EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - One wild inning by Bradley pitchers proved too much to overcome as SIU Edwardsville (11-20), held off a pair of late comeback attempts by the Braves (17-11) for a 6-5 non-conference baseball win Wednesday night at Simmons Complex.

Making his first start in more than a year, sophomore righthander Steve Adkins allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits while striking out five in 4.0 innings.

With the score tied, 2-2, Adkins gave way to senior John Nasshan to start the fifth, but the right-hander walked one and hit a pair of batters in one-third of an inning. Eric Scheuermann relieved Nasshan, and surrendered a 2-run single, hit a third Cougar hitter, then allowed an RBI single and sacrifice fly before escaping the jam.

Bradley closed the gap to 6-3 in the sixth inning on a Brady Wilkin RBI double, but the chance for a bigger inning was short-circuited when Drew Carlile was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first on Wilkin's 2-bagger.

Isaac Smith drew a leadoff walk and stole second with one out in the seventh, but was stranded there. The Braves used a walk and two singles to load the bases in the eighth, but again came up empty.

Bradley tried to rally one more time in the ninth, pulling to within 6-5 when Greg Partyka followed a Max Murphy 1-out single with his fourth home run of the year. Tyler Leffler reached on an error, but he was stranded at second to end the game after back-to-back ground outs.

Tied with Kansas for the most wins away from home in the country, both with 17, Bradley will start a season-long, 9-game home stand Friday by opening a 3-game series against Missouri Valley Conference rival Missouri State. Friday's first pitch is scheduled at noon at Dozer Park.