Bradley Baseball Heads to Valpo

Baseball 5/12/2022 1:13:00 PM

The Bradley baseball team hits the road for the final time during the 2022 regular season with a three-game series at Valparaiso, beginning on Friday.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley owns an 16-25 record with a 7-8 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play.
• The Braves are coming off a key series win against Indiana State, taking the final two games of the series, 4-3 and 5-3.
• Overall, Bradley has won three of its last four conference series.

SERIES HISTORY
• Bradley owns a 20-15 edge versus the Beacons in series history, including a 7-4 advantage since Valpo joined the Valley before the 2018 season.
• Last year, the schools split a four-game series in Peoria with Bradley winning the first and third games.
• The schools are meeting for the first time at Valpo since 2018 when the Braves won 2-of-3 games.

ABOUT THE BEACONS
• Valparaiso enters the weekend with a 14-28 overall record and is in eighth place in the Valley with a 3-12 conference mark.
• The Beacons were swept last weekend by Dallas Baptist and have lost their last three Valley series.
• Overall, Valpo is averaging 4.5 runs per game in 2022, while allowing 6.6.

MVC TOURNAMENT
• With just two weekends remaining in the regular season, Bradley is currently in fifth place in the MVC standings with a 7-8 record.
• Bradley needs to gain one spot to secure a first-round bye as only the top four teams in the final standings automatically advance to the double elimination part of the tournament.
• The Braves won the tiebreak with the two teams above them in the standings and are just one game behind fourth-place Indiana State and two behind third-place Dallas Baptist.

KING EARNS MVC WEEKLY HONOR
• For the second time this season, senior Nick King was honored with Valley Pitcher of the Week accolades.
• In two starts on the mound last week, King allowed only one earned run and two hits in 10.2 innings pitched. Batters hit just .063 against him, while striking out 15 times.
• King is the first Brave to earn the weekly accolade twice in a single season since Elliot Ashbeck did so in 2015.

TOP 10 FIRST BASEMAN
• Junior Connor O'Brien continues to rank as one of the best in the nation and this week, remained in the top 10 of the D1Baseball Power Rankings for first basemen.
• O'Brien currently ranks seventh in the nation and is the top MVC player in the poll (DBU's Cole Moore is 28th).
• O'Brien was ranked 17th in the preseason before moving to seventh in the March 30 rankings.

VALLEY LEADER
• Not only is Connor O'Brien among the top 10 first baseman in the latest power rankings but he also ranks among the best in the NCAA statistically.
• O'Brien enters the weekend with a .411 batting average – ranking first in the MVC and 12th in the country. He is .035 above second place in the Valley (SIU's Kaeber Rog hits .376).
• O'Brien leads the Valley in both hits per game (1.63) and on-base percentage (.473) – ranking 10th and 76th, respectively, in the NCAA.
• The junior is currently on pace to become just the fourth player in school history to hit .400 in a season and the fourth to lead the MVC in average.

IMMEDIATE RESPONSE
• One key to Bradley's series win against Indiana State last weekend was its ability to respond and not led the Sycamores gain any momentum.
• Indiana State scored in nine innings during the three-game series. In seven of the nine occasions, BU would respond in its next inning at bat with runs.

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Players Mentioned

#41 Connor O'Brien: C/IF; 6' 0"; Sophomore; R/R

#34 Nick King: RHP; 6' 5"; Junior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#41 Connor O'Brien
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; R/R
: C/IF

#34 Nick King
: 6' 5"; Junior; R/R
: RHP

Bradley Baseball Heads to Valpo

Players Mentioned

#41 Connor O'Brien

#34 Nick King

Players Mentioned

#41 Connor O'Brien

#34 Nick King