Bradley pitching shuts down Wichita State for series win

PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley hadn’t beaten Wichita State since 2007 and hadn’t won a series against the Shockers since 2003.

The last time Bradley beat WSU with pitching depth?

Maybe never.

But this is a different Braves teams that finished a series victory over the Shockers with Saturday’s 3-2 win at rainy Dozer Park. WSU dominated the series for decades and feasted on erratic Bradley bullpens and over-burdened starters. This weekend, Bradley struck out 34 WSU hitters and held the Shockers to four runs and 10 hits to grab the final two games of the series.

WSU (14-25, 6-6 Missouri Valley Conference) fell out of third place in the MVC behind Bradley (26-10, 5-4).

“They definitely stifled our offense,” WSU coach Todd Butler said. “We had a good night on Friday against their No. 1 starter. But their guy on Saturday might have been their best starter. Then today, we just had a few opportunities.”

Bradley often showed up for the Sunday game thin on pitching and ripe for a blowout. A year ago, WSU run-ruled the Braves 18-8 at Eck Stadium in the series finale. Lefty Brent Strong struck out six and held WSU to four hits and two runs over six innings. Then it got tougher for the Shockers against an experienced bullpen. Closer Matt Dennis saved his fourth win of the week, second of the weekend, to wrap up his MVC-leading ninth save.

All those arms have Bradley on track for its first winning season since the 2007 team went 32-21 under former coach Dewey Kalmer. Bradley’s bullpen limited WSU to three hits and one run over five innings on Saturday and Sunday. Bradley’s starters went deep into the game and handed it over to a fresh bullpen, which is how it is supposed to work.

“I knew I had plenty of arms and if I could get quality starts I felt pretty comfortable,” Braves coach Elvis Dominguez said. “If we can keep it close and get a lead in the eighth, you’re going to have to beat us because the guys we have out there are pretty solid.”

The Shockers, after struggling with Strong’s off-speed and breaking pitches, got to him in the fifth. Taylor Sanagorski doubled to left field with one out and scored on Tanner Kirk’s double to left. Kirk scored on Trey Vickers’ single to left. He moved to second on a groundball out, but Strong got Daniel Kihle to pop up to end the inning.

The Braves responded with a three-run fifth, spoiling a good outing by WSU freshman lefty Jeb Bargfeldt, all with two outs. Bargfeldt walked Chris Godinez on a 3-2 pitch to start the trouble. Godinez broke for second on an 0-2 pitch to Isaac Smith, who bounced a ball through the vacated spot at second, barely reaching the outfield. Spencer Gaa snuck a groundball under Vickers’ glove into left to score Godinez.

Bargfeldt battled Elliot Ashbeck to a full count before leaving a fastball up that Ashbeck mashed into right field to score two runs and give Bradley a 3-2 lead.

Kihle singled with one out in the eighth before Dominguez summoned Dennis for a four-out save. Ryan Tinkham singled on his first pitch to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. Dennis struck out Sam Hilliard and got Gunnar Troutwine to fly out to right to end that threat. He struck out the side in the ninth, his sixth strikeout in nine batters faced against WSU.

Butler had little to do as third base coach on Sunday. Fate robbed him of a chance to make one interesting decision in the fourth. Hilliard stroked a ball toward center and Smith broke in to allow the ball to sail over his head. It rolled to the 400-foot sign in center as Hilliard motored around second. About that time, Smith threw up his hands when the ball disppeared under the green padding on the wall.

Butler wasn’t sure if he would have sent Hilliard home.

“There was a chance,” Butler said. “That’s kind of the way things are going. He smokes a ball that gets over the center fielder’s head. It sticks in the pad. We at least were at third base, but it’s a ground-rule double now.”

Worth noting — The Shockers didn’t homer, snapping a streak of eight straight games with a home run, their longest since 2008 … Bradley won a series against WSU for the first time since 2003, a 3-1 series win in Peoria … Butler said Jon Ferrendelli or Hilliard are candidates to start on Tuesday at Kansas.

This story was originally published April 19, 2015 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Bradley pitching shuts down Wichita State for series win."