BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Western Michigan got 6.0 scoreless frames from
Ricky Kidd in a 7-1 victory at Bowling Green on Saturday night. The victory secured WMU a berth in the MAC Tournament in Avon, Ohio, later this month.
FINAL SCORE: Western Michigan 7, Bowling Green 1
LOCATION: Steller Field (Bowling Green, Ohio)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (23-22, 17-12 MAC) | Bowling Green (18-31, 11-18)
W: Ricky Kidd (7-1) |
L: Andrew Heffernan (3-6)
After the first two Broncos were retired in the top of the first,
Michael Maloney was hit by a pitch to extend the inning.
Avery Thielman followed with a base hit, and
Lucas Rick then ripped a double down the left field line to bring in both runners and give WMU the early 2-0 edge.
The early offense was all Kidd needed. The right-hander scattered four hits in his 6.0 scoreless innings of work and collected four strikeouts on the way to his team-leading seventh win of the year. The Broncos have won each of his last five starts.
Western Michigan doubled its advantage in the third, with Thielman picking up a sacrifice fly and
Connor Ostrander adding an RBI single to make it 4-0.
Thielman notched a run-scoring single in the seventh, and Rick followed with a double to drive in his third run of the evening and stretch the margin to 6-0.
Bowling Green tallied its lone run of the evening in the eighth.
WMU restored its six-run advantage in the ninth on a Thielman double, giving the senior first baseman his third RBI of the evening.
Evan Shapiro came on for the bottom of the ninth and struck out three to seal the victory and MAC Tournament berth for the Brown and Gold.
The Broncos and Falcons close out their three-game weekend series with a rubber match on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 2 pm on
ESPN+.
