KALAMAZOO, Mich.- Western Michigan hosts Akron in the fifth weekend of Mid-American Conference play, April 21-22.

SERIES INFORMATION
Western Michigan Broncos (16-18, 6-5 MAC)
vs. Akron Zips (14-23, 7-5 MAC)

April 21 (DH) 1 p.m. •  April 22 1 p.m.
Kalamazoo, Mich. • Robert J. Bobb Stadium at Hyames Field
Admission Free

Predicted Starters (WMU vs. AKR)
LHP Casey Webber (2-1, 3.81 ERA) vs. RHP Andrew Brown (4-5, 4.20 ERA)
LHP Steve Laudicina (3-3, 4.80 ERA) vs. LHP Pat Dyer (3-1, 2.87 ERA)
LHP Mike Moyer (0-1, 9.31 ERA) vs. RHP Alex Loftin (2-1, 3.12 ERA)

MIDWAY POINT
This weekend marks the middle of the conference season, with four weekend series already in the books, and five to go (including this weekend) ... Western Michigan is currently second in the MAC West standings with a 6-5 record and Akron is third in the East with a 7-5 record ... WMU has only played 11 MAC games, losing a game due to weather at Buffalo.

HOW THEY'VE FARED
WMU started conference play 5-0, sweeping Bowling Green and Buffalo, dropping all three against Eastern Michigan at home and then going 1-2 at Toledo last weekend ... Akron went 2-1 vs. Ball State, 1-2 at Northern Illinois, swept Bowling Green at home and dropped two of three at Buffalo last weekend.

SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN
The Broncos are coming off a six-game road trip ... WMU is 5-3 at home this season ... the Broncos are batting .289 (.311 in MAC contests) and have a 5.06 staff ERA (4.59 MAC) ... the team is 12-2 when leading after seven innings, but has had trouble hanging onto leads in the middle innings, being outscored 57-19 in the fourth and fifth innings combined ... senior 3B Ryan McMillin leads the team in nearly every offensive statistical category, including average (.345), RBIs (32) and home runs (5).

SIZING UP THE ZIPS
Winning seven of its first 12 conference games, Akron has equaled its MAC win total from last season (7-20) ... the much-improved Zips are under the direction Rick Rembielak, in his first year at Akron ... Rembielak posted a 200-100 record in 11 seasons at Kent State (1994-2004), before leaving for Wake Forest ... Akron is hitting .256 and has a staff ERA of 5.06 ... in MAC games, the Zips rank last with a .240 batting average, but have a conference-best 2.35 ERA ... the Zips have lost six of their last seven games and are 3-15 in road games.

HOPING HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF
Last year in Akron, Western Michigan started conference play with a three-game shutout sweep, outscoring the Zips 18-0 ... it was WMU's first MAC shutout sweep in program history ... the Bronco pitching staff was named Insidepitching.com National Pitching Staff of the Week for the effort.

WELCOME BACK JACK
After missing the previous eight games with injury, senior outfielder Jack Scanlon returned to lineup last weekend against Toledo ... Scanlon had a monstrous series, belting three home runs, two doubles, going 7-for-14 at the plate with seven RBIs and a 1.286 slugging percentage.

OTHER BRONCO NOTABLES
Western Michigan had a seven-game winning streak from March 24 through April 3, but then dropped five in a row ... the Broncos' five wins to begin MAC play was the best conference start for the team since 2005 ... senior 3B Ryan McMillin rattled off a 25-game hitting streak from March 2 to April 13, tying the school record, and has recorded a hit in 30 of 34 games played ... senior 1B Troy Forton remains out with a strained oblique muscle.

STARTERS SUMMARY
Friday: Senior LHP Casey Webber has thrown a team-high 49.2 innings and leads the staff with 33 K's ... he struck out a season-high nine batters at Buffalo on April 30 ... Webber's career high for K's is 10 ... he threw a complete game in an 11-4 win over Penn on March 8.

Saturday: Sophomore LHP Steve Laudicina has been the Saturday starter in every series but Toledo, when he threw on Sunday ... he has logged 45.0 IP and 27 K's ... Laudicina fanned a career-high seven batters in 7.0 IP against Bowling Green (3/24).

Sunday: Redshirt Junior LHP Mike Moyer will be making his second MAC weekend start, and threw on Saturday last weekend at Toledo (3.1 IP, 7R, 7H, no decision) ... Moyer has struck out seven in two midweeks starts, throwing 5.1 innings vs. Oakland (3/18) and 5.0 innings vs. Valparaiso (4/3) ... WMU is 3-1 in games Moyer has started.

LOOKING AHEAD
Western Michigan does not have a midweek game next week, and travels to Kent State next weekend, April 27-29.

MAC PLAYERS/PITCHERS OF THE WEEK
Western Michigan has had three players honored with conference weekly awards ... senior 3B Ryan McMillin was named Player of the Week March 6 ... senior LHP Casey Webber and junior SS Patrick Duncan swept the Pitcher/Player of the Week award March 14.

TURNING THE PAGE
In his first season at Western Michigan in 2011, head coach Billy Gernon led the Broncos to a 14-game improvement, ranking the Broncos 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 conference win mark by eight, going 12-14 in the Mid-American Conference, finishing fifth in the West.