RUTV: RADFORD BASEBALL WINS SIXTH STRAIGHT, TOPS CORNELL 6-2

Sunday, March 20

RADFORD

11:00 am

Radford University

Cornell

RUTV: RADFORD BASEBALL WINS SIXTH STRAIGHT, TOPS CORNELL 6-2

3/20/2011 1:46:39 PM | Baseball

BOX SCORE

RADFORD, Va. – Led by a solid 8-plus innings from right-hander Bobby Bolling and a 4-for-4 game by Matt Mack, Radford beat Cornell 6-2 for its sixth straight win and a series sweep on Sunday afternoon.

After giving up a leadoff triple in the first to Brian Billigen, Bolling (2-1) retired 14 consecutive batters and tossed a career-high 8 1/3 innings for the Highlanders (12-6), striking out nine while two runs on six hits.

“I don't deserve to even talk – Bobby does the way he's been pitching,” head coach Joe Raccuia said. “Bobby has been excellent in every start. Sometimes he's a guy that we take for granted, don't talk about much, but he has been great all season long.”

Mack led Radford at the plate by driving in a pair of runs, scoring twice and was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. Mack knocked home a run on a third inning single and capped the Radford scoring, making it 6-1 in the seventh on his RBI-triple to straight-away center by scoring Cory Turner, who reached on a walk.

“Matt Mack has played really well this weekend,” Raccuia said. “Even though sometimes his numbers don't show it, he does a lot of things. He is a quiet player – it's not always the hits that do it. He runs the bases, knows where to be on the field, dives for balls, blocks balls, reads dirtballs.

“He's a blue-collar kid that doesn't care about the numbers, he just helps us win.”

Turner went 1-for-2, driving in a pair of runs on a third-inning triple to give Radford a 2-1 lead. With runners on first and second, courtesy of a four-pitch walk to Jeff Kemp, Turner hit a line drive to the gap in right center, bringing home both Matt Hillsinger and Kemp to take the lead, 3-1.

Following his leadoff triple to the right center field alley, Billigen scored on the next at-bat on a groundout to second by Brenton Peters, giving the Big Red its first lead of the series, 1-0.

Cornell righty Corey Pappel allowed three runs on six hits over six innings in the loss (0-3).

The Highlanders will begin a six-game road trip at East Tennessee State on Tuesday in a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m.