KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball program and head coach Billy Gernon announced the team's 2024 schedule on Monday. WMU is set for 18 home contests at Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field, with five MAC weekends and non-conference midweek games against Purdue Fort Wayne, Valparaiso and Goshen on the docket.
 
Coach Gernon and his squad have been no strangers to challenging non-conference schedules over the years, playing a total of 10 games against Power Five conference teams in 2023 including opening up the campaign with a three-game set at preseason #1 and eventual national champion LSU. WMU also played a three-game series at #20 Iowa, a home-and-home against Michigan State, and made trips to Michigan and Notre Dame, to boast the most-challenging non-conference schedule in the MAC and 33rd-toughest in the nation.
 
The Broncos' 2024 slate features a litany of contests against power conference teams once again, with a total of 13, including 11 against members of the Big Ten and a pair against ACC foes.
 
"As a program, we want to continue to challenge ourselves in non-conference play to get ready for the MAC," coach Gernon said. "Our players want and embrace a challenging schedule. I have no doubt our strength of schedule last season helped prepare us to go 18-11 in league games and secure our place in the four-team MAC Tournament. Everything we do is geared toward winning the MAC and advancing to the NCAA Tournament."

The Broncos open their campaign with 15 straight games away from home, beginning from Feb. 16-18 with a four-game series against Michigan at Camelback Ranch Stadium in Arizona, the Spring Training home of the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. The following weekend, Western Michigan heads back out west for a four-game series at Pepperdine.  
 
The first two weekends in March will see the Broncos head to Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C., home of MiLB's Greenville Drive (Boston Red Sox affiliate), where they will take part in a pair of tournaments hosted by Michigan State. The first weekend, WMU is set to face MSU (March 1), Illinois (March 2) and Florida State (March 3), with the following weekend seeing the Brown and Gold take on Western Carolina (March 8), VCU (March 9) and Michigan State again (March 10). In between those tournaments, Western Michigan will zip down to Clinton, S.C., to meet Presbyterian (March 5) for the second consecutive season.

WMU opens up its home slate and MAC schedule from March 15-17 as it welcomes to Toledo to town for a three-game series. Following a midweek trip to Notre Dame (March 19), the Broncos head across the state for their first road conference series at Eastern Michigan (March 22-24). Western Michigan follows that up with a four-game homestand against Purdue Fort Wayne (March 26) and Kent State (March 28-30).
 
The Broncos begin April with six consecutive road games, starting with midweek trips to Purdue Fort Wayne (April 2) and Northwestern (April 3). Western Michigan then heads to Athens for a three-game series against Ohio from April 5-7, before closing out the trip at Michigan on April 9.
 
Seven of the next eight games for Western Michigan will then be back in Kalamazoo, beginning with a three-game set against Miami from April 12-14. The Broncos host Goshen on April 16, then head to Lansing on April 17 to face Michigan State at Jackson Field, home of MiLB's Lansing Lugnuts (Oakland A's affiliate). That weekend, April 19-21, WMU welcomes Ball State to Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field.  
 
Three of WMU's final four regular season conference series are on the road, starting with a trip to Akron (April 26-28). The Broncos come home to face Valparaiso on April 30, then head right back on the road to visit Bowling Green (May 3-5). The Brown and Gold complete their home-and-home against Valparaiso with a visit to the Beacons on May 7.
 
Western Michigan's final regular season home series is set for May 10-12 against Northern Illinois, with Senior Day slated for Sunday, May 12. The Broncos then end the regular season with a trip to Mount Pleasant for a three-game series against rival Central Michigan from May 16-18.
 
The Mid-American Conference Tournament is returning to Mercy Health Stadium in Avon, Ohio, this season and will be expanding from four teams to six. The 2024 tournament will take place from May 21-26.

Western Michigan returns a pair of Second Team All-MAC performers in right-hander Brady Miller and first baseman Cade Sullivan. Miller led the Broncos in innings pitched (89.0), strikeouts (89) and wins (7) last year, and ranked among the league leaders in each category as well. Sullivan tied the program's single-season home run record with 18 in 2023, and begins the 2024 campaign tied for WMU's career home run record with 28.