“This is a group that I think is going to get better all year.”
It’s a belief Bradley head coach Justin Dedman held at the start of the season, and if they wanted to keep their hopes of chasing down a spot in the Missouri Valley playoffs, it needed to hold true in their weekend series against Valparaiso.
With the two sides sitting at the bottom of the conference, the Braves and Beacons’ three-game series carried heavy implications as both teams pushed to put themselves in position to challenge for the final playoff spot.
After Game 1 on Friday, it appeared as though Valpo was going to be the one to take the series. The Beacons’ three pitchers combined to limit Bradley to just two runs, only one being earned, while jumping on Braves pitchers Lou Levy and Joey Cirelli. A nine-run performance from the Valpo offense secured them the opener.
Desperately needing a response, Bradley came ready to counter anything the Beacons threw at them. Valpo took an early lead, but the Braves immediately punched back the following inning to tie the game and take the lead an inning later. When the Beacons tied it in the fourth, Bradley responded with three runs over the next two innings to regain control.
Valpo starter Connor Lockwood, who Dedman mentioned ahead of the series as being one of the best pitchers in the conference, surrendered 12 hits and five runs in five innings of work. Getting to the Beacons’ bullpen was key for the Braves to respond to their Game 1 defeat.
Trailing by four in the eighth inning, Valpo made a fierce attempt to come back, getting the deficit to one and bringing the tying run to the plate. Bradley pitcher Ryan Schaffnit was able to get out of the inning, though, and following a two-run response in the top of the ninth from the Braves offense, Schaffnit went on to retire the side and even up the series.
With the series even at one game apiece, Sunday’s game became even more important to both teams. A win keeps their hopes of reaching the conference tournament strong, while a loss would all but dash those chances.
Bradley’s momentum from Game 2 carried into the first inning of the rubber match. The Braves took the lead just four batters in, when utilityman Hayden Miller blasted a three-run homer to left center. Not looking to be outmatched, Valpo responded with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first, a solo homer in the second to tie the game and finally a three-run homer of their own in the third to take their first lead of the day.
After being shut out for the following three innings after Miller’s home run, Bradley materialized a big inning in the fifth to retake the game. With six hits and two walks in the inning, the Braves put six runs on the board to take a 9-6 lead after the fifth. Left fielder Landon Lowe furthered the lead with a solo home run in the sixth to bring the advantage to four.
Bradley seemed well on their way to leaving northwest Indiana with a series victory, but the common theme that has plagued the team all season struck in the bottom of the seventh. The Braves once again lost their lead late, as the Beacons brought four runs across the plate to tie the game at 10.
Bradley needed someone to step up and be the hero for them, and that’s exactly what outfielder AJ Garcia did in the top of the ninth inning. Garcia, who hadn’t even started the game and came in as a pinch runner in the fifth, hit a go-ahead solo home run to right field.
Josh Vaughn, who came on in relief for the Braves in the seventh and pitched a scoreless eighth, sat down the Beacons in the bottom of the inning to secure a crucial game and series win for Bradley.
Following this series, the Braves played a set of non-conference games against really strong opponents in Iowa and Western Illinois in the middle of the week. Neither game went Bradley’s way: they lost the contest to the Hawkeyes 20-1 and put up a better fight against the Leathernecks, but ultimately lost 10-4.
The Braves now sit level on conference wins with both Belmont and Southern Illinois, and they’ll face the Salukis this weekend at home in a three-game series and the Bruins in Nashville at the start of May.
