HIGHLANDERS DROP ANOTHER TO HIGH POINT

BOX SCORE RADFORD, Va. - Much like the opener of the series on Friday night, Radford allowed a big inning from High Point with the game tied 5-5, and the Panthers took game two of the series on Saturday, 10-6. Saturday's decisive inning came in the seventh, when the Panthers struck for four runs to take a 9-5 lead and control of the game en route to the victory.

High Point (17-19, 5-6) scored six runs in the top of the 10th on Friday to secure the opener of the series, 11-5. Saturday's game mirrored Friday's far too much for the liking of Radford head coach Joe Raccuia.

"We were really bad again today," Raccuia said. "And for the second straight day, we deserved what was handed to us."

What the Highlanders got was a High Point offense that pounded out 18 hits and another defensive effort from the Highlanders that allowed three more unearned runs in the game.

Willie Medina started the game with a single and stole a base before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Josh Spano before the Highlanders even had a chance to come to the plate.

Radford (20-13, 7-4), again, just like the opener, responded to take an early lead. Josh Reavis scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first to tie the game, and took the lead in the second with a pair of runs. Blake Sipe drove in a run with an infield single, and Hunter Higgerson singled in the inning and scored with Shane Johnsonbaugh grounded into a double play.

The Highlanders kept the 3-1 lead until the fourth when seldom-used Stephen Wytiaz produced a three-run double with two outs. Wytiaz, who played in just four games prior to the series without a hit on the season, finished 3-4 with five RBI on the day after producing a single and an RBI in Friday's game. All three runs in the inning were unearned after Ryan Retz reached early in the stanza on an Alexander Lee error at first base for the Highlanders.

Adam Barry drove in a run to make it 5-3 in the fifth for the Panthers.

Radford rallied to tie the game at five in the bottom of the fifth. Reavis singled to open the inning, his second base hit of the day to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. He scored on an RBI groundout by Lee. Jeff Kemp also scored in the inning when he and Ryan Burgess successfully executed a double steal of home and second base, respectively.

Neither starter would factor in the decision. Michael Boyle left after 5.0 innings for Radford and turned the game over to Mitchell MacKeith out of the bullpen. Jaime Schultz went 5.1 innings for the Panthers, and John Maloney (1-1) came on and forced Reavis to ground into a double play to end the sixth.

The Panthers scored four times in the seventh to take the lead for good afterwards, and Maloney earned his first win of the season.

HPU opened the seventh with three straight singles, the third by Retz, which drove in the go-ahead run scored by Spano. Wytiaz again delivered with the bases loaded with a two-run single, and Medina drove in a run with a base hit to give the visitors a 10-6 advantage. Retz added another RBI single in the eighth to push the lead to 11-6.

Radford mounted a slight rally in the ninth. Reavis knocked in a run with his third hit of the game, and Kemp doubled to put multiple runners on base, but the Highlanders came on batter short of sending the tying run to the plate, and Lee struck out to end the game.

MacKeith (0-2) gave up four runs in 1.1 innings of work and took the loss on the mound.

Radford will try to salvage the final game of the series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

Print Friendly Version