April 17, 2008

Ohio vs. Akron Game Notes (April 18-20)

ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio baseball team travels to Akron this weekend for a three-game Mid-American Conference series with the Zips at Lee R. Jackson Baseball Field. Ohio (18-16) will look to improve upon its 8-4 MAC record and remain atop the East Division standings, while Akron (15-14, 1-5 MAC) will be looking to move out of the basement of the division standings.

Ohio Baseball This Weekend
Ohio at Akron - Friday, April 18 at (3 p.m.)
Ohio at Akron - Saturday, April 19 at (1 p.m.)
Ohio at Akron - Sunday, April 20 (1 p.m.)

Fans can listen to pitch-by-pitch action of Friday's game on WATH 970 radio in Athens, and can listen to broadcasts of Saturday and Sunday's games on WXTQ Power 105 .

Scouting Akron
Akron enters this weekend's series with an overall mark of 15-14 and a conference record of 1-5. In their last outing, the Zips fell to Kent State in a 16-15 slugfest. First baseman Doug McNulty blasted three home runs in the game to lift his season total to eight. Kevin Hass is also a dangerous bat for the Zips, as he enters the weekend batting .382 with seven doubles and three triples. In MAC play, Akron is sixth in the league in batting (.289) and is last in the league in team-ERA (8.12). The Zips are led by Head Coach Pat Bangston, who is in his third season at the helm.

All-Time Series
Ohio is 46-31 in the all-time series against Akron. Last year Ohio won two of three at Akron, taking game one 13-6, losing the second, 7-15, and winning the rubber game, 12-8. Ohio Head Coach Joe Carbone is 38-27 against the Zips in his 20 years with the Bobcats.

Pitching Probables
(Ohio's listed first)
Friday
#33 Chris Rigo (Jr., RHP, 6-3, 205)
3-2, 5.40 ERA, 50.0 IP, 30 ER, 45 K, 24 BB

#10 Frank Turocy (Jr., RHP, 6-1, 200)
4-1, 2.72 ERA, 46.1 IP, 14 ER, 31 K, 21 BB

Satuday
#1 Zach Elmer (Jr., LHP, 5-11, 185)
3-1, 2.70 ERA, 40.0 IP, 12 ER, 24 K, 24 BB

#1 Zach Yike (So., LHP, 6-1, 200)
2-1, 6.41 ERA, 39.1 IP, 28 ER, 27 K, 18 BB

Sunday
Undecided

#22 Drew Turocy (Fr., LHP, 6-3, 175)
3-2, 5.21 ERA, 38.0 IP, 22 ER, 19 K, 12 BB

Bobcats On a Tear
The Bobcats have been on a tear at the plate as of late and over the last nine games are averaging 13.5 runs per game on 16.7 hits per game. During that period Ohio as a team is batting .387, with nine players batting over .400. The Bobcats have posted double-digit hits in 13 of their last 14 games and have scored in double-digits in eight of their last nine contests.

Ohio Hitting Streaks
Senior Matt Stiffler had his school-record hitting streak finally come to an end at 26 games after failing to record a hit in the final game of the Eastern Michigan Series (April 13). Joining Stiffler with lengthy hitting streaks this season are Marc Krauss with a 15-game streak, Zach Hartle with a 12-game streak, and freshman Zach Keen with his current 11-game hitting streak.

Atop the MAC
Ohio enters this weekend's series atop the MAC East Division standings with a record of 8-4. The Bobcats have the same winning percentage as Bowling Green (6-3 MAC), but have played three more conference games. In conference action Ohio is first in the league in batting with a .343 batting average and fourth in the league in pitching with a 4.34 team-ERA.

Besl's Best
Junior Brandon Besl is out to a fantastic week after mid-week games against Pittsburgh and Youngstown State. Besl posted a team season-high five hits with four RBI and three runs scored against Pitt, and followed that with a 3-for-6, three RBI and three runs scored performance against YSU. Besl was batting .368 entering the week, but after combining to go 8-for-12 this week, he has raised his season average to .404, tops on the team. During the past nine games Besl is batting .457.

Individual MAC Stats
Through the first 12 conference games, Ohio has four players in the top 16 in the league in batting average. Marc Krauss is second (.436), Brandon Besl is ninth (.400), Chris Klimko is 14th (.388) and Robert Maddox III is 16th (.385). Krauss is first in hits per game (2.00), Maddox III is sixth (1.67), Besl is ninth (1.60) and Klimko is 10th (1.58). Krauss is also second in the conference in runs per game (1.83) and third in total bases (3.25). On the mound the Bobcats are led by junior left-hander Zach Elmer, who is eighth in ERA (2.74) and third in the league in opponent batting average (.195).

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Wes Liles is the baseball contact in the Ohio media relations office. He can be reached via email at liles@ohio.edu.