OMAHA, Neb. -- Bradley pitcher Joe Bircher was the subject of the Omaha World-Herald's Friday morning preview of this weekend's Missouri Valley Conference baseball series between the Braves and Creighton at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.  An Omaha native who graduated from Roncalli High School, Bircher (5-3, 2.65 ERA) will start Friday night's series opener.

Bircher's return home is just one of the "reunion" storylines this weekend.  Third-year Bradley head coach Elvis Dominguez is a 1986 Creighton graduate and was a four-year starting shortstop for the Bluejays and also was an assistant on the Creighton coaching staff in two stints.  Meanwhile, Bradley junior pitcher Jacob Booden was a high school teammate of Creighton junior catcher/outfielder Joey Bowens at Libertyville, Ill., High School and fourth-year Bradley juniors Rob Elliott and Brad Kimball attended the same high school, Naperville Neuqua Valley, as Creighton freshman outfielder Mike Gerber.

While the Braves stumbled through a 1-7 home stand, they will try to regain their early season momentum on the road this weekend.  Of Bradley's 20 wins to date, 14 have come away from home and at 14-11 so far this year, the Braves are trying for their first winning record away from home since 2004 (16-14-1).

To read more about Bradley Baseball as the Braves prepare for this weekend's Valley series at Creighton, check out the PDF version of Bradley's pre-series notes package.