Devin Brevig
After opening the season with 18 games away from home, Bradley Baseball finally defended their home field Wednesday night against MacMurray College. The game was called due to lightning after 8 1/2 innings.
Bradley moved to 12-7 on the season going into conference play while MacMurray fell to 4-12.
Redshirt-senior Sam Lund delivered 3.0 perfect innings on the mound, collecting 4 strikeouts, and the W. 23 of Lund’s 30 pitches were within the strike zone. “Yesterday was Sam’s bullpen day in preparation for this weekend,” Head Coach Elvis Dominguez said.
Bradley’s pitching staff combined to allow just one run on three hits. Four Braves took the bump with Paxton Thompson delivering one inning, Ben Cilano giving three more, and Freshman Eli Campbell pitched one inning with a strikeout in his collegiate debut. “It was the plan all the way through, because there were guys who needed some work and we needed to get them on the field.” Coach Dominguez said “It was a good opportunity for them to get their work in not only at home, but in preparation for the long Valley season,” Dominguez said Thursday afternoon.
Bradley pitching currently ranks 8th in the country in team ERA.
Andy and Luke Shadid combined for four of Bradley’s seven hits, with Luke driving in 2 RBIs on a single in the second inning. Luke is currently on a 9 game hitting streak and is hitting at an incredible .414 season average to lead the Missouri Valley Conference. Both Andy and Luke went 2-4 on the day.
“Both of my hits came with two strikes,” Andy said, “which is fine, but in the future, I’m going to have to try and get out early and get some hits with less than two strikes.” “But it was good that I was able to compete with two strikes.”
It was a bittersweet day for Bradley seniors, as it was the final home-opener in a Bradley uniform. “The nerves are always there on opening day. The crowd is always a little bigger at home,” Andy Shadid said. “I’m happy the weather wasn’t freezing.” He said. Senior second basemen Christian Dominguez added similar thoughts. “It was a fun atmosphere to play in. It might’ve been the first time we could wear short sleeves on an opening Wednesday night,” Christian said.
Before Wednesday, the Braves had played 25 consecutive games away from home, stretching to last season.
It’s always good to sleep in your own bed after a while,” Dominguez said. “It’s a joy to be home,” he said with a chuckle. “It was nice to unpack everything, be at home, come to our stadium, take BP on the field, and just know that you could sleep in your own bed at night.” Andy Shadid said.
This season marks just the 14th in Bradley’s 119 year history where they will have played 18 games away before playing one game at home. Six of the last seven seasons and nine of the last 12 have started this way, becoming a regular occurrence as of late.
After being on the road for the first month and a half of the season, the Braves will continue a stretch of nine in a row at home. 13 of the next 14 games will take place in Dozer Park, with the only exception being an April 2 trip to Macomb, IL to take on Western Illinois. Bradley opens its conference slate with a 3-game series against Evansville. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6pm.