KALAMAZOO, Mich. – On Sunday inside Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field, Western Michigan baseball clinched its second straight Mid-American Conference series victory with a 5-2 win over rival Central Michigan.

The Broncos were led on the mound by senior LHP Jacob Piechota who earned his second victory of the season going 7.0 innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out six. Piechota retired eight of the final 11 batters he faced. In relief, fellow senior RHP Andrew Reisinger picked up his second save of the season going 2.0 innings, allowing no runs on four hits.

At the plate, it was a monster day for junior catcher Jesse Forestell who drove in three of WMU's five runs. Forestell went 2-for-4 from the plate with three RBIs on Sunday and on the weekend hit .308 with one double, one triple, five RBIs and a staggering .538 slugging percentage.

Overall, five different Broncos registered a hit on Sunday with the 1-2-3 hitters of junior Connor Smith, redshirt freshman Logan Hudson and junior Nate Grys totaling three hits and three runs scored.

In the three-game series with the Chippewas, the Broncos were stellar on the mound registering a 2.33 ERA, allowing just eight runs on 25 hits. The WMU pitching staff collected 20 strikeouts and held CMU to a .272 batting average.

With the win, WMU improves its overall record to 16-17 and 6-7 in Mid-American Conference play. The Brown & Gold hit the road for its next four games beginning on Friday, April 27 with a three-game series against Eastern Michigan. WMU then travels to Notre Dame on May 1 before hosting Northwestern on May 2.

Through three innings of play the Broncos took a commanding 5-0 lead after scoring one run in the first and four in the third. In the first, Nate Grys blasted a one out double to left center field, scoring Hudson from first to give WMU the early advantage.

The Bronco offense exploded in the bottom of the third scoring four runs on one hit while capitalizing on two CMU errors. WMU quickly had runners on first and second with no outs after a hit by pitch along with an error by the CMU second baseman.

After a fly out to right field, Grys loaded the bases for the Broncos as a ground ball was bobbled by the CMU shortstop. With the bases loaded and two outs, junior Drew Devine drew a walk to extend the lead to 2-0.

With the bases still loaded and two outs, Forestell smacked a bases clearing double to right center field to open up the Bronco lead. It was Forestell's fifth double of the season. CMU got on the board in the top of the fourth after a steal attempt at second base allowed the runner from third to race home.

The Chippewa offense was then shut down by Piechota who retired eight of the next 11 batters, including four straight. CMU had its best chance of a comeback in the top of the eighth after scoring just one run on three hits.

In the eighth with the bases loaded and two outs, CMU's Evan Kratt singled to right field, scoring the runner from third to make it 5-2 in favor of Western Michigan. However, on the same play CMU looked to make it a two-run game before freshman right fielder Blake Dunn threw a runner out breaking for home to keep it a three-run contest.

CMU had runners on first and second base with two outs in the ninth before Reisinger got CMU's Jason Sullivan to ground out to third base to end the game. With the win, WMU has now won four of its last six contests.