Bradley baseball

[tornado]

The schedule is tougher this year...BU baseball plays their first 23 games on the road, and faces Iowa, Butler, Gonzaga, Notre Dame...and some other tough teams...
but still....things didn't go as hoped in their season opener today...a 4-run 3rd inning by Austin Peay, couple walks that hurt...and inability to string a couple hits together ...
and Bradley lost to Austin Peay 7-1
Today Bradley lost to Austin Peay 7-1

They face APU again tomorrow at 1pm

[tornado]

Austin Peay took a 6-0 lead but Bradley is fighting back...
Now 7-4 in the bottom of the 8th

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=121760

[tornado]

Bradley loses game 1 8-4, but already leads game 2 today 2-0

[Da Coach]

Bradley baseball wins today 9-7 over Austin peay, to go 1-2 for the weekend.

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=210733505

http://www.bradleybraves.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=3400&SPID=1506&SPSID=19411

[tornado]

still leaving too many on base but finally strung some hits together and got a nice 7-run inning...

hope Baseball America Top Prospect and leadoff hitter Spencer Gaa is ok...
he came out in the 3rd after getting a hit then leaving for a pinch runner. Since Spencer is the fastest guy on the team - he must have pulled something to come out of the game that early and not return.
He was hampered by nagging hamstring tightness all last season - hope he's ok..

[tornado]

Bradley baseball having a good day as they take a 4-0 lead in the 8th on a HR by Spencer Gaa

Bradley softball put up 9 runs in the 6th to go up 9-4!

[tornado]

Notre Dame comes right back with 3 in the bottom of the 8th...still batting..

[Da Coach]

The Braves hold on for the 4-3 win over Notre Dame.

[Da Coach]

Bradley plays another game at 4:00 against Incarnate Word

[tornado]

Bradley lost the 2nd game 6-2 in 10 innings.... drop to 2-3

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=1506&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=210749417

The game was tough given Bradley's terrible travel routine - having to fly to Texas late Thursday then play two games Friday..
Incarnate Word meanwhile was playing on their home field.

[tornado]

Bradley returns home 3-4 and our hitting is off to a slow start...
just .240 as a team - at the bottom of MVC teams...

but the pleasant surprise is Bradley's pitching....
after losing a couple top notch players to graduation we're going with a younger staff and some thought we might struggle at first...

BUT Bradley's team ERA is 4th in the Valley (4.57) and our staff LEADS THE MVC in strikeouts with 61 K's in 65 total innings.
If you recall - we have a new pitching coach Larry Scully - who I believe is really doing a great job with the staff. Larry came here from Murray State and in his very first season he was a HUGE part of why Bradley had a good season in 2014-15, as Bradley's staff led the Valley in many pitching statistics and also led in shutouts and established the MVC's longest shutout-innings streak in history (34+ innings).
Larry is enthusiastic about his job, his energy is infectious, and his work shows..and I think is showing again this year.
Bradley now finishes a week of classes in just 4 days then heads for a 3-game series to Louisiana (McNeese State)



Here's a feather in the cap for Coach Scully-
Bradley's Matt Dennis in the MVC Pitcher of the Week!!!

http://cdn.streamlinetechnologies.com/mvc/CDF8F7F1-1599-40DD-B1BE-6A6D8A6C4CEA/Baseball%20Weekly%20Notebook%20(Feb.%2029).pdf

[tornado]

Bradley did not land Pekin's Justin Fletcher a couple years ago..but he's off to a great start at NIU
In his 17 at-bats this past weekend, he had 14 hits for an .824 batting average!!
On the entire season thus far he's 18-30, .600 BA!

http://www.niuhuskies.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/022916aaa.html

[tornado]

Bradley wins a 5-3 series opener at McNeese State
Both teams had 7 hits but the key was Bradley putting together a 4-run rally in the 5th inning..

[tornado]

Bradley baseball battling in game 2 of the three game series at McNeese State..
Currently the game is in bottom of the 8th & we need a rally.. Bradley trails 2-1

http://www.sidearmstats.com/mcneese/baseball/

edit - Bradley loses 3-1

[tornado]

BU drops series finale 9-3 - record now 4-6