CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - Midway withstood brutal conditions, a 22-hour, 48-minute rain delay and a series of rallies by Indiana Southeast to advance in the River States Conference Baseball Championships.

The Eagles jumped out to a 9-0 lead, which was cut to 9-7 by the time play was suspended in the third inning Saturday afternoon. When it resumed Sunday morning, they put together one more big inning then escaped a bases-loaded jam to win a 13-12 thriller, eliminating an IUS team that entered the weekend ranked No. 18 in the NAIA rankings.

It's hard to imagine a game having more twists and turns, and things stayed wild until the final pitch, which came more than 26 hours after the first.

Midway got off to a blistering start, scoring five times in the first inning off of home runs by Barrett McGill (three-run) and Mahrlon Torres (two run). 

The lead stretched to 9-0 in the second on doubles by Grant Hotchkiss, Josh Halterman and Ayden Sciandra, with Halterman's hit driving two runs.

But the advantage would immediately shrink in a pounding rain storm in the bottom of the second. Unable to get a good grip on wet balls, Midway starter Dylan Burton walked two batters and hit three more as the Grenadiers added three hits for a seven-run inning before the game was suspended until 11 a.m. the following morning.

Getting the ball back when play resumed, Burton was much sharper in clearer conditions, allowing one run and four hits over four innings of work, as his offense gave him another big inning of support in the top of the fifth.

After the first batter was retired, the next six recorded hits. Grant Stone made it 11-7 with a two-run single before Eli Glasscock and Peyton Henry made it 13-7 with back-to-back RBI singles.

Unsurprisingly, the Grenadiers didn't go away. They added runs in the seventh and eighth before loading the bases in the ninth. With one swing, River States Player of the Year Logan Beard made it 13-12 game with a two-run single to left field. The bases were then loaded again on an intentional walk, setting up a two-out battle between Eagle reliever Jesse Komoroski and IUS' Preston Shelton.

Komoroski and the Eagles would prevail, as the senior pitcher forced Shelton to groundout to Halterman at first base, sending Midway into another elimination game Sunday night.

Midway recorded a season-high 17 hits with Hotchkiss, Glasscock, Henry, Halterman, McGill, Torres and Stone all having two. Hotchkiss also scored three runs.

The Eagles will now face another elimination game against Indiana Kokomo this evening at approximately 6:30 p.m. The Cougars defeated Midway 21-11 in a first-round meeting on Thursday.