FIRST ROUND DELAYED; RADFORD TO PLAY NO. 4 HPU THURSDAY

LEXINGTON, S.C. – Mother Nature kept the Highlanders from opening the 2017 Big South Baseball Championships on Tuesday and Wednesday as Radford will now face No. 4 High Point Thursday night at 10 p.m., as the championships will still remain a "Winner Take All" double-elimination tournament.

SETTING THE STAGE

Series: High Point leads (31-26)
Location: Lexington County Baseball Stadium (Lexington, S.C.)
Radford won the 2017 series, 2-1.
In the series, Kyle Butler went 6 for 13 with four runs scored and two RBIs. Danny Hrbek had four hits, including a double and home run to go along with four RBIs.
Spencer Horwitz followed with three RBIs, while Jonathan Gonzalez and Richard De la Cruz provided two RBIs each.
Out of the bullpen, Austin Gerber allowed only one hit and one unearned run in 4.2 relief innings, tallying four strikeouts.
The two teams have met in the first round of the tournament three times (2007, 2010, 2014) with High Point taking the win in all three games.
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ON THE HILL (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Thursday, May 25th – 10:00 p.m.
RHP Andrew Gottfried (4-2, 3.74) vs. LHP Zack Ridgely (6-5, 2.91)

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

Radford was unable to collect its fifth Big South series win after taking a 3-1 win in game one as Winthrop dominated in the final two regular season contests.
The Highlanders were outscored 16-7 in the three-game series, while being outhit 30-18.
Adam Whitacre put together a strong series against the Eagles, collecting three multi-hit games to go 7 for 13 with three runs scored and two RBIs as the Radford leadoff batter.
Whitacre currently has an 18-game on-base streak, dating back to April 9.
After having their seven-game stretch of double-digit hit games snapped on May 10, nine hits have been the most hits managed by the Highlanders in a single game over their last seven contests.
Maintaining a 7-5 record when scoring 6-9 runs, Radford has only eclipsed that mark twice in the last 10 games, going 1-1.
The Highlanders have only scored double-digits seven times on the season with three coming in league play.
Radford holds a 5-10 record in night games and with the No. 5 seed, the Highlanders could play two night games to start the tournament.
Radford's offense has been on a tear after being swept at Charleston Southern (April 21-23). Despite their stretch of seven straight double-digit hit games, the Highlanders have scored 83 runs on 129 hits. Of the 83 runs, 76 have come as RBIs.
Over the 14-game span, Radford has hit 22 doubles and 16 home runs.
The Highlanders have also been a menace on the base paths, swiping 26 bases in 38 attempts over the stretch. On the season, Radford is 73 for 106.
The 73 steals finish the regular season ranked fourth in the league, ranking 39th nationally.
Five different Highlanders have over 50 hits on the season. Seven different Highlanders have scored 20-plus runs.
Radford pitchers have combined to strikeout 114 batters in the last 14 games of the regular season, walking only 45 in 129.2 innings.
On the season, Radford has punched out 386 batters in 467.1 innings, ranking fifth in the league with 7.43 per game.
The Highlanders do not issue free passes often as they only walked 167 in the regular season, ranking inside the Top 50 nationally with 3.22 walks per nine innings.

TOURNAMENT QUICK FACTS

Number of Tournaments: 29
Radford Record at BSC Tourney: 20-36
Under head coach Joe Raccuia: 13-16
Number of Championships (Last): 1 (2015)
Record as the No. 5 Seed: 5-8
Radford has been the fifth seed in three out of the last six tournaments.
The Highlanders appeared in the 1993 championship game as the No. 5 seed, falling to No. 6 Liberty 6-1.
The No. 5 seed has won two championships, while appearing in five championship games.
The last No. 5 seed to win the tournament came in 2013 as Liberty went 5-1.

TOURNEY TIME

Radford is seeking to win at least one game in the Big South Tournament for the seventh straight season.
The Highlanders have won at least two games in four tournaments, including the last two tournaments.
Radford has only appeared in two championship games in its program's history (1993, 2015).
In 2016, Radford became the first No. 8 seed to win two games in the tournament's history.
The 2016 tournament saw Radford outscore opponents 39-30.
Radford has had 19 players named to the Big South's All-Tournament team.

TOURNAMENT RESUME

Campbell: 1-2 (L1)
Charleston Southern: 1-0 (W1)
Gardner-Webb: 3-2 (W2)
High Point: 2-3 (W1)
Liberty: 3-10 (L3)
Longwood: 1-0 (W1)
Presbyterian: 1-0 (W1)
UNC Asheville: 0-3 (L3)
Winthrop: 3-4 (W1)

BSC ALL-CONFERENCE HONOREES

Radford placed six players on All-Big South squads, the most among any team by two players. The six honorees match a program record set in 2015.
Zack Ridgely was named the 2017 Big South Pitcher of the Year, becoming only the second Highlander to achieve the feat. Ridgely will join the Big South's only MLB first round draft pick Eddie Butler with the distinction.
The lefthander finished with four first-place votes and 17 points in the voting, just ahead of Winthrop's (four first-place votes and 15 points).
Ridgely captured three Big South Pitcher of the Week awards, giving him five in his career.
Ridgely joins seniors Kyle Zurak and Danny Hrbek as the Highlanders were one of only two teams to play three players on the conference's first team.
Zurak was named to the lone reliever position on the first team, while Hrbek was named to the utility position.
The all-conference honor is the second of Hrbek's career, earning second team in 2016.
Kyle Butler, Spencer Horwitz and Jonathan Gonzalez were named to the Big South's second team.
The last time Radford placed more than two players on the second team was in 1994.
Kyle Palmer was named to the Big South All-Academic team

FRIDAY IS NOW RIDGEDAY

After moving into the Friday night role in 2016, Zack Ridgely is on his way to going down as one of the greatest pitchers in program history that includes two major leaguers.
Ridgely finished his 2017 campaign with a 6-5 record in 14 starts, while holding down a 2.91 ERA.
In 89.2 innings, Ridgely has struck out a career best 80 batters, while only walking 10.
The 80 strikeouts are ninth most by a Highlander in a single season.
Nationally, Ridgely ranks eighth with an 8.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He also ranks 11th with 1.00 walks allowed per nine innings.
His 2.91 ERA is fifth best in the league, while opponents only hit a mere .218 off the lefty, which ranks seventh in the conference.
Ridgely finished with a 2.13 ERA in Big South play, commanding a 4-2 record, surrendering only six walks.
Big South foes finished with a .191 batting average against the southpaw.
In the regular season, Ridgely walked zero batters in seven of his starts.
With 15 career wins, Ridgely stands in a three-way tie for eighth in program history.
Striking out 189 batters over 46 appearances, Ridgely needs 11 more to become the fourth pitcher in program history to strikeout 200 batters in a career.
His 3.14 career ERA is currently second best in program history

OH DANNY BOY, OH DANNY BOY

Stepping into a two-way role during the 2017 season, Danny Hrbek has made the most of his senior season.
Hrbek continues to close in on several milestones in his career as the senior collected his 200th career hit on a RBI double in a 3-2 win over High Point on May 13.
After tallying eight RBIs in the last eight games, Hrbek needs only four for 100 in his career.
With at least two guaranteed conference tournament games in his career, Hrbek needs only one triple to set the program record for career triples. He is currently sitting at 14.
Entering the tournament with 199 career games played in a Radford uniform, Hrbek will become the seventh Highlander to appear in 200 games in a career.

A BUT ABOVE THE REST

Having only started 15 games in his career, Kyle Butler was inserted into the lineup after a season-ending injury to Colby Higgerson.
Butler has done nothing but hit, since being inserted into the lineup as an everyday starter on February 25.
Ending the regular season with a .318 average, Butler finished 10th in the league.
Butler scored 43 runs, ranking as fourth most in league.
With 64 hits to his name, Butler is only 10 hits away from moving into a four-way tie for 10th most hits in a season.
He is seven runs away from moving into a three-way tie for ninth most in a season.

PITCHERS DOMINATE BSC PLAY

Radford finished the 24-game Big South schedule with a 3.09 ERA, ranking third best in the league.
Opposing teams only hit .241 off the Highlander pitching staff.
Kyle Zurak led all Big South pitchers with a 1.03 ERA, striking out 40 batters in 26.1 innings.
Zurak compiled a 1-2 record with five saves, starting two of his 11 appearances.
Austin Gerber joined Zurak as another strong option out of the bullpen. Gerber finished league action with a 2.70 ERA, holding opposing bats to a .194 average.
Radford's rotation sported a strong ERA: Ryan Sande (2.05), Zack Ridgely (2.13) and Danny Hrbek (4.23).

MILESTONE WATCH

200 career strikeouts - Zack Ridgely (189)
100 career strikeouts - Kyle Zurak (99)
100 career RBIs - Danny Hrbek (96)
100 career hits - Jonathan Gonzalez (96)
100 career hits - Kyle Butler (78)
100 career hits - Luke Wise (78)
70 career RBIs - Jonathan Gonzalez (65)
30 career doubles - Danny Hrbek (26)
20 career doubles - Kyle Butler (17)
15 career triples - Danny Hrbek (14)
10 career saves - Kyle Zurak (9)

ON DECK

The winner of Radford/High Point will play the winner of No. 1 Winthrop/No. 8 Campbell on Friday at 8 p.m.
The loser will play the loser of Winthrop/Campbell on Friday at 1 p.m.

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