.) They are one of the few schools that offer Petroleum Engineering. I was also very impressed with their Physics department. 

Both schools can be generous when it comes to Merit money. Although Marietta has had to be very careful with their leadership awards to make sure that Athletics is not considered when allotting those scholarships out. Some of the sports programs almost got in trouble quite a few years back. 

I hope I have been some help. If you want to talk privately feel free to send me a discussion request. 

 

As a separate post since clearly you are fine with Ohio schools, have you looked at any of the NCAC schools or the HCAC? 

 

Just where most of the tournaments he went to and got a lot of interest went down to North Carolina and South Carolina around Lenore Rhyne
Roanoke and wasn't really interested

OK, Good luck. I know quite a bit about both these schools, if you want more info feel free to PM me. 

How do I do this and would you feel comfortable if I have my son do that who probably has the best questions to ask you instead of going through me

Click on my name and one of the options is send private message. Click on that and it will open a post. Have your son ask any questions that he would like the answer to and I will do my best to answer. Remember depending on the question I will be giving my opinion. While I have a high estimation of myself , Get other opinions as well. 

Thanks

At Marietta the coach wants to start him, not sure yet with Heidelberg. 

sportsmomof3 posted:

At Marietta the coach wants to start him, not sure yet with Heidelberg. 

Fact:  Every coach tells every player they want to to start him.  Caution:  I wouldn't read into this too much as it sounds like the coach is telling you (and your son) what you want to hear in the recruiting process OR the coach is saying something and you are interpreting it in the most favorable way possible....also called Coachspeak.   Either way....this isn't how college baseball works.  College players earn playing time through a coach's need and a players' demonstrated performance.

This is what he told my son's AAU coach who is fairly close with sketchers that he has now haven't thrown a kid out and in the past nine games

sportsmomof3 posted:

At Marietta the coach wants to start him, not sure yet with Heidelberg. 

Based on our experiences I would put ZERO thought into this with regard to deciding where your son will go.  There is NO WAY a coach would know at this point that a recruit is going to start....unless you're a LHP throwing 90...then I'd probably believe it.  There is so much talk from coaches about what/where/when kids will play....and again, with 10-12 even 15 kids coming in....some kids leaving, transfers, etc, I really, really would doubt that any coach could have any kind of plan with regard to where a kid will play