EAST LANSING, Mich. – For the second year in a row Western Michigan baseball traveled to East Lansing and took down the Spartans as WMU defeated Michigan State, 6-1 on Wednesday afternoon at McLane Stadium.

It's the second year in a row Western Michigan has defeated a team from the Big Ten Conference and recorded the fifth win over the Big Ten since 2013. The victory improves WMU's overall record to 11-11.

Junior Jimmy Roche had a big day at the plate for the Broncos, extending his hitting streak to four games after going 3-for-4. It's the seventh time this season the Orland Park, Ill., native has registered a multi-hit game.

Fellow junior Nate Grys recorded his fifth multi-RBI game of the season after going 1-for-5 with three RBIs. Grys has reached base safely in 11 straight games and now leads WMU with a staggering .357 batting average.

Against the Spartans, WMU scored six runs on seven hits while committing no errors. The four through seven hitters for the Broncos led the offense, collecting six of the seven hits and scoring three runs.

WMU got a dominant starting performance from junior Chris Modrzynski, pitching a career-high five innings, allowing one run on six hits. The junior LHP earned his second victory of the season.

Junior Matt McConnell earned the save, pitching a career-high three innings, allowing no runs on no hits while striking out one. McConnell shut down the Spartan offense in the late innings, retiring the final seven batters to earn his first save of the season.

The Broncos return to Mid-American Conference play this weekend against preseason favorite, Kent State. Game one of the three-game series begins on Friday, March 30 at 3:00 p.m. inside Robert J. Bobb Stadium.  

Michigan State got on the board first as a two out single to right center field by Chad Roskelly scored the runner from second to give the Spartans an early 1-0 lead.

The lead did not  last for long as Western Michigan scored six runs on five hits to take a 6-1 lead. WMU had runners on the corners with one out before sophomore Drew Devine roped a single through the left side that scored freshman Blake Dunn from third to tie the game at 1-1.

Back-to-back walks by Conner Henderson and Andrew Stone loaded the bases for WMU and junior Connor Smith. During the Smith at-bat, a wild pitch scored Devine from third to give the Broncos a 2-1 lead. A few pitches later, Smith drew a third straight walk to once again load the bases.

After a fly out with the bases loaded, Grys on a 3-2 count blasted a double to right field that cleared the bases and extended WMU's lead to 6-1. Grys leads the Broncos with eight doubles this season.

Western Michigan shut down the Spartan offense after the second inning, allowing just five hits over the next seven innings to secure the 6-1 victory. With Modrzynski on the mound in the fourth, the Alpena, Mich., native sat down the Spartans in order on seven pitches.

Michigan State's next best scoring chance came in the bottom of the seventh as the Spartans had runners on second and third with one out. On a 1-1 count, MSU's Justin Antoncic hit a dribbler to the left side that was corralled by third baseman Jimmy Roche.

Roche proceeded to throw the MSU runner out at home trying to score from third to preserve the five-run lead. The next batter hit a fly ball to center field to end the inning and the scoring threat.