When long-time head coach Elvis Dominguez retired at the conclusion of last year after 17 seasons with the Braves, the search for the sixth head coach in Bradley baseball’s history began.
Just a month later, on June 4, the Braves found their guy, as they announced the hiring of Justin Dedman, who had been serving as the recruiting coordinator at Loyola Marymount the previous two seasons. Dedman also had prior stops at Missouri, Miami-Ohio and Lee University before his most recent work with the Lions.
“My family and I were not looking for a job,” Dedman said. “We loved where we were and who we were with and what we were building. But we very much felt called by faith, and it’s got a real, honest shot to be extremely competitive on a national scope.”
Dedman, who grew up in Lincoln, has seen firsthand the program’s past success.
“I’ve known about Bradley since I was a kid, and I’ve known about the success of the baseball program,” Dedman said. “There have been 85 big leaguers here, and they’ve been to NCAA regionals and had a lot of success. Bradley is absolutely a place that can be great, not just in this conference, not just in this region, but I think nationally.”
Building from the ground up
Bradley is coming off a season in which they went 16-35 and were eliminated in the first round of the Missouri Valley tournament. In 2024, they went 13-37-1, and in 2023, the program went 16-32, failing to reach the postseason in either year. In fact, the program has not had a winning season since 2019, when they went 31-19.
In the current era of college sports, a new coach typically means a change in the team’s roster. Bradley is no exception. From last year’s team, only six players return. Outfielder Ashton Horchem is the only returning position player, while the team also retained pitchers Jackson Horras, Eli Lehrman, Josh Vaughn, Drew Politte and Gavin Thompson.
“We had the need to sign a whole new roster,” Dedman said. “We signed 29 new players this summer, all of them transfers because that’s where the best players available were. It also allowed us to have an impact on this year’s roster.”
“We’ve got a lot of really talented and really skilled players that I think can make big impacts,” Dedman added. “I really think there’s a large number of this roster, both returners and new players, that have really developed well. It’s a roster full of guys that can make an impact.”
Some returning players have noticed a few who stood out early in practice.“Michael Quick has been very good in live at-bats,” Lehrman said. “He’s a good hitter and just a great guy all around.”
“From the pitcher’s side, I’d say Rob Sanford,” Horchem added. “He’s got a good fastball, and his stuff is pretty gross.”
While the Braves were only able to add players through the transfer portal this season, the team has already begun landing high school players who will join the program next year and make a significant impact.
“Long term, our 2026 recruiting class, which is our first combo recruiting class of transfers and high schoolers, shows that we’re going to build this with high-level, physical high school players up the middle of the field as well as high level, really projectable high school pitchers that we think have a chance to become starters and pros,” Dedman said.
“And then transfer athletes that are experienced and ready to go right now,” Dedman added. “I think our desire to truly develop needs to be met with recruiting high-level high school kids and our ability to be consistent with meshing the transfers with the high schoolers, and our first recruiting class exhibits that.”
Developing a winning program
In the modern era of baseball, player development is driven by a range of tools and resources. In a conference as competitive as the Missouri Valley, which includes Murray State, which made it to the College World Series in 2025, developing players at a high level is especially important for success.
“Player development for us is very individual,” Dedman said. “It’s about how the player thinks, how he moves, what experiences he’s had, and so the tools are that. They’re supplements to that, but they provide high-level development and high-level feedback.”
Bradley has invested in and introduced a variety of tools to support player development heading into the season. The program brought in hit trackers, portable track mans, blast motion sensors and an eHack machine, which is a pitching machine that allows hitters to face simulations of pitchers before they take the field.
“It’s an over-training mechanism where you’re getting to see real game speed pitching action,” Dedman said. “We have an online platform where our players have access to all their development in terms of strength and conditioning, throwing and workload management. They have access to all their videos, we’ve invested in a lot of areas that give them access to what they are doing, how they are doing it and then how can they do it better.”
Returning players are already noticing positive changes in how these tools are impacting their development.
“I’m a pitcher, so we’ve got a lot of different technology to help us become better like the portable track man,” Lehrman said. “We’re getting better with pretty much everything we do. Just being able to watch yourself and see yourself helps you become better.”
“From the position player side, we’ve got a lot more video of us hitting and pitchers pitching,” Horchem said. “We’re able to learn their pitches and how they pitch. The eHack can replicate any pitcher and what they throw.”
As the team prepares for the first season under Dedman, it’s already clear that the right changes are in place to return the team to success.
“It’s going to be an exciting brand of baseball,” Dedman said. “The fans are going to see tempo and aggressiveness and confident players, they’re going to see toughness and resiliency, and this is a group that I think is going to get better all year. It’s something that I admire about Brian Wardle’s program; they get better at something every week. I think belief in players and in people is one of the things that inspires greatness, and so we’re looking to find out what people are capable of and help them achieve that.”
The players are ready to get this season underway and prove their capability.
“I think we’ll have a lot more high energy and [be] a lot more competitive team this year,” Horchem said. “We’re going to be willing to go in and fight.”
The Braves begin their season with a weekend series from Feb. 13-15 against a strong Bethune-Cookman team that reached the NCAA Regionals last year.
“It’s a new look on Bradley baseball,” Lehrman said. “The university has invested a lot in this program this year, and we’re excited to get on the field and show what we can do.”
