Softball Closes Road Swing With Series At UNI

Softball 4/17/2019 1:28:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Riding a 10-game road win streak, Bradley Softball closes out a six-game road swing with a three-game series at Northern Iowa, which gets under way Friday with a noon doubleheader and concludes Saturday with a single game at 11 a.m. in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The Braves (22-15 overall, 9-5 MVC) head into the series fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, two back in the win column from a tie between Missouri State and Northern Iowa (20-17 overall, 11-5 MVC) for third.

The weekend series features the top two home run hitting teams in the Valley with Bradley's league-leading 52 home runs this spring tied for the 13th best season total in MVC history. The Panthers are second in the Valley with 46 homers, with 32 of those coming in conference action. In fact, the series will be highlighted by five of the top six home run hitters in the league and seven of the top 11.

All three games of the series from Robinson-Dresser Complex will be available on ESPN+, while BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats for each contest.

Bradley picked up three more road wins last week to push its road win streak to 10 consecutive games and the Braves (11-2 in road games) are one of 13 teams in the nation with at least 11 road victories through games of April 14. Bradley has 11 true road wins for the first time since 2004 and with just six road games remaining on the schedule, the Braves will finish with a winning record in road contests for the first time since 1995 (12-8). In addition, Bradley is 6-0 on the road in Valley play, marking the most road wins in conference for the Braves since claiming a school-record nine road wins in Valley action in 2014. The school record for road wins in a season came in 1985 (14-7-1).

Along with the road win streak, Bradley heads into the weekend series at Northern Iowa with a four-game MVC win streak. The last time the Braves won four consecutive league games came when Bradley won the final five Valley games of 2015. The Braves have already matched their MVC win total from last year (9) and sit one victory short of the first season with at least 10 conference wins since 2016 (12-14). Overall, Bradley's 22 wins are the most on The Hilltop since 2015. The Braves have started out 9-5 in league play for the first time since 2014 (9-5).

Freshman Lucy Mead continues to impress with the shortstop helping highlight Saturday's 4-2 victory at Evansville with a solo homer and RBI double. Mead, who is hitting a team-best .355 on the year, slugged her sixth home run of the year and is now one of just five freshmen in school history to hit six or more homers. She has also scored a team-high 34 runs, which is tied for the second most runs scored by a freshman in Bradley history behind Maria Schroeder's freshman record of 38 set in 2015. Currently riding a six-game hit streak, Mead is one hit short of pushing her total among the top five marks for a Bradley frosh.

Fellow Freshman Grace French gave up just one hit in a complete game effort at Evansville Saturday to earn her sixth victory of the season. French, who owns a team-best 1.20 ERA in 14 appearances, is just the ninth BU frosh to collect at least six victories in their rookie season. Current senior Megan Mahaffy was the last freshman to earns at least six wins, closing the 2016 campaign with a team-best seven victories. In her five starts in the circle this year French owns a 3-1 record with a 0.50 ERA.

Bradley follows up the series at Northern Iowa with a five-game home stand which starts Tuesday, April 23 with a 3 p.m. doubleheader against Illinois State at Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex.

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