I-74 Diamond Rivalry

Bradley Baseball will close out the 2019 home schedule by hosting Interstate 74 rival Illinois State this weekend at Dozer Park

Bradley Notes Packet

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Baseball 5/10/2019 9:52:00 AM

PEORIA, IL - Bradley Baseball will close out its 2019 home schedule by hosting I-74 rival Illinois State in a key Missouri Valley Conference series Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Dozer Park. Not only fighting for a spot in the top four in the final Missouri Valley Conference standings to earn a spot in the 6-team, double-elimination part of the MVC Tournament bracket, both the Braves and Redbirds are in the race for the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title.

Illinois State (28-20, 10-5 MVC) at Bradley (29-14, 9-6 MVC) \| Peoria, IL \| Dozer Park
Date	Time (CT)	Bradley Probable Starting Pitcher	Follow Live
Friday, May 10	6:00 p.m.	Mitch Janssen, Sr., RHP, 4-1, 1.45 ERA	ESPN+ \| Live Stats
Saturday, May 11	6:00 p.m.	Brooks Gosswein, So., LHP, 4-4, 4.01 ERA	ESPN+ \| Live Stats
Sunday, May 12	1:00 p.m.	Sam Lund, Sr., RHP, 4-3, 3.74 ERA	ESPN+ \| Live Stats

FINAL HOME SERIES
•   Separated by just 40 miles on Interstate 74 through Central Illinois, rival Illinois State invades Dozer Park for Bradley Baseball's final home games of the 2019 season.
•   More than just local bragging rights will be on the line this weekend as both the Braves and Redbirds are in the race for the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference baseball regular-season title.
•   In addition to the Valley race, Bradley has a shot at setting a program record for the most home wins in the Dozer Park era (2003-present).
•   Sunday's series finale also will be the final home game in the careers of 13 Bradley seniors, who will be honored in a pregame ceremony to begin at approximately 12:15 p.m. on the Dozer Park field.

SERIES HISTORY - ILLINOIS STATE
Games 223-225: Illinois State leads 114-108, 55-50 in Peoria
•   With series records dating to a 2-game, home-and-home split in 1921, Illinois State owns a 114-108 advantage in the all-time series against Bradley.
•   The 222 games in the all-time series are easily the most in Bradley Baseball history, 53 more that the second most-played series against Southern Illinois (169 games).
•   Bradley has won the season series in three consecutive years for the first time since 2005-07 and will be playing for its first-ever, four-year series win streak against the Redbirds as Valley rivals (Bradley won nine straight ICAC games against Illinois State from 1923-28).
•   Including last year's MVC Tournament win, Bradley has won 7-of-10 against Illinois State the last three years.

IN SEARCH OF 30
•   After posting a 32-19 record in 2018, Bradley enters the weekend series against Illinois State with 29 wins this season.
•   The Braves have not won at least 30 games in consecutive seasons since a 5-year run from 1992-96: 1992 (34-23-1), 1993 (40-16), 1994 (35-26), 1995 (30-27), 1996 (40-22).

VALLEY RACE
•   With a new format to the Missouri Valley Conference postseason tournament comes new pressure to finish in the top half of the regular-season league standings.
•   The top four tournament seeds will receive a bye into the six-team, double-elimination bracket that will begin the tournament's second day Wednesday, May 22.
•   The bottom four tournament seeds will play a single-elimination game Tuesday, May 21 to earn the last two spots in the double-elimination bracket.
•   Though just two games behind Indiana State (11-4) in the regular-season league title race, Bradley also sits just one game ahead of Evansville (8-7) in the race for a top half finish.
•   Evansville swept the Braves in the first weekend of the league season, so Bradley would lose a seeding tie breaker with the Purple Aces.

WINNING RECORDS IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS
•   The fact both Bradley and Illinois State are in the chase for the MVC regular-season title is significant in Central Illinois baseball history.
•   The Valley has never seen both teams finish with winning conference records since Illinois State joined the league for the 1982 baseball season.
•   College baseball has not seen both Bradley and Illinois State produce winning overall records in the same season since 1994 (In Bradley's 2015 NCAA Regional season, Illinois State was 27-27; while the Braves were 27-27 in 2012 when the Redbirds finished 33-19).

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Players Mentioned

#24 Brooks Gosswein: LHP; 6' 2"; Sophomore; L/L

#21 Mitch Janssen: RHP; 6' 2"; Senior; R/R

#19 Sam Lund: RHP; 6' 2"; Redshirt Senior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#24 Brooks Gosswein
: 6' 2"; Sophomore; L/L
: LHP

#21 Mitch Janssen
: 6' 2"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#19 Sam Lund
: 6' 2"; Redshirt Senior; R/R
: RHP

I-74 Diamond Rivalry

Bradley Baseball will close out the 2019 home schedule by hosting Interstate 74 rival Illinois State this weekend at Dozer Park

Players Mentioned

#24 Brooks Gosswein

#21 Mitch Janssen

#19 Sam Lund

Players Mentioned

#24 Brooks Gosswein

#21 Mitch Janssen

#19 Sam Lund