Box Score KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team dropped game three of its series with Eastern Michigan 5-3 with the game going 11 innings Sunday afternoon. The Broncos were able to win the series with wins over the Eagles on Friday and Saturday at Hyames Field.
The Broncos fall to 11-25 overall and 4-8 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) while the Eagles avoided the sweep and improve to 14-22 overall and 6-6 in the MAC.
WMU scored two unanswered runs before the Eagles got on the board with a run in each the second and third innings. In the second, Evan Nelson and Alex Goodwin had back-to-back walks to get things going with no outs. After a fielder's choice, senior Mitchell Ho laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Nelson and put the Broncos up 1-0.
In the bottom of the third inning, junior Nick Vogelmeier led the inning off with a single up the middle and senior Drew Farmer moved him up to second on a sacrifice bunt. Grant Miller delivered an RBI double over the right fielder's head to score Vogelmeier and make it 2-0.
The Eagles erased the lead rather quickly with back-to-back home runs in the top of the fourth inning to tie at 2-2, but WMU came back to grab the lead again with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Connor Smith led the inning off with a single over the second baseman and he moved up to third base when the pitcher threw it away to the first base fence. After the error, the Broncos scored a run on a wild pitch for the fourth time this series to make it 3-2 WMU.
The Eagles added a run in the top of the seventh to tie it at 3-3 and WMU couldn't find a way to push the go-ahead run across before the game went to extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th inning, the Broncos had the bases loaded with two outs, but EMU came up with a huge strikeout to get out of the inning.
EMU scored a pair of runs in the top of the 11th inning off a couple of hits and help from a Bronco error.
Senior Hunter Prince had a huge day offensively for the Broncos, going 3-for-5 with two doubles. He also made an extremely difficult catch falling out of play along the first base line early in the game. Ho went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Miller went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Smith went 2-for-5 with a run while Vogelmeier and Farmer each added a hit.
Kyle Mallwitz (1-2) suffered the loss, but had a solid day out of the bullpen pitching 5.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits and no walks with one strikeout. Sophomore Jake Bartels pitched a scoreless 1.1 innings in relief and senior Pat Haynes started the game without allowing a hit through 2.2 innings.
The Broncos will head to Toledo next weekend to face the Rockets for a three-game series. Follow the Broncos on Twitter @WMUBaseball for all updates about the team!
