Bradley Baseball Notebook (April 2, 2007)

PDF version of the Bradley Baseball Notebook

Bradley University Baseball 4/2/2007 2:30:00 PM

On the Road Again

? After closing out its first homestand of the season Tuesday against Saint Louis (4 p.m.), Bradley will hit the road again for eight of its next 10 games.

? The Braves will visit Illinois-Chicago Wednesday and Missouri Valley Conference rival Missouri State this weekend at Hammons Field.

? Bradley begins the week with a 10-7 record in true road games and already owns three more road wins than all of last season (7-19).

Bradley-Saint Louis Series

? Bradley owns a 74-32-1 lead in the all-time series against Saint Louis, including a 5-2 road win March 13 to start this year's home-and-home series.

? Bradley is 2-2 all-time at O'Brien Field against the Billikens, most recently droping an 11-8 decision to Saint Louis April 5, 2006.

? In the March 13 meeting, Tyler Thornton got the complete-game victory and Peter Malinowski put the Braves on top in the eighth inning with a bases-loaded, 2-run single.

Bradley-UIC Series

? Bradley owns an 18-9 lead in the all-time series against Illinois-Chicago and the Braves have won five of the last six road meetings.

? Overall, Bradley is 7-4 in true road games against the Flames.

Pitching Ruled the Weekend

? The weekend Bradley-Wichita State series featured three impressive pitching duels as the two lineups combined for a meager .211 batting average and 18 total runs.

? Bradley had little trouble putting runners on base against the Shockers, however, getting base runners in 25-of-27 innings, including the leadoff man 15 times.

? Bradley finished the series just 2-for-27 (.074) with runners in scoring position in the series, but those two hits proved to be big ones, Ryan Eigsti's 3-run home run in the first inning Sunday and Ryan Curry's walk-off RBI double to secure the 6-5 win in the finale.

Missouri State Series

? Missouri State owns a 38-24 lead in the all-time series against Bradley and the Bears have won five of the six meetings the last two seasons.

? Bradley has won only one previous road series against the Bears, sweeping a double-header April 3, 1993 to take the only two games in a weather-shortened series.

Countdown to 1,000: 14

? With two wins last week against Northern Illinois and Wichita State, Bradley head coach Dewey Kalmer lowered his magic number for 1,000 career wins to 14.

? In his 39th year overall as a collegiate head coach, Kalmer brings a 986-873-5 (.530) career record into this week's action.

? Kalmer is 14th among NCAA Division I active coaches with his 986 wins and he has a chance to become the 36th coach in Division I history to achieve 1,000 career wins.

? While pursuing his 1,000th career win, Kalmer also needs only four more victories for 800 Bradley wins: he owns a 796-731-4 (.521) record in his 28th year at Bradley.

Newbies Step Up

? A trio of pitching newcomers came up big for the Braves last week.

? Chris Wright, a junior college transfer who is 2-0 with a 3.41 ERA in a staff-high 31.2 innings this year, tossed 7.2 strong innings in two appearances against the Shockers.

? Freshman Brad Altbach made two relief appearances last week and earned the win Sunday with 3.0 innings of scoreless relief, improving to 4-2 with a 3.42 ERA on the year.

? Freshman Ramie Hamdan is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA and earned his first career win with a strong start Wednesday against Northern Illinois.

Climbing the Top 10 Lists

? Enjoying the best offensive season of his career, senior second baseman Ryan Curry continues to climb Bradley's career top 10 lists, while senior third baseman Paul Rice also is making his mark among Bradley's best.

Ryan Curry

At-Bats 662 6^th 5th: 664, Craig Tucker

Hits 204 9^th T7th: 208, Daren Epley

SF 13 2^nd 1st: 16, Ryan Sullivan

Assists 450 6^th 5th: 473, Jason Morelock

Paul Rice

Doubles 42 T9th 8th: 43, Ryan Sullivan

SB 42 T9th T7th: 44, Jason Beckman

HBP 24 2nd 1st: 33, Brad Canada

2007 MVC Standings

Thru April 2 MVC Overall

Team W-L Pct. GB W-L Pct.