PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley softball kicks off one of the busiest weeks of the 2013 season Tuesday with a 5 p.m. home game against SIU Edwardsville at Laura Bradley Park in the final non-conference game of the season. Tuesday's game against the Cougars is the first of six games in six days for the Braves.
Bradley (20-14 overall, 5-3 MVC) has had four consecutive one-run games for the first time since the 1994 season and four of the last nine games have gone to extra innings. Overall, each of the last nine games have been decided by two runs or less dating back to a 6-3 victory at Saint Louis on March 13.
In addition to closing out the non-conference portion of the schedule with Tuesday's game against SIU Edwardsville (27-8 overall), Bradley will make up the first two games of the postponed series against Illinois State (17-15 overall, 3-3 MVC) with a Thursday's doubleheader (3 p.m.) in Normal, Ill., to mark the halfway point of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule.
The Braves will also play a three-game weekend series at Evansville (12-22 overall, 4-7 MVC) Saturday and Sunday. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for all six games in addition to a free video stream of Tuesday's matchup with SIU Edwardsville.
Winners of nine of their last 13 games, the Braves will be trying to end a 10-game SIU Edwardsville win streak which dates back to March 22 when the teams play Tuesday.
Bradley took one of three games from league-leading Creighton over the weekend to kick off a stretch in which the Braves will play 10 of 11 games on the road. The Braves are currently third in the Valley standings heading into Thursday's games against the Redbirds, who are a full game behind BU in the standings in sixth at 3-3. Evansville enters the weekend ninth in the MVC standings after taking two of three games from Northern Iowa over the weekend to kick off a season-long 11-game home stand for the Purple Aces.
Saturday's series opening victory against Creighton gave Bradley its 20th win of the year and the Braves own their best mark through 34 games (20-14) since 1994 when BU started 28-6. The 20 wins are one short of the team's season total from 2012 and Bradley's 5-1 start to MVC play was the squad's best since starting Gateway Conference play in 1984 with a 6-1 record.
An improved offense has been a big part of Bradley's success this spring. The Braves are averaging 4.62 runs per game and the 157 runs scored through 34 games is just 15 runs short of last year's season total of 172 runs (3.37 runs per game). Bradley has not averaged more than four runs per game since 1995 (4.57) and the squad's current average would be the highest since 1994 (4.80 runs per game). In addition to the improved offense, Bradley's 4.14 runs per game allowed is the lowest for the team since 2009 (2.80 per game).
Junior Madeline Lynch-Crumrine (Sedro-Woolley, Wash./Sedro-Woolley) earned her team-leading 12th victory of the season Saturday and has the most wins by a Bradley pitcher since Ashley Birdsong won 20 games in 2009. Lynch-Crumrine is 7-2 in her last nine appearances and looks to continue her strong performances against Evansville. In five career outings against the Purple Aces, she boasts a perfect 4-0 record with a 0.92 ERA over 30.1 innings.
Following the weekend series at Evansville, Bradley plays a doubleheader at Northern Iowa Wednesday, April 17.
