Stewart single walks-off Radford in rubber match

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Dylan Stewart’s infield single in the tenth gave Charleston Southern the series victory Sunday at Nielsen Field, as the Bucs erased a four-run deficit to beat Radford 6-5 in ten innings. Charleston Southern takes two from the Highlanders after dropping the opener Friday to mark the first Big South series win.

Radford (6-13, 1-2 Big South) struck first in a contest that was quiet in the first four frames.

James Taussig grounded out to Truitt and Charleston Southern traded an out for a run. The contest would not see another run until the fourth frame, as the Buccaneers would even the game at one with a Peyton Mills sacrifice fly to score Austen Izzio.

Radford would then find some momentum in the fifth, sixth and seventh frames. Two came in the fifth with a Ty Dooley single and a CSU error, while David Bryant scored in the sixth on a double play and Taussig brought Zack Whitacre across on a sacrifice fly.

The remaining frames went the way of Charleston Southern (10-12, 2-1 Big South), as the Buccaneers found four in the eighth and the winning run in the tenth to clinch the series.

Hayden Harris started the rally in the eighth with a two-run shot to right field, the only home run hit by either team on the weekend.

Connor Carter came up big as well to tie it with a single up the middle, scoring Izzio and Ajay Sczepkowski. The two sides each left the ninth frame without a run, taking the contest into free baseball where Charleston Southern ended it in the tenth.

Sczepkowski got on via a single and was moved to second after Hogan McIntosh got hit by a pitch.

A wild pitch allowed Sczepkowski to reach third before a Dylan Stewart infield single to third allowed him to score.

Krishna Raj (W, 2-0) gets the win after coming on in the eighth and keeping Radford off the board the rest of the way.

Evan Truitt had a strong start in a no-decision effort, as the righty went five innings and was charged with only a single earned run.

Luke VonGoedert (L, 2-2) gets credited with the loss after coming on in the tenth and getting just one out, giving up the Sczepkowski hit, and the Stewart hit.

Zach Davidson got the start for the Highlanders and went 3.1 innings, giving up one earned on three hits and three strikeouts.

IN THE BOX

”Radford makes every pitch/out competitive. So, you better be ready from the first pitch,” said Head Coach Marc MacMillan. “After jumping out to a 4-1 lead, Coleton, Yoder, and Raj were able to limit their run production and give our offense an opportunity to respond. Hayden’s home run to cut the lead in half then Connor’s game tying hit were just what we needed. Ajay gave us a good at bat in the 10th and followed it up with a terrific dirt ball read to get to third. Stew learned from his similar hitting situation on Friday and got US the hit to win the game.”

UP NEXT

Head Coach Marc MacMillan‘s side will hit the road for the first time since the first day of March, as they head to Macon, Georgia to take on Mercer in non-conference action.

First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 22.

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