TOLEDO, OH – A season-high 11 runs propelled Toledo to an 11-3 victory over Western Michigan (13-26, 6-9 MAC) at Scott Park on Sunday, May 1. Eight Rockets picked up one hit and every UT batter reached base at least once. With the victory, the Rockets improve to 10-34-1 and 5-10 in the Mid-American Conference.
 
"This was a game we really needed to have," head coach Cory Mee said. "It was great to see us come alive offensively and string quality at-bats together. We executed at the plate and I was really pleased with our relentless attack."
 
Senior RF Cory Finkler led the offensive attack with a career-high with three hits and a career-high in RBI with two. Finkler doubled twice today, scored twice and reached base on a walk to add to his career day out of the lead-off spot.
 
"He's just having good at-bats," Mee said. "He's seeing the ball well, getting good pitches to hit and using the whole field. He's feeling pretty good right now."
 
Senior SS Deion Tansel drove in a game-high three RBI and also picked up three hits, which drove his batting average back up over .300 on the year. Senior C Lucas Sokol stayed hot after pounding out two hits and one RBI. Sokol ripped a hit in every game of the series and hit .556 (5-for-9) with two RBI and three runs scored during the weekend contests. Sophomore DH Brad Boss, senior 3B John Martillotta and sophomore 2B Matt Hansen also drove in one RBI.
 
Junior RHP Sam Shutes (1-4, 4.33) hurled 5.0 quality innings while earning his first victory of the season. Shutes did not allow an earned run to score while fanning four batters in his 70 pitch outing. Freshman LHP Michael Jacob (1-3, 3.00) threw 3.0 solid innings in relief, and senior Kyle Slack (0-4, 9.97) closed the game in the ninth two strikeouts.
 
"I just tried to pound the zone and get ahead of hitters," Shutes said. "The defense gave me a big confidence boost because of the way they played today."
 
Pat Haynes was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs to cross the plate in 1.1 frames.
 
Western Michigan jumped on the board first when Nick Vogelmeier scored on a throwing error from Sokol who was trying to throw out the base stealer.
 
Toledo wasted no time in responding and gained the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Tansel tied the game with a single to left-center field to score Finkler, and Martillotta put UT out front with a groundball double play to score Boss.
 
Finkler hit his second double of the game to right-center field to score Hansen and freshman RF Ross Adolph to give UT a 4-1 advantage.
 
The Midnight Blue & Gold added one in the fifth with a sacrifice fly from Martillotta to score Boss.
 
UT added two more with a Boss sacrifice fly and a Tansel single that scored Sokol and made the game 7-1 in Toledo's favor.
 
The Rockets biggest frame of the game came in the seventh inning. Sokol plated Martillotta with a single through the right-side of the infield to start the scoring. After the third UT sacrifice fly of the game from Hansen, an error from WMU off a Boss rip allowed Sokol to score. Tansel capped the four-run inning with a double to right-center field to score Finkler and give UT an 11-1 advantage.  
 
WMU earned a run back in the eighth inning and ninth inning with a sacrifice fly from Mitchell Ho and fielder's choice from Jimmy Roche.
 
Toledo will be back in action on Friday, May 6 in a pivotal three-game series with Northern Illinois. The Rockets will play at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, and 12:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
 
PITCHING
Shutes (W, 1): 5.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 K, 0 BB
Jacob: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 K, 1 BB
Slack: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 K, 1 BB
 
NOTABLES
Head coach Cory Mee improves to 22-20 against Western Michigan
Toledo scored a season-high 11 runs
Cory Finkler earned his first-career three-hit game