LIBERTY (19-9, 3-3 BIG SOUTH W1) at RADFORD (13-13, 4-2 BIG SOUTH, L1)

Friday – 3:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Video
Saturday – 2:00 p.m. | Live Stats
Sunday – 1:00 p.m. | Live Stats

Radford plays the last of five consecutive home baseball weekends when the Highlanders resume Big South play this weekend in a three-game set with Liberty, beginning on Friday.

Despite dropping their first Big South home series in two years last weekend against Charleston Southern, Radford is winners of 20 of its last 25 home games and four of its last five Big South sets at home.  The Highlanders are 9-3 this season in games played on campus.

In the all-time series between Liberty and Radford, the Flames hold a 44-26 lead.  The series dates back to Radford's first season of baseball, 1985.  Last season, the Highlanders took two of three from Liberty in regular season finale, winning both ends of a Friday doubleheader to clinch the series (May 14-15).  The two met again in the Big South tournament in Asheville, N.C., with the third-seeded Flames winning 10-3 over fourth-seeded Radford.

Entering weekend Big South play, Radford is a game ahead of Liberty in the standings.  The Highlanders are 4-2, while the Flames are 3-3.   Radford is 1 1/2 games behind front-runners Coastal Carolina (5-0) and VMI (7-2).

In Wednesday night's loss at No. 4 Virginia, Matt Hillsinger hit his first homer of the season and went 2-for-4, upping his season average to .333. Raphael Turner reached safely for the 17th consecutive game, going 1-for-2 with a walk against the Cavaliers.

The Flames enter the weekend winners of six of their last seven games, including a Tuesday night win at Old Dominion, 12-9.  Last weekend, the Flames took two of three from High Point at home.  Liberty dropped its only conference road series of the season when UNC Asheville took two of three March 26-27.

Senior outfielder Curran Redal is the defending Big South player of the week, going 11-for-19 from the leadoff spot to help the Flames to a 4-1 record last week.   Redal leads Liberty with his .385 average and .489 on-base percentage.  Tyler Bream is hitting .370 with a team-leading 30 RBIs.  

Each of Liberty's weekend starters have an ERA under 4.00 this season, led by left-hander Shawn Teufel's 5-1 record with a 1.79 ERA and .205 opponents average.  Teufel earned the game one win in last year's regular season series against Radford, allowing three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.

WEEKEND NOTEBOOK
•    Hillsinger's first homer of the season was the second of his career, hit 364 days after his first on April 8, 2009, at East Tennessee State
•    His team-best .565 slugging percentage includes a Big South-leading five triples
•    As part of his 17th consecutive game reaching base, Turner's walk gave him a team-high 15, upping his on-base percentage to .431
•    Turner is 12 for his last 33 at-bats, over the last 10 games, including 11 walks against nine strikeouts (.511)
•    Bobby Bolling turned in his finest outing of the season in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader against CSU, allowing one run on two hits while striking out seven
•   Aerik Taylor turned in his fifth quality start of the season on Friday in a no-decision - Taylor now has 12 career quality starts