LYNCHBURG, Va. – Radford broke up a scoreless game with two runs in the eighth, Abram Williams picked up his 16th save to match the Big South record, and the Highlanders beat Liberty 3-1 on Friday night to tie a school single-season wins record.

Radford (30-22, 14-12 Big South) last won 30 games in the 1995 season – the only other time the program posted 30 victories in a season.

The save for Williams, his second in as many nights, matched a league record established in 2000 by Liberty's Josh Brey. It also tied Williams for the nation's lead in that category.

Radford's win over Liberty (32-22, 17-9) also keeps the Highlanders in contention for the fourth seed in next week's Big South Tournament – the top four seeds avoid a single-elimination game on Tuesday.

After threatening with two outs in the seventh but coming up empty, the Highlanders got runs on back-to-back squeeze plays in the eighth. Brett Mollenhauer singled to begin the inning, was moved to second on Blake Sipe's sacrifice bunt, then went to third when Dane Beakler threw a wild pitch on an intentional walk to Matt Hillsinger, attempting to set up a double play chance.

With runners at the corners, Costello laid a bunt on the first pitch up the first base line, past Liberty reliever Garrett Baker to score Mollenhauer and get the Highlanders on the board. The play moved Hillsinger to third – he scored on Alex Guerra's bunt that gave the Highlanders a 2-1 lead.

“I'm proud of our guys that we bounced back in the eighth,” head coach Joe Raccuia said. “In the seventh we executed a hit-and-run into a line out, a two-out base hit got thrown out at the plate, and those things happen, but it could have swung the momentum their way. Some teams can get hurt by that.”

“We executed great in the eighth, played the right way, defended all day, got a great start from [Mark] Peterson, good work from [Jason] Patten, and Abram was Abram in the ninth.”

Ryan Burgess padded the lead with his second home run in as many games, a solo blast with two outs to give the Highlanders a 3-0 advantage. The homer was his third of the season.

Mark Peterson tossed six shutout innings in his start, striking out four and allowing four hits, but didn't factor in the decision. Liberty starting lefty Steven Evans also went six scoreless, striking out six while allowing only two hits.

Jason Patten gave the Highlanders a pair of scoreless innings, earning his fourth win (4-1). Dane Beakler, who allowed both Radford runs in the eighth, took his first loss of the season for Liberty (3-1).

The Highlanders threatened to score first in the seventh, when Jake Taylor doubled to left center with two outs. # Cory Cook# ran for Taylor before Burgess singled through the right side to bring Cook around third. Liberty right fielder Michael Robertson made a play on the shallow hit to right and threw to the plate in time to catcher Casey Rasmus, who tagged Cook before he could go over him to touch the plate.

The series concludes on Saturday at 2 p.m.