KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- There was plenty of offense to go around as the Western Michigan baseball team topped Northern Illinois 15-12 Sunday afternoon at Hyames Field. The Broncos came in clutch when the team needed it most, as they scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 12-12 tie ball game. 

WMU improves to 9-23 overall and 2-7 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) while the Huskies fell to 12-23 and 7-5 in the MAC.

The Broncos wasted no time getting the bats going, putting up five runs in the bottom of the first inning off of six hits and two walks as the first six batters reached base. Junior Nick Vogelmeier led the inning off with a single to right field and junior Alex Goodwin and junior Grant Miller followed that with back-to-back singles that scored a run. Junior Evan Nelson drew a walk to load the bases and senior Hunter Prince delivered a single to left field to score Goodwin and make it 2-0. With the bases loaded, freshman Jesse Forestell drew a walk to earn an RBI and later in the inning, senior Mitchell Ho drilled a double down the left field line to score two runs and make it 5-0.

The Huskies stormed right back to take a 6-5 lead in the top of the second inning and added onto the lead with three runs in the top of the fourth to make it 9-5. WMU answered right back with six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning off of six hits and the help of one Huskie error. Ho led the inning off with a single up the middle and Connor Smith executed a perfect bunt single down the third base line. Vogelmeier then laid down another bunt and the third baseman threw it away to score Ho. Goodwin then smoked a double down the right field line to score Vogelmeier and Smith and make it 9-8. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Prince delivered an RBI single to center field and Forestell hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score the final run of the inning.

WMU added one run in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it 12-9 as Forestell drove in Miller on an RBI single through the right side. NIU came right back to tie it at 12-12 with three runs in the top of the eighth inning. That set up Smith for the biggest hit of his young career as he drove in Steve Pastora on an RBI single to right field to give WMU a 13-12 lead. Vogelmeier came up with a big RBI double to right center field and he came into score on a fielder's choice in the infield.

Plenty of players had big days offensively as six Broncos finished with multiple base hits. As a team, WMU tied its season-high with 18 hits while the Huskies had 13. Vogelmeier had a huge day, finishing 4-for-5 with a double, three runs and an RBI. Goodwin went 3-for-6 with a double, two runs and two RBI while Smith finished 3-for-5 with two runs and the huge go-ahead RBI in the eighth. Miller went 2-for-6, Prince went 2-for-4 and Ho finished 2-for-3 with two RBI.

Sophomore Jacob Piechota was credited with the win as he pitched the final 2.0 innings allowing one hit. Junior Kyle Mallwitz came out of the bullpen and threw 4.0 innings, keeping WMU in the game.

The Broncos head to East Lansing, Mich. to battle Michigan State on Wednesday, April 20 with game time scheduled for 3 p.m. Follow the Broncos on Twitter @WMUBaseball for all updates about the team!