KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan baseball will square off with cross-state rival Eastern Michigan this weekend, the beginning of 10 straight home games for the Broncos. WMU and EMU will battle Friday, April 21 at 3 p.m., Saturday, April 22 at 1 p.m. and Sunday April 23 at 1 p.m.
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Bronco Hockey head coach Andy Murray will be throwing out the first pitch for Friday's game. WMU comes in to the series at 14-18 overall and 4-8 in the MAC while the Eagles, who have been hot as of late, come in at 16-21 overall, 7-2 in the MAC and have won four of their last five.
The Brown & Gold come into the weekend ranked No. 29 in the nation in batting average (.300), good for second in the MAC. Junior lefty Tanner Allison has been on a tear all season long, where he is currently third in division one in RBI per game and 13th in total RBI. In MAC play, Allison is second in batting average (.391), first in slugging percentage (.672), tied for first in home runs (eight) and leads the conference in RBI by a 15. Connor Smith has had a great season in MAC play, where he's first in triples (five), fourth in batting average (.343) and tied for fourth in hits (47). Alex Goodwin is hitting .326 in MAC play while Nick Vogelmeier is at .289 with 10 walks.
The pitching staff holds a 6.00 ERA throughout the season, with five pitchers who have thrown at least 25.0 innings. WMU's probable rotation will be LHP Jacob Piechota, RHP Jimmy Townsend-Chase and RHP Kyle Mallwitz. Piechota holds a 3.86 ERA with 21.0 innings thrown in MAC play while Townsend-Chase is 1-2 with a 6.88 ERA in 17.0 innings while Mallwitz leads the team in most categories this season, including innings (58.0) and strikeouts (46).
Following the weekend with the Eagles, WMU hosts Ohio in a three-game series followed by a midweek game with Oakland and a three-game series with Southeast Missouri State from May 5-7. Admission to all home baseball game is free of charge.
