PEORIA (Interstat) — Robert Sanford pitched six innings of five-hit, two-run ball and Bradley snapped a two-game losing streak to Illinois-Chicago with a 6-2 victory Saturday evening in a Missouri Valley Conference game at Dozer Park.

Sanford, who allowed only one earned run and struck out two, improved to 2-7 on the season after a rough outing a week earlier against Gardner-Webb. He worked out of early traffic and kept the game tied before the Braves broke through with a pair of home runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

Bradley, which entered the day at 10-45-1 overall and 3-19 in conference play, pulled away after Illinois-Chicago starter Kendall Lyons held the Braves hitless through six innings. Lyons pitched six innings, allowed no hits, one earned run and struck out two, but he left with the score tied 2-2. The Flames fell to 24-27-1 overall and 11-11 in the MVC.

Illinois-Chicago scored its only runs in the top of the second inning. Colin Husko led off with a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Will Flanigan singled to left field, sending Husko to third, and Vidal Colon followed with a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Husko. The Flames added another run in the sixth when Sean Cody singled, stole second and scored on a pinch-hit single by Gavin Acosta.

Bradley answered in the bottom of the first inning. Sohrab Rezaei was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a single by Landon Lowe. After a fielder’s choice, Hayden Miller singled to drive in Rezaei. Miller then stole second and reached third on a throwing error by Illinois-Chicago catcher Sean Cody, allowing Michael Quick to score from first base unearned, tying the game 2-2.

The game remained deadlocked until the bottom of the seventh inning. After Angelo Aleman was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, Jaxon Schumacher launched a two-run home run to left field off Illinois-Chicago reliever Jacob Jakubowski, giving Bradley a 4-2 lead.

In the eighth inning, the Braves added two more runs. Luke Skinner was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and stole third. Michael Quick then homered to right field off reliever Aidan Terronez, scoring Skinner and pushing the lead to 6-2.

Illinois-Chicago threatened in the top of the ninth when Sean Cody singled and Will Flanigan walked, but Bradley reliever Eli Lehrman struck out Gavin Acosta and Vidal Colon, then induced a lineout to second base to end the game. Lehrman pitched three scoreless innings for his first save of the season, allowing two hits and striking out three.

Landon Lowe went 2 for 3 with a double for Bradley. Hayden Miller finished 2 for 4 with an RBI. For Illinois-Chicago, Lucas Smith had two hits and Sean Cody added two hits and a stolen base.

The victory snapped a six-game losing streak for Bradley, which had lost 10 of its previous 11 games. Illinois-Chicago had won the first two games of the three-game series by scores of 8-3 and 11-4 on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Zack Millsap pitched one-third of an inning for Illinois-Chicago, striking out one, while Jared Lessman and Aidan Terronez each allowed an earned run in one-third of an inning.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Illinois-Chicago 6, Bradley 2, and Interstatl’s ELO system gave Illinois-Chicago a 68 percent probability to win.