PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE (12-30, 4-14, W1) at RADFORD (23-20, 10-8, L1)

Friday, 3:00 p.m. | Live Stats
RHP Aerik Taylor (5-1, 4.63 ERA) vs. RHP Chris Powell (5-3, 5.13 ERA)
Saturday, 2:00 p.m. | Live Stats
RHP Eddie Butler (5-3, 5.04 ERA) vs. RHP Jesse Harmon (2-6, 7.35 ERA)
Sunday, 1:00 p.m. | Live Stats
RHP Bobby Bolling (2-2, 6.89 ERA) vs. RHP Joe Hammond (0-5, 6.17 ERA)

Radford plays its first weekend home series in nearly a month when the Highlanders host Presbyterian College in a three-game Big South set beginning on Friday afternoon.

Heading into weekend play, the Highlanders sit in third place in the league standings, a half game ahead of VMI and a game in front of Winthrop.   Including the Presbyterian series, Radford has nine more Big South games on the schedule.  

The last three weekends, which included nine consecutive road conference games, have been successful for the Highlanders – Radford is 6-3, winners of three straight three-game sets.

Offense has keyed the recent success for the Highlanders in Big South play – over the last nine league games, Radford is hitting .363 with 42 extra-base hits (25 doubles, one triple, 16 homers) and 34 stolen bases on 40 tries.   Four players are hitting better than .400 over this stretch – Matt Mack (.485), Reggie Keen (.463), Raphael Turner (.441) and Alex Guerra (.410).

Aerik Taylor has anchored the pitching staff over the last three weeks, going 3-0 with a 3.16 ERA in three starts.  Opponents are hitting just .230 off Taylor over the last three weeks while the right-hander has issued just two walks over his last 23 innings.

Radford welcomes Presbyterian to campus for the first time as a Big South member – the Highlanders took two of three on the road from the Blue Hose last season.  Presbyterian, which is continuing a transition to Division I, is not eligible for postseason play (including the Big South tournament) until the 2011-12 academic year.

The Blue Hose, who enter the weekend 2-8 over their last 10 games, have one Big South series win this season (April 16-18 - Charleston Southern, 2-1).   Through 42 games this season, their third in Division I, the Blue Hose are hitting .264 as a team with an ERA of 8.01.