PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley senior second baseman Ryan Curry drilled a run-scoring double that one-hopped the wall in left field with one out in the ninth inning, lifting Bradley to a 6-5 Missouri Valley Conference baseball victory against #10 Wichita State Sunday afternoon at O'Brien Field. Curry's game-ending hit allowed Bradley to salvage the final game in the 3-game series and end Wichita State's 10-game overall winning streak, as well as its 8-game winning streak against the Braves.

With its No. 10 ranking in Baseball America, Wichita State becomes the highest-ranked team Bradley has beaten in its five seasons playing home games at O'Brien Field.

Freshman right-hander Brad Altbach (4-2) combined with junior starter Chris Wright for the third strong outing of the weekend for the Bradley pitching staff.  Wright pitched into the seventh, scattering seven hits and striking out four before giving way to Altbach.  Although the freshman allowed the tying run to score in the seventh, Altbach retired nine of the 11 hitters he faced and struck out three in his 3.0 innings of relief.

After the Shockers went down in order in the first, Bradley centerfielder Brad Jones led off the home half of the first with a single through the left side of the infield then stole second.  Paul Rice struck out and Dan Brewer flew out to right field advancing Jones to third, before Curry drew a walk to put runners at the corners with two outs.  After those first two outs had dropped Bradley to 0-for-18 in the series with runners in scoring position, catcher Ryan Eigsti ended the streak with a little help from a stiff wind.  Eigsti lifted a high fly ball to straight away centerfield and the gusting wind carried the drive over the wall for his first home run of the season and a 3-0 Bradley lead.

The Shockers tried to come right back in the top of the second when Matt Brown led off with a double down the right field line and Danny Jackson followed with a walk, but Wright pitched out of the jam by getting Conor Gillaspie to fly out to left and Tyler Weber to ground into a double play.  Wichita did get a run back in the third when Derek Schermerhorn brought home Tyler Hill with a triple off the left centerfield wall.

The Braves got that run back in the bottom of the third when Brewer lined his fifth home run of the year to straight-away left, a solo shot with two outs.

The Shockers put together a rally in the fourth, begininng with a soft ground ball with one out by Danny Jackson that died in the middle of the infield.  Gillaspie followed with a double into the right field corner and Weber plated both runners with a soft liner into left field to pull WSU within 4-3.  Wright halted the rally, though, by catching Tyler Hill looking and Dusty Coleman swinging.

Eigsti chased Wichita State starter Rob Musgrove in the fourth after legging out a soft ground ball to second. Peter Malinowski's sacrifice bunt attempt was mishandled by the Shockers as relief pitcher Kyle Touchatt's throw to second ended up in center field, putting runners at the corners.  Colby Luttrell brought home Eigsti with a sacrifice fly to centerfield, bumping Bradley's lead to 5-3.

Again, the Shockers came right back with a run in the fifth.  Schermerhorn reached safely with one out when Brewer's throw from shortstop pulled Mike McMillan's foot off the bag at first.  Schermerhorn swiped second and came home on another soft fly ball into left field by Brown.

The Braves put their leadoff man on again in the both the fifth and sixth innings, but failed to push across any insurance runs.

Wichita State made better use of its leadoff double by Andy Dirks to open the seventh to chase Wright. Altbach walked Schermerhorn on four pitches to put runners at first and second with no outs.  Damon Sublett advanced the runners with a soft roller to second and Brown brought Dirks home with a ground out to first to tie the score, 5-5.  Altbach limited the damage by fanning Jackson for the third out.

Rice just missed a go-ahead home run with one out in the seventh by drilling a line drive off the center field wall against Wichita State's third hurler, Matt Smith, for his 11th double of the year.  Brewer was grazed by the next pitch from Smith, who was promptly pulled for lefty Noah Booth.  Booth again kept the Braves from taking advantage of their base runners by inducing ground outs from Curry and Eigsti.

The Braves kept up the weekend trend by getting a leadoff single from Jones to start the bottom of the ninth, the 15th time in 27 innings Bradley put its leadoff man on base against the Shockers.  Second baseman Damon Sublett relieved Booth (2-1) on the mound and Rice greeted him with his second sacrifice bunt of the game.  Sublett then walked Brewer intentionally to put runners at first and second with one out, setting up Curry's game-ending hit, which was the first hit Sublett had allowed in 10 at-bats this season.

The Braves will close out their 6-game homestand Tuesday by hosting Saint Louis in a 4 p.m. contest at O'Brien Field.  The two teams met March 13 in St. Louis, where the Braves prevailed 5-2 to start a season-best 7-game winning streak.  Bradley willl visit Illinois-Chicago Wednesday then will resume conference play by visiting Missouri State for a 3-game set next weekend.