Bradley baseball lost its first series of the year to the Alabama Crimson Tide. Despite taking an early lead in two of the three games, the Braves did a poor job closing them.
In the first game, a three-run home run by senior Bobby Atkinson gave Bradley the edge in the first inning, but once Alabama took the lead, the Crimson Tide never surrendered and went on to win 10-6.
Saturday was more challenging as the Braves never had a lead in a 19-3 loss. The Crimson Tide’s bats remained hot on Sunday, and the Braves struggled to keep up in an 11-4 loss.
One of the bright spots on the mound for the Braves was junior Matthew Kitzman. The Northeast Community College transfer threw two scoreless innings on Friday in his Bradley debut. Despite the jump in competition, his approach and mindset never changed.
“I just trust myself and trust what coach Werner has me working on,” Kitzman said. “Everything I did in the outing against Alabama is what Werner has me doing, and I just trusted him.”
Another bright spot was junior outfielder Mason Breidenbach. He batted third in the lineup for every game and reached base six times throughout the weekend. Despite the results, as a returner, Breidenbach realizes that this team is unlike any he’s played for at Bradley.
“We’ve got a lot more gritty guys in the sense that it’s a lot of people who don’t really care how things are going,” Breidenbach said. “They’re still going to work their butts off and continue to work hard no matter the circumstances.”
Undoubtedly, the squad struggled in its first series back, but it’s only the first series. With so many new faces, it will take some adjusting before we see what the team is truly made of.
“We’re going to have some kinks to work out,” Breidenbach said. “As we keep working through these next few weeks before we get into conference play, just continue to get used to how everything works outside compared to being in more controlled situations. As the experience comes and the team realizes what we are and how we need to play outside, that will figure itself out as we keep working hard.”
The pitching staff believes success will come if they try to get ahead of the free runners, focus on first-pitch strikes, attack and get ahead. The Braves look to bounce back this weekend against Siena, starting on Sunday in a neutral-site series in Millington, Tennessee.
