TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo baseball team hosts Northern Illinois this weekend in its final home series of the 2022 season.
The series will open with a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 1:00 p.m., followed by single games on Saturday and Sunday that will also both start at 1:00 p.m. All four games will be televised locally on BCSN and streamed live on ESPN3.
Prior to Saturday's game, the Rockets will honor seven student-athletes as a part of their Senior Day recognition:
Matt Detering,
Justin Diaz,
Nicky Winterstein,
Jordan Power,
Darryn Davis,
Zach Schwartzenberger, and
John Servello.
Toledo (28-20, 19-13) will wrap up its 2022 regular season at Central Michigan next weekend.
Last Time Out
Toledo met Bowling Green at Fifth Third Field on Tuesday night and fell to the Falcons by a score of 5-4 in front of 2,618 fans.
For the second straight season, the Rockets and Falcons engaged in a back-and-forth affair in downtown Toledo. BGSU used a four-run bottom of the third to take an early 4-1 lead, but Toledo fought back to tie the game at 4-4 in the top of the seventh. Bowling Green then scored the go-ahead run on a suicide squeeze in the bottom of the eighth and squashed a potential UT rally in the top of the ninth to win, 5-4.
Nicky Winterstein had a terrific night at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.
Darryn Davis added a two-run home run and
Trey Wright went 2-for-4 at the plate.
John Servello walked three times and played outstanding defense in right field all night.
Rocket Notes
- The Rockets are 14-5 at home this season, their most wins playing at home since they won 16 home contests in 2007.
- Kyle Jones has been a driving force behind Toledo's strong pitching, leading the MAC in both strikeouts (93, 19th in the country) and innings pitched (69.2) while sitting in fifth in ERA (3.57). Jones has thrown at least six innings in 11 of 12 starts this season and has struck out at least eight on seven occasions.
- Jones' 93 strikeouts put him within striking distance of the single-season strikeout record, currently held by Jeremy Griffiths (102, 1999).
- One more note on Jones – he ranks first in the MAC and 26th in the country in K/BB ratio (6.64). He has 93 strikeouts to just 14 walks on the year.
- The pitching staff as a whole has done a much better job of limiting free bases this season; Toledo's hurlers have allowed 157 walks, second-fewest in the MAC.
- John Servello ranks fourth all-time in career doubles (49), fifth all-time in career total bases (359) and walks (89), and sixth all-time in career hits (245) and runs scored).
- Two of the top workhorse starting pitchers in the MAC are Rockets - Kyle Jones (56.2) and Connor Brandon (49.0) rank one and two, respectively, in innings pitched in conference games.
About Northern Illinois
Northern Illinois is 11-35 entering this weekend and owns a 10-20 MAC record. The Huskies have split their last two weekend series, going 2-2 against Eastern Michigan at home last weekend and 2-2 at Western Michigan the weekend before. Carlos Aranda is the team's leading hitter, sporting a .318 batting average and a .485 slugging percentage. The Huskies' pitching staff owns a collective 8.22 ERA and has 264 strikeouts compared to 241 walks.
