KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team opens up its 2024 season this weekend with a four-game series against Michigan out at Camelback Ranch Stadium in Phoenix, Ariz. 

SERIES INFO: Western Michigan vs. Michigan
Game One: Friday, Feb. 16 | 3 pm | LIVE STATS
Game Two: Saturday, Feb. 17 | 3 pm | LIVE STATS
Game Three: Saturday, Feb. 17 | Game 2 | LIVE STATS
Game Four: Sunday, Feb. 18 | 1 pm | LIVE STATS

FOLLOW ALONG: @WMUBaseball

LEADING OFF

• Western Michigan opens up its 2024 season with a four-game series against Michigan
• The series will be played at Camelback Ranch, the spring training home of the White Sox and Dodgers
• After having the 33rd-most difficult non-conference schedule a season ago, Western Michigan is set to play 12 games against power conference opponents in 2024, including 10 against Big Ten foes
• Last season, Cade Sullivan tied the single-season program home run record with 18 (Frank Alfieri, 1999)
• His 28 career long balls are also tied for the program's career record (Alfieri, Toner, Gundrum)
• Overall, Sullivan's 18 home runs were second in the MAC and his 59 RBIs were third
• The senior was named one of D1Baseball's Top-50 first basemen going into the season
• Jimmy Allen, Brady Miller and Cade Sullivan were all named to the All-MAC Second Team in 2023
• Miller was third in the conference in innings pitched (89.0) and seventh in strikeouts (89)
• The righty's seven wins led WMU and were tied for third-most in the league
• Hayden Berg (4th in the MAC LY with four saves) was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List
• WMU led the conference and ranked 27th in the nation with 49 double plays turned in 2023
• Western Michigan also led the league and ranked eighth in the nation with 0.94 double plays per game
• The Bronco defense ranked second in the MAC with a .974 fielding percentage

PLAY BALL
Western Michigan begins its 2024 season with a four-game series against Michigan at Camelback Ranch Stadium in Phoenix, Ariz., the spring training home of the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. 

POWER SCHEDULING
After owning the 33rd-most difficult non-conference schedule in the nation last season, the Broncos are at it again, with 12 games against power conference teams on the schedule, including 10 against members of the Big Ten. Also on Western Michigan's schedule this season is Pepperdine, a program which has made 28 NCAA Tournaments and has won a national championship. 

WMU VS U-M
Michigan holds an 81-74-2 advantage in the all-time series between the two programs. Last season, the two teams met for the first time since 2019, with the Wolverines coming out on top, 12-5, in Ann Arbor. Western Michigan is 2-6 against U-M under head coach Billy Gernon, with the last win in the series for the Broncos coming in Ann Arbor on March 27, 2013. After this weekend's series, the two squads will meet one more time, on April 9 in Ann Arbor. 

WMU VS THE BIG TEN
The Broncos have picked up 13 victories over Big Ten teams under head coach Billy Gernon. During Gernon's tenure, WMU has beaten Michigan State (five times), Northwestern (three times), Michigan (twice), Ohio State (twice) and Minnesota. Western Michigan is set to play 10 games against Big Ten foes this year, with five against Michigan, three against MSU and Illinois and Northwestern once. 

PAIR OF ALL-MAC PERFORMERS RETURN
Western Michigan had three players earn Second Team All-MAC accolades last season and brings back two of them, in redshirt senior right-hander Brady Miller and senior first baseman Cade Sullivan. It was the first All-MAC honor for Miller, while Sullivan was a Second Team selection for the second straight season. The Broncos will have to replace their third All-MAC performer, shortstop Jimmy Allen, who graduated from WMU last spring. 

SULLIVAN OF SWAT
Cade Sullivan blasted 18 home runs last season, tying him with Frank Alfieri, who hit 18 in 1999, for the single-season program record. Sullivan enters 2024 with 28 career homers, putting him in a four-way tie with Alfieri, John Toner and Kris Gundrum for WMU's all-time career record. Sullivan's 58 RBIs last season also tied for third-most in a single season in Western Michigan history.

MILLER MOWS 'EM DOWN
Brady Miller was Western Michigan's Friday night starter last season and responded by leading the team in innings pitched (89.0), strikeouts (89) and wins (7). His 89.0 innings were third in the MAC, while he tied for third in the league in wins and was seventh in strikeouts. Miller's seven league wins tied for the most in the MAC, while his 68.2 innings were second-most and 73 strikeouts were third-most against MAC opponents. 

RACKING UP THE K'S
Under the tutelage of first-year pitching coach Daniel Schlereth, Western Michigan totaled 380 strikeouts last season, the third-most in a single season in program history. Of the top-six strikeout pitchers from 2023, five return for the Broncos in 2024, with the lone exception being former left-handed starting pitcher Dane Armbrustmacher, who is now in his first season on the coaching staff. Among WMU's returning arms are Brady Miller (89K), Hayden Berg (48), Luke Thelen (42), DJ Thompson (30) and Jake Gernon (15). 

GETTING DEFENSIVE
WMU led the MAC with 49 double plays, the most in the league and 27th-most in the country last season. Western Michigan also led the league and ranked eighth in the country with 0.94 double plays per game. The Broncos ranked second in the league with a .974 fielding percentage, the third-best single season mark in program history. 

PROSPECTING FOR BRONCOS
Prior to the season, four Broncos were among D1Baseball's top prospects for the 2024 and 2025 MLB Drafts. Redshirt junior right-hander Luke Thelen (#11), senior first baseman Cade Sullivan (#13) and redshirt senior righty Brady Miller (#19), were all among the publication's top-20 MAC prospects for the 2024 MLB Draft, with Sullivan also named among D1Baseball's top-50 first basemen. Sophomore right-hander Sam Carlisle was picked by D1Baseball as the sixth-best MAC prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft. 

BERG NAMED TO STOPPER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
Senior right-hander Hayden Berg has been named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Stopper of the Year Award Watch List. Last season, Berg made 20 appearances for WMU, 19 in relief, had the 12th-best ERA in the conference (4.47) and picked up four saves, which was tied for the fourth-most in the league. 

PRESEASON POLL
Coming off of a fourth-place finish in 2023, WMU was selected to finish fourth once again in the MAC Preseason Coaches Poll, and fifth by D1 Baseball. Kent State was selected as the preseason favorite by both polls. The Golden Flashes were selected as the favorite to win the MAC Tournament as well, with WMU the only other team to receive multiple votes from the league's coaches to win the 2024 MAC Tournament. 

ALL EYES ON AVON
The Mid-American Conference Tournament will undergo a couple of changes for the 2024 season. After playing the last couple of tournaments at campus sites, the tournament is set to return to the neutral venue of Mercy Health Stadium in Avon, Ohio, which hosted the tournament from 2012-19, from May 22-26. The tournament will also be expanding back to six teams, after limiting the field to four teams for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. 

PIPELINE TO THE SHOW
Since the start of the MLB Draft in 1965, Western Michigan leads all MAC schools with 114 Draft picks. Of the 114, WMU has had 34 players reach the Major Leagues. Four former Broncos are playing in Major League organizations:

Keegan Akin - Baltimore Orioles (MLB Spring Training)
Blake Dunn - Cincinnati Reds (MLB Spring Training)
Easton Sikorski - Cincinnati Reds (Daytona Tortugas, Single-A)
Connor Charping - Seattle Mariners (ACL Mariners)