AVON, Ohio – The No. 6 seed Toledo baseball team jumped out in front and pulled away in a wire-to-wire 8-4 victory against No. 4 seed Miami to begin day three of the 2024 Mid-American Conference Baseball Championship at Crushers Stadium on Friday.
 
Toledo advances to play its third elimination game in two days, taking on No. 3 Ball State in a rematch of Wednesday's opening round at 2:00 p.m. today. This afternoon's matchup will again be streamed on ESPN+.
 
Toledo (27-31) scored three runs in the top of the first inning and didn't allow the Redhawks (27-27) to score after the first until the ninth inning. The Rockets extended their lead with one run in the third and two each in the fifth and sixth innings to put away the game.
 
Freshman Charlie Scholvin tied a career high with three hits, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Senior Owen Jackson matched Scholvin with two RBIs, going 1-for-3 with two runs scored. Juniors Garret Pike and Brayden White and redshirt freshman Luke Walton each recorded two hits, as Pike and Walton each scored twice, and Walton and White each had one RBI.
 
All told, every player in the lineup contributed at least one hit. Toledo reached 14 hits as a team for the first time since April 27 at Ohio, when the Rockets recorded 17 base knocks.
 
Sophomore Jackson Bergman (4-6) delivered a career-high 8.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, striking out three batters to just one walk and inducing two double plays. The 8.1 innings were the most thrown by any Toledo pitcher this year. Senior Kyle Pijaszek recorded the final two outs of the game.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Rockets loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the first when Charlie Scholvin plated two on a single to left-center. Toledo then re-loaded the bases, allowing Owen Jackson to drive in a run on a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 advantage.
• Miami used three singles in the bottom of the first to get on the board and cut its deficit to 3-1.
• Jackson drilled a solo home run to center field for a 4-1 lead in the third.
• A single, a walk and a wild pitch put Rockets on second and third with one out in the fifth. Trey Wright then came home on another wild pitch and Brayden White delivered an RBI groundout to push Toledo's lead to 6-1.
• Garret Pike led off the sixth with a double and came home on Luke Walton's RBI single to make it 7-1. JP Wagner then added a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to pad the lead to 8-1.
• Miami closed the scoring with an RBI single, RBI double and a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 8-4.