PEORIA, Ill. - Eight Bradley pitchers combined to limit visiting Illinois-Chicago to three runs, but that was more than enough offense for the Flames (6-12), who left O'Brien Field with a 3-1 victory in the home opener for the Braves (10-7-1) Wednesday night.

Bradley, which dropped its final game at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational Saturday to end its spring break trip with a 5-2-1 record, now has lost consecutive games for the first time this season.  The Braves will try to get back on the winning track when they open Missouri Valley Conference play with a 3-game set this weekend at Southern Illinois.

A pair of ground outs from UIC No. 9 hitter, shortstop Ryan Shober, gave the Flames the runs they needed to stop their 3-game losing skid.  With runners at second and third and one out in the second, Shober grounded out to shortstop to plate the game's first run.  Shober added a second run-scoring ground out, this one to second base, with one out in the sixth to plate the game's final run.

In between Shober's run-scoring outs, UIC took a 2-0 lead in the third after getting consecutive infield singles off reliever David Koll to start the inning.  First baseman Alex Grunenwald made it three straight hits with a sharp single through the left side of the infield to bring home Alex DeLaRosa.

Second baseman David Compitello, who replaced leading hitter Rob Elliott in the third inning, opened the fifth inning with a single to right center and left fielder Mike Tauchman followed with a single to right field.  After shortstop Jason Leblebijian advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, designated hitter Greg Partyka brought home Compitello with a fly ball to center field to pull the Braves within 2-1.

Collin Weyer relieved UIC freshman starter Tim Tarter and got Bradley center fielder Max Murphy to ground out to end the fifth.  Weyer (1-1) earned the win by throwing 3.2 innings without allowing a Bradley hit.

The Braves finished the game with just five singles and were 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position.  The first hit with runners in scoring position was a single to right by Jerrod Eigsti in the second inning, but catcher Austin Jarvis was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second.  The second hit was an infield single by Leblebijian in the third that did not advance the runner from second.

Senior lefthander Joe Bircher (3-0) will try to halt Bradley's mini-slide when he takes the mound for the Braves in Friday's 1 p.m. game at Southern Illinois.  Bircher's 44 strikeouts in his five starts this season was tied for fifth nationally to start the week.

NOTES:  Max Murphy was 0-for-3 Wednesday to end his team-best 11-game hitting streak, but the freshman centerfielder drew an eighth-inning walk and has reached base safely in each of the season's first 18 games ... Mike Tauchman got only one pinch-hit at bat during the eight games in Florida as he recovered from a hamstring injury, but got the start in left field Wednesday and was 1-for-3 with a pair of hard-hit outs to left ... Bradley used eight total pitchers and the seven out of the bullpen combined to allow just two runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings ... For the season, the Bradley bullpen sports a 3.34 ERA and .258 opponent batting average in 52 combined individual appearances, compared to a 4.89 ERA and .288 opponent batting average by Bradley's 18 starting pitchers.