Midway’s boys got a sound road win over rival Rosewood Tuesday night, defeating the home team 16-7 in the Raiders’ season-opener.

It was, said coach Jason Fussell, a good first win for the Raider team, which brings back four returning starters. Midway lost five seniors off its strong team from last year, but Fussell expects this season to be a good one for his club.

“This was our first game, and we were a little rusty, but you expect a little rust when you’re playing your first live game, so to speak,” Fussell said.

“We have some work to do on defense and pitching, but I thought we hit the ball pretty well Tuesday and we ran the bases OK.”

But what he saw from his club against Rosewood, Fussell said, was a “bright sign for the season.”

The Raiders came out swinging Tuesday, earning 2 runs in the opening inning and consistently bringing in runs again in the second (2 runs) and once more in the fourth (3 runs).

Midway was up 7-0, when Rosewood scored 2 runs in the fourth and then added 5 more in the fifth.

With the score knotted at 7, Midway pulled out the stops in the sixth, scoring 6 runs and holding the home team to go ahead 13-7. The Raiders added 3 more runs in the seventh to take the 16-7 victory.

Ryan Lee started on the mound for Midway, pitching 4 innings, striking out 3, giving up 5 hits and allowing 1 earned run. Tyler Pope got the win, throwing for 3 innings, getting 5 strikeouts, giving up 3 hits and allowing 1 earned run.

Leading hitters for the Raiders were Heath Smith, 3-6 with 3 RBIs; Kyle Hawley, 2-4, with 2 RBIs; Cody Baker, 1-4 with 2 RBIs; Luke Clark, 4-5, with 4 RBIs; Jason Wrench, 2-3, with 1 RBI; and Pope, 2-4, with 1 RBI.

The Raiders are on the road again Thursday when they travel to Trask for the team’s first conference game of the season. The JV starts at 4:15 and the varsity plays at 7 p.m.