The first series of the baseball season is always important.
It’s an opportunity to showcase all the work players put in over the offseason. Even though the schedule has more games than other sports, teams still want to start on the right foot.
For Bradley, it was their first series led by head coach Justin Dedman, and it wasn’t going to be an easy series by any means.
The Braves traveled to Florida to take on Bethune-Cookman University, which won the SWAC tournament and competed in the NCAA regionals last season, battling with two of the top 20-ranked teams in the country.
Game 1 wound up being a pitcher’s duel. Bradley was able to get eight innings of one-run ball from transfers William Soignier, Davis Webb and Brady Appel.
However, as they entered the ninth, the offense still hadn’t been able to get on the board and were in danger of suffering a 1-0 shutout loss to begin the campaign.
“In Game 1, we had a lot of loud outs,” Dedman said. “Game 1 was a very pitching-friendly, defensive atmosphere, and so we needed to do some of the smaller things in terms of advancing runners, not giving away outs on the bases and just needed to win one extra pitch.”
Bradley was finally able to find their way on the board in the ninth inning. After Landon Lowe led off the inning with a single, the next batter walked to put the tying run into scoring position. Lowe proceeded to steal third base and immediately followed that up by scoring on a wild pitch, tying the game at one.
Unfortunately for the Braves, they could not send the game to extra innings. Three hits from the Wildcats in the bottom of the ninth, including a walkoff single, saw the team begin the year 0-1.
Bradley didn’t have time to sit on the loss as they were back at it again the next night for the second game of the series. After falling behind 2-0 early, the Braves cut the deficit in half in the top of the fourth inning thanks to a solo home run by Anthony Martinez.
The Wildcats immediately responded to Martinez’s homer, however, by scoring four runs in the bottom of the inning. Across the next three innings, they scored nine more runs to put the game well out of reach. The Braves did battle to score five runs across the final two innings, but the hole was too big to climb out of, losing Game 2, 17-6.
With the third and final game of the series set for the next afternoon, Bradley was in danger of getting swept in their opening series.
“Game 3s are always huge,” Dedman said. “You’re either playing for a sweep, playing for a series win or playing to avoid a sweep. We showed up ready to compete, and to show that mental toughness on Sunday was big time.”
The Braves took their first lead of the season in the top of the opening inning, as Hayden Miller launched a homer to the left field scoreboard. Bradley later climbed out to a 4-1 lead entering the bottom of the fourth, but as had happened the day before, the Wildcats rallied back to tie the game by the end of the inning.
After three more innings of play, Bethune-Cookman was able to put two more runs on the board, leading 6-4. After Lowe lined into a double play in the top of the eighth, it seemed as though the Wildcats were destined to complete the sweep of the Braves.
But then, a switch seemed to flip for Bradley.
An error by the Wildcats’ shortstop got a runner on, and a walk and single that followed suddenly brought Braves leadoff hitter AJ Garcia up to the plate.
With a 1-2 count and two outs, Garcia ripped a base hit into right field, bringing across two runs to tie the game and spark the Bradley offense.
“Those are always momentum and confidence builders for a team,” Dedman said. “Once you get in-game, even though in some ways it’s the same as what your training has been, it just feels different. Being able to execute is a confidence builder for everyone. We know that we’re very capable, but to feel the energy of getting the big hit or scoring the big run, it’s an exciting moment that everybody rallies around. So ultimately, you want to really lean into and celebrate those moments.”
Having all the momentum in the game, the Braves had to capitalize. After Robert Sanford worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the inning thanks to a lineout double play of their own, an opportunity presented itself in the ninth for Bradley to take this game for themselves.
With one out and runners on the corners, Lowe stepped up to the plate in another crucial spot. After chopping the ball to third base, the Wildcats tried to come home with the ball, but it came out of the catcher’s glove and Bradley led 7-6 entering the bottom of the inning.
“Early season, when you face older, experienced pitchers that know how to win, they’re going to make you earn it,” Dedman said. “They’re not just going to hand you things. It’s what makes you good. There’s real accountability when you play good teams. I think our players were shown that we just need to turn up the focus a couple of ticks more in some of those situations, and we know that they’re capable of doing it at a really high level.”
Sanford came back out in the bottom of the inning and locked down the game, inducing two fly outs before striking out the final batter to put Bradley in the win column for the first time this season.
“These guys did a good job hitting the reset button,” Dedman said. “We were in every single ball game, and we came out with a win. We like what our team is capable of, and we know we’re really close to becoming the team we want to become. I think in all three phases of the game – offense, defense and pitching – we’re probably 10 percent improvements away from being really, really good.”
The Braves had one more game on schedule in the week: a trip to Indiana on Tuesday to take on the Hoosiers. Bradley was able to keep it close early, but an eight-run fourth inning from Indiana was the catalyst for an eventual 15-3 loss.
Despite sitting at 1-3, many players have stood out in the opening few games and have encouraged the Braves moving forward.
“William Soignier and Davis Webb threw really well on Friday, and Brady Appel gave us some good innings,” Dedman said. “I was really excited about the competitiveness that we knew Ryan Schaffnit and Calen Scheider have, but they showed it really quickly in-game, and that over the course of time is going to be really, really good for them. I really like the nuts and bolts of where our pitching staff is.”
Dedman also mentioned Cal Leighton, Hayden Miller, Anthony Martinez and Jack Holubowski as players who stood out on the offensive side of the ball.
“We have so many players that are capable of really high offensive production,” Dedman said. “We’re just excited to get enough at-bats under their belt kind of here where they are trusting themselves and their playing.”
As Bradley prepares for a new series this weekend in Las Vegas against UNLV, the team is continuing to build towards playing the brand of baseball they’ve envisioned for themselves.
“I think it could be tomorrow,” Dedman said. “I think the very next day is always the day when we can do it. It helps to play more and more baseball, but we have an older team that has lots of talent and skill and is fully capable of winning every single game that we’re in, and so the challenge is just about playing to our standard, and I think we’re capable of doing that. We’ve shown that in the preseason, and we’ll be excited to watch them do it this weekend.”
