Box Score
RADFORD, Va. – Junior right fielder Reggie Keen's (Danville, Va./G.W.-Danville) walk-off RBI single to right field lifted Radford to a 4-3 win in 10 innings over VMI in the second game of a Big South series at Radford University Baseball Field on Saturday.
Keen's second hit of the day came with one out in the 10th to bring home junior center fielder Tyren Rivers (Suffolk, Va./Nansemond River). Rivers led off the decisive inning with a single up the middle and moved into scoring position on freshman second baseman Brett Mollenhauer's (Roanoke, Va./Hidden Valley) sacrifice bunt.Keen and Rivers led the Highlanders (17-14, 8-6 Big South) with two hits and an RBI each.
Radford earned its first extra-innings win this season, moving to 1-1 in additional frames. Freshman right-hander Jason Patten (Davidsonville, Md./Archbishop Spalding) earned his first collegiate win (1-2) by retiring both men he faced in the 10th.
Right-handed starter Chris Richardson became the first pitcher in VMI history to work better than nine innings, retiring Mollenhauer on the sacrifice in the 10th before giving way Sam Roberts, who came to the mound from right field to pitch to Keen. Richardson took the loss (2-4), allowing three earned runs on seven hits while striking out six.
First baseman Jordan Ballard led the Keydets (13-24, 7-9) at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a home run and driving in all three VMI runs.
Ballard's double down the left field line in the eighth inning brought home the tying run, sending the game to extra innings. In the fourth inning, his homer to left field with a man on and nobody out gave the Keydets a 2-1 lead.
VMI had to rally from down 1-0, when the Highlanders pushed a man across with the bases loaded and one out on a fielding error at short. Radford took a short-lived lead in the bottom of the seventh, as Rivers hit an RBI triple to left center field, scoring junior Rick Hoogstraten (Poquoson, Va./Poquoson), who led off the home half with a pinch-hit single to left, tying the game at 3-3. Rivers came home on Mollenhauer's RBI groundout.
Game three of the series has been moved up to 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, to avoid potentially bad weather.
