Baseball Snares National Awards in Advance of Midweek Games

LHP Brooks Gosswein and OF Andy Shadid both earn Collegiate Baseball Player-of-the-Week honors as the Braves prepare to visit Western Illinois Tuesday, host Iowa Wednesday

Team takes the field vs Evansville 2019 3

James Franks

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Baseball 4/8/2019 1:23:00 PM

For the first time in program history, Bradley Baseball had a pair of players recognized among the Collegiate Baseball National Players of the Week, powered by Diamond, Monday when sophomore LHP Brooks Gosswein (Barrington, IL/Barrington HS) and senior CF Andy Shadid (Peoria, IL/Notre Dame HS) both were among the 14 players featured.

The weekly awards are the fourth and fifth, respectively, from Collegiate Baseball for the Braves (17-10) since 2014, following OF Max Murphy March 3, 2014; LHP Brent Stong March 2, 2015; and RHP Mitch Janssen March 26, 2018.

Gosswein made two appearances on the bump last week, tossing a total of 8.1 innings of hitless and scoreless work. In Wednesday's 9-6 win against SIU Edwardsville, Gosswein came out of the bullpen to retire all four batters he faced, the last two with strikeouts, over the fifth and sixth innings, helping allow the Braves to rally from an early, 5-0 deficit. He came back to make his regular Saturday start against Robert Morris-Springfield completing the first 7.0 innings of Bradley's no-hitter against the Eagles. Gosswein's 11 strikeouts against RMU-S equaled the fifth-best single-game total in program history and were the most by a Bradley pitcher since Joe Bircher fanned 12 Missouri State hitters April 6, 2012. Gosswein improved to 3-2 on the season and lowered his season ERA to 2.45.

Shadid slashed .500/1.167/.526 with six extra-base hits and nine RBI during Bradley's 5-0 week. He started the week by going 2-for-4 with a double and a home run in Tuesday's 10-0 win against Western Illinois, then was 1-for-4 with a stolen base in Wednesday's 9-6 win against SIU Edwardsville. Shadid homered in consecutive games Friday and Saturday, then finished off the week by going 3-for-3 with two doubles and four RBI in Sunday's 14-2 win against Robert Morris-Springfield. Raising his season average to .278 after going 9-for-18 in the five games last week, Shadid now shares the team lead with seven doubles and is second to his brother, Luke, with 22 RBI.

Bradley Braves (17-10) at Western Illinois (11-18) \| Macomb, IL \| Alfred D. Boyer Stadium
Date	Time (CT)	Bradley Probable Starting Pitcher	Follow Live
Tuesday, April 9	4:00 p.m.	Jed Moscot, Jr., RHP, 2-1, 2.43 ERA	Watch \| Listen \| Live Stats

Iowa Hawkeyes (18-12) at Bradley Braves \| Peoria, IL \| Dozer Park
Date	Time (CT)	Bradley Probably Starting Pitcher	Follow Live
Wednesday, April 10	6:00 p.m.	TBD	ESPN+ \| Listen \| Live Stats

WEDNESDAY TICKETS
General Admission: $6 adults; $4 youth (K-12); FREE Bradley University students, faculty and staff, Braves Club (>Bronze), Little Braves Club, active military and immediate family
Suites Access: $12/person

MIDWEEK RETURN GAMES
• Bradley will play the return games in a pair of 2019 series this week when the Braves (17-10) visit Western Illinois (11-18) Tuesday and host Iowa (18-12) Wednesday.
• The Braves started their current, 5-game winning streak last Tuesday, by rolling to a 10-0 victory in eight innings against Western Illinois at Dozer Park.
• In the final game before starting its recent, 9-game home stand, Bradley dropped a 4-2 decision March 26 at Iowa when the Hawkeyes used a line drive into the sun field to plate three runs in the eighth inning.

OWNING THE LAND OF LINCOLN
• After posting a 12-3 (.800) record against teams from its home state of Illinois in 2018, Bradley is 6-0 against in-state competition to start the 2019 campaign.
•   The Braves are 49-17 (.742) against Illinois teams since the start of the 2014 season.
•   Included in that record is a 35-15 (.700) mark against eight of the nine Illinois NCAA Division I "state" schools (no games vs Eastern Illinois).

5-GAME WIN STREAK
• Bradley carries a season-long, 5-game winning streak into its 5-game week.
• The current win streak is Bradley's longest since an 8-game run April 13-25, 2018.
• Regardless of Tuesday's outcome at Western Illinois, Bradley will take a 5-game home win streak into Wednesday's matchup against Iowa.
• The Braves have not won six consecutive home games since a 6-game streak at Dozer Park April 4-14, 2009.

SERIES HISTORY - WESTERN ILLINOIS
Game 109: Bradley leads 65-43, 22-24 at WIU
• The series against Western Illinois dates back to 1928, when Bradley swept two games as Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rivals.
• The Braves have won seven straight against the Leathernecks, starting with the final two games of a 3-game series March 31 and April 1, 2012.
• Since 1992, Bradley has won 30 of the last 34 meetings.

SERIES HISTORY - IOWA
Game 79: Iowa leads 39-37-2, 15-17 at Bradley
• With series records dating to 1930, Iowa owns a 39-37-2 lead in the all-time series.
• The Hawkeyes have claimed the all-time series lead by winning four of the last five meetings since the Braves had taken 6-of-7 from 2003-15.
• Bradley head coach Elvis Dominguez was an Iowa assistant coach from 1998-2001.

LOOKING AHEAD
•   Following its two midweek games, the Braves will return to Missouri Valley Conference action by hosting Southern Illinois in a 3-game weekend set at Dozer Park.
•   Bradley will have just four non-conference games remaining after Wednesday's game as 18 of its final 22 regular-season games will be played against Valley competition.

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