LEXINGTON, KY (WKZO AM/FM) – The Western Michigan University baseball team saw its historic 2024 campaign come to a close Saturday with a 6-4 loss to Indiana State in an elimination game at the Lexington Regional of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
With the loss, WMU’s season ends with a 32-23 record, the most wins for the program since the 1993 season. The Sycamores advance to an elimination game on Sunday against the loser of Saturday’s second game between Illinois and Kentucky.
Indiana State opened the scoring with four in the top of the first on the way to a 6-0 edge after two-and-a-half innings.
The Broncos got on the board for the first time in the third. Grady Mee was hit by a pitch, stole second, and then came around on an RBI double by Jackson Kitchen.
Western Michigan loaded the bases in the fourth, and pulled a run closer when Mee drew a free pass to plate Dylan Nevar. The Brown and Gold left the bases loaded in the frame.
WMU continued to inch closer in the fifth, as CJ Richmond doubled to right center and then scored on a base hit by Nevar.
After Western Michigan threats were turned away in the sixth and seventh frames, Nevar made it a 6-4 game with a solo shot to right field, his 16th of the season. The home run was the redshirt junior’s 29th as a Bronco, moving him into sole possession of second-place in WMU program history. His 71 RBIs in 2024 set a new single-season program record.
The Broncos brought the tying run to the plate later in the eighth, and threatened once again in the ninth, but were turned away both times.
After the first three innings, WMU’s bullpen shut down the Sycamores. The quartet of DJ Thompson, Luke Thelen, Hayden Berg and Turner Doran combined to blank ISU on four hits over the final six innings of the contest.
With their seven hits on Saturday, the Broncos ended their season with 597, a new single-season program record. Western Michigan’s offense also set new single-season records for runs scored (418) and RBIs (393), and tied the 1989 team’s walk record by drawing 287 free passes.
The WMU pitching staff set a new record by racking up 444 strikeouts.
(courtesy WMU Athletics)
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