RADFORD AND NO. 9 NORTH CAROLINA MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 20 YEARS

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RADFORD, Va. – Radford and No. 9 North Carolina met for two games in the mid 1990s as the Highlanders traveled to Chapel Hill, N.C. for a single regular season game in 1996 and 1997. The two foes end the 20-year absence this weekend with a three-game series starting on Friday. The Tar Heels won the first meeting 13-0 in 1996, while the Highlanders knotted up the all-time series with an 8-4 victory in 1997.

SETTING THE STAGE
- Series: Tied, 1-1
- Location: Boshamer Stadium (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
- TV: ACC Network Extra
- Watch Game 1 Live
- Watch Game 2 Live
- Watch Game 3 Live
- Series Notes (Radford | North Carolina)

ON THE BUMP
Friday, February 24 – 3 p.m.
LHP Zack Ridgely (0-1, 7.20 ERA) vs. RHP J.B. Bukauskas (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Saturday, February 25 – 2 p.m.
RHP Danny Hrbek (0-0, 13.50 ERA) vs. RHP Jason Morgan (1-0, 1.59 ERA)
Sunday, February 26 – 1 p.m.
RHP Ryan Sande (0-1, 13.50 ERA) vs. RHP Luca Dalatri (1-0, 5.14 ERA)

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

Record: 1-3
Radford is 29-85-1 against opponents from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Highlanders went 8-5 against teams from North Carolina in 2016.
The 2016 season saw Radford go 2-2 against ACC foes.
Through the first four games, Radford is off to a slow start at the plate. The Highlanders have only managed 18 hits in 125 at bats, striking out 51 times.
Radford will face three right-handed starting pitchers this weekend as the Highlanders hold a .174 batting average against righties.
Against southpaws, Radford is just over a .100 clip, coming in with a .107 average.
Six Highlanders have two-plus hits on the season.
Spencer Horwitz is currently on a three-game hitting and on-base streak.
Horwitz leads the Highlanders with four hits and four RBIs.
All four of Horwitz's RBIs have come with two outs. The freshman is 3 for 5 with two outs.
Adam Whitacre joins Horwitz as the only other Highlander with more than two hits. Whitacre is 3 for 16 with two runs scored out of the leadoff spot.
Freshman Cody Schneider leads the team in extra base hits with two doubles.
Schneider has reached safely in the first four games to start the season.
Andrew Nardi turned in a solid outing in his first collegiate start against Elon on Tuesday. The sophomore southpaw punched out nine batters in 4.1 innings pitched.
The nine strikeouts are the most by a Radford pitcher since Michael Boyle struck out 10 at Gardner-Webb on April 2, 2015.
Radford pitchers possess a 7.36 ERA, allowing 27 earned runs in 33.0 innings.
Of the 40 hits surrendered to opposing batters, 20 have come as extra base hits.

SCOUTING NORTH CAROLINA

Record: 4-0
The Tar Heels are a consensus top-15 team across four of the sport's major polls. North Carolina stayed at No. 9 in the D1Baseball poll after the sweep, but the Tar Heels rose in three other surveys. They jumped from No. 17 to No. 14 according to Baseball America, from No. 15 to No. 12 in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll and from No. 12 to No. 10 in the Perfect Game poll.
North Carolina swept Southeastern Conference member Kentucky on Opening Weekend, before collecting a dominate 11-1 win over Gardner-Webb on Wednesday.
The Tar Heels have outscored opponents 25-11 on the season, 22 coming as RBIs.
In the win over Gardner-Webb, the Tar Heels received nine hits and nine RBIs from their 1-6 hitters.
Through four games, Zack Gahagan leads the Tar Heels with a .417 average, going 5 for 12 at the plate. Gahagan has tallied five runs, while driving in four.
Kyle Datres leads the Tar Heels with six RBIs, while Logan Warmoth follows with four.
Leadoff man Brian Miller paces the squad with seven hits.
Of North Carolina's 37 hits, 11 have come as extra base hits.
The Tar Heels have been dominate on defense, committing only one error in 149 chances.
North Carolina's weekend rotation yielded only five runs in 18.2 innings pitched, allowing 15 hits, while striking out 20 batters.
Potential 2017 MLB Draft top pick, J.B. Bukauskas punched out 10 Kentucky batters in six innings, allowing only three hits and one walk on Opening Day.
On Saturday, Jason Morgan allowed one run in 5.2 innings, striking out five batters.
Making his first collegiate start on Sunday, Luca Dalatri struck out five batters in seven innings.
In the Tar Heel bullpen, Josh Hiatt has appeared in three contests, striking out six batters in 3.2 innings pitched.
In 36 innings pitched, North Carolina has given up 11 runs, striking out 37 batters in the first four contests.

UP NEXT

Radford travels to New River Valley foe on Feb. 28 for a 3 p.m. contest.
In the three-game weekday series between the NRV foes, Radford took the series, improving to 14-41 all-time against the Hokies.
In the game played in Blacksburg, Virginia Tech hit two home runs and scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings, eventually taking a 4-3 comeback win in 10 innings.

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