WICHITA, Kan. ? A day after one big inning helped Bradley end its 10-year postseason losing streak, a similar inning doomed the Braves (25-30) in an 8-5 loss Thursday afternoon against host Wichita State (44-19) during the 2006 ConAgra Foods Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Eck Stadium.

Now with a 1-1 tournament record, Bradley will play the loser of tonight's Creighton-Missouri State game in an elimination contest at 11 a.m. Friday.  Wichita State avoided just its third 0-2 showing in the last 28 years of the conference tournament and will face Evansville in 3 p.m. elimination game Friday.

Playing as the home team on Wichita State's home field, Bradley threatened to jump on top in the first inning, but stranded leadoff man Brad Jones in scoring position.  Jones drew a leadoff walk on four pitches, went to second on a Pat Ryerson sacrifice bunt and took third when Ryan Curry flew out to the left field warning track.  Jones was left at third, however, when Jason Newburger looked at an inside fastball for strike three.

After the Braves rode a 6-run third inning to its 6-3 victory Wednesday versus Evansville, Bradley's defense melted down during a 6-run second inning for the Shockers Thursday.  Conor Gillaspie drew a leadoff walk to start the second and Brian Spear lined a shot to first base, where John Lequia dropped what would have been an easy double play ball, instead putting runners at first and second with no outs.  Derek Schermerhorn blooped a single to right field to score Gillaspie and again put runners at first and second.  Tyler Hill dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but Christl threw wide to first, loading the bases and still with no outs.  Brandon Hall unloaded the bases with a double that one-hopped the left field wall for a 4-0 lead and Blake Hurlbutt brought Hall home with a single through the box.  Kenny Waddell lined a single into left field, but Colby Luttrell let the ball slip under his glove, allowing Hurlbutt to score from first with the sixth run of the inning.

The 6-run inning by Wichita State was the fourth time in the first five games of the tournament a team has scored six runs in one frame.

The Braves got on the board in the bottom of the second with a little luck.  Second baseman Dan Brewer extended his team-best hitting streak to 11 games by hitting a sharp ground ball that bounced off the third base bag for his 20th double of the season.  Brewer went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Luttrell's ground out to second.

Wichita State tried to let Bradley back into the game in the third, but the Braves ran themselves out of a potential big inning.  Lequia led off the bottom of third with a sharp ground ball that Schermerhorn booted at second base for an error.  After Jones singled to center, Pat Ryerson hit another sharp ground ball that shot through the legs of Spear at shortstop, allowing pinch runner Curtis Hornaday to score and Jones to advance to third, pulling the Braves to within 6-2 with runners on the corners and no outs. 

Ryan Curry followed with a sinking line drive into right field, where Matt Brown made a running, shoestring catch.  Unaware that Ryerson ran to second assuming the ball would fall, Brown fired home to prevent Jones from scoring.  Jones was not running, but Ryerson never made an attempt to get back to first, where catcher Brandon Hall threw to complete the odd double play.  With Jones still at third, Jason Newburger grounded out to second to end the inning.

Eigsti led off the bottom of the fifth with a routine fly ball to right field that Brown lost in the sun and allowed to fall for a double.  Hornaday followed with a walk to put runners at first and second with no outs.  After Jones struck out for the inning's first out, Ryerson laced a double down the left field line to plate Eigsti and Curry followed with a sacrifice fly to bring Bradley within 6-4.

Despite struggling with his control, Christl kept the Shockers off the board until the sixth inning.  Christl's fifth walk put Hall on to start the sixth and Hurlbutt followed with a single to center.  Christl committed a balk that put runners at second and third and Kenny Waddell brought both runners home with another single to center, pushing Wichita State's lead back to 8-4.

Luttrell got one of the runs back in the bottom of the sixth by hitting his first career home run, trimming the deficit to 8-5, but that would be the end of the scoring for both teams.

Although Christl (4-5) suffered the loss Thursday, the fact that the junior righthander matched his career high with 8.0 innings of work improves Bradley's pitching prospects for the remainder of the team's stay in the tournament.  With a thin staff, Bradley still has two quality starters remaining -- senior Collin Walker and freshman Rob Scahill -- and still can come back with freshman Collin Brennan if necessary after he got the day off following his 2-inning save Wednesday.

Senior lefthander Peter Elmer worked the ninth inning for Bradley.  Noah Booth got the final eight outs in relief of Travis Banwart (8-4) to earn his sixth save of the season.