KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Despite a late rally, the Western Michigan baseball team fell to Ohio, 8-6 on Saturday afternoon inside Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field to conclude the 2019 season.

The Broncos trailed by two heading into the bottom of the ninth and nearly mounted a comeback after posting runners on second and third with one out. However, the bottom of the ninth rally was cut short as a strikeout followed by a ground ball to second base ended the Brown & Gold's season.

In the series finale the Broncos scored six runs on 15 hits with five different players earning multi-hit games. WMU posted double digit hits for the 25th time this season and finished the year scoring four or more runs in nine of the final 11 games. Seven of the nine batters in the Bronco line-up earned a hit in the series finale.

At the plate WMU was led by junior Drew Devine who matched his career-high going 4-for-5 with a double, an RBI and one run scored. With the performance, Devine extended his hitting streak to 10 games and reached base streak to 11. Against the Bobcats, Devine hit a staggering .615 with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs scored.

Senior Cooper Marshall had a career day at the plate as well matching his career-high with a 3-for-5 performance with a double and one run scored. In the series, Marshall was 4-for-9 (.444) with a slugging percentage of .667 and an on-base percentage of .545.

The senior duo of Jimmy Roche and Andrew Stone along with redshirt sophomore Logan Hudson each registered two hits on the day. Hudson was 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs, earning his sixth multi-RBI game of the year.

In his final game in a Bronco uniform, senior Nate Grys went 1-for-5 with an RBI and one run scored and finished his senior campaign with a .273 batting average. Grys ends his career with 24 home runs, tied for the fourth most in program history.

Along with Grys, fellow senior catcher Jesse Forestell ends his career as a Bronco ranking in the top 20 in career hits (180) along with ranking sixth in school history with 24 hit by pitches.

Sophomore Blake Dunn finishes a stellar sophomore campaign with a team-high .374 batting average along with a .521 slugging percentage and a .467 on-base percentage. The MAC Player of the Year candidate also had 30 stolen bases in 2019, the second most in a single-season in school history.

During the three-game series with Ohio, WMU hit .343 as a team with six players hitting over .300. The Broncos registered 19 runs on 36 hits against Ohio with four home runs and six doubles.

Western Michigan finishes 2019 with an overall record of 18-31 and 11-14 in Mid-American Conference play, marking the sixth year in a row the Broncos have posted double digit MAC wins. The Brown & Gold will miss the MAC Tournament for just the third time in the last nine seasons.

Ohio jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first thanks to a two out solo home by first baseman Rudy Rott.

The Broncos quickly tied the game up in the bottom of the second scoring one run on three hits. Devine led off the inning with a double down the left field line and then advanced to third after a ground ball out by Forestell. Logan Hudson drove in Devine in the next at-bat with an RBI single to right field to tie the game up at 1-1.

WMU and Ohio were deadlocked at 1-1 until the top of the fourth before Ohio scored six runs on just two hits to take a 7-1 lead after four innings of play. In the fourth, the Broncos issued three walks and hit two Ohio batters.

The Bronco offense responded in the bottom of the fifth, scoring three runs on five hits to cut Ohio's lead down to three. WMU posted runners on the corners with no outs for Nate Grys who lined an RBI single to right field, scoring fellow senior Andrew Stone from third.

With runners on second and third, Devine laced an RBI single to left field to score Roche and cut the deficit down to 7-3. After a double play, Hudson once again produced an RBI single back up the middle to score Grys from second and slim Ohio's lead down to 7-4.

The Bobcats extended their lead in the top of the seventh after a ball got away from Forestell at that allowed the Ohio runner at third to score and widen its lead to 8-4.

Western Michigan rallied in the bottom of the eighth to pull to within two after scoring two runs on two hits. The Broncos loaded the bases with no outs and scored two batters later thanks to a wild pitch. Senior Jimmy Roche earned his lone RBI of the day on a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring sophomore Justin McIntyre from third to slim Ohio's advantage down to 8-6.

The Broncos looked to rally in the bottom of the ninth as Devine along with Forestell led off the inning with back-to-back singles to bring the winning run to the plate. Logan Hudson executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position with one out prior to a strikeout followed by a groundout to second ended the scoring threat and the Bronco season.