Baseball Prepares For Pair of Non-Conference Games This Week

Tuesday, April 16

Akron, Ohio

3:05 PM

University of Akron

Dayton

Baseball Prepares For Pair of Non-Conference Games This Week

April 15 | Baseball

AKRON, Ohio – The Zips battle a pair of non-conference foes when they host Dayton on Tuesday and travel to Oakland on Wednesday.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION

Vs Dayton: Stats

At Oakland: Stats

A LOOK AT THE SERIES

Vs Dayton: Akron Leads 23-13

Vs Oakland: Oakland leads 4-0

SCOUTING REPORT (DAYTON)

Dayton comes into Tuesday's contest with a 22-13 record and a 10-9 record on the road. The Zips faced the Flyers last week with the Zips falling 12-7 at Woerner Field.

Dayton recently went 2-1 in an Atlantic Ten conference series with George Mason. Dayton won the first two games before losing 8-6 in the series finale.

David Mendez leads the Flyers in batting average with a .366 average while collecting 41 hits, 35 runs, seven doubles, two triples, three home runs, 32 RBI and 13 stolen bases. Eddie Yamin IV is the team leader in hits with 43 while sharing the lead in doubles with eight and leads the Flyers in home runs with nine. David Pedanou leads Dayton with 20 stolen bases.

Nick Wissman is the Flyer's leader in ERA with a 2.70 ERA in 16 appearances. Wissman also has a 7-1 record with 40.0 innings of work, five saves and 38 strikeouts. Two other Flyers have three wins while Connor Fennell leads the Flyers with 46.2 innings of work and a team-high 45 strikeouts.

SCOUTING REPORT (OAKLAND)

Oakland is currently 18-17 overall and 4-1 at home.

The Golden Grizzlies recently went 2-1 against Purdue-Fort Wayne. Oakland lost the first game of the series 11-6 before winning 8-3 and 8-5 to take the series. Before the series-opening loss, the Grizzlies had won four straight.

Oakland is led by Carter Hain's .397 batting average. Hain also has 27 hits, 20 runs, five doubles, one triple, three home runs, 35 RBI and four stolen bases. Reggie Bussey leads the Grizzlies in huts with 43 on the season. Bussey had seven doubles, three triples, 20 RBI and a team-high 23 stolen bases. Brandon Nigh had 38 hits and a team-leading 11 doubles while tied for the lead in RBI with 35. Lucas Day leads Oakland in home runs with eight.

Ben Paugh leads the Grizzlies in ERA with a 4.76 ERA in 12 appearances and 11.1 innings of work. He's 1-1 on the season and has struck out 10. Brandon Decker leads the squad in wins with four after making 16 appearances and nine starts. Decker has thrown a team-high 61.1 innings with 47 strikeouts.

ZIPS AT A GLANCE

The Zips are currently 6-28 overall heading into the week.

After falling 5-1 to begin the series with Ball State, Akron's offense produced 16 runs over the final two games against the Cardinals.

The past week saw Max Bowman hit .500 with seven hits, five runs, one double, two home runs, three RBI and five walks. Bowman had a pair of multi-hit performances against Ball State where he had a .714 on-base percentage in the series.

Henry Hayman hit .429 against Ball State where he had three hits, which featured a double and two home runs. Hayman also had five RBI and a slugging percentage of 1.429 against BSU.

Bowman leads Akron this season with a .331 batting average. In 34 games played he leads the Zips with 39 hits, four triples, four home runs and 25 RBI. Jack Poist leads Akron with seven doubles and 11 stolen bases.

Sean Perkins leads Akron in ERA with a 4.81 ERA in 12 appearances for the Blue and Gold. Perkins had 24.1 innings of work where he's struck out 15. Jack Kelley leads the Akron bullpen with 27 strikeouts.

Among starters, Jared Schaefer leads the staff with a 1.45 WHIP in eight starts. Schaeffer also had 43.1 innings of work this season and a team-leading 31 strikeouts.

CURRENT STREAKS

Evan Bottone extended his on-base streak to 26 consecutive games, which breaks the previous season high of 25 that Max Bowman had. Bowman is currently second on the team with seven consecutive games reaching base.

Both Bowman and Michael Sprockett have hitting streaks over five games. Sprockett's nine-game hitting streak is the longest a Zip has gone this season while Bowman is second with a seven-game hitting streak.

COMMON OPPONENTS WITH DAYTON

Wake Forest (ACC), Toledo (MAC), Bowling Green (MAC), Ohio (MAC), Fordham (A-10)

COMMON OPPONENTS WITH OAKLAND

Cincinnati (Big XII), Miami (OH) (MAC), Michigan (Big 10), Central Michigan (MAC), Youngstown State (Horizon), Wright State (Horizon), Toledo (MAC), Bowling Green (MAC), Eastern Michigan (MAC)

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.

#MACTION CONNECTIONS

The Zips have numerous connections to the MAC on their coaching staff as well as players.