Midway’s baseball team travelled to Randleman on Tuesday evening for a third round tilt with the Tigers in the NCHSAA 2A Baseball Playoffs. The last time these two teams met was in 2014 when the Raiders knocked off the Tigers en route to their state championship. This time, however, it was all Randleman as they took an early lead and never looked back on their way to a 7-0 victory.
Randleman certainly found success at the plate to put pressure on the Raiders. The Tigers converted 11 hits and four walks into six earned runs, Midway struggled to get things going offensively.
Junior ace Chandler Williford got the start for Midway, his second straight and third straight game seeing action. Fatigue perhaps got the best of the usually reliable Williford as he alone surrendered five runs on eight hits and two walks before being pulled in the third.
The Raiders bats, however, just couldn’t come alive as they were held to just three hits on the night. Seniors Colby Pope and Austin Peterson as well as sophomore Cal Tyndall were credited those hits.
Randleman was successful in plating at least one run in the first five innings.
The Tigers took the 1-0 lead after the first inning before making it 3-0 after a pair of runs in the second. It was 5-0 after the fourth inning when Randleman scored a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings before reaching the 7-0 mark with a pair of runs in the fifth.
With the loss, Midway finishes 18-6 overall and 10-2 in the East Central Conference, in which they were champions.
Four seniors — Pope, Peterson, Dajohn Butler and Trevor Hobson — have played their last game as Midway Raiders.
Peterson and Pope were each solid contributors for the Midway batting attack this season. Peterson had a team high .365 batting average with Pope right behind with .315. Both had 23 hits with Peterson earning 18 RBIs and Pope amassing 13. Peterson also had one home run this season.
Though losing four seniors, Midway will return numerous key players for the 2019 season, including all of their pitching from this year’s team. Combining what they return with new up and coming players, the Raiders are poised to repeat the success of the 2018 season.
