CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Toledo baseball team notched a season-high 12 hits on Friday afternoon but ended up on the short end of a heartbreaking 6-5 defeat to Southeast Missouri at Capaha Field.
The Rockets (3-5) trailed 3-1 after three innings before tallying single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to knot the score at 3-apiece. UT then plated go-ahead runs in the seventh and eighth innings, only to see the Redhawks (4-6) answer each time before walking it off with a home run in the bottom of the ninth.
"Losing a game like this with a walk-off homer is always hard to swallow," Head Coach
Rob Reinstetle said. "We fought hard today and battled for nine innings, and I am proud of that. I thought both teams played well enough to win in a game that was back-and-forth all day. In the end, you can't give good teams extra outs early in the game and put yourself in a position to get walked off. We have a big day with two games tomorrow and need the same type of fight we showed today for all 18 innings."
Five different Rockets registered multi-hit outings today with freshman
JP Wagner leading the way with a career-high three hits. Junior
Kaleb Herbert (2-for-5), senior
Owen Jackson (2-for-4), junior
Caden Konczak (2-for-3, 2B) and senior
Scott Mackiewicz (2-for-4, 2B, HR) also registered two hits for UT.
Senior
Noah Johnson started for the Rockets and allowed five hits and three runs (two earned) in four innings. Senior
Camryn Szynski (0-1) took the loss for UT after escaping a one-out bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning before surrendering a leadoff home run to Josh Cameron in the ninth.
The Rockets and Redhawks will continue their four-game series with a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader tomorrow. The series will conclude on Sunday, March 3 with a single game at 2:00 p.m.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Toledo took a 1-0 lead in the second on Kaleb Herbert's RBI single to left.
- After the Redhawks responded with three runs in the third, UT tied the score at 3-3 with an RBI single from JP Wagner in the fourth and Brian Fry's sacrifice fly in the fifth.
- Scott Mackiewicz's leadoff homer in the seventh put Toledo in front 4-3, but SEMO evened things up with a sacrifice fly.
- The Rockets took a one-run lead again on Brayden White's sac fly in the eighth but gave up a run in the bottom of the frame.
- Josh Cameron ended the contest in the ninth with a leadoff homer over the right-center field fence.