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Aerik Taylor
Tim Cowie

Baseball

BASEBALL CONTINUES FIVE-GAME ROAD TRIP AT GARDNER-WEBB THIS WEEKEND


RADFORD (26-21, 13-8, L1) at GARDNER-WEBB (22-25, 8-13, L2)


Friday, 4:00 p.m. - Russell King Field, Spartanburg, S.C. | Live Audio
RHP Aerik Taylor (5-1, 4.32 ERA) vs. LHP Brett Stackhouse (2-3, 5.77 ERA)
Saturday, 2:00 p.m. - McNair Field, Forest City, N.C. | Live Audio
RHP Eddie Butler (6-3, 4.54 ERA) vs. LHP Kyle Paeplow (2-0, 5.40 ERA)
Sunday, 2:00 p.m. - McNair Field, Forest City, N.C. | Live Audio
RHP Bobby Bolling (2-2, 6.18 ERA) vs. RHP Connor Scarborough (1-5, 9.05 ERA)

Ticket information for Saturday and Sunday's games

Radford continues a five-game road trip with three important Big South conference games this weekend against Gardner-Webb in a series that begins on Friday afternoon.

The series takes place at two facilities – Friday's 4 p.m. contest will be played at Russell King Field on the campus of Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., while Saturday and Sunday's 2 p.m. starts will be at McNair Field in Forest City, N.C.  

Gardner-Webb is playing each of its designated home games at off-campus sites in 2010 while awaiting the completion of John Henry Moss Stadium on its campus in Boiling Springs, N.C., scheduled for the fall of 2010.

Following last weekend's Big South sweep of Presbyterian College at home, Radford has an opportunity to gain more ground on fourth-place VMI before the final weekend of conference regular season play.  The third-place Highlanders are two games ahead of the Keydets entering the weekend and three ahead of fifth-place High Point.  VMI returns from a 12-day layoff to host Winthrop in a three-game series this weekend, while High Point travels to Presbyterian for three.

Radford is trying to stay in the league's top four for the second straight season – the top seeds avoid playing a single-elimination game on the first day of the conference tournament, which begins May 25 at The Winthrop Ballpark.  

Entering the series, the Highlanders are winners of 13 of their last 18 games, four of six in the month of May, and nine of their last 12 in the Big South.   In road conference games, Radford has wins in six of its last nine games.

In addition to their third place spot in the conference standings, the Highlanders are third in Big South conference-only batting average (.336) and ERA (4.69).  

Gardner-Webb enters the series 5-5 over its last 10 games, playing its first Big South “home” series since April 16-18.  The Runnin' Bulldogs took two of three in a series at Charleston Southern (April 23-24), were swept at Liberty (April 30-May 2) and dropped two of three at High Point (May 7-9).  

For the season, Gardner-Webb is hitting .313, led by Daniel Merck's .399 average and Josh Drewery's 10 home runs and 43 RBIs.  The Runnin' Bulldogs pitching staff has a season ERA of 6.28 with opponents hitting .300.

WEEKEND NOTEBOOK:
•    With their 26th win in the finale of the Presbyterian series last weekend, the Highlanders matched their win total from last season, a 50-game campaign
•    Radford is within striking distance of the school record for wins in a season, which was 30 in 1995
•    Last Saturday, head coach Joe Raccuia earned his 75th win as the head coach of the Highlanders; his record is 76-77 in two-plus seasons
•    The Highlanders had a big series at the plate against the Blue Hose with 44 hits, including 19 in the opener, to up their season average to .304; Radford hit. 389 in the series
•    After hitting just 30 home runs a year ago, the Highlanders have hit 41 this season
•    With a 7-6 win in 12 innings last Friday in the series opener with Presbyterian, the Highlanders upped their mark to 5-1 in extra inning games this season
•    The Highlanders have gotten a pair of hot performances at the plate over the last 10 games – Brett Mollenhauer is hitting .438 (14-of-32) with a .535 on-base percentage, while Matt Mack is at .405 (17-of-42) with four home runs, 10 RBIs and five stolen bases
•    Raphael Turner's streak of reaching base consecutively was stopped at 36 games on Tuesday night at Longwood; Turner reached in every game from March 9-May 8
•    Aerik Taylor, who has won three of his last four decisions, is looking for the second four-game winning streak of his career; Taylor won four in a row last year (April 3-May 1)
•    Taylor is 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA over his last four starts; opponents are hitting .241 off the senior right-hander with 21 strikeouts against three walks over his last 30 innings
•    In addition, Taylor has lasted seven or more innings in each of his last four starts
•    Since April 16, Abram Williams and Brad Wimmer continue to be stoppers out of the bullpen – Williams is 1-0 with a 3.46 ERA over his last 10 outings (13 innings), while Wimmer is 1-0 with a 3.05 ERA in his last nine (20 2/3 innings)
•    Opponents are hitting just .156 off Williams in his last 10 appearances
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