Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Clayton Surrell's two-out, two-run single capped a late five-run game one rally and lifted the University of Rio Grande to a 7-5 victory over Midway University, Thursday afternoon, in River States Conference baseball action at Bob Evans Field.
The Eagles rebounded to earn a split of the twinbill with a 6-1 win in the nightcap.
The RedStorm finished the day at 11-18 overall and 4-7 in league play.
Midway moved to 14-12 overall and 8-3 in the RSC.
In Thursday's opener, the Eagles carried a 5-2 lead into the home half of the seventh inning before Rio junior AJ Thomas (Pickerington, OH) clubbed a game-tying three-run home run - his league-leading 10th circuit-clout of the season.
The RedStorm completed the comeback in the bottom of the eighth.
Graduate senior Andrew Daria (Villa Hills, KY) led off with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior Seth Mills (South Shore, KY) and advanced to third when junior Darius Jordan (Minford, OH) reached on a bunt single.
Jordan then stole second before sophomore Alex Scoular (Whitby, Ontario, Canada) walked to load the bases and, one out later, Surrell - a senior from Carroll, Ohio - singled to right with Daria and Jordan scoring to give Rio the lead.
The RedStorm had to sweat out a ninth inning rally by Midway, though, even after the first two Eagle batters were retired routinely by Rio sophomore reliever Reid Shultz (Minford, OH) on just two pitches.
Nick Eastham singled, Sean Taylor walked and Eli Glasscock was hit by a pitch to load the bases, prompting Rio head coach Brad Warnimont to lift Shultz in favor of freshman Hayden Simon (Stouffville, Ontario, Canada).
Simon closed out the victory moments later by striking out Ayden Sciandra.
Surrell, who also hit a two-run fifth inning home run, finished 2-for-3 with four runs batted in, while Thomas also had two hits and drove in three.
Jordan finished 3-for-4 in the win.
Shultz picked up his fourth win in as many decisions, allowing one hit and a walk while striking out three over 2-1/3 shutout innings.
The save was Simon's second of the season.
Grant Stone took the loss for Midway, allowing three hits, six walks and five runs over three innings.
Taylor went 2-for-2 and drove in two runs for the Eagles, while Eastham and Barrett McGill both had two hits and a run batted in.
Game two saw Midway parlay a pair of three-run innings and strong pitching performance by starter Owen Clark into a split of the twinbill.
Taylor had a three-run double in the first inning to stake the visitors to a quick lead, while Davis hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning.
Clark (4-1) allowed four hits - all singles - and an unearned run over six-plus, while walking three and striking out seven.
Rio avoided a shutout thanks to a seventh inning throwing error on a fielder's choice grounder to first off the bat of junior Jakob Johnson (Pickerington, OH).
Davis also had a double and finished 2-for-4 in the win, while Eastham also had a pair of hits.
Junior Daniel Rutherford (Coal Grove, OH) started and took the loss for Rio Grande. He allowed three hits, four walks and three runs over 2-2/3 innings.
The two teams will conclude their weekend series on a Sunday with a single nine-inning game beginning at 2 p.m.
