BOX SCORE
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern's 1-2-3 hitters went 8-for-13, drove in five runs and scored six times to lead the Buccaneers in a 12-6 Big South series-opening win over Radford on Friday afternoon.
Radford (13-8, 0-1 Big South) got hits from eight of the nine batters in the order and had six players with multiple hits to total 14 in the game, but stranded 12 runners.
"We had a shot to stay in this game," head coach
Joe Raccuia said. "But we didn't get a lot of pitching to help us. When you start to play high-scoring baseball games like today, it's up in the air and you never know what can happen.
"We did a good job of collecting hits, but we stranded a bunch of guys and runners in scoring position."
Nick Chinners went 3-for-4 and drove home three runs in the first two innings for the Buccaneers (12-11, 1-0), Jaren Sustar was 2-for-4 with a three-run double in the second that gave Charleston Southern a 6-3 lead and leadoff hitter Brantley Meier reached four times and scored three runs.
Alex Guerra singled runs home for the Highlanders in the first and third innings, finishing the day 2-for-5.
The Highlanders scored three runs in the top of the first on five hits, extending their lead to 3-0 on an RBI single by
Ryan Burgess.
Charleston Southern got one run back in the first, but plated five in the second with two outs – Chinners singled home a pair with the bases loaded before Sustar's bases-clearing three-run double two batters later gave the Buccaneers a 6-3 lead.
Radford got two in the fifth, highlighted by a
Zach Costello RBI triple, but Charleston Southern answered with three in the bottom half.
Stew Brase allowed five earned runs on 11 hits in five innings, but earned the win (3-2) for the Buccaneers. Charlie McCready worked four scoreless innings to close out the game for his first save.
Eddie Butler suffered his first loss (3-1) of the season for the Highlanders, lasting 3 1/3 innings while surrendering five earned runs.
Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.
