RADFORD, Va. – Continuing a long stretch of games in Virginia, Radford baseball will stay in the New River Valley for a pair this week (March 9-10).

Live Stats – Bryant
Live Stats – Virginia Tech

Monday vs. Bryant – RHP Abram Williams (0-0, 16.88 ERA) vs. RHP Tom Baker (0-0, 0.00)
Tuesday vs. Virginia Tech – RHP Cassidy McDaniel (0-0, 2.25) vs. RHP Josh Wymer (0-0, 4.50)

The Highlanders (4-5) follow up a weekend sweep of Canisius with a Monday night game in Blacksburg at Virginia Tech's English Field against Division I newcomer Bryant before returning home Tuesday to meet the Hokies.

Monday's game with Bryant is scheduled to begin at approximately 6 p.m. and first pitch at Radford University Baseball Field on Tuesday is set for 3 p.m.

With its weekend sweep, Radford improved to 3-1 in March.

Radford's Monday opponent, Bryant, was added to the schedule last week, following three cancellations and a postponement. The Bulldogs, an independent from Smithfield, R.I., are in the first year of a four-year DI transition and (3-2) polished off a sweep of Delaware State (16-7, 14-1, 6-2) over the weekend to earn its first-ever Division I wins.

Jordan English leads the Bulldogs at .556/.600/1.222 through five games with three home runs and six driven in. Jeff Vigurs has 16 RBI for Bryant in his five games.

Virginia Tech, scheduled to meet the Highlanders three times this season, dropped its weekend ACC series with Duke, with a 7-5 loss in the rubber game on Sunday. The Hokies, at 9-3 this season, won five in a row before Saturday's loss to the Blue Devils. Tech also owns a 21-4 win over the Big South's UNC Asheville (Feb. 21).

The Hokies, which lead the all-time series with Radford 29-9, took the three meetings with the Highlanders last season by a combined six runs.

Steve Domecus leads Virginia Tech at .429/.500/.694 with three homers and 15 RBI.

-          The series sweep for Radford was its first since March 1-2, 2008, when the Highlanders took three in a row from Evansville at home.

-          Radford's offensive outburst in game 2 on Saturday, a 26-1 win in seven innings, was just off the pace of a pair of single-game school records: the run total (28 is the record) and the five home runs (7).

-          The Highlanders plated 44 runs, hit six homers, hit .427/.509/.709, knocked 47 hits and drew 17 walks against Canisius, a team that won 41 games in 2008.

-          Outside of the 26-1 clubbing, Radford needed eighth and ninth-inning comebacks to take games 1 and 3.

-          Mario Duarte's .778/.800/1.333 weekend paced the Radford hitters, driving in eight runs in nine plate appearances.

-          Jeff Kemp launched the first two homers of his career on Saturday, including a walk-off grand slam in a 6-3 game 1 win.

-          Kemp finished the weekend .600/.643/1.300 at the plate with two homers and 10 driven in. He added nine weekend assists in the field, going 1.000.

-          The Highlanders got their second win of the season from a starting pitcher when right-hander Aerik Taylor went six in game 2, allowing one run on seven hits and striking out five.

-          Taylor's win was the first of his career at the Division I level. He spent the 2007 season as a reliever for Oklahoma State.

-          Jake Quigg, a transfer righty, tossed 5 1/3 to finish game 1 on Saturday with one run on four hits and four strikeouts.

-          All of Radford's position players saw action in the series.

Monday vs. Bryant – Redshirt freshman RHP Abram Williams (Radford, Va./Radford)

Williams will be making his first collegiate start when he heads to the post Monday night in Blacksburg.   Coming off Tommy John surgery that ended his true freshman season prematurely, the hard-throwing right hander has a pair of post-rehab appearances under his belt this season, including a scoreless inning last Tuesday at Tennessee. Before his 2008 season ended, Williams was 2-1 with a 2.35 ERA and two saves in eight appearances out of the Radford bullpen. His first collegiate save, Feb. 23 against Georgetown, nailed down head coach Joe Raccuia's first win at Radford. Williams tossed a career-long 3 2/3 innings of relief to earn the win at North Carolina A&T nearly a calendar year ago.

Tuesday vs. Virginia Tech - Sophomore RHP Cassidy McDaniel (Warrenton, Va./Fauquier)

McDaniel, who worked a scoreless inning of relief on Saturday against Canisius, will get the starting nod for the first time in 2009.  His longest outing this season was three frames against The Citadel on Feb. 27, allowing a run on three hits with three strikeouts.  In 2008, McDaniel appeared in both outings against the Hokies, including his start on March 5 at home against Tech.  He worked a career-long seven innings allowing just a pair of runs, but earned the no-decision in Radford's loss.  The sophomore righty logged 4 2/3 innings of relief in Blacksburg, with five runs on eight hits, taking the loss.