NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Freshman right-hander Matt Bradley was named the Tennessee Sportswriters Association Pitcher of the Week Tuesday afternoon for his efforts against Lenoir-Rhyne in the series finale on Saturday.
In his first career South Atlantic Conference start, the Talbott, Tenn. native fired six shutout frames to help Carson-Newman take the series finale 5-0 over the Bears.
"They didn't have a team that was driving the ball a ton," Bradley reflected. "They had good speed on the bases. I was trying to get the first guy of every inning out and throw strikes."
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.
He had retired nine of 10 batters before running into trouble in the sixth stanza with two outs. The righty allowed a walk and a double before an intentional walk loaded the bases. Bradley worked the count to 1-2 before inducing a fielder's choice ground out to second bases to strand the bases loaded and preserve a scoreless tie.
"I had confidence that I could get the next guy," Bradley stated. "The fact that they had confidence in me just meant a lot to me."
In four games against SAC foes, the pitcher has allowed one earned run in 12 2/3 innings pitched this season with 12 strikeouts – good for a 0.71 earned run average. Overall in seven outings, Bradley is 1-1 with a save and a 1.37 ERA with 19 punch outs in 19 2/3 innings pitched.
The next time the rookie will toe the rubber will come on Saturday against Tusculum in a series that will dictate whether the Eagles get a top four slot and a bye into the double elimination portion of the 2018 Pilot/Flying J SAC Baseball Championships.
"We have to feed off of this win," Bradley said "Hopefully we can win our midweek game and have some momentum going into the Tusculum series and finish the season off right."
Carson-Newman is in action on Tuesday against Trevecca Nazerene in Nashville with first pitch slated for 6 p.m. EST. The Eagle Sports Network hits the airwaves with an audio stream on cneagles.com/live starting at 5:50.
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