KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Winners of four of its last five games, the Western Michigan baseball team is set to host 2016 NCAA Regional participant Southeast Missouri State in a three-game series. Due to weather reasons, the teams have moved the series to start on Saturday, May 6 with a doubleheader at noon and a single game on Sunday, May 7 at noon.
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The Broncos, who are 18-20 overall and 8-10 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC), are coming in after winning each of the last two MAC series', first taking two of three against EMU and doing the same against Ohio last weekend. SEMO, who has won the Ohio Valley Conference in each of the last three years, comes in at 22-21 overall and 12-12 in the OVC but have lost five of their last six.
The Bronco offense is batting .307 this season, with eight players hitting over .300. Tanner Allison leads the team in many categories, including batting average (.378), home runs (eight), RBI (55), slugging percentage (.628) and doubles (13). He is second in the nation in RBI per game (1.45) and eighth in total RBI. Grant Miller is coming off a nice weekend where hit went 7-for-12 with three straight multiple hit games. Connor Smith, who was just named the No. 18 ranked shortstop in the country by D1Baseball.com, is batting .343 and is second on the team with 29 RBI while sitting sixth in the nation in triples (six).
The pitching staff will look to start junior Jacob Piechota, senior Jimmy Townsend-Chase and senior Kyle Mallwitz against the Redhawks. Piechota is 2-2 with a 4.99 ERA, Townsend-Chase is 2-2 with a 4.35 ERA and Mallwitz holds a 3.71 ERA while leading the team in wins (five), innings (70.1) and strikeouts (56). Nic Laio has been extremely effective out of the bullpen as of late, pitching 15.0 innings over his last seven appearances and allowing just one earned run with 12 strikeouts. In WMU's last game, the team pitched its second shutout of the season, as Townsend-Chase and Laio shutout Ohio 9-0 in game three of the series.
WMU is in a stretch where they were scheduled to host 10 straight home games. The Broncos will also square off with Michigan State on Tuesday, May 9 at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers. Admission to all home baseball games is free of charge.
