BOX SCORE

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Radford scored five runs in the second inning, all with two outs, to take control and claim a 9-4 win over High Point in the first game of a Big South baseball series on Friday night.

After Phil Bondi's (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) bunt single down the first base line with two down to extend the inning, the next seven hitters reached base and five runs scored to push the Highlanders (16-16, 5-5 Big South) ahead for good.

Bondi's inning-extending single was his only hit of the night for Radford, which had all nine men in the lineup collect hits on the way to 17 for the evening.

“Three times, we were a pitch away from not getting any of those runs in the eighth inning,” head coach Joe Raccuia said.  “We battled for every at bat.

“I was about to pinch hit for Phil, but I was thinking that if we could get him on he would steal a base.  And he laid down a beautiful bunt that sparked the inning.”

Reggie Keen went 4-for-5 to lead the Highlanders, driving home three runs including a pair in the decisive eighth.  Matt Hillsinger and Raphael Turner had three hits each, with Turner driving in three runs.

Right-handed starter Aerik Taylor tossed seven innings to earn the win (3-1), allowing four runs on six hits, including three frames where he set down the side in order.

“Aerik Taylor was great,” Raccuia said.  “He gave up the homer in the sixth, but bounced back and didn't use many pitches to get them in order in the seventh, putting up another zero.” 

Abram Williams finished the game with two scoreless innings and a pair of strikeouts.

For High Point (17-19, 4-9), Nate Roberts went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, all coming on a three-run homer with no one out in the sixth inning, giving the Panthers a short-lived 4-3 lead.  Roberts' home run was his 12th of the season.

Panthers starter Jamie Serber didn't factor in the decision, despite striking out six over 6 2/3 innings.  Corey Swickle, who yielded two of the five eighth-inning runs, was charged with the loss (4-1), as High Point dropped its ninth in a row.

Radford jumped on the board in the first inning with run-scoring hits from Keen and a two-out double from Alex Guerra, before High Point answered in the home half with a two-out double off the bat of Matt Gantner that scored Roberts and made it a 2-1 game.

Turner's RBI groundout pushed across Keen in the fifth to give the Highlanders a 3-1 advantage, but the Panthers took their only lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth on the Roberts blast.

Radford answered, as Taylor retired six of the last seven he faced, while Turner tied the game at 4-4 on his two-out single in the seventh.  After Bondi's bunt in the eighth, he stole second before Brett Mollenhauer's (Roanoke, Va./Hidden Valley) single up the middle brought home the run, giving the Highlanders a lead they didn't give up.  A Keen single plated two more, and Hillsinger and Turner drove in a run each to extend the Radford lead.

“This a was a really good Friday night win,” Raccuia said.  “We played well in all facets of the game and the kids feel good about themselves right now.  It was a rough stretch we came off of heading into the week, but we're really getting through that.

The series continues on Saturday night at 6 p.m.