Akron Opens MAC And Home Schedule With Toledo on Friday

Friday, March 8

Akron, Ohio

11:00 AM

University of Akron

Toledo

Akron Opens MAC And Home Schedule With Toledo on Friday

March 07 | Baseball

Akron, Ohio - Coming off a mid-week road contest at Cincinnati, the Akron baseball team will open its home and conference schedule on Friday when it hosts Toledo for a doubleheader and a single game set for Saturday.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
Game 1 + 2 (Friday): Video (GM1) | Video (GM2) | Stats
Game 3 (Saturday): Video | Stats

A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Toledo Leads 37-26
First Meeting: 1971: Toledo 15 - Akron 1
Last Meeting: Toledo 10 - Akron 9 (03/26/23 | Toledo, Ohio)

SCOUTING REPORT
Toledo comes into the series with a 4-8 overall record and will begin conference action when it battles the Zips.

The Rockets are coming off a 6-2 loss to Dayton on the road on Wednesday.

Dayton scored five of its six runs in the fourth while Toledo scored runs in the fourth and seventh innings. Luke Walton recorded three of the five total hits for the Rockets.

Walton leads the Rockets in batting average with a .333 average this season and has four doubles. Brayden White leads the way in hits (11) and RBI (8). Scott Mackiewicz and Owen Jackson are tied for the lead in home runs (2). Mackiewicz has also drawn eight walks. Kaleb Herbert is a perfect 3-for-3 on stolen bases on the year.

Four Rockets have recorded wins while Noah Johnson leads the way with 15.2 innings of work through three starts and has a team high 16 strikeouts. Grant Umberger is second in innings pitched with 13.1 and has 12 strikeouts. Camryn Szynski has recorded the only two saves of the season for Toledo.

ZIPS AT A GLANCE
Akron is 3-8 on the season after falling to Cincinnati on Wednesday.

On the season, Max Bowman leads the Zips in hits with 12 and batting average with a .333 average. Sam Seeker and Evan Bottone are tied for second with 10 hits. Seeker, Bottone and Jack Poist all have three doubles while four Zips share the lead for home runs with one each. Bowman and Ian Pennington each have a team-high seven RBI while Poist and Bowman share the lead in stolen bases with three.

Sean Perkins leads the Zips in ERA with a 3.72 ERA in three appearances and 9.2 innings of work. Jared Schaeffer has thrown a team-high 13 innings in three starts while Dawson Tourney is second with 12. Tourney is first on the Zips for strikeouts with 13 while Schaeffer is second with 12.

LAST TIME OUT
The Zips fell 19-8 to the Cincinnati Bearcats in an offensive showcase that featured 25 combined hits in their most recent outing.

Evan Bottone and Max Bowman for tied with two hits while Bowman drove in four of the Zips runs. Bottone had two RBI and one home run against the Bearcats.

COMMON OPPONENTS WITH TOLEDO (Non-MAC Schools)
Dayton (A10), Michigan (Big 10), Youngstown (Horizon), Oakland (Horizon)

PERKS OF THE JOB
Sean Perkins was named the MAC Pitcher of the week on March 4 after picking up a win over No. 10/12 Duke.

Coming in down 2-1 against Duke in the second game of the series, Perkins pitched five innings of near-spotless baseball as the Zips defeated the No. 10/12 Blue Devils 4-3 on March 2. Throwing the final five innings, Perkins held his own with just two hits allowed along with one run and two strikeouts to earn the win. He sent Duke three-up-three down in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings and ended the ninth with a strikeout. Perkins also held Duke's hitters to a combined .118 batting average over the five innings of work.

ONE TO REMEMBER
Head coach Bryan Faulds collected his first win leading the Akron Zips in the second game of a doubleheader against Illinois on February 14. Down 4-2 heading to the bottom of the seventh, Akron battled to force extra-innings when Max Bowman sent a walk-off home run in the 11th inning to give the Zips a 5-4 victory.

ON DECK
Akron travels to Pittsburgh on March 12 before hosting NIU for a conference series starting March 15.