EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Western Michigan baseball team brought nationally-ranked Michigan State down to the wire, but the Spartans got away with a 6-5 win in the bottom of the ninth inning off a walkoff single Wednesday night in midweek nonconference action.

The Broncos scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to tie it at 5-5 as freshman Connor Smith delivered a clutch RBI single up the middle after freshman Nate Grys drilled a home run to left field to make it 5-4. The Spartans came back to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth off a walkoff single to right field with the bases loaded.

The Broncos fall to 9-24 overall while the Spartans, who came in ranked No. 23 by Baseball America, improve to 26-8 this season. The Broncos entered this game with the No. 2 ranked fielding defense in the nation while the Spartans hold the No. 3 ranking in ERA and the No. 20 ranking in hitting. 

The Broncos offense started out hot, recording three hits in the top of the first inning. Junior Nick Vogelmeier led the game off with a double to right center and he was driven in on senior Drew Farmer's double to left center to make it 1-0. Sophomore Evan Nelson, who leads the team in batting average, ripped a singled to right field to put runners on the corners, but Andrew Gonzalez struck out the final two batters to get out of the jam for the Spartans.

After a scoreless bottom of the first inning by sophomore Jake Bartels, the Spartans struck for three runs in the bottom of the second inning off freshman Jack Szott. Szott finished his day out by retiring the final seven batters he faced.

WMU came back to tie it at 3-3 in the top of the fourth inning. Senior Hunter Prince drew a one-out walk and junior Alex Goodwin beat out a bunt to put runners on first and second with one out. Sophomore Tanner Allison drilled his second double of the season to right center to plate both runs and tie the game.

MSU took the lead in the bottom of the sixth where the Spartans capitalized on a rare Bronco error. After a fielding error and a wild pitch with one out, Justin Hovis delivered the go-ahead RBI single to right field to make it 4-3. The Spartans tacked on another run in the bottom of the seventh to go up 5-3.

WMU used six pitchers in the game as Bartels threw a scoreless first inning and sophomore Jacob Piechota pitched a scoreless fifth inning. Allison suffered the loss, pitching a scoreless eighth inning but allowing the go-ahead run on base via the walk in the bottom of the ninth.  Vogelmeier finished 2-for-5 with a double while Farmer and Allison (two RBI) each added a double.

The Broncos host Eastern Michigan this weekend in a three-game series starting on Friday, April 22 at 3 p.m. The teams will battle on Saturday and Sunday with both games scheduled for a 1 p.m. start. Follow the Broncos on Twitter @WMUBaseball for all updates about the team!