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Mason Sykes vs. Ohio
Mason Sykes' home run in Sunday's game at Samford was the 34th of his career, putting him one away from tying the school record for career home runs.
5
Toledo TOLEDO 15-20
10
Winner Samford SAM 21-15
Toledo TOLEDO
15-20
5
Final
10
Samford SAM
21-15
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Toledo TOLEDO 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 1 5 9 0
Samford SAM 0 4 1 0 0 0 4 1 X 10 11 0

W: Will Lynch (3-2) L: LeLito, Matt (1-3)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Rockets Suffer 10-5 Setback at Samford on Sunday

Mason Sykes hits 34th career home run, one away from tying UT career record

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Toledo baseball team wrapped up its weekend series at Samford with a 10-5 loss on Sunday afternoon.

The Bulldogs (21-15) grabbed an early lead thanks to a four-run second inning, but the Rockets (15-20) fought back to pull within a run in the top of the seventh. With the score at 5-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh, Samford plated four runs to extend its lead back to five and Toledo was unable to mount a comeback in the final innings.

"We had another disappointing day today," head coach Rob Reinstetle said. "We fought and clawed our way back to a 5-4 game going into the last two innings, but Samford hit a grand slam to pull away from us. We showed we still had a pulse offensively today, which was good to see again. Unfortunately, we gave up a big four-run inning early and a big four-run inning late. We certainly have our work cut out for us. We still control our own destiny in a lot of ways with these five remaining MAC weekends left. We need to get some confidence back and stop feeling sorry for ourselves, because nobody else does. There's only one way to be and that's to toughen up and claw our way back into things."

Senior Mason Sykes went 2-for-5 at the plate and hit his 11th home run of the season. He now has 34 home runs in his career, tied with Jared Hoying (2008-11) for second place all-time in school history. Sykes is one home run away from tying Dan Sherwood's (2008-11) school record of 35 career home runs.

Junior Jeron Williams also homered on Sunday and went 3-for-4 at the plate while tallying three stolen bases. Williams has 33 stolen bases this season, which is three behind Tyler Grogg's single-season school record of 36 stolen bases in 2013. The Archbold, Ohio native stole six bags this weekend at Samford and is now leading the nation in stolen bases.

Toledo will visit Big Ten foe Michigan on Wednesday, April 19 before resuming MAC play next weekend at Eastern Michigan.

How it Happened
  • Samford struck first with a four-run bottom of the second to take a 4-0 lead. Kaden Dreier's two-run homer highlighted the inning and Garret Staton also drove in two runs on a double.
  • The Bulldogs added a run in the bottom of the third to make it 5-0.
  • Toledo got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth to cut into Samford's lead. Jeron Williams led off the inning with an infield single, and Troy Sudbrook and Owen Jackson both drew walks to load the bases. Facing an 0-2 count with two outs, Trey Wright laced a single through the right side of the infield to bring home two runs and make it 5-2.
  • Mason Sykes left the yard in the bottom of the seventh, launching a two-run home run to make it a 5-4 game.
  • Samford's Dreier provided the biggest swing of the day in the bottom of the seventh, making the score 9-4 on a two-out grand slam.
  • The Bulldogs scored another run in the eighth to put the score at 10-4.
  • Williams hit the first pitch of the top of the ninth over the fence in left field to make it 10-5, but Samford retired the final three Rocket hitters in order to end the game.
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