May 17, 2007
Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio--With the score deadlocked 1-1 heading into the ninth inning, the University of Akron baseball team was able to capitalize, scoring the go-ahead run with two outs to pull out a 2-1 win at Miami University on Thursday evening.
The loss dropped the RedHawks to 29-22 overall and 14-9 in Mid-American Conference play, while upping the Zips to 23-22 overall and 8-14 in league action.
A leadoff home run by Akron's Doug McNulty in the top of the second inning put the first run of the game on the board.
Sophomore Josh Hula belted Miami's 21st triple of the season down the right field line to get in scoring position in the first at-bat for the RedHawks in the bottom of the third inning. A ground out by senior Brandon Hillier allowed Hula to cross home and even the score, 1-1.
Akron had runners in scoring position in the top of the fourth inning after a single by Kurt Davidson and a double by Charlie Lenhard put Zip runners on second and third. Two straight strikeouts by junior hurler John Ely and a foul fly ball that junior Chris Niro hauled in as he flipped over the right field fence allowed the RedHawks to get out of the inning unscathed.
Miami also had a chance to score in the bottom of the sixth inning after Hillier reached on an error by the second baseman and sophomore Jordan Petraitis belted a single to right center to put runners on the corners. A double play in the next at-bat, however, ended the inning and kept the score deadlocked at 1-1.
A double by McNulty in the top of the ninth inning put the go-ahead run on base for the Zips, and a ground out in the next at-bat pushed McNulty to third. With two outs, Vince Chiera hit an RBI single over the first baseman down the right field line to score McNulty and give the Zips the eventual 2-1 win.
Ely went 7.0 innings for the RedHawks, striking out nine Zip batters. He jumped into sixth on Miami's single-season strikeout list with 90 for the campaign.
Petraitis accounted for half of the RedHawk hits for the day, going 2-for-4.
The teams return to action on Friday in the second game of the three-game weekend series. Game time is set for 5 p.m.
