Rockets continue cold start

The University of Toledo baseball team defeated Charlotte on Friday 3-2 to pick up their first win of the year. UT lost the next three games in the series against the 49ers to drop 1-6-1 on the season.

Pitching fueled the victory for the Rockets with junior Steven Calhoun throwing five innings, only allowing one run during his time on the mound. Calhoun also collected three strikeouts en route to his first win of the season.

“It always feels good to get that first win,” said Head Coach Corey Mee. “We played very well on Friday night, we had good pitching performances from Steven and Casey and manufactured some runs.

“We played really solid defense and that was our recipe for success.”

UT scored all of its three runs in the second, third and fourth innings, holding a 3-1 score advantage after four innings, seniors Lucas Sokol, Ryan Callahan and Deion Tansel all earned RBI’s during the three-score run.

Toledo’s pitching was dominant as freshman relief pitcher Casey Johnson allowed no runs to score in the three innings shutout innings in relief. Freshman Michael Jacob stepped to the rubber in the bottom of the ninth with a two run cushion to seal the deal for his first save of his collegiate career.

Charlotte scored on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Brett Netzer in the ninth inning to cut the lead to one. Jacob struck out the next batter junior Zach Jarrett with a runner in scoring position to win the game.

Offensively sophomore AJ Montoya paced the Rockets by going 2-for-5 at the plate with a triple and a RBI.

“AJ is an important component of our offense,” Mee said. “He’s a guy that makes our offense go and I think he’s really close to breaking out.”

In the first game of Saturday’s double header, Charlotte struck first blood in the second inning by scoring on an infield throwing error by senior Dan Zuchowksi to give the 49ers a 1-0 lead.

Charlotte then stretched their lead to four in the fifth inning after a two-run home run and a fielder’s choice that brought in one.

The Rocket offense got going in the sixth inning when both sophomore AJ Montoya and senior John Martillotta homered to make the score 4-2.

The 49ers responded in the bottom of the frame by scoring seven runs, including a grand slam by junior T.J. Nichting.

Charlotte scored another run in the seventh inning to make the score 12-2.

UT scored two runs in the eighth inning off of a two-run homer by Zuchowski putting a dent in the 49ers lead but it wouldn’t be enough.

Senior pitcher Ross Achter earned the loss in Toledo’s 12-4 defeat. Achter gave up three runs in 4.1 innings of work.

In Saturday’s night cap, UT started out with an early lead after senior Deion Tansel hit a solo shot to left field in the top of the first.

Toledo added to their lead in the third with another home run by Tansel that scored sophomore Matt Hansen to make the score 3-0.

The fourth inning had more action from both sides as the Rockets scored one run in the top of the inning off of a solo home run by junior Josh Cales.

Charlotte then counteracted by scoring three runs in the bottom of the inning to make the score 4-3.

Scoring was halted until the seventh inning when Hansen and Tansel both scored for Toledo in the top half of the inning. Charlotte scored four runs in the bottom of the frame to take their first lead of the game at 7-6.

Both teams exchanged one run in the eighth inning giving Charlottte a one run lead going into the ninth inning.

UT scored in the ninth inning when Zuchowski grounded out into a double play but allowed Tansel to score, tying the game up at 8 to force extra innings.

The game needed 11 innings to come up with a winner. Charlotte scored on a Logan Sherer single to right field that brought in sophomore Hunter Jones for the walk-off win.

“We have to continue to really focus on our preparation,” Mee said. “We need to focus on getting better, that’s one of our goals is to get better everyday.”

On Sunday, the Rocket bats were silenced as they were held to no runs and six hits in the 8-0 loss.

Junior Kyle Slack picked up the loss after tossing three innings and allowing four runs.

A strong spot for the Rockets was sophomore Dalton Bollinger as he went 3 for 4 at the plate with a double. Freshman Michael Jacob threw for two scoreless innings in relief.

UT will return to the diamond this weekend when they travel to Durham to take on Duke for a three game series. Opening pitch is scheduled on Friday, March 4 at 6 p.m.