Baseball Hosts Nationally-Ranked Dallas Baptist

Josh Schwam

Baseball 4/13/2022 6:29:00 PM

The Bradley baseball team continues a seven-game homestand with a series against nationally-ranked Dallas Baptist this weekend. The schools are set to meet on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Dozer Park at 11 a.m.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley owns a 9-17 record with a 1-2 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play.
• The Braves have been led by their offense in 2022, averaging 6.6 runs per game.
• Junior Connor O'Brien has led BU – ranking first on the team in batting average (.404), doubles (10), home runs (5) and RBI (25).

SERIES HISTORY
• The schools have met on 31 prior occasions with the Patriots holding a 23-8 advantage.
• Last season, Bradley split four regular-season meetings with 28th-ranked DBU on the road before the Patriots won an MVC Tournament game.
• DBU swept the Braves the last time the schools met at Dozer Park in 2018.

ABOUT THE PATRIOTS
• Dallas Baptist enters the series with a 22-10 record and is currently ranked 16th in the latest D1 Baseball poll.
• The Patriots have won six-consecutive contests, including a sweep of Missouri State last weekend before a win over No. 21 TCU on Tuesday.
• DBU has been led by its defense in 2022 – ranking first in the Valley in both earned run average and fielding percentage.

1-2 PUNCH
• The Braves can pencil in their top two hitters in the lineup as Ryan Vogel and Connor O'Brien have been the team's most productive and consistent hitters.
• The duo has combined for at least three hits in 13 of the last 15 games with O'Brien recording at least one hit in 14 of those games and Vogel in 13 contests.
• Overall, Vogel and O'Brien have directly accounted for 71 of the team's 172 runs this season or 41.3 percent.
• O'Brien leads BU in average (.404), hits (42), doubles (10), home runs (five) and RBI (25). Vogel is first on BU in runs (26) and second to O'Brien in average (.347) and hits (34).

HIGH RANKS FOR O'BRIEN
• Overall, junior Connor O'Brien is enjoying the best year of his career in 2022.
• O'Brien ranks in the top 100 nationally in batting average (37th; .404), hits per game (28th; 1.62) and doubles per game (97th; 0.38). He ranks third in the Valley in hits, fourth in average and fourth in doubles.

CONSISTENCY FOR O'BRIEN
• The key for Connor O'Brien during the 2022 season is his consistency.
• O'Brien has recorded at least one hit in 23-of-26 games, while reaching base in 25 contests.
• The junior has reached base in each of the last 24 games.
• O'Brien recorded a hit in 15-straight games (the fifth-longest streak by a Brave in the last 20 years) from Feb. 26 to March 1 and it was only snapped after a game in which he drew two walks.

TOUGH TO HIT
• Leading the Braves on the mound are pitchers Jacob Kisting and Nick King.
• Kisting is first on the team with a 3.91 earned run average, while King is second at 4.99.
• In fact, Kisting is third in the Valley with a .222 batting average against – ranking first with 16 strikeouts looking – while King is fourth at .225.

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