KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team opened up its 2025 home schedule by splitting a doubleheader with Eastern Michigan on Friday. EMU rallied late to take game one, 10-8, and then the Broncos came back to rout the visitors in game two, 14-4.
FINAL SCORE (G1): Eastern Michigan 10, Western Michigan 8
LOCATION: Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field
RECORDS: Western Michigan (0-15, 0-4 MAC) | Eastern Michigan (8-7, 4-0)
W: Cal Rutherford (1-0) |
L: Adam Lehman (0-2) |
Save: Fischer Hendershot (2)
FINAL SCORE (G2): Western Michigan 14, Eastern Michigan 4 (F/8)
LOCATION: Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field
RECORDS: Western Michigan (1-15, 1-4 MAC) | Eastern Michigan (8-8, 4-1)
W: Joey Wizceb (1-3) |
L: Tyler Kapa (1-2)
The opener was scoreless until the third, when
Grady Mee brought
Tanner Mally home with a triple to give WMU a 1-0 edge.
Eastern Michigan drew level in the top of the fifth, but the Broncos went right back in front in the home half on a solo homer by Mee. The junior tied his career high with three hits in the opener, and was a single short of the cycle.
The Eagles pushed across a run in the sixth to even the contest again, 2-2.
Western Michigan regained the lead with four in the seventh. A walk and pair of EMU errors loaded the bases for
Dylan Nevar, who worked a walk to break the deadlock.
Avery Thielman was hit by a pitch with the bags full to pick up an RBI, and
Connor Ostrander then delivered a two-out, two-run single to make it 6-2. Ostrander had a team-high five hits for the day, including a career-high tying three in game one. He also collected a new career-high three RBIs in the opener.
After a
Michael Maloney sacrifice fly nudged WMU's edge to 7-2, the visitors erupted for eight in the ninth to go on top, 10-7.
Ostrander plated Thielman in the bottom half to close the gap to two and bring the tying run to the plate for Western Michigan, but the Eagles were able to close it out from there.
Ty McKinstry took the ball for the Brown and Gold in game one and gave his team his second straight quality start. The righty yielded two runs in 6.0 innings and notched six strikeouts in a no-decision.
Game two saw Western Michigan post season highs in both runs (14) and hits (17). Five Broncos had multiple hits, led by Mally's team-high four. The sophomore also set a career high with four RBIs, while
Brendan Harrity and Maloney each drove in three.
It was the visitors who grabbed the early lead however, as they pushed across single runs in each of the first two innings.
WMU then tallied six in the bottom of the second to seize control. Thielman got it started with the first of his career-high three knocks, an RBI single.
Chris Akers evened the contest with a sacrifice fly, and Mally then ripped a two-run triple to put the Broncos ahead. Mee and Maloney followed with back-to-back run-scoring singles to make it 6-2.
After yielding a run in each of the first two innings, Western Michigan starter
Joey Wizceb settled in, blanking EMU over the next five frames. The lefty faced the minimum in four consecutive innings at one point, erasing the one batter that reached during that stretch on a double play to end the fifth. Wizceb gave the Broncos a career-high 8.0 innings to pick up his first win and first complete game for the Brown and Gold.
Western Michigan added to its advantage in the middle innings, as Harrity plated a pair with a single in the fourth. In the fifth,
Lucas Rick launched a solo shot and Maloney drove in two with a base hit to stretch the cushion to 11-2.
The Eagles got a home run of their own in the eighth to make it 11-4.
In the last of the eighth, Harrity hit his second home run of the season and Mally then ended the game for the Brown and Gold with a two-run double.
Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan close out their three-game weekend series with a rubber match on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 pm from Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field. For tickets to any WMU home game, visit
wmubroncos.com/tickets.
