Box Score Peoria, Ill. ? Six Bradley errors and 10 Creighton hits spelled doom for the Braves in the second game of a three-game set at O'Brien Field on Saturday in the opening Missouri Valley Conference series of the season.
Bradley starter Colin Walker (Channahon, Ill./Minooka) allowed just one earned run to the Bluejays in his seven innings of work in a no-decision effort.
The Braves (8-9, 1-1) had staked Walker to a 5-1 lead heading into the 5th inning. The Bradley offense picked up runs in three of the first four innings with the help of some shaky Creighton defense. With the game tied at one in the second, back-to-back singles from Dan Brewer and Peter Malinowski (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway South) were cashed in on Brad Jones' second double of the game to push the lead to 3-1. Two unearned runs in the fourth had the Braves in front 5-1.
The Jays pushed four runs across in the fifth as the Braves committed three errors and hit a batter around third baseman Zach Daeges' two-run double. The Creighton rally started with a three base error on sophomore Zach Norris (Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island) as Ross Sinclair's fly ball was aided by some swirling wind towards the right field corner. A hit batsmen later, Daeges delivered to left center.
Creighton (16-4, 1-1) continued to benefit from the Braves' miscues as Daeges scored on a Dan Brewer (Brookfield, Ill./Lyons Township) error. The Jays tacked on another after a single to centerfield resulted in the inning's third error when Brad Jones' (Potomac, Md./Landon School) overthrow bounced away down the left field line.
Creighton reliever Pat Venditte entered in the fifth and became the pitcher of record while showing off his extraordinary talent as the ambidextrous hurler retired all 12 hitters he faced and pulled off a rare feat when he struck out Bradley hitters with both arms in the 6th.
Creighton would add insurance runs in the 8th and 9th innings as they Jays evened up their conference mark at 1-1.
The Braves fall to 8-9, 1-1 MVC on the season.
The rubber game of the series is on Sunday at 1 p.m. at O'Brien Field.
