PEORIA, Ill. -- Wichita State ace Travis Banwart and Bradley senior Michael Christl engaged in an old-fashioned pitching duel in Friday's Missouri Valley Conference series opener at O'Brien Field and the 10th-ranked Shockers (23-5, 4-0) came out on top with a 3-0 decision for their ninth consecutive win.

Although Banwart (6-2) struggled a bit with his control, he worked in and out of trouble through his 7.1 innings.  Banwart came into the game having allowed only 10 walks in 42.2 innings, but gave up four walks against the Braves and Bradley 11-9, 0-1) put runners on base in every inning.  After fanning in his first three at-bats, senior third baseman Paul Rice finally chased Banwart with a single through the left side of the infield with one out in the eighth.  Banwart allowed four hits and struck out 10.  Meanwhile, Christl (1-3) allowed three runs on just four singles and a walk, while striking out two in his 6.1 innings.

Sophomore second baseman Dan Brewer greeted WSU reliever Noah Booth with a double off the center field wall and the Braves loaded the bases on a fielder's choice play that did not result in an out.  Keeping with the evening's theme, however, Colby Luttrell grounded into a double play to let the Shockers off the hook.

The Braves put the game's first runner in scoring position when Brewer tripled off the left centerfield wall with two outs in the first for Bradley's first three-bagger of the season.  Banwart fanned second baseman Ryan Curry, the league's second-leading hitter, on three pitches to keep the Braves off the board.

Wichita State got all the offense it needed in the second inning, using a couple of singles and a stolen base to put runners at second and third with no outs.  Hot-hitting Tyler Weber, who had a streak of consecutive at-bats with a hit reach 12 Tuesday night at Kansas State, popped out for the inning's first out.  Tyler Hill plated the game's first run by following with a line drive sacrifice fly to right center field, but Christl limited the damage by catching Dusty Coleman looking at three curveballs for called strikes.

The Braves put a runner in scoring position again in the bottom of the second when Colby Luttrell drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on Justin Carr's one-out single to right center.  Banwart continued to keep the Braves off the board, however, by getting Mike McMillan and Jason Acevedo to swing through a steady diet of curveballs.

Curry extended his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games with a single to center field to leadoff the bottom of the fourth.  Luttrell hit into a fielder's choice to the shortstop for the first out, but Eigsti benefitted from a miscue by Shockers third baseman Conor Gillaspie on a ground ball to put runners at first and second with one out.  Carr moved Luttrell to third with a deep fly ball to right centerfield for the second out, but McMillan again struggled against Banwart's curveball and went down swinging for the second time to end the threat.

Bradley put the leadoff man on base for a fourth consecutive inning when Acevedo drew a walk to open the home half of the fifth.  Freshman Andrew Eggers came in as a pinch-runner, but he was erased when Pat Ryerson bounced into a double play and the inning ended quickly when Rice went down swinging for the third time.

The streak was extended to five straight innings with the leadoff man reaching base when Wichita State shortstop Dusty Coleman threw wide to first on Brewer's ground ball to open the bottom of the sixth.  Curry popped out on a hit-and-run play for the first out and Brewer was caught stealing for the second out, before Luttrrell lined out to center to end the inning.

While Bradley continued to threaten through the middle innings, Christl was in control after the leadoff singles in the second until the Shockers broke through again in the seventh.  He retired 16 straight Shockers until defensive replacement Blake Hurlbutt drew a one-out walk in the seventh.  The Shockers then caught a break when Andy Dirks rolled a ground ball off the end of his bat down the third base line on a hit-and-run play.  The ball hit the base and bounced away from Rice, allowing Hurlbutt to advance to third.  Dirks hustled into second when Rice made a wide toss to Christl at third, putting runners at second and third with one out.

Junior right-hander Chris Wright replaced Christl and got Weber to pop out to McMillan in foul territory for the second out.  Wright intentionally walked the left-handed hitting Hill to load the bases for No. 9 hitter Coleman, but the freshman shortstop one-hopped the left field wall with a 2-run double, pushing the Shocker lead to 3-0.  Josh Workman popped out to end the rally.

The Shockers put two more runners on base in the eighth on a one-out bloop single by Damon Sublett and a two-out walk by Hurlbutt, but Dirks lined out to center field to end the threat.

Bradley's final attempt to break up the shutout came in the ninth when Eigsti drew a leadoff walk, marking the sixth time the Braves put their leadoff man on base.  Wichita State closer Noah Krol put out the final fire to earn his sixth save of the season.  Pinch-hitter Brad Jones grounded into a fielder's choice, McMillan struck out for the fourth time and John Lequia grounded out to end the game.

Brewer led Bradley's five-hit attack with his two extra-base knocks.  While Curry extended his hitting streak to 14 games, Eigsti's 10-game streak came to an end with an 0-for-3 night.  With his ninth-inning walk, though, the Bradley catcher has reached base safely in 11 consecutive outings.

The 3-game weekend Valley series is scheduled to continue with a single game Saturday at 2 p.m., followed by the series finale Sunday at 1 o'clock.