CSU drops series opener to Radford, 9-8

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern baseball dropped its first Big South tilt of the campaign, falling to visiting Radford 9-8. Rain halted things in the third inning but play soon resumed at Nielsen Field to allow for all nine frames to be completed.

Radford (6-11) laid claim to the first frames in the contest, finding runs in each of the first two innings to take control. Julian Rojas got things started for the visitors with a single into right field, scoring Cameron Pittman. A groundout to second from the bat of Tanner Barrs scored Zack Whitacre to cap the inning off.

The Highlanders saw two more come across in the second frame, as Ryan Gilmore singled Brendan Bagwell across before later coming around to score himself on a Whitacre single.

Charleston Southern (8-12) found two in the second frame as well with Peyton Basler taking the lid off for the CSU offense on an infield single to short, scoring Hogan McIntosh. Ryan Waldschmidt later picked up an RBI in the frame, drawing a walk with the bases loaded to cut the Radford lead in half.

The Bucs saw one more run come across in the fourth on an Austen Izzio sacrifice fly as Connor Aldrich avoided a tag at the plate to cut it to just one. After the brief rain delay, both starters settled in and rolled until the seventh inning.

Radford found five runs in the seventh and eighth frames to reclaim control of the affair, highlighted by Bagwell’s double over third base to score Barrs and Paul Moore before scoring himself on a wild pitch.

Charleston Southern gave itself a chance in the ninth, as Reid Hardwick reached on an error to center, clearing the prior loaded bases and making it just a one-run game with just one out. Hardwick was stranded at third after two infield popups halted the CSU comeback bid.

Kaleb Hill (L, 2-1) got charged with the loss for Charleston Southern, going seven complete and surrendering just four earned on seven hits and six punch outs. Zac Robinson was charged with four earned as well in just one frame of work before Jordan Bridges finished things off with a clean ninth.

Peyton Reesman (W, 1-1) gets credited with the win after working through five innings, giving up three earned on seven hits and three strikeouts.

IN THE BOX

“Radford jumped on us early and did a good job of making us play catch-up,” said Head Coach Marc MacMillan. “I thought Kaleb did a really good job and deserved a better outcome. There are a number of things I could point out from this evening, but we just have to play better baseball. That’s it. No magic pill. Just better baseball.”

UP NEXT Head Coach Marc MacMillan’s side have announced a change to tomorrow’s contest, as a 1:30 p.m. first pitch has now been pushed to 6:00 p.m. in the second installment of the Big South opening series. The change comes in an attempt to miss the impending weather at Nielsen Field.