BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Scoring five unanswered runs along with stellar pitching performances from senior Chris Modrzynski and redshirt junior Will Mullen, Western Michigan baseball defeated Bowling Green, 5-1 in its series opener on Friday afternoon.

The Broncos were guided by the arms of Modrzynski & Mullen who gave up just one run on 11 hits while striking out seven Falcon batters. Modrzynski earned his team-high fourth victory of the season, throwing 5.2 innings allowing one run on seven hits and striking out four.

Out of the bullpen Mullen earned his third save of the season going 3.1 innings, allowing no runs on four hits while striking out three, one shy of matching his career-high. With the performance on the mound the Rochester, Mich., native has not allowed a run in his last six appearances.

Offensively the Brown & Gold collected five runs on 11 hits, marking the 20th time this season WMU has had double digit hits. Leading the way was sophomore Blake Dunn going 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored and two RBIs. Dunn notched his 20th multi-hit game of the season and seventh multi-RBI game.

In the leadoff spot, redshirt senior Andrew Stone earned his ninth multi-hit game of the year going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Hitting in the three-hole spot sophomore Sean O'Keefe went 2-for-3 and registered his sixth multi-hit game of the year.

Junior Drew Devine extended his hitting streak to 12 games in the series opening victory after a 1-for-4 performance at the plate with an RBI and a walk. The junior infielder extended his hitting streak in the bottom of the sixth on a one out single to centerfield. Overall eight of the 12 batters that came to the plate for the Broncos recorded a hit on Friday.

With the win WMU improves its overall record to 12-22 and 5-6 in Mid-American Conference play. The Broncos have won four of their last six conference match-ups. WMU will look to clinch its second straight MAC series in game two on Saturday, April 20 with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m.

Bowling Green scored their only run of the ballgame in the bottom of the first as BGSU's Neil Lambert laced an RBI single through the right side of the infield to give the Falcons an early 1-0 lead.

The Falcons held the lead until the top of the fifth before WMU plated two runs on two hits to capture the advantage. Senior Nate Grys led off the inning with a single to left field before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Later in the inning the Broncos posted runners on second and third for Blake Dunn who roped a two RBI single to left field, scoring Grys and Stone to give WMU a 2-1 lead.

BGSU looked to regain the lead in the bottom of the sixth before the duo of Modrzynski and Mullen shut down the Falcon offense. BGSU collected three straight singles off of Modrzynski to load the bases with two outs before Mullen forced a groundout to get out of the bases loaded jam.

The Falcons once again looked to strike in the bottom of the seventh with runners on the corners and two outs before Mullen registered his third strikeout to end the inning.

WMU added to its lead in the top of the ninth, scoring three runs on three hits to grab a 5-1 advantage. Sophomore Justin McIntyre led off the ninth with his first career triple to right field and scored one batter later on an RBI single by Stone.

The Broncos loaded the bases with one out for senior Conner Henderson who roped an RBI single left field to propel the WMU lead to three. In the next at-bat, Devine drew a bases loaded walk to bring around the fifth run of the game for the Brown & Gold.
BGSU led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to left field prior to Mullen registering three straight fly balls to center field to secure the 5-1 victory.