CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Toledo baseball team slugged a season-best four homers and erupted for a season-high run total in a 10-9 victory over Southeast Missouri (6-7) Sunday afternoon at Capaha Field. The Rockets (4-7) had dropped a 6-5 decision in Friday's series opener before falling in both ends of a doubleheader yesterday.
"Baseball is a funny game," Head Coach
Rob Reinstetle said. "We played very well on Friday and lost in heart-breaking fashion against a really good team that will easily contend to win their league. Yesterday was a rough day where nothing went our way. Today we came out and played well to get a hard-fought win."
Four different Rockets delivered a long ball today with senior
Owen Jackson and junior
Brayden White registering three-run homers in a seven-run fourth inning to give Toledo a 9-3 cushion. White led UT with three hits, while senior
Scott Mackiewicz and freshman
JP Wagner each notched two hits.
Sophomore
RJ Shunck (1-1) picked up the win by allowing six hits and three runs with six strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Freshman
Jacob Tabor earned his first collegiate save by fanning four batters and yielding just one run in 2.2 innings.
"I'm so proud of how we fought and fended off their late charges," Reinstetle said. "Our pitching was solid all day. RJ gave us a good start, and Jacob was outstanding at the end."
Toledo will visit Dayton on Wednesday, March 6 in its final tuneup before opening its Mid-American Conference season next weekend at Akron.
"Our pre-season is over and now we start mid-week games and conference play," Reinstetle said. "We wanted to use our first three weekends of the season to find things out about ourselves. I feel like we accomplished that and are ready to go."
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HOW IT HAPPENED
- Caden Konczak's home run to left-center gave the Rockets a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
- Toledo tacked on another run in the top of the third inning on Garret Pike's run-scoring single.
- SEMO answered with three runs in the bottom of the third for its only lead of the day.
- Three-run homers from Owen Jackson and Brayden White highlighted a seven-run fourth inning that put UT in front 9-3.
- The Redhawks reduced the Rockets' lead to 9-8 with a run in the fifth, three in the sixth and two more in the seventh.
- Scott Mackiewicz's homer in the eighth provided Toledo with an insurance run.
- The Redhawks scored a run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly but Jacob Tabor closed the door with the tying run at first base.