By Sonny Jones
ELIZABETHTOWN — Two streaks remained intact Friday night at Russell Priest Field.
Unfortunately, for East Bladen, its losing streak reached five in an error-prone 8-4 loss to undefeated Midway in a Southeastern Athletic Conference baseball game.
After battling back from a 4-1 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, the Eagles committed six errors over the last two innings that resulted in four unearned runs for Midway (8-0, 3-0 Southeastern). East Bladen made eight errors overall.
East Bladen (2-6, 0-2 Southeastern) outhit the Raiders 9-6 and got a solid six-inning outing on the mound from right-hander Jake Futrell, who struck out six, walked two, yielded five hits and three earned runs of the five that he allowed. Ty Mathis gave up three unearned runs in the seventh.
Casey Culbreth allowed fours on seven hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in five innings to earn the win for Midway. Hunter Tyndall pitched two scoreless innings to earn the save.
Midway’s John McLamb belted a two-run home run over the right field fence in fifth that gave the Raiders a 4-1 lead. Tripp Westbrook went 2-for-3 and scored twice for the Raiders.
East Bladen was led offensively by Zamar Lewis, who went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in, and Mathis, who was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Coleman Tatum, Evan Pait, Garrison Tatum and Marlan Davis each had a hit.
The Eagles scored in the first when Coleman Tatum opened with a line double, moved to third on Pait’s ground out to score and scored when Lewis beat out a two-out bouncer to third.
Midway picked up a pair of unearned runs in the second. Wyatt Herring reached on an error, stole second and scored on Westbrook’s single to right. Carson Tew drove home Westbrook with a single up the middle.
McLamb’s homer in the fifth gave the Raiders a 4-1 edge.
East Bladen tied it in the bottom of the fifth. Davis lined a double down the right field line and moved to third on a wild pitch. Coleman Tatum walked to put runners on the corners. Pait and Mathis followed with run-scoring singles that pulled East Bladen within 4-3. The Eagles tied it on Lewis’ ground out to second.
Any momentum East Bladen gained from the rally didn’t last long. The Eagles committed four errors in the sixth inning that led to a Midway run, then made two more errors in the seventh that led to three more tallies for the Raiders.
East Bladen is scheduled to host Clinton on Tuesday, then play at Clinton on Friday in a pair of Southeastern Athletic Conference games.
Midway 020 021 3 — 8-6-1
East Bladen 100 030 0 — 4-9-9
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