KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Mid-American Conference rival Central Michigan held off a ninth-inning Bronco rally to hand Western Michigan baseball a 4-2 loss on Saturday afternoon at Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field.

Trailing by three heading into the bottom of the ninth the Broncos loaded the bases with one out and scored a run thanks to an RBI sacrifice fly by redshirt junior Andrew Stone. WMU brought the winning run to the plate with two outs before a fly out to center field ended the late-inning rally.

WMU now has an overall record of 15-17 and 5-7 in MAC play while CMU improves its overall record to 14-22-1 and 8-6 in MAC play. Game three of the series is set for Sunday, April 22 with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m.

The duo of Stone and junior Connor Smith led the Bronco offense on Saturday, recording five of WMU's six hits. Stone drove in both runs for the Broncos, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Stone's two RBIs tied his career-high. In the leadoff spot, Smith went 3-for-4 with one run scored.

On the mound, WMU got a stellar outing from junior LHP Chris Modrzynski who went 4.1 innings allowing just one unearned run on five hits while striking out one. In relief, redshirt senior RHP Jimmy Townsend-Chase tossed 4.0 innings, giving up just one hit while striking out three.

Townsend-Chase pitched his way out of a one-out jam in the top of the fifth, recording back to back outs with the bases loaded. The Hillsdale, Mich., native retired the first nine batters he faced.

WMU and CMU were locked in a pitcher's duel through the first seven innings as the game was knotted at 1-1. The Chippewas got on the board first in the top of the fifth, scoring one run on just two hits. CMU's Zavier Warren slapped an RBI single to left field with one out to give the Chippewas an early 1-0 lead.

The Broncos responded in the bottom of the seventh, tying the game at 1-1 after scoring one run on two hits. With two outs, Connor Smith laced a double off the center field wall to give WMU a runner in scoring position. Six pitches later, Stone delivered with an RBI single to left field, scoring Smith on a play at the plate.

It was knotted at 1-1 until the top of the ninth before CMU scored three runs on one hit to take a 4-1 lead. The Chippewas regained the lead after Warren hit a lazy single to center field to score David Cole. After back-to-back walks, the bases were loaded with one out for CMU's Jason Sullivan.

Sullivan extended the Chippewa lead with a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Warren from third. CMU grabbed a 4-1 lead after the next two batters were hit by pitches.

The Broncos began their rally in the bottom of the ninth with back to back walks by sophomore Drew Devine and junior Jimmy Roche. After a strikeout, Connor Smith laid down a perfect bunt down the left field line for his third hit of the ballgame to load the bases for the Brown & Gold.

With the bases loaded and one out, Andrew Stone rocketed a ball deep into center field that was caught for the second out of the inning but brought home Smith to cut into the CMU lead. On the very next pitch, a fly out to centerfield ended the game and the scoring threat.