Sartaj Auija

This past weekend was filled with Easter cheer. However, Akron Baseball found it rough when they were swept by Mid-Amercian Conference division rivals Northern Illinois.

With the three losses, Akron falls to 4-20 overall for the season, and falls in the division to 2-4. Northern Illinois, meanwhile, improves to 8-17 on the season while going 4-2 in the division.

Akron was carrying momentum coming into the series after the Zips went 2-1 in a series against Ball State last weekend. The Zips were unable to play any games between Ball State and Northern Illinois due to weather delays and cancellations last season.

Akron arrived at the diamond determined to start off strong in the first game of the three-game series, and were able to score three runs on six hits. This, however, proved little compared to Northern Illinois’ four runs on 10 hits.

Coming into the second game of the series, Northern Illinois attacked early and found the scoreboard first at the top of the third. Northern Illinois would eventually score again at the top of the fifth with a single to right field.

Akron would find their first run at the bottom of the eighth as Bryan White was able to drive to home plate off of a RBI single by fellow teammate Devan Ahart. Akron would try to muster up some more offense, but fell short, as Northern Illinois was able to walk off the diamond with the win.

John Valek pitched for game two, and despite a good performance pitching-wise, was tagged with the loss. Valek is currently 2-4 for the season at pitcher.

Akron would enter Easter Sunday trying to find a win before Northern Illinois could board the buses home, but the cloudy forecasts that day foretold a tough day was ahead for the Zips.

After Akron got the game’s first run by Matt Rembielak at the bottom the first, Northern Illinois came out on fire at the top of the second with four runs, bringing the score to 4-1.

Akron would try to regain themselves at the bottom of the third, and would find a run by Devan Ahart after a throwing error delivered Matt Rembielak to first base.

The Huskies would stop the Zips’ hopes of gaining comeback momentum later in the game as they scored a devastating nine runs at the top of the sixth.

Kris Simonton and Joey Harvilak would try and energize the Zips at the bottom of the ninth with their two runs, but it would prove too late as the nine runs by the Huskies proved too hard to overcome. The Zips lost the third game in the series 14-4.

The Zips will look to re-energize the team’s spirits today as they take on Pittsburg at Canal Park at 3 p.m.