Baseball I-74 Rivalry Series

Bradley Baseball will play its fifth Missouri Valley Conference series by visiting Illinois State this weekend

Mark Schrimmer

Bradley Weekend Game Notes (PDF)

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Baseball 5/3/2018 2:51:00 PM

Games 38-40
Bradley (26-11, 8-4 MVC) at Illinois State (17-24, 4-8 MVC)
Normal, IL • Duffy Bass Field
Friday, May 4 • 6:00 p.m. CT • Watch on ESPN 3 • Live Stats
Saturday, May 5 • 2:00 p.m. CT • Live Stats
Sunday, May 6 • 1:00 p.m. CT • Watch on ESPN3 • Live Stats
Tickets: Free admission

I-74 Rivalry
• Bradley will take a break from final exams by visiting I-74 rival Illinois State for a 3-game Missouri Valley Conference series this weekend at Duffy Bass Field.
• The Braves enter the weekend in third place in the MVC standings, two games behind league-leading Missouri State (at Valparaiso) and one behind Dallas Baptist (vs. Evansville).
• The rivalry against Illinois State is the most played in Bradley Baseball history as this weekend's games will be Nos. 219, 220 and 221 in a series that dates back to the early 1900's.
• Having won 2-of-3 games in the season series versus Illinois State each of the last two years, Bradley is seeking its third consecutive series win versus the rival Redbirds for the first time since taking seven of nine games overall in 2005 (2-1), 2006 (2-1) and 2007 (3-0).
• The Braves are 10-3 (.769) this season in games played in the state of Illinois and Bradley is in the middle of a 19-game stretch to end the regular season that will not see the Braves cross the state borders.
• Bradley is within two wins of matching the most MVC road victories in program history.

Series History
Meetings 219-221: Illinois State leads, 113-105
Most Recent: 4/23/2017 at Bradley - BU, 8-6
Current Streak: Bradley, W1
Elvis Dominguez vs. Illinois State: 9-21 (9-20 with Bradley)
Bo Durkac vs. Bradley: 4-5

Nation's Second Most-Improved
• Bradley enters the weekend as the nation's second most-improved team, by winning percentage, compared to last year's final record.
• Coming off a 20-31 (.392) campaign in 2017, the Braves enter the weekend 26-11 (.703).
• The .311 improvement in winning percentage trails only a .324 jump by Seattle.

19 Wins Away From Home
• Bradley enters the weekend with the best overall record (26-11) in the Missouri Valley Conference, despite playing 27 of its first 37 games away from home.
• Entering the weekend, Bradley is one of five teams nationally to have won as many as 18 games away from home.

Valley Road Wins
• Not only has Bradley surpassed last year's MVC victory total (6-14), but the Braves have done so while winning five of their six Valley road games.
• The Braves were 0-9 in MVC road games last season and went 0-11 away from home against Valley competition when you include the two MVC Tournament losses in Springfield, MO.
• In the 38 seasons since recorded Missouri Valley Conference play resumed in 1981, Bradley has posted a winning league road record only four times.
• The 2016 team's 7-5 MVC road record is Bradley's only winning conference record away from home in the last 25 years.
• Still with six MVC road games left, Bradley has never won more than seven Valley games in a single season.
Bradley Winning MVC Road Records
2018: 5-1 | VU (2-1), UE (3-), ILS, SIU
2016: 7-5 | UE (1-2), WSU (1-2), ILS (2-1), SIU (3-0)
1993: 6-2 | MSU (2-0), UNI (3-0), INS (1-2)
1987: 5-3 | INS (2-2), CU (3-1)
1986: 7-5 | WSU (3-1), SIU (1-3), ILS (3-1)

Owning The Land Of Lincoln
• Beginning with this weekend's series at Illinois State, Bradley is finishing the regular season by playing eight of its final 11 games against Illinois public schools Illinois State, SIU Edwardsville and Southern Illinois.
• The Braves are 38-14 (.731) against Illinois teams since the start of the 2014 season, including a 7-0 record this season.
• Included in that record is a 28-12 (.700) mark against eight of the nine Illinois NCAA Division I "state" schools (no games vs Eastern Illinois).

Illinois Road Trippin'
• Seven of Bradley's eight remaining games versus Illinois teams will be played on the road.
• The Braves have won eight straight against the Land of Lincoln going back to last year.
• Bradley also has won eight consecutive in-state road games, as well as 11-of-13 in-state road games since the start of the 2015 season

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