Midway Greenwave Crushes Oakdale in Baseball 29-3
By Terry Futrell
The Midway Greenwave baseball team evened their District 3A record at 5-5 with a crushing 29-3 defeat of the Oakdale Eagles on Oakdale’s home field.
For all practical purposes, the game was over after the first inning in which Midway took a 9-2 lead over the Eagles. The Greenwave batted around almost twice before Eagle Pitcher Darren Kittrell struck out Midway’s Noah Collier for the third out in the top of the first inning. Midway’s first seven batters scored before Oakdale could muster the first out on the Greenwave. Brendan Burnum, Midway’s lead-off batter hit two long doubles in the inning, one to deep center field and a long ball to left field, and was credited with one RBI. Jason Taylor hit a single and drove in two runs for the Greenwave. Oakdale committed seven errors in the top of the first inning.
Oakdale pitcher Darren Kittrell threw 61 pitches in the top of the first inning and went to the dugout feeling much pain in his pitching arm, which ended his pitching for day.
In the bottom half of the first inning, Oakdale’s Dawson Smith got on base on a Greenwave error, and then advanced to second base on a second Midway error. Darren Kittrell hit a single, scoring Smith. Garrett Best then hit a triple to deep right field, scoring Kittrell. The Eagles could do no more and the first inning ended with the Greenwave leading 9-2.
Austin Swafford took the mound for Oakdale in the second inning. and was also battered by Midway hitters. Two Midway batters got on base by Eagle errors, one by a fielder’s choice, and Swafford walked five consecutive Greenwave batters. Midway scored seven runs in the second inning, extending its lead to 16-2. Swafford threw 51 pitches in the top of the second inning.
It was three-and-out for Oakdale as Midway pitcher Andrew Burton struck out two and an infield grounder led to the Eagles’ third out, closing out the second inning with Midway in the lead 16-2.
Eli Solomon replace Swafford as Oakdale’s pitcher in the third inning and found the Midway batters as formidable as did his predecessors. The Greenwave put five more hits on the board. The Eagles committed three more errors and Solomon walked three batters, enabling the Greenwave to score nine more runs in the inning. Midway’s lead was extended to 25-2. Solomon threw 34 pitches in the inning.
Jason Taylor took over pitching duties for Midway in the third inning, and Eagles went down 1-2-3.
Rhett Nelson took the mound for Oakdale in the fourth inning, giving up three hits to the Greenwave, including a triple by Noah Collier that drive in two runs. The Greenwave put four more runs on the board, taking a 29-2 lead in the game.
In spite of putting four runners on base in the bottom of the fourth with Connor Johnson pitching for Midway, the Eagles were unable to score and Midway maintained their 29-2 lead.
Nelson continued to pitch for Oakdale in the fifth, striking out two batters. The Greenwave went three-and-out and Oakdale had one more opportunity to show some offense as Ethan Melton took the mound for Midway. Melton struck out the first Eagle batter, and Dawson Smith got on base with a single. After another Eagle strikeout by Melton, Garrett Best scored Smith on a single. The Greenwave got the final out on an infield grounder by the Eagles and walked away with a 29-3 victory after five innings.
After the victory, Midway is tied with Oliver Springs for fifth place in District 3A with a 5-5 record. Oakdale remains tied for last place in the district with a 0-9 record.
