TOLEDO, Ohio (Interstat) — Ciaran Caughey tossed six shutout innings as Kent State defeated Toledo 4-3 on Friday afternoon at Scott Park Baseball Complex.

Caughey allowed no hits and two earned runs while striking out seven. He retired the first 12 batters he faced before a second-inning wild pitch plated a run. The Golden Flashes starter improved to 7-2 this season after a similar dominant outing against Akron on May 3, when he also went six innings with seven strikeouts.

Kent State (39-12, 19-6 Mid-American) broke through in the fifth inning. Nolan Belcher homered to left-center and Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe added an RBI double later in the frame. Rienstra-Kiracofe finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs, also driving in a run on a seventh-inning single.

Toledo (28-27, 18-8) scratched across runs on Jacob Payne’s two-out RBI single in the second and a wild pitch in the fourth. Cade Baker’s eighth-inning single scored Troy Sudbrook to pull the Rockets within one.

Peyton Williams earned the save with 1⅓ hitless innings, striking out four. Hayden Frey took the loss after allowing five hits and three earned runs over five innings. Deron Swanson struck out five in four innings of relief.

The series concludes Saturday.