MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A pair of big innings for Central Michigan doomed the Toledo baseball team in Friday's doubleheader as the Rockets dropped game one, 8-2, before losing the second game by a score of 7-6.
 
The sixth inning proved to be unlucky for Toledo on Friday. After leading the Chippewas in both games, the Rockets surrendered seven runs in the sixth inning of game one and six runs in the sixth in game two to squander both leads.  
 
The Rockets (32-23, 23-15 MAC) still sit in third place in the Mid-American Conference standings ahead of Ohio (29-22, 20-15 MAC). A win or a Bobcat loss on Saturday would clinch the No. 3 seed for Toledo, but if the Rockets lose and Ohio wins UT will slide down to the No. 4 seed. Ball State (37-17, 31-7 MAC) sits a half-game up on CMU (28-16, 30-7 MAC) atop the standings and can clinch the regular season title with a win tomorrow. The regular-season champion will host next week's MAC Tournament.
 
"This is a tough day to swallow," head coach Rob Reinstetle said. "It won't show up in the wins and losses, but we've played 25 innings here and outplayed them in 23 of them. Today we had two awful innings where we gave up six and seven runs out of the bullpen. That's tough to combat. The formula against CMU is simple: throw strikes and limit their free passes. We failed to do that in those two innings today and it cost us big. Tomorrow is a big day and many things will be decided. Who wins the league and gets to host, and for us a chance to wrap up the No. 3 seed."
 
Sophomore Connor Brandon started the first game and struck out five in five innings, while senior Jordan Power started game two and registered two punchouts in 5.1 innings of work.
 
Freshman Brian Fry had a solid day at the plate, recording at least one hit and one RBI in each game. Fry was one of three Rockets to have a multi-hit effort in game two, with junior Mason Sykes and freshman Brayden White joining that club. White, freshman Garret Pike, and sophomore Jeron Williams drove in runs in the second contest as well.
 
Saturday's regular-season finale is set to begin at 1:00 p.m.
 
How it Happened (Game 1)

• Toledo got on the scoreboard first with a run in the top of the second. Pike led off the inning with a double and later scored on a Central Michigan error to give UT a 1-0 lead.
• The Chippewas loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth and managed to bring in the tying run on a sac fly.
• A seven-run bottom of the sixth for the Chippewas proved to be too much for the Rockets to overcome.
• Toledo answered with a run in the top of the seventh on a two-out RBI double from Fry, but it was too little too late.

 
How it Happened (Game 2)

• Sykes scored on a passed ball in the top of the second for the game's first run.
• CMU tied it up on an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to put the score at 1-1.
• The Rockets responded with three runs in the top of the fifth to take a 4-1 lead. Fry broke the tie with an RBI double, and Williams singled up the middle to score Fry. Three batters later, Pike drove in Williams on a base hit to give the Rockets a three-run cushion.
• Toledo plated two more runs on back-to-back RBI singles by White and Fry in the top of the sixth to extend its lead to 6-1.
• Central Michigan once again had a big sixth inning, scoring six runs to flip the script and take a 7-6 lead.
• The Rockets were unable to put together a rally in the final three innings and fell to the Chippewas for the second time today.