FARMVILLE, Va. – Radford junior third baseman Matt Roth set his career high with six RBI to lead Radford to a game one win over Longwood, 18-4, Friday at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
The hot man for Radford (11-18, 3-7 Big South) at the plate was Roth, who hit a three-run homer in the first inning to start the scoring. Roth finished 2-for-4 with two walks, one run scored, the homer and an RBI double. On a windy day in Farmville the Highlanders hit three home runs off of Longwood pitching.
 
Multi-run scoring innings in each of the first five frames build Radford a lead that the Lancers (8-20, 2-8 Big South) were unable to recover from. Once the action reached the middle innings the Lancers settled into the game and battled.
 
After the top of the fifth inning, with the score out of reach at 18-1, Longwood continued to grind out at-bats at the plate with three runs down the stretch. In the field the Lancers hung four scoreless frames led by solid defense, which included the only doubleplay of the night and a few sprawling plays at first base by Justin Mitchell.
 
"We don't have a choice but to play hard late in a game, it's what we expect," Longwood head coach Ryan Mau said. "Justin is a senior and he's running out of opportunities in his career here and I hope he takes advantage of every single one he gets."
 
Hunter Williams (1-2) led the Highlanders to the win with 7.0 innings of three-run ball, scattering five hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Williams handed the ball to Cody Boone, who held the Lancers to one unearned run in 2.0 innings of work with no hits or walks allowed.
 
Longwood used five pitchers with starter Steven Farkas (1-6) suffering the loss. The junior left-hander was tagged for eight runs in 2.1 innings of work and allowed three home runs.
 
"We got a bad start from Farkas," Mau said. "By the time we got him out of the game it was out of hand. They put some good swings on it and we walked a lot of people. That's a recipe for disaster."
 
The fifth and final pitcher for the Lancers was freshman Daniel Brandon, who tossed 4.2 shutout innings and struck out three batters with one hit and three walks allowed in his sixth consecutive scoreless outing.
 
"It was a bright spot that Daniel Brandon came in and in a tough situation to be in he did a really good job for us," Mau said.
 
Brandon also made a scoreless relief appearance against VMI Tuesday and has tossed 5.1 scoreless innings with two hits allowed this week.
 
Though Longwood was unable to come back from the double-digit deficit, a pair of Lancers in Ryan Shull and Antwaun Tucker put forth multi-hit games, leading the Lancers to score the final three runs of the game in the last third of the night.
 
"I thought a few guys swung the bat pretty well," Mau said. "Nate Blakeney put some really good swings on it, but had nothing to show for it tonight. Ryan Shull had some good at-bats and it's good to see Antwaun Tucker find his swing today."
 
Tucker hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot in the home half of the seventh, plating Shull who reached on a single earlier in the frame. Tucker also had a double in the fifth inning, finishing his night 2-for-4 and hit the ball hard all four times to the plate. Tucker has multiple RBI in each of his last two games after collecting a two-run triple in Wednesday's win against George Mason.
 
Shull also picked up a pair of hits Friday, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and one run scored. Shull has collected six hits this week with four runs scored, a pair of RBI, and two doubles.
 
"Hopefully those guys can build off of that, but we need a couple more guys to get going in our lineup," Mau said. "We also need much better execution on the mound to get in the win column again."
 
Longwood and Radford will not play Saturday due to rain in the forecast for the day and will pick up the series Sunday. The Lancers and Highlanders will resume the series with a doubleheader Sunday that starts at noon at Buddy Bolding Stadium.
 
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