KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan racked up a season-high 16 hits, including a trio of home runs, on its way to a 12-7 series-clinching victory over Akron on Sunday afternoon.
FINAL SCORE: Western Michigan 12, Akron 7
LOCATION: Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field (Kalamazoo, Mich.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (9-20, 6-6 MAC) | Akron (13-18, 6-9)
W: Jake Gernon (1-1)
| L: Joe Roth (0-4)
Six Broncos had multiple hits for the afternoon, with
Jackson Kitchen,
Jimmy Allen and
Gavin Doyle registering three knocks apiece. Allen reached base in all five of his plate appearances, as the senior drew a pair of walks to go with his three hits.
Western Michigan grabbed the lead right away, plating three in the bottom of the first. Doyle and
Josh Swinehart each notched RBI singles, with another run coming across on an Akron error.
The Zips answered in the next half inning, pushing across four to take a 4-3 edge.
The Broncos regained the lead in the third, as
Greg Budig and
Ben Campos hit back-to-back doubles to make it 5-4. Western Michigan tacked on two more in the fourth as Doyle drilled a two-run homer off of the batter's eye in center field.
Akron pushed across an unearned tally in the fifth, but WMU came right back in the bottom of the inning with four more tallies to stretch its advantage to 11-5.
Grady Mee belted a three-run shot to left field, his third home run in as many days. The freshman went deep in all three games of the weekend series. Allen followed suit with a solo blast, the second time this season Western Michigan has hit back-to-back home runs.
With the lead at 11-6 in the bottom of the eighth, Kitchen delivered WMU's final run of the afternoon, as he singled to bring Swinehart home.
The Western Michigan bullpen turned in an outstanding effort, allowing just one earned run across eight innings of work while piling up eight strikeouts.
Jake Gernon picked up his first collegiate win after dealing a career-high 3.1 innings without allowing an unearned run and registering a career-high four strikeouts.
Joe Shapiro followed Gernon with 3.1 innings of his own without yielding an earned run.
Nick Crandell came on to get the final four outs to preserve the win for WMU.
Western Michigan continues its homestand on Tuesday afternoon as it welcomes Eastern Michigan to Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field for a non-conference matchup. First pitch between the Broncos and Eagles is slated for 3 pm.
