Diamond 'Dogs Drop Pair At Radford, 4-1, And 11-3, Saturday
May 03, 2009 | Baseball
RADFORD,
Va. – Gardner-Webb's offense was held in check again Saturday,
as Radford swept both ends of a Big South doubleheader, 4-1 and
11-3. The losses dropped Gardner-Webb (22-21, 10-11Big South) three
and a half games behind Radford (22-199, 14-8 Big South) for the
fourth spot in the Big South Conference standings. The final game
was moved to Saturday to avoid potential bad weather expected
Sunday in the area. GAME ONE: Radford 4, GWU 1 A pitcher's duel
took shape through the first six innings, with Gardner-Webb starter
Brett Stackhouse and Radford's Shane Pysh locking horns. Stackhouse
allowed just four hits through the first 6.0 innings of work, and
was in line for the win after Daniel Cooke scored on a wild pitch
in the top of the seventh for a 1-0 GWU lead. Radford (21-19, 13-8
Big South) answered however, in the bottom half of the seventh. A
leadoff single and a sacrifice bunt chased Stackhouse from the
game, and the Highlanders plated three runs – one on an RBI
single to tie the game, and a pair on an RBI triple that also saw
Brett Mollenhaur score from third on a fielding error in the
outfield for a 3-1 edge. The Highlanders added an insurance run in
the bottom of the eighth, after Gardner-Webb stranded a pair in the
top of that same inning. Reliever Jason Patten recorded two quick
outs in the top of the ninth, and worked around a two-out single by
Ty Boyles and a walk to Matt Rizzuto to collect his second save of
the weekend. Jake Quigg worked 1.1 innings of relief for the win.
GWU was limited to just nine hits for the second game in a row, and
no runs batted in. Brock Miller (2-for-5) was the lone Bulldog with
more than one hit. Jonathon Ban took the loss, allowing two earned
runs on four hits in 1.2 innings out of the pen. Radford also had
nine hits, with Reggie Keen and Nick Minter each collecting a pair.
GAME TWO: Radford 11, GWU 3 Radford scored four runs in the fourth
and five runs in the fifth to break open what had been a 2-2 tie,
and rolled to an 11-3 win over Gardner-Webb in Saturday's nightcap,
sweeping the day and the series from the Bulldogs. Gardner-Webb
erased a 2-0 deficit in the fourth inning, as Ty Boyles led off
with a double and later scored on an RBI squeeze bunt by Jon Ahearn
to trim the lead to 2-1. Tyler Johnson then drove in Aaron Miller
with an RBI hit to third base, but Radford had a quick answer. The
Highlanders plated four runs in the bottom half of the fourth to go
up 6-2, chasing GWU starter Mike Lewis (3-2) from the game. A
two-run home run by Hoogstraten in the fifth sparked a five-run
burst that put the hosts up 11-2 – and put the game out of
reach. Boyles belted a solo home run in the eighth – his 13th
of the season – for the final score of the afternoon. Lewis
took the loss, allowing six runs in 3.0 innings of work on nine
hits (one strikeout). GWU had nine hits, with Boyles (2-for-4, 2B,
HR, RBI) and Bubbie Spake (2-for-3) leading the way. Brock Miller
went 1-for-2 in the game, and set a new GWU single-season record
with his 34th stolen base. Radford had 17 hits off of six different
Bulldog pitchers on the day. Gardner-Webb will break for exams, but
return home for a tough Big South series against surging High Point
on Friday, May 9, at 3 pm.
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