A Western Michigan alum, Dane Armbrustmacher joined the WMU baseball staff in the summer of 2023. The 2024 season marked his first on staff for the Broncos.
The 2024 season was a historic one for Western Michigan as it won 32 games, its most since 1993, and went 19-11 in the MAC to finish second in the regular season standings, its highest league finish since 1990. As the No. 2 seed, the Broncos dominated the MAC Tournament, outscoring their opponents 29-3 on the way to the second MAC Tournament Championship in school history and an NCAA Tournament berth. WMU's pitching staff topped the league with a 5.55 ERA, set a new single-season program strikeout record and its seven shutouts were second-most in the nation and one shy of the school record.
Senior Nolan Vlcek earned All-MAC Second Team honors, and both Vlcek and fellow righty Luke Thelen were College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selections. Thelen was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 15th round of the 2024 MLB Draft. After finishing his WMU career second all-time in innings pitched, fourth in strikeouts and tied for fourth in wins, right-hander Brady Miller signed with the Chicago Dogs of the American Association of Professional Baseball.
Armbrustmacher joined head coach Billy Gernon's staff after pitching for the Broncos for five seasons. Over the course of his WMU career, the southpaw appeared in 76 games, the fifth-most by a Western Michigan pitcher since 2004, and started 30 for the Brown & Gold. Over a total of 220.2 innings, 14th-most in program history, Armbrustmacher racked up 247 strikeouts, which ranked as the fourth-most in program history.
A native of Fowler, Mich., Armbrustmacher graduated from WMU in April of 2023 with a degree in Engineering Design.
