KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Western Michigan softball team hosts Eastern Michigan in a three-game Mid-American Conference series to close out the regular season, May, 6 & 7. The Broncos will be fighting for a spot in the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament and will honor its senior class, as well as alumnae on Saturday

THE RECORDS
Western Michigan (18-26, 9-10 MAC)
Eastern Michigan (19-29, 9-11 MAC)

Twitter Updates: @WMUSoftball
Live Stats - available at beginning of game


GAME SCHEDULE
Game one and two will be played Friday with a doubleheader scheduled to begin a t 1 p.m. Game three will be Saturday at 1 p.m. Admission to all home softball games at Fran Ebert is free. Please check back to wmubroncos.com for any schedule updates due to weather.

SERIES HISTORY
Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan have met 106 times with the Broncos owning a 63-42-1 lead in the all-time series. Western Michigan has won nine of the last 10 meetings between the two schools. EMU's last victory came during the 2011 campaign.

SENIOR/ALUMNAE SALUTE
Western Michigan will recognize its 2016 senior class prior to game three on Saturday's - SS Sabrina Gamboa, pitcher Allyson Kus, 2B Melissa Palmer and UT Caity Pixley. WMU also welcomes back Bronco softball alumnae this weekend. Former players will be announced on the field Saturday and should check in at the alumnae table outside the concession stand.

TOURNAMENT TALK
This is the final weekend of regular season play, as teams are vying for one of eight seeds in the upcoming MAC Tournament, held at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio, May 11-13. Kent State leads the MAC with a 14-6 record and four other teams have at least 10 wins heading into the final weekend. Western Michigan is one of five teams with nine conference wins.

SCOUTING THE BRONCOS
Western Michigan started off the conference season winning nine of its first 13 games, but has since hit a rough patch in the schedule, getting swept in back-to-back series against Toledo and Ball State. As a team, WMU is batting .263 and has a 3.69 ERA. That ERA is lowered to 3.04 during conference play. Three players are hitting .300 or better, junior OF Erin Binkowski (.316), senior 2B Melissa Palmer (.314) and 3B Kelsea Cicocki (.314). Binkowski also has a team-best 11 home runs and 27 RBIs.

ON THE RUBBER
Senior Allyson Kus leads the pitching staff with 26 starts, 18 complete games, 161.2 innings pitched and 115 strikeouts. She has a 13-14 record with a 2.68 ERA. Freshman Jordan Kurth has also been a primary pitcher for WMU, starting 19 contests and throwing 72.2 innings, including three complete games. She has a 4-7 record with a a3.85 ERA and has totaled 68 K's. Sophomore Anissa Sanchez is the Broncos' third pitcher and has made 18 appearances and four starts.

GOING, GOING, GONE
Western Michigan has 32 home runs as a team this season. Junior Erin Binkowski has 11, which has established a new WMU single-season home run record. Junior Abby Stoner has gone deep eight times, at one point homering in five straight games.

SCOUTING EASTERN MICHIGAN
Eastern Michigan is 19-29 overall with a 9-11 MAC record. The Eagles are batting .271 and have a 4.53 team ERA. EMU dropped two of three last weekend to Central Michigan.