PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley belted five more homers to take both games of a doubleheader from Indiana State Sunday afternoon at Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex, topping the Sycamores 8-7 and 10-2 to complete a sweep of the regular-season series.
Junior Allison Apke hit a grand slam in the nightcap and drove in six runs on the day to help highlight the day offensively for Bradley, which improved to 27-18 overall and 14-8 in Missouri Valley Conference play. The Braves held on to third in the Valley standings with just three games to play and secured a top-half regular-season finish with the sweep.
Bradley has its highest regular-season win total since closing the 2004 season with a 29-29 record and sits one league win (14) short of matching the highest MVC win total in program history of 15 last reached in 2015.
The Braves had to rally from behind in the opening game of Sunday's twinbill after Indiana State (16-32 overall, 4-19 MVC) took a 6-1 lead through three-and-a-half innings. A bases loaded double in the top of the first led to a three-run frame for the Sycamores and Indiana State added another run in the second on a Bailey Martin RBI single.
Sophomore Stacia Seeton led off the bottom of the second with a solo homer to get the Braves on the board and cut the Indiana State advantage to 4-1.
The Indiana State lead was 6-1 after Shaye Barton ripped a two-run double down the left field line in the top of the fourth.
Seeton, who was 2-for-3 with three runs and three RBI in the opener, drew a four-pitch walk to leadoff the bottom of the fourth and the Braves went on to load the bases when senior Gabby Stoner was hit by a pitch following a Vicki Zaluske two-out single. Freshman Lucy Mead drew a four-pitch walk to drive in Seeton from third and pull Bradley within four at 6-2.
Indiana State answered with a run in the top of the fifth on an Annie Tokarek two-out solo homer to right center to once again make it a five-run cushion for the Sycamores (7-2).
In the bottom of the fifth, sophomore Taise Thompson reached on an error and Seeton followed with a two-run homer to left center as she notched the second multi-homer game of her career as her 10th of the year made it a three-run deficit at 7-4.
Senior Julie Kestas sat Indiana State down in order in the top of the sixth and Bradley would rally for four more runs in the bottom half of the frame. Stoner tripled down the left field line and came home on the second triple of the contest by Mead, who broke the Bradley freshman record for runs scored. Mead came home on an Apke single and pinch runner Carly Chovanec caught the Sycamore defense sleeping and was able to race all the way home on a Taise Thompson single to tie the game at 7-7. Junior Kealia Wysocki drove in what would prove to be the game-winning run with a RBI double to left center to give Bradley its first lead of the game at 8-7.
Kestas worked around a pair of Indiana State hits in the top of the seventh to close out the win as she picked up the victory in the complete game effort to improve to 7-3 on the season. She struck out six and walked two in the win.
Three different Braves homered in the nightcap as Bradley earned its school record ninth run-rule win of the year with a 10-2 victory. The Braves had to rally from behind again with Sycamore starter Gabbi Schnaiter holding Bradley to just one hit in the first three innings.
Indiana State led 1-0 heading to the bottom of the fourth with a Mallory Marisicek RBI single in the top of the second providing the only scoring for either team in the first three frames.
Wysocki finally got Bradley on the scoreboard with a two-out solo homer down the right field line to knot the score at 1-1. The home run was the 12th of the season for Wysocki to tie the Bradley season home run record of 12 originally set by Rachel Huggins in 2016 and tied by Apke last year.
The big hit of the game for the Braves came in the bottom of the fifth, however. Three consecutive singles to open the inning by Zaluske, Stoner and Mead loaded the bases. Apke ripped the first pitch she saw of the at bat over the fence in center field for her third career grand slam to give Bradley a 5-1 advantage. The home run was her 12th of the year to also match the school season record.
Indiana State struck for another run in the top of the sixth. Leslie Sims collected her fifth hit of the day with a single to leadoff the inning and eventually scored on a two-out single by Bella Peterson to cut the Bradley lead to 5-2.
The Braves responded with a five-run bottom of the sixth to take the game 10-2. Senior Katie Habryle walked to start the inning and pinch runner Megan Mahaffy eventually scored on a Stoner single to left. With a pair of runners on after an Indiana State error, Apke hit a RBI single to right to push the lead to 7-2. Thompson, who homered twice in yesterday's victory over Indiana State, closed the game with a three-run homer to left to cap the 10-2 Bradley victory.
Junior Emma Jackson evened her record at 5-5 with the win as she scattered seven hits in the complete game effort in which she struck out four and walked none.
Bradley closes out the regular season schedule next weekend traveling to Carbondale, Ill., for a three-game series against second-place Southern Illinois Saturday and Sunday before hosting the MVC Championship May 8-11 at Petersen Hotels Field at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex.
