No. 24 Heidelberg Tops Denison, 7-2

The nationally-ranked Heidelberg College baseball team picked up a 7-2 non-conference win against Denison University today at Peaceful Valley in Tiffin, Ohio. It is the third-consecutive victory for Heidelberg who improves to 26-7 on the year, while Denison falls to 23-13. Earlier in the day, Heidelberg emerged into the national rankings at No. 24. Its national recognition is the first since the 2005 season.

After a scoreless first inning from both sides, Heidelberg broke onto the scoreboard in the second off a two RBI double from Steve Decker (Maumee, Ohio / Springfield) and added another run in the third from a Jason Lash (Strongsville, Ohio / Strongsville) single.

Scoring was halted until the bottom half of the seventh when Cody James (Belle Center, Ohio / Logan Elm) led the inning off with a single and was knocked in three batters later on a Biagio Boytim (Brunswick, Ohio / Brunswick) home run. Heidelberg went on to tack on two more runs in the eighth to finish with seven for the game.

Sophomore right-handed pitcher Everett Thomas (Evansville, Ohio / Harrison) and the Heidelberg defense held the Big Red scoreless until its final at bat. Denison’s Park Smith connected for a two-run home run in the ninth inning to erase a Heidelberg shutout.

Thomas threw the entire 9.0 innings and gave up just six hits and two earned runs. Along the way he struck out two batters. For the year, Thomas is 5-1 and shares team-honors with Andrew McFarland (Mansfield, Ohio / Madison) in the wins column.

Offensively, Heidelberg pounded 15 hits on the day. Leading the way was freshmen Willie Brechun (Clinton, Ohio / Canton Central Catholic) with a 3-for-4 outing, with two RBI and a run scored, while Gar Keen (Fredericktown, Ohio / Highland) was 3-for-5 with two RBI. Finishing with two hits apiece was Jeremy Wentworth (Johnstown, Ohio / St. Charles), Lash and Decker. Boytim joined Keen and Brechun with two RBI. With his two hits on the day, Lash has now extended his hitting streak to 20 games.

Heidelberg continues a two-game non-conference streak at No. 7 The College of Wooster tomorrow. The nine-inning contest will begin at 4:00 p.m.