Baseball Host Kent State For Final Home Series of the Season

Friday, May 10

Akron, Ohio

12 PM

University of Akron

Kent State

Baseball Host Kent State For Final Home Series of the Season

May 09 | Baseball

AKRON, Ohio – The Zips return to Skeeles Field this weekend as they host rival Kent State for a three-game conference series starting Friday, May 10.

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A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Kent State Leads 118-59-1

SCOUTING REPORT
The Golden Flashes are currently 23-23 overall with a 13-11 conference record and a 10-17 record on the road. Kent State is coming off a 1-3 week that saw defeats at Michigan as well as losing 2-of-3 to Miami at home.

Both games Kent St. lost to Miami were by one-run. Game one saw the Flashes drops a 4-3 contest and game three saw Miami prevail 9-8. Kent State took the second game of the series 10-2.

Tim Orr leads Kent State in batting average with a .343 average. Orr has 57 hits, 40 runs, 10 doubles, one triple, nine home runs, 41 RBI and eight stolen bases. Josh Johnson is the leader in hits with 59 this season. Hitting .332, he's tied for the lead in doubles with 10, has one triple; and a team-high 10 home runs, 48 RBI and 22 stolen bases.

Calvin Bickerstaff leads the Golden Flashes in ERA among starters with a 4.99 ERA. He's 4-3 in 10 starts, has thrown 48.2 innings and struck out 49. Eric Chalus is 5-2 on the season in 12 appearances and 11 starts. He's struck out a team-leading 62 batters over 58.0 innings. Peyton Cariaco has a team leading ERA of 3.09 over 20 appearances. Cariaco has thrown 32 innings and struck out 22. Along with Cariaco, Gavin Jones is tied for the lead in saves with two.

ZIPS AT A GLANCE
The Zips picked up another MAC conference series when they swept Central Michigan for the first time in program history.

Akron is currently 14-33 overall. 9-15 in the MAC and 3-11 at home.

The Zips went 3-1 overall last week with the lone loss coming at Ohio State in an 18-13 battle while sweeping CMU.

Max Bowman leads the Zips in batting average (.331), hits (58), triples (4) and RBI (42). Sam Seeker and Jack Poist are tied for the lead in doubles with 13. Seeker is hitting .295 with 44 hits, five home runs and 26 RBI. Poist had a .271 batting average with 42 hits, two triples, two home runs, 26 RBI and a team-high 17 stolen bases. Evan Bottone has a .288 batting average with 47 hits, eight doubles, one triple, two home runs, 26 RBI and 12 stolen bases.

Sean Perkins leads the Zips with a 3.86 ERA and three saves. Perkins has appeared in 19 games while throwing 35.0 innings and striking out 26. Jared Schaeffer leads the starters with a 3.82 ERA and is tied with Spencer Atkins for wins with three. Shaeffer has started 11 games while throwing a team-high 68.1 innings and striking out 47. Atkins has thrown 50.2 innings over 14 appearances and 10 starts with 42 strikeouts. Jack Kelley is 2-1 on the season in 17 appearances and six starts. He's thrown 43.0 innings with 44 strikeouts.

CURRENT STREAKS
Evan Bottone leads the Zips with a streak of 39 games reaching base. Sam Seeker is second for current streaks with 15 while Nicky Sackett has reached base in 11 games and Jack Poist has reached safely in 10 straight games.

Poist leads the Zips with a five-game hitting streak while Charlie Schebler is on a four-game streak. Max Bowman has the season-high of 13 games recording a hit earlier this season.

LATE LEADS
The Zips have done well with late leads this season. When leading after six innings, the Zips are 9-2 while posting an 11-2 record after leading after seven and a 10-1 record when holding leads after eight innings.

COMMON OPPONENTS WITH KENT STATE (NON-MAC SCHOOLS)
Youngstown State (HORIZON), Pittsburgh (ACC), Ohio State (Big 10), Michigan (Big 10)

GOING THE DISTANCE
Jared Schaeffer was named the Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Week on April 22.

Throwing his first career complete game, 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
The Zips will be on the road to conclude the regular season with trips to Michigan and Ohio on the docket.