The No. 2 seed Western Michigan baseball team completed its dominant weekend in Avon, Ohio, with a 10-3 victory over No. 3 seed Ball State to capture the 2024 MAC Baseball Tournament Championship on Saturday night.

It is the second MAC Tournament title in program history and punches WMU's ticket to the 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. The win is Western Michigan's 32nd of the season, the most since the 1993 team won 35 games.
 
FINAL SCORE: No. 2 Western Michigan 10, No. 3 Ball State 3
LOCATION: Crushers Stadium (Avon, Ohio)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (32-21) | Ball State (35-23-1)
W: Joe Shapiro (5-0) | L: Logan Schulfer (1-4)
 
Following the game, the All-Tournament Team was announced by the conference, with Western Michigan's Dylan Nevar headlining the team as Tournament MVP. Nevar went 6-for-13 (.462), reached base at a .588 clip, scored four times and drove in five runs in the tournament.
 
Nevar was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Cade Sullivan, Josh Swinehart, Brady Miller and Nolan Vlcek. Sullivan and Swinehart drove in four runs apiece, with Sullivan hitting an even .500 (7-for-14). Miller and Vlcek picked up the wins on the mound in WMU's first two victories of the tournament, with each firing seven shutout frames.  
 
As a pitching staff for the tournament, Western Michigan tossed a pair of shutouts, limited its opposition to three total runs, and a .179 batting average over the three games. Bronco pitching also racked up 30 strikeouts and issued just three walks.
 
Ball State loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first, but DJ Thompson was able to get out of it unscathed.
 
Western Michigan then jumped in front with three in the home half of the opening frame. After three straight walks, CJ Richmond brought home the first run of the evening with a ground ball. With two outs, Michael Maloney and Greg Budig delivered back-to-back RBI singles to make it 3-0.
 
The Cardinals pushed across a run in the top of the third, the first run allowed by Western Michigan in the tournament. The tally ended a streak of 27 consecutive scoreless innings for the Brown and Gold.
 
WMU answered with two in the last of the third. Swinehart got it started with a line drive home run down the left field line, his sixth of the season. Later in the frame, Grady Mee notched an RBI single to give the Broncos a 5-1 cushion at the end of three.
 
The Brown and Gold added three more two-out runs in the fourth. Swinehart ripped a base hit back up the middle to score a run, and Brendan Harrity then beat out an infield single for an RBI, with another run scoring on the play due to an error.
 
Western Michigan rounded out its scoring for the evening with two more insurance tallies in the eighth. Mee collected another RBI on a fielder's choice, and Sullivan sent a single the other way to drive in the 10th and final run of the contest for the Broncos. Sullivan's eighth-inning single was his 85th hit of the season, a new single-season program record.
 
The 10 runs were plenty for the WMU staff. Following Thompson's 3.0 innings, the Broncos turned to Joe Shapiro, who spun 3.0 scoreless frames and racked up four strikeouts to collect the win in relief, his fifth win of 2024. The Broncos got 2.0 scoreless innings from Turner Doran for the second consecutive game and Luke Thelen then closed it out in the ninth.
 
As MAC Tournament Champion, Western Michigan has earned an automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. The bracket and schedule for the tournament will be announced on Monday, May 27, at 12 pm on ESPN2.