KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team makes the trip east to Ypsilanti this weekend for a three-game series at Eastern Michigan. 

*Friday's series opener was postponed due to inclement weather, causing the original series schedule to be altered. The updated series schedule is below. 

SERIES INFO: Western Michigan (9-10, 2-1 MAC) at Eastern Michigan (7-13, 2-1)
Game One: Saturday, March 23 | 1 pm | WATCH LIVE | LIVE STATS
RHP Brady Miller vs RHP Bobby Jones
Game Two: Sunday, March 24 | 12 pm | WATCH LIVE | LIVE STATS
RHP Nolan Vlcek vs LHP Drew Beckner
Game Three: Sunday, March 24 | Game 2 of DH | WATCH LIVE | LIVE STATS

FOLLOW ALONG: @WMUBaseball

LEADING OFF

• Western Michigan heads to Ypsilanti this weekend for its first MAC road series of the season
• The Broncos are 5-1 in true road games thus far, with the lone loss coming Tuesday at Notre Dame
• WMU holds a 97-95 edge in the all-time series against Eastern Michigan
• The two teams met five times in 2023, with the Eagles winning four of them
• Due to weather, last year's MAC series was relocated to Western Kentucky and EMU won two of three
• Like the Broncos, Eastern Michigan won its first MAC series of 2024, taking two of three at Ball State
• Western Michigan is coming off of a 16-11 loss at Notre Dame on Tuesday
• Cade Sullivan had the fifth two-homer game of his career and tied a career high with six RBIs
• CJ Richmond collected his third straight multi-hit game and homered for the second straight contest
• Western Michigan enters the weekend with 11 home runs in its last three games
• As a team, WMU is atop the MAC in batting average (.315), on-base percentage (.430) and slugging (.495)
• Sullivan and Dylan Nevar are tied atop the MAC with 28 RBIs apiece, while Richmond is tied for fourth (25)
• Sullivan is second in batting average (.420), while Richmond's .392 mark is fourth 
• Richmond's 15-game hitting streak is the longest by a Bronco in 2024
• Nolan Vlcek tops the MAC in ERA at 2.75 and is third in K/9 at 11.44

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Western Michigan is back out on the road this weekend as it travels across the state for a three-game set against Eastern Michigan. This weekend marks the first of five road MAC series for the Broncos, who are also set for league road series at Ohio (April 5-7), Akron (April 26-28), Bowling Green (May 3-5) and Central Michigan (May 16-18).

SERIES HISTORY
Western Michigan enters the weekend with a 97-95 advantage in the all-time series against Eastern Michigan. The two teams met five times last year, with the Eagles taking two out of the three in the conference series, which was relocated to Western Kentucky's campus in Bowling Green, Ky., due to weather. EMU then took both games of a non-conference home-and-home later in the season. The last time these two teams played a MAC series in Ypsilanti was in 2022, which they split, 2-2. 

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos are coming off of their first true road loss on Tuesday as they fell at Notre Dame, 16-11. Western Michigan's bats got out to a hot start, led by Cade Sullivan, who had the fifth multi-homer game of his career and tied a career high with six RBIs. CJ Richmond also homered for the second consecutive game and collected his third straight multi-hit game for the Brown and Gold. 

BRONCO BOMBS
Western Michigan has hit 11 home runs in its last three games to up its season total to 24. Dylan Nevar and Cade Sullivan have led the power surge, with each having a multi-homer game and three total long balls during that span. Also with multiple home runs in those games are Jackson Kitchen, who went deep twice in the second game of Saturday's twin bill against Toledo, and CJ Richmond, who has homered in each of the last two contests. 

OFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT
Heading into the weekend, the WMU offense remains atop the conference in both batting average (.315) and on-base percentage (.430), both of which are the 34th-best team numbers in NCAA Division I. The Broncos also top the MAC in slugging percentage at .495, which ranks inside the top-60 in the country. Western Michigan is second in the league in a variety of categories as well, including runs (160), runs per game (8.4), hits (208), and walks (112). 

TERRIFIC TRIFECTA
The middle of the order combination of Cade Sullivan, Dylan Nevar and CJ Richmond has been a huge part of WMU's offensive success thus far. Sullivan and Nevar enter the weekend tied for the MAC lead with 28 RBIs apiece, while Richmond is tied for fourth with 25. All three are also inside the top-10 in the league in average, with Sullivan second (.420), Richmond fourth (.392) and Nevar 10th (.355). 

SWINGIN' SULLIVAN
Cade Sullivan had the fifth multi-homer game of his career on Tuesday and tied his career high with six RBIs. The senior also scored three times, bringing his season total to 29, second-most in the league. 

RAKING RICHMOND
CJ Richmond posted his third straight multi-hit game on Tuesday to extend his hitting streak to 15, the longest by a Bronco this year. The junior enters the weekend with a .500 OBP which is third in the MAC.

WALK THIS WAY
Western Michigan ranks second in the MAC and inside the top-60 in the country with 112 walks this season. Jackson Kitchen is tied for the conference lead with 18 free passes, while Michael Maloney is fourth with 17. Kitchen and Maloney are two of the seven Broncos who have drawn double-digit walks so far in 2024.