University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Radford
Baseball Falls at Radford in 12 Innings, 6-5
03.19.2010 | Baseball
RADFORD, Va. - Matt Hillsinger's two-out triple in the 12th inning pushed across Brett Mollenhauer and extended Radford's winning streak to five with a 6-5 victory over UNC Asheville in the Big South baseball opener for both teams on Friday afternoon.
The Highlanders (8-7, 1-0 Big South) finally broke through on Asheville reliever Grier Harrington, who was working into his sixth shutout inning of relief, when Mollenhauer reached on an error with two down in the 12th. Hillsinger hit a line drive just inside the right field line that rolled all the way into the corner, scoring Mollenhauer and giving Radford its fifth straight victory.
The Bulldogs (4-10, 0-1 Big South) battled back from a 4-1 deficit to score four times in the seventh inning to race to a 5-4 lead. The Highlanders got a two-out hit in the seventh to tie the game at 5-5 and it stayed that way until Radford won the game in 12th inning.
Freshman catcher Ian Graham and freshman second baseman Robert McIntosh led Asheville at the plate with three hits each. Graham had a double and an RBI. McIntosh had a double and scored a run.
Graham's RBI-single gave the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Radford broke through against Asheville starter Ryan Dull and scored four runs on five hits to grab to a 4-1 lead.
Dull kept Asheville in the game before the Bulldogs rallied in the seventh. Graham led off with a double before going to third on a Beau Zinman single. Mike Vaughn's sacrifice fly scored Graham to cut the lead to 4-2. A pinch-hit double from Derrick Hopkins scored a run to make it 4-3. Catlin Carter's ground-out plated the tying run to knot the game at 4-4. Danny Baatz's infield single scored Hopkins to push Asheville in front, 5-4.
Harrington relieved Dan Weller in the seventh inning and kept the Highlanders off the scoreboard until the 12th. He got the first two outs until Mollenhauer reached on an error and then scored on Hillsinger's triple. Harrington allowed just two hits and struck out three in his five innings of work.
Asheville and Radford will play again on Saturday starting at 2 p.m.
