RADFORD, Va. – It was a loving time at the end of the night at Sherman Carter Memorial Stadium as the Radford baseball program closed out Valentine's Day with a walk-off victory over Akron to close a non-conference doubleheader against the Zips to open the year on Friday.
Fans were treated to 21 innings of baseball in what will go down as one of the craziest starts to a season in Highlander program history.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE – GAME ONE: Radford – 11, Akron – 12 (10 innings)
FINAL SCORE – GAME TWO: Radford – 10, Akron – 9 (11 innings)
LOCATION: Sherman Carter Memorial Stadium (Radford, Virginia)
RECORDS: Radford: 1-1 (0-0 Big South), Akron: 1-1 (0-0 MAC)
GAME ONE BREAKDOWN
-
Noah Toole led the offense in the season opener with three RBI off a 2-for-5 game at the dish. He blasted a two-run shot for his first home run of the season, which brought him around to score once in the contest to go with the RBI numbers.
-
Mason Self and
Tyler Kehoe were next up with a homer and two RBI apiece, respectively. Self went 2-for-5 with two runs scored while Kehoe finished 1-for-4 with two walks.
-
Jhonkeanu Perez (3-for-4, two runs scored),
James Ward (2-for-4, one run),
Brady Powell (1-for-6, one run) and
Corbin Grantham (one walk) all posted one RBI to round out the Highlander attack.
-
Hunter Keen and
Brady Whitacre also came around to score once.
-
Drew Stanley got the start and racked up four strikeouts over four innings.
-
Noah Arnett fired two scoreless innings of relief with two strikeouts.
-
Matthew Lefevers was also strong out of the pen with 1.1 scoreless frames. He also recorded a strikeout and allowed just a single hit against.
- Akron took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, but Radford was up for the battle and tied things in the bottom half of the frame off a two-run home run by Self.
- The Highlanders added two more with a sacrifice fly by Grantham followed by a RBI-single by Toole to take a 4-2 advantage.
- The Zips jumped back ahead with a four-run top of the fifth to make it a 6-4 game.
- Ward drove a RBI double to right center to score Perez as Radford made it a one-run game at 6-5 in the bottom of the fifth.
- Radford added another run in the top of the seventh, but Akron responded right back with five runs in the top of the eighth to retake a 11-6 edge.
The Highlanders chipped away with a RBI tripe by Perez in the bottom of the eighth and two-run shots by both Kehoe and Toole to tie things at 11-11 in the bottom of the ninth.
- The Zips were able to push a run across in the top of the tenth to escape with the 12-11 win.
GAME TWO BREAKDOWN
-
Drew Biggerstaff was an absolute stud in the second game with four RBI off a 1-for-4 showing.
-
Jhonkeanu Perez had another strong showing with a 3-for-4 effort that included two RBI, two runs scored and two walks.
-
Hunter Keen (1-for-4, two runs, two bases on balls),
Mason Self (one walk, one run) and
Tyler Kehoe (2-for-5) all finished the victory with a RBI, respectively.
-
Noah Toole finished the win with a game-best three runs scored. He also walked twice.
-
James Ward also came around to score twice in the contest.
-
Ben Keefe picked up the win on the mound with a perfect 0.1 innings of relief to close out the Akron attack.
-
Raymond Ladd got the start and threw a strong five innings with eight strikeouts and just three hits allowed. The only run that came around to score on him was unearned.
-
Jack McDonald also put together a standout performance on the mound with 2.2 scoreless innings of relief. He allowed just one hit to go against three punchouts.
- The Zips got on the board first once again with a single run in the top of the second.
- The Highlanders once again responded right back however with four runs of their own in the bottom of the third to take a 4-1 lead.
- Radford added what they thought were insurances runs with two in the bottom of the fifth and another in the sixth to make it a 7-1 game.
- Akron went off for an insane eight-run top of the eighth to retake a 9-7 advantage.
- The Highlanders showed once again they were clutch though with a single run in the bottom of the eighth and ninth to send things to extras.
- It was then Kehoe's turn to play the hero as he blasted a RBI single through the infield to drive in Crisp to walk it off with a 10-9 Radford win.
WALK IT OFF
HIT THE (SPORTSCENTER) MUSIC
CLOSE IT OUT COACH
NEXT UP
The Highlanders and Zips will close their series with the final contest of the three-game set on Sunday, February 16. First pitch is set for 10:30 AM ET and admission is free of charge! For those unable to attend, the showdown will also be
played in front of a national audience on ESPN+.
GET IN THE GAME: FOLLOW RADFORD BASEBALL
Get in the game and get New River City made by staying up to date with the latest from Radford baseball through
@RadfordBaseball on X,
@radfordbaseball on Instagram,
Radford Baseball on Facebook and
subscribe to the Radford Athletics YouTube channel.
