Box Score Peoria, Ill. ? For six innings, the Braves were stuck in the doldrums of a midweek contest that saw them facing a five-run deficit heading into their half of the seventh against intrastate, Big Ten foe Illinois. A leadoff walked sparked a five-run outburst that tied the game and catapulted the Braves to a dramatic 8-7 win in the last of the ninth.
Bradley starter, freshman Rob Scahill (Lombard, Ill./Willowbrook) seemed to be running uphill from the start as Illinois leadoff man Ryan Snowden's ground ball was thrown away by shortstop Ryan Curry (Downers Grove, Ill./South) at the beginning of a four-run, four-hit first - supported by two Bradley errors.
Down 4-0, the Braves would scrap across single runs in the second and fourth to pull within two but the Illini answered back with two more in the fifth and another in the sixth.
The Illinois fifth began with one of a combined eight hits batsmen on the evening, two shy of an NCAA record for a single game. A fielder's choice followed by a double, walk and another hit batter forced home a run that was followed by another Curry error to make the score 6-2 for the Illini.
Another hits batsmen in the sixth, leadoff man Snowden, stole second and came around to score on a Mike Rohde double to left field.
Trailing 7-2, the Braves staged an impressive seventh.
Six-foot, nine-inch right-hander Andy Sigerich came on as the fifth Illinois hurler as part of a mid-week staff outing and got off to a rocky start by walking Bradley leadoff hitter Colby Luttrell (Kincaid, Ill./South Fork). Freshman John Lequia (Racine, Wis./Washington Park) singled and centerfield Brad Jones (Potomac, Md./Landon School) became the seventh player hit by a pitch before Luttrell scored on a Pat Ryerson (Des Moines, Iowa/Johnston) double play ball.
With two out and Lequia on third, Sigerich uncorked his first wild pitch of the season for the Braves' second tally of the inning.
Ryan Curry came around to score on a Ryan Eigsti (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) double after he had walked in front of the Bradley catcher.
Illinois junior Aaron Saving, a Metamora native, relived the lanky pitcher and faced similar results. Freshman Dan Brewer (Brookfield, Ill./Lyons Township) singled home Eigsti and Paul Rice (Beardstown, Ill./Beardstown) received some aid from gusting winds coming from the east in a pop fly, RBI double just behind second base.
The Braves would pull out the win with some high drama in the bottom of the ninth.
With the score even at seven, the Braves put runners on first and second against Saving to end his homecoming outing. Brian Long entered in relief for the visitors and induced what appeared to be a tailor-made, inning-ending double play ball off the bat of Dan Brewer until third baseman Mike Rohde committed his second error of the game by throwing the ball just off the outstretched glove of Ryan Hastings at second base, allowing Curry to atone for his errors with the game-winning run.
Bradley junior right-hander Michael Christl made his first appearance since a March 17th outing against Fairfield and shut down the Illinois attack over the final three and two-thirds innings for his second win of the year. Christl allowed two hits and struck out one in his 38 pitch outing in his return to the lineup.
The win is the fourth straight over the Illini and their fourth consecutive overall. The Braves will travel to Macomb, Ill. on Wednesday to take on Western Illinois in a non-conference match-up before the weekend series with Illinois State.
