Bradley University Athletics

All-Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Team

ALL-MVC BASEBALL TEAM

BradleyBraves.com Baseball 5/20/2014 12:16:00 AM

ST. LOUIS – Bradley senior designated hitter Greg Partyka (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett H.S.) is a repeat selection as the first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference designated hitter, one of four Braves to earn all-conference honors, according to announcement of the postseason baseball awards from the league office Monday afternoon.

Partyka is Bradley's lone first-team selection, based on a vote of The Valley's eight baseball head coaches. Sophomore shortstop Tyler Leffler (Benton, Ill./Benton Consolidated H.S.) and junior outfielder Max Murphy (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper H.S.) both landed on the All-MVC second team, while freshman third baseman Spencer Gaa (Metamora, Ill./Metamora H.S.) earned honorable mention recognition. Murphy also was selected for the 9-player MVC All-Defensive Team.

Partyka is Bradley's active leader in games played, at-bats, hits, doubles, runs batted in and walks and his 121 RBI's are the most by a Brave in this millennium. As the Braves prepare for this week's Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship, Partyka is batting .310 with six home runs and 36 runs batted in.

Leffler leads the Braves and is third in The Valley, boasting a .357 season batting average, and he is tied for 13th nationally by averaging 0.42 hit-by-pitches per game, helping him to a .466 on-base percentage that is tied for 38th nationally.

Murphy is second in The Valley with 11 home runs and has climbed to seventh in school history with 26 career round-trippers. He ranks second to 2014 Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year Connor Gillaspie (Wichita State) by producing 1.54 runs per game (runs scored + runs batted in – home runs). With a team-best 15 doubles and two triples added to his home run total,
Murphy's .602 slugging percentage ranks 27th nationally.

Gaa has started 47 of Bradley's 48 games at third base and he is tops among all Valley freshmen in games played and starts this season. He also ranks second among the league freshmen with his .284 season batting average, while leading the group with 13 doubles and 14 stolen bases.

Bradley (23-25, 4-15 MVC) is the No. 7 seed for this week's MVC Baseball Championship and will open tourney play against host Indiana State (35-14, 14-7), the No. 2 seed, in Tuesday's final first-round game. The Braves and Sycamores are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. first pitch Tuesday at Bob Warn Field.

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