LATE INNING RALLY GIVES DUKES THE WIN AT RU

BOX SCORE RADFORD, Va. - Radford held a 6-4 lead heading into the eighth inning Tuesday night against James Madison, but the Dukes rallied for a single run in the eighth and three in the ninth to hand the Highlanders their fourth straight loss, 8-6 at RU Baseball Stadium.

"Right now we are doing things that are a recipe for a loss," Radford head coach Joe Raccuia said. "We aren't throwing enough quality strikes. We aren't getting enough hits with runners in scoring position. And we aren't able to close anybody out to get a win."

It looked as though the recent fortunes of the Radford team had changed when the Highlanders rallied for five runs in the fifth to take a 6-4 lead.

Chris Coia led off the inning with a hustle play on a bloop double and came in to score when Blake Sipe reached on an error. Josh Gardiner's double scored Sipe and chased JMU starter Johnny Bladel. After Jeff Kemp was hit by a pitch, the Highlanders continued the rally with Ryan Burgess driving in another run on another error by the Dukes. Patrick Mashall followed with a two-run double to give the Highlanders a two-run lead.

JMU had staked itself to a 4-1 lead on three solo home runs. Two of those came from Colby Roberts and another from Tyler Duke. The Dukes took a 1-0 lead in the first when Bladel led off the game with a base hit, stole second, and scored on an RBI single by Chad Carroll.

The first of Roberts' homers made it 2-0 in the second, but the Highlanders cut the lead in half when Sipe singled home Hunter Higgerson, who extended his hitting streak to nine games with a one-out single.

Roberts' second homer in the fourth made it 3-1, and Duke's deep ball made it 4-1 in the top of the fifth just prior to the Radford rally.

Radford held the 6-4 lead into the eighth. Ty McFarland and Roberts led off the inning with back-to-back singles, and Tyler Gregory knocked in a run with a pinch-hit single to cut the lead to 6-5 heading to the ninth.

Daniel Bridgeman (3-3) came out of the bullpen to record the final out of the eighth and attempted the save in the ninth, but it was not to be.

Casey Goss led off the final inning with a single followed by another single to Carroll. With one out and the bases loaded, Roberts drove in his third, fourth, and fifth runs of the night with a base-clearing double to provide the difference in the game. The Dukes held on in the bottom with a save by Chris Huffman, his fifth of the season.

Bridgeman took the loss on the mound for Radford. Ben Garner earned the win in 2.1 innings of scoreless relief for the Dukes.

Radford is back in action tomorrow, Wednesday, as the Highlanders play host to North Carolina A&M at 6:00 p.m.

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