Baseball: Week 4 Recap and Players of the Week

Akron (6-6)

vs. Austin Peay	Win: 10-0
vs. Milwaukee	Loss: 10-4
at Milwaukee	Win: 13-5

The Zips took advantage of mediocre teams over the weekend. Led by Ahart at the plate (big surprise), the Zips were able to generate a good amount of offense with 27 runs off of 39 hits. That's a huge step in the right direction moving forward.

Top Performers:

OF Devan Ahart: The 3-hitter had a monster of a weekend. Ahart was 8-for-15 at the plate with a pair of home runs. Scoring five times, he drove in seven runs, walked once and had two stolen bases.

P John Valek: Started in the series opener, Valek went six innings, allowing five hits and walked three, but did not allow a run. He also had five strikeouts.

Ball State (10-5)

at Kentucky	Win: 10-8 (10 innings)
at Kentucky	Loss: 24-1
at Kentucky	Loss: 26-3

*coughs*

Top Performers:

SS/3B Alex Maloney: Finding the top performers for Ball State was more of a struggle than I'm used to. Maloney was 4-for-10 at the plate with a pair of walks, scoring five times.

P B.J. Butler: The reliever came out in a pair of appearances. Throwing for a total of 2.2 innings, Butler allowed six runs (five earned) to score off of five walks and four walks, striking out one. Yeah, It was that kind of weekend.

Bowling Green (3-9)

at High Point University	Loss: 11-2
at High Point University	Loss: 4-2
at High Point University	Win: 7-4

The reigning MAC Champions aren't off to the best of starts to say the least. Not to make excuses, but they did go up against some stellar pitching by High Point.

Top Performers:

SS Brian Bien: One of the team's best batsman made the most noise for Bowling Green. 3-for-8 at the plate, Bien walked three times, scoring four times. He also drove in one run.

P Ethan McKenney: Picking up his second save of the year on Sunday, McKenney only tossed for two innings allowing three hits but did not walk any batters. Only one run, which was earned, scored against him and had a one punch out.

Buffalo (7-3)

at Georgia	Loss: 11-10
vs. Western Carolina	Win: 5-4
vs. Northern Florida	Loss: 4-3

Top Performers:

OF Nick Sinay: Nothing too eye-popping here, but Sinay was consistently solid batting second in the lineup. He was 4-for-12, driving in three runs, scoring three times himself. He also walked once.

P Mike Burke: He didn't have any strikeouts in his seven innings of work on Sunday, but he only let up four hits with two runs scored against him, which neither were earned.

Central Michigan (6-9)

at Central Florida	Win: 7-6 (10 innings)
at Central Florida	Win: 3-2 (10 innings)
at Central Florida	Loss: 5-4

Top Performers:

OF Logan Regnier: The young prospect made a leap in the lineup, moving from fifth to second in the order. He was 6-for-13 with the stick, scoring twice.

P Pat Kaminska: Out-performing ace Jordan Foley once again, Kaminska had a good 8-inning performance on Saturday. Only one run was scored against him, but it was unearned. Kaminska let up three hits and a walk, striking out six.

Eastern Michigan (6-8)

vs. Youngstown State	Loss: 5-4 (10 innings)
at Cincinnati	Win: 5-4
vs. Youngstown State	Win: 11-5

Luckily for EMU, Youngstown isn't all that great of a team so far and the Eagles really beat up on Cincy's starting pitching. Sterling Sharp got his first save against the Bearcats, which is a step in the right direction for him.

Top Performers:

OF Sam Ott: With all of the doubles that Lee Longo's been smashing, we forgot about Ott. The kid was 6-for-12 at the plate, driving in one run, scoring twice. He also had a pair of stolen bases and a walk.

P Ben Dartnell: Coming in for Jake Andrews in early relief, Dartnell tossed for five innings, only letting up one run (earned) off of four hits and a walk.

Kent State (7-6)

at Liberty University	Loss: 6-2
at Liberty University	Loss: 4-2
at Liberty University	Loss: 9-1

With all of the credit in the world to Liberty, as they are a good team, there's reason to be somewhat scared here. Sweeps shouldn't happen to this Golden Flashes team. Eric Lauer was handed his first loss, but that was mostly due to the lack of offense.

Top Performers:

C Tommy Monnot: Even though he didn't play the complete third game, Monnot had a fairly decent weekend at the plate. Hitting 3-for-8, Monnot had a pair of doubles and drove in a pair of runs, walking once.

P Brian Clark: Going 5.2 innings on the series opener, Clark only allowed two runs to score off of six hits. He also walked a pair of batters while striking out four.

Miami (4-8)

at Louisville	Win: 6-4
at Louisville	Loss: 10-1
at Louisville	Loss: 9-0

I'm not one for moral victories, but let's remember that this isn't a very highly-praised RedHawks team going up against one of the nation's best. There's no shame in taking only one of these games.

Top Performers:

C/1B John Crummy: Recently named to the Johnny Bench Award watch list, Crummy had a good weekend at the plate. He didn't have a lot of power numbers, but he was still the only one to pick up a hit in each of the three games for the RedHawks. He was a total 3-for-13 with an RBI and was hit by a pitch.

P Seth Varner: Picking up the 'W' in the series opener, Varner went 6.2 innings against the Cardinals. Despite letting up nine hits, four runs (three earned) were scored against him. He also walked two and struck out four.

Northern Illinois (1-12-1)

at Oregon State	Loss: 6-0
at Oregon State	Loss: 2-0
at Oregon State	Loss: 12-2 (7 innings)
at Oregon State	Loss: 10-0

Being swept is easier to take in when it's against a premier baseball program, but it still sucks. But really, what else did you expect to happen here? Well, they were the victims of a no-hitter thrown by Oregon State's Jace Fry.

Top Performers:

1B/P Alex Klonowski: Out-performing his ace counterpart Eli Anderson, Klonowski tossed for five innings on the first game of Saturday's double-header. Not allowing a run to score, he limited the Beavers to only one hit, but he still walked four batters. He also tallied up four strikeouts.

At the plate, Klonowski got a hit in all three of the games he played first base in, including the series opener where he had the team's only hit. He swung a combined 3-for-9 with a double, driving in one run.

Ohio (4-9)

at Longwood	Loss: 1-0
at Longwood	Loss: 7-1
at Longwood	Win: 9-1
at Longwood	Loss: 5-2

What was most impressive, to me, is that Jake Roehn pitched very well in the first game, which ended up being a tight pitching duel. He didn't let up a single run until the bottom of the ninth after collecting nine strikeouts. This Bobcat team is going to finish better than we expect them to.

Top Performers:

OF Mitch Longo: Of course he's going to be Ohio's top performing batsman, who else would it be? With a big third game, Longo was 4-for-16 at the plate for the weekend including a double and a home run. He scored three times, collected three RBI, was hit by a pitch and had a stolen base.

P Jake Rudnicki: Went 7.1 innings in the lone win over Longwood, only letting up a pair of hits and walks, but no runs were scored against him. Rudnicki also tallied up seven strikeouts.

Toledo (5-8)

at Charleston Southern	Loss: 2-1
at Charleston Southern	Loss: 6-3
at Charleston Southern	Win: 3-2

Something has got to give. When your starting pitcher goes eight innings allowing only two runs and your first baseman goes yard once, you've got to do better than only having one run to show for at the end of the game. You can't expect your starting pitchers to throw shutouts all of the time.

Top Performers:

1B Tyler Baar: Baar had a damn good weekend with the bat. Going 6-for-11 at the plate, Baar hit a solo home run in the series opener. He ended the weekend with just the one RBI, also walking once and scoring twice.

P Ryan Wilkinson: Handed the "Loss" again, but Wilkinson still held Charleston Southern to two runs in his eight innings of work. Surrendering seven hits, Wilkinson did not let up a walk and struck out four.

Western Michigan (7-7)

vs. Northeastern	Win: 2-1 (10 innings)
vs. Maine	Win: 4-1
vs. Georgetown	Win: 6-4

Wait, the Broncos are a .500 team now? The ones from Kalamazoo? You mean to tell me things are finally clicking for them?

Top Performers:

2B Kurt Hoekstra: Hoekstra picked up a hit in each of his three games at the Snowbird Classic, going 5-for-11 overall, including a pair of doubles. He scored twice, drove in one run. and stole a bag.

P Steve Laudicina: Going 8.1 innings, Laudicina surrendered six hits and four walks, but only let up one run to Northeastern. He also had six strikeouts.

Players/Pitchers of the Week

East

Devan Ahart (Akron)- 8/15, 2 HR, 5R, 7 RBI, 1 BB, 2 SB

Jake Rudnicki (Ohio)- 7.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 K

West

Tyler Baar (Toledo)- 6/11, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB

Pat Kaminska (CMU)- 8 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 K