Highlanders Eliminated by Liberty, 10-4

CONWAY, S.C. -- Liberty designated hitter Jeff Brown went 3-4 with a home run and three runs batted in, helping the No. 4 seeded Liberty Flames defeat No. 6 seed Radford, 10-4, in the seventh game of the 2005 Bojangles’ Big South Baseball Championship at Watson Stadium/Vrooman Field on the campus of Coastal Carolina University. (Box Score)

Liberty (36-18) eliminated the Highlanders and will face the loser of the No. 1 Coastal Carolina-No. 2 Winthrop game Friday evening at 7:00pm. With the loss, Radford’s season ends at 15-40.

Liberty opened its first inning with three runs – all coming with two outs. Radford starter Justin Morgan walked two batters and P.K. Keller singled home the first score, while Chad Miller brought the other two baserunners home with a double. In the third frame, Brown hit his third home run of the tournament to make it 4-0. Liberty tacked on three more runs in the fourth, highlighted by Brown’s two-run single.

Radford scored its first runs in the fifth inning when Steve Mignogna scored on a wild pitch and Alan Ashworth scored on Mark Fleisher’s single. In the sixth, the Highlanders cut the deficit to 7-3 when Nate Toth doubled home Jesse Ross. But the Flames countered with another three-spot in the bottom of the sixth, two coming on Abe Yeakel’s triple to right-center. Yeakel eventually scored on a passed ball to make it 10-3 in favor of Liberty. In RU’s seventh, Kellen Wohlford singled home Matt Mantinone for the game’s final run.

Morgan (4-7) last 3.2 innings for Radford, allowing eight hits and seven runs in the loss. For Liberty, starter David Bechtold (6-5) tossed 5.2 innings, permitting three runs on seven hits while striking out five. Jordan Stubblefiled pitched 3.1 innings of relief for the Flames, allowing just one run on one hit, with one strikeout in earning his first save.

Quotes

Liberty Head Coach Matt Royer

“I thought we showed character coming out and getting things done right away this morning. It’s tough losing the night game and coming back in an elimination game in the morning. I have to give the guys credit, they did what they had to do to get things done and extend the season one more game.”

Radford Head Coach Lew Kent

“(Liberty) put three runs up early with two outs, and in elimination games, you need to score early, and they scored first. I thought the first and sixth were pivotal innings, they scored three runs in each.”