PEORIA, Ill. ? Bradley senior righthander Rob Scahill (2-1) tied the O'Brien Field record for strikeouts in a game by fanning a career-best 12 hitters in his longest outing of the season and the Braves (13-20, 1-8 MVC) took advantage of its early scoring opportunities to earn a 6-3 victory in the second game of their weekend Missouri Valley Conference series against Evansville (17-19, 5-9 MVC) Saturday afternoon at O'Brien Field.

The third game of the series, which had been moved from Sunday to the second game of a Saturday doubleheader, has been postponed due to rain entering the Peoria area.  The teams and umpires are scheduled to reconvene at O'Brien Field at 7 o'clock tonight to determine if they will try to complete the series this evening or Sunday.

Bradley was in a charitable mood to start the game as Evansville jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning.  Leadoff hitter Jim Viscomi drew a walk, stole second and went to third on a throwing error on catcher Kevin Sullivan.  Scahill fielded a comebacker and caught Viscomi in a rundown, but threw the ball through third baseman Jordan Colvin's legs into leftfield.

The Purple Aces returned the favor in the bottom of the first after Matt Fritz was hit by Wade Kapteyn's first pitch of the game.  He then went to second on a passed ball before Tommy Fitzgerald induced a walk.  The two Braves then executed a double steal, but when catcher Andrew Gher's throw went into left field, Fritz scored and Fitzgerald motored into third.  Nick Mitidiero drew a second straight walk and with runners at the corners, Adam Kimble grounded into a fielder's choice that kept Fitzgerald at third.  Colby Luttrell then lined out to third, but when Evansville's Cody Fick tried to double off Kimble at first, his throw sailed into the bleachers, allowing Fitzgerald to score the go-ahead run.

When the first-inning dust settled, Bradley held a 2-1 lead despite the lack of a hit by either team.

Nate Smith picked up the game's first hit by singling to open the second.  He stole second as Andy Pascoe struck out and continued to third as Sullivan's throw sailed into centerfield.  Peter Tountas brought home the tying run with a ground ball to short.

The Braves reclaimed the lead, 3-2, on their first hit of the game when Kimble drilled a solo home run to left field with two outs in the third.  Kimble's third homer of the season extended his career-best hitting streak to 16 games, the longest career streak by any of the current Braves.

Bradley extended the lead to 5-2 in the fourth after Grant Escue drew a leadoff walk.  Following a Brett Hendricks sacrifice bunt, Sullivan brought Escue home with a double into the left centerfield gap and Fritz plated Sullivan with a single to right.

The Aces got one run back in the top of the fifth on an RBI groundout by Viscomi, but Bradley completed the scoring in the bottom of the fifth.  After Fitzgerald reached on an error by Tom Heithoff at first, Mitidiero hit the next pitch from reliever Corey Davisson off the wall in left centerfield for a 6-3 lead.

Scahill, whose fastball was still clocked at 93 mph in the ninth inning, recorded his 12th strikeout to start the ninth and got pinch-hitter Shawn Kuester to ground out before finally running out of gas.  After giving up a two-out walk and a sharp single to Viscomi, Scahill was relieved by senior Bryan Porter, who flirted with disaster when Fick launched a foul ball onto Jefferson Street beyond left field.  Ignoring the loud strike, Porter got Fick to ground out for the final out and lock down his fourth save of the year.

The win snapped Bradley's 11-game Missouri Valley Conference losing streak, which began with a three-game sweep at Wichita State to end the 2008 regular season.  The win also was the first career Valley victory for Scahill, a fourth-year junior.