Baseball Begins Season with Doubleheader Friday

February 21 | Baseball

The University of Akron baseball team kicks off the 2007 season this weekend at the Service Academies Spring Classic in Millington, Tenn. The Zips will take on Memphis at 5 p.m. and Missouri at 8 p.m. on Friday before meeting BYU Saturday at 11 a.m. and Air Force Sunday at 10 a.m. All times are EST.

About The Competition
• Memphis enjoyed a 19-game turnaround from last year's win total to post a record of 32-28 and made the school's first appearance in the Conference USA Tournament since 2001. The Tigers ranked 30th nationally with a .315 taem batting average. Senior first baseman Adam Amar is a third-team, preseason All-American after leading the circuit in batting (.395).

• Missouri is one of only 22 D-I teams in the nation that has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four seasons. The Tigers advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals for the first time in school history last season, having won the Malibu Regional and were ranked 18th in the nation in the final Baseball America poll of 2006.

• BYU was picked to finish third in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll after finishing the 2006 season with a 33-28 record. Sophomore pitcher Jordan Muir was named to 2006 Freshman All-American team after going 6-0 with a 3.97 ERA.

• Air Force was picked to finish last (7th) in the Mountain West preseason poll and finished last spring with a 10-38 mark. The Falcons return 15 lettermen from a team that posted a collective batting average of .249 and an ERA of 10.69 in 2006.

On The Web
• Live stats for all games played at the Service Academies Spring Classic will be available courtesy of the University of Memphis and can be accessed by following this link.

• Akron's game against Missouri will be broadcast live by KTGR out of Missouri. Follow this link once the game begins to listen.

On The Hill
• Fifth-year senior Billy McKinney gets the nod in the season opener, completing a remarkable comeback from Tommy John Surgery that limited him to just 21.1 innings pitched in the last two years. The right-hander was 1-0 with a 4.22 ERA before shutting it down in 2005, but it didn't stop the versatile star form batting .331 (42x127) with five home runs and 33 RBI as an outfielder that year. McKinney sat out the entire 2006 season as a medical redshirt.

• Right-hander Frank Turocy will look to improve on an impressive redshirt freshman campaign a year ago (1-6, 5.34) when he worked his way into the starting rotation as the expected starter against Missouri. Turocy made 17 appearances, including five starts, and notched his first collegiate win by limiting Bowling Green to two runs in 6.2 innings on Apr. 23, 2006. Frank's younger brother, Drew (LHP/OF), signed a national letter of intent last winter to join the Zips for the 2007-08 season.

• Redshirt freshman Steven Zemanek II is expected to make his collegiate debut against BYU Saturday. Zemanek battled a nerve injury in his throwing arm last spring but has bounced back to earn a spot in the starting rotation. The left-handed pitcher is a biomedical engineering major and competes while managing diabetes.

2006 Team News and Notes
• The Zips got off to a quick start last season by winning five of their first six games while out-scoring opponents Arkansas State, Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky, 66-32. The spurt was followed by a season-high, 11-game losing streak, however. Nonetheless, the Zips' 4-1 record in February was a welcome result after going 5-8 in the previous three February seasons combined.

• Last spring, Akron batted .277 as a team, with three players hitting better than .300. It was UA's second-highest team batting average (.280 in 2005) in five years. All-MAC performer Kurt Davidson paced the Zips by hitting at a .338 clip, followed by Vince Chiera (.316) and Ryan Frazee (.305).

• Four Zips players recorded 10 or more doubles last season, led by Charlie Lenhard's 17, which was the fifth-highest total in the MAC. As a team, UA posted 98 two-baggers; its sixth-highest total since 1954.

• Including Davidson's 12 homers, the 2006 Zips posted their highest home run total (38) since 2001 (51).

2006 Player News and Notes
• Davidson, a second team all-Mid-American Conference selection last spring, led the Zips with 12 home runs which tied for the second-most, single-season homers in school history (Mike Doerbecker, 14, 1999). In just two years, Davidson has amassed 19 round-trippers, the 10th-highest career total at UA and has a chance to become with school's all-time leader this season. Doerbecker, who clubbed 28 homers from 1996-99 currently shares that distinction with Dick Duncan (1981-84).

• McNulty became the first player in school history to hit for the cycle in a remarkable afternoon against Bowling Green on April 21, 2006, in which the Zips rallied from a 4-0, seventh-inning deficit. UA got on the board with a solo tally following the seventh-inning stretch and tied the game with a three-run eighth to set up McNulty's heroics. McNulty, who drove in a run with a triple to right field in the eighth, completed the comeback and the cycle with a three-run, walk-off homer with two outs in the ninth. For the game, the first baseman was a perfect 5-for-5 with four RBI and two runs scored.

• The 2006 season was a breakout campaign for junior 3B Vince Chiera. Chiera, who hit .248 in 42 games as a freshman, was one of the Zips' most consistent performers at the plate as a sophomore with a batting average of .316 and 29 RBI in 50 games, including 48 starts at the hot corner. His batting average and RBI total were second-highest on the team. In 336 career at-bats, Chiera has struck out just 18 times.

• The Zips have a large hole to fill in the starting rotation left by Ross Liersemann, an 18th-round draft pick of the Florida Marlins in the 2006 Amateur Draft. Liersemann was a second team all-conference honoree last spring after leading the staff with a 3.78 ERA, six wins and seven complete games. Liersemann's 256 career innings were the most by any pitcher in the history of the program.

National Recognition
Davidson and junior right-hander Tom Farmer were highlighted as players to watch in the MAC in Baseball America's 2007 college preview issue last January. Davidson was listed as the league's top catching prospect while Farmer was named the third-best professional prospect in the conference overall.

Davidson led the Zips in nearly every offensive category last season, including batting average (.338), home runs (12) and RBI (47). With 19 homers in his first two seasons at UA, Davidson needs just 10 home runs to become the school's all-time leader. Last summer, Davidson was named to the all-star team of the Virginia Valley League after hitting .275 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 26 RBI. His walks total (25) was third-highest in the league, while his on-base percentage (.418) was fourth.

Farmer (2-10, 7.92 ERA) twice struck out 11 batters in a game last season and finished with 87 K's in 80.2 innings, including a pair of complete-game efforts. This past summer, the right-hander turned heads in the Cape Cod League by posting an ERA of 1.75 in 46 innings while being named to the all-star team.
Farmer was also rated as the 74th-best college prospect in the nation by the publication. The team is hopeful that Farmer, who underwent shoulder surgery during the offseason, will be able to re-join the rotation by April.

The Dirt
• Outfielders Lenhard and fourth-year junior Scott Gunn were voted team co-captains for 2007 by their teammates during the winter.

• Senior pitcher Pat Gliha has been a pillar of dependability during his three-year career at Akron. The right-hander, who has appeared in 53 career games, will become the school's all-time leader with 12 more outings in 2007. Last spring, Gliha posted four wins (second on the team) in 21 appearances, including three starts, and the team's only save on the season.

• The Zips were 9-22 on the road last season and 0-2 at neutral sites.

Zips Picked to Finish Fifth in MAC East
The Zips Were picked to finish fifth in the six-team MAC East Division in a preseason poll of head coaches. Defending MAC West Division champion Central Michigan and East Division regular season runner-up Miami are favorites to win their respective divisions. The Chippewas were also selected by six of the leagues' head coaches to take home the 2007 MAC Tournament title.