The University of Akron Athletics
Ball State Slips Past Akron, 3-2 in Conference Opener
March 20 | Baseball
MUNCIE, Ind. – Despite a dominant pitching performance from UA senior Tom Farmer (1-3) the Akron baseball team (3-15, 0-1) opened Mid-American Conference play, suffering a tough 3-2 loss against Ball State University (10-8, 1-0) at Ball Diamond this afternoon. Farmer was tagged with the loss for the Zips while Brad Piatt picked up the win and Morgan Coombs earned the save for the Cardinals.
Ball State opened the bottom frame of the first, plating three runs
to take the early 3-0 lead, which they would cling onto eventually
picking up the win this afternoon. After a shaky first, Farmer
settled into a groove, holding Ball State scoreless through seven
innings while allowing just one hit in that time frame. In eight
innings of work, Farmer allowed three earned on four hits while
fanning seven batters on the day and now leads the pitching staff
with 25 Ks on the season.
Junior designated hitter Jake Plata led the lineup offensively with a 2-for-3 day, including a double and solo home run with a RBI while Kyle Hallett added two hits in four at-bats this afternoon.
After being held scoreless in the first, Akron began chipping away at the deficit atop the second as Plata blasted a lead off home run to right field for his second round-tripper on the season to improve the score 3-1.
The Zips would pick up the attack in the fourth with Plata getting the offense started again, this time leading off with a double down the right field line. Sophomore Brandon White followed with a fielder's choice, rendering Plata out at second while Hallett followed with a base knock to right. Rightfielder Ryan Chenoweth misplayed the ball and a fielding error enabled White to score unearned, narrowing the BSU lead, 3-2.
In the top of the sixth, back-to-back two out singles from Hallett and Brett Savage chased starter Piatt from the game as righthy Aaron Hammons took the mound for the Cardinals and issued a walk to Ryan Frazee, loading the bases. Phil Bednar hit a sharp fly ball directly at Ball State's centerfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker to end the inning and scoring threat by the Zips.
Akron attempted to get it going once more in the top half of the seventh with two outs as senior Matt Roberts recovered from a 0-2 hole to draw a walk. Lefty Tom Mueller was brought in to replace Hammons and face Plata. After issuing Plata a two-out walk, Mueller was immediately replaced by righty Morgan Coombs who would get White to pop up to end the inning as the Zips stranded two.
Akron outhit the Cardinals, notching seven in comparison to Ball
State's four today, but stranded thrice as many runners, leaving
nine on base in comparison to BSU's three in today's
game.
Akron returns to MAC action tomorrow, taking on Ball State at 1 pm before facing the Cardinals on Sunday at 1 pm to close out the series. Live Statistics will be available for both games on www.GoZips.com while Zips Zone subscribers can take advantage of play-by-play coverage by Bill Morgan on the Akron ISP Sports Network for the duration of the series as well.
