WICHITA, Kan. ? A six-run third inning and some crafty pitching by senior Brandon Magee helped Bradley exorcise some Eck Stadium demons as the sixth-seeded Braves (25-29) upset regular-season champion Evansville (36-20), 6-3, in the first game of the ConAgra Foods Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Wednesday afternoon.

Bradley, which was swept in a three-game series last week at Evansville, snapped a 24-game Eck Stadium losing streak, as well as a five-game MVC Tournament slide.  Both skids dated back to 1996, when the Braves lost to Missouri State in the tournament championship game.

Bradley centerfielder Brad Jones led off the game with a single up the middle, but the promising start was quickly halted when Jones was doubled off first after right fielder Pat Ryerson lined out to third on a hit-and-run play.  Bradley returned the favor in the bottom of the first after Evansville used a walk and single to put runners on the corners with one out.  Magee got out of the jam, however, when Kirk Bacsu hit a ground ball to shortstop Ryan Curry, who turned the inning-ending double play.  The first inning proved to be a trend-setting inning for the Braves, who turned a season-high four double plays.

Bradley put its first runner into scoring position in the third inning when first baseman John Lequia doubled into the left centerfield gap with one out.  Jones followed with a walk to put runners at first and second.  Ryerson, Ryan Curry and Jason Newburger delivered three straight run-scoring singles to right field to put the Braves up 3-0.  Freshman second baseman Dan Brewer followed with a single to center field for a 4-0 lead, while extending his hitting streak to a team season-high 10 games.  After Colby Luttrell grounded out for the second out, designated hitter Peter Malinowski followed with a 2-run single into centerfield for a 6-0 lead.

The six-run outburst was the most Bradley has scored in an inning against a Division I opponent since a 7-run burst April 12 at Western Illinois to key a 12-9 win.  All six runs were scored against Evansville ace Adam Rogers (7-4).

Rogers worked a perfect fourth inning, he was thrown out during the bottom of the fourth after Robbie Minor was hit on the arm by a pitch.  Minor, however, had offered at the pitch for a strike and was not allowed first base.

After Evansville DH Pat Tumilty later hit a 2-run home run to pull Evansville within 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth, Magee bounced back to strike out Robbie Minor to become the fourth pitcher in Bradley history to fan 100 opposing hitters in a season.

Kern Watts added a solo home run in the fifth inning to half Bradley's lead.  Magee has surrendered only six home runs on the season, but four of them have been hit at Eck Stadium, where Wichita State also hit two homers of the right-hander April 21.

After their 6-run third inning, Bradley managed only one hit, a bunt single by catcher Ryan Eigsti, over the next three frames.  Jones became the first Brave with two hits in the game when he led off the seventh with a single.  Pinch-hitter Brock Luxmore dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but the throw to first by reliever Kai Tuomi was wide, putting runners at first and second.  Ryan Curry followed with another sacrifice to put runners at second and third with one out and chase the lefty Tuomi in favor of right-handed reliever Mark Murray.

Murray got Newburger to ground out to third for the second out, then intentionally walked Brewer to load the bases.  The strategy paid off as Murray fanned Luttrell to end the threat.

Magee slipped out of a jam of his own in the bottom of the seventh.  Catcher Gabe Bauer led off with a soft single to left for the ninth Evansville hit against Magee.  Jim Viscomi sacrificed Bauer to second for the first out.  Well over 100 pitches in the game, Magee got Kern Watts to line into an inning-ending double play.

Magee ended his outing with three strikeouts, leaving him with 101 strikeouts on the season and 260 in his four-year career, one shy of the school record 261 strikeouts by Wyman Carey from 1955 through 1957.

Freshman Collin Brennan relieved Magee to start the eighth and got the Aces in order in his first inning.  Minor lined a base hit off Brennan's ankle to start the ninth, but he came back to get a double-play ground out by Jeff Fontaine.  After Smith got a two-out single, Brennan induced a fly ball from pinch-hitter Jeff Zelenovich to end the game.

Having advanced to the winner's bracket, Bradley will get a shot to eliminate either Creighton or host Wichita State in Friday's second game.  The Braves will play the loser of tonight's CU-WSU game at three o'clock Friday.  Evansville will face elimination in Thursday's first game against the loser of the other first-round game between Missouri State and Southern Illinois.