CINCINNATI, Ohio – In game one of its three-game series the Western Michigan baseball team recorded four extra-base hits and had a runner on base in six of the nine innings played in a 5-1 loss to Cincinnati on Friday night.
Western Michigan scored one run on eight hits against Cincinnati with six different Broncos earning a hit on Friday night. Of WMU's eight hits, four went for extra-bases while the Brown & Gold left five on base.
Leading the way for WMU at the plate was junior
Sean O'Keefe who matched his career-high with three hits going 3-for-4 with a double. The trio of
Connor Charping, Justin
McIntyre and
Drew Devine each went 1-for-4 with Charping having the lone RBI for the Broncos. Devine's hit resulted in his first double of the season.
Along with Devine and O'Keefe,
Ethan Hajdukovic went 1-for-4 with one double, his first of the season.
Greg Budig went 1-for-3 at the plate with the lone run scored for WMU with one double.
On the mound the Broncos used three pitchers and gave up just 11 hits while striking out five strikeouts. In his second start of the season RHP
Easton Sikorski went 5.2 innings allowing three earned runs on eight hits with four strikeouts. Out of the bullpen the Broncos got a strong effort from
Tyler Thorington who went 1.2 innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with one strikeout.
Western Michigan now has an overall record of 0-4 and will play game two of its three-game series with the Bearcats on Saturday, March 13. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. inside UC Baseball Stadium.
The Broncos got a runner on base in each of the first four innings with a runner in scoring position in the first. After a fly out to left field,
Justin McIntyre roped a single to left field prior to stealing second base with two outs. That was as far as McIntyre got in the first as a strikeout ended the Bronco scoring chance.
Cincinnati got on the board in the bottom of the first after a solo home run to right field gave the Bearcats a 1-0 lead. A
Sean O'Keefe double down the right field line led off the top of the second for WMU before two strikeouts and a pop out in the infield ended the Bronco scoring chance once again.
With two outs in the top of the fourth O'Keefe single to left field to give the Brown & Gold a runner on base. In the next at-bat,
Ethan Hajdukovic double down the left field line and looked to give WMU runners on second and third with two outs. However, Cincinnati threw out O'Keefe at third to end the Bronco momentum.
The Bearcats added to its lead in the fifth and sixth innings. Cincinnati earned a 2-0 lead with a run in the fifth inning followed by two runs on four hits in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-0 lead. Cincinnati added its final run in the bottom of the eighth.
Western Michigan got its only run in the top of the eighth as
Greg Budig registered his third double of his career off the wall in left center field. A fly out to right field led to Budig advancing to third and was brought home an at-bat later as Charping grounded out to second base. Charping earned his first RBI of the season while Budig scored his first run of the year.
