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EVANSVILLE PURPLE ACES (21-16, 5-7 MVC) at BRADLEY BRAVES (27-10, 5-4 MVC)
April 24-26, 2015 | Peoria, Ill. | Dozer Park (7,500)
FOLLOW LIVE
General Admission: $6 adults, $3 youth, FREE for Bradley students, faculty/staff and active military members and immediate families
Suites: $12
Video: Bradley All-Access (subscription required) | VIDEO PORTAL
Audio: WUEV 91.5 FM Evansville | LISTEN LIVE
Stats: Powered by StatBroadcast | CLICK HERE FOR MVC SCOREBOARD
WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
Friday | 6:00 p.m.
$1 Hot Dog Night
Sunday | 1 p.m.
Half-price admission by presenting a church bulletin
PROJECTED STARTERS
Friday, April 24 | 6 p.m.
Bradley: Elliot Ashbeck, Jr., RHP, 7-3, 3.55 ERA, 58.1 IP, 48 K, 16 BB
Evansville: Brodie Harkness, Fr., LHP, 5-2, 4.06 ERA, 57.2 IP, 32 K, 10 BB
Saturday, April 25 | 2 p.m.
Bradley: Steve Adkins, Jr., RHP, 5-2, 2.89 ERA, 46.2 IP, 46 K, 19 BB
Evansville: Patrick Schnieders, So., RHP, 2-5, 6.97 ERA, 40.0 IP, 31 K, 30 BB
Sunday, April 19 | 1 p.m.
Bradley: Brent Stong, Jr., LHP, 5-2, 4.92 ERA, 53.0 IP, 33 K, 14 BB
Evansville: Connor Strain, Jr., RHP, 2-4, 6.84 ERA, 50.0 IP, 21 K, 25 BB
ACES VISIT FOR WEEKEND SERIES
Two surging teams will meet for a Missouri Valley Conference series this weekend when Evansville visits Bradley for a 3-game set at Dozer Park ... Both teams enter the series riding three game winning streaks ... Evansville has won five of its last six games, while Bradley has won six of its last seven and 13 of its last 18 games ... The Braves enter the weekend in third place in The Valley standings, two games behind co-leaders #15 Missouri State and #16 Dallas Baptist, while Evansville is part of a 3-way tie for fifth, just one-and-a-half games behind Bradley.
SERIES NOTES
Evansville leads 47-35
Bradley and Evansville have met on the diamond 82 times, dating to Bradley's doubleheader sweep March 20, 1981 at Evansville ... Bradley won six of the 10 non-conference meetings before Evansville joined The Valley for the 1995 baseball season ... Evansville has won the last two season series, as well five of the last six, and is 13-6 against the Braves since 2009 ... Evansville's current streak of four straight wins in the series matches the second-longest winning streak for either team in series history, trailing only Evansville's 10-game streak from 1998-2000 ... Bradley's doubleheader sweep in 1981 marks the only year the Braves have swept a season series against Evansville in 24 years.
PLUS 17
Bradley enters the weekend series against Evansville 17 games over .500 for the first time since ending the 1996 campaign with a 40-22 (+18) final record ... At 27-10 overall, the +17 record equals the fifth-best high-water mark during a season in the program's 115-year history.
IMPROVING TREND
With 13 regular-season games remaining and a 27-10 record to date, the Braves already have secured their first winning season since 2007 (32-21) ... The 2007 campaign was the most recent of Bradley's 14 all-time 30-win campaigns ... This 2015 season takes a recent trend under seventh-year head coach Elvis Dominguez to new heights ... Bradley now has improved its record from one season to the next in five of the last six years ... Bradley jumped from 17-32 (.347) in 2013 to 24-27 (.471) last season ... Last year's 7-win improvement was the program's best since a 10-win jump from 30-27 in 1995 to 40-22 in 1996.
RPI TALK
As league play resumes this weekend, the Missouri Valley Conference boasts three teams among the nation's top 20 in the current Ratings Percentage Index: Dallas Baptist (2), Missouri State (9) and BRADLEY (19) ... The Valley joins the Pac-12 (3), Atlantic Coast Conference (4) and Southeastern Conference (4) as the only four leagues with as many as three teams among the top 20 in the RPI.
EIGHT SHUTOUTS EQUAL SCHOOL RECORD
Five Bradley pitchers combined on the team's eighth shutout of the season Wednesday night against Western Illinois (4-0) ... The eight shutouts equal the 2006 Braves for the most in a single season in the program's 115-year history ... The 2006 Braves got their eighth shutout in the season's 56th game, a 1-0 win against Creighton in the third round of the MVC Tournament ... Among Bradley's shutout highlights in 2015, the Braves blanked McNeese State for an entire 3-game series Feb. 20-22, eating up 27.0 innings in what became a school-record 34.1 consecutive scoreless innings for the staff ... Not only do Bradley's eight shutouts lead The Valley, but the league's other seven teams have combined for 13 shutouts.
FIGHTING CHILDHOOD CANCER
While Bradley continues to play through its best season in nearly two decades, the Braves also are excelling in their efforts to fight childhood cancer ... Bradley has joined a college baseball movement by partnering with the Vs. Cancer Foundation to raise both funds and awareness in the fight against childhood cancer ... Vs. Cancer was founded by former University of North Carolina baseball player Chase Jones, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor during his collegiate playing career ... Junior pitcher Steve Adkins has spearheaded Bradley's efforts to raise funds for Vs. Cancer, with the proceeds to be shared equally with both the foundation and Children's Hospital of Illinois, and the Braves have generated more than $11,000 in online donations ... Following the March 28 game versus Southern Illinois, team members shaved their heads on the Dozer Park concourse to help raise awareness for the Vs. Cancer Foundation ... For more information, visit http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=25967&SPID=1506&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=209983235.
