EVANSTON, Ill. – The Western Michigan baseball team dropped a midweek nonconference game on the road at Northwestern Tuesday night, as the Wildcats came away with a 11-4 victory at the brand new Rocky and Berenice Miller Park. Tanner Allison sent a two-run home run to center field in the sixth inning, his eighth of the season.
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Northwestern jumped out to an early 4-0 before the Broncos broke through with a run in the top of the fifth inning. The Wildcats scored one in the first, two in the second and one in the third. WMU got the first one back on an RBI groundout by Tyler Frank to score Alex Goodwin, who sent a leadoff double down the right field line.
The Brown & Gold made it a one run ball game in the top of the sixth inning with a pair of runs. Connor Smith led the inning off with a perfectly placed bunt single, setting up the junior Allison, who kept his incredible season going with a two-run home run to center field. Allison entered today's game third in the nation in RBI per game (1.48) and 12th in total RBI (40). His 42 RBI this season are triple what he had last season and is the highest for a WMU player since Ryan McMillin had 52 in 2012.
Northwestern plated one run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-3, but WMU came right back to score a run in the top of the seventh inning and threatened to take a lead, loading the bases in the inning. Grant Miller was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and earned an RBI on the play, which scored Andrew Stone and made it 5-4 Northwestern.
The Wildcats took an 8-4 lead with a three-run seventh inning that included back-to-back home runs and added on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth to make it 11-4 off a three-run home run.
Allison finished 1-for-4 with the big two-run home run while Smith went 2-for-5 with a run. Nate Grys went 1-for-3 with a double while Frank went 1-for-4 with an RBI and Miller added an RBI. WMU used eight different pitchers in the game, as Andrew Reisinger suffered the loss.
WMU will head north to face rival Central Michigan (6-0 MAC) in a three-game series. The teams will square off on Friday, April 14 at 3 p.m., Saturday, April 15 at 2 p.m. and Sunday, April 16 at 1 p.m.
