Staying in the Land of Lincoln
? Bradley will continue an 11-game stretch against in-state rivals Wednesday when the Braves visit Western Illinois for a 3:30 p.m. contest at Alfred D. Boyer Stadium in Macomb.
? After posting a 5-1 record against teams from Illinois last week, the Braves now boast a 7-2 record against five in-state teams this season: Northern Illinois (1-1), Illinois (1-0), Illinois Tech (1-0), Chicago State (2-0) and Southern Illinois (2-1).
? The streak of 11 straight games against in-state teams will continue with a 3-game weekend series against I-74 rival Illinois State and will conclude with the May 1 game against Robert Morris, all at O'Brien Field.
Countdown to 1,000: 6
? Aided by a 5-1 record in six games last week, Bradley head coach Dewey Kalmer has lowered his magic number for 1,000 career wins to six.
? In his 39th year overall as a collegiate head coach, Kalmer brings a 994-881-5 (.530) career record into this weekend's action.
? Kalmer is 14th among NCAA Division I active coaches with his 994 wins and he has a chance to become the 36th coach in Division I history to achieve 1,000 career wins.
Curry Continues Climb
? By hitting .450 in the six games last week, Bradley senior second baseman Ryan Curry continued his climb up Bradley's all-time charts.
? Curry begins this week third in school history with 225 hits, just one shy of the second-place mark held by Jeff Busse (1997-2000) and 26 behind all-time leader Nelson Correa (1996-99).
? Curry also ranks second with 715 career at-bats and ninth with 126 runs batted in and he needs two more bases (295) to crack the top 10 for career total bases.
? Defensively, Curry is third with 489 career assists.
Rice Needs One Hit for 200
? Senior third baseman Paul Rice begins the week with 199 career base hits, leaving him one shy of becoming the 10th player in school history to collect 200 career hits.
Pitching Getting Untracked
? Bradley turned in a stellar week on the mound, yielding more than two runs just once in six games, a 14-4 win against Sunday against Southern Illinois.
? Of the eight regular members of the pitching staff (third baseman Paul Rice tossed one relief inning Wednesday) who saw mound time last week, seven posted an ERA of 2.00 or better in the six games.
Lineup Shuffle
? With Bradley's leadoff hitters struggling all season, head coach Dewey Kalmer moved sophomore shortstop Dan Brewer into the top spot last week.
? Prior to Tuesday's game against Illinois Tech, Bradley's leadoff hitters had managed only a .189 batting average in the season's first 30 games and were just 3-for-their-last-31 (.097).
? Brewer responded to the move by going 2-for-5 with two runs scored Tuesday and hit .320 with three stolen bases and five runs scored in the six games last week.
Late-Inning Run Support
? Bradley has developed a knack for scoring late in games this year.
? Bradley has outscored the opposition 62-30 after the sixth inning this season.
Bradley-Western Illinois Series
? Bradley owns a 57-40 all-time record against Western Illinois and the Braves have dominated the series of late.
? Bradley has won seven straight and 19 of the last 20 meetings against the Leathernecks.
Bradley-Illinois State Series
? Illinois State owns a slim 89-87 lead in the all-time series against Bradley, which will resume with a three-game set this weekend at O'Brien Field.
? Bradley has won 2-of-3 in each of the first two seasons since The Valley instituted the current 24-game round-robin conference schedule format.
2007 MVC Standings
Thru April 23 MVC Overall
Team W-L Pct. GB W-L Pct.
#10 Wichita State 13-2 .867 --- 34-10 .773
Creighton 12-3 .800 1.0 27-11 .711
Evansville 9-6 .600 4.0 28-14 .667
Illinois State 8-7 .533 5.0 17-20 .459
Southern Illinois 5-7 .417 6.5 24-15 .615
Bradley 4-8 .333 7.5 20-16 .556
Missouri State 4-8 .333 7.5 19-21 .475
Northern Iowa 3-9 .250 8.5 17-19 .472
Indiana State 2-10 .167 9.5 18-19 .486
Non-Conference Record 144-86 .626
