Radford University’s baseball will conclude the 2017 campaign with a three-game home set that begins tomorrow at Williams Field and Carter Memorial Stadium. The field has been named after longtime Radford businessman and RU donor Abie Williams.
Down to its last four regular season games, Radford University needed a series win in order to stay in the hunt for a favorable seed in next week’s Big South Tournament and the Highlanders did just that with an 8-1 series clinching win over High Point.
Radford’s eight runs came on nine hits, tallying 22 base knocks in the weekend series. Of Radford’s eight runs, six were credited as RBIs. Three different Highlanders finished with multi-hit games as Richard De la Cruz, Kyle Butler and Anthony Miano collected two hits each.
Four different Highlanders drove in a run as Danny Hrbek and De la Cruz led the way with two each, coming on one swing of the bat.
For the first time in the series, High Point struck first in the opening frame, quickly loading the bases on Highlander starter Ryan Sande. The Panthers’ lone run of the game came on a Sande bases loaded wild pitch. The sophomore battled back in the inning, forcing a pop out and strikeout to end the threat.
Radford had scored in the bottom of the first in the first two games of the series and continued the streak with three runs on three hits.
Butler reached on a single through the left side, setting up a two-run home run off the bat of Hrbek, giving Radford a lead it wouldn’t give up. Hrbek’s second home run on the week gave him seven RBIs in Radford’s five games.
Jonathan Gonzalez followed with a solo home run to right-center on a 3-2 pitch, marking the first-time Radford had hit back-to-back home runs on the season. The multi-home run day for the Highlanders marked the 11th on the season.
High Point threatened in the fifth as Conner Dunbar reached base on a single up the middle, moving to second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball. Following Austen Zente reaching via a hit by pitch, Radford went to its bullpen with runners on the corners and one out.
Cameron Fritz needed only four pitches to get two outs as a 4-6-3 double play ended the Panther threat.
The Highlanders added an insurance run in the bottom half of the inning as Butler grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to plate Luke Wise, who reached on a single and moved up on two wild pitches.
Commanding a 4-1 lead, Radford found itself in another jam in the sixth as High Point loaded the bases on a single and two walks with two outs. Evan Threehouse relieved Fritz, forcing a ground out to end High Point’s final chance at a run as the Panthers only put two runners in scoring position in the final three innings.
Radford put together a loud inning in the bottom half of the sixth, scoring four runs on only two hits. The inning was aided by three walks, setting up a Miano RBI single through the left side and a two-run single to right field off the bat of De la Cruz.
With runners on the corners, De la Cruz created another run for the Highlanders as he found himself in a rundown off a pickoff attempt. De la Cruz stayed in the rundown long enough to allow Wise to score from third base for the final Highlander run in the 8-1 victory.
Threehouse continued his dominance, allowing only one hit in 2.2 innings of relief. Radford’s bullpen tossed 4.2 innings of scoreless baseball, yielding only two hits.
In his ninth start on the season, Ryan Sande allowed only one run on four hits in 4.1 innings, lowering his Big South ERA to 1.80.
Radford improves to 10-5 when scoring in the first inning, while moving to 14-5 on the season when scoring more than six runs.
The Highlanders committed no errors, improving to 8-4 when they play perfect baseball.
In the 11 multi-home run games, Radford holds an 8-3 record in those contests. Radford outscored High Point 16-9 as the two teams finished with 22 hits each.
Richard De la Cruz two-hit day is his seventh on the season and fifth two-RBI game. De la Cruz is tied for third on the team in multi-RBI games with six.
Kyle Butler’s two hits give him 63 on the season and 31 in Big South games. The two-hit game is 21st multi-hit game on the season. Also, finishing with two hits, Anthony Miano now has seven multi-hit games in 2017.
Danny Hrbek 201st career hit gave him two RBIs, which bring his career total to 95. Hrbek finished the week 8 for 20 with four runs, two home runs and seven RBIs. The senior collected four extra base hits on the week, while only striking out one time.
Luke Wise and Jonathan Gonzalez scored two runs each.
On the weekend, Radford’s bullpen threw 11.0 innings, allowing only one unearned run on five hits. The staff struck out eight batters. The weekend saw Radford lower its Big South ERA to 3.16.
“I thought we played really well today. We took some really, really good at bats up and down the order. Today saw consistently balanced approaches at the plate. I know we didn’t put up a lot of hits, but the approach was A+. We defended the field and Matt Roth played a spectacular defense all weekend at third base. We turned some big double plays and made pitches to get out of some jams,” said Radford head coach Joe Raccuia
Radford will conclude Big South play at the end of the week with a three-game series against Winthrop starting on Thursday. Winthrop leads the all-time series 55-39, taking the 2016 series 2-1.
Radford has won its last five home series against Winthrop, dating back to 2008.
— courtesy of RU Athletics
