The Valparaiso University baseball team rallied to tie Sunday's game at 10 with a four-run seventh inning, but visiting Bradley hit a two-out, go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth to beat the Beacons 11-10 on a warm and windy day at Emory G. Bauer Field. Valpo cracked three home runs and totaled 14 hits in the defeat.
 
How It Happened

• The Beacons played from behind early as Bradley hit a three-run homer in the top of the first, but the high-scoring tone was set right away when Valpo responded on a two-run homer by Brayden Pleau (Appleton, Wis. / Kimberly) that traveled 371 feet in the bottom of the first.
• The Beacons got even in the last of the second as Case Sullivan (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) got all of one – a 430-foot drive to straightaway center.
• Valpo captured its first lead of the game with its third home run in as many innings in the bottom of the third as Thomas Cooper (Brentwood, Tenn. / Ravenwood) cleared the wall with a 378-foot dinger, a three-run shot that put the hosts ahead 6-3.
• After the first-inning home run, Valpo starting pitcher Nick Baffa (Glenview, Ill. / Notre Dame College Prep) settled in, putting up zeros in the second, third and fourth. He retired the side in order in the top of the fourth to keep Valpo up three.
• The top of the fifth flipped the game as the Braves scored six times on six hits to take a 9-6 lead. A leadoff home run in the top of the sixth expanded the lead to four at 10-6.
• It stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh, when Valpo got even with a four-run uprising. Cal Schembra (Greenwood, Ind. / Center Grove) ripped an RBI double, Javin Gauthier (De Pere, Wis. / De Pere) stroked a run-scoring single and Gavin Bennett came through with a clutch two-out, two-run knock to level the score at 10.
• Redshirt senior Spencer Boynton (Tampa, Fla. / Seffner Christian) pitched scoreless ball in his two innings, working the seventh and eighth. The Braves stranded the potential go-ahead run at third in the eighth.
• In the top of the ninth, Bradley drew a leadoff walk, and then a pop fly on the right side of the infield accounted for the first out of the inning. Then, all chaos broke loose as Valpo catcher Eli Riley (Zanesville, Ind. / Norwell) made a good throw to second on a stolen-base try despite being interfered with by the batter, and the runner at second over-slid the base and was tagged out by Sullivan. Bradley's acting head coach (since the actual head coach had been ejected in the previous inning) challenged the call at second. After a lengthy review, the call on the field stood. Because the home plate umpire had called batter's interference on the play as well, the Beacons thought they had a double play and cleared off the field. At one point, Bradley began warming up for the bottom of the ninth, but the umpires finally clarified that by rule the batter's interference is ignored when the runner is caught stealing at second base.
• AJ Garcia, who would have been out on batter's interference had Riley not cut down the over-sliding runner at second (and the runner would have been sent back to first in that scenario), received new life and took full advantage. Once his plate appearance finally resumed, he hit a go-ahead home run to right field that stood as the game-winner.

Inside the Game

• Valpo's three home runs tied a season high that was previously reached on March 22 at Murray State and March 31 at Northwestern.
• Cooper homered for the second straight day, lifting his season total to seven, all in the last 16 games. This marked the 11^th home run of his collegiate career, all within the last two seasons.
• Sullivan notched his third home run of the season, all in the last eight games. This marked his 10^th home run in his two seasons at Valpo.
• Pleau's home run was his third this year including his second in the last five games.  
• All nine Valpo batters had at least one hit, led by Pleau with three. This marked the third time this season that Pleau collected three hits or more.
• The lower third of the order – Gauthier, George Betevis (Hanover Park, Ill. / Bartlett) and Sullivan – lashed out two hits apiece.
• One-run games continued to haunt the Beacons, as they slipped to 1-7 this season and 2-16 in the last two seasons in contests dictated by a single tally.
• The game required a lengthy three hours, 47 minutes to be played. This was Valpo's second-longest game of the season, behind 3:48 on Feb. 20 at Wofford.

Up Next
The Beacons (9-22, 2-7 MVC) will visit Notre Dame on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. CT in a midweek matchup. The game will air on ACCNX with a link to live video and stats available on ValpoAthletics.com.