Leading Off
After playing the last nine games against in-state rivals, Bradley will resume its Missouri Valley Conference schedule this weekend by hosting Missouri State in a 3-game set at O'Brien Field ... Bradley will try to match its season-long, 4-game win streak when the teams open the series Friday night ... Missouri State rolls into Peoria with 11 wins in its last 13 games ... Bradley is 0-2 at home this season and has dropped six straight at O'Brien Field since a 4-0 win against Southern Illinois May 8, 2011 ... Saturday's 2 p.m. game will be Bradley Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day and all Bradley University faculty and staff presenting valid identification will be eligible to receive up to four free tickets for the game ... The series finale on Easter Sunday will feature $1 admission, an Easter Egg hunt for children 12 and under and an appearance by the Easter Bunny.
Series vs. Missouri State
Missouri State leads 48-30 | at Bradley: Tied, 17-17
Since the teams first faced off in a non-conference game March 23, 1982 in Albuquerque, N.M., the last 77 meetings have been played as Missouri Valley Conference rivals ... Since the Braves moved into O'Brien Field for the 2003 season, the teams have split the last 12 meetings on Bradley's home field ... The last three season series have finished in sweeps by the home team.
Road Warriors
Bradley played its first 17 games away from home and the Braves are scheduled to play just 16 of their 52 regular-season games at O'Brien Field ... With two mid-week home games now out of the way, Bradley is playing its first weekend home games of the season against Missouri State ... The 2012 Braves are 8-4 in true road games, already surpassing their road victory total from any of the last three seasons ... The 16 scheduled home games are Bradley's fewest since the Braves recorded a 9-7 home record in 1997.
Merry March
Last Saturday's 15-9 win at Western Illinois gave the Braves a final 9-8-1 record in March ... Bradley enjoyed an 11-4 (.733) record last March, giving the Braves a combined 20-12-1 (.621) record the last two Marches.
April Showers
Bradley has won its first two games of April, perhaps reversing a recent trend ... Since going 15-8 during April 2008, Bradley is just 21-38 in the month of April the last four seasons.
Going Deep
Including three home runs last Saturday, Bradley has belted 22 home runs in 26 games this season ... The Braves are currently on pace for 45 home runs this season, which would be the most by the Braves since 2001, when the Braves went deep 68 times.
High Five
Despite the injuries to the team's top two hitters, Bradley still has managed to average 5.6 runs per game in 2012 ... Hitting that average mark is significant, as the Braves are 10-0-1 (.955) this season when scoring more than five runs ... Conversely, the Braves are 4-11 when scoring five runs or fewer ... Bradley will have its work cut out for it against Missouri State, which is allowing only 3.5 runs per game.
Two 15-Run Outbursts
Bradley's 15-9 win last Saturday at Western Illinois was its biggest scoring output since the 19-3 win Feb. 25 against UALR in Nashville, Tenn. ... The 15 runs Saturday were the most by the Braves in a true road game since a 15-8 victory at Eastern Illinois April 22, 2009 ... Bradley had not scored at least 15 runs twice against NCAA Division I competition in the same season since folllowing a 21-3 rout against Toledo with a 16-3 triumph against Long Island March 13-14, 2005 in Jacksonville, Fla. ... With at least 28 games left in the season, Bradley has not put up 15 runs three times in a season since 2004 (four times).
Welcome Back, Mike
Junior left fielder Mike Tauchman, who led the Braves with a .343 batting average and 32 RBI's in 2011, had managed only four at-bats in the previous 14 games due to a hamstring injury before returning to the starting lineup last Friday at Western Illinois ... Tauchman showed little rust in the weekend series at Western Illinois: he was 5-for-13 (.385) in the series and delivered the big blow in Sunday's series decider by lacing a 3-run double in the seventh inning to put the Braves in front, 4-2, in the eventual 7-4 win.
Elliott Still on the Shelf
While junior left fielder Mike Tauchman made his way back from a hamstring injury for the weekend series at Western Illinois, the Braves have played the last eight games without this year's leading hitter and run-producer, senior second baseman Rob Elliott ... Elliott came out of the March 21 game against UIC after just one at-bat with a hamstring injury and has not played in the last eight games ... Elliott is Bradley's active career leader in most every offensive category and still leads the 2012 Braves with 22 runs scored and shares the team lead with five stolen bases.
Freshmen Impact
Two Bradley freshmen are making a significant offensive impact this season ... Center fielder Max Murphy is the team's second-leading hitter with a .337 average and leads the team with five home runs, 13 walks, a .596 slugging percentage and a .454 on-base percentage ... Most notably, Murphy has reached base safely via a hit (20 games) or a walk (six games) in each of Bradley's first 26 games this season ... Filling in for the injured Rob Elliott in the last eight games, freshman second baseman Chris Godinez has hit .444 with 10 runs scored, a .500 on-base percentage and four stolen bases.
Starters Bounce Back
Defined as at least six innings permitting no more than three earned runs, Bradley's starting pitching had contributed only six "quality starts" in the season's first 22 games ... The starters entered the weekend series at Western Illinois with a combined 6-7 record with a 5.30 ERA and .297 opponent batting average in those first 22 games ... In the last four games, though, starters Joe Bircher, Justin Ziegler, John Nasshan and Tory Doerr are 2-0 with a 2.01 ERA and .210 opponent batting average.
Bullpen Steps Up
While the starters have struggled early on, the Bradley bullpen has excelled through the season's first 26 games ... Ten Bradley pitchers have combined for a 6-4 record and five saves out of the bullpen with a collective 3.96 ERA and .256 opponent batting average ... As relievers, seven Bradley pitchers sport earned run averages below the starters' combined ERA of 4.65.
Late-Inning Trio
A trio of right-handers have developed into a late-game door-closer for the Braves ... Junior Rob Kennedy has emerged as a middle innings stopper, followed by setup man Jacob Booden and closer Danny Gifford ... Kennedy had appeared in just five games in his first two seasons, going 0-2 with a 12.38 ERA in a total of just 8.0 innings ... So far in 2012, Kennedy is 0-1, but leads the staff with 14 appearances and sports a 2.04 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 17.2 innings ... Primarily used as a starter in his first three seasons, Booden has come out of the pen for each of his 13 appearances this year and is 1-1 with a 0.61 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 14.2 innings ... Last year's set up man, Gifford is 3-0 with four saves in his 11 appearanes, sporting a 3.52 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 15.1 innings ... Together, the trio has racked up 52 strikeouts in 47.2 innings, an average of 9.8 K's per nine innings, and sports a 2.08 ERA.
Bircher Is Kid K
Bradley senior left-hander Joe Bircher began the 2012 season 12th among active NCAA Division I pitchers wtih 189 career strikeouts ... Bircher began this week ranked seventh nationally with 56 strikeouts ... Bircher has climbed into a tie for fourth on Bradley's all-time strikeouts list and is just 15 shy of the record 261 strikeouts by Wyman Carey from 1957-59.
Run Producer
Senior second baseman Rob Elliott thrived in the leadoff spot through the season's first 18 games ... Elliott leads the team with a .365 batting average and sports a .429 on-base percentage ... His 22 runs scored easily leads the team and he is tied for third with 13 RBI's ... With two home runs contributing to both totals, Elliott was responsible for 33 Bradley runs in the season's first 18 games, an average of 1.83 runs produced per game.
Young Guns
Sophomore catchers Austin Jarvis and Derek Sprout are making life difficult for would-be base stealers ... The duo has combined to throw out 17-of-33 (.515) runners trying to steal, including one each to end consecutive games against Yale (March 11) and Fairfield (March 12) ... Runners are just 11-for-24 against Jarvis, who now has thrown out 22-of-41 runners trying to steal against him in his first two seasons.
Looking Ahead
Following this weekend's series against Missouri State, Bradley will visit UIC Tuesday night seeking revenge for a 3-1 loss to the Flames March 21 at O'Brien Field ... The Braves will return home for another Valley weekend series when they host Indiana State April 13-15 at O'Brien Field.
For a complete preview of this weekend's baseball series versus Missouri State, click the above link to the PDF version of Bradley's Game Notes Package.
