University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
14-20, 0
Radford
12-25, 0
Bulldogs open the weekend with a win over Radford, 9-7
04.22.2022 | Baseball
As has been the case recently, the Bulldogs had contributions up and down its batting order to fuel the win. All nine starters reached base once or drove in a run. Speaking of runs, eight different Bulldogs accounted for the nine runs scored in the contest. Robbie Burnett posted the lone multi-hit day for Asheville going 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Dylan Bacot kept swinging a hot bat going 1-for-4 with a three-run home run, while Dominic Freeberger (1-for-3, two RBI, two runs scored) and Michael Groves (1-for-3, RBI, run scored) both came through with key run-producing hits to help the cause.
Asheville received a stellar start on Friday from sophomore Zeus Ponder. Ponder threw three shutout innings to begin the game and allowed just two hits. Freshman Cole Schiff, however, was the winning pitcher for Asheville, which marks his first as a collegiate player. Freeberger closed the win out for his team-leading third save with a perfect ninth inning.
Following two scoreless frames to begin the contest, Asheville got the scoring started in the third. Radford starter Gene McGough struggled to find the strike zone as he walked the first three batters he faced to begin the frame. Freeberger came up next and drove in PJ Heintz and Grayson Preslar to give Asheville the early 2-0 lead.
Asheville was not done there though as Burnett knocked in Ty Kaufman to make the score 3-0 Bulldogs. The big blow in the inning, however, came from Bacot as he connected on his third home run of the season to make the score 6-0 Bulldogs.
Following Ponder's departure after the third inning, Radford started to make some headway off the Bulldog bullpen. Two runs in the fourth and four more in the sixth erased Asheville's six-run lead as the two teams went into the late innings with the score tied 6-6.BOOOOOM! Bacot crushes a three-run home run to put Asheville up 6-0 in the 3rd inning! There's still nobody out & Cameron Johnson will look to keep this rally rolling. #ALLinAVL #TTS pic.twitter.com/0ZCCv7ft3L
— UNC Asheville Baseball (@UNCAvlBaseball) April 22, 2022
The Bulldogs wasted little time in answering Radford's rally with one of their own. In the seventh, Cameron Johnson singled, and Groves knocked him in with a double to put the Bulldogs back in front. Tylan Reece then plated Groves on groundout to tack on another run for Asheville.
Radford cut the Bulldog lead in half with a run in the eighth, but Asheville answered with a run of its own in the top of the ninth. The back-and-forth contest came to an end with Freeberger tossing a perfect ninth inning to finish Asheville's third straight victory over the Highlanders.
Game two of the weekend series is scheduled to be played Saturday afternoon. The first pitch for that contest is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Schiff, Cole (1-1)
L: BURTON, Ty (1-1)
S: Freeberger, Dominic (3)
Batting:
2B: Freeberger, Dominic 1 ; Burnett, Robbie 1 ; Groves, Michael 1 ; Heintz, PJ 1
HR: Bacot, Dylan 1
RBI: Freeberger, Dominic 2 ; Burnett, Robbie 1 ; Bacot, Dylan 3 ; Groves, Michael 1 ; Reece, Tylan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kaufman, Ty 1 ; Freeberger, Dominic 1 ; Burnett, Robbie 2 ; Bacot, Dylan 1 ; Johnson, Cameron 1 ; Groves, Michael 1 ; Heintz, PJ 1 ; Preslar, Grayson 1
HBP: Groves, Michael 1
Batting:
2B: TAUSSIG, James 1
RBI: BRYANT, David 2 ; TAUSSIG, James 2 ; PITTMAN, Cameron 2
Base Running:
RUNS: PREAP, Bradlee 2 ; BARRS, Tanner 1 ; TAUSSIG, James 1 ; GILMORE, Ryan 1 ; PITTMAN, Cameron 2
CS: SPENCER, Avery 1
HBP: BRYANT, David 1 ; PREAP, Bradlee 1
