The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Pittsburgh
Zips Baseball Newsletter
April 02 | Baseball
Dear Zips Baseball Alumni and Friends:
Last week's weather kept us from playing our two scheduled games on Tuesday and Wednesday versus Youngstown State and Dayton, but we were able to get on the football field turf Thursday before our games against Northern Illinois over the weekend. Because of the snowstorm we got last Monday, Canal Park and Lee Jackson Field were unplayable. We eventually were able to secure the turf field of the Lake Erie Crushers where the MAC Tournament is held.
We got two very good outings out of our freshmen, J.T. Brubaker in Game 1 and John Valek in Game 2. Both of them pitched well enough to win and, unfortunately, didn't get the run support needed. Burbaker seemed to be in trouble each inning, but managed to get out of constant jams by making good pitches when needed. Because of the jams, he threw a lot of pitches early, which got him out of the game earlier than expected. It wasn't a gem of a performance, but still kept us in the game. Northern's pitcher was at 64 pitches after three innings, but ended up going the distance in a complete game performance with 102 pitches. Needless to say, we let him off the hook when we should've put a dagger in him early. Final score 4-3.
Valek was our best pitcher this weekend and continues to show great presence on the mound with a high amount of confidence and competitiveness. With his mix of a low to mid 80s fastball, curve, and changeup, he kept the Huskie hitters off balance all day. Nothing overpowering, just finesse! His line read 8.0 IP 9 H 2 ER 5 SO. Final score 2-1.
Sunday's game was one to forget. We had a four-run second and nine-run fifth inning against us, which absolutely buried us. Sophomore Patrick Dyer didn't make it out of the third inning, and the fifth inning was one of those innings where it looked like we didn't have any position players out there and everything they hit didn't come close to anyone. No bright spots in this one, final score 14-4!
We are still scuffling at the plate. We see good swings in drill work, instrasquad games, and BP, but we just can't pull it together yet in the games where we string multiple hits together in making a threat. The guys are giving us a great effort and have been diligent in their work, and we're attempting to work through the obvious frustrations. We're still looking and hoping for that one guy who can give us a spark that will be contagious throughout the lineup.
It looks like we'll be able to play our two midweek games Tuesday at Canal Park vs. Pitt and at Youngstown St. on Wednesday before Miami heads in this weekend.
If you haven't heard about or seen the articles regarding our former Zip pitcher, Alex Loftin (2009-12), please take a moment to read about his current health battle and how he's competing and beating his latest opponent. The articles can be found here and here. We are in constant contact with him and he's doing extremely well after his surgery. The worst is yet to come as he'll start his radiation treatments very soon. We're all thinking about Alex as he goes through this!
Best regards,
GO ZIPS!!!
