KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan baseball team found themselves on the wrong end of one-run ball games earlier this season, but the Broncos righted the ship and completed the two-game home sweep over Bowling Green Friday afternoon at Hyames Field winning both games by one run. 

WMU took game one 1-0 (seven innings) behind Keegan Akin's complete game three-hit shutout and won the second game 6-5 in walkoff fashion as Nick Vogelmeier executed a perfect suicide squeeze with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Broncos improved to 3-12 this season and start a perfect 2-0 at home while the Falcons fell to 7-11.

"We are about the process, one pitch at a time and one game at a time and today was a really good day in our process to become champions," head coach Billy Gernon said. "Akin was absolutely unbelievable. That is his fourth quality start in a row!"

In the first game, Akin's (1-2) final line read 7.0 innings, three hits, two walks and nine strikeouts. The junior dropped his ERA down to 1.16 while earning his first win of the season.

The Broncos scored the lone run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning where Tanner Allison was hit by a pitch with two outs. He advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt and came home to score on a wild pitch.

Drew Farmer, Grant Miller and Connor Smith had hits for the Broncos while Vogelmeier, Farmer and Evan Nelson all drew a walk.

In the second game, Bowling Green jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning where four of the first five batters had a hit. Derek Schneider forced the final batter into a big double-play to end the inning.

The Broncos came back to tie the game with a run in each the bottom of second and the bottom of the third. Hunter Prince led the inning off with a double to right center and Mitchell Ho reached on a fielder's choice. Smith singled through the left side to load the bases and Vogelmeier drew a walk to earn an easy RBI and make it 2-1 BG. In the bottom of the third, Drew Farmer drove in Prince with a single to right field where the Falcon outfielder lost the ball in the sun, making it a 2-2 ball game. 

The Broncos came back to grab the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning with two runs on three hits. Smith led off with a single up the middle and Vogelmeier sacrificed him over to second. Smith came around to score on a wild pitch and Grant Miller singled through the right side to keep the inning alive. Evan Nelson ripped a double to the left-center gap and Miller came around to score on a controversial play at the plate.

With the Broncos up 4-2 after four inning, the Falcons added one run in the fifth and came back to grab a 5-4 lead in the top of the seventh. The BG lead wouldn't last long, as the Broncos tied it at 5-5 as Smith hit an RBI groundout to shortstop to score Farmer.

It came down to the bottom of the ninth inning where Steve Pastora led off with a single up the middle and Farmer followed that with a single through the right side. Ho laid down a perfect bunt and was able to beat it out for a hit, making it bases loaded with no outs. Vogelmeier dropped a bunt right between the pitcher and catcher to score Pastora and give the Broncos a huge win.

WMU had a couple of stellar plays in the outfield by Farmer and Pastora. In the top of the second inning, Pastora made a nice diving catch in right field and popped out to double off a Falcon base runner at first base. In the top of the fifth inning, the Falcons had a runner on third with one out. A flyball to Farmer in center field looked like a perfect sacrifice fly, but Farmer came up firing and threw out the Falcon base runner at the plate.

Ho finished 3-for-5 while Farmer went 2-for-4 and Miller went 2-for-5. Vogelmeier drew two walks and drove in two runs, including the game-winner.

Kyle Mallwitz (1-1) was credited with the win, pitching 2.1 innings allowing no runs on two hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

The Broncos return to action on Saturday, March 19 as the series picks back up on Bowling Green's home field. The teams will play a doubleheader with the first game (seven innings) starting at 1 p.m. and the second game (nine innings) to follow afterwards.