MUNCIE, Ind. – The Western Michigan baseball team dropped its Mid-American Conference doubleheader on the road against Ball State by finals of 13-1 and 3-2 on Saturday inside Merchants Ballpark Complex.
On Saturday the Broncos hit .156 with six different players registering a hit against the Cardinals. Senior
Ethan Hajdukovic led the Broncos with a .667 batting average, scoring two runs with one RBI and one home run. Hajdukovic had a 1.667 slugging percentage with .750 on-base percentage.
Will Morrison led the Broncos in the RBI department with two RBIs and going 1-for-3 at the plate with a .333 slugging and on-base percentage. The duo of
Connor Charping and
Drew Devine went 1-for-5 while
Jimmy Allen went 1-for-5 with one walk and a .400 on-base percentage.
On the mound Western Michigan registered nine strikeouts in the doubleheader and allowed just 20 hits in 12.1 innings of work. RHP
Jack Huisman led WMU with four strikeouts on the day.
Western Michigan now has an overall record of 0-9 and 0-3 in Mid-American Conference play. The Broncos are back in action tomorrow for its series finale against Ball State with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m
Game One (Western Michigan – 1, Ball State – 13)
In game one of Saturday's doubleheader the Broncos registered just one run on two hits in a 13-1 loss to Ball State in six innings.
The Broncos had just two players register a hit against the Cardinals in game one with
Ethan Hajdukovic going 1-for-2 while
Jimmy Allen went 1-for-3. However, WMU battled at the plate drawing six walks as a team with freshman
Greg Budig drawing a team-high two.
On the mound the Broncos used four different pitchers and totaled four strikeouts. In his third start of the season RHP
Brady Miller threw four innings allowing four earned runs on six hits with one strikeout. Out of the bullpen,
Brandon Petersen led the Brown & Gold going 1.1 innings allowing, two runs on one hit while striking out a team-high two.
Ball State got on the board in the bottom of the first scoring one run on two hits. With two outs a single to right field scored the Cardinal runner from first to give BSU a 1-0 lead.
The Broncos responded with a bang in the top of the third as
Ethan Hajdukovic blasted his first home run of the season over the left field wall. With two outs in the inning, Hajdukovic delivered with an opposite field home run to tie the game at 1-1. After the home run the Broncos positioned runners on first and second before a strikeout ended the inning.
That was all the scoring for the Broncos in game one as Ball State added two runs in the bottom of the third, two runs in the fifth and eight runs in the bottom of the sixth to earn the 13-1 victory.
Game Two (Western Michigan – 2, Ball State – 3)
In a tightly contested game two of Saturday's doubleheader the Western Michigan baseball team fell to Ball State 3-2 on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh at Merchants Ballpark Complex.
The Broncos scored two runs on five hits against the Cardinals with five different Broncos registering a hit.
Will Morrison was the lone RBI man for WMU going 1-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs. Morrison connected on a two-RBI single in the top of the second inning.
Ethan Hajdukovic continued to swing a hot bat against Ball State going 1-for-1 at the plate with a run scored. Also scoring a run was
Gavin Doyle who went 1-for-2 against Cardinal pitching with a run scored.
At the top of the line-up
Connor Charping went 1-for-3 and stole the lone base for the Broncos. Rounding out the hitting for the Brown & Gold was senior
Drew Devine who went 1-for-3.
On the mound the Broncos got an impressive outing from RHP
Jack Huisman who went 5.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. Husiman
registered no walks in 24 batters faced on Saturday afternoon.
Western Michigan got on the board first in the top of the second, scoring two runs on three hits. WMU earned back-to-back single with one out to give the Broncos runners on first and third. After a wild pitch sent
Gavin Doyle to second,
Will Morrison delivered with a two RBI single back up the middle to give WMU an early 2-0 lead.
Ball State trimmed the Bronco lead down to one in the bottom of the fifth as the Cardinals scored one run on two hits. The Cardinals tied the game an inning later on a solo home run to left field. In the bottom of the seventh, Ball State scored the game-winning run on a single to left field with runners on second and third to secure the 3-2 victory.
