KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Radford baseball program put an early scare into one of the best teams in the nation on Tuesday night inside the historic Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Playing against the defending NCAA National Champions and current No. 2 team in the nation, the Highlanders proved they belonged on the big stage. Radford held a 3-2 lead after the first inning, a 4-2 edge after two frames and tied the game at 9-9 in the fifth before the power of Tennessee became just too much as the Vols escaped with the 22-9 win.
The nine Radford runs were the most given up by Tennessee since game one of last year's College World Series. The Vols had given up just 22 runs in 89 innings so far this season before the Highlanders were able to push nine across on Tuesday night.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Radford – 9, No. 2 Tennessee – 22
LOCATION: Lindsey Nelson Stadium (Knoxville, Tennessee)
RECORDS: Radford 5-6 (0-0), Tennessee 12-0 (0-0)
THE BREAKDOWN
-
Hunter Keen once again led the offensive attack with a 2-for-3 effort that included two RBI, one double and a run.
-
Noah Toole chipped in a strong effort of his own with a 1-for-4 line with one RBI and two runs scored.
-
Tyler Kehoe finished 1-for-4 as well to go along with two runs scored and a two-bagger.
-
Corbin Grantham went 1-for-2 at the dish with one RBI. He also drew a base on balls.
-
Brady Whitacre added the other Radford RBI in the contest.
-
Jhonkeanu Perez too finished with a 1-for-4 game that featured a run scored.
-
James Ward rounded out the scoring with a run scored.
- Radford ran free on the base paths and racked up five stolen bases by
Eli Hudgins (two), Toole (two) and Kehoe (one).
-
Mason Hatcher (1.2 innings, one hit allowed, two strikeouts) and
Nick Petit (one inning, one hit allowed) put up scoreless outings in relief.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Radford took advantage of some early Tennessee fielding issues to drop three runs right away in the top of the first.
- The Vols answered right back with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame to cut it to a 3-2 game.
- The Highlanders got a perfect sacrifice bunt from Keen that scored Hudgins to push their lead back to 4-2 in the top of the second.
- Tennessee started to get things rolling with a seven-run bottom of the third to take the lead at 9-4.
- The Highlanders weren't going anywhere without a fight however as the squad pushed across five unanswered runs between the fourth and fifth inning to tie things up at 9-9.
- The Vols started to cook with five runs in the bottom of the fifth, one more in the sixth and 11 in the seventh to seal the walk-off win.
NEXT UP
The Highlanders hit the road for a three-game set against UNC Greensboro this weekend. The series will get underway on Friday, March 7 with a first pitch of 4 PM ET. All three contests will 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.
