KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Tanner Allison launched a three-run home run over the right field wall to start the game, Keegan Akin produced a quality start, and the Western Michigan baseball team held off a late rally by Ball State to defeat the Cardinals 6-5 at Robert J. Bobb Stadium on Sunday. The win clinches a series victory for the Broncos, who improve to 19-23 overall and 11-10 in Mid-American Conference play.
Akin went 6 2/3 innings while allowing just three runs, holding the Cardinals hitless through the first 5 1/3 innings while striking out five and walking two. Gabe Berman shut the door on the Cardinals for his seventh save of the season, coming in with one out in the eighth inning and pitching a perfect ninth to shut the door on Ball State.
Allison went 2-for-4 with a three-run clout in the bottom of the first inning and four total RBI on the game. Hunter Prince reached base in all four of his plate appearances, going 3-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, and Kurt Hoekstra and Brett Sunde each drove in runs with RBI doubles in the first and fifth innings, respectively.
The Broncos started the game with a bang by scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning, taking the lead over the Cardinals and never relinquishing it for the rest of the game. Grant Miller hooked a liner into left-center with one out for a single, and Sunde drove him in with a double to deep left-center to make it 1-0. Jared Kujawa drew a walk, and with two outs and two on, Allison hit a line-drive shot over the right field wall for a three-run shot to give the Broncos a 4-0 advantage mere minutes into the game.
WMU plated what would be the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning, again off the bat of Allison. With one out and no one on base, Mitchell Ho rapped a double off the left field wall to reach base. Allison swatted a single to right field to bring Ho home, beating the throw from right field to give the Broncos a 6-0 advantage. The Cardinals added three and two runs in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, but could not break through in the ninth.
Akin made the lead stand up for much of the afternoon, keeping the Cardinals off-balance as he held their lineup without a hit until a one-out single in the top of the sixth inning. The only real trouble for him came in the top of the seventh inning when Ball State loaded the bases with no outs after a single by Brandon Estep. Akin induced a groundball double play from pinch hitter Zach Plesac, which cut the Broncos' lead to 6-2 but provided them two outs. Matt Eppers hit an RBI triple off Jake Piechota in relief to make it 6-3, but Piechota got Alex Maloney to ground out to end the inning.
