(From Big South Reports)

BOX SCORE

LEXINGTON, Va. - The winningest season in Radford University baseball history came to an end on Thursday, as the Highlanders were eliminated from the 2011 Royal Purple Big South Tournament with an 11-5 loss to Gardner-Webb.

Radford finished the season 31-25, the most wins in the history of the program, dating back to 1985.   It's also the first time that the Highlanders have posted three consecutive winning seasons.

Gardner-Webb (32-22-1) continues its season tomorrow.

"Every year we have set a precedent with this program, whether it's wins in a season or winning seasons in a row," head coach Joe Raccuia said.  "I'm proud of these guys. We've started to win the right way with pitching and defense.

"Things that we've done well most of the year we didn't do well today. You've got to be clean - you've got to be clean on the mound and clean in the field, and we didn't do that today. But I'm proud of the seniors who led us to three-straight winning seasons."

In the first meeting between the two teams in the Big South Tournament, Radford got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the second inning. Carl Travers led off with a single up the middle and moved to second on a wild pitch. Jake Taylor lined a single to center field that was bobbled by Gardner-Webb's Benji Jackson, allowing Travers to score and Taylor to reach second. Ryan Burgess advanced Taylor to third with a sacrifice fly to right, and Brett Mollenhauer plated Taylor on an infield bunt single to make the score 2-0.

Gardner-Webb's Brad Collins erased the Highlanders' lead with a three-run home run in the bottom of the second. With one out, Adam McFarland singled and Aaron Miller was hit-by-pitch to put runners on first and second. After John Harris lined out, Collins homered over the wall in left center to put the Runnin' Bulldogs ahead for the first time, 3-2.

The Highlanders tied it up at 3-3 the next inning when Zach Costello doubled and eventually scored on Travers' ground out to second. But Gardner-Webb regained the lead yet again in the bottom half of the inning behind Dusty Quattlebaum's RBI double and McFarland's run-scoring single to put GWU ahead, 5-3. After the Runnin' Bulldogs stretched their lead to 7-3 in the fourth, Radford's Matt Mack cut the deficit with a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the fifth to make the score 7-5.

In the bottom of the fifth, GWU scored for the fourth consecutive inning with two more runs to go back ahead by four at 9-5. The rally included an RBI double from Blanton. Gardner-Webb plated runs in the seventh and eighth for the final 11-5 margin.

Blanton finished 4-5 with three runs scored and two RBI. Jake Watts went 3-5 and is now 9-13 in the Tournament with 6 RBI. McFarland also had three hits on the day, while Harris and Daniel Merck collected two hits each. Starting pitcher Kyle Paeplow (5-3) earned the win after allowing three earned runs in five innings of work. The GWU bullpen of Jeff Howell, Brett Stackhouse and Adam Izokovic combined to hold Radford to two hits and no runs over the final four innings of the game.

Radford starter Bobby Bolling drops to 6-6 after allowing five runs in three innings. Reliever Abram Williams struck out six GWU hitters in his 2.1 innings on the hill, and the RU pitching staff combined for 14 strikeouts. Costello, Mollenhauer and Alex Guerra all had two hits for the Highlanders.