TOLEDO, Ohio – The University of Toledo baseball team completed its weekend series sweep of Akron on Sunday, winning by run-rule, 12-2, in eight innings at Scott Park.
 
With the win, the Rockets improve to 11-9 in Mid-American Conference play and 13-20 overall. Toledo has now won six straight games and nine of its last 10.
 
Toledo scored 12 runs for the second straight game, collecting 11 hits in the process.  Several Rockets had great days at the plate. Danny O'Reilly went 2-for-4 with four RBIs, Nicky Winterstein hit 2-for-4 with a home run, three runs scored, and two walks, and John Servello was 3-for-5 with a triple, two RBIs, and three runs. Toledo walked 13 times on Sunday, with each player recording at least one free pass.
 
Connor Brandon started on the mound and gave Toledo six shutout innings, striking out four to do his part in Sunday's victory. Cal McAninch and Jordan Power also saw time on the mound for the Rockets out of the bullpen.
 
Toledo dominated the Zips all weekend long, outscoring Akron 37-7 over the course of four games. Trace Hatfield was 9-for-15 with two home runs and eight RBIs , and O'Reilly hit .353 with nine RBIs. Chris Meyers hit .545 with four extra-base hits and seven walks.
 
Next up for the Rockets is a four-game weekend series at Eastern Michigan next weekend.
 
How it Happened

• Hatfield continued his torrid pace at the plate, giving Toledo a 1-0 lead with an RBI single into left field in the bottom of the first.
• Brandon escaped a bases-loaded jams in the second and third inning, using a clutch strikeout to end the second and inducing a 5-4-3 double play to get out of the third.
• Servello tripled in the bottom of the third, then came around to score on a wild pitch to put Toledo ahead 2-0.
• Brandon was able to settle in in the middle innings, needing just nine pitches to get through the fourth, four pitches to work through the fifth, and nine pitches to get out of the sixth.
• In the bottom of the sixth, Winterstein launched a two-run home run over the fence in right-center field to extend Toledo's lead to 4-0. Servello then scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0, and O'Reilly smacked a two-run double to left field to put the Rockets ahead 7-0.
•  Akron's Bryant Shellenbarger got the Zips on the board in the top of the seventh with a two-run home run to right field.
• Meyers drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh and O'Reilly followed that up two batters later with a two-run single to make it 10-2.
• Servello ended the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with a two-run single into left field that made it 12-2 and invoked the NCAA's run rule.

 

  

Head Coach Rob Reinstetle