Bradley Opens MVC Tournament Wednesday versus Dallas Baptist

Baseball 5/24/2022 2:30:00 PM

The Bradley baseball team begins its quest for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as it is set for the MVC Tournament, starting on Wednesday night versus Dallas Baptist.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley finished the 2022 campaign with a 20-27 record.
• The Braves placed fourth in the final MVC standings with an 11-10 league record.
• Bradley clinched a top-four seed and bye in the first round on Friday, earning a doubleheader sweep against Missouri State with 15-10 and 18-5 victories.
• Senior Keaton Rice was named MVC Player of the Week after hitting .571 during the week with six runs and seven RBI.

MVC TOURNAMENT
• Bradley earned the four seed for the MVC Tournament and opens action against No. 3 Dallas Baptist Wednesday night.
• The top four teams plus two winners during a play-in round Tuesday advance to the double-elimination bracket.
• The winner of BU and DBU advances to play Thursday at 7 p.m. against the 2-5 winner, while the loser plays an elimination game versus the 1-6 victor at 3 p.m.
• Bradley last earned the league's automatic bid in 1968, winning a divisional playoff versus Tulsa.

WINNING VALLEY RECORD
• By winning its final two games of the regular season, Bradley clinched a winning record with an 11-10 league record.
• It marks the fourth-straight Valley season that Bradley has earned a winning record.
• In fact, it is the first time in school history that the Braves completed four-straight winning Valley seasons. BU's previous-best run was three-straight seasons on three occasions; 1949-51, 1959-61 and 1967-69.
• Overall, BU won the season series against five of the seven MVC schools in 2022.

FIVE BRAVES EARN ALL-VALLEY
• Bradley had five players collect All-Missouri Valley Conference honors on Tuesday.
• Junior first baseman Connor O'Brien highlighted the selections by becoming the first player in school history to earn first-team honors three times (also in 2019 and 2021).
• Jacob Kisting earned second-team accolades to become just the second freshman starting pitcher at BU to earn All-Valley (Doug Robertson was named to the first team in 1994).
• Senior pitcher Nick King, senior catcher Keaton Rice and sophomore outfielder Ryan Vogel also received honorable mention.

BRAVES FINISH HOT
• The Bradley offense heads to the MVC Tournament with momentum as BU clinched its top-four seed by scoring 33 combined runs in a doubleheader sweep against Missouri State.
• Bradley's 13-run win in the final game of the series was its largest against Missouri State in the 115-game series history.
• In fact, Bradley's 18 runs were its most in a Valley game since a 19-12 win versus Missouri State in 2002, while its 13-run victory was its largest versus a MVC school since an 18-3 win against Northern Iowa in the 1996 MVC Tournament.

VALLEY LEADER
• Connor O'Brien ranks among the best in the Valley this season, leading the conference in average.
• O'Brien enters the tournament with a .394 batting average, placing first in the Valley (by 20 points) and 23rd in the country.
• O'Brien also ranks 21st nationally with 1.57 hits per game.
• The junior is currently on pace to become just the fourth player at Bradley to lead the MVC in average with his .394 mark ranking fifth in BU history.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
• A top catcher during his career at BU, Keaton Rice is enjoying his best season at the plate in 2022.
• Rice has a career-best 27 extra-base hits as a senior (surpassing his previous high of 13 in 2019), ranking first on BU and also leading all catchers in the Valley.
• In fact, with 21 doubles this season, Rice ranks first in the Valley and sixth nationally (first among catchers) with 0.49 doubles per game.
• His 21 doubles are also tied for the eighth most in BU history and the most since 2016, while his 48 career doubles are tied for seventh.

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