PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – After yet another stellar offensive outing, the Western Michigan baseball defeated Villanova 11-6 Friday afternoon at the Snowbird Classic. WMU improved to 7-6 overall after an impressive 5-1 record on the spring break trip.
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The Brown & Gold finished with 18 hits, making this the third straight game the team has finished with 15 or more hits. Sophomore Connor Smith led the way with an unbelievable day at the plate, going 5-for-5 with two triples, a double, three RBI, a stolen base and one run, making him a home run shy of the cycle. For the week at the Snowbird Classic, Smith hit .714 (10-for-14) with three doubles, two triples, one home run and 10 RBI.
Tanner Allison also stayed hot on offense, going 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI while Evan Nelson hit a three-run home run. Jesse Forestell and Nate Grys each went 2-for-5 while Nick Vogelmeier finished 2-for-6.
Jack Szott earned his first win of the season with his second straight quality start, going 7.0 innings, allowing one run with no walks and four strikeouts. He allowed one run in the first inning and put up six straight scoreless innings after that. Jake Bartels threw the final 1.2 innings without allowing a run with two strikeouts.
After Villanova plated an early run the top of the first to make it 1-0, the Broncos responded with nine unanswered runs, with two in the first, one in the third, a big five-run third inning and one more in the seventh.
In the first, Smith got his big day started with a one-out single to right field and stole second. After Miller was hit by a pitch, Tanner Allison ripped a double down the right field line to score two and give the Broncos a 2-1 lead.
WMU added on to the lead in the third with another run, this time on a Smith RBI triple to score Nick Vogelmeier, his first of two triples in the game.
In the third inning, the Brown & Gold hit for the cycle as a team, scoring five runs on six hits to make it 8-1 WMU. Allison led off with a double and was moved up to third base on an Alex Goodwin sacrifice bunt. Jesse Forestell doubled down the right field line to score Allison and Nate Grys followed that with a single through the right side, setting the table for Evan Nelson to send a three-run home run to right field, his first of the season. After a Vogelmeier single, Smith sent another RBI triple to the wall to bring in the final run of the inning.
After three straight scoreless innings, the Broncos added one run in the bottom of the seventh off a Smith RBI single to center field.
The Wildcats made it interesting with five runs in the top of the eighth inning, bringing the score to 9-6, but the Broncos added two more big insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make it 11-6. In the eighth, Conner Henderson brought in two runs on an RBI single that shot past third base with the bases loaded.
After the successful spring break trip, the Broncos will head to Evansville for a three-game series before MAC play begins with a road series at Miami.
