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ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS (24-22, 6-9 MVC) at BRADLEY BRAVES (31-13, 6-9 MVC)
May 8-10, 2015 | Peoria, Ill. | Dozer Park (7,500)
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General Admission: $6 adults, $3 youth, FREE for Bradley students, faculty/staff and active military members and immediate families
Suites: $12
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Audio: N/A
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WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
Sunday, May 10
Mother's Day in the Park - Little Braves Club members receive a free adult ticket and the Bradley Baseball mothers are invited to join in a ceremonial group first pitch
Senior Day - Pregame Bradley Baseball senior recognition
PROJECTED STARTERS
Saturday, May 9 | DH Game 1 | 2 p.m.
Bradley: Elliot Ashbeck, Jr., RHP, 9-3, 3.31 ERA, 73.1 IP, 59 K, 18 BB
Illinois State: Will Headean, Jr., LHP, 4-3, 3.93 ERA, 75.2 IP, 77 K, 41 BB
Saturday, May 9 | DH Game 2
Bradley: TBA
Illinois State: Jacob Hendren, Jr., LHP, 9-1, 3.12 ERA, 80.2 IP, 71 K, 22 BB
Sunday, May 10 | 1 p.m.
Bradley: TBA
Illinois State: Steve Heilenbach, Jr., RHP, 1-2, 4.17 ERA, 41.0 IP, 31 K, 12 BB
STRIVE FOR FIVE
Bradley Baseball will strive for its fifth Missouri Valley Conference series win of the season when the Braves host Interstate 74 rival Illinois State in a 3-game series this weekend at Dozer Park ... Already with their first 30-win season since 2007, the Braves can secure a winning conference record for just the second (2007, 13-11) time since 1993 by winning two of their final six regular-season games ... Bradley, which has MVC series wins against Southern Illinois, Wichita State, Evansville and Indiana State (all 2-games-to-1), has not won five league series in the same year since 2006.
SERIES NOTES
Ilinois State leads 107-94
With records dating to 1921, Illinois State has won 107 of the 201 meetings between the Interstate 74 rivals in the last 94 years ... The Redbirds have dominated the series of late, winning the season series in each of the last seven years by taking 18 of the last 23 meetings ... Illinois State has won seven straight at Dozer Park (continued on page 3)
and eight of the last nine on Bradley's home field since the Braves swept the 2007 series in Peoria for their last series win.
PLUS 18
Bradley enters the weekend series versus Illinois State 18 games over .500 and the Braves peaked at plus 19 by winning the first two games of the April 24-26 series against Evansville ... At 29-10 overall following the April 25 win against Evansville, the Braves reached the fifth-best high-water mark during a season in the program's 115-year history ... Bradley has not been 20 games over .500 since the 1996 season.
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 (1), Missouri State (10) and BRADLEY (16) ... The Valley joins the Southeastern Conference (5) and Atlantic Coast Conference (5) as the only three leagues with as many as three teams among the top 20 in the RPI ... In their latest weekly tournament projections, the writers at D1Baseball.com project both Dallas Baptist and Missouri State as No. 1 seeds and regional hosts, while Bradley is projected is a No. 2 seed in the Champaign Regional at Illinois.
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Bradley enters its final three home games of the year with a 10-4 record at Dozer Park, meaning the Braves have secured their first winning home record since 2010 (12-7) ... Bradley still could produce a home winning percentage anywhere between .764 (3 wins this weekend) and .588 (3 losses) ... In seasons with a minimum 15 home games, Bradley has won at least 70 percent of the games on its home field just 11 times, most recently in 2007 (14-5, .736).
