University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Radford vs. Liberty
05.20.2009 | Baseball
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#3 Liberty Downs #4 Radford |  |
ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? No. 3 Liberty came back from two early deficits to defeat No. 4 Radford, 10-3, in Game 3 of the 2009 Royal Purple Big South Conference Baseball Championship, May 20 at historic McCormick Field in Asheville, N.C. With the victory, Liberty improves to 32-19 and advances to play No. 6 seed High Point Thursday at 7:00pm. Radford falls to 25-23 and moves to the loser's bracket, where the Highlanders will face No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina Thursday at 3:00pm.
Radford wasted no time in scoring first in the opening frame, as Reggie Keen doubled with one out and scored on Jeff Kemp's single to center to give the Highlanders an early 1-0 advantage. Radford's lead was short-lived, as Liberty pushed home two runs in the bottom of the first. Matt Williams singled to start the inning, and moved to second on a walk to Curran Redal. Doug Bream doubled home Williams, and Jeff Jefferson's ground out scored Redal to put Liberty ahead, 2-1.
But the Highlanders reclaimed the lead in the second inning when Nick Minter singled and moved to third on Robert Lamas' base hit. Will Naylor singled up the middle to plate Minter, and Lamas would later score on Brett Mollenhauer's sacrifice fly to move Radford ahead, 3-2.
In the fourth, Liberty rallied for three runs and took back the lead for good at 5-3. With one out, Errol Hollinger doubled to right and moved to third on Casey Brown's single. Kizuku Scott singled to left to score Hollinger, and the Flames loaded the bases when Trey Wimmer reached on an error. P.J. Jimenez then ripped a double to left to knock in Scott and Brown for the Flames' second lead of the night.
Jefferson blasted a home run well over the leftfield wall in the bottom of the fifth to extend Liberty's lead to 6-3. It was his seventh of the season. The Flames later batted around in the seventh inning and tacked on four more runs to put the game away at 10-3. Jimenez highlighted the rally with another two-run hit.
Liberty starter Shawn Teufel went seven innings, struck out five and walked one in picking up his ninth win of the year. After allowing three runs on five hits in the first two innings, Teufel settled down and held Radford scoreless the remaining five innings while scattering five hits in that span. Carter Browning pitched the final two innings to preserve the win. Jimenez finished the day with two hits and four RBI, while Hollinger and Casey Brown also recorded two hits.
Radford starter Shane Pysh suffered the loss after allowing five runs and six hits in 3.2 innings pitched. He walked three and struck out two. At the plate, Kemp was 3-4 for the Highlanders, who out-hit the Flames, 12-11. Keen and Naylor collected two hits in the losing cause.
Liberty Head Coach Jim Toman
“I'm really proud of our guys. It was a total team effort. We could have hung our heads after the first two innings, but we battled back and put in a solid effort.”
Radford Head Coach Joe Raccuia
“Obviously we were defeated by the better team tonight. Shawn Teufel did a good job tonight after a shaky first inning, but he settled in. We did not get the start we were looking for, and we lost to a better team.”
