INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Bradley is returning to the NCAA Baseball Championship for the first time since 1968 and the Braves (35-19) will begin the "Road to Omaha" at the Louisville Regional. The last team announced during the tournament selection show, Bradley is the No. 2 seed in Louisville and will face third-seeded Michigan Friday at 2 p.m. ET.
2015 NCAA Baseball Louisville Regional Schedule
Friday, May 29 | (ESPN3)
Game 1: No. 2 BRADLEY (35-19) vs. No. 3 Michigan (37-23) - 2 p.m.
Game 2: No. 1 Louisville (43-16) vs. No. 4 Morehead State (38-20) - 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 30 | (ESPN3)
Game 3: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser - Noon
Game 4: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner - 4 p.m.
Sunday, May 31 | (ESPN3)
Game 5: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser - Noon
Game 6: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner - 4 p.m.
Monday, June 1 | (ESPN3) - If necessary
Game 7: Game 6 Loser vs. Game 6 Winner - 6 p.m.
All times are Eastern Daylight Savings
Louisville Regional Ticket Information
Each game is a session
Single-Session Tickets
$15 Reserved Chairbacks
$10 General Admission/Berm
$5 College Student
All-Session Tickets (7 possible games)
$70 Reserved Chairbacks
$45 College Student
All-session tickets may be purchased online at gocards.com, by phone or in person starting Tuesday (9 a.m. ET) through the Louisville Athletics Ticket Office. Single-session tickets will go on sale Thursday (9 a.m. ET) online at gocards.com.
Bradley is 2-3 versus Michigan, most-recently going 1-2 versus the Wolverines during the 1984 Jody Ramsey Tournament in Edinburg, Texas. The Braves were 2-0 against the Big Ten Conference this season, sweeping a home-and-home set against the league's regular-season runner-up Iowa.
Bradley and Louisville once were Missouri Valley Conference rivals and the Braves own an 18-8 edge all-time against the Cardinals. The teams have not faced each other since Bradley won a 7-3 decision in seven innings March 10, 1996 at Louisville. The Braves have met Morehead State just once, earning a 13-4 victory March 5, 2011 in Knoxville, Tenn. In its only games against Morehead State's Ohio Valley Conference rivals, the Braves took 2-of-3 games from regular-season league champion Southeast Missouri State Feb. 27-28 in New Orleans and took both meetings against Belmont during a 3-team round robin in Nashville March 7-8.
Bradley earned its spot in the field on the strength of a No. 19 final RPI, fourth-best among the teams that either did not earn an automatic bid by winning their respective conference tournaments or were not selected as one of the 16 regional hosts Sunday night. After tying for third in the Missouri Valley Conference, the third-seeded Braves advanced to the MVC Baseball Championship title game with wins against Evansville (9-2), Indiana State (5-4) and #11 Dallas Baptist (3-1), the latter for a season split against the nation's No. 2 RPI team.
Seventh-year Bradley head coach Elvis Dominguez is familiar with both Louisville and Morehead State, based on his seven previous seasons as the head coach at Eastern Kentucky from 2002-08. Dominguez was just 1-12 against the Cardinals while at EKU, but was 15-6 against Morehead State.
The Braves are making their seventh appearance in the NCAA Baseball Championship, but the first since the NCAA began instituting the current regional format. Bradley's previous postseason appearances were 1950, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1962, 1968 and the Braves advanced to the College World Series in 1950 and 1956. Bradley lost both of its NCAA District V Playoff games in 1957 (Iowa State), 1959 (Oklahoma State), 1962 (Missouri) and 1968 (Oklahoma State) and the Braves have lost nine straight NCAA postseason games overall since their third-round win against Wyoming (12-8) in the 1956 CWS.
