Baseball Looks to Extend Streak at Belmont

Bradley Baseball will take a 5-game winning streak into this weekend's 3-game non-conference series at Belmont

Mark Schrimmer

Bradley Notes (PDF)

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Baseball 3/1/2018 11:25:00 AM

Games 7-8-9
Bradley (5-1) at Belmont (3-5)
March 2 • 4:00 p.m. CT
March 3 • 1:00 p.m. CT
March 4 • 1:00 p.m. CT
Nashville, TN • E.S. Rose Park

Road To Nashville
• Bradley will continue its early-season travels by visiting Nashville for a 3-game weekend series at Ohio Valley Conference member Belmont.
• The Braves will carry a 5-game winning streak into the weekend series, but have not won as many as six in a row since the 2015 NCAA Regional season.
• Although Belmont owns a 6-4 lead in the all-time series, Bradley has won the last four meetings.
• In his 10th year as Bradley head coach, Elvis Dominguez boasts a 26-18 (.591) record when taking his teams to Tennessee.
• Friday's series opener against the Bruins will be the 3500th game in Bradley Baseball history - the Braves enter the game with a 1896-1514-15 (.544) all-time record.

Follow Along
• For those attending the weekend games in person, Belmont does not charge admission for its baseball games at E.S. Rose Park.
• Belmont is not planning to provide video streaming of this weekend's games and audio streaming will be determined day-to-day, based on the Belmont men's basketball team's status in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
• Live stats will be provided via StatBroadcast with links posted on Belmont's website, BelmontBruins.com.

Series History
Meetings 11-13: Belmont leads 6-4
Most Recent: March 7-8, 2015 - Bradley 5-2 & 12-5
Current Streak: Bradley W4
Elvis Dominguez vs Belmont: 4-0 (all at Bradley)
Dave Jarvis vs. Bradley: 4-6 (all at Belmont)

3500th Game
• Friday's series opener versus Belmont will be the 3500th game in Bradley Baseball history.
• Bradley will become the second current Missouri Valley Conference member to reach 3,500 all-time games played, but just one hour behind Indiana State, which visits Austin Peay for a 3 p.m. CT start Friday in Clarksville, TN.
• After opening its doors in 1897, Bradley University began its sponsorship of baseball in 1898.

Five-Win February
• Off to a 5-1 start, Bradley won five February games this season for just the third time in program history, all in the last five years.
• Bradley played its first-ever February game in 1992, earning a Feb. 29 doubleheader split at Evansville by taking the nightcap, 5-2.
• The Braves did not play as many as five games during the month of February until 2005 and did not reach five February games played again until 2011 (4-3).

From Five to Six
• By sweeping South Dakota State in this past weekend's quick-scheduled series, Bradley ran its early-season winning streak to five games.
• Since winning six consecutive games from Feb. 28-March 13, 2015, the Braves have won five straight games four times, only to see each of those winning streaks snapped before reaching six consecutive wins.
• Ironically, this weekend's opponent, Belmont, lost games three and five during Bradley's last 6-game winning streak.
Most-Recent Winning Streaks
6 W's - Feb. 28-March 13, 2015
7 W's - April 23-29, 2008
8 W's - April 22-May 12, 2007 (10 games)

NCAA Leaders
• Through games of Feb. 28, eight different Bradley players rank among the nation's top 50 in 12 different statistical categories charted by the NCAA.
• Most notably, Brooks Gosswein and Boby Johnson are tied for first nationally with their 0.00 ERA's while, Cole Cook's infinite (11-0)strikeouts-to-walk ratio also is tied for first.
• Sophomore 3B Brendan Dougherty ranks sixth nationally with his .571 batting average.

Late-Inning Magic
• Bradley has trailed after four innings in five of the season's first six games.
• Despite the early deficits, the Braves are 4-1 in those games, thanks to late-innings offense and stellar bullpen work.
• Topped by nine fifth-inning runs, the Braves have outscored the opposition 29-8 over the final five innings and have allowed only two total runs in the sixth and seventh innings combined.
• Six Bradley pitchers have made relief appearances to date this season and the Braves bullpen is 3-0 with three saves and a 1.33 ERA in its first 27.0 innings pitched, while allowing just 14 hits.

Strong New Arms
• Through the season's first six games, four first-year Braves have been among the nine pitchers to toe the rubber.
• The four newcomers are a combined 2-0 with two saves and a 1.13 ERA.
• The quartet has combined to strikeout 24 opposing hitters in its 24.0 IP.
• Junior RHP Boby Johnson has allowed one hit in his 6.0 innings of scoreless relief.
• Junior RHP Brian Schrimmer has not allowed a hit, while striking out seven in his 4.0 IP.

Freshman Takes
• Bradley's two early-season leaders in bases on balls are freshmen.
• Freshman C Keaton Rice has drawn a team-best seven walks in his first six games, boosting his .375 batting average to a .565 on-base percentage.
• Freshman OF Eli Rawlinson is second on the team with four walks.

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