GAME 1 BOX | GAME 2 BOX
RADFORD, Va. – Radford snapped a six-game Big South winless streak with a 7-5 win over High Point in game one, before the Panthers won 7-0 in the second game of a conference doubleheader on Saturday.
With the split, the Highlanders are 27-22 overall and 11-12 in the Big South, while High Point is 23-28 and 8-15.
"In that first game, we got things done offensively and really rode [Alex] Guerra to the win," head coach
Joe Raccuia said. "We got a good start from
Eddie Butler as well. In the second game, we came out and just didn't execute the same way, and didn't do what we wanted."
GAME 1: RADFORD 7, HIGH POINT 5
Alex Guerra was 4-for-4 with a two-run homer, and
Matt Hillsinger scored four times and stole three bases in game one to lift the Highlanders to the win.
Guerra scored on a wild pitch in the third inning, when Radford took a lead it didn't give up the rest of the way. In the sixth, he drove in Hillsinger, who walked and stole second, then knocked him in again with his home run, his sixth, to right field in the seventh to cap the scoring for the Highlanders and make it a 7-2 game.
Hillsinger led the bottom of the first off with a triple, then came home on
Brett Mollenhauer's sacrifice fly on the next play. Hillsinger was 2-for-2 and walked twice – his three stolen bases give him 28 for the season and are good for third in a single season in program history.
Eddie Butler won his seventh game (7-2), allowing five runs on nine hits with four strikeouts. Butler gave up only two runs through the first seven innings and retired nine batters in a row from the fifth through eighth innings.
Steve Antolik was 2-for-3 in the opener for High Point, hitting his sixth home run in the eighth, a two run blast to left that made it a 7-4 Radford lead. Two batters later, Robbie Gilles hit his third homer of the year to make it a two-run game. Gilles was 2-for-3 and Sal Pezzino was 3-for-5.
Abram Williams worked a scoreless ninth for his 13th save in 15 chances.
GAME 2: HIGH POINT 7, RADFORD 0
High Point starter Mike Caldwell worked seven shutout innings and the Panthers scored six runs with two outs on the way to a game two victory and a split.
Caldwell allowed six hits and struck out four batters in the win (5-2) and faced the minimum number of batters in the second through fifth innings after allowing two hits in the bottom of the first. Spencer Andrews tossed the final two innings to combine on the shutout with Caldwell.
Ryan Retz went 2-for-5 and knocked in three runs, including the go-ahead run with two outs in the fourth, bringing home Gilles to give High Point a 1-0 lead. Gilles was 2-for-4 and brought home two runs in the fifth on a two-out single. Murray White IV was 3-for-5 and singled to extend the run-scoring fourth.
Hillsinger,
Carl Travers and
Zach Costello had two hits each for the Highlanders.
The Highlanders threatened in the bottom of the first inning with singles by Hillsinger and Guerra, before
Ryan Burgess sent a fly ball deep to the corner in left with two outs, forcing Drew Geissinger to lay out and make a diving catch towards the line to end the inning and strand a pair of base runners.
Radford and High Point will close the series on Sunday at 11 a.m.