Friday was a rough day for the baseball team.
They were pitted against Creighton’s Greg Hellhake, who came into this start with a 4-1 piching record. Hellhake scattered six hits across six plus innings and gave up only one run for the Bluejays, who won 7-2.
Meanwhile, Bradley’s starter, junior Rob Scahill, didn’t have as much luck with the timing of his hits. He allowed only five hits through five plus innings, but he also gave up five walks.
“Our achilles heel has been walks,” coach Elvis Dominguez said. “We have been walking guys in inopportune times.”
When it was all said and done, he had given up seven runs, two of them unearned. Scahill fell to 2-2 on the season.
As far as offense is concerned, Creighton’s T.J. Roemmich gave the Bluejays an early lead with a two-RBI-double in the bottom of the first.
The hitting leader for the Braves was senior Adam Kimble, who was two for three with two doubles and an RBI.
Saturday looked brighter as they were slated to face off with Creighton’s Jonas Dufek, who was 2-5 coming into the game. But Dufek had the Braves figured out, throwing nine innings of shutout baseball, as the Bluejays came out on top 5-0. He finished with seven strikeouts and only allowed three hits.
The starter for the Braves was senior Colin Brennan, who went for five plus innings and gave up five runs and five walks, while striking out seven.
“Once again, walks that came around to score killed us,” Dominguez said.
Once again, Creighton’s Roemmich struck first for the Bluejays with an RBI-triple in the bottom of the second.
The finale of this three game set was rained out. The game will not be made up.
After wrapping up that series with Creighton, the Braves took on Valparaiso on the road.
The Crusaders came out victorious with a 5-2 edge over the Braves.
Freshman Justin Ziegler started the game and pitched into the sixth inning for the Braves.
Senior Brad Altbach picked up where Ziegler left off and finished the game.
Ziegler allowed five runs on five hits, but three of those runs were unearned after the Braves committed three errors.
“A lot of these guys are being thrown into the fire a little quickly. It’s all due to a rash of injuries,” said Dominguez.
The Bradley offense mustered only five hits but couldn’t take advantage of the Crusaders three errors.
Kimble and senior Tommy Fitzgerald both recorded RBIs for the Braves.
