Women’s basketball

If you read this blog in the past hour, you saw a story about coach Kelly Kennedy being fired. That report is premature.

Stay tuned.

Baseball

Todd Fleming, a right handed pitcher from Lake High School, verbally committed to play for the Zips.

Fleming had interest from Ohio State, West Virginia and some pro teams.

His summer ERA last season was 1.81 with nine complete games and 52 strikeouts in 67 innings. He only walked five.

Why Akron instead of the bigger schools? "I wanted to play for an up-and-coming Division I school. And I have always hated Kent," he said.

Until Fleming strikes out his first Golden Flash, his claim to fame on campus will be that he is the brother of the most evil columnist on campus, Kiel Fleming.

Football

Maybe I’m being a homer, but I expected Zips defensive nose guard Kiki Gonzalez to be on the Lombardi Trophy watch list. He wasn’t.

Six other MAC players made the watch list for the trophy, which is awarded to the nation’s best lineman or linebacker. They are…

• Ohio linebacker Matt Muncy
• Western Michigan linebacker Ameer Ismael
• Toledo offensive tackle John Greco
• Northern Illinois offensive tackle Doug Free
• Central Michigan defensive end Dan Bazuin
• Toledo linebacker Mike Alston

Upon further inspection, I realized I’m not alone. GoZips.com also expected Kiki to be on the list.

• Also, CollegeFootballNews.com outlines the top 30 quarterback battles this summer. Two are from the MAC - Toledo and Miami. Mike Kokal, a pocket statue, is the leader to take over for Josh Betts in Miami. Clint Cochran looks like he will assume Bruce Gradkowski’s role for the Rockets.

Men’s soccer

The Zips recently added two midfielders, the Canton Repository reports.

• Vedran Ilic was second-team all state in his senior year at Guilford High School in Rockfield, Ill.
• Elliot Bradbrook transferred from Ashland, where he was a third-team All-American for Division II. He will be a sophomore.

Men’s basketball

A couple more recruits are on coach Keith Dambrot’s radar. They are guards Rydell Brooks and Lance Jeter.

Jeter is a 6-foot-3 guard from Pennsylvania, who established his freshman eligibility a month ago with a decent SAT score. He averaged 20.4 points per game and was named to several all-whatever teams.

• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says Jeter is an incredibly clutch player.
• The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review talks about the state finals, which Jeter’s Beaver Falls team lost.
• The Tribune-Review says Jeter also has interest from George Mason, Marquette, Purdue and Detroit for basketball.
• Rivals.com says Bowling Green, Duquesne, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Pittsburgh, Toledo and West Virginia are also candidates. It lists Akron and Cincinnati as schools of "high" interest. However, the Bearcats want him for football.
• Scout.com says Duquesne is the only school to offer Jeter a scholarship so far. The site gives him two stars.

It is even less certain that Brooks will wear a Zips uniform. With his 27.5 points per game this season, Brooks earned Second-Team All-Ohio honors for Division II this season playing for Buchtel.

• Scout.com says Brooks has interest in Dayton, West Virginia and Xavier. The site gives him two stars.
• Rivals.com does not rank Brooks. However, it confirms that he has interest in Akron, as well as Cincinnati, Purdue, Cleveland State, Colgate, Tulsa, Virginia Commonwealth and Wright State — a beautiful cornucopia of schools.

Scout.com also lists five other players with interest in Akron. As coach Dambrot told me, they are looking at guards.

Football

Since I’m quoting Pittsburgh papers like crazy, here’s a story from the Pitt News about Luke Getsy success after transferring from Pitt.

Baseball

The MAC East named senior Zips starter Ross Liersemann its Pitcher of the Week a couple days ago. Akron will play a three-game series against Northern Illinois this weekend.

Softball

Akron knocked off Oregon on Sunday in extra innings, 4-3. A two-run home run by Julie Boyes was the big shot for the Zips (8-12).

The Ducks (15-10) are ranked 26th in the USA Today poll. This should be a nice confidence boost before the team plays its first game in the new stadium next Tuesday against Penn State.

Baseball

Akron lost 4-2 this afternoon against Ball State.

The Zips (6-14, 1-2) will play against Northern Illinois (7-13, 2-1) next weekend.

Softball

The Zips (7-12) lost twice to No. 8 Oregon today, 2-1 and 7-0. Akron beat BYU 1-0 on Saturday.

Baseball

Akron lost today 11-5 against Ball State. Three nearly consecutive wild pitches by Zips starter Tom Farmer led to three runs for the Cardinals.

Sophomore Ryan Frazee ended his 12-game hitting streak. Sophomore Scott Gunn hit his second home run of the year.

It was cold and snowy, yet 78 fans still showed up.

Watching the game was almost like deja vu for me, back to the days of backyard baseball in elementary school. Zips third baseman Vince Chiera and Cardinals shortstop Phil Bednar lived down the road from me in Munroe Falls, where we had some intense games in the vacant lot next to Bednar’s house. Another of my friends lived on the other side of the vacant lot. That friend moved out and Dean Peas moved in. Peas is the former coach of Kent State’s football team. Now he is defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.

The Zips are now 1-1 in the MAC and 6-13 overall.

Miscelleneous

Matt Newhouse, who gave the AK-Rowdies its birth this season, is staying at Akron for the foreseeable future. I read a poster say Newhouse will follow Mike Waddell and Mike Thomas to Cincinnati. That is untrue.

Baseball

Ross Liersemann struck out 13 in nine innings today as the Zips broke an 11-game losing streak today at Lee Jackson Field by beating Ball State, 3-2.

Freshman DH Ryan Frazee extended his hitting streak to 12. Center fielder Marcus Geiselman hit a two-run double to take the lead in the seventh inning.

The Zips are now 6-12. More importantly, their conference record is 1-0. Hopefully coach Pat Bangtson told players that this is a fresh start. The 11-game losing streak doesn’t mean anything, since it was in nonconference play.

I will be at the game tomorrow with Buchtelite celebrity and heel Kiel Fleming. You should come, too. It’s supposed to be cold, but so what?

Men’s basketball

For those of you who swear coach Keith Dambrot will leave once he gets a big offer, here is another quote that proves you wrong. It was taken from Tom Gaffney’s Wednesday story in the ABJ.

"I have a chip on my shoulder. I went to school here. My mom (the late Faye Dambrot) was a professor here. I want it to be a great program," Dambrot said.

Football

CollegeFootballNews.com published its spring previews for the MAC. It says Akron will have a problem replacing size on the defensive line. Really? With Nate Robinson, Kiki Gonzalez and Jermaine Reid, Akron’s d-line stacks up with that of many Big 10 teams.

On the field, Dennis Kennedy looks to be winning the starting running back job. He broke a 34-yard touchdown run on a swing play on Thursday.

Baseball

Students should come out for the Zips games this weekend against Ball State. The team (5-12) is struggling, but they also haven’t played a home game yet.

The games are at 3 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Miscellaneous

Two things…

• With Duke, North Carolina and Nevada out of the NCAA Tournament, my Final Four and bracket is garbage.
• At least Queen + Paul Rodgers was a hit at The Q on Tuesday.

Men’s basketball

Former Zips coach Bob Huggins accepted a five-year offer to coach Kansas State. Huggins believes he can make the Wildcats into a top-10 program.

If rumors about O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker following him to his next job are true, that might happen in five years.

Miscellaneous

Here is a story in the Beacon Journal about the Buchtelite. You’ll never know the kind of garbage that newspapers and journalists have to deal with until you actually work for one.