Rockets Gear Up for 7 Games in 6 Days

Toledo, Ohio - The Toledo softball team is set for an action-packed week, as the Rockets are scheduled to play No. 23 Michigan, Akron, Wright State and Oakland over the course of six days. UT opens at Michigan tomorrow before coming home for a three-game series against the Zips. Toledo then hosts the Raiders on Monday before traveling to Oakland for a doubleheader on Tuesday.

With the midpoint of the season coming to pass and the Rockets sitting 10-18 overall and 2-3 in the conference, head coach Joe Abraham is looking for his squad to buckle down for a strong push into the final portion of the regular season.

"We need to be more consistent in every area of the game," Abraham said. "Some games we score a lot of runs, and in others we get maybe one or two runs and leave eight or nine people on the bases, so clutch hitting is a key for us. On top of that we want to avoid those innings where we give away two runs on defense. If we can clean up the occasional one bad inning that we seem to have on defense and be a little more consistent hitting, we'll be in good shape."

Toledo is currently led at the plate by sophomore Kylie Norwood along with seniors Megan Choate and Katie Cozy. Norwood (.378/.410/.551) and Choate (.325/.485/.494) just reached the the 20-run mark last weekend in Toledo's doubleheader against Bowling Green, and all three batters combine for 89 hits, 55 RBIs, and eight homers this season. The Rockets will look for young studs like freshman DP Aubrey Reed to continue to dial in their swings and add to the lineup's production heading into the end of the season.

"We've played a lot of different people in the outfield and at the DP position so it's just a matter of one or two of them getting going offensively for them to stay in the lineup permanently," Abraham said. "Aubrey has been our DP as of late and she's stepped up so we're getting pretty consistent production out of her. That's helped quite a bit. If we can just get three more hitters going we're going to be really tough to beat."

Toledo at Michigan Alumni Field \| April 3 Weekend Live Stats Watch via BTN2Go Toledo Game Notes Michigan Game Notes	Toledo vs. Wright State Scott Park \| April 8 Weekend Live Stats Watch via ESPN+ Toledo Game Notes Ticket Info
Toledo vs. Akron Scott Park \| April 5-6 Weekend Live Stats Watch via ESPN+ Toledo Game Notes Akron Game Notes Ticket Info	Toledo at Oakland Oakland Softball Field \| April 9 Weekend Live Stats Toledo Game Notes

Last Time Out
Toledo is coming off a Friday doubleheader at Bowling Green where the Rockets went 1-1 on the day, falling 3-2 in game one but rallying to a 13-4 stomping before returning home. Senior 2B Megan Choate was an offensive monster and went .500 (4-for-8) with five RBIs, a three-run homer, three runs and a walk. Her five RBIs tied the UT program record for most batters brought around in a single game, and she's one walk away from tying her career record for walks in a season (23). With her efforts, UT recorded 15 runs and 18 hits over the weekend. Choate and sophomore teammate Kylie Norwood also reached the 20-run mark on Friday. The two now lead the team in runs and have 10 more than anyone else on the UT squad.

Last Time Against the Competition
Michigan

The Rockets and Wolverines last met in March 2001 in the Glass City where Toledo fell 11-5. Toledo is 13-23 all time against the Maize and Blue, and hasn't won since a 8-6 decision back in April 1995 in the Great Lake State.

Akron

Toledo opened the conference-portion of last season with a three-game sweep of the Zips in Akron; UT won 13-5, 15-1 (5), and 6-1. Kaitlyn Bergman homered twice and brought in seven runners in middle game while Katie Cozy doubled, tripled and earned five RBIs.

Wright State

The Midnight Blue and Gold handed the Raiders a 7-2 loss in 2014 in the penultimate game of Indiana's Hoosier Classic. Toledo out hit WSU 14-8 and recorded a home run from Erinn Wright

Oakland

Toledo saw the Golden Grizzlies three times last season, playing a single game on March 17 (L, 6-2) and a doubleheader on March 28 (W, 1-0; W, 2-1). The first game was the final contest of Morehead State's Eagle Classic where UT went 2-1.
The doubleheader opened the Rockets' home schedule for the year and extended the team's winning streak at the time to five.

Scouting the Rockets

Megan Choate is four walks away from leading the Mid-American Conference. Ohio's Morgan Geno leads with 26.
Raelyn Nyren still paces the league in times hit by pitch with 10, three more than Kent State's Hunter Brancifort.
Kylie Norwood has the fourth-most hits (37) in the conference and ranks sixth in RBIs (23).
Erin Hunt has struck out 29 batters looking, the fourth-most in the MAC, and 93 batters in total for the fifth-most in the conference.

2018 record and RPI: 35-23, 16-7 MAC | 120
2019 record and RPI: 10-18, 2-3 MAC | 187
Top pitcher(s):

Erin Hunt: 6-7 through 16 app/11 starts, 3.09 ERA, 77.0 IP, 65 H, 43 R, 43 BB, 93 K, .226 Opp/b.avg
Maggie McGurk: 3-2 through 11 app/5 starts, 2.22 ERA, 34.2 IP, 45 H, 23 R, 18 BB, 18 K, .317 Opp/b.avg

Top batters:

Kylie Norwood: 37-for-98 (.378), 20 R, 8 2B, 3 HR, 23 RBI, 54 TB, .551 SLG%, 5 BB, .410 OBP
Megan Choate: 25-for-77 (.325), 20 R, 7 2B, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 38 TB, .494 SLG%, 22 BB, .485 OBP
Katie Cozy: 27-for-94 (.287), 10 R, 8 2B, 3 HR, 18 RBI, 44 TB, .468 SLG%, 6 BB, .340 OBP

Batters over .300: Three
Team slash line: .250/.356/.368

Scouting Michigan

The Wolverines have won each of their last 11 games, their longest win streak of the season, with a 96-10 scoring margin over the stretch.
Wolverines are in a three-way tie for first in the Big Ten.
Alex Sobczak was named the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week after hitting .667 with three homers -- one in each game against Rutgers -- through four games last week.

All-time record vs UT: 23-13
2018 record and RPI: 44-13, 18-3 B1G | 34
2019 record and RPI: 23-10, 6-0 B1G | 22
Top pitcher(s):

Meghan Beaubien: 13-3 through 27 app/16 starts, 1.65 ERA, 114.1 IP, 81 H, 33 R, 17 BB, 121 K, .195 Opp/b.avg

Top batter:

Lexie Blair: 44-for-108 (.407), 24 R, 13 2B, 3 HR, 28 RBI, 66 TB, .611 SLG%, 12 BB, .463 OBP

Batters over .300: Six
Team slash line: .297/.380/.435

Scouting Akron

Currently stuck in an 11 game losing skid.
Sydney Jascoe is tied for the fifth-most homers in the MAC with six and has 31 hits on the year.
Three Zips have atleast 10 stolen bases (Kimberly Rodriguez, Macky Mitchiner, Madison Carter).

All-time record vs UT: 40-35
2018 record and RPI: 4-43-1, 3-21 MAC | 272
2019 record and RPI: 6-18-2, 0-5 MAC | 270
Top pitcher(s):

Adrian Smith: 4-6 through 18 app/13 starts, 4.45 ERA, 67.2 IP, 68 H, 53 R, 45 BB, 56 K, .256 Opp/b.avg

Top batter:

Sydney Jascoe: 31-for-81 (.383), 11 R, 6 2B, 6 HR, 19 RBI, 55 TB, .679 SLG%, 3 BB, .420 OBP

Batters over .300: Three
Team slash line: .273/.327/.404

Scouting Wright State

Snapped a six-game losing streak following back-to-back wins overs Green Bay last weekend.
Raidyn Johnson has led the Wright State offense in conference play. Johnson has gone 6-10 at the plate in five appearances and has added a team-best four RBI.
Rebekah Lenos is fifth in the conference in runs scored with 23 while Madison Whitaker is fifth in RBIs with 21.
Meredith Keel leads the conference in walks with 17.

All-time record vs UT: 11-10
2018 record and RPI: 21-32, 12-10 Horizon | 216
2019 record and RPI: 14-18, 2-4 Horizon | 246
Top pitcher(s):

Olivia Otani: 6-8 through 14 app/1 starts, 3.63 ERA, 71.1 IP, 103 H, 62 R, 19 BB, 30 K, .325 Opp/b.avg

Top batter:

Rebekah Lenos: 25-for-79 (.316), 23 R, 3 2B, 6 RBI, 32 TB, .406 SLG%, 14 BB, .426 OBP

Batters over .300: Three
Team slash line: .252/.340/.335

Scouting Oakland

Kelsie Swanson has touched in for 27 runs this season. Swanson also has 33 hits and four triples on the year.
The Golden Grizzlies are 2-8 in their last 10 and are coming off a double header loss to Northern Kentucky.

All-time record vs UT: 10-14
2018 record and RPI: 23-27, 11-8 Horizon | 205
2019 record and RPI: 8-18-0, 1-7 Horizon | 261
Top pitcher(s):

Lauryn Debono: 2-2 through 18 app/10 starts, 4.34 ERA, 50 IP, 51 H, 33 R, 25 BB, 45 K, .262 Opp/b.avg

Top batter:

Brittney Miller: 31-for-79 (.316), 10 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 16 RBI, 40 TB, .506 SLG%, 14 BB, .490 OBP

Batters over .300: Seven
Team slash line: .299/.374/.405

Toledo at Michigan Alumni Field \| April 3 Weekend Live Stats Watch via BTN2Go Toledo Game Notes Michigan Game Notes	Toledo vs. Wright State Scott Park \| April 8 Weekend Live Stats Watch via ESPN+ Toledo Game Notes Ticket Info
Toledo vs. Akron Scott Park \| April 5-6 Weekend Live Stats Watch via ESPN+ Toledo Game Notes Akron Game Notes Ticket Info	Toledo at Oakland Oakland Softball Field \| April 9 Weekend Live Stats Toledo Game Notes

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Players Mentioned

Kaitlyn Bergman

Megan Choate

Katie Cozy

Erin Hunt

Maggie McGurk

Kylie Norwood

Raelyn Nyren

Aubrey Reed

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