Baseball 6/1/2017 5:00:00 PM

RADFORD OPENS NCAA REGIONAL FRIDAY VERSUS NO. 7 LOUISVILLE

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After completing its magical run in last week's Big South Baseball Championships, Radford begins the road to Omaha in the Louisville Regional as the fourth seeded Highlanders take on No. 7 national seed the Louisville Cardinals, Friday night inside Jim Patterson Stadium with a 6 p.m. first pitch.

SETTING THE STAGE

Series: First Meeting
Location: Jim Patterson Stadium (Louisville, Ky.)
Radford enters the Louisville Regional on a four-game winning streak after outscoring opponents 29-8 in the Big South Tournament. The Highlanders scored first in all four tournament games, improving to 19-11 when scoring first.
Louisville was selected as a national seed for the third straight season and the fourth time in school history.
The Cardinals enter the regional at 47-10 overall after finishing 1-1 in last week's ACC Championship. Louisville, which set a record for the best start to a season in school history with 19 straight wins, won 12 of its 13 weekend series this season, while eight of the 12 series wins for the Cardinals were sweeps.
Game Notes
Live Stats
Live Video (ESPN3)
Live Audio (Super Sports 101.7 FM)

ON THE HILL (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Friday, June 2 – 6:00 p.m.
RHP Danny Hrbek (5-5, 4.42) vs. RHP Kade McClure (7-3, 3.24)

REGIONAL QUICK FACTS

Number of NCAA Regional Appearances: 2 (2015, 2017)
Radford Record in NCAA Regionals: 2-2
Under head coach Joe Raccuia: 2-2
Record as the No. 4 Seed: 0-0
The Highlanders won its first ever Big South Regular Season and Tournament Championships in 2015, earning a bid as the No. 2 seed in the Nashville Regional.
The 2015 and 2017 Big South Tournaments saw the Highlanders go 4-0 on their way to regional appearances.
Radford went 2-2 in the 2015 Nashville Regional

2017 NCAA REGIONAL - LOUISVILLE, KY. - SCHEDULE
Friday, June 2 | (ESPN3)
Game 1: No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Xavier - 2 p.m.
Game 2: No. 1 Louisville vs. No. 4 Radford - 6 p.m.
Saturday, June 3 | (ESPN3)
Game 3: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser - Noon
Game 4: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner - 7 p.m.
Sunday, June 4 | (ESPN3)
Game 5: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser - 1 p.m.
Game 6: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner - 7 p.m.
Monday, June 5 | (ESPN3) - If necessary
Game 7: Game 6 Loser vs. Game 6 Winner - 7 p.m.
All times are Eastern Daylight Savings

REGIONAL RESUME

Indiana: 1-1 (W1)
Lipscomb: 1-0 (W1)
Louisville: 0-0
Oklahoma: 0-0
Vanderbilt: 0-1 (L1)
Xavier: 0-0

HOW WE GOT HERE

Radford outscored teams 29-8 in the Big South Tournament.
Radford's pitching staff led the tournament with a 1.50 ERA, surrendering only seven extra-base hits.
The four games saw Radford use six pitchers, including only three relievers in the four games.
The pitching staff struck out 40 batters in 36 innings pitched.
Senior Kyle Zurak tossed complete game in a 9-2 championship win over No.3 Presbyterian. Zurak allowed two runs on six hits, while matching a career-best nine strikeouts.
Freshman Spencer Horwitz led the Highlanders with a 7 for 16 tournament performance, scoring five runs, while driving in five of his own on two doubles and a home run.

WE OWN LEXINGTON…….South Carolina

Radford outscored opponents 29-8 in the four tournament games, holding a 40-22 edge in the hit column.
Of Radford's 29 runs scored, 27 were credited as an RBI.
Six different Highlanders finished the tournament with five-plus hits.
The tournament saw nine extra base hits by the Highlanders
Spencer Horwitz and Jonathan Gonzalez scored five runs each.
Radford was 10 for 13 on the base paths this weekend.
The weekend saw the Highlanders use only six pitchers, three of which were relief.
Danny Hrbek struck out a career-high nine batters in a 7-1 win over top seeded Winthrop.
Earning tournament MVP honors, Kyle Zurak punched out 14 batters in 12.2 innings, yielding only two earned runs. Zurak picked up his ninth save on the season and fourth win).

REGIONAL EXPERIENCE IS SMALL

Radford sports only five players on its roster that competed in the 2015 Vanderbilt Regional.
Danny Hrbek started at first base, going 1 for 18 with a double and run scored. The regional saw Hrbek strikeout five times
Zack Ridgely started against Lipscomb on March 30, tossing five innings of two-hit, two-run baseball. Ridgely struck out two, walking zero in Radford's first postseason win program history.
Kyle Palmer made two appearances, allowing two hits in two innings of relief
In 21-0 loss to Vanderbilt in the regional final, Austin Ross was touched for four runs on three hits in one innings of work

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.

NO FREE RIDES

Radford's pitching staff has allowed only 175 walks in 503.1 innings.
The Highlanders finished the regular season second in the Big South for least number of walks surrendered.
As a team, Radford ranks 35th nationally in walks allowed per nine innings with 3.13.
Individually, Zack Ridgely ranks 17th in the category (1.14) as the junior has only yielded 12 walks in 95.0 innings pitched.

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, which includes three major leaguers.
Ridgely finished his 2017 regular season campaign with a 6-5 record in 14 starts, while holding down a 2.91 ERA, earning the second Big South Pitcher honor in program history.
Ridgely becomes the first Highlander to win the award outright.
In 95.0 innings, Ridgely has struck out a career best 85 batters, while only walking 12.
The 85 strikeouts are seventh most by a Highlander in a single season.
Entering the tournament with 243 innings to his name, Ridgely is now 10th in program history, throwing over 192 innings in the past two years
Nationally, Ridgely ranks 12th with a 7.08 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He also ranks 17th with 1.14 walks allowed per nine innings.
His 2.84 ERA is second best in the league, while opponents only hit a mere .214 off the lefty, which ranks fourth 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 16 career wins, Ridgely stands alone in eighth place all-time in program history
Striking out 194 batters over 47 appearances, Ridgely needs six more to become the fourth pitcher in program history to strikeout 200 batters in a career.
His 3.11 career ERA is currently second best among Radford pitchers in its 33-year history.

PITCHERS DOMINATE BIG SOUTH 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).

RADFORD WITH RBI CHANCES

Radford is 167 for 581 (.287) with runners in scoring position.
Jonathan Gonzalez leads the team with 26 hits (.342), while Kyle Butler follows with 23 (.383) in the situation.
There are nine Highlanders with double-digit hits in the situation.
Danny Hrbek and Gonzalez have 12 RBIs with a runner on third and less than two outs.
Butler leads all with 13 two-out RBIs.

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 regular season games, Hrbek needs only three for 100 in his career.
With at least two guaranteed games left in his career, Hrbek needs only one triple to set a new program record for career triples. He is currently sitting at 14.
Playing in four conference tournament games, Hrbek became the seventh Highlander to appear in 200 games in a career as the senior has now played in 203 contests
Hrbek is now in sole possession of fifth place all-time in program history.

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 a everyday starter on February 25.
Entering the NCAA Tournament with a .316 average, Butler ranks 12th in the league.
Butler has scored 47 runs, ranking as fifth most in league.
He is three runs away from moving into a three-way tie for ninth most in a season by a Highlander
With 69 hits to his name, Butler is only five hits away from moving into a four-way tie for 10th most hits in a season.
With one more hit, Butler can become the third straight Highlander to collected 70 hits in a season, joining Shane Johnsonbaugh (76) in 2015 and Danny Hrbek (74) in 2016.

HAMMERIN' HORWITZ

Since stepping foot on campus in the fall, Spencer Horwitz has become a key component in the Highlander lineup.
Horwitz leads the team with a .317 average, good enough for 10th in the league.
Coming in with 63 hits to rank tied for second on the team, Horwitz has collected a hit in 38 of the 54 games he's played in.
The longest stretch Horwitz has gone without a hit has been two games on four different occasions.
Of Horwitz's eight home runs, six came in Big South play and one came in the conference tournament.
The frosh put together a slash line of .289/.554/.381 in conference action.
Horwitz collected 15 of his 34 RBIs in BSC play.

HERBIE AND THE NO-NO

In only his third career start, senior right-hander Danny Hrbek tossed the first nine-inning no-hitter in Radford baseball history, allowing only one base runner as the Highlanders defeated Quinnipiac 4-0, Saturday morning at Couch Ballpark.
The no-hitter was the fourth in program history, which includes two seven-inning no hitters and one rain shortened five-inning game.
Hrbek totaled a career-high eight strikeouts, yielding no walks, facing just one batter over the minimum.
In the nine innings, Hrbek had three innings of two-plus strikeouts, throwing only 88 pitches in the contest that included 63 strikes.
Using the 4-0 lead, Hrbek threw just 17 pitches to retire the final nine Bobcats to cap off the Highlanders' first no-hitter since Jason Anderson tossed a seven-inning affair against UNC Asheville on April 15, 1995.
Was named Big South Pitcher of the Week, NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Pitcher of the Week and a Golden Spikes Award Golden Standard Performance nominee for his performance.

DON'T MESS WITH BIG Z

In his senior season, whether closing out games or starting them, Kyle Zurak has been electric.
Zurak enters the NCAA Tournament with a 4-3 record and nine saves in 24 appearances.
He has compiled a 2.28 ERA, leading the Big South with a conference ERA of 1.03.
Striking out 69 batters in 55.1 innings, Zurak has 22 in 18.1 innings as a starter.
In three starts, he is 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA. Opposing teams are hitting .239 off him.

ON DECK

The winner will advance to Game 4 to face the winner of No. 2 Oklahoma/No. 3 Xavier Saturday at 7 p.m.
The loser will move to Game 3 to face the loser of No. 2 Oklahoma/No. 3 Xavier Saturday at noon.

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