Bradley baseball

[Da Coach]

Bradley baseball is off to a great start. After a close loss in their first game, they have now won 8 games in a row, and not against cupcake programs. All 9 games they have played so far have been against decent Division I baseball programs-

https://bradleybraves.com/schedule.aspx?path=base

[Mikovio]

First-place Braves beat Illinois 4-3 in extras last night and jumped 10 spots in the RPI to 66. 7 straight wins going into tonight's game at Chicago State.

Big homestand this weekend vs. Missouri State, which is just a spot ahead of BU in the RPI.

Hopefully we can make up the Iowa and Illinois home games which had to be postponed. At #47 and 58 they're good schedule boosters.

http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2018/rpi-live

[braves16]

Braves lose 2 of 3 to MSU this weekend.

[tornado]

Braves lose 2 of 3 to MSU this weekend.

This is uncharted territory for BU Baseball - they are within striking distance (2 games back) of 1st place in the league
and......there's just 9 games left in the Valley season but our guys need to finish strong

[braves16]

Braves take 2 of 3 from ISUred.

https://bradleybraves.com/news/2018/5/5/baseball-splits-dh-to-win-i-74-rivalry-series.aspx

[Da Coach]

After a very promising start to the MVC season, the 2018 Bradley baseball team has cooled a bit. After winning 7 of their first 9 MVC games, they have won only 3 of their last 9 MVC games to fall to 10-8 and are out of contention for the top 2 seeds.
After last weekend's 3 game sweep by Dallas Baptist, they had 4 scheduled games left to play including tonight's scheduled non-conference game at SIU-Edwardsville, and 3 games this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Southern Illinois.

Tonight's scheduled game at SIUE was cancelled and will not be made up.

This weekend's 3-game series at SIU is important for Bradley to hold onto the #3 seed, and maintain a winning MVC record this season.
Here is the current MVC standings with all teams having 3 MVC games remaining-

MISSOURI STATE.......16-2...33-14
DALLAS BAPTIST........15-3...35-15
BRADLEY...................10-8...29-15
INDIANA STATE..........8-10...26-21
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...8-10...25-26
ILLINOIS STATE..........7-11...20-27
VALPARAISO...............6-12...18-29
EVANSVILLE...............2-16...10-35

If Bradley can win at least 1 of the 3 games against SIU, they will finish with a winning MVC record for the 2nd time in 10 seasons under Coach Dominguez. With 2 wins, they can finish with their best MVC record in these last 10 seasons.

Season Record...MVC finish
2009- 17-31 4-17- 9th
2010- 20-32 8-13- 8th
2011- 22-32 4-17- 8th
2012- 27-27-1 8-13- 7th
2013- 17-32 2-19- 8th (Creighton left MVC after the 2013 season)
2014- 24-27 5-16- 7th
2015- 36-21 10-11- tied for 3rd
2016- 29-21 11-9- 3rd
2017- 20-31 6-14- 7th (Wichita State left MVC after the 2017 season)
2018- 29-15 10-8- 3rd

[Da Coach]

After a very promising start to the MVC season, the 2018 Bradley baseball team has cooled a bit. After winning 7 of their first 9 MVC games, they have won only 3 of their last 9 MVC games to fall to 10-8 and are out of contention for the top 2 seeds.
After last weekend's 3 game sweep by Dallas Baptist, they had 4 scheduled games left to play including tonight's scheduled non-conference game at SIU-Edwardsville, and 3 games this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Southern Illinois.

Tonight's scheduled game at SIUE was cancelled and will not be made up.

This weekend's 3-game series at SIU is important for Bradley to hold onto the #3 seed, and maintain a winning MVC record this season.
Here is the current MVC standings with all teams having 3 MVC games remaining-

MISSOURI STATE.......16-2...33-14
DALLAS BAPTIST........15-3...35-15
BRADLEY...................10-8...29-15
INDIANA STATE..........8-10...26-21
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...8-10...25-26
ILLINOIS STATE..........7-11...20-27
VALPARAISO...............6-12...18-29
EVANSVILLE...............2-16...10-35

If Bradley can win at least 1 of the 3 games against SIU, they will finish with a winning MVC record for the 2nd time in 10 seasons under Coach Dominguez. With 2 wins, they can finish with their best MVC record in these last 10 seasons.

Season Record...MVC finish
2009- 17-31 4-17- 9th
2010- 20-32 8-13- 8th
2011- 22-32 4-17- 8th
2012- 27-27-1 8-13- 7th
2013- 17-32 2-19- 8th (Creighton left MVC after the 2013 season)
2014- 24-27 5-16- 7th
2015- 36-21 10-11- tied for 3rd
2016- 29-21 11-9- 3rd
2017- 20-31 6-14- 7th (Wichita State left MVC after the 2017 season)
2018- 29-15 10-8- 3rd

Bradley baseball loses 2 of their 3 game series at SIU to finish the season 30-17 overall, and 11-10 in the MVC. They finish in a tie for 3rd place with Indiana State. Bradley will be the #3 seed going into the MVC Tournament.

Details of tournament-

http://www.mvc-sports.com/news/2018/5/19/2018-mvc-baseball-tournament-field-set.aspx

[Mikovio]

Bizarre ending in the third game. Game was called in the 6th tied 3-3 due to lightning, but since Bradley scored 3 in the top half of that inning and SIU hadn't finished their half, they took those 3 runs off the board and gave SIU a 3-0 win. Thankfully didn't matter for seeding.

Braves kind of sputtered there at the end, but I'll take a 3 seed and ISU in the first round. IMO it's actually better that they didn't sweep the Salukis, because that would have flipped ISU and SIU for the 5 and 6 seeds and I'd rather play ISU.

Schedule for Wednesday, May 23
Game 1: No. 4 Indiana State vs. No. 5 Southern Illinois, 9 AM (CT)
Game 2: No. 1 Missouri State vs. No. 8 Evansville, 12:30 PM (CT)
Game 3: No. 3 Bradley vs. No. 6 Illinois State, 4 PM (CT)
Game 4: No. 2 DBU vs. No. 7 Valparaiso, 7:30 PM (CT)

[Da Coach]

The MVC baseball tournament starts today at Dallas Baptist University.
#3 seed Bradley Plays #6 seed Illinois State this afternoon at 4 PM.

Here is the schedule of games. The games are all available for video streaming on the new ESPN streaming service ESPN+.
Game 1 just ended in exciting fashion with Indiana State scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th on a two out, 2-run homer to beat SIU 9-7.

http://www.mvc-sports.com/sports/2018/4/19/MVC_Base_Champ.aspx

To watch the games, click on the ESPN+ link. The streaming service is $4.99 per month, and it is can be cancelled at any time.
Plus, there is a 7-day free trial available, which looks like it would allow anyone to watch the tournament, and then cancel and not pay any charges.

[tornado]

no ESPN3 any more? I kinda suspected it was just bait to get people wanting to watch on ESPN, then put up the pay wall...

If it's anything like other subscriptions (cable TV, newspaper) - be forewarned that there will be a dozen price hikes once you are enrolled....the sky's the limit...

[Da Coach]

I think everyone knew it would become a subscription service eventually. I am surprised that ESPN3 (originally ESPN360) remained a free service as long as it did. I think Bradley started streaming on ESPN3 in 2010.

At $4.99 per month, ESPN+ is still cheaper than any video streaming service I've seen anywhere else. And considering the volume of events available, it is a pretty good deal. Plus, the fact it can be cancelled any time, makes it even more economical if you only want to watch basketball. If they do switch the men's and women's basketball games to ESPN+, it would only cost $19.96 (4 months at $4.99/mo.) to watch the entire basketball season (November-February). Not really a bad deal.

[Da Coach]

Bradley with 4 runs in the first inning lead 4-0 after 2 innings.
The Braves have 7 hits through 2 innings -
Live stats feed-

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=219546

The higher seeded teams have won both first round games so far-

http://www.mvc-sports.com/sports/2018/4/19/MVC_Base_Champ.aspx

[tornado]

Bradley now rallying in the bottom of the 4th - it's 7-0, man on 3rd & Andy Shadid up
Bradley 12 hits, ISU none....is there a mercy rule?

[Da Coach]

Final score- Bradley 14 ISU 2- game ended after 6?? inning due to 10-run rule

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=219546

[Mikovio]

Jailbirds deserve no mercy.