KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team dropped a 3-2 decision to Toledo on Friday in the opener of the two teams' three-game MAC series.
 
FINAL SCORE: Toledo 3, Western Michigan 2
LOCATION: Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field (Kalamazoo, Mich.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (15-15, 10-6 MAC) | Toledo (16-17, 12-4)
W: Nathan Leininger (7-0) | L: Zach Vriesenga (2-2) | Save: Nate Langbehn (3)
 
Toledo grabbed the early edge, plating a run in each of the first two innings. An unearned tally in the fifth then stretched the margin to 3-0 in favor of the visitors.
 
WMU starter Zach Vriesenga settled in after the first couple of innings and faced the minimum in both the third and fourth frames. The righty gave the Broncos 6.2 innings, yielding two earned runs and tallying four strikeouts.
 
The Rockets had an opportunity to extend their lead in the top of the seventh, but Evan Shapiro came on and got a pop up to strand a runner in scoring position and keep the margin at three.
 
After Shapiro got Western Michigan out of another jam in the eighth, the Broncos broke through in the home half. Tanner Mally got the ball rolling with a base hit, and back-to-back walks then loaded the bases with no outs for the Brown and Gold. A ground ball double play brought Mally in to score WMU's first run of the day, and then a two-out single by Michael Maloney scored Cooper Hums to trim the gap to 3-2.
 
DJ Thompson kept it a one-run game with a scoreless ninth inning, but Western Michigan went down in order in the home half to give Toledo the series-opening victory.  
 
Western Michigan and Toledo continue their three-game weekend series on Saturday at 1:05 pm from Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field. For tickets to any WMU baseball home game, visit wmubroncos.com/tickets.