The Braves head down to sunny Orlando, FL, for a weekend of games at The Knights Classic hosted by UCF. 

The Braves will begin play on Friday with a games against Gardner-Webb and Purdue, with the first game beginning at 8:00 a.m CST.. Heading into Saturday, Bradley faces Louisville at 1:00 p.m. and Purdue at 3:30 p.m. once again. The team finishes up the weekend on Sunday at 8:00 a.m. with a game against Columbia. 

Bradley will be playing Gardner-Webb and Columbia for the first time in program history. The Braves have played Purdue 10 times since 1984 and are 7-3 against the Boilermakers. Lousville has stumped Bradley in the eight times they've played since 2007, leading the series 8-0. 


WEEKEND INFORMATION

WATCH	ESPN+ (Only games against Tennessee State)
LISTEN	N/A
TIME	Friday: 8 a.m. & 3:30 p.m. Saturday:  1 p.m. & 3:30 p.m. Sunday: 8 a.m.
LOCATION	UCF Softball Complex | Orlando, FL

BRADLEY BRAVES
The Braves are coming off a 3-1 weekend at the Roar City Invite after facing North Alabama, Alabama A&M and Tennessee State. Abbott Badgley threw back to back days for Bradley in Nashville. The Braves pitcher only gave up one run to Alabama A&M and threw seven shutout innings against North Alabama to help Bradley to a 4-0 win. Freshman Lauren DeRolf had herself a good weekend, tallying up 7 hits over three games. DeRolf went 3-3 against North Alabama, with two singles, one double and one RBI against North Alabama. She now leads the team in batting average (.483), hits (14) and runs scored (8), and she is also second on the team in OBP (.500).

BRADLEY 2023 STATS LEADERS

AVG.	RBI	ERA
DeRolf - .483	Sample - 10	Schaller - 5.25 (12.0 IP)
French - .480	DeRolf/Pederson/Welsh - 5	Badgley - 7.41 (27.0 IP)
Cirone - .406	French/Badgley - 4	French - 9.95 (19.0 IP)

GARDNER-WEBB RUNNIN' BULLDOGS
The Runnin' Bulldogs come into the weekend with a record of 3-7. The team finished 8th in the Big South last year, going 15-29 overall and 7-20 in conference. GWU recently went 0-5 at the Mardi Gras Mambo hosted by Southeastern Louisiana.  

GARDNER WEBB 2023 STATS LEADERS

AVG.	RBI	ERA
Andrea Lyon - .586	Andrea Lyon - 16	Andrea Lyon - 3.32 (19.0 IP)
Kasey Fava - .382	Adrienne Visintine - 9	Alli Stidham - 3.88 (21.2 IP)
Kiara Kennedy - .333	Ella Christopher - 2	Kalyn Kyle - 5.55 (17.2 IP)

PURDUE BOILERMAKERS
The Boilermakers are 5-3 to begin the year after playing at the JoAnne Graf Classic and the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Purdue finished 11th in the Big Ten last year, going 24-31 overall and 7-15 in conference. With a relatively new team including 11 freshmen and five transfers, the Boilermakers will look to Alex Echazarreta to keep them going. Echazarreta was a 2022 NFCA Second Team All-Region honoree. 

PURDUE 2023 STATS LEADERS

AVG.	RBI	ERA
Kiara Dillon - .462	Tyrina Jones - 9	Mo Wimpee - 0.05 (14.0 IP)
Tyrina Jones - .407	Becca Edwards - 6	Madi Elish - 2.59 (24.1 IP)
Khloe Banks - .375	Alex Echazarreta - 5	Alex Echazarreta - 4.67 (15.0 IP)

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS
The Cardinals started their year at the NFCA Leadoff Classic, followed by the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and carries a 6-3 record into the weekend. Louisville finished 8th in the ACC last year with an overall record of 27-25 and a conference record of 10-14. 

LOUISVILLE 2023 STATS LEADERS

AVG.	RBI	ERA
Daisy Hess - .333	Paige Geraghty - 6	Taylor Roby - 0.46 (15.1 IP)
Taylor Roby - .333	Taylor Riby - 5	Gabby Holloway - 1.27 (11.0 IP)
Sarah Gordon - .333	Easton Lotus - 4	Alyssa Zabala - 1.35 (20.2 IP)

COLUMBIA LIONS
This will be the first weekend of play for the Columbia Lions. They finished 5th in the Ivy League last year, capturing an overall record of 12-26 and a conference record of 8-13. Six Lions earned Honorable Mention All-Ivy League last season. 

COLUMBIA 2022 STATS LEADERS

AVG.	RBI	ERA
Abby Stuart - .373	Abby Stuart - 21	Jordan Hill - 3.18 (108.0 IP)
Marai PAgane - .258	Jaden Hill - 19	Raquel Reyes - 4.00 (71.2 IP)
Maddie Souza - .250	Maria Pagane - 17	Kaia McCaul - 4.79 (61.1 IP)

UP NEXT
The Braves will head to Wichita, KS, for the Black & Yellow Challenge Classic hosted by Wichita State on March 4th and 5th.