May 12, 2002
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio - The Miami University (27-24, 14-10 Mid-American) baseball team finished off its conference series at Akron (18-27, 8-15 MAC) by slugging 13 hits in a 13-3 victory at Lee Jackson R. Field. Four Red and White home runs, including a grand slam off the bat of freshman Paul Frietch (Montgomery, Ohio/Moeller), helped it to its third straight victory with 13 or more runs.
On a rain-soaked field the RedHawks wasted no time by scoring three runs in the first frame. After sitting on a bus for two hours during a rain delay junior Andi Scheidt (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) got the RedHawks' bats started with a single to right field. Scheidt crossed the plate three pitches later when junior Mike Galloway (St. Thomas, Ontario/Central Michigan) swatted his 12th home run of the season over the left-field wall. Following Galloway with a home run of his own was junior Michael Carlin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon), tying him for fourth at Miami with 15 dingers in a season.
The Red and White added two more runs to their tally in the second stanza to take a 5-0 lead over the Zips. After junior Zach Schmidt (Cincinnati, Ohio/McNicholas) walked and freshman Brian Canada (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) doubled to put men on second and third, junior David Cook (Columbus, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) brought both men home with a two-run double to right-center field.
With a five-run lead on his side senior Billy Kieninger (Xenia, Ohio/Xenia) was tossing a solid game on the hill. Through the first three innings Kieninger allowed zero runs on one hit and two base on balls.
The fourth inning featured three more RedHawks' runs when the first two batters reached safely and Canada successfully sacrificed both of them to second and third, respectively. A base on balls to Cook loaded the bases for Scheidt, who responded by reaching on a fielder's choice to score one run. The final two runs of the inning were brought home courtesy of a two-run double by Galloway, his third and fourth RBI of the game.
Hurling a shutout through the first four frames Kieninger was finally roughed up in the fifth when Akron plated its first three runs. With two outs and men on first and third Akron's Dan Swallie singled to second base scoring the man from third. Swallie was awarded second after an errant throw ended up in the Akron dugout, and the second run of the frame also scored. Swallie scored Akron's third and final run of the ballgame one batter later when Lou Pederi singled to center field. However, only one of the three Akron runs were earned as a result of the error.
Galloway added one more run to the RedHawks' cause with a solo shot in the sixth inning, his second dong of the game and 13th of the season. Stealing the show from Galloway, despite his 4-for-4 five RBI performance, was Frietch who came to the plate in the final frame with the bases loaded. Frietch took the first pitch he saw from the Zips' Zach Wood deep over the right-field wall for his first career grand slam.
The 13-3 victory caps off a three-of-four series for the RedHawks and improves Kieninger's record to 5-4. Suffering the loss was Akron's Matt Halligan who drops to 1-6 on the year.
The RedHawks play their final five regular season games this week with a non-conference game at Wright State on May 15, and a four-game set at home against Kent State on May 17-19. The Sunday, May 19 contest against the Golden Flashes is the official dedication game for Miami's ballpark, McKie Field at Hayden Park.
