'Berg Closes Out Spring Break Victorious

The Heidelberg College baseball team concluded its 2008 Spring Break trip to the Port Charlotte Invitational in Port Charlotte, Fla. with a 4-1 victory over Allegheny College. The win improved Heidelberg to 9-2 heading into its Ohio portion of its schedule. The loss drops Allegheny to 1-4 overall.

Heidelberg took control early, scoring three runs in its first out bat. L.B. Emrhein (Seven Hills, Ohio / Padua Franciscan) led things off with a walk followed by a Matt Grassley (Gross Pointe Woods, Mich. / Gross Point North) single. Two stolen bases preceded an RBI single from Jeremy Wentworth (Johnstown, Ohio / St. Charles) and gave Heidelberg a 1-0 lead. Wentworth attempted to put runners on second and third, but was caught stealing leaving Grassley alone on the base paths at third. Freshman Gar Keen (Fredericktown, Ohio / Highland) knocked a double to score Grassley and Keen eventually rounded the base path and scored on a Jack Bault (Randolph, Ohio / Waterloo) fielder’s choice to put Heidelberg on top 3-0.

Allegheny scored its lone run of the game on an RBI double from Pete Obourn in the seventh inning. Heidelberg added another insurance run in the eighth inning. Bault connected for a double, which scored Biagio Boytim (Brunswick, Ohio / Brunswick), who reached on a single.

Pitching 6.0 innings and earning the victory was freshman Brian Koehl (Sylvania, Ohio / Sylvania Northview). Koehl allowed just two hits, while striking out 10 batters to improve to 2-0 on the year. The 10 strike outs lead all pitchers on Heidelberg’s roster for a single game in 2008, while he shares team honors with David Paddock (Westerville, Ohio / North) in total strike outs at 15 for the year. Fellow freshman pitcher Andy Lowe (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Carroll) pitched the final inning and preserved Heidelberg’s victory. Lowe picked up his second save on the year after not allowing a hit and striking out one.

Also adding to Heidelberg’s dominance on the mound in the win was freshmen Tyler Young (Hilliard, Ohio / Hilliard Davidson) and Jake Gossman (Westerville, Ohio / South). The duo pitched the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Young allowed one hit and one earned run, while striking out one, as Gossman threw a hitless inning and picked up two strike outs.

For the game, Heidelberg picked up 10 hits. Leading the way with two hits apiece was Keen, Boytim and Bault. Bault knocked in two runs, while Keen had one RBI. Boytim and Keen each scored once. Also picking up a hit in the win was Wentworth, Grassley, Tony Pawlowicz (Montpelier, Ohio / Montpelier) and Lash. Wentworth recorded at least one hit in every game in Florida and has finished with six multiple hit games.