RADFORD TO FACE KENT STATE, QUINNIPIAC & WAKE FOREST THIS WEEKEND

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RADFORD, Va. – Radford wraps up its final non-conference weekend road series on Friday with a matchup against three familiar opponents, including two neutral site contests in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Highlanders will take on Kent State, Quinnipiac and host Wake Forest. Radford last faced Quinnipiac and Wake Forest in 2014, while hosting Kent State for a three-game series a season ago. Against the three opponents, Radford is a combined 5-9.

SETTING THE STAGE
- Record vs. Kent State: 0-3
- Record vs. Quinnipiac: 3-0
- Record vs. Wake Forest: 2-6
- Location: David F. Couch Ballpark (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
- Friday Live Stats
- Saturday Live Stats
- Sunday Live Stats

ON THE BUMP
Friday, March 3 – 12 p.m. vs. Kent State
LHP Zack Ridgely (0-2, 4.26 ERA) vs. LHP Connor Wollersheim (0-0, 1.04 ERA)
Friday, March 4 – 10 a.m. vs. Quinnipiac
RHP Danny Hrbek (0-1, 16.50 ERA) vs. RHP Taylor Luciani (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Friday, March 5 – 12 p.m. at Wake Forest
RHP Ryan Sande (0-2, 5.14 ERA) vs. TBA

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

Record: 1-7
Radford has dropped three of its last four games by two runs, falling 9-7 to New River Valley foe Virginia Tech on Tuesday.
The Highlanders have scored 12 runs in the final three innings, despite scoring 14 in the first six innings.
Opponents have taken advantage of early miscues by the Highlanders, scoring 14 runs in the second inning. They have also padded their lead late in games, tallying 14 runs in the seventh inning.
Radford pumped out a season-high 14 hits in the loss to Virginia Tech. The Highlanders entered the contest with only 39 hits in the first seven games.
They finished with a 14-11 hit advantage, marking the first time the Highlanders have outhit an opponent on the season.
All 14 of the hits came from Radford's 3-8 hitters.
Six Highlanders collected multi-hits in the game, led by 3 for 5 performance from Matt Roth.
Roth improved his hitting streak to four games, collecting his second multi-hit game on the season and first career multi-RBI game.
Making his first career start, Straton Podaras collected three hits. In the last two games, Podaras is 4 for 7 with two RBIs.
Kyle Butler and Spencer Horwitz joined Roth as the duo collected their second multi-hit games of the season.
Butler possess a .385 average and .500 on-base percentage in six games.
Horwitz leads the lead with five RBIs, including four two-out RBIs.
Following Horwitz in the RBI category, Richard De la Cruz has collected two two-RBI hits in the last two games.
Radford has eight players with two or more RBIs on the season.
Entering the game against Virginia Tech with double-digit strikeouts in six of the first seven games, Radford struck out a season low six times.
Highlander pitchers have fared better against right-handed batters than left-handed. Righties are only batting .257, compared to a .357 average for lefties.
In the first five games, Radford pitchers only walked 12 batters. They walked 11 in the last two games.

SCOUTING KENT STATE

Record: 6-1
Kent State swept Belmont to start the season, before taking three out of four games at Florida International.
In the first seven games of the season, Kent State has outscored opponents 48-20.
In 2016, the Golden Flashes outscored Radford 21-9 in a three-game series.
Kent State sports four players with double-digit hits on the season.
Tim DalPorto leads the squad with 15 hits and a .500 average, while tied for the team lead with seven RBIs.
Dylan Rosa and Dom Iero follow with 11 hits each. Rosa has provided two home runs and six RBIs. Iero joins Rosa with six RBIs on the season.
Brad Hamilton is tied for the team lead with seven RBIs, leading the squad in home runs with three.
Kent State possess a solid rotation of Zach Willeman (0.73 ERA), Joey Murray (1.93 ERA) and Eli Kraus (2.70 ERA).
The trio has struck out 32 batters in 35 innings pitched.
Opponents are only hitting .188 off Golden Flash pitchers.

SCOUTING QUINNIPIAC

Record: 4-3
After taking three out of four games at UTSA to open the season, Quinnipiac traveled to Campbell, taking Friday night's game in the weekend series.
Quinnipiac holds a .259 batting average with 66 hits in 255 at bats.
Julius Spaorito leads the squad with a .421 average. Joseph Burns follows with .357 clip as the only Bobcat with double-digit hits (10).
Providing all of the power for the Bobcats, Liam Scafariello has all five of Quinnipiac's home runs. Five of Scafariello's nine hits have come via the long ball.
He leads the team with nine RBIs.
Ten different Bobcats have driven in a run, including eight with two-plus RBIs.
Matthew Batten and Mike Palladino are a combined 6 for 10 on stolen bases this season.
In four appearances out of the bullpen, Mike Davis has allowed no earned runs, striking out six in 4.1 innings pitched.

SCOUTING WAKE FOREST

Record: 5-4
The Demon Deacons are 4-1 on their home field, taking two of a three-game series against Southern Cal.
Against the Trojans, Wake Forest held a 39-19 scoring edge.
The Demon Deacons continued the scoring on Tuesday with a 13-5 win over Davidson.
Wake Forest ranks seventh in the country with 15 home runs.
Three different Demon Deacons have hit three-plus home runs.
Stuart Fairchild leads the way with four home runs, while Gavin Sheets and Johnny Aiello follow with three home runs each.
Jonathan Pryor leads the team in average (.487), hits (19), runs (13) and doubles (6).
His 19 hits are third best in the country, while ranking 13^th in runs scored.
In addition to his average, Pryor holds a .795 slugging percentage and a .524 on-base percentage.
Gavin Sheets follows with a .400 average to go along with 14 hits and 20 RBIs, which lead the country.
Sheets ranks third nationally with 2.22 RBIs per game.
The Demon Deacon weekend rotation has compiled a 6.06 ERA in six starts.
Opposing batters are hitting .274 off Wake Forest pitchers.
Out of the bullpen, Chris Farish and Morgan McSweeney have combined for 18 strikeouts in 10.1 innings.

UP NEXT

Radford will take a spring break trip to Fairfax, Va., for a midweek two-game series against George Mason.
The contests are slated for 2:30 p.m. starts on March 7-8.
Radford is 2-7 against George Mason in the all-time series.

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