CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- The Midway baseball team returned to the diamond on Friday looking to continue their strong start on day two of the River States Conference Tournament at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.
Midway was in a good spot taking a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh, but the RedStorm battled back scoring three runs to tie the game at six. Rio Grande (Ohio) scored one in the eighth taking a 7-6 lead into the ninth, but Midway got a run to force extra innings.
After a scoreless tenth, the RedStorm (35-19) – who are receiving votes in the NAIA Coaches' Poll – got a walk-off sacrifice fly from Caden Cluxton in the bottom of the 11th for the 8-7 victory.
With the loss, Midway falls to 1-1 in the tournament as they will meet Point Park (Pa.) on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. ET. The Pioneers are in the situation facing elimination after suffering a 7-3 loss to No. 3 seed, Indiana University Kokomo in the nightcap on Friday.
Midway scored first against the RedStorm scoring two in the opening stanza. Layne Peavler (Harrodsburg, Ky.) singled and Tyson Orr (Nashville, Tenn.) reached on a fielder's choice before Koy Lindsey (Campbellsville, Ky.) delivered a two-run single giving his team the early 2-0 lead.
The RedStorm battled back taking a 3-2 lead after scoring single runs in the second, third and fifth innings.
Midway got the early 2-0 lead off Zach Kendall as he settled down and was lights out. He tossed five consecutive scoreless innings before running into trouble in the seventh.
Orr plated the first run on an RBI single, while Graeham Luttor (Toronto, Canada) hit a sac fly scoring another. The Eagles had the bases loaded on the sac fly as the RedStorm first baseman threw the ball away on the relay home allowing two more to score giving Midway the 6-3 lead.
The RedStorm battled by tying the game at six after they scored three in the bottom of the seventh, while they scored another in the eighth on an RBI single from Michael Rodriguez as they grabbed the 7-6 lead.
Now trailing 7-6, Midway would need to score a run off Rio closer, Dylan Shockley. Zach Lampreia (Toronto, Canada) singled and Peavler singled, while Orr laid down what looked like a sac bunt, but he legged out an infield single as Midway had the bases loaded with no outs.
After a strikeout from Shockley, Kurt Paldino (Overland Park, Kans.) hit a sac fly to center scoring Cameron Nichols (Owensboro, Ky.) who was running for Lampreia.
Koy Lindsey then reached on a fielder's choice as Midway once again had the bases loaded, but Shockley got a strikeout looking to end the threat sending the game to extras.
Midway went down in order in both the 10th and 11th innings as the RedStorm got a walk-off sac fly from Caden Cluxton in the bottom of the 11th for the 8-7 victory.
Zach Lampreia was dealt with the loss for the Eagles allowing an unearned run in his 2.1 innings. Andy Melgoza (Oxnard, Calif.) entered in relief pitching two innings allowing four runs -three earned, while Gus Garrison (Cynthiana, Ky.) got the start pitching six innings allowing two earned runs with four strikeouts. Jonathan Hook (Tamarac, Fla.) got one out in the loss as well.
Midway had 10 hits led by three from Lampreia. Koy Lindsey had two hits and drove in two, while Tyson Orr and Kurt Paldino each chipped in two hits in the loss.
Follow Midway Eagles Athletics
