SAN ANTONIO – Bradley Baseball will open its 120th season this weekend when the Braves (31-19 in 2019) visit Southland Conference opponent Incarnate Word (37-22) for a 3-game series at Sullivan Field. The Braves will begin their quest for a third consecutive 30-win season, a three-year string of success Bradley Baseball has not enjoyed since the mid-1990s.
Bradley Braves (0-0) at UIW Cardinals (0-0)
San Antonio, TX | Sullivan Field, Sponsored by H-E-B
Friday, Feb. 14 (6:30 p.m.) | Saturday, Feb. 15 (6:30 p.m.) | Sunday, Feb. 16 (1:00 p.m.)
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Listen: UIW Athletics Stretch Live
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SERIES NOTES
• The season-opening series will mark games 2-4 in the all-time series between Bradley and Incarnate Word.
• UIW won the only previous meeting, 6-2 in 10 innings, Feb. 26, 2016 during Bradley's participation in the Irish Alamo Classic.
• Bradley has become familiar with UIW's league, the Southland Conference, in recent years, now visiting a league member for a sixth 3-game series since 2015.
• Bradley is 11-11 all-time against Southland teams, with all 22 games played on the road: Central Arkansas (2-1), Incarnate Word (0-1), McNeese State (4-2), New Orleans (1-3), Sam Houston State 90-3), Stephen F. Austin (2-0), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2-1).
TWO-YEAR IMPROVEMENT
• Coming off a 20-31 (.392) campaign in 2017, the Braves completed the 2018 season with a 32-19 (.627) overall record and followed with a 31-19 (.620) campaign in 2019.
• Bradley's 235 percentage-points improvement ranked ninth nationally in 2018.
• Bradley's .624 winning percentage the last two years is Bradley's best in consecutive seasons since the 1993 (40-16) and 1994 (35-26) Braves combined for a .641 winning percentage.
• The Braves are coming off consecutive 30-win seasons for the first since 1995 (30-27) and 1996 (40-22).
VALLEY WINS
• Bradley has won at least 11 Missouri Valley Conference games three times in the last four years: 11-9 in 2016, 11-10 in 2018 and 11-10 in 2019.
• With back-to-back 11-10 Valley seasons, Bradley has posted winning league records in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1986 and 1987 squads both finished 11-9 in The Valley.
TOP FOUR HITTERS RETURN
• Bradley's top four hitters by batting average will return for the 2020 season.
• Senior SS Luke Shadid paced the 2019 Braves with a .344 batting average and led the Missouri Valley Conference in runs scored per game (0.98) and total runs produced per game (1.62).
• In addition to Shadid, the Braves return senior OF Dan Bolt (.327 BA, 1.048 OPS); senior 3B Brendan Dougherty (.283) and sophomore 1B Connor O'Brien (.282).
• All four of the team's top returning hitters earned All-MVC honors in 2019: Shadid (2nd team), Bolt (2nd team), Dougherty (honorable mention) and O'Brien (1st team).
PRESEASON ALL-MVC
• Senior OF Dan Bolt was selected one of three preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference outfielders, according to a vote of the league's eight head coaches.
• Bolt hit .327 with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs in 2019, when his 1.048 OPS ranked second in The Valley.
ANALYTICAL HITTERS
• Among its preseason features, D1Baseball.com produced an article listing college baseball's top 150 hitters, based on a combination of three analytical categories: Plate Discipline, Hit Ability and Game Power.
• Bradley boasts the top two hitters from the Missouri Valley Conference: senior OF Dan Bolt (29th) and senior SS Luke Shadid (76th).
• D1Baseball.com went on to rank Shadid No. 12 in its preseason Shortstop Power Rankings and Bolt No. 33 in its preseason Outfield Power Rankings.
FAMILIAR LEFT SIDE
• Bradley could enter the 2020 season with the most-experienced left side of an infield in college baseball.
• Senior 3B Brendan Dougherty is Bradley's active leader with 146 career games played and he has started 144 consecutive games at the hot corner.
• Senior SS Luke Shadid is the first player in the modern era of Bradley Baseball to start every game of his freshman season (51) at shortstop and he now has started all 141 games of his career at short.
HOME SICK
• After playing just 20 games at Dozer Park in 2019, Bradley has played the second-fewest home games (102) in the league the last six years.
• Bradley's 102 home games since the start of the 2014 are three more than Valparaiso's (99) total and are 13 fewer than Illinois State (115).
• Since the start of 2014, DBU has won 37 more home games (139) than Bradley has played at Dozer Park (102).
SIX YEARS AWAY FROM HOME
• Bradley's 112 road (73) and neutral (39) wins the last six years represent 65.1 percent of the team's 172 total wins, the highest percentage of wins accumulated away from home in The Valley since 2014.
• Since the start of 2014, Bradley is fourth in the MVC with 112 wins away from home.
• Bradley is scheduled to play 36 games away from home - 32 road and four neutral - in 2020.
