OXFORD, Ohio – In its final Mid-American Conference road series of the regular season the Western Michigan baseball fell to Miami, 6-4 in a back and forth affair on Friday night inside McKie Field at Hayden Park.
In the series opener the Broncos and RedHawks battled back and forth as Miami jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before WMU rallied back with four unanswered runs to gain its only lead of the game. However, Miami rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth to secure the game one victory.
Western Michigan tallied four runs on six hits on Friday with the senior duo of
Andrew Stone and
Jimmy Roche each earning multi-hit games. At the top of the line-up, Stone was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and one run scored. With the performance at the plate, Stone earned his 12th multi-hit game of the season and fifth multi-RBI game while extending his reached base streak to 14 games.
Hitting second in the line-up, Roche notched his 13th multi-hit game of the season with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate with a walk and an RBI. The Orland Park, Ill., native now has a team-high 31 RBIs this season.
Fellow senior
Nate Grys collected his 27th RBI of the season after going 1-for-5 at the plate, earning the RBI on a single to left field in the top of the fifth inning. Junior
Drew Devine led the team with two runs scored while going 1-for-3.
On the mound the Broncos used four different pitchers allowing six runs on 10 hits and striking out six Miami batters. Junior RHP
Zach Mehelich led the Bronco pitching staff with two strikeouts in five batters faced.
Each team left 11 runners on the base paths while WMU registered just one error compared to Miami's two. The Broncos rank first in the MAC in fielding percentage (.973) while Miami ranks last in the conference with a .961 fielding percentage.
The Broncos will look to even the series on Saturday, May 11 with first pitch set for 2:00 p.m. WMU drops its overall record to 16-28 and 9-11 in conference play.
Miami struck first scoring one run in the bottom of the first and two more in the bottom of the second to grab an early 3-0 lead after two innings of play.
WMU was held scoreless and hitless until the top of the fifth before exploding for three runs on three hits to tie the game. After a sacrifice bunt moved Bronco runners to second and third with one out, Stone delivered with an RBI infield single to score Devine from third and give the Brown & Gold its first run of the ballgame.
In the next at-bat
Jimmy Roche laced a ball back up the middle that went off the Miami infielder's glove, allowing senior
Cooper Marshall to score and cut its deficit down to one. Sophomore
Blake Dunn reached base on an error to load the bases for Grys who roped an RBI single to left field on an 0-2 count to tie the game at 3-3.
The Broncos took the lead in the top of the sixth, recording one run on two hits. Devine led off the inning with a single to left field and then moved to third after a sacrifice bunt followed by a 5-3 putout. Once again Stone delivered with an RBI single through the right side of the infield to give WMU a 4-3 advantage.
However, the lead was short lived as Miami rallied with three runs on four hits in the bottom of the sixth to regain a 6-4 lead after six innings of play.
WMU looked to mount a comeback in both the seventh and eighth innings, placing runners on first and second with two outs before fly outs in each inning ended the Bronco scoring threat. In the top of the ninth the Broncos went down in order as Miami claimed game one of the three-game series.
