PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley senior pitcher Brandon Magee turned in another superb outing, but he was outdone by the Missouri State combination of Scott Carroll and Matt Frevert as the visiting Bears (22-17, 7-6) blanked the Braves, 4-0, in the opening game of a 3-game Missouri Valley Conference series Friday night at O'Brien Field.

Magee (6-3), who has thrown three shutouts in six Valley starts this season, limited Missouri State to one run on three hits in 8.0 innings of work Friday.  Magee struggled with his control early, though, and the Bears made him pay with a first-inning run.  After Magee allowed consecutive one-out walks to Adam Pummill and Nolan Keane, Tim Rafferty hit a two-hopper through the middle and just out of the reach of a diving Zach Norris behind second base to plate Pummill.

That was all the offense the Bears needed as Carroll and Frevert limited the Braves to just two hits.  Bradley centerfielder Brad Jones led off the bottom of the first with a single up the middle, but Bradley's only other hit was a one-out single by Ryan Eigsti in the fifth inning.  Carroll (4-4) walked three and struck out seven in his longest outing of the year and Frevert retired all six batters he faced to earn his third save of the season.

Missouri State got some insurance in the ninth inning against Bradley reliever Collin Brennan.  With runners at first and third and one out, Keane singled sharply to center field, but Jones let the ball skip past him and roll all the way to the wall, resulting in a 3-run play as Keane came all the way around to score.

With rain forecast throughout the remainder of the weekend, the two teams are scheduled to resume the series with single games at noon Saturday and Sunday at O'Brien Field.