Aeros win rain shortened game, 7-4

READING - The Akron Aeros defeated the Reading Phillies, 7-4, in a storm-halted match-up Saturday to tie the series.

The Aeros jumped on Phillies' pitching in the first inning scoring three runs against Reading starting pitcher Jonathan Pettibone. Outfielder Tim Fedroff led off with a walk and stole second base. Shortstop Juan Diaz reached on a fielder’s choice to the pitcher. Left fielder Jared Goedert, who is currently batting .417 and leading the Eastern League leaderboard, advanced the runners with a line drive to left field.

Catcher Chun Chen drove in the first run of the game with a hard line drive to the right side. This was Chen’s first RBI of the season. Designated hitter Nick Weglarz walked with the bases loaded to score the second run of the inning. Outfielder Ben Copeland made the score 3-0 earning an RBI after hustling down the first-base line to beat out a grounder hit to third. The streak ended with a shot by third baseman Kyle Bellows, which could have blown the game wide open, but was caught by right fielder Leandro Castro in a diving save.

Aeros left-handed starter Giovanni Soto got his second win of the season holding the Phillies to one run in the first five innings.  In 22 batters faced he gave up no walks and had a period of retiring eight consecutive batters and tied his season high of six strikeouts.

In the top of the second, Akron widened the gap to 4-0 with Fedroff hitting a line-drive triple up the middle. Diaz followed up with a single to the right side to get Fedroff across the plate.

The Phillies would make a late charge at the plate putting three runs on the board in the sixth inning.  Darin Ruf and Tyson Gillies led a three-run rally to close the score to 5-4. Reliever Matt Langwell replaced Soto on the mound and got Akron out of the jam to close the inning with no further runs.

With storm clouds brewing in the seventh, the Aeros got the bats going one last time after the Phillies brought Chris Kissock to the mound. Weglarz and first baseman Adam Abraham hit back-to-back home runs to stretch the score to 7-4. The pair of homers were the first of the season for both batters.

At 8:15 p.m. the game was halted and then called to a close 40 minutes later.

On Sunday the Aeros will start left-handed pitcher Eric Berger against Reading’s righty Tyler Cloyd as each team looks to take the rubber game in the series.

Christian Turner is a senior public relations major at the University of Akron where she covers baseball, tennis and military veterans for the student newspaper, The Buchtelite.She can be contacted at christianturner86@gmail.com.