CLEVELAND – The Western Michigan baseball team has been selected to finish fourth in the annual Mid-American Conference Baseball Preseason Poll which was announced on Tuesday morning by the league office.
Two-time reigning conference champion Central Michigan was labeled as the preseason MAC favorite, garnering six out of 11 first-place votes. Ball State and Kent State were selected second and third, respectively, with WMU rounding out the top-four. The top-four teams in the final regular season standings will compete for the 2022 Mid-American Conference Championship from May 25-28, on the campus of the regular season champion.  
 
The Broncos finished tied for third in the final league standings in 2021 after turning in a 23-17 conference mark. WMU was the only team in the conference to win three out of four against eventual league champion CMU.
 
Western Michigan brings back five position players who started 25 games or more in 2021, led by senior catcher Connor Charping, a First Team All-MAC performer last season who was named one of the Preseason MAC Co-Players of the Year last month by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Also returning on the infield for the Broncos is 2021 All-MAC Defensive Team selection Jimmy Allen.
 
On the pitching side, junior Easton Sikorski (4.14 ERA) and senior Jack Huisman (4.18 ERA) made a combined 19 starts last season and return to anchor WMU's starting rotation. Sikorski topped Western Michigan in both innings pitched (63.0) and strikeouts (62) in 2021.
 
 
The Broncos are slated to begin the 2022 season on Friday, Feb. 25, as they open up a three-game series at Kentucky. Western Michigan's first home series of the new campaign is set for the weekend of March 18-20, as Toledo comes to Kalamazoo to begin Mid-American Conference play.