OXFORD, Ohio- The Western Michigan baseball team dropped the first contest of its three-game Mid-American Conference opening series at Miami Friday night, 11-3. The Broncos and RedHawks return to the field tomorrow for game two at 3 p.m. and conclude the series Sunday at 1 p.m.

WMU opened a 3-0 advantage in the top of the second but Miami was quick to respond, firing back with six runs in the bottom half of the inning. The Bronco offense was held quiet the rest of the game and the RedHawks went on to score three more runs in the seventh and two in the eighth.

The loss dropped Western Michigan's overall record to 9-9 on the season, while Miami evened its record to 9-9.

The Broncos had nine hits and defensively were plagued by three errors. Miami had 11 hits and committed two errors.

Sophomore second baseman Kurt Hoekstra went 1-for-4 at the plate, extending his current hitting streak to 14 games. Sophomores Brett Sunde and Hunter Prince both were 2-for-3, while junior Andrew Sohn was 2-for-4. Prince had WMU's only RBI in the game, slapping a single through the left side to score Sunde in the second.

Senior LHP Steve Laudicina (2-2) took the loss on the mound, giving up 11 hits and seven runs.

Miami's Seth Varner (4-1) earned the win, striking out nine and holding WMU to two earned runs off seven hits over seven innings. Third baseman Dan Walsh had the hot bat for the RedHawks, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs.