Home Stand Starts Friday

Bradley Baseball will open a 12-game home stand this weekend by hosting MVC rival Evansville

James Franks

Bradley Pre-Series Notes

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Baseball 4/8/2021 8:47:00 AM

PEORIA, IL – After playing 18 of its first 19 games of the 2021 season away from home, Bradley will begin a home heavy finish to the season by welcoming Missouri Valley Conference rival Evansville to Dozer Park for a four-game league series.

SERIES DETAILS
Evansville (16-11, 1-3 MVC) at Bradley (8-11, 2-2 MVC)
Peoria, IL | Dozer Park
Friday, April 9 | 6:00 p.m. CT | ESPN3 | Live Stats | Tickets
Saturday, April 10 | 1:00 p.m. CT - DH | ESPN3 Game 1 | ESPN3 Game 2 | Live Stats | Tickets
Sunday, April, 11 | 1:00 p.m. CT | ESPN3 | Live Stats | Tickets

HOME STRETCH STARTS VS EVANSVILLE
• After playing 18 of its first 19 games away from home, Bradley will start the home-heavy portion of its schedule this weekend by hosting Evansville in a 4-game Missouri Valley Conference series at Dozer Park.
• The Evansville series starts a 12-game home stand for the Braves, as well as a regular-season-ending stretch that will see the Braves play 20 of their final 28 games on their home field.
• Friday's series opener will be the 100th all-time game between Bradley and Evansville.
• Bradley's Nos. 3 and 4 hitters, Dan Bolt and Connor O'Brien, represent two of the top five hitters in The Valley and combined to go 14-for-19 (.737) with seven walks and a hit by pitch in the final three games of last weekend's series at Missouri State.
• The visiting team has won seven consecutive games in the Bradley-Evansville series since the Braves earned a 6-0 win May 6, 2017 at Dozer Park.

SERIES NOTES
Game 100-103 | Evansville leads 56-43
• Friday's series opener will be the 100th all-time game between the Bradley and Evansville baseball teams.
• Evansville owns a 56-43 lead in the series, which began with Bradley's doubleheader sweep in non-conference action March 20, 1981 at Evansville.
• The teams played 10 non-conference games from 1981-1992, all at Evansville, with Bradley winning six of those 10 matchups.
• Since Evansville joined The Valley for the 1995 baseball season, the Purple Aces own a 52-37 series advantage.
• The road team has swept the host in each of the last two series with Bradley taking all three games in Evansville in 2018, while the Purple Aces returned the favor in 2019 at Dozer Park.

WELCOME HOME
• Having played 18 of its first 19 games away from home, Bradley now sees the travel schedule change dramatically in its favor by opening a 12-game home stand this weekend by hosting Evansville at Dozer Park.
• Bradley's first 19 games of the season have been played in six different states: Illinois, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Nebraska and Missouri.
• Not only does the Evansville series mark the start of a 12-game home stand, but it marks the start of an overall schedule that will see the Braves play 20 of its final 28 regular-season games at Dozer Park.
• The 12-game home stand that starts this week will be Bradley's longest since a 13-game stretch at the old Meinen Field (now Soccer's Shea Stadium) March 21-April 2, 1995.
• That 1995 home stand ended with a 4-game series split against Evansville.

LOCAL FLAVOR
• Bradley's roster features five players who played high school baseball locally in the Mid-Illini Conference, as well as second-year pitching coach Andrew Werner (Washington HS).
• Four of those five local products have figured prominently in the Bradley lineup to date:
Dan Bolt (Morton HS) • RF • 19 GS • .370 BA • 14 RBI
Taylor Catton (Dunlap HS) • RHP • 7 App • 24.0 IP
Jackson Chatterton (Dunlap HS) • 2B • 19 GS • .239 BA
Ryan Vogel (Metamora HS) • CF • 19 GS • .280 BA • 10 RBI
• Freshman Isaiah Gudeman (1 GP) joins Bolt as a Morton High School product.

STEADY AT THE HOT CORNER
• Senior Brendan Dougherty has started 175 games in his Bradley career, including each of Bradley's last 173 games at third base.
• Dougherty's streak is believed to be the longest active streak of consecutive starts at the hot corner in the nation and one of the country's longest starting streaks at any position.
• Dougherty is Bradley's latest entry into the Bradley Baseball "200 Hits Club" and enters the Evansville series 15th in program history with 215 career base hits.
• He is the program's active leader eight offensive categories: At Bats (683), Runs Scored (130), Hits (202), Doubles (28), Triples (7), Total Bases (259), Hit by Pitches (16) and Stolen Bases (12).

UP NEXT
• Bradley will continue its 12-game home stand next weekend by hosting in-state Missouri Valley Conference rival Southern Illinois April 16-18 at Dozer Park.
• The Braves will step out of conference play to conclude the lengthy home stand the following weekend, hosting local rival Western Illinois for a 4-game set April 23-25.

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