The University of Akron Athletics
Zips Take Two From Eastern Kentucky
March 04 | Baseball
RICHMOND, Ky. – Billy McKinney recorded his first career shutout in the opener and Scott Gunn hit the game-winner in the night cap as the University of Akron baseball team (4-1) completed a seven-inning, doubleheader sweep of Eastern Kentucky (5-3) Saturday at Turkey Hughes Field. The Zips blanked the Colonels 7-0 in game and edged the home team 8-6 in game two.
After dropping the first game of the season, UA has won four straight contests. Akron will look to complete the three-game sweep of the Colonels Sunday starting at 1 p.m. Freshman Steven Zemanek II (1-0, 1.29) is expected to take the hill for the Zips.
Gunn drove a 1-0 offering by EKU reliever Eric Hash (0-1) over the wall in right-center field with two outs and a runner on to snap a 6-all tie in the top of the seventh and final inning of game two. Gunn's first home run of the year was the second of two big long balls for the Zips in the game and made a winner out of reliever Pat Gliha (Euclid, Ohio/Villa Angela-St. Joseph), who worked the last 2.2 innings to earn his second victory of the season.
True freshman John Turk
(Kirtland, Ohio/Kirtland) connected on his first home run of the
year – a three-run shot in the fifth – to erase a one-run
deficit and give the Zips a 6-4 lead. Turk's big fly came with one
out and cleared the fence in right field, scoring Charlie Lenhard
(Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and Brett Savage
(Massillon, Ohio/Perry).
Akron scored a run in the first inning thanks to a wild pitch with runners on second and third and made it 3-0 with a pair of runs in the third. Phil Bednar (Monroe Falls, Ohio/Ball State University/Stow) got things going with a lead-off double and checked into third after a base hit by Kurt Davidson (North Canton, Ohio/Hoover). A single to center by Lenhard brought Bednar home and a passed ball during the following at-bat plated Davidson.
Eastern Kentucky tied the game with three runs in the third and took a 4-3 lead with a solo tally in the fourth. Turk's fifth-inning home run regained the lead for UA before the Colonels tied the game once again with two runs in the home half.
McKinney (1-1) scattered six hits and struck out seven, while walking none, in a seven-inning, complete-game effort for the Zips in the opener. McKinney (Loveland, Ohio/Kings) retired the side in order three times and used 98 pitches in Akron's first complete-game effort of the season.
Davidson provided all the offense McKinney would need with a lead-off, opposite-field home run in the fourth. The solo blast, the 21st of Davidson's career, moved him into eighth place on the school's all-time home runs list.
Gunn made it 2-0 with an RBI-single in the fifth inning that plated freshman Kevin Haas (Fairview, Ohio/St. Ignatius), who finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI, before Akron opened up the game with five runs in the final two innings – highlighted by a two-run double from Vince Chiera (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) in the seventh.
ZIPS NOTEBOOK: The first-pitch temperature was 44 degrees with 37 MPH winds and dipped much lower during the course of the doubleheader ... the second game was suspended between the third and forth innings of game two for one hour and 23 minutes due to inclement weather (snow) ... Gliha has allowed just one run in 8.0 innings out of the bullpen this spring ... McKinney got a big boost from his defense after allowing the lead-off batter to reach in the second inning. McKinney induced a sharp ground ball to shortstop Bednar, who started a 6-4-3 double play that killed the potential big inning ... Bednar drew three walks in game two, a season high for a Zips player ... Four Zips finished the game with two hits in game one and three matched that feat in the night cap.
