TOLEDO (Interstat) — Brody Williams’ two-run home run in the first inning and a decisive unearned run in the eighth lifted the Kent State Golden Flashes to a 4-3 victory over the Toledo Rockets on Thursday afternoon at Scott Park.

Kent State, the Mid-American Conference leader, improved to 38-12 overall and 19-5 in conference play. Toledo dropped to 28-26 and 13-11.

The Golden Flashes struck quickly in the top of the first. Luke Matthews doubled to left field and stole third before Williams launched a home run to right field, scoring both runners for a 2-0 lead. Kent State added a run in the fourth when Alejandro Covas walked, stole second and scored on Brady Marshall’s single up the middle.

Toledo answered in the bottom of the third. Liam Arsich singled, advanced to third on a throwing error by Kent State pitcher Easton Tumis and scored on Ty O’Brien’s fielder’s choice that cut the lead to 3-1. The Rockets tied the game in the fourth. Jacob Payne walked, Arsich singled and Troy Sudbrook doubled up the middle, driving in both runners to make it 3-3.

The game remained deadlocked until the top of the eighth. Sawyer Solitaria reached on a fielding error by Toledo third baseman Troy Sudbrook, advanced to second on a groundout by Williams and moved to third on a wild pitch. Alejandro Covas then reached on another error by Sudbrook that allowed Solitaria to score the go-ahead, unearned run.

Kent State’s pitching held the Rockets scoreless over the final five innings. Evan Holewinski, the top star for the Golden Flashes, entered in the sixth and tossed four shutout innings, allowing no hits with two strikeouts. It was his third consecutive scoreless appearance after a 5⅓‑inning outing against Akron on May 2 and a three‑inning stint against Eastern Michigan on May 8.

Starter Easton Tumis worked five innings, allowing three earned runs while striking out three. He gave up no hits – the three runs were all unearned due to a first-inning error – and was charged with three earned runs in the official line. Reliever Nathan Leininger took the loss for Toledo after seven innings of work, giving up seven hits and three earned runs with eight strikeouts. Nate Langbehn pitched two scoreless innings in relief.

Offensively, Kent State managed seven hits. Williams went 1 for 4 with the homer and two RBIs. Matthews added a double and a run, while Marshall drove in a run. For Toledo, Liam Arsich had three hits in five at‑bats, Charlie Scholvin went 2 for 3 with a double, and Troy Sudbrook drove in two runs with his double.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Rockets mounted a final threat. Cole Cahill singled as a pinch hitter, but Drew Tajblik, running for Cahill, was stranded when Arsich flied out to right and Troy Sudbrook lined out to right to end the game.

The two teams will meet again Friday and Saturday in the final regular‑season series of the year.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Kent State 8, Toledo 7. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Kent State with a 65.10 percent probability to win.