BOX SCORE

RADFORD, Va. – Cory Turner's (Manassas, Va./Osbourn) pinch-hit walk-off single for Radford in the bottom of the 10th inning completed a rally from down 6-2 and gave the Highlanders a 9-8 win in extra innings over East Tennessee State on Tuesday afternoon.

With one out in the bottom of the tenth, Turner swung at the first pitch he saw and sent it into left field, scoring Alex Guerra to give the Highlanders (21-19) their fourth win in the last five games.

“Cory was aggressive and got a first-pitch fastball, and was able to drive it,” head coach Joe Raccuia said.  “I'm proud of the way he came off the bench, took one swing and won us the game, which is not easy to do.  Sitting here three hours and getting one swing to win it is outstanding.”

Radford trailed 6-2 heading to the bottom of the second inning after the Buccaneers (22-18) put up five in the top half.   The Highlanders scored in six of the nine remaining innings on the way to the comeback win.

“There was never any panic, down 6-2,” Raccuia said.  “We kept chipping, got closer and closer, had no errors and got some timely hits, which is how you win games.”

The Highlanders were led at the plate by Brett Mollenhauer, who drove in three runs in a 1-for-3 afternoon, and Carl Travers, who went 3-for-4 and drove home the tying run in the bottom of the eighth inning.  Matt Hillsinger went 2-for-5 and had a pair of RBIs and two steals.

ETSU, which outhit Radford 16-12, was led by three RBIs in a 2-for-4 afternoon from Paul Hoilman and a 3-for-5 game by Chas Byrne.  Bo Reeder went 2-for-4, and hit a two-run homer, his 12th, in the five-run second for the Buccaneers.

Radford took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first on the Buccaneers, the only advantage for the Highlanders until the tenth, with run-scoring hits by Hillsinger and Raphael Turner.  Turner went 1-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 13 games and his streak of reaching base safely to 31 games.

ETSU's big inning was started by Hoilman, who blooped a single to right field to score a pair of runs and give the Buccaneers a 3-1 lead.   Derek Trent's fielder's choice RBI pushed across another before Reeder launched his two-run blast to make it a four-run ETSU lead.

The Highlanders chipped away by scoring single runs in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings before plating a pair to take an 8-7 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning.  Travers made the score 7-7 on a single to right field with one out that scored Matt Mack, and Radford pushed across the go-ahead run when Cory Cook came home from third on a wild pitch.

The Buccaneers got the tying run in the top of the ninth on Kerry Doane's single to right that scored Hoilman, who walked with one out.  

Jason Patten, who worked the final two innings, including a 1-2-3 10th, picked up the win (4-2) for Radford.

“The way Jason Patten bounced back in the 10th was really important,” Raccuia said.  “You're not always gonna save it in a one-run game, and the way he gave us another crack at it was key.

“We pitched well after the first two innings.  The guy who was outstanding was Derrick Brewer.  Our go-to guys were important - Abram Williams was good, and Patten was good.”

Bo Burton pitched the final two innings for ETSU and was charged with the loss (3-4).

Radford resumes Big South play this weekend in a three-game series at VMI beginning on Friday.