Baseball Ready for First Midweek Games of 2015

March 16 | Baseball

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Akron at West Virginia/Pittsburgh Game Notes (PDF)

AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron baseball team is set for the first midweek games of the season, beginning with West Virginia on Tuesday at 7 p.m. UA will then turn around to play Pittsburgh on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Due to the delayed opening of West Virginia's Monongalia County Ballpark, Akron will take on the Mountaineers at CONSOL Energy Park in Washington, Pa. Tuesday's match-up against the Panthers is set to take place at Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh.

Gameday Information:

Tuesday, March 17 • 7 p.m. – Live Stats | Audio

Akron: Jr., RHP Zach Beaver (0-0, 1.35 ERA)

West Virginia: Fr., RHP BJ Myers (0-1, 5.30 ERA)

Wednesday, March 18 • 3 p.m. – Live Stats | Video

Akron: Fr., LHP Josh Lapiana (0-0, 11.12 ERA)

Pittsburgh: So., RHP Sam Mersing (1-0, 3.38 ERA)

MIDWEEK ACTION

With the originally scheduled midweek opener against Marshall being rained out, the Zips are now opening their midweek schedule against West Virginia and Pittsburgh. Akron will also face non-conference opponents Youngstown State, Ohio State, Canisius, Dayton and Malone in midweek action this season.

LAST WEEKEND

The Zips last competed when they traveled to Davidson, N.C. to take on the Davidson Wildcats in a three-game series.
Junior LHP John Valek III led Akron to a 3-2 win in game one. The left-hander tossed 6.0 innings without allowing an earned run. He faced 24 batters and held the offense to just four hits without issuing a walk. Valek worked around an error to only allow one unearned run in the bottom of the fourth. Junior Kris Simonton went 3-for-4 with an RBI in the win.
The Zips absorbed a 7-3 loss to Davidson in game two as Daulton Mosbarger started the game off with a solo homer in the top of the first inning as the leadoff hitter.
The rubber match came down to the final inning as the Zips were down by one run and managed to place a runner on third. However, Akron could not push a run across to tie the game and fell 5-4.

AKRON NOTES

Senior Joey Havrilak hit for the cycle throughout the three-game series at Davidson. The outfielder clubbed a double in game one, a triple in game two and capped it off with a home run in game three.
Thirty of the Zips' 61 RBI have come with two outs. Akron is batting .283 (47-of-166) with two away.
The Zips have out-hit their opponents in 11 of their 15 contests and have a total of 130 hits to opponents' 118. They own a 0-4 record when out-hit.
Akron ranks first in the Mid-American Conference in fielding percentage at .973 as the team has posted five errorless games.
The pitching staff is strongly represented on the MAC leaderboard as the Zips rank first in WHIP at 1.26 and first in walks allowed per nine innings at 3.03. With 82 strikeouts and 43 walks, Akron is second in the conference with a 1.91 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
UA is third in the MAC in ERA at 4.23.
Starting RHP JT Brubaker has posted a team-high 20 strikeouts to eight walks.
Eight of Akron's 15 games have come down to one run as Akron owns a 3-5 record in games decided by a single run.
Sophomore Dom Iero leads the team with 14 RBI, 10 of which came in the first six games of the season.
Senior reliever Matt LaRocca recorded his third save this season over the weekend. He has pitched 4.1 innings with seven strikeouts for a mark of 14.54 strikeouts per game. The two-way player has walked one and owns a 2.08 ERA.
Iero (14) and Mosbarger (11) combine for 25 of the Zips' 61 RBI.
UA has stolen 16 bases in 22 attempts this season and is led by Simonton with five and Havrilak with three.
Akron posted a .265 batting average in the Coastal Carolina Invitational against Coastal Carolina, Michigan State and Michigan. The team's season average now sits at .259.

SCOUTING WEST VIRGINIA

This meeting will be the 33rd between the Zips and the Mountaineers. Akron holds a 12-20 overall record against WVU. In 2012, UA split a doubleheader against West Virginia.
The Mountaineers dropped a three-game series, 2-1, against No. 16 Texas in their last time out. This season, they have also faced ranked opponents No. 24 Clemson and No. 25 Illinois. They took the series against Clemson, 2-1.
WVU is coached by third-year head coach Randy Mazey, who led the team to a 28-26 record last season.
The Mountaineer offense is led by Taylor Munden with 12. Munden has started in all 16 games for WVU and owns a .366 batting average with 26 hits in 71 at-bats, including five homers. The offense as a whole averages 1.31 home runs per game, the third-highest in the NCAA.
In all of their losses, the Mountainers posted four or less runs.
Freshman RHP BJ Myers (0-1, 5.30 ERA) will make the start against Akron. The rookie has 18.2 innings under his belt and has struck out 13 and walked 12 after making four starts.

SCOUTING PITTSBURGH

The teams have met 53 times, including six times under head coach Rick Rembielak, who is 3-3 against Pitt in his time at the helm. Overall, Akron owns a 26-27 record against the Panthers.
Pitt is coming off a 2-1 series victory to conference opponent No. 11 UNC. They have also faced No. 1 Virginia, and managed a 1-0 upset win in the series opener despite dropping the three-game series.
The Panthers are led by 17th-year head coach Joe Jordano who led his squad to a 22-30 record last season.
Charles LeBlanc is one of three Panthers to start in all 17 games this season, as he owns a team-leading .344 ERA with 22 hits and 12 RBI.
The Panthers pose a stealing threat as they have stolen 25 bases already this season in 36 attempts.
Sophomore RHP Sam Mersing (1-0, 3.38 ERA) will make the start against the Zips. It will be his second start this season as he has pitched one outing, going 5.1 innings. The Panthers own a team ERA of 2.79.

STARTING ON THE MOUND

Beaver (0-0) is slated to make his first career start on Tuesday to face West Virginia. The right-hander has a team-high seven appearances and a team-low 1.35 ERA in 6.2 innings pitched. Beaver has walked five and struck out one. His season-high 1.2 innings came against Notre Dame where Beaver allowed one hit and one walk while delivering a strikeout.
Lapiana (0-0) will also be making his first start as a freshman. The southpaw has posted a single scoreless inning on two occasions as has thrown a total of 5.2 innings through four appearances. In his most recent outing, Lapiana tossed a season-high 3.0 innings, allowing four hits and two runs against Davidson.

HOMETOWN CONNECTIONS

Outfielder Joey Havrilak will be returning to his hometown of Washington, Pa., for the game against West Virginia. Freshman starting pitcher Lapiana will be starting against the Panthers in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Havrilak and Lapiana are two of four Zips who call Pennsylvania home, the others being freshman outfielder Alex Dirienzo (Somerset, Pa.) and sophomore infielder James Meeker III (Wexford, Pa.).

OFF TO A SCORING START

The Zips have scored in the first inning in six of the last eight games, accounting for 13 of Akron's 31 runs in that span. The last three games have featured solo home runs in the top of the first inning. As the leadoff hitter, Mosbarger clubbed a solo homer in the first at-bat of each game of the Davdison doubleheader on March 14. The next day against the Wildcats, Havrilak knocked a solo bomb in the top of the first.

DAULTON SEEING DOUBLE

With a pair of home runs in the most recent series at Davidson, Mosbarger improved his team-leading extra-base hit count to six. When leading off an inning, Mosbarger is batting .333 (9-of-27). The junior is second on the team in batting average (.321), hits (18) and RBI (11). He also owns a team-leading .536 slugging percentage.

CONSISTENCY AT CLEANUP

Simonton has started at cleanup in all of the Zips' 15 games so far and has hit safely in 13 games. He leads the team in hits (22) and batting average (.361) and his second in runs scored with 10. The junior has posted six multi-hit games, including three three-hit performances.

COMING IN HOT

Junior Gerrad Rohan started in his first game of the season on Feb. 28 against Belmont. The junior infielder has now received the starting nod in every game since and has hit safely in six of his eight games with two multi-RBI performances.

STREAKING

Mosbarger is currently on the longest hit-streak of any Zip this season at eight games. He has 11 hits, six RBI and eight runs scored over the last eight games, including two doubles and two home runs.
Havrilak has now reached base safely in all 15 of the Zips' games to open the season with 15 hits and a team-high 11 walks. He saw a five-game hit streak snap at Michigan, as he batted 8-of-18 in that span (.444). The senior has also posted an extra-base hit in each of the last three games.

UP NEXT

The Zips are slated to open conference play at Eastern Michigan, March 20-22. The first game is set for Friday at 3 p.m. at Oestrike Stadium in Ypsilanti, Mich.