April 23, 2010

Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio - Sophomore designated hitter Jordan Jankowski opened and closed the scoring Friday afternoon while pitching in relief in between, as his single in the bottom of the 12th inning plated the winning run to give the Miami University baseball team a 6-5, walk-off victory over Akron in the series opener at rainy McKie Field at Hayden Park. The RedHawks (18-20, 5-8 Mid-American Conference) have now won five straight extra-inning games dating back to 2008, including both overtime contests in 2010, as Jankowski also notched the go-ahead RBI in Miami’s first extra-inning affair of the season (Feb. 27 at UL-Lafayette).

Junior left fielder/first baseman Kyle Weldon (Mason, Ohio) led off the bottom of the 12th with a single and advanced to second on a sac bunt. After an intentional walk, Jankowski (McMurray, Pa.) stepped to the plate and smoked the first offering he saw down the left-field line, which allowed Weldon to scamper home from second for the winning run.

Jankowski finished the day 3-for-4 (a career high for hits), including his seventh home run of the season, which ties for the team lead, and a double, while driving in two runs and scoring one. Sophomore center fielder Ryan Brenner (Kirtland, Ohio) tallied a pair of hits and scored a run as well, while junior right fielder Adam Eaton (Springfield, Ohio) became Miami’s career triples leader with his 15th career three-bagger Friday. The Zips (16-20, 2-11 MAC) received a pair of hits from five players as they out-hit Miami, 13-11, with shortstop Kevin Haas leading Akron with two RBI and a run scored.

The ’Hawks got a strong start from junior Tyler Melling (Bellefontaine, Ohio), who worked seven innings and allowed just one earned run (four total) on 10 hits with three punch-outs, but senior Kyle Donawerth (Cincinnati, Ohio) earned the win (2-0), tossing a scoreless 12th inning. Jankowski also provided Miami with strong relief on the mound, throwing 3.1 frames, allowing no runs on one hit with a pair of strikeouts. Benjamin Danziger (4-6) took the loss, giving up just the winning run in 3.1 innings, but issued three walks and gave up two hits. Akron starter Andrew Brown went eight innings and surrendered five runs on nine hits before giving way to Danziger.

“It’s certainly a big win. I think what’s most impressive is that we made a couple of mistakes, which we’ve done recently to beat ourselves, but we didn’t panic and we just kept playing the game and ended up getting a couple of big hits when we needed them to pull out the game,” Miami head coach Dan Simonds said. “It was great to see what Jankowski did, first of all coming out of the bullpen and then doing it with his bat.“

Jankowski gave Miami a 1-0 lead in the second inning when he ripped a solo shot down the left-field line, but Akron used a two-out really to tie the game in the fourth on an RBI single by designated hitter Sam Watkins. A dropped foul ball then allowed the Zips to continue the inning, as second baseman Nick Solitario doubled down the left field line and Haas singled to shallow center to score three more runs and give Akron a 4-1 cushion.

The ’Hawks regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a four-run outburst of their own. The first four RedHawks to come to the plate reached base safely as Brenner led off with a single and motored home on Eaton’s record-breaking triple while junior second baseman Jon Edgington (Cincinnati, Ohio) drove in Eaton with a double to left-center. Freshman first baseman Kevin Bower (Indianapolis, Ind.) then completed the scoring with a two-RBI double also to left-center field, which put Miami on top, 5-4, through five frames.

With two outs in the eighth, Haas doubled and later scored when center fielder Drew Turocy hit a sharp single to first base that Bower snared but threw wide of the bag allowing Haas to knot the game at 5-5. The RedHawks looked to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, putting men on first and second with one out, but a twin killing sent the contest to extra innings. Miami then put the winning run on third with two outs in the 10th but were unable to push the run across, forcing the heroics in the 12th frame.

The RedHawks and Zips square off again Saturday in the middle game of their three-game series with first pitch set for 1 p.m. at McKie Field at Hayden Park. The game was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. but due to the threat of rain later in the day, the game has been moved up to 1 p.m.

--MURedHawks.com--

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