SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Bradley will be playing to keep its 2012 season alive when the seventh-seeded Braves (27-26-1) try to upset tourney host and No. 2 seed Missouri State (38-19) for the second time in three days Thursday afternoon in the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship at Hammons Field.

The winner of the 12:30 p.m. Bradley-Missouri State game will play again in Thursday's final game at 7:30 against Southern Illinois (30-27).  All four games in Thursday's third and fourth rounds at the State Farm MVC Baseball Championship will be streamed live on ESPN3, beginning with the 9 a.m. Bracket A elimination game between Illinois State and Evansville.

Despite a second SportsCenter Top 10 Plays catch in as many days by freshman center fielder Max Murphy, Bradley could not hold an early 7-1 lead Wednesday night and eventually dropped a 9-8 decision to Southern Illinois in Wednesday's final second-round game.  Murphy, who had the No. 9 play in Tuesday's popular highlight package with a 9th-inning diving catch against Missouri State, earned the No. 6 play Wednesday night by making a running, over-the-shoulder catch near the centerfield wall in the eighth inning against Southern Illinois.

For a complete preview of Thursday's Bracket B elimination game versus Missouri State, click the link to the PDF version of Bradley's MVC Tournament notes update.