Baseball 2/27/2013 7:34:00 PM

WINNING STREAK COMES TO AN END IN BLACKSBURG

BOX SCORE BLACKSBURG, Va. – Despite a late surge in the seventh and eighth innings, Radford was unable to complete the comeback as 25th-ranked Virginia Tech held on for the 14-10 victory over the Highlanders in nonconference baseball action from English Field Wednesday evening.

Kyle Fairbanks and Ryan Burgess led RU (5-2) at the dish with two RBI apiece. In addition to the duo's efforts, Josh Gardiner, Jeff Kemp, Hunter Higgerson, Zach Woolcock, Josh Reavis, Shane Johnsonbaugh and Chris Coia accounted for the Highlanders' 11 hits for the outing.

Andrew Rash led the Hokies (8-1) with a 4-for-5 performance at the plate, including a homer in the bottom of the second inning. In addition to his three RBI showing, Mark Zagunis and Matt Dauby went 3-for-5 with three and two RBI, respectively. Tech pounded out 16 hits for the evening.

The game got off to a promising start as Radford plated two runs in the top of the second inning to obtain the early lead. Woolcock singled to right field to put the first hit of the day on the board for the Highlanders. The redshirt freshman was moved over to third when Reavis ripped a hard single to the left-center gap.

With two outs, Fairbanks stepped to the plate and delivered an RBI single to bring Woolcock home for the 1-0 edge. Radford extended its advantage to 2-0 on the next at-bat when Reavis was able to sneak in while the Hokies were busy trying to catch Fairbanks stealing second.

However, the Hokies responded with nine runs in their half of the inning to reclaim the lead for good. Tech cranked out six hits, highlighted by the Rash homer, to ignite the Hokies rally.

Tacking on three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth, Tech extended its lead to 14-3 through six frames.

Sparked by Kemp's double in the top of the seventh to plate Coia, Radford exploded for seven runs over the next two innings. Belting his first RBI of the day, Kemp's double brought the Highlanders to within 14-4 through six stanzas.

In the eighth, Radford erupted for six runs on four hits to close the deficit to four, 14-10. With one out, Johnsonbaugh connected on his first hit of the day to score Higgerson, who was walked to start the inning.

After Coia fouled out to first base, the Highlanders put together a two-out rally. Gardiner punched a single through the infield to advance Phil Bondi to third and scored when the left fielder for the Hokies bobbled the throw.

With the bases juiced following a walk, Burgess stepped to the plate and delivered a two RBI single to pull RU to within 14-8. The Highlanders tacked on two more runs in the frame via a Woolcock RBI and Nykolai Ellis being hit by a pitch.

The Hokies withstood the comeback by inducing a groundout to end the eighth inning, and getting a strikeout and turning a double play to end the ninth.

Sean Keselica (1-0) earned the decision for Tech, surrendering three runs on four hits in addition to three strikeouts in four innings of work.

Dylan Nelson (0-1) absorbed the loss for the Highlanders, allowing seven runs on five hits in 1.2 innings of action.

Radford will get more familiar with English Field over the next few days as the Highlanders return to Tech's ballpark when they host Rider in a three-game series Friday and Saturday. The Broncs and RU will play a single game Friday at 4:00 p.m., followed by a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 12:00 p.m.

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