DAYTON, Ohio – Wright State jumped out to an early lead, and the Toledo baseball team wasn't able to rally in a 22-9 non-conference loss to the Raiders on Wednesday afternoon at Nischwitz Stadium.

"Today starts and ends with the pitching," Head Coach Rob Reinstetle said. "We gave a good Wright State offense 14 free runners via a walk or hit batter and 11 of those 14 scored. I told the team if you took 11 of Wright State's runs off the board, it's anyone's game today. Our offense may have done even better had they not been under such immense pressure to score big."
 
Junior Garret Pike and redshirt freshman Luke Walton each collected four hits to lead the Rockets offensively. Pike also scored three runs and drove in a pair, while Walton tallied a team-best three RBI. Freshman JP Wagner also registered two RBIs for Toledo and was the only other Rocket to register a multi-RBI outing.

"Scoring runs is hard to do if you have to hit to score them and we did that today," Reinstetle said. "We scored nine runs on 11 hits, which are both good metrics, and earned every single one of them. 

Wright State (9-7) took a 5-0 lead in the second inning and added to its advantage in six runs in the fourth for an 11-1 cushion. UT tallied two runs in both the sixth and seventh frames and four more in the eighth, but it wasn't enough.

"I'm not sure how we swept Akron and played such a hard-fought game at Michigan last night and turned around and got the result we did today," Reinstetle said. "It's never okay or acceptable to lose in this fashion, but the silver lining is we are 3-0 in the MAC and go to Western Michigan this weekend with an opportunity to keep gaining momentum in league play. We'll wipe this one away and plow forward."

Toledo (7-10, 3-0 MAC) returns to Mid-American Conference play this weekend when it travels to Kalamazoo, Mich. to face Western Michigan (7-8, 0-0 MAC) on Friday-Sunday, March 15-17.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Wright State loaded the bases on a walk, hit batter, and infield single in the second inning and proceeded to score five runs for a 5-0 lead.
• Nate Hill's two-out RBI single to center field in the top of the fourth brought the Rockets within 5-1.
• The Raiders blew the game open in their next at-bat with six more runs, highlighted by Ben Vore clearing the bases with a two-out double.
• After Toledo added two runs in the sixth, Garret Pike's triple and Luke Walton's single plated two more runs in the seventh.
• The Rockets added four more runs in the eighth with a pair scoring two on JP Wagner's single.