Grenadiers start fast, hammer RedStorm

Rio Grande Sports Information
     CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - Tyler Goodwin got Indiana University Southeast off and rolling with a first inning grand slam home run and the Grenadiers went on to post a 17-7 mercy rule-shortened victory over the University of Rio Grande in the opening round of the River States Conference Baseball Championship, Thursday afternoon, at VA Memorial Stadium.
     IU Southeast, the No. 2 seed in the eight-team, double-elimination bracket, improved to 30-17 overall and will face third-seeded Shawnee State University in winner's bracket play on Friday at 4 p.m.
     Seventh-seeded Rio Grande fell to 20-30 overall and will square off with No. 6 seed West Virginia University-Tech in an elimination contest on Friday, at 9 a.m.
     The RedStorm found themselves down 13-1 after four innings when Southeast tacked on four more runs in the third inning and five fifth inning markers.
     Max Flock had a two-run single, while Slater Schield had a run-scoring hit and Colin Long added an RBI double in the Grenadiers' third inning uprising.
     Goodwin and Long sandwiched RBI singles around a three-run triple in the five-run fifth.
     Rio Grande did push across six runs over the course of its final three at bats, but IUS scored twice in both the fifth and sixth innings to invoke the 10-run mercy rule.
     Long finished 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and two RBI in the winning effort, while Goodwin was 2-for-5 with five RBI and Schield finished with two hits and four RBI.
     Logan White homered, doubled and drove in a pair of runs for the Grenadiers, while Mason White had two hits - including a double - and a run batted in and Luke Powell finished 2-for-3.
     Tyler Yotkewich started and got the win for Southeast despite allowing 12 hits and six runs - four earned - over six innings.
     Junior Gabe Carter (Huntington, WV) started and lost for Rio, allowing six hits, four walks and eight runs over just 2-2/3 innings.
     Junior Waskar Martinez (Santiago, D.R.) was 3-for-4 with a double to led the RedStorm at the plate, while senior Luke Lindamood (Minford, OH) was 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI.
     Senior Angel Cruz (Santo Domingo, D.R.) doubled twice and drove in a run in the loss, while senior Darius Jordan (Minford, OH) had two hits, sophomore Darwin Oleaga (Boston, MA) drove in a pair of runs and junior Alex Scoular (Whitby, Ontario, Canada) had a double.