Highlander Highlights: Men’s Basketball Ranked Third in Big South after Senior Day Win, Baseball Starts Season with Series Win vs Iona

By: Ian Greco – Brandon Whitaker

Every school hopes to win on their “Senior Night”, when nearing the end of their respective sports season, and Radford’s Senior Night thankfully lived up to that expectation of success while hosting Charleston Southern this past Saturday.

After honoring this season’s seniors Jaylon Johnson, Brennan Rigsby Jr., Louie Jordan and Tyson Brown alongside their team manager Michael Jacome, the Highlanders came out to a hot start with a 10-6 initial scoreline. Although high-scoring, this game also began physical, with Radford shooting 12 free throws in the first-half. Thankfully Radford shot 10-12 from the charity stripe, making the most of the brutish opening half. After Charleston Southern caught back up with a run of their own to make the game 11-10, it would be the last time they held a lead for the rest of the matchup. 

With the home crowd feeding into the infectious on-court momentum, Radford continued to dominate the game. Jaylon Johnson (17 points, 70% FG), Dennis Parker Jr., Del Jones, and Mari Jordan continued their prowess helping the Highlanders secure 26 fast break points overall. Radford went up as much as 27 points with a 81-54 scoreline with 6:42 remaining before quick points were scored in the last few minutes to soften the scoreline for Charleston Southern. The game ended 90-80, with the dominant Highlander performance increasing their record to 14-13 overall. 

Radford Baseball 

Two weeks ago the Highlanders hosted their opening day series against Iona College, winning the series 2-1. The first game occured on Friday with Radford winning 2-0 behind clutch plays from Mason Self and Hunter Keen. The first game of Saturday’s double header was a back and forth affair. Devin Parks had four hits in his five at bats, scoring two runs and bringing home four more. Iona was able to recover and score two runs in the 9th for a 9-8 win. In the second game Radford won 6-3 to secure the series win behind two hits and two RBIs and some relief pitching down the stretch from Breckin Nace.