DeKALB, Ill. – Senior left-hander Dane Armbrustmacher fired a career-high eight shutout innings to help Western Michigan to a 7-1 victory over Northern Illinois on Saturday afternoon.   
 
FINAL SCORE: Western Michigan 7, Northern Illinois 1
LOCATION: Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park (DeKalb, Ill.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (10-23, 7-7 MAC) | Northern Illinois (7-25, 4-10)
W: Dane Armbrustmacher (4-3) | L: Matt Salomonson (1-3)
 
Armbrustmacher was in a groove early, as he faced just one more than the minimum through the first four innings. He then struck out the side in the seventh inning as part of a stretch of four consecutive strikeouts in the latter stages of his outing. NIU managed a pair of hits against Armbrustmacher in the eighth, but he induced a ground ball to get out of the jam unscathed.
 
The senior's eight innings of work set a new career high and marked the longest outing by a Bronco in 2023. Armbrustmacher registered nine strikeouts to equal his season-best and come within one of his career high. He has racked up at least five strikeouts in all eight of his starts this season.
 
Following a scoreless first frame, the contest went into a weather delay for a little bit under an hour.
 
The Broncos came right out of the delay and tallied the game's first run in the top of the second, as Dylan Nevar collected an RBI single. Nevar tied his career high with four hits for the afternoon, drove in three runs and scored twice.  
 
Western Michigan tacked on single runs in the fourth, on a Greg Budig sacrifice fly, and in the sixth, on a Gavin Doyle RBI single, to stretch its advantage to 3-0.
 
Nevar came through with a big hit for WMU again the seventh, as he brought Cade Sullivan and Josh Swinehart home with a double.
 
WMU added two insurance tallies in the top of the ninth on a two-out, two-run single by Jackson Kitchen.
 
Northern Illinois managed its lone run of the contest in the bottom of the ninth to prevent Western Michigan's second shutout of the season.
 
The Broncos take aim at their third consecutive MAC series victory on Sunday afternoon, as they take on the Huskies in the rubber match of the three-game set. First pitch is scheduled for 1 pm.