KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team opens up Mid-American Conference play this weekend as it heads to Muncie, Ind., for a three-game series at Ball State.

*Note: Friday's series opener has been moved from its original start time of 1 pm back an hour to a 2 pm first pitch. 

SERIES INFO
Game One: Friday, March 10 | 2 pm | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
Game Two: Saturday, March 11 | 1 pm | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS
Game Three: Sunday, March 12 | 1 pm | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS

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LEADING OFF
 

• Western Michigan begins Mid-American Conference play this weekend with a three-game set at Ball State
• The Broncos lead the all-time series agains the Cardinals, 101-86
• In the three meetings last season, BSU went 2-0 in Muncie, while WMU won in Kalamazoo
• Ball State was tabbed as the MAC's preseason favorite by the league's coaches and D1 Baseball
• Western Michigan was picked seventh in the coaches poll and ninth by D1 Baseball
• The Broncos are coming off of a 17-11 loss at Presbyterian on Tuesday in Clinton, S.C.
• Will Morrison picked up his second straight four-hit game in the contest against the Blue Hose
• The redshirt junior has recorded seven straight multi-hit games, going 19-for-28 (.679) during the streak
• Morrison enters the weekend leading the conference and ranking 16th in the nation with a .488 average
• Cade Sullivan went 10-for-21 (.476) last weekend for Western Michigan with three home runs and 12 RBIs
• Sullivan's efforts earned him MAC Player of the Week, WMU's first Player of the Week award this season
• Dane Armbrustmacher enters the weekend leading the conference in innings pitched (17.1)
• The lefty has at least 6 strikeouts in each of his three outings and is tied for fifth in the MAC with 20
• Defensively, the Broncos are tied for the league lead and rank 28th in the country with 12 double plays

LET THE #MACTION BEGIN
Western Michigan opens up Mid-American Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at preseason MAC favorite Ball State. After having 40 league games each of the last two seasons, the MAC has gone back to 30 conference games for 2023, with each team set to face the other 10 conference teams in one three-game weekend series. 

WMU VS BALL STATE
The Broncos enter this weekend holding a 101-86 lead in the all-time series against Ball State. Last year's series was scheduled to be played in Kalamazoo, but weather altered the series from a four-game set to a three-gamer, with two of the games played in Muncie and one played in Kalamazoo. BSU won two of last season's three meetings, with the home team coming out on top in all three contests. 

LAST TIME OUT
Western Michigan completed its trip through the Carolinas with a 17-11 setback at Presbyterian on Tuesday. Will Morrison and Gavin Doyle each drove in three runs in the early going to help the Broncos grab an 8-4 lead, but PC pushed across 13 runs in the middle frames to overtake the Broncos, and hung on from there for the victory. 

MASHING MORRISON
Will Morrison continued his hot streak on Tuesday at Presbyterian, as he notched his second straight four-hit game. Morrison has recorded multiple hits in each of Western Michigan's last seven games, going 19-for-28 (.679) with a .706 on-base percentage to bring his season average to .488, which leads the MAC and ranks 16th in the nation. During this stretch, the redshirt junior has also scored 13 times and driven in 11 runs. In addition to leading the league in average, Morrison is second in OBP (.551), tied for second in hits (20), fourth in runs scored (14), tied for seventh in doubles (5) and tied for 10th in RBIs (12). 

SULLIVAN NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Cade Sullivan was named MAC Player of the Week on Monday after going 10-for-21 (.476) over the weekend with three home runs, two doubles, five runs scored and 12 RBIs. The junior first baseman had a pair of multi-hit games, including a multi-homer game in Saturday's win over Bucknell, during which he set career highs in hits (5) and RBIs (6). Sullivan enters the weekend tied for fourth in the conference in RBIs (14) and tied for sixth in homers (4).

ARMBRUSTMACHER RACKS UP K'S
Dane Armbrustmacher registered six more strikeouts in Saturday's win over Bucknell, giving him five or more strikeouts in 12 of his 20 career starts at Western Michigan. The lefty got off to a bumpy start against the Bison, but he bounced back to retire 11 batters in a row at one point. Armbrustmacher went 6.2 innings for the afternoon and earned his first win of 2023 for his efforts. The senior enters the week atop the conference in innings pitched (17.1) and is tied for fifth in the league with 20 strikeouts. 

BRONCO BOMBS
WMU has hit 13 home runs in the season's first 11 games. Four different Broncos already have multiple home runs, as Cade Sullivan has four, and the trio of Gavin Doyle, Brendan Harrity and Josh Swinehart have two apiece. Western Michigan hit 57 homers a year ago, its most since 2008.

GAVIN GETS ON BASE
Gavin Doyle has reached base at least twice in each of WMU's last four games, with three multi-hit games and a two-walk game. Doyle is tied for the team lead with eight walks and is second with a .434 OBP.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
The WMU defense has turned 12 double plays thus far in 2023, which is tied for the MAC lead and ranks 18th in the nation.