NELSON WINS HIS FIFTH, RU SLUGS PAST ETSU, 14-10

BOX SCORE RADFORD, Va. - Dylan Nelson won his fifth game of the season Tuesday night, and Radford erupted for a season-high 14 runs to defeat East Tennessee State at RU Baseball Stadium, 14-10.

After falling behind 3-0, the Highlanders put up eight runs in the third, another run in the fourth, and four more in the fifth to put the game out of reach. A six-run sixth inning by the Buccaneers made it interesting, but Nygeal Andrews came out of the bullpen and recorded 3.0 innings of scoreless relief to record his first career save.

Nelson was the benefactor of solid run support to become the first Highlander pitcher to get to five wins on the season. He worked into the sixth and surrendered eight runs on 10 hits while walking three and striking out four. It was the offense that shined on this night.

"We executed on offense tonight," RU head coach Joe Raccuia said. "Up and down the order we had good, aggressive at bats. I thought Alexander Lee made some adjustments and was more aggressive, and he had a big night."

Seven runs scored for RU in the third before an out was recorded by ETSU, and that first out was a Josh Gardiner sacrifice fly. Gardiner led off the inning with a walk and eventually scored on an RBI single by Ryan Burgess. Five straight batters drove in a run for the Highlanders with the highlight a double to center field by Lee.

Lee finished the night 3-3 with a pair on runs batted in and a run scored. Every starter in the Radford lineup got at least one hit with the exception of Jeff Kemp, who was walked twice to stretch his on-base streak to 30 games. Burgess, Zach Woolcock, Josh Reavis, Hunter Higgerson, and Chris Coia all had two hits apiece to join Lee with a multi-hit game. The Highlanders finished with 15 hits on the night.

After the Highlanders built a 13-4 lead after a four-run fifth that included a two-run double from Burgess, the Buccaneers rallied for six runs in the sixth.

James Woods came on in relief of Nelson, but gave up his first two runs of the season giving up three hits in facing only four batters. Oliver Powers completed the sixth before Andrews took over in the seventh.

Andrews was stellar in his 3.0 innings. He gave up one hit and struck out two.

"This was a huge step for Andrews to take against a pretty good offensive team," Raccuia said. "Him picking up three innings to save our bullpen was really big. He earned the chance to get the ball again."

The win is the third straight for Radford (23-16). The Highlanders face North Carolina A&T on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. The game time was moved up two hours with the threat of inclement weather in the Radford area on Wednesday night.

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