Toledo swept WMU to jump from eighth to sixth place in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) standings. The Rockets haven’t been highlighted much in the Around the MAC, but they have now won back-to-back series’ and have quietly gone 6-4 in their last 10 conference games.

The top of the standings has shaken up a little with Kent State jumping Miami for second place. Meanwhile, Ball State, Bowling Green, and Eastern Michigan remain in first, fourth and fifth.

Central Michigan and Western Michigan both had rough weeks and were pushed below Toledo. On the other hand, Akron had another good week and moved up again, making Ohio the new last-place squad in the conference.

1. Ball State (29-12, 15-3 MAC)

The Cardinals remain atop the MAC after winning two out of three against Bowling Green in a series that was an offensive slugfest.

Ball State hit an incredible 13 home runs against the Falcons over the three-game span, including four by Dylan Grego. The junior shortstop also had 13 runs batted in (RBIs) in one of the most impressive individual weekends by a MAC player this season.

Ball State will try to continue this power surge against Central Michigan over the weekend.

2. Kent State (25-13, 14-4 MAC)

The Golden Flashes swept Ohio and crushed Washington & Jefferson 21-3 to move into second place and just one game back from Ball State.

After struggling last week against Miami, Kent State’s bats were back to life, scoring at least 12 runs in every game over the weekend and run-ruling opponents in three out of four games.

Kent State will face an improving Akron team in their next series.

3. Miami (22-18, 16-5 MAC)

Miami was a Central Michigan double away from sweeping the Chippewas on the road. The series was surprisingly close, with Miami’s two wins coming only via an 11 to seven scoring margin.

The Red Hawks’ pitching made up for the below-average offense. Miami gave up just 11 total runs to CMU in the series.

Miami’s offense will likely bolster back up soon as they play Ohio’s last-ranked MAC pitching staff this weekend.

4. Bowling Green (25-14, 13-8 MAC) 

The Orange & Brown have now dropped four of their last five MAC series’ after the pitching staff got lit up against Ball State, giving up a whopping 43 runs to the Cardinals in the series.

However, there were still two major positives in the series for Bowling Green: senior shortstop Gunner Antillon’s offense and sophomore first baseman Brady Birchmeier’s defense.

Antillon won MAC Player of the Week after he batted an insane 10-for-14 (.714) against Ball State with eight RBIs, three doubles, and one home run. His season batting average also jumped 26 total points from .317 to .343 in the three-game stretch, good for 12th in the MAC.

Birchmeier’s glove was also fantastic. In the series-opening 6-4 victory, he made seven unassisted outs and snagged three diving catches.

“Honestly, I haven’t seen a better defensive first baseman in the year through six weeks,” Bowling Green head coach Kyle Hallock said postgame.

The Falcons will hope to improve their pitching while continuing their offensive and defensive successes against Eastern Michigan this weekend.

5. Eastern Michigan (17-18, 9-9 MAC) 

Eastern Michigan won two of three against Albany in their nonconference matchup to inch their overall record closer to .500.

Senior right fielder Logan Hugo took over game one on Thursday with six RBIs, three stolen bases, two home runs and a single.

The Eagles will look to take this positive momentum into their next crucial fourth vs. fifth matchup against Bowling Green.

6. Toledo (16-23, 10-11 MAC)

The Rockets are in the top half of the league for the first time all season after their most balanced series yet against the Broncos.

Toledo finally merged its top-notch pitching staff with some quality offense, getting its third shutout of the season in the opening 3-0 win before scoring 17 runs combined in the next two victories.

Toledo will get a break from the MAC this weekend with games against Ohio State, East Tennessee State, Mercyhurst and Oakland.

7. Central Michigan (16-25, 8-10 MAC) 

The Chippewas lost two of three to Miami in a barnburner series, which dropped them to seventh place.

Central Michigan’s defense committed six errors in the series and their miscues in the field continue to be one of the team’s biggest issues this season. CMU is one of three teams in the conference to commit at least 50 errors so far.

CMU will have its biggest MAC challenge yet against Ball State this weekend.

8. Western Michigan (10-26, 6-12 MAC)

The tone around Western Michigan baseball remains inconsistent. Immediately after upsetting Bowling Green, the Broncos lost every game to Toledo to drop back down to eighth in the MAC.

This inconsistency in success, as well as a 3-17 road record are big problems for the Broncos. These issues have left their season to remain stagnantly in the bottom half of the conference.

Western Michigan will have a huge opportunity to move back up as they play 10th-place Northern Illinois in DeKalb this weekend. The question will be if they can finally win on the road, something they haven’t done in a conference game all season.

9. Akron (13-27, 6-15 MAC) 

The Zips have moved up a spot in the MAC standings for the second straight week after winning two out of three against Northern Illinois.

After such a horrendous start to the year, Akron has become a trap team for many opponents in the past month. Six out of their 13 wins have come in April and now the Zips are within striking distance of eighth place.

Akron will take on Kent State next in a Northeastern Ohio battle.

10. Northern Illinois (15-24, 4-14 MAC) 

The Huskies lost two games to Akron over the weekend. However, the lone win was enough to push NIU out of last place in the MAC.

The victory was credited to a walk-off home run in the bottom of the tenth inning by junior second baseman Will Couchman. The North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) transfer had two long balls in the game and now has six on the season.

The Huskies will attempt to get just their second conference series victory of the season against WMU this weekend.

11. Ohio (9-30, 4-14 MAC) 

After giving up 40 runs in the Kent State sweep, Ohio now has an abysmal team E.R.A at 8.48.

Possibly an even bigger problem is that their usually strong offense struggled for the second straight week, only putting up 11 total runs against the Golden Flashes.