PEORIA, Ill. ? Bradley junior second baseman Matt Fritz went 4-for-4 with a triple and a double, leading a 12-hit Bradley offensive attack as the Braves defeated Interstate-74 rival Illinois State 5-3 Saturday night at O'Brien Field to even the three-game series between the rivals at one game apiece.

The Braves (16-28, 3-14 MVC) plated three runs in the bottom of the second inning against Illinois State starting pitcher Corey Maines to jump to a 3-0 lead.  BU first baseman Jim Clayton belted a one-out double to the center field wall to start the rally and later scored on an RBI single from Fritz.  After a Tommy Fitzgerald single into right field, senior Grant Escue drove home Fritz and Fitzgerald with a ringing single up the middle to put the Braves in front 3-0.

Illinois State (20-20, 10-11 MVC) answered in the top of the fourth inning with back-to-back doubles from Mike Stalowy and Ryan Court to start the inning, cutting the deficit to 3-1 as Stalowy came around to score.  Two batters later, Gabe DeMarco recorded the third ISU double of the inning to score Court and draw the Redbirds to within 3-2, but Bradley starting pitcher Joe Bircher retired the next two batters in order to strand the tying run.

Following DeMarco's double in the fourth, the Braves plated an unearned run in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-2 lead.  Bircher then settled in to retire 11 Redbirds in order through the middle innings before getting into trouble with one out in the top of the eighth inning.  Collin Salzenstein singled to left with one out and later moved to third on Tyler McNeely's double to right.  Stalowy followed with Illinois State's third consecutive hit off Bircher as his single scored Salzenstein to trim the deficit to 4-3.  With runners at the corners and one out, Bradley's Brad Altbach entered the game in relief of Bircher and coaxed an inning-ending double play off the bat of Court to preserve Bradley's 4-3 advantage.

Fritz collected his fourth hit of the contest when he tripled to the wall in left-center field off Illinois State relief pitcher Kenny Long to start the bottom of the eighth inning.  Two batters later, Fitzgerald extended Bradley's lead to 5-3 when his single to right field drove home Fritz.  In the top of the ninth, Altbach yielded a leadoff double to Anthony Ruffolo before retiring the next three batters in order to secure Bradley's 5-3 win.

Bircher was the winning pitcher for Bradley, allowing three runs on eight hits over 7.1 innings to improve to 3-2 on the year.  Altbach recorded the final five outs for the Braves to earn his first save of the season and seventh of his Bradley career.  Maines took the loss for the Redbirds to fall to 6-4.

Bradley will wrap up its 2009 home schedule Sunday when the Braves host Illinois State in the final game of the weekend series.  First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at O'Brien Field and Bradley will recognize its senior class in a pregame ceremony, slated to begin at approximately 12:45.