ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the first time in his career, Matt Bradley was named the South Atlantic Conference's Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday announced by the league office in the first week of the honors in 2021.
The Talbott, Tenn. native is the first Carson-Newman pitcher to win the laurel since Greg Valentine earned the plaudit on Feb. 27, 2018, one week after teammate Dillon Cate took home the honor. Tyler Shaver (Dandridge, Tenn.) won a weekly award in 2020 but it was from the Tennessee Sports Writers Association on March 4.
This is the second time in Bradley's career that he has been given some hardware by the conference being named to the SAC's All-Tournament team in 2018 as a rookie following a complete game effort against Anderson.
It is also the second time that the hurler has earned a weekly distinction being named the TSWA Pitcher of the Week on April 17, 2018 as a rookie. In his first career SAC start, the Talbott, Tenn. native fired six shutout frames to help Carson-Newman take the series finale 5-0 over the Bears. Bradley finished his second-career start by working six innings allowing three hits and five walks with five strikeouts on 92 pitches for his first collegiate win.
On opening day, the right-hander threw 97 pitches, 65 for strikes over six strong innings of work. He allowed two runs, one earned run, six hits and one walk fanning a career-high tying 11 batters from the SAC Championships contest against Anderson in 2018.
Bradley struck out the side in the first frame, one of the four innings that he punched out at least two batters on the day. When he walked off of the mound, the Eagles were on top 4-3 against Limestone.
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The 11 strikeouts were the most by a Carson-Newman pitcher on opening day as far as game box scores are readily available beginning in 2002. Two pitchers recorded eight in that span with Michael Elliot doing so over four relief innings against Augusta State on Feb. 1, 2008 and Ryan Eberle fanning eight in 6 1/3 innings at Limestone on Feb. 2, 2016.
As a team, the Orange and Blue finished the afternoon with 13 punch outs, the most in game No. 1 since Feb. 2, 2018 at Limestone when Cate, Valentine and Will Gardner combined for 16.
Dating back to last season, Bradley has logged at least six innings in four of his last six times on the rubber with three quality starts over that period racking up 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
Carson-Newman is slated to open the doors to the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex on Saturday in its final non-conference tuneup before league action opens when Mars Hill visits for a doubleheader starting at noon. The game will air on cneagles.com/live with video and audio options available by the Eagle Sports Network.
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