CSU hosts Radford for Alumni Weekend/Senior Day

Charleston Southern and Radford are both coming off tough non-conference losses Wednesday night. The Bucs fell to Furman, 6-5, while Radford dropped a 13-11 contest to ETSU.

Radford leads the all-time series with CSU 34-25, and took last year’s series two games to one in Radford, Va. CSU took a 6-4 victory in game two, while the Highlanders won games one and three by scores of 4-2 and 12-8. The Bucs’ last sweep of Radford came in the final series of the season in 2007, also the last time the two teams met in Charleston.

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Tyler Thornburg did all he could to keep CSU in the game with Furman, recording a 4-for-4 performance with three home runs and a double, tying program records for home runs in a game and extra base hits in a game.

With a 2-0 lead after the first inning, it was the second game in a row that CSU had garnered a first-inning lead. Furman answered with two runs in the second, and scored a run in each of the next four innings. Thornburg’s third and final home run came in the ninth inning to draw CSU to within one, but they would not get any closer.

Radford also saw an early lead slip away as they led 6-0 in the third inning. ETSU scored 13 unanswered runs before the Highlanders came back in the late innings to make a contest out of it.

Robert Lamas and Matt Hillsinger each homered in the game for Radford, marking Hillsinger’s first-collegiate home run. Each finished the game with a pair of hits, while Reggie Keen went 3-for-5.

HOME RUN- AGAIN and AGAIN!
Four Buccaneers have hit two home runs in a single game this season, but only two people in CSU school history can say they have hit three out in a game. Tyler Thornburg tied Hardy Ferguson’s 1988 record with three long-balls against Furman. Thornburg also tied the school record with four extra base hits in a game, adding a double to his day against Furman.

Earlier in the season, Thornburg hit two in one game against High Point, joining Patrick Dolan, Tom Burkett and Blake Hunt as Bucs who have hit two homers in one game this year.

Slugging it out
In two games at High Point, the Bucs pounded out 28 runs on 37 hits, splitting the double header with the Panthers. CSU had a combined five doubles, one triple and five home runs over the two-game stretch, including three homers by Tyler Thornburg. With a 21-4 victory in game one, it was the sixth time this season CSU has scored at least 10 runs, and the first time since May 11, 2002 that they have scored at least 20 runs. Thornburg set a new CSU record with eight RBI in the contest, while tying the school mark with five runs scored.

Doing Damage
The Bucs lost their game to the Gamecocks of South Carolina, but it was hard fought, and they didn’t leave before doing damage to USC stats.  The Bucs held off the Gamecocks in the first inning leaving both teams scoreless going into the top of the second- it was the first time this season the Gamecocks have left the first inning  without a run on the board.  Sophomore Tyler Thornburg hit a lead-off home run on the first pitch of the inning in the top of the second, giving the Bucs a 1-0 lead; it was the first time the Gamecocks have trailed an opponent this season. 

Hitting Streaks
Senior Kory Morian holds the longest hitting streak of the season for the Bucs, at 13 games with at least one hit.  The leading active streak is nine games by Tyler Thornburg.

Lead-off batter, Scotty Radabaugh leads the team for most hits in a single game, with five against the Air Force Academy in their Feb. 28 game.  Four other Bucs have four hits in a game including Radabaugh who started it with four hits against C of C. Thornburg and Morian joined the rank in their March 17 game at Auburn with four apiece, while Dolan did the same on March 22 at Gardner-Webb. Chinners’ cycle performance on March 27 also put him in the ranks with four hits in a single game.

In the Bucs’ March 17 game against Auburn, Patrick Dolan, Scotty Radabaugh, and Tyler Thornburg all tied the program record for at-bats in a single game with seven each. That feat has now been accomplished five times this season after Dolan and Burkett did it against High Point.