Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Radford authorities are reporting the death of 19-year-old Joey Raccuia in a one-car crash last week on East Main Street.
Raccuia was a freshman on the Radford University baseball team. He originally attended Radford High School and was a student of the PDG Academy in Fredericksburg.
He was a middle infielder, who shared a name with his father, Joe Raccuia, who was head baseball coach at Radford University for 12 seasons.
The police report says on Feb. 25 at approximately 11:20 a.m., officers with the Radford Police Department responded to the 10 block of East Main Street following a report of a single-vehicle crash.
Upon arrival, officers and emergency responders immediately rendered aid. Despite their
efforts, the sole occupant, Raccuia, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
In the early weeks of the season, Raccuia had played in two of the team’s seven games, both as a second baseman. He batted 0 for 3 in those appearances.
The crash scene was near the baseball field where he had played and grew up as a youngster watching the RU program from the sidelines.
Over the past two years, the stretch of roadway where the accident took place has been the scene of several other fatalities.
19-year-old Michael Price was killed in April of last year when the motorcycle he was driving collided with a truck that turned in front of him. A roadside tribute marks the spot where the accident took place near High Meadows.
In September 2024, 22-year-old Kellsey Patton of Max Meadows, who was also a RU student, lost control and was killed, hitting another car almost head-on. A second road marker sits at that spot less than 20 yards from the latest accident.
The recent incident remains under investigation, and no other information will be released at this time.
Just over 48 hours after Raccuia’s life was tragically cut short, the Radford Highlanders baseball team came together and pulled off a ninth-inning comeback to beat Bryant, 5-4, on Friday afternoon at Carter Memorial Stadium.
Brady Whitacre was the hero for the Highlanders. Coming up to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, he smashed a line drive through the box and into center field to plate Breckin Nace from third. The ensuing mobbing of Whitacre in the infield turf produced a scene that not even Hollywood could script.
“He (Joey) was clearly with us today,” Radford Head Coach Alex Guerra said postgame. “There’s absolutely no question about it. If you don’t believe in a higher power, you better start believing after that. It was fate.”
On Thursday, the team came together and had a vote if they were going to play their scheduled series after the tragedy. The vote was unanimous. The Highlanders were going to play.
“We knew before the game, no matter how it went, we were going to stick together,” Whitacre said. “We had the conversation too of ‘What would Joey want to do?’ Joey would want to go out and play. There was no doubt in our mind that we weren’t going to play the game.”
The team gathered at home plate with Raccuia’s jersey as they celebrate his time on the RU diamond.
But this isn’t the only ironic moment that took place at the end of this game.
Whitacre is the scholarship recipient that honors another RU and former Christiansburg High School baseball player.
On February 23, 1986, Kevin Scott, a sophomore at Radford, was tragically killed in an auto accident. Together with faculty and friends, Kevin’s parents created an endowed scholarship bearing his name.
Scott was a part of the first baseball team at Radford. 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, like Raccuia, was 19 years old.
Raccuia was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. As a high school junior, he left the comfort of home and friends for Fredericksburg, Virginia to chase his baseball dreams at PDG Baseball Academy. In 2025, he graduated from PDG and attended Radford University where he was a member of the Radford University Baseball team. He proudly wore number 30 and was a middle infielder.
A memorial service was held at the Dedmon Center at Radford University on Monday, Mar. 2, 2026.
