BOX SCORE BOX SCORE

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford's Saxon Butler went 4-for-4 and scored twice, and the Bulldogs answered every scoring inning for Radford with two runs to earn a 4-2 win in the season opener for both teams on Friday night.
 
Cory Turner (Manassas, Va., Osbourn), playing for the first time since April 17, 2011, led the Highlanders with a 2-for-4 night at the plate and picked up an outfield assist in the sixth.

"This was a good competitive game,” head coach Joe Raccuia said.  “ Both starters threw well to keep it tight early and we had big opportunities – we came up short a couple of plays.  They got some big hits in big situations.  And a pitch through the legs of our catcher turned out to be huge and we left the bases loaded twice, and that was the game.

“I felt like we did enough tonight, but just came up a couple plays short.”

Down 2-1 in the eighth, it took just three batters for the Highlanders to tie the game.   Zach Costello (South Riding, Va., Paul VI) drew a leadoff walk, went to third on a hit-and-run single by Josh Gardiner (Culpeper, Va., Eastern View), and was driven home on Matt Hillsinger (Bowie, Md., Archbishop Spalding) single up the middle to make it a 2-2 game. 
 
Radford had a chance to open up a big inning two batters later when Turner singled to shallow left field to load the bases and chase Samford reliever Arthur Strauss.  C.K. Irby came on for the Bulldogs and retired Matt Mack (Davidsonville, Md., St. John's College H.S.) and Ryan Burgess (Richmond, Va., Steward School) to strand the bases full for the Highlanders.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Samford's Zeth Stone reached on a leadoff single in the home half, went to third on Butler's single to right, then scored on a wild pitch to give the Bulldogs the go-ahead run.  Kevin Putkonen singled to right center two batters later to score Butler and give Samford a 4-2 lead.
 
Irby picked up the win (1-0).  Lex Rutledge earned the save and escaped a bases-loaded situation in the top of the ninth inning.
 
Jason Patten (Davidsonville, Md., Archbishop Spalding), who worked the eighth inning, took the loss (0-1). 
 
The game was scoreless through the first five innings before Hillsinger reached in the top of the sixth on an error at short.  Jeff Kemp (Bowie, Md., Archbishop Spalding) then tripled on a drive to gap in right center field, scoring Hillsinger from first and putting the Highlanders on the ahead 1-0.
 
Samford answered immediately in the home half of the sixth.  Stone reached on a leadoff walk and tried to advance to third on Saxon Butler's single to right field, but Turner's throw from the outfield to third was in time to get Stone and erase the leadoff walk.  However, Miller's swing on a 2-0 pitch from Eddie Butler (Cheapeake, Va., Greenbrier Christian) snuck inside the left field pole to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.   Miller finished the night 2-for-4.
 
Both starters pitched well but neither factored in the decision. Samford righty Kyle Putkonen allowed just one run (none earned) on three hits and struck out seven hitters in six innings. Eddie Butler matched Putkonen's zeroes through five innings and fanned five hitters in six frames. 
 
Game two of the series has been tentatively moved to 11 a.m., Eastern, but could be impacted by the threat of rain.   RadfordAthletics.com and @ru_athletics on Twitter will have any game time or date changes.