Radford clinched an intense weekend series over Longwood in thrilling fashion with a 6-5 victory on Sunday.
James Taussig led the Radford offense with three RBI off two hits, one being a home run, and one run scored. The Highlanders offense recorded seven hits on the afternoon.
Eliot Dix paced the Longwood offense with two hits and two RBI. Jack Schnell also had a pair of knocks which included a double and RBI.
Longwood scored early in the second and third innings. Jack Schnell doubled home Hunter Gilliam and wound up scoring on a wild pitch in the second. Dix singled home Gregory Ryan and Michael Peterson followed up by stealing home plate.
Radford responded with five runs spread throughout the second, third and fourth innings. James Taussig singled in a run in the second, and a bases loaded walk followed by a wild pitch highlighted the third inning scoring for the Highlanders. Ryan Gilmore walked in the fourth and moved around the bases from a ground-out and a balk and eventually scored after a Cameron Pittman single up the middle to tie the game.
The Lancers battled back in the top of the eighth to re-take the lead. Peterson tripled down the left field line and Dix tied the game with a single through the right side of the infield.
The Highlanders answered immediately in the bottom half of the eighth to steal the lead when Taussing hit a two run homer over the left field fence.
Andrew Melnyk started on the mound for Longwood and allowed one earned run in two innings of work. He allowed three hits, walked two and struck out two. The bullpen gave up three earned runs on four hits, four walks and struck out three. Michael Tolson (0-2) earned the loss on the day
Peyton Reesman got the nod to start for the Highlanders and went 2.2 innings. He surrendered four runs on two hits, three walks and struck out four. Ty Burton (2-2) pitched in the eighth and ninth and earned his second win of the season while the Radford bullpen as a whole gave up one earned run in 6.1 innings off five hits.
“That one hurt,” said head coach Chad Oxendine following the tough weekend series at Radford. “I can’t fault our effort, we gave it everything we had. We have the most imortant series of the year ahead of us, all we can do is give it our best shot and leave everything on the field.”
Longwood returns to action next weekend when they host Charleston Southern in hopes of clinching a playoff spot as they wrap up the regular season.
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