Eagles come up short in RSC Tournament, advance to NAIA Opening Round

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- The Midway baseball team returned to VA Memorial Stadium on Saturday (May 6) when they battled Rio Grande (Ohio) in an elimination game on day three of the River States Conference Tournament in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Extra innings would be needed to determine a winner as the RedStorm scored a pair in the top of the 10th before holding on for a 7-5 victory ending Midway’s tournament run.

The loss drops Luther Bramblett’s squad to 27-22 on the season as they’ll now turn their attention to the NAIA National Championship. The Eagles will find out their destination on Thursday (May 11) when the opening round brackets are announced by the NAIA.

The RedStorm (26-27) got off to a strong start scoring one in the first, but Midway answered with a run of their own in the bottom half. Grant Hotchkiss singled and would later steal second before scoring on an errant throw by the catcher to tie the game at 1-1. 

Rio Grande extended their lead to 3-1 after scoring single runs in the second and fourth innings, but the Eagles went back to work in the bottom half of the fourth scoring two runs on four hits. 

Nick Eastham, Shane Taylor, and Barrett McGill opened the inning with three consecutive singles before Hotchkiss stepped to the dish and laced a two-run double scoring Eastham and Taylor to tie the game at three runs apiece.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the eighth when Midway took their first lead of the contest. Noah Phillips had a two out and following an intentional walk to Hotchkiss, Eli Glasscock ripped an RBI single to right scoring Phillips and giving his team a 4-3 advantage. 

The lead was short lived after the RedStorm capitalized on an error that would’ve ended the game in the top of the ninth. The two-out error would lead to a pair of unearned runs that saw Rio Grande regain a 5-4 lead entering the bottom of the ninth.

Midway would answer right back in the bottom of the ninth. Taylor got the rally started with a one out double before two batters later, Ayden Sciandra lined an RBI single to left scoring Taylor from second and tying the game at five.

The tie game didn’t last long as they would score two in the top of the tenth before getting a key double play in the bottom half of the tenth en route to the 7-5 victory. 

Jesse Komoroski was handed the loss for the Eagles after allowing four runs – two earned – on five hits in his two innings of work. Dylan Burton got the start and pitched seven innings allowing three runs on eight hits with six strikeouts.

Offensively, Taylor led the way with three hits, while the quartet of Ryan Davis, Hotchkiss, Eastham, and Sciandra each added two hits apiece.