Bradley University Athletics

Baseball Receiving Votes in CBN Preseason Top 40

Bradley will begin its 119th season among the Others Receiving Votes in the Collegiate Baseball preseason top 40 national poll

CBN Preseason Top 40

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Baseball 12/18/2018 3:13:00 PM

TUCSON, AZ – Bradley is one of four Missouri Valley Conference programs receiving votes in the 2019 Collegiate Baseball preseason poll, presented by Big League Chew bubble gum, according to a reveal of the poll Tuesday by the national publication.

With 21 returning lettermen, including six position starters and 11 pitchers, from last year's 32-19 squad, Bradley falls in the middle of the "Others Receiving Votes" category of the preseason top 40 poll. Missouri State leads The Valley quartet at No. 24 in the poll, while Dallas Baptist and Indiana State join the Braves in the ORV category.

Bradley returns its top three hitters and all but one of its pitching starts from the 2018 squad that equaled the best year-to-year improvement in program history by going from 20-31 in 2017 to 32-19 last season.

The Shadid Brothers – senior OF Andy Shadid (.326 BA, 6 HR, 30 RBI) and junior SS Luke Shadid (.325, 14 2B, 14 SB) – return as the team's top two hitters, while junior 3B Brendan Dougherty (.323, 34 RBI) completes the return trio of the team's top three hitters in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1993 and 1994. On the bump, the trio of senior LHP Cole Cook (13 GS, 4-5, 4.88 ERA), senior RHP Mitch Janssen (16 GS, 5-3, 4.93 ERA) and senior RHP Sam Lund (13 GS, 6-4, 5.43 ERA) account for 42 of Bradley's 50 returning pitching starts from last year's squad.

The Braves will open their 119th season Feb. 15-17 by visiting Central Arkansas for a 3-game series. Bradley is scheduled to play its first 19 games away from home, before making its Dozer Park debut March 27. Bradley's 21-game home schedule will include visits from MVC rivals Evansville (March 29-31), Southern Illinois (April 12-14), Valparaiso (May 3-5) and Illinois State (May 10-12), as well as Big Ten Conference foes Iowa (April 10) and Illinois (April 23).

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