Baseball 5/24/2019 8:38:00 PM

RADFORD'S SEASON COMES TO A CLOSE AGAINST HIGH POINT ON FRIDAY NIGHT

BOX SCORE Follow @RadfordBaseball

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Radford baseball team traded blows with High Point after falling behind early, but was never quite able to make up enough ground to take come all the way back and ultimately fell, 6-4, at Segra Stadium on Friday night.

The loss knocks the second-seeded Highlanders out of the Big South Tournament, ending their 2019 campaign. They finish the year with a 30-27 record overall after an impressive 19-8 mark in conference play.

Following a scoreless first inning, the Panthers jumped in front with two runs in the second off of starter Brandon Donovan. Being an elimination game, Coach Raccuia opted to remove him in favor of Bruce Hudson who had a strong outing of 3.1 innings, giving up just one run while striking out two.

While Hudson was still on the mound, Radford finally got on the board in the fourth inning. David Bryant sliced a one-out double into left field and came around to score on an RBI single by Matt Roth two batters later. Then, after High Point tacked on two more runs in the top of the 5^th to make it 4-1, J.D. Mundy drove in Spencer Horwitz with a double down the left field line.

The next arm out of the bullpen was Derek Domecq who was excellent across 3.0 scoreless innings. His effort kept the door open for a comeback and it came close in the later innings. Horwitz launched a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh to make it 4-3 right before the Panthers earned another insurance run to restore their lead to two in the eighth.

Arguably the biggest moment of the game came in the bottom of the eighth inning as Radford loaded the bases with no outs. Straton Podaras singled to left, Roth walked and pinch-hitter Jimmy Goldsmith knocked a single into right field. That big moment unfortunately came and went as the Highlanders only pushed one run across on a sacrifice fly from Kyle Butler.

One more insurance run off a home run put HPU up 6-4 in the ninth and Radford couldn't mount a comeback in the final frame.

Mundy provided the only multi-hit performance for Radford on the night, going 2-for-5 with an RBI. Bryant reached base three times with a double and two walks, Szamski drew two walks of his own and Horwitz scored a pair of runs. A total of 11 runners left on base made the biggest difference in the end.

PLAY OF THE GAME

M6 | Radford 2, High Point 4

Check out this play by Matt Roth at the ?? corner!

He leads us off in the bottom half.#RiseAndDefend | #BigSouthBase pic.twitter.com/JbBejHJZrw
— Radford Baseball (@RadfordBaseball) May 24, 2019

STAT OF THE GAME
Between four players – Bruce Hudson, Derek Domecq, Ryan Bywaters and Graham Firoved – the Radford bullpen allowed only two earned runs in eight innings of relief. They combined for four strikeouts as well.

FOLLOW RADFORD BASEBALL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
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