The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Pittsburgh
Baseball Falls to Pitt in Midweek Action at Canal Park
April 10 | Baseball
AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron baseball team fell to Pittsburgh, 9-5, on Tuesday at Canal Park.
The Zips (13-18) were undone by wild pitching and a slow offensive start in the loss – which snapped a three game Akron winning streak. Pittsburgh capitalized on 11 walks by the UA pitching staff, with six of those free passes coming around to score. Akron also failed to advance a runner past first base until the sixth inning.
Senior Dan Burant, junior Samuel Trecaso, and sophomore Darius Washington all collected two hits in the loss. Freshman Matt Gebacz (0-4) took the loss after allowing three runs in three innings. Gebacz allowed just three hits but walked seven.
Casey Roche and Evan Oswald led Pitt (15-15) with three RBI each. Starter J.R. Leonardi (1-1) allowed two runs in 5.1 innings to take the win.
Walks set up Pitt for a two-run first. Gebacz walked the first two batters of the game before getting a pair of pop outs. After another walk, Casey Roche connected for a two-out single to left to give the Panthers an early lead. Pitt extended the lead in the third. Gebacz retired the first two batters of the inning, but then issued four straight free passes – three walks and a hit batsman – to move across the Panthers' third run.
An error in the sixth by Trecaso at first opened up the door for two more Pitt runs. Reliever Brendan Liberti got the first two outs of the inning before issuing a walk to Anthony DeFabio. Boo Vazquez's one-hopper then got past Trecaso, allowing DeFabio to get to third. After a wild pitch allowed DeFabio to score, Rick Devereaux doubled to right center to make it 5-0.
Akron finally got something going in the bottom of the sixth. Matt Rembielak started the inning with a bunt single and moved to third on a double to right center by Devan Ahart. Joey Havrilak's fly ball then pushed across Rembielak and Tyler Begun smoked a triple off the base of the wall in left center to score Ahart. Begun has now reached safely in 27 straight contests.
Pitt added a run in the seventh, and three more tallies in the ninth to build a 9-2 lead. The Zips attempted to mount a late rally, scoring three of their own in the home half of the ninth. Four straight one-out singles produced the first two UA runs. Rembielak made it 9-5 with his RBI groundout, but Ahart's liner up the middle was snagged by Oswald at short to halt the rally and end the game.
Akron continues midweek action tomorrow when they visit Ohio State. Game time in Columbus is set for 6:35 p.m.
