ST. LOUIS – Bradley senior outfielder Mike Tauchman (Palatine, Ill./Fremd H.S.) has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Player of the Week after taking his hot-hitting season to a new level in the Braves' four games last week.
Tauchman, who continues to lead The Valley with a .437 overall batting average, was 11-for-16 (.688) with three walks in Bradley's four games last week. He also stole six bases in as many attempts and contributed to 11 of the team's runs by scoring seven times and driving in four. The left-handed hitter was 7-for-7 versus left-handed pitching in the four games, raising his season average against southpaws to .634 (26-for-41).
After going 9-for-12 with two walks in the 3-game weekend series versus Southern Illinois, Tauchman will enter the final week of the regular-season with a .493 batting average in 18 MVC games, as well as a .551 Valley on-base percentage.
With at least five games left in the season, Tauchman's .437 average is the best by a Bradley regular since Bob Koeppel hit .441 in 26 games in 1971 and is the best-ever by a Brave with at least 100 at-bats in a season. He boasts a 63 point lead in the MVC batting title race (Illinois State's Eric Aguilera is second at .374) and he also paces The Valley with 87 runs produced (49 runs scored, plus 40 RBI's, minus two home runs), five more than Illinois State's Zac Johnson (82), despite Bradley playing seven fewer games than the Redbirds.
Now 27-for-28 in stolen base attempts this season, Tauchman is just three shy of Jim Shadid's 1977 school record for steals in a season. In addition to leading The Valley in batting average and the unofficial runs produced category, Tauchman is tied for the league lead with 49 runs scored, he is second with five triples and 27 steals, third with 15 doubles and tied for fourth with 40 RBI's
The Braves will conclude the regular season with a 3-game series at Indiana State, starting with a 5:30 p.m. (CT) game Thursday. The Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship will begin May 21 at Illinois State.
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