TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo baseball team has a pair of midweek contests on the docket this week. The Rockets will visit Dayton on Tuesday, April 25 before returning home to host Bowling Green on Wednesday, April 26.
First pitch for Tuesday's game at Dayton is set for 3:00 p.m., while Wednesday's contest vs. BGSU will begin at 4:00 p.m. UT's game will be televised locally on BCSN and streamed live on ESPN+.
The Rockets and Falcons will be competing in non-conference action on Wednesday, UT's first home game since April 12. The two rivals will battle again during the final weekend of the regular season in Mid-American Conference play.
Last Time Out
Toledo took two out of three at Eastern Michigan this past weekend, winning the first two games of the series before dropping the finale on Sunday.
In Friday's 10-4 win, the Rockets wasted no time getting things going offensively. They scored seven runs in the top of the first, batting around to take control of the game early. UT scored three runs in the top of the third to bring its total into double digits. That would be more than enough to earn the victory. All nine starters reached base and scored a run in Friday's victory. Caden Konczak went 2-for-4 with four RBIs, tallying a triple and a home run at the plate. Brian Fry and Brayden White both had two hits and drove in runs as well.
Toledo pulled out a 10-9 win on Saturday to clinch the series. The Rockets reached double digits in runs for the third straight game, but saw more offensive resistance from the Eagles. Despite EMU pounding out 14 hits on Saturday, Toledo responded each time with a strong offensive inning of its own to pull ahead and win the game and the series.
Rewriting the Record Book
One significant school record fell on Saturday at Eastern Michigan and several more are likely to happen in the coming weeks
- Toledo broke its single-season home run record on Saturday when Owen Jackson clubbed the 66th homer of the year. The previous single-season home run record was 65 by the 2002 squad. UT now has 67 home runs on the year.
- Mason Sykes also hit his 35th career homer on Saturday which is tied with Dan Sherwood (2008-11) for most career home runs in school history.
- Sykes already owns the single-season home run record, setting that mark with 16 homers last year. Jackson is on pace to break that mark and sits at 14 home runs entering play on Tuesday. Jackson has homered in back-to-back games.
- Jeron Williams leads all of college baseball with 35 stolen bases this year, one away from tying Tyler Grogg's single-season school record of 36 thefts that he set in 2013.
- One of the top fielding teams in the country, Toledo's .979 fielding percentage this year ranks 22nd in the nation and would be the highest in a single season in school history.
About Dayton
Dayton owns a 14-26 record entering play on Tuesday. The two teams were supposed to play at Scott Park on April 5 but that game was rained out. The Flyers are led offensively by Ben Jones, who leads the team with a .372 batting average and 26 RBIs. Jones is one of the toughest players to strike out in the nation; he has been struck out just eight times in 137 at-bats. Marcos Pujols leads Dayton with nine home runs on the year.
About Bowling Green
Bowling Green is 14-22 and 8-13 in MAC play this year and is coming off a winless weekend at Western Michigan. Kyle Gurney (.328) and DJ Newman (.321) are the lone Falcons batting above .300 on the season. Nathan Rose is tied for sixth in the MAC with 13 doubles.
Next Up
Toledo hosts Western Michigan for a three-game conference series this weekend.
