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WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Akron starting pitcher Scott Foster limited Eastern Illinois baseball to three hits in a complete-game effort, leading the Zips to a 6-1 victory Wednesday afternoon in spring break action at Chain of Lakes Stadium.
Troy Barton (0-1) saw his streak of consecutive scoreless innings end at eight when he gave up a pair of runs in the third. The freshman worked 5 1/3 innings in his second start of the season, giving up three runs on nine hits and three walks. He limited the damage against him by inducing three double plays, including two of the inning-ending variety.
“Troy Barton was exceptional,” EIU head coach Jim Schmitz said. “He got some important ground ball double plays. So his emergence is real exciting and he gives us another arm we feel good about.
“We're just not hitting. It felt like a low point of the season, especially after yesterday (a loss to Army). The hitters are frustrated and their approach wasn't good today. We had a long team meeting afterwards. Every season has a low game and this was it. We didn't hit one ball hard all day against their lefty (Foster).”
The Panthers (3-12) only had seven batters reach safely in the game. All three hits were singles. Five of EIU's seven baserunners came in the fourth inning. A bases-loaded walk to Richie Derbak forced in the Panthers' lone run of the day. Daniel Bracken scored after drawing a base on balls to open the inning.
Shawn Ferguson accounted for two of EIU's three hits, including a single in the fourth.
Akron (9-4) out hit the Panthers 14-3 en route to posting its sixth straight win. Kevin Haas and Drew Turocy went a combined 7-for-10 in the top two spots in the order.
Foster (1-2) retired the side in order five times, including the first three innings.
Schmitz said he is in search of a spark to awaken his team from its early-season slump and plans to move Zach Borenstein to the leadoff spot in the order for Thursday's game against Indiana. Borenstein flourished after moving to the leadoff spot in 2009 following the injury to Brett Nommensen. Moving Nommensen back to the leadoff (from third) was effective in similar circumstance around this time of the year during the 2008 season.
Schmitz also said he could move Ben Thoma back to catcher and put Daniel Rowe in center field.
Friday's game against Indiana is slated for a 2 p.m. (CDT) first pitch at Lake Mytrle Stadium in Auburndale, Fla.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Thursday: Mike Recchia (Jr, RHP) vs. IU's Jerrud Sabourin (Jr, LHP)
Friday: Mike Hoekstra (So, RHP) vs. OSU's Brett McKinney (Fr, RHP)
