PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – On day two of the Snowbird Classic on Wednesday the Western Michigan baseball team continued to stay hot at the plate defeating Northeastern 17-16 in walk-off fashion to snap the Huskies eight-game winning streak.  

With the game knotted up at 16 heading into the bottom of the ninth, junior Justin McIntyre led off the inning with a walk to put the winning run on-base for fellow junior Blake Dunn. The Golden Spikes Award Watch List member Dunn laid down a perfect bunt down the left field line that was corralled by the charging Northeastern third baseman.

The throw from the third baseman proceeded to go over the first baseman's head and into right field. The error resulted in McIntyre rounding the base paths and scoring from first to give the Broncos their first walk-off win of the season.

WMU tallied 17 runs on 19 hits against Northeastern with seven of the nine Broncos in the starting line-up registering multi-hits. Four Broncos had multi-RBI games while six of the 19 hits for WMU were for extra bases. In the first two games of the Snowbird Classic WMU has scored 25 runs on 26 hits with 10 of the 26 hits going for extra bases.

McIntyre had a stellar day at the plate going 3-for-5 and matched his career-high with four RBIs and four runs scored, including the game-winner. McIntyre fell a single and a home run short of the cycle versus Northeastern as the Portage, Mich., native had two doubles and one triple.

Behind McIntyre in the line-up was fellow junior Blake Dunn who went 3-for-5 as well with two RBIs, a double and a run scored. In the first two games of the Snowbird Classic Dunn is hitting .500 with three runs scored and four RBIs. Dunn ranks second on the team through the first 12 games with 13 RBIs.

Leading off for the Broncos was junior Connor Charping who went 2-for-6 at the plate with one RBI while matching his career-high with three runs scored. Charping also recorded a stolen base to improve his total to 10 on the season. The one through three hitters of Charping, McIntyre and Dunn combined to go 7-for-16 (.438) with seven RBIs and seven runs scored against Northeastern.

Senior Ethan Hajdukovic registered a team-high four hits, going 4-for-5 at the plate with one double, one RBI and two runs scored. Junior Sean O'Keefe and freshman Greg Budig each had two hits with O'Keefe earning two RBIs, improving his total to six in two games at the Snowbird Classic.

Sophomore Will Morrison rounded out the multi-hit games for the Broncos with a 2-for-5 performance at the plate. Morrison registered one RBI while scoring two runs. Eight of the nine players in the WMU line-up recorded a hit on Wednesday.

In his third start of the season redshirt senior Jack Szott pitched 3.2 innings allowing four earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts. In relief sophomore LHP Dane Armbrustmacher was stellar going 3.2 innings and recording a career-high six strikeouts. Junior RHP Brendan Lovell picked up his first career win in relief throwing one inning, allowing three hits and two earned runs with one strikeout.

Western Michigan has now won two straight overall and five straight at the Snowbird Classic dating back to last season. With a 7-5 record WMU will enjoy a day off before resuming play at the Snowbird Classic on Friday, March 6 in a doubleheader against Army and Iowa. Northeastern who was picked to finish second in the CAA Preseason poll saw its eight-game win streak come to an end and now have an overall record of 7-4.

Northeastern stormed out of the gate with two solo home runs in the top of the first to take a 2-0 lead. WMU responded quickly in the bottom half of the inning scoring two runs on three hits. Charping led off the inning with a bunt single prior to McIntyre doubling down the left field line. With Dunn at the plate the Saugatuck, Mich., native roped a two-RBI double to left field to tie the game at two after one inning of play.

The Huskies answered right back in the top of the second, scoring a run on a sacrifice fly to right field to regain the lead at 3-2.

It didn't take long for the Broncos to respond batting through the line-up and scoring seven runs on six hits to gain a 9-3 advantage after two innings. After a single from sophomore Gavin Doyle and a walk from Greg Budig the Broncos got back-to-back RBI singles from Hajdukovic and Morrison to regain the lead at 4-3.

WMU loaded the bases with no outs for McIntyre who rocketed a bases clearing triple to right field to widen the Bronco lead to 7-3. Later in the inning and the Broncos leading 8-3 after a Northeastern error, Doyle came through with an infield single to second base, scoring Logan Hudson from third to extend the Bronco lead to 9-3.

Northeastern rallied once again in the top of the third hitting its third home run of the day to trim the WMU lead down to 9-4. The Broncos countered in the bottom of the third as Charping scored from third on a passed ball to give WMU its 10^th run of the afternoon.

Western Michigan continued to light up the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two runs on two hits widening its lead to 12-4. Northeastern responded in the late innings scoring two runs in the top of the sixth and four more in the top of the eighth to slim WMU's lead down to 12-10 after eight innings.

Holding on to a two-run lead the Broncos added four runs on four hits in the bottom of the eighth. Dunn led off the inning with a single to center field and after a walk by Hudson, junior Sean O'Keefe blasted a two RBI double to center field to extend the
Bronco lead to 14-10. WMU added two more runs later in the inning off the bat of Budig who roped a two RBI single to score Doyle and O'Keefe and give WMU a 16-10 advantage.

In the top of the ninth the Huskies rallied scoring six runs on five hits to tie the game at 16-16 heading in the bottom of the ninth.

Justin McIntyre led off the bottom of the ninth for the Brown & Gold by drawing a walk, bringing Dunn to the plate with the game-winning run on base. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Dunn dropped down a bunt down the left field line that was picked up by the charging Northeastern third baseman. On the throw the ball went over the head of the first baseman and into right field, allowing McIntyre to score from first to clinch the 17-16 walk-off victory.