ATHENS, Ohio – Greg Budig drew a walk with the bases loaded to plate the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th and Hayden Berg threw five shutout frames out of the bullpen to help Western Michigan pick up a 6-5 series-opening win at Ohio in 12 innings on Friday.
 
FINAL SCORE: Western Michigan 6, Ohio 5 (F/12)
LOCATION: Bob Wren Stadium (Athens, Ohio)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (13-13, 6-4 MAC) | Ohio (8-17, 4-9)
W: Hayden Berg (2-2) | L: Tyler Peck (1-1)
 
With Western Michigan trailing 5-4, Grady Mee led off the eighth inning with a bunt single for the Broncos. After a fielder's choice, Jackson Kitchen was on first base with one out and stole second, his career-high third stolen base of the contest. The senior was still at second with two outs when Cade Sullivan singled to center to tie the game at 5-5. It was one of four hits on the day for Sullivan, who reached base a total of five times.
 
Hayden Berg entered the contest for WMU in the bottom of the eighth inning and began his day by retiring the Bobcats in order. After a scoreless ninth frame on both sides, which included another clean inning from Berg, the contest moved into extra innings.
 
The game remained knotted up at 5-5 until the 12th. With two on and two out, Dylan Nevar worked a walk to the load the bases for Budig. The senior backstop coaxed another free pass out of the Ohio pitching staff, which brought Michael Maloney home to put WMU ahead, 6-5.
 
Berg returned to the hill for the bottom of the 12th and set the Bobcats down in order for the fourth time in five innings to seal the victory for the Broncos. The right-hander retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced, including the final eight in a row, and struck out three to collect his second win of the season.
 
Sullivan got the Western Michigan offense going, as he blasted his team-leading seventh homer of the season with two outs in the first to make it 1-0 in favor of the visitors.
 
Ohio answered with a long ball of its own in the home half to move in front, 2-1.
 
The home team's edge briefly crept to two, 3-1, after an unearned tally in the third, but the Broncos answered in the next half inning on an RBI single by Mee.
 
Western Michigan evened the score in the top of the fifth on a Nevar homer to right, his sixth roundtripper of the season.
 
The back and forth continued in the bottom of the fifth when Ohio nudged back in front, 4-3, only to see the Broncos answer in the sixth on a run-scoring single to the opposite field by Sullivan.
 
The final run of the contest for the Bobcats came with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, as the hosts again grabbed a one-run edge, 5-4.
 
WMU starter Brady Miller went 7.0 innings for the second consecutive outing and yielded four earned runs while registering four strikeouts in a no-decision. Neither Miller or Berg issued a walk in the contest, making it the second time in the last three games the Western Michigan pitching staff has not issued any walks.
 
The Broncos and Bobcats continue their three-game weekend series on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 2 pm and the game will be streamed on YouTube.