The Bradley baseball team has yet to lose a series this season. The Braves brought their record to 6-3 after winning two of three games against the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Bradley took the first game 4-3 after 11 innings of play. Down to their last out in the ninth inning, junior Brendan Dougherty smoked a double off the right center wall to tie the game.
Then it was time for redshirt senior reliever Allan Beer to come in and hold the Roadrunners from scoring. In the top of the 11th, Dougherty once more came up clutch and drove home the go-ahead run. Beer was credited with the win.
The following afternoon, Bradley kept the momentum rolling and scored three runs in the first inning. The early outburst was the only scoring for the Braves would need to secure a 3-2 victory. Beer saw action again and only needed 15 pitches to pick up his third save of the season.
On Sunday, UTSA capitalized on three Bradley errors, one wild pitch, a balk and two hit batsmen to salvage the final game of the series, 7-2. Bradley pushed across two runs in the eighth, but the lead was too much to overcome.
All told, the weekend was a success, but head coach Elvis Dominguez said he believes that the team has yet to play their best baseball.
“Honestly, we haven’t played a complete game yet,” Dominguez said. “Our offense hasn’t been able to capitalize on a lot of things and some of those close ballgames you see we should have not have put ourselves in that position, but it’s still early.”
Contributing to the team effort, the Bradley pitching staff is currently performing at a collective 3.07 earned-run-average. Beer, who has two wins and three saves in just five appearances, said he trusts that the offense will start scoring more and take advantage of opportunities to win game.
“The bats are going to come along because we have really good hitters and they are going to bust out of their slump,” Beer said. “I know Andy [Shadid] and [Dougherty] are both potential draft guys, so they are going to hit better than they are now.”
Another professional prospect is sophomore catcher Keaton Rice, who has been a big part of the team’s early success. He is hitting .308, boasts a 1.000 fielding percentage and has caught four of 15 base stealers. This summer he will play in the Cape Cod League, one of the top summer collegiate leagues in the nation.
“He’s legit and does everything for us,” Beer said. “He’s just a brick wall back there. He’s really good at like receiving the pitches and makes us look way better. We can throw balls and he will pull it right back for us.”
As a catcher, Rice said he knows the importance of being a field general and leading by example. He takes on responsibility of calling the pitches for the Braves’ staff behind the plate and remains patient when he’s hitting, waiting for the right pitch.
Rice has the ultimate confidence in Beer, who is completely healthy for the first time in his career.
“We have a lot of strong guys coming out of the bullpen who all have plus fastballs,” Rice said. “But with Allan [Beer] coming in you pretty much know the games over so I just call what his strengths are and get the hitters out.”
Although Beer was the closer in his sophomore year, he has taken the next step and hasn’t given up a run this season. According to Dominguez, Beer is the third iteration of Bradley’s dominant closers. Beer follows the likes of Matt Dennis and Boby Johnson, two former Bradley pitchers who are now playing professionally.
“With Allan [Beer] we always knew he had it in him,” Dominguez said. “You never know how he is going to react but we have been very fortunate in that I can save him and not extend him. We have all the confidence in him and he has all the right makeup to be in that position which is a big plus.”
To Beer, Bradley is more than just a place to play ball. As a civil engineering major, he said that he loves to immerse himself in a demanding field of study and play competitive Division I ball. He did not have any offers before Bradley.
“I still get super nervous [pitching] even though I’m a fifth year,” Beer said.
His fear hasn’t showed up in the box score and he clearly hides it when he’s facing hitters.
Bradley has a RPI of 55 and will head to Las Vegas this weekend for a three-game series with UNLV. Senior Mitch Janssen will throw the first pitch at 8:05 p.m.
