TOLEDO, OH - Toledo (9-32-1, 4-8 MAC) will look to move up in the Mid-American Conference West Division standings with an important three-game series against Western Michigan (11-25, 4-8 MAC) this weekend, April 29-May 1, at Scott Park. Friday's game at the corner of Hill Ave. and Parkside Blvd. is slated for 3:05 p.m., while Saturday's and Sunday's contests will begin at 1:05 p.m.

Prior to tomorrow's series opener, UT will hold a special presentation recognizing head coach Cory Mee's 300th career win this past Sunday against Central Michigan.  

The Rockets and Broncos are currently tied for fifth place in the MAC West Division, one game behind preseason favorite CMU (11-30, 5-7 MAC), two contests at the heels of Eastern Michigan (15-22, 6-6 MAC) and five games in back of Northern Illinois (15-25, 9-6 MAC). Ball State (25-17, 10-5 MAC) currently paces the division with a one-game lead over NIU after five weekends of league competition.

Toledo enters tomorrow's series opener with a chip on its shoulder, looking to bounce back from a tough 4-1 setback at Michigan State on Wednesday. Five of UT's last six games have been decided by three runs or less and the Rockets are 1-4 in those contests.

On the mound, junior LHP Steven Calhoun (2-8, 6.39 ERA, 50.2 IP, 33 K), senior LHP Ross Achter (4-5, squad-low 3.19 ERA, team-high 59.1 IP, squad-best 37 K) and junior RHP Sam Shutes (0-4, 4.89 ERA, 38.2 IP, 26 K) are slated to start the three contests against the Broncos. Achter is currently eighth in the MAC in ERA.

Offensively, senior INF Deion Tansel has hit safely in eight of the last nine games, batting .324 (11-for-34) during this stretch (April 15-27). For the season, Tansel is hitting a team-high .294 (47-for-160) with 29 runs scored, seven doubles, two round trippers and 17 RBI.

The Broncos enter the weekend series after winning two of three games against EMU at home last weekend.

WMU owns a .265 batting average and is tallying 4.0 runs (143) on 8.9 hits (321) per game. Evan Nelson and Grant Miller pace the team with .311 (28-for-90) and .310 (44-for-142) marks, respectively.

On the hill, Western Michigan has a 6.60 ERA and opponents are batting .314 against them. Their pitchers have registered 244 strikeouts while issuing 168 walks.

Last spring, Toledo won two of three games against WMU in Kalamazoo to capture the series for a sixth time in the last seven seasons. UT was victorious in the final two match-ups in the series, 7-1 and 6-3, after sustaining a loss in the opener, 6-4.

The Rockets hit .287 (31-for-108) and averaged 5.7 runs (17) on 10.3 hits (31) in the weekend set, while the Broncos tallied a .284 (27-for-95) average and totaled 3.3 runs (10).

Individually, sophomore INF Dalton Bollinger batted a team-high .583 (7-for-12), followed by junior OF Jordan Kesson (3-for-8) and sophomore OF AJ Montoya (5-for-14) with impressive .375 and .357 marks, respectively.

Following this weekend's action, Toledo will take four days off to focus on spring semester exams before returning to the diamond next weekend with a three-game series at NIU.