PEORIA, Ill. ? Wichita State sophomore right-hander Tim Kelley (2-1) struck out a career-best nine hitters in his first career complete game and Shockers shortstop Tyler Grimes set the O'Brien Field record with three doubles, leading the visitors to a 5-2 Missouri Valley Conference baseball win at Bradley (6-13, 0-4 MVC) on a frigid Friday evening at O'Brien Field.

Wichita State (13-10, 1-0 MVC) jumped out to a 3-0 lead after Bradley starter Brad Altbach (1-3) surrendered a leadoff walk to Will Baez and Grimes followed with a double down the left field line on the first pitch he saw.  Ryan Jones dumped a two-run single into shallow left centerfield and took second on a late throw home.  After Clinton McKeever struck out, Jones stole third and later scored on a wild pitch.

Altbach gave up another leadoff walk to light-hitting Andrew Letourneau to start the second, then after a wild pitch moved the runner to second, Baez drove home Wichita State's fourth run with a single to centerfield.  After a popout by Grimes, Baez stole second and took third on a Jones infield single, but the Braves escaped the inning without any further damage when McKeever popped into a double play on a hit-and-run play.

The Braves got two runs back in the bottom of the second after centerfielder Nick Mitidiero started the frame with his fourth double of the year.  Still at second, Mitidiero came home on a two-out single to left by catcher Brett Hendricks.  After first baseman Jim Clayton coaxed a walk, third baseman Jordan Colvin delivered another RBI single to left as Hendricks just beat the throw home.

Grant Escue reached with one out in the bottom of the third when Baez could not handle his soft ground ball at second.  Mitidiero then punched a ground ball through the right side of the infield on a hit-and-run play to put runners at the corners.  The threat ended, however, after Mitidiero was picked off and Kimble struck out looking.

The game was pretty uneventful after that point until the sixth inning when Wichita State leftfielder Taylor Brown was ejected after a collision with Clayton on a tag play at first.

After giving up four runs in the first two innings, Altbach cruised through the seventh, allowing only two more runners on fifth- and seventh-inning doubles by Grimes.

Freshman Justin Ziegler relieved Altbach to start the eighth and promptly walked the first two Shockers he faced.  After catcher Cody Lassley moved the lead runner with a deep flyball to right center field, Josh Rosencrans singled into right field to push the lead to 5-2.  After running the count to 2-0 on the fifth batter he faced, Ziegler was replaced by fellow freshman Brandon Stevens, who got Mitch Caster to foul out and Letourneau to line out to right to end the inning without further damage. 

Like Altbach, Kelley also settled into a groove and retired 17-of-18 Bradley hitters until Kimble doubled with one out in the ninth.  Bradley flirted with a ninth-inning rally when Colby Luttrell followed with an infield single to put runners at the corners then took second on a wild pitch.  Kelley battled back, however, and caught Hendricks looking and fielded a Clayton comebacker to close out the game.

The teams will attempt to continue their three-game weekend series with a 2 p.m. game Saturday at O'Brien Field.  The series is scheduled to conclude with a 1 o'clock game Sunday afternoon, but the weather forecast is calling for a snow storm to hit Central Illinois Saturday night.