DAVIDSON, N.C. – The University of Toledo baseball team found itself in a slugfest in North Carolina on Sunday afternoon, ultimately falling to Davidson in 11 innings, 16-14.
 
Both teams combined for 30 hits, including nine home runs, in Sunday's offensive explosion.  After the Rockets took a one-run lead with a four-run top of the eighth, the Wildcats used a two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning to move ahead by one. What followed was a wild final three innings that featured five home runs and a triple play. Davidson hit a go-ahead or game-tying home run in the 8^th, 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th innings to stun the Rockets in the series finale.

 "Today was a tough loss to swallow," head coach Rob Reinstetle said. "We battled so hard and had many chances to win that game. Learning to win is not easy, it is a process. Our offense finally started to swing the bats like they are capable of. That is something we will need to build on and continue to do."

The top half of Toledo's lineup provided nearly all of the offensive output on Sunday. Chris Meyers was 4-for-5 at the plate with two home runs and tied a career high with five RBI. It was the first multi-home run game of Meyers' career. Trace Hatfield was 4-for-6 and also tied his career high in RBI with four. Mason Sykes drove in two runs, walked twice, and scored five times, the first Rocket player to score at least five runs in a game since 2010. Ryan Thompson provided some late-game heroics with a pinch-hit, two-run home run in the top of the ninth.  
 
"No question that this is not the start that we wanted, but we are learning and have many games ahead of us to win," Reinstetle said. "It's our hope that games like these will only serve us better down the road. Regardless of today's outcome, I am very proud of the way the team fought today. They could have easily felt sorry for themselves with the way the first five games have played out. But they didn't and that speaks volumes to the character and culture we're building."

Toledo hits the road again next weekend for a three-game series at Samford March 5-7.
 
How it Happened

• The Rockets started the scoring with a bang, hitting back-to-back home runs in the top of the first to take an early 2-0 lead. Sykes hit one out to right field, then Meyers drove a 2-1 pitch over the fence in center field to give Toledo's offense an early spark.
• Davidson didn't stay down for long, scoring three in the bottom of the first to take a 3-2 lead.
• Hatfield's single to center field in the top of the third brought Sykes around to score and tied the game up at 3-3.
• The Wildcats plated three in the bottom half of the third to double up Toledo and take a 6-3 advantage. All three runs that inning came with two outs.
• Davidson added two more in the bottom of the fifth to push its lead to 8-3.
• Hatfield came through for Toledo again in the top of the seventh. Facing a full count with two outs, his base hit into right field cleared the bases and cut the Rockets' deficit to two, 8-6.
• The Wildcats got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI double to center field.
• Toledo flipped the script in the eighth inning, scoring four runs with two outs to take a 10-9 lead. Sykes drew a bases-loaded walk, then Meyers and Hatfield drove in runs on back-to-back base hits.
• Davidson's John Hosmer hit a two-out, two-run bomb to left field in the bottom of the eighth to put his team ahead, 11-10.
• Down to his last strike, Thompson kept the Rockets alive with a pinch-hit, two-run home run in the top of the ninth to put Toledo on top, 12-11. Danny O'Reilly reached base after getting hit by a pitch, then came around to score on Thompson's dinger.
• The Wildcats delivered another two-out home run, this one off the bat of Ruben Fontes in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
• Meyers hit his second home run of the day to give Toledo a 14-12 lead in the top of the 10^th. Sykes was plunked to lead off the inning, then Meyers drove a 1-0 pitched deep to center field for a two-run homer.
• As if there wasn't enough drama in the late innings of Sunday's game, a potential Toledo rally in the top of the 10^th was snuffed out by a 2-3-6 triple play.
• For the third straight inning, Davidson kept itself alive with a two-out home run, this time from Joe Haney, to tie the game at 14-14 and send it to the 11^th inning.
• With a full count and two outs in the bottom of the 11^th, Trevor Candelaria delivered the final blow in the form of a walk-off, two-run home run to stun the Rockets and had the Wildcats a 16-14 victory.