HIGH POINT, N.C. – The Toledo baseball team split its Saturday doubleheader against High Point, taking game one 6-0 before falling in an extra-inning affair in game two, 5-4.
"We played really well in game one," head coach
Rob Reinstetle said. "We got a good start on the mound from
Kyle Music. Both
Patrick Dillon and
Gavin Starcher were good in relief. We hit well and played solid defense too. Game two was a very hard-fought game and an awful way to lose. I'm proud of the way the guys battled for 10 innings.
Jordan Power gave us a quality start and both Brennen McCune and
Camryn Szynski threw well out of bullpen.
"Our defense was elite today. We hit the ball well once again, but could never get that big knock-out hit. That was the difference. This game will serve us well in the future. We'll have close games like these in MAC play and I have no doubt we'll win more than we lose. We have a chance to win the series tomorrow."
The Rockets opened the day with a big win in the first game, posting their first shutout of the young season. Three pitchers combined to allow just three hits. Junior
Kyle Music started the game and tossed six shutout innings while striking out three. Redshirt freshman
Patrick Dillon tossed two perfect frames out of the bullpen while recording three punchouts, and sophomore
Gavin Starcher pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth.
At the plate, Toledo got home runs from sophomore
Scott Mackiewicz and freshman
Brian Fry. Both players drove in two runs and tallied two hits, and redshirt freshman
Trey Wright added an RBI on a double in the third inning.
The Rockets led for much of game two, but ended up falling in extra innings. High Point tied it up with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, then won the game on a bases-loaded walk in the 10
th.
Senior
John Servello went 3-for-5 at the plate and both Mackiewicz and Sykes collected two hits. Senior
Jordan Power started the game and struck out five across three innings, while both freshman
Brennan McCune and sophomore
Camryn Szynski saw time out of the bullpen. McCune threw three innings in relief.
The series finale is scheduled for Sunday at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
How it Happened (Game 1)
- Mackiewicz opened the scoring with a solo home run in the top of the third.
- Two batters later, Wright ripped an RBI double to bring around another run and put Toledo up 2-0.
- Mackiewicz struck again in the top of the fourth with an RBI single to make it 3-0. Pike led off the inning with a base hit then came around to score on the single from Mackiewicz.
- High Point put runners in scoring position three times against Music, but each time he stranded the lead runner on second base and escaped with zero damage.
- Toledo plated three insurance runs in the top of the eighth. Sophomore Jeron Williams scored on an error, and Fry launched his first career home run in the next at-bat, blasting a 1-2 pitch over the fence in right field to make it 6-0.
How it Happened (Game 2)
- Toledo struck first with three runs in the top of the second. Senior Nicky Winterstein led off with a single and later scored on a groundout, then Fry brought home the second run of the inning on an RBI double. He would come around to score on Servello's two-out base hit to put the Rockets ahead 3-0.
- The Panthers got on the board for the first time with an RBI single in the bottom of the second.
- High Point made it 3-2 with a sac fly in the bottom of the third.
- Mackiewicz led off the top of the fifth with a home run, his second of the season, to make it 4-2.
- The Panthers tied the game at 4-4 with a two-run bottom of the sixth. An RBI double made it a one-run game, then Jackson Melton drove in the tying run with a two-out single.
- Neither team posed much of the threat over the final three innings, pushing the contest into extras.
- The Rockets loaded the bases in the top of the 10th, but couldn't push across the go-ahead run.
- High Point loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning and drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in the game-winning tally.
