KALAMAZOO, Mich.  – Western Michigan baseball earned its first Mid-American Conference series victory of the season on Saturday splitting its doubleheader with Northern Illinois inside Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field. The Broncos won the first game 10-4 before falling in the series finale, 12-6.

WMU claimed its first conference series victory since take two of three from Ohio, May 11-13 of last season. It was the Broncos' first series victory at home since defeating Central Michigan, 2-1 back on April 20-22, 2018. On the weekend the Broncos scored 25 runs on 39 hits with a staggering team batting average of .355.

During the three-game series against the Huskies, senior Cooper Marshall was dominant at the plate going 7-for-10 with six RBIs and five runs scored. Junior Drew Devine ranked second on the team with .417 batting average with two doubles, three runs scored and three RBIs. As a team, WMU had six players hit over .300 for the weekend.

Sophomore Blake Dunn extended his reached base streak to a staggering 33 games over the weekend after going 5-for-13 with two doubles, three runs scored and three RBIs. Against NIU, the Saugatuck, Mich., native posted a .538 slugging percentage and a .400 on-base percentage.

On the mound over the weekend the Broncos gave up just 18 earned runs on 38 hits while striking out 28 Northern Illinois' batters. Senior Chris Modrzynski along with junior Zach Mehelich led the team with five strikeouts each.

In the two games on Saturday, WMU had seven players hit over .300 with Marshall leading the way going 5-for-7 at the plate. Marshall along with sophomore Justin McIntyre led the team during the doubleheader with three RBIs each.

With the series victory Western Michigan improved its overall record to 11-21 and 4-6 in conference play. The Broncos will be back in action with two midweek games beginning on Tuesday, April 16 at Valparaiso. WMU returns home on Wednesday, April 17 for a match-up with Grace College beginning at 3:05 p.m.

Game One (WMU – 10, NIU – 4)
Western Michigan opened its doubleheader on Saturday with a 10-4 victory over Northern Illinois to clinch the series. The Broncos registered 10 runs on 16 hits with six Bronco batters registering multi-hit games.

Drew Devine led the Broncos at the plate going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Joining Devine with multi-RBIs was redshirt senior Andrew Stone and Justin McIntyre with two each.

Hitting second in the line-up, senior Jimmy Roche went 3-for-5 with an RBI for his eighth multi-hit game of the season. Fellow senior Jesse Forestell earned his fourth multi-hit game of the year in game one going 2-for-5 with two runs scored.

The Broncos got a stellar start on the mound from freshman RHP Brady Mille to earn his second victory of the season. Miller threw 5.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out four. In relief the trio of freshman Easton Sikorski, junior Brandon Petersen and senior Matt McConnell allowed one run on two hits with three strikeouts.

After being held scoreless in the first inning the Broncos got on the board in the bottom of the second scoring four runs on five hits to gain an early lead. With runners on the corners with one out, Devine blasted a two RBI double to right center field, scoring Hudson and Forestell to give WMU a 2-0 lead.

An error by the NIU pitcher moved Devine over to third for Cooper Marshall who registered a sacrifice fly to extend the Bronco lead. With two outs the Brown & Gold amassed back-to-back singles prior to Jimmy Roche lacing a two-RBI single into left field to give WMU a 4-0 advantage through two innings of play.

NIU gained a run back in the top of the third before the WMU offense struck once again for three runs on four hits in the bottom of the fourth. With runners on second and third with one out, Andrew Stone slapped a softly hit single into left field to score both runs and propel the Bronco lead to 6-1. Two batters later Blake Dunn skied a sacrifice fly into right field to bring Stone home from third and extend the WMU lead to six.

In the bottom of the fifth the Broncos propelled their lead to eight thanks to the bat of Justin McIntyre. The sophomore infielder laced a two RBI single to right field, scoring Devine and Forestell to make it 9-1 in favor of the Brown & Gold.

Northern Illinois cut into the lead with two runs in the sixth followed by one run in the eighth before WMU scored one run in the bottom of the eighth to hold a 10-4 lead heading into the final inning of play. In the ninth, RHP Matt McConnell shut down the Huskie offense recording back-to-back groundouts followed by a strikeout to secure the victory and the series.

Game Two (WMU – 6, NIU – 12)
In the series finale and game two of Saturday's doubleheader the Broncos scored six runs on 11 hits but was unable to keep up with the Northern Illinois offense in a 12-6 defeat.

Blake Dunn and Cooper Marshall were the lone Broncos to record multi-hit games in game two. Marshall led the offense going 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and two RBIs while Dunn hitting in the clean-up spot went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Junior Ethan Hajdukovic was 1-for-5 on the day, blasting his third home run of the season over the right field wall in the bottom of the seventh inning. Hajdukovic finished the day with one RBI and one run scored.

On the mound the Broncos used four different pitchers, totaling 10 strikeouts. Junior Zach Mehelich led the WMU pitching staff going 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on three hits while matching his career-high with five strikeouts.

NIU got on the board first in game two thanks to a sacrifice fly to second field in the top of the second to give the Huskies an early 1-0 advantage.

WMU responded in the bottom of the second collecting three runs on two hits to regain the lead. The Broncos posted runners on second and third with one out before Marshall rocketed a two RBI single back up the middle to give WMU its first lead of the game.

After a passed ball advanced Marshall to third, Justin McIntyre executed a bunt down the right field line that just stayed fair to score Marshall and give WMU a 3-1 lead after two innings. The Broncos added to their lead in the bottom of the third as redshirt sophomore Logan Hudson grounded out to short that scored Blake Dunn from third.

WMU held a 4-1 advantage heading into the top of the fourth before the NIU offense came to live scoring two runs in the fourth, five in the fifth, two in the sixth and two in the seventh to take grab a 12-5 lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, Ethan Hajdukovic took the first ball he saw over the right field wall for his third home run of the season to cut into the Husky advantage. However, that was the final run scored for the Broncos as NIU retired nine of the final 10 WMU batters to clinch game three, 12-6.