CHICAGO, Ill. – The Western Michigan baseball team fell at the hands of Chicago State 6-3 after the Cougars were able to push across five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Broncos fall to 7-15 with Mid-American Conference (MAC) play coming up this weekend at Kent State. WMU is the only school in the conference without a league game played yet this season. It is also one of 10 schools in the MAC without a winning record to this point in the season. 

The Cougars got on the board early scoring a run in the bottom of the first inning, but the Broncos were able to erase the deficit with a run in the top of the third inning. Junior Steve Pastora drew a leadoff walk and was sacrificed over to second by senior Mitchell Ho. After Connor Smith moved Pastora over to third base, junior Nick Vogelmeier lined a single up the middle to make it 1-1.

The Cougars extended the lead to 6-1 with a big bottom of the sixth inning that included six hits, two walks and four different Bronco pitchers. Sophomore Jacob Piechota was able to hold the Cougars off by stranding the bases loaded on a groundout to second base.

The big inning didn't scare the Broncos, who came back to plate two runs in the top of the seventh. Ho got the offense going with a walk and Smith followed that with a single. After CSU recorded an  out, senior Drew Farmer singled through the left side to load the bases. WMU got its first run of the inning on a passed ball and junior Grant Miller drew a walk to once again load the bases. Hunter Prince hit a liner to the right fielder that was caught, but was able to push one run across on the sac fly. The Cougars were able to get out of the inning with a 6-3 lead they held on to.

The Broncos had at least one hit in every inning besides the first and second as the Cougars narrowly won the hit battle, 10-9. Farmer finished 3-for-5 while freshman Jesse Forestell and Smith both went 2-for-4. Vogelmeier and Prince each had a hit and an RBI.

Freshman Jack Szott (0-2) suffered the loss, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing three runs on three hits and a walk with five strikeouts. Piechota entered to pitch a scoreless 2.1 innings, allowing just two hits with three strikeouts.

The Broncos pick up play right away this weekend at Kent State with games Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (4 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.). Follow the Broncos on Twitter @WMUBaseball for all updates about the team and follow @wmubroncofans for all WMU updates!