Despite a Virginia Tech game-tying three-run home run in the top of the ninth, Radford University was able to battle back again with a walk-off 12-11 victory over its New River Valley foe on a wild pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom half of the inning.
The win marked the second walk-off in the NRV series as Virginia Tech collected a 3-2 victory on Feb. 27 with a suicide squeeze. Radford’s win marks its first in the series since 2016 as the Highlanders have won three of the last four meetings inside Carter Memorial.
Radford’s walk-off is the second inside Carter Memorial Stadium this season in non-conference action as the Highlanders handed Youngstown State a 4-3 loss on March 9 with a two-run inside the park home run.
The New River Valley chaos ensued as Matt Roth received an opportunity to add to his career best four-hit day as he faced Virginia Tech’s Graham Seitz with the bases loaded and one out.
Garrett Matheny opened the bottom half of the ninth with a walk, moving to second on a Carlin Christian sacrifice bunt. Following a Kyle Butler single into shallow center field, Matheny had to hold up at third. Colby Higgerson stood in with a chance to collect his second career walk-off in Carter Memorial. After two balls, Virginia Tech decided to intentionally walk the Highlander shortstop.
Seitz’s first pitch to Roth skipped away from catcher Luke Horanski, allowing Matheny to slide in head first for the game-winning run as the freshman crossed the plate three times on the night.
Radford’s walk-off came after Stevie Mangrum knotted the game at 11 in the top of the ninth on a three-run home run with one out off of Brandon Donovan, who collected the win for the Highlanders.
The game was plagued by errors as both teams combined for eight miscues with Virginia Tech committing five errors. As a result of the eight errors, there were eight unearned runs in the game.
Radford opened the contest with two runs in the bottom of the first on a Will Harless’ bases loaded walk and a Straton Podaras sac fly.
The two-run lead was short lived as Radford committed three errors in top of the second on two dropped fly balls and a bobbled ground ball.
Matheny got the run back for the Highlanders after he reached on a one-out single up the middle, swiping second and moving to third on a wild pitch. Radford knotted the game on a fielding error by the Hokie shortstop and second of the game for Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech added its fourth run in the third on a RBI single, however Radford came back with three of its own in the fourth on a Butler RBI single and back-to-back wild pitches from Hokie reliever Joey Sullivan.
A pair of Virginia Tech doubles in the fifth resulted in a run, but Radford strung together its second three-run frame in the sixth for 9-5 lead.
The Highlanders added a run on a Christian sac bunt and a two-run double down the left field line off the bat of Roth. The two RBIs gave Roth 15 in his last 10 games.
Virginia Tech and Radford scored in each of the last three innings with the Hokies holding a 6-3 run edge.
All six of the Hokies’ runs came via the long ball as Sam Fragale connected for a solo shot in the seventh, Tom Stoffel followed with a two-run shot in the eighth and Mangrum knotted the game with a three-run blast in the ninth.
Radford’s run came on a Christian RBI single in the seventh and a Virginia Tech throwing error in the eight before the walk-off wild pitch in the ninth.
In a game that took three hours and 56 minutes to play, both teams combined to use 15 pitchers as Virginia Tech made eight calls to its bullpen. The game saw 23 runs on 26 hits with 18 runners left on base. Virginia Tech held a 14-12 hit edge, while committing five of the eight errors.
Radford starter Andrew Nardi threw a season-high 4.1 innings, keeping the Highlanders in the game with only two of his five runs allowed coming as earned.
Virginia Tech walked 10 Highlanders, while Radford pitchers surrendered only two free passes.
Kyle Butler extended his on-base streak to 22 straight and his hitting streak to 11 consecutive with a three-hit game, marking his 15th multi-hit game of 2018.
Matt Roth picked up his 13th multi-hit game on his career day of four hits, marking the fifth time on the season a Highlander has recorded four hits in a game. Roth also increased his hitting streak and on-base streak to 10 straight. Adding two RBIs, Roth has 15 of his team leading 26 RBIs in the last 10 games.
Carlin Christian and Garrett Matheny followed with multi-hit games of their own, finishing with two hits each, while matching a career best for both.
Matheny crossed the plate three times for the second time on the season; while Mason Scoville, Colby Higgerson and Christian scored two runs each. Christian finished with two RBIs for fifth multi-RBI game, tying the team lead.
Straton Podaras moved his on-base streak to 16 consecutive and Christian follows with 15 straight. The win marked only the second on the season for Radford when being out-hit by the opposing team.
Virginia Tech entered the game with a 6-1 midweek record. The win marked only the third midweek win for Radford and first at home.
–RU Athletics
