TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo baseball team put together a rally in the ninth inning of Sunday's game vs. Western Michigan, but fell short in a 9-6 loss at Scott Park.

The first three Rocket batters reached base in the ninth inning, and two of them scored to cut the Bronco lead to 9-6. Following back-to-back free bases courtesy of the WMU pitching staff, Toledo loaded the bases with two outs, putting the winning run at the plate. Unfortunately, the rally ended there.

Toledo (20-24, 8-13 MAC), the MAC's most prolific power-hitting team, slugged three home runs on Sunday to bring its weekend total to 11. Junior Jeron Williams, sophomore Brian Fry, and freshman Wesley Parker all hit homers in the series finale.

Williams went 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs and a stolen base. The nation's leader in stolen bases entering the weekend, Williams now has 39 thefts on the year.

Fry went 2-for-4 at the dish and Parker's home run on Sunday was his second of the weekend. Sophomore Garret Pike tallied a multi-hit effort and sophomore Owen Jackson walked twice.

Five different pitchers saw time on the mound, with freshman Nathan Leininger making his first start of the year. Senior Cal McAninch was the most effective pitcher, striking out two in one inning of work.

Toledo will visit Northern Illinois next weekend for its final road conference series of the year.

• Western Michigan's Cade Sullivan opened the scoring with a two-run home run in the top of the first inning.
• Wesley Parker halved the deficit with a solo shot in the second, making the score 2-1.
• A two-run single for WMU in the top of the third increased its lead to 4-1, and a sac fly in the fourth made it 5-1.
• Troy Sudbrook led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and scored three pitches later when Jeron Williams laced a double down the line in left field to make it 5-2.
• Sullivan struck again in the top of the sixth. His second home run of the game put the score at 7-2.
• Toledo made it 7-4 with a pair of solo homers in the bottom of the seventh. Brian Fry led off the inning with a homer and Williams crushed the first pitch he saw for a home run as well.
• Western Michigan tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth to make it 9-4.
• Sudbrook reached first after being hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the ninth, and he came in to score two batters later on Pike's RBI single. Mason Sykes drove in a run on a sac fly to put the score at 9-6, and Brayden White and Caden Konczak followed that up with an HBP and a walk, respectively. The game ended in an unconventional way when Parker, facing a two-strike count, was issued an automatic strike three after the umpire ruled that he did not make an attempt to get out of the way of a pitch, marking an unsatisfying end for the Midnight Blue and Gold.