Bradley Lands Three on Preseason All-MVC Baseball Squad

The Braves will open the 2021 season with a unique matchup in New Orleans

2021 MVC Baseball Preseason Poll

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Baseball 2/17/2021 10:27:00 AM

Bradley Baseball shared league-high honors by landing three student-athletes on the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason All-Conference squad, according to a vote of the league's eight head coaches announced by The Valley office Wednesday morning.

The Braves, who were picked to finish fifth in the league's preseason poll, joined I-74 rival Illinois State with three student-athletes on the 14-player preseason All-Valley team. Senior 3B Brendan Dougherty (Clive, IA/Dowling Catholic HS) is among the infield honorees, while senior Dan Bolt (Morton, IL/Morton HS) is recognized among the outfielders and redshirt junior RHP Theron Denlinger (Cuba City, WI/Cuba City HS) represents the relievers.

Dougherty, who shares preseason all-conference honors at the hot corner with Southern Illinois' Ian Walters, is a three-time All-MVC performer at third base, collecting postseason honorable mention recognition from the league's head coaches in 2017, 2018 and 2019. He returns for a fifth season at Bradley among the nation's active leaders at any position with 154 consecutive starts, which is believed to be the longest active streak at third base. The 2017 MVC Freshman of the Year and a Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Freshman All-American, Dougherty led the Braves with a .305 batting average in his freshman season and he ranked 37th nationally with five triples in 2019. He enters his final season with a .301 career batting average and 183 career hits, on pace to become the 15th player in program history to bang out 200 career base hits.

Bolt's preseason honor from The Valley's head coaches adds to a lengthy list of preseason accolades. He has been tabbed the league's preseason player of the year by three different college baseball media outlets and recently was listed 19th among the nation's top 100 power-hitting outfielders by D1Baseball.com.

As a junior in 2019, Bolt moved into the everyday starting lineup and earned All-MVC second-team honors after leading the Braves with a .595 slugging percentage and .453 on-base percentage. His 1.048 OPS in 2019 was second-best in The Valley and was the best by a Bradley player since current New York Yankees OF Mike Tauchman posted a 1.110 OPS during his 2013 Joe Carter MVC Player-of-the-Year season in 2013.

Twice named to the CBN National Players of the Week (April 22, 2019 and March 2, 2020), Bolt was off to a hot start during the abbreviated 2020 season, smashing seven home runs with 15 RBIs during Bradley's 10 games. He ranked fourth nationally with 0.7 home runs per game and sixth with a .881 slugging percentage when the 2020 season was halted due to the global pandemic.

In 110 career games at Bradley, Bolt enters the 2021 season with a .304 batting average, 23 home runs and 79 RBI.

In his third year at Bradley after transferring from Madison College, Denlinger was named to the 2020 NCBWA Stopper-of-the-Year Watch List after his impressive debut season with the Braves in 2019. During Bradley's last full season, the hard-throwing righthander led the Braves with 22 mound appearances and his six saves equaled the sixth-best single-season total in program history. With 24 strikeouts in 22.0 IP, Denlinger averaged 9.8 Ks per nine innings and the opposition managed just a .175 batting average against him in 2019.

Bradley continues to build its non-conference schedule for this season, but the Braves currently are slated to open the 2021 campaign with a 3-game series March 5-7 at New Orleans. That series will be played at UNO's Maestri Field, named for Ron Maestri, who is a member of both the Bradley and New Orleans Athletics Halls of Fame, as well as the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Maestri played baseball at Bradley during the 1961 and 1962 seasons, helping the Braves to the 1962 MVC championship. After five years in the high school coaching ranks at Princeville, Spaulding and Pekin, he returned to Bradley as an assistant baseball and football coach, before being named UNO's head baseball coach in 1972 and the school's athletics director in 1979. He coached the Privateers in two stints, 1972-85 and 2014-15, leading UNO to nine NCAA Tournament appearances (two D2 and seven D1) and two College World Series appearances, 1974 D2 and 1984 D1, while compiling a 543-315-1 record.

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Players Mentioned

#35 Dan Bolt: OF; 6' 1"; Senior; L/R

#25 Theron Denlinger: RHP; 6' 3"; Redshirt Junior; R/R

#26 Brendan Dougherty: IF; 6' 2"; Senior; L/R

Players Mentioned

#35 Dan Bolt
: 6' 1"; Senior; L/R
: OF

#25 Theron Denlinger
: 6' 3"; Redshirt Junior; R/R
: RHP

#26 Brendan Dougherty
: 6' 2"; Senior; L/R
: IF

Bradley Lands Three on Preseason All-MVC Baseball Squad

The Braves will open the 2021 season with a unique matchup in New Orleans

Players Mentioned

#35 Dan Bolt

#25 Theron Denlinger

#26 Brendan Dougherty

Players Mentioned

#35 Dan Bolt

#25 Theron Denlinger

#26 Brendan Dougherty