Bradley 6, at Southern Illinois 1

CARBONDALE, IL - Evan Gruener contributed to four runs and the combination of pitchers Matt Dennis and Eric Scheuermann, with help from the Braves infield, shut down the Southern Illinois offense as Bradley (25-19, 9-9 MVC) cruised to a 6-1 road win against the Salukis (30-21-1, 11-8 MVC) Thursday night at Richard "Itchy" Jones Stadium.

Bradley batted around in each of the first two innings, pounding out six runs on 11 hits against SIU starter Chad Whitmer (L 6-4). Gruener drove in two runs with a first-inning single and a second-inning double and Andy Shadid had RBI singles in each inning to highlight the early explosion. The Braves pounded out 15 hits overall, highlighted by 3-for-5 efforts by both Spencer Gaa and Shadid.

Bradley did its early damage with two outs, going 8-for-10 with two outs against Whitmer. The Braves strung together three consecutive 2-out, RBI singles in the first, then started a string of five consecutive 2-out hits in the second with three straight doubles by Tyler Leffler, Paul Solka and Gruener.

Dennis (W 8-3) breezed through the first 6.0 innings, allowing one run on four hits. He struck out four and walked three, but erased three of the seven base runners he allowed on ground ball double plays. Reliever Eric Scheuermann faced the minimum nine batters over the final 3.0 innings for his fifth save, getting a fourth ground ball double play in the eighth after allowing a hit.

The four double plays turned by Bradley equalled the most-ever by the Braves in a Valley game, matching the total last achieved at Missouri State May 24, 2012 in the MVC Tournament. The last time Bradley turned four double plays in a MVC regular-season game was April 11, 2008 at Southern Illinois.

The teams will play the second game in their regular-season-ending series Friday, another 6:30 p.m. start at Richard "Itchy" Jones Stadium, then will wrap the series with a 2 p.m. start Saturday.