WICHITA, Kan. -- Boosted by a 5-run outburst in the seventh inning, fourth-seeded Northern Iowa (30-23) eliminated sixth-seeded Bradley (26-28) from the 2008 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship with a 9-2 decision in the third game of the opening day Wednesday night at Eck Stadium.

The Braves ended the year on a season-long five-game losing streak, while UNI advances to a 3 p.m. elimination game Thursday against the loser of the 11 a.m. contest between third-seeded Creighton and No. 2 seed Missouri State.

The Braves loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the first when Dan Brewer hit into a fielder's choice and Colby Luttrell and Jim Clayton followed with consecutive walks from UNI starter Guido Fonseca.  After scoring in the first inning of all three games against the Panthers during their series two weeks ago in Peoria, as well as in Wednesday afternoon's game versus Creighton, Bradley again jumped out to the early lead when Nick Mitidiero was hit by a pitch, forcing home Brewer for the 1-0 advantage.  Fonseca limited the damage back by striking out Tommy Fitzgerald on three pitches.

The Panthers got the run back in the top of the second on an opposite-field, wind-aided home run by Brett Featherston, his team-leading 12th of the year, just over the wall in left centerfield.

UNI scored two more in the top of the fourth to claim a 3-1 lead.  Designated hitter Chris Lopez led off with a single to left and Brett Douglas hit a one-out double into the right centerfield gap to put runners at second and third.  Eddie Almonte hit a grounder to first that forced Clayton to make a diving stop and the Bradley first baseman could not get control of the ball quick enough to get Lopez at the plate.  Scahill walked Ege to load the bases and Deric Manrique, who was mired in a 1-for-35 batting slump, to force home the second run of the inning.  Dane Embury popped out and Travis Hendrix struck out to end the inning.

Scahill recovered by retiring eight straight batters, the last four by strikeout, before giving up a one-out walk to Embury in the seventh inning that wound up setting the stage for a 5-run outburst.  After Hendrix grounded out to third, Brandon Douglas delivered an RBI single through the box to push the UNI lead to 4-1.  Scahill then walked Lopez to end his day.  Wichita native Kori Jensen relieved with runners at first and second with two outs.  After a passed ball allowed the runners to move up a base, Jensen intentionally walked Featherston, but the Panthers quickly broke the game open on a 2-run single by Brett Douglas, followed by a 2-run double from Eddie Almonte for an 8-1 lead.

Scahill ended up allowing six runs on just four hits in his 6.2 innings, ending the year with a 4-6 record.  Fonseca improved to 9-2 on the year by holding the Braves to one run on five hits in his 5.0 innings of work.  Regular starter Taylor Sinclair made his second relief appearance of the season to start the sixth and earned his first save of the year by allowing the other run on five hits in his 4.0 innings.

The Braves got one of the runs back in the bottom of the seventh when Matt Fritz led off with his third single of the game, went to second on a Rob Elliott sacrifice and scored on Grant Escue's single up the middle.  Bradley's top two hitters, however, Brewer and Luttrell popped out and ground out on the next two pitches to short circuit the rally.

Senior Lendsey Thomson took over on the mound to start the eighth and was touched for a solo homer by Embury with one out as the Panthers stretched their lead back to seven runs, 9-2.

Bradley got consecutive one-out singles from Nick Mitidiero and Fitzgerald in the bottom of the eighth and loaded the bases when Mike Brumleve was hit by a pitch, but Fritz and Elliott both lined out to shortstop, short-circuiting another rally.  Although the Braves outhit UNI, 11-7, Bradley wound up leaving 12 runners on base.