Bradley baseball finds themselves in an unfavorable position with their pitching inconsistencies making it hard for the Braves to find a way out.
“We can’t get out of our own way right now,” head coach Elvis Dominguez said. “We got guys that are talented, who are right now struggling.”
Dropping the Valparaiso series, losing against Big Ten opposition Iowa for the second time this season and taking residence in the basement of the Valley is surely not what the Braves had in mind as they’ve just passed the halfway point of the season.
Good looks despite loss
Despite not gaining a win against another Big Ten team, the Braves kept a tight contest in Duane Banks Field in Iowa City on Wednesday
“We played well, for the first five or so innings. And then we just weren’t able to manufacture any runs on our end,” Dominguez said. “It just didn’t go our way yesterday. But I liked the way that we played, especially coming off the rough weekend we had against Valpo.”
With this being the fourth game in a row that the Braves have dropped, pitching inconsistencies gave Iowa a window to take an early two-run lead with consecutive homers by the Hawkeyes’ Brennen Dorighi and Raider Tello.
Bradley found consistency with sophomore pitcher Travis Lutz. Leaving the Hawkeyes hungry in the third, Lutz started the fourth with a walk and a hit batter. He remediated the situation with two consecutive Hawkeyes striking out looking.
As Iowa looked to get another arm on the mound, Jared Simpson successfully struck out two Braves before junior Carson Husmann stepped up and made it a one-run game in the fourth inning. He sent Simpson’s pitch deep to left field and put the Braves behind 2-1.
“I have to do a better job of trying to get more focus [from them], we’re focusing on all the fundamentals and trying to get back to the basics as much as we can right now,” Dominguez said. “Because they’re, I believe, putting too much pressure on themselves.”
Looking to stump the Braves’ momentum, Iowa sent Bradley to the dugout without a hit in the fifth. The Hawkeyes took advantage of the Braves’ fresh pitcher by adding three more runs up on the board.
It didn’t get better for the Braves as they couldn’t find a way to chip at the deficit and ended the game by giving Iowa an insurance run to finish the matchup 6-1.
Bigger than baseball
Before the Braves faced off against the Hawkeyes, they participated in their yearly tradition of partnering with Vs. Cancer and shaving their heads in support.
“We’re very privileged to be able to play this game in the division one level. And you know, there are a lot of kids out there that don’t even get the chance to play youth baseball because of the things that they’re going through,” sophomore pitcher Jacob Kisting said. “This is kind of a check your privilege type deal because we’re in a situation where we can use our platforms to fundraise for things that really matter.”
“It’s something we all get to bond over, for the next few weeks you know who the baseball players are on campus,” Kisting added.
The Braves also had their annual celebration honoring former Bradley pitcher Mitch Janssen in their series against Valparaiso. An accomplished pilot, Janssen passed away in 2018 after his plane crashed and the team used commemorative baseballs with Janssen’s initials and an aircraft on it.
Braves outshined
Valparaiso came into the matchup against the Braves with a convincing win against Purdue Fort Wayne under their belts. The Braves found it tough to beat the Beacons at home at Dozer Park.
Bradley drew first blood in the third after junior Ryan Vogel singled to right field, bringing senior Adam Brian home. Junior Logan Delgado also attacked the right side of the field, doubling as senior Conor O’Brien passed home plate.
The Braves’ contagious hitting transmitted into the fourth as freshmen Easton Harris tripled to right field. A sacrifice fly by Brian was enough to give the Braves a three-run advantage heading into the fourth.
“I think that we had, you know, the first six innings, it was pretty one-sided of who had the command of the game, and I think that it was us,” Kisting said.
Kisting was one of the main reasons that Bradley was able to keep Valpo quiet, only allowing two hits in six innings. After striking out his seventh Beacon, Kisting gave up a double to Brady Renfro which built up enough momentum for Jake Skrine to send one deep to left field, making it a one-run game.
“I started to slip up a little bit there, a few hard hit balls here and there, and gave up a few runs. After that, it kind of slipped away from us there,” Kisting said.
A groundout and a single later allowed the Beacons to knot the game at three as Ryan Maka passed home plate. The Braves had the best opportunity to take the game in the eighth inning, but left three men stranded as their last out flew out to right field.
Heading into the extra innings, the Beacons completed the comeback with assistance from a Bradley error. They left three men stranded, keeping the door open for Bradley with a score of 4-3. However, Beacon pitcher Grant Jablonski struck out the final two Braves to give his team the opener.
Rough start dooms Braves
In their second game the Beacons took hold of the game early on in the first inning, gaining a six run advantage.
“We were behind six to nothing in the first but our guys kept battling back and made it pretty close, and then they got a couple of runs, we came back, got a couple runs and ended up losing the game 12 to eight,” Dominguez said.
Beacons pitcher Nathan Chasey kept Bradley dormant in the second inning, striking out three Braves. The Beacons put up two more runs on the board before the Braves’ bats started waking up, scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth from a sophomore Michael Mylott homer after only registering one hit overall as a team.
The Braves doubled their score after a Vogel single led sophomore Cal McGinnis and Harris home in the fifth. Despite the Braves efforts to catch up to the Beacons, the Valparaiso bats remained hot heading into the final stretch, drying a potential comeback for Bradley.
Braves overwhelmed in the final stretch
After weather precautions forced the third game of the series to a doubleheader on Saturday, the Braves found it difficult to bounce back against the Beacons.
“Anytime a pitcher regardless of who they are goes through the order it’s going to be a little bit different the third time, so that was definitely something that played a factor for everybody,” Kisting said.
Despite keeping it a two run game heading into the sixth inning, Bradley’s lineup couldn’t figure out the puzzle that was Valpo pitcher Bobby Nowak, who struck out six Braves in his seven innings of work.
O’Brien was the spark that the Bradley dugout needed, as he doubled and singled in the first and fourth inning. However, Nowak adapted to the Braves slugger, striking him out to end the sixth inning. In the seventh and final inning, with two outs on the board, junior Jackson Chatterton singled to right field and got to second thanks to a wild pitch. He was left stranded as the last Brave grounded out.
The Braves now look to break their four game losing streak against their I-74 rivals and basement roommates Illinois State. Kisting believes that going back to the basics will help the team in the long run as they search for the answers to their pitching inconsistencies.
“It’s really important for us to continue to play for the things that we originally started playing this game for and get back to our roots,” Kisting said. “Sometimes you can get off track from that, and things start to slide a little bit. But if you get back to what you started, what you started with and why you started. Things can start to turn around really quick for a team.”
