KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader against Mid-American Conference (MAC) West foe Ball State Saturday afternoon at Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field in the Broncos' MAC home opener. The Cardinals won the opener 16-5 and took game two 12-9, stalling the late Bronco comeback.

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"Offensively we were really good today. (Ball State's starting pitcher in game two) BJ Butler is considered one of the better pitchers in the league and we put up twelve hits and six earned runs on him. When you bang out 18 hits, nine runs and don't commit an error, you should win 99 out of 100 times. Our pitching has to be better tomorrow as I am confident we will hit."

The team's combined for 60 hits in both games, as the Cardinals outhit WMU 18-9 in game one but the Broncos won the battle the next game, 18-15. In game one, the Broncos led by as many as two runs early on after a big four-run third inning, but the Cardinals bats were relentless all game long, as Ball State used a couple of big innings to pull away. In game two, the Broncos also jumped out to an early lead, but again the Cardinals offense was red-hot, helping Ball State the erase the deficit. WMU clawed their way back into it, never giving up on the game, but the Cardinals were able to hold on to the win despite five unanswered Bronco runs to end the game.

In the Bronco third, Nick Vogelmeier led the inning off with a full-count hit by pitch and Connor Smith followed that with a double down the left field line. After a groundout, Tanner Allison was intentionally walked to load the bases and Nate Grys delivered a two-run single to right center to tie it up 2-2. Later in the inning, Jesse Forestell reached on an infield single that scored Allison and Grys eventually came around to score on a wild pitch, giving WMU a 4-2 lead.

After the Cardinals took a 6-4 lead with a three-run fifth, the Broncos added a run in the bottom of the fifth, making it a 6-5 Ball State lead. In the inning, Grant Miller led off with a walk and Allison stayed hot with a double to right center field. Grys brought Miller in on a sacrifice fly to right field.

WMU finished with nine hits in game one, as Smith went 3-for-5 with a double and a run while Grys went 1-for-2 with a run and three RBI. Allison finished 1-for-2 with a double, a run and three walks and Goodwin went 1-for-3 with an RBI.

The Brown & Gold used eight pitchers in the game, as Kyle Mallwitz suffered the loss, his first of the season. Andrew Reisinger pitched a scoreless eighth inning.

In game two, WMU jumped out to an early 3-1 lead with a three-run bottom of the first inning off one swing from Allison. The junior sent a towering shot to right field that scored Miller and Vogelmeier; it was Allison's seventh of the season.

Ball State came back to score 11 runs in the third through the fifth inning, taking a 12-4 lead after WMU scored a run in the bottom of the fourth.

WMU ended the game with five unanswered runs, making the game interesting and putting the pressure on the Cardinal bullpen. It started with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning with Grys ripped a double down the left field line with the bases loaded, scoring both Miller and Smith.

The Brown & Gold added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, coming off a Miller RBI double and an Allison RBI single, keeping his monster day going. WMU added one final run in the bottom of the ninth inning as Tyler Frank drilled an RBI single to right field to score Goodwin.

In game two, Allison was nearly unstoppable, going 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBI. In both games combined, Allison went 5-for-7 with a home run, a double, four RBI and three walks. Goodwin went 3-for-5 with two runs and Vogelmeier finished 3-for-5 with a run, an RBI and a walk in the leadoff role. Miller had a nice game as well, going 2-for-4 with a double and three runs while both Smith and Frank finished 2-for-5.

WMU used five pitchers in game two, as Jake Bartels threw 1.2 shutout innings and Reisinger threw another scoreless inning. Jimmy Townsend-Chase suffered the loss for WMU, his first of the season.

The Broncos will look to take game three of the series on Sunday, April 9 at 1 p.m. at home. Admission to all home baseball games in free of charge.