MAC Baseball Tounament Bracket
Akron 9, Ball State 8
Boxscore
VIDEO: Akron's Head Coach Rick Rembielak
VIDEO: Akron's Billy Salem
AVON, Ohio -- The eighth seed Akron Zips scored eight runs in the bottom of the ninth for a incredible 9-8 victory to cap a dramatic comeback over the fifth seed Ball State Cardinals on Saturday afternoon in the MAC Baseball Tournament at All Pro Freight Stadium.
Akron entered the ninth inning trailing 8-1 and scored eight runs on seven hits as Billy Salem's single to center field scored Daulton Mosbarger for the deciding run and force another game tonight at 8 pm ET between the two clubs. The winner of tonight's game will face the third seed Ohio Bobcats in the MAC Baseball Championship Game on Sunday at Noon ET.
Akron sent 12 batters to the plate during the eight run rally in the ninth inning. Mosbarger walked to open the inning and Salem singled to right for runners on the corners. Darius Washington doubled to left field as Mosbarger scored. Joey Havrilak walked to load the bases and then Mason Mamarella walked to score Salem to cut the deficit, 8-3, with the bases loaded and only one out.
Zips' Brian Lees singled to left to score Washington and Havrilak with runners on first and second base. Gerrard Rohan grounded out to second as the runners advanced to second and third base. Dom Iero singled to right to score Mamarella and Lees to cut the deficit, 8-7. Mosbarger singled to center field as Iero moved to third for runners on the corners. Matt Rembielak's infield single was a high chopper past the mound to score Iero and to tie the game, 8-8, with runners at first and second base. Salem's single to center field scored Mosbarger for the winning run.
Ball State starting pitcher Scott Baker left the game with one out in the ninth inning and an 8-2 lead. Baker's final numbers were eight and one-third innings pitched with three runs allowed on nine hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Dennis Wilburn came on with one out in the ninth for the Cardinals and walked both batters he faced. Ball State's Mitch Gibson allowed a two-run single to Brian Lees and BJ Butler came on and allowed four hits and two earned runs for the loss.
Akron starting pitcher Pat Dyer went five and two-third innings and allowed 10 hits and only two earned runs and three strikeouts. Josh Davis relieved him in the sixth and pitched two-thirds of an inning and allowed three earned runs on three hits. Zach Beaver came on for the Zips in the seventh and pitched one and two-third innings with only one hit allowed. Matt LaRocca pitched two-thirds of the ninth inning for the Zips and allowed two earned runs, while Andrew Fanning got the final out of the ninth inning with one earned run on two hits and ended up getting the win.
Ball State opened the scoring in the top of the second inning for an early 1-0 lead. Ball State’s Ryan Spaulding singled up middle and Caleb Stayton doubled to left to put runners at second and third base for the Cardinals. Sean Kennedy singled through the right side to score Spaulding and the potential for a big inning with runners on the corners. However, Akron’s Pat Dyer was able to get Brandon Estep to ground out into an inning ending double play to keep the Cardinals lead to the slimmest of margins, 1-0.
Akron responded in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the game, 1-1. Zips' Gerrad Rohan singled to third base and advanced to second on Iero’s sacrifice bunt. Two batters later, Rembielak doubled down the left field line to score Rohan for the 1-1 tie.
In the top of the sixth inning, Ball State first baseman Zach Plesac started a two-out rally to regain the lead. Plesac singled up the middle and Kennedy added an infield single to third to place runners at first and second base. Estep redeemed himself after ending a threat in the second inning by lining a single to left to score Plesac for the 2-1 Ball State lead.
Ball State continued its attack in the seventh inning with three more runs to open a 5-1 lead. Alex Maloney opened with a double down the right field line and Elbert Devarie had an infield single to place runners on the corners. Maloney scored and Devarie advanced to second on a passed ball between Akron pitcher Josh Davis and catcher Brian Lees. Cardinals Alex Call was safe on his sacrifice bunt attempt as Devarie moved to third and Call was safe at first base. Jarrett Rindfleisch's sacrifice fly to right center scored Devarie and Spaulding's sacrifice bunt scored Call to give the Cardinals a four run margin, 5-1.
The Cardinals padded their lead in the ninth inning with three more runs. Devarie walked to open the inning, was sacrificed to second and came around to score on Rindfleisch's single to right field. Scott Tyler added a two run home run to right field for the 8-1 lead.
