BOX SCORE

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – College of Charleston used a six-run eighth inning to rally for a college baseball opening day win over Radford, 8-4, on Friday night.

The Highlanders took a 3-2 lead to the eighth, before the Cougars loaded the bases with the first three men to the plate.   Matt Leeds hit a sacrifice fly RBI to score Huston Dodds, tying the game at 3-3, before Cole Rakar's two-run single gave College of Charleston the lead for good.

Three more runs came across in the eighth for the Cougars, who took an 8-3 lead to  the ninth.

Reggie Keen (Danville, Va./G.W.-Danville), who led Radford with a 3-for-5 effort at the plate, singled in Tyren Rivers (Suffolk, Va./Nansemond River) in the ninth with no one out, after he and Brett Mollenhauer (Roanoke, Va./Hidden Valley) reached base to lead off the inning.

Rivers and Mollenhauer had a pair of hits each for Radford.

Heath Hembree got a strikeout and induced a game-ending double play to stop Radford's rally in the ninth and earn the decision on opening day for the Cougars (1-0).

The Highlanders wasted a quality start from right-hander Aerik Taylor (Williamsport, Md./Williamsport), who tossed six scoreless innings and staked Radford to a 1-0 lead before departing after the sixth.

Right-hander Abram Williams (Radford, Va./Radford) was charged with the loss (0-1), allowing seven runs on five hits in an inning and a third.

Rakar and Jose Rodriguez led four College of Charleston players with two hits, driving in two each.  Rodriguez hit a one-out solo homer in the seventh to get the Cougars on the board.

Radford and College of Charleston meet in the second game of the series on Saturday at 1 p.m.   Left-hander Paul DeVito (Annapolis, Md./Archbishop Spalding) gets the start for Radford, facing College of Charleston righty David Peterson.