NEWTON GROVE – Chandler Lennon struck out the side in the sixth inning, but it was a pair of two-out wild pitches after an infield throwing error that turned the game in favor of Midway on Friday night as the Raiders slipped past West Bladen 7-5 in a Four County Conference baseball game.
Lennon, a senior righthander, struck out 12, including six in a row in the middle of the game, scattered six hits and walked four, but three West Bladen errors accounted for four unearned runs.
Offensively, West Bladen pounded out 11 hits and rallied from an early 4-1 deficit. Trent West went 3-for-4 with a run scored and two runs batted in. Seth Britt and Lennon each had a double and single, with Lennon driving in a run. Jarrett Williams had a seventh-inning double. Ray Jones was 1-for-3 with a RBI. Jeremy Hunt and Weston Pidgeon each had singles. Hunt scored twice while Pidgeon and Jonathan Ashworth each scored once.
The loss dropped West Bladen to 7-14 overall and 6-7 in the conference. It also most likely ended the Knights’ bid to qualify for the state 2-A playoffs. West Bladen will play at rival East Bladen on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the final regular season game. East Bladen has clinched the Four County title.
Midway ends its regular season with a 12-9 record overall and 10-4 in the conference. The Raiders finished second in league play. Landon Dorman earned the win, pitching the final two innings. Chandler Williford went the first five innings.
West Bladen scored in the first inning. Hunt led off with a single to right, went to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on Lennon’s sacrifice fly to right.
Midway scored twice in the bottom of the first, using a pair of errors and a single by Jake Clark.
The Raiders added two more runs in the second. Jake Baggett opened with a single to center. After the next two batters were retired, Wesley Johnson walked. Dorman followed with a two-run double to the fence in right-center.
West Bladen cut it to 4-3 with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Hunt reached on a one-out error. Pidgeon followed with an infield single. Lennon singled up the middle to load the bases. West followed with a single that plated Hunt. Pidgeon scored on a wild pitch.
Midway tacked on a run in the bottom of the third on Matt Nunnery’s one-out triple and Baggett’s two-out single.
The Knights tied it in the fifth, but missed a chance to take the lead. After an out, Lennon cracked a double to right. West followed with a single up the middle that scored courtesy runner Ashworth. After the second out, Britt singled and Donald McCullum walked to load the bases. Jones then ripped a single past the third baseman that scored West, while Britt fell while rounding third and had to go back to the bag, which meant McCullum was caught heading for third to end the inning.
That set the stage for the decisive sixth inning. After a strikeout, Greg Nobles walked. After another strikeout, Dorman reached on error that left runners on second and third. Two wild pitches followed before Lennon struck out the final batter.
The Knights tried to rally in the seventh. Williams crushed a two-out double to the fence in right, but pinch-runner Scott Bowen was left stranded.
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