The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Eastern Michigan
Zips Travel to Eastern Michigan for Conference Action
April 18 | Baseball
Akron, Ohio – The Akron baseball team heads to Eastern Michigan for a conference series starting Friday, April 19.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Eastern Michigan leads 38-26
SCOUTING REPORT
The Eagles stand at 13-22 overall coming into Friday while spotting an 8-7 record in the MAC and a 6-6 record at home.
Recently, EMU went 1-2 against Ohio in a close series. After winning the first game 15-6 against the Bobcats, EMU fell 7-4 and 9-4 to conclude the series.
The Eagles are led by Giano Zuccaro's .360 batting average with 31 starts in 32 appearances this season. Zuccaro has 41 hits, 21 runs, is tied for the lead in doubles with nine, one triple, two home runs, 22 RBI and two stolen bases. Blake McRae had a team-high 43 hits with seven doubles, one triple, five home runs, 26 RBI and five stolen bases. Kyle Schroedie leads the Eagles with nine home runs while also having nine doubles, 39 hits, 28 RBI and three stolen bases. Logan Hugo leads EMI with 16 stolen bases on the season.
Liam Baker leads the Eagles in ERA with a 3.45 ERA in 12 appearances and one start. Baker Is 2-0 on the season with 15.2 innings of work where he's allowed six earned runs and has 18 strikeouts. Bobby Jones leads the pitching staff with five wins in 10 starts. Jones had 53.1 innings of work and 55 strikeouts with a 6.24 ERA. Nick Chittum has thrown two complete games and a team-high 54.1 innings of work for the Eagles.
ZIPS AT A GLANCE
Akron is 6-30 overall along with 1-14 in the MAC and 2-17 on the road. Akron recently fell in extra innings to Oakland on the road.
Max Bowman leads Akron in batting average with a .336 average. Bowman is also the leader in hits (43), doubles (8), triples (4), home runs (5) and RBI (25). Bowman's four triples rank 14th in the NCAA. Evan Bottone is hitting .274 for the Zips and is second on the quad in hits with 32. Bottone also had four doubles, one home run,14 RBI and eight stolen bases. Jack Poist leads the Zips in stolen bases with 12 while collecting 30 hits, eight doubles and 13 RBI.
Sean Perkins leads the Zip's pitching staff with a 4.44 ERA out of the pen. Perkins is 1-1 on the season with 13 appearances and 26.1 innings of work. Jared Schaeffer has thrown a team-high 43,1 innings with 31 strikeouts in eight starts. Jack Kelley has 27 strikeouts in 27 innings pitched out of the pen with 14 appearances and 3 starts.
CURRENT STREAKS
Evan Bottone leads the Zips with a 28-game on-base streak. Bottone eclipsed the 25-game streak that Max Bowman had set earlier this season. Bowman is currently on a nine-game on-base streak. He is also tied for the longest hitting streak of the season with a nine-game hitting streak. Michael Sprockett had a nine-game hitting streak earlier this season. Bowman also leads the Zips with 10 multi-hit games and eight multi-RBI games
COMMON OPPONENTS WITH EMU (NON-MAC SCHOOLS)
Michigan (Big 10), Oakland (Horizon), Ohio State (Big 10)
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 Youngstown State for its next challenge on April 24.
