Midway clinches conference title

Despite a game still pending Friday night at St. Pauls, Midway’s victory over the Bulldogs on Tuesday sealed up the SAC-7 Conference title for the Raiders, who own a two-game lead over West Bladen with only one game left to go. It was a great Senior Night for Midway, who captured the 8-0 victory to make celebrating with their families that much sweeter.

Midway opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first inning, hitting a 2-out rally to inflict a 2-run assault. John McLamb drew a walk and was singled over to second on a hit by Wyatt Lucas. Tripp Westbrook doubled a hard-hit ground ball toward third base that found its way into the outfield, scoring both Wilson Mayo (courtesy running for McLamb) and Lucas to make it 2-0.

After a quiet second inning, the Raiders stretched their lead in the third to 3-0. Carson Tew drew a walk and hard grounder into right field by McLamb moved him all the way over to third. A sacrifice fly ball into center field scored Tew, making it 3-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Midway put the game away for good. They had a big, 5-run inning that opened their lead all the way up to 8-0 to pretty much finish things off.

Christian Gainey drew a walk and was moved over to second two batters later on a single by Luke Peterson. Wyatt Herring drew a walk to load up the bases and a single by Tew scored both Gainey and Gehemiah Blue, who was courtesy running for Peterson. McLamb delivered a ground-rule double deep into the outfield after the ball he blasted took a one-hop over the fence, scoring Herring to make it 6-0. Lucas belted another well-hit ball into center field that scored two more runs, making it 8-0 before the Bulldogs finally got out of the inning.

From there, the game turned defensive and no more runs were scored. As such, Midway claimed the 8-0 victory to claim the conference crown.

McLamb and Lucas delivered two hits apiece for the Raiders while Tew, Westbrook, Gainey, and Peterson all recorded one hit apiece.

Midway is now 16-5 overall and 8-1 in conference play. They were set to conclude the regular season on Friday at St. Pauls before turning their attention to the NCHSAA 2A State Baseball Playoffs, set to begin on Tuesday.