KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team will head down to Tennessee for a three-game slate in the 2016 Mule Mix Classic starting on Friday, Feb. 26 and going through Sunday, Feb. 28.
The Broncos, who are coming into this weekend 0-3, will face Belmont (2-1) on Friday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m. to kick off the weekend. Saturday at 2 p.m., the Broncos will face Middle Tennessee State (3-1) and end the weekend with 2015 NCAA Tournament Qualifier Lipscomb (2-2) on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 1 p.m.
The Bruins are coming off a 2-1 series win over Illinois State where they totaled 25 runs in those three games including a 13-10 win in the rubber match of the series. The Blue Raiders lost their first game against Indiana, but came back to take the series winning the next two games 3-2 and 5-4 with both coming in extra innings. They just defeated Lipscomb on Tuesday, Feb. 23 9-6. The Bison are coming off a series win over Eastern Kentucky after they lost the first game but won the next two 4-2 and 3-2.
Last weekend, junior Keegan Akin was a huge bright spot for the Broncos pitching 6.0 shutout innings against Georgia State in the opener. Akin struck out the first five batters he faced en route to 11 strikeouts in the game. He didn't allow any runners to reach third base and never got to any three-ball counts. Akin was named the Mid-American Conference (MAC) West Pitcher of the Week for his efforts against the Panthers. He is also currently tied for 14th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (16.50). Akin leads four Broncos with 0.00 ERA's along with sophomore Jacob Piechota (2.2 IP), senior Pat Haynes (1.2 IP) and freshman Matt McConnell (0.1 IP).
Offensively, senior Drew Farmer was a standout going 5-for-12 in the series and was the only WMU player to have a hit in all three games. Freshman Jesse Forestell went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI against Kennesaw State while junior Nick Vogelmeier went 3-for-5 with a stolen base against Georgia State. As a team, the Broncos are batting .209 (23-for-110).
Follow the Broncos on Twitter @WMUBaseball for all updates throughout the season!
