BATON ROUGE, La. – The Western Michigan baseball team opened up its 2023 season with a 10-0 setback at the hands of #1 LSU on Friday at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field in Baton Rouge, La.

FINAL SCORE: #1 LSU 10, Western Michigan 0
LOCATION: Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field (Baton Rouge, La.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (0-1) | #1 LSU (1-0)   
W: Paul Skenes (1-0) | L: Brady Miller (0-1)

After WMU stranded a two-out walk in the top of the first, the top-ranked Tigers opened the scoring with a pair in the bottom of the inning. LSU added another tally in the second to make it 3-0.  

Western Michigan's first hit of the new season came courtesy of Bobby Dearing, who led off the third inning with a double into the right field corner. A Will Morrison infield single put two aboard with one out in the frame, but the Broncos were turned away. Greg Budig notched a two-out single in the fourth, but was unable to advance.

In his first start since 2021, Brady Miller bounced back from giving up some early runs to face just one batter more than the minimum while keeping LSU off of the scoreboard in the third through fifth innings. The righty picked up three strikeouts in his five-plus innings of work.

LSU added to its advantage in the latter half of the contest, as it scored five runs in the sixth and two in the eighth. True freshman DJ Thompson made his first appearance out of the Western Michigan bullpen in the bottom of the eighth and induced an inning-ending double play.

Jimmy Allen drew a walk to lead off the ninth inning for the Broncos to extend his on-base streak to 28 consecutive games, dating back to the end of the 2022 campaign.

The Broncos and Tigers continue their three-game series on Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field. First pitch is set for 2:30 pm, and the contest will be available live on SECN+.