Radford claims Game 1 over Longwood with 5-2 victory

The Radford Highlanders won Game 1 of a weekend series 5-2 over Longwood on Friday.

Julian Rojas led the Radford offense with two hits, two RBI and two runs. Rojas’ impressive day included a walk and a home run.

Eliot Dix and Hunter Gilliam recorded the lone Longwood RBI’s with a pair of solo shots in the middle part of the game.

The Highlanders (13-30, 7-12) scored first in the third and fourth innings. An error by the Longwood defense allowed Cameron Pittman in the third to score and a fourth inning homerun by Rojas highlighted the early scoring for Radford.

Longwood (19-29, 9-10) responded in the sixth inning after Dix and Gilliam hit back-to-back solo home runs. For Dix it was his third of the season and for Gilliam it was the third in as many conference games, and 13th of the season.

Radford responded in the home half of the sixth when Brendan Bagwell singled home Rojas to extend the home sides lead back to two runs. The Highlanders added an insurance run when Rojas grounded out to third but the play allowed Tanner Barrs to score from third.

Andrew Potojecki (6-5) started on the mound for Longwood and allowed two earned runs on four hits in 3.2 innings. Noah Eaker, JR Parrish and Dylan Saale appeared in relief. The Lancers bullpen gave up two earned runs on six hits and one walk in the remaining 4.1 frames.

For Radford, John Holobetz (3-2) started on the mound and surrendered two runs on four hits in six innings. Derek Domecq picked up his second save with three near perfect innings that saw him allow just one hit and strike out four.

“Tonight obviously didn’t go our way,” said head coach Chad Oxendine following the teams fourth straight conference loss. “We’re still in a situation where we control our own destiny, but we need to focus on one game at a time. That starts tomorrow, we need to be locked in and ready to compete for nine full innings and just focus on tomorrow’s game and what we do best as a team”

Longwood and Radford return to action tomorrow at 2 p.m. for the second game of this weekend series.​