Men’s baseball battles back

By Sartaj Aujla

Sartaj Aujla

Akron baseball found a spark against the Ohio University Bobcats this weekend and they were able to leave Athens with two wins after a three game series against the Bobcats.

Akron’s record improves to 8-25 and 5-7 in conference play with this weekend’s wins, while the Ohio Bobcats’ overall record has fallen to 8-26, 4-8 in conference play.

The Zips entered the first game of the series trying to gather momentum to save their season. The Zips need a boost in order to achieve the goal of a bid to the MAC tournament.

In game one, Akron attacked first as they were able to capitalize on a hit by Devan Ahart, which brought Daulton Mosbarger in for a score to bring the game 1-0 at the top of the first inning.

Ohio did not respond back until the bottom of the third, as they tied the game 1-1. The Zips, however, refused to give up the lead as sophomore Joey Havrilak would cross home plate for a score in the top of the fourth, giving the Zips the lead once more.

Ohio retaliated with a run of their own at the bottom of the sixth to tie the game once more at 2-2, and eventually the game would be taken into extra innings as the Zips pushed to start off the series with a win.

At the top of the 10th, James Sheltrown dove towards the base for a score. Then, Daulton Mosbarger scored back-to-back runs. The Bobcats could find no response, and game one ended in the Zips’ favor 4-2.

Samuel Trecaso was given the win to bring his pitching season total to 3-1.

Entering game two, the Zips hoped to extend their visit in Athens into a winning streak. The Bobcats, however, refused to go down without a fight.

At the bottom of the sixth, Ohio rallied five runs, after being down 6-1, to tie the ballgame 6-6. Later, Akron would attack with two runs by a Joey Havrilak homerun and a Kris Simonton run-batted-in.

The Bobcats would not let the Zips get away without a fight, and responded with two runs of their own to bring the score to 8-8.

Game two would eventually go into extra innings like game one, but would have a very different result.

The Zips capitalized right out of the gate with three runs, to bring the final score to 11-8. Samuel Trecaso would once again get the win for this game, improving to 4-1.

Hoping to sweep the Bobcats, the Zips entered Bob Wren Stadium looking to leave Athens with three wins.

However, the 15 hits from the previous game would come back to steal some energy from the Zips, as they could not find the scoreboard until the top of the fifth inning.

Ohio came back with two runs to bring the score 3-1 at the top of the seventh. Anthony Bova was able to net a run to bring the Zips closer to a win, but the team would fall short as they lost the final game of the series 4-2.

Matt Larocca was pinned with the loss, as he starts out the season 0-1.

The Zips will be back in action today, traveling to Columbus to take on Ohio State at 6:35 p.m.