JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Toledo baseball team opened its 2020 season on Friday afternoon with a 6-2 loss at East Tennessee State.

Both of the Rockets' runs came off solo home runs. Junior Chris Meyers blasted a solo shot to center field in the sixth inning and classmate Matt Kirk led off the ninth with a homer to right field. Junior Danny O'Reilly also reached base three times, including a double, in his Toledo debut.

On the mound, senior Layne Schnitz-Paxton earned the Opening Day start and pitched 4.0 innings, striking out four. Sophomore Jamie Myers and freshman Connor Brandon both saw time out of the bullpen. Myers tossed 2.1 frames with a pair of punchouts, and Brandon threw 1.2 innings in his first collegiate appearance.

"It was really good to get out on a baseball field and play someone different," head coach Rob Reinstetle said. "Today was a great learning experience for our team. Winning is not easy, and we're still learning what it takes to win at a high level. Honestly, we beat ourselves today and had chances to create a different outcome. I certainly saw some things today that were very encouraging. I also saw some things that, if we clean up, will help us win a lot of games. We played hard to the end and I expect us to come back tomorrow ready to get our first win of 2020."

The Rockets had a difficult time figuring out East Tennessee State starting pitcher Landon Knack, who threw 5.0 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts.

Toledo and ETSU will face off again on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

How it Happened

• Facing runners on second and third with no outs in the bottom of the first, Schnitz-Paxton was able to work his way out of trouble with a couple strikeouts and a fly out to center field to keep things scoreless.
• ETSU struck first with two runs in the third. A bases loaded single through the left side plated a pair and put Toledo behind, 2-0.
• East Tennessee State scored another run in the fourth to increase its lead to 3-0.
• Meyers got the Rockets on the board with a solo home run in the sixth. His one-out blast to center field made the score 3-1.
• The Buccaneers led off the seventh with a home run to left field, then used a sacrifice fly to push their margin to four runs, 5-1.
• ETSU added another run in the eighth on a bloop single to left field, making the score 6-1. A second East Tennessee State baserunner was coming around to score, but O'Reilly's throw cut him down at the plate to end the inning.
• Kirk's solo home run to lead off the ninth frame sailed over the right field fence, his first round tripper as a Rocket. Toledo rallied a bit in its final trip to the plate, but stranded runners on second and third to end the game.