COSTELLO'S GEM PUSHES RU PAST LIBERTY IN BIG SOUTH TOURNEY

BOX SCORE LYNCHBURG, Va. - Tyler Costello threw his first complete game of the season giving up one earned run and five hits in a 6-3 victory over Liberty in the opening round of the 2013 Big South Baseball Tournament.

Radford scored three times in the bottom of the first inning on five base hits and a Liberty error that allowed two unearned runs to plate, and the Highlanders never trailed in the game.

Josh Gardiner, Josh Reavis, Jeff Kemp and Zach Woolcock each singled to open the game for Radford in its offensive turn at bat. Kemp's single drove in Gardiner to give RU an early 1-0 lead. Patrick Marshall's sharp grounder to firstbaseman Alex Close led to two more runs for the Highlanders. With the bases loaded, Close threw away an attempt to get the out at home plate, and both Reavis and Kemp came in to score on the miscue.

Radford would add two runs in the third on a two-out, two-run double by Ryan Burgess. The sixth run of the night came in the fourth for the Highlanders on an RBI ground out by Reavis to score Gardiner, who reached on a fielder's choice, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Costello made the lead stand up. Minus a two-out solo home run to Ashton Perritt in the top of the third, the Radford ace worked nearly effortlessly into the seventh when a defensive slip for the Highlanders led to a pair of Liberty runs.

With a runner on first and one out, Bryan Aanderud's deep fly ball to left field fell out of Woolcock's glove, and the Flames put two runners in scoring position on the error. Nick Paxton followed with a two-run single to cut the lead to 6-3.

Costello (7-4) settled and finished the game retiring the last eight batters he faced to earn the complete game win. Josh Richardson (2-4) also went the distance for Liberty in the loss.

"We got a great outing from Costello. He was in command the whole time," Radford head coach Joe Raccuia said. "The most impressive part of his effort was to come back after a defensive lapse and close it out. That's a hard thing to do. We defended for a good part of the game, and offensively, we did enough."

Radford advances in the winner's bracket to play No. 1 seed Campbell on Wednesday night at approximately 7:30 p.m. Liberty will face Charleston Southern in an elimination game at 12:30.

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