The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Northern Illinois
Zips Lose Series Opener at Northern Illinois, 10-5
March 30 | Baseball
DeKALB, Ill. – The University of Akron baseball team gave up a seven-run second inning and fell to Northern Illinois, 10-5, on Friday in Mid-American Conference action.
Senior Andrew Brown (3-4) took the loss for Akron (9-16, 2-2), allowing eight runs – six earned – in seven innings. Redshirt freshman Joey Havrilak went 3-for-5 with an RBI and junior Samuel Trecaso drove in two to lead UA's efforts at the plate. Senior Sam Watkins also had a multi-hit outing and hit his first home run of the season.
Leadoff man Alex Jones led NIU (7-19, 1-3), going 3-for-4 with four RBI. Starter Taylor Nawrocki went eight innings to pick up the win.
UA jumped on Nawrocki for three runs in the top of the first. Havrilak and Brady Stewart sandwiched doubles around a Tyler Begun walk to spark the rally. Trecaso then connected for a two-run single to give the Zips a three-run cushion.
"We started out strong in the first inning," first-year Akron coach Rick Rembielak said. "Our swings looked good and we were aggressive. I thought it was going to be the start of a good day."
Three Brown walks and an error by Begun at short fueled the big second inning by the Huskies. Jones had the only multi-RBI hit in the inning, driving in a pair with a single. The entire rally happened with no outs.
"We could tell that Andrew Brown didn't have his usual command in the first inning," Rembielak said. "Then it piled up on him in the second. We missed a crucial double play ball and that certainly compounded things. He had to throw a lot of extra pitches and we needed to help him out there. To his credit he really competed and hung in there the rest of the game."
Havrilak's second double of the game drove in Devan Ahart in the fifth to make the score 7-4. NIU was able to answer right back in its half of the inning. Alex Klonowski reached on an infield single and advanced on an error by Begun. Troy White then hit a single to extend the NIU lead back to four.
Watkins one-out, solo homer to left made the score 8-5 in the sixth. That was as close as UA would get, however, and the Huskies added two insurance runs off reliever Dan Becks in the bottom of the eighth.
"We couldn't sustain any momentum at the plate after that three-run first." Rembielak commented. "We didn't get enough quality at-bats as the game progressed."
The clubs continue this weekend's series tomorrow at 2:05 EDT at McKinzie Field. Freshman Pat Dyer will take the hill for Akron, while NIU will counter with Tony Manville.
