SOUTH BEND, Ind. – In the final midweek game of the 2017 season, Western Michigan baseball fell on the road to Notre Dame 10-2 at Frank Eck Stadium Tuesday night.
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The Fighting Irish, members of arguably the toughest college baseball conference in the nation (ACC), moved to 12-1 this season in nonconference home games, proving they are tough to beat on their home field. The Broncos fell to 20-27 overall with Buffalo coming in for a three-game series as both team's look to clinch a spot in the eight-team Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament.
The game went scoreless until the bottom of the third inning where the Fighting Irish were able to push the game's first run across with an RBI double. The Broncos quickly responded, tying the game up 1-1 on Tanner Allison's ninth home run of the season, this one a solo shot to the opposite field.
Notre Dame broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning with four runs to take a 5-1 lead. The runs scored on a pair of two-run home runs in the inning. The Fighting Irish added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, making it a 7-1 ball game.
WMU pushed a run across in the top of the seventh inning and threatened to bring in more. Jesse Forestell led the inning off with a single to right field and moved up to second on an error by the ND right fielder, also putting Jimmy Roche on base. Nick Vogelmeier delivered the RBI single to center field to score Forestell and put runners on the corners. Andrew Stone followed that with a liner to left field, but a nice diving play put an end to the inning.
Notre Dame came back to add three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, bringing the score to 10-2.
Allison finished 2-for-4 with a home run and double while driving in his 62nd run this season, now two away from breaking the WMU single season record. Vogelmeier went 3-for-4 with an RBI in the leadoff spot and Forestell finished 1-for-3 with a run as the team had eight hits in the ball game. Notre Dame's Jake Johnson went a perfect 5-for-5 in the No. 2 hole.
The Broncos will host Buffalo in a three-game series in the final action of the regular season this weekend. WMU and the Bulls will square off on Thursday, May 18 at 3 p.m., Friday, May 19 at 3 p.m. and Saturday, May 20 at 1 p.m. before awaiting their fate in the MAC Tournament.
