Bradley baseball (3-17, 0-3 MVC) traveled to Springfield, Mo., last weekend for their series against Missouri State (11-12, 3-0 MVC). In their first Missouri Valley Conference series this year, the Braves struggled to match the Bears’ offense in all three games.
Friday’s opening game featured the Braves starting on top in the first inning, with junior Mason Breidenbach’s RBI double to left center scoring junior Cole Smith. Breidenbach went 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI.
Missouri State matched the run in the second inning before blowing the door open in the third with an eight-run inning. The Bears hit four home runs on the day, with three coming in the third.
The Bears scored five more runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 14-1 lead. However, the Braves’ bats weren’t done yet as they put up five runs in the top of the sixth. Junior Timmy O’Brien hit a three-run homer to right center field, and he finished the day 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs.
The hole was already dug for the Braves before they allowed two more runs in the seventh, losing the conference opener to the Bears 16-6.
Saturday’s game was similar. Missouri State’s offense was too much for Bradley’s pitching staff, and the Braves’ offense could only do so much.
Entering the fourth inning trailing 5-0, junior Beau Durbin and senior Nick Hosie brought in a pair of runs. Hosie delivered another RBI in the eighth inning before senior Mitch Ball hit a grand slam to left field for his first home run of the season.
Before Saturday’s game, Ball had three hits across 10 games played. He went 4-for-4 against the Bears, including a home run, two doubles and four RBIs.
The Braves fell once again to the Bears 16-8.
Sunday’s finale was all Missouri State again, with the Bears scoring at least one run each inning from the second through the seventh. The Braves scored one run in the sixth on an RBI single from Breidenbach and once more in the seventh via an RBI single from senior Nick Fleckenstein. Missouri State completed the three-game sweep with an 8-2 win.
On Tuesday evening, Bradley had the opportunity to bounce back when they visited St. Charles, Mo., to take on Lindenwood (10-14, 1-2 Ohio Valley Conference) in a single-game, non-conference matchup.
Ball continued his hot streak at the plate with a three-run homer to left field in the first inning and a solo shot to the same spot in the fifth.
O’Brien added another home run in the second inning for his team-leading sixth of the year. The Braves’ hot bats were kept alive with another three-run inning in the fourth. In total, the Braves racked up 17 hits with six going for extra bases.
Bradley went into the final frame of the evening leading 11-4 over the Lions. That’s when drama ensued.
The Braves allowed two home runs and a double before they recorded the first out. With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, trailing 11-9, Lindenwood’s Tyler Thompson singled to right center, which scored the game-tying runs before he was thrown out at second base.
In the extra innings, Bradley struggled to score their runners on base. Between the 10th and 14th innings, they stranded seven runners, with four standing in scoring position.
The Lions eventually broke through after a long, back-and-forth battle when Tyler Ellis homered to left field in the bottom of the 14th inning, completing the wild comeback win 12-11.
Bradley finally gets to enjoy their home-opener after the first 20 games of the season. The Braves host the Southern Illinois Salukis for a three-game conference series from Friday through Sunday.
