The University of Akron Athletics
Baseball Ties Series with 4-2 Victory over Minnesota
February 20 | Baseball
Behind a dominant pitching performance from Andrew Brown and Nick Solitario's perfect day at the plate, the University of Akron baseball team defeated the University of Minnesota, 4-2 at Hammond Stadium this afternoon.
Akron (1-1) found its offensive stride, clubbing 12 hits against
the Golden Gophers while Minnesota (1-1) was limited to just six by
UA pitchers in today's contest.
Brown earned the win for the Zips and allowed two runs (one earned)
in seven complete innings, fanning a career-high tying seven
batters in the process. Sophomore Drew Turocy picked up the
save, working two innings the sophomore allowed just one hit and
struck out three of the seven batters he faced. Luke Rasmussen took
the loss for the Golden Gophers after allowing three earned runs in
five innings pitched.
Solitario was exceptional at the plate, going 3-for-3 to pace all UA batters, adding a RBI also scoring a run. Jake Plata provided some much needed offense for the Zips, going 2-for-4 and a pair of RBIs on his first home run of the season. Kyle Hallett also finished the day 2-for-4 at the plate with a double.
Akron got on board first in the third, scoring three runs to take a 3-0 lead and held the Golden Gophers scoreless through five. Solitario led off the frame with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a balk. With two away, Turocy launched a RBI-single to left scoring Solitario before Plata followed on the ensuing at-bat with a two-run homer to right center.
The Golden Gophers crawled back into the game with runs in the sixth and seventh innings thanks to a few timely hits coupled with Akron mishaps. In the sixth, Bobby O'Shea drove in the Gophers first run with a RBI-double to left. The seventh saw Minnesota's leadoff man reached on a double and Brown hit the next before Minnesota scored an unearned run on an errant UA throw on a sacrifice bunt. Brown would work of the jam with a pop out and strikeout but would walk a batter to load the bases with two away. A popup ended the inning with the Zips ahead, 3-2.
Akron added an insurance run atop the ninth on a Solitario RBI-single off Minnesota reliever Scott Maytas. Turocy surrendered a single in the home half of the frame but got the next batter to fly out before registering back-to-back strikeouts to Kurt Schlangen and AJ Pettersen to record the save.
The Zips and Golden Gophers will conclude the series tomorrow at 1:05 pm. Live stats covering the action at Hammond Stadium can be found on www.gozips.com.
Zips' Notebook:
The last win UA had against a Big Ten opponent was at Penn State in
2008 (5-3, 4/15/08)....Drew
Turocy returned to the mound today for the first time since
Tommy John Surgery sidelined the sophomore in 2009...Nick Solitario registered a career-high three
hits while Andrew Brown tied a
career-high seven strikeouts in today's win.
