TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo baseball team's hopes for another comeback victory at Scott Park were dashed on Sunday afternoon in a 4-2 Mid-American Conference setback to Ball State. The Rockets (10-13, 6-3 MAC) still won the series against the Cardinals (13-12, 2-7 MAC) even with today's defeat, giving them their first series win over BSU since 2016.
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"We had our chances to tie it up late and just came up short," Head Coach
Rob Reinstetle said. "Ball State is the defending champs in our league, and they've been a perennial top team in the MAC. For us to come in and win the series and be in a position to possibly sweep is a testament to our team. I'm proud of how our guys battled all weekend and know this will propel us into next week and the rest of the season."
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UT trailed by three runs entering the seventh inning, the same deficit it was facing in yesterday's dramatic extra-inning win over the Cardinals. After scoring its first run of the day in the bottom of the seventh, Toledo had a golden opportunity to even the game in the eighth inning when senior
Scott Mackiewicz doubled to right-center put runners on second and third with nobody out. The Rockets could only convert that to one run though on
Luke Walton's sacrifice fly.
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Sophomore southpaw
RJ Shunck (1-3) struck out seven batters in five innings for the Rockets in the defeat. He allowed five hits and three runs, including a pair of solo homers.
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Ball State freshman lefty Keegan Johnson (3-0) earned the win after fanning a season-high 11 batters and allowing just one run and four hits in seven innings.
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Junior
Brayden White led UT offensively by collecting two of the Rockets' six hits.
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Toledo continues its nine-game homestand on Tuesday, March 26 when it hosts Youngstown State. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. at Scott Park.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
- Corey Miley put Ball State in front with a solo homer over the left-field fence in the second.
- Blake Bevis' RBI single increased the Cardinals' lead to 2-0.
- Nick Husovsky added another solo shot for BSU to put the Rockets down 3-0 in the fifth.
- Brayden White doubled to lead off the seventh and scored UT's first run on Wes Parker's groundout.
- Luke Walton's sacrifice fly in the eighth made it a one-run game.
- The Cardinals added an insurance run in the ninth.
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