KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Western Michigan baseball team travels to Tempe, Ariz., opening the 2012 schedule at No. 15/17 Arizona State, Feb. 17-19.

GAME INFORMATION
WESTERN MICHIGAN (2011: 26-31, 12-14 Mid-American Conference)
at No. 15/17 ARIZONA STATE (2011: 43-18, 17-10 PAC 10)
Feb. 17-19 • Tempe, Ariz. • Packard Stadium • Start Times: 8:30 p.m./3 p.m./2:30 p.m. ET

Predicted Staters (WMU vs. ASU)
LHP Casey Webber (4-7, 2.86 ERA) vs. RHP Brady Rodgers (9-4, 2.75 ERA)
LHP Steve Laudicina (4-4, 4.70 ERA) vs. LHP Adam McCreery (first appearance)
RHP Mike Moyer (1-3, 4.23 ERA) vs. LHP Trevor Williams (1-0, 2.50 ERA)

Game Broadcast
FOXSportsArizona.com will provide a FREE live webcast of Friday's baseball opener between Western Michigan and Arizona State, link can be found in related links box ... live stats will also be available for all three games.

 

TURNING THE PAGE
In his first season at Western Michigan in 2011, head coach Billy Gernon and the current coaching staff led the Broncos to a 14-game improvement, ranking WMU 10th among NCAA Division I institutions in terms of program turn around ... WMU finished the 2011 season with an overall record of 26-31 after going 12-42 prior to Gernon's arrival ... the team also upped its ts conference win mark by eight, going 12-14 in the Mid-American Conference, finshing fifth in the West.

WHAT WE ARE WORKING WITH
The Broncos return 17 lettermen and six of its starting position players ... two of the three arms in the conference weekend rotation remain in place in senior LHP Casey Webber (4-7, 2.86 ERA) and sophomore LHP Steve Laudicina (4-4, 4.70 ERA) ... the top two bats also return in 3B Ryan McMillin (.312, 7 HR, 40 RBIs) and OF Jack Scanlon (.285, 16 2B, 36 RBIs).

The Bronco infield remains intact from last year: 1B Troy Forton, 2B Zach Thoma, SS Patrick Duncan, 3B Ryan McMillin ... all but Duncan (junior) are seniors ... senior RF Jack Scanlon is the veteran in the Bronco outfield, and will be joined by sophomore CF Vinnie Booker, who started 21 games in the middle last year ... the starting spot in LF is up for grabs, with sophomores Theo Piccirilli, Dan Shutes and freshman Andrew Sohn looking to be front runners for the position.

DIFFERENT LOOK BEHIND THE DISH
Western Michigan is expected to have a few new faces behind home plate this season, as last year's starting catcher Brooks Beilke is still nursing an arm injury sustained last May ... backup Kory Bauswell is also likely out for the season ... freshman Jared Kujawa is predicted to start against the Sun Devils ... classmate Caleb Caton is working on getting reps behind the plate ... starting SS Patrick Duncan caught during the off-season and is currently first in line to replace Kujawa.

KEY LOSSES
Two of WMU's key losses from 2011 to 2012 are to the pitching staff, as Bronco ace Brian Stroud and team closer Eric Heckaman were selected in the 31st and 35th rounds of the 2011 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers ... Stroud had an 8-4 record with a 3.20 ERA, tossing 101.1 innings ... Heckaman recorded 10 saves, second most in a single season in WMU history, and had a 2-4 record with a 1.64 ERA.

ERODING ERA
WMU improved its ERA from 7.62 in 2010 to 4.03 in 2011, its lowest team ERA since 1993 ... the staff rang up 367 strikeouts, the most for the Brown & Gold since 2001 ... WMU was even more impressive during Mid-American Conference play, dropping its 4.03 ERA to 3.46 ... able to hold on to leads late, the pitching staff set a new school record with 16 saves, surpassing the previous high of 13.

SMALL BALL
Offensively, WMU finished 2011 ranked 16th in the nation in sacrifice bunts with 70 on the year ... second baseman Zach Thoma was the Division I statistical champion for sacrifice bunts per game, averaging 0.41 per game.

CLOSE CALLS
Western Michigan had 25 games decided by two runs or less in 2011 ... the Broncos were 5-10 in games decided by one run and 6-4 in two-run decisions ... the Brown & Gold was able to hold on to a lead however, posting an 20-2 record when leading after the fifth inning.

BRONCOS PICKED FIFTH IN MAC WEST
Defending Mid-American Conference regular season and tournament champion Kent State and defending MAC West champion Central Michigan have been chosen by the league's head coaches to win their respective divisions ... Toledo was picked second in the West, followed by Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan and Ball State ... following KSU in the East was Miami, Bowling Green, Ohio, Akron and Buffalo ... the Broncos finished 2011 fifth in the West and were the No. 7 seed in the MAC Tournament.

SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE
Arizona State has been ranked in the top-20 nationally in three different preseason polls, picked No. 15 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and No. 17 by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball ... the team finished last year with an overall record of 43-18 and was the PAC 10 runner-up with a 17-10 conference record ... ASU welcomes back 17 returners, headlined by preseason All-American and defending PAC-10 Defensive Player of the Year Deven Marrero ... there are three other All-Americans on the team, including 2011 PAC-10 batting champion Joey DeMichele (.368 BA) ... 13 members of the current team have been MLB draft picks ... ASU batted .301 as a team in 2011 and had a staff ERA of 3.22.

WHAT LIES AHEAD
Western Michigan makes its annual Spring trip to Florida, Feb. 24 through March 10, playing 13 games in the Sunshine State ... the Broncos will make stops in Winter Haven, Port Charlotte and Lakeland during their visit ... WMU begins with a three-game series against St. Bonaventure, Feb. 24-26 in Winter Haven.