Valley Showdown in Dallas

Bradley Baseball will make its only road trip since early April when the Braves visit league-leading Dallas Baptist this weekend

Josh Schwam

Bobby Parker, Associate AD for Communications Baseball 5/13/2021 1:37:00 PM

DALLAS – Position in the Missouri Valley Conference standings will be on the line as Bradley makes its first road trip since early April to take on #28 Dallas Baptist in a four-game league series Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Horner Ballpark.

SERIES DETAILS
Bradley (16-17, 8-7 MVC) at Dallas Baptist (29-11, 14-2 MVC)
Dallas, TX | Horner Ballpark
Friday, May 14 | 6:30 p.m. CT
Saturday, May 15 | DH | 1:00 PM
Sunday, May 16: 1:00 PM
Weekend Links: TV WFAA | Radio Patriot Broadcasting Network | Live Stats | Tickets

SETTING THE SCENE
• For the first time since the first weekend of April, Bradley Baseball will play road games when the Braves visit #28 Dallas Baptist for a pivotal Missouri Valley Conference series Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Horner Ballpark.
• DBU enters the weekend series with a chance to clinch the outright regular-season league championship still with one series left to be played.
• Bradley enters the series third in The Valley standings, 2.5 games behind second-place Indiana State, but also just 2.5 games ahead of the two teams tied for fifth (Illinois State and Valparaiso).
• While DBU has played only four true road games this season, Texas will become the sixth state in which Bradley will have played a game this year.
• Both teams has a MVC series wiped out by COVID - DBU's trip to Missouri State April 8-10 and Bradley's trip to Indiana State April 30-May 1.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE
• With a COVID pause wiping out its scheduled trip to Indiana State April 30-May 2, Bradley Baseball now hits the road for the first time since its April 1-3 trip to Missouri State when the Braves visit Dallas Baptist the weekend.
• What turned into a 14-game home stand wound up being the third-longest in program history and was the team's longest stretch of consecutive home games since a 15-game streak April 11-25, 1984.
• With the Missouri State series played a day earlier than normal due to Easter, Bradley will have had 40 days in between road games when it opens the DBU series Friday.
• The number of days between games away from home within the season is the second-longest in program history.
• Bradley had not gone longer than 24 days (2013) in between games away from home since the 61 days in between road games during the 1948 season - after visiting Mississippi State March 29, the Braves did not play another game away from home until visiting Wisconsin May 31.

SERIES NOTES
Games 27-30 | DBU leads 20-6
• This weekend's series at Dallas Baptist will represent games 27-30 in the all-time series against the Patriots.
• DBU owns a 20-6 series advantage, including a 9-2 home record against the Braves.
• The series dates to a 3-game, non-conference series May 17-19, 2012 at Dozer Park.
• DBU won 2-of-3 games during the last series between the two teams, April 19-20, 2019 at Horner Ballpark.

FIGHTING PEDIATRIC BRAIN CANCER
• For the seventh consecutive season, Bradley Baseball has joined the fight against pediatric brain cancer by raising awareness and funds for the Vs. Cancer Foundation.
• Bradley's 2021 effort is being spearheaded by senior OF Dan Bolt and senior 3B Brendan Dougherty.
• As of May 13, Bradley leads all NCAA Division I baseball teams by raising $23,798on behalf of Vs. Cancer, pushing the program's seven-year fundraising total to more than $100,000
• In its annual sign of support to the children suffering through treatment, the Braves conducted their annual postgame head shave April 18.
• Bradley Baseball Vs. Cancer donation page: https://team.curethekids.org/team/346514.

STEADY AT THE HOT CORNER
• Senior Brendan Dougherty has started 189 games in his Bradley career, including each of Bradley's last 187 games at third base.
• His streak is believed to be the nation's longest active streak of consecutive starts at the hot corner 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 DBU series sixth in program history with 221 career base hits.
• In fact, Dougherty enters the weekend among Bradley's top 10 in five categories and he is the program's active leader is six more categories.

ROOKIES UP THE MIDDLE
• Bradley opened the 2021 season by starting true freshmen at SS (TJ Manteufel) and 2B (Jackson Chatterton) with COVID-freshman Ryan Vogel in CF and has used the same trio up the middle in all 33 games to date this season.
• Luke Shadid had started 151 of Bradley's 161 games from 2017-20, while brother Andy Shadid started 200 games in center field from 2016-19.
• Luke Shadid (SS in 2017) is the only freshman on record (since at least 1980) to start every game of a Bradley season at either of the two middle infield positions, an accomplishment both Manteufel and Chatterton are looking to match in 2021.
• Vogel started nine of Bradley's 10 games in CF during the abbreviated 2020 campaign and remains classified as a freshman during this 2021 season.
• The Braves also started freshman Logan Delgado behind the plate in the second game of the Feb. 26 DH versus Ball State, putting a freshman in all four spots up the middle on the first day of its 2021 season.
• Delgado has started five more games at catcher, putting freshmen up the middle six times this season.

MIDDLE OF THE ORDER 1-2 PUNCH
• The Nos. 3 and 4 hitters in the Bradley lineup, senior RF Dan Bolt and sophomore 1B Connor O'Brien, enter the weekend as the top two hitters in the MVC.
• O'Brien enters the DBU series leading the league with a .386 batting average, while Bolt is second in The Valley at .376.
• O'Brien also leads The Valley in hits per game (1.47), while Bolt paces the loop with his .497 on-base percentage.
• In Bradley's only previous Valley road series this season, April 1-3 at Missouri State, the Bradley duo combined to go 14-for-26 (.538) with seven walks and two hit-by-pitches against the Bears.
• Despite remaining atop the league, the duo experienced their first cold series of the season last weekend against Valparaiso, combining to go 5-for-27 (.185) with four walks in the four games versus Valpo.

UP NEXT
• Bradley closes the regular season next week by hosting I-74 rival Illinois State for a 3-game series at Dozer Park.
• All three games versus the Redbird - Thursday, Friday and Saturday - are set for noon starts.
• The teams will not be able to play the 2021 MVC standard fourth game as part of a doubleheader due to the coinciding Peoria Chiefs schedule at Dozer Park.
• The 2021 MVC Baseball Championship will be played May 26-29 at Southern Illinois.

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