Eagles dominate Rust, fall to No. 2 Gwinnett in baseball opener

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Friday produced mixed, yet historic results for the Midway baseball team, which opened 2024 on the same field where it's record-breaking 2023 season concluded.

Five players recorded multiple hits to aid a dominant pitching performance by Owen Clark, as the Eagles earned the first season-opening win in an 11-4 takedown of Rust (Miss.) Friday afternoon.

Things were much tougher in the nightcap, as Georgia Gwinnett, the No. 2 team in the country, put together a pair of big two-out rallies while holding Midway to one hit on its way to a 12-0 win.

MIDWAY 11, RUST 4

Clark immediately set the tone by striking out eight consecutive batters after surrendering a leadoff walk in the top of the first inning.

The junior finished with 11 strikeouts in five innings while allowing just one hit to the second-to-last batter he faced.

The offense provided Clark with plenty of support. Josh Halterman began the scoring with a two-run single in the bottom of the first as Midway put up multiple runs in each of its first four at-bats.

Halterman, Grant Hotchkiss, DJ Morain and Nick Eastham all had two hits with at least one RBI, but the star of the show offensively was transfer Britten Robinson, who went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and four RBIs in his first game as an Eagle.

This included a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth that gave Midway an 11-0 lead.

GEORGIA GWINNETT 12, MIDWAY 0

Scorless after one inning, Midway retired the first two batters in the bottom of the second before a Blaze O'Saben triple snowballed into a seven-run, two-out rally, the scoring beginning after O'Saben scored on a balk.

That was the first of multiple self-inflicted wounds the Eagles had in the inning, where they also committed an error and hit two batters with the bases loaded, as the Grizzlies got their seven runs on just three hits. 

Gwinnett's next four runs also came with two outs, this time in the sixth inning on a surge capped by a three-run Joe Quelch home run.

Despite having just the one hit, the Eagles had a pair of good scoring opportunities. They put two runners on with less than two outs in both the fourth and sixth, but couldn't manufacture any runs.

The Eagles will face the same two opponents in Lawrenceville again on Saturday. They face Rust at 11 a.m. and Georgia Gwinnett at 2 p.m.

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