The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
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Western Michigan
Baseball Hosts Western Michigan For #MACtion This Weekend
April 25 | Baseball
AKRON, Ohio – The Akron Zips host the Western Michigan Broncos for a three-game #MACtion series starting on Friday, April 26.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
GM 1-3: Stats
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Western Michigan Leads 34-24
SCOUTING REPORT
The Broncos come into the series with a 21-16 overall record, a 12-6 conference record and a 10-3 road record.
Western Michigan is coming off a 1-2 series against Ball State where the Broncos fell 14-1 and 6-3 in the first two games before winning 8-4 to conclude the series at home.
Cade Sullivan is the leader in batting average with a .411 average in 37 games played and started. He has 60 hits, 47 runs, 10 doubles, eight home runs, 41 RBI and four stolen bases.
WMU has five other hitters hitting .300 or better with 25 more games played. CJ Richmond is tied with Sullivan for the team lead in doubles with 10 and home runs with eight. He had 48 hits and 40 RBI as well. Jackson Kitchen leads the Broncos with 12 stolen bases.
Nolan Vicek leads the Broncos with a 3.54 ERA in 10 appearances and seven starts. He's thrown one complete game, has one save, 53.1 innings pitched and 53 strikeouts. Hayden Berg has a team-high four saves and 26.2 innings thrown in 16 appearances along with 29 strikeouts. Brady Miller has thrown a team-leading 55.1 innings in 10 starts.
ZIPS AT A GLANCE
Akron heads into the series with WMU with a 9-31 overall record, a 4-14 MAC record and a 1-10 home record. Akron fell 10-9 on the road to Youngstown State on Wednesday, April 24.
Six Zips recorded hits against the Penguins, with Charlie Schebler recording a double and Evan Bottone with a triple. Bottone also drove in three runs while Schebler and Max Bowman each had two RBI.
Bowman leads Akron in batting average (.333) hits (49), is tied for the lead in doubles (9), triples (4), leads the Zips in home runs (6), RBI (36), and walks (26). Bottone is hitting .288 with 38 hits, 27 runs, four doubles, one triple, two home runs, 23 RBI and 11 stolen bases. Sam Seeker is tied for second in home runs with four while hitting .262 with 32 hits, 28 runs, seven doubles, 16 RBI and eight stolen bases. Jack Poist leads the Zips in stolen bases with 13.
Jared Schaeffer leads Akron with a 4.47 ERA through nine starts. He's thrown one complete game and a team-high 52.1 innings while striking out 37. Sean Perkins leads Akron in ERA out of the pen with a 4.61 ERA in 14 appearances and 27.1 innings with 17 strikeouts. Jack Kelley has struck out 33 in 15 appearances and 31.0 innings this season.
CURRENT STREAKS
Bowman has extended his hitting streak to 13 after recording a hit at YSU. Bowman's 13-game hitting streak is the longest streak recorded by a Zip this season. Bottone is second on the squad with a seven-game hitting streak.
Bottone is now riding a 32-game on-base streak while Bowman joins him in double-figure on-base streaks with 13 straight. Bowman had the previous season-high with 25 consecutive games set earlier this season.
COMMON OPPONENTS WITH WESTERN MICHIGAN (NON-MAC SCHOOLS)
Michigan (BIG 10), Illinois (BIG 10), Western Carolina (SoCon)
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.
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 hits the road for a non-conference battle with Ohio State on May 1 for a 6 p.m. start.
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