The end of the regular season did not go according to plan for the University of Toledo baseball team.
On the final weekend, the Rockets were swept by archrival Bowling Green, dropping them to the No. 6 seed in the Mid-American Conference tournament. But the downward spiral began before that.
UT was 19-16 overall and 12-5 in the MAC when it took the field at Scott Park on Sunday afternoon, April 14, the last day in a three-game series against Kent State. The Golden Flashes prevailed, and Toledo is still trying to recover, losing 14 of 20 games, including 7 of 11 in the conference.
Rob Reinstetle isn’t concerned, though. The MAC tournament represents a clean slate for the Rockets.
“It doesn’t matter what you did in the previous 55 games, good or bad,” Reinstetle said. “It matters what you do in these next four or five days. And that’s all that matters. For the guys that are struggling, you’re hoping that their mindset is, it's a fresh start. I’ve learned a lot over 55 games. I know where I’ve made mistakes, and now I just have to keep on being good for the next four or five days and do the best that we possibly can.”
(Video credit: Mid-American Conference)
Toledo plays third-seeded Ball State at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at Crushers Stadium in Avon. If the Rockets win, they will play top-seeded Bowling Green at 2 p.m. Thursday. If UT loses, it plays the loser of Miami-Kent State at 10 a.m. Thursday.
The Rockets finished eighth in batting in the MAC, with a team average of just .264. They had the second-most home runs (86), but they were last in doubles (75) and triples (4) and ranked in the bottom half in runs (347) and slugging percentage (.445).
“We were scorching, and we were scoring a lot of runs, and we were hitting everything. And then we went into our little swoon in the middle of April,” Reinstetle said. “That’s been the biggest difference between the first half of MAC play for us. The difference has been our offense, and while Garret Pike has continued to excel, we’ve had some other key guys in our lineup that have not had a good second half. We’re going to need those guys to buy into that whole third fresh breath of air.”
Plate deficiencies have been addressed on the mound, where Toledo’s 5.78 earned run average is the best in the MAC. The Rockets allowed the fewest doubles (72), second-fewest hits (501), third-fewest triples (8) and earned runs (307), and fifth-fewest home runs (63) and walks (254).
Opponents hit a MAC-worst .272 against UT pitchers.
“I feel good about our chances because statistically, we’ve had arguably the best pitching staff in the MAC,” Reinstetle said. “And I feel like we have probably the deepest bullpen. So I know our pitching is going to be able to withstand having to play four or five games over the course of four days.”
Individually, Virginia Tech transfer Grant Umberger has thrived. The lefty led the MAC with a 3.82 ERA. He ranked third in runs allowed (34), fifth in wins (5), sixth in hits allowed (59), and seventh in strikeouts (75). Opponents only hit .225 against Umberger and he surrendered 17 extra base hits.
Pike, a former Anthony Wayne standout who’s surging up draft boards, slugged a program-record 20 home runs and drove in 53 runs. He also broke UT’s career home run record (39). He enters the postseason leading the MAC in home runs and hits (80) and ranks in the top 10 in seven other offensive categories.
And he isn’t one-dimensional. The center fielder had 118 putouts and a .992 fielding percentage, 13th-best among all MAC fielders.
“We can beat anyone,” Reinstetle said. “Yes, we got swept by Bowling Green. But every single one of those games could have gone either way. Every game ended with us having a chance to tie it or win it.
“So can we play with Bowling Green? Absolutely. Can we beat them? Sure, we can. Same thing with Ball State and Kent and all of them. There’s nobody that I feel is just head and shoulders above everyone.”
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