UT kicks off season with a trio of road defeats

Winter storms may be painting the northern portion of the country white, but that hasn’t stopped the University of Toledo baseball team from thawing out their bats down south.

The Rockets kicked off their 2015 campaign this past weekend in Nashville, facing off against Wright State twice and closing off the trip against Belmont.

“We have been getting ready for this season since last August,” said UT head coach Cory Mee. “We’ve been going through practices and individual workouts for months and for the season to finally get here, it is very exciting to go out and finally get to compete against other teams.”

Toledo finally got their chance to get out on the diamond, but the outcome wasn’t the one they were looking for.

The Rockets fell victim to a sweep in their first action of the season, falling 8-1 to Wright State on Friday, 18-5 to Belmont on Saturday morning and 7-4 to Wright State on Saturday night.

“I expected us to perform better over the weekend,” Mee said. “But I also know this team is willing to prepare and continue to work hard at getting better for next weekend.

“We need to get better every day. As a team, we want to be better at the end of the season than we are now and I think this group is going about that the right way. If you talk to anyone on the team they can’t wait to get back on the diamond on Friday.”

The Rockets’ enthusiasm and ability to move on from tough losses has a lot to do with the mindset that Mee has been preaching to his team all winter. This doesn’t mean, however, that Toledo is ignoring what happened in Nashville.

Senior RHP Cameron Palmer pitched a solid 5.0 innings in the opener. The righty gave up two runs with two hits while striking out eight batters. Sophomore LHP Steven Calhoun tossed 6.2 innings, giving up just two runs on six hits while sitting down seven.

“We had two really good starting pitching performances,” Mee said. “But the eighth inning got us in both games. They [Wright State] hit a couple of home runs that broke the game open and became the deciding factor in both games. We have some very capable guys in the bullpen that we can trust those late innings to. I think next time when they get out there they will do better.”

The UT bullpen will be looking to use senior leadership and experience to help them get through the season. A couple of battle-tested seniors, RHP Andrew Marra and RHP Adam Tyson, will lead the way for the Rockets this season.

“Guys like Marra and Tyson have been very good for us in the past out of the pen and have pitched very well in some big games for us,” Mee said. “I expect they can do that again.”

Mee expects big things from veterans and young guns alike this season.

“We have a number of guys who are ready for a breakout season,” he said. “They have played quite a bit in the past and I believe now they are ready to take the next step. Two really key guys I am excited to get back when they return from injury are [junior shortstop Deion] Tansel and [senior infielder Dan] Zuchowski. We should get them back in a month or so and that will be big going into the Mid-American Conference season.”

Mee and his team are just getting started this year. It’s a long road and the Rockets’ coach knows what it will take to come out on top.

“The formula we put together for winning baseball is that we need to pitch well and play really well defense and hit in the clutch,” Mee said. “The really key thing for this year’s team is consistency.

“We need to prove that we can come in day-in and day-out at a really high level.”

Toledo will head south once again this weekend, taking on Winthrop in Rock Hill, SC for a three-game series.