MILWAUKEE, Wis. ? Unable to carry the momentum of its weekend sweep at Southern Illinois, the Bradley baseball dropped both ends of a non-conference doubleheader at Wisconsin-Milwaukee ((11-21) Tuesday afternoon, falling 4-3 in the first game and 4-2 in the nightcap at Henry Aaron Field.  Bradley falls to 16-17 on the season.

The Braves could not hold an early 3-0 lead in the opener after scoring one in the first on Colby Luttrell's RBI groundout and two in the second on Andrew Eggers' two-run single.  Bradley's second-inning outburst started with a leadoff walk by designated hitter Jim Clayton and an infield single by second baseman Matt Fritz.  After Tommy Fitzgerald advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, Eggers brought them home with a single to left field and took second on the attempt to throw out Fritz at the plate. 

Eggers then took third on a passed ball, but he was tagged out at the plate when the Braves failed to execute a squeeze bunt.  As fate would have it, Rob Elliott and Grant Escue both followed with singles, but the inning ended on Dan Brewer's fly out.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee began chipping away at Bradley's first-game starter, Eitan Barbalat, by scoring single runs in the second and third innings, then pulled ahead with a 2-run fifth inning.

Hart led off the fifth with a double to centerfield and went to third on Wichser's ground out.  Junior Bryan Porter relieved Barbalat, but promptly loaded the bases by plunking the next two hitters.  Long made it 3-3 with a single into right field and Groves put the Panthers ahead with a groundout to third.  Porter (1-1) walked Buchholz to again load the bases, but Tyler Thornton relieved and got Munson to strike out to end the fifth.

The Milwaukee bullpen made the 4-3 lead stand by retiring the final six Bradley hitters in order.

The Braves were forced to play from behind in the nightcap as Milwaukee took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning against Bradley starter Lendsey Thomson (3-2).  A pair of leadoff singles by Wichser and Wozniak put runners at the corners  An error by Elliott at third base allowed Wichser to score the game's first run and the Panthers used consecutive sacrifice bunts to plate the second run.

The Braves sliced their deficit in half in the top of the fifth.  Fitzgerald led off the inning with a single and he advanced to third with one out on Nick Mitidiero's single to left.  Escue followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1, but after Mitidiero stole second, Brewer grounded out to end the rally.

The Panthers came right back with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, though.  Dekoning led off with a bunt single and advanced to second on Milwaukee's third sacrifice of the game.  After Hart flied out for the second out, Wichser plated Dekoning with a double to left centerfield.  The Braves intentionally walked Wozniak, but Vesling came through with an RBI single to right to push the Panthers advantage to 4-1.

Bradley used a two-run rally in the top of the sixth to again cut the lead in half, but could not keep the momentum going.  Elliott started the rally with a double down the left field line.  Fritz followed with an infield single, but Gerhartz threw the ball away, allowing Elliott to score and Fritz to advance to second.  Although he hit the ball hard, Fitzgerald could not keep the inning going as he lined out to center.

The Braves tried to put together another rally in the seventh after pinch-hitter Adam Kimble drew a leadoff walk, but he was out at second on Mitidiero's comebacker to the mound and Escue grounded into a double play to end the game.

Having completed a six-game road swing with a 3-3 record, Bradley will try to extend its four-game Missouri Valley Conference winning streak this weekend when the Braves host Missouri State in key series at O'Brien Field.  Missouri State enters the weekend in third place in The Valley standings with an 8-4 league record, one game ahead of the 7-5 Braves, who are tied for fourth with Creighton.  The weekend series will begin with a 6 p.m. game Friday.