Eagles pull away late, roll RedStorm

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Midway University scored five times in each of its final two at bats and pulled away for a 17-8 triumph over the University of Rio Grande, Sunday afternoon, in River States Conference baseball action at Bob Evans Field.
     The Eagles, who posted consecutive wins over the RedStorm after dropping Thursday's series opener, improved to 15-12 overall and 9-3 in the RSC with the win.
     Rio Grande finished the day at 11-19 overall and 4-8 in league play.
     The RedStorm scored in each of their first five at bats and carried an 8-7 advantage into the sixth inning.
     They maintained the one-run cushion into the eighth inning before the Eagles scored five times to take a 12-8 lead. Cameron Nichols had the big hit in the inning for the visitors with a two-run single.
     Midway tacked on five more markers in the ninth to win going away, with run-scoring singles by Barrett McGill, Shane Taylor and Eli Glasscock coming before a two-run single by Grant Hotchkiss.
     Nichols had the big day at the plate for the Eagles, going 6-for-6 with a pair of home runs and five runs batted in.
     Taylor had four hits and drove in four runs, while McGill was 4-for-6 with a pair of RBI in Midway's 22-hit attack.
     Hotchkiss, Ryan Davis and Josh Halterman all had two hits apiece in the winning effort, with Hotchkiss, Davis and Ayden Sciandra recording one double each.
     Cameron Head, the fourth of five Midway pitchers, earned the win by allowing just one hit and fanning three over two shutout innings.
     Senior Clayton Surrell (Carroll, OH), the fourth of nine Rio hurlers, suffered the loss. The right-hander allowed four hits and three runs over two innings of work.
     Surrell also had two of Rio's 16 hits, including a double, to become the school's all-time hits leader with 240 for his career.
     Graduate senior Andrew Daria (Villa Hills, KY) finished 3-for-4 with a triple, a double and a run batted in for the RedStorm, while junior Jakob Johnson (Pickerington, OH) also had two hits - including a double - and three RBI.
     Juniors AJ Thomas (Pickerington, OH), Daniel Rutherford (Coal Grove, OH) and Trey Carter (Wheelersburg, OH) also had two hits each in a losing cause, with Thomas' hit total including a double.
     Sophomore Angel De La Cruz Fermina (Santo Domingo, D.R.) drove in two runs for Rio Grande.
     The RedStorm are scheduled to return to action on Saturday when they open a weekend conference series at Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes, Ky.
     Saturday will feature a single, nine-inning contest beginning at 3 p.m., with a doubleheader slated for Sunday beginning at noon.