SERIES NOTES
Winners of three straight and coming off a series sweep of La Salle, Radford opens a three-game series with Bryant on Friday afternoon at RU Baseball Stadium.
The Highlanders have claimed four of the last five games and enter their first home weekend of the season looking for a third consecutive series win (at UNC Greensboro, La Salle).
In their last five outings, the Highlanders have hit .324 as a team, outscored opponents 33-20, posted a .989 fielding percentage and allowed opponents to hit just .247. Over that five game stretch, Radford has had some fine individual offensive performances –
Matt Hillsinger has a homer and eight RBIs,
Jeff Kemp has seven RBIs, and
Zach Costello has hit .429 (6-for-14) and owns a .600 on-base percentage (6 walks). On the mound,
Jason Patten has three straight scoreless appearances (5 IP, 2 sv), and three starters have gone seven or more innings (
Eddie Butler,
Jake Palese,
Keith Fritz).
Bryant (3-6) is in the middle of an 18-game road trip and their second consecutive weekend in Virginia – the Bulldogs lost two of three games at George Mason last weekend. Bryant's other wins this season came against St. Joe's and Wright State in Cary, N.C.
The Bulldogs and Highlanders have met one other time – a 5-4 win for Bryant in a game played at Virginia Tech's English Field on March 9, 2009. Bryant swept a day-night doubleheader against the Hokies and Highlanders. Bryant is in its fourth and final Division I transitional season before becoming a full member of the Northeast Conference.
WEEKEND NOTEBOOK:
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The Highlanders are 47-23 (.671) at home since the 2009 season and 25-5 (.833) against non-conference opponents
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The Bryant series is the first of four consecutive weekend sets at home
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Bryant is the first of two Northeast Conference teams to visit Radford in 2012 (Fairleigh Dickinson, April 14-16)
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Radford entered the week ranked 24th nationally in fielding percentage – the Highlanders own a .982 season mark heading into the series with Bryant
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Zach Costello didn't play on Wednesday, but has reached in 13 consecutive games dating back to the 2011 season
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Matt Hillsinger's on-base streak is at 11 games entering the weekend
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Abram Williams earned his second save of the season in the first series game – his 21 career saves move him to fourth in Big South history
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Williams made his first career start the last time he faced Bryant (3 ER, 4.1 IP)
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Both Carl Travers and Brett Mollenhauer have heated up after slow starts – Travers is 5-for-13 in his last three games with a homer on Wednesday; Mollenhauer is 7-for-20 over his last five, has scored six times and driven in five
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Mollenhauer's recent six-game hitting streak coincides with his defensive move to third base
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Eddie Butler picked up his first win of the 2012 season last Friday when he struck out 10 at UNC Greensboro – Butler owns 16 career wins and 156 career strikeouts
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Butler has six wins in his last seven decisions
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Matt Mack played on Wednesday for the first time since an injury in the second series game at Georgia Southern (Feb. 25) – Mack was the DH in Wednesday's game
