JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – In a game that featured plenty of offense, the Western Michigan baseball team dropped a road game at East Tennessee State 12-7 Friday afternoon. ETSU came into this series with the No. 3 ranked team batting average in the nation (.384).

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Our offense is heating up. We pride our program around good defense and limiting free bases and we are 1-4 because we are generous with free bases," head coach Billy Gernon said. "We hit well enough to win today, it's just that simple. I was proud of the way our guys clawed back into the game after being down 8-1 after two innings."

The Buccaneers jumped out to a huge lead early, putting up five runs in the first inning and three in the second to take an 8-1 lead after two innings.

In the second inning, Tanner Allison blasted hit second home run of the season to center field to get the Broncos on the board and kick start the offense. WMU made it an 8-4 ball game with three runs in the top of the third inning off five hits, all of which were singles. Jesse Forestell and Alex Goodwin led the inning off with back-to-back hits and Nick Vogelmeier was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. After a fielder's choice, Grant Miller, who is off to an excellent start offensively, came through with a two-run single through the left side and Evan Nelson followed that with an RBI single to score Connor Smith.

Miller's leadoff single in the top of the fifth inning helped the Broncos cut the ETSU lead to 8-5, as he was brought in on Allison's RBI single. After the Buccaneers got that run back, the Broncos added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning as Forestell led off with a double and came around to score as Miller hit a sacrifice fly to right field with the bases loaded. Nelson followed that with an RBI single to center field to make it 9-7. ETSU added two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to pull away.

Senior Kyle Mallwitz, who set the school record for appearances last season, kept his stellar 2017 campaign with 5.0 innings pitched in relief allowing just three hits and one earned run, his first of the season to bring his ERA to 1.12. He also recorded five strikeouts.

Offensively, four players finished with multiple hits as WMU outhit ETSU 14-13. Allison finished 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI while Forestell went 3-for-5 with a double and run. Miller finished 2-for-3 with three RBI and Nelson went 2-for-4 with two RBI in the No. 3 and cleanup spot in the lineup, respectively.

The Broncos and Buccaneers will battle in two more games this weekend, first on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. and the series will conclude on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 1 p.m.