Baylor's Jack Reynolds and Bradley Central's Ryan McElhaney wrestle Tuesday at Baylor.Baylor drew first blood and finished on a five-match win streak. In between, the host Red Raiders needed their share of Band-aids before securing a 35-18 wrestling victory over Bradley Central.
This wasn't a monumental match from a historical standpoint, although Bradley and Baylor matchups have been few and far between. The history made Tuesday night reflected two top-drawer teams tangling in the best meet of a still-young wrestling season.
"It was a fun dual -- a couple of tough teams that battled well. There were no pins till we got to the tougher part of our lineup," Baylor coach Ben Nelson said. "I have no doubt Bradley will be a top-three Division I team by the end of the season."
The Red Raiders were extended in stretching their win streak to eight meets without a loss.
"Going in we were hoping to win one in the bottom half (lower weights)," Nelson said. "Our upper half? They should be competitive."
Baylor got what it wanted against the Bears' stout lower-weight competitors when Mr. Flexible and all-arms-and-legs Jack Reynolds posted a 10-3 decision over the Bears' Ryan McElhaney.
"I'd like to think it was closer than the (final) score indicated. There were a lot of battles inside the battle," Bradley coach Ben Smith said. "It's a great atmosphere -- I love their (rowdy) student body -- and it's a great environment for this gym and the kind of environment that will help us down the road."
The Bears lost the 285-pound match to Cooper Reiciche and took their first lead (5-3) on 106-pound T.J. Hicks' technical fall. They got up 21-10 on major decisions from Toribio Navarro (113) and Knox Fuller (126) and decisions by Hunter Parker (132), Stephen Scott (138) and Caleb Adkins (152).
"Of our six wins, three got us bonus points, but we had no pins," Smith said. "We have to get all the points we can in the bonus situations. A pin or two in those matches, a win or two elsewhere and we're right in the thick of it."
Baylor finally regained the lead 19-18 on 170-pound Blake Sutherland's pin -- the first fall of the evening -- and the Raiders then blew it open with a pin from Cayman Seagraves, a major decision from Ryan Parker and a pin from Jon Schmissrauter.
The end might not have come so soon for the Bears, but they lost four team points -- the first for an unsportsmanlike ruling and the next three for a second unsportsmanlike that led to an ejection for first-year Bradley assistant Travis Creagan, a former three-time state champion.
"I don't watch the match to get a black eye because of the ejection," Smith said. "He's a young coach. I expected more, but I'm sure Coach (Steve) Logsdon expected more from me."
As an assistant to Logsdon, Smith, in defense of one of Bradley's wrestlers, became embroiled in a near-fracas with opposing fans during a 2011 state duals semifinals and was ejected from the match and the tournament and relegated to the team bus for the championship match, which the Bears won.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.