KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Senior center fielder Jackson Kitchen went 5-for-5 and became the first player in program history to hit for the cycle in Western Michigan's 15-5 series-opening win over Northern Illinois on Friday. The victory sealed WMU's place in the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament, which will make it eight appearances in the last 12 MAC Tournaments for the Brown and Gold.
 
FINAL SCORE: Western Michigan 15, Northern Illinois 5
LOCATION: Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field (Kalamazoo, Mich.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (26-19, 16-9 MAC) | NIU (17-32, 10-15)
W: Brady Miller (4-5) | L: Ty Brachbill (5-7)
 
Kitchen's career-high five hits came via a double in the first, a three-run homer in the third, a single in the fifth, a triple in the sixth to complete Western Michigan's first-ever cycle, and a solo home run to cap it all off in the eighth. The senior drove in a career-high five runs for the day and tied the single-game program records for runs scored (5) and total bases (14).
 
Fueled by Kitchen's record-setting day, the Western Michigan offense totaled a season-high 18 hits in the contest. All nine Broncos who started the game recorded at least one hit and the first-five hitters in WMU's lineup all had multiple knocks.
 
Kitchen led off the bottom of the first inning with a double for the Broncos and scored the game's first run on a Dylan Nevar single. CJ Richmond followed with an RBI double and a Michael Maloney sacrifice fly made it 3-0 WMU after one.
 
In the second, Grady Mee hit the first of Western Michigan's five home runs in the contest, a solo shot, to extend the margin to four. Kitchen's three-run blast in the third then made it 7-0.
 
While the Broncos were putting up crooked numbers on the offensive end, Brady Miller was keeping NIU's bats quiet. The redshirt senior blanked the Huskies over the first six innings of the day, and at one point set down 12 in a row. Miller yielded two runs in his six-plus innings of work and racked up a season-high eight strikeouts to collect his fourth win, tying him with three others for the team lead.
 
Miller continued his climb up the WMU career leaderboards on Friday, passing Keith Perez (1999-03) and Billy Morrison (2006-10) to jump all the way up to second in career innings pitched with 289.2. Miller also moved past former teammate Dane Armbrustmacher (2019-23) for fourth in career strikeouts at Western Michigan with 250.
 
Kitchen and the offense went back to work in the fifth, with the center fielder picking up a single, advancing to third on a Sullivan double, then racing home on a wild pitch to make it 8-0.
 
In the sixth, Greg Budig got in on the power surge with a solo home run, his fifth of the season. Later in the frame, Kitchen completed his cycle with an RBI triple, and for the second consecutive inning, came around to score on a wild pitch.  
 
The Huskies got their first runs of the day in the seventh, pushing across three to make it an 11-3 game.
 
Western Michigan rounded out its offensive fireworks with four in the eighth. Kitchen capped off his historic day with a lead-off home run, giving the Battle Creek, Mich., native his second career multi-homer game. Nevar added another RBI single, and Josh Swinehart launched a two-run shot to left center to complete WMU's scoring for the day.
 
The Broncos and Huskies continue their three-game series on Saturday afternoon from Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 pm. For tickets, visit wmubroncos.com/tickets.