The University of Akron Athletics
Zips Baseball Newsletter
February 18 | Baseball
Hello Alumni and Friends,
We traveled to Winthrop this past Friday and were able to play two of the three games scheduled in a doubleheader Sunday afternoon. With all the snow and ice the area had the past week, they were able to have about five inches melt by Saturday afternoon. Sunday's temperature was 52 degrees and sunny in South Carolina, while we pulled in to campus at 4:30 a.m. and -3 degrees!
There's no uncertainty we weren't pleased with coming back with two losses and the guys know it. We came back from a deficit in game one to tie it and send the game to 10 innings, before we lost on a walk-off double. I felt good about how we played overall as it was the first time we stepped foot outside to play. Offensively, we swung fairly well on the day as we had 12 and 7 hits in both games. Junior Matt LaRocca and junior Joey Havrilak had a home run apiece while senior Brady Stewart had a three-hit first game. Only one player didn't have a hit in game one as we lost 6-5. You can view the games' recap here.
One pleasant individual performance was from freshman James Meeker. He won the third base job during workouts and after striking out in his first collegiate at-bat, he went 3-7 and had one RBI. He was the only freshmen in our starting lineup, while freshman Brian Lees saw one inning behind the plate in game two.
Six pitchers saw innings on Sunday, and I wished we didn't lose one game to weather as we have many guys we want to get on the mound. Besides a couple 3-run innings, they did fine. We will continue to find our best three starters in the coming weekends, as there is much more competition among the staff for the starting positions. We have 5-6 guys this year who are capable starting pitchers. Again, we stress the importance of working ahead and hitting their spots, while making mistakes costs runs and games. We have more options which hopefully creates better performances.
We will travel to Durham, NC this weekend to face Duke, LaSalle, and St. Louis. We're hoping to pick up another game on Saturday with either Temple or Rider University who are playing in Wilson, NC. We need as many innings as we can get in during the early part of the season.
A shout-out to former Zip, Tim Dobos (1985-88), who lives in Waxsaw, NC and attended our games with sons Kevin and Kyle.
Follow along with the team this season through our webpage or social media on Twitter (@ZipsBB) and Facebook.
As always, GO ZIPS!!
