PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley rallied from a 5-2 deficit by scoring six runs in the fifth en route to an 8-5 victory in the nightcap of Wednesday's doubleheader at O'Brien Field.  Freshman pitcher Joe Bircher (2-2) picked up the relief win with 3.2 solid innings and senior closer Bryan Porter earned his second save of the day.

Chicago State carried the momentum of its seventh-inning rally in the first game to its first at-bat in the nightcap by scoring twice against Bradley freshman left-hander Mike Derby.  The Braves bounced back with two in the home half of the first on consecutive two-out RBI hits by Adam Kimble and Brett Hendricks.

Consecutive doubles by Austin McDowell and Preston Pires to start the third put Chicago State back on top, 3-2.  A ground out by Patrick Hernandez and walk to Matt Haug put runners at the corners with one out.  Albert Carpen stretched the lead to 4-2 with an RBI single to center, chasing Derby.

Fellow freshman Joe Bircher, who earned his first career win by throwing the first 7.1 innings in Sunday's victory against North Dakota, inherited runners at first and second with one out.  Jonathan Carper sacrificed the runners to second and third on the first pitch he saw and Bircher got William Hill to line out to end the third.

The Cougars added a run to the lead in the fifth as Hernandez led off the inning with a triple and scored on Albert Carpen's ground out.

Bradley fought back in the bottom of the fifth.  Colvin led off with a double and Fritz was hit by a pitch to put the first two hitters on.  Fitzgerald sacrificed the runners and Escue brought home Colvin with a groundout.  Nick Mitidiero followed with an RBI single to pull the Braves within 5-4, then stole second and scored on Kimble's single to left.  Luttrell then put the Braves in front, 6-5, with a double into the left centerfield gap.  A walk to Hendricks ended Tucker's day as Kevin Hussey came in from the bullpen.  Hussey appeared to end the rally by getting Clayton to hit a high pop, but the ball dropped harmlessly behind first base, resulting in a 2-run double and an 8-5 Bradley lead.

After getting the save in the opener, senior Bryan Porter came on to start the seventh, but the Cougars did not go down quietly.  McDowell opened the seventh with a single up the middle and Pires drew a walk to bring the tying run to the plate.  Porter caught Hernandez looking and fanned Haug before getting McDowell to hit a ground ball to third to earn his second save of the day.