TOLEDO, Ohio – Junior Caden Konczak crushed two late-inning homers, including a two-out, walk-off blast in the 11th inning, to lead the Toledo baseball team to a dramatic 7-5 come-from-behind victory over Ball State on Saturday afternoon at Scott Park.
 
"Wow! What a game!" Head Coach Rob Reinstetle said. "We battled back and clawed our way back into it. Caden Konczak was fantastic today. We could have won it in the 9th, 10th, and finally got it done on another Konczak blast."

Konczak, who drove in five runs as part of a career-high five-hit day, hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning to cut Ball State's advantage to 5-4 and provided the Rockets an opportunity to send the game into extra innings. UT tied the game in the ninth with a no-out bases-loaded walk to Owen Jackson but couldn't do any additional damage. Two innings later, Konczak came up with two outs and one on in the 11th inning and hit the first pitch he saw over the right-field fence to set off a wild celebration at home plate.
 
Toledo's bullpen also came through with another tremendous outing. Senior Camryn Szynski threw 3.1 hitless innings after entering the game in the seventh inning. Senior Kyle Pijaszek (2-1) picked up the victory by holding the Cardinals scoreless in the 11^th.

"The bullpen was great again today and kept them from extending their lead and gave us a chance to do what we did," Reinstetle said.
 
Ball State lefthander Merritt Beeker stymied the Rockets' offense through the first five innings until UT broke through for a pair of runs in the sixth. He finished the day with 11 strikeouts and allowed just one walk in six innings.
 
"My hat goes off to Ball State's starter," Reinstetle said. "He was really good and held our offense in check for a good chunk of the game. Once we got into the bullpen, we really started hitting and got back into it."
 
Senior Scott Mackiewicz also had a big day at the plate for Toledo, going 4-for-5. Redshirt freshman Luke Walton (2-for-6, RBI) was the only other Rocket with a multi-hit outing.
 
The Rockets (10-12, 6-2 MAC) and Cardinals (12-12, 1-7) will close out their three-game Mid-American Conference series at Scott Park tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Ball State scored a run in the first and two more in the second to take a 3-0 lead.
• The Cardinals increased their margin to 5-0 in the fourth inning on Blake Bevis' two-run double to right.
• Toledo finally broke through in the sixth with its first two runs coming home on run-scoring singles from Luke Walton and Caden Konczak.
• Konczak came through again for the Rockets in the eighth with a two-run homer over the right-field fence to make it a one-run game.
• The Rockets tied the score when Owen Jackson drew a bases-loaded walk with nobody out in the ninth. UT couldn't capitalize though as Brady Owens struck out the next three Rocket batters.
• Konczak ended the game with a two-run walk-off homer with two out in the 11^th inning.