It was a weekend of mixed results for Bradley baseball.
The Braves (3-7) faced Omaha and Lindenwood in a pair of two-game series in St. Charles, Missouri, sweeping UNO but getting swept by Lindenwood.
“We got great pitching and timely hitting [against Omaha],” head coach Elvis Dominguez said. “Then in the other series we had no hitting at all. Offensively we didn’t do the job and defensively the mistakes we made the other team capitalized on.”
Braves start hot against Mavericks
Bradley went into Friday’s game hoping to reverse their fortunes and end their five-game losing streak. They did just that with a commanding 6-0 win in game one against Omaha.
“We played really well,” Dominguez said. “Overall, it was a pretty clean game on our part.”
The Braves’ success was largely due to sophomore Noah Edders’ superb performance on the mound. The right-hander was dominant against Omaha, pitching three-hit, shutout baseball with 10 strikeouts.
“It was fun, I thought it was cool,” Edders said of his performance. “It was really important that I did [good] to help our team and kind of show like ‘hey, we still got this, we’re still good, we’re going to keep rolling.’”
A key factor in Edders’ outing was him throwing eight innings, which was necessary given the circumstances. His performance only warranted one pitcher out of the bullpen, Brayden Marks, and the sophomore only had to pitch an inning to solidify the win. The rest of the bullpen had the game off.
“I knew we were going to have a four-game series and I knew we were going to have a lot of arms throwing,” Edders said. “That first game, the ability for me to go as long as I did, helped out in the long run.”
As for the Bradley offense, the Braves got the sticks going after an underwhelming performance against UNLV the weekend prior. Three spots in the fourth and eighth innings were all the Braves needed to pull away from the Mavericks.
“They know they have the potential and they have the ability to be better than they have been offensively,” Dominguez said.
Senior Ryan Vogel contributed to the success of the Bradley offense. Vogel drew three walks and was the table-setter for the Braves’ great offensive output.
“We’ve been struggling getting guys on base the past couple of weeks so I just took it upon myself to scoot up on the plate,” Vogel said. “Maybe take a chance of getting hit by a pitch or just trying to make the pitcher uncomfortable and getting on base anyway I can.”
An outstanding performance on the mound combined with the Bradley offense finding itself, gave the Braves the win in game one. The same production carried into the second matchup.
The Braves once again defeated the Mavericks 5-1, but the offense was not where Dominguez wanted it to be this time.
“I thought we left too many guys on base,” Dominguez said. “Overall it just was not what I was looking for from an offensive standpoint.”
It was not hard to see why Dominguez felt this way. On Saturday afternoon, Bradley left nine runners on base.
The offense nonetheless took advantage of Omaha’s mistakes in the field and still got seven hits en route to putting up a healthy number of runs.
“We took care of business that game,” Vogel said. “I didn’t think our offense was too stellar in that game, but we took advantage of their mistakes.”
A big offensive outburst came in the fourth inning, when senior Logan Delgado ripped a double to right field, cleared the bases and scored three in a four-run inning.
“We got Logan to come in and he’s the one that opened it up,” Dominguez said. “He hit that double and basically cleared the bases for us. That was a key inning. We need more guys like that to be able to get a clutch hit when the time calls for it. Logan was able to do that and actually give us some space there.”
Bradley’s right-hander, junior Travis Lutz, got the start. The Bartonville native shined against the Mavericks, throwing six innings of seven-hit, eight-strikeout ball and allowing one earned run.
“[Lutz] was phenomenal,” Dominguez said. “He dominated and that is what he’s capable of doing and he did a tremendous job.”
The Braves then handed the ball to sophomore Easton Harris and junior Anthony Potthoff. Their performances ensured Bradley’s victory.
“That sweep helps team morale a lot,” Vogel said. “You lose for a week or so and you kind of forget what winning feels like, so it’s just a good feeling [to get the sweep].”
Bradley gets thumped by Lindenwood
The Braves hoped their success would carry over to the next two-game series against the Lions. It did not, as Bradley fell to Lindenwood 0-5 in the first game.
Untimely hitting was the culprit in Saturday’s game. Lindenwood outhit Bradley nine to four and struck out half as much as the Braves did. Dominguez and the players were not pleased with that aspect of the matchup.
“We didn’t hit, we didn’t execute offensively,” Dominguez said. “We just didn’t have very good quality at bats. We just didn’t execute at the plate and when we are not going well that’s bound to happen.”
“We just lost our approach at the plate,” Vogel said. “We didn’t really have too good of a plan for their pitchers and they did a good job executing pitches. We just struck out too many times and that’s a total momentum killer.”
The pitching was not the issue in this game. Junior Jack Stellano got the start for Bradley and threw six shutout innings.
“He pitched good enough to win,” Dominguez said. “Offensively we just didn’t get it done on that side of the coin.”
A big setback for the Braves were their errors, as they had two that dictated the game’s outcome early.
“[We] had an error in the first [inning] and they scored an unearned run,” Dominguez said. “Then the leadoff batter in the second inning hits a routine ground ball to third and our third baseman does not make a play. That’s how they scored the second run and now you’re down 0-2.”
Baseball players are familiar with playing in double headers, but in this instance it was unconventional. Bradley had to play two nine-inning games against two different teams on the same day, and it had an impact.
“You’d like to think it doesn’t, but it really does,” Vogel said. “Sometimes people don’t realize how long you’re at the field for. It’s tiring but that’s what makes good teams is you have to stick through the whole day and win that second game and that tells you a lot about your team. We just ran out of steam at the end of the day.”
Game two of the series against Lindenwood featured similar outputs for the Braves. Bradley fell in the series finale to the Lions 3-9.
Nick Hainline got the start for the Braves and threw the ball well, but struggled early on and gave up five runs in just two innings of work.
“He did fine,” Dominguez said. “Except for the second inning where he throws seven pitches and gets two outs and proceeds to give up five straight hits. I don’t know how to answer that one because it’s not normal.”
That second inning was the breaking point. Lindenwood put up five runs and the demoralizing part for Dominguez was that the Braves were so close to getting out of it.
“A walk, hit batter, triple, then homerun, all with two outs,” Dominguez said. “We have to figure out how to put the final nail in the coffin.”
The initial deficit was too much for the Braves’ offense to overcome, and they could not match the number Lindenwood put up.
“Baseball is just about matching the other team,” Vogel said. “If the other team puts up a crooked number then you just have to match that at some point throughout the game. You get to the ninth inning and you’re down six runs it just makes it so hard [to come back].”
Bradley travels to Florida next for a weekend series against Stetson. First pitch is scheduled for today at 5:30 p.m.
“[Stetson] is a solid ballclub obviously,” Dominguez said. “We just have to be able to play consistent baseball.”
