PEORIA, Ill. ? Unable to take advantage of two late-inning scoring opportunities, Bradley (13-21, 1-9 MVC) wasted a pitching gem by senior Collin Brennan as Evansville (18-19, 6-9 MVC) earned a 3-2 victory in 10 innings in the nightcap of Saturday's Missouri Valley Conference baseball doubleheader.

Brennan turned in his strongest outing of the season, allowing just two runs on three singles in 9.0 innings.  He struck out the side in the ninth and equaled his career-best with nine strikeouts in the game.

But the Braves stranded two runners in both the seventh and ninth innings and senior Bryan Porter, who earned the save in Saturday's first game, took over to start the 10th.  Porter (3-2) walked the first two batters he faced on eight pitches, loaded the bases by hitting the third hitter with a pitch, then walked in the go-ahead run before being replaced by senior Tyler Thornton.  Thornton prevented any further damage by getting a popout, strikeout and groundout.

Evansville closer Tom Heithoff (3-1), who took over on the mound to start the ninth, worked around a two-out single by Colby Luttrell to close out the Braves in the bottom of the 10th and give the Purple Aces the series win, 2-games-to-1.

Bradley grabbed the early lead, 1-0, in the nightcap when Luttrell tripled to leadoff the second and scored on Grant Escue's line drive sacrifice fly to left field.

With only one hit on the board through the first four innings, Evansville rallied for two runs in the fifth after Brennan gave up consecutive one-out walks.  Catcher Andrew Gher executed a sacrifice bunt and No. 9 hitter Alex Acheson came through with the second hit, a 2-run single into right centerfield to put the Purple Aces 2-1.

Evansville pitcher Keegan Dennis returned the favor by walking Bradley's No. 8 and No. 9 hitters, Brad Kimball and Jordan Colvin, with one out in the bottom of the fifth.  Matt Fritz lined a single off Dennis' foot to load the bases and end the Evansville starter's day.  J.R. Carbonell relieved and gave up a game-tying sacrifice fly to Tommy Fitzgerald.

Bradley missed out on a scoring chance in the bottom of the sixth when Luttrell's second triple of the game was negated when he was called out for missing second base.  Grant Escue followed with a fly ball to centerfield that likely would have been deep enough to plate Luttrell with the go-ahead run, but instead resulted in the third out.

Earlier in the bottom of the sixth, home plate umpire Todd Olinger was hit in the abdomen by a pitch that bounced through the catcher's legs and caught him beneath the chest protector.  After needing a couple of minutes to recuperate before resuming the sixth, Olinger went down again in the top of the seventh, resulting in a 22-minute delay as paramedics were called to the scene.  The game was completed with a two-man crew as Don Umland took over behind the plate.

The Braves will be on the road for their next five games, beginning with Wednesday's non-conference tilt at Eastern Illinois.  Bradley will visit Missouri Valley Conference rival Creighton for three games next weekend, then will visit Valparaiso April 28 before opening their final homestand of the season with an April 29 game against SIU-Edwardsville.