They’ve been close several times, including holding leads over some of the state’s most recognizable powerhouses they just could never hold on to, but entering Friday’s home game against Stagg, the Bradley-Bourbonnais baseball team was still in search of its first SouthWest Suburban Conference win.

And, fittingly on senior day, the senior duo of Andrew Kubal and Eric Rainbolt helped propel the Boilermakers to that elusive win by a 5-2 tally.

“It’s awesome,” Kubal said. “We’ve been in these types of games all year. To come out in this one feels great, especially on senior night.”

The Boilers (7-16, 1-10) had lost nine of their last 11 entering Friday, but looked like anything but a team on a skid Friday. After working around a pair of first-inning baserunners, Kubal settled in quickly to allow an unearned run on five scattered hits, a walk and seven strikeouts over six innings.

“I had a shaky first inning, not exactly where I wanted to be with my curveball or location really,” Kubal said. “But second inning I started to settle in and just had a good feel for my pitches.”

As Kubal got dialed in, the Boilers started to string together baserunners. Kubal drew a one-out walk in the third that was followed by a perfectly executed hit-and-run between courtesy runner Clark Six and Jace Boudreau, the latter of whom punched an opposite field single right where Stagg second baseman Ricky Rivas had departed from to put runners on the corners.

Rainbolt, who had already doubled in the first inning, got just under a Dominic Talaga offering, but sent a straightaway fly ball deep enough to center to plate Six for the first of four straight innings that saw the Boilers tally at least one run.

Kubal helped his own cause with a two-run triple in the fourth before Rainbolt pulled a no-doubter over the right-field fence for a solo shot in the fifth and added his second sac fly of the day in the sixth.

“It just feels good,” Rainbolt said. “I felt the energy from my teammates before the game. We were messing around a bit before the game but still locked in. It’s good to have a nice senior night with the guys. I feel like my teammates were the reason I was able to do that today.

“ ... There was a little bit of trash talk before the game and I thought that was good. I thought it got our team focused. I think the minute I made contact with the ball I thought it was gone.”

After his second sac fly, Rainbolt was summoned to pitch the seventh inning. In his first pitching appearance since a surgery to repair an ulnar nerve that slipped last month, the senior southpaw allowed an unearned run on a hit and struck out a batter.

One of the key arms for a pitching staff hoping to lead the Boilers to a third straight regional title this spring, Rainbolt knows how vital his health is down the stretch.

“I was excited,” Rainbolt said. “I’ve been working up to it for a while, sitting on the bench watching my teammates. It felt good to get back out there. … It’s really important. We’re looking to make another regional run. We’re back-to-back right now, that’s what we’re striving for and I’m hoping to help."

Rainbolt finished the day 2 for 2 with a homer, two sac flys and three RBIs. Jace Boudreau also had a pair of hits while Kubal and Byron Sumrall had a hit apiece as seniors accounted for all seven Bradley-Bourbonnais hits.

And if their senior leaders can keep pushing like that over the final couple weeks of the regular season and into regional action the same way Rainbolt and Kubal did Friday, Boilers coach Brad Schweigert thinks that not only can the team be where they need to be with their play, but also their confidence.

“Those two have got to be really good for us to continue to make a run here,” Schweigert said. “And they will. They’re competing with confidence, and when they can demonstrate to other guys what to compete with confidence looks like, it’s just contagious.”

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Bradley-Bourbonnais' Andrew Kubal throws a pitch to a Stagg batter during a game at Bradley-Bourbonnais Friday, May 8, 2026. (Mason Schweizer)