Freshman LHP Brent Stong gave Bradley 7.0 strong innings and senior LF Mike Tauchman was 2-for-4 with a double, run scored and RBI, but Evansville (23-33) staved off elimination in the 2013 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship when Kevin Kaczmarski launched a 3-run, walk-off home run, lifting the Purple Aces to a 4-3 win in Wednesday’s second round at Duffy Bass Field. The loss ends the Braves season at 17-32 and Tauchman, the Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year, will have to wait and see if his school-record .425 season batting average stands up as the nation’s best through the remainder of the postseason. Stong limited Evansville to one run on four hits in his longest outing of the season, 7.0 innings, then gave way to fellow freshman Elliot Ashbeck to start the eighth. Ashbeck (0-2) worked a perfect eighth, but ran into trouble with one out in the ninth. After surrendering a single to No. 8 hitter, shortstop Shain Showers, Ashbeck walked No. 9 hitter Andy Lasher before Kaczmarski lined his game-winning blast over the right-field wall.
-Bob
Senior third baseman Spencer Gaa homered and drove in three runs and Geremy Guerrero and Trent Johnson combined to allow six hits for Metamora in a 5-2 win over the host Limestone Wednesday night that earned both a title share in the Mid-Illini Conference. Gaa, headed to Bradley University, had a two-run double to highlight a four-run second inning off Rockets left-hander Dylan Weaver. Metamora (26-5, 13-1) last won the M-I title in baseball in 1996. Limestone (22-6, 13-1), also co-champion last season, was bidding to become the first team in the 31-year history of the M-I to go unbeaten in league play. Limestone in the second got an RBI single from Dominic Johnson and Adam Schmitt scored on Josh Wormer’s sacrifice fly to make the score 4-2. Redbirds freshman lefty Geremy Guerrero used the defensive support to face the minimum from the third through fifth innings and allowed five hits, struck out two and walked one. Sophomore Trent Johnson came on in the sixth. In the seventh he got Sean Green to ground into a force for the final out with two runners on.
-Bob
Bradley University took a 5-run lead into the ninth inning, but still could not put an end to its Missouri Valley Conference skid as visiting Southern Illinois (24-27, 6-12 MVC) used five extra base hits in its final at bat to rally for an 8-7 win Sunday afternoon at Dozer Park on senior day. The Braves (16-28, 1-17) dropped its 15th consecutive Valley game, despite holding a 7-2 lead with one out and nobody on base in the top of the ninth. Freshman right-hander Elliot Ashbeck retired his eighth consecutive Saluki hitter when he got Luke Mottashed to pop out to open the ninth, but five straight Salukis reached on three doubles, a home run and a walk. Senior right-hander Patrick Flanagan relieved with a runner at second base and the Braves still clinging to a 7-6 lead and he was within one pitch of closing out the win after he retired SIU slugger Austin Montgomery on a first-pitch foul out. After plunking Ryan Casillas with a pitch, Flanagan jumped ahead of Cody Daily, 0-2, but gave up a 2-run double to the Salukis third baseman for SIU’s fifth extra-base hit of the inning. Despite the deflating events of the top of the ninth, Bradley had a chance to rally against SIU closer Todd Eaton. Brady Wilkin started the home half of the ninth with a high-chopper to second and wound up at 2nd base when Wes Neece’s throw went into the first base camera bay. After Nolan Sponsler grounded out to second, moving Wilkin to third, SIU elected to pitch to the league’s top hitter, Mike Tauchman, who was 8-for-11 in the series. SIU appeared to catch a huge break when Tauchman skied a pop up on the infield, but shortstop Jake Welch could not make the catch after racing across the front of the mound to the first base side.
-Bob
Senior pitcher Mackenzie Camp saved one of her best outings of the year for the final home game of her career, giving up just one unearned run in a complete game 3-1 win to help the Braves split a doubleheader with Missouri State Sunday afternoon at Laura Bradley Park. The daughter of Carrie and Greg Camp, Mackenzie was born in Peoria, IL and has an older brother Ryan. She will graduate later this month from Bradley University with a degree in health science. A two-time first-team all-state selection, she helped Limestone High School (32-8) to a 2008 IHSA class 3A state softball championship. She tossed a 2-hit shutout defeating Mattoon 3-0 at Eastside Centre.
-Bob
Missouri State University took the opener 3-1 to eliminate Bradley University from the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, but senior pitcher MacKenzie Camp and the Braves ended the season on a high note with a 3-1 victory in the nightcap. Bradley (23-29 overall, 8-17 MVC) left 11 runners on base in the opener and was unable to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities as Missouri State (22-29 overall, 13-12 MVC) held on for a 3-1 win behind sophomore pitcher Chelsea Jones. The Bears took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, scoring the first run of the day on a double steal. A pinch hit Rebecca McPherson double and triple off the bat of Kerri Cunningham led to another Missouri State run in the top of the sixth to give the Bears a 3-0 advantage, before Bradley snapped a streak of 21 consecutive innings without a run with a score in the bottom half of the inning. Madeline Lynch-Crumrine took the loss in the circle for Bradley in the day’s first game, finishing the year with a 14-16 record. Camp pitched 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen in the opener, striking out four and walking one. Camp carried that momentum into the second game, holding Missouri State to just four hits and one unearned run in a complete victory. She struck out two in the win, which gave her a career-best nine victories (9-12) on the year. Juniors Alex Chandler and Marina Groenewegen homered in the nightcap for the Braves.
-Bob
