The battle against coach Rich Maloney’s alma mater was a nail-biter, with Western Michigan scoring its final run during a comeback attempt in the bottom of the ninth.

But during the Michigan baseball team's first game of a five-game road swing, the Wolverines squeaked by with a 9-8 victory in Kalamazoo.

“We didn’t play so well today — pitching, hitting or defense,” senior first baseman Mike Dufek said. “But we found a way to win and that’s what’s important. (Maloney) always preaches that when we have one more run that the other team it’s been a good day.”

And one run was all it took.

Western Michigan had the lead up until the top of the fourth inning when Dufek launched a grand slam over the left field fence, bringing in four of his five RBI for the day. This was Dufek’s second home run of the game — a feat he also accomplished last season against the Broncos.

Those last two tallies brought Dufek's career home run total to 25, which ties him up for 12th place with former catcher David Parrish. That places Dufek just one home run shy of former shortstop Barry Larkin in 11th place.

“I knew I could do all this stuff from what I did last year,” Dufek said. “So, I just needed to recall my past success and put in the extra time with Coach. All those guys that hit before me were really good players so I just feel honored to be in that kind of company.”

Despite two home runs by Dufek, Western Michigan continued to fight, tying up the game in the bottom of the fifth with a three-run rally. The score bounced back and forth as both teams contributed to a total of 19 hits and 17 runs. But Michigan maintained composure, especially on the mound in order to secure the win.

Going into today’s game, the Wolverines pitching staff had allowed the fewest runs of any Big Ten team and had struck out a conference-best 110 batters looking. Junior right-handers Matt Miller and Kolby Wood along with redshirt junior pitcher Matt Gerbe produced the win. Gerbe came through with a strong closeout to cease Western Michigan’s comeback.

“Even though he wasn’t as sharp as he has been over the last couple weeks, he came up with three big pitches when (Western Michigan) had a chance to win the game in the last inning," Maloney said.

Although the game might not have been as pretty as most Michigan fans would have hoped, the Wolverines still managed to pull off the win and keep them atop the Big Ten standings.

“Good teams find a way to win even when they don’t place their best,” Maloney said. “And we didn’t play well today, that’s for certain. At the same token, we are just coming off an extremely difficult series with Ohio State and that took a lot of energy out of us, no questions. Either way, we came out with the win and that’s the main goal.”