It was Senior Night at Midway on Wednesday as the Raiders hosted James Kenan. On the baseball diamond, the Raiders were still eyeing perfection to help build their case for home-field advantage in the playoffs. Midway indeed mercy-ruled the visiting Tigers, earning an 11-1 victory to remain unbeaten.
After a scoreless first inning, the scoring picked up in the bottom of the second when Midway plated three runs. Eli Culbreth got things going for the Raiders and was batted over on hits by Drew Matthews and Jaron Register. With the next at-bat, Brayden Coats stepped in and hit the ball toward the second baseman, allowing the run represented by Culbreth to score. Register and Matthews were thrown out on the bases throughout the remainder of the inning, but Carson Calcutt followed Coats with a double and the pair was then scored for two more runs on a nice hit by Cal Tyndall.
The quick spurt was stopped there and the inning ended with Midway leading 3-0.
James Kenan earned back one run in the top of the third when J.T. Avent got a base hit and escaped a rundown between second and third thanks to an errant throw that ended up in the outfield. This would be the Tigers lone run of the game.
Midway was held scoreless in the bottom of the third but the Raiders got down to business in the bottom of the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.
In the fourth, Register started the inning on an infield hit. Coats followed suit when he laid down a pretty bunt that paralleled the third baseline, refusing to roll foul as both runners were safely advanced. Next up was Carson Calcutt, who hit a line drive that dropped in right field and yielded an error. This allowed Register to come home as Coats and Calcutt took extra bases and moved into scoring position. Tyndall continued the barrage as he hit another line drive into the outfield, scoring Coats.
With still no outs, Cameron Barefoot drew a walk to load the bases. Chandler Williford then hit an infield roller to the second baseman, but the error bug continued to plague the Tigers as he mishandled the ball and couldn’t find anywhere to make a play, scoring Calcutt. Cameron Calcutt then stepped in and laced a hit to the right fielder who was finally able to make the catch and hand the Raiders their first out, but the ball was deep enough to bring home Tyndall as the scoring continued.
Culbreth brought in the final run of the inning when he hit a shot into left field to score Barefoot, making the score 8-1 before a pair of fly balls ended the inning.
From there, Midway earned one run in the fifth and two in the sixth to make the score 11-1 and bring about the 10-run mercy rule limit.
The Raiders had an impressive 11 hits on the night. Leading in that department was Tyndall with three hits to go along with four RBIs. Carson Calcutt, Culbreth, and Matthews each had two hits, and Coats and Cameron Calcutt both had one hit.
On the mound, Culbreth started the game and earned the win, going four innings and striking out nine batters. He allowed one run on two hits and one walk.
Dawson Wiggins came on in relief in the fifth inning and pitched the last two frames. He gave up no runs on two hits and no walks while also striking out one.
With the win, Midway is now 16-0 overall and 10-0 in the East Central Conference. They will put their undefeated mark on the line this weekend when they take part in the Bulldog Easter Invitational at Terry Sanford High School. They kick the games off on Saturday, first against 3A Northwood, then against TBD opponents on Monday and Tuesday.
