Rockets Rally Past Golden Flashes in Series Opener

Friday, April 9

5:00 PM

Kent State University

12-12, 0

University of Toledo

7-19, 0

TOLEDO ROCKETS

Kent State

Rockets Rally Past Golden Flashes in Series Opener

4/9/2021 8:09:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

KENT, OHIO- The Toledo Rockets rallied for four runs in the eighth to take game one of the four-game series, 8-7 on a beautiful night at Schoonover Stadium.

The comeback spoiled another strong outing for Luke Albright who struck out a career-high 12 in his five innings of work. Albright allowed five hits, three runs, one earned and walked four in addition to the 12 strike outs, but got the no decision. In total, the Golden Flashes fanned 17 Rockets on Friday.

Albright rebounded from a quick-start Toledo offense as lead-off man Nicky Winterstein tripled off the right-center field wall on the first pitch of the game. He later scored on a double as Toledo jumped out to the early lead.

It stayed 1-0 Toledo into the fourth when Collin Mathews belted a 2-2 pitch from Wyatt Jefferson over the left field wall. His fourth home run of the season was a two-run blast and gave Kent State its first lead of the night.

The back-and-forth game swung in Toledo's favor again in the fifth. The Rockets took advantage of a walk and a pair of errors to score two unearned runs and re-take the lead. The lead wouldn't last long as Jefferson walked the first two batters he faced before giving way to Cal McAninch. He didn't fare much better, hitting Ben Carew on his first pitch to load the bases. Michael Turner then gave the Flashes the lead on a chopper up the middle. The ball hit off of second baseman Scott Mackiewicz's knee, then second base and kicked out into left field. The fortunate break for the Flashes plated two for Kent State. They were just getting started in the fifth, Mathews delivered his third run driven in on a sacrifice fly and Justin Miknis and Cam Touchette followed with run-scoring doubles. Kent State scored five in the fifth to lead 7-3.

The Rockets would start their rally on the bat of Mackiewicz. The freshman who came into the game with one hit on the season, hit solo homers in the sixth and the eighth to make it 7-5. Two singles and a wild pitch plated Toledo's sixth run of the day and Trace Hatfield's two run homer to left gave Toledo the 8-7 lead. Kent State would get runners on in the eighth and the ninth only to see double plays crush the rallies.

The loss evens the Golden Flashes record at 12-12 and 5-4 in the MAC. Toledo moves to 7-19 overall and 5-8 in league play. The teams will meet on Saturday for a pair of seven-inning games. First pitch of game one is slated for 1 p.m.