Marty Gordon
A group of baseball players gathered this weekend not to celebrate a major winning streak or even championships.
Instead, the 1985 group of Radford University players met during the school’s homecoming to recognize the first year of the program.
That first team included Ralph Berrier of Hillsville, who would later serve as the sports editor for the Radford News Journal.
The facts were staggering one-sided for the first year. Twenty-eight games were on the road that season. The team lost one game 38-0 on the road at Campbell. The Highlanders would finish with a 4-26 record. The Campbell loss set an NCAA record that has since been rewritten.
Berrier has pointed out within five years of our first season, Radford baseball had its first winning record, they beat Virginia Tech in 1989 and had a player named Phil Leftwich who was drafted and made it to the Major Leagues.
“The hard times that 1985 team endured – all road games; not even a homefield for practice; one player on any kind of scholarship; hand-me-down Philadelphia Phillies uniforms, and one grad assistant as their coach – are now something those guys can smile about,” according to Berrier. “I remember the weather was so bad late that winter and early spring that we finally gave up and took the team photo in the Dedmon Center in front of the wooden bleachers.”
Over the years, the team has won Big South Conference championships, played in NCAA Tournaments and produced several big-leaguers and guys who played in the minors.
Christiansburg’s Kevin Scott was a part of the first team. He was killed on Feb. 23, 1986, when his vehicle was struck as he made a left turn off US 11 toward the driveway of his family’s farm. The other driver was fleeing police, heading east from Radford, and did not have his headlights on during a dark night
Scott most likely died instantly. He was 19 years old. The Kevin Scott Memorial Scholarship was established after his death. This weekend, Scott was remembered when the funding was presented to another Christiansburg graduate, Clay Clatterbaugh, who plays on the current RU team.
Clatterbaugh, a redshirt junior pitcher, made 13 appearances with six starts this past season. He posted a career record of 6-2 at Christiansburg High School, striking out 43 batters in 23 innings as a senior, leading the team to a district title in 2021.
