The University of Akron Athletics
Akron Defeats Cleveland State, 5-4
May 18 | Baseball
AVON, Ohio - The UA baseball team utilized timely hits and key defensive plays to defeat Cleveland State, 5-4 at All Pro Freight Stadium, completing the season sweep in the final non-conference game of the year for both squads.
The Zips improve to 21-31 on the year while Cleveland State drops to 12-40.
UA starter Benjamin Danziger had a solid outing and kept the Vikings off balance in four innings, striking out as many batters while giving up just one hit however Kevin Kumazec (1-0) earned the win for the Zips working from the bullpen. Drew Turocy closed out the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season. Coty Bates (0-7) suffered the loss in 7.1 innings of work after giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits.
Senior Kyle Hallett led Akron with a pair of hits and two RBI while fellow senior Jake Plata finished with two hits and a walk to guide the Zips to victory.
The game moved quickly with neither team mounting a serious offensive threat until the fifth when sophomore hurler Chris Bassitt and the UA defense worked out of trouble. Following a lead off double, James Sheltrown threw out the runner attempting to steal third before Bassitt induced a fly out and struck out the final batter to keep the game even.
In the sixth, John Turk drew a key two-out walk and then used heads up base running to move into scoring position on a passed ball and would go on to score on Hallett's roped single up the gut to give Akron the 1-0 lead.
The Vikings used an Akron error in the seventh to move ahead as a one-out mishap resulted in a CSU runner at second. Three consecutive singles plated a pair of runs for Cleveland State to put the Vikings ahead, 2-1. With runners at the corners and just one out, the Vikings still threatened but a heads-up defensive play from Hallett at first resulted in a double play with Akron avoiding further damage in the stanza.
Akron wasted little time retaliating, scoring three runs in the eighth to retake the lead, 4-2. Kevin Haas' lead-off single and a one-out walk issued to Plata put two Zips on for Akron and induced a Viking pitching change. Following a UA groundout which moved each runner up a bag, Hallett drove a RBI single to first base, scoring Haas. Samuel Trecaso's RBI single to left and Brandon White's RBI single to right accounted for the final runs in the frame.
Cleveland State tacked on a run in the home half of the eighth but Akron would counter with a single tally in the ninth to add its own insurance run. Sheltrown's bunt single began the inning and the freshman moved up a bag on Haas' sacrifice bunt enabling Turocy to drive the catcher home on a sharp single up the middle, putting the Zips ahead, 5-3.
The Vikings battled back in the ninth, plating a run with two outs but Turocy neutralized the rally with a pop up to second baseman Nick Solitario who drifted out to shallow right to make the catch, helping Akron earn today's win.
Akron heads to Canal Park on Thursday (May 20) to host Kent State in the fourth annual Diamond Classic For Kids at 6 p.m. Senior day will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday (May 21) at Lee Jackson Field before the series and season finale on Saturday (May 22) at 1 p.m.
Thursday and Saturday's games will be covered on Fox Sports 1350 AM with Bill Morgan and Brett Savage calling the action. The entire series will also be featured on the Akron ISP Network while live stats will be available on www.GoZips.com.
