Bradley baseball took two out of three in its second series of the year versus the Siena Saints. A much-improved performance all around gave the Braves their first series win of the year.
The Braves took the first game 8-2. Three RBIs by Mason Breidenbach and Timmy O’Brien gave the Braves all the offense they needed. On the mound, senior Travis Lutz was dominant for the Braves. He struck out seven Saints in his five innings, only giving up one hit and no runs.
Pitching coach Andrew Werner was pleased with Lutz’s outing and felt that the strong start propelled them for the rest of the series.
“Anytime you can throw five innings of scoreless ball to start a series, it just helps everybody,” Lutz said. “It helps the bullpen, where we’re not having to scramble in the second or third inning and patch together a whole game. Offensively, it’s nice knowing that you can get a look at their pitcher, and you’re not worried about being behind the eight-ball early in the game.”
Overall, the pitching staff was much more in control this past weekend. After surrendering double-digit runs in all three games against Alabama, Siena stayed in the single digits all weekend and only eclipsed three runs once.
“We made sure we attacked the zone and stuck to our plan,” junior pitcher Eli Lehrman said. “Going in, we knew we had to pound fastballs away and let them hit it. We were trying to force the action and force them to make contact instead of trying to chase the strikeout.”
On Sunday, the Braves split the doubleheader. In the first game, Bradley took the lead with a four-run third inning and never relinquished it in a 7-3 victory.
True freshman Josh Vaughn closed the game for the Braves, only needing ten pitches to retire the side to end the game. Despite being his first year, Werner already has complete confidence in Vaughn.
“The kid can really pitch,” Werner said. “He just happens to have good stuff, but he can really pitch, and if you can really pitch, we covet that here. We covet strike throwers, the stuff’s just a bonus.”
The third game of the set was a back-and-forth affair. After trailing most of the game, the Braves scored two runs in the ninth with hits from Breidenbach and Bobby Atkinson to tie the game.
Unfortunately, a wild pitch in the 10th inning gave the Saints the winning run, resulting in a 9-8 defeat for the Braves.
The Braves look to build on their momentum this weekend against the Dayton Flyers.
