The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Youngstown State
Baseball Travels to Youngstown State on Wednesday
April 23 | Baseball
AKRON, Ohio – The Akron Zips travel to Youngstown State to complete the home-and-home series with the Penguins on Wednesday, April 24.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Akron Leads 98-65
SCOUTING REPORT
The Penguins are 7-31 overall this season with a 3-10 record at home. YSU is coming off a series with Purdue Fort-Wayne where the Penguins took the series 2-1. The Red and White won 10-7 in game 1 and 12-3 in game 2 before falling 6-3 to conclude the series.
Trey Law leads YSU with a .351 batting average over 38 starts. Law has a team-leading 54 hits with eight doubles, 17 RBI, seven stolen bases and 30 runs scored. Alejandro Covas has a team-high six triples along with 46 hits, two doubles, two home runs, 20 RBI and 10 stolen bases. RJ Sherwood leads the squad with six home runs and has eight doubles, 27 hits and 17 RBI.
Braden Gebhardt leads Youngstown State with a 7.60 ERA in 10 appearances and three starts. He's thrown 34.1 innings with a 1-3 record and 26 strikeouts. Casey Marshalwitz has a team-high 3-1 record in 17 appearances and 17.2 innings of work. Jacob Gehring has a team-leading 35 strikeouts.
ZIPS AT A GLANCE
Akron is coming off a conference series sweep of Eastern Michigan and stands at 9-30 overall and 5-17 on the road.
Against EMU, Sam Seeker and Evan Bottone each hit .417. Seeker had five hits, five runs, one double, one home run, three RBI and four stolen bases. Bottone had five hits as well, seven runs, a grand slam, six RBI and three stolen bases.
On the week, Seeker and Bottone both hit .444 with eight hits each and a combined 13 RBI and eight stolen bases. Max Bowman hit .346 with nine RBI, nine hits, three doubles and two home runs. Michael Sprockett hit .386 with two home runs, five RBI, seven hits and two doubles.
Bowman leads the Zips on the season with a .33 batting average, 48 hits, is tied for the team lead in doubles with nine with Jack Poist, is in the top-20 in the NCAA with four triples, leads Akron with six home runs and 34 RBI. Bottone is second on the squad with 37 hits while hitting .287. Poist is the Zips leader in stolen bases with 13 while Bottone is second with 11.
Jared Schaeffer put together a complete game this past Saturday to lead Akron to a 7-2 victory over EMU. Schaeffer struck out six over nine innings where he allowed no earned runs. Schaeffer also leads the Zips in ERA this season with a 4.47 ERA over nine starts. He has a team leading 52.1 innings of work and 37 strikeouts. Sean Perkins has a 4.61 ERA out of the pen and 27.1 innings of actions where he has recorded 17 strikeouts. Jack Kelley has 33 strikeouts in 15 appearances and four starts this season over 31.0 innings of work.
CURRENT STREAKS
Bowman leads the Zips with a 12-game hitting streak. His 12-game streak is the longest a Zip has gone this season. Sprockett has the second-longest this season with nine while Bottone has the second-longest current streak with six games recording a hit.
Bottone also leads the Zips with a 31-game on-base streak. His 31 consecutive games is the longest a Zip has reached base with Bowman's 25-game streak earlier this season ranking second among the Akron squad.
COMMON OPPONENTS WITH YOUNGSTOWN STATE
Pittsburgh (ACC), Ohio (MAC), Kent State (MAC), Bowling Green (MAC), Oakland (HORIZON), Wright State (HORIZON), Ohio State (BIG 10)
GOING THE DISTANCE
Throwing his first career complete game, Jared Schaeffer helped lead the Akron Zips to a 7-2 victory over Eastern Michigan on Saturday, April 20. He was named the MAC Pitcher of the Week on April 22 for his efforts.
The Sophomore righty went the full nine innings where he allowed just two unearned runs, none earned, walking none, allowing nine hits while tying his season-high for strikeouts with six k's against the Eagles.
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 returns to Skeeles Field to host Western Michigan for conference action starting on April 26.
