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Harless-20180511
Radford Athletics Communications
10
Winner Radford RAD 21-27, 12-10 BSC
4
Liberty LIBERTY 26-22, 14-8 BSC
Winner
Radford RAD
21-27, 12-10 BSC
10
Final
4
Liberty LIBERTY
26-22, 14-8 BSC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Radford RAD 2 0 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 10 9 0
Liberty LIBERTY 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 9 2

W: Ross, Austin (8-4) L: PRICE, G. (6-4)

Game Recap: Baseball |

HARLESS COLLECTS FOUR RBIS IN SERIES OPENING WIN AT LIBERTY

GAME INFORMATION
  • Radford 10, Liberty 4
  • Records: Highlanders (21-27) | Flames (26-22)
  • Location: Liberty Baseball Stadium | Lynchburg, Va.
                                      
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Radford continued its strong Big South play as the Highlanders used a seven-run third inning to battle through a lightning delay in a 10-4 series opening win over Liberty, Friday night between the two Commonwealth rivals.
 
Totaling nine hits on the night, Radford was led by its eight and nine-hole batters. Will Harless turned a season-best four RBIs on a pair of hits, while Richard De la Cruz finished with two hits and two RBIs.
 
Entering the game with an 8-4 record when scoring in the first inning and Radford did just that in the series' curtain raiser. Luke Wise opened the game with a four-pitch walk and Kyle Butler reached on a fielding error to set the table for the Highlanders.
 
With two on and one out, Matt Roth put Radford on the board with a single through the left side and Colby Higgerson followed with an RBI ground out.
 
After stranding two runners on base in the opening frame, Liberty picked up its first run on a Logan Mathieu double to left-center after the leadoff man reached via a walk. The Flames proceeded the load the bases with two outs on Radford starter Austin Ross. The redshirt senior limited the damage as the Flames only plated one run, knotting the game on a walk.
 
Radford blew the game wide open in the third, plating the seven runs on five hits and another Liberty error.
 
Wise and Butler set the table again, reaching on a single and ground-rule double respectively. Roth collected his second RBI on the night with a ground ball to third, scoring Wise easily. An errant throw that sailed into the camera area allowed Butler to score and Roth to move onto second base.
 
Higgerson followed with a single off the leg of Liberty starter Garret Price, putting Highlanders on the corners. Garrett Matheny was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs.
 
De la Cruz stepped into the batters' box with only two RBIs to his name. The sophomore doubled his 2018 total with a single into center field, plating Roth and Higgerson.
 
With 82 two-out RBIs on the season, Radford plated five of its seven runs in the frame with two outs as Harless launched a shot to left field that kept carrying. The reigning Big South Freshman of the Week's second round-tripper pushed across three runs, extending the Radford lead to 9-3.
 
Liberty got a run back in the fourth on a Tre Todd RBI single, before the game entered into a one hour and 54-minute lightning delay that plagued the Big South Softball Championships earlier in the day at Radford.  
 
Coming out of the delay, Cody Boone took over for Ross on the mound. The Flames proceeded to load the bases with two outs, however Boone forced a ground out to end the threat as Liberty stranded 11 runners on base in the contest.
 
De la Cruz's second hit on the night, a double off the left field fence, set up Harless' fourth RBI as the freshman lined a single through the left side, becoming the seventh different Highlander to drive in four-plus runs in a game on the season.
 
Evan Threehouse took over in the bottom half of the fifth with a 10-4 edge, yielding three hits over three frames, striking out four batters for a season best. Austin Gerber followed with two perfect frames, needing only 16 pitches to retire all six batters faced.
 
Radford's bullpen allowed only four hits over 5.2 frames, walking only two batters to seal the 10-4 Radford victory after the lightning delay forced both teams to regroup.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
  • Win: Austin Ross (8-4) (3.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K)
  • Loss: Garret Price (6-4) (2.2 IP, 4 H, 7 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K)
  • Ross' eighth win is a Big South best in 2018, while ranking tied for fourth in program history.
  • The eight wins are the most by a Highlander since Michael Boyle went 10-3 in 2015.
  • Tossing only 3.1 frames, Ross' start was cut short due to the lightning delay.
  • The win marked the seventh by a Radford starting pitcher on the season.
  • Evan Threehouse tossed a season-high three frames out of the bullpen, punching out a season-high four batters.
  • Seven different Highlanders collected a hit as Will Harless and Richard De la Cruz were the only two to finish with multi-hit games.
  • Harless has six multi-hit games on the season, while De la Cruz collected his third.
  • With the four RBIs, Harless earned his third multi-RBI game, setting a new season high.
  • De la Cruz became the 13th different Highlander to have a multi-RBI game on the season.
  • With two RBIs on the night, Matt Roth picked up his fifth multi-RBI game.
  • Luke Wise, Kyle Butler and De la Cruz scored two runs each.
  • Radford stranded only five base runners.
  • Of Liberty's 11 left on base, 10 came from its four through six batters.
  • The Highlanders played their 20th clean game in the field.
  • Colby Higgerson moved his hitting streak to 10 straight, while Spencer Horwitz moved his to eight consecutive games.
 
ON DECK
  • Radford will look to lock up its fifth straight Big South series on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
  • Probables: LHP Hunter Williams (1-3, 4.84) vs. RHP Zach Clinton (6-3, 4.92)
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