KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team closes out the regular season this weekend as it welcomes Ohio to town for a three-game series. Saturday is Senior Day for the Broncos, with the pregame ceremony set to begin around 12:30 pm.
SERIES INFO: Western Michigan (18-30, 11-16 MAC) vs Ohio (12-36, 7-20)
Game One: Thursday, May 15 | 3:05 pm |
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Game Two: Friday, May 16 | 2:05 pm |
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Game Three: Saturday, May 17 | 1:05 pm |
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FOLLOW ALONG: @WMUBaseball
LEADING OFF
- Western Michigan wraps up the regular season this weekend with a three-game set against Ohio
- The Broncos have won six straight at home and are 12-5 at Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field in 2025
- Saturday is Senior Day for WMU and the program will honor seven seniors on the field prior to the game
- The Broncos enter the series tied with Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan for sixth in the MAC
- As it stands, WMU would be the last team in the MAC Tournament due to owning the three-team tiebreaker
- Western Michigan owns a 94-73 all-time record against Ohio
- WMU has swept the Bobcats each of the last two seasons and won six straight meetings in Kalamazoo
- The Broncos are coming off of a sweep at the hands of first-place Kent State last weekend
- Two of the three games were decided by one run, and KSU ended the series with a walk-off win in the 10th
- Dylan Nevar and Brendan Harrity both had four hits in the series finale
- One of Nevar's four hits was his team-leading eighth home run of the season
- With 37 career home runs, Nevar is one away from tying former teammate Cade Sullivan's career record
- Grady Mee leads the conference in stolen bases with 25 in 27 attempts
- Tanner Mally is sixth in the MAC with a .356 batting average and owns a .381 mark in MAC play
SALUTE THE SENIORS
Western Michigan wraps up its regular season this weekend as it welcomes Ohio to town for a three-game series. Saturday is Senior Day for WMU, and the program will honor
Luke Kerrins,
Brendan Harrity,
Dylan Nevar,
Reese Gaber,
Joe Shapiro,
Aiden Hinds and
Jake Gernon in a pregame ceremony.
REGULAR SEASON FINALE
The Broncos enter the final weekend of the regular season in a three-way tie for the sixth and final spot in the MAC Tournament with Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan. Should the three teams remain tied at the end of the regular season, WMU would win the three-team tiebreaker and claim a spot in next week's tournament in Avon, Ohio. Western Michigan also owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over the rival Chippewas.
HOME SWEET HOME
WMU has won six consecutive home games and owns a 12-5 record at Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field this season. The Broncos have put together a dominant 34-14 home record over the last three years, and during that stretch, they are 29-10 in MAC games, with wins in 11 of their last 13 conference series. Western Michigan's most recent home series was a sweep of CMU from May 2-3.
LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos are coming off of a sweep at the hands of first-place Kent State last weekend. Both Friday's series opener and Sunday's series finale were decided by one run. Western Michigan rallied from a 9-7 deficit in the ninth inning on Sunday, but the Golden Flashes hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th to complete the sweep.
Brendan Harrity went 6-for-11 (.545) and scored four times over the weekend, while
Dylan Nevar went 6-for-14 (.429) with three extra-base hits and four RBIs.
SERIES HISTORY
Western Michigan comes into this weekend with a 94-73 all-time record against Ohio. The Broncos have swept the Bobcats in each of the last two seasons, and won six consecutive meetings in Kalamazoo.
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Ohio wrapped up its home schedule by dropping two out of three to Ball State last weekend and was officially eliminated from MAC Tournament contention. OU's Ben Slanker has been one of the top power hitters in the conference all season long, and enters the series tied for the top spot in the league with 17 home runs and third in the MAC with 62 RBIs. Matt Ineich comes into the weekend hitting .387, the second-highest batting average in the conference.
HEATING UP AT THE RIGHT TIME
Michael Maloney comes into the weekend riding a 15-game hitting streak, the longest hitting streak by a Bronco so far this season. During his streak, the senior is hitting .403 with a .474 on-base percentage, 17 RBIs, and has raised his season batting average 75 points, from .224 to .299. During that same 15-game span,
Dylan Nevar has heated up as well, hitting .397 with 14 extra-base hits, including five home runs, and 24 RBIs.
McKINSTRY MOWS DOWN THE MAC
Ty McKinstry has shined in conference play for the Broncos, allowing three earned runs or fewer in eight of his nine MAC starts. Entering the weekend, the junior right-hander ranks second in opposing batting average (.202), sixth in ERA (3.14) and fifth in innings pitched (51.2) in conference games. Overall, McKinstry ranks fourth in opposing batting average (.233) and innings pitched (68.0) and 10th in ERA (4.76).
NEVAR CONTINUES TO MAKE HISTORY
Dylan Nevar has broken a pair of Western Michigan career records this season, breaking Matt Mieske's (1987-90) all-time RBI record on March 21 against Akron and Chris Lewis' (2007-10) all-time total bases record on April 26 at Northern Illinois. After hitting his team-leading eighth long ball of the season on Sunday at Kent State, Nevar is just one home run away from tying former teammate
Cade Sullivan (2021-24), who holds the program's career record with 38.
LOOK AT MEE
Grady Mee enters the weekend with a league-leading 25 stolen bases in 27 attempts. The junior's 25 steals are already tied for sixth-most in a season in program history. Connor Charping holds the single-season record, having swiped 32 in 2021.
