TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo baseball program ended its 2023 season on Saturday with a doubleheader vs. Bowling Green at Fifth Third Field in Downtown Toledo. The Rockets won the first game, 19-7, before dropping the second game by a score of 16-5.

Prior to game one, Toledo honored eight seniors during its Senior Day recognition: Noah Matousek, Sam Servello, Parker Newby, Daunte DeCello, Kade Wroot, Marcus Strother, Cal McAninch, and Mason Sykes.

Toledo's 2023 season left an indelible mark on the record books. Several team and individual records were broken and several other marks rank among the Top 10 in school history:

Team Records

• Offensively, the Rockets set single-season school records for home runs (98) and stolen bases (101). The previous record for most home runs in a season was 65 (2002) and the previous record for most stolen bases was 85 (2022).
• For the third straight season, the pitching staff set a new program record for most strikeouts in a season (454).
• Defensively, UT's .979 fielding percentage was the highest in school history. That mark broke the previous school record of .976 set in 1976.

Individual Records

• Jeron Williams wrapped up one of the best offensive seasons ever by a Rocket on Saturday. The Archbold, Ohio native shattered the school record for most stolen bases in a season (49) and was one away from tying the Mid-American Conference single-season stolen base record. His 162 total bases are a new single-season record as well, besting the mark of 152 set by Sean Dobson in 2004. Williams ends his season with 96 hits (second-most ever in a season), 67 runs scored (third-most ever), 14 home runs (tied for eighth-most ever), and a .403 batting average, making him the first Rocket since Mitch Maier in 2003 to hit at least .400 in a season and just the eighth Toledo player ever to reach that benchmark in a season.
• Owen Jackson's 16 home runs were tied for the most ever in a season in school history, matching Mason Sykes' record-setting mark of 16 homers from a season ago. Sykes and Garret Pike both hit 15 home runs, tying them with three other players (Chris Meyers, Ross Adolph, and Mike Ernst) for third-most ever in a season. Of the seven largest single-season home run totals in school history, three were achieved this season.
• Speaking of Sykes, he ends his career with 38 home runs, more than any other player in Toledo history. He also finishes his career inside the Top 10 in career RBIs, finishing tied for seventh with 131.
• Cal McAninch finishes his collegiate career with just 28 walks in 148.0 innings, which comes to .189 walks per inning, the second-best rate ever by a Rocket pitcher. McAninch also ends his career with 11 saves, which is tied for sixth-most all-time. He pitched in 26 games in 2023, tied for third-most ever in a season by a UT pitcher.
• Owen Jackson (35 walks) and Caden Konczak (34 walks) both collected two of the 10 highest single-season walk totals ever by a Rocket. Jackson's total is tied for sixth-most ever and Konczak is now tied for eighth.

Toledo ends its 2023 season with a record of 26-29 and a 14-16 record in MAC play.

Game 1 – Toledo 19, Bowling Green 7
Game one was arguably the Rockets' best offensive performance of the season. The 19 runs scored were a season-high and their seven home runs tied for their highest single-game total of the year.

Bowling Green grabbed an early lead with four runs in the top of the first, but Toledo answered with three runs in the first and three in the second to take a 6-5 lead. UT continued to pile it on, scoring three runs in the fourth and two in the fifth before a seven-run eighth inning blew the game open for good.

Three of the seven home runs came off the bat of Jeron Williams, who turned in one of the best single-game performances by a Rocket hitter in recent memory. Williams went 4-for-6 with three home runs, a triple, five RBIs, and four runs scored. He's the first Toledo player with three home runs in a game since Jared Hoying in 2010 and the first player with at least 14 total bases in a game since Dan Sherwood in 2010.

Garret Pike had a multi-homer day as well, going 3-for-6 with two homers and four RBIs. Caden Konczak went 4-for-5 with a home run, four RBIs, and four runs scored hitting between Williams and Pike, and Mason Sykes hit a home run as well. Brian Fry had a great game at the plate too, tying a career high with three hits.

Brennan McCune earned the win with 4.1 solid innings and Cal McAninch ended his collegiate career being credited for 4.0 scoreless frames and three strikeouts. McAninch didn't allow a run in his final nine outings of the year, a stretch that totaled 26.0 innings.

How it Happened

• Bowling Green grabbed an early lead with a four-run top of the first, with Nathan Rose's three-run home run providing the bulk of the offensive production.
• Jeron Williams led off the bottom of the first with a home run and two batters later Garret Pike slugged a two-run homer to make it 4-3.
• BGSU tacked on another run in the top of the second on a wild pitch to extend its lead to 5-3.
• Caden Konczak gave Toledo its first lead of the game in the bottom of the second, making it 6-5 with a three-run home run to right field.
• Williams' second home run of the game led off the bottom of the fourth, and later in the inning Brayden White and Brian Fry tallied back-to-back RBI singles to push the lead to 9-5.
• Pike's no-doubt, two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth made it 11-5.
• Bowling Green's Justin Fugitt's two-run double down the left field line made it 11-7 in the top of the sixth.
• Williams' third home run hit the scoreboard and increased the Rockets' lead to 12-7 in the bottom of the seventh.
• The bottom of the eighth was the Rockets' biggest inning of the game, during which they batted around and scored seven runs to make the score 19-7. Scott Mackiewicz opened the scoring with a, RBI single and Williams capped his otherworldly day with a two-run triple to center field. Konczak followed with an RBI single and Mason Sykes's three-run home run put an exclamation mark on Toledo's big win.

Game 2 – Bowling Green 16, Toledo 5
The Falcons took hold of game two early on and didn't look back. With the score tied at 1-1 after the first inning, BGSU scored five runs in the second and seven runs in the third to seize control and didn't let go.

In his final game as a Rocket, Mason Sykes went 3-for-5 with two RBIs at the plate. Fellow senior Daunte DeCello ended his collegiate career on a high note as well, going 2-for-4 with a home run.

How it Happened (Game 2)

• BGSU took an early lead again in game two, scoring a run on a bases-loaded walk in the top of the first inning.
• Garret Pike reached on a walk and stole second base in the bottom of the first, allowing him to score easily on Mason Sykes' single to tie the score at 1-1.
• A five-run top of the second, highlighted by a grand slam off the bat of Tyler Ross, gave the Falcons a 6-1 lead.
• Toledo made it a 6-3 ballgame in the bottom of the second. Two runs scored on a play in which Bowling Green committed two errors to shave the deficit to three runs.
• The Falcons blew the game open with a seven-run top of the third to make it 13-3. They scored another run in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to 14-3.
• Playing in his final game, Daunte DeCello homered down the left field line in the bottom of the sixth.
• BGSU added two more runs in the top of the ninth to bring about the final score of 16-5.