AVON, Ohio – Sophomore pitchers Jacob Piechota and Jake Bartels combined to throw a three-hitter as the Western Michigan baseball team shutout rival Central Michigan 4-0 to send WMU to its first ever Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship game.

“It was one of the gutsiest performances I've seen in my career from both Piechota and Bartels,” head coach Billy Gernon said. “It was another fabulous team effort with great team defense. Our guys 100% absolutely have earned this and deserve it.”

The No. 7 seeded Broncos (21-32) have now defeated No. 2 Ball State, No. 3 Miami and most recently No. 6 Central Michigan. WMU will face No. 1 Kent State, who played in the game following the Broncos. WMU dropped a game 10-3 earlier in the day against the Chippewas. Today's game was the second time in WMU history the Broncos shutout their opponent; the first came in 2015 when senior Derek Schneider tossed a complete-game shutout against No. 2 Kent State.

Piechota had a tremendous day in his first career start at WMU, going a career-high 6.0 innings allowing just one hit, no runs and one walk while striking out four batters. He went 4.2 innings before allowing his first hit, which came on a tough diving play in right field to junior Alex Goodwin. Bartels entered to pitch the final 3.0 innings, allowing just two hits and no walks with two strikeouts. He earned his team-leading sixth save of the season.

The Broncos offense got hot early, and stayed hot through the one-hour 18-minute rain delay. They added their first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. In the inning, junior Nick Vogelmeier reached on a dropped fly ball by the left fielder. Freshman Connor Smith advanced Vogelmeier over to second and junior Grant Miller shot a double into the gap to score the run.

In the bottom of the second inning following the rain delay, the Broncos added two runs on three hits and a walk. Senior Drew Farmer drew a one-out walk and freshman Nate Grys followed that with a single to left field. Vogelmeier advanced both runners on a groundout, which set up Smith for a two-run single to right center field as WMU extended its lead to 3-0.

The Brown & Gold added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh inning off a pair of hits and a walk. Miller led the inning off with a single right up the middle and senior Hunter Prince sacrificed him over to second base. After a Tanner Allison intentional walk and a Goodwin sacrifice bunt, senior Mitchell Ho came up with an RBI single to score Miller and extend the lead to 4-0.

Miller finished 3-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run while Smith went 1-for-3 with two RBI. Ho went 1-for-4 with an RBI and Grys finished 1-for-4 with a run.

The Broncos will battle Kent State at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 29 for the MAC Championship. Just one game will need to be played since both teams have a loss already. Follow the Broncos on Twitter @WMUBaseball for updates about the team.