CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- The Midway baseball team opened postseason play on Thursday afternoon when they battled top-seed, Indiana University Southeast in the opening game of the River States Conference Tournament at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.
When the two squads met in the regular season on March 7-8, the Grenadiers swept the three-game series as they outscored the Eagles 13-5 over the series. The Eagles, however, avenged all three of those losses with a 7-3 victory on Thursday.
The Grenadiers – who recently moved inside the top-25 to No. 24 in the NAIA Coaches' Poll – struck first with a run in the top of the second on a solo home run from Derek Wagner, but the Eagles responded with six-unanswered runs en route to the 7-3 victory.
With the win, Midway moves to 26-25 overall on the season as they roll into day two of the tournament. The Eagles will play the loser of No. 3 seed Indiana University Kokomo and No. 4 seed Rio Grande (Ohio) on Friday (May 3) afternoon at 3 p.m. ET.
After leaving the bases loaded in the first, Midway got its offense going with a run in the second. Noah Marion (Louisville, Ky.) opened with a single before later scoring when Layne Peavler (Harrodsburg, Ky.) picked up an RBI after reaching on a fielder's choice.
Midway's offense continued to roll with two runs in each of the third and fourth innings. Graeham Luttor (Toronto, Canada) opened the third with a solo home run before Marion added an RBI double scoring Matthew Olson (Louisville, Ky.) who walked earlier in the inning.
Then in the fourth, after two quick outs, Tyson Orr (Nashville, Tenn.) singled and scored on an RBI double from Luttor, while Luttor scored on an RBI double by Kurt Paldino (Overland Park, Kans.) pushing Midway's lead to 5-1 after the fourth.
While Midway was pushing their lead to 5-1, Brandon Aoki was rolling on the mound. The senior from Camarillo, Calif. gave up the solo shot in the second, but responded with four straight shutout innings allowing his offense to get going.
He got more help from Graeham Luttor in the sixth. The sophomore opened the inning and did so in a big way going yard for his second home run of the day and eighth of the season as he stretched the lead to 6-1.
Aoki would allow another run in the seventh on another solo home run by Derek Wagner, but he exited after another quality start tossing seven strong innings. Jonathan Hook (Tamarac, Fla.) entered to start the eighth as he allowed a run, but stranded two keeping the 6-3 lead in tact.
Midway continued to pad its lead in the bottom of the seventh when Olson singled before later scoring on a wild pitch to make it 7-3.
Hook would take to the mound in the ninth where he was lights out. The junior got three quick outs and finished the game with a pair of punchouts.
Aoki got the win moving to 7-3 on the season. The southpaw tossed seven innings allowing two runs on eight hits with a pair of strikeouts.
The Eagles collected nine hits on the day led by Graeham Luttor who was on base five times in the win. He went 3-for-4 with, two home runs, a double, three RBI's and three runs scored.
Noah Marion added a two-hit game with a double, an RBI and a run, while Layne Peavler and Kurt Paldino each added an RBI.
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