PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – The Western Michigan baseball team evened up its Opening Weekend series against Pittsburgh with a 7-5 victory on Saturday.
 
FINAL SCORE: Western Michigan 7, Pittsburgh 5
LOCATION: Centennial Park (Port Charlotte, Fla.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (1-1) | Pittsburgh (1-1)
W: Turner Doran (1-0) | L: Chase Kriebel (0-1) | Save: Joey Wizceb (1)
 
Lucas Rick got the Broncos going early, belting a two-run double in the top of the first to give WMU the early edge.
 
Pittsburgh answered with single tallies in the second and fourth frames to tie it up, 2-2.
 
After both teams left the bases loaded in the fifth, Western Michigan broke the deadlock in the sixth. Michael Maloney led off with the first of his three hits in the contest. Avery Thielman followed with a knock of his own, and Nolan Zajac then laid down a sacrifice bunt to put both runners in scoring position for Mason Pilarski. The true freshman put down a bunt of his own and beat it out for one of his three knocks, and Maloney raced home on the play to put WMU back on top.
 
The Panthers came right back with one in the home half, evening the contest at 3-3.
 
The Broncos regained the advantage in the next half inning. Drew Howard was hit by a pitch to start the frame, went first to third on a Rick single and then scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. One out later, Maloney delivered another knock to plate pinch runner Jacob Rowold. WMU extended the margin to 6-3 in the eighth, with Tanner Mally taking advantage of a Pitt miscue and scoring on an error.
 
Pittsburgh answered in the bottom half with a pair of unearned tallies to close the gap to one, 6-5. With the bases loaded and two outs, Joey Wizceb induced a ground ball to prevent further damage.
 
Western Michigan picked up an insurance run in the ninth. Mark Mennecke was hit by a pitch to begin the inning, moved to third on a Maloney base hit and then scored on a Thielman grounder to make it 7-5.
 
Wizceb returned to the hill for the bottom of the ninth and set the Panthers down in order to lock down the save. Turner Doran picked up the win in relief, going 2.1 innings without allowing an earned run.
 
After sitting out the past two seasons due to injury, redshirt junior righty Sam Carlisle made his first start on the mound for Western Michigan and struck out four in 3.1 innings.
 
The rubber match for the Opening Weekend series between the Broncos and Panthers is slated for Sunday at 11 am on FloCollege.