KALAMAZOO, Mich. – In what was a great back and forth battle, the Western Michigan baseball team could not hold off Valparaiso as they fell 8-7 in 13 innings on Tuesday night. The Broncos are back in action tomorrow at 3 p.m. against in-state rival Oakland at Robert J. Bobb Stadium.
WMU registered seven runs on 10 hits while using eight different pitchers to face Valpo batters. Six different Bronco players had at least five or more at bats. Senior Jared Kujawa led the offense going 1-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI. The three through seven hitters combined to score five of the seven runs for the Brown and Gold.
The Crusaders jumped out to the early lead scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning. After a lead-off walk and an error had runners on the corner with one out junior Daniel Delaney laced an RBI single to give Valpo the lead. The Crusaders scored on a sacrifice fly two batters later to give them a 2-0 lead.
WMU answered back in the third and fourth innings scoring three unanswered runs to gain the lead. In the third, the Broncos capitalized on two Valparasio errors to cut the lead to 2-1. In the fourth, Kujawa looked to do it all on his own as he singled back up the middle with one out. Kujawa then went on to steal second and then advance to third on a throwing error. Freshman Tanner Allison brought Kujawa home on an RBI single, tying up the game. The Broncos took the lead after sophomore Nick Vogelmeier registered an RBI single, scoring Allison from second and giving WMU a 3-2 lead.
The lead did not last for long however as the Crusaders battled back in the bottom of the fourth scoring two runs on three hits to regain the lead.
Again the Broncos came right back with three unanswered runs, this time in the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, Kujawa executed perfect base running skills charging home after an error by the Valpo second basemen, helping Allison get on base and tying the game back up. In the seventh, WMU loaded the bases when Kujawa earned the RBI the hard way by getting hit by a pitch, scoring junior Kurt Hoekstra from third and giving WMU the small edge. Another run was tacked on for the Broncos in the inning after a sacrifice fly by junior Mitchell Ho, extending the Bronco lead to 6-4.
It didn't take long for the Crusaders to comeback as they scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to regain the lead. A two RBI double by junior Josh Clark helped tie the game with Clark coming home to score two batters later on a wild pitch by junior Gabe Berman. In the top of the eighth, the Broncos tied the game up at 7-7 after junior Brett Sunde with the bases loaded was hit by a pitch, scoring senior Drew Farmer from third.
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the 13th when after intentionally walking the Valpo batter to put the double play in effect with one out, junior Jeff Edwards singled through the right side scoring pinch-runner Giovanni Garbella from second to give the Crusaders the dramatic 8-7 victory.
WMU is back in action tomorrow as they take on in-state rival Oakland at 3 p.m. inside Robert J. Bobb Stadium.
