Final Stats
TOLEDO, OH - Toledo (20-23, 6-14 MAC) registered its first doubleheader sweep of the Mid-American Conference season with 2-1 and 6-5 triumphs against Ball State (30-16, 11-9 MAC) this afternoon at Scott Park. In the opener, senior Brian Kovacs hurled his first complete game of the season before the Rockets rallied from three runs down in the late innings of the nightcap to preserve the sweep.
"These were two impressive wins for us," Toledo Head Coach Joe Kruzel said. "I thought one of the keys to our success this weekend was our execution, which was outstanding. We successfully moved runners up with sacrifice bunts and we got the big hits when we needed them."
In today's first game, Toledo scored the game's initial run in the second on a RBI double by senior Phil Pilewski, scoring fellow classmate J.D. Foust, who led off the frame with a single.
After Ball State tied the score at 1-1 in the third on a RBI double by Lucas Fry, UT regained the lead in the bottom of the frame on a fielding error by BSU rightfielder Brad Snyder. Freshman Dan Stong led off the frame with a single. After advancing to second on sacrifice bunt by junior Sean Dobson and to third on a single by senior Taylor Eckel, junior Mitch Maier lifted a fly ball to right. Snyder made a nice attempt to make a running catch, but the ball handcuffed him and fell to the ground allowing Stong to come home for the eventual game-winning run.
Toledo received a tremendous start from Kovacs (1-3), who picked up his first win of the season. The Riverview, MI native surrendered one run on nine hits with five strikeouts. BSU starter Mike Johnston (2-3) was equally effective, limiting the Rockets to seven hits but was tagged with the loss.
Toledo also received an outstanding effort from its defense, which halted two BSU rallies by turning double plays and in the fifth inning, the Cardinals had the bases loaded and a 3-0 count, but Kovacs fought back and threw three-straight strikes to get out of the jam.
In the second game, BSU stormed out to 1-0 lead in the first on the strength of three hits off UT starter Ian Baltzer, including a RBI single by Marc Franz.
Toledo quickly responded with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first on a two-run double into the gap in left-center by junior Aaron Rouser, scoring Eckel and Maier, who reached base on a walk and single, respectively.
The score remained the same until the fifth when BSU scored four runs off Baltzer on a RBI single by Adam Metzler and a bases-clearing double by Brad Miller to give the visitors a 5-2 advantage.
Refusing to quit, Toledo regained the lead for good in the seventh sending nine batters to the plate tallying four runs. All the damage was done in the frame with two outs. Dobson started the rally with a single and after advancing to second a wild pitch, scored on a double by Eckel. Maier then singled scoring Eckel and sent BSU starter Joe Ness to the showers. Reliever Kory Bucklew (3-3) came in and gave up a single to Foust and a walk to Rouser to load the bases and force BSU head coach Greg Beals to make another pitching change. John Pettibone entered the pressure-cooker and after walking in the game-tying run, sophomore Dan Ruth delivered a RBI single to give UT a one-run lead that it would not surrender.
Maier and Rouser led UT offensively in the second game with three hits apiece, while Rouser notched a team-high two RBI.
Sophomore Kurt Woeste (3-4) earned the win in relief by throwing 4.1 scoreless innings allowing two hits with four strikeouts.
"We came out this weekend and challenged ourselves," Kruzel said. "Before this weekend, Ball State and Toledo were No. 1 and No. 2 in batting average. The pitchers took that as a challenge to shut them down and received three more outstanding pitching performances today from our staff."
The Rockets will have the next four days off to focus on final examinations, before returning to acton next weekend with a four-game series against Ohio at Scott Park. The first game will be Friday, May 9 at 3:00 p.m. followed by a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, May 10 and a single game on Sunday, May 11 at 2:00 p.m.
