Baseball Begins Nine Game Road Trip on Friday

March 07 | Baseball

AKRON, Ohio - The University of Akron baseball team will begin a nine game road trip around the state of South Carolina beginning with a three game series against the University of South Carolina Upstate on Friday at 4 p.m., in Harley Park. The series will continue on Saturday and Sunday with games at 1 p.m., on both days.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

Friday – 4 p.m.

Akron: Fr., RHP JT Brubaker – (0-3, 8.04 ERA)

USC Upstate: Sr., RHP Brandon Lee – (3-0, 0.82 ERA)

Saturday – 1 p.m.

Akron: Fr., LHP John Valek III – (0-2, 6.75 ERA)

USC Upstate: Jr., LHP David Roseboom – (2-0, 2.70 ERA)

Sunday – 1 p.m.

Akron: So., RHP Jon Pusateri – (0-3, 12.66 ERA)

USC Upstate: Jr., RHP Ben Augenstein – (1-0, 1.88 ERA)

*The links to live stats and a video stream are available on the Akron baseball schedule page.

Series Overview

Akron comes into the three game series vs. USC Upstate with an overall record of 0-9. The Zips had their most recent series against No. 11 University of Kentucky, which resulted in a series sweep for Kentucky. Akron fell to Kentucky by a score of 21-2 on Friday, 7-0 on Saturday, and 9-2 on Sunday.

USC Upstate plays out of the Atlantic Sun Conference, and has an overall record of 8-3 heading into the three game series. The Spartans played two games against Marshall and one game against Dayton last weekend. USC Upstate went a perfect 3-0 in those three games, defeating Marshall by scores of 3-0 and 6-5, while winning against Dayton by a score of 4-3. USC Upstate also matched up against Garner-Webb on Wednesday, which resulted in a 4-3 loss for Upstate. The Spartans were 33-20 overall in the 2012 season.

This will be the first time Akron and USC Upstate will matchup on the diamond. Akron is the only team from the Mid-American Conference that USC Upstate will play this season.

Touring the Palmetto State

The three game series against USC Upstate will begin a nine game road trip through the state of South Carolina. Akron baseball will start this weekend in Spartanburg, S.C., with the series vs. USC Upstate, and then travel to Charleston, S.C., for two games vs. Citadel from March 12-13. The road trip will finish off with four games in Myrtle Beach, S.C., from March 15-18, which will be hosted by Coastal Carolina. Amongst the four games, Akron will play two against Quinnipiac, one with Michigan and one with Coastal Carolina.

Quote for the road trip

"At this time of year, we need to play as often as possible, and it'll be good for us not only to play in warmer weather than we've had, but to play nine games in 10 days will be ideal."

-- Head Coach Rick Rembielak said of the upcoming road trip

Getting back to form

Junior Tyler Begun had a couple strong performances at the plate this past weekend against Kentucky. Prior to the first game of the series last Friday, Begun was in a 0-for-8 slump to begin the season. Begun took advantage of batting leadoff vs. Kentucky on Friday, as he collected four base hits in five at-bats, while also scoring a run. Begun's four hits were a single-game high for him, and one short of tying the program record of five hits in one game. Despite going hitless in Saturday's contest, the native of Mayfield Village, Ohio rebounded with two base hits and another run scored on Sunday. Begun now owns a .286 batting average over 21 at-bats.

Setting the tone

The Akron pitching rotation had difficulty containing the Kentucky lineup last weekend, a lineup that is currently hitting at a .324 clips this season. Sophomore Jon Pusateri took the mound Friday for one inning en route to a 21-2 loss, dropping his record to 0-3 on the season.

Freshmen John Valek III and JT Brubaker followed Pusateri in the starting rotation on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The lefty Valek tossed 5.2 innings with five earned runs and two strikeouts in his second start of the season. Brubaker threw for 3.2 innings with seven earned runs and two strikeouts. Despite the short outing Sunday, Brubaker leads the Akron rotation in innings pitched (15.2) and strikeouts (7). Valek has a record of 0-2 in two starts, while Brubaker is 0-3 through three starts.

Picking up the pieces

While the starting rotation had difficulty taming the Kentucky Wildcats, the bullpen excelled for the most part. Following the fifth inning in Friday's 21-2 loss, the Akron bullpen did not give up a single run in 10.2 innings pitched. Joe Cochran (4.0 IP, 3 SO), Joe Vazquez (1.0 IP), Zach Beaver (0.1 IP), Andrew Fanning (2.1 IP, 2 SO), Daulton Mosbarger (1.0 IP), and Matt LaRocca (2.0 IP, 2 SO) each made scoreless appearances in the weekend series vs. Kentucky.

Odds and ends

The Akron offense continues to improve as the season progresses and more games are played. In the first three game set against No. 14 Georgia Tech, Akron recorded 18 total hits, which was followed up by 15 hits against No. 5 Louisville the following weekend. UA combined to tally 23 total hits vs. the Kentucky pitching staff, the most so far this season.

Head Coach Rembielak said following the series against Kentucky, "As we play these top ranked teams, we continue to learn how to hit against very good pitchers, and how to pitch to very good hitters…. We've seen guys throwing with high velocity and command of three pitches."

Junior Devan Ahart continues to hit well out of the three-hole in the lineup. Ahart has a batting average of .273 (9-for-33) with four RBI, three walks and two stolen bases. The native of Oakland, Mich., leads the Zips in RBI and stolen bases. He is third on the squad in batting average.

Matt LaRocca recorded three hits this past weekend at Kentucky. Over the weekend, LaRocca totaled one RBI and one double amongst his three base hits. LaRocca – a two-way player – has also pitched 5.0 innings out of the bullpen with one earned run allowed and six strikeouts. He has logged the third-most innings out of the bullpen for Akron.

Sophomore Joey Havrilak has been one of the more successful hitters for UA this season. Havrilak owns a .240 batting average (6-for-25) with two extra base hits, including a home run. He holds the team lead in runs (4) and slugging percentage (.400).

Joe Cochran and Andrew Fanning lead the bullpen in innings pitched with a combined 11 innings, 5.1 innings for Cochran and 5.2 innings for Fanning. Fanning has yet to give up a run this season, and has totaled two strikeouts and six hits allowed in his 5.2 innings pitched. Cochran has allowed two earned runs this season, but recently recorded a total of 4.0 scoreless innings pitched in two appearances against Kentucky last weekend.