WICHITA, Kan. ? After being blanked by Oral Roberts, 12-0, Tuesday night, the 14th-ranked Wichita State baseball team quickly discovered its offensive spark Thursday against Bradley, needing only eight innings to drop the Braves (26-24, 10-12 MVC), 10-0, in the opener of a 3-game Missouri Valley Conference series at Eck Stadium.

With the win, the Shockers kept pace with Missouri State atop The Valley standings.  Missouri State also earned a 10-run victory Thursday night, 12-2 at UNI.

Bradley lost for the fifth time in seven games, all against MVC competition, and for the 22nd consecutive time at Wichita State, where the Braves have not defeated the Shockers since the 1996 MVC Tournament.

The first three hitters in the Wichita State lineup did the majority of the damage Thursday night.  The Shockers outhit Bradley 18-5, highlighted by a combined 9-for-14 effort by leadoff man Andy Dirks (3-for-5), No. 2 hitter Ryan Jones (3-for-4) and No. 3 hitter Connor Gillaspie (3-for-4).  Gillaspie also drove in four runs and stole two bases.  Nick Mitidiero paced the Braves by going 2-for-3, while Dan Brewer went 1-for-2, was hit by a pitch and swiped his 18th base of the season.

The Shockers brought The Valley's 10-run rule into play by scoring twice in the second, three times in the third, once in the fifth, twice in the seventh and once in the eighth.  Rob Musgrave went the distance for the Shockers, scattering five singles with one walk and seven strikeouts in his 8-inning effort.  Chris Wright (3-6) suffered the loss for the Braves by giving up the first six runs on nine hits in his 4.0 innings of work.

The teams will resume their 3-game series with another 7 p.m. game Friday at Eck Stadium, then will wrap up the regular season with a 2 p.m. contest Saturday.  Bradley will remain in Wichita for next week's State Farm MVC Tournament, which will be hosted by Wichita State at Eck Stadium.  Despite Thursday's loss, Bradley remained in fifth place in the league standings, one-half game ahead of Southern Illinois, which was forced to postpone its game Thursday against Evansville due to rain.