Coastal Carolina baseball falls to Radford in ninth

It was a battle befitting a pair of Big South Conference frontrunners, going back and forth until visiting Radford scored the game's final run in the top of the ninth on a wild pitch for a 4-3 win over Coastal Carolina on Friday at Springs-Brooks Stadium.

The Highlanders' Hunter Higgerson was walked by Coastal Carolina reliever Andrew Beckwith, then went to third on a single by Danny Hrbek that brought an end to Beckwith's night.

Beckwith was replaced by Bobby Holmes, who struck out Trevor Riggs but allowed Higgerson to score after a wild pitch.

Coastal Carolina, ranked No. 18 in Baseball America and D1Baseball.com polls, dropped to 26-11 overall and 10-3 in the Big South Conference.

Radford (24-12 overall) moved into sole possession of first place in the Big South at 11-2.

The game was delayed for an hour and 15 minutes by rain, and with wet weather looming heading into the weekend, the regularly scheduled game for Sunday has been moved and will be part of a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The Highlanders took an early lead when leadoff hitter Josh Gardiner stroked a grounder down the third base line, and came home two batters later when designated hitter Patrick Marshall crushed a homer off CCU starter Alex Cunningham to give Radford a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.

Brad Keen singled for the Highlanders with two out in the second followed by a Chris Coia walk, but Cunningham struck out Gardiner to end the threat.

Coastal Carolina got on the board in the bottom of the second, keyed off when Radford pitcher Michael Boyle hit G.K. Young with a pitch. Zach Remillard followed that with his fifth home run of the season, a blast over the wall in left center to tie the score at 2.

Cunningham (6-0) gave way to Andrew Beckwith to start the fifth inning, and Beckwith struck out Keen, then handled groundouts himself from Coia and Gardiner to retire the Highlanders in order.

Coastal Carolina took a lead for the first time in the bottom of the fifth when Casey Schroeder hit a pop fly in front of the plate, but Boyle and catcher Josh Reavis couldn't decide who would make the play, and the ball dropped to the turf with Schroeder standing safely at first.

Schroeder moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jack Curtis, then scored when an Anthony Marks hit bounced off Boyles' foot.

Radford evened the score at 3-3 in the top of the sixth when Marshall came home on an RBI single from Hrbek.

Coastal Carolina had another chance to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth after Young hit a leadoff single and Remillard reached safely on a bunt. After a Tyler Chadwick strikeout, a David Parrett fielder's choice moved Young to third, but Schroeder struck out to end the threat.

Daniel Bridgeman (4-2) earned the win for Radford with two innings of one-hit relief.

Beckwith took the loss despite a career-high seven strikeouts while scattering four hits over four innings.

This story was originally published April 17, 2015 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina baseball falls to Radford in ninth."