NORMAL Ill. -- Bradley junior centerfielder Dan Brewer homered, drove in five runs, stole two bases and made a pair of tremendous catches and the Illinois State (20-24, 4-13 MVC) defense committed seven errors as the visiting Braves (25-20, 9-8 MVC) pulled away for a 12-2 Missouri Valley Conference baseball victory Saturday afternoon at Duffy Bass Field.

Bradley senior pitcher Chris Wright (3-4) scattered five hits in 8.0 innings to earn his second career complete game. Wright sruck out seven as part of his 127-pitch effort.

For the second game in a row, Bradley grabbed a 2-0 lead after one-half inning of play.  Freshman third baseman Rob Elliott drew a leadoff walk and immediately scored on Grant Escue's double down the left field line.  With Brewer at the plate, Redbird pitcher Tyler Cox (4-3) shorthopped a pitch that catcher Kevin Dubler could not handle.  Escue broke for third while Dubler scrambled for the ball, then scored easily when the Redbird catcher's throw to third ended up in left field.

Illinois State second baseman Ronnie Calvird committed the first of his three errors on the day when he could not catch Matt Fritz's second-inning leadoff popup behind second.  After falling behind 0-2, No. 8 hitter Tommy Fitzgerald was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second.  Catcher Brett Hendricks tried to lay down a sacrifice, but ISU first baseman Mike Stalowy pounced on the ball and threw Fritz out a third.  When third baseman Kyle Cherney tried to turn the double play on Hendricks, however,  his throw sailed high for ISU's fourth error of the day, allowing Fitzgerald to score all the way from first.  Elliott followed with an infield single to put runners at first and second with one out.  After Escue fouled out, Brewer launched his sixth home run of the year, a 3-run blast to straight-away center for a 6-0 Bradley lead.

Illinois State tried chipping away at its deficit in the third, thanks to a leadoff double by Kevin Tokarski.  Stalowy followed with a deep fly ball to center field, moving Tokarski to third, and Dubler plated ISU's first run with a ground out to second.

After Hendricks tweaked his ankle during Dubler's third-inning at-bat, Chris Gordon pinch-hit for the Braves' backstop to leadoff the fourth and was plunked by Cox.  Gordon stole second with one out, took third on an Escue ground out and scored on an infield single by Brewer, pushing the Bradley lead back up to six runs, 7-1.  After Brewer swiped his second base of the day, Luttrell followed with another infield single to second, but Calvird let the slow roller squirt under his glove, allowing Brewer to race home for an 8-1 lead.

The Redbirds got one of the runs back in the bottom of the fourth on back-to-back, 2-out doubles by Calvird and Corey Maines.

Fellow left-hander Dan Sorce replaced Cox to start the fifth trailing 8-2 and quickly struck out the side in his first inning.  The Braves found more success in the sixth, however, beginning with a leadoff walk by Gordon.  After Elliott flew out, Calvird committed his third error of the day on an Escue ground ball, giving Illinois State six miscues for the second straight day, and allowing the Braves to put runners at the corners with one out for Brewer.  Brewer squirted a ball toward first for an RBI fielder's choice, increasing the lead to 9-2.

Gordon led off the eighth with a single to center, then the Redbirds committed their seventh error when Cherney allowed a sharp ground ball by Elliott to go through his legs, setting up another big inning for Bradley.  With runners at the corners, Escue bounced a single through the right side and smartly took second when the Redbirds threw to third in a futile effort to pick off Elliott.  With first base open, the Redbirds elected to pitch to the redhot Brewer and the gamble paid off as the Bradley centerfielder went down swinging.  Luttrell picked him up, though, with a 2-run single up the middle for the decisive 10-run cushion.

Wright then worked around a Dubler single and Fritz fielding error in the bottom of the eighth by getting Cherney to strike out and Konsler to strike out to end the game early due to The Valley's 10-run rule after seven innings. 

After making six errors in Friday night's 16-12 win, Illinois State has committed 13 errors in the first two games of the weekend series.  The two teams will settle the regular-season series Sunday with a 1 p.m. contest at Duffy Bass Field.