SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Bradley's four-run, ninth-inning rally capped a see-saw battle with Missouri State, as the Braves stopped a pair of lengthy streaks for the Bears with a 10-9 victory in the opening bout of the two clubs' three-game Missouri Valley Conference series Friday afternoon at Hammons Field.

Luke Shadid's two-out, two-run single flipped the score in the Braves' favor for good, highlighting a late scoring frenzy that saw BU stop a 15-game regular-season road skid versus the Bears that dated back to April 2007. The Braves' four-run rally also ended a streak of 163 consecutive Missouri State wins in which the Bears had taken a lead into the ninth inning.

Bradley's decisive rally negated a three-run, go-ahead double from MSU's John Privitera in the bottom of the eighth that handed the Bears (13-28, 4-6 MVC) and All-America closer Connor Sechler (2-4) a seemingly comfortable 9-6 advantage. But Jean-Francois Garon's leadoff single ignited the Braves offense, before Connor O'Brien's third double of the game brought the potential tying run to the plate. Andy Shadid delivered a run-scoring double to slice the lead to two runs, and a walk to Keaton Rice loaded the bases.

Sechler recovered to fan pinch hitter Connor Manthey to bring the Bears within one out of victory. But Nick McMurray's daring bunt single plated another run and kept the bases full of Braves. Shadid then laced Sechler's 0-2 offering just beyond the reach of a leaping Privitera at second for the back-breaking blow in a game that featured three ties and five lead changes.

Theron Denlinger accomplished what three previous BU hurlers had failed to earlier in the contest—preserve a lead. The junior right-hander quickly dispatched all three MSU hitters he faced in the home half of the ninth, marking the first time all afternoon the Bears were retired in order.

O'Brien enjoyed a banner day at the plate, finishing 4-for-5 with his three key doubles, while Brendan Dougherty and Garon each tallied a pair of hits to lead the BU attack.

The heart-stopping finish fell in line with the game's first seven innings, as each club rallied from deficits to ultimately level the score at 6-6. BU grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second on a Drew Millas throwing error and a two-out, RBI single by Eli Rawlinson. MSU responded with a two-spot in the bottom of the inning, using a Joey Polak run-scoring single and a Jack Duffy fielder's choice grounder to even the score at 2-2.

Bradley (25-13, 5-5 MVC), which scored in six different innings, scored single runs in the third and fourth frames to reclaim its two-run cushion. Dougherty and Garon recorded back-to-back singles to open the third, before a Jake Lochner wild pitch—the first of two MSU wild pitches that would bring in BU runs—allowed Dougherty to score. A two-out rally engineered by Luke Shadid made it a 4-2 game in the fourth.

But Dakota Kotowski had an answer in the bottom of the fourth, as the MSU freshman launched his team-leading eighth home run of the season with a man aboard to knot the score once again.

The Braves scratched out a fifth-inning run with the help of a wild pitch on a swinging third strike, plus a failed pickoff attempt. O'Brien's first double of the afternoon chased home Garon for a 5-4 BU edge.

In the sixth, MSU rallied on a Polak RBI double and a Duffy sac fly to left to gain its first lead of the day. But Garon, who scored three times in the game, walked with one out in the seventh, moved to third on another O'Brien double and trotted home with the tying run on a Sechler wild pitch.

Logan Geha drew a free pass after being struck by a Ben Cilano (2-0) pitch to start the eighth, and the Bears capitalized on a two-out infield hit by Mason Hull and a walk to Duffy to load the bases for Privitera. The junior second baseman laced a sharp grounder just inside the bag at third to clear the bases with a three-run double that gave MSU a 9-6 lead.

The loss—the fifth-straight MVC setback for MSU—marked the first for the Bears when taking a lead into the ninth since a May 10, 2014 loss at Indiana State.

In addition to Privitera's three RBIs, Polak went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and Kotowski finished 1-for-2 with two runs scored and two runs batted-in.

The Bears and Braves will square off in game two of the series Saturday (April 27) at Noon (CDT).