RedHawks Earn Series Win in Extra Innings
4/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
AKRON, Ohio – Miami (8-28, 6-9 MAC) came into Sunday's game looking for their second MAC road series win of the season and got it, earning an 8-7 extra innings victory over Akron at Lee R. Jackson Field.
Miami got the game’s first run in the opening inning of play. With one out already recorded, Jake Romano earned himself an infield single. Then, after two throwing errors by Akron Starter Jon Pusateri, Romano ended up on third and Adam Yacek knocked him in with a groundout to first. Akron answered in their half of the first, scoring on a Daulton Mosbarger double to right field. The score was knotted at one apiece through one inning of play.
The RedHawks jumped back in front in the top of the third. With two outs and Steve Sada on second and Ryan Elble on first, Yacek reached on an error, scoring Sada and allowing Elble to get to third. The next at-bat, Jacob Wolf reached on an error, allowing Elble to score. The RedHawks took a 3-1 lead to the bottom of the third.
The Zips pushed back in the bottom of the fifth. With the bases loaded and no one out, Mosbarger and Joey Havrilak earned back-to-back walks, pushing across two runs. That marked the end of the day for Miami starter Gus Graham as Nathan Williams came on in relief. In Williams’ first batter faced, he was able to get a groundball double play, however Akron scored on the play to take their first lead of the game, 4-3.
Akron extended their lead in the bottom of the seventh. A Mason Mamarella double to left center allowed Kris Simonton to score from second. The Zips added one more on a sac fly by Mosbarger. Jake Romano made a spectacular diving catch to get the out, but Akron was up able to tag-up and score. The Akron lead stood at 6-3 through six innings of play.
Back-to-back doubles by Yacek and Wolf led off the inning. Then, Kendall Johnson earned a walk to load the bases, followed by an infield single by Scott Slappey. Yacek scored on the play. The next at-bat, Spencer Dull, pinch hitting for Julian Flanary, grounded out to the second baseman, however Wolf scored on the play. After a strikeout, Sada earned a walk to load the bases. Then, Elble got hit by a pitch, pushing across the tying run and knotting the score at six apiece.
That score stood until the top of the 11th. Romano led off the inning with a hit by pitch and then Yacek singled to put runners on first and second. Then, Wolf put down a sac bunt to move the runners up one base. The next at-bat, Kendall Johnson grounded out to second base but Romano scored on the play, giving the RedHawks a 7-6 lead through ten a half innings. Akron tied things up in the bottom of the inning, scoring on a blooper to left field by Brian Lees.
The RedHawks took the lead in the top of the 13th when Romano belted his second home run of the season over the right field wall.
Will Schierholz (1-1) earned the win, the first of his RedHawk career. He threw 105 pitches in relief.
The RedHawks return to action Wednesday as they travel to take on Wright State. The meeting will be the third and final of the season. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. The Red & White will then welcome Kent State to Oxford for a big MAC East series this upcoming weekend.
