BOX SCORE

RADFORD, Va. – Left-handed starter Shawn Teufel struck out 10 hitters in eight innings to lead Liberty to a 10-3 win over Radford in the opener of a Big South baseball series on Friday.

Teufel settled down after the third inning, tossing five scoreless innings the rest of the way and retiring the final nine hitters he faced to earn the win (6-1) and give the Flames (20-9, 4-3 Big South) the 1,000th victory in their program's history.

“You can't give up five runs like we did in the first and then expect to feel like you're in the game with one of the best left-handed pitchers in the conference,” head coach Joe Raccuia said.  “I don't think we quit, we played hard, but we need to be smarter about how we go about our business.”

The Highlanders (13-14, 4-3) had eight hits off of Teufel, led by two each from Matt Hillsinger and Andrew Cook.

Michael Robertson led the Flames with three RBIs in a 2-for-4 afternoon, while P.J. Jimenez went 3-for-5 and scored twice.  Eight of the nine players penciled into Liberty's starting lineup had hits.

Radford right-hander Aerik Taylor suffered his first loss of the season (2-1), allowing seven earned runs on 11 hits in five innings.  Shane Pysh was effective in four relief innings, allowing a run on four hits with four strikeouts.

The Flames jumped on Radford in the first inning, batting around and pushing across five runs on five singles.   Up 2-0, Jimenez, Jeff Jefferson and Robertson had consecutive RBI singles to give Liberty a five run lead.

“They put up a crooked number early, some on their behalf and others on our behalf,” Raccuia said.
 
Radford answered in the second inning, scoring twice on a sacrifice fly by Brett Mollenhauer and a two-out Tyren Rivers single.

The teams traded runs in the third before Liberty posted three more in the fifth, highlighted by Robertson's two-run double.

“If you're going to be a singles team, you have to bunt, walk, get hit by pitches,” Raccuia said.   “You have to do a lot of things to get on base, then hit and run, read balls in the dirt and take extra bases.

“You can't hit singles occasionally and then expect to score without execution.”

The series between Radford and Liberty continues on Saturday, with a 2 p.m. first pitch.