KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Western Michigan baseball team won its fourth-straight Mid-American Conference game, defeating Ball State 9-5 in game one of this weekend's three-game series. Junior catcher Brett Sunde crushed a three-run homer for the Broncos in the fifth and junior designated hitter Mitchell Ho delivered a clutch three-run double in the seventh.
Junior left-handed pitcher Derek Schneider gave his fifth quality start of the season, going 6.1 innings. He yielded seven hits, three runs, one walk and struck out three. Junior RHP Gabe Berman (4-3) earned the victory in relief recording the final two outs of the seventh. Freshman LHP Jacob Piechota tallied his first career save, shutting down the Cardinal bats and holding Ball State scoreless over the final two innings. Piechota retired all six batters he faced and struck out four, including the side in the seventh.
Ball State used a pair of singles to take a 1-0 lead in the third. The Broncos shot back with four runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to pull in front, 5-1. The Cardinals rallied to plate four runs and tie the game in the top half of the seventh but Western Michigan answered with four runs in bottom of the inning.
Sunde finished his day with two hits (2-for-5) and four RBIs, also smacking an RBI double to put WMU up 6-5 in the seventh. His home run in the fifth came with the game tied at 1-1 and was his first round tripper of the season. It was an absolute beauty, as he smoked the ball over the fence in left field.
Ho (2-for-3) and junior second baseman Kurt Hoekstra (2-for-5) also had two hits each. Ho's two-out, bases-loaded three-run double to right center in the seventh pushed the difference from a one-run game to a 9-5 score in WMU's favor. Hoekstra picked up an RBI with a double to right field in the fifth and started off the WMU at bat in the seventh with a single to left center.
The Broncos roughed up Ball State starting pitcher and last year's Collegiate Baseball National Freshman Pitcher of the Year Zach Plesac for all nine runs, four earned, and eight hits. Plesac (4-3) went 6.1 innings in the loss.
Ball State committed four errors in the game and Western Michigan had one in the outfield.
The win improved Western Michigan to 18-22 on the year and pulled the Broncos even with Ball State in the conference standings, each with 10-9 MAC records. Ball State's overall record sits at 25-18.
The two teams will return to Robert J. Bobb Stadium for game two tomorrow at 1 p.m. and conclude the series Sunday with a 1 p.m. first pitch. Scheduled to take the mound tomorrow for Western Michigan is senior RHP Chad Mayle (3-2, 4.11 ERA, 36 K) while freshman LHP Trevor Henderson (2-3, 5.14 ERA, 50 K) is slated for BSU.
