Baseball Drops series opener in Western Michigan

KALAMAZOO, Mich. Central Michigan’s pitching gave up 11 hits and the Chippewas stranded 13 baserunners Thursday in falling to Western Michigan, 11-6, in the opener of a three-game Mid-American Conference series at the Broncos’ Bobb Stadium.

The Chippes fell to 32-20, 18-10 MAC. The second game of the series will be played on Friday (13.05) and the final on Saturday (13.05). The Broncos improved to 20-28, 17-10 and clinched a spot in the MAC tournament.

The four-team tournament field will host regular season champion Kent State from May 24. CMU, Western and Ball State round out the field. The Golden Flashes are the No. 1 seed; the rest of the seeds are determined by the results of the games played on Friday and Saturday.

Western Michigan jumped on the CMU starter Adam Mrakitsch (8-4) with four runs in the first inning and never trailing.

The Chippewas made it 6-4 with a three-run fourth, but the Broncos scored twice in the fifth to make it 8-4 and then added three more runs in the seventh to extend their lead to 11-4.

Danny Wuestenfeld hit his fifth home run of the season for CMU, who had 10 hits, including three Ely Stuart. To Christian Mitchell added a two-run double for CMU, which fell in order in just one inning (ninth) with eight runners in scoring position.

Mrakitsch allowed six runs on five hits over four innings in taking the loss. Ryan InscoRyan Cully and Nate Ross each rose in relief for CMU.