Redal breaks college hits record

LYNCHBURG, Va. — Moses Lake graduate and Liberty University baseball player Curran Redal broke the Big South Conference’s hitting streak record April 17 when he hit safely in his record-setting 32nd-consecutive game.

The Liberty University Flames knocked off the Winthrop Eagles 8-5 in the contest.

Redal, a junior at Liberty University, broke the year-old record when he singled in the first inning of Friday’s game. The previous record was a 31-game hit streak set in 2008 by University of North Carolina-Asheville shortstop Kevin Weidenbacher.

After breaking the Big South record, Redal said he was relieved.

“It felt good because it was such a long process,” he said.

While Redal broke the conference record last week, he knew his hitting streak was important before Friday’s contest with Winthrop.

“I was aware I had a hitting streak at 15 games and I knew it was significant at 25 (games),” he said. “I never knew about (the record) until the school posted it on the athletic Web site.”

Although Redal was making a run at the Big South Conference record book, he said his teammates and coaches didn’t talk to him much about his streak before he broke the record.

“The funny part about it was that my coach didn’t realize I had a hitting streak until Baseball America called him to talk about it,” he said. “One of my teammates, even though it was something you don’t talk about in the clubhouse or on the bus, said he remembered the streak from last year was around 27 games.”

In addition to his record breaking single in the first, Redal finished the night with two hits to record his 16th multi-hit game of the season.

Although he managed to hit safely in 32-consecutive games, Redal was unable to push it to 33.

“Actually, the day after I broke it, I snapped it,” he said of his streak. “I am happy to get as far as I did.”

Redal will return home to Moses Lake this summer when he will be a member of the Moses Lake Pirates ball club.