University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Radford
Radford Comes Back, Spoils Bulldog Senior Night
05.15.2015 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a temporary one-run lead, but saw visiting Radford score the game's final three runs to come away with a 9-7 win on Friday night.
The Bulldogs (22-33, 5-18 Big South Conference) outhit the Highlanders (38-14, 19-4 BSC) as every Asheville batter collected at least one hit, but the hosts also left nine men stranded on the basepaths.
The series wraps up on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., with live stats available via this link.
The top of the Asheville lineup – Joe Tietjen, Lucas Owens and Tommy Houmard – combined for half of the Dogs 12 hits, finishing with two hits each. Owens notched four RBI on his third inning grand slam.
Hunter Bryant also collected a hit, extending his reached base streak to 33 consecutive games.
Bulldog reliever Parker Swindell was saddled with the loss, tossing 1 1/3 innings out of the bullpen and allowing two runs, two walks and a hit. Asheville starter Jordan Fulbright did not factor in the decision, exiting after five innings in which he allowed six runs on six hits with two strikeouts.
Radford jumped on the board with two runs in the top of the first inning via a leadoff solo homer and a sacrifice fly before Asheville took a two-run lead on Owens' grand slam over the right field wall in the bottom of the third.
In the top of the fifth, the visitors regained the lead with a four-run inning highlighted by a three-run homer before the Bulldogs again fought back, scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth on Derek Smith's RBI single back up the middle and two more runs in the sixth on back-to-back RBI singles from Houmard and Erik Connolly to grab a 7-6 lead.
The Highlanders took the lead for good in the top of the seventh, putting two runners on base to set up an RBI single that tied the game and a squeeze bunt to take the lead. Radford went on to add a final run in the eighth via a wild pitch to finish the night off.
The Bulldogs wrap up the series and their 2015 season tomorrow afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.
