KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Western Michigan's Steve Laudicina pitched seven innings and struck out seven Kent State batters but four errors in the seventh inning led to a 3-0 Bronco loss at Robert J. Bobb Stadium on Friday afternoon.

In spite of Laudicina's performance the Broncos were unable to figure out Kent State's Taylor Williams, who pitched a two-hit shutout with seven strikeouts on the day. All three runs given up by the Broncos were unearned by their junior pitcher.

Back-to-back errors to open the seventh inning led to two runners on for the Golden Flashes. Evan Campbell's sacrifice bunt moved the Derek Toadvine to third and Sawyer Polen to second with just one out. Both scored on when George Roberts' chopper was misplayed by the Bronco infield. Zarley Zalewski's line-drive was also misplayed to score Roberts for the third run of the inning.

Laudicina was twice able to get out of a bases-loaded jam early on in the game.  In the third inning with men on second and third he struck out Polen before walking the bases loaded and then striking out George Roberts to end the threat. In the fourth he faced the bases loaded with one out but struck out Jeff Revesz and Toadvine to end the inning.

Chris Bossenbery pitched one inning in relief, striking out two and Casey Hall finished off the ninth to give the WMU pitching staff a game-high 10 strikeouts on the day. Steve Buglione and Theo Piccirilli picked up Western Michigan's only hits on the day.

The Broncos and Golden Flashes battle it out again on Saturday and Sunday with both starts scheduled for 1 p.m.