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16
Winner Radford RAD 39-14
10
UNC Asheville AVL 21-34
Winner
Radford RAD
39-14
16
Final
10
UNC Asheville AVL
21-34
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Radford RAD 6 1 2 1 3 0 0 0 3 16 14 0
UNC Asheville AVL 0 0 0 0 3 1 6 0 0 10 13 3

W: MacKeith, Mitchell (7-4) L: CLARKE, Lucas (4-9) S: Ross, Austin (1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

RU CLOSES OUT REGULAR SEASON WITH 11TH STRAIGHT WIN AND SWEEP OF ASHEVILLE

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ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Hunter Higgerson hit three-run home runs in the first and ninth innings, and No. 23 Radford (39-14, 20-4) defeated UNC Asheville (21-34, 5-19) Saturday to close out the regular season on an 11-game winning streak. The Highlanders completed the road sweep of the Bulldogs, 16-10, at Greenwood Field. RU is now 14-1 in its last 15 road games.

Higgerson (2 for 6) and Shane Johnsonbaugh (3 for 5) both had monster days at the plate as RU opened up a 13-0 lead through 4.5 innings before Asheville made things interesting scoring 10 straight runs before Higgerson's second blast in the ninth. Johnsonbaugh tallied two doubles and his sixth home run of the season to drive in three runs and score four runs. Brad Keen (3 for 5) also had three hits for the Highlanders, including an RBI and a double.

Radford scored six times in the top of the first, and Mitchell MacKeith (7-4) cruised through 4.0 innings in a scheduled short start to earn the victory. MacKeith allowed three hits and did not allow a run prior to turning the game over to the bullpen with a 13-run lead. That lead eventually turned into a save opportunity for Austin Ross, who pitched the final two innings to earn his first of the season. Four other relievers in between MacKeith and Ross all allowed at least one run for the Highlanders.

Asheville scored three in the fifth, one in the sixth, and six in the seventh to cut the lead to 13-10. Higgerson's homer in the ninth was his sixth of the season and the six RBIs pushed his total to 51 on the season.

"For the first five innings, we swung the bats great and pitched well in MacKeith," Radford head coach Joe Raccuia said. "Then we imploded and were not good enough. I am glad Higgerson and Johnsonbaugh had big games at the plate, and Hunter put got a big swing late."

The 11-game winning streak is the second longest in school history trailing only the 12-game streak put together earlier this season. The top-seeded Highlanders will face #8 seed Longwood in the first round of the Big South Tournament on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in Boiling Springs, N.C.
 
"It is time to get ready for the tournament," Raccuia said.
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