NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? The Bradley Baseball team was unable to make early leads stand up in either game of Sunday's doubleheader as host Lipscomb completed a 3-game weekend sweep by downing the Braves (2-3) 4-3 in eight innings and 8-4 at Dugan Field.

In Sunday's first game, senior right-hander Collin Brennan turned in five impressive innings and left the game with a 3-2 lead after 5.0 innings.  Brennan allowed two runs on four hits and struck out seven of the 21 batters he faced.  Senior reliever Bryan Porter (1-1) surrendered the tying run in the sixth and the winning run on a bases loaded sacrifice fly in the eighth.

The Braves grabbed a quick lead when shortstop Tommy Fitzgerald singled with one out, advanced to second on a ground out and scored on Nick Mitidiero's infield single.  After the Bisons pulled even in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Saturday hero Justin Sanders, the Braves jumped back on top with two runs in the third.

Second baseman Matt Fritz led off with an infield single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Grant Escue's one-out sigle to left center.  After Mitidiero was hit by a pitch and Colby Luttrell walked to load the bases, Escue came home on a wild pitch for a 3-1 lead.  Lipscomb made it 3-2 in the home half of the third, thanks to a leadoff triple by Tyler Wilson and a one-out three-bagger by Sanders.  Brennan kept the Braves in front, though, by getting Ryan Wilkins to pop out and striking out Tennyson Dodd.

Bradley loaded the bases again in both the fifth and sixth innings, the got a runner into scoring position with two outs in the eighth, but failed to come up with the clutch hit.  Porter relieved Brennan to start the bottom of the sixth and walked the leadoff man, then allowed the runner to reach second on a wild pitch.  Branden Cadavid tied the game at 3-3 with a one-out single through the box.  Sanders, who finished 3-for-4 in the first game, led off the bottom of the eighth with his second triple of the game.  Porter intentionally walked the next two hitters to load the bases, but the strategy went for naught when Cadavid hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive home the winning run.

Bradley drew six walks against a trio of Lipscomb starters and the Bisons committed three errors, but the Braves failed to take advantage by managing only four hits and striking out 13 times.

The Braves once again struck in the top of the first of the second game, thanks to a 2-run home run by Escue, then stretched the lead to 4-1 in the third on an RBI single by Luttrell and a run-scoring wild pitch.

Making his first appearance of the season, junior right-hander Brad Altbach (0-1) started strong by allowing one unearned run on one hit in the first three innings.  Sanders was at the center of Lipscomb's comeback, however, when he led off the bottom of the fourth with a double.  Dodd followed with a 2-run homer to pull the Bisons within 4-3.

In the fifth, Altbach gave up a leadoff single and consecutive walks to load the bases with no outs.  The Braves defense faltered from there as first baseman Jim Clayton committed an error to allow the tying run to score.  With the bases still loaded Wilkins followed with a two-run single to left, made worse by an Escue error that allowed Sanders to score from first and give the Bisons a 7-4 lead.  Dodd greeted freshman reliever Joe Bircher with an RBI single to complete the scoring.

Bircher proved to be a bright spot for the Braves, however, by striking out five of the seven batters he faced to finish the game in his Bradley debut.  Lipscomb right-hander Josh Smith (1-0) earned the win, despite allowing Bradley's four runs on four hits and five walks in his 6.0 innings.  Smith did work out of trouble by striking out nine.

The Braves will try to snap their three-game slide next weekend by visiting Cincinnati for a four-game set.  The series is slated to begin with a 3 p.m. (CST) single game Friday, followed by a noon doubleheader Saturday and a noon single game Sunday.