Kalamazoo, Mich.-  Western Michigan baseball head coach Billy Gernon announced the 2018 schedule on Monday with the 2018 season opener at Houston Baptist on Friday, Feb. 16.
 
The schedule includes 23 home games to be played at Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field with key non-conference match-ups at home against in-state foes Oakland and Michigan State along with Big Ten Conference opponent, Northwestern.
 
The second weekend of the season the Broncos will take part in the Campbell Camels Invitational in Buies Creek, N.C.  The club will square off against Yale, Campbell and Mid-American Conference foe Miami in a non-conference tilt.  Yale went 34-18 in 2017 including 2-2 in the Corvallis Regional where they upset Nebraska, 5-1 and defeated Holy Cross, 9-5. Campbell went 25-32 last year and over the past six seasons have averaged 35 wins. The Broncos won the series at Miami of Ohio in Oxford last year.
 
Western Michigan will take its annual spring trip to Port Charlotte, Fla. to participate in the Snowbird Classic, March 2-11. At the Snowbird Classic, the Broncos will play St Bonaventure, Georgetown, Villanova, George Mason, St Joseph and Florida International.  In addition, the Broncos will play the Detroit Tigers top prospect team for the seventh year in a row in Lakeland, Fla., at the newly renovated Joker Marchant Stadium. 
 
"This is such a great privilege for our program and we are once again thrilled to have this amazing opportunity" said Billy Gernon.
 
Returning from Florida, the Broncos will host their first home series against the Butler Bulldogs from the Big East Conference, March 16-18. Under Gernon, WMU is 3-2 against Butler with all five match-ups coming on the road. Last season, Butler went 31-20.
 
The home slate also includes MAC series against Toledo (March 23-25), Kent State (March 30-April 1), Bowling Green (April 13-15) and Central Michigan (April 20-22). The Broncos also host Big Ten opponents Michigan State (April 18) and Northwestern (May 2) while Oakland will make its first trip to Kalamazoo in four years on April 17. WMU also has a home and home series with Valparaiso, who is in their first year as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
 
Western Michigan will play four mid-week games against Big Ten opponents this year including Michigan State twice, Michigan, and Northwestern. WMU will also play in South Bend, Ind. against ACC opponent Notre Dame on May 1.
 
Last year WMU split with the Spartans winning in East Lansing, 3-2 but fell short in a 7-6 thriller at Comerica Park. The Broncos dropped their contest at Michigan last year, 6-4 as the Wolverines were ranked 18^th in the nation and finished the season with a record of 42-17 to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Under Gernon, the Broncos have played Notre Dame and Michigan five times and is 2-3 in both series.
 
WMU will play four conference series on the road starting with Northern Illinois (April 6-8) and Eastern Michigan (April 27-29).  The Broncos close out the regular season with its last two conference series on the road at Ohio (May 11-13) and Ball State (May 17-19)
 
"For seven years we have been a team that knows how to finish which was emphatically proven in 2016," said Gernon. "If we want to reach our goal of winning the MAC outright, we will need to finish strong once again."
 
The MAC tournament is set for May 23 in Avon, Ohio at Sprenger Stadium. Gernon has led his squad to the MAC tournament in six of his seven seasons and has a record of 10-11, including the only tournament title in school history in 2016. Only two MAC teams have qualified for the tournament more times during Gernon's seven-year tenure.
 
The tournament format has changed as the top six teams make the tournament with the top two seeds earning a first-round bye.
 
The 2017 senior class was the first senior class in school history to qualify for the MAC Tournament all four years including the first ever MAC Tournament Title in school history in 2016. Last season, Tanner Allison had a record breaking offensive season, winning two legs of the triple-crown and recording 68 RBI's which broke the WMU single-season record set in 1999. Allison became the first Bronco since 1991 to earn MAC Player of the Year honors. Allison was later drafted in the 19^th round by the Atlanta Braves and earned All-American honors. It's the first time WMU has had back-to-back All-Americans since 1996-96 as Keegan Akin earned All-American honors in 2016.