Softball Faces Indiana State In Final Home Series

Softball 4/26/2019 12:24:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Softball closes out the regular-season home schedule with a three-game weekend series against Indiana State at Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex. The Braves and Sycamores will open the series with a noon doubleheader Saturday (weather permitting) and close out the set with a single game Sunday at 11 a.m.

Sunday's game will be Senior Day for the Braves with seniors Katie Habryle, Julie Kestas, Megan Mahaffy and Gabby Stoner recognized prior to the contest.

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

Bradley (24-18 overall, 11-8 MVC) enters the weekend tied with Missouri State, which plays league-leading Drake this weekend, for fourth in the MVC standings at 11-8 and can potentially lock up a first-round bye in the upcoming MVC Tournament this weekend. The Braves sit one-and-a-half games behind third-place Northern Iowa, which hosts second-place Southern Illinois, heading into the Indiana State (16-29 overall, 4-16 MVC) series.

The Braves own a 63-35 lead in the all-time series with the Sycamores with the teams splitting four meetings last spring. Bradley has won the regular-season series from Indiana State in five of the last six seasons and eight of 10 seasons under head coach Amy Hayes, owning a 19-9 mark over that time. The Braves are 29-15 all time at home in the series against Indiana State.

Bradley has won the final home series in four of the last five years and five of the last seven seasons. The Braves have won the final regular season home game each of the last six years and seven of the last eight. Overall, Bradley is 21-19 in the final regular-season home game of the year, which includes an 8-2 mark under 11th-year head coach Amy Hayes. Sunday's game will mark the earliest Bradley has concluded its regular-season home schedule since 2015 (April 26).

Bradley already has its most victories (24) since finishing the 2014 season, which included a Valley Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance, with 27 victories and the Braves have 24 regular-season wins for just the second time during head coach Amy Hayes' tenure. In fact, Bradley is one win short of having the most regular-season victories since 2007 (25) and need just two wins for the most regular-season victories dating back to a 29-29 campaign in 2004. The 11 MVC wins are the most dating back to a 12-14 Valley slate in 2016.

Bradley split Tuesday's home doubleheader with I-74 rival Illinois State to take the regular-season series from the Redbirds (2-1). The Braves won the regular-season against ISU for the second consecutive year and the third time in the last four seasons, with the teams splitting the 12 contests over that stretch. Junior Kealia Wysocki drove in four runs in Tuesday's 9-1 victory, hitting a two-run homer in the third and a two-run triple in the fifth to help highlight the win. In nine career games against the Redbirds, Wysocki is 9-for-24 (.375) with a double, two triples, four homers and 10 RBI to go with a .464 on base percentage and 1.083 slugging percentage.

The only MVC team to not have a pitcher with at least 20 appearances in 2019, Bradley has had a balanced rotation in the circle with five different pitchers owning between 14 and 16 appearances this spring. In fact, senior Julie Kestas picked up her sixth victory of the year Tuesday against Illinois State to give Bradley three hurlers with at least six wins for just the second time in program history. The only other time Bradley had three different pitchers with six or more wins was 1995 when the Braves posted a 35-20-1 overall record and finished fifth in the MVC with a 10-10 mark. Senior Megan Mahaffy leads Bradley with seven victories this season, while freshman Grace French (6 wins) boasts a team-best 1.79 ERA. Kestas moved into Bradley's career top 10 in strikeouts Tuesday against Illinois State and now owns 224 career punch outs, while she is just six innings short of climbing into the top 10 in school history in innings pitched.

The Braves follow up the weekend home series with a three-game series at Southern Illinois May 4 & 5 to finish the regular season.

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