KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team tallied four runs with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to grab a 7-5 come-from-behind victory over Toledo in what was both WMU's home and Mid-American Conference opener on Friday.
 
FINAL SCORE: Western Michigan 7, Toledo 5
LOCATION: Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field (Kalamazoo, Mich.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (8-8, 1-0 MAC) | Toledo (7-11, 3-1)
W: Turner Doran (2-1) | L: Kyle Pijaszek (1-1)
 
Trailing 5-3 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, Western Michigan put the tying runs on base with a pair of walks. With two down, CJ Richmond was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Dylan Nevar. Nevar sent one right back up the middle to bring Brendan Harrity and Grady Mee around to tie the game at 5-5. Michael Maloney followed with a two-run single of his own to put the Broncos in front for the first time, 7-5.
 
Toledo got a leadoff single in the top of the ninth against Turner Doran, but the righty got a fly out and then induced a ground ball to Maloney, who stepped on second and fired to first for a game-sealing double play.
 
Doran earned his second win of the season after tossing three scoreless frames out of the WMU bullpen. The junior allowed just one baserunner, the ninth inning hit which was erased on the double play, and fanned three.
 
Toledo pushed across three runs to open the scoring in the top of the first.
 
In the home half, Richmond extended his hitting streak to 12 in a row with an RBI single to trim the margin to 3-1.
 
After the three-run first, Western Michigan starter Brady Miller settled in and kept the Rockets off of the scoreboard for his final four innings. The redshirt senior struck out five in his 5.0 innings of work.
 
The Broncos stranded a pair in each of the first three innings before breaking through to even the score in the fourth. Connor Ostrander opened the frame with a double off of the right center field wall, and came around to score one out later on a Jackson Kitchen single. After Kitchen stole second and moved to third on an error, Cade Sullivan brought him home with a two-out knock.
 
Toledo regained the lead with a tally in the sixth and another in the seventh to make it 5-3.
 
The Broncos and Rockets wrap up their three-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch for game one is slated for 11 am, with game two to follow roughly 30 minutes after the completion of game one. For tickets to any WMU baseball home game, visit wmubroncos.com/tickets.