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Baseball Opens MVC Tourney Tuesday vs Southern Illinois

The No. 5 seed in the tournament, Bradley faces No. 8 seed Southern Illinois in a single-elimination game at Illinois State's Duffy Bass Field

2019 MVC Baseball Championship Image
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Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Baseball 5/20/2019 4:24:00 PM
BRADLEY (31-18, 11-10 MVC) at 2019 MVC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
May 21-25, 2019 | Normal, IL (Duffy Bass Field) | ESPN+ | No. 5 Seed
In a new format for the Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship, No. 5 seed Bradley (31-18, 11-10 MVC) faces No. 8 seed Southern Illinois in a single-elimination game Tuesday night to earn a spot in the tournament's 6-team, double-elimination bracket.  The Bradley-Southern Illinois winner will advance to a Wednesday afternoon matchup against regular-season co-champion, tournament host and No. 2 seed Illinois State (32-22, 14-7 MVC).

Tuesday, May 21 vs. (8) Southern Illinois | 5:30 p.m. CT | ESPN+ | Audio (via SIU) | Live Stats | Twitter

TOURNEY TIME
• For the fourth time in five years, Bradley finished in the top half of the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season race, but the Braves will be the No. 5 seed for this week's MVC Baseball Championship, hosted by Illinois State at Duffy Bass Field in Normal, IL (the game time has been moved up to a 5:30 p.m. CT start).
• As part of a new tournament format, Bradley faces a single-elimination game Tuesday against No. 8 seed Southern Illinois as the teams battle for a spot in the 6-team, double-elimination tourney bracket that begins Wednesday.
• The Bradley/Southern Illinois winner will take on regular-season co-champion, No. 2 seed and host Illinois State in Wednesday's 3 p.m. game.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• The 2019 MVC Baseball Championship is Bradley's 45th Valley tournament.
• The Braves are 55-76 all-time in MVC Tournament play, including a 6-6 record as the No. 5 seed.
• Bradley is just 2-9 all-time in the postseason against Southern Illinois, with all 11 meetings at neutral sites.
• The Braves have not won a Valley tourney title since claiming the 1968 MVC Divisional Playoff by sweeping a home doubleheader against Tulsa, 2-0 and 2-1.

SECOND STRAIGHT 11-WIN VALLEY SEASON
• Bradley completed the regular season tied for fourth with Evansville in the Missouri Valley Conference standigns with an 11-10 league mark.
• The Braves have won 11 Valley games in each of the last two seasons, as well as three of the last four years.
• Bradley had not posted winning MVC records in consecutive seasons since 1986 (11-9) and 1987 (11-0).
• Further, the Braves had not posted winning league records in 3-of-4 years since The Valley re-introduced a regular-season conference schedule in 1981.
• Bradley last posted winning conference records three times in a four-year span with three straight winning league seasons in 1967 (3-2), 1968 (6-1) and 1969 (4-2).

BACK-TO-BACK 30's
• Bradley has followed up last year's 32-19 record by carrying a 31-18 record into this week's MVC Baseball Championship.
• The Braves had 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).
• Bradley's current 2-year winning percentage of .630 is its best 2-year mark since the 1993 and 1994 squads combined for a .641 winning percentage and is the third-best since Bradley annually began playing more than 30 games in a season in 1974.

FOUR-GAME CHALLENGE
• Recent Bradley Baseball history will not be on their side when the Braves take on Southern Illinois in Tuesday's single-elimination round of the MVC Baseball Championship.
• Bradley earned a regular-season series sweep against the Salukis April 12-13 at Dozer Park, outscoring SIU by a 29-5 margin in the three games.
• Bradley has not beaten any team four times in a season, however, since sweeping Southern Illinois in a 4-game regular-season series April 24-25, 1999 at Pete Vonachen Stadium at Meinen Field (now Bradley Soccer's Shea Stadium).

2019 SERIES RECAP
April 12-13 at Bradley • Bradley won 3-games-to-0
• Bradley swept the 2019 regular-season series April 12-13 at Dozer Park, outscoring the Salukis by a 29-5 count.
• Since The Valley started the 3-game series format in league play in 2005, Bradley's 29 runs scored in the series were the most for the Braves until they followed up with 32 runs April 26-28 in the sweep at Missouri State.
• The 24-run series scoring margin remains Bradley's largest since sweeping a 3-game series, 39-10, at Northern Iowa April 17-18, 1993.
• The 2019 series marked the third time since 2015 Bradley limited a Valley opponent to as few as five runs in a 3-game series, all against Southern Illinois: 2015 (14-5 series scoring margin), 2016 (15-3), 2019 (29-5).

Game 1:  Bradley 8, Southern Illinois 0
• Bradley senior RHP Mitch Janssen fired a 3-hit shutout, striking out six against no walks on 97 total pitches.
• Luke Shadid was hit by a pitch in the first and scored on Dan Bolt's 2-out triple to provide all the needed offense.

Game 2:  Bradley 14, SIU 4 (7 innings)
• After the Salukis took their lone lead of the series, 4-3, with a 4-run outburst in the second inning, Bradley reclaimed the lead in the third inning on Andy Shadid's 2-run home run.
• The Shadid Brothers combined to go 6-for-8, each belting a home run, with seven RBI.

Game 3:  Bradley 7, SIU 1
• After senior LHP Cole Cook got the final three outs of the first game of a doubleheader, he started the second nightcap and limited the Salukis to one run on six hits in his 6.0 IP.
• Eli Rawlinson's 2-run single in the second gave the Braves a 2-0 lead they would not relinquish.

SERIES HISTORY
Game 170 • SIU leads 88-80-1 • 9-2 in MVC Tourney
• Series records date to a 2-game split May 30-31, 1952 in Carbondale.
• Going back to 2014, Bradley owns a 12-5 record against Southern Illinois.
• In his 11th year as Bradley head coach, Elvis Dominguez is 16-18 versus Southern Illinois.

MVC TOURNEY SERIES NOTES
Game 12 • SIU leads 9-2, all at neutral sites
• Southern Illinois is 9-2 all-time against the Braves in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with Bradley's last postseason win against the Salukis coming in the second round of the 1994 tourney at Wichita State.
• Bradley is 0-4 all-time in MVC Tournament first-round games against the Salukis.
• The teams have not met in the MVC Tournament since SIU's 9-8 win in 10 innings in the second round of the 2012 tourney at Missouri State.
• Since that 2012 postseason game against Southern Illinois, Bradley has played Missouri State (1-5) six times in the postseason, Dallas Baptist (1-4) five times, Evansville (1-2) three times, Illinois State (1-1) twice, Indiana State (2-0) twice and Valparaiso (1-0) once.
 
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Players Mentioned

Dan Bolt

#35 Dan Bolt

OF
6' 0"
Junior
L/R
Cole Cook

#5 Cole Cook

LHP
6' 0"
Senior
L/L
Mitch Janssen

#21 Mitch Janssen

RHP
6' 2"
Senior
R/R
Eli Rawlinson

#12 Eli Rawlinson

OF
6' 4"
Sophomore
R/R
Andy Shadid

#7 Andy Shadid

OF
5' 11"
Senior
R/R
Luke Shadid

#10 Luke Shadid

IF
5' 10"
Junior
R/R

Players Mentioned

Dan Bolt

#35 Dan Bolt

6' 0"
Junior
L/R
OF
Cole Cook

#5 Cole Cook

6' 0"
Senior
L/L
LHP
Mitch Janssen

#21 Mitch Janssen

6' 2"
Senior
R/R
RHP
Eli Rawlinson

#12 Eli Rawlinson

6' 4"
Sophomore
R/R
OF
Andy Shadid

#7 Andy Shadid

5' 11"
Senior
R/R
OF
Luke Shadid

#10 Luke Shadid

5' 10"
Junior
R/R
IF
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