April 26, 2006

Game One Stats | Game Two Stats

CLEVELAND - Cleveland State defeated Toledo, 5-4 and 11-3, on Wednesday afternoon to improve to 31-10 on the year, joining the 1995 (37) and 1997 (36) squads as the only ones in the 28-year history of the program to top the 30-win plateau. In winning for the 11th time in their last 12 outings, the Vikings raised their record at Viking Field to 12-1.

In the opener, CSU took advantage of a pair of dropped fly balls to score an unearned run in the second and two more in the third. The Vikings went ahead 4-0 when Michele Penney scored on a J.J. Thornberry sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Seemingly in control, CSU starter Grace Luginbuhl was chased in the sixth inning when the Rockets plated four runs on four hits and a walk. However, Kortney Spidell came in to squelch the rally by inducing a flyout.

Christa Coppus started the winning rally by leading off the seventh with a single. She then stole second, moved to third on an error and came around to score the winning run on a single by Kaitlin Guyette.

Spidell tossed a hitless 1.1 inning in relief to improve to 9-3 on the year.

Toledo's Sierra Pereira (7-15) took the complete game loss, allowing nine hits and one earned run.

The Vikings took full advantage of the Rockets' (13-34) struggles in the field again in game two, striking for six unearned runs in the second inning. Luginbuhl had the big hit in the frame with a bases-clearing triple.

J.J. Thornberry added her fifth home run with a runner on in the fourth, while Michelle Nicholas finished 3-for-3 with a double and three RBI.

Spidell allowed eight hits and a pair of earned runs in four innings to earn her fifth consecutive victory and improve to 10-3 on the year.

Stephanie Moore took the loss in 1.1 inning of work to fall to 6-19.

"We did a good job of making Toledo pay for their mistakes today," CSU head coach Julie Jones said. "It's nice to have 31 wins, but they don't mean anything right now. It was more important to pick up a couple of wins heading into a big weekend."

Cleveland State is in action again this weekend (April 29-30) as the Vikings travel to Wright State for a three-game Horizon League series.