KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team closes out its four-game road stretch on Tuesday afternoon at Valparaiso.
 

GAME INFO

Matchup: Western Michigan (19-16) at Valparaiso (9-26)

Date/Time: Tuesday, April 21 – 4 pm

Site: Emory G. Bauer Field (Valparaiso, Ind.)

Video: ESPN+

Live Stats: StatBroadcast

FOLLOW ALONG: @WMUBaseball

LEADING OFF

• Western Michigan closes out its road swing on Tuesday with a trip to Valparaiso
• The Broncos hold a 39-18 advantage in the all-time series between the two programs
• Western Michigan has won four straight matchups against the Beacons
• The winning streak includes a 5-4 WMU win over Valpo back on April 7 in Kalamazoo
• The Broncos picked up their fifth MAC series win over the weekend, taking two out of three at EMU
• After dropping the opener, Western Michigan scored 12 runs in each of the last two games to take the series
• Avery Thielman went 7-for-12 (.583) with three home runs and eight RBIs against the Eagles
• The senior went 4-for-4 with a pair of home runs and a career-high five RBIs in Sunday's rubber match
• Thielman's weekend earned him WMU's first MAC Player of the Week award of the season
• Cooper Hums homered on both Friday and Saturday, the first two home runs of his collegiate career
• WMU's defense did not make an error all weekend, bringing its fielding percentage to a MAC-best .980
• The .980 fielding percentage ranks Western Michigan 19th in NCAA Division I
• Tanner Mally enters the week still atop NCAA DI in batting average (.480) and OBP (.593)
• Matt Maloney is scheduled to make his first career start on the mound for the Broncos on Tuesday

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Following its series victory at Eastern Michigan over the weekend, Western Michigan heads right back out on the road on Tuesday afternoon for a non-conference matchup against Valparaiso. 

SERIES HISTORY
The Broncos come into Tuesday's contest with a 39-18 advantage in the all-time series against Valparaiso. Western Michigan has won four straight meetings with the Beacons, including a 5-4 victory in Kalamazoo two weeks ago.

LAST TIME OUT
Western Michigan won its fifth MAC series of the season over the weekend, taking two out of three against Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti. The Eagles took the series opener on Friday, but WMU scored 12 runs in each of the final two games of the weekend to pick up 12-7 and 12-3 victories. Avery Thielman led the offensive charge, going 7-for-12 (.583) with three home runs and eight RBIs for the weekend. Cooper Hums added a pair of homers, the first two long balls of his collegiate career. 

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
First baseman Avery Thielman was named WMU's first MAC Player of the Week of 2026 on Monday for his performance in the weekend series at Eastern Michigan. The senior went 7-for-12 (.583) with three home runs, eight RBIs, a .643 on-base percentage and a 1.417 slugging percentage against the Eagles. After WMU dropped Friday's series opener, Thielman blasted a three-run homer on Saturday to help the Broncos get out to an early advantage in a 12-7 win. In Sunday's rubber match, the Kalamazoo native launched two more home runs for the first multi-homer game of his career, and drove in a career-high five runs to help Western Michigan secure the series victory. Thielman has had multiple hits in four of his last five games to elevate his season batting average 65 points to .282.

ALL-AMERICAN LEADOFF MAN
Leadoff hitter Tanner Mally comes into the week still atop NCAA Division I in both batting average (.480) and on-base percentage (.593). The junior also leads the Mid-American Conference in hits (61) and hit by pitches (19), and ranks inside the league's top-10 in numerous other offensive categories as well, including OPS (1.168, 3rd), runs (43, T-3) and stolen bases (18, 6th). Earlier this month, the Lisle, Ill., native was named a Midseason All-American by both D1Baseball (Second Team) and Perfect Game (Third Team). 

ONE-TWO PUNCH
Along with Mally, second baseman Drew Howard has given the Broncos a great one-two punch at the top of their order. The senior owns a .351 batting average, the ninth-best mark in the conference. Howard leads Western Michigan in walks with 21 and in triples with three. He also ranks among the team leaders in a litany of other offensive categories including on-base percentage (.463, 2nd), hits (47, 2nd), doubles (6, T-2), runs scored (30, 3rd), RBIs (23, 3rd) and stolen bases (6, T-3).

NEW KIDD IN TOWN
Michigan transfer Ricky Kidd continues to be the Sunday workhorse for the Broncos. Against Eastern Michigan, the right-hander yielded three runs over 6.0 innings to collect his team-leading fifth win of the season, which is tied for fifth in the conference. Kidd has gone at least 5.0 innings in all seven of his MAC starts and ranks sixth in the league with a team-high 56.1 innings pitched.

SHARP SHAPIRO
Evan Shapiro dealt a pair of scoreless frames in both the Friday and Sunday contests against Eastern Michigan, picking up four strikeouts in his 4.0 innings. Over his last eight outings, the junior has yielded just one run over 11.1 innings for a 0.79 ERA during that stretch while also collecting 11 strikeouts. This recent string of appearances has lowered Shapiro's season ERA from 12.15 all the way down to 5.00.

DIGGING IN DEFENSIVELY
After an errorless weekend at Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan's defense bumped its season fielding percentage up to .980, the top mark in the MAC and 19th-best in all of NCAA Division I.  

BUNTING BRONCOS 
The Broncos have been effective at playing small ball and lead the league with 26 sacrifice bunts, which ranks WMU 32nd in the nation. Western Michigan has four of the MAC's top-8 bunters, with Drew Howard and Nolan Zajac tied for third in the conference with five sacrifices and Michael Maloney and Mason Pilarski tied for fifth with four sac bunts apiece.