Shocker report: WSU 7, Bradley 0

E — Koll. DP — Bradley 2. LOB — Bradley 3, WSU 4. 2B — Gaa (13), Kihle (10). HR — Gillaspie 2 (12). SB — Smith (17), Dearman (19). CS — Godinez.

WP — Adkins, Schuermann. HBP — Green (by Safko). Umpires — home, Ben Harlow; first, Mark Hutchinson; third, Mark Wagers. T — 2:28. A — 3,174.

Twelve home runs in a season isn’t going to make a splash in the WSU record books. The old days of bouncier bats and more games produced lots of power hitters.

Since the NCAA introduced the toned-down BBCOR bats in 2011, 12 is a landmark for the Shockers and there are plenty of games remaining for first baseman Casey Gillaspie to add to that total. He homered twice on Saturday to set a career-high after hitting 11 last season.

He is the first Shocker to hit more than 11 since Drew Moffitt hit 26 in 2004.

“It says he’s one of the premier hitters in college baseball,” WSU coach Todd Butler said. “His tools for his position are just off the chart.”

If there is another candidate for Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, that player has a lot of ground to make up. Gillaspie is hitting .403 with a .693 slugging percentage and a .509 on-base percentage. In 14 MVC games, he is hitting .490 with a .959 slugging percentage and a .587 on-base percentage.

“He’s the best player in our league,” Bradley coach Elvis Dominguez said. “No question about it.”

Gillaspie, a junior from Omaha, also claimed the family home run title at WSU. Older brother Conor, now with the Chicago White Sox, peaked at 11 homers in 2008.

“He had the juiced bats,” Casey said. “He’s in the big leagues, though, so he’s got me beat.”

Wichita State’s Tanner Dearman was in a tough spot with runners on second and third and down in the count 1-2 to reliever Eric Scheuermann in the seventh.

He never expected to watch Scheuermann hand off the ball after that second strike. Bradley coach Elvis Dominguez, however, went to Andy Johnson to finish off the at-bat.

“I’ve never seen that happen before,” Dearman said. “That guy (Scheuermann) was throwing quite a bit harder than the other guy, so I just needed to get ready and get my foot down and my hands inside the pitch, because I knew they were going to throw me off-speed.”

Johnson threw a slider away for ball two. He came back with a change-up that Dearman guided over the drawn-in infield and into right field to score two runs.

The Shockers can sweep their second MVC series of the season on Sunday WSU starter Cale Elam improved to 5-0 with a 0.81 ERA in five appearances and two starts against Bradley The Braves went 0 for 8 with runners on base and failed to advance any of their seven runners WSU won its 18th straight game against Bradley and can sweep the series for the fifth straight time. Bradley last defeated the Shockers in 2007 in Peoria, Ill.

This story was originally published May 3, 2014 at 11:47 PM with the headline "Shocker report: WSU 7, Bradley 0."