Avon, OH – No. 5 seed Toledo (18-36-1, 13-11 MAC) will take on No. 4  seed Northern Illinois (24-30, 14-10 MAC) in the opening round of the 2016 Mid-American Conference Tournament on Wednesday, May 25. The first pitch from All Pro Freight Stadium is slated for 8:00 p.m.
 
The winner will advance to take on either No. 1 seed Kent State (41-12, 20-4 MAC) or No. 8 seed Eastern Michigan (20-34, 10-14 MAC) in the second round of the double-elimination tournament on Thursday, May 26 at 8:00 p.m. The loser of the Rockets-Huskies matchup will take on the loser of the Golden Flashes-Eagles matchup in an elimination game at 1:00 p.m.
 
Earlier this season, the Rockets began their hot play with a sweep of Northern Illinois. Sophomore 2B Matt Hansen led the way, hitting .625 and driving in six RBI and totaling nine bases. Senior LHP Ross Achter was superb as well, tossing a season-high 8.1 shutout innings and scattering seven hits.
 
The Rockets are looking for its first conference tournament championship. UT has been to 11 MAC tourney events, and head coach Cory Mee has led the squad to eight. Mee is 9-15 all-time in the championship event, while the team is 13-21 overall.
 
Last year at the MAC Tournament, Toledo picked up one win over Central Michigan in the second round, 6-2, before being eliminated in heartbreaking fashion by Akron, 1-2.
 
UT enters the postseason on the heels of a sweep of Eastern Michigan this past weekend. Toledo took down the Eagles 4-2, 8-4 and 14-2. All three Rocket starters – junior LHP Steven Calhoun, Achter and junior RHP Sam Shutes – all picked up wins for the Rockets. Achter earned MAC Pitcher of the Week honors for his performance
 
The month of May has been spectacular for UT, who went 9-1 during MAC play. Toledo hit a spectacular .348 as a team over the last 10 conference games. Senior SS Deion Tansel led the way with a .450 (18-for-40) average with 10 RBI and 12 runs scored. Sophomore 2B Matt Hansen and senior INF John Martillotta led the way with 12 RBI. Nine Rockets hit above .300 in conference games during the month.
 
The pitching was no different. The Rockets had a team-ERA of 3.07 while picking up nine wins. Achter picked up three wins with a tiny 1.77 ERA. The Oregon, OH native fanned 12 batters and tossed 20.1 innings while holding opponent batters to an average of .243. 
 
All games will be shown live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. WXUT will also be live on the WXUT audio stream.