The Raiders baseball team went down to Memphis to play two against Southwestern Tennessee and came away with a split. The Saluqis took the opener 5-2, but the Raiders were able to battle in the second game coming out on top, 6-5.

After giving up a run in the first inning of the day, the Raiders put two on the board in the top of the fourth via a RBI groundout by Hunter Gray and Kolten Poorman scored on a wild pitch to give Three Rivers a 2-1 lead. However Southwest Tennessee responded with two runs in their half of the fourth and two more in the fifth while shutting down the Raider offense for the win.

The Raiders were limited to five hits for the game, a couple of them coming off the bat of Kole Turner as he went 2-for-2 with a walk.

In the nightcap, the Raiders took the lead when it mattered in the seventh and Noah Burkey came in from the bullpen to shut the door in the bottom half of the inning.

Three Rivers initially fell behind 3-1 in the third, but scored one run in the fourth, fifth and sixth to go up 4-3. The Saluqis scored two in the bottom of the sixth to retake the lead, 5-4. In the top of the seventh, the Raiders had runners on the corners and Gray tied it up on a RBI groundout. Cade Cancilla drove in the go-ahead run on a double to give the Raiders the win.

With the split on Tuesday, the Raiders move to 25-21 overall on the year. The last time Three Rivers had at least 25 wins in a season was in 2012 when they went 26-28-1.

In the Region XVI race, Three Rivers sits in third behind first place Mineral Area and Jefferson College. The Raiders are 10-9 so far against region opponents and have a four-game set scheduled for Friday and Saturday against State Fair at Roger Pattillo Field. The Roadrunners are looking to string a few wins as they're in the middle of the pack sitting in sixth in the Region XVI standings.

The Raiders and Roadrunners will play two seven inning games on Friday and two nine inning games on Saturday with first pitch at noon on both days.

After the State Fair Series, Three Rivers will cap off the regular season with four games against Mineral Area with two at home next Thursday and two up in Park Hills next weekend.

Robert Augsdorfer - Daily American Republic