PEORIA, Ill. -- Six Illinois State pitchers combined for 26 strikeouts and Bradley could not come up with any timely hits as the visiting Redbirds (23-10, 3-2 MVC) swept a Missouri Valley Conference baseball doubleheader on a blustery day at O'Brien Field Saturday.

Bradley was a combined 0-for-16 with runners in scoring position in the twinbill, dropping the first game 4-1 and the nightcap 12-2 in seven innings.  Left fielder/designated hitter Mike Tauchman followed up a 2-for-4 performance in the first game by going 1-for-1 with a sacrifice fly in the second game, but left the nightcap early after getting plunked by a pitch in his third plate appearance.

Junior left-hander Joe Bircher (4-3) turned in a solid outing in the first game, limiting the Redbirds to two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts in his 7.0 innings, but the visitors benefitted from some well-placed 2-out hits to get all the offense they needed.

Matt Mirabal blooped a 2-out single between three Bradley players in shallow right center for the game's first hit in the second inning, then after stealing second, scored on Mike Hollenbeck's bloop single into left center.  The Redbirds made it 2-0 in the fourth with two outs when Chad Hinshaw doubled on a blooper down the right field line and scored when Josh Colon followed with a double into the left centerfield gap that tipped of the top of a diving Tauchman's glove.

Those were all the runs Corey Maines (7-0) and the Redbirds bullpen needed.  Maines struck out 10 in his 6.0 innings, while Justin Hauer added five strikeouts in 2.2 innigs, before Kenny Long got the final out to secure his 10th save of the year.

Dan Savas (3-1) added nine strikeouts in 5.0 innings to start the second game while allowing only one unearned run on four hits.  After scoring three in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead, Illinois State broke the game open with a 6-run fifth inning. 

Bradley starter John Nasshan (2-4) suffered the loss by allowing six runs on five hits with five walks in 4.1 innings.

In addition to Tauchman's 3-for-5 day, junior infielder Jerrod Eigsti extended his team-best hitting streak to 12 games with 1-for-3 efforts in both games.  Eigsti tripled in the first game and sophomore David Compitello doubled in both games.

The teams will conclude the weekend Valley series with a 1p.m. game Sunday at O'Brien Field.