Day 2 Recap: RSC Baseball Championship from Chillicothe, Ohio
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- The 2019 River States Conference Baseball Championshionship now features five teams -- four of which are 1-1 and No. 3 seed IU Kokomo, which is the only unbeaten team at 2-0. Play on Saturday, May 4 begins with five teams still alive, and there will be two or three teams remaining for Sunday, depending on results.
Saturday features No. 6 Midway (Ky.) versus No. 2 Point Park (Pa.) in an elimination game at 11 a.m. Next up is No. 1 IU Southeast versus No. 4 Rio Grande (Ohio) at 3 p.m. with the loser out. No. 3 IU Kokomo will wait until 7 p.m. until two teams are eliminated to play the Midway-Point Park winner.
NO. 1 IU SOUTHEAST 9, NO. 5 ASBURY 0.
No. 1 seed IU Southeast began the day surviving in an elimination game, 9-0, over No. 5 seed Asbury (Ky.). The Grenadiers had Chas Adams and Jacob Frankel combine on a one-hitter. Adams gave up no hits over his 7.0 innings, and he also struck out eight and walked two. Frankel went the final 2.0 innings, and Asbury did not get a hit until one out in the ninth.
Offensively, IU Southeast scored in five different innings to steadily build the lead. The Grenadiers had 11 hits with Derek Wagner going 3 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs. Brody Tanksley went 2 for 5.
NO. 4 RIO GRANDE 8, NO. 6 MIDWAY 7 (11 INNINGS)
No. 4 Rio Grande staved off elimination and kept five teams alive in the tournament with an extra-innings win over No. 6 Midway, 8-7. It was Caden Cluxton's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 11th that won it.
Midway scored four times in the top of the seventh to erase a one-run deficit and take a 6-3 lead. Rio Grande stormed back in the bottom half with three runs -- the first two on Kent Reeser's two-run single and the tying run when Reeser raced home on an error.
Rio Grande went in front, 7-6, after eight innings, but Midway tied things up once again on Kurt Paldino's sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth.
Dylan Shockley pitched the final 3.0 innings for Rio Grande to get the victory. Zach Lampreia did much of the work for the Midway bullpen but was charged with the loss. He pitched 2.1 innings and gave up three hits, but the winning run was charged to him.
NO. 3 IU KOKOMO 7, NO. 2 POINT PARK 3
No. 3 IU Kokomo remained as the only unbeaten team left in the tournament by racing out to a 7-0 lead and beating No. 2 Point Park, 7-3. The Cougars got a big swing of the bat by Dalton Clarked for a grand slam in the second inning. That gave IU Kokomo control at 5-0.
IU Kokomo made the most of its six hits and took advantage of a couple of Point Park errors, the latter of which allowed the other three runs besides the grand slam to score. Tavon Lindsay was 2 for 4 with two runs, and Clarke scored two runs.
That was more than enough for the IU Kokomo pitching staff, which got six innings from starter Owen Callaghan. He gave up only one hit and one run (unearned), struck out four and worked around three walks. Clark Davenport, Ryan Beck and Max McKee posted 1.0 inning each out of the bullpen to seal the win.
Point Park got as close as 7-3 with one run in the sixth and two in the eighth. But the Pioneers were limited to four hits and could not mount the big inning to overcome the errors and the grand slam.