KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Behind yet another Keegan Akin solid outing, the Western Michigan baseball team took game one of a three-game series with Eastern Michigan 6-2 at Hyames Field Friday afternoon.

The Broncos improved to 10-24 overall and 3-7 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) while the Eagles fall to 13-21 and 5-5 in the MAC.

Just like Western Michigan has come to expect, Akin had another solid outing for the Broncos. His final line was 7.0 innings, five hits, two runs and two walks with seven strikeouts. Akin moved into third place all-time in career strikeouts with 215 passing Steve Laudicina who had 210. Akin had a stretch of retiring 11 straight EMU batters and through 6.0 innings pitched, he faced just one over the minimum. In all 10 of Akins starts this season, he has never pitched less than 5.0 innings. He also added two pick offs during this game. Akin already has 78 strikeouts this season and is chasing Pat Misch's school record of 99 K's set back in 2001.

The Broncos offense went scoreless for three innings but came to life in the bottom of the fourth inning with three runs off of three hits, one walk and one Eagle error. Junior Alex Goodwin drew a one-out walk to get the offense rolling for the Broncos. Freshman Nate Grys ripped a double to left center field to plate Goodwin and make it 1-0. Steve Pastora hit into a fielder's choice at shortstop and a dropped throw at third base allowed Grys to stay safe at third after he was originally called out. With runners on the corners, senior Mitchell Ho delivered a single up the middle to score Grys and freshman Connor Smith followed that with a single over the second baseman's head to score the third run of the inning and make it 3-0 WMU.

After 6.0 shutout innings, the Eagles were able to manufacture a run against Akin. After a leadoff walk to Jackson Martin, Akin issued a balk and a wild pitch to send Martin to third and he came in to score on a sacrifice fly to right field.

The Broncos got that run right back and more in the bottom of the seventh inning with some help from the Eagles. Grant Miller led off with a single through the left side and Prince laid a perfect sacrifice bunt down the first base line. After a groundout, Miller came in to score on a wild pitch to make it 4-1 WMU. Evan Nelson and Ho drew two straight walks and Grys came in to score on a bases loaded wild pitch to make it 5-1. Smith then beat out a grounder on the infield to score Nelson and make it 6-1 WMU.

The Eagles put a scare into the Broncos in the top of the eighth inning where they scored one run and had the bases loaded with no outs afterwards. Sophomore Jake Bartels came in with the bases loaded and struck out his first batter and forced a 6-4-3 double-play to get out of the inning and stop EMU's attempted comeback. 

Akin earned the win to move to 4-3 this season while Bartels earned his first save of the season pitching 2.0 perfect innings and getting the Broncos out of a jam in the eighth inning.

Prince finished 2-for-4 while Miller finished 2-for-5 with a run and Smith went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Grys went 1-for-3 with two runs, a double and an RBI and Farmer and Ho each added a single.

The two teams will battle again on Saturday, April 23 at 1 p.m. and Sunday, April 24 at 1 p.m. at Hyames Field where attendance is free of charge. Follow the team on Twitter @WMUBaseball for all updates!!