ST. LOUIS -- Bradley senior pitcher Brandon Magee (Sheboygan, Wis./North H.S.) today was named first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference following a weekend vote of the league's nine head coaches. In addition to Magee's honor, four of his Bradley teammates earned honorable mention All-MVC plaudits.
Magee ended the regular season with a 7-4 record, 2.57 earned run average and a league-best 98 strikeouts. His three shutouts, all in conference play, lead the Valley and he completed five of his 13 starts this season. Heading into this week's ConAgra Foods MVC Tournament, Magee needs just two strikeouts to become the fourth Bradley pitcher to ever fan 100 opposing hitters in a season and he needs five whiffs to break the school's career record of 261 strikeouts, set by Wyman Carey from 1955 to 1957.
Bradley's honorable mention All-MVC award winners are junior shortstop Ryan Curry (Downers Grove, Ill./South H.S.); senior third baseman Jason Newburger (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills H.S.); freshman utility player Dan Brewer (Brookfield, Ill./Lyons Township H.S.) and freshman reliever Collin Brennan (Williamsville, Ill./Williamsville H.S.).
Curry and Brewer are the only two Braves to play in all 53 games this season and both players started every game. Curry is batting .308 and leads the team with 34 runs batted in and six sacrifice flies. Brewer has been the team's leading hitter most of the season and his .359 batting average is the best by a Bradley freshman since Sean Watkins hit .370 in 1993. Newburger played most of the season at first base, but made the switch to third base down the stretch after 2005 first-team all-conference peformer Paul Rice suffered a season-ending knee injury. Newburger is second on the team with a .325 batting average, which includes a .359 norm in conference play. Brennan sports a 5-3 record with two saves and in his nine Valley appearances he was 4-1 with both saves.
After finishing sixth in the Valley regular-season race, Bradley (24-29, 11-12) will face regular season champion Evansville (36-19, 16-8) in the opening game of the ConAgra Foods MVC Tournament Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Wichita State's Eck Stadium. Led by Bradley's quintet of award winners, the Braves are making consecutive appearances in the MVC Tournament for the first time since a seven-year run from 1990 through 1996.
