Record 10 Braves Earn Baseball All-MVC Honors

Bradley's 10 postseason honorees are two more than the previous program record set in 1964 and matched in 2015

Mark Schrimmer

2018 All-MVC Baseball Team

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Baseball 5/22/2018 1:30:00 PM

DALLAS - A program-record 10 Bradley student-athletes were voted to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Team, according to a vote of The Valley's eight head coaches announced by the league office Tuesday afternoon.

Despite its status as one of the most-improved teams in the country and the No. 3 seed for this week's MVC Baseball Championship, none of Bradley's 10 honorees made the all-conference first team. Four players received second-team recognition and six more received honorable mention. The previous Bradley record for postseason all-conference recognition was eight honorees in 2015 and 1964.

Led by the 10 all-conference honorees, Bradley takes a 30-17 overall record into this week's MVC Baseball Championship, which gets underway Wednesday at Dallas Baptist's Horner Ballpark. On the heels of last year's 20-31 final record, the Braves need two wins in the double elimination tournament to equal the biggest turnaround season in program history. On the way to earning the No. 3 tournament seed for the third time in four years, the Braves won a program-record eight Valley road games and they are tied for second nationally with 22 wins overall away from home.

Looking ahead to the 2019 season, seven of Bradley's 10 All-MVC honorees are expected to return.

In addition to the all-conference awards, The Valley also announced its sixth-annual All-Defense Team and the Braves placed two players the team for the fourth time. Junior centerfielder Andy Shadid was honored on the MVC Defense All-Defense Team for the second time (2016) and he is joined on the squad by fellow Peorian, junior first baseman Luke Mangieri. Despite leading the Braves with a .326 batting average, .427 on-base percentage, 14 doubles, 92 total bases and 28 walks, while ranking second with 30 RBI's, combined with his recognition as the league's top defensive first baseman, Mangieri was not selected for any of the 28 offensive slots on the all-conference teams.

All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team
Derek Bangert, DH, Sr., Lockport, IL
Though a second-year Brave after transferring from Heartland C.C., Bangert is Bradley's active leader with 21 career home runs. He has led the Braves in both home runs and RBI's in each of his two seasons and enters the MVC Baseball Championship batting .272 with seven homers and 37 RBI's this spring.

Andrew Ivelia, 2B, Sr., Lake Stevens, WA
The preseason all-conference utility player, Ivelia has started 90 games at four different positions during his 2-year Bradley career, but locked onto second base as the 2018 season played out. In his 42 games this season, Ivelia is batting .253 and he leads the team with six sacrifice flies. He also is second on the squad with 13 doubles and is tied for third with 30 runs batted in.

Boby Johnson, RP, Jr., Miller, MO
In his first year with the Braves after transferring from Fort Scott C.C., Johnson has handled the back end of the pitching staff all season and leads Bradley's pitchers with 22 appearances this year. Sporting a 4-1 record with four saves and a 2.91 earned run average for the season, the right-hander has allowed only one earned run in his last 10 outings, spanning 25.2 IP (0.35 ERA). Among his highlights this year, Johnson collected extended, extra-innings wins at Illinois (3.2 IP) and at Illinois State (5.0 IP) and worked the final 6.1 innings to earn the victory in the first suspended game of last week's series at Southern Illinois.

Keaton Rice, C, Fr., Geneseo, IL
Named to the 2018 Johnny Bench Award watch list last month, Rice is the top hitting catcher in The Valley, entering the MVC Baseball Championship batting .317 with 28 RBI's in his 39 games behind the plate. In addition to his offensive efforts, Rice has managed a pitching staff that has seen its earned run average drop from 6.82 in 2017 to 4.46 this season and he is second in the league by throwing out 24 base runners, either trying to steal (18) or by pickoff (6).

All-Missouri Valley Conference Honorable Mention
Cole Cook, SP, Jr., Washington, IL
A second-year transfer from Illinois Central College, Cook has held down the top spot in Bradley's starting pitching rotation all season. He enters the MVC Baseball Championship as Bradley's active leader with 12 career wins, including a 4-5 record this season. Cook leads the Braves with 69.0 innings pitched in his 14 outings this season and he has been in and out of the national top 50 for strikeouts-to-walk ratio (currently 2.94 with 50 strikeouts against just 17 walks).

Brendan Dougherty, 3B, So., Des Moines, IA
The 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, Dougherty has backed up his stellar rookie season with improved numbers in his sophomore campaign. The starting third baseman in all 47 games this season, he enters the MVC Baseball Championship second on the team by batting .318 and driving in 31 runs.

Alex Gray, RP, Sr., Marysville, WA
Gray has been the leader of the Bradley pitching staff this season, despite working exclusively out of the bullpen. The senior right-hander leads the staff with a 6-0 record and 3.26 ERA, while logging 49.2 innings over his 14 relief appearances. Gray registered the victory at No. 29 Georgia Tech by limiting the Yellow Jackets to one run on four hits in his 5.0 innings and he later added relief victories in each of Bradley's first three Valley series at Valparaiso, versus Indiana State and at Evansville.

Eli Rawlinson, OF, Fr., St. John's, FL
Rawlinson made an immediate impact for the Braves this season by hitting the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning of Bradley's 10-8 win Feb. 17 at No. 29 Georgia Tech in the season's second game. He tops the Braves with a .520 slugging percentage and is second with six home runs, batting .265 with 26 RBI's in his 38 games.

Brian Schrimmer, RP, Jr., Vernon Hills, IL
A first-year transfer from Heartland C.C., Schrimmer has been Bradley's toughest pitcher to hit all season. He is 1-0 with two saves and a 1.33 ERA in his 17 relief appearances. Although he has not logged enough innings to qualify for the national leaders, Schrimmer's average of 13.72 strikeouts per nine innings would rank third nationally. He has struck out 31 batters in 20.1 innings and the opposition is hitting a paltry .097 against him.

Andy Shadid, OF, Jr., Peoria, IL
A mainstay in centerfield for the third consecutive year, Shadid enters the MVC Baseball Championship batting a career-best .310. He has legged out 11 doubles and two triples to go with his four home runs, while producing 26 RBI's in his 46 games.

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