PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The Western Michigan baseball team's offense was red hot in its 12-4 win over Georgetown Tuesday afternoon in the Broncos first game of the Snowbird Classic.

"It's refreshing to play to our potential," head coach Billy Gernon said. "It creates even more optimism for what this team is capable of doing. It's good to see a senior in (Hunter) Prince be at his best when things are the darkest. He had another big game for us today."

The Broncos improved to 1-9 while pounding out 18 hits and three extra base hits. The 18 hits set a new season-high and three extra base hits tied a season high. The Hoyas fall to 4-7 with the loss.

Six WMU players finished with multiple base hits in the game including four players with three hits. Freshman Connor Smith went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI, Evan Nelson went 3-for-4 with a walk, Nick Vogelmeier went 3-for-6, Grant Miller went 3-for-5 with three runs, one RBI and a double. Hunter Prince went 2-for-5 with three RBI, two runs and a double and Drew Farmer went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI.

After the Hoyas grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first, the Broncos' offense responded with four runs in the bottom of the first inning, making it the first time this season WMU scored in the first. Vogelmeier led the inning off with a single through the left side and Miller hit a perfect bunt single to third base with one out. Prince hit a ground ball that went through the third basemen's legs and scored Vogelmeier and Miller to put the Broncos on the board at 2-1. Later in the inning, Farmer ripped a two-run single through the right side that scored Prince and Nelson.

Georgetown responded with two runs in the top of the second inning off of just one hit. The Hoyas were helped by a pair of walks, a balk and a hit batsmen in the inning.

WMU got those two runs back in the bottom of the fourth, where Smith drilled a two-run home run to straight left field, the first of his young career. WMU added another run to jump out to a 7-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Miller shot a double down the left field line and was brought in on Prince's double down the right field line.

The Hoyas added a run in the top of the fifth, but the Broncos' offense was relentless, scoring two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it 9-4. The Broncos loaded the bases with no outs after a Miller single, a Nelson single and Prince getting hit by a pitch on an 0-2 count. Forestell hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Miller and Smith singled to shortstop to score Prince later in the inning.

WMU added one more run in the bottom of the seventh inning and two more in the bottom of the eighth. Prince hit a single up the middle to score Tanner Allison, who reached on the Hoyas third error of the night. In the bottom of the eighth, WMU was able to manufacture both runs on back-to-back sacrifice fly's by Allison and Miller.

Sophomore Jacob Piechota (1-0) was credited with the win, going 2.2 scoreless innings allowing three hits and striking out four batters. Freshman Jack Szott pitched 3.1 innings in relief of Derek Schneider, allowing one run on five hits.

The Broncos return to action with a doubleheader against Illinois State and St. Joseph's on Friday, March 11. Game time against the Redbirds is scheduled for noon while the game with the Hawks will start 30 minutes after the first game.